By Tracy Russo
Michelle Obama is pretty incredible. I think she’s done an amazing job striking a balance between being her home life and the campaign life, all the while remaining incredibly grounded.
From the interview:
I am Michelle Obama. I live in Chicago. I’m married to this guy Barack. That’s about it. That’s about how I see myself.
Posted on August 7th, 2008 by tracyrusso
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By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Guess you can cross Tim Pawlenty off John McShame’s VP prospect list — unless Senator Straight Talk can make himself believe his campaign is not “negative and scornful.”
Speaking to a meeting of GOPAC, a Republican political action group, the Minnesota governor said that people want to follow leaders who are optimistic and civil — not negative and scornful, according to an Associated Press report.
In recent years, Pawlenty said, “The Republican idea factory has been a little stagnant.” Speaking of Barack Obama, AP quoted Pawlenty as saying, “People gravitate when you have something positive to say.”
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by MiryamEhrlichWilliamson
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by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
After nearly a week of poking fun at Barack Obama for telling a town hall audience we could save a significant amount of gasoline if everyone drove with their tires fully inflated, John McShame said Wednesday, “And could I mention that Senator Obama a couple of days ago said that we ought to all inflate our tires, and I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it.” [Tele-town hall meeting, 8/5/08]
This morning Obama, who bats last on this one, told a town hall meeting on energy in Elkhart, Indiana:
By the way, while we’re on the subject of Senator McCain contradicting himself, a few days ago someone asked me what they could do to help America save energy. I suggested that we could get better gas mileage in our cars and save oil in the process just by keeping our tires inflated, and experts agreed. But Senator McCain and his party mocked the idea, and they even sent out tire gauges. Well, get this – last night, after all that, Senator McCain actually said that he agreed that keeping our tires inflated was a good idea. We just agreed to a series of debates in the fall, but the most interesting one that’s going on these days is the debate between John McCain and John McCain.
McShame’s latest flip (or is it flop?) may have been inspired by a fact check by CQ/Politifact. It’s worth checking out.
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by MiryamEhrlichWilliamson
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By Sean Reagan
The AP is reporting that Judy Baker handily won the Democratic primary inreporting Missouri yesterday, defeating Steve Gaw by close to 3,700 votes.
Baker credited her win with a strong showing in the rural counties and her experience – some 25 years worth – in the health care industry.
She’ll face off against Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer in November.
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by seanreagan
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By Tracy Russo
The DNC asks, “Who Will be the Next Cheney?” with the launch of a new website dedicated to dishing on McCain’s possible VP picks.
McCain himself said in 2001, “with a little more luck” he’d have asked Dick Cheney to be his vice president. The new site, www.thenextcheney.com, features an initial list of seven contenders poised to be the next Cheney.
The initial launch of the site features basic information on the seven individuals McCain is rumored to be choosing from, with profiles of Eric Cantor, Charlie Crist, Carly Fiorina, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Fred Smith and John Thune. The site will also give voters an opportunity to sign up to volunteer to be a part of the rapid response efforts in their communities.
DNC Spokesperson Brad Woodhouse:
“After lamenting the missed opportunity to make Dick Cheney his own Vice President in 2001, McCain will have a chance to choose his very own Cheney. We think it’s important that the American people have all the facts at their fingertips when it comes to John McCain and his vice presidential pick. This site gives reporters, voters and activists a chance to review the record and see for themselves that, no matter who he picks, a McCain ticket means more of the same for families already struggling to pay out of control energy costs, keep their jobs and stay in their homes.”
Who do you think McCain will pick?
Posted on August 5th, 2008 by tracyrusso
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By Sean Reagan
The Missouri dust will settle a bit after today’s primary, letting us know which candidates will face off to replace retiring five-term Republican Congressman Kenny Hulshof, who is running for governor. (R) announced he would retire from Congress to run for governor.
Missouri’s 9th Congressional District has been safely red during Hulshof’s tenure, but Democrats are targeting it for their own this year. According to this report, the DCCC will add the seat to its Red to Blue program, targeting the district for a takeover. And they’ve reserved $1 million for ad buys to do it.
That’s good news for the two leading Democrats – former Missouri House Speaker Steve Gaw and state Rep. Judy Baker. Gaw, 51, is a lawyer who served as state representative from ‘92-’01 and as speaker from ‘96- ‘01. In 2000, he lost a general election race for secretary of state in 2000 against then-state Rep. Matt Blunt.
Baker, 48, is a health care consultant and managing partner of Cura Advantage. She’s been a state representative since 2005.
Gaw and Baker are competing against two other Democrats – former state legislator Ken Jacob and Marion County Commissioner Lyndon Bode.
The 9th district includes rural northern Missouri, as well as the larger towns of Columbia, Fulton, Kirksville and Union. It’s home to Missouri’s corn growers (Hulshof is a corn farmer) and includes two major biofuel plants – ethanol is a staple of the district’s economic well-being. Not surprisingly, all four democratic candidates are in favor of government support for ethanol production.
It’ll be interesting to see who pulls the win here. The Republican also have a primary free-for-all, with state Rep. Bob Onder and former state Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer leading the pack. It’ll be a hot one through November, and lots of fun to watch.
Posted on August 5th, 2008 by seanreagan
Filed under: 2008 house races | 6 Comments »
By Sean Reagan
The New York Times gets there two months after our own Tracy Russo did . . .
The McCain campaign is sensitive to the notion that his limited knowledge of computing could be taken as a signal that he is blind to technology.
“You don’t actually have to use a computer to understand how it shapes the country,” said Mark Soohoo, a McCain aide for online matters, at a conference on politics and technology. “You actually do,” interrupted Tracy Russo, a former blogger for John Edwards.
Actually, Tracy was the Deputy Communications Director for the Edwards Campaign.
You go, Tracy!
Posted on August 4th, 2008 by seanreagan
Filed under: Generation Gap, McCain | No Comments »
By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
I can’t let the day end without wishing a happy birthday to Barack Obama, who turns 47 today. I’m glad he was born.
Coincidentally, it’s the second birthday of my two longhaired cats, Sunny and Shady (you’d know which was which if you saw them.)
Two more coincidences: John McShame’s birthday is also in August, and both candidates are left-handed. The similarity ends there.
And yet another one: McShame and I are the same age. Barack and my youngest son are, too.
That’s enough trivia for one day.
Posted on August 4th, 2008 by MiryamEhrlichWilliamson
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By Sean Reagan
Republican Mike Johanns continues to hold a substantial double-digit lead over Democrat Scott Kleeb in their race to fill retiring Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel’s seat. But if you dig a little deeper in the race dynamics, Johanns may not be the shoo-in he seems.
Johanns, former Governor and Secretary of Agriculture under George W. Bush, is heavily favored given the state’s favorable disposition to Republicans. Bush won the state handily in ‘00 and ‘04, and Hagel himself always bowled over his opponents.
The latest polls indicate that trend is likely to continue. Johanns leads Kleeb by twenty-five points, a margin that’s pretty much consistent with polling done since Spring. Particularly daunting for Kleeb is this nugget:
One out of four Nebraska Democrats (25%) say they plan on voting for Johanns. That’s up slightly from 21% last month. Among unaffiliated voters, Johanns has a 47% to 30% advantage.
Kleeb, who is 32, mounted a surprising strong run for Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District seat in 2006, losing by only ten points. He’s a fourth-generation Nebraskan and rancher who also holds three post-graduate degrees from Yale.
On the issues, Kleeb has indicated support for a grant program for early adopters of energy efficient codes, arguing that renewable energy create new industries and jobs.
One issue where Kleeb ought to be able to generate traction as we get closer to voting day is the Farm Bill. Johanns was Bush’s point man on ag-related issues, and the administration completely dropped the ball on this one. It’s going to be hard for Johanns to argue that he’s a friend of farmers or rural communities.
Mike Lux at OpenLeft recently pointed out that Kleeb is actually running a tighter race than most polls indicate.
The polling on the race also shows that Scott has a shot at this thing. One private poll I’m aware of shows only a 10-point gap, which would put this closer than Slattery in Kansas, Hagen in NC, and Noriega in TX, all races that many of us think are potentially winnable. And what that poll does not reflect is that young people in NE are registering Democratic by a two-to-one margin over Republicans, and that there is some serious outside organizational money being put into youth registration and turnout in NE.
Kleeb consistently demonstrates that it’s a mistake to write off red states and districts solely on the basis of previous elections. We’re a long way from election day – we may yet see a blue Senator from Nebraska.
Posted on August 4th, 2008 by seanreagan
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By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
There is no picture here because rural homeless people are invisible.
Last week the International Herald Tribune and New York Times, carrying the Bush White House’s water, reported:
The number of chronically homeless people living in the nation’s streets and shelters has dropped by about 30 percent - to 123,833 from 175,914 - between 2005 and 2007, Bush administration officials said on Tuesday.
On the blog “Unhoused,” Ava Bromberg and Brett Bloom, researching a forthcoming publication by the same name, comment:
This is hard to believe for several reasons. The Bush administration lacks all credibility and can’t be trusted as anything it states is hard to not take as manipulated, controlled information generated by political appointees. We have seen a systemic erosion of the functioning of our federal government under the Bush administration from FEMA to the EPA. Recording the number of homeless persons is notoriously difficult given the precarious ways in which folks live.
There’s more: For all the happy talk in the administration’s report, I’ll bet the number of homeless people is back up again, given the doubling from quarter to quarter in 2008 of home foreclosures, and the uncounted number of people who have just walked away from their homes without waiting for the bank to foreclose. There’s no telling yet how many of those folks are without housing now.
But what frosts me the most is that rural homeless people aren’t included in the government’s tally. They can’t be because they’re neither in the streets nor in shelters. They’re invisible. I know that people come to the woods in towns like mine in the spring and move back to larger places in late fall, but I don’t know how many. Nobody does. I see evidence from time to time that someone is living in the woods in my town, but I don’t go looking for them because it seems rude to invade their privacy when I have nothing to offer. I don’t want to tell anyone what I detect, because someone in authority would cite sanitation or safety violations and take action I don’t want to stimulate.
So take that government report with as big a grain of salt as your blood pressure will allow.
In my mind, there’s only one acceptable number of homeless people. Zero. We shouldn’t let the government congratulate itself for a decrease that probably doesn’t even exist anymore, anyway.
We’re all responsible for each other, and it’s time we started acting that way. I don’t have any answers. I can only bear witness.
Posted on August 3rd, 2008 by MiryamEhrlichWilliamson
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