Where’s the Outrage?

Saturday Evening News Roundup

• 100,000 people showed up to see Barack Obama in St. Louis today. That’s a staggering number of people, yet daily tracking polls show the race narrowing over the last few days. This ain’t over until the fat lady has counted all of the ballots.
• The McCain campaign continues its relentless assault on Barack Obama and the community activist group ACORN. Despite the fact it has been proven that ACORN did not commit voter fraud and that there are virtually no links to the Obama campaign. Let’s face it. Reality has never stopped John McCain and Sarah Palin before. There is a nice, thoughtful editorial in the New York Times covering ACORN.
• The New York Times has a series of five or six articles titled “The Reckoning”. These articles try to describe how we got in his financial meltdown. As I’ve said before, there is no one culprit. Both Republicans and Democrats can be blamed for being asleep at the wheel. In this latest installment, Peter Goodman takes another look at the Alan Greenspan legacy. Specifically, Goodman examines Alan Greenspan and derivatives. I don’t understand much about derivatives, but when George Soros and Warren Buffett both avoid this investment tool I believe that says something.
• John McCain mentioned in the last debate that he was proud of his connection with G. Gordon Liddy. Really? Wasn’t Liddy the one who tried to circumvent the Constitution and destroy our government? Wasn’t he, in truth, planning an assassination?
• Michele Bachmann (a Republican from MN) said some pretty remarkably racist things (crazy) on “Hardball” yesterday…
• Scrutiny Hooligans, a fabulous local blog, has done the legwork and put together a voter’s guide for Progressives.
• If you are looking to get involved in the final days of the campaign here in Asheville, North Carolina, there’s no better organization to assist than the Buncombe County Democrats.
• Barack Obama picked up another major newspaper endorsement today — the Miami Herald.
• Real Plumbers seem to be backing Barack Obama.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Election 2008 by ecthompson
Comments Off

I heard this guy on NPR a year or so ago and he just blew my mind. He has the perfect voice; not too sweet, not too rough. He can sing just about anything. Put it this way on his debut album Stevie Wonder thought high enough of him to play on this tune - Sunshine. Raul Midon. Check him out.

Tags: Music by ecthompson
Comments Off

Elizabeth Dole is the senator from North Carolina. She is running against Kay Hagan, who is a Democratic senator, who wants a promotion. I have been watching the race but not really posting that much about it. I was talking with Kos about the political landscape and I brought up this race. We both think that it is a very winnable seat for the Democrats.

From DailyKos (brownsox):

If you’re looking for a guide on how to run a flawless campaign, perhaps the best example for this cycle comes from North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, from Democrat Kay Hagan.

Rasmussen. 10/8. Likely voters. MoE 4%. (9/23 results)

That’s a nice-looking five-point lead for the Democrat, and even Republican-leaning pollster Civitas has Hagan ahead 45-42.

Meanwhile, Hagan is racking up newspaper endorsements; she received the Winston-Salem Journal’s endorsement today, to follow the Greensboro News and Record and the Asheville Citizen-Times. From the Journal endorsement:

Hagan, 55, is a bundle of brains and energy. A lawyer and former banker, she has been a leader in the state Senate almost since the day she entered 10 years ago. Alongside budget committee co-chairwoman Sen. Linda Garrou, Hagan led the crafting of the budgets that have guided state spending on schools, roads, social services, economic development and much more.

The editorial outlines the chief complaint against Dole:

No one questions Dole’s work ethic. She’s a vibrant woman. But while in Washington, Dole has reserved her best efforts for issues of importance to the national Republican Party and the Bush administration, not North Carolinians.

As the nation’s financial system teeters, we must also question Dole’s leadership on the Senate Banking Committee. She may have co-sponsored legislation to improve federal regulation a few years ago, but she could not win its passage even in a Republican-led Senate.

This is reflective of perhaps the greatest success for the Hagan campaign and Democratic organizations in the state. The selection of a successful message (that Dole was out of touch, ineffective, and a Washington insider) and relentlessly and effectively pursued that message.

The DSCC’s ads in the North Carolina race have been some of the best we’ve seen, blending humor and cold facts to cast Dole as an absentee backbencher.

Hagan began this race trailing by 15 points. Today, she stands poised to win it. She has run a nearly flawless campaign, independent organizations have been at their most effective, and as a result, Elizabeth Dole’s days in Washington are numbered.

On the web:
Kay Hagan for North Carolina

Update by kos: This is fun:

Tags: Election 2008, State and Local Politics by ecthompson
1 Comment »