Federal Campaigns

Who is your top pick for the Republican nominee in 2008?

Hillary 4 U and Me

Christmas has come early! Please, dear Lord, let this be the real deal!

Romney Is Out

So says Time...

Thoughts?

Is Edwards a Hypocrite for Attacking Obama's Senate Record

On January 21, 2008 the Democrat candidates for President debated in South Carolina. John Edwards attacked Senator Barak Obama for voting "present" 100 times.

If the embed doesn't work, click on this link to watch the Edwards attack. read more »

Problems for Hillary in the Michigan "win"

The Michigan Democratic primary last night was unimportant for delegates to the convention, but it did show two very interesting results.

The first is that she clearly doesn't have a lot of support, even in the Democratic party. She only earned 55% of the vote in a virtually uncontested race. Uncommitted earned 40% of the vote. I know that turnout was light, but 55% in an uncontested race doesn't give me a lot of confidence that Hillary can win a contested race. Is she really as electable as some of her supporters say she is? read more »

Huckabee Risks An Appearance on Colbert Report

It's always a dangerous think for a politician to come on the Colbert Report. Some do okay, but most look silly.

Huck-a-boom

I'm so grumpy. I had a blog post queued up for months about "The Case for Mike Huckabee", but never got around to it. Mostly I just didn't care that much about the Republican side of the field.

But now, it appears, Governor Huckabee is way out in the lead in Iowa. He can't be ignored. In fact, Time has just rolled out Why They Love Huckabee and it is exactly what I would have written. read more »

Andy Young to Barack Obama: You Need To Act "More Black"

The high school that I went to in Atlanta was very diverse racially. In fact in 8th and 9th grade I was the only white guy at my lunch table. I didn't think much of it; they were just the guys I hung out with.

I do recall one episode in particular in high school that heightened my awareness of race. There was a black guy one grade ahead of me that I knew fairly well. We had a few classes together. Unfortunately this guy often was the butt of jokes from other black guys at our school who said that he "acted white". By this guy's senior year he was sick of the taunts. So at the start of the school year, he showed up one day at school with a gun. Not to shoot anyone. But because in his mind (and based on those who had taunted him for "acting white") "acting black" meant acting like a thug.

I am reminded of this sad story today as I watch this video of former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young talking about Barack Obama. When asked about Obama running for president this year, Young commented that he wanted Obama to be president but not until 2016. In contrast, he was vocal about his support for Hillary Clinton because of Bill Clinton who "is every bit as black as Barack." He also mentioned that Bill Clinton has "probably gone with more black women than Barack".

It appears to me that Andrew Young is making the case that being black is mostly defined by one's actions. I'm not trying to bash Bill Clinton here, but what exactly does Clinton do to "act black"? This whole concept is highly insulting and someone like Andrew Young, whom I am long respected for his Civil Rights work, should know better. read more »

Democratic Debate open thread review

I had a debate watch party with Richardson supporters in DC yesterday and we were pleased with the Governor's solid performance. Although, he clearly didn't catch any of the headlines. It would be tough when Dennis Kucinich admits that he has seen a UFO or when Edwards sharpened knives started slicing and dicing Hillary.

This isn't the first or the last debate, but it was a pretty substantial one at two hours. What did you think? read more »

Barack Obama Coming to Atlanta

Earlier this summer I went to see Rudy Giuliani when he came to Atlanta. This week I will be checking out Barack Obama. Here are the details on his visit. Hope to see some of you guys there.

A Message from:

CONGRESSMAN HANK JOHNSON, CHAIR
GEORGIANS FOR OBAMA

INVITATION AND CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN ME AND THOUSANDS OF GEORGIANS FOR CHANGE!
in
WELCOMING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

BARACK OBAMA
Senator from Illinois

to

THE GEORGIA WORLD CONGRESS CENTER
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

(DOORS OPEN AT 4:00 PM)
DONATION - $25 General Admission

For more information or R.S.V.P read more »

I'm not voting for Hillary just because she is a woman, but...

Whenever someone starts with "I'm not just..." and follows that clause with "but," you know they are lying.

Today, my colleague, RA, uttered the blog post title during a conversation with me today. She's politically aware and says she supports Hillary. I asked her why and she wasn't able to articulate Hillary's position on anything (other than she's married to Bill Clinton and he's the smartest and best advisor a president could ask for - to which I agree).

So I kept pushing her and trying to see where she agreed with Hillary because this woman is rabidly anti-war and Hillary isn't. read more »

NR on Richardson

At the risk of re-igniting Expat's passions on the subject, I'll point out that National Review has an interesting analysis today of Richardson's campaign to date.

As a side note, maybe Expat will respect NR a bit more now that he's been called a "tuned-in Democratic activist" in its (e-)pages (see penultimate graf). Ha!

Pollsters think we should prepare for a Clinton presidency

On Tuesday, I went to a "Power Breakfast" sponsored by MSNBC and the National Journal that was moderated by Chris Matthews. It was very interesting.

The panel was made up of Peter Hart, Neil Newhouse, Charlie Cook and Linda Douglas. The guys are all pollsters and Linda is an MSNBC journalist. Peter is a Democrat, Neil is a Republican, and Charlie is non-partisan.

You'd think that they wouldn't agree on much. However, they were all agreed that in January 2009, a Democrat will be taking the oath of office. And that Democrat will probably be Hillary Clinton. read more »

DC Insiders pick the GOP favorites

The National Journal (which, along with my own CQ Press are the two Bibles of the Beltway) has a new poll out showing DC insider's predictions on who will win the GOP nimination. It's a dead heat between Giuliani and -- surprise! -- Romney. I'm telling you, if you think Romney has no chance, you've got your head in the sand.

I'll repeat a comment I made on another post:

Now, I don't expect everyone will agree with me that Romney is the favorite, but how can you consider the strong Republican leader in Iowa and New Hampshire "a long shot at best"? Who was the last Repub that won those two and didn't get the nomination? And who was the last Republican nominee that was "a long shot at best" in the general? Some rational analysis, please.

Anyone? Anyone?

Public Opinion, Iraq, and 2008

I realize that I am much more supportive of the War in Iraq than most on this site, as well as most political pundits. But that's not my point today. I also realize that my estimation of the public's support for the War in Iraq is much higher than that of most political pundits. In fact, as I've written before, I believe that there is very little chance that a candidate who opposes the war will be elected president. Now I've got some interesting company -- no other than George McGovern.

Regardless of your own attitude towards the war, how do you think its impact will play out electorally in 2008?

Watching YouTube to Avoid Spreadsheet Duty

One thing I've learned quickly as an intern is that if you don't have anything to do, you will get the job no one wants. On Tuesday that meant I was given photocopied pages of the Illinois Bar Association directory. I was given Tucker to Zimmerman and told to make a spreadsheet of all the attorneys' first name, last name, e-mail, law firm, address, etc.

It was MIND NUMBINGLY BORING!

So I quickly decided I needed to do something to ensure the rest of my week didn't look the same. I don't mind calling people, asking for cash, but we aren't calling anyone this week because people are touchy about being harassed for $2300 during their vacation time. I had to do something, these mind numbing spreadsheets were sucking the life out of me.

I wrote the research department, who I met at the debate last week, with an idea. Maybe I could watch the YouTube videos for the upcoming debate on July 23rd and write down what people are asking.

They wrote back that I had the gig. Go watch all 473 (and counting) 30-second videos and write down the questions. read more »

Another stone in the Edwards "phony rich man" meme wall?

I don't know if it is fair, but John Edwards is quickly becoming the "phony rich man" in the Democratic race. First, it was the huge place he bought to serve as his presidential retreat. Then it was the $400 haircuts. And now, the New York Times has an expose into Edward's efforts to eradicate poverty - In Aiding Poor, Edwards Built Bridge to 2008.

The organization, the Center for Promise and Opportunity, raised $1.3 million in 2005, and — unlike a sister charity he created to raise scholarship money for poor students — the main beneficiary of the center’s fund-raising was Mr. Edwards himself, tax filings show

So is Edwards' sin advocating to help the poor, while being rich or is it that he truly is a phony rich guy? read more »

gurufrisbee must be in favor of the Iraq war

As anyone who has been following the infighting between gurufrisbee and myself about the Democratic Presidential nominee, you'll know that I support Bill Richardson and gurufrisbee supports "the front-runner" of the Democratic party. He hasn't yet declared, but he has told me on several occasions that it is pointless to support anyone but the "top tier" candidates because it will just pull the party apart and put a Republican in the White House. read more »

Faith and Democratic politics

I don’t have time to say much about it right now, but here are some accounts of an event held last night (you can find the video on this page). The three leading Democratic candidates spent a little time before a friendly audience answering basically softball questions on faith and politics. The campaigns will surely get some good footage to use for outreach to moderate and liberal Christians. I’d ask this: if one’s faith, or a precept derived from it, is a legitimate point of departure for a discussion about poverty policy, why isn’t it also a legitimate point of departure for a discussion of abortion, same-sex marriage, etc.? Another question: is it possible for people of faith to disagree about what policy faith demands for poverty and social welfare as--they would surely contend--it is about abortion, same-sex marriage, etc.?

read more »

Rudy Giuliani in Atlanta today

Life is often about being at the right place at the right time. Often bloggers and reporters in D.C. have a huge leg up on the rest of us that do political blogging and commentating for the obvious reasons. Today however I was in the right place at the right time. In the wake of last night's Republican presidential debate, Rudy Giuliani came to Atlanta today and chose Oglethorpe University as a place to speak, which coincidentally is less than 500 yards from my house.

Rudy spoke for about 45 minutes to a packed house. Not surprisingly, he comes across much better in this type of "townhall" format than he does in a televised debate. He spent the first 20 minutes speaking about what he thinks are the two most important issues and then took questions. Rudy spoke very forcefully about national security and terrorism and explained that we have to be on offense. Regardless of your opinion on national security, this is Giuliani at his best. read more »