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The final presidential debate is this Wednesday, October 15th, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. It's the last chance for undecided voters to see Barack and John McCain side-by-side and determine who will bring the change this country needs. You can make the most of this opportunity by bringing your friends, family, and fellow supporters together to watch. Sign up to host a Debate Watch Party. We'll make sure you have everything you need to make the event a success. If you've hosted an event before, you know how powerful they can be to help grow our movement. If you haven't, it's a terrific way to show your support, and we'll be with you every step of the way to help. We're having a special conference call for Debate Watch Party hosts next week. We'll give you ideas for how to get your guests involved in the rest of the campaign. In these final weeks, each of us needs to do whatever we can to keep growing our movement and encourage undecided voters to cast their vote for change. Sign up to host a Debate Watch Party now: http://my.barackobama.com/debate-watch-party Thanks, Jon Jon Carson National Field Director Obama for America
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee...charged [during the RNC] that Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States." It may sound like a great line, but it's not true – not even close. Palin garnered 651 votes in 1996 and 909 votes in 1999 in her two races for mayor of Wasilla, according to the city. Biden, despite withdrawing from the race after the Iowa caucus, got 79,754 votes in the Democratic primaries.
It occurred to me today that Sarah Palin won't be on the Republican ticket in November...
My two cents, in response to my husband's coworkers who think that it would be a good idea to leave the country rather than have a president who "gives a handout to everyone who asks for it."
When 19-year-old Noblesville resident and leukemia patient ...
Having lived in Dearborn MI until recently, it was not unusual to see women wearing traditional middle eastern garb including the Muslim burqa/hijab (although many of these immigrants from the middle east were Christian refugees).
(By the way, this would be a more unusual scene here in Iowa.)
Apparently a couple of young women who came to the "Joe" to hear Sen Obama were not permitted to sit behind the podium - the seats controlled at all events for the well-orchestrated photo backdrop. These young women were wearing their headscarfs. Perhaps there was concern that the political opposition would somehow use the visual to portray Sen Obama as a Muslim terrorist or sympathizer.
Certainly at a private event like the rally in Detroit, it is within the campaign's discretion to seat people as it wishes. Was this the right thing to do? Is this like the lapel flag pin matter.. a distraction about appearances? Or has the fear of the opposition gotten under our collective skin?
Feel free to express an opinion.
Fired UP!!
By playing the 'divide and conquer' game for his wife, Bill Clinton caused some serious demographic damage in Appalachia and the white parts of the deep south.
My suggestion is that, with the permission of the Obama campaign, he re-visit all those small towns and tell the good people of these regions the REAL STORY about Sen Obama and his capacity to understand their issues and help them as our next President. I also suggest that the Obama campaign might want to prepare a script and dispatch a special "handler" for Clinton.
Dialogue, debate, transparency, metaphor, analogy can all be healthy in our collective social discourse. Threats, expressions of hatred - not so much. Combinations of pictures and words help us illustrate concepts for each other.
Just as there were three distinct speeches delivered by the candidates Tuesday night, so are there 3 distinctive approaches to conversations in the respective "supporter communities". As a lifelong Republican, I started my journey in McCain World last year as the activity simmered here in Iowa. Meeting Sen Obama with my now-voting-age children brought me here and briefly caused me to take a couple of peeks into HillaryLand.
This community is characterized by high energy, focus on achieving results, a new brand of politics, a transition to a new generation of leadership and, in general more liberal public policy approaches.
In contrast, there have been active censors who screen out any content that detracts from or challenges the top-down message at HillaryClinton.com.
The question is "what kind of world do we want?"
A few weeks ago, one of the bloggers put out a list of rules, procedures, etiquette which received something a little cooler than lukewarm in terms of response from the community. Beginning last week, it appears that the "edgier" posts are being deleted or bloggers send yellow flags as in a soccer match then having their posts subject to deletion.
There seems to be a trepidation about the response current and former Clinton supporters may experience as they first see posts on my.barackobama.com. I suggest that many of them have been here all along the route - at least since Iowa.
Freedom or Security? As was attributed to Benjamin Franklin (though some dispute on its origination), "he who will sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither freedom nor security". I learned this in my high school history class (Don Rumsfeld and I had same teacher - different years, and perhaps he skipped school that day).
Do we have the makings of an angry mob in here? I think not.
It all depends on how much class, leadership she demonstrates starting NOW!!
Next Saturday will be quite an event. THOUSANDS of HillGals are expected on HUNDREDS of buses next week.
The DNC rules committee is open to the public:
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/rbc-meeting-is-open-to-public.html
Ex-Prez Slick Willy has arranged for a "hospitality suite" in the hotel which will be open to all females wearing blue dresses while Mrs. Clinton pleads her case before the committee.
The bartender says there will be a special on whiskey shots and beer chasers all weekend regardless of attire.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has opened an 8-point national lead on Republican John McCain as the U.S. presidential rivals turn their focus to a general election race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
The Illinois senator has not yet secured the Democratic presidential nomination to run against McCain in November.
The poll also found Obama expanded his lead over Clinton in the Democratic race to 26 percentage points, doubling his advantage from mid-April as Democrats begin to coalesce around Obama and prepare for the general election battle with McCain.
Yes, we can!
Who cares what Mrs. Clinton does next in her political career, or even if she has one?
Hit that phone bank link and let's start making some calls to the good people of -
West Virginia
Kentucky
Oregon
Montana
South Dakota
Puerto Rico
Mrs. Clinton claims to be the only candidate to win "big" states, particularly big "blue" states. The principal reason she has been able to do so has been her ability to call in old favors from past political cronies. It has NOT been her special magic or appeal to voters in these jurisdictions.
The story is an old one that dates back to the elder Mayor Daley's regime in Chicago and Boss Tweed before that.
She won Ohio with the aid of the political patronage machine of Gov Ted Strickland with concentrated support from US Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones' minyans in the Cleveland area.
She won Pennsylvania with the aid of Gov Ed Rendell's powerful patronage machine with a local boost from Mayor Nutter to keep the lid on a Philadelphia blow-out.
She had the New York machines locked up.
Though neither "blue" nor a "big" state, she had the machinery of Sen and former Gov Evan Bayh in Indiana against which the Obama campaign pushed hard and almost won. And the machine of lame duck Gov Easley just couldn't deliver aganst the energetic forces for change.
We must keep the pressure on the opponent. She wants to win - desperately. Personally she has made many sacrifices over many years. But, she has to be DEFEATED - again and again. Yes, we can maintain the high road, but she must be defeated - that is what she understands.
Fired UP!
Let's make some calls to Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota and Puerto Rico!
Celine Dion’s “You and I” got her campaign through Iowa and beyond. However, the Canadian singer’s music had to be abandoned as the candidate danced the NAFTA flip-flop through blue collar union gigs in Ohio.
Music from Big Head Todd and the Monsters blared through the next several contests.
Indiana brought out Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and Slick Willy was banished to North Carolina after he day-dreamed too much about women with big hair.
Now we’re in West Virginia. What else would we expect from the consummate morphing candidate? Yes, a little Loretta!
“Well I was born a coal miner's daughter in a cabin on a hill in Butcher HollerWe were poor but we had love that's the one thing daddy made sure ofHe shovel coal to make a poor man's dollar
“Daddy worked all night in the Vanleer coal mine all day long in the field hoein' cornMommie rocked the baby that night read the Bible by a coal oil lightAnd everything would start all over come break of morn
“Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner's payMommie scrubbed our clothes on a wash board everydayI've seen her fingers bleed to complain there was no needShe's smile in mommie's understanding way
“In the summer time we didn't have shoes to wearBut in the wintertime we'd all get a brand new pairFrom themail order catalog money made by selling a hogDaddy always managed to get the money somewhere
“I'm proud to be a coal miner's daughter I remember well the well where I drew waterThe work we done was hard at night we'd sleep for we were tiredI never thought I'd ever leave Butcher Holler
“But a lots of things have changed since the way back thenAnd it's so good to be back home againNot much but the floor nothing lives there anymoreJust the mem'ries of a coal miner's daughter"
Give me a little Stevie Wonder and let's put this process behind us.
End the Drama; Elect Obama!!
Last night many of the bobbleheads were talking about ways the Obama campaign can "make up" with the Clintons to facilitate party unity prior to the general election.
There are 2 avenues that are UNACCEPTABLE from my perspective:
1) Offer her the VP slot. NEVER. It is inadviseable to put the Clintons a "heartbeat away" from the Oval Office. Just look at their past and their cronies- fugitives and felons, foreign and domestic. The politics of fear and divisiveness are INCOMPATIBLE with the politics of hope and inclusion.
2) Offer to pay off their campaign debt. Are they CRAZY? These people are carpetbagging, narcissistic MULTIMILLIONAIRES who have fed off of taxpayer money for decades. We are already committed to providing them pensions, health insurance and Secret Service protection for life. Most of the 1.5+ million contributors in here aren't multimillionaires, don't spend more than we earn, and have our retirement and health care insurance at risk for the rest of our lives.
No retreat baby, no surrender!!
Let's continue to WIN this thing by putting more points on the board!
Yes, she stretches the truth!!
Clinton role in health program disputed
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | March 14, 2008
WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton, who has frequently described herself on the campaign trail as playing a pivotal role in forging a children's health insurance plan, had little to do with crafting the landmark legislation or ushering it through Congress, according to several lawmakers, staffers, and healthcare advocates involved in the issue.
In campaign speeches, Clinton describes the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, as an initiative "I helped to start." Addressing Iowa voters in November, Clinton said, "in 1997, I joined forces with members of Congress and we passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program." Clinton regularly cites the number of children in each state who are covered by the program, and mothers of sick children have appeared at Clinton campaign rallies to thank her.
But the Clinton White House, while supportive of the idea of expanding children's health, fought the first SCHIP effort, spearheaded by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, because of fears that it would derail a bigger budget bill. And several current and former lawmakers and staff said Hillary Clinton had no role in helping to write the congressional legislation, which grew out of a similar program approved in Massachusetts in 1996.
"The White House wasn't for it. We really roughed them up" in trying to get it approved over the Clinton administration's objections, Hatch said in an interview. "She may have done some advocacy [privately] over at the White House, but I'm not aware of it."
"I do like her," Hatch said of Hillary Clinton. "We all care about children. But does she deserve credit for SCHIP? No - Teddy does, but she doesn't."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/14/clinton_role_in_health_program_disputed?mode=PF
The Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act (Obama – Coburn)
Hidden, last-minute earmarks hide pork and add to wasteful federal spending. Senator Obama sponsored the Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act. The bill would shed light on the almost 16,000 earmarks that were included in spending bills in 2005. Under the bill, all earmarks, including the name of the requestor and a justification for the earmark, would have to be disclosed 72 hours before they could be considered by the full Senate. Senators would be prohibited from advocating for an earmark if they have a financial interest in the project or earmark recipient. And, earmark recipients would have to disclose to an Office of Public Integrity the amount that they have spent on registered lobbyists and the names of those lobbyists. Several of these provisions were included in the ethics and lobbying reform bill that passed the Senate in January 2007.
Obama, Lugar Secure Funding for Implementation of Nonproliferation Law: $48 million funding increase to be used to destroy conventional weapons stockpiles, intercept weapons of mass destruction and respond to proliferation emergencies Thursday, June 28, 2007 WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee accepted their request to provide funding to implement the Lugar-Obama nonproliferation initiative. The Appropriations Committee expressed support for the initiative and provided $48 million for Lugar-Obama, $36 million for programs to destroy heavy conventional weapons, $10 million for efforts to intercept weapons and materials of mass destruction, and $2 million for rapid response to proliferation detection and interdiction emergencies. This is the culmination of an 18 month effort to authorize and fund the Lugar-Obama initiative.First introduced in November 2005 and enacted in 2007, the Lugar-Obama initiative enhances U.S. efforts to destroy conventional weapons stockpiles and to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction throughout the world.
