13 Weeks To Go! Tuesday Open Thread

Keene Obama Office (4.00 / 1)

Great turn out at the Obama Office Opening/B-Day in Keene last night.

Everyone was there.

Hope > Fear

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 07:39:21 AM CDT

Similar scene in Concord and Manchester (0.00 / 0)

I got no pics :v(

I went to Concord to meet with Hodes staff. (Vet Organizing stuff) Then, I jumped over to the Obama office, which was packed, Yummy, Vegan carrot cake!!!! (More vet stuff)

Shot down to Manchester. Got there kinda late. Chatted with Chaz Proulx for awhile. He is working his butt off this cycle. Pheew!

Mostly I talked to staff about..... you guessed it...vet stuff.

That was how the sleepy guy spent his Obama B-Day in NH. Ground game is what it is all about.

Now comes the phone work.


The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 08:01:04 AM CDT

I guess MASS is a slam dunk n/t (0.00 / 0)

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

   Dorothy Parker

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 10:10:21 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

never take anything for granted. (4.00 / 4)

The Globe had a story yesterday that Obama's lead in MA was down to nine points.  

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt   [I'm an advisor to the NHDP Coordinated Campaign]

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 10:34:08 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The leads (0.00 / 0)

On electoral-vote.com, which uses a wide mix of poll data, the most striking thing is how narrow the leads are, almost everywhere. There are a bunch of states where neither candidate has 50%. But the trends are generally positive.

Re: Mass, one (unprovable) theory has it that Deval's numbers are depressing Obama's numbers. But EV shows a wider lead here than it did last week.

 

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by: JimC @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 10:53:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I remember 2000 (0.00 / 0)

No regrets, jerky boy goy.

That must make me a gentile jerk.

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 10:42:11 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You were in Manchester? (0.00 / 0)

Sorry I missed you.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 15:12:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not there until 7:30-ish (0.00 / 0)

I missed the protesters too.

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 22:19:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Obama gives Dems (4.00 / 4)

a slogan

On Republicans:

"They're very good at negative campaigning. They're not so good at governing."

Got this from BarbinMD on the Daily Kos, but it's too good (and true) to resist.

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by: jbd @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 10:34:48 AM CDT

P.J. O'Rourke does it even better (4.00 / 1)

"Republicans believe that government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it."

(Not too bad, especially since O'Rourke is a NH Republican himself!)

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 20:16:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Crunching the numbers on Oprah (0.00 / 0)

For the hardcore:

The Role of Celebrity Endorsements in Politics:
Oprah, Obama, and the 2008 Democratic Primary

August 2008

Abstract
Candidates in major political contests are commonly endorsed by other politicians, interest groups and celebrities. Prior to the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, Barack Obama was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, a celebrity with a proven track record of influencing her fans' commercial decisions. In this paper, we use geographic differences in subscriptions to O! - The Oprah Magazine and the sale of books Winfrey recommended as part of Oprah's Book Club to assess whether her endorsement affected the Primary outcomes. We find her endorsement had a positive effect on the votes Obama received, increased the overall voter participation rate, and increased the number of contributions received by Obama. No connection is found between the measures of Oprah's influence and Obama's success in previous elections, nor with underlying local political preferences. Our results suggest that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for approximately 1,000,000 additional votes for Obama.

(h/t Ben Smith)

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 11:14:44 AM CDT

Speaking of small d democracy (0.00 / 0)

I don't want to be tedious about the China thing, but now they're banning actual athletes. From the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Cheek is co-founder of Team Darfur, an organization composed of athletes attempting to draw attention to human rights violations in Darfur. China is a major customer of the oil produced in the war-torn region of Sudan.

Cheek said in a telephone interview Tuesday night that he received a call shortly after 5 p.m. (Eastern time) from someone either from the Chinese embassy or consulate who informed him that his visa had been revoked.

"I asked for a reason, and they said we don't give reasons," said Cheek, 29, a part-time Washington resident who was scheduled to leave for Beijing on Wednesday afternoon.

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by: JimC @ Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 08:41:48 AM CDT

What's more dangerous than an oppressive regime? (0.00 / 0)

An oppressive regime with cheap labor and good PR people.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 19:23:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bundling (0.00 / 0)

One more from the Post: a McCain bundler.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit -- who now serves as a consultant to his company -- Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.

(snip)

Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant's network live in modest homes in Southern California's Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates. Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March.

Like our nominee, I am worried about lobbyists. But I'm getting a bit worried about bundlers as well.

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by: JimC @ Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 08:52:21 AM CDT

Another bundler blunder (0.00 / 0)

Or rather, apparent crime.

TPM is covering this. Sargeant seems to have won government contracts under suspicious circumstances. And Hess Oil also had low-level employees contributing tens of thousands to GOP organizations.

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by: elwood @ Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 12:02:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I wonder... (0.00 / 0)

Last Thursday, I posted this regarding McCain's "Celebrity" ad:

http://www.bluehampshire.com/s...

Who's the real "celebrity" candidate?  (4.00 / 3)
Well let's see:

Q: Which candidate was the first (and to date only) US Senator to host an episode of Saturday Night Live?
A: John McCain

Q: Which candidate has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart twelve times, more than any other guest?
A: John McCain

Q: Which candidate was in Wedding Crashers?
A: John McCain

Q: Which candidate acted in an episode of 24?
A: John McCain

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm056...

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 11:29:20 AM EDT
[ Reply ]

Tonight on MSNBC's Verdict with Dan Abrams, the show opened with a very similar story, pointing out the same four examples.

On the off-chance anybody at MSNBC is reading this: here's another tip: cancel Verdict and replace its comic book graphics, oversimplified analysis ("Winners & Losers"), and insufferably repetitious host* with something its audience of Countdown viewers who can't think of anything else to watch will truly enjoy; it's time for Rachel Maddow to get her own show anyway.

*At the end of the Primary season, how many hour-long episodes and "After Hours" specials were spent with Abrams pressuring every guest over and over to say that Hillary deserves to be offered the VP nod?  Whether or not you think she does, that was neither news nor analysis nor entertainment, it was jut annoying.

Wow, open threads are dangerous, hehe.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 21:32:59 PM CDT

(h/t Doug Lindner) (0.00 / 0)

Posted to a Ben Smith thread via Ctrl-C,Ctrl-V.

Totally gave you props on the thread.

Maybe?

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 07:57:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Maybe that is is how it spread further. (0.00 / 0)

'cuz I surely used the h/t.

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 09:00:55 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Link? (0.00 / 0)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 18:06:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]