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Yesterday I was polled by an outfit that appeared on my Caller ID as "1-231-224-2033 Research Center".
It was an actual person, not a pre-recorded call.
She asked if I was a registered voter and I said Yes.
She asked "Do you vote at this address?" and I said yes.
Then she just said "Thank you" and hung up.
It seems odd to me; I would have expected my answers to weed me IN to the sample that they wanted to ask about candidate preferences. And I can't quite figure out what other purpose might be served here.
(Time for a write-in campaign. Anyone know of a real Democrat with an easily spelled name from Newmarket? - promoted by Dean Barker)
Doreen Howard, a state rep from Newmarket, endorsed John McCain Thursday.
On Tuesday she asked the voters to select her as the nominee of the Democratic Party. Two days later, nomination in hand, she endorsed the Republican nominee for President.
It makes sense, really. McCain is running a campaign free of any ethical compass, using outright lies in campaign speeches and advertisements. I guess it rubs off on his supporters.
(Bumped, because it's too important an issue, and almost never gets discussed. - promoted by Dean Barker)
The Executive Council is a strange creature. There are only five districts in the state and the boundaries of those districts don't follow other divisions neatly. Counties and state Senate districts are split into different EC districts and vice versa.
Winning an EC seat doesn't seem to be a steppingstone to higher office (indeed, as Dartmouth's Dick Winters says, New Hampshire has few elected steppingstones at all). It may be a secure seat: Ray Burton has won re-election every two years for over a quarter century. The EC just doesn't get much attention.
John McCain is screaming bloody murder because Obama described McCain's economic plans as "putting lipstick on a pig."
McCain claims that this was a sly way of insulting Governor Palin, who had referred to herself as a pit bull in lipstick. McCain claims that Obama's meaning was clear: he called Palin a pig.
It's difficult to maintain a fair perspective on these charges. But, after a little introspection, I believe Obama should offer a clarification of his language.
People don't vote based on Vice Presidential candidates. They don't decide races; I can't think of a case where they have even tipped one.
Well, wait: maybe the Dole-Mondale debate in 1976? Dole snarled about the "Democrat wars" in his lifetime, lumping World War II and Vietnam together? It was a close race and he sure didn't help Ford. But the big debate story was Ford "freeing Poland."
But we've never ever had a Presidential candidate this OLD. That logically should make the running mate a bigger factor.
I understand the logic of "Don't attack Palin - attack McCain's judgment for picking her." But I don't think that little subtlety works.
However, I don't believe McCain DID pick her. I don't believe he had that much latitude. Leaks - apparently from his own camp - say he wanted Ridge or Lieberman. McCain doesn't call the shots in his own campaign? He is too weak to stand up to the religious zealots in his own party? I think that has legs. He is too insecure to share a ticket with a Huckabee or Brownback? That has legs.
McCain will do his damnedest to overturn Roe (and Griswold too, if you're keeping score). He will get the opportunity to ensure that - pivotal vote John Paul Stevens is nearly 90. The independents and "moderate Republicans" he needs don't want that. The best way to make sure everyone knows that McCain is extremely anti-choice may be to talk about Palin. Does McCain endorse her positions? If not completely, spell it out in detail Senator.
She is a phony and she is weird. John McCain is a phony and he is weird. Neither is a maverick. If we tried, we couldn't avoid her own status while exposing his.
The two Presidential debates will be a Big Deal. The single Vice Presidential debate will be a minor side show. She will do well enough in that debate. People who talk about how she "can't face the press" are just helping the Republicans lower expectations. (The reason she can't face the press is all the scandals and lies - not that she cannot think on her feet.)
So: she should not be a focus - but she should be in the frame of the picture we present through November. The focus will be on McCain; she will be at the side reminding everyone that a) he is a puppet who can't pick his own running mate; b) this weird extremist was good enough for him; and c) she is the President if the old man can't finish the term.
Here is a list of Democratic candidates appearing on Tuesday's ballot. There aren't many contested races:
Governor: John Lynch (I) v. Katy Forry
US Senate: Jeanne Shaheen v. Raymond Stebbins
State Senate: Peter Macdonald v. Amanda Merrill
Carroll County Commissioner Seat 2: Dorothy Solomon v. Dana Streeter
Carroll County Commissioner Seat 3: William Albee v. Henry VanWyck Spencer
Grafton County Register of Deeds: Cliff Desrosiers v. Bill Sharp (I)
Hillsborough County Register of Deeds: Arthur Beaudry v. Paula Pappas Borbotsina v. Benjamin Clemons v. Louise Wright
Merrimack County Attorney: Ted Barnes v. Katherine Rogers
Strafford County Register of Probate: Patty Cole v. Kimberly Quint Wood
Strafford County Commissioner: Ronald Chagnon v. Paul Dumont v. Earle Goodwin v. George Maglaras v. Robert Watson
I won't try to figure out which state representative races are contested: that would mean checking how many seats each district has and counting the candidates competing.
Please feel free to promote any candidates you favor or share simple relevant factual information about any other candidates - but I don't think we should "go negative" here against Democratic candidates.
I think it started when I read about Mitt Romney running out of room in the car and strapping the family dog in a crate on the roof for a 600-mile highway speed drive home. I knew about this because the family told the story, from maybe 20 years ago, as an endearing example of how resourceful Mitt is. When the panicking dog dirties the rear window Mitt pulls over at a gas station, cleans things up, and keeps driving. An example of leadership, his family seemed to think, as they recounted the story.
Then it was the story of Cindy McCain adopting a child in Bangladesh without John McCain knowing. Senator McCain tells the story. Again, he seems to think it is endearing. Surprise, honey! Most couples I know wouldn't get a new refrigerator without the partner helping decide. Things are different in Senator McCain's world.
The grandest example comes from Sarah Palin. Eight months pregnant expecting a special needs child, she flies down to a political event in Texas. When labor begins she rushes not to the nearest hospital but to a plane for the eight-hour ride back to Alaska. Five months later she is offered the chance to run for Vice President. She knows that her 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant - something that will clearly have to be disclosed before November. Without asking the daughter she agrees to run and put her family under the klieg lights. They bring the father and groom-to-be down to introduce him at the national convention.
I really don't want to second-guess anyone else's life and family. And really, I'm voting for Obama; I can't claim to be an undecided voter tipped by this. But like you I am a voter. Our civic duty demands that we evaluate these candidates: do we trust them with the authority that we alone can grant? Do we trust them with the awesome power of leading this nation?
And for the very first time, after following national elections for about fifty years, I am faced with a startling, disorienting situation. These are not simply people who I disagree with. These are not simply people who I consider unqualified.
These people are just plain WEIRD. If they are mentally stable it is a stability I do not understand.
John McCain's handlers will not let Sarah Palin speak to reporters for the rest of the campaign.
At this point it is unclear whether they fear
a) she will appear too stupid;
b) she will go off-message from the official McCain positions;
c) she will outshine McCain; or
d) all of the above.
[Update: I want to apologize for suggesting in the diary title that John McCain would try to exploit his time as a POW. As we know, he doesn't like to mention it.]
I'm tired of this Surge-style scoring: wait til it's over then figure out what the goals were.
John McCain will talk about how he and Sarah are bad-ass Energy Wizards and Reformers. But here's where he needs to make points tonight:
John McCain will not bring another four years of George Bush
Our ticket has a vision for the future - we bring Change (not quite the same thing)
I'm a regular guy who understands you, unlike Barack Hussein Obama (defuse 12 houses, $300K wardrobe)
I'm healthier and younger than you think
We're not just theocrats - we're Laffer-lovin' Libertarian Empire-Builders
His campaign may not think he needs to do any of that. He may just tell us he's More American than Obama. He could get a lot of cheers in St. Paul that way.
At last night's Republican Convention both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin dripped with contempt when they mentioned Barack Obama's experience as a "community organizer."
Here's a few examples of the movements that have been led by community organizers:
The abolitionist movement
The women's suffrage movement
The prohibitionist movement
The civil rights movement
The environmental movement
The anti-abortion movement
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
The Red Cross
Doctors Without Borders
These are some of the people and ideas the Republicans sneer at.
Tonight Sarah Palin introduces herself to America.
Will she talk from a generic speech written for someone else? Will she address the questions about her nomination and her record - the vetting, the earmarks, the book banning?
Will she play the attack dog? Can she play that and the hockey mom at once?
She is an accomplished candidate speaking before a friendly crowd. How will America respond?
And what of her warm-up acts? How will Mitt set himself up for a 2012 run? Will Rudy woo the delegates or just snarl at the Democrats?
The central theme of the 2008 Presidential campaign is now clear. It will be: "Waaaahhhhh! They're picking on us! Unfair!"
That's been going on for many months with John McCain. What's that? Why yes, I did know that he was a POW for five and a half years.
Now it will go on for the Vice Presidential nominee too. Mention that she's a wee bit unqualified, that she flip-flopped on the Bridge to Nowhere, that this is an affirmative action stunt, that even her supporters just say, "Well, maybe she isn't qualified today, but it's only the Veep slot" - say any of those things and you'll be attacked for picking on a woman.
Defending their own positions and records is too tough for poor John McCain because he was a POW. It's too tough for poor Sarah Palin because she is a woman.
You just knew that this was coming, after they started talking again about "personal responsibility," didn't you?
Stevie Wonder, Al Gore, Joe Biden - and Barney Smith before him.
This is an open thread.
More (Dean): From the speech:
"John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change."
Not only a marvelous quip, but if you replaced the word "McCain" with "Sununu," you have an equally accurate and equally damning statement.
Today's crop of worry-warts has not yet started over on DailyKos. Over the past few days there has been a steady stream of diaries talking about how the convention has been too boring, or Hillary's speech didn't praise Obama enough, or speakers were not attacking McCain enough. Much of this concern seems to come directly from the Pundit Industry.
In my opinion the convention has been just about perfect.
Am I missing some effective ads that would change the picture?
(In commercial advertising this approach doesn't really work. Negative ads are the exception: The Pepsi Challenge and 'We Try Harder' being lonely exceptions.)
Governor Sibelius was just on - what a different, emotionally cooler experience it would be with her on the ticket instead of Biden! Federico Pena now up.
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