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October 31, 2006

Tuesday Evening Open Thread

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50-State Strategy: The State Houses

The New York Times discusses the 50-state strategy in an article today about state legislatures and their potential to go Democrat in next week's election.

More than 6,000 state legislative seats in 46 states are on the Nov. 7 ballot, and like the seismic state elections in 1994 and 1974 the cumulative impact of the outcomes could be immense, with Democrats possibly gaining control of a majority of state capitols for the first time in a decade.

And our press team connects the dots on why this is important:

These gains are important because they will affect the redrawing of Congressional maps, increase the number of women in leadership positions, and influence the outcomes on important state legislative issues such as the minimum wage and stem cell research. These elections have been bolstered by the DNC's 50 state strategy, which is building the infrastructure and grass roots capacity we need to elect Democrats up and down the ballot across the country.

Good news indeed. Contact your state party for more information about races in your area.

New Poll Numbers in Key Senate Races

Below are the results of the CNN State Polls, percentages given are likely voters.

Missouri - Senate
Claire McCaskill (D) 49%
Jim Talent (R) 49%

New Jersey - Senate
Bob Menendez (D) 51%
Thomas Kean, Jr. (R) 44%

Ohio - Senate
Sherrod Brown (D) 54%
Mike DeWine (R) 43%

Tennessee - Senate
Harold Ford (D) 44%
Bob Corker (R) 52%

Virginia - Senate
Jim Webb (D) 50%
George Allen (R) 46%

*These polls were conducted October 26-29, and have a 3% margin of error.

It's not too late to make a difference in your state. Our action of the day is all about getting your friends to the polls. If you'd like to do even more, give your state party a call. We all know that these last few days before the election are critical, and that a poll doesn't dictate election results.

Federal support for stem cell research, a minimum wage increase, and the enactment of the 9/11 commission recommendations. Three reasons to vote for Democrats. Three reasons to hope for the future. And in these last seven days, three reasons to take action.

One Week Out Open Thread

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October 30, 2006

MN-01: Fighting Dem Tim Walz: "Let's change this country and let's do it together"

The Wall Street Journal looks at Fighting Dem Tim Walz and his campaign to unseat the GOP incumbent in Minnesota's 1st District:

If there is one House race that captures the struggle between Republican power in Congress and a grass-roots demand for change, it is here in Minnesota's First District.

Twelve-year incumbent Rep. Gil Gutknecht is a political survivor and force for the dairy industry as a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee. But in a district President Bush carried twice, the Republican Party and corporate allies are spending heavily to fend off Democrat Tim Walz, a high-school teacher and political newcomer...

"It's been, 'Holy smokes, the First District can elect a guy who woke up one morning and said let's change this country and let's do this together,' " Mr. Walz laughs.

The heart of his campaign is just that: Everyman running for Congress. With his former National Guard artillery unit deployed in Iraq, Mr. Walz emphasizes the need for change in the war's strategy. But most of all, given the House's low standing in opinion polls and voter anxiety about America losing its way, he sees his candidacy as a wake-up call for Congress and the nation.

"When you wake up Nov. 8, it can be a brand new world," he told supporters last week in Owatonna. "It's not vindictiveness. It's not us saying all our Republican neighbors are wrong. It's us saying this Congress is broken. This rubber-stamp Congress is not giving this country the ability to move forward and compromise."

"If you know how good we are going to feel, picture for a moment how the rest of the world is going to feel. When they wake up Nov. 8, they're going to look and say, 'The Americans are back.'"...

I had a chance to talk with Tim months ago about his race and I can confirm what the WSJ is saying - he definitely had no sense of pretense when we chatted - he was just a guy running for office because like so many other decisions he had made in his life, he felt it was the right thing to do, and he felt he had to step up to the plate and serve his country. Again.

More WSJ:

Mr. Walz began running a new Iraq war TV ad last week, showing him standing before empty football bleachers intended to represent the number of dead U.S. troops, now approaching 3,000. "Serving right now are kids I taught, coached and trained to be soldiers," he says to the camera. "They deserve a plan for Iraq to govern itself so they can come home."

I called over to the Walz campaign to check-in with them after reading this article - and if the sound I heard in the background is any indication - they are going strong. Tim was at a rally with Senate nominee Amy Klobuchar and Senator Obama. The noise I heard, about 2500 Minnesota Democrats cheering in the background.

Monday Night Open Thread

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A Week in Ohio

So I've been on the ground in Ohio for a week. I'm in Columbus, stationed at the Ohio Democratic Party headquarters and working with the Ohio Coordinated campaign. It's a crazy place - the offices seem huge and are constantly teaming with people - staff hurrying in and out, volunteers rotating between shifts on the phones or door-to-door canvasses. In every corner someone is on the phone trying to schedule something or someone, most likely trying to rangle another few hours out of a volunteer for GOTV. In short, it's a cacophony of campaign sounds, and it's wonderful.

So how did I end up here and what am I doing? I'm sure you're all dying to know. So here's the deal... Every campaign cycle the DNC works to send as many staffers out into the field as possible to help our campaigns in any way possible. In my case, I got an e-mail asking if I would like to go campaign, and of course, I said yes. We were asked to name places we would be interested in going and then the powers-that-be matched us up with what the needs were out in the field. I requested a number of places, but Ohio was my 1st choice, and luckily it all worked out. So now I'm here until Election Day.

Last week I spent most of the week working on putting together lists of polling locations (the Ohio Secretary of State does not maintain one, so you need to gather a list from each of Ohio's 88 counties) and also worked on the absentee ballot request program that the ODP has organized. It's good basic field work - something I haven't done for a while, and it feels good to get back to it.

I'm trying to keep you guys filled in on anything super exciting that happens - like President Clinton's visit on my 1st day here or Michael J. Fox's rally with Sherrod Brown, but for the most part I am not here as a blogger - but as another set of hands to help paint Ohio blue!

If you, for reasons I could not possibly comprehend, have not yet made your way to your local campaign office, there is no time like the present! Every hour from now until Election Day is precious time and even if you can only donate a few - it will be worth it.

Rally in Columbus: Michael J. Fox and Sherrod Brown

When Claire McCaskill debuted her newest ad, featuring the familiar face of Michael J. Fox speaking plainly and honestly to the camera about the importance of electing McCaskill, a supporter of stem cell research, over her opponent, Senator Jim Talent, who had voted against expanding federal funding for the research, it made news.

When right-wing pundits seized on the ad to personally attack Michael J. Fox, who was visibly exhibiting the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, (one of the many diseases that stem cell research has the potential to cure) it was appalling, desperate and despicable. Fox, a vocal proponent of medical research became the target of ugly attacks. It was suggested that he should have waited until his symptoms abated to film the ad, or that he was exaggerating for dramatic effect.

Their attacks backfired. Michel J. Fox stood up to these bullies and he has continued to speak out about the critical need for this research. As election day approaches he has traveled around the country to campaign for candidates who support stem cell research. Today, he made his way to Columbus, Ohio where he was joined by Sherrod Brown and a packed room of Ohio Democrats, for a rally in support of Brown's Senate campaign.

The event was scheduled to start around 11 am - but as these things often do - it started at about 11:30. The Ohio State Law School Auditorium was packed - every seat was filled - and many students and supporters had to be crowded into the aisles to find a place to sit or stand.

On the stage Sherrod was joined by a number of supporters, including some very impressive children who were there with their parents to show their support for the issue. Sherrod got things started by welcoming everyone for coming out to show their support. After his opening remarks we got a brief primer on stem cell research from a doctor and professor from Case Western University. Although the crowd seemed was pretty well versed on the issue, the doctor's speech served as a reminder of just how critical this issue is to medical advancements - and how many people could be helped by this science. Millions of Americans - boys, girls, moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas - suffer from diseases that could be cured by advances in stem cell research. This is why it is so unfathomable that President Bush used his first and only veto of his Presidency to block an expansion of federal funding for this life-saving science, standing in the way of hope for millions of Americans.

Sherrod:

Several years ago I was speaking with Dr. Copeland, Jeffrey Copeland, who ran the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta…he was outlining to me what he considers to be the milestones in public health...He said both the public health achievements and the medical health achievements that save lives don’t come easy. Getting from the problem to the solution is hard enough without any obstacles in the way, and that is why embryonic stem cell research is so important.

Stem cell research is obviously worth fighting for, and that is why what Michael J. Fox is doing is so very important – he has shown great courage and great passion...

Then Michal J. Fox took the stage. He had to wait a moment for the crowd to quiet down before beginning to speak, and he seemed almost embarrassed by the applause. He opened by thanking everyone for being there, including an earlier speaker, Tanner, a local six grade student, who shared his personal experience of living with juvenile diabetes. Fox emphasized how important it is to share stories of everyday survival, noting how even in his 40s he has to share his own experiences. He called Tanner an "inspiration".

Fox said being in Columbus was a homecoming of sorts. He reminded us that his popular character, Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties had called Columbus home, He joked that Keaton would be happy that Fox had worn a tie.

Then he got more serious - explaining his decision to campaign for Sherrod, and for other candidates like him, who were running against opponents who had voted against stem cell research.

Fox:

It's not secret I am a vocal advocate for medical research - but I am not alone - the majority of the House of Representatives, the United States Senate and over 70 percent of Americans support stem cell research - but Senator DeWine stood with the President and voted against stem cell research...

As you may know, I had a run-in with a less than compassionate conservative. I guess I'm not supposed to speak with you until my symptoms go away, or maybe I'm supposed to go away, but I'm not going to go away and neither are the millions of Americans and their families who live with these diseases...

The stem cell policy of President Bush that was supported by Senator DeWine is a rejection of the future of medical research. Well, forgive me for this, but it's time we get back to our future...a vote for Sherrod Brown for Senate is a vote for hope and for a better quality of life for millions of Americans...

I'm asking you as an advocate, and a husband and a father to all get active and to stand up for what is right -- what is right for the future of hundreds of millions of Americans who have or are touched by debilitating diseases.

After the brief speeches the event morphed into a meet and greet. On stage, Michael J. Fox talked to the children and their parents who had come out. Sherrod and his wife, Connie, talked with the supporters who swarmed the stage.

All in all, it was a short, yet inspiring event. It was amazing to see the variety of people who have banded together to campaign on this issue - from sixth-grade student Tanner, to a mother who brought along a hand-written sign that said, "My Dad has Parkinson's - Support Stem Cell Research", to the medical students in the audience who were clad in scrubs. Then there are people like me. People who just believe that this potentially life-saving medical research should be supported to the fullest extent possible by our government. People who believe millions of Americans should live everyday with hope for a cure, and who believe that our country should be leading the way forward in this fight.

On the web:

Michael J. Fox Foundation
Brown for Senate

50-State Strategy: Idaho Races Tied

The Idaho Statesman reports two major races in Idaho are in a statistical dead heat:

Republican and Democratic candidates in a few major Idaho political races are separated by just a few percentage points and virtually tied, according to a new statewide poll of 625 voters who said they were likely to cast a ballot Nov. 7.

U.S. Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, the GOP candidate for governor, is tied with Democrat Jerry Brady, according to the poll conducted Oct. 23-25 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C., for KIVI-TV and the Idaho Statesman, which published it Sunday.

...

The 1st District congressional race on the west side of the state - for the seat Otter is vacating - also is tied, the survey found. Republican Bill Sali, an eight-term state legislator, was supported by 39 percent of those polled, compared to 37 percent for Democrat Larry Grant, a former Micron Technology Inc. executive.

Idaho voters, early voting has started in your state. Call your state party for more information about where and when. You can also sign up to volunteer while you are on the phone. Their phone number is 208-334-2852. If you live in the first congressional district, you can click here for a list of early voting locations.

50-State Strategy: Wyoming Turning Blue?

Wyoming's At Large U.S. House seat is now in play. The Billings Gazette explains:

The race between Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., and Democratic challenger Gary Trauner is about even, according to a new poll commissioned by the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle of Cheyenne.

However, Cubin's lead falls within the poll's margin of error, and the data suggest Cubin's support dropped sharply - and Trauner's rose sharply - after her confrontation with Libertarian candidate Thomas Rankin, when Cubin told the wheelchair-bound Libertarian that she wanted to "smack" him.

...

But among people contacted Oct. 23-25, Trauner took the lead with 47 percent; Cubin polled at 35 percent, with Rankin pulling 8 percent and another 8 percent undecided.

Apparently, last week Cubin's stock tumbled when she threatened to slap one of her opponents.

If you live in Wyoming and would like to volunteer in these last eight days before the election, you can contact your state party at 1-800-729-3367.

Monday Morning Open Thread

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October 29, 2006

Sunday Open Thread

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October 28, 2006

Saturday Open Thread

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October 27, 2006

Friday Evening Open Thread

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50-State Strategy: More Nebraska

The Nebraska Democratic Party was featured on Kos today:

Much has been said about the DNC's 50 state strategy under Chairman Howard Dean, but in order to truly grasp this major shift in the way Democrats are doing business, one only has to look as far as the great state of Nebraska to get the real story.

...

Following Governor Dean's election as DNC Chairman, the Nebraska Democratic Party was one of the first to enter into a partnership with the national organization. The 50 State Strategy has been critical in our efforts to rebuild the party from the ground up. A communications director, campaign/field director and two field organizers were hired by the DNC to facilitate party building and campaign activities.

...

There is no doubt - the Nebraska Democratic Party is stronger than ever and our best days are ahead of us. When we look at the DNC's 50 State Strategy, we know that if Nebraska is any indication of what's happening in the rest of the country, then the future of the national party is looking bright.

Folks in Nebraska that need election related information can find it here.

50-State Strategy Puts Faith In Action in Oregon

Yesterday, Blue Oregon highlighted Democratic Party-funded ads that are airing on Oregon radio stations. A full time faith outreach staff person was also funded with Democratic Party money.

There's been a lot of attention paid here at BlueOregon to the growing sector of "Faithful Democrats" nationally and in Oregon. Jim Wallis visited in September, and contributors Jeff Alworth and Steve Bucknum have explored the role of religion in politics. At the DPO Convention this summer, a religious outreach workshop was organized and there is now a faith caucus in the state party.

Now it seems that House Democratic candidates Rob Brading and Chuck Lee have both been running radio ads on Christian radio stations - discussing their own faith and how it informs their values.

You can go to the Oregon Democratic Party's website to listen to the ads.

Friday Morning Open Thread

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October 26, 2006

Thursday Evening Open Thread

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"Stay the Course" Gets a Make-Over

The Washington Post reports on the President's news conference yesterday and his interestingly hollow rhetoric...

The text of President Bush's news conference yesterday ran to nearly 10,000 words, but what may have been more significant were the things he did not say.

The president talked repeatedly about "benchmarks" for progress in Iraq, using that word 13 times. But he did not discuss the consequences of the Iraqi government missing those targets. Such a question, he said, was "hypothetical."

That response left unclear how the benchmarks would be different from previous times when the United States has set out intentions, only to back down. For example, the original war plan envisioned the U.S. troop presence in Iraq being cut to 30,000 by the fall of 2003. Last year, some top U.S. commanders thought they would be able to significantly cut the U.S. troop level in Iraq this year -- a hope now officially abandoned. More recently, the U.S. military all but withdrew from Baghdad, only to have to have to reenter the capital as security evaporated from its streets and Iraqi forces proved unable to restore calm by themselves.

So basically, we're going to "stay the course", but with spiffy new "benchmarks" that, if unmet ("hypothetically") will result in nothing except more "staying the course"? I'm confused...What exactly is the President basing this whole "new" approach on? Clearly he's a flexible guy - willing to listen facts and make decisions accordingly, right? Ummm....

"Our goals are unchanging," he emphasized in his opening remarks. "We are flexible in our methods to achieving those goals." His bottom line was that "we'll work as fast as we can get the job done." That open-ended commitment to an unchanging goal doesn't seem different from the answer being given by Bush administration officials three years and 2,802 U.S. military deaths ago -- that the U.S. effort in Iraq would last "as long as it takes."...

...Under a barrage of sharp questions from reporters, pointing again and again to contradictions and problems in his stance on Iraq, President Bush clung to his most basic line of defense -- his own faith and confidence in his approach. He used the word "believe" 21 times in the course of the hour-long news conference. "I believe that the military strategy we have is going to work, that's what I believe," he said to one reporter.

Well, I'm glad that's settled...

We need a new direction in Iraq, not just new rhetoric...

[Update/CM: Watch the Democratic Party's web ad on the subject.]

TN-Sen: The Latest Low for the GOP

Over at DailyKos, Georgia10 has a good update on the GOP's latest stunts in Tennessee, where their candidate is in a tight race with Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. Of course, rather than running on the issues, the GOP is running a campaign based on a combination personal attacks and divisive wedge issues meant to appeal to the worst in people.

MSNBC:

The Republican National Committee said Wednesday it was taking off the air an attack ad that critics said was a racial slur against Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., one day after the party's chairman said he saw nothing wrong with it.

I wouldn't necessarily view the fact the ad is no longer airing as a victory; after all, the RNC got exactly what it wanted. As it did with the Daisy-double "vote republican or die" ad, it shelled out a limited amount of money for a limited ad buy while relying on an all-too-willing press to provide hours and hours of free exposure for its lies. And so, the RNC got its racist message out to the voters of Tennessee, and unfortunately, that message will resonate with some voters.

Dirty tricks. Cheap tricks. Nothing new from a cornered GOP.

Over the next 12 days, things are likely to only get worse.

50-State Strategy: Pennsylvania Paper Tells it Like it Is

Call me biased, but I think the New Castle News folks have it right when they title their endorsement piece "Our Endorsements: We urge you to vote for Democrats -- period". Here's what they said:

If you think President Bush is doing a fine job managing the war on terror, controlling the cost of government and generally making America and its people more secure and prosperous, you can re-elect the incumbents.

But if you -- like this newspaper -- are horrified at the incompetent, arrogant and downright delusional behavior of the Bush administration, change is absolutely crucial.

(snip)

By any objective measure, the Bush administration has made a mess of things. And contrary to its claims, the world will be a far more dangerous place when this president's term ends in two years. The administration has failed miserably to unify the world against Islamic radicals, undercut the efforts of Islamic moderates and stood by as the real threat of nuclear proliferation has mushroomed in North Korea.

Meanwhile, the administration's true abilities were on display last year in the days leading up to -- and following -- Hurricane Katrina. And although the White House is now touting its economic success, its main claim to fame is a ballooning of the federal deficit.

It's easy to boost the economy in the short term when you're borrowing on future generations. What happens when the bill comes due? Despite some short-term success in trimming the deficit, the long-range figures are a looming disaster. And the Bush administration is doing nothing to address them.

But the administration is not alone in its manhandling of American domestic and foreign policy. A compliant, Republican-controlled Congress has gone along, with barely a peep of protest.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Twelve days until the election - vote early if you can, send in those absentee ballots, and volunteer with your local campaign.

Thursday Morning Open Thread

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October 25, 2006

Wednesday Evening Open Thread

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New Jersey Rules for Equal Rights for All

From Bluejersey.com:

The NJ Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in the marriage equality case, finding that New Jersey's State Constitution requires equal rights for all - but, left it to the legislature to decide what to call it.

The ruling on the case, Lewis v. Harris, amends the state's marriage law to either include same sex couples, or to create a similar legal category for gay couples.

Watch "Stay the Course?" Web Ad

The President is holding a news conference this morning, where, if recent talking points are any indication, he will try and say he was never all about a "Stay the Course" strategy for Iraq. You and I know that is a flat-out lie.

Republicans in Washington have clung desperately to the President's failed rhetoric, and it has failed them. Now, with just two weeks until Election Day, the Bush Administration has attempted to change their tune. It's not going to work.

Watch the new DNC web ad, here.

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

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October 24, 2006

Tuesday Evening Open Thread

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Sound Science, Stem Cell Research and 2006

It still boggles my mind that anyone can oppose the life-saving possibilities that stem cell research offers. Ideology standing in the way of public policy. Religion in the way of science. It's outrageous.

Michael J. Fox has been a tireless advocate for the cause - putting a very public and well-recognized face on the issue. The American people overwhelmingly support expanding federal funding of stem cell research, and yet, the Republicans in Washington, bowing to the pressure from their extreme right-wing base, have prevented the passage of this legislation. Their actions have consequences for the millions of Americans living with diseases that scientists believe can treated or cured based on stem cell research. They are standing in the way of discovering cures for some of the worst ailments. And it has got to stop.

Democrats support this life saving research. And, this year Americans have a choice between those who believe in crafting public policy based on extreme idealogical beliefs, and those who believe in making decisions based on the best evidence available and the advice of experts.

Voters in Maryland can elect Ben Cardin over Michael Steele. Voters in Missouri can elect Claire McCaskill over Jim Talent.

Michael J. Fox explains how that decision, while it may seem like a local issue, is a decision that will effect every American, in a powerful new ad. His message is really a message from the millions of Americans who suffer from diseases that could be cured by this research. And he's right - sometimes, politics isn't local.

WY-AL: Reprehensible

This report from the Jackson Hole Star Tribune is truly disturbing. GOP Congresswoman Cubin needs to go:

The Libertarian challenger for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat says Rep. Barbara Cubin offended him by uttering a slur related to his physical disability.

Thomas Rankin said Cubin approached him after a campaign debate on Sunday and said, "If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face."

The Cubin campaign did not deny the remark, but a spokesman for the six-term congresswoman said Rankin started the exchange.

So what happened? According to the Star Tribune:

After the cameras and lights were shut off, Cubin walked on the stage behind Trauner and then to Rankin, who was still sitting at the table, Rankin said.

Rankin, who is disabled with multiple sclerosis and uses an electric wheelchair, had not moved yet.

While his aide Jeremy Moniz was helping him, Moniz heard Cubin's comment, too.

"She came right up and said it," Moniz said.

Rankin didn't say anything to Cubin before she confronted him, he said.

"It took me totally off guard," he said. "I said, 'Barbara, if you feel the need to slap me, go right ahead.'"

Cubin then turned around and walked away.

Rankin called her comment an inappropriate slur to the disabled.

This is just another, in a long line, of desperate moves by the GOP - who is so scared of losing power that they will resort to personal attacks, lies and smears every time.

Luckily, for Wyoming and for the United States Congress, Democrat Gary Trauner, who is running against Cubin, is an honorable man who will represent all the people of Wyoming with dignity.

50-State Strategy: Idaho is in Play

Idaho continues to make news as the National Republican Congressional Committee is planning to drop over $500,000 a Congressional race that NO ONE thought was going to be close.

The WaPost summarizes the race:

It is, perhaps, the political equivalent of hell freezing over in the interior West.

This red state where conservative Republicans routinely wipe the floor with hapless Democrats has a Republican running for Congress who just might lose.

The suddenly competitive race is a delicious development for Larry Grant, a Democratic candidate for the House who finds himself transformed from sacrificial lamb to reason for worry among national Republican strategists.

His Republican opponent is Bill Sali, an eight-term state representative with a corrosive reputation for irking his fellow Republicans. The Republican speaker of the Idaho House, Bruce Newcomb, said this spring of Sali: "That idiot is just an absolute idiot."

The Idaho Statesman, in its endorsement of Larry Grant, described Republican Sali like this:

Sali has spent 16 years in a GOP-dominated Legislature fixated on hot-button issues such as abortion, alienating fellow Republicans in the process. We doubt he will be effective in a sharply divided U.S. House, whether Republicans maintain a majority or not. We've seen nothing in this fall's campaign that demonstrates a commitment to advance anything but another divisive social agenda, including a constitutional amendment banning flag burning and a bill making English the nation's official language.

Check out Democrat Grant's new ad.

And: tonight is the final debate between Grant and Sali, more information at Grassroots for Grant.

Idaho residents can request absentee ballots until November 1.

On the Ground in Ohio

I landed in Columbus, Ohio yesterday, where, for the next two weeks, I will be assisting the Ohio Democratic Party and their coordinated campaign effort in any way I can. I actually have no idea yet what that will mean, but I’m up for anything. This is the sprint to the finish line and I am thrilled to be able to help out such a great slate of candidates – from Sherrod Brown, who will be the Buckeye state’s next senator – to down-ballot candidates like Jennifer Brunner who is going to restore integrity to the election process in Ohio as Secretary of State – to the myriad of Congressional candidates who are going to make up the newly restored Democratic majority in Congress.

After a long day of traveling yesterday, I landed in Columbus and arrived at the Ohio Democratic Party offices around 4 o’clock. The offices were strangely quiet, and I soon realized why – President Clinton was scheduled to arrive later that evening for an event and everyone was getting ready for that. Sarah, one of your DNC-funded field organizers, suggested I head over to the event as well. Well, that wasn’t something I was going to pass up…

The event was sold-out – standing room only – I managed to squeeze into the Press section and grab a spot to listen. Chris Redfern, Chairman of the ODP welcomed everyone and got the evening underway:

"We have a dynamic slate of candidates, perhaps the best in a political generation. We are not only going to make history on the state level, we are also going to win Congressional seats and take control of the Congress.

Obviously that was followed by thunderous applause.

Later, Ted Strickland took the stage. Although I have met him at events in the past, this was the first time I heard him speak to a crowd and he was amazing. My favorite quotes:

”We do believe that love is more powerful than hate…”

and

“The current political leadership has underestimated the people of Ohio – in fact, Just as the President has “misunderestimated” the American people, the Republican administration in Ohio has underestimated the people of Ohio…”

Ted emphasized his commitment to creating living wage jobs, fully funding education and making college affordable and making high quality health care accessible for all. He then turned the stage over to Sherrod Brown.

Congressman Brown’s theme was crystal clear: Change is coming.

He talked about the steps a Democratic Congress would take – noting first that Democrats are committed to making our country safer and passing the bipartisan recommendations of the 9/11 commission, something the Republicans have failed to do. He noted the failure of the Republican Congress to raise the minimum wage for the past 10 years, even though Congress has seen fit to raise their own pay 6 different times in that same period. And Congressman Brown also called for an end to the “strangle-hold” drug companies have on our Congress – the result of which has been legislation that benefits the pharmaceutical country more than it benefits the American people.

Sherrod introduced President Clinton and the room went crazy. The applause was loud and long, and well-deserved. President Clinton spoke softly, as if he was having a one-on-one conversation with each person in the room, instead of addressing a crowd where standing room was precious.

President Clinton touched on so many things during his speech – he noted the number of Republicans fleeing the GOP because of their extreme-right agenda. He noted the number of veterans and former intelligence officials running for office as Democrats (He had just come from an appearance with Tammy Duckworth in Chicago). He noted the way our dependence on foreign oil is costing the American people.

But most importantly, he noted that the current government is run by ideologues who are dedicated to three things that don’t work: concentrating maximum wealth and special interest power, an arbitrary unaccountable government and an ideological divide that creates exclusive communities that look down on people.

In talking about investing in alternative energies:

“We could be making our future together. This is not rocket science, but no ideologue will give it to you because it requires thinking and knowing…”

And referrencing the appropriate title of Bob Woodward’s look at the Bush Administration, State of Denial:

Denial is an essential strategy for an ideologue – evidence is irrelevant and argument is a waste of time…

Finally, President Clinton closed by evoking the words of our founding fathers, whose goal was not to create a nation divided, but a “more perfect union”.

”We are not perfect, we will never be perfect, but we can always be better…whenever we forget it we get in trouble, whenever we embrace it we shine…

And with that, the night was over. I left inspired and a bit awed. Hearing President Clinton speak last night was unlike any political event I have ever been to – usually the pep rally type atmosphere is fun, but it’s superficial. In contrast, last night was thought provoking. I left last night thinking about the President's words, about the ideas he shared and about the message he conveyed. It was one of hope – to be sure – but one that was a reminder of how great American can truly be when we have a government that believes in, not just the power America can yield, but in its potential for greatness.

Paint Ohio Blue has some photos. I'll have some up later.

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

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[Update: Chairman Dean will appear on MSNBC's "Decision 2006" at 10:00 AM and on CNN's "Newsroom" at 10:15 AM this morning.]

October 23, 2006

Monday Night Open Thread

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50-State Strategy: Florida

A Quinnipiac poll released today shows the race for governor in Florida is in a statistical dead heat:

Entering Tuesday's first Florida gubernatorial debate, the race has tightened to a statistical dead heat, with 46 percent of likely voters for State Attorney General Charlie Crist, the Republican, and 44 percent for U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, the Democrat, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Eight percent of voters are undecided and 11 percent of those who name a candidate say they might change their mind before Election Day.

Florida voters: you can still request an absentee ballot or vote early. Check out our Florida page for more information.

Stay the Course

President Bush shocked Americans over the weekend when he claimed the Republican strategy for the war in Iraq was not "stay the course." White House Counselor Dan Bartlett made a similar statement this morning.

Think Progress has videos and the full scoop. Here's a sample:

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]

SNOW: The second thing you do is you stay the course. [7/10/06]

SNOW: But on the other hand, you also cannot be a President in a wartime and not realize that you’ve got to stay the course. [8/17/06]

BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]

BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]

SNOW: People are going to want more of it, and that’s why the President is determined to stay the course. April. [8/16/06]

BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]

BUSH: And so we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]

Unbelievable.

Time Magazine Praises Howard Dean

Time Magazine says "Dean Leaves No State Behind" in this week's issue.

But following the Mark Foley scandal, Democrats are talking about not just winning the House but piling up as many as 40 new seats and also capturing the Senate. And some of the places where they are now competing lie in the blood-red states where Dean has been on his lonely crusade to find blue voters. In Idaho, where President Bush won 68.4% of the vote in 2004, Democrat Larry Grant is close enough to winning a House seat that Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert have made visits to campaign for Grant's opponent. In Kansas, G.O.P. incumbent Jim Ryun had Cheney in town to raise money in his race against Democrat Nancy Boyda. Democrats are holding out hope in two House districts in another Republican stronghold, Nebraska.

Go 50-State Strategy!

Monday Morning Open Thread

This is an open thread...

October 21, 2006

Open Thread

You can post comments here, but only is you've already put in your volunteer hours for the weekend!

The election is 17 days away! Volunteer!

October 20, 2006

Governer Dean Does Connecticut

Because CT Bloggers are so awesome, you can check out Governor Dean campaigning with CT Dems, like Congressional candidates Chris Murphy, Joe Courtney and Diane Farrell and Democratic Senate nominee, Ned Lamont.

Thanks, Spazeboy, for the video!

That Well Dried Up

A friend sent me over a link to the RNC site. Curious about what kind of propaganda was so amusing that it would be worthy of sharing, I went to check it out. The section, "Posts on Good News From Iraq" popped up.

While that category, in itself, is laughable, even more noteworthy for the GOP should be the fact that they haven't been able to find something to spin into a post for that category since August.

A New Direction for Iraq

Because we have all known that "Stay the Course" is not a strategy for success:

The growing doubts among GOP lawmakers about the administration's Iraq strategy, coupled with the prospect of Democratic wins in next month's midterm elections, will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war, according to lawmakers in both parties, foreign policy experts and others involved in policymaking.

Senior figures in both parties are coming to the conclusion that the Bush administration will be unable to achieve its goal of a stable, democratic Iraq within a politically feasible time frame. Agitation is growing in Congress for alternatives to the administration's strategy of keeping Iraq in one piece and getting its security forces up and running while 140,000 U.S. troops try to keep a lid on rapidly spreading sectarian violence.

On the campaign trail, Democratic candidates are hammering Republican candidates for backing a failed Iraq policy, and GOP defense of the war is growing muted. A new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released this week showed that voters are more confident in Democrats' ability to handle the Iraq war than the Republicans' -- a reversal from the last election.

Public opinion has clearly shifted far away from the President as his "strategy" of "Stay the Course" has failed to win the peace and has continued to put our troops in harms way.

Richard N. Haass, a former Bush administration foreign policy official, told reporters yesterday that the situation is reaching a "tipping point" both in Iraq and in U.S. politics. "More of essentially the same is going to be a policy that very few people are going to be able to support," said Haass, now the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He added that the administration's current Iraq strategy "has virtually no chance of succeeding" and predicted that "change will come."

Furthermore, the people who the Administration counted on in the past to keep the public on their side - from Party leaders to security experts - continue to offer dim forecasts for the future of the country.

Along with the political debate, there also is growing frustration inside the U.S. military over Iraq, with some officers debating privately whether the situation there is salvageable. In recent weeks, senior military officers have offered a torrent of negative comments, a sharp contrast to the official optimism of the past three years.

"We're obviously very concerned about what we're seeing" in Baghdad, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said yesterday. He indicated that changes to a plan to restore security to the capital are being considered. "We find the insurgent elements, the extremists, are in fact punching back hard," Caldwell said.

In recent days, the demand for change on Iraq has been especially notable from inside the president's party: Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, returned from a trip to Iraq saying that country was adrift and all options should be considered. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a conservative Republican from Texas, said this week that she is willing to consider the wisdom of somehow breaking up Iraq.

Read the full article, here.

What are your weekend plans?

Christy over at FireDogLake, is spot on:

In every state, in every district — somewhere near you, a Democratic candidate could use a hand.

It's Friday — campaign staffs and local Democratic party groups are planning the weekend's canvassing and phone calls. Why not take a few minutes today and contact a local campaign office or Democratic headquarters and sign up to do something. Find a candidate whose values match up with yours, and give them a hand. Go and vote in the early voting — lock in your choices now, and then take election day to hold signs for your candidate. Whatever it takes. Where ever you are needed.

Because whatever progress we are going to make in this nation of ours, it is up to us — all of us — to do the hard work toward it. We can't sit back and hope someone else will do it for us — the time is now.

There are just 18 days left until Election Day. On Monday morning, that number will be down to 15. Time is quickly running out to get out there and help your local Democratic candidates.

Sign up to volunteer now! Or, even better, just walk over to your local campaign office and get right to work. In these final days, an extra pair of hands, or an extra set of feet of the street, will not go to waste.

Morning Open Thread

More Grassroots Donor Match goodness today.

From Tracy's Kos Diary, a few more heart warming stories.

I'm a Democracy Bonds owner who made a Very Special Pledge to participate in this program, which I think is pure genius...Within a few hours, I got an email that my pledge was matched, along with a nice note from the donor, a woman from Iowa... and so I immediately logged on to fulfill my pledge. All in all, this was a really gratifying experience.

Kudos to the DNC - and Chairman Dean - for their progressive and innovative programs to finance the party from the grassroots! - Malacandra

This whole idea of matching small donations from others around the country relates to that theme of re-building our community - where human beings are connected to others and we care not just about our neighborhood, but others as well. For me, it was the single most important theme of Howard Dean's presidential campaign and the reason I was so hooked.

So.. I had to play a small part in this program. - TheC

More information on the match here.

This is an open thread...

[Update: Two articles worth reading this morning:
1. Confident Democrats Draft Broad Health Care Agenda - Stem cell research and government negotiation with drug companies anyone?
2. Former Clerk Tells Panel He Alerted Speaker's Office to Foley Concerns - Did the Republican Speaker of the House or his staff know about the Foley complaints...]

October 19, 2006

Open Thread

Current Stats for Grassroots Donor Match:

[Update/CM: Grassroots Donor Match is still going strong. We have a bat-like graphic for checking progress, featured to the right. And don't forget the cheese: think about the difference it will make for someone to watch the returns on Election Night knowing that they made victory happen. Imagine what it will feel like to know that a total stranger cared deeply enough about our country to ask them to be a partner in creating that change.]

I Just Got My Match!

So exciting!

I just got my match for the day, from Peggy O. in Enfield, CT, she wrote:

All my best to you, Tracy and thank you for the matching contribution.

Woo-hoo!

Current stats:

All because everyday people are stepping up to the plate! Amazing!

You can take part in the 2006 Grassroots Donor Match too! Believe me, you'll be glad that you did!

Blocking the Vote

The GOP should be ashamed of disgusting tactics like this designed to supress votes and keep people out of the political process.

From AP

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Orange County Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said.

"We have identified where we believe the mailing list was obtained," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

He declined to identify the specific Republican campaign Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation. The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register both reported Thursday that the investigation appeared to be focused on the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can vote.

Complaints about the letters this week prompted state and federal investigations, and Barankin said investigators had been questioning people in Orange County.

The two newspapers reported state investigators had found the location where the letters were printed and mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County. The Los Angeles Times, citing an unnamed source, said authorities had interviewed Nguyen at his office.

Nguyen did not return messages left by The Associated Press or either newspaper.

Sanchez said in an interview Thursday on Univision that the sender should be punished for stating that immigrants can't vote. It would be unfortunate if the person responsible was another immigrant, she said.

"What a shame, really, that this is still happening in the United States today," Sanchez said.

This is why the Voting Rights Institute and the 50-State Election Protection Strategy is so critical to protecting our votes. Read more, here.

To protect the right to vote this November, the VRI has set up the 1-888-DEMVOTE hotline to provide assistance to voters in all 50 states. Through this hotline, voters will be able to identify their polling location and, most importantly, report Election Day problems as they happen so they can be fixed as soon as possible.

If you have any problems, questions, or concerns, call the Voting Rights Hotline at: 1-888-DEMVOTE.

Kansas - Changing Hues

Back in June, we looked at the recent trend in Kansas, that saw more and more Republicans fleeing the GOP and finding a home in the Democratic Party. We heard from Kansas Democratic Party Chairman, Larry Gates, who commented:

These former Republicans are joining the Democratic Party because they recognize that Governor Sebelius and Kansas Democrats are committed to finding commonsense solutions to the issues faced by all Kansans.

Governor Sebelius and Democrats are bringing Kansans together to move our state forward while the Kansas Republican Party is dividing Kansans with the same old partisan bickering. Kansans know our candidates are dedicated to putting progress ahead of partisanship, and the best interests of the people of Kansas ahead of anything else.

Well, today, an article in the Washington Post has people taking another look at Kansas, this time with the 2006 elections around the corner. And, over at MyDD, Jonathan looks the results:

Kansas is a thoroughly Republican state, as it has been since it entered the union nearly 150 years ago. It has been more than 70 years since the state elected a Democratic Senator, something it has only done four times in its history. Yet today, the state appears on track to reelect its Democratic Governor as well as throw out its ultra-conservative Republican Attorney General; polling released Monday by SurveyUSA shows Gov. Kathleen Sebelius holding a 13-point lead over her Republican challenger and Democrat Paul Morrison maintaining a nearly identical lead over the incument Attorney General Phill Kline.

Jonathan also gives the 50-State Stragey some props:

...it is so important that the DNC under Howard Dean has invested in Kansas, as it has in other states. I do not mean to overstate the extent to which the DNC's actions have fostered this potentially changing environment; the hubris and extremeness of Republican politicians in Kansas, as well as the political deftness of Governor Sebelius, have been at the root of these movements. Nonetheless, by putting boots in the field, the DNC is enabling Democrats in Kansas to capitalize on the situation in the state and help woo voters who had not previously even considered voting the Democratic ticket. And, who knows? The investment made today in Kansas by the DNC could make Kansas slightly more purple and enable Democrats to compete in more elections in the state in the future and, more importantly, force the Republicans to play defense in what has historically been a safe state for their party.

Updated Numbers

Want an update on where we stand with the person-to-person match? Just keep refreshing this post...

More Polls

Polling continues to look good...

Just 20 days until Election Day, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds approval of the GOP-held Congress is at its lowest mark in 14 years, the Republican Party's favorability rating is at an all-time low and President George W. Bush's approval rating remains mired in the 30s -- all ominous signs for a party trying to maintain control of Congress.

In fact, according to the poll, Republicans are in worse shape on some key measures than Democrats were in 1994, when they lost their congressional majorities.

"There is not a single number in here that would suggest the Democrats will not have their best showing in a decade -- and maybe two decades," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican Bill McInturff.

...

52 percent say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 37 percent who want Republicans to maintain power. It is the first time ever in this poll when a majority has sided with one party on this particular question. Earlier this month, Democrats held a nine-point advantage (48-39 percent).

But don't let those numbers fool you, nothing is over until all the votes are counted! We've got loads of hard work to do still! Have you signed up to volunteer?

Open Thread

Democrats, apply directly to the problem...

October 18, 2006

Wednesday Night Open Thread

Project Runway finale tonight, and we are less than 100 hours from the UCLA/Notre Dame football game.

But more importantly, the election is in 20 days. It's time to go all out. Sign up to volunteer if you haven't already. Even two hours of phone calls can make a difference on Election Day.

This is an open thread...

Update: Grassroots Donor Match Needs More Pledges

Yesterday, we sent out an email from Governor Dean asking people who had donated previously to pledge to match a donation of a first time DNC donor. This was a new twist on old school fundraising drives where an anonymous donor matches all donations made within a certain time frame. We wanted to give real people the chance to match donations.

Well, it turns out we're running out of pledges.

We need your help. To keep the Grassroots Donor Match going, we need you to pledge to match another's contribution: http://www.democrats.org/pledge

This wasn't planned and, unlike some fundraising asks, isn't a gimmick. In the last three hours, we've had over 1,500 new contributors to the DNC -- each of them matched with an existing donor. Unfortunately, so many new donors want to have their donation matched that we're running out of matching pledges!

We need your help. If you'd like to make a pledge and be a part of this unique match program, you may do so here: http://www.democrats.org/pledge

50-State Strategy: More Competitive Races

It's official: the 50-state strategy has expanded the number of targeted races for the 2006 midterm elections.

WaPost says:

Republicans have tacitly acknowledged that Democrats are right about the expanding field of competitive races. In recent days, for instance, national GOP organizations have pumped money into a race for an open seat in Idaho and into other races that were previously regarded by both parties as out of reach for Democrats.

Think about it - races that no one could have predicted would be even remotely close are now within the margin of error. A race for an at-large U.S. House seat in Idaho is now being flooded with money - on the Republican side - as GOP strategists try to protect what was once considered a safe seat.

This is exactly what the 50-state strategy is all about - not conceding seats when people everywhere are ready for the Democratic Vision.

More from the article:

Democrats said private polls have convinced top party officials that they could pick up 40 or more seats -- nearly double their internal projections from a week ago...

Let's make this happen - volunteer to help out this weekend in your state. Let's turn out the vote in all 50 states.

Something New

Today Governor Dean sent the following e-mail to Democrats across the country. It's the second step in our Grassroots Donor Match program, which focuses on building the Democratic Party, by increasing the amount of people who are participating in the process.

Dear Fellow Democrat,

People have been talking about you.

I've been talking with people who have donated to the Democratic Party in 2006, and over 2,000 people have a message for you:

If you donate before Election Day, one of them will match your contribution -- and you'll get to meet that person online.

You've probably gotten a message from an organization saying that some anonymous, wealthy donor will match your donation. We're going to try something different.

Right now, over 2,000 people who found a few dollars in their budget to support Democrats in this historic election are waiting to match the donation of someone who hasn't given yet this year.

They're people just like you who believe that every Democrat should own a piece of this party -- in contrast to the special interests and lobbyists that own the Republican Party (as if Americans needed another reminder of that, Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney pleaded guilty to corruption charges on Friday).

When the people fund our party, that's who we're accountable to when we win. Just choose your amount, make your donation and you'll see the name and town of the person who will match your donation. You'll even see a message from that person, and have the opportunity to reply. Make your donation now:

http://www.democrats.org/match

What will your donation do?

You'll be funding the broadest get-out-the-vote program in our party's history. Our 50-state strategy deployed nearly 200 staff to the field in all 50 states over the last year and a half. They've been building the networks of volunteers and doing the heavy lifting to build our organization everywhere.

When we started, in some states the Democratic Party barely existed as an organization. Now, we're thriving everywhere thanks to the investment of ordinary Democrats like the one who will match your donation.

We're transforming this nationwide operation into an unprecedented 50-State Turnout drive that will elect Democrats up and down the ballot in every state.

Races that no one ever thought we could win, up and down the ballot of every state, are now in play. And it's up to you to seize the opportunity -- by paying for organizers, canvassing materials, vans to drive voters to the polls, and everything else that goes into winning an election.

A donation today is an investment in the future of our country. Someone is waiting to match your donation -- every dollar you give will have twice the impact, and you'll meet the person who's matching your gift:

http://www.democrats.org/match

Here are a few of the messages from the people who have promised to match donations:

"I know that many of us have busy lives -- jobs, children, community groups we participate in. Not everybody is able to devote large amounts of their time or budget to politics. But even a little bit helps, and if all of us who want change chip in just a bit -- the value of one dinner out, one day of phonebanking -- we can make a huge difference to America's future." -- R.M.

"We desperately need to change the direction of our government's policies. Wealthy special interests are pouring millions of dollars into GOP coffers to protect the status quo. The only way to fight back is to encourage millions of Americans to make small donations. I hope this matching pledge helps in that effort." --Jon

"I hope you will join me in making even just a small contribution to help strengthen the Democratic Party and democracy in America. When I make even just small contributions to the DNC, I feel empowered. It's just a small amount, but together we get a chance to change the direction of our country for the better. Just think of how proud you will feel on November 8th, after Democrats have been elected across the nation, and you will think, I helped do this. I made a difference in this world." --Jane

A message like these is waiting for you when you make your donation. You can do it now:

http://www.democrats.org/match

We've changed the way the Democratic Party does business. More Democrats are standing up and fighting back, and more Democrats are poised to win.

And when we do, we're going to have a party in power that is accountable only to the people.

The only piece missing is you.

Please make your donation today:

http://www.democrats.org/match

Thank you.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Deadly Days in Iraq

When will it end?

Ten U.S. troops were killed in Iraq on Tuesday, one of the bloodiest days of the war for American forces outside of major combat operations. With nearly two full weeks to go until the end of October, the month is proving to be devastatingly lethal for both U.S. forces and Iraq's military and civilian populations.

At least 68 U.S. troops were killed in the first 2 1/2 weeks of October, according to independent databases and wire service counts; last month, 75 American military personnel were killed.

At the same time, least 767 Iraqis were killed in war-related violence during the first 17 days of this month, according to the Associated Press -- an average of 45 deaths per day, compared to an average daily death toll of about 27 over the last 18 months.

When can our troops come home?

Wednesday Open Thread

20 days left until Election Day! Are you signed-up to volunteer in your state?

October 17, 2006

Listen Up: Podcasting with the DNC

Check out our new podcast page!

Cheney Still in a "State of Denial"

Via ThinkProgress:

Rush Limbaugh interviewed Vice President Cheney on his show today. At one point, Limbaugh asked Cheney to respond to growing frustration over U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Cheney acknowledged there is a “natural level of concern out there” because fighting didn’t end “instantaneously.” (Next month, the war will have lasted longer than U.S. fighting in World War II.) Cheney then pointed to various news items to paint a positive picture of conditions in Iraq and concluded, “If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well."

Something New

If you are on any major Democratic mailing list, you've definitely gotten the fundraising e-mails that tell you how some fabulously rich Democrat will match your contribution, so it's like giving double or triple what you would ordinarily give.

That's great and all, seeing a combination of high dollar and low dollar giving happen - but we wanted to try something a little bit different. Governor Dean came to the DNC believing in the awesome stregth of people-powered politics. The belief that growing our party starts, not just by growing our coffers, but by bringing more people into the process of participating in our democracy.

It was out of that belief system, that Grassroots Donor Match 2006 was born.

This unique tool gives an existing donor to the Democratic Party the power to match someone else's donation. If you choose to participate, you will have the opportunity to match the donation of someone who hasn't given yet in 2006, or to make your first contribution this year and have it matched.

In an e-mail today, Governor Dean wrote:

We're transforming this nationwide operation into an unprecedented 50-State Turnout drive that will elect Democrats up and down the ballot in every state. Our organizers have been working on the ground for months -- long before many campaigns even started.

Races that no one ever thought we could win, up and down the ballot of every state, are now in play. And it's up to you to seize the opportunity -- by growing the base of donors to fund more organizers, more canvassing materials, and more vans to drive voters to the polls. That's how we will win this election.

You can be the deciding factor in someone's decision to invest in the future of our country. They will know that every dollar they give will have double the impact.

Whether it's organizing, communicating or fundraising, our party is about ordinary people.

You have the power to make a connection that brings someone new into the political process.

Think about the difference it will make for someone to watch the returns on Election Night knowing that they made victory happen. Imagine what it will feel like to know that a total stranger cared deeply enough about our country to ask them to be a partner in creating that change.

To me, building our party, one person, one precinct, one county, one district, one state at a time is what is going to transform, not just our Party, but our country. And that's what this is all about.

Open Thread

Don't forget to check out your voter registration/absentee ballot deadlines.

October 16, 2006

Bush DISapproval at All-time High

Something your momma would be proud of...

A new CNN poll shows that public disapproval of President Bush has reached an all-time high. Sixty-one percent of Americans now disapprove of Bush’s handling of his job as President.

ThinkProgress also has some other interesting highlights from the poll.

Guess He'll Just Eat Worms

Poor Denny Hastert.

Ken Mehlman Just "Can't Recall"

First, Ken Mehlam didn't really know Jack Abramoff:

"Abramoff is someone who we don't know a lot about. We know what we read in the paper."

Now, he says:

"I know Jack," Mehlman said. "I certainly recall that if he and others wanted to meet I would have met with them..."

But, what did they meet about? Ken Mehlman just can't recall...

On CNN this weekend, Mehlman was asked about this Los Angeles Times article which asserted:

For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay.

Now he knows.

Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.

The e-mails show that Abramoff, whose client list included the Northern Mariana Islands, had long opposed Stayman's work advocating labor changes in that U.S. commonwealth, and considered what his lobbying team called the "Stayman project" a high priority.

"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.

On three different occasions, Abramoff said could not remember the affair:

"I also don't recall the specifics of this matter involving Mr. Stayman. But as a matter of course, and certainly the first term, I had, frequently, people come to see me with political issues they wanted talked about. I don't recall that specific matter that he came to me for, but I had a way of dealing with all these matters, which is to let the policy-makers or the personnel deciders know exactly what people said. And they made the decisions. What's interesting about this, though, Wolf, while I don't recall it specifically..." [CNN, Late Edition, 10/15/06, emphasis added]

Maybe now that he's had some extra time to think about it, he can answer a few questions, like...

1. What exactly did you do on behalf of Abramoff's clients while you were one of President Bush's top political strategists?
2. What meetings did you set up for Abramoff's clients?
3. What, if anything, did you receive in return from Abramoff for your assistance?
4. Did you authorize or know about the leaking of top secret information relevant to Guam to Jack Abramoff?
5. Did you free up millions for a jail for Abramoff's clients in return for RNC campaign cash?

NE-03: Kleeb's Fundamental Stregth

The Omaha-World Herald endorses Scott Kleeb in NE-03:

Two young men are vying to succeed U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne in Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District. Given the unseasoned nature of both candidates, there is a degree of uncertainty about how either would do in Congress.

One candidate, Scott Kleeb, stands out as the better choice. The reason: his fundamental strength - a strength of intellect, a strength of eloquence, a strength of stability.

When pressed aggressively, Kleeb's opponent, State Sen. Adrian Smith, falls back on sound bites and slogans. When pressed under the same conditions, Kleeb draws on different resources - mental focus, breadth of analytical ability and an unshakeable internal steadiness.

Such strength could serve Kleeb well in Congress. Such strength provides him the potential to be a lawmaker respected for making a constructive difference.

As many 3rd District voters know, Kleeb has an unusual background as a cowboy/scholar - a real-life ranch hand who also earned stellar academic credentials, above all for his study of how the American West and cattle country in particular are connected to the world economy.

A most unusual individual, certainly. But even though he is a Democrat (and no Democrat has represented western Nebraska in Congress since 1961, despite several close general elections), Kleeb has shown himself to be thoroughly familiar and comfortable with the cultures and communities of the district...

...Scott Kleeb deserves election this year. If voters extend him that enormous privilege, from his strength, positive results could arise for the 3rd District. His potential should not be doubted.

OH-02: Mean Jean Lags Behind

Good news from the Vic Wulsin Campaign:

The Wulsin for Congress campaign raised more money than the Schmidt for Congress campaign in the third quarter and filed with 17% more cash-on-hand than Schmidt. It is very rare for challengers to out-raise their incumbent opponents.

The Federal Elections Commission fundraising reports come on the heels of an independent poll showing Wulsin with a 3 point lead, an endorsement by EMILY's List of the Wulsin campaign, and a rally with John Murtha that drew over 200 supporters.

Wulsin raised $351,036 between July and September. Schmidt raised $332,863. Wulsin also has more cash-on-hand as of October 1 – she has $263,470 and Schmidt has only $224,357. [Release, 10/16]

PA-07: More GOP Family Values

The Culture of Corruption strikes close to home for GOP Rep. Weldon:

Federal agents raided the home of the daughter of U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) and his longtime friend Charlie Sexton this morning.

The agents departed Karen Weldon's three-story brick home on Queen Street in Philadelphia with arms loaded with boxes.

A government car pulled into the alley to the back door of the house and loaded boxes into it. Three agents standing in an alley declined to identify themselves.

"I can confirm that we conducted a number of searches regarding an ongoing investigation," said FBI agent Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman in Philadelphia. "Details regarding those investigation cannot be provided because the accompanying affidavit is sealed."

In Delaware County, FBI agents had blocked off Kelli Lane leading to Charles P. Sexton Jr.'s Springfield house, and were removing at least one box and a bag of material from his home late this morning. Sexton, a long time ally of Weldon and a power in Delaware County GOP politics for more than three decades, is a business associate of Weldon's daughter.

The raids came three days after news broke that the FBI is investigating whether the Delaware County congressman used his influence to help his daughter, a registered lobbyist, win consulting contracts.

Weldon is being challenged by Fighting Dem, Joe Sestak.

The Bottom Line

Will the President listen to his own commission if they aren't parroting the things he wants to hear?

A commission backed by President Bush that is exploring U.S. options in Iraq intends to propose significant changes in the administration's strategy by early next year, members say.

Two options under consideration would represent reversals of U.S. policy: withdrawing American troops in phases, and bringing neighboring Iran and Syria into a joint effort to stop the fighting.

While it weighs alternatives, the 10-member commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III has agreed on one principle.

"It's not going to be 'stay the course,' " one participant said. "The bottom line is, [current U.S. policy] isn't working…. There's got to be another way."

Will we finally have a strategy for success? A plan to bring our troops home? A new direction?

GOP: Winning At Any Cost?

The Washington Post has a profile of GOP Speaker Hastert today. It's an interesting read, portraying Rep. Hastert as the ultimate team leader, which should be endearing. Except, it's not. As Congressman Rahm Emanuel said recently, "When it's come to a choice between the integrity of the House or the Republican majority, he's always put his thumb on the scale to protect the majority."

And in protecting that majority, Rep. Hastert has:

He has always been loyal to team players like Foley, who defied his longtime supporters in the sugar industry last year to help Hastert pass a Central American trade bill. He eviscerated the House ethics committee after it admonished DeLay, and tried to change the House ethics rules to help DeLay stay in power. He didn't pay for a fundraiser he held at disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's restaurant until reporters asked about it two years later; the same month of the fundraiser, he wrote a letter opposing an Indian casino that Abramoff was trying to kill, and received $27,500 from Abramoff and five Indian tribes.

Now Hastert finds himself disputing his leadership team over what he knew about Foley, insisting he did not know about Foley's inappropriate behavior until recently, while others say they warned him last spring. He is also under fire for a multimillion-dollar windfall he earned by buying land and then promoting a federal highway nearby.

Under Hastert's "leadership" this Congress has become one of the most bitterly partisian ever...

Hastert's team has shut House Democrats out of the governing process, refusing to allow their bills on the floor, limiting debate, calling midnight votes on complex bills that few have read. The Hastert Rule decrees that the House will consider only bills approved by the GOP caucus -- "a majority of the majority" -- and the speaker has enforced it with few exceptions.

So how does he manage to keep the Rubberstamp Republican Congress in line?

Republicans say Hastert wins by appealing to party loyalty and taking care of members with earmarks, campaign cash and other goodies. Conservatives aren't happy that earmarks have quadrupled under the GOP Congress, but they recognize that the House has passed almost everything Bush has requested, including his efforts to expand executive power.

Republicans have held our Congress hostage. Under Rep. Hastert they have passed legislation that put millions (maybe billions) of dollars in profits in the pockets of drug companies and left our seniors out in the cold.

Republicans let Big Oil write the "Energy Bill" that gave oil companies huge tax breaks. While the price at the pump has skyrocketed, these corporations have posted record profits.

Republicans in Congress refused to allow a vote on the minimum wage on its own, instead they callously tied it to legislation that would increase the minimum wage only if Democrats would vote to also eliminate the estate tax, in order to benefit the richest of the rich.

And the most egregious offense, Republicans in Congress have failed to hold the President accountable for his War of Choice in Iraq. They have blindly rubberstamped his failed "Stay the Course" strategy and have refused to ask the tough questions Americans want answers to - Why weren't we told the truth about the war from the beginning? What is our plan to succeed in Iraq and at what point can our troops begin to return home?

It is long past time for a new direction, a new Congress and a new Speaker.

Just Another Manic Monday Open Thread

22 Days.

October 13, 2006

Dems in the Field: Three Stories from MN-01

Tim Walz is running for Congress in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District. After months of hard work and tireless campaigning, Tim has built a grassroots-powered campaign that has him in a dead heat with his GOP opponent.

Constituent Dynamics. 10/10. MoE 3.08%
Walz (D): 47
Gutknecht (R): 48

Grassroots campaigning is the true heart of any campaign. It's the feet on the street that make or break you in the final days and it's the inspiring people to come out, day after day, to volunteer for your campaign that is a candidate's truest measure of success, at least in my book.

Here are three stories from the Walz campaign.

Signs of Change

On a Friday night this summer, a volunteer and I were putting up yard signs along a county highway here in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. We decided to stop at a farm house that had both Democratic and Republican lawn signs posted. Some people along this highway will allow anyone to post a sign while others only post signs of candidates they actively support. We knocked on the door and explained the purpose of our visit. The home owner said, “Sure, we’ve been waiting for you guys. Please run out and take the Republican signs down and put up your signs!” When we got out to the bean field we realized the signs we were supposed to take down were Congressman Gutknecht’s. Every time I drive by that bean field I can’t help but smile as I read Tim Walz for U.S. Congress.

"Knock and Drag"

On a morning canvass this summer, I was walking a route in Winona, MN and was walking in a precinct made up primarily of Winona State students. At one door the student who I was looking for had moved but the student currently living there was big supporter and wanted to know what they could do to help. I told them how important canvassing was and they signed up on the spot and came out for the afternoon canvass shift!

Knowledge is Power

At the Rochesterfest festival, an intern I were gathering email addresses for our Walz Wire monthly email update at the same time the Gutknecht team was also gathering signatures. I sent our intern over to see what the Gutknecht team was gathering signatures for and went back to collecting email addresses. When I met back up with our intern she had actually recruited one of the Gutknecht volunteers to work on our campaign. It turns out the Gutknecht volunteer was a high school student who hadn’t heard about Tim and just wanted to get involved in politics but when she heard what Tim was all about, she knew she had to join the Walz team!

Send us your stories and pictures! | Volunteer

It's a Beautiful Afternoon...

...to knock on some doors and spread the Democratic message!

Volunteer!

This is an open thread....

The "Extent of Their Usefulness"

More Republican values on parade:

A former deputy director of the White House office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is charging that many members of the Bush administration privately dismiss its conservative Christian allies as “boorish” and “nuts.”

The former deputy director, David Kuo, an evangelical Christian conservative, makes the accusations in a newly published memoir, “Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction” (Free Press), about his frustration with what he described as the meager support and political exploitation of the program.

“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’ ” Mr. Kuo writes.

In an interview, Mr. Kuo’s former boss, James Towey, now president of St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., said he had never encountered such cynicism or condescension in the White House, and he disputed many of the assertions in Mr. Kuo’s account.

Still, Mr. Kuo’s statements, first reported Wednesday evening on the cable channel MSNBC, come at an awkward time for Republicans in the midst of a midterm election campaign in which polls show little enthusiasm among the party’s conservative Christian base.

While many conservative Christians considered President Bush “a brother in Christ,” Mr. Kuo writes, “for most of the rest of the White House staff, evangelical leaders were people to be tolerated, not people who were truly welcomed.”

The political affairs office headed by Karl Rove was especially “eye-rolling,” Mr. Kuo’s book says. It says staff members in that office “knew ‘the nuts’ were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness.”

Without naming names, the book says staff members complained that politically involved Christians were “annoying,” “tiresome” or “boorish.”

This really shouldn't be a surprise, aide to convicted Republican super-lobbyist, Jack Abramboff, Michael Scanlon, already gave us a taste of the GOP disdain for the right-wing base they pander to:

"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees," Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them." The brilliance of this strategy was twofold: Not only would most voters not know about an initiative to protect Coushatta gambling revenues, but religious "wackos" could be tricked into supporting gambling at the Coushatta casino even as they thought they were opposing it.

Expectations

Paul Krugman has an interesting column in today's NYT which he does some "Congressional arithmetic" and considers the Dem chances for 2006.

Here’s what’s happening: a huge Democratic storm surge is heading toward a high Republican levee. It’s still possible that the surge won’t overtop the levee — that is, the Democrats could fail by a small margin to take control of Congress. But if the surge does go over the top, the flooding will almost surely reach well inland — that is, if the Democrats win, they’ll probably win big...

So if Dems take the House, which Krugman seems to think is likely, (I'm not counting any chickens...) does it challenge a whole slew of CW about American politics, elections and the red vs. blue debate?

So if the Democrats win, they’ll probably have a substantial majority. Whether they’ll be able to keep that majority is another question. But be prepared to wake up less than four weeks from now and learn that everything you’ve been told about American politics — liberalism is dead, whoever controls the South controls Washington, only Republicans know “the way to win” — is wrong. (Are we seeing the birth of a new New Deal coalition, in which the solid Northeast takes the place of the solid South?)

The storm may yet weaken. The Iowa Electronic Markets, in which people bet real money on election outcomes, still give Republicans a roughly 40 percent chance of keeping control of both houses of Congress. If that happens, will it mean that Republican control is permanent after all?

No. Bear in mind that the G.O.P. isn’t in trouble because of a string of bad luck. The problems that have caused Americans to turn on the party, from the disaster in Iraq to the botched response to Katrina, from the failed attempt to privatize Social Security to the sudden realization by many voters that the self-proclaimed champions of moral values are hypocrites, are deeply rooted in the whole nature of Republican governance. So even if this surge doesn’t overtop the levee, there will be another surge soon.

All of these predictions, these expectations, are based on "what ifs" and polling that could be great, but could also be not so great. I don't really know. But I do know that we've got a trio of hard weeks of work ahead of us and nothing is over until the polls are closed. So if you haven't already, go to your local campaign office and volunteer to make November 7, 2006 a really good day.

Culture of Corruption: Felony Charges and Prison Time

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Rep. Bob Ney is the first congressman to fall in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling case, a controversy that has reached the White House and Capitol Hill.

In his sixth term, Ney is to enter a guilty plea today to two felony charges that could send him to prison for up to 10 years.

Ney agreed to plead guilty a month ago to charges of conspiracy and making false statements, acknowledging that he had deprived the public of his honest services.

The Heath congressman says he took tens of thousands of dollars worth of trips, sports tickets, campaign contributions, meals and casino chips in exchange for legislation and public statements supporting lobbyist Abramoff's clients and a foreign businessman.

With the Justice Department recommending a punishment of 27 months in prison, the congressman might announce his decision to step down when he appears before U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, an appointee of President Clinton.

Longtime Washington lawyer Stephen Ryan said "the most likely event" is that Ney will quit in front of the judge because that would represent acceptance of responsibility for his crimes, a critical issue with regard to the length of his prison term.

TGIF Open Thread

Woo-hoo! It's Friday! That means tomorrow and Sunday all of us working stiffs can go get out in the field for some GOTV!

It only works if we all play our parts!

• Sign-up to volunteer in your state today!
• Check out 100actions.com!
• Send in your photos!

October 12, 2006

Today In Iraq

A quagmire...

The senior American commander in Iraq said Wednesday that violence in Baghdad had reached its highest levels in recent weeks, despite the assignment of thousands more American and Iraqi troops to the capital in August.

When will this end? Make sure your local papers hear your point of view. Write a letter to the editor about the President's war of choice in Iraq today and share your thoughts.

By the Numbers

Chris over at MyDD breaks down the latest poll dump for us. It's looking good, but nothing is in the bag. We've got 26 hard days left, so keep that in mind...

The new Majority Watch from Constituent Dynamics will be released in a few minutes. Based on 63 polls of 48 districts of 1,000 likely voters each, they will show Democrats currently ahead in the House by 19 seats, 224-205, or the exact, 19-seat margin of the Republican Majority after the 2002 elections. It is also a significant increase from the 219-214 seat lead for Democrats found in the Majority Watch polling from late August and early September.

This 19-seat lead will not even include seven competitive, Republican-held districts that are currently being polled, and six districts that are currently tied. In fact, perhaps most stunningly, the districts with "safe" leads outside the margins of error break 217-198 in favor of Democrats. The previous set of polls actually showed Republicans ahead on safe seats, 205-199. Further, since TX-22 was not polled, that means Democrats already have the magic 218, outside the margin of error, with between 19 and 26 more races in the "toss-up" category. This is a looming landslide.

Help Dems close the deal: Volunteer Now!

The Truth Shall Set Your Free

A handy guide to the truth, via Media Matters:

The scandal surrounding the sexually explicit electronic communications former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) allegedly sent to underage former congressional pages -- and the House Republican leadership's alleged cover-up of Foley's behavior -- have produced a wave of misinformation. To aid members of the media in covering the scandal, Media Matters for America has compiled a list of the top myths, falsehoods, and baseless assertions surrounding the controversy.

Get your facts, here.

Open Thread

Chat away...

October 11, 2006

Open Thread

• Today is "National Coming Out Day" and the HRC has a great video up over on YouTube which features comments by President Clinton, Steven Spielberg, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ellen DeGeneres, Janet Jackson, and others.
• 2010: Could our troops be in Iraq until then? Yes, says the Army.
• Nico over at ThinkProgress points out McCain's "straight-talk express" has two faces.
• Game On! Darcy Burner is in it to win it:

  "Something is very, very wrong, and we have got to change course," Burner said.

  "In my experience as a businesswoman, which I was for a dozen years, you deliver results or you get fired," said Burner, the former Microsoft Corp. manager. "If this Congress and this president worked for Microsoft, they would have been fired."

A Return to Scapegoating

Instead of accepting responsibility for their failure to protect Congressional pages, key Republican leaders have responded to the Mark Foley scandal by using outdated and discriminatory stereotypes to attack LGBT Americans and deflect attention from their own failures.

According to Time magazine, Republicans in Washington have launched a whisper campaign blaming LGBT Republican Congressional staffers for covering up the scandal

Last week some conservatives went so far as to insinuate that Foley proves that every gay person is a pedophile waiting to happen. "You don't need 'gaydar' to understand he has certain dispositions," Utah Congressman Chris Cannon told the Deseret News. Televangelist Pat Robertson recommended that G.O.P. leaders simply explain the situation this way: "Well, this man's gay. He does what gay people do."

These talking points, which insinuate or make the outright claim that Mark Foley's predatory actions towards children were a result of his homosexuality are outragous - and another example of Republicans scapegoating a group of Americans to score political points.

As Newsweek reported following the Foley scandal:

Sexual orientation has nothing to do with sexual predation, and to suggest otherwise is to dredge up ugly stereotypes that are factually wrong (according to a 2000 Justice Department study, 97 percent of adults who sexually assault 12- to 17-year-old children are male—and 90 percent of their victims are female).

These attacks come as polls show increasing outrage over the Republican cover up of the Mark Foley scandal. According to a new New York Times/CBS poll, 79 percent of Americans believe House Republican leaders were more concerned about their political standing than about the safety of teenage Congressional pages, while half said Republicans have improperly handled the Foley case and that Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert should resign.

As Governor Dean said:

“Instead of accepting responsibility for their failure to protect the children in their care, key Republican leaders continue to use divisive stereotypes to deflect from their own failures. The American people are tired of the Republican Party’s shameless attempts to divide the electorate and scapegoat groups of people for political gain. It is time to end the blame game and the politics of fear and division and return to honesty, accountability and ethics in Washington.”

Democracy at Risk: Protecting the Vote

Blocking the Vote:

Some of this year's elections could be decided by those who can't vote.

Across the country, new laws restricting who can register and vote have reduced the number of people who are eligible. Some of those laws have been blocked in court. Even so, critics say, the damage has been done...

Laws tightening the rules on registrations also have been passed in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington. Laws imposing photo ID requirements at the polls were passed in Georgia and Missouri, but courts have intervened...

Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law disagrees. "All of them will have an impact in suppressing votes," she says. "Even when courts have overturned them, they have ongoing impact."

Most of these laws have been enacted in the name of preventing fraud. Yet, a new report to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which has not been released publicly, disputes the basis for those laws, as reported in USA Today:

At a time when many states are instituting new requirements for voter registration and identification, a preliminary report to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has found little evidence of the type of polling-place fraud those measures seek to stop.

USA TODAY obtained the report from the commission four months after it was delivered by two consultants hired to write it. The commission has not distributed it publicly...

The bipartisan report by two consultants to the election commission casts doubt on the problem those laws are intended to address. "There is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling-place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters," the report says.

For more information on Voting Rights and protecting the freedom to vote, check out the Democratic Party's Voting Rights Institute.

If you want to volunteer to help protect the vote, legal volunteer through the DNC's National Lawyers Council.

50-State Turnout: Kicking Off the Final Stretch

New Port City Councilwoman Marilynn Dechant, Alison Morano, Chair of the
Pasco Democrats, and Phyllis Busansky, Democratic nominee for Florida's
9th Congressional District kicked-off the final month of GOTV activities
with sign waving on SR54 in Pasco County.
Volunteer to Help Democrats on Election Day in Your State!

In Pasco County, Democrats kicked-off their GOTV operations for the final month of the election cycle with a full day of activities.

One of the local Dems brought his smokehouse out to the headquarters to cook for hungry volunteers. Outside a DJ kept the music blasting for volunteers who waved signs touting Democratic candidates, like Phyllis Busansky (pictured above).

Inside some volunteers hit the phones to talk with voters about local candidates, while other volunteers deployed for canvassing shifts.

Phyllis Busanksy, the Democratic nominee for Florida's 9th Congressional District was also in attendance. The 9th District is an open seat, and Phyllis is working hard to turn it blue. Her GOP opponent is the son of the retiring Republican representative and has brought President Bush and Vice President Cheney to the District to try and up his chances replacing his father.

Phyllis is campaigning to represent the hardworking people of the 9th District who have been left behind by the policies of the Bush administration. She recently sent this message to voters in Pasco:

...Last Thursday, [my opponent] welcomed President George W. Bush. In response to Bush’s visit, I hosted a luncheon for about 35 homeowners whose insurance had gone up by $1000 or more (the cost per plate of the Bush fundraiser). If the attendee’s insurance had gone up by $2100 (the cost of having a personal picture taken with the president), he or she got lunch and a free picture with myself. I sat there and listened to homeowners whose lives had been turned upside down by 200% – 400% increases in their homeowners’ insurance. Gus voted to let that happen. I’m going to bring the fight to Washington and hold insurance companies all across this country accountable.

This will be a battle, no matter how many dollar signs are thrown around and reported on. Come help us educate our voters on who will truly work for their interests in Congress. Let’s send a message that Congressional seats cannot simply be passed on from one generation to the next. Because if we truly want to change Congress and the direction of this great nation, we need start changing the people we send there.

All across the country, Democratic candidates like Phyllis are fighting to win. The 50-State Turnout kicked off the final stretch of what has been a long, hard campaign season. In every single state Democrats showed up at their local Democratic headquarters and campaign offices to do the hard work it takes to win - getting out the vote one person at a time through phone calls and door-to-door contacts.

With just 27 days left until Election Day, every hour you can spend doing GOTV makes a difference! So make the decision now to give a few hours each week. In my former life as a field organizer, I always loved the volunteers who made their commitments early. That meant I had more to time try and get new volunteers in place for Election Day.

So take a look at your day planner and block out some time to volunteer. A few hours of phone banking after work and one afternoon each weekend? Maybe more, maybe less. Some suggestions:

• Make it a social thing, and plan on volunteering with a group of friends.
• Moms - leave the kids with their Dads and get some other Moms to make it a "Mom's Night Out". After a few hours volunteering, grab a quiet dinner, kids-free.
• Not quite old enough to vote? It doesn't mean you can't participate in the process. You can still volunteer. Not only is campaigning a great experience, but it's fun too. So you get some extra info for your college applications and the opportunity to really make a difference.
• Guys: Do you love any excuse to get out the power tools? Well I bet your local campaign has some signs that need to be constructed and put up around your community.
• Make volunteering fun with theme nights. How about Sundae Sunday? The volunteer who makes the most phone calls wins a free sundae. How about Take-Out Tuesday? Everyone brings one to-go dinner from their favorite take out place and you end up with a tasty buffet. What about Saturdays in the Park? Grab a blanket, your cell phone and make your phone bank into a picnic afternoon.

These are just a few ideas...be creative...make it fun and 27 days will fly by.

Volunteer to Help Democrats on Election Day in Your State!

Today in Iraq: 655,000 "Excess" Deaths

Grim numbers from the President's War of Choice:

A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government.

It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.

The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war.

Of the total 655,000 estimated "excess deaths," 601,000 resulted from violence and the rest from disease and other causes, according to the study. This is about 500 unexpected violent deaths per day throughout the country.

Wednesday Open Thread

Tell Your Boss You Need a Day Off

November 7th could be the most momentous election in a decade. Start planning for Election Day by taking November 7th off work. This is an all hands on deck situation - we need every Democrat who can help out encouraging people to vote. You can't help get out the vote if you have other obligations.

October 10, 2006

Vote From Abroad!

Members of the Democrats Abroad met in Rome
for their regional meeting over the weekend.

Democrats Abroad is the official Democratic Party organization for the millions of Americans living outside the United States. DA works to advance the principles of the Party by spreading the Democratic message to Americans abroad and encouraging them to vote for Democratic candidates back home.

There are over 6 million Americans living overseas, which means millions of potential votes, which can make them difference in a number of close, crucial races.

If you live outside the US, or have friends or family who do, make sure you visit www.Votefromabroad.org. This easy-to-use website will guide you through printing, signing and mailing in an absentee ballot in minutes.

And, did you know that if you applied from overseas for an absentee ballot before your state’s deadline for doing so, and did not yet receive it, you can use www.votefromabroad.org to get a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB). This allows you to vote for federal offices (the House and Senate on November 7, 2006) and can be used if you don’t get your regular ballot in time.

Arizona Democrats Turn Out the Vote

Lisa, the Arizona Democratic Party Field Director, sent us in this update about Arizona's 50-State Turnout:

In Arizona, Governor Janet Napolitano kicked off two walks in Phoenix. One canvass was meeting at Congressman Pastor's campaign office, where he does a weekly canvass in support of local candidates. Congressman Pastor's volunteers go door-to-door spreading the word about the Democratic ticket - the whole ticket - from our Senate candidate, Jim Pederson, down to the local county candidates.

The Governor also attended a rally/kick off with a group of correctional officers, who were joined with our legislative candidates from the 14th and 15th Districts. After hearing from Governor Napolitano and other organizers, they hit the streets to go door-to-door.

The correctional officers organized the walk themselves. They have been really supportive of the Governor. She's been endorsed by every major law enforcement organization in the state and this was one of the things they wanted to do in order to support her campaign.

Other Arizona campaigns also participated in other parts of the state. Jim Pederson's campaign staff kicked-off the 50-State Turnout with a walk, as did the Giffords' campaign who has been recruiting and sending canvassers out every weekend. In Tucson, Secretary of State candidate Israel Torres and his campaign team recruited volunteers for the 50-State Turnout canvasses.

On the afternoon conference call, we also heard from two of your DNC-funded field organizers, Nathan and Francisco.

Nathan talked about the Arizona field effort, which has been in place for over a year, with voter contact starting early January:

Our voter contact began in January of this year with a door-to-door canvass with Representative Griljava, Representative Pastor and Representative Honda. We began our coordinated campaign program in April and since the April ramp-up began, we have made over 350,000 phone calls and have knocked on 70,000 doors. Because of this great output we have collected more vote-by-mail applications than in 2002. We continue to ramp up for our Get-Out-the-Vote effort, which officially began on Friday, October 5th, as county recorders began mailing ballots to those voters who have already requested.

Francisco, who is tasked with Hispanic outreach, discussed the steps Arizona Dems have taken to reach out to Latino voters:

Our Hispanic Outreach has gotten a tremendous response. Starting in January, we have walked and phone thousands of people in heavily Hispanic areas across the state. We have been able to build strong ties with Hispanic media outlets across the state in all three areas, radio, print, and TV. We have also built a strong network of activists by reaching out to community leaders and organizations who have been active organizers of the pro-immigrant rallies, community events, and neighborhood activities.

Best Practices for Success

Governor Dean held two conference calls with participants of the 50-State Turnout on Saturday. If you dialed into the morning call, you would have heard not only from Governor Dean, but also from Rick Minor. Rick is the Chair of the Leon County Democratic Party, which does grassroots organizing in the county that includes Florida's Capital City, Tallahassee. So it's a county party that is under the watchful eye of the Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman, Karen Thurman, and the Democrats in the State Legislature, more than most.

Rick was elected Chair of the Leon Dems earlier this year and immediately put together one of the most successful events in the country for the July's Democratic Reunion. We asked Rick to share some his experience on the call so other Democrats could learn from the Leon County Party's success.

First, we held a friendly competition amongst our local candidates, asking them to bring in all of their campaign volunteers to participate in the Democratic Party's canvassing. As an incentive, we told them that the three candidates bringing in the most volunteers would be featured in our press release and on our website, www.LeonDems.com. Spurred on by the chance to obtain some earned media, our candidates worked hard to recruit their campaign supporters for the July 29th canvassing. This also meant that our event was a coordinated effort, with local and state-wide candidates all taking part in our event.

Prior to the July 29th canvassing day, our event was featured on the DNC's blog. When we informed our local press of the national exposure provided by the DNC they were very interested in covering our event. That Saturday morning, Florida public radio interviewed our candidates and followed one of them while he spoke with voters. The highlight of the day, however, was the arrival of a local TV reporter and cameraman. They shot footage of the activists at the party headquarters, and followed a pair of canvassers as they walked neighborhoods to spread the Democratic message. The resulting news story was featured on the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news that evening!

Both of these approaches could be easily adopted by other county parties and Democratic organizations across the nation. With creative ideas like these for building our volunteer teams and attracting earned media, we can beat back the GOP and WIN in 2006!

The Leon Dems built on their success in July when planning their 50-State Turnout event.

Leon Dems Zachary Ansley and Rev. Al Whitaker assemble yard signs for distribution.

It was an extremely productive day. We walked Tallahassee’s neighborhoods, placing the DNC hangers on residents’ doors and putting up yard signs. Several others stayed at the county party headquarters, assembling yard signs and calling voters.

Many of our Democratic activists are honing their persuasion skills and are becoming very adept at speaking with swing voters. At one house a canvasser spoke with a state employee who had met the Republican gubernatorial candidate, and had decided to vote for him instead of our Democratic nominee, Jim Davis. The canvasser replied, “As a state worker, you know more than anyone about Gov. Jeb Bush’s failed privatization of government services. The Republican candidate is promising to "stay the course" and continue with Jeb Bush’s policies. Is that good for Florida?” Then, after hearing what Jim Davis would do to change things in Tallahassee, the state worker looked at our canvasser and said, “You, know, you’re right. You’re speaking for the Democrats and I like what you’re saying. Jim Davis can count on my vote.”

And that’s how we’re going to win - - going from street to street, house to house, and speaking with individual voters about the REAL change that’s needed in Florida!

More pictures after the jump...

Keep reading "Best Practices for Success"

Neighbor to Neighbor

At the DNC we believe that personal interactions are more important than yard signs, stickers or slick TV ads.

Personal interactions like this one from Marion in Yorkville, IL:

I took my husband out to dinner tonight to celebrate his birthday (10/9/06). We went to a new restaurant in Yorkville, IL not far from where we live.

Our waitress was a young lady who works at an Oswego school as a counselor and she lives in the new Bristol subdivision. I asked her if she was going to vote in the November election and she wasn't aware of the Congressional race in the Illinois 14th Congressional District. I told her all about John Laesch, the Democratic candidate campaigning against Dennis Hastert. She then said she had seen some signs but didn't know what they were at the time.

Well by the time I got through giving her glowing reports on John, I believe she was 100% more informed than before we came into the restaurant. And, I am hoping she talks to more people now that she knows about John (at the restaurant, at the Oswego school and at her subdivision).

I manage to engage people in conversation whenever and wherever I have an opportunity.

More: John Laesch for Congress

This is the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor contact that is the essence of the 50-State Strategy. Democrats live everywhere and people will vote for Democrats everywhere, but a lot of the time, they have to know who they are voting for to take that step. Sharing your own thoughts on your local and state candidates in everyday situations like this makes a big difference and is more valuable than any kind of paid communication.

Politics is supposed to be one of those topics you don't talk about over dinner, or in polite company, but that's nonsense. Our elected officials effect every aspect of our lives, from the traffic light on the corner to the funding for our schools to our nation's involvement in international affairs. Politics is something we all have in common, so go ahead, share your stories and talk about it!

Tuesday Open Thread

• The Bush Administration in bizarro world.
• My favorite Op-Eder: "Republican women see Denny Hastert and Rummy and these old codgers who are hiding the truth and hurting kids---kids in Iraq and kids in the page system. And I think women will really be turned off by that."
  ---Maureen Dowd on The Chris Matthews Show (h/t to Cheers and Jeers)
• The Argus Leader, South Dakota's largest paper, has endorsed Democrat Jack Billion for Governor.

  Billion gets it. A physician and veteran. Former state legislator. Dakota Wesleyan University board member. Deep roots. Outspoken. Open. Willing to try new things. Willing to admit he doesn't have all the answers. Willing to admit when he's wrong.

  Yes, Rounds is incredibly popular in South Dakota. His popularity, though, is based on his smile - not on his leadership or successes.

  It is time to change. Jack Billion should be our next governor.

• The NYT has a fascinating serious on "how American religious organizations benefit from an increasingly accommodating government." Check out Part 3.

• MySpace, Facebook, YouTube - a whole new generation of internet tools are changing the way we think about sharing information. Cool article on MySpace's newest campaign, Rock for Darfur, here.
• Just another example of why we need someone with competence and integrity in charge of Ohio Elections. How about Jennifer Brunner?

October 9, 2006

New Jersey Rocks The 50-State Turnout

Congressman Honda, Linda Stender and New Jersey Democrats
kick off The 50-State Turnout

Congressman Mike Honda, DNC Vice Chair, kicked-off the October 7th national organizing day by campaigning with New Jersey 7th congressional candidate, Linda Stender. The day started with the Congressman and Assemblywoman greeting members of Plumbers Local 24, who they joined for a labor walk. After the walk, Honda and Stender participated in a brief training with canvassers, which was lead by one of the campaign's Field Organizers.

Neighbor-to-neighbor, spreading the Democratic message, one door at a time.

Honda and Stender, along with local canvassers, walked door-to-door, visiting homes and businesses in Edison, Roselle Park, Woodbridge and Elizabeth, sharing the Democratic message of a new direction for America with voters throughout the district. They also attended an Asian Trade Show and Chinese Festival, where Congressman Honda, who chairs the Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucus, and Stender spoke about how improving the economy and educational opportunities would benefit Asian-Americans, New Jersey, and all of America.

Congressman Honda also joined numerous other Democratic Party leaders and elected officials who campaigned for Senatorial candidate Bob Menendez that weekend.

Senator Bob Menendez addresses a crowd of supporters.

Senator Bob Menendez was at a huge rally with organized labor leaders and Demcoratic supporters before heading out on his own canvass.

More New Jersey Grassroots Stories from The 50-State Turnout Kick-off over at Blue Jersey here andhere.

50-State Turnout Turns Out the Stars

The OC's Adam Brody phones Ohio voters alongside Sherrod Brown during
The 50-State Turnout in NE Ohio

Getting Out the Youth Vote in Ohio:

Students pushed their way through the Kiva Auditorium at the Kent Student Center in an effort to catch a glimpse of actors Luke Perry and Adam Brody, who shared the stage with Brown.

The actors were joining the Democratic congressman on a four-day campus tour of Ohio in his campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine.

During his remarks to the students, which focused on tuition costs for higher education in Ohio, Brown paid tribute to KSU for its activism.

"Activism on this campus is the tradition you come from," Brown said. "That is your heritage and why you can change this country."

Perry, a Massilon native and star of the 1990s hit Fox television series, Beverly Hills 90210, said he was delivered by Browns father, Dr. Charles Brown. He and Brown shared stories of growing up in Ohio.

"This election is important to me," Perry said. "Ohio needs to become the leader in alternative fuels. Too many Ohioans have gone off to war and died. We need to bring our troops back and have them work towards rebuilding Ohio. That is why we need to support him."

"I fear this government," Perry said. "It is important to make a change. We need to get Congress back to the Democrats or else every last effort will go towards oil, the war and higher tuition."

Brody, a star of the Fox series, The O.C., urged students to vote in the upcoming election.

"You are no longer the future, you are the present," he told students.

Luke Perry and Sherrod Brown supporters rally in Ohio

Video from the Brown campaign, here.

Mid-Monday Open Thread

• Republicans lose the Mommy vote.
• Governor Dean on President Bush's failed leadership.
• New Jersey GOP Senate candidate turns his back and walks away from a soldier's mother.
• George Allen has something else to try and explain.
• Have you checked out the Secretary of State Project?
• Jessica explains why young women shouldn't be fooled by conservative rhetoric - they aren't trying to "protect" us, they are trying to limit young women's reproductive rights.
• 52% want Hastert out of the Speaker's office.
• Republicans lie some more. Glenn Greenwald explains.

• Oh yeah...33%

MO-Sen: Claire McCaskill Debates

Missouri Senate candidates, GOP incumbent, Jim Talent, and Democratic nominee, Claire McCaskill, took a spin on Sunday's Meet the Press for a colorful debate:

On Talents close tie to Bush:

Tim Russert, who moderated the debate on NBC's "Meet the Press," noted that Talent sided with Bush on almost every major issue and counted four times that the president had visited Missouri on Talent's behalf.(Washington Post, 10/9/2006)

McCaskill on the Iraq and the War on Terror:

"This is Harry Truman's Senate seat. When he was in the Senate, during the war, a war that was over the fight of our civilization, the fight for freedom, he asked questions about war profiteering and he was called brave," McCaskill said. "In this climate right now, they would question whether or not he was a coward. We need to be asking the questions, we need to have a plan, we need to have accountability." (Release 10/8)

"I believe there are two issues here. One is the war in Iraq, a failed policy where we're mired in a civil war, where we are losing lives every day and innocent Iraqi lives; and then our effort worldwide to begin to be effective against terror. Terrorist cells are popping up. We are creating more terrorists around the world with this failed policy in Iraq. ... But to mix the two is confusing the American public, trying to confuse the American public, and trying to roll all this in into an election year effort to make Democrats, who want our country to be safe, look weak. And we're not weak." (National Journal, Sunday Snapshot)

Talent On Stem Cell Research:

Missouri voters will consider a proposed constitutional amendment on Nov. 7 to safeguard early stage stem cell research.

The initiative is supported by prominent moderate Republicans such as former senator John Danforth, along with Gov. Matt Blunt. Supporters believe the measure could be a boon to biomedical research, by making Missouri the first state to formally recognize a right for scientists to conduct the research and for patients to receive treatment.

Talent opposes the measure because he said it could lead to human cloning. (Washington Post, 10/9/2006)

McCaskill On Stem Cell Research:

"Our country has never turned its back on medical research and we shouldn't in Missouri. This provision strictly prohibits human cloning and provides a framework of ethical conduct and laws that are going to restrict the kinds of things that no one wants. I respect people who disagree with me on this issue on principle, I understand there are differences. I come down on the side of hope, hope for cures and supporting science." (National Journal, Sunday Snapshot)

MSNBC has the whole debate up for viewing, here, or you can check out highlights over at the McCaskill site, here.

Ohio's 100,000 Calls for Victory

The Ohio Democratic Party set an ambitious goal for their 50-State Turnout events. Their goal was to make 100,000 phone calls to Ohio voters. All across the state they set up phone bank locations - the goal was to have one phone bank in every single county. With those locations set, Ohio Democrats hit the phones on Saturday, dialing for Victory in 2006.

Jennifer Brunner, the Democratic nominee for Ohio Secretary of State,
and Jay Goyal, Democratic nominee for the Ohio State House's 73rd Distirct, at a
phonebank during the 50-State Turnount.

Democrats Dialing for Victory in Ohio

More on the Ohio Turnout, here.

50-State Turnout: An Oregon Story

This weekend's 50-State Turnout events kicked off a month-long Get Out the Vote effort by Democratic campaigns across the country. In coordination with their State Parties and local campaigns, Democrats in all 50 states spent Saturday doing the hard work it takes to win elections. Governor Dean joined in via conference call to thank everyone for their hard work so far and to offer some words of encouragement as we move into the final stretch of the campaign season.

On those conference calls we also heard from local activists, like Mary Jane LaBelle, from Curry County, Orgeon, who shared her story:

As you know, Oregon is a completely mail-ballot state, and as such, enjoys a higher voter turnout than most other states. Our ballots will be mailed out October 20, so one of our phone strategies will be to encourage the voter to return their ballot quickly.

The state of Oregon in a rural state compared to many others. The election 2 years ago showed that we were blue, but not a strong blue. Our cities are blue; our rural areas tend to be red. Our goal is to turn Oregon into a solidly blue state. We have noticed a lot of negative campaigning from the Republican candidates. This was expected — it is clearly the only strategy open to them when they have such a huge need to shift focus away from their embarrassing leadership. Since the beginning of the year, the Democratic Party of Oregon has been organizing the counties for this effort through the field staff, supplied partly by the DNC.

I am from Curry County, a rural south coast County. As with many rural areas, we were red last election and are working hard (with the help of Governor Dean’s 50-State Strategy) to become blue this election. Our strategy includes a lot of visibility — headquarters placed in trafficked areas, pins, bumper stickers, as well as meetings and letter writing campaigns. Our GOTV effort in this county is centered around phone banking this year. We are calling our drop-off and newly registered Democrats, with focus on Governor Kulongoski’s campaign. We are showing free movies, like “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Iraq for Sale”.

Throughout all this work and focus, we also realize that we are setting the foundation for a new Democratic party. That is the big picture. It may not happen this election, but each effort by those in the streets today is like a stone in the foundation for a better world tomorrow. That is our commitment and dream.

Just Another Manic Monday Open Thread

Chat away...

October 8, 2006

Sunday Open Thread

To protect the right to vote this November, the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute has set up a 1-888-DEM-VOTE hotline to provide assistance to voters in all 50 states.

Through this hotline, voters will be able to identify their polling location and, most importantly, report Election Day problems as they happen so they can be fixed as soon as possible.

1-888-DEM-VOTE launched yesterday. Make sure your friends and family all over the country know that if they have a problem voting on Election Day, they can call 1-888-DEM-VOTE for help.

Fight on all Fronts

Governor Dean writes an op-ed for the Sunday New York Times:

We live in dangerous times that demand real leadership. The president’s foreign policies have failed. Recent polls show that a plurality of Americans trust Democrats over Republicans to handle the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, and two-thirds of Americans want a new direction for our country.

Democrats will answer this call by standing up for change with a unified agenda, including a defense policy that’s tough and smart. That’s a policy for tracking down terrorists, providing our troops and agencies with the tools they need to stop future attacks and following the 9/11 commission recommendations to close the gaps in our security.

Democrats will stand up to Republican attempts to once again use fear to win elections in November. We will make sure voters know that a Democratic Congress will not rubber-stamp the administration’s policies, which put the agenda of the far right ahead of what’s good for America. We offer a new direction that will restore to Congress the competence, efficiency and fairness that Americans deserve.

October 7, 2006

50-State Turnout Calls

Well we just finished our last conference call of the day for the 50-State Turnout kickoff. Governor Dean joined in and was able to speak with groups all across the country and we heard from a variety of different people in the states what they were doing to Get Out The Vote!

We'll have more stories, photos and tales from this kick-off event later this weekend and all next week.

If you attended an event, you can send your stories in to us via e-mail: 50stateturnout@dnc.org.

50-State Turnout Open Thread

We kick off the our 50-State Turnout event today! Woo-hoo! Find one today...

Don't forget to take your camera and send us your best photos to 50stateturnout@dnc.org.

October 6, 2006

Culture of Corruption Claims Another Victim

"Take Out the Trash Day" and another resignation:

A key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove resigned Friday in the wake of a congressional report that listed hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.

Susan Ralston, special assistant to President Bush, submitted a resignation letter to him less than five weeks before congressional elections in which corruption and scandal are emerging as key issues for voters...

The House Government Reform Committee last week issued a report saying that based on documents supplied by Abramoff's former lobbying firm, he had 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials over three years, including 10 with Rove. At the time, the White House said it was unclear whether all the listed contacts were legitimate because they were based on sometimes-sketchy information provided by Abramoff himself.

The report also said that Abramoff and his team offered White House officials tickets to 19 sporting events and concerts, and that Ralston was the most frequent recipient.

Ralston's job at the White House involved organizing and coordinating the day's events and messages of the day.

From the DNC Research Department: A more detailed look at the Abramoff-White House connection.

Georgia10 over at DailyKos points to this tidbit from the National Journal:

As presidential adviser Karl Rove set up shop in the West Wing in 2001, he was looking for an assistant to serve as the trusted gatekeeper of his new fiefdom. Superlobbyist and Republican fundraiser Jack Abramoff was happy to lend a hand. Abramoff knew just the right person for the job: his own assistant, Susan Ralston. She interviewed with Rove and got the position.

For a staunch conservative and smooth GOP operative like Abramoff, losing a valuable aide was well worth the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the president's senior political adviser.

When will the GOP Stop This Nonsense?

Utah Republican Rep. Chris Cannon has been speaking out about the Mark Foley scandal, and he's figured out whose to blame - according to Rep. Cannon, it's the pages.

Listen to this outrageous assertion, here.

Rep. Chris Cannon says:

"I've been thinking about this and I hate to hesitate, but there's really not much you can do, except educate kids as to the dangers. Frankly, this is the responsibility of parents. If you get online, you may find people who are creepy. There are creepy people out there who will do and say creepy things, avoid them. That's what you have to do, and maybe we can say that a little more to the pages."

And then there's this...

"These kids are actually precocious kids. It looks like maybe this one email was a prank where you had a bunch of kids sitting around egging this guy on, you know? So, the world's a complicated place, and we just have to do the best we can."

Open Thread

50-State Turnout - it's tomorrow. Where will you be?

Predictions and Prognostications

The Line Shifts, according to the WaPo:

The Senate landscape continues to shift toward Democrats thanks to the surprising competitiveness of the Tennessee and Virginia races.

In Tennesee, Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D) continues to take the fight to former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R), whose camp appears to be in turmoil following the dismissal of his campaign manager and his media consultant. Republicans privately acknowledge that Corker has done little right of late but believe there is still time to turn it around.

Republicans are also suffering from self-inflicted wounds in Virginia, where Sen. George Allen (R) has watched his double-digit lead over former Navy Secretary Jim Webb (D) wither away amid a stream of allegations that Allen is a racist -- charges that the senator and longtime friends and supporters, including some minorities, say are false.

These positive developments for Democrats put Senate Republicans in a more precarious position than they were in just a month ago, when there was no obvious "sixth seat" in play.

Cizilla then looks at the Top 10 Senate races.

More quantitative information is available over at DailyKos, where Markos puts together a whole bunch of recent polls.

100 Hours with a Democratic Congress

If Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives, the first 100 hours under would-be Speaker Pelosi would look like this:

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.

There are 32 days to turn this from a dream into a reality. Make it happen, one seat at a time, by getting out the vote where you live.

A formula for success:

100actions.com + 50-State Turnout = A Democratic Victory

But that formula only works when you multiply it by thousands of individuals, each doing their part to spread the word to their friends, family and neighbors.

First Look: Scott Kleeb's Newest Ad

Scott Kleeb is running to represent Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District. Tonight, his newest ad will premiere on Nebraska TV, but you can check it out here first.

The gap between Scott and his extreme right-wing opponent, whose special interest money and special interest agenda, including a anti-ag platform, isn't the kind of leadership Nebraskans want, is closing fast.

When responding to a recent poll, “if the election were held today,” 41 percent of definite voters said they would vote for the Republican candidate and 37 percent said they would vote for Scott Kleeb. The margin of error for the entire sample is ±4.87%.

Nebraska Democrats have been working hard to turn their state blue. The state party has worked to organize Democrats in every county and isn't ceding a single square mile of the "red" state to the GOP and have embraced the 50-State Strategy.

As Governor Dean said,

By this time, you're usually narrowing the number of races and pulling funding away from people who can't win. We've got people who were not on the radar of either the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] or the [Republican National Congressional Committee] and they have a chance.

People like Scott Kleeb, Gary Trauner in Wyoming, Larry Grant in Idaho, Tim Walz in Minnesota who are all running to win in Districts that the conventional wisdom would never have put in play, but who could end up being our sweetest victories on November 7th.

Work for victory with other Dems as we kick-off the final stretch of the cycle at the 50-State Turnout.

Tomorrow is the 50-State Turnout Open Thread!

Where will you be?

October 5, 2006

Listen Up: Where are you?!?

What's the deal with Republicans not showing up at interviews and debates?

In Idaho, Republicans won't show up for debates. Yesterday, Hastert was a no-show for an interview. The latest Republican to follow suit: Rep. Dave Reichert. He recently backed out of a news show where he was supposed to explain his failed interoperability bill.

Democratic Congressional candidate Darcy Burner jumped in to save the day, filling the time slot, because unlike her opponent, she makes time to talk to Washington voters about the issues that matter to them. (She made time to talk with us earlier this year. Read it here, in case you missed it.)

Apparently the hosts of the show were inspired to create a little jingle about the whole thing, as they wonder, Dave Reichert, where are you?

Listen, here.

Just a Reminider...

...what Christy said.

This is an open thread.

Watch It: Idaho is Not For Sale!

Jerry Brady, candidate for Idaho governor, releases his newest ad today.

You can watch it, here.

The ad echos the sentiment thousands of Idahoans: Idaho is not for sale.

As one local blogger writes:

If you could boil it down to five words, it'd be: Idaho is not for sale. That's Jerry Brady's slogan, but we'll all run with it. From preserving access to public lands to keeping our air and water clean to building strong local economies that lift every boat (not just the yachts), Democrats are standing up for working Idahoans. We're fired up...

In addition to getting us the ad in advance of its airing, the Brady campaign provided some facts about Idaho's uniqueness, both for its expansive wilderness areas and the access the people have to their public land. For instance..Did you know:

• Idaho has the largest contiguous wilderness area in the lower 48 states and the most roadless wilderness with roughly nine million acres.
• Idaho’s Owyhee-Bruneau region is one of the country’s richest high-desert ecosystems and encompasses an area twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.
• Anchored by 4 million acres of congressionally designated wilderness in the central part of the state, Idaho's forests are among the healthiest, most ecologically intact lands in the nation. They offer habitat for such rare species as the grizzly bear, Canada lynx, and steelhead and bull trout.

Brady's opponent Otter has tried to sell out our national treasures before. He joined extreme fringe groups when he opposed a bill introduced by one of his own Republican colleagues which would protect the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains in central Idaho.

Recent polls show that Idahoans are shifting away from Otter and embracing Jerry Brady's call for change. With a large chunck of undecided voters still up for grabs, the race is in single digits and getting closer every day.

Other Idaho candidates are gaining momentum as well. Congressional candidate Larry Grant and LG candidate Larry LaRocco have been on the radar for a while and are just more proof that Idaho Democrats are working hard for a new direction in their state.

On October 7th, Idaho Democrats will host 18 seperate events for the 50-State Turnout all across the state. From Boise to Blackfoot, every voter counts in Idaho and the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates are running hard to win November 7th.

For more on Idaho, check out these great local blogs: 43rd State Blues and Red State Rebels.

The Blame Game

I seriously thought Katherine Harris was the only GOPer crazy enough to make claims like this...

From today's NYT:

Hastert asserted that any Republicans urging his ouster are playing into the hands of Democrats and blamed his problems on the media and Democratic operatives, even suggesting former President Clinton might somehow be involved.

''All I know is what I hear and what I see,'' he said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune on the eve of the ethics meeting. ''I saw Bill Clinton's adviser, Richard Morris, was saying these guys knew about this all along, If somebody had this info, when they had it, we could have dealt with it then.''

Hastert said ''people funded by George Soros,'' a liberal billionaire who has plowed millions into this and other election campaigns, want to see the scandal blow up. And he warned that when the GOP ''base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy.''

Nice try. But it's not going to fly.

From The Hill:

The source who in July gave news media Rep. Mark Foley's (R-Fla.) suspect e-mails to a former House page says the documents came to him from a House GOP aide. That aide has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote, said the source, who showed The Hill public records supporting his claim.

"...These revelations mean that Republicans who are calling for probes to discover what Democratic leaders and staff knew about Foley's improper exchanges with under-age pages will likely be unable to show that the opposition party orchestrated the scandal now roiling the GOP just a month away from the midterm elections.

"...The explosive disclosures about Foley's communications with teenage pages have overshadowed Republican legislative accomplishments during their final week in town. They have become the preoccupation of a capital press corps that has little else to write about now that Congress is in recess and Election Day is still a month away..."

Bottom line: GOP attempts to spin their way out of the Foley scandal are not going to work.

50-State Turnout: Ohio

The Ohio Democratic Party will hold more than eighty 50-State Turnout events on Oct. 7 with the goal of making 100,000 Calls for Victory. Augmenting their phone calls, they will also be taking part in a a variety of door-to-door efforts where volunteers will distribute the "Every Voter Counts" door-hangers as well as information about local candidates.

100,000 calls in a single day may seem ambitious, but Ohio Dems on on track to meet their goal and will have some special guests to help them along the way, including:

• Lee Fisher, candidate for Lt. Governor
• Frances Strickland, wife of Ted Strickland
• Marc Dann, candidate for Attorney General
• Barbara Sykes, candidate for State Auditor
• Rich Cordray, candidate for State Treasurer
• Chris Redfern, ODP Chair
• John Cranley, candidate for Congress, 1st District
• Zack Space, candidate for Congress, 18th District

I asked one of your DNC-funded field organizers, Sarah, about their plans for the big day:

The 50-State Turnout will be our third major event this year in partnership with the DNC. From our statewide canvasses on April 29, to our Democratic Reunions in July, Democrats across the state are becoming familiar with these large-scale, energizing events that help us build our party at the grassroots level and make us stronger and more prepared for Election Day. With over ninety events in almost every county in the state, we are excited about making 100,000 calls for victory and turning out voters across Ohio this November.

But wait...that's not all.

Secretary of State candidate, Jennifer Brunner, will be stopping by the phone bank at the SEIU in Columbus, and then heading up to Richland County to do a stop in Mansfield at the county party Headquarters

But Jennifer Brunner isn't having all the fun. Sherrod Brown, our Democratic nominee for Senate, is in the midst of a state-wide College Tour. On Saturday he'll be making three stops, at Kent State, Youngstown University and Case Western/Cleveland State where huge rallies and voter registration drives are planned. He'll also attend the 50-State Turnout event taking place in Cleveland.

The Brown campaign tells me they've already given out over a thousand free tickets to the event and expect to hand out many more in the coming days as they criss-cross Ohio.

To find an Ohio event, click here. Also check out the Ohio Dems newest site to help Paint Ohio Blue.

If you aren't in Ohio, find an event in your state, here.

Open Thread

Where will you be for the 50-State Turnout?

October 4, 2006

50-State Turnout: New Jersey

In New Jersey, mudslinging by the Kean, Jr. campaign has sidetracked a real discussion of the issues in the competitive Senate race. As a result, NJ Democrats are utilizing the 50–State Turnout event to help re-focus the discussion onto issues that really matter in New Jersey, like the war in Iraq, protecting our homeland, access to health care and affordable education. Their goal is to spread the word about Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and all of the other Democratic nominees.

I asked one of the New Jersey DNC-funded organizers, Colleen Montgomery, about what it has been like to participate in the national organizing days:

Well first, the April 29th and July 29th DNC-sponsored events were very successful in New Jersey. On July 29th we had over 250 people canvassing in 15 staging locations throughout the state.

This time around we are hosting in each of Senator Menendez’s regional offices, as well as our six congressional challengers headquarters. Working from the list of volunteers we collected in July, we were actually able to recruit more volunteers to canvass and phone bank for the Senator this fall. We are hoping that we’ll have an even greater volunteer response on October 7th, and can sign those people up to work on Election Day in November.

Another organizer, Rob Gordon, told me that the main difference between this event, and past events, is the intense focus on working in partnership with local campaigns. This is something that is happening in all 50 states as Democratic activisits have begun working hand-in-hand with local candidates towards a November victory.

With fourteen events taking place in NJ this Saturday, and a huge state-wide operation well under-way, NJ Dems are building their base of volunteers for Election Day 2006, and beyond.

Find an event near you.

Open Thread

Nice try, Fox News.

As Keith Olbermann said to David Letterman:

He [Bill O'Reilly] makes a lot of mistakes. [We] just point them out.

50-State Turnout: North Carolina

There are some states that don't have high-profile statewide races this cycle. North Carolina is one of those states. But in 2006, they will be voting to keep control of both houses of the State Legislature and have a few key Congressional races up for grabs. North Carolina Democrats already control the Governor's mansion and a majority of seats on the Council of State (essentially a group of the other state-wide cabinet positions), but that isn't slowing them down. Democrats are out in force, working to send their Democratic nominees to Congress and to spread the word about the Democratic Party all over the state.

This morning I chatted with Monica Cloud from the North Carolina Democratic Party. She has been coordinating the state-wide efforts for the 50-State Turnout and she took the time to share some of what they have been planning.

First, The North Carolina Democratic Party is encouraging folks to participate in a state-wide canvass. The NCDP be leading a canvass in Wake County, which includes and the state capital city of Raleigh, while Democratic campaigns and activists will be covering other ground.

The Heath Shuler campaign is canvassing in the 11th District. Young Democrats will be out in force for State House candidate Ty Harrell. And in Albemarle, NC, NCDP Chairman Jerry Meek will join local Dems for a GOTV canvass event.

In addition to the many canvass locations, Democrats are also organizing at community events. One county party will have a booth at a local Peanut Festival, while another will register voters at a concert event.

All in all, Monica described a State Party and a coalition of activist Democrats who were energized as they headed into the final stretch towards Election Day:

People here are so energized this year. Our polls are looking good, our activists are excited and in part it’s because The 50-State Strategy and these national organizing events have really helped to energize the grassroots. That’s the main thing. And there is nothing better to show that kind of energy than a huge state-wide canvass.

The bottom line is that it is crunch time and we wanted to lead by example, with the events we sponsored, but we also wanted to help guide people who didn’t have a specific idea of what to do. We have been getting a really positive response.

You can find a North Carolina event, here, or a 50-State Turnout Event in your state, here.

1000 Words...

...and a heckuva job!

Timeline of Denial

In case you haven’t yet made it through all 491 pages of Bush Administration missteps chronicled in Bob Woodward’s new book, State of Denial, the Senate Democratic Communications Center put together a handy timeline of ignored warnings and disregarded expertise.

Members of the military and Bush Administration officials realized that the situation in Iraq was bad and getting worse starting in 2002. Nevertheless, the Bush Administration stuck with its failed Iraq policy and showed more interest in winning elections than in winning the peace.

December 2002: Special Assistant to Secretary Rumsfeld, Steven Herbits, Says Post War Planning is “Screwed Up”.

“At the Pentagon, on Thursday, December 5, 2002, in the middle of the most intense invasion planning for Iraq, Steve Herbits walked into Rumsfeld’s office. “You’re not going to be happy with what I’m going to tell you,” he said…Herbits continued. “Now that I’ve got your attention, you have got to focus on the post-Iraq planning. It is so screwed up. We will not be able to win the peace.” [p. 103]

August 2003: Coordinator for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council, Robert D. Blackwill, Tells Rice and Hadley “We’re Losing”.

“After a couple of weeks, [Robert D.] Blackwill [the new coordinator for strategic planning on the NSC staff who Rice made point man for Iraq] told Rice and Hadley. ‘We’re losing. We’re just losing this whole thing. The public opinion is going against us. This is awful. We’re losing the battle for Iraq heart and soul.’” [p. 241]

September 2003: Herbits Tells Gingrich and Wolfowitz the President is Losing the Peace. Herbits, Wolfowitz and Gingrich meet for dinner at Les Halles to discuss the war.

“The three chit-chatted briefly, and then Herbits stepped in. ‘This is the premise of the meeting. The president is losing the peace. He is not going to get reelected unless we get this thing straightened out.” [p. 250]

Ongoing: Secretary of State Colin Powell and Richard Armitage Wonder if the President Had Thought Things Through.

“Powell and Armitage engaged in a private, running commentary about Bush, Cheney, the White House and what was really going on. Both wanted Bush to succeed and they believed the Iraq War had to be won for the stability of the Middle East. A precipitous U.S. withdrawal would be followed by chaos. But what about adjusting the policy? they were asking. Shouldn’t we all be more realistic?... Armitage was baffled. ‘Has he [President Bush] thought this through?’ Armitage asked Powell. ‘What the President says in effect is we’ve got to press on in honor of the memory of those who have fallen. Another way to say that is we’ve got to have more men fall to honor the memories of those who have already fallen.’” [p. 325]

Early 2005: Richard Armitage Says Time is Working for the Insurgents.

“Armitage traveled to Iraq at the end of 2004. ‘We’re not winning…we’re not losing. Not winning over a long period of time works for the insurgents.” [p. 373]

February 2005: State Department Counselor Philip Zelikow Says Iraq is a Failed State.

“At this point Iraq remains a failed state shadowed by constant violence and undergoing revolutionary political change.” [p. 388]

July 2005: NATO Commander General James Jones Wonders Whether He Should Resign in Protest.

“Jones expressed chagrin that Pace would even want to be chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]. ‘You’re going to face a debacle and be part of the debacle in Iraq,’ he said. U.S. prestige was at a 50- or 75- year low in the world. He said he was so worried about Iraq and the way Rumsfeld ran things that he wondered if he himself should not resign in protest.” [p. 403]

September 2005: State Department Counselor Philip Zelikow Warns That Iraqis Suffered Profound Disillusionment about America.

“On the two other pillars for postwar Iraq – economic development and governance, the two that State was responsible for – the report was grim: ‘Not visibly advanced and some areas had moved backwards.’ In the areas of electricity, oil and water, the U.S. was expending a huge effort just to stay in the same place. Then came the killer line: ‘Iraqis had exaggerated hopes about what we would do in their country and the general failure of public services has hurtled [them] into profound disillusionment about America.’…Zelikow concluded, ‘Failure is a condition where you don’t get that by the time the administration leaves office’ – January 2009. ‘Catastrophic failure’ could be said to occur ‘if the center doesn’t hold and Iraq’s experiment at truly national government has collapsed.” [p. 413]

March 2006: State Department Counselor Philip Zelikow Notes Existence of an Unstable Equilibrium.

“The Iraqi Army has been rebuilt and the insurgency has been contained, but the underlying rhythm and scale of insurgent attacks has actually been remarkably steady for more than a year. Neither side has gained decisive edge. The result is a lingering unstable equilibrium.” [p. 452]

June 2006: Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte Concludes U.S. Policy in Trouble.

“Overall, he concluded, it had all been downhill in the first six months of 2006. Clearly now, in early June, he could see the U.S. Iraq policy was in trouble. It was time to face facts. The Shiites were already the winners. They would prevail. The only question was how the United States could shape things – which was different from determining them. It was time to take American hands off.” [p. 478]

Wednesday Open Thread

Chat away...

October 3, 2006

Hastert Says He's Staying

He says he is staying:

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said today that he would not step down, even as questions intensified about why Republican leaders in the House did not act more aggressively when they learned months ago that Representative Mark Foley was sending e-mails to a teenage page that disturbed the youth and his parents.

But it seems others want him to go:

Boehner:

“I believe I talked to the speaker and he told me it had been taken care of,” Mr. Boehner told a Cincinnati radio station. “My position is it’s in his corner, it’s his responsibility. The clerk of the House who runs the page program, the Page Board — all report to the speaker. And I believe it had been dealt with.”

Reynolds:

“I did what most of us would have done in the workplace,” Mr. Reynolds told reporters in Amherst, N.Y., on Monday night. “I heard something, I took it to my supervisor.

The Washington Times:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away.

Conservative Groups:

David Bossie, who runs a group called Citizens United, called yesterday for Hastert's resignation and said other conservative leaders are likely to follow suit. Bossie said the initial e-mails alone, which included Foley's request of a minor's picture, should have prompted an immediate inquiry. "That was a cry for an investigation," Bossie said. "Why couldn't the speaker of the House muster the will to stop this?"

Leaders from about six dozen socially conservative groups held a conference call late yesterday afternoon, and participants were described as livid with House GOP leaders.

"They are outraged by how Hastert handled this," said Paul M. Weyrich, a conservative activist who participated in the call. "They feel let down, left aside. How can they allow a guy like [Foley] to remain chairman of the committee on missing and exploited children when there is any question about e-mails?"

Republicans are trying distance themselves as fast as possible from the questions they are facing regarding Mr. Foley. Yet, it is clear that the leaders of both the GOP House re-election committee and the Speaker of the House knew that Foley had engaged in behavior that was, at best, highly questionable.

According to ABC News, a Republican staffer warned pages about Foley five years ago. Statements from House Republican leaders indicate that they knew of Foley’s behavior but did not act to stop Congressman Foley at the time that they first learned about the inappropriate emails.

They were all culpable:

Since 1995, when Foley arrived in Washington and his party took power, Republicans have turned the House into an institution that serves its members and its patrons, not the public. Bad as those earlier cases involving money and election laws were, the deplorable revelations about Foley have House leaders scrambling as never before to contain damage and avoid blame. Rep. Reynolds faces a tough reelection campaign, and a House staffer told The Washington Post that Rep. Reynolds took on the speaker because "this is what happens when one member tries to throw another member under a bus."

In that spirit, Republicans competed with each other to demand criminal investigations of Foley. To investigate themselves, however, House Republicans prefer the Ethics Committee, which gave Tom DeLay pass after pass before public pressure finally forced the committee to strip Mr. DeLay of his majority leader post. Remembering that, it's no surprise that the House Republican leadership can't issue a good explanation for why it worked in secret to protect Mark Foley. The only plausible explanation is that political values mattered more than American values.

Questions for Congressman Reynolds

As early as 2001, there were warnings about Republican Congressman Mark Foley's behavior. Foley's e-mails to underage pages should have raised a major red flag and the Republican leadership, including Rep. Reynolds, should have investigated immediately.

But like numerous other Republican leaders, Reynolds failed to ask the tough questions, choosing instead to cover up the facts. If they had investigated, they would have likely discovered the now widely reported additional sexually explicit communications showing that Rep. Foley was communicating with multiple children and inviting minors to dinner.

Details of the cover-up continue to come to light, including yesterday's revealation of the actions of his own Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham. Today the conservative Washington Times today called for Speaker Hastert to step down. But, what about Tom Reynolds?

In the Palm Beach Post:

Kirk Fordham, who worked as Foley's chief of staff for 10 years, returned to Foley's side to advise him during the past couple of days.

In the Washington Post:

On Friday afternoon, a strategist for Rep. Mark Foley tried to cut a deal with ABC's Brian Ross.

The correspondent, who had dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages, had asked to interview the Florida Republican. Foley's former chief of staff said the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages.

Kurtz later confirmed that the "strategist" was in fact, Kirk Fordham, Rep. Reynold's own chief of staff.

In the LA Times:

Another former staffer said it was an oft-repeated story around Capitol Hill that Foley's former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, would sometimes accompany the congressman to keep him out of trouble.

Fordham represents a link between Foley and House GOP leaders. Shortly after leaving Foley's office last year, he became chief of staff to Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Reynolds has said he was told this spring about the e-mails that sparked the initial complaint about Foley.

Fordham has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Times.

In the Buffalo News:

During a 45-minute news conference at Daemen College on Monday evening, Reynolds was asked by The Buffalo News why he didn't learn earlier of Foley's actions involving House pages from his own chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who was Foley's former chief of staff.

Surrounded by three dozen children of his political supporters, Reynolds replied that he and Fordham never discussed Foley's reputation.

Why did Congressman Reynolds use children as props during a press conference where the topic was sexually explicit communications? Was it, perhaps, a way to keep reporters from asking questions that most need answering? Was it, perhaps, a way to shield himself from having to answer the tough questions?

When will Congressman Reynolds come forward with the whole truth?

1. Why did Congressman Reynolds authorize his own chief of staff to negotiate on behalf of disgraced Congressman Mark Foley? Did Reynolds know about the lewd IM conversations when he let Fordham advise Foley, and if so, when was he informed? Did Fordham share the IMs with Reynolds?
2. Instead of dispatching his chief-of-staff to keep ABC News from breaking the story, why didn't Reynolds put the children first and go to authorities? Was Reynolds more worried about a political scandal than the safety of the children serving as Congressional pages?
3. What other assistance did Reynolds provide to help Foley avoid the scandal and the disgrace and possible criminal prosecution that would result?
4. Why is the NRCC refusing to return $100,000 from Foley, given that Reynolds knew of this disturbing behavior when the money was given in July of this year?

Taking Responsibility

Today, The Washington Times has an editorial calling for Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker of the House, to resign:

The facts of the disgrace of Mark Foley, who was a Republican member of the House from a Florida district until he resigned last week, constitute a disgrace for every Republican member of Congress. Red flags emerged in late 2005, perhaps even earlier, in suggestive and wholly inappropriate e-mail messages to underage congressional pages. His aberrant, predatory -- and possibly criminal -- behavior was an open secret among the pages who were his prey. The evidence was strong enough long enough ago that the speaker should have relieved Mr. Foley of his committee responsibilities contingent on a full investigation to learn what had taken place, whether any laws had been violated and what action, up to and including prosecution, were warranted by the facts. This never happened.

Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois, the Republican chairman of the House Page Board, said he learned about the Foley e-mail messages "in late 2005." Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the leader of the Republican majority, said he was informed of the e-mail messages earlier this year. On Friday, Mr. Hastert dissembled, to put it charitably, before conceding that he, too, learned about the e-mail messages sometime earlier this year. Late yesterday afternoon, Mr. Hastert insisted that he learned of the most flagrant instant-message exchange from 2003 only last Friday, when it was reported by ABC News. This is irrelevant. The original e-mail messages were warning enough that a predator -- and, incredibly, the co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children -- could be prowling the halls of Congress. The matter wasn't pursued aggressively. It was barely pursued at all. Moreover, all available evidence suggests that the Republican leadership did not share anything related to this matter with any Democrat...

...House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away. He gave phony answers Friday to the old and ever-relevant questions of what did he know and when did he know it? Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.

Tuesday Open Thread

5 weeks to go. That's just 35 days. Wow.

35 days and we could have a new Congress - an honest Congress, an open Congress, a Congress that works for the people, instead of for themselves.

Think about that possibility for a minute.

Then think about having a Senate with 51 Democratic votes.

35 Days to make it happen.

Your local candidates need your help now more than ever. Check out 100actions.com and sign-up for a 50-State Turnout event!

October 2, 2006

Midday Open Thread

Need a break from all the scandal?

• Like numbers? Markos has polls.
• Chris has some blogosphere-meta musings.
• Tim has Ned Lamont's newest ad over at YouTube and it made me smile.
• Feministing points over to CAP's new report on Reproductive Health and Rights

State of Denial

Bob Woodward's State of Denial documents the bad intelligence, flawed war planning, disregard for dissenting opinions, and disastrous incompetence of the Bush Administration.

"The only thing we didn't do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head."

-- CIA Officer Cofer Black on a July 10, 2001, meeting with Condoleezza Rice where he and CIA Director George Tenet warned her of the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack. [State of Denial, p. 80]

Head of NSC’s Iraq Office Told Rice More Troops Were Needed in Iraq.

Robert D. Blackwill“wrote a long memo to Rice in late September. The bottom line: We need more troops in Iraq on the ground, about two more divisions, or 40,000 men. Rice didn’t say no or yes. Since Blackwell had been a friend of Bremer’s for decades and they had both served as foreign service officers, Rice sent Blackwill to Baghdad to assist Bremer.

They became more and more convinced they needed to make a dramatic pitch to Rice. They asked for a secure video conference with Rice and Hadley with no one else present. To emphasize the importance they asked that all communications and technical people involved in the secure video leave the rooms in both Washington and Baghdad. When Bremer and Blackwill came up on their end they could see only Rice and Hadley. They went through a methodical presentation about the geography of Iraq, the level of violence, and how the military commanders dealt with the attacks in one area or where suspected insurgents were concentrated and then moved on. After a while the insurgents just moved back into the old areas. From two of Kissinger’s proteges, it was what could be called a ‘full Kissinger.’

In their minds it was irrefutable proof that at least two more divisions were needed. Hadley took notes furiously. With the time lag on the security video it looked like neither Rice nor Hadley had a reaction. ‘Well, Jerry, Bob,’ Rice finally began, ‘thank you so much for these ideas. Let us think about them.’ Then the screen went black. Bremer turned to Balckwill and said, ‘swing and a miss.’” [State of Denial, p. 256]

National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley Gives the Bush Administration a D - on the Execution of Its Policy.

“He made an assessment of the problems from the first term. ‘I give us a B minus for policy development,’ he told a colleague on Saturday, February 5, ‘and a D minus for policy execution.’ Hadley knew that nearly two years after the invasion, the basic problems of Iraq had not been solved – security, infrastructure and governance.” [State of Denial, p. 384]

White House Staff Tried Unsuccessfully to Replace Rumsfeld:

At the beginning of Bush’s 2nd term, “Michael Gerson [the President’s speechwriter] also went to the president to argue for a change at the Pentagon. As a symbol of change, Gerson said, he believed that Rumsfeld should be replaced…all the elements of a much more effective Iraq strategy had to be put in place...[White House Chief of Staff Andy] Card had known Gerson was going to speak to the president about Rumsfeld, and he had encouraged it. It was part of his campaign plan.” [State of Denial, pp. 362-3]

Members of the Military Find Rumsfeld Difficult to Work With.

"When Myers was exasperated he called Rumsfeld 'that son of a bitch' or 'that asshole.' [State of Denial, p. 73]

Bush Had No Strategy.

In the fall of 2004, “It was clear to Blackwill that things [in Iraq] weren’t going well. For over a year, he had been baffled that there was no military strategy. Again and again, Bush talked about Iraq strategy in his campaign speeches, but never gave specifics. He talked about goals, expressed his optimism and determination, and gave pep talks…Blackwill had taught strategy at Harvard.

Strategy involves a series of actions to achieve a goal and entails answering questions such as: What is going to be done? By whom? When? Where? How? The president, whom Blackwill liked and respected as a political leader, instead talked about winning and goals. But as Blackwill taught in his class, ‘Aspirations aren’t strategy.’ The Administration had no real strategy, he concluded.” [State of Denial, p. 336]

CIA Director George Tenet Thought Invading Iraq Was a Mistake.

“Tenet told Brennan that in his gut he didn't think invading Iraq was the right thing to do. Bush and the others were just really naive, thinking they would just be able to go into Iraq and overturn the government. 'This is a mistake,' Tenet finally told Brennan.” [State of Denial, p. 90]

For more, check out Woodward's WaPo front-page WaPo story.

Woodward will also be talking about the book on CNN's Larry King Live tonight.

SCOTUS: New Term Begins

The New York Times looks at the questions before the Supreme Court as they begin their second term under Chief Justice, John Roberts.

Chances are high that the new term, which begins on Monday, will be different. The cases that the court has agreed to decide — 38 so far — offer few off-ramps, requiring instead that the justices proceed to rulings that will define the new court in both substance and style.

The Court is also moving into the information age:

[T]he court has revised its practice of waiting two or three weeks to post argument transcripts on its Web site. Beginning on Tuesday (in observance of Yom Kippur, the court has scheduled no arguments on Monday), the court will post transcripts on the day of argument at www.supremecourtus.gov. While the court continues to resist television coverage of its sessions, the change is a step toward public access that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.

Here is a look at some of the questions this court will decide:

Abortion Rights

Two federal appeals courts, in St. Louis and San Francisco, declared the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003 unconstitutional, basing their rulings on the Supreme Court’s decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, which struck down Nebraska’s similar law six years ago. The new cases, Gonzales v. Carhart, No. 05-380, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, No. 05-1382, are the Bush administration’s appeals of those rulings.

The statute outlaws a surgical procedure that doctors use to perform abortions after about 12 weeks of pregnancy. In its decision six years ago, the Supreme Court held by a vote of 5 to 4 that the law had to take into account medical judgments that the procedure was sometimes necessary for a pregnant woman’s health.

Congress responded by enacting a federal law without a health exception, declaring that the procedure was never necessary to protect a pregnant woman’s health. Among other issues, the new cases therefore present the issue of the respective roles of Congress and the court in defining the scope of constitutional rights, an issue on which Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a dissenter in the case six years ago, has been particularly protective of the court’s role.

Racial Quotas in Schools

Federal appeals courts upheld student assignment plans in Louisville, Ky. (Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, No. 05-915) and Seattle (Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, No. 05-908). Both cities have long struggled to achieve integration, and now seek to maintain it by taking race into account in limiting students’ choices of which schools to attend.

While many justices are wary of “this divvying us up by race,” as Chief Justice Roberts phrased it in a voting rights case last term, the same justices also tend to support local education policies. The National School Boards Association is filing a brief supporting the school systems, while the Bush administration is arguing that the assignment plans are unconstitutional.

Punitive Damages Limits

The court has laid down various markers for curbing the discretion of state court systems to award punitive damages. In Philip Morris USA v. William, No. 05-1296, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld the $79.5 million award, nearly 100 times the compensatory damages a jury had awarded the smoker’s widow.

This is far greater than the 10-to-1 ratio that the court’s most recent decision, State Farm v. Campbell in 2003, suggested as the outer limit of due process. On the other hand, earlier cases concerned economic rather than physical injuries. The court’s new membership aside, this case is sufficiently distinctive in several ways so as to make the outcome unpredictable.

Air Pollution Regulation

Two cases present interpretive issues under the Clean Air Act. In Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 05-1120, 16 states and other parties are challenging the Bush administration’s view that Congress has not authorized federal regulation of motor vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming. The question in Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy Corporation, No. 05-848, is what the law requires of utility companies seeking to modernize aging power plants.

Why Did the GOP Leadership Fail to Take Action?

Despite a cloud of denials, deflections and finger-pointing, it is clear that key members of the Republican House leadership failed to take action to protect students in the Congressional page program, choosing instead to sit on their hands for as much as a year after learning that Republican Congressman Mark Foley had sent inappropriate emails to a minor.

According to reports, Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader John Boehner and National Republican Congressional Campaign Chairman Tom Reynolds all knew about Foley's emails as early as last year and did nothing.

• Why did Republican Congressional leaders choose not to ask the critical questions about the nature and full extent of Congressman Foley's criminal actions involving minors at the time they first learned about it?
• Why are they only expressing outrage now that the Foley emails have become public?
• Why did they fail to take action to protect our children from an online predator, choosing instead to protect their Republican majority in the House?

It's outragous.

First Hastert Says He Didn't Know About Foley Emails...

The spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, Ron Bonjean, said the top House Republican had not known about the allegations...Hastert said Friday he had asked Shimkus to investigate the page system. "We want to make sure that all our pages are safe and the page system is safe," Hastert said. [Associated Press, 9/30/06]

...Then Boehner Says He Told Hastert in Spring 2006, At Least Until He Changed His Mind.

"House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate 'contact' between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert." [Washington Post, 9/30/06]

...And Reynolds Is Second GOP Leader To Say He Talked to Hastert About it.

"Rodney Alexander brought to my attention the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's. Despite the fact that I had not seen the e-mails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued, I told the Speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me." [Statement by Rep. Tom Reynolds, 9/30/06]

Now, Hastert Says "I Don't Remember It, But That Doesn't Mean It Didn't Happen."

"Congressman Tom Reynolds in a statement issued today indicates that many months later, in the spring of 2006, he was approached by Congressman Alexander who mentioned the Foley issue from the previous fall. During a meeting with the Speaker he says he noted the issue which had been raised by Alexander and told the Speaker that an investigation was conducted by the Clerk of the House and Shimkus. While the Speaker does not explicitly recall this conversation, he has no reason to dispute Congressman Reynold's recollection that he reported to him on the problem and its resolution." [Press Release from Speaker Hastert's Office, 9/30/06]

Of Course, Reynolds Has His Own Secrets - Hundreds of Thousands Of Them.

During the summer of 2006, the same period Congressman Reynolds was keeping Mark Foley's inappropriate emails with minors a secret, his campaign committee coffers received a $100,000 donation from Foley. Altogether, Foley was among the committee's largest single contributors, giving the National Republican Congressional Committee $330,000. [AP, 9/30/06; Buffalo News, 10/01/06]

Reynolds Said He Considered the Matter Resolved, But Democrat On The Page Board Says It Was Never Even Investigated.

In a statement, Congressman Reynolds "An investigation was then conducted by the clerk and John Shimkus on behalf of the House Page Board," but Rep. Dalae Kildee—the Democrat on the House Page Board—said the board never investigated Foley:

"the Democratic Member of the House Page Board, any statement by Mr. Reynolds or anyone else that the House Page Board ever investigated Mr. Foley is completely untrue, "I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House page, and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter. The first and only meeting of the House Page Board on this matter occurred on Friday, September 29 at approximately 6 p.m., after the allegations about Mr. Foley had become public." [National Journal, 10/01/06]

For more on this developing story:

• AmericaBlog reports that the NRCC is happy to take more of Foley's money off his hands.
• Talking Points Memo has a timeline of events, including who says they knew what and when they knew it.
• ThinkProgress has the White House's reaction here and here, which is underwhelming, to say the least.

• Democratic Leaders Pelosi forced a vote on a resolution on Friday calling for an immediate investigation by the Congressional Ethics Committee. In a letter to the Chairman of the Committee, she writes:

  "It is a nightmare for every child, parent and grandparent to learn that a child is being stalked on the internet by an adult in a position of authority. The fact that Mr. Foley was engaging in this behavior with underage children, that the Republican Leadership knew about it for six months to a year and has characterized the inappropriate behavior as "overly friendly" and "acting as a mentor" and that apparently no action was taken to protect these underage children is abhorrent."

  On the announcement that the FBI is beginning an investigation, she says:

  “The FBI is rightly investigating former Republican Congressman Mark Foley’s reported internet stalking of an underage former House Page. Mr. Foley is outside the reach of the House Ethics Committee, however the required investigation into the cover up of Mr. Foley’s behavior by the Republican Leadership must quickly move forward."

• In the Senate, Democratic Leader Harry Reid calls Mr. Foley's actions "repugnant" and says the Attorney General should open a full-scale investigation:

  "The American people have a right to feel confident that their Congressional leaders are committed not just to the best interest of the nation as a whole, but also to the safety of the young people who every year travel to Washington to work on Capitol Hill. The allegations against Congressman Foley are repugnant, but equally as bad is the possibility that Republican leaders in the House of Representatives knew there was a problem and ignored it to preserve a Congressional seat this election year.

  “Under laws that Congressman Foley helped write, soliciting sex from a minor online is a federal crime. The American people expect and deserve a full accounting for this despicable episode. The alleged crimes here are far outside the scope of any Congressional Committee, and the Attorney General should open a full-scale investigation immediately. We have a responsibility to the long-term safety of every child who will work in Congress that must not be sacrificed to the short-term interest of any one political Party.”

• MyDD.com has a video up from ABC News on the role the Republican Leadership played in allowing this to happen.

Monday Morning Open Thread

Have you done your action for the day? Check out 100actions.com.

This is an open thread...

October 1, 2006

Sunday Night Open Thread

This week, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois delivered the Democratic Radio Address. Did you catch them?

To listen to her remarks, click here.

Sunday Open Thread

Did you see the Sunday Shows?