Barack Obama is barnstorming the nation this week, hoping to secure exclusivity as the anti-war candidate get republicans to vote to end the war. I think his sentiment is sincere, but I doubt his behavior would be the same if he wasn’t running for president. In an email to supporters this week, he directs them to a form on his site to email republican senators to get the votes override a veto. He says:
Barack has been traveling across the country asking people to speak out and let their Senators know that it’s time to end the Iraq war.
One Republican colleague has already called this “not Senatorial.” But this isn’t about Washington etiquette, it’s about bringing our troops home.
This isn’t a game. We need just 16 additional votes to override the president’s veto and bring to a close this sad chapter in American history.
It’s going to take some convincing, but Senators need to hear from people in their states that they can join us to bring a responsible end to the war.
That’s where you come in. In your state, an incumbent Senator who voted against ending the war will face a re-election battle in 2008. They will have to make clear very soon whether they will continue to block efforts to bring the troops home.
Will you speak out now and add your voice to the growing public pressure to end the war?
For those myopic souls wanting an immediate pullout, it seems that they’ve found their man. Edwards is talking almost exclusively about domestic issues (not really but as far as his press goes, he might as well be); Hillary is the conservative of the bunch (not surprising to anyone other than Fox News viewers) leaving the popular position for the main issue on voters’ minds for Obama to champion.
May 15th, 2007
It’s been a while since I posted. Romney is surging, making the election odds page out dated. He’s on the cover of time this week thanks to Slate saying we can’t elect a candidate that follows a conman (per the article, Mormonism is Scientology + 150 years). More recently, the Good Rev. Al “Rhyme Master” Sharpton told a local debate audience:
“As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that; that’s a temporary situation,” Sharpton said during a debate with Hitchens at the New York Public Library.”
It’s one thing to say Romney believes something silly (Slate)… it’s something else to say that he doesn’t really believe it. I don’t quite understand Mr. Al (Let’s all eat some cake).
It turns out Rudy does consulting on the side more those Oxy-moron drug liars. McCain sent out an email this week:
“What does that mean for our strategy? It means that the early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina will become more important. These contests will set the stage and establish momentum going into Florida on January 29 and then very quickly into the February 5 contests.
As of today, Senator McCain has built a tremendous organization in those states. And, the state by state polling reveals voters in these states have heard his message and are moved by it. The American Research Group released a handful of statewide polls this week showing Senator McCain leading in the key early states: Iowa (+7), New Hampshire(+5) and South Carolina(+13). “
Anyone not employed by his campaign is coming to different conclusions, but to each his own I suppose. The democrats have been pretty boring. Obama picked up donations from 50,000 new donors last month. That’s pretty impressive. That’s about how many the next closest competitor had in Q1. Nobody else releases info like that… he just does it for the hans and frans show off / intimidation factor. Populist Edwards has introduced a number of new, detailed policy proposals, address health care, energy, education and poverty reduction. He’s proposed undoing Bush tax cuts and raising social security tax to pay for the estimated cost of $199 Kajillion / year.
Fred Thomas has preannounced his candidacy, probably eliminating Gingrich from consideration unless his sizable ego gets in the way of his reason and desire to save face. Clinton hasn’t done anything much lately. Nothing noteworthy, good or bad…. kind of a nutshell critique of her candidacy.
That’s all folks. And remember, vote early and vote often!
May 11th, 2007
There’s a great article in the Washington Post called The Decoy Effect, or How to Win an Election that speaks to the effect a 3rd candidate can have on the 2 front runners. I found it quite illuminating.
Huber told some people there was also a choice of a four-star restaurant that was farther away than the five-star option. People now gravitated toward the five-star choice, since it was better and closer than the third candidate. (The three-star restaurant was closer, but not as good as the new candidate.)
Another group was given a different third candidate, a two-star restaurant halfway between the first two. Many people now chose the three-star restaurant, because it beat the new option on convenience and quality. (The five-star restaurant outdid this third candidate on only one measure, quality.)
What the decoy effect basically shows is that when people cannot decide between two front-runners, they use the third candidate as a sort of measuring stick. If one front-runner looks much better than the third candidate, people gravitate toward that front-runner. Third candidates, in other words, can make a complicated decision feel simple.
How would this work in the context of the current political race?
Let’s say you are a centrist Democratic voter who cannot decide between Clinton and Obama because you want a candidate who is strong on national security but also someone fresh. You like Clinton on one measure and Obama on the other. Enter Edwards, whom you see as more dovish than Obama but part of the same establishment as Clinton. Obama looks better than Edwards on both counts, whereas Clinton beats Edwards on only the national security issue.
Makes you think, huh?
April 2nd, 2007
Clinton receives endorsement from NOW - Boston.com
Hillary Rodham Clinton declared Wednesday that if you look up the word “feminist” in a dictionary, you’ll find her. I can’t believe that that statement held up to focus group scrutiny. Much of America is still intimidated by feminism and feminist ideology.
March 29th, 2007