Barack Obama Wins Scholastic Election!

The actual election is less than three weeks away from now, but we do have a winner in this year's Scholastic election among our nation's students. Every four years since the beginning of FDR's third term, kids from across the nation vote in the mock election. All except for two of them the future voters cast their ballots just as the country would shortly thereafter. In 2008, the results weren't even close.

From USA Today:

In a large straw poll taken every four years, the readers of Scholastic magazines spent weeks filling in presidential ballots, snipping them out and turning them in.

Today the results are official:

• 57% chose Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

• 39% chose Republican Sen. John McCain.

The student voters — about 250,000 this year — have an 88% prediction rate. Only twice since 1940 have their results been at odds with the nation's: in 1948, when Harry Truman defeated Thomas Dewey, and in 1960, when John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon. (To students' credit, their balloting closed before the televised Nixon-Kennedy debates that historians consider a game-changer.)

That my friends is a blowout victory. Kids may not have much experience but they are very well in tune with Presidential politics with non-stop coverage nearly everywhere you go. And of course, this follows the trend in the electorate as well, with more likely voters supporting Obama over McCain. The ratio becomes more even as the age range goes up. All in all, it portends well for our country's future, like when the 14-17 year olds vote in the 2012 race.

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Voters Being Purged From The Rolls....Right Now!

Every election cycle every state and county within them purge their rolls for duplicate voter registrations. It is a perfectly normal operation in order to prevent the off-chance that someone tries to commit voter fraud, though very rare in the grand scheme of things. However, when state authorities take it on themselves to go beyond the law and purge as many people as they can, then we run into problems. Apparently, they are going on across the country and naturally, the traditional media isn't reporting it. With our help in pushing them, perhaps they'll start talking like the brave independent reporters such as Greg Palast and those at Alternet.

From DailyKos:

"Kansas, Michigan and Louisiana are purging their voter lists.

http://www.alternet.org/...

Colorado dumped ONE FIFTH of all voter registrations -- the largest in history

Florida is refusing to accept 85,000 new registrants -- overwhelmingly blacks.

New Mexico: purged half of the democrats in Mora county (Hispanics) and 600.000 mailers were returned

Ohio & Nevada are scrubbing tens of 1000s of voters who lost their homes to foreclosures
(Kerry lost by a mere 10-votes per district in Ohio)

http://www.gregpalast.com/...

We have got to get this information out. To all of the folks distracted by the she-devil, get your head out of Palin's ass and help us alert the media and everyone we know.

Can you digg it? This story must get out, right now it's about 60 diggs short of making the page:
http://digg.com/...

People, if you know what digg is, then go digg this important article. If you don't, click the link and sign up. Digg gets important stories out into the world wide web without the consent of a major news editor's permission. This is an incredibly important story and with wide publication people will realize that they have to secure their place at the ballot box. It is an incredibly sad reality but one we must fight to change.

So what does that all mean? Well after you digg it, make sure you haven't been purged (especially so if you are a minority) and tell everyone you know to do the same. This year is too important for electioneering bureaucrats to be able to corrupt the system. Instead of being cynical about it, we must be proactive. Enough is enough!

WalMart: I'm Not Telling You How To Vote, But....

From their policies and executives, it isn't hard to tell how the upper echelons of the largest U.S. employer feels about partisan politics in our country. WalMart has nearly 90% of their employees in poverty and for the bottom-line, that is good for business. However, this year WalMart and their Republican friends see change on the horizon and they loathe it. So what do you think management will do about it?

From The Wall Street Journal:

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.[...]

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

WalMart will go to any lengths to keep their workers down, especially here in the United States. Thanks to stronger governments in Europe and even China, workers in those countries are protected from the abuses that U.S. employees are subjected to. WalMart, being the evil corporate behemoth that they are, left Germany two years ago because their unethical practices were not tolerated.

Now here at home, people are fed up with the status quo and with how WalMart and others like them treat workers. The Bush Administration has helped companies fight unions off while managers use fear tactics straight out of the old Gilded Age handbook on union-busting (save for the Pinkertons). Wealthy Wal-Mart executives do not want an environment where unions can thrive again and empowered workers demand better wages and rights. That is why they are trying to force the Republican brand down the throats of their lower-level managers. Well try as they might, the word about them is getting out and things will change as more and more Americans wake-up to the realities of WalMart.

Jesus For President?

They may not respect the establishment clause, but at least this is better than the hypocritical religious right:



Of course, Jesus would probably despise politics, but what the hell do I know?

Could McCain Lose Arizona?

I sincerely believe that this race is Barack Obama's to lose, not one for McCain to win. The Republicans have picked such an awful candidate this year (not that the rest of the field was any better) that just can't pull it off on his own. However, as a former campaigner in the Grand Canyon state the opposite is true in Arizona. As a whole it went more than ten points for Bush four years ago and McCain beat his Senatorial opponent by a huge margin. Now the thing of it is, McCain could lose his home state.

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Phoenix - For a senator who consistently gets 80 percent approval ratings from Arizonans, it seems strange, bizarre even, that John McCain would not be a shoo-in to win his home state in November's presidential election. Some in-state analysts say chances are fair, in fact, that Arizona will end up in the Democratic column.

A big part of the uncertainty may be that the Republican Party's presumptive nominee has not distanced himself enough from the Bush administration to satisfy the one-third of state voters who are independents. But Senator McCain has also seen his support erode among Arizona's avid Bush supporters and social conservatives, for not backing the president on issues dear to their hearts. Toss in the resources and clout of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who will be pulling hard for her party's nominee, and anything can happen.

Janet has a huge pull in this state and is loved by both Democrats and independents. She is the rock against the radical and racist agenda of many Republicans in the state legislature. That hard work has made her many admirers and activists willing to work this summer and fall to elect Obama.

Now the latest poll from Rasmussen has Obama within ten points, which is huge for late June. McCain is trying to be all things to all people, both in Arizona and across the country. That type of character and campaign style might just piss off enough people that he will not only lose the election, but even his very own state that has put him in the Senate by overwhelming numbers through the years.

Republicans To Try A New "Empathetic" Approach

With the losses in all of the special elections thus far in 2008, Republicans know they are in for a whippin at the polls this November. The attacks on Democrats so far have been the same as they have for the last twenty to thirty years and voters are tired of hearing it. So something must be done to stem the Democratic tide.

From TPM:

GOP candidates on the ballot in November must show "deep empathy towards the voters" and rely on local rather than national issues, according to the report, ordered by party leaders after the loss of formerly safe seats in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi that stunned the rank and file.[...]

While defeats in special elections in Illinois and Louisiana troubled Republicans, the loss of a Mississippi House seat on May 13 led to appointment of a six-member group to review the NRCC's performance. Key lawmakers met Thursday to review the findings, some of which were obtained by The Associated Press.

While the review said the national political environment was largely to blame for the losses, it also said Republican candidates themselves were less than optimal and their campaigns were flawed.

The GOP leadership is smart enough to see the smoke coming in from under the door, so they are going to try a new way of chopping the door down. The problem that they are (willfully) ignorant of is that the fire on the other side is what has made them wealthy and they are too short-sighted to see the benefits of trying to put it out.

TPM Takes A Look At The Possible 2008 Battleground

Will Ohio and Florida still be as crucial to the candidates as they were last time? Is Pennsylvania really in play? Can Obama make inroads into the Mountain West and the South? Joshua Micah Marshall of TPM looks at the early numbers between the nominees.

What Do You Know About Barack Obama?

This should be spread far and wide, it is time to counteract the negative emails out there about Obama that lie, distort and mislead countless Americans when they are making their choice for the Democratic nomination. If you know people that are voting in one of the several states that haven't had their primaries yet (and you can see which ones on the handy map on the left side of the blog) make sure they see this:

From DailyKos (updated):

Subject: Barack Obama. Did you Know?

There is a lot of misinformation out there about Barack Obama. A few of us, not connected to the Obama campaign in any way, decided to put together this list of facts you might not know.

1. Did you know that Barack Obama is a devout Christian? He has been a member of the same UCC congregation for 20 years, and was married there to his wife Michelle in 1992.
2. Did you know Barack's grandfather, a Kansas native, served in Patton's army during World War II?
3. Did you know that Barack Obama often leads the US Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance?
4. Did you know Obama favors transparency over secrecy in our government? He's

   released his tax returns from 2006. He's also passed legislation to allow everyone to see how their tax money is being spent. He's calling it Google for Government.

5. Did you know that Barack Obama was opposed to the war in Iraq from day one? Even when such opposition might have been politically unpopular?

   "I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars." --Barack Obama, 2002

6. Did you know that the fun-loving Senator Obama has grown so fond of his Secret Service detail, that he invited them to his home to watch the SuperBowl and plays basketball with them before primaries?
7. Did you know that despite the grueling schedule of running for President, Senator Obama manages to make his family a priority, making time to do things like pick out a Christmas tree with his wife and two young daughters, or hurrying home to spend Valentine's Day with them?
8. Did you know that Barack Obama has been a legislator longer than Senator Clinton?
9. Did you know that Barack Obama has co-sponsored a bill increase child support enforcement by helping governments collect a projected $13 billion in payments from those who don’t fulfill their parental responsibilities.
10. Did you know that after graduating with honors from Harvard Law School, Barack practiced civil rights law and also taught Constitutional Law for 10 years at one of the nation's best law schools
11. Did you know that Barack is a member of all of these Senate Committees: Foreign Relations; Veteran's Affairs; Health, Education, Labor & Pensions; Homeland Security and Government Affairs.
12. Did you know that Barack Obama has a 100% positive rating from the major pro-choice groups and has spoken out forcefully on women's rights issues?

Well, did you know all of that? If you didn't, then I'm guessing many of the people on your email lists didn't either. So help spread the word, if not for Obama's sake, then at least for the sake of the truth.

Unity '08 Bloomberg Still Donates To Republicans

So I hear that Bloomberg is looking for a candidate that hates guns, loves the Earth and doesn't care about the party, so long as they work for what he is passionate about (probably gotta include corporate greed in there too). Well the now-officially non-candidate in 2008 has yet to endorse McCain/Clinton/Obama but that doesn't mean he won't pick sides when it comes to parties.

From The NY Times:

Several weeks ago, the mayor wrote a $500,000 check to help keep the dwindling and increasingly imperiled State Senate Republicans from losing their grip on power, according to an official with direct knowledge of the donation.

The Democrats are seeking to gain control of the Senate for the first time in 40 years, and the race is growing personal and bitter.

Moreover, Mr. Bloomberg has made clear to the Republicans that he is willing to personally campaign for G.O.P. senators.[...]

Senate Republicans say privately that Mr. Bloomberg may well emerge as perhaps their biggest political benefactor in the coming election, which Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, has likened to a war.

Would the donation of hundreds of thousands of dollars to a man like Joe Bruno be something characterized as unifying? That would be like cheering for unity after entrusting the nation to George Bush. Bloomberg may like to talk a lot (and even change his party affiliation) but when it comes down to it, his money speaks loud and clear.

GOP Commissioned Poll Tells Them Not To Act Like The GOP

Let's face it, this is a bad year to be in the Grand Old Party. Money is trickling in compared to the Democratic coffers and the cash needs to be spent (cue irony music) in a conservative manner. One thing these guys need to learn is how to campaign effectively against one of two firsts in Presidential politics, a woman or a black man. Republicans want to be extra careful, so they are conducting top secret polling in order to find out what to do.

From The Politico:

Republicans will be told to “be sensitive to tone and stick to the substance of the discussion” and that “the key is that you have to be sensitive to the fact that you are running against historic firsts,” the strategist explained.[...]

“You can’t run against Barack Obama the way you could run against Bill Clinton, Al Gore or John Kerry,” said Jack Kemp, the 1996 GOP vice presidential nominee, who expressed concern that the party could be reduced to an “all white country club party” if it does not tread cautiously.

“Being an African American at the top of the ticket, if he makes it, is such a great statement about the country,” he added, “Obviously you have to be sensitive to issues that affect urban America. …You have to be careful.”

Careful about what Mr. Kemp? Looking like your insensitive selves? In order to stand a chance, the GOP will have to take on a new look. A successful strategy will ultimately involve masking the intent of proposed legislation that helps the wealthy white elite and screws everyone else. Demonizing minorities may be great for riling up the base, but not for independents who come from many different ethnic backgrounds. So can the GOP not act like the GOP this year and get away with it?

I highly doubt it. Get ready for many offensive comments from Mr. Bomb-Bomb-Bomb Iran.

McCain's Problem Is Great News For America

While the Democratic primary shows a nearly deadlocked battle between Hillary and Barack, the media narrative of Democrats being split amongst themselves while the Republicans are cohesive is long gone. It is true that McCain will almost certainly be the nominee as it stands now and the Democrats race is still up in the air, but the delegate numbers only reflects the surface of the issue. McCain's problem is far more complex.

From ABC News:

In his path toward the Republican nomination, McCain has been continually hammered by conservatives including influential talk show host Rush Limbaugh, commentator and author Ann Coulter, and James Dobson, the evangelical Christian founder of Focus on the Family.

"For all intents and purposes, McCain is the Republican nominee," a defeated Limbaugh said on his radio show today. Limbaugh suggested McCain will march Republicans to defeat in November unless he picks former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who did well among Christian evangelicals last night, as his running mate.

"Here's the thing about McCain: he can't win conservatives in the South by virtue of this primary yesterday," Limbaugh said. "These blue states that McCain won last night are places where he has no chance in November."

Coulter has suggested she will vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., if McCain becomes the nominee, arguing that Clinton has a more conservative record.

Dobson released a statement to "The Laura Ingraham Show" Tuesday announcing that he would refuse to vote in November if McCain is the nominee.

"I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are," Dobson wrote. "A spoonful of sugar does NOT make the medicine go down. I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience."

The news that Dobson has a conscience is more shocking than anything else, but more importantly McCain is going to suffer in terms of voter turnout come November. Now while not all Republicans heed the messages of Coulter and Dobson, they do represent a percentage of the party that will not vote for McCain in the numbers that he needs. That is especially so when you look at how energetic Democratic primary voters have been compared to Republicans. So McCain's problem is certainly good news to either Clinton or Obama, but most definitely for the Democratic party as a whole.

Hugs, Not Votes

I got an email this morning from Howard Dean (as did many others subscribed to Democrats.org) reminding us about the big picture, and it can not be stressed enough. Either Hillary or Barack will face McCain this come November, barring some sort of miracle. You know that the Republicans are gearing up to attack one of our candidates so it is best to be prepared.

From Howard Dean:

Dear Josh, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are done. John McCain will be the Republican nominee -- he's the only one with a reasonable path to the nomination. So how do we beat him? We stand up -- right now -- start fighting, and show the American people that he's not who they think he is.

John McCain is a media darling, but don't trust his carefully-crafted image - he's worked for years to brand himself. From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he's promising nothing more than a third Bush term.

After championing campaign finance reform and ethics legislation to score political points, he now has a staggering amount of lobbyists involved in every aspect of his campaign. In fact, two of the top three sources for John McCain's campaign cash are D.C. lobbying firms, and he looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption.

On immigration reform, he's run as far to the right as he can, aligning himself with the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.

On the war, McCain scoffed at Bush's call to leave troops in Iraq for 50 years, saying "Make it a hundred!"

On a woman's right to choose, McCain has vowed to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

On the economy, one of the issues that the American people care most about, McCain has said: "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

We can't afford four more years with a President who drives the economy into the ground. We can't afford four more years with a President who fights an endless war in Iraq. We can't afford four more years with a President who gives tax cuts to companies who ship jobs overseas; with a President who can't get every American the health care they deserve; with a President we just can't trust.

Now of course that email was about fundraising for the DNC, but it is still an important message....and important to give to the DNC if you can. Every one of those points must be made again and again to Americans that will decide if there is a President Obama/Clinton or a President McCain.

As many national elections experts can tell you, going into a race you have approximately 40 percent of the people locked into the (D) candidate and about the same for the (R) candidate. The trick is to get as many of the rest as possible. So while we make our case to the undecideds about how America needs to go down a new path and choose the Democratic nominee, I'd like to add something to the mix. I suggest the we give McCain a hug.

Hugs are great things between two human beings. Showing compassion and being there for one another is an important human interaction. Of course it is not the same as voting for someone to lead the nation, so I think giving McCain a hug would be a good thing, and maybe with enough of them he'll see the error of his ways (see Dean's email above for some specifics). I'm not counting on that, but since McCain is such a good hugger anyways, why not give it a try.

Stewart Goes For Traditional Media Blood

I'm soooo happy this man is back and on the air, even sans writers, this is something we all need to hear....if only Timmeh could listen:

NRSC....Still Dreaming

With the NRSC's funds at the bottom of the toilet, ads like these could become more common, they'll do anything to try and muster at least a shred of credibility in the 2008 cycle. Too bad for them they do not stand a chance at winning two seats, let alone any. Right now across the board, four of their seats are in dire jeopardy (though it could be six or more), and the only shot they have at picking up anything is in Louisiana against Landrieu. Yet even down there, their hopes are slim to none.



The pretend-patriotism just oozes all over the screen as a backdrop against all those lies.

If The Cards Are Right, We Can Take Back The Senate

Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate right now, but unfortunately the mere threat of a filibuster sends Harry Reid and his merry Democratic men and women scurrying for the trees. It is sad to see the takeover of the Senate last year do so little for the electorate that gave the Dems the upper hand.

There is hope for us however next year. If everything goes the way we want it to, Democrats could end up with sixty seats in the Senate. That would eliminate any chance for Republicans to strike fear into the hearts of our Democratic caucus.

So how do we go from fifty-one to sixty? Blow by blow it is rather quite simple. With all of the individual accounts of corruption and the overall Republican culture that fosters all of their evil-doers, many of the twenty-two Senate Republicans are vulnerable. Five seats (Hagel, Warner, Craig, Domenici and Allard) are being vacated for various reasons. Other incumbents such as Ted Stevens up in Alaska and John Sununu in New Hampshire are vulnerable to Democratic opposition.

Overall, Republicans continue to disappoint Americans and they in turn will show their displeasure come election day next year. The conservatives didn't get the message last year when they lost control of the legislature but I fear they won't get it next year either. Being stuck with narrow-minded vision has its downsides, thats for sure.