I saw today that Roxanne Conlin isn't too far behind Senator Chuck Grassley in the polls today if the election were held. For Sen Grassley, it may unite the RNC/RNSC monies behind him, and yet, the DNC/DSCC may move towards helping Roxanne Conlin.
I am a big fan of Roxanne Conlin. See her website. It is so people-oriented in its message. If you have a couple of extra hours to knock on Iowan's doors before the primary or else-wise financially, she is worth the investment to get the goons out of DC.
Let's elect a real progressive to the Senate who won't hold up judicial appointments, will see that the health care bill is enacted well and make improvements, and also to help business be more green.
Good morning, BW readers. As we all know by now, JRE finished second in Iowa. My initial reaction was disappointment and maybe fearful, but after conversing with Larry Kissell (who is running for NC-08 and I donated to his campaign), Larry was right: the Iowa election signaled that the American people are ready for change. Obama just had more money, and combined with Clinton, outspent JRE 4 to 1. Clinton came in third. Obama did some horse trading and maneuvering that I thought was awful, but he won. And that's that.
But I wanted to share a bit of a story about a feller who is from Clover, SC, Rod Pursley, who went to Iowa right after Christmas and canvassed, phone banked, etc to help GOTC. Here's something from the Enquirer-Herald in SC:
Pursley, a Clover native who works at the University of Virginia, spent eight days in Iowa talking on the phone and braving 20-degree weather to knock on doors in a grass-roots effort that helped Edwards secure second place in Thursday's Iowa caucuses.
Helping a candidate who had 20 percent of the funding the two front-runners made the experience worth it, Pursley said.
"I just felt it was really important for me to put my money where my mouth (is)," he said.
snip
Although he was disappointed Edwards didn't win first place, Pursley said he considers Iowa the calm before the storm for the Edwards campaign. As he drove into York County on Friday, he was already thinking about the South Carolina Democratic primary, which he'll help with on the weekends.
The Carolina primary is on January 26th.
Dedication amongst the JRE supporters. Sometimes dedication is worth a lot more than a loot of money.
Onward to New Hampshire. Video clip below of EE rallying the troops yesterday morning.
JRE skipped the fancy 100 Club dinner where it was the Obamafest to begin with, and instead spoke to 550 regular people.
Debate is on at 7:45 CT on ABC. I'll report more news as it comes along today.
John Edwards is the Most Electable to Iowans in Fixed News Focus Group
Interesting. Electability matters, as does the consistency of message, and representing our middle class interests to these Iowans.
I'm certain Fixed Noise wasn't very pleased with the results, but at least Luntz was fair about it.
New poll at Taylor Marsh's place: Obama's unfavorables are higher than the other candidates, yet Zogby said this morning that Clinton was fading in Iowa.
It's too close to call, but of course, I am rooting for JRE.
Today I will be posting videos, etc, as I find them, of the events in Iowa as EE and JRE are on TV this morning. I'm watching David Bonior on C-SPAN as I type.
Great pic from NYT, the handmade sign obviously done by a young supporter.
Iowans don't need fancy signs to show their support.
Update: I saw JRE's (C-SPAN) RTH live in Boone, IA. Very upbeat event.
Video clip courtesy of NCDem. Q & A not included, but to let BW readers know, it lasted another 15 minutes or so. Contrast that to Madame Clinton, who took no questions after her session yesterday.
I wiped a tear or two away when John talked about when we stand up for the 37 million in poverty, 47M without health care, or the homeless vets, "America Rises."
On the C-SPAN segment in which EE was a guest, all of the phone calls to Elizabeth were positive, including 2 Republicans who said they would vote for JRE.
It's different from the other candidates, tad corny (but then Iowa grows a lot of corn), but I think it's brilliant at the same time. It's rated CG: Caucus Goers.
Take a look:
The voice-over is by JRE supporter George Hoyo, who is well known for his voice overs in trailers. And I think Kevin Bacon is helping out with the e-mails (and possible snail mailings) to Iowans. You can read more about it at the Caucus Command Center at JRE's site.
I missed JRE on the Today show this morning, but apparently he was on his game, according to Chuck Todd, who thought a few weeks ago Edwards wasn't worth mentioning since he wasn't a viable candidate.
And if you haven't seen Newsweek this week, check it out. JRE is on the cover.
Today Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne will be back with the JRE to help campaign in NH. Wish I could go.
America rising indeed--and so is Edwards' campaign. The media just woke up.
Some scrub got on the DU and said that when JRE was invited to come out and say hello at a John Mellencamp concert, there were more boos than cheers. The media reported the same.
JSamuel posted this video that was released by Mellencamp's folks and I don't hear that many jeers. JRE was gracious and it was nice to see the rapport between them.
Enjoy this video, then watch C-SPAN live for the J-J Dinner. JRE is up first.
This is Edwards' first big ad in Iowa. I like it that we are the heroes and not looking for a politician to be the hero or to rescue us. This is about having a candidate run for the White House and occupying it in order to serve us, the American People.
Obama's not my candidate, but anyone would be shaken from that experience. The story will be more clear in the days to come, but truly, I pray for all in that accident. Senator Obama must feel fortunate that his wife is OK and is with their babies. I feel badly for the motorcyclist, and wished he had not been in such a hurry without a helmet either.
Yesterday, I posted about a heated exchange that took place between Madame Clinton and Mr. Randall Rolph in Iowa over the weekend. Apparently, this story is gaining attention as even Dan Baltz at WaPO is reporting on it.
Blogger Wade Norris picked up the WaPO story and created a diary at the Daily Kos about it. It's still on the recommended list. Norris was accused of channeling Drudge, supplying misinformation.
Hillary Murdoch posts the same WaPO story at Taylor Marsh. Taylor, in her analysis, uses the "sexism" angle, even though conceding that Andrew Sullivan might have a point about Clinton's arrogance in this instance. Since arrogance from Clinton is interpreted as "she's very working hard", Marsh contends that if a male candidate had reacted to the attendee as Clinton did, the media would see it as a sign of strength instead.
Did Taylor overlook that the first link to the exchange was reported by a woman? Does that mean the woman journalist is also sexist? I found two women who first reported on this heated dialog yesterday. I think they were just doing their job.
But look at the next commentary that Taylor probably has not seen yet.
Kos, whom you all know has infuriated me about calling Edwards weak for accepting public funds for the primaries, took a different approach and quoted from the Union-Leader (NH) a retired woman general who about who supported Clinton for this reason:
A retired U.S. Army general visiting [New Hampshire] to campaign for Hillary Clinton said yesterday she does not oppose the Iraq war -- and she said she's never heard Clinton oppose it, either [...]
Kennedy said, "I don't oppose the war. I think it's being very badly led by the civilian leadership." And, [Retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy] added, "I have not ever heard (Clinton) say, 'I oppose the war.' I've heard her say that we need to begin withdrawal under a plan led by the military and defense secretary. I've heard her say we need to create a regional stabilizing group by allies, by leaders in the world and by all of the states that are bordering Iraq. That is a very important idea and the point of that group is to create incentive and assurances that will keep the neighboring countries from becoming involved and entering Iraq. That's a much more sophisticated thing than saying, 'I oppose the war.'"
Yes, I am supplying a link to Kos because he gets the hat-tip for finding the information and pointing out that Clinton is not anti-war, and validates what Norris was reporting. Then there's another glaring problem Clinton will be dealing with: having Sandy Berger as an advisor. Great, a guy who stole classified documents from the National Archives a few years ago, and got caught.
What everyone is missing, except Pioneer and Montana Maven who posted here yesterday, is something Mark Schmitt penned at TAPPED back in mid-February about Clinton's view of executive power.
However, we have just gone through a period of the most staggering expansion of executive power in history, and I suspect that we don’t know the half of it. The setup that was the Iraq resolution, the manipulation of the executive branch itself in order to deceive Congress was one example of it. The next president will have to comb through a mass of undisclosed executive orders, secret legal opinions, bizarre theories, manipulative structures, embedded political appointees, excessive classification, and let some daylight back in. The last thing we need at this moment is yet another president who "believes in executive authority and Congressional deference." We need a president who respects separation of powers and democracy. After all, the next president will not be our last.
At the Yearly Kos, Jeffrey Feldman fielded a question to John Edwards about the unitary executive, an issue that loomed large in the pool of questions he and others collected from bloggers:
"The current administration has done so much to consolidate power to the Executive branch at the expense of the other two and in violation of the Constitution. As President, what will you do to restore balance amongst all three branches of government?"
Edwards response is better to be watched and heard rather than retyping the script:
I don't see that Clinton is going to be much different from Bush. And no matter what anyone says, her arrogant attitude with Mr. Rolph, a former Deaniac, is going to get noticed, and it should, if you are a progressive. And I trust John Edwards to do as he says he will, which is restoring the trust of Presidency as our founding fathers (and their wives who supported them) intended.
From the Harkin Steak Fry. I filled out one of those coins of ideas for change. I want Universal Health care, but all of the folks in the video express the other ideas of change that I want as well.
One of them was about education. As a matter of fact, JRE came out with an education plan yesterday.
Here's an excerpt:
Edwards' plan for education reform will address the failures of the current system through focusing on the following principles:
Preparing Every Child to Succeed: As president, Edwards will launch a national "Great Promise" partnership to give a quality early childhood education to every four-year-old in the country � starting with poor children in neighborhoods with struggling schools. To reach even younger children, Edwards will create a national "Smart Start" program that will improve child care and invest in child health.
An Excellent Teacher in Every Classroom: Teachers, not tests, are the single most important factor in successful schools. As president, Edwards will increase pay for teachers in successful high-poverty schools by up to $15,000 a year. He will also create a National Teacher University � a West Point for teachers � to recruit 1,000 top college students a year, train them to be excellent teachers, and encourage them to teach where they are needed the most. His plan also will give extra support to teachers in the first years of their careers, reduce classroom sizes, and train more excellent principals.
Making Every School an Outstanding School: No Child Left Behind used cheap standardized tests to measure our children's learning, failed to accurately identify struggling schools, and mandated unproven cookie-cutter solutions for our schools' problems. Edwards will totally overhaul it so it meets its goals of helping all children learn through accurately identifying and improving struggling schools. Based on North Carolina's successful education reforms, Edwards proposed a School Success Fund to allow teams of experienced educators to spend a year at struggling schools helping launch reforms. Edwards will also launch a "Great Schools" initiative to build or expand 1,000 successful schools.
The energy and enthusiasm of high school students who want to make their community and their country a better place to live. One type of service program, service-learning, has been shown to have positive impacts on students' civic engagement, college enrollment, career development, and personal relationships. Nearly half of school-age children lack the activities and role models that are opportunities to make a difference through helping others. Edwards will create a Community Corps service programs for high school students. It will provide resources to high schools that choose to make community service a graduation requirement, helping them make service opportunities higher in quality and integrate them into the curriculum. [NYLC, 2006; America's Promise Alliance, undated]
Benny's idea: Or, another idea--have them work 10 hours a week for wages to show they can gain work skills and fiscal responsibility as they go to college or attend a trade school. This fits in with College for Everyone.
AARP, IPTV 2008 Presidential Candidate Forums in Davenport and Sioux City
AARP and Iowa Public Television (IPTV) will be holding two Presidential Candidate forums focused on the issues of health care and financial security on Sept. 20 in Davenport and Oct. 25 in Sioux City.
At the September 20 event, Democratic candidates committed to participating and meeting forum criteria include: U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, former U.S. Senator John Edwards, U.S. Senator Joe Biden and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. All of the Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in the October 25 forum. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and U.S. Senator John McCain have confirmed they will participate.
The forums will be broadcast live from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. (CT) both nights, and will be aired on PBS stations across the country. Judy Woodruff , senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, will moderate the 90-minute discussions.
The Adler Theatre in Davenport will be the site for the Sept. 20 forum with the Democratic candidates and the Orpheum Theater in Sioux City will be the site for the Oct. 25 Republican candidate forum.
BW readers will note that Barack Obama will not be attending. Instead, he will be at a fundraiser in Atlanta. I guess discussing older people's issues aren't his thing, or Barack cannot keep up with the demands of a campaign except DNC sanctioned ones. Well, this is his first real campaign. Not easy to do.
I'll be watching at 7 on WILL, my local PBS station to hear JRE, Dodd, Richardson, and what others will have to say.
Today, John and Elizabeth Edwards will be on the road again, this time all week in Iowa. According to Tracy Russo at JRE's blog, they will visit 31 places. In an-email, the campaign reported that they are using B20 biodiesel, a cleaner fuel, to run their bus.
I also read that John will be on C-SPAN tonight. Here's what Serb Hall Celebrator reported on JRE's blog this morning:
John Edwards campaign stop in Iowa tonight will be broadcast LIVE on CSPAN (Monday August 13) at 9 pm ET. On Monday morning's Washington Journal program, CSPAN's upcoming program schedule that scrolls at the bottom of the screen indicated the network plans to televise Edwards' appearance tonight in Iowa. One hour before Edwards, CSPAN's listings indicate they will broadcast an 8 pm ET appearance in New hampshire by Arizona senator JOHN McCAIN so if you tune in and see McCain on your screen, there is a chance the Arizona senator's event went into overtime. For those unable to catch Edwards' initial appearance, check out CSPAN.ORG under the TV Schedules link as CSPAN usually re-airs programming later in the evening and also will re-post content on its website for review.
Excellent, BW readers. We have something to look forward on the teevee instead of the usual summer re-runs.
Elizabeth Edwards said one of the first things her husband will do if elected president is bring his universal health care proposal before Congress.
"Also on the first-day agenda is using that honeymoon period to get health care in front of Congress, so we can get universal health care passed immediately," she said.
That's exactly what Sharon Mott of Waterloo, 63, wanted to hear. She will be uninsured for another two years until she becomes eligible for Medicaid.
"I hope nothing happens before then," she said.
Many in the crowd of about 50 showed up with health care on their minds. Godert VanDerHart of Waterloo, 83, said he learned of the convoluted health care system when his wife, who has since died, suffered a stroke five years ago. It's now a top issue for him.
"He's the strongest on the health care issue," he said. "There's always been talk (of reform), but I'd like to see some action."
Under John Edwards' plan, which would require all Americans to purchase health insurance, employers must either cover employees or help finance their coverage. It would also create tax credits to make plans more affordable, and expand Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
When he unveiled his proposal, John Edwards said the program would be paid for with taxes, arguing the benefit of universal health care outweighs the cost. He has said the $90 billion to $120 billion annual cost could be paid for by eliminating President Bush's tax cuts on households earning more than $200,000 and by collecting unpaid capital gains taxes.
Elizabeth Edwards also sharply criticized the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. She said if it weren't for her and her sister, her parents would vastly overpay for prescription drugs because they can't make decisions independently for health reasons.
"It's entirely too complex and too punitive. If my parents are stymied by this stuff, and they are, each month they delay (in choosing a plan) would cost them more money, and not more money just on the front end, more money for the rest of their lives."
I saw John Edwards vote on the Medicare D bill. It was a horrible bill, giveaways to drug companies who already receive plenty of R & D funding from us. I'm glad JRE said no.
John Edwards in 5 Iowa Town Halls Talking About Our Veterans
John Edwards talks about supporting our troops and veterans, especially as they come back from Iraq in town halls in Iowa this weekend. "We have a sacred contract with the men and women who put on a uniform." Also mentioned that our country has responsibility towards taking care of their families, by implementing better pay, health care, or even student loan suspensions to those students who are serving directly in combat or getting combat training, better body armor, etc (the latter added by this blogger, but he probably thought it). Edwards says one in three coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from serious stress disorders and head injuries.
I got my t-shirt today that reads, Support the Troops (on the front), End the War (on the back).
Update: Edwards campaign staff pack several care packages to send to the troops. Here's the clip.
I like the way it ends. Support the troops, honor the fallen.
This blog is for my friends and acquaintances who were formerly with the John Edwards campaign, which had the most progressive agenda. I am a progressive liberal, musing about politics and life.
