Photo

After The Hurricane
photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Please Sign the Online Coalition Letter to FEC

Please Sign the Online Coalition Letter to FEC

I have signed on to what I consider to be a very important letter to which all concerned political bloggers should attend. The bipartisan letter is to the FEC from the blogging community at large. Michelle Malkin, Kos, Matthew Stoller, Kevin Aylward, and others have signed. There are currently close to 3000 signatures. Please go this THIS ADDRESS and sign the letter regarding the Upcoming FEC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking governing political activity on the internet.

Looking Toward 2008?

Looking toward 2008?

At JWR, Mugger has his doubts about certain political figures for 2008:

Rudy Giuliani -"way too socially liberal"

John McCain - "too old, cranky and contradictory"

Condi Rice - "black, female, single, ambiguous about abortion and has never run for office"

Hillary - Bill's baggage ("Marc Rich, Monica, his inattention to Islamic terrorists")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In the Boston Herald, Hillary's top advisor Ann Lewis talks about Kerry's 2004 campaign in non-glowing terms:

".... top adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton thinks fellow Democrat John Kerry "ran what was basically an inconsistent campaign" for president last year..

..The Kerry campaign had "a different message every two or three weeks," Ann Lewis, director of communications for Clinton's political action committee, told the Forward, a weekly New York City-based newspaper aimed at a Jewish audience...

..the Kerry campaign "kept trying to rationally convince, to put a presidency together, line by line, plan by plan...." She said people "don't vote for plans, they vote for presidents."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At Salon.com, Paul Harris wonders how Hillary's somewhat schizophrenic political persona will be played out in the mainstream media:

"That was evident enough a week ago. March 6 saw two key appointments in New York that exposed Clinton's dilemma. First was a speech to a Jewish community group on the Upper East Side. She spoke emotionally of meeting U.S. soldiers, "heroes," in the Middle East. A few hours later, after a short cab ride downtown, Clinton addressed a very different audience at a women's rights conference at New York University. There, to a hall of United Nations workers, students and feminists, Clinton struck a much more familiar tone. She briskly attacked Bush's policy on abortion and said women's reproductive health "lies at the very heart of women's empowerment." It was an old-fashioned, pro-choice kind of speech. Her audience loved it.

Clinton's problem will be which version of herself becomes the accepted one in the mainstream. If it is the spiky progressive, liberal on social issues, she will lose a presidential campaign, her strategists believe. But if it is the new Hillary, a muscular moderate who is tough abroad and churchgoing on Sundays, she just might end up in the White House, they believe, returning home after eight years away."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The San Francisco Chronicle reports on John Edwards' appearance in their fair city yesterday. Edwards said the issue on which Democrats may have missed the boat in the last election was moral values, and that they must be central to the Democratic Party's core message. He also explained that his current campaign is less political and more about a focus on fighting poverty.

"My campaign now is to fight poverty and is a continuation of work over the last several years. That's what I'm committed to. I'll make decisions about politics down the road -- and that's particularly true given what's happening with Elizabeth.".....

"....We believe in standing up for people who don't have a voice," Edwards told about 400 people at the bar association's event. "And we also believe we have a moral responsibility to help those around us who are struggling."

"My family and my faith did not teach me to turn my back on people in their time of need," he said. "We're going to let the Republicans stand with their friends on Wall Street, with the big oil companies. We will stand with the nurses, with the teachers, with the working people."

Democratic consultant Chris Lehane reminds us about the elephant in the "wide-open" roomful of Democrats for 2008:

"....all of them may have to contend with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, "who is literally hovering over the field in terms of the institutional advantages she starts out with," Lehane said."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Alameda Times-Star - Inside Bay Area

John Edwards spoke to the Bar Association of San Francisco at the Pan Pacific Hotel and had praise for Howard Dean while saying other unnamed Democrats have lacked the courage of their conviction.

EXCERPT:

Democrats stand for equal protection under the law, for standing up for the voiceless and powerless, for offering opportunity and rewarding hard work, for choosing hope over despair and for offering a helping hand to those who struggle

....his time on the campaign trail taught him that Americans want leaders with conviction, a strong set of values and the strength and passion to stand up for those values. Democrats have those core values..."We ought to have the courage to stand up for them," he said.

After his speech, Edwards declined to name any specific instances in which the party or its candidates lacked the courage of their convictions.

But he did praise former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee's new chairman, for being a straight shooter as well as an accomplished organizer and fund-raiser.

"I think that Howard will do a very good job."

"I am running the most powerful campaign I know how to stop poverty in this nation. ... That's the cause I'm focused on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Concord (NH) Monitor editorial staff is accusing certain Democrats of wanting to upset the status quo and take New Hampshire out of the top slot for the Presidential primary. The way they see it, certain Dems are blaming New Hampshire for past Democratic failures. As one could expect, the Concord Monitor folks don't appreciate this line of thinking and they want these Dems to stop tinkering with tradition. The way they see 2008 shaping up is:

Democrats will be looking hard for someone fresh.

On the Republican side, the first issue is who President Bush will want as a successor.

I would think he'd want Jeb as his successor. Don't you?

If it's not Jeb, I'll wager it'll be Bill Frist.

I think, in the end, New Hampshire will keep their favored spot in the primary, but 2008 will be all about southern strategy, southern strategy, and hmmm, let's see.....southern strategy.