Recently moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Born and raised in Connecticut (was against Lieberman from the start); lived in Tennessee, Virginia, DC, Indiana, and now Minnesota.
The new 50-state Survey USA polls are quite fun for the political junkie. With the usual disclaimers that polls this early are essentially meaningless, blah blah blah, let's dive into the numbers.
SUSA has highlighted the results and claimed that they foretell a tight race in the fall. Other Kossacks have pointed out some of the shocking numbers, like Obama winning in North frickin' Dakota.
But my perusal of the results tells a different story.... Follow me for more....
UPDATED: I've added the same type of results for the McCain-Clinton matchup at the end of the diary...
I was a volunteer at yesterday's insane rally in Minneapolis. Unlike the staff and some hardcore volunteers who arrived at 6:30am, I rolled in at about 10:30 am. There were already a hundred or so people in line.... for an event whose doors opened at about 2:00 pm. In 20 degree weather. Yikes. Can you say enthusiasm?
I spent most of the day outside, working the line. This consisted of directing people to the right line (green tickets and a shorter line for precinct captains, who got to stand on the floor; orange tickets or printed out e-mails for everyone else, a waiting area for the thousands without tickets) and getting people to fill out the stubs so the campaign could harvest the info of the 20,000 people in attendance.
Unlike the hardy souls in line, I occasionally took breaks in the relative warmth of the lobby.... wimp! A crazy video and more below the fold.
I just finished reading James Loewen's Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. It clocks in at well over 400 pages, so it took me a while. This book was published in 2005 and has recently come out in paperback. You may know Loewen as the author of the wildly (and justly) popular, Lies My Teacher Told Me, and Lies Across America.
Sundown towns are towns and cities which are/were "all-white on purpose." That is, they have tiny or non-existent Black populations, and they have maintained their racial purity with deliberate acts of exclusion (up to and including violence). The most important thing to know about sundown towns is that they are not confined to the South. In fact, they are relatively rare in the south. More below the fold about this amazing book and its implications for how we live now.
If we want change, we're going to have to work for it. If we want an Obama Presidency, it's going to take a sustained effort, in addition to a lot of hope.
As one of our great progressive politicians has said, "Anytime you speak out powerfully for change, the forces of the status quo attack." Well, the counterattack happened in New Hampshire last night, and the forces of change suffered a setback.
The Establishment isn't going to GIVE it away, folks. They have too much to lose.
And they've done this before: remember Dean in 2004? How invincible we felt in the months leading up to Iowa? How it seemed like an unstoppable, people-powered movement?
And remember how quickly it all fell apart?
We can't let that happen again this year. And I don't think we will.
But we're gonna have to work, and work hard, to win this victory. More below...
I know everyone's probably sick of reading stories about Iowa, so I apologize. But I decided that I wanted to get some of my experiences written down, for my own purposes if nothing else.
I live in Minnesota and have been involved with the Obama campaign for quite a few months. When I've been able, I've driven down to Iowa to help out there too. I've only lived in this part of the country for a year, and it's the first time I've ever been able to have an influence on the nomination process. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement!
I had planned to go to Iowa again on Jan. 2, and then again on Caucus Day. Unfortunately, I got sick on Jan. 1 (some sort of stomach flu, not because of excessive celebrating!) and couldn't go. But on Caucus Day, I decided I felt well enough after lunch to head down. I hadn't called or signed up-- I just got in my car and drove, to Mason City, Iowa, the nearest office to MN. More below....
With all the excitement on the Democratic side of the Presidential race, it's easy to overlook what's going on "over there." But in many ways, the Republican race is more interesting than our own-- and not just because we can say nasty things about their candidates with a clear conscience. [Not that conscience stops many of us from bashing our own fine candidates.]
The R race is completely up in the air-- you have the national frontrunner (Giuliani) tanking completely in the early states. You have the former frontrunner (McCain) given up for dead, then showing signs of life. You have the first serious Mormon candidate facing off against an ordained minister. And you have Ron Paul stirring things up in debates and online.
Sorry for the provocative title, but to me, there's no other way to describe this amazing woman. My wife and I attended a luncheon in Minneapolis yesterday at which Ms. Obama was the speaker. It was an amazing experience. Details below the fold.....
I've been thinking a lot lately about term limits. One common objection I've heard in the past goes something like this: "If we have term limits, we will end up with inexperienced legislators who can't get anything done."
Recent events have led me to conclude: "How much worse could it be??"
Since there's been some discussion around here about Larry Sabato's call for a Constitutional Convention, I thought I would throw out some thoughts on term limits, and why I believe they are an important piece of our efforts to restore our democracy.
Today I made a series of phone calls, all with the same simple message: our representatives in Congress need to take action to end the occupation of Iraq. Compromise is impossible with an intransigent administration. The best path is simple and achievable: Congress must refuse to pass any funding bill which does not include real timetables for withdrawal.
To establish right off that I am not an Obama "concern troll:"
my wife and I have contributed a substantial amount of money to Obama
I have driven from my home in Minnesota down to Iowa to canvass for Obama
and we've marched in a parade here at home for Obama
we have an Obama bumper sticker on our car
Now, on to the point:
I have a big problem with Senator Obama's recent foreign policy speech. Actually, that's not really correct. I read the speech today in its entirety, and most of it is more or less fine with me. Except for one part.
And that part is below the fold, along with my problems with it...
Everyone knows that Al Franken is running for US Senate here in Minnesota. Everyone knows that he would be a much much better Senator, for Minnesota and for all of America, than the incumbent rubberstamper Norm Coleman.
But what many Kossacks don't appear to realize is that Mr. Franken is not the only candidate running. In fact, there are 2 other candidates who are up and running, one in an exploratory phase, and one possible future candidate.
I am a little uneasy about the influence of non-Minnesotans in this race. Let me explain why below the fold...
I read substantial parts of David Halberstam's magisterial book, The Best and the Brightest, as part of a college course (that would be quite a few years ago; I turned 35 this past Friday, thankyouverymuch).
I remember being gobsmacked by the book: as a young person with a typical American education, I knew little about Vietnam (American history courses, sadly, rarely getting past the 19th century), and what I did know, or thought I knew, was mostly mythology. Halberstam's book was an eye-opener, changing my whole perspective on a host of issues-- one of many such books I've read over the years. I went on to read several other Halberstam books on my own (I especially recommend The Fifties) but never went back and completed TBATB (as I'll abbreviate the title).
Until last week. Needing a good solid (long) book to keep me busy during a weeklong vacation without television or Internets, I picked up a copy.
A lot as been made of Obama's supposed lack of experience-- and not just in the MSM, where one would expect it, but here on DKos as well.
In this diary, I hope to explain why Obama's experience (both where he lacks it and where it is greater than other candidates') is one of the main reasons I am supporting him.
To do this, I will first look at what people usually mean when they criticize Obama's experience. Then I will explain what experiences of his make me believe he'll be the best President of the lot.
So first: what do people mean by experience and why is it not so important?
Join me below the fold, if you can stand to read something that's not about Scooter Libby...
The Times today ran an article about the current budget battles in my home state of Minnesota. Headlined, "A Tenuous Legislative Consensus in Minnesota Has Collapsed Over Tax Increases," the gist of the article is simple: voters chose a middle way in the last elections, and now those crazy DFLers (as Democrats are called here) are messing things up by proposing a bunch of tax increases. Oh, and thank goodness, the Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, is vetoing everything and the voters love him for it. Only problem is, as you might have already guessed, the Times' narrative is utter hogwash. More below the fold....
I was browsing some of the Presidential candidates' MySpace profiles. I know, it's a bit of an odd thing to do, especially since my favorite part of it is reading the crazy comments added by winger nutjobs on Brownback's page (or McCain's, or Romney's, or.. you get the idea).
But wait! Scandal awaits below the fold, and it doesn't even involve bashing fellow Democrats!
Millionaire Mike Sodrel (R-Indiana 9th), was quoted (subscription only) in the Bloomington newspaper saying that many of the 46 million Americans without health insurance choose to be uninsured.
"They're young people who think they're bullet-proof" and who buy color televisions rather than pay for insurance, he said.
