Vilsack is the wrong Iowan for VP!

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Saturday July 03, 2004 · 1:54 PM PDT

2004/07/03 · 13:54

Why Vilsack over Harkin? They're both from hardscrabble roots (Vilsack was an orphan, Harkin is the son of Slovenian miner immigrants). But Harkin has been around the block a little more, he has a lot more folksy charm, and he was in the military (although I'm not sure that he saw combat).

To sum up: we have an experienced, folksy, up-from-the-bootstraps, mid-Western swing-state, Vietnam veteran Senator. He would thrill the Dean wing of the party without freaking out the Senator -- he's eminently credible.

He's also the ranking Democrat on Agriculture, and this election seems to have an opening for taking the fight to rural America.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

leftist

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Thursday July 01, 2004 · 5:28 PM PDT

2004/07/01 · 17:28

Man, it's amazing how the politics surrounding the Bush administration have consistently reverted back to the predictable and expected, at times, and oxymoronically, against all odds.

Bush started out by poisoning our relationship with the world, but September 11 happened and we thought we might be forgiven his mistakes. Then he blew it, and we were back to the mid 2001 hostility, except far worse.

Bush seemed doomed to be stuck with the support of half the country, never to expand his base, but also never losing much. Then Sept. 11 happened, and it seemed he might just forge a new national security coalition. But his numbers crashed back to earth, and he's left with the same base he had before Sept. 11.

Before Iraq, we on the left were predicting the war would end in quagmire and disaster while fanning the flames of a global clash of civilization. But the army swept into Baghdad and all seemed reasonably well for a time. Then Iraq collapsed as we had originally predicted.

Once Gore bowed out, the consensus was that Kerry was the most likely nominee, and Edwards his most likely VP candidate. They were considered the top two primary candidates. Then came Dean, walking all over Kerry, Edwards, Gephardt, and just about everyone and everything else. But faster than he had risen, he collapsed, Kerry and Edwards re-emerged, and everyone called out for the victorious Kerry to choose Edwards.

It's as if these four years were already written in stone, and despite all our efforts to deviate from the plan, we just can't do it.

Just met Howard Dean

leftist

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Sunday May 23, 2004 · 6:48 PM PDT

2004/05/23 · 18:48

I was just at a fundraiser for Joe Hoeffel out in Bryn Mawr, a suburb of Philadelphia. It featured our own beloved Howard Dean. For those of you who don't know, I've been around MyDD and DailyKos since mid 2002 and a Dean supporter since then as well, and last summer, I went up to Burlington to sleep on floors and volunteer 10 hrs/day for the Gov., so it was nice to finally be able to meet him.

He's as good at what he does as ever, far outshining Hoeffel (for whom I'm working this summer). He mentioned he's planning on making voting-machine problems one of his main issues soon.

The event raised at least $100,000 for Hoeffel, which is great, because he needs it badly. If you can afford to give, do so.

I unwittingly made the case for John Lewis to Jim Jordan

leftist

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Sunday April 25, 2004 · 8:27 PM PDT

2004/04/25 · 20:27

I was at my college-to-be's weekend for admitted high school seniors the past few days. This included various "academic expos," which were basically the best profs showing off their best stuff. I went to one called "Race, Ethnicity, and National Party Politics." It was interesting, and I'm sure you can figure out what we talked about, more or less.

Toward the end of the question period, the discussion moved toward veepstakes. Once we were out of time, a few of us, including both students and parents, crowded around the professor to thank him and tell him our ideas. I made the case for John Lewis, as I did in a diary about a week ago (the professor, although very intelligent and articulate, disagreed with me. He thought minority turnout and tolerant white support for the Democrats wouldn't go up enough to make up for increased racist turnout).

Anyway, the next person in the little crowd to talk after me was a tall, middle-aged, preppy-looking white guy, who said he taught at the Kennedy school. The conversation between him and the professor went something like this:
Prof: "What's your name?"
White guy: "Jim Jordan."
Prof: "So what do you think for Vice-President?"
Jordan: "Well, I haven't made up my mind yet. What names are you hearing?"
Jordan's wife: "Jim is actually in charge of choosing the candidate for Kerry."

As soon as I heard Jordan's name, I realized, holy shit, I just made the case for Lewis to the person who needs to hear it! Not that it makes a difference, coming from me, but still. If by some miracle Lewis is on the ticket, or even the short list, I'm taking credit.

New SurveyUSA Specter-Toomey poll

leftist

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Tuesday April 20, 2004 · 5:26 PM PDT

2004/04/20 · 17:26

SurveyUSA has spoken with its new poll, and they put it at

Specter 50%
Toomey 44%

http://www.surveyusa.com/currentelectionpolls.html

In general, SUSA has been more favorable to Toomey than Quinnipiac (who put it at 49-44) earlier today. Their virtual consensus now means that we probably have a fairly accurate picture of what this race is like a week out from the primary.

Lewis for VP -- it's so right

leftist

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Sunday April 18, 2004 · 6:28 PM PDT

2004/04/18 · 18:28

The idea of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) for Vice-President has bounced around for some time now, partly thanks to Ali Karim Bey's obsession with "JFK-Lewis" back about a year ago. That said, however, I'd like to analyze a Kerry-Lewis ticket, with the help of my fellow Kossacks.

First, some background for those who don't know: Read More

Senate races revealing rifts in the GOP?

leftist

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Tuesday April 13, 2004 · 7:18 PM PDT

2004/04/13 · 19:18

One theme that seems to pop up in a surprisingly large number of Senate races this year is the tension in the GOP between the slightly more moderate establishment choices for the Senate nominations and the more right-wing insurgent choices. In Oklahoma, we have every pol in the state backing OKC Mayor Kirk Humphreys, but popular former Rep. Coburn is making a run at him from the right. The same goes in Colorado for Coors and Schaffer, in Pennsylvania for Specter and Toomey, in Florida for Martinez and McCollum, in Georgia with Isakson and Cain/Collins, and possibly soon in Alaska with a challenger to Murkowski in the primary. Read More

Arlen Specter and the PATRIOT Act

leftist

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Tuesday April 13, 2004 · 2:51 PM PDT

2004/04/13 · 14:51

I'm taking a group of my fellow high school students down to Arlen Specter's Philly office tomorrow to talk about the PATRIOT Act (we're against it, obviously). We were forewarned to come well-researched and prepared about where Specter stands. Obviously, I'm doing what I can with Google, but I'm wondering if any kind soul out there with Lexis-Nexis is inclined to help us?

Specifically, I'm looking for statements he has made in support of the PATRIOT Act, and anything he's said about renewing or extending it.

Looking to 2008

leftist

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Tuesday March 23, 2004 · 3:44 AM PST

2004/03/23 · 03:44

A few weeks ago I did a poll about whom we would like to see nominated in 2008 should Bush be reelected this year.

http://leftist.dailykos.com/story/2004/2/17/01026/9995

Here's the sequel: who do we think the GOP is most likely to nominate in 2008, regardless of who wins this year?

Best antiwar work of all time

leftist

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Wednesday March 17, 2004 · 10:49 PM PST

2004/03/17 · 22:49

In keeping with the cultural theme of today of previous diaries by me and others, here's the new question: what is the greatest anti-war work, whether it be film, music, art, or literature, of all time? Obviously, this, like my previous poll, is far from catch-all. In fact, it's pretty off-the-top of my head, so feel free to point out everything I've missed. Whether some of the ones I've listed are anti-war at all is very much open to debate, but they're worth listing.

What music do you like?

leftist

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Wednesday March 17, 2004 · 10:03 PM PST

2004/03/17 · 22:03

Curious what are Kossacks' favorite bands. I'm listing mostly classic rockers -- dead or broken up -- partly because I think they're better, and partly because I think they're more likely to be favorites of this crowd. I wanted to fit Springsteen on here too, but there was no room.

And Udall is out!

leftist

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Wednesday March 10, 2004 · 7:28 PM PST

2004/03/10 · 19:28

Well, that was a short-lived Senate run. Rep. Mark Udall dropped out of the race for Ben Nighthorse Campbell's seat and endorsed Attorney General Ken Salazar for the seat.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~64~2008739,00.html

Udall really missed his chance in not running against Allard in 2002. He may now never get a Senate seat -- unfortunate, as he is pretty progressive and would have a decent chance at winning statewide.

However, Salazar has cleared the field (Bridges is out too) of real competition -- sorry Mike Miles, much as I love you, you just don't have the cash -- and now should probably be considered the frontrunner by a little bit against whomever the GOP nominates -- most likely Beaprez or Tancredo, or maybe even Schaffer.

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