http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/05/richardsons_run.html
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today announced he is ending the exploratory phase of his campaign and is officially seeking the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. Democrats have been on pins and needles for the past year as he’s campaigned… Now we know.
Categories: 2008 Campaign
Well… Al finally met the the Mormon church in Utah, 2 weeks after Sharpton told a debate crowd that people who worship the real God will never vote for Romney. He was in Utah making nice with Mormon elders after his remarks and then Mitt Romney (rightly) calling him a bigot.
After dining with M. Russell Ballard, one of the Mormon Church’s “Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,” Sharpton was full of praise for the Latter-day Saints. He did not mention the Mormon record on race – the subject of his most pointed comments last week when he noted the church did not start accepting black people as equals until 1978.
“I wanted to discuss some of my historic concerns privately,” he said later.
I think that’s fair. Bigotry and polygamy are stains that will likely forever haunt the latter day saints and it’s perfectly fair to talk about those concerns. It seems more helpful and less inflammatory to talk privately when you have audience with decision-makers.
Categories: 2008 Campaign · Romney · Sharpton
The NY Times has a neat advice column for states considering moving up their primaries. States haev been looking to do this for $ millions of reasons.For Iowa and New Hampshire, the primaries and caucuses have been economic windfalls, with candidates and news organizations spending money on hotels, restaurants, bars, and rental cars, and the campaigns devoting huge sums for advertising on local television stations. But faced with such an expansive playing field and the fact that much of the campaigning in the Feb. 5 states will take place in the week before the voting, reporters and candidates will be spending so much time on planes that they probably won’t have time to spend much money on the ground. As for television, some of the campaigns — trying to figure out how to run an advertising campaign in 20 states — are already talking about simply buying national television time rather than time on local stations.
So why not wait? If Feb. 5 is inconclusive, there are going to a lot fewer states competing for the candidates’ time and attention. There are going to be many fairly empty Tuesdays on the primary calendar next spring; pick the right one and one of those states might end up putting a candidates over the top.
Categories: 2008 Campaign · Money
Mayor Bloomberg, who has made news of late for the rumor that he is setting aside $1 Billion for an independent presidential run, may be having difficulty winning support in Albany for his congestion pricing plan. The plan did win praise from former President Clinton today during the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in Manhattan.
“The longer I wait in traffic, the better I like it,” Clinton said. “I remember when people said (Bloomberg) was committing political suicide when he came out for smoke-free restaurants when restaurant revenues were already down about 15% after 9/11. He clearly was right and events proved him right. So I wouldn’t bet against the mayor’s judgment on this.”
The mayor responded with his own, quintessentially Bloombergesque praise for Clinton, saying the ex-president had taught him “a great deal about leadership, about being strong, about being charismatic, about being tall and handsome and Southern.”
The two pols joined forces for an announcement that 15 cities will receive $5 million loans from private banks to outfit buildings with green technology
Perhaps all the climate-friendly talk at the summit went to the head of one reporter, who referred to Bloomberg as “Mayor Greenberg.” Bloomberg quipped: “I don’t know if that was a Freudian slip.”
Getting mayors to save energy in their cities, acting where larger entities will not, seems like a noble plan, though not inviting NGOs to the meeting leads me to believe that the plans will be executed in a manner to ensure that the energy companies and consultancies are the biggest winners here.
Categories: 2008 Campaign · Bill · Bloomberg · Clinton · Michael Bloomberg · Pandering
This is why you should read the smart reporting found in the unflappable Economist magazine:
Meanwhile Fox News, which broadcast the debate, continued its tradition of balancing good-looking conservative pundits with liberals who look either weird or bearded.
The whole article on the debate is here: http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9200887
Categories: 2008 Campaign
Sen. Barack Obama will serve as Southern New Hampshire University’s 2007 Commencement Speaker and will receive an honorary degree at Southern New Hampshire University’s 75th commencement. The ceremony for undergraduate and graduate students is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 19, at the Verizon Wireless Arena; doors open at 10 a.m. The school body is composed of a diverse body of white Vermonters with a sprinkling of international students.
“Sen. Obama delivers a message of hope, healing the divides that separate us. His own inspiring story makes him a fitting person for this role,” said SNHU President Paul LeBlanc
In case you couldn’t guess it by my tone and past posts, I really despise that Vermont feels entitled to hijack our electoral process to keep spoils like this address. Diversity is certainly a problems with this entitlement, but all sorts of other things are wrong with it too, including a disproportionate distribution of tax dollars to the state.
Categories: 2008 Campaign · Barak Obama · Obama
Though it’s still early, the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign has found a noticeable shift in sentiment among potential black voters (people who are black and will potentially vote, not people who will vote and are potentially black). A poll six weeks ago found broad support for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton but they now favor the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama. Her once-sizable margin over Obama, Gore and Edwards was sliced in half during the past month largely because of Obama’s growing support among black voters.
Even so, African Americans still view Clinton more positively than they see Obama, but in the time since he began his campaign, his favorability rating has risen significantly among blacks. In the latest poll, 70 percent of African Americans said they had a favorable impression of Obama, compared with 54 percent in December and January.
Overall, Clinton’s favorability ratings dipped slightly from January, with 49 percent of Americans having a favorable impression and 48 percent an unfavorable impression. Obama’s ratings among all Americans improved over the past month, with 53 percent saying they have a favorable impression and 30 percent saying they have an unfavorable impression.
Categories: 2008 Campaign · Barak Obama · Obama
