Newscoma

Go to Craven’s World and read what she has to say about the forgotten candidate.

I’m seeing so many changes in the political machine that what I thought I knew isn’t really relevant.

I’ve been on the fence between John Edwards and Barack Obama for some time. I’ll be honest, I’ve not been happy with anybody and I didn’t want to get too excited about anyone. And, I’ve been studying everyone’s platform. I didn’t like Edwards stance on mandatory health care and that he gives us the populist speeches that I’m not completely sold on although I like what he’s saying from a philosophical standpoint. I’ve never felt 100 percent sure of him. I feel like he means what he says, but I’ve still felt a bit of hesitancy about him that I’ve had trouble pinpointing.

I’ve always liked Barack Obama, but I felt like I’ve needed to educate myself about him (he has given great speeches over the last few years, but a great speech doesn’t make a good politician. I just didn’t know much about him as a leader). But those very same speeches made me drawn to him and he says things I like. A lot. But I kept wondering if he could translate his message to a rural vote. I think about the rural vote a great deal as I live it, and I know how fickle the rural voter can be. But I like the guy. He is inspiring. He won’t have the Iraq War vote haunting him. He’s been upfront about his recreational drug use, he seems to be more globally savvy (I didn’t say experienced but I think he has more experience than the MSM gives him credit for) and he seems more unifying than, let’s say, Hillary Clinton, who I think is one of more divisive candidates in recent history.

So I watched Iowa, and quite frankly, I was surprised with the final results. I don’t know why really. I thought Edwards might take it because it seems like he’s been running for president for about two decades. But Obama made history in the fact he got new voters out and the undecided liked him. He inspired people to go in the bitter cold to the polls.

You see, I didn’t have faith that people would get out to vote for change. I didn’t think that would happen. I had lost my ability to believe that people would follow their convictions.

And I was wrong.

Even GOP candidate Mike Huckabee got a new vote out. Both winners offered a message of change, and both winners benefited from it.

I read this and it breaks it down.

The strategy went against the traditional blueprint for winning in Iowa and showed the importance of attracting voters outside the small, insular circle of dedicated party activists who have dominated past caucuses.

I really need to pack up my cynicism and pack it in the attic, don’t I? Seven years of our latest White House administration will do that to you.

In five days, we have New Hampshire and we are going to see the formation of several things. Iowa is pretty conservative, N.H. not so much. I expect Ron Paul will do better in that primary.

On Twitter last night, (and may I say, the folks there broke the story much quicker than Mainstream Media did), there was a conversation about a possible third-party candidate. People were sharing information, relevant links from Iowa’s bloggers who were on the ground watching the primary happening. If you like politics, you might want to see how Twitter worked last night. I was out at a family function and by the time I got home, I received more information on that social media networking system than I did from CNN in some cases. And the conversation was inspiring.

Yeah, everything I thought I knew I didn’t know at all.

This is going to be an amazing campaign year. And for the first time, I’m starting to get a little bit excited about it.

And dang it all, if I don’t just love talking about hope rather than fear. I’ve said that before.

So Edwards, Obama and Clinton are all in a dead heat in Iowa. Obama is getting the Superman treatment, Edwards says Obama is too nice and Hillary Clinton is trying to get Bill not to eat another cheeto because they are bad for him all while telling voters if she can protect Bill, she can protect Americans. Although Edwards says he will add Bill to his White House if he wins the presidency.

Of course he will. Bill Clinton is more popular than anyone running in 2008. (Of course, that’s just my opinion. It’s also my opinion that I think Al Gore probably laughed at ManBearPig because he has a sense of humor, which others don’t share with me.)

Sorry, I’m a progressive and I just couldn’t pass that up. I offer my apologies ahead of time.

The GOP candidates are fighting like my dogs do over a scrap of macaroni and cheese or the last bit of a hot dog. Man, McCain and Huckabee apparently want to run together because they sho’ don’t like Romney.

“APOLOGIZE!!” Huckabee is screaming at Romney.

***crickets***

“NOW!” Huckabee yowls, joined by the scratchy voice of John McCain. It is a symphony of Republican tenors that rivals only the now-deceased stylings of Luciano Pavoratti.

***crickets***

Nashville voters should be scratching their heads and getting on the phone so their vote makes a difference because right now, there are questions.

So here it is. I will not vote for a presidential candidate in a primary who is trying to offer me fear. I will vote for one that gives me hope.

And that laughs at ManBearPig. (Wait, he’s not running. Damn.)

If politics bores the heck out of you, go here. It’s a picture of a puppy.

Keep this man away from it.

The primary season is making me, in a word, yawn.

Let me ask a couple of questions. First of all, how different are the candidates in the Democratic Party? How much different are the candidates in the Republican party? Seriously, I’d like to know the difference. I mean we know Mitt Romney is a Mormon, we know Mike Huckabee seems nice enough, we know Rudy Guiliani is friends with Bernard Kerik which speaks volumes to me at least. We know Ron Paul, of all people, is getting the hipster attention. We know Fred Thompson isn’t the fireball we thought he’d be.

Heck, if I was a Republican, I’d be watching John McCain but I’m not voting Republican anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

As for the Democrats, I said months ago that these folks needed to be talking to people like me. Knock me out, impress me.

Instead, you are making me want a nap.

I see John Edwards as the most electable of the candidates, quite frankly, but mainstream media is banging on the Obama and Clinton gongs so loud who can hear the Richardsons and the Dodds?

You know, our elected officials just gave President Bush a huge Christmas present.

Yeah, Harry Reid and crew are blocking appointments, which in the long run is probably a good thing.

A nine-second session gaveled in and out by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., prevented Bush from appointing as an assistant attorney general a nominee roundly rejected by majority Democrats. Without the pro forma session, the Senate would be technically adjourned, allowing the president to install officials without Senate confirmation.

The business of blocking Bush’s recess appointments was serious. It represents an institutional standoff between Congress and the president that could repeat itself during Congress’ vacations for the remainder of Bush’s presidency.

Nine seconds is better than nothing.

I’ve been looking at quite a few websites over the last few days about where presidential candidates stand for rural citizens.

Many times, I will comment in my usual whimsical ways about (snark) about the different aspects of what a candidate is doing or that George Bush picked up a book and the world was genuinely surprised until he had to give it to Laura to read because he didn’t know what the word “pony” meant or whatever. You know the drill here at Casa Coma.

But, the thing that is really hurting our area is that we need industry. We need better broadband access (Thanks Maddox and Herron on that one), We need jobs terribly. I think because we live in a college environment, we do have some opportunities that some other rural communities don’t have and for that I’m grateful.

But which candidates are going to be actively advocating for the rural vote. Right now, it’s aggressively been sought in Iowa by John Edwards, who did make a visit after an internet contest back a few months ago to Clinton, Ky. There were thousands who attended and he did show up but, quite frankly, it was a Public Relations spin and we all knew that even at the time.

I’m eager as a rural citizen to see what is going to happen on a couple of levels. I read some where, and I can’t find it so I offer my apologies ahead of time, that the Democrats need someone who is like Mike Huckabee.

I’m not talking about his issues, I’m talking about how he has made a connection with some of his party and effectively pissed off the other side, but he sticks to it although I disagree with that philosophy completely. I think Edwards might be able to make that sort of connection that Huckabee has on the right but he is going to have to have a philosophy and stick to it. Huckabee is interesting to me as a progressive. He has a mission statement, he sticks to it and I love that he at least has a sense of humor but he isn’t who I want in Washington in 2009.

Edwards does make personal connections as well when he visited the area, but he hasn’t seemed to found his voice and this is his second chance. Everyone who has ever met him talks about his charm and that when you hear him, he sorta speaks to you not around you, but this whole mandating health insurance thing isn’t going to work for me. Hell, I have health insurance that sucks big-time, but I have it. If I didn’t need it, I would be freelancing full-time (and probably making more moolah than I do now), but the insurance keeps me where I’m at until I can find another place with, you guessed it, health insurance. Homer tells of a friend of hers who is working (she’d rather be home with her kids) specifically to have health insurance for her family. She brings home $40 bucks a month (Not a week, a month) after she paid. The money is going for insurance.

This isn’t uncommon. I can’t fly with that.  That’s, of course not a rural thing, but a people thing.

The rural thing, for me at least, is about industry. It’s about opportunities. It’s about that manufacturing jobs are leaving and have been for years. Off the top of my head, I can think of seven plants in my area that have closed recently. I can also tell you that the population of my county as of earlier this year has been reduced by about 3500 residents. And with that, the smaller businesses suffer.

So, there are no real answers I guess. Which presidential candidate is going to take care of the areas that don’t have voters in the hundreds of thousands? Something like 22 percent of roughly 19,000 people voted in this county in the last couple of elections.

Why?

Because they didn’t feel their vote mattered.

And, quite honestly, with the way 2000 and 2004 went, does it?

I’ll vote until my fingers bleed, believe me. I just wish I could fall in line with a candidate that I liked, that spoke for me. And, yes, I would have actively campaigned for Al Gore again.

This time, I’m thinking of electability and I think that’s the first time I have done that. I just don’t know who that person is yet.

Where Sharon Cobb hits the nail on the head:

Of course, I also just posted about only 40 people showing up to meet Fred Thompson just moments ago, but she’s right on this.

Sharon sez:

I’ll go on record saying John Edwards is going to win in Iowa. Why, you ask? Because the people of Iowa don’t like the media picking their candidates for them, and while the media focus (for the Dems) has been on Clinton and Obama, Edwards has been going about his business of personally meeting almost every potential caucus goer in the entire state of Iowa.

This is really a bipolar election year, don’t you think.

I’ve been waiting for the “Bush” grenade.

Yup … here it is.

In a sign of the increasingly bitter feud between the leading Democratic presidential contenders, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign Monday accused John Edwards of acting like President Bush and dividing Democrats.

Going to have a cocktail and heat up the popcorn.

And, we wait.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

In meeting with some folks on Saturday about progressive politics and next year’s upcoming election, I was taken with a couple of things. First of all, we had a lot to say to each other on a personal level. I also agree with Aunt B. when she says we needed a round table. The conversation drifted. And that was alright because we hadn’t seen each other in a few months, B. had just had surgery and she only has a flesh wound. We checked it out. It’s rather saucy.

There were a few things that had whirled through my mind after we met up after Mack asked me what the number one issue was in our minds. Several people answered but I didn’t. I had to think about this because I think many Americans vote on One Issue. Think about the solidarity of the Republican Party right now although I think it is a fragmented because they don’t have a uber strong candidate running for president is well, but this is, of course, the time of infighting in both partisan camps as the clamoring continues to be the presidential nominee next summer.

Back to the One Issue, it may have tendrils but it usually is back to the “one mind think of the issue that is the most important to me” for the voter, some folks vote about family, about national security, women’s rights, immigration, evangelical leadership, gay rights, denying gay rights and the list goes on.

I don’t think it comes down to one thing, per se, as a collective whole. But, it’s the word of mouth that gets people talking about one issue. People in northwest Tennessee are not talking about immigration or gay rights or urban development so much, they are talking about abortion and Christian Leadership and the viability of rural economic industrial recruitment. Lots of Blue Dog Democrats here, that will vote blue but want it with a conservative center. (I know, I know.)

Personally, I’m a Steve Cohen girl in what I dig in my politics, but then again, I hear a lot of chit-chat about others. I’m figuring I’m a minority around here in the ‘ville when it comes to mad Cohen love.

Who are folks talking about around here, you ask? Ron Paul, Bill Richardson and some John Edwards. Hillary, not so much and Barack Obama, very little. But this is just in the world I live in.

And every political election, no matter where the office is, a local election. The issues of rural voting trends are going to be different than urban voting trends. Ask Harold Ford Jr. this question and I’m sure he could fill you in about how rural America sealed his last campaign for senate (and his own folks in Memphis, who are very tired of the Ford dynasty).

Back to a small group of people, I got busy when I got home from Nashville yesterday and found a few places to go but I think the Republicans are a bit more organized right now online as I said last week and I think this is crucial. Their message is on task. We, as democrats, have has such a weird, disconcerting seven years that we have so many issues we want addressed. But we are getting there.

Their were seven of us on Saturday. Southern Beale, Mack, Aunt. B, Chris Wage, Lesley, Squirrel Queen and myself. The meeting stemmed from another cancelled meeting of progressive politics on Saturday but we decided to meet anyway because it needed to be done or at least we felt it did.

It takes a small group of people. That’s how grassroots movements are born and evolve. You meet because it needs to be done.

So, we talked about the issues that are bothering us. We talked about political blogs. And we need to do it again. And then again.

And next time, there will be nine of us, and then later on, 15. And other groups are getting together.

And we will not agree on everything, but we will agree on that we want a voice in a country that has tried to stifle voices and create static where the words of others have had trouble being heard.

But we found each other online. And, that’s something because we heard over the noise.

And this pleases me.

Across the stateline, as Hooterville sits right on the Kentucky border, an interesting grassroots effort is occurring.

Grassroots efforts by a 24-year old activist in Western Kentucky has proven a huge coup in landing democratic presidential candidate John Edwards’s giving Columbus Belmont Park in Hickman County a visit by the former senator and vice-presidential hopeful from 2004.
Shawn Dixon told “Wired” Magazine the reason why he helped coordinate the effort was that he wanted rural voters to have a voice and to be “engaged” in the political debate.

Dixon used the social networking platform on Eventful to rally a town of 229 people to win a contest to bring John Edwards to their community. Edwards held a contest called “Demand to be Heard” and Columbus actually logged in more votes than Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas and San Francisco.

Here’s why Dixon is pretty cool. He lead this charge by mobilizing all of Western Kentucky. A student at New York University School of Law, he grew up in Columbus.

His objective: “the needs of rural America.”

He said to Wired:

On Eventful, Dixon described his hometown this way: “Columbus, Kentucky is a small town in Western Kentucky that boasts a population of 229 people and is about a 50-minute drive from the closest McDonalds. Like many rural communities across the south, job loss in the face of rising healthcare costs and education costs have crippled the economy.”

A visit from Edwards would provide a rare opportunity to highlight important issues facing rural America, he wrote.

“We want to see John Edwards come to real rural America and address the problems we face and hear his plan for revitalizing small American communities like ours!” he wrote on this Eventful post.

So Edwards will be at the park on Thursday.  Yeah, it’s a tour stop and political spin, I’m not naive, but it still neat to see that grassroots efforts can still be effective.

And yeah, there’s free barbecue. Welcome to small-town America, which sometimes isn’t so bad.

But here is the thing that has got me thinking the most. Social networking campaigns brought a presidential candidate to a small town. We are talking really small town.

And, it also makes you look at the value of social networks and puts a greater value on them, in my opinion.

To quote the guru and voice of my generation, Ferris Bueller: Life goes by pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. 

Folks are talking about the political primaries right now and what the presidential candidates are doing and saying which, of course, is always a bit different than their actions. Right now, everyone is on their best behavior. And, I can honestly say, I’ve never seen a presidential campaign anything like this. Ever.

GoldnI says she’s not voting for John Edwards in the primary and gives a detailed, very reasonable analysis of why she doesn’t think he’s the right man for the job:

The decision to accept public financing says a lot about where they are right now. Sure, it’s really easy to say “Well we’ve always supported public financing, so this is about taking a principled stand, it’s not a money calculation, and we hope the rest of the field will be as PRINCIPLED as we are!”

Only problem is, what happens if the “rest of the field” doesn’t take the bait? Then they’re raising as much money as they can (for both the primary AND the general) while you’re constrained by limits that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

Jon at Mushin No Shin has given his first political donation. Here’s why:

I just made my first financial contribution EVER to a major party candidate. Yeah, it creeped me out a little. But Bill Richardson is the first major party candidate I ever thought was actually right for the job. I use the phrase “right for the job” quite precisely. It doesn’t mean I think he’s my ideological soulmate. It means I think he has the right combination of experience, leadership, and “good enough” positions on every major issue to actually do the job we’re hiring someone to do …

Aunt B and I are on the same page I believe here. She discusses a Hillary Clinton presidency:

I just don’t believe it’s good for us to have power pass back and forth between two families.

Bill tried to convince America that it’s not a dynasty, but it feels like that to me.

Finally, Sean Braisted wrote about Barack Obama last Thursday and Iowa.

The Quad City Times is reporting that Michelle Obama, wife of Barack, said that “[i]f Barack doesn’t win Iowa it is over.”

That is certainly what Edwards and Hillary want people to believe, but is it really that true? Iowa is one of the whitest (about 96% white) states in the Union with about 3 Million people overall, the country as a whole is about 77% white. They have a large farming base, which is not true of a majority of electoral votes. Also, in order to win Iowa, you have to be very good at retail politics…but what the hell does retail politics have to do with the Presidential election in this day and age?

In political circles where I live, a lot of folks are talking about who has the capacity to win the election on the democratic ticket.  I’m hearing Edwards name a lot, but I also think that has to do with him being a Southern Democrat. Another name I’m hearing, as you would guess I think, Al Gore, but I don’t think he gives a damn about being president. Energy Czar under a democratic president, yes. Prez, no. I don’t really buy that too much but I’ve been trying to listen to some of the college students that live in the area.

Two names I keep hearing from them is: Ron Paul and Bill Richardson. This, of course, is completely unscientific.

I find that very interesting. These are kids that are not tied up in the politics, just randomly talking about politics at large. I tend to believe that Bill Richardson was initially running for vice-president as much as anything, but I’ve noticed in social networking systems and in my email that Richardson is making a subtle, yet deliberate push right now.

I honestly don’t think we need to dismiss him as a middle-of-the- packer anymore.

With that said, I’m still undecided. I know I’m expected, probably, to jump on someone’s wagon, but I haven’t.

I just haven’t been reached yet by a candidate. Isn’t that what they are supposed to do, reach us with their message. We’ll see if that happens anytime soon.

After the last seven years, I’m having trouble believing anybody.