Wednesday Wire

As usual at this time of the week, it's Wednesday and time for the Wednesday Wire.

Good reading list this week...

Reading Recommendations

1. "Will Obama Inspire a New Generation of Organizers?" by Peter Dreier at dissentmagazine.org.


2. "David Plouffe is the man steering Obama's campaign: The political operative is smart, competitive, frugal and confident. And he has no intention of straying from his unconventional plan to get Obama elected." by Peter Nicholas at latimes.com


3. "How Obama Could Radically Alter the Election Map This Fall" by Adam Doster at alternet.org Voter registration, voter registration, voter registration. By the way; have YOU gone to www.VoteFromAbroad.org yet? It's so easy!!


4. "GOP Looks To Redistrict Itself Back Into Power" by Sam Stein at huffingtonpost.com. The importance of gubernatorial and state legislative elections once again.


5. "Why some conservatives are backing Obama" by Carolyn Lochhead at sfgate.com. Another lesson on framing as well as Obama's wider than expected appeal.


6. "Hanging Tough with Obama When Obama is Not Hanging Tough" by Mark Karlin at buzzflash.com . More on this week's issues.


7. "Is Obama taking a page from the Bush playbook?" by Bill Berkowitz at religiondispatches.org


8. "How Democrats Could turn Texas into the Blue Star State" by Bob Moser thenation.com. Believe me, folks, Texas is ours.


9. "McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes: Governors' Fund Recruits Big Donors; Bid to Catch Obama" by Brody Mullins and T.W. Farnam at online.wsj.com


10. "FISA: Why we continue to fight" by Kagro X at dailykos.com. This is the one issue I am most disappointed by since I opted for Obama after Edwards dropped out.


11. "The Mind and the Obama Magic" by George Lakoff at realclearpolitics.com, George doesn't like it either.

Read the rest...

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Wednesday Wire

Reading John McQueen's Wednesday Wire this week, after his hiatus, is a strong recommend. John predicts a electoral college blow out.     Kegger!

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Wednesday Wire

Sorry I haven't been blogging, numerous projects all came to bear at the same time. Grizzly Bear. Including upgrading the BattleShed©'s power systems. It is, as usual at this time of the week, Wednesday and time for the Wednesday Wire. In which John says:

Wednesday Wire has gone through the longest stretch without a break in its history. With the primary season done, political speculation rife; real events rare, WW 144 will appear on 2 July. In the meantime, please keep sending in your All-time top 5 Political book picks. With summer vacation coming, you certainly will want your Democratic friends around the world to only read the very best ones! --John McQueen

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Wednesday Wire

Oddly enough, it's Wednesday again. Time for John McQueen's Wednesday Wire.

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Wednesday Wire

It's Wednesday, that means it is once more time for John McQueen's Wednesday Wire, in which he says...

One loyal reader asked to have the situation surrounding the John Edwards delegates explained. Prior to his dropping out before Super Tuesday on 6 February, Edwards had won 28-35 delegates in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina (some were projections that didn’t/won’t pan out) and Florida (assuming they ultimately count). Once he formally endorsed Barack Obama, his suspended presidential campaign came to an end and he released his delegates to vote for whomever they wished...

There is plenty more here

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Wednesday Wire

In which John says:

Ron Paul could have a lot of Republicans staying home this fall. While he is anti-war and therefore a bit appealing to those Democrats who share that view, his 19th century view of government (no IRS, no Education, Health and Human Services departments, etc) are not appealing to progressive who believe that government is not the enemy. Paul continues to get 7-10% of the vote in primaries and his supporters are passionate. He pulled in $20 million plus during his active run for President, so he has the wherewithal to make his views heard. He faces no opposition for his seat in the House.

John McQueen's Wednesday Wire

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Wednesday Wire

In which John says:

Clinton would need 198 of the remaining 270.5 unpledged Super delegates or 73.2%. As Chris Bowers noted in Open Left dot com, the remaining Super delegates are generally not in favor of Clinton, but have various reasons for not stating their choice, the major one of which is that the Clinton have done much for individual elected officials and senior activists in the party and the Supers don’t want to appear to be ungrateful. That will now change. Bowers also notes that the media collectively changed its tune last night and are saying what WW readers have known since the Wisconsin primary – it’s over. --WednesdayWire.com

There is certainly more...

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Wednesday Wire

Incredibly, it's Wednesday again:

The Indiana Voter ID Decision.

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board is a major decision that could change the face of American politics for the very negative unless the Democratic Party decides to fight for its voters on every level. The Supreme Court, in a mixed 6-3 decision upheld the constitutionality of the Indiana Voter ID law that requires a government-issued photo identification be presented in order to vote. With this ruling, at least 20 states are poised to pass similar legislation that will significantly reduce the ability of first time, elderly, African American and poor voters to vote in this year’s presidential election. The court-sanctioned phony issue of voter fraud (no one has ever been prosecuted in Indiana for impersonating another voter) is the fulfillment of a Republican dream to suppress the number of voters from the very groups that would have the most interest in throwing them out of office. Below in reading recommendations 7g and 7h are a ‘friend of the court’ brief and a discussion of the key issues by renowned election law expert. Loyola (LA) University professor Richard L. Hasen.

This decision will make touch screen voting machines, planned long voting lines in urban precincts; pre-election voter list reviews and other suppression techniques seem very mild.

Read the rest at the Wednesday Wire.

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Wednesday Wire

It's that time again. I recommend that you go read the whole thing, his reading list this week is pretty good. Here is John McQueen's PA wrap-up.

           %       Votes    Delegates     
Clinton  54.69   1,258,245    84  
Obama    45.31   1,042,297    74

The breakout of the 158 pledged delegates:
                  C    O
PLEO             11    9
State At Large   19   16
By District      54   49

The numbers can still change by one or two depending on official and full results.

Clintons cuts Obama’s national vote count lead by 216K (roughly 30%) and his pledged delegate lead by 10 from 163 to 153. Overall delegate count (according to Dem Convention Watch) is now Obama 1722 to Clinton’s 1592, a lead of 130.

There are now 408 pledged delegate slots left in the remaining primaries. To catch Obama in this category; Clinton needs 281 or 68.87%, a daunting task. There are 307 remaining superdelegates who have not yet endorsed, including 2 (casting a total of one vote) from Democrats Abroad. Assuming Hillary maintains her 55% Pennsylvania share in the remaining primaries (224); Clinton would have to convince 208 of the remaining 307 (67.75%) to support her to reach the 2024 level needed to win the nomination.

None of these figures take Florida or Michigan into account.

---John McQueen.

Read the rest at the WednesdayWire

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Georgia on my mind.

It is Wed. and that means it is time for the wonderful Wednesday Wire; coming out every week. From this week's edition;

ELECTION UPDATE GEORGIA. Five military veterans are running as Democrats against five entrenched Republican members of the House. They are Bill Jones, former Air Force officer against Tom Price in GA – 06; Doug Heckman, former Army Colonel against John Linder in GA-07; Bill Gillespie, retired Army Lt. Col against Jack Kingston in GA – 01; Bobby Saxon, National Guard major against Paul Broun in GA – 10 and Bud Gammon, Air Force Academy grad against Phil Gingrey in GA –11. With the Republicans having a hard time finding top drawer candidates to take on our perennial vulnerables Jim Marshall (GA – 08) and John Barrow (GA -12) (both very conservative Dems)

This expansion of the playing field could make serious trouble for the Georgia GOP. Don’t expect any of the five to win, but in a wave election year, surprises do happen.

My favorite quote from the homepages of the Georgia Fighting 5 is this jem from Bobby Saxon;

I'm as sick of politics as most of you are and this is exactly why I'm running for Congress. I believe our political leaders should serve the best interests of this country. They should work for the good of all people and they should act like adults and find a way to work together for the common good of all Americans. (emphasis, mine)

Hear.Hear!

Read more news, views and state by state analysis from John McQueen at http://www.wednesdaywire.com/ every week. He is a pragmatic progressive and mentor-extraordinaire. Do you know more vets running? More exciting House and Senate races we should be paying attention to? Share in the thread. And here's an old sweet song in honor of the Georgia Fighting 5! Don't hesitate to send them some bloggy-love in the form of contributions. Every little bit can make a big difference in the house races.

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Wednesday Wire

I am still traveling and got nothing for ya... but check out the always excellent John McQueens' Wednesday Wire, here is a taste...

Dear Democrats Around the World,

This is Wednesday Wire No. 134, 9 April 2008

Topics This Week:

The Vancouver Global Convention – What’s at stake?
Pennsylvania in two weeks.
More Clinton woes, but some positives too
Attorney General Mukasey tells a whopper
Three candidates interview a general and an ambassador
Polling from upcoming primaries
Schumer’s view of the 2008 Senate races
State by State
Reading Recommendations
And finally…


1. The Vancouver Global Convention – What’s at stake?

Asia/Pacific and the Americas regional caucuses kick off an exciting weekend on Friday in Vancouver, followed by the Democrats Abroad Global Convention on Saturday and the annual Democratic Party Committee Abroad meeting on Sunday. How I wish I was going to be there! Elections galore in what has to be the most complicated voting system ever devised for Democrats. Every election category has slightly to significantly different voting rules – the best advice to delegates and members of the worldwide committee – pay attention; it’s as close to rocket science as politics gets.


Friday regionals. (Europe already had their regional in Brussels on 15-16 March where four national convention At Large delegates for Obama (Bragar of the Netherlands, Temple of Germany, Nabti of Lebanon and Stewart of South Africa) and two for Clinton (Miller of UK and Seward of France) were elected.

Read the rest at his site :WednesdayWire
His stuff about Clinton is gold.

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