West Virginia Blue
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You're invited to a dinner fundraiser for
Stacy Dugan Candidate for Morgan County Commissioner
Sunday, August 10, 2008
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
At the COUNTRY INN,
Berkeley Springs
Dinner will be provided. Contact Jim Hoyt
Stacy Dugan is a wonderful person to be running for Commissioner. Morgan County has been RED for as long as I can remember - but things are REALLY looking up recently. In '06, Brenda Hutchinson(D-Morgan) shocked several political observers with a fantastic run, and WIN, for the Morgan County Commission. Throw in the fact that the Mayor of Bath is Susan Webster(D-Morgan)and an enthusiastic Executive Committee and supporters such as:
Chuck Wheeler, Cindy Largent-Hill, Jim Hoyt, Joe Lillard, Steve Hutchinson, Connie Perry, Mike McKecknie, Margie McCumbee-Allgyer,
Larry Schultz, Sue Schultz, Jerry Berman, Sally Berman, Nancy Sostaric, Stjepan Sostaric
and Stacy Dugan can be Morgan County's next Commissioner.
(Promoted for the Congressional crowd returning today. - promoted by Carnacki)
Did Shelley Moore Capito give her own party a major diss or what?
In this recent Washington Post article she says Democrats are more appealing to people like her than Republicans are:
In West Virginia, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, the only Republican in the state's congressional delegation, said it was simple: As national Democrats focused on a cosmopolitan constituency, her party made clear that it understood West Virginia's culture.
The Democrats "do appeal more to an upper-middle-class, higher-educated, faster-moving kind of voter," she said.
Let's see... is Rep. Shelley Moore Capito "upper-middle-class"? Yes, her congressional salary alone makes her at least upper-middle. Is she "higher-educated"? Yes, again. She's got not only one, but two degrees, including that Master's Degree from Duke University in career counseling. How about a "faster-moving kind of voter"? I really don't know what that means, but she seems to:
There you have it--check, check, and check--according to Republican Shelley Moore Capito, Democrats appeal more to Shelley Moore Capito.
::
Finally, if I had ever thought about voting for Capito before, I'd be really insulted by her statement.
Not only is Republican Shelley Moore Capito saying her own party doesn't appeal to people like her, she's painting those who do vote Republican in a rather negative light.
According to Shelley, if you haven't done well enough economically during the Bush years, or haven't had the benefit of a college education, or you are the kind of voter the Republican party have written off as "slow-moving", she somehow still thinks she can count on your vote.
It's as if she thinks her voters are both ignorant and fools. She's taking your support for granted because she doesn't think you'll notice the many failures of the Bush administration. Just 'cause you don't have a fancy degree doesn't mean you're not smart enough to know you're being sold a bill of goods!
If the Republican party isn't enough appealing to Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito any more, why should it be right for anyone else?
This may be the most amazing wildlife video I've ever seen...
Democrats could learn a thing or two from these water buffalo about standing up for each other against attacks by the lions and crocodiles of the right-wing noise machine.
So, 4 states are holding primaries (and/or caucuses) today. What do you think will happen?
From reading on the Intertubes, the general "conventional wisdom" appears to be:
- Ohio: Hillary's always been ahead there, though Obama's recently closed the gap in polls. If the nasty weather on the way arrives during the day, it could dampen turnout. Who that favors is anyone's guess. CW is Hillary's late surge will keep Obama from pulling an upset. She won't pick up much of a delegate win, but she'll have an important victory to point out as turning back the tide of Obama's momentum.
- Rhode Island: expect a big Hillary win. This is friendly Clinton territory. Obama did make a recent appearance there, which may help his numbers. Even if Hillary's win is "not as big as expected," other news of the day will overshadowed that.
- Vermont: expect a big Obama win. This is friendly Obama territory.
The net effect of RI and VT: it'll help Hillary's "X of X" win/loss ratio, but do nothing to close her significant delegate gap.
- Texas: The CW is: Hillary's late rebound is probably just enough to win the popular vote even if she loses in the delegate count; or, the popular vote is close enough to a tie and the caucus process is fraught with confusion, thus generating just enough questions about the results to push them out a news cycle or two. Either way, she'll probably hold on to just enough of a victory to give her reason to stay in the race.
So, in summary, Hillary will be hailed as stopping Obama's really strong momentum. On the other hand, she's not going to make up any substantial ground on the delegate count.
Obama supporters will use the day as evidence that Hillary should drop out; Hillary supporters as evidence that Hillary is on her way to winning.
What do I think will happen? I haven't a clue. It's been an election season full of surprises. Hillary out-performed polls in NH, since then Obama has been out-performing polls.
With the combination of early voting, unprecedented turn-out levels and proportional delegate allocations, there's no telling how the day will shake out. For political junkies like me, it's another fun day to sit back and watch.
It's a good time to be a Democrat in West Virginia. This and lots of other events on the Dem Events Calendar
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 : Anne Barth Headquarters Grand Opening 5:30-7:30 PM located 712 Lee St, Charleston, across from State Democratic Party Headquarters. For more information call (304) 932-8282.
In a year when the Republican brand is at an all time low and voters are embracing Democrats at all levels, you might think a popular incumbent Democrat would use their camapign website to reinforce the Democratic party brand.
Well, yes, there is well-buried reference of being "Chair for 2008 of the Democratic Governors Association." I only found that because I was looking for it. Come to think of it... it's even worse to think the Chair of the Dem. Gov. Association doesn't want to admit he's a Democrat on his campaign website!!
Come on, Gov. Manchin, you don't have to be an average Joe to be proud to be a Democrat.
Amazingly, we are going to have a 24 hour progressive/Democratic/labor friendly radio station on the air in Jacksonville, Florida for the rest of 2008! It will be run by a great Democratic talk show host and my friend Andy Johnson.
For those of you who followed the 2000 Florida Election mess, Jacksonville was key! Republicans pulled every dirty trick in the book there and invented some new ones. With a fair, honest vote in Jacksonville, our entire nation would have been spared the Bush-Cheney disaster of the past 8 years.
I urge everyone to listen by streaming the station on the Internet.
Buy ads if you can and urge others to do so. If you have a website, you might want to buy a 30 second ad for $25 to promote it. If you belong to a union, please consider asking your union at every level to buy some ads..... especially issue ads promoting fair trade, the Employee Free Choice Act, healthcare reform, higher minimum wages and general union ideas like "Unions- the folks who brought you the weekend" or "unionize to preserve the American middle class." All Democratic clubs and progressive organizations everywhere can help Democrats carry Florida by financially supporting the station and get national exposure for their club in the process.
Here is the press release I received from Andy:
"Andy Johnson, former member of the Florida House, has now taken over AM 1460 WZNZ in Jacksonville, turning it into the only progressive talk station in North Florida, starting up on Monday, January 14. People in North Florida can tune in at AM 1460. People anywhere can tune in on the station's http://www.1460.us website which is rapidly being tweaked and improved. Johnson will feature Ed Schultz, noon-3, the most famous antidote to Rush in America, and then Johnson's own show, Down to Business Andy Johnson, 3-6 p.m. Throughout the day Johnson will load up 1460 with more hours of live local talk than any other station in North Florida. It is important for progressives to show support for people willing to take the risk of offering Progressive Talk."
As I've said several times before, I'd be quite happy to have any of the Democratic front-runners as our next President. (In alphabetic order) Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson are all highly qualified to be President and would all start putting our country on the right track again.
[The rest of the Democratic field looks very good in comparison to the 2008 crop of Republican candidates, too. For example, I'd take Dodd over Romney or Giuliani any day.]
Still, there's one more potential candidate who I think is even more qualified to be President. Al Gore.
He has experience and can bring about change. He can restore economic prosperity for everyone and restore America's credibility around the World. Perhaps most importantly, he is the only candidate that will put the pressing issues of the global climate crisis front-and-center. We cannot afford to wait: it has to be dealt with in the next 4-8 years.
The most recent speculation surrounding Gore's potential candidacy is this Friday's announcement of the Noble Peace Prize. Gore is among the leading contenders this year.
JekyllnHyde's comment at DailyKos summarizes Gore's qualifications and counters speculation that winning matters for a Gore candidacy:
whether he wins or not. It would be nice (VERY nice), but I doubt it's going to be the deciding factor for him.
Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, winner to be announced on October 12th.
Additionally, governments in Greece, Canada, and England agreed to distribute 'An Inconvenient Truth' among their schools.
Add to the above: he has 24 years of experience (8 years each in the US House, US Senate, and as VP) in elected office which is more than the top three 2008 Democratic contenders combined (14+ years for Hillary, Obama, and Edwards). More importantly, he's identified with the leading issue of the time, Climate Change.
Whether he wins the Nobel Peace Prize or not, there should be little doubt that he is, by and far, the most experienced and qualified person to lead this country after the disaster of the Bush Years.
What do you think?
Would you like to see Gore run for President? A lot has changed since 2000, how do you think he'd do in West Virginia in 2008?
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