West Virginia Blue
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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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