John Kerry

The vote on Senator Lieberman's chairmanship will be held tomorrow. Even though it will take place behind closed doors and without a roll call vote, you can still make your voice heard by signing the Just Say No To Joe petition at FDL. Or, you could directly call a member of the Democratic Steering committee:

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan - Chairwoman (202) 224-4822
Harry Reid, Nevada (202) 224-3542
John Kerry, Massachusetts (202) 224-2742
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii (202) 224-3934
Robert Byrd, West Virginia (202) 224-3954
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts (202) 224-4543
Joe Biden, Delaware (202) 224-5042
Patrick Leahy, Vermont (202) 224-4242
Chris Dodd, Connecticut (202) 224-2823
Tom Harkin, Iowa (202) 224-3254
Max Baucus, Montana (202) 224-2651
Richard Durbin, Illinois (202) 224-2152
Kent Conrad, North Dakota (202) 224-2043  read more »

Think about this a second.

In 1992, President-Elect Bill Clinton, our party's last President-Elect, set about the process of picking  a cabinet and, to be honest, he made some great choices. However, it's hard to imagine, but in 1992, no one was blogging about their favorites, no one was watching the prediction markets, no one was emailing their friends, hell, cell phones were new and faxes came out of the machines on long rolls.  read more »

The Onion makes a really good point with jokes:

Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress
[...]
"Today Americans have grudgingly taken a giant leap forward," Williams continued. "And all it took was severe economic downturn, a bloody and unjust war in Iraq, terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan, nearly 2,000 deaths in New Orleans, and more than three centuries of frequently violent racial turmoil."

It shouldn't be this hard.

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As suspicious as I am of the motives of the conservatives jumping ship to support Obama (like Powell and Buckley), I am equally suspicious of the Cheney endorsement.  Much like Osama Bin Laden's 2004 "endorsement" of John Kerry, Cheney simply has to know how his endorsement would play.  So why do it?  All I can come up with is simple revenge.  Inside, I'll present the evidence.  read more »

LIMA, Ohio — Few Democrats venture into this Republican stronghold in northwest Ohio, where President Bush swamped John Kerry 2-1 four years ago.

Democracy Corps reports this (with some good news for Gary Trauner in Wyoming):

Democrats are on the brink of making historic gains in swing Mountain West Congressional districts. Four years ago in these 11 targeted districts (AZ-01, AZ-03, AZ-05, AZ-08, CO-04, ID-01, NV-02, NV-03, NM-01, NM-02, and WY-AL), Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry lost by 15 points and Democratic Congressional candidates lost by an average of 23 points. Now, however, a sea change has occurred as Obama is nearly tied with McCain (trailing by just three points – 45 – 48 percent) and Democrats lead in the aggregate vote (50-45 percent in the named Congressional vote). Even more encouraging is the fact that Democratic candidates lead in districts currently held by a Republican (48 – 47 percent).

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WASHINGTON -- Joe Biden's visit to Tacoma on Sunday is just another in a long line of appearances by Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates in the closing days of their campaigns, as John Kerry, Al Gore, Michael Dukakis and Geraldine Ferraro all held rallies.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — When Barack Obama thinks about the road to the White House, he knows he can't get through states such as Virginia with the road map that other Democrats such as Al Gore or John Kerry used.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — When Barack Obama thinks about the road to the White House, he knows he can't get through states such as Virginia with the road map that other Democrats such as Al Gore or John Kerry used.

Anonymous Liberal, who some of you may remember from his occasional pinch hits for Glennzilla, makes a point worth highlighting, The Media's Moment of Truth:

This election is a test of the political media in this country. If journalists can't find a way to dissuade the use of flagrant dishonesty as a tactic, they will have failed this country miserably.

A moment of truth, and a moment for truth.
Lest there be any doubt, media, you are already failing:

"Based on what you have seen or heard about Sarah Palin so far, please tell me whether or not you think each of the following phrases describes Palin. What about [see below]? Does this describe Palin, or not?" (9/10-11/08) - Newsweek

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So with the Alaska primary and the conventions now over, it's time for another look at all the 2008 Senate races.  There are 35 seats up for election because of a scenario in Wyoming and Mississippi where both seats are up, due to the passing of Craig Thomas and the resignation of Trent Lott, respectively.  Obviously, quite a few of the races are considered "safe" for the incumbent.  So what are the competitive races?

Again, just to be clear, I don't do predictions.  Every time I do, horrible things happen.  So I won't even make an actual prediction on the Virginia Senate race, because doing so would effectively jinx Mark Warner.  So, I'll rank these in terms of tiers.  The top tier will be the races where the party holding the seat has a legitimate chance of switching (but I ain't guaranteeing anything).  The second tier are races that could become top tier races, but are not at this point.  read more »

Earlier today Matt proposed that when it comes to message control the Obama campaign has some things in common with the Dukakis campaign of 20 years ago. Many readers found the comparison bothersome. Some were a little peaved. Others were even irked.

Since the comparison was entirely about strategy and not how they were separated at birth or something I'm not sure what all the fuss is about and I don't buy, and never have, that pointing out possible strategic errors when the most important 8 weeks of the campaign have yet to play out is some sort of political treason.

But I digress because that's not the point of this post. While many of us agree that "more offense, less defense" is a good idea there are times when responding is necessary and useful. But it's how you respond that can make all the difference. In terms of the evolution of campaign messaging it looks like this:  read more »

Cross-posted at HuffPo.

I have to admit, last week when Barack Obama went on Bill O'Reilly and his spokesperson Bill Burton said, "I think there are people who have yet to make up their mind who watch Fox..." I was skeptical. Especially given pollster Mark Mellman's finding that in 2004:

Fox  News viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88 percent to 7  percent. No demographic segment, other than Republicans, was as united  in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than  did regular Fox News viewers.

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Media Matters Action Network has created a comprehensive overview of the character attacks on Barack Obama, dubbed "Swiftboating 2.0, available through an interactive interface on their website, through an online factsheet, or through a downloadable PDF.   The DNC in general and Obama's speech in particular was so uncharacteristically tough and successful that these sorts of planned attacks may have been held back a bit, but no one in their right mind can doubt that they are coming.  read more »

Now that I've had a day of reflection and power napping, I'm prepared to tackle the convention in retrospect.

It was a spectacle. Heavy-hitting Dems as speakers! Celebrities in the delegations! More media than delegates! More cops than media and delegates combined! Music! Fireworks! Protesters!
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