What if Iowa sent along all the candidates to NH with momentum? What if even the most partisan supporters of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards agreed to knowingly split their votes and keep the top 5 or 6 candidates in a near dead heat in the race? Why? It's best for the Democratic Party and best for the USA.

Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson have shown their expertise, ability and experience. The voters of the nation deserve to hear what they have to say.

Split your vote and keep these good candidates in the race. About 135,000 caucus voters will decide the shape this election.

There is a new Wes Clark video that is very unusual at YouTube. Instead of talking about a candidate, in this case Wes Clark, it speaks directly to Wes Clark. I hope this really does go viral. I feel it has a message that Wes Clark needs to hear.

The full channel name is YouTube/Polcampaign. There is only one video there at least for the moment. I will be putting this on my blogs. I hope other blog owners and members do the same.

While we have a great primary line up already I believe Wes Clark can elevate any discussion. He has the talent, experience and hands-on knowledge of many of the most important topics of this election.

This isn't meant to be a declaration of 100% commitment on my part. While I have been a constant Clark supporter I think there are several members of the race that deserve a real hearing with an Open Mind. I'm trying to do just that...listen. But I want to listen to Wes Clark as part of that process.

The full channel name is YouTube/Polcampaign. There is only one video there at least for the moment. I will be putting this on my blogs. I hope other blog owners and members do the same.

If Wes Clark again gets a firm demonstration of his built-in support perhaps it will impact his decision making. While most of us expect him to run, based on his own comments, I believe this is a time to demonstrate his support. Circulating this video is one easy way to make the support obvious..and it will elevate the campaign!

In first post of this series at The Political Dogfight, I voiced my concern that the new Primary Schedule could allow the weakest of candidates to dominate. The nomination might go to a person who can't connect with a true majority of the American people. Today we have a media driven event,  'The Invisible Primary', already in process.

Look at the recent results of early primary determination of the nominee:

Vice President Al Gore was a great VP. He has been an outstanding advocate for the environment. Yet on the campaign trail there was an obvious disconnect between what we were told was his private self and his public self. We were told that in private he was funny, had no problem converting others to his point of view and was generally a great guy to be around.

None of that consistently translated to the campaign. . We saw glimpses of that 'authentic' self but they were fleeting.
[much more on the flip]

As the DNC started to fiddle with the existing Primary system in an attempt to create a more balanced electorate, I felt sure it would come to a disaster.

Their actions opened the door for every other state to begin to fiddle with their own electoral importance. And that's exactly what's happened.

As a commentor today said that it 'is/could' become a pure money race, it's my belief that early Primary victories (and nominee's) are absolutely not in the best interests of the Democratic Party or the nation.

I've authored a longish 3 part series, including a full electoral breakdown of Feb. 5, 2008.

I won't waste the bandwidth trying to restate all the prime points of the series. If it's a subject that interests you then visit the articles and see for yourself.

Since the comment system here at MyDD is 1000% better than The Political Dogfight I would encourage interaction on this blog not my own.

I believe this topic to be 100% more important that simply 'supporting' one candidate over another this early in the game.

The game has changed. I believe, based on long experience,that it has changed for the worse. I call our new system: The Invisible Primary.

The Invisible Primary: A Disaster In The Making?

The Invisible Campaign Part 2: An Authentic Voice?

The Invisible Campaign Part 3: Death Knell?

[crossposted from Political Dogfight which has a longer, more complete post.]
I got an email this morning that was moderately shocking although after all these years in politics nothing is too shocking. It does illustrate an important point in the world of Practical Politics.

This email starts with calling our nominated Candidate, Tammy Duckworth,...Fuckworth and gets worse in my opinion.

I have never received an email like this before and hope that publishing it, without the senders name, would show what happens when a candidate becomes a cult rather than a cause. I have more to say on that subject...but that's for another diary. I've already written a short piece about it on my own site.

But now on to this wonderful expression came this morning as a result of my defending Tammy Duckworth here as a result of people denigrating her service and sacrifice.

The Media mail piece that was the primary reason for being frontpaged over there so Matt Stroller could take his best shot at being a Media critic was not great, to say the least. (The Duckworth campaign should fire their Media person. I have another that is 100x better for direct mail and does most of the major candidates today) On to today's great communicator: (emphasis mine)

   

"you are not allowed to insult illinois 06 residents.  we are very active politically, even if we do not support fuckworth.

(Follow me on the flip)

The loss last night was motivated by many factors. Jerome Armstrong's analysis on the Front Page right now, I think is the most right on about single issue organizations needing to blend into an effective electoral entity and the fact there was more than one issue at stake last night.

That said the overriding issue the drove Lieberman into the ground was his insistance on being overwhelmingly close to George Bush and supporting the failed policy in Iraq.

We have now a Peace Team made up of 30 Congressional Candidates dedicated to ending the senseless war in Iraq and seeking peace in the Middle East.

At the Peace Team Site you will find a petition for you to fill out with a message in your own words to send to your Senators and Representative on these issues.

As the Peace Team says for itself:

Tony Trupiano, Michigan 11 Democratic nominee, is running in a District that has a very balanced registration and only a Cook Index R+1 propensity. In other words...it's very winnable!

Tony was a 12 year national progressive radio personality and gave that up to run for this seat. He has organized a very efffective campaign. His District includes much of the auto industry and has a substantial population.

Tony gave an interview to Political Interviews yesterday. It is available in Flash Audio on the site or as a mp3 download.

After having over 15,000 guests on his show, Tony Trupiano knows how to give an interesting and substantive interview. Please visit Political Interviews to hear a Progressive that really is making a difference.

In response to a friends short message after a late night phone call about CA-50 and his email follow up:

so what you're saying is, the fifth paragraph of this story is total baloney.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060717/be rman

The answer is YES. The facts follow.

They left out the TURNOUT figures and the ACTUAL figures. True Bullshit reporting. Of course she got half as many votes. There were well less than half the votes cast!

Here's the real stats:

Bilbray: 78,371 49.57%
Busby:  71,146 45.02%
Giffith:   6,027  3.81%
King       2519  1.59%

Her 'loss' was 4.55% or 7,220 votes. The Indy candidate and Libertarian carried 8,546 votes. Amazing BIG loss, huh? After the Republicans dumped in far more money than the Dems?  

Registration stats as of 5.22.06 per Sec of State:
Democrats  105,504  29.69%
Republicans 156,437  44.02%
Indy's       78,012  21.95%

Financial Independent Expenditures:
Busby:
For: $368,791
Against: $3,952,936

Bilbray:
For: $494, 025
Against: 0

Wow there's a stat that hasn't been mentioned anywhere yet it's in the Fed records and this is just up to 5/17/06 with three weeks to go. We'll see the financial number after 6.30.06 that has to be reported by 7.15.06

In 2004 (her first race at this seat) She got 47,600 votes with 19,014 Dem's that didn't vote in that race.

Cunningham got 81,854 with 10,775 not voting in this race.

SO....Busby in a 2006 Special election/primary...in a low turn out election...not a Presidential election...picked up 23,546 votes. The Republican winner lost 3,483 votes compared to the last candidate. A good showing for Busby, Yes?

A. The turnout was very light....always is in primary or special elections and yet she still got a 67% turnout of her Dem registration. And that gives her a tangible goal.

Bilbray got 50% of his registration to turnout! Pitiful.

B. It was a Congressional off year election not a Presidential election!

C. It's a hardcore conservative district even with the Democratic vote.

She did great. She came within 4.5% of winning the seat and still would have had to stand for election again in December while being required to be out of town much of the time.

This way she got the nomination, has 5 months to get 5%, increase her Party and Indy turnout. Forget the hardcore Republicans....they are going to vote Republican. 68% still support Bush. There are 30% in play. She'll get some cross-over.

Go back 4 cycles in the voting history would be more effective in turning out votes and concentrating on Absentee Ballot Requests for these lazy voters. But that's a matter of tactics.

But get off Busby's back. These are facts.

What many are reading is poor reporting that has been repeated all over the place. The first reporter was put into Lexis-Nexus and all the rest have been pulling their facts from it since. Bullshit reporting.

I've staffed elections like this. REALLY staffed. I know how they go and making her a dog or saying she's a poor performer in that District is out of line. Wish the reporters would do 40 minutes homework like this.

Busby turns out more Dems, gets some Indys and a few Republicans and she's got it. All a matter of tactics not theory.

I hope this puts some tangible facts on the table. The balance of the financial numbers will be available no later than 7.15.06.