By admin on
5/17/2008 10:26 AM
Friends -
As you know – we’ve seen great strides toward equality for lesbian and gay Iowans! But we know this is just the start of the journey. Over the past few months, extremists have resorted to lies, name-calling, and worse – comparing us to Hitler, the Gulags, and rapists – and we are confident that they will not stop here! As they inject hate and fear into this debate, we must work harder than ever to support our friends and allies in the Iowa Legislature. And I hope you can help us do this!
I hope you can join us for the 2008 Fairness Fund Reception! The reception will be held on Wednesday, May 28, from 6:00–8:00 PM at the home of Roxanne Conlin (2900 Southern Hills Circle, Des Moines) and will honor Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, Speaker of the House Pat Murphy, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Attached is more information. Please let me [ brad@one-iowa.org ] know by May 23 if you can join us for this event!
I hope you can join us! We have no time to waste. We can win this fight. But we can’t do it without you. See you May 28!
Brad ...
Read More »
|
By admin on
5/17/2008 8:34 AM
Politico on Obama's trip to IA next Tuesday:
"The schedule still says 'TBA.' But barring a last-minute change, Senator Obama plans to be in IOWA on Tuesday night when he clinches a majority of available pledged delegates. This is a red state he's hoping to turn blue, so the intended message is that he's getting to work on the general - NOT taking a victory lap. Political Geographer Jonathan Martin says the Hawkeye State appears to be Obama's BEST chance to flip a state that went for President Bush last time. In 2004, Iowa went Bush 50, Kerry 49. In 2000, it went Gore 49, Bush 48, Nader 2."
Permalink here.
|
By admin on
5/17/2008 8:27 AM
Details still to be announced, but Obama is going to spend the next election night . . . in IOWA (Des Moines, specifically). Next Tuesday night (5/20), Obama will travel to our great state, and will apparently be here as the results in KY and OR come in. AWESOME!
|
By admin on
5/16/2008 1:45 PM
I'm not into disrespecting HRC and/or her campaign; I'm really not. For example, I don't believe anyone should call for her to leave the race. HRC should make that decision. If and when she decides the race is over, it should be on her own terms. As a great leader of our party for decades, HRC clearly earned that right -- to end her campaign, if it is to be ended, on her own schedule.
But the HRC campaign should also be sensitive to the Obama campaign and its million of supporters. Obama is the popular vote leader in this race, and no doubt will be once all contests have concluded. Some HRC supporters claim she is the popular vote winner -- this . . . well . . . er, uh, uhm . . uses fuzzy math, to be diplomatic. HRC supporters can only make this claim by including MI, where Obama wasn't on the ballot, and excluding caucuses. Here's a news story (from MI!) explaining the extremely convoluted reasoning.
Do not diss HRC. But don't diss Dem voters either, by making outlandish allegations not supported by facts. One of those stubborn facts: Obama is popular vote (and pledged delegate) leader, and by any real or reasonable count, will remain so at the end of this nominating contest.
|
By admin on
5/16/2008 1:17 PM
Obama on false and political attacks of "appeasement": must-see vid here.
|
By admin on
5/16/2008 12:36 PM
Yesterday, almost lost in the furor over President Bush calling Obama an appeaser, John McCain gazed into his crystal ball (or was it a wishing well?) and decided the outcome of his presidency. And guess what? According to McCain, it was a tremendous success! In fact, his term -- again, accoridng to McCain -- was one of spectacular achievements in about every area progressives and moderates care most about. From affordable healthcare to quality teachers, beginning to curb climate change to instituting worker retraining programs, 2013 sounds just great! (Pay no attention to the vast amounts of reporting done on how his initiatives and proposals mainly benefit corporate interests and will likely have none of the affects he desires.)
I'd like to focus on just one topic of his speech: Iraq. It was probably the most perplexing area of the speech. McCain claimed troops in Iraq would mostly be home at the end of his first term. Just four little years of a McCain presidency and we’ll have won in Iraq!
With all due respect, it is absurd and McCain must know it. If you ...
Read More »
|
By admin on
5/16/2008 10:15 AM
From Chuck Todd of NBC:
"Bush’s gift to Obama: When President Bush -- thousands of miles away in Israel -- decided to fire his thinly veiled shot at Obama yesterday, it was a giant gift to the Illinois senator and his campaign. Why? One, it essentially kept Clinton on the sidelines just two days after her big West Virginia victory. Two, Obama’s opponent was no longer Clinton or McCain, but the man with the 27% job-approval rating. And three, it rallied Democrats to Obama’s side. Even neutral Dems, like Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel and Harry Reid, quickly leapt to Obama’s defense. Some Democrats might be deeply divided right now. Pro-choice women are angry at NARAL’s endorsement of Obama; Clinton supporters are upset that Obama is looking like the eventual nominee; and some African Americans are unhappy with the Clintons. But what’s the best way to unify them all? Give them an excuse to turn their attention to Bush. And this will all play out another day -- and will likely extend into the weekend -- as Obama will respond this afternoon to Bush at his rally with Tom Daschle in South Dakota, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. Obama will react to both what he considers Bush's politicization of foreign policy and the substance of Bush's attack."
Permalink here.
|
By admin on
5/16/2008 10:06 AM
Yesterday, Obama secured the support of 4 superdelegates (Reps. Henry Wexler, Jim McDermott and Howard Berman and Larry Cohen (CWA DNC)), 1 pledged delegate in North Carolina (because of updated vote tallies in the state) and 7 pledged delegates that had previously supported John Edwards. That means that the number for Obama to secure a majority of pledged delegates has gone down from 25 to 17. And the number Obama needs to secure the nomination is 121.5.
The Math
Total Pledged Delegates: 3,253
Pledged Delegates needed for a majority of pledged delegates: 1,627
Total delegates needed for nomination: 2,025
|
By admin on
5/15/2008 4:12 PM
NYT captures blog reaction to President Bush's political attack on Obama. Go here.
|
By admin on
5/15/2008 4:06 PM
By now you have heard President Bush used the occassion of Israel's anniversary to make a political attack, and compare Senator Obama to Nazi appeasers. Yes, seriously. Obama's response is below. DailyKos has a great round up of all the Dems -- including HRC -- who have stood up to Bush's bullying. Link here.
|