Ok, it's been a while, but I think it's finally time to bring the blog back. I've missed an awful lot, but I'm not going to go through it all in one sitting, so here are the reads I found notable from the past week or so:
According to Bleeding Heartland and others, Bill Richardson will be going up on TV today with an ad that's "Very out of the box and funny." I still don't like Richardson's Iowa chances, but if he can separate himself from the other candidates with some humor it will dramatically help him. I'm a firm believer that humor in political ads is both refreshing and attention grabbing. To stand a chance, Richardson needs to be both of those things.
My job search (which is ongoing, by the way) has taken me downtown several times over the last couple of weeks, giving me plenty of opportunities to drive past the Chris Dodd for President office set up on Grand. The first time I drove by it, I had a "He's still running?" moment. Apparently most voters in Marshall County's bean poll didn't know either. Dodd's 1 bean gives him slightly less than 1% in the poll, putting him even with Mike Gravel, and behind Dennis Kucinich. I recognize the highly unscientific nature of these polls, but when 105 people vote and only one of them votes for you, that typically means you've got a problem.
Apparently some people are concerned that John Edwards spends too much on his haircuts. I'm going to make this real simple:
If you're the kind of person who picks a candidate based on their hairstyle, close this blog and feel free to never come back.
Who cares where John Edwards gets his haircut? This quote from Dubuque barber Gene Sand is asinine:
"You know, I contributed to Edwards' campaign four years ago," says Sand, who has been cutting hair in this downtown shop since 1964. "I don't think I'll be going down that road again. He kind of blew it with me over this. I had my picture taken with him and they put it in the newspaper. I gave him money. You're sure about $250? You're not kidding me about that?"Gene, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your donation didn't buy you the right to cut John Edwards' hair in perpetuity. Apparently it did buy you some free advertising in the Register, though.
One last presidential note for today: Common Iowan remains the Iowa blogosphere's best voice on immigration issues, check out this post he wrote on his recent Tom Tancredo experience.
As it turns out, today's post is a bit light on local issues, but I do need to touch on VOICE. I think it's encouraging that the bill has gotten as far as it has this session, even if it does appear to be on its last legs. It's discouraging, however, to hear that my State Rep., Jo Oldson, is holding it up in committee, and it's even more discouraging to read reports that Mike Gronstal is cursing out supporters of the bill in the Capitol. Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Apparently a Democratic trifecta isn't enough to get VOICE legislation debated on the floor. There's still too much big money floating around.
KL
2 comments:
The sad part about the VOICE legislation is that Democrats killed it. I could understand that if it came to the floor, was debated, and it just didn't have the votes to pass, but the fact that Democrats killed it in committee is really disheartening. I wonder if this is what we get when our leaders in the House and Senate come from conservative Dubuque and conservative Western Iowa.
Good to have you back. It’s nice to have a D blog that doesn’t follow the party talking points at all times.
As a 2004 Edwards supporter, I’m a bit disappointed at this time. The sunny positive guy (the kind that wins general elections) is gone. Now we have an angry pandering leftie. The haircut thing also fits the emerging pattern that started with his 28,000 ft house. How do you have the balls to have your supporters measuring their carbon footprints when you live in a place like that?!? I can already see the (largely justified) R attack ads if Edwards gets the nomination. I still like him, but this really makes me question his judgment and wonder if he’s in touch with reality.
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