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| BLOG ARCHIVE: DECEMBER 16-31, 2006 FREE
SPEECH ZONE. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. EDWARDS
MAKES IT OFFICIAL; ARI SAYS NO; GIBBONS SKATES. PRESIDENT
FORD DEAD AT AGE 93. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE. EARLY
PEAK AT THE 2012 REAPPORTIONMENT; BAYOU GOV HOPEFULS LINING UP. FREE
SPEECH ZONE.
FREE
SPEECH ZONE. OBAMA,
EDWARDS LEAD DEMS IN IOWA; McCAIN & GIULIANI HOLD SOLD LEAD
IN GOP RACE. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. GILMORE
FILES, WHILE OBAMA PONDERS. FREE
SPEECH ZONE (AKA: "SAVE ARI
CONSIDERS; REDRAWING HEATHER; ROMNEY BASHED REAGAN; FBI LOOKS
AT MURPHY. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. LONG
ELECTION NIGHT ENDS IN VERMONT; ALLEN STAFFS UP IN MAINE. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. BARR
BOLTS; WARNER RECONSIDERS; TOMMY FILES; KEATING PONDERS; EDWARDS
READIES. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. BAYH
UNEXPECTEDLY QUITS PRESIDENTIAL RACE. FREE
SPEECH ZONE. |
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nominee
John Edwards (D-NC) officially announced his candidacy for President
on Thursday in New Orleans. Actually, he announced it online a
few hours ahead of schedule, but the formal announcement is in
the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where Edwards and his staffers
will volunteer time to work on the continuing effort to rebuild
the poor neighborhood destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Focusing on issues of economic justice, Edwards vows to make the
eradication of poverty in America his top priority. His other
leading concerns are to "provide moral leadership in the
world ... guarantee universal health care for every American ...
[and] lead the fight against global warming" ... Despite
recent published reports to the contrary, former Bush Administration
Press Secretary Ari Fleisher said Wednesday he will not be a candidate
for Congress in New York in 2008 ... Prosecutors in Nevada have
cleared Governor-elect Jim Gibbons (R) of sexual assault charges
that arose from a purported a drunken, late night, parking lot
altercation he had in Las Vegas with a waitress just two weeks
before the election. Prosecutors said the evidence was inconclusive
and not sufficient to sustain a belief they would have prevailed
at trial. Gibbons and others tied to the Gibbons campaign remain
under investigation for related witness intimidation charges involving
the women in the days immediately after the incident.
deem
a courageous and correct act that helped heal the nation's Watergate
wounds -- he is also credited with being a decent, modest man
who restored a much-needed sense of integrity to the Presidency.
Ford was the last President from the almost vanished Eisenhower-Rockefeller-Nixon
"moderate" wing of the GOP. He barely survived a bruising
nomination challenge from Ronald Reagan in the 1976 primaries,
then bounced back from a major gap in the polls to lose to Carter
by a small margin. Ford's campaign seemingly closed the gap just
a little too late, as he would likely have won based upon polling
trends had the election been a week or two later. Before being
selected as VP by Nixon in 1973, Ford served in the US House for
26 years. Ford rose to be House Minority Whip and later -- after
deposing the incumbent in a challenge -- House Minority Leader.
In his final years, Ford became more outspoken in defense of his
moderate wing of the party. He was vocal in support of abortion
and gay rights, and critical of the the political influence of
the Religious Right. The various memorial and funeral services
will take place on several days over the next week in California,
then DC and finally Michigan, starting on Friday. Ford will be
buried on the grounds of his Presidential museum in his hometown
of Grand Rapids, Michigan. A personal aside: I met Ford once
-- just a handshake and a hello -- on the ski slopes in Vail in
the early 1990s. While I should have expected
the former college football star (two national championships)
to be a large guy, I was still struck by how strong and
athletic he appeared to be (and he would have been around 80 then).
interesting.
Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania
will all lose at least one seat (and NY and Ohio look likely to
each lose two seats). Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Texas
and Utah will each gain at least one seat apiece -- although Florida
looks likely to gain two seats and Texas could gain as many as
four seats. Unexpectedly, California looks likely to neither gain
nor lose any seats -- making 2012 "the first time since statehood
[that it] may not pick up any seats" ... Congressman Bobby
Jindal (R) and State Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell
(D) both announced in recent days they
would run in the '07 race against Louisiana Governor Kathleen
Blanco (D). State Senator Walter Boasso (R), attorney Hardy Parkerson
(D) and businessman Lee Horne (Libertarian) are among other announced
candidates in the race against the embattled incumbent.
Democrats
shows that US Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is now tied with former
US Senator John Edwards (D-NC) for the lead in that key early
contest state. The numbers: Edwards and Obama have 22% apiece,
followed by Governor Tom Vilsack (D-IA) at 12%, US Senator Hillary
Clinton (D-NY) at 10%, former VP Al Gore (D-TN) at 7%, US Senator
John Kerry (D-MA) at 5%, retired General Wes Clark (D-AR) and
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) tied with 4% each, and everyone
else at 1% or less. On the GOP, there are two frontrunners followed
by everyone else. The results: US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) at
27%, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) at 26%, Governor Mitt
Romney (R-MA) a distant third at 9%, followed by former Speaker
Newt Gingrich (R-GA) at 7%, Secretary of State Condi Rice (R-CA)
at 4%, and the others at 1% or less.
Jim
Gilmore unexpectedly returned to the political stage last month,
telling reporters he was considering either running for President
in 2008 or running again for Governor in 2009. On Wednesday, after
making visits to Iowa and New Hampshire to gauge his prospects,
Gilmore filed federal paperwork to establish a Presidential exploratory
committee. "There is not a committed conservative in the
field who can put together a national campaign. I am and I can.
I have people on the ground right now in Iowa and in South Carolina,"
said Gilmore to the AP. In his comments, Gilmore took shots at
the Bush Administration and Republican Congressional leaders for
fiscal irresponsibility in recent years. "I am not someone
who has to evolve as a conservative. I don't have to evolve my
position," he said, in a thinly veiled shot at Governor Mitt
Romney (R-MA) ... US Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is spending the
holidays on vacation with his family in Hawaii. He expects to
announce his decision on a 2008 White House run shortly after
the holiday season. 
New
Mexico Democrats have had enough of losing close fights to Congresswoman
Heather Wilson (R), so they're ready to take a page from Tom DeLay's
playbook. According to Roll Call, State Senator Jerry Ortiz
y Pino (D) plans to introduce a bill that would redraw the state's
congressional districts before the 2008 election. The plan would
significantly increase the number of Hispanic and Native American
voters in exchange for shifting a large GOP agricultural community
into CD-2. Dems currently control the NM House and Senate. Governor
Bill Richardson (D) said he'd be "willing to consider"
the proposal ... Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) says
he intends to serve out the new term he won last month at the
polls. However, speculation is flying that he plans to resign
well before the 
end
of his next term. If true, that would set up a special election.
State Representatives Pat Lindner (R), Tim Schmitz (R) and Linda
LaVia (D), and State
Senator Chris Lauzen (R) are all reportedly interested
in running if a special election occurs ... KDKA-TV reported the
FBI is investigating Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) to determine
if he had his congressional staffers perform campaign work on
government time. Both Murphy's spokesman and the FBI declined
to comment on the report ... Forget Mitt Romney's pro-gay rights
comments from 1994, as that is so two weeks ago. National Review
is much more worked up now, and so apparently are other conservatives,
over another Romney line from a debate against Ted Kennedy during
that same campaign. "I was an independent during the time
of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush,"
said Romney, in response to Kennedy's barbs that Romney was a
conservative. The magazine says Romney now has "serious repair
work to do" if wants to survive the early primaries.
smaller
government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom,"
said Barr. He served eight years in Congress before losing his
seat in a reapportionment primary against another GOP incumbent.
Barr was also appointed to a Regional Representative vacancy on
the Libertarian National Committee. Barr currently serves on the
Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association, and is an
advisor to both the ACLU and the American Conservative Union.
Barr has said repeatedly in the past he does not plan to seek
elective office again, so don't expect a 2008 Presidential run
... The Hotline and PoliticalWire are both reporting that former
Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D) is already reconsidering his
unexpected October withdrawal from the 2008 Presidential race.
He's reportedly waiting to see what develops in the next few months
with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before making any new decision.
Meanwhile, Warner is keeping his leadership PAC active and recently
sent holiday cards to key New Hampshire Dems ... Former Wisconsin
Governor Tommy Thompson (R) filed FEC paperwork on Thursday to
establish his Presidential exploratory committee. No website yet
... On a related note, I forgot to mention a week 
With
much fanfare, US Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) launched his Presidential
exploratory committee in early December 2006. He quickly hired
some top staffers, scheduled fundraising events and launched a
new campaign swing to key states. Now, only two weeks later, he
quit the race on Saturday. Most media reports said the sudden
emergence of Senator Barack Obama as Senator Hillary Clinton's
perceived main rival for the nomination during those intervening
weeks significantly contributed to Bayh's decision. "The
odds were always going to be very long for a relatively unknown
candidate like myself ... The fact remains that at the end of
the day, I concluded that due to circumstances beyond our control
the odds were longer than I felt I could responsibly pursue,"
explained Bayh.
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