Politics: October 2003 Archives

Oops. My bad. The Rocky's Stump says to get those ballots in the mail today or else drop them off in person to make sure your vote is counted.

Election officials are warning that voters who waited until today to mail in ballots are taking a risk that their ballot won't make get to their county clerk before the 7 p.m. Tuesday deadline.

And voters shouldn't mail the ballot after today. Your best bet is to drop it off at an official site in your county. Call for locations:

• Adams: 303-654-6030
• Arapahoe: 303-795-4511
• Boulder: 303-413-7740
• Broomfield: 303-464-5899
• Denver: 720-913-8683
• Douglas: 303-660-7444
• Jefferson: 303-271-8111

[via Coyote Gulch]

The DNC has some Halloween costume ideas.

Halloween is just around the corner. If you're like President Bush, you enjoy dressing up in all kinds of costumes.

There are lots of cool things you can dress up and pretend to be for Halloween. Do you need some ideas this year? Check out some of the costumes President Bush has worn since he's been in the White House.

[via Kicking Ass]

For those of you in Colorado, don't forget to get your ballots in by the 4th. Most of the larger counties are using mail-in ballots only, so you need to get it in the mail soon (by Saturday) or, if you're in Denver, drop it off.

My recomendations?

State: No on Referendum A, Amendment 32 and Amendment 33.
Denver: No on Intiative 101
Yes on Referred Questions 1A, 3A and 3B

Don't like my recommendations and want some more info to make your own decision? Check out the sample ballot or click through the links above to check out the Rocky Mountain News' excellent coverage of the issues.

General Clark laid out his health plan in a speech a few days ago. It's similar to the other Democratic candidates plans - there seems to be a consensus on the basic problems of the current health care system - but has an interesting focus on improving medical care in addition to expanding coverage.

General Clark's health plan would improve health care for those that have it by emphasizing preventive, medically-justifiable and cost-effective services and guaranteeing universal coverage for children, access for all Americans, and making health care more affordable for tens of millions of families currently struggling to pay their premiums. Based on the principles of value, responsibility and fairness, the plan would reorient expensive, often-inadequate health coverage towards preventive and diagnostic benefits, services proven to be medically sound, an emphasis on disease management, and proven competitive purchasing techniques that ensure Americans get the greatest value for their investment. Second, the plan ensures that health care is more affordable for all families and that no child goes without health insurance by guaranteeing affordable coverage and concurrently requiring families to purchase it for their children. It also guarantees that Americans without job-based coverage have access to the same guaranteed, stable health options provided to members of Congress. Finally, the plan provides additional financial assistance to lower-income Americans, workers in between jobs, and other vulnerable populations. General Clark's health plan shifts the focus of the health care debate by insisting that any investment on health insurance be accompanied by a commitment to improve as well as expand coverage.

A thid party analysis and comparison with the other plans is available.

The General presented his economic plan today. I've been real busy, so I haven't had a chance to take a close look at it yet, but I wanted to get a pointer up to it so others who might be interested were aware.

Putting America on a course for more fiscal responsibility in the future would be good for the economy today, helping to restore confidence, keeping long-term interest rates lower, while ensuring that America meets its obligations to the future. That's why Wes Clark is proposing a plan to save more than $2 trillion for America's future - providing resources to reduce the deficit and invest in priorities like healthcare and education. Wes Clark's "Saving for America's Future Plan" provides effective stimulus for the economy without increasing the deficit in 2004 and 2005 by redeploying $100 billion in tax cuts for the most fortunate families into bigger bang-for-buck investments in homeland security, state fiscal relief, and incentives for business to create jobs and grow.

Colorado's own Governor Bill Owens. This isn't news - the National Review fingered Owens a while back - but the meme is spreading. George Will gently touches on some of Owens accomplishments.

Today it is just 51 months until the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary -- the 2008 caucuses and primary -- and some Republicans are looking to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains for a possible candidate to become the 44th president.

Clark got a nice boost today when the latest Field Poll found him to be the front runner compared to the rest of the Democrat field and President Bush. Ezra has the breakdown.

The internals of the poll are interesting. Clark beats Dean among men statewide by a significant 9% while Dean beats Clark among women by 1%. More interesting to me is that voters age 18-24 prefer Dean to Clark by only 1%, with Dean nabbing 8% and Clark nabbing 9%. In fact, every place where Dean beats Clark, the win is with MoE, but Clark beats Dean by statistically significant margins among males, voters aged 40-49, and voters who are over 50 (and who have the highest turn out in elections).

Further, Clark is the only Democrat who actually beats Bush in the polling, 46-42%. All other Democrats lost to him, but are within the MoE for a tie. Interestingly enough, Clark has slightly higher support among Democrats than anyone but Gephardt (73-74%) and significantly higher support among non-partisans. Among them, Clark polls at 51% while his closest competitor, Dean, is at 41%. Clark is looking really, really strong in California.

Clark's support amongst voters over 50 was the one aspect that struck me as a particularly compelling strength since, as Ezra points out, they vote. We've seen polls with The General beating out the rest of the field by a few points in the past, but I haven't seen this breakdown before.

Of course, the flip side of this is his weakness - compared to Lieberman of all people - with the younger crowd (18-39). Is this a name recognition factor? My hunch is yes, due to the large percentage of undecided voters in this age group. There's plenty of room for someone to grab the younger voters here and given the recent recall action, I'm betting this group is ripe for an outsider.

[via Political Wire]

TAPPED's Nick Confessore on why The General's plan for a Civilian Reserve is smart policy and smart politics:

It's good policy in the sense that encouraging more service, and finding ways to channel it in productive directions, is the kind of thing we need more of. It's good politics for several reasons. One is that national service is the kind of "high-centrist" stuff that pundits love to praise. Two is that it's the kind of thing you don't want to really be against, and making himself a champion of national service -- which fits nicely with his biography and message -- gives Clark a chance to whack President Bush for one of this administration's more notorious failed promises. You'll remember that back during his widely praised State of the Union speech in 2002, Bush promised to boost AmeriCorps by 50 percent. Instead, as the Democratic Leadership Council's Will Marshall and Marc Magee pointed out in this Christian Science Monitor op-ed, Bush installed incompetent leadership, who mismanaged the outfit to the point where House Republicans could claim AmericCorps was too troubled to deserve increased funding.

This is good news.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday opened the door for doctors in Colorado and eight other states to recommend the use of marijuana for patients with cancer, AIDS and other conditions.

The high court declined to hear arguments by the Bush administration that doctors should lose their ability to write prescriptions for recommending or even discussing marijuana use with patients.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled that the sanctions would violate doctors' First Amendment rights to free speech.

This afternoon The General is giving the first of four major policy speeches to come in the next few weeks.

General Wesley Clark will announce Tuesday a bold new initiative to allow Americans to serve their country in times of crisis. In the first of four speeches on Clark's vision for New American Patriotism, he proposes a Civilian Reserve. In the next three weeks, Clark will make more major speeches highlighting the economy, health care, and national security.

Clark will unveil his plan in New York City. The Civilian Reserve will focus on rekindling the spirit of volunteerism that poured out of Americans following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"In the face of new and growing challenges, we need to call on a New American Patriotism - from our leaders and our citizens," Clark will tell the crowd at Hunter College. "A New American Patriotism calls on leadership that will make the right choices for all of our people; it calls for an administration that unites our country and works with the world community, and it calls all Americans to action in order to make the commitments and sacrifices to meet these historic challenges."

The Civilian Reserve would allow Americans to register to contribute their unique talents and gifts. In the event of an emergency, those needed would be called on to help. This would create a safety net of skilled Americans who are willing to help in times of trouble without an added bureaucracy.

"Today, America faces serious challenges," Clark will say. "Our country has endured the deadliest external attack in its history. We feel our security threatened here at home for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis. America has lost over three million jobs for the first time since Herbert Hoover."

Clark will speak at 2 p.m. at Hunter College in New York City.

The San Francisco Gate has some more details on the proposal

Every American age 18 or older could register for Clark's civilian reserve, listing skills that could aid the country in a disaster. Registration is voluntary and would involve a commitment to serve any time for five years.

In times of national emergency, such as floods, forest fires or terrorist attacks, the president would have the power to call to duty up to 5,000 civilian reservists. Tours would last as long as six months. Congress could authorize more to be mobilized.

Civilian reservists also could be sent overseas for jobs like reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Those who are called to duty would receive health care, a stipend, and the right to return to their jobs when their service is completed. Clark spokeswoman Kym Spell said the program would cost about $100 million a year and would be part of the Department of Homeland Security.

[UPDATE]

The text of the speech is now available.

TAPPED's Matthew Yglesias (i'm glad they ditched the nameless posting) comments on this Michael Kinsley piece in Slate. Kinsley seems to think people supporting Clark are "in a swoon" over General Clark the Candidate because of the mainstream appeal of the uniform, and that in this misguided attempt at pragmatism, we are snubbing the one candidate, Dean, that everyone is excited about.

More fundamentally, though, Kinsley doesn't seem to have considered the possibility that some of us are attracted to Clark not just because we think he'd be a good candidate, but because we think he'd be a good president.

Clearly, in an election where national security is going to play an important role, a few stars on your shoulder isn't going to hurt. But the reason national security is going to be important in 2004 is that right now national security is important, and the reason high-ranking generals have a lot of foreign-policy credibility is that high-ranking generals know a lot about foreign policy. In particular, people like me who liked the liberal interventionism of the later Clinton years and now find themselves sympathetic to the ostensible goals of the Bush foreign policy but are disgusted by the gross dishonesty, shallow opportunism, rank hypocrisy, utter recklessness and general incompetence with which it's been carried out have good reason to think that Clark could be the best man to guide America on the international scene.

Amen. I have nothing against Dean. I agree with nearly all of his domestic positions but I think he treats national security and foreign affairs as an afterthought. This is something we can't afford in this day and age.

Fellow ex-Hartite Kevin Thurman is back tending his blog. I'm assuming he's spent the last few weeks working against the recall and he has a few thoughts on the matter.

Davis was in the position he was in because no one ever stood by him. In the middle of both his re-election and this recall labor and others talked out of both sides of their mouths, attempting to help turn out the vote against the recall, while the state labor federation lobbies to pass SB2 and the Illegal Immigrant Driver's License. While our Democrat fights for his career progressive like TalkLeft urged no on the recall while embracing Schwarzenegger. No one united against the recall, against the right wing power grab, they just said they did and went home.

I started off this post meaning to disagree with Kevin's message - that the Democratic Party needs more discipline, and that the recall was a result of this shortcoming - but now I'm not so sure I entirely disagree.

I do find it hard to believe a lack of discipline led to the 82% disaproval ratings I saw in one exit poll, but I certainly can see how it wouldn't help.

In any case, perhaps Gray Davis wasn't a "sleaze", but he certainly was a VERY unpopular governor.

"The people - not the elites or powerful interests - are sovereign" - Gary Hart

Welcome back Kevin!

If she had some integrity, she would go get some straight up phat silicone titties, and part her blonde hair in the middle, take two Velcro rollers and make those stripper forehead curls that make the boys say "Whassup Shorty!!". If she had blonder, bigger hair, that would certainly add credibility to her conservative politics and her robotic upper class bigot ever-had-any-shit-come-down-on-them-like-a-hard-rain-so-why-should-they-care-about-anyone-but-themselves values. She cannot spit her ignorant angry rhymes successfully with that beige lawyer lipstick. Ann needs to get some Revlon's Cherries in the Snow, the ho's lipstick of choice. She is a ho in sheep's clothing, and it is about time she told the truth, the ho truth, and nothing but the truth. There is nothing wrong with docking cock for the things you believe in, but don't play the thinking man's bombshell with me. Because she doesn't think and she is not anywhere near being the bomb and I just wish that she could be detonated and explode. But the only way that she could blow up is to face the porn movie 70s dicksucking muzak and own up to her politico prostitution. I am a ho, for the people, and I love that, and I am proud, because I embrace my ho side, and never try to pretend like I know everything about everything because I don't. I don't have to front, because I actually care about people. I believe in equality for everyone. All I ask for is that. And it is not possible in the America we live in, for a million reasons. Ann being one of them. She won't put 'em on the glass, so she is not qualified to throw stones.

[via Eschaton]

Keep an eye on this site, unfortunately

recallarnoldnow.com coming soon! This page is parked FREE at GoDaddy.com!

Clark's campaign manager has quit. It appears to be further evidence of tension between the "Draft" movement and the Democratic establishment.

Donnie Fowler "told associates he was leaving over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign officials."

Kos says:

Dean is Exhibit A of how technology can be used to let people take control of the political process. The Draft Movement was Exhibit B.

Was.

And it's not just me ranting about it. Not anymore.

It's too bad Dean's position on the war makes me queasy or I might be more interested in helping him become the Democratic nominee, since on many of his positions I am in complete agreement. As it stands, I'll stick by my guns on Clark for now. Unlike paid netroots consultants - I don't have any particular inclination or incentive to rank a candidates proficiency with the netroots before their actual policy positions, especially security policy in these dangerous times.

But of course, in the end, I'm onboard with whomever wins the nomination.

[via Political Wire]

Here's the California Secretary of State's Live Election Returns site. While it's unlikely anything definitive will be known tonight, it should make for interesting watching and speculation.

[via First Read]

Pretty impressive showing.

Little Rock - Today General Wesley Clark's campaign announced a record setting $3.5 million in contributions in just two weeks of his presidential campaign. Even though Clark entered the race late in the third quarter, has yet to announce a formal campaign structure, and is operating out one campaign office, the newest candidate in the Democratic primary out raised many of his rivals who have been campaigning for a year.

"The response to my call for a New American Patriotism has been overwhelming," said General Clark. "In just two weeks, we have begun the next step in building a movement that can take back the White House."

Averaging a daily $250,000, the campaign took in contributions from approximately 21,000 donors. With an average contribution of $167, about two-thirds of the money was raised online. The $3.5 million is the total for the third quarter ending September 30 and those figures become public October 15.

Amen Ezra, Amen. Check out the comments for a fine illustration of Ezra's point.

Partisanship makes the world go insane.

Ezra Klein (an ex-Hartite) has some observations on the need for a Democrat candidate who is strong on Foreign Policy/Terrorism to take on Bush in the general election and comes to the conclusion that Clark's four stars are the trump card over all other challengers.

Dean has done a very good job of toughening up his persona of national security and foreign policy, he comes off as a fighter which is a reassuring thing to the electorate. As you can see with Kerry, they'll take a fighter without military experience over an academic with military experience any day of the week. For that reason, the persona Clark develops is going to be crucial in deciding who, between him and Dean, is the stronger nominee. If he goes the way of Kerry and starts looking weak, he'll lose. If he goes the way of Dean but has 4 stars on his chest, he'll win easily.