Left In Missouri

Every four years, you see a reawakening of political fervor.  People are excited of the possibility of political change nationwide.  But I also hear and see a disturbing pattern when it comes to volunteers.  Volunteers are the lifeblood of any political campaign.  Their tireless hours canvassing, phone banking, etc is usually appreciated and celebrated.  While walking downtown, I stopped by the Judy Baker campaign headquarters , walked by the Nixon Columbia HQ, and then past the Obama HQ on 9th.  What I saw is that the Obama campaign had tons of people phone banking.  Maybe this was just a good day, I don’t know, but talking with someone from the Nixon campaign, it is really for hard for them to attract volunteers.  This is disturbing because Missourians should pay more attention to local and state wide races.  Missouri is predicted to lose a congressional seat after the 2010 census.  If Republicans control the state legislature, they will gerrymander the lines and we will lose a Democratic congressperson.  I am not saying that electing Obama is not very important, I just want to remind people that it is the down ticket candidates that affect your life the most.  For those who are volunteering for Obama, try to make some time for the down ticket candidates. :)  Here in Boone County:

Kelly Schultz for 21st Rep District

Judy Baker for Congress

201 N 10th Street Suite 102
(on Ash Street between 9th and 10th)
Columbia, MO 65201

Jay Nixon for Governor

Columbia Office
Phone: 573-442-6139

Chris Kelly for 24th District Rep

Mary Still for 25th District Rep

If anyone wants to add to this list, just leave a comment

While perusing the tubes of the Internets, I came across this article on the Politico site.  It seems that Palin’s 17 year old daughter Bristol is 5 months pregnant.  Barack Obama has said to the media to lay off “these kinds of stories”  Sorry Senator, the mother of this child is going to be a heartbeat away from the presidency and has been propped up as the epitome of the conservative woman.  The right-wing has been fighting sex education in school and has implied that when a teenage girl gets pregnant, it is somehow a moral failing of her upbringing or the product of “liberal policies”.  The extreme right-wing agenda of keeping kids ignorant of birth control options has not decreased unwanted teen pregnancy.  It is my job as a liberal blogger to point out the constant hypocrisy of the Republican right-wing and to make the public aware that their pandering to “family values” is just that…pandering

More and more, we are hearing the perverted exploits of Republicans nationally and here in Missouri.  I think it is time for Americans to stop and think what are leaders are doing, not what they are saying.

Edit:  the term “underage” refers to her being under 18.  The age of consent in Alaska is 16

According to various media sources, Jerome Corsi’s book “The Obama Nation” is full of inaccuracies and downright lies.  However, in the world of politics, fear is a great motivator.  Luetkemeyer has already fired off his cliche driven rant, accusing Judy Baker essentially that she is a east coast liberal, who wants to take your guns, yadda yadda.  My question to everyone….With the current economic slowdown, rise in energy prices, and the sky rocketing medical costs that are bankrupting America.  Will Republicans still gain ground with the politics of emotion and fear?….or maybe this time they will fear for their pocketbooks and self interest and vote accordingly.  Discussion is welcomed.

Just read this CNN article about the race being a statistical dead heat. Last week some polls had Obama up in double digits. What is going on here, in my opinion, is a news media driven by the entertainment side of the 24/7 news business. This new poll made me shake my head and wonder who was really wagging the dog.

In the poll with just McCain and Obama compared together, Obama leads by five points. When you throw in Nader and Barr, it dwindles to 3 points. One reason why I am skeptical of this polled is that Nader polled at 6% and Barr at 3%. Now since the margin of error is close to these third party percentage vote totals, it is more than likely that these third party candidates don’t have this much support In 2004 Nader got 465,650 votes while the Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik received 397,265 votes. I can’t see that changing very much this election cycle. Nader is old news and Barr might spoil Georgia in a close race.

Here in Missouri, the Libertarian Party is the only established third party in the state and a lack of a more liberal third party candidate may have an impact, but most people when they get behind the curtain in the voting booth will usually vote for major party candidates.

BTW, I tried to set up this blog on Wordpress or b2evolution on a host server. But I found out it’s a lot harder than it seems. I’ll stay on Blogger for now.

William Clay Sr., former Mo congressman, was one of the chief sponsors of the bill back in the 90’s. He claims that Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with it. In a St Louis Dispatch article, Clay Sr. said there wasn’t really much os a need for lobbying.

You know, she might of “help” Bill Clinton write a speech or provide some unofficial advice. Is this one of those resume exaggerations? Sure it is. But it is not the blatant lie about landing in sniper fire and being whisked away when it is clear you were not. We have to be careful not to equate an exaggeration with an outright lie. One is clearly different from the other. A lot of people, especially Clinton supporters, are pointing to Obama’s “exaggerations” to some how excuse Hillary’s Bosnia lie. This is very Karl Rovian in the sense that he would deflect any criticism from the administration by pointing to his critic’s alleged bad behavior. Never mind that he was comparing apples to walruses, that didn’t matter.

It was a rainy and stormy night….ok, it was raining, but I’m not writing a fictional piece with a cliche beginning. I attended the Mo 9th Congressional Convention in Mexico, Missouri. A couple of friends and I drove up there from Columbia as Obama Alternates. We tried to make up a song to sing as we were driving up in the rain, but couldn’t find many words that rhymed with alternate. We arrived in one piece and spent some time talking and conversing with other delegates. I was stumping for William Monroe to be the make Obama Delegate. Bill is a public health nurse that works in Columbia, but lives in Fulton. Before the vote, there were delegates that didn’t show up so alternates were chosen to fill in. My friend’s wife and I were picked to be delegates and had voting privileges. It is funny that she became an alt a month earlier only because she didn’t want to walk home and decided to join her husband at the county convention in February. Democracy is about showing up it seems (attributed to Wayne Brekhus).

Speeches were given, the holy trinity of Truman, FDR, and JFK was invoked, and in the end Bill won the delegate seat. Robin LaBrunerie of Columbia won the female delegate slot. Missourian story is here.

I must say I thought the process was fun and hope to have more fun at the State convention on May the 10th.

Bill Monroe let everyone know about the upcoming tabling for Barack Obama at the Twilight Festival in Columbia. Rebecca Schedler announced that she was starting up the local Edward’s campaign here. More info on that as I get more on it. There will be a fund raising party for Democracy for Missouri at Craig’s house on September 27th. Donations will be asked to donate a quarter every time a candidate mentions 9/11.