A New Kind Of Campaign - In Your Face

When I was a teenager, Presidential campaigns were the stuff of C-SPAN watchers and other political geeks. For 2008, the campaign will be a regular topic on the Internet every day with even the most mundane news stories for the next two years. It will likely drive even casual followers of politics buggy.

Look at how many candidates have already thrown the fishing nets out into the waters to try and suck up as much in campaign funds as they can.

Can people deal with this? I wonder. How much of the early effort will translate into actual voting support? Probably very little. Who's really paying attention? And will voters become numb to it by the time Election Day rolls around?

At this stage of the game, it's all about the Benjamins. The next twelve months will determine who is still in, and who it history.

How long will it be until we start seeing campaigns officially begin within the previous election cycle?

Posted by: Gary at 08:40 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Who's Giving To Whom?

The following eight "high-profile" donors are listed as giving to various 2008 Presidential candidates (of both parties). The recipients are: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Vilsack, Hillary Clinton, Wesley Clark, Barrack Obama, John Kerry and Joseph Biden.

Just for shits 'n giggles, guess who each of these donor's candidate of choice is (answers and link below the fold).

1.) Oliver Stone
2.) Cher
3.) Dennis Hopper
4.) Bill Gates
5.) Kris Kristofferson
6.) Kelsey Grammer
7.) Norman Lear
8.) Candice Bergen

Ready?

Click "read more" to see how you did... more...

Posted by: Gary at 02:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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"Blog Wars" And The Improbable Candidacy Of Ned Lamont

A week or so ago, I made reference to a one-hour documentary called “Blog Wars” that was to be featured on the Sundance Channel. I had DVR’d it and finally got around to watching it.

HereÂ’s my review.
more...

Posted by: Gary at 02:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Let The Stalemate Begin

The President wrote a rare Op-Ed in the WSJ this morning, extending a hand of cooperation to the new Congress. Bipartisanship? I think he should prepare for that hand to be ceremoniously slapped back. The Left will accept nothing less from their party leaders.

One line in the column warmed my heart in particular:

The majority party in Congress gets to pass the bills it wants. The minority party, especially where the margins are close, has a strong say in the form bills take. And the Constitution leaves it to the president to use his judgment whether they should be signed into law.

It seems he got the memo. He may be a lame-duck, but the President clearly recognizes his responsibility to limit the amount of damage that the Democrats' razor-thin majority can do at this critical time of our country's history.

Capt. Ed, however, is not so sure it will be all that necessary.

He will probably get a lot more practice at vetoing legislation over the next two years now that he has no Republican majority to protect. This may not make much difference to the Democrats, who will probably have a very difficult time passing any kind of legislation, thanks to the weakness and character of their majority. They only can stand to shed a handful of votes on any bill, and the Blue Dogs outweigh that margin by at least a factor of two. Party unanimity will only last a short time; freshmen from formerly Republican districts will not risk their re-election chances by going the full Pelosi. If they do, the two-seat Democratic majority in the Senate will probably not be sufficient to push the bills through any kind of concerted Republican effort to stop them. Bush may not have an opportunity to sign or veto much, outside of normal appropriations bills.

The Democrats know this, and they will concentrate their efforts elsewhere -- such as investigations and House rules changes, where their power runs free of the executive. I suspect we will see a return of the Do-Nothings in terms of legislation, but a long, tiresome slog of probes into every nook and cranny of the White House in order to dig up any dirt that can be used in 2008 on the GOP.

So, starting tomorrow, expect gridlock - and politics as usual.

Hey, it could be a lot worse.

Posted by: Gary at 08:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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