The Political Dogfight

Can We Find An Authentic Voice?

Questions:
Can we find an Authentic Voice? Can we find a person will the qualities and experience that allow them to integrate their private and public selves?

Can we find a person who can, and does, drop the Political Mask?

Can we find the person who, as President, can cope with a foreign policy dominated by crisis management and also be the leader to help us take the long road toward solving the major national problems that we face today?

These are the questions I've been delving into with the series on The Invisible Primary.Once again, perhaps, my own penchant for titles that are too esoteric has created a problem. Since my central thesis is that the new primary system does not allow us time to find out if any given candidate has or uses an Authentic Voice perhaps that should have been the title all along.

Without the ability to learn whether our 'candidate of choice' has an Authentic Voice backed up with the experience to simultaneously manage a constant foreign policy crisis management situation and national problem I don't believe we can elect the best person.

I may be re-titling and re-writing the entire series to more directly focus on the importance of An Authentic Voice.

The Invisible Primary Series at DKos and others

I know all this blogs readers are busy people. That's a reality of our lives. Yet I am publishing The Invisible Primary series, with some new editing, at Dkos, MyDD, Calitics and others.

Any support would be greatly appreciated.

Important Poll...and Not For The Obvious Reason

We have a new poll out yesterday about the publics reaction to a deadline to leave Iraq. Now, of course it's great that a majority of the public firmly backs a timetable for withdrawl. But what do you think is the most important embedded statistic?

Well, if you ask the old political streetfighter, it's really simple. Look at the results of the Independent voter. Decline to state (Independents) are the faster growing of all political groups. More and more people are refusing to be firmly identified with any party.

Guess who should be a major target of a well run campaign...the Independents. Period.

The Invisible Primary Part 4.5: A Proof of Idiocy

Here's a new article, courtesy of Political Wire, that  lays out everything I've been saying in the previous 4 articles. I'll annotate my comments within the news item.

Clinton Set to Shatter Fundraising Records

"The presidential campaigns are in a mad dash for cash before tomorrow, the end of the all-important first fundraising quarter, and campaign pros and election watchers say the major candidates will have to show an ante of at least $10 million to prove they can compete for the nomination," the Washington Times reports. [So screw the potentially most qualified...the people we don't hear from consistently. They need to wander out to an empty field and shout to the wind. Ten Million raised in the First Quarter is a 'The Decider'. What crap.]

Washington Wire: "Clintonites tamp down expectations for first-quarter fund raising, sticking with estimates of up to $25 million, while boosting expectations for Democratic rival Obama. Obama staffer says $8 million to $10 million 'would be a good quarter, but we’re going to do better than that,' and Clinton 'will raise more than everybody in the field.' Edwards also is expected to do well in the quarter ending tomorrow." [Notice absolutely NO mention of any other Democratic Candidate? Biden, Dodd, Dennis the Menace and Bill Richardson simply don't exist in the Media Noise Machine. What a travesty.]

"Among Republicans, McCain, Romney and Giuliani are expected to be in the $20 million ballpark. McCain and Giuliani camps say they started late, though Giuliani has held 57 fund-raisers since the fall. Strategists in both parties predict Republicans’ take will fall short of Democrats’."

One important caveat noted by several Political Wire readers: Watch for candidates reporting fundraising totals for the primaries and general election. Any money raised for the general election cannot be spent unless the candidate wins the nomination. [Old trick. Get your max-out to contributors to donate to the Primary and the General at the same time. It doubles the donation and makes the Candidate appear that much stronger. It's effective and this is a good tip.]

Update: The Hotline makes predictions for each candidate.

Even Novak Can See The Truth

From Political Wire:

All Alone

"In half a century, I have not seen a president so isolated from his own party in Congress -- not Jimmy Carter, not even Richard Nixon as he faced impeachment."

-- Robert Novak, writing in the Washington Post.

Terrorized by 'War on Terror', Z-big Brzezinski

In today's Washington Post, Zbigniew Brzezinski makes a empathic case for the results of the phrase 'War on Terror' being counter productive and of a deliberate effort having gone into the construction of the phrase itself. The 'War On Terror'as a phrase, is part of the effort by the administration to drive fear (False Evidence Appearing Real)[my personal definition] into the nations fabric. It has reduced our freedoms and has done so in ways that will be hard to reverse. Mr. Brzenski speaks better for himself so on the flip I will post a few paragraphs for those that haven't done the free registration at WaPo. This is an important column and I urge all to read it.

The Invisible Primary Part 4: Ridiculous Support in the Blogsphere

In the earlier parts of The Invisible Primary I think I made a case that it is an awful construct to end the Presidential Nomination race on February 5, 2008. Now I see largest names in the political blogsphere supporting this 'national primary' craziness. I believe this system guarantees the advantage to the best fundraiser...not the best candidate.

Even Kos has dismissed my argument that this timing creates an overwhelming disadvantage for the secondary candidates. His argument, which I have seen all over the blogsphere, has several functional fallacies and more than one politically naive statement.

1. " Yes, this calendar will cost a lot of money, but if a candidate can't raise money, do we really want him or her as our nominee against the GOP money juggernaut? I consider the primary season an opportunity to probe each candidate for chinks in the armor, and failure to raise money is a huge red flag."

This is a statement that doesn't address the realities in our current circumstances. Does Kos really think that Clinton, Obama and Edwards ,our three current frontrunners, are really getting their campaign financing in $20 and $48 donations? ($48 was the average online donation in the last two races I staffed.)

The flip is worth it!

Elizabeth Edwards and Pure Courage

As I walked into a public place I saw the CNN report on Elizabeth's cancer diagnosis.

I have to say I was devasted in a quiet interior way. She represents the courage and confidence that all of us would like to have not only in such a crisis situation but in life in general.

John Edwards told us about their private initial moments after the receiving the news from the doctor. He told us how her first response concerned the children and then turned to John's campaign and the importance of it to the nation. John told us that at no point did she talk about herself. She is unselfish in the most dramatic meaning of that word.

I believe we will see the Edwards Campaign continue. We must in many ways. Even if Elizabeth and John have to take a time away from the rigors of the campaign trail they both have surrogates that will continue their fight.

As to John....many times we come to know people best through the worst times in their life. He's a strong man. She is a strong woman and they have a strong family that has weathered bad times in the past. Elizabeth Edwards is a woman who needs our personal support. She needs it without reservation or concern about political consequences.

They have my personal, unconditional support in her treatments and the continuation of the Edwards campaign. His voice needs to be heard. If you haven't seen the video please go to MSNBC or it's available many other places. 

This may be the type of courage that we need to see in our candidates. Certainly the Presidency is a place that requires internal courage.

My thoughts are with the Edwards Family today.

Political Dogfight Talk Radio?

With the advent of Blog Talk Radio, there's a possiblity that The Political Dogfight may start it's own show combining commentary on political news of the day and political interviews. The Big Dog has also been approached about sharing time with another more famous blog as a commentator. It may open a new front for communication.

Any thoughts on the topic would be greatly accepted.   TBD

The Invisible Campaign Part 3: The Death Knell?

Today's reports of the move by my homestate, California, to move to February 5, 2008 brings all my previous points into really sharp focus. Does this move to February 5 really defeat the purpose of picking the best candidate? Does this put the person with the most money and a decent public performance truely in control?

Let's use Senator Joe Biden as an example of a Candidate that could be killed by the shift in Primary Dates.

He has just made an enormously effective and passionate speech on the floor of the Senate that should be the focus of his entire campaign and their fundraising efforts. I'm positive as a political staffer myself that it is the topic of every conversation they are having with potential contributors.  (The video of the speech, and if you didn't see it...it's a remarkable moment in 2007 politics, is right here for viewing but my points are don't revolve around that speech.)

The people the staff are talking with are responding, I'm equally sure, with concerns about Joe Biden having enough money to be competitive...and therefore slowing down his overall fundraising.

Joe Biden is a man of substance and has the ability to laugh at himself. Good qualities.   Can he raise enough money?

Now that California and the rest have screwed the system into a February 5 finish, can he raise the huge money necessary to compete? And assuming he can raise good money, if not the most money, where does he spend it? Keep reading for the key question!

In today's Orange County Register the point was made that for the cost of campaigning with paid media in California  a candidate can compete in 10 (!) other states.