Paying to play all night long

The Nut: Richardson won’t be Obama’s Commerce Secretary because of a scandal that won’t quiet down quickly enough. It shouldn’t cripple him politically forever, but it has blocked his present ascension. The Albuquerque Mayor’s race has begun with Michael Cadigan, Richard Romero and Debbie O’Malley jumping into the fray. And finally, we’ll tell you what you’ll learn over the next year or two.


Why Richardson will not be Commerce Secretary

Whatever happened to being able to just take a nice trip to L.A., and seeing the Lakers and some old friends? Who invites the Feds along?

If you’re a Governor of a tiny state that solves international crises and saves hostages, you should at least be more suspicious than others. Campaign contributions from CDR Financial Products higher-ups and a contract CDR won from the New Mexico Finance Authority have a federal grand jury making sure everything was in order and no one got any special treatment due to a $100,000 donation to Richardson’s Hispanic and Native American voter registration campaign Moving America Forward. Let’s briefly go through the full situation and assess the likelihood of it moving forward, why he will not be Secretary of Commerce and what his future should hold for him.

The withdrawal of his nomination is the simplest part of the whole mess. The process of this grand jury will take at least a couple more months. With Blagojevich blowing up an enormous mess in Illinois and people already being up in arms about pay-to-play politics (pay-to-play: I’ll give you a big campaign contribution, if you give me a good job/state contract/political appointment/etc.), Richardson is a victim of circumstance at the very least.

As Commerce Secretary, he would have been at the forefront of the $1T bailout. Just imagine the outcry of Limbaugh and Hannity screaming “you’ve got this shady career politician that’s under investigation for pay-to-play politics and he’s the one that’s deciding where ONE-TRILLION-DOLLARS (cue spooky sound effect) of my hard earned tax money is going! We’re getting ripped off . . .”

Obama needs cabinet members ready to help his proposals pass without being mired in traditional political scandals. Obama has no time to sit and wait for an instrumental position for economic development to be confirmed. Maybe if Richardson would have been selected for the post he deserved – Secretary of State – he wouldn’t have anything to worry about . . . Pay-to-play politics are just everywhere! In New York, Hillary Clinton is getting checked for the very same thing as Richardson: nytimes.com/2009/01/04/washington/04clinton.html

But she’s just going to run foreign policy, so what does he pay-to-play deals from her time in the senate have to do with her negotiations with leaders around the world? We’ll get into the conflicts of interest raised by the real Clinton’s foundation donor list and the nations they lead some other time.


Ok . . . but he’s still guilty, right?

The Governor has a pretty well rounded case thus far and the grand jury isn’t even looking at him yet . . . they’re just talking about the most powerful names that have surrounded him over the last six years. So here’s the full history of Big Bill and CDR Financial Services.

David Rubin, President of CDR Financial Services, helped out a couple of Richardson’s efforts in 2003 and 2004. He and his company gave $100,000 to various Richardson campaigns and also footed the bill for Bill and his crew to attend the 2004 national convention. At the same time, CDR was bidding on a contract with the state of New Mexico and won a job worth $1.6 billion to the state and $1.5 million to CDR in business. CDR won the bidding process for re-negotiating interest rate swaps for the state (you have fun figuring out how the hell those things work on your own and email me the answer).

The other half of the contract dealing with investments went to a joint venture of Salomen Smith Barney and Ryan Labs. The joint grow earned the highest score overall with CDR earning the second best of the six firms that bid on the contracts. They tied on the section involving interest rate swaps for the best bid and were awarded the contract.

Now we face the tricky part of sorting through how CDR’s bid earned their high marks – were those results cooked by an influenced finance authority? Did Bill send Dave Contarino (chief of staff at the time and manager of the campaign for President) with orders to give to the NM Finance Authority? Was Mike Stratton (close associate of Richardson’s and heavy-hitting politico) hired by CDR because that he could secure the contract with the state? Is it all simply mere coincidence and due to the incestuous nature of New Mexican politics? This is what the grand jury is trying to figure out.


Romero, Cadigan, O’Malley and someone else

Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, the town’s biggest political names and making maneuvers in preparation for a bid at the Mayor’s office in 2009. Liberal north valley city councilor Debbie O’Malley has thrown her hat into the ring to block Mayor Marty’s vie at an unprecedented, previously-unconstitutional third consecutive term. Moderate west side councilor Michael Cadigan thinks he would be best fit to not only end Marty’s reign at the only office he can win but also replace he poor conservative governance with more backward proposals. And former state senate president and two time candidate for congress Richard Romero would like to resurrect his political career at the behest of Marty (now that’s a career in Albuquerque politics – take down south valley boss Manny Aragon AND mayor-for-life Chavez) Oh yea, and Marty wants four more years so he can qualify for the city’s retirement plan.

The good news for Albuquerque voters is that the race shouldn’t bother them nearly to the degree of last year’s campaigns because of the new city finance law. Candidates are much more restricted from accepting any money from contractors doing business with the state or much of any kind of business. There will probably be a few groups that form outside of the official campaigns that run third party ads, but not nearly to the degree of 2008. So relax and look forward to laughing at Marty as he defends his red light cameras.

What 2009 and the future will hold

It wouldn’t be the beginning of a new year without an attempt to see what lies ahead. Here are a few things you should be able to count on in the next year or two.

NM will be better sheltered from the recession because all 5 members of congress are Democrats working in the majority caucus in good connection. Their freshman status (excluding Bingaman) will surely drag their abilities down a bit, but they will treat us better than if the Albuquerque and southern congressional districts would have stayed Republican.

Richardson will have plenty of headlines during the legislature about his terrible relationship with the Senate. The budget will be a horrible point of contention due to the drastic shortfall in revenues and the battle for capital outlay money will bring the legislature and the Governor’s office to blows.

Political observers will do their best to create drama in the Governor’s race, but the closer election day comes, the more obvious it should be that Diane Denish will be New Mexico’s first female Governor. Sorry Heather, we just don’t like cry babies.

According to Ben Simon, Israel will stop beating up Gaza before Obama is initiated. Another week and a half of bombing? That sounds about right for Israel.

Sarah Palin and Joe the wannabe Plumber will never go away. Alaska’s senate primary could feature the beauty pageant queen against the republican incumbent, Lisa Murkowski. Since being exposed that Joe would qualify for one of Obama’s tax cuts, Joe has been doing everything a normal plumber does – maintain his blog and reporting on the Israeli-Gaza fight. Their love-child is sure to be on the way.

Baracking it for the ladies

The Nut: Politicians are on parade as shining examples of how to live a smarter, safer, protected life. John McCain’s sexy VP pick, warrants the revisiting of the sexist remarks he has used to court his base supporters. Meanwhile, the Tina Fey-wannabe has involuntary gone on record with a thorough demonstration of her ability to handle, sensitive, secure matters.

Progress doesn’t pile on

It took a weeklong, psilo-landen venture through the hills, but the Sarah Palin bashing urges have been buried in a deep hole under a mountain of LANL waste. It won’t come back because it can’t come back. For those that don’t like the freshman Governor from Alaska or her support of hunting wolves from a helicopter or use of state dollars to pay her mortgage or her recruitment of millions in pork for her town of 6,700 or her threats of banning books or her perversion of an otherwise gorgeous Tina Fey, heed this call: Do not attack her. Do no callously insult her. Do not mock her husband’s snowmobiling, her daughter’s abstinence-only education or her firm belief that god will save her before the floods of the rapture (better known as global warming among the school-educated crowds) come and cleanse the land of all evil. Just like Barack Obama, it only builds her support and re-doubles her disciples’ efforts.

Yahoo-gate

Before we return to the inevitable days of not knowing the names of any Alaskan politician, it does serve purpose to examine how she functions as a political figurehead (i.e.: governor, VP nominee, mayor of podunkistan, dog catcher) should her date to the prom kick the bucket before the final dance.

As soon as Gov. Palin was announced as the member of the GOP that will live on in Jeopardy! answers and political almanacs as the token offering of the GOP in a lame attempt at being progressive, reports emerged of email exchanges concerning an alleged attempt by Palin to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. Barack Out With My Cock Out is fully unconcerned with these allegations because they are still simply that: allegations. But other netizens concerned with electing only the best and the brightest to lead our nation took it upon themselves to expose what FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests have not obtained.

We will be brief in summarizing the tale of Palin’s pirated email account, but you can read all of it through that link. It didn’t even take true hacking. A person cobbled together Palin’s personal information and took advantage of the dangerously generic personal questions most email services use to send people forgotten passwords. This isn’t hacking, this is just being wiser than your average beauty queen/small town news reporter.

The person got into her account, looked around for the dirt Extra and Inside Edition dream of and was crushed to only find a few email exchanges between her and other Alaskan officials discussing official business. They tired of it and hoped leaving the log-in information on the web’s biggest forum for hackers and trolls would let the next anti-Palin netizen finish the job they had begun. Unfortunately – for the federal government that could have had their job done for them and for all of the Democrats eager to reap the political benefits of this exposed material – Palin’s e-guardian angel swooped in, emailed her advisor (either an oxymoron of a term or quite the substantial fete as Palin only takes guidance from one man and that man: god) and helped rescue the account before it could be further abused. Good night and sweet dreams!

Nightmares of implications

So what does any of this have to do with the election? Everything because it is a real example of how Gov. Palin has run the state of Alaska and how she conducts herself as a political leader. It’s not a campaign-polished, spun-dry presentation of her as the quintessential American mother. It shows her ability to guard her own privacy and conduct her own office and a substantial lack there-of. While a court of law will take forever to formally convict her of the ethical charges, it is now proven in the court of “I know my ass from a hole in the ground” that she has used a private email account to conduct official state business.

Chime in Palin apologists. “All politicians do that. That’s how they all conduct the real business.” Yep, you’re fully 100% right. But all of the others have the brains of a savvy businessman to know how to cover their own ass and do it without putting it into easily searchable records. We’ve seen the personal email addresses of seasoned, wise politicians . . . they resemble the subject line of a piece of spam with a jumble of letters that if rearranged might spell out one of their names, the year the account was set up and the office they are seeking. Why? Because gov.numbnuts@yahoo.com is too easy to find. It’s a tried and true practice of job seekers, headhunters and savvy PR gurus to guess at what the intended receiver’s email might be and to try random combinations of firstname@theirbusiness.com until one doesn’t bounce back. In addition to her illegal actions of conducting state business through private accounts, she left these accounts vulnerable and accessible to any random 8th grader that knows how to work a google search (note of clarity in her defense: Alaskan students typically do not learn how to use google until they go to college out of state). Do you want the #2 in the land to leave sensitive matters of national security and economic policy open and available to anyone with an internet connection and a proxy server?

Hear it here first: Gmail’s thorough note taking WILL be the downfall of many candidacies in the near future. The first candidacy to fall because of publicized emails that aren’t fit for the public eye is that of McCain because he brought along Palin for the ride.

More important is her man

Let her go. Let’s focus on why she is on the ticket. She’s a vice presidential nominee, as even she’s wondered, the actual job of being VP doesn’t get too interesting until the senate has a tie to break or the President has a heart to defibrillate. The real job of the vice president is done from the day he or she is selected until the general election. Ideally, they will swing their home state to vote for their ticket when they were previously disposed to vote against them (like when John Edwards ran with Kerry and brought North Carolina into the D column . . . almost). The VP is a handout to the base to rally their support. Typically, they do not receive the attention the true leaders of the ticket receive and thus, their exposure is confined to the party-faithful, involved voters that want to vote for their side, but have some personal, petty beef with the Presidential nominee (i.e.: democrats that don’t support Barack because he made Hillary cry to win New Hampshire). She’s not important. She won’t be a major decision maker in our nation’s policy. She is here to pander to the Republican base that heeds their pastor’s guidance in filling out their ballots.


Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?

Because Janet Reno is her father.

Whoaaaaa. Before you get upset with Barack Out With My Cock Out and its editorial board, please direct your anger to the man that can be credited as the source of this tasteless joke that was first used when Chelsea was only 18.

This joke made its national debut at a 1998 GOP fundraiser in DC. Wooing the audience and their deep pockets was maverick entertainer, John McCain. Set aside McCain’s fervent love of this country and the unending respect he holds for its leaders . . . like Attorney General Janet Reno. This is a clear, undisputed incident of John McCain insulting a defenseless 18-year-old girl just to raise money for a Republican fundraiser. That’s more Maverick than the Dallas Maverick’s then record-setting season of winning only nine games in 1994.

We’ll hear anyone’s defense of McCain and his clever joke. Was it a single occurrence? No. Google “John McCain’s seven sexist rants” and read all about his belittling of women, even the one’s he loves (the Alaskan-educated readers can click here, apologies for the taunting of using google to find something). He once mocked his current wife (not the one that he left when she was no longer the beauty queen he married) for her caked-on make up. He said it better than we can recreate it: “At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a dolled-up trollop, you cunt.” In his defense, he said he had had a long day before he told his new wife the truth about her plastic face.

Is he partisan in his sexist comments? Nope. As shown, he’ll go after his own family. He does like referring to all pro-active women as “Pat Schroeders” – a former congresswoman from Colorado that is remembered for her work on women’s rights.

When Jake Tapper interviewed McCain about his selection of campaign chairmen for the state of Nevada, his perfectly timed, well-judged humor reemerged. He tried out the old line “and I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago,” looking for raucous applause. Unfortunately, the crickets stood at attention as Tapper wondered to himself if McCain was aware of the Gov. of Nevada’s messy divorce and the accusations of infidelity. In Tapper’s words: “awkward.”

Feminism is for women, not woman

So when did feminism stop being about women? Answer: the day a man started using a woman to further his political ambitions. Electing McCain to the Presidency and letting Palin tag along to the white house will do as much for woman’s rights as elevating Al Gonzalez to the office of Attorney General did to eliminate the racial disparity between white Americans and Hispanics (nothing for those curious of the answer).

Don’t kid yourself. Don’t talk about glass ceilings. John McCain is holding up Sarah as a battering ram to blast through the glass ceiling Pres. Bush (W without the H) erected over McCain in South Carolina in 2000. Attention feminists of the world: do you support McCain using a woman to achieve his political dream?

More importantly, are you content to tolerate the GOP’s relegation of women as unable to perform tasks in as productive a manner as their male counter parts; should they continue earning 77 cents for every dollar her brother makes? This is a simple matter of government policy and there are only two choices: One side, Barack Obama, that supports mandating equal pay for equal work and the other side, John McCain, that has stated on record and worked against enacting such a law because it would place an undue burden on business. John McCain does not support equality for women and he stands in the road towards a sincerely enlightened and equal America.

Are you worth 77 cents or a full dollar?

Porn is Bipartisan?

The Nut: National Conventions are miserably dull unless you’re there in person. Sarah Palin is not hot, does not have a record to support anything she claims to stand for and will be remembered as ‘that lady that lost with the old guy in 2008.’ A full breakdown of her candidacy included. Simple talking points to properly highlight Palin’s credentials are at the bottom.


Is Porn Bipartisan?

I’m asking! There was a trailer with an inflated elephant proclaiming that porn is bipartisan cruising downtown Denver during the convention. With the pick of Sarah Palin, the GOP has attempted to beautify the old wrinkly Presidential ticket they have been putting together.

With the selection of the two-year (not two-term) Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, the GOP and John McCain have a Vice-Presidential candidate with so much experience, she makes Barack Obama look like Bill Richardson. In addition to being the mother of a newly born infant with down-syndrome, she brings a record of raising taxes on working Alaskans, increasing spending without balancing budgets and a few good years in front of the camera covering the local news in Michigan.


Experience v. Change

Palin’s choice as McCain’s running mate takes the question of Obama’s experience off the table. Sarah Palin has spent two short years in the Alaskan Governor’s igloo and before that she was mayor of the town of Wasilla. Wasilla, AK had roughly 5,000 citizens . . . the size of the more over-crowded high schools in some big cities. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin had to hire a city manager to attend to truly administering the city. So, she has two years of experience as chief executive of a state of 670,000 people and the experience equivalent to a high school student body president of a large high school . . . bear in mind, the class president usually leaves most real decisions to be made by the principle of the school and the school board (just like Palin did).

Oh, you argue that she’s only going to be #2 and she’s along for the ride whereas, Obama is running for President where he’ll do all the work. First, lets remember the last 7 ½ years of Cheney running the show from the VP seat and then lets be reasonable. Obama’s VP pick brings more experience to the executive than the other three candidates combined. More importantly, the worries of Obama not completing his term in office are not nearly as high as the worry of McCain. AND if some idiot would miraculously pull off the unthinkable, Obama has Joe Biden – the man that would probably be the nominee if experience was all it took to become President.


Real reform

She made her name in Alaska as a reformer that cleaned up the ethical lapses that permeated the Alaskan Republican Party. While she did bring many corrupt politicians to justice, she has not found herself outside of the inquiries. Her work to expose and prosecute corruption has led her to be exposed for her own political improprieties. There are accusations of her attempting to get an ex-brother-in-law fired from his post as a state trooper. She has a record of political hiring and firing that echoes of Alberto Gonzalez’ administration of the Department of Justice. It almost leads one to wonder if her presence on the ticket could put Alaska back in play for Obama with disenchanted Republicans voting for Obama out of spite.

What about the family?

More disgusting than her fierce aggression toward people who disagreed with her politics is what she has drug her family through just for her own political ambition. The fact that she has a infant child with down-syndrome while sitting Governor doesn’t confirm her conviction to her opposition to abortion rights, it affirms her bond to her political ambition. This demonstrates her selfish conviction to her own goals. Being Governor of a single state is not a day job. Its not a 60-hour a week job. When you’re Governor of just one state, you’re busy 24/7 attending to political and governmental duties. When you run for one of the only two nationally elected offices in the United States, you miss the quiet days at the Gov’s igloo.

Now that she has accepted the Republican nomination to be one heart attack away from the oval office, she has overtly stated she has no interest in being a real mother to her newborn child. Do not credit her for sticking with her conviction to anti-abortion stances. Credit her political ambition. She knew if she would have aborted the pregnancy, it would have been discovered and her political career would have been trashed. But despite needing to attend to a newborn child, she has seized her one impossibly lucky political opportunity despite the needs of her family.

Not only does she tout this as her true proof of her anti-abortion stance, she offers her husband’s membership in a union as proof of her support of working class Americans (as opposed to a record of signed legislation guaranteeing labor unions the right to form or raising wages for the members of these unions [raising the minimum wage raises most union wages as union wages as often set as a percentage of the minimum wage, i.e.: 250% of the current minimum wage]). She offers her son’s voluntary enlistment in the nation’s military and being sent to Iraq this year as her proof of her patriotism, not a record of what she has done to provide our veterans with health care, mental health care or quality jobs after they leave the military.

And the little things

The little things with no extrinsic meaning do bear significance, as well. Palin’s announcement demonstrated the true difference between Obama and McCain’s campaign. Obama had millions across the nation receiving text messages on Friday night as they hung out with friends. The message was instantly spread virally to everyone’s local networks (there are rumors that a fake message proclaiming Hillary won was also spread to many people’s chagrin). People didn’t learn about it from Matthews or Matthews or Wolf, they learned about it from their friend (as I did) and it began a discussion about the election.

Sarah Palin became the VP nominee around 10 on a Friday morning (eastern) after a monumental speech from Sen. Obama. I watched ABC break in with the news. When they went to show who McCain had picked to accompany him on the ticket, they had to dig up grainy youtube video to show footage of her.

The colossal difference in messaging and style is more than just the little things they do. This is a simple game of contacting the number of voters you need to win the election. Obama’s campaign is contacting the people they need to win the election while McCain’s team is almost approaching the election as a foregone conclusion. If Mit Romney really turned down McCain’s offer of VP, you would surely have to conclude that the GOP recognizes that this election is un-winnable for them.

Hillary lovers unite!?

The first thing everyone has said about this selection is that it was targeted directly at disaffected Hillary backers that are unwilling to support the presidential nominee that supports all of the public policy that they need and desire – Barack Obama. While Sarah does share anatomical similarities with Hillary (i.e.: earrings), her politics are as divergent as possible. The educated guess of Barack Out With My Cock Out is that polls will show around 15% of former Hillary supports stating they are supporting McCain because of Palin’s choice.

There is little to do about this number of people and votes for Obama are best found elsewhere. It is unlikely that these voters would have supported Obama even if he had picked Kathleen Sebelius (Gov., KS) and McCain would have picked a man (Sebelius if offered as an example because Hillary had absolutely no chance of becoming the VP nominee. NONE!). If that number stays around 15% or less of former Hillary supporters, there shouldn’t be many problems in November for Obama. Currently, roughly 30% of former Hilldoggers say they can’t pull their head far enough out to vote for Obama and these same polls show, with no ties or toss ups, a 273-268 win for Obama realclearpolitics.com with New Mexico being the 5 vote difference. Now, think about what happens when 15% of those voters vote for Obama instead of McCain.

Talking the talk:

So to boil it all down to what is and is not, here are the simple positions of the hockey mom of a 5-month old child with down-syndrome, Governor of Alaska, former mayor of Wasilla, AK and GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin:

Abortion: So against it, she even carried through her down-syndrome pregnancy and now has a 5-month old child to bring along on the campaign trail. However, she has no record in governmental action (legislative or executive) of taking action to eradicate abortions or to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Budget and Fiscal Responsibility: She raised taxes on middle class Alaskans and gave tax breaks to larger companies. She took office with balanced budgets and left behind deficits. She proposed bond issues (borrowing money to pay for a current project) when the state had plenty of money from oil and gas severance revenues.

Environment and Energy: She is a true Republican in support of undeterred oil and gas exploration. She has questioned the existence of global warming and has worked to keep the Department of the Interior from holding oil and gas mining operations accountable for their environmental impact. She supports drilling to solve our energy problems, not renewable resources.

Iraq War: Her son is on his way to the warzone and she couldn’t be prouder. She supports John McCain’s approach of stabilizing Iraq as our operation point for the Middle East and does not support a timetable for a phased, controlled withdrawal.

Ethics: In her limited career of public service, she has fired many political opponents even within her own party and has taken criticism for making many of the firings because of political and personal motivations. She is currently under investigation for attempting to get her ex-husband-in-law fired as a state trooper.

Real World Experience: Before entering politics, she worked as a local news reporter . . . a perfect fit for a former beauty queen.

But She’s Beautiful: So are millions and millions of other women. Do you really want to lust after your Vice President? The porn star that ran for President in Italy lost because Italians weren’t idiots (they naturally went for the bigger celebrity in the race).

Bottom Line: If Mit Romney really refused the VP nomination, you must wonder who else passed up McCain’s offer. When they finally came around to finding a two-year Governor of Alaska to make a feeble attempt at woeing Hillary supporters, they may have conceded the race to Obama.

Real Action, VP Rice and the Best of the Best

The Big Nut:
Presidential candidates and part time Senators Barack Obama and John McCain will also take the campaign through their real office and grill Gen. Petreaus on the war in Iraq. Previous candidates Sen. Clinton, Dodd and Biden will be asking the truly incisive questions the candidates couldn’t touch. The GOP is testing Condo Rice’s name as a potential VP candidate for McCain. The Alibi recognized how truly superb Barack Out With My Cock Out’s coverage is and I, Ron Domino, would like to thank the voters, the readers and the editors for their kind words.


Real action! Senators set to bash Petraeus.

When was the last time you tuned in to see what the candidates were talking about and you found them actually atop capitol hill, doing their job? Tuesday and Wednesday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Armed Forces Committee will check up on the progress in Iraq as Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker stop by for a Q & A.

While little policy will be established, the contrasting rhetoric of Obama and Biden (D-Del) compared to McCain and Jim Demint (R-SC) should set the stage for a good debate on the direction of the war. Barack will need to be especially careful to demonstrate a strong command of the issue to reaffirm his readiness to hold the office of the Presidency. McCain could dig himself a deep hole if he takes too hawkish of an approach and puts himself on the record for a lot of quotes of him supporting nothing but a continuation of the war. Keep in mind: the General and Ambassador may be the honored guests, but that won’t stop the senators or congressmen from wasting most of the time listening to themselves preach their thoughts on the war.

Finally you have a reason to figure out what channel CSPAN2 is. For those of you burdened with the hassle of receiving your cable from Comcast, its number 26.


VP Rice?

After the Republican Party fielded 12 pale, white Christian men for candidates for President, they’re looking to get in on the Democrat’s progressive ways with their Vice Presidential choice. They have seen the problems one can encounter when choosing between a black man and a woman and decided to just go for it all. Enter, Condoleezza “Condo” Rice.

First, let us be clear that her nickname is not “Condi.” Where do you see an “i” in Condoleezza? If you would like to save the trouble of those last two syllables, don’t go cherry picking letters for the half of her name you decide to pronounce. Its “Condo” the gruff bulldog that has butchered our foreign policy under Bush’s watch, not “Condi” the smart, adorable (in comparison to other cabinet officials such as Ashcroft or Rumsfeld) woman that appears in interviews with Barbara Walters.

What do you think? Do you like the progress she has achieved in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis? How about her ability to assist the new Iraqi Parliament in forming a working government? Middle East isn’t your favorite place, ok, what do you think of her dealings with Hugo Chavez and her ability to keep the northern region of South America from going to war?

If you appreciate her work in these areas as well as her ability to smile longingly while looking President Bush in the eyes, then McCain-Condo is probably your dream ticket. For those that are tired of having OPEC raise the price of oil as they sight “escalating tensions in the Levant/Iraq/Columbia/Mars” you might want to encourage McCain to seek out someone with a little better experience in negotiating with people that hate you. . . maybe someone like the last major political figure to visit Columbia on a diplomatic mission. Too bad Richardson endorsed McCain’s opposition--Obama.


Journalistic Excellence

The Pulitzer prizes have been doled out, again. Barack Out With My Cock Out can settle for the local accolades for the first month of work.

Backward Lobbying and Big Bill's Big Endorsement

The Nut:
Instead of politicians receiving plush treatment from lobbyists, both Republicans and Democrats have been accused of trying to buy votes at primary conventions. The newest development is accusations against Don Wiviott and Ben Ray Lujan – candidates for congress in northern New Mexico – that they purchased hotel rooms and food for their delegates. Not nearly as serious as the allegations by former governor, Dave Cargo, that Heather Wilson and Darren White paid delegates $35 per hour and covered their $30 registration fee. Bill Richardson tried to bury his endorsement of Barack Obama over Easter Weekend. He echoes the call for Clinton to end her campaign for the sake of party unity. Clinton supporter and politico James Carville remembered the holiday season as he attacked the move comparing Richardson’s support to Judas selling out. . . hooray for James’ clever attempt at smearing Big Bill. There’s no negative campaigning going on here.


Lobbying gone backwards

First, Heather Wilson and Darren White’s campaigns were accused of paying delegates to the Republican Bernalillo County Pre-Primary convention. Now, after the Democrats have held their statewide Pre-Primary Convention, congressional candidates are again being accused of being a little overly kind to its supporting delegates.

Don Wiviott and Ben Ray Lujan – the two leading candidates for Northern New Mexico’s congressional seat – are both taking hits for being too overly funded and for dispersing their campaigns’ funds in possibly illegal manners. Lujan was blasted for purchasing delegates food at the convention, as well as utilizing fancy headsets to communicate with staffers at the convention. Wiviott has admitted to paying for hotel rooms in Rio Rancho for delegates who came in from around the state.

This story has not attracted much attention yet because it very routine to provide food to convention delegates. This year’s convention was actually slightly unusual in that the Santa Ana Star Center did not allow campaigns to bring in the normal lavish spreads that they traditionally lay out. It is a normal tradition for campaigns to bring bottles of water and any other kind of food or comforting item for delegates to help them survive the afternoon of speeches.

Purchasing hotel rooms is not as traditional, nor as nominal. When campaigns shower delegates with food, they may give them up to $10 worth of grub. . . its doubtful they got such a good deal on the hotel rooms. Go have your own debate on how much money a delegate’s vote is worth. Consider this though. If a campaign is going to pay for a person to stay the night in a hotel so they can attend a convention the next day, do you think they would purchase a room for just anyone or would they only foot the bill for guaranteed supporters?

All of these allegations pale in comparison to the charges against Wilson and White that they paid delegates $35 per hour and covered the $30 registration fee for them to attend the Bernalillo Pre-Primary Convention. While the hotel rooms are of the same monetary value, the direct payment to a person for their vote is nothing similar to identifying a supporter and then providing them with a means to attend the convention. . . none of the Republicans at the Bernalillo convention incurred $70 in expenses as they attended.

If you’re upset about this story, you’d better get on the phone to Gary King. The Attorney General’s office has already said it would not investigate any of the allegations.



Big Bill’s big support of Obama

How do you make big news, quieter news? Religious holidays! In the first hours of Good Friday Bill Richardson sent his supporters his endorsement of Barack Obama. As a holiday weekend campaigns normally avoid working on approached, Richardson attempted to make the normal rounds that such a big endorsement brings in as quiet a manner as possible.

Barack Out With My Cock Out has discussed how Richardson was stuck between endorsing the family that made his career – the Clintons – or being accused of betraying them and endorsing the man that will have a job to offer him at the end of it all. Richardson recognized that the primary race is decided and that there is no longer any risk in publicly stating his support so he did just that. He still didn’t want to make it any bigger of a deal than necessary. So on Friday of a week that campaigns forbid their staffs from annoying voters, Richardson came out with his opinion.

He tried to bury the reports of his support because he knew he would become the punching bag for attacks against Obama. He also saw the charges of traitor coming. As soon as he weighed in, James Carville, another surrogate supporter of Hillary Clinton retorted by comparing Richardson’s support of Obama to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. Expect CNN and MSNBC to spend the next day fighting over which side wins this trade of blows. Also expect them to say that it goes Obama’s way.

Richardson’s support has been labeled as a way to curry support with Hispanics, but you should not expect too many people to come aboard simply because of the endorsement. However, if played properly, the back and forth during the announcement should win Obama a point or two. The shift in support isn’t from Richardson’s endorsement, its from voters seeing people like Carville making heartless attacks against Richardson. Bill is also helped to shift the focus from Rev. Wright and onto Richardson’s decision to leave behind the pattern of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton in favor of that intangible sparkle of hope. With it being a weekend that normally takes people away from the news, it will significantly help Obama avoid losing support.

If there are people that will support Obama directly because of Richardson’s endorsement, expect anti-war advocates, moderates and very active Democrats that are still on the fence to follow Big Bill’s lead. Richardson caught voters’ attention by taking the most aggressive stance on ending the war. He also won his support from moderate Democrats and many Republicans, as well.

His presidential bid fizzled when voters showed that they wanted a new leader that did not come from the traditional circles of power. His supporters saw his unmatched foreign policy experience, record of cutting taxes and creating jobs and came to his side because of his ability to site accomplishments for any constituency. While they may be few and far between, there are plenty of well-read politickers that know of New Mexico’s Governor and his long career of public service.

More articles to read:

Obama has reclaimed lead in national preference poll:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/105529/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Edges-Ahead-Clinton.aspx

How to conduct a proper political scandal:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/03/23/foreman.scandal.etiquette.cnn

Obama fighting back:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/obama-camp-says-clinton-deeply-flawed/

NYTimes highlights McCain’s political infidelities:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/us/politics/24mccain.html?hp

Cheap Seats and Dates

The Nut:

Florida is getting very close to holding a new Presidential Primary election. It will cost between $10-12 million and will be a mail-in ballot. All likely outcomes will help Clinton, unless Obama pulls off an upset, which could be the final blow to the Clinton campaign. Obama won the Mississippi primary in a very racially divided vote. Rush Limbaugh tried to take credit for getting Republicans out to support Hillary and extend the primary fight. Racial issues and slurs are the talk of the week as a Clinton supporter denigrated Obama's success by saying its only because he is black. Eliot Spitzer resigned his office of Governor of New York and now looks to skirt any of the criminal charges in the case. Pun enjoyed, but not intended.

Florida’s $10 million mulligan

Florida Democrats are getting closer and closer to officially announcing that they will take a mulligan on their rebel pre-Feb 5 election and have their voters re-voice their opinion on their preference of candidate. To the tune of $10-12 million dollars Floridians are readying a new election to make sure their delegates are seated at the National Convention.

It is incredibly important to the Democratic Party that these delegates be seated. An embittered Florida in November is one of many things John McCain needs to pull off the unimaginable upset. Maybe ‘unimaginable’ isn’t the right word after witnessing John Kerry and Al Gore be defeated by a coke-headed, DWI-convicted party boy. Either way, the Democrats must kiss and make up with Florida and Michigan to make sure Barack Obama cruises to victory.

When Howard Dean punished the states for disobeying the DNC’s orders he did not do it to spitefully one-up the insubordinate states, he did it to show that the DNC’s rules do have teeth. We all know that he had every intention of seating the delegates once the race was decided and the convention vote was rendered worthless. But with a “no-end-in-sight” election playing on he has been forced to find a new solution to the problem.



Mail it in

The proposed solution is a mail-in election to be held by June 3. Now we must consider who this will benefit. Who are Obama voters and who are Clinton supporters? Most exit polls have shown older, slower, more “curmudgeonly” people support Clinton while Obama is bringing in votes from the more educated, less old, less traditional parts of the enfranchised electorate.

Remember all of that talk about “if it snows and ices, the old folks won’t go to the polls and Obama will win big?” Well, now the La-Z-Boy bound voters have an upper hand. While they may not run wind sprints, most are very religious about checking their mail (for many of them, it’s a highlight of their day) and they certainly know how to sit down and read through all of the directions of the mail-in ballot.

The Obama Bloc has not earned such high marks in the same categories. Thus, while Obama has many supporters eager to elect him, he will be losing many votes from people that didn’t take the time to go through all of the procedures necessary for the Secretary of State to claim that they conducted a fair, honest election with the voters’ privacy staying protected. At the same time, many Clinton supporters that may not have been physically capable to cart themselves down to a polling location will now easily be able to file their vote. Sure, there is always Absentee Voting, but how many of YOU are wise enough to have permanently signed up for it and avoided ever having to wait in a polling line again?


Should we even care?

Yes, otherwise they wouldn’t be spending $10 million on it. Wait, that’s a lie. They would spend $20 million if they thought it would be entertaining and their donors approved. It is likely that Clinton will win a close victory in Florida and nothing will be decided in the grand scheme of things. The delegate totals will stay too close for either to emerge with a definitive victory. Thus, it will still come down to the Super Delegates and they are aligning more and more in favor of Obama -- the winner of more delegates, more states and more total votes.

But worrying about that assumes you are foolish enough to expect the election to go all the way to the Convention. If Karma is watching, it should wrap up right around Memorial Day Weekend. Would that spiteful wrath of random chance be good enough for all of us in the other 48 states that heeded the DNC’s demands?


Seriously, does anybody care?

The Spinsters better have earned some overtime for the work they put in trying to find a way to make Mississippi’s Democratic Primary seem important. They point to exit polls that show that it was the most racially divided state with 92% of black voters choosing Obama.

Obama’s 61/37 trouncing of Clinton could have been much bigger. His supporters are crying foul over many white Republicans that participated in the Democratic vote to help Clinton and thereby extend the no-end-in-sight election. The racial undertones of the division of voters is sad, but we all know the sad truth that the South isn’t as integrated as other parts of our nation. . . So why worry about a state that is going to support McCain 90/10 come general election time?

Don’t get too upset. This has been done as long as there have been political parties. Earlier in this same primary election, the Daily Kos political blog organized “Democrats for Romney” in an effort to help him extend a no-end-in-sight primary battle on the Republican side. Rush Limbaugh takes credit for giving Hillary the bump by rallying Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary for her to extend the battle. Rush knows what we all know: Barack Obama will be our next President.

The difference between Republicans and Democrats: the R’s got out their tri-focals and brought their three person primary into a single person focus. Maybe the young hip Dems have a Lasic appointment scheduled.


The price of having fun

For those who thought Eliot Spitzer’s $80,000 bill for hookers was steep, his fornicating is costing him even more. The resignation Foxnews announced a day before it was, has finally come to be. Yes, that’s right. Foxnews jumped the gun and announced for New York’s Governor his resignation. But on Wednesday it became official and the state of New York readies to inaugurate its first legally blind black Governor.

If the intrigue of the $1000 an hour call girls has escaped you and you’re back to being stuck on Super Delegate totals, yes, this has a bearing. Eliot surrenders his Super Delegate status to Governor-designate David Paterson. And it just so happens that while Spitzer was carrying water for Hillary, Paterson knows that Obama is the junior Senator that we need as our next President. Go get the big board and take one from Hillary’s side over to Obama’s. I’m sure it was his campaign’s plan all along.


Four more whores! Four more whores!

Don’t think that the last pervert has been pulled out of the closet yet. Larry Flint has been threatening for years to release a long list of politicos that can’t stay faithful to their wife or beliefs. Larry Craig is still a Senator after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct charges after he tried to get a blow job in the wrong public bathroom from the wrong undercover cop. He is also up for re-election this year. We have months of time to expose every philandering hypocrite out there and Barack Out With My Cock Out is ready to report on every one of them.


Its just because he's black

I'm still too shocked at how patently racist and pathetic the Clinton campaigns comments on Obama's success were. Keith Olbermann summed it up perfectly with a 10 minute tirade on how pathetic her baseless attacks were. Hear him out.

Barack Out With My Cock Out will be back on Monday to recap all of the action from the NM Pre-Primary Convention and all of the other political fun of the weekend.

My Money, My State, My Paper, My Time

Don Wiviott and his own dreams

Self-financed candidate for Northern New Mexico’s Congressional Seat, Don Wiviott, has won his court battle and is being placed on the ballot for the June primary. Candidate Jon Adams’ claim that Wiviott failed to collect enough signatures was found invalid and the race will go on.

The next charge being leveled against Wiviott is that his funding has come from the wrong donors. Not big business or oil or lobbyists, not child abusers, thieves and crooks, the disputed cash came from the candidate’s own pockets. Wiviott has brought the Millionaire’s Amendment into play as he has given his own campaign almost $600,000. His opponents have banded together as they claim that ‘he is trying to buy a congressional seat.’

And I say, good! Great! What a perfect way to finance a campaign! Here’s the secret: Politicians run for office to see their name on the yard signs and in the news. They love themselves so much that the only way to obtain the necessary amount of affection is to be lavished in praise by voters and the media. There are two types of people that work in politics: people who sincerely want to do good and people who want to do good so they can take the credit for it. The former is a bureaucrat that thanklessly deals with constituents’ issues day in and day out and works to solve problems. The latter runs for office. Why not let the egomaniac pay for the attention that he demands with his own money? Or were you about to send him $2300 of your cash so you could learn how to pronounce his name correctly?

More candidates that bet their own cash on these elections should be commended. . . even Mitt Romney. Don’t be foolish enough to ask the tired question of “why would a candidate spend $600k of his own money to get a job that doesn’t pay half of that?” Just like athletes get paid ten-fold more in endorsement contracts than they do from their salary, politicians make much more money through their positions of power than they do simply from the office’s salary. Do you really think Wiviott wouldn’t be able to reclaim more than $600k with a seat at the table that determines who gets the tax incentives and who’s businesses get squashed? Any investor can tell you what that kind of inside knowledge can do to grow your portfolio.

So let him waste his cash away. People should commend Don Wiviott for investing $600,000 of his own money in northern New Mexico. Go question the candidates that have as much money through donors. Good luck unraveling the maze they have established of shady deals and obligations.

The most curious part about all of the shots being taken at Wiviott is that he is not leading the race. Son of NM House Speaker and former Chairman of the PRC Ben Ray Lujan is widely agreed to be far ahead of the pack. Are his people putting Adams’ camp up to this?



No, I won Texas!

Hillary won the primary vote. Barack looks like he’ll win the Caucus, but they’re still counting those votes. And thus, Barack should come out with the most delegates. So who gets to put the state in their column? Emails from both campaigns will tout their victory, but how will CNN color their map for Anderson Cooper’s ultra-futuristic demonstrations on the green screen? Will Hillary remind voters of a similar election in 2000 when one candidate won the overall vote, but not the office?

The race may have quieted a bit compared to the buzz going around this time last week, but don’t expect her to pass up an opportunity for such an effective low blow. Democrats still remember the election Bush stole through a system that didn’t rely on straightforward votes and they won’t be eager to endorse any similar tactic. But wait, will they even hear her whine? Every other complaint she has brought against Barack has fallen on deaf ears.



Feeling the Loss

Barack Out With My Cock Out was begun to serve an under-informed electorate in New Mexico. As it began, the Albuquerque Tribune stopped its presses for good and shut down a 100-year operation. The loss of an alternative to the conservative-leaning ABQ Journal was felt last week as accusations of scandal spread across the web.

As we reported on Friday, Heather Wilson and Darren White, candidates for Senate and House, respectively, were accused of buying votes at the Bernalillo County Convention. All local media ignored allegations of Fourth Degree Felony Charges with exception to one reporter. Laura McCallum quit her job of News Anchor at 770 KKOB because after being the only reporter to come with the story, News Director, Pat Allen pulled it because not enough blogs had picked it up. . . his words, not mine. The story was pulled following a phone call from a blogger, no less! After Whitney Cheshire -- Campaign Manager for Heather Wilson’s Senate bid and former writer a hard-right blog -- cried to the station that had always gone to bat for Republicans, Allen followed their favorite congresswoman’s desires and pulled the story.

The Albuquerque Journal finally covered the story in Sunday’s edition, but their coverage wasn’t anything that will get them nominated for a Pulitzer. Rather than discussing the allegations against Wilson and White, the seven-paragraph story recapped that Laura surrendered her job in the name of ethical journalism. It is a tragedy to see a state relegated to such shoddy news coverage. One would think that the current technology would allow for more issues to be covered in a more comprehensive manner. Unfortunately, those dreams were simply that: a figment of our imagination.

To fulfill the duty of the Journal, KKOB, KOAT, KOB-TV and even KRQE, know this: Heather Wilson and Darren White are accused of paying the entrance fee for their voters as well as giving them $35 per hour that they spent at the Bernalillo County Convention. This is big, front-page-worthy news because those charges are fourth degree felonies. This is especially important because Darren White currently is sits in the political office of Sheriff and, as I’ve been informed, the Sheriff is supposed to stop crimes, not commit them.



Bushy Brilliance

For those that were an hour late to work this morning, I feel your pain and offer a more in-depth excuse than the expected “I just didn’t know to change my clock” line. My household actually didn’t have a single clock that needed resetting. The oven’s timepiece has eluded us and still flashes “12:00” and everything else was jumped forward by the internets and the invisible hands that guide them. However, thanks to last year’s energy bill that extended day light savings time, not all clocks knew to change this weekend. So use caution as you manually update your computers and phones -- they could get updated again in another couple weeks. Unfortunately, your boss won’t buy that excuse -- if it gets moved up a second time, you’ll find yourself at your desk an hour early, not an hour behind and no one deserves that. Thank you Mr. President for proving that you can control time.

Hedging and Hugging

Enter the Hedge Maze

Hillary Clinton’s media and political departments deserve a day off. The research and polling shops should pay for it. Going in to Tuesday’s primaries, every Clinton spokesperson was spreading the word that it would still be a victory if she were to only lose by a close margin. All of the efforts to lower the bar for her to continue the campaign proved unnecessary as she claimed victory in Ohio, Rhode Island and the Texas primaries. Her campaign had been spreading the word that she would continue on if it were a close race. The added padding has allowed her to continue forward unquestioned. This suggests that it could be an ugly denouement to the foregone conclusion: Barack Obama will win the nomination.

Voters in Vermont’s primary agreed with this and gave him their nod as did Caucus-Goers in Texas’ Second Act. Yes, Texans get to vote twice. If Iowa used the most-least democratic system for awarding its delegates, Texas utilizes the most-least-most democratic system. Moderately interested politickers are able to mail in an absentee ballot or vote in traditional fashion for their preference. Those worried that their vote will not go far enough can return at 7pm and stand in a caucus to demonstrate their support.

Obama’s campaign has enjoyed the grassroots organization that the popular “new” campaign normally receives. He has new voters not just showing up to cast a ballot, but attending rallies and getting truly involved with the election. Thus, he had the sincere supporters to win the more involved election -- the caucuses. This is an important factor to consider for general election time when he looks across the nation to people to do the ground work of winning an election.



Are we there yet?

Not hardly. Tuesday’s elections have provided Clinton with enough momentum to continue her campaign. If she had barely met the expectations of a “close defeat,” she would have felt heavy pressure to bow out and yield to the media darling that has brought out new support across the nation. With wins in two major states, she will demand that the Pennsylvania voters voice their opinion before she makes any move. Dreams of the primary being finished have been crushed.

Many statisticians point to the numbers as her biggest burden. Superdelegates aside, the 100 delegate lead Obama currently has is going to be insurmountable with the Democratic Party’s practice of apportioning delegates. Just as Huckabee was eliminated as he looked forward to winning many upcoming elections, Clinton sits in the same position. She will still win states across the nation, but she cannot cut into Obama’s overall lead.

How this plays for the three remaining contenders will be interesting. Will McCain be forgotten as the media hounds over the confrontation between Obama and Hillary? Will Obama and Clinton tear each other down as they secure the nomination? Will it really go all the way to the convention floor before the nomination is secured? Ok, we can shoot that ridiculous idea down. One of the two will emerge victorious with at least one state still waiting to vote.



McCain Embracing Defeat

Upon being formally crowned the representative of the Grand Ol’ Party, John McCain did what every savvy politician does -- he went to DC and embraced our popular President. Before he could even step out of the limo, Bush was at the door pulling him out to steal the big warm embrace that so many other candidates for public office have dodged. Remember when Bush came to help Sen. Domenici raise money for his legal defense at the Mayor of Los Ranchos’ home? Finished career or not, Pete still kept a few arm lengths between himself and the grim reaper of political careers and kept the cameras at the property’s edge (and then Bush’s motorcade killed a cop). But what does McCain have to lose. "I'd rather lose an election than a war," was McCain's way of rephrasing Huckabee's parting words as he ended his campaign: "I'd rather lose an election than abandon my moral values." I'd rather sit quietly than rip off a day-old phrase.

McCain supported Bush’s unpopular immigration reform. He has been singularly the staunchest supporter of the Iraq War and has no problem seeing troops stay in the region for another century. Maybe he cozied up to Bush to establish his conservative credentials. Maybe at 71, his eyesight couldn’t differentiate the Bush from a bush. When a reporter asked, “who could you benefit most by campaigning for them in the upcoming election” the lame duck squawked “If he wants me there, I’ll be there.” . . . will his phone ever ring?



Who else is coming with me?

Now that he has officially eclipsed the number of delegates needed to earn the nomination, his campaign turns to find some help. Yes, they want your money and will eagerly accept any major or minor credit cards, cash and checks, but they need another person to bring in the money. Running for president is a two man job at the very least and he now gets to survey the party that has, at times, tried to ostracize him and select someone to run along with him.

Names have been floating for months of who will be nominated as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee and shore up worries that McCain is too old, too liberal, too hawkish or too bald. Former Presidential Candidate and Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee’s name has been a popular pick to engender the support of people that vote as their pastor instructs. However, ‘popular’ doesn’t translate to ‘likely.’ Don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize the name of the VP choice. Did you know who Dick Cheney was in 1999?

Other possible names include Condo Rice (there is no “i” in Condoleezza), Rudy Giuliani and Steve Forbes. Safe money is on a pick that hasn’t muddied his name in a yearlong presidential primary race so scratch Rudy and Huckabee from that list. Steven Colbert was at the front of the line of celebrities volunteering their service. Roger Clemens and Chuck Norris have also been offered as suitable good ol’ boys that could round up younger voters that don’t appreciate the 71 years of experience John McCain brings to the table. How about Joe Liberman? The fellow Senators have collaborated on many pieces of legislation and the war support has to give Joe at least a semi.



Fighting Elves

If it wasn’t devastating enough to dash the dreams of Presidential Hopeful Dennis Kucinich before his presidential campaign got off the ground, Ohio Democrats made it more difficult than ever for Kuci to reassume his post in the House. Like our own Governor, he was attacked by his competition for neglecting the home while he trotted the globe pursuing the White House. Most confusing is the campaign of wannabe Congresswoman Rosemary Palmer who ran on an anti-war platform. Wasn’t Kuci the peacenik of all peaceniks?

Hooray for his 50-35 victory and for one more reason to tune in to CSPAN!

Is This the End?

The Real Super Tuesday

It could all be over before you know it. How has the last year of the primary campaign treated you? Tomorrow could be the decisive day that anoints presumed nominees as the actual representative of the party. The campaigns know that it is now or never time. No one in the Democratic Party wants to see this fight continue within the party. It is time to rally against McCain. While the Republicans will vote tomorrow, their totals are already fairly moot. John McCain can theoretically be beaten, but this is the real election, not a political science classroom. Mike Huckabee should be mathematically eliminated after the votes are totaled tomorrow night. All polls point to the exit.

Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont will state their preference tomorrow and many leaders are saying that this will be the last election to watch before it is time to settle on a nominee. Republicans will be focused on the general election – Democrats will want to keep pace and figure out their race just as fast.

Barack and a Hard Place

And on Sunday our Governor, Bill Richardson kept fighting to hold his silence on his preference in the race. On CBS’s Face the Nation, Richardson continued his balancing act and kept his preferences to himself. And for good reason. The handful of voters that will follow his endorsement in the four states tomorrow are not worth alienation from the side he snubs. As discussed in Tuesday’s coverage, his endorsement of the Clinton is more likely due to his loyalty, but it shows him little chance of eventually paying off. Endorsing Obama – the predicted nominee by all odds makers -- is a general hit against his political loyalty but shows better promise of leading to a cabinet level appointment.

Richardson has played a very careful game of wavering between the candidates. In Iowa, he was accused of sending his non-viable supporters to Obama’s corner. In debates, his rhetoric on the importance of experience was interpreted as support for Clinton (maybe he was talking about his own experience? He had a lot of good stuff, after all.). “I may wake up tomorrow and do it. Then I may not,” Big Bill said. He is wise enough to wait this long, but is now joining the choir of voices asking for the loser of tomorrow’s elections surrender their pursuit of the nomination. Call it a quiet endorsement of Obama if you’d like . . . he’ll spin it right back the other way.


Political Home Remodeling Part 2

Facing an unresponsive electorate, Right Wing Radio, Campaign Clinton and any other Obama-fearing politician has followed up the “Kitchen Sink attacks” with a new fridge, dishwasher and oven. They know the urgency of the historic Super Tuesday states and how they are the end of this primary campaign. They also know that Obama is only gaining momentum and voters are continue to fall to his side despite the best attempts of Clinton’s campaign.

The shallow record only brought more people to support him. Rumors of Islamic schooling and pictures in a traditional Somali dress were not enough to scare people out of voting for him. Bill Cunningham recognized this urgency and went for the insult all political staffers have seen for the last year, but have been too ethical, too moral, too decent, too respectful . . . too politically correct to use. The right wing Cincinnati talker known for his inflammatory rhetoric and low brow attacks referred to Senator Obama by his middle name – Hussein.

According to a news man working in the city, the listening area has seen this cheap shot for what it is: a last ditch effort to save a failing campaign. While Cunningham would as easily insult Senator Clinton, he sees Obama as the unbeatable candidate that GOP knows he is. He says Cincy voters are ashamed of the attention and will not be swayed by the attacks. Surely a few people are ignorant enough to make the links and support Clinton from it. But as many will be turned off from voting entirely or will support Obama in defiance. He adds that it has passed and won’t weigh heavily on voters minds tomorrow. The Hussein Bomb has been dropped and the dust has settled, but accusations of an inability to fight the war on terrorism will persist through November.



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Rough riding through Dodd Country and the Southwest

Free Home Remodeling

Barack Obama’s campaign says they are receiving “the whole kitchen sink” attack from Clinton’s camp. The lull before the next round of primaries has turned into a free-for-all against the leading presidential candidates. Major “scandals and charges” are being levied against Obama and Sen. McCain as they try to wrap up their respective party’s nominations.

McCain is accused of accepting more than dinner and a round of golf from a female lobbyist. Obama is being slammed for his poor voting records in the Illinois and U.S. Senates. Emails are circulating with pictures of Obama sporting ethnic Somali attire. And amature voters everywhere are spinning in circles as they try to figure out what to think. Here’s what to think: the same thing you thought before these heartless attacks came out. Think less of the opposition making the accusations and enjoy brushing off most of what you hear in the next week. Tuesday night’s news might actually have something important to say, but lets not rush the vote counters, if they need an extra day to make sure they get it right, that’s fine.

Welcome to Dodd Country

Add another percentage point to Sen. Obama’s total. Barack Obama has conquered the presidential territory dubbed by Jon Stewart as Dodd Country. If all of Sen. Dodd’s green necktie lovers follow his endorsement and move in to the Obama Nation he can count on a solid 0-1% boost.

The nod from the former presidential candidate and long time senator is another punch for Obama’s campaign to throw, but they don’t expect to hurt Hillary with it. It is important for him to be able to point to “yet another high profile Democratic leader” that has endorsed him over the former first lady. It is doubtful that Texans or Ohioans are hinging their decision on this, but it could give a small nudge in the two smaller states that vote next Tuesday – Rhode Island and Vermont.

The Renaissance Governor

Obama tried to keep the ball rolling with former presidential candidates’ endorsements but Governor Richardson wasn’t having any of it. Big Bill has worked the national media circuit in the last week as he played hard to get. Semi-daily personal calls from Obama and watching the Super Bowl with Bill Clinton can’t sway him. He says if he’s going to pick a side during the primary it will happen within the next week and if you would like to host him on your Sunday morning news show to please contact Gilbert Gallegos.

He knows where he stands. Yes, he owes Clinton his endorsement. She won New Mexico’s Caucus and her husband made his career appointing him Ambassador and then Secretary of Energy. Simply endorsing Obama would be spun as a stab in the back to the family that enabled him to run for President in the first place. But he also sees where this election is headed. He knows there is no hurry and that Obama can still forgive him later. And if Clinton regains control of the race, he can still cozy back up to them. In the meantime the self-proclaimed Renaissance Man is going to focus on growing out the beard and signing legislation. Maybe we’ll see him atop his throne at the Lobo game tonight.

Two More Primaries; Records; and a New DPNM E.D.

Winner of another chicken dinner!

While the pollsters hedged their bets on Wisconsin, they were still proven correct as yesterday’s primaries fell as predicted. Huckabee was sent two more requests that he amend the office he seeks to Vice President and Obama kept building his momentum. While the results were fairly inconsequential, Obama’s campaign will enjoy touting their 9th and 10th consecutive wins and McCain can continue to turn the screws on Huckabee to face the music and allow the GOP to train all of the cannons on the Dems. The decisions do not help Clinton or Huckabee, but both can spin these contests as unimportant in the grand scheme of the election. They have set the stage for the two weeks of ennui as we wait for the historic Super Tuesday on March 4th.

What have you done for me lately?

And during the wait, you can expect the attacks to become as shallow as ever. As Sen. Barack Obama has risen in the polls and eclipsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the most important measurements of a campaign’s status, the guns have been turned against the new leader and are still firing ruthlessly. For the last year Hillary was the “candidate of inevitability,” unable to be beaten, sure to continue to ride the Clinton political machine to another eight years in the White House. The media figures that feared her nomination launched countless assaults attacking her leadership, her Senate record, her marital woes and anything else that they thought could make people pause and reconsider supporting her.

The pause has passed and now reconsiderations have been made. True or false, ethical or pathetic, the attack has succeeded in knocking her down. Now the archers have turned to the other remaining man that stands in the way of continuing down the road of reckless spending and pre-emptive wars – Barack Obama. As the new leader in national polls, delegates earned and total number of delegates, as well as a dramatic lead in fundraising, Obama is in the dreamed of, but un-enviable position of right between the cross-hairs.

Whether they be thoroughly opposed to electing a Democratic Nominee (Sean Hannity) or only consider themselves to be serving their duty as a journalist (Chris Matthews), Obama is now taking the pies in the face that buried Hillary. The biggest allegation waged against him is that he has done nothing and has no record to run on. Yes, Hannity still spells out Hussein every time he writes Barack and Obama. Yes, people still raise the worn-out questions of whether the nation is ready to elect a black man or a woman. But the record turnouts in every state thus far have proven that if anything, the Democratic Party is very tired of electing white men.

Would you like to keep the money or go for what’s behind door #2?

So what record does Obama run on? He runs on what the majority of voters in the first 34 states and DC have supported – beginning a new path forward in how we run our nation. Voters had plenty of choices with laundry lists of accomplishments and they chose to throw out the old clothing and go buy some new gear. Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson could show you five examples of how they legislated or executed policies to help any constituency. They all had amazing foreign policy experience and already have on-going dialogues with the nations that pose a threat to our’s. The voters stood in unison and told them “thanks for the good work, we’ll take it from here.” It was a choice of going back to the favorite restaurant that knows your order and always cooks up a great dish versus the new hip place in town that everyone must try out – people are looking to take a chance and expand their horizons.

The record Obama runs on is not the traditional list of footnotes directing you to the bills he carried to alleviate the tax burden on impoverished Americans or create incentives for companies to utilize clean energy. He does not have 30 years of votes that inevitably can be cherry-picked to cast him in a hypocritical, flip-flopping light. It is a record of being free of the traditional ties that bind a leader’s hands and inhibit him or her from addressing the issues that brought thunderous applause when they were mentioned on the campaign trail. Expect him to be attacked for his “inexperience” repeatedly in the next 10 months. Without the traditional record to run on, he will also be attacked with baseless accusations such as a lack of patriotism, an Islamic heritage or less.

Capitalizing

What is most important is if he carries the Political Capital needed to achieve the goals he has laid out. When Bush was re-elected in 2004, he carried Political Capital and all of the talk was about what program he would attempt to achieve. Since he carried such a great amount of Capital after the sweeping win, he tried to pass one of his most controversial and unsupported ideas – privatization of Social Security. Without the sweeping victory, he would not have been able to approach such legislation.

Look at the numbers of new votes that come out to vote in Obama in comparison to the total number of voters in the Republican Primaries. Obama has won more votes in single states than McCain and Huckabee won across the nation in aggregate. Does that suggest a possible sweeping win in November?

Look at the accusations that Obama’s campaign is filled with former Clinton Administration staffers. Do you think they don’t know how the system works? More importantly, he doesn’t have the slick, perfected political prowess that Biden or McCain or Richardson would have brought to the office and, to repeat, this is exactly what voters have asked to have in the White House. Don’t be foolish enough to think that this will slow anything down. If anything, I would expect his administration to be smart enough to keep the public involved and informed about the progress on ending the war, restoring our constitution, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and all of the other issues we demand to be addressed.

So if you are walking down the street this week and some gorgeous intern with a microphone (go to any successful radio station and find me one that doesn’t hire cute girls for their interns) asks you if you’d like to answer some questions from Sean Hannity, grab that mic and tell Sean where to stick it. Barack doesn’t have the laundry list of accomplishments and that is precisely why he must be our next President.

Bring Out Your Dead

To bring it back home to finish, a head has rolled in reaction to the “disastrous” New Mexico Caucus. More accurately, a leg has been chopped off and the head spared. Party Chairman Brian Colon offer up DPNM Executive Director Laura Sanchez in an attempt to save his own job. She was relieved of her duties by politico Josh Geise. Restoring the public’s faith in the dominant party of the state will be no easy task. Voters in the state have high expectations and do not accept excuses of “we tried our best.” But his experience with Richardson’s machine as well as other campaigns across the nation has provided him the leadership and ideas to carry the party forward and restore the state’s faith. As a Cubs fan, Josh knows how to persevere through adversity and fight to the very end and I would expect no less of him in such an historic political year.

See, I told you, you’d hear that term again! Did I screw up, not go far enough? Email or leave your comments.