Friday’s political round-up

May 4, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Florida has thrown a huge monkey wrench into the presidential nominating schedule by moving its primary up to Jan. 29, a week ahead of the Feb. 5 primaries that make up a de facto “national primary.” As the NYT reported, this is likely to cause a ripple effect: “New Hampshire may move up its primary — possibly even to this year — and in South Carolina, Republican officials said they, too, would advance the date of their primary. “South Carolina will name a date that keeps us first in the South,” said the party chairman, Katon Dawson. ‘It could be as early as Halloween and our version of trick-or-treat, if we have to.'”

* Barack Obama won a big endorsement this week from Oprah Winfrey, her first official endorsement of a political candidate. Asked about a certain senator from New York, Winfrey said, “I have great respect for Hillary Clinton. I think I’ve said this before and it’s true: Because I am for Barack does not mean I am against Hillary or anybody else.”

* In case there was any lingering doubt about Fred Thompson’s campaign plans, the lobbyist/actor/senator has taken up blogging: “The actor-politician had experimented with blogging, posting two- and three-sentence thoughts on the Web site for ABC News Radio, for whom he is a host and commentator. But not until several weeks ago, after declaring an interest in the presidency, did he start weighing in in earnest. Now his opinion columns are appearing on RedState.com, the Pajamas Media blog, National Review Online and his own blog, The Fred Thompson Report.”

* Republicans have finally recruited a candidate for Colorado’s open U.S. Senate race. Former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.), who lost to Pete Coors in a Senate primary three years ago, announced this week that he will seek the seat. He’ll likely face Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), around whom Democrats have coalesced.

* Oklahoma State Sen. Andrew Rice (D) is apparently gearing up to take on Sen. Jim Inhofe (R) next year. Keep an eye on this one.

* And the NYT had an interesting report this week about Rudy Giuliani raising an impressive amount of money in Texas ($2.2 million in Q1), thanks in large part to his extensive connections to a former Enron president and executives with the nation’s biggest oil companies.

why is it that florida always has to screw everything up?

  • This whole early primary thing is a Republican conspiracy to depress the vote in November 2008 by making people so sick and tired of a year-long campaign that they don’t turn out (other than the committed Base). Why the Dim-ocrats ever bought in on this bullshit is beyond me. We should have gone for the opposite: first primary in May, big primaries in June, convention the end of July, campaign begins late August. Enthusiasm would be high, people would be interested, there would be turnout and a real vote and we would decisively defeat the Republicans.

    Of course, why I am ever surprised at the ignorance of professional Dimocrats is also beyond me.

  • This “our state has to be first!” primary nonsense has all the grace of a kindergarten sandbox tantrum and it’s got to stop. Since most states have picked Feb. 5th anyway, it might be time for Congress to formally designate that date as the official national primary.

    I don’t really like the idea because of the inherent problems a single date brings with it, but since that genii is already out of the bottle it would be better than the perpetual game of leapfrog that we’re looking at now.

  • What if they gave a primary and nobody came? Have the dems run a stalking horse non-candidate in Fla and have those delegates assigned to the winner of first ballot at the convention.

  • In a shocking turn of events, New Hampshire has decided to hold their primary for the 2008 Presidential election on January 27, 2004.

    Amazingly, John Kerry was victorious with 39% of the vote.

    New Hampshire was overheard saying, “Let’s see Florida beat that.”

  • As a citizen of Colorado:

    The Colorado race between Schaeffer and Udall will probably be close, and could easily tip on what is happening in Iraq.

    fyi Schaeffer is a little more coservative and compettent than Allard.

  • Here too a report that’s just a quickie (from Glenn Greenwald). Perhaps we all want to remember this next time someone quotes The Politico at you – at a minimum this explains Mike Allen’s obsession with John Edwards’ haircut:

    In the middle of an article by The Politico’s Mike Allen regarding last night’s GOP presidential debate, one finds this paragraph:

    She [Nancy Reagan] was escorted out of the hall by Frederick J. Ryan Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation, and president and CEO of The Politico.

    So the President and CEO of The Politico, Frederick Ryan, is also the Board Chairman for the Reagan Library. And that makes sense, because Ryan is a long-time, hard-core Reaganite.

    So the President and CEO of The Politico worked in multiple positions in the Reagan White House, and was continuously promoted until he rose to the level of Assistant to the President. And his close connection to the Reagan family and the Reagan presidency continues through today.

    Are we supposed to treat this fact as irrelevant or something when assessing what The Politico is and what type of political coverage it churns out? There is nothing wrong per se with hard-core political operatives running a news organization. Long-time Republican strategist Roger Ailes oversees Fox News, of course. But it seems rather self-evident that a news organization run by someone with such clear-cut political biases ought to have a hard time holding itself out as some sort of politically unbiased source of news.

    The Politico’s biggest boosters are Matt Drudge and George W. Bush, and it is run by a Reagan loyalist. At the very least, those facts are worth considering. Given that Editor-in-Chief John Harris has repeatedly vowed to be more “transparent” in how they conduct themselves, shouldn’t we have some understanding of the role played by Ryan, and what his connection is to “Allbritton Communications,” whose “deep pockets” are (partially? fully?) financing The Politico?

    The Politico is rapidly becoming one of the most prominent and influential national media organizations, and its odiousness has seemed for some time to be generated by more than just the standard dysfunction in our national press corps.

  • Check out Romney, courting the people who call him a cultist…

    A visit this weekend to the Rev. Pat Robertson’s school illustrates the challenge for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as he courts the all-important evangelical vote. The former Massachusetts governor is to give the commencement address Saturday at Robertson’s Regent University in Virginia, a golden opportunity to reach core GOP voters.

    Yet the many people who seek spiritual guidance from Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and its Web site will find Romney’s Mormon faith listed as a cult…

    “What I find as I talk to people, evangelical Christians and others, is that they very badly want a person of faith to lead the country,” Romney said recently on “Jerry Johnson Live,” the radio show hosted by the president of Criswell College, a Southern Baptist school in Dallas. “They don’t care so much about the brand of faith as they do about the values of the person.”

    Or is it that they want a Republican, no matter what they believe?

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_el_pr/romney_evangelicals_2

    Check out the announcement. No mention of the fact that Romney’s a Mormon:

    http://www.regent.edu/news_events/?article_id=10&view=full_article

    Here’s one person who doesn’t like it one bit:

    Read it and weep, folks! Now didn’t I tell you this would happen? Fall in love with the world, and get in bed with the devil! I wonder how many Christians at Regent University are going to convert to the Mormon religion that will take them to the lake of fire for eternity after hearing this man speak? How many spiritually weak impressionable kids on that campus are going to pick up the demons that are going to be following this idolater?

    http://healtheland.wordpress.com/2007/03/08/pat-robertsons-regent-university-invites-mormon-mitt-romney/

  • Actually, the Schaffer thing is getting interesting. The Hill yesterday reported that he had made an unofficial announcement at a Teller County Republicans’ meeting last weekend. But today’s Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that he’s denying the whole thing. So he’s saying the Teller County Republicans are lying. Quite amusing.

    http://www.coloradopols.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3222

  • Oops. Damn tags.
    ***********************************
    Actually, the Schaffer thing is getting interesting. The Hill yesterday reported that he had made an unofficial announcement at a Teller County Republicans’ meeting last weekend. But today’s Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that he’s denying the whole thing. So he’s saying the Teller County Republicans are lying. Quite amusing.

    http://www.coloradopols.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3222

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