The Iraq War and Zoning Meetings: Connecting the Dots
In Clarksville, a local small business owner, Ronald "Bo" Ward, whips out a gun and kills himself in the middle of a city council meeting.
The Tennessean and the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle both mention how distraught Ward was at the passage of a zoning bill that would have put him out of business. Ward was a patriotic man who owned a barber shop in the town of Fort Campbell, KY - a barber shop which, according to one of the councilmembers who was there, "would go under with most of the 101st Airborne deploying to Iraq".
On this, the first official working day of the Karl Dean mayoral administration, it’s worth recollecting how a liberal, Yankee lawyer ended up winning the Mayor’s race in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, to be fair, Karl Dean always had a chance at winning the race due to his endless supply of campaign cash. Dean’s wife is an heiress millionaire and even Dean’s campaign staff and supporters know that his low profile would never had been raised without tons of cold hard cash. And the voters will be glad that he had it – clearly Dean was the best of the two candidates in the race to actually be able to serve effectively as the mayor.
But the bigger story in the 2007 mayoral race is not that Dean came out of nowhere, but that – simultaneously – Bob Clement, the presumed front-runner, blew an incredible early lead despite huge name recognition. Clement served 15 years as Nashville’s congressman, as the president of Cumberland University, and as chairman of the old Tennessee Public Service Commission. Clement also had statewide name recognition from his run for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2002, he served as John Edwards’ campaign chairman in 2003, and he is, of course, the son of one of Tennessee’s most popular Democratic governors.
So how does Lil’ Bob blow what should have been an easy victory to a man who has no real political experience or contacts – a newcomer who makes Al Gore look downright charismatic? It’s too easy to credit Karl Dean’s victory to his (wife’s) vast wealth. Money still cannot trump genuine on-the-ground organization, a sharp candidate, and a solid message that resonates with voters. Clement had none of these and it’s what led to his downfall in his quest for Mayor.
So herein lie some lessons that should be learned by future Mayoral contenders in Nashville.
That was the reaction of one of the Tennessee activists at the end of the two-day DFA Training Academy held in Knoxville last weekend.
Many of those who filled Karns Middle School had not worked on a campaign before or were not familiar with the sophisticated techniques outlined by DFA trainers. During breaks they peppered instructors with more questions and began making plans about how they would use the information in future efforts.
The last national election proved that the public is sick and tired of what the radical conservatives have done to this country, but now a new group says it may be time for a third party with some very different ideals.
Unity08 says it "... believes that neither of today’s major parties reflects the aspirations, fears or will of the majority of Americans. Both have polarized and alienated the people. Both are unduly influenced by single-issue groups. Both are excessively dominated by money."
There are still tickets available for Jon Stewart's show tonight at the Ryman Auditorium at 7: 30. You can buy them online at Ryman.com.
Posted by Sharoncobb at 09:05 AM on 05/09/08
Rasmussen Calls It
Not a good sign for Sen. Clinton. Rasmussen will discontinue its Obama vs. Clinton tracking poll, which today has Obama up 50-42, from 47-43 yesterday:
At the moment, Senator Clinton’s team is busily trying to convince Superdelegates and pundits that she is more electable than Barack Obama. For reasons discussed in a separate article, it doesn’t matter. Even if every single Superdelegate was convinced that the former First Lady is somewhat more electable than Obama, that is not enough of a reason to deny him the nomination.
With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Barring something totally unforeseen, that is the choice American voters will have before them in November. While we have not firmly decided upon a final day for tracking the Democratic race, it is coming soon.
In the head to heads, Obama leads McCain 47-44, Clinton leads 48-43...statistically insignificant difference, with momentum in Obama's corner.
Posted by Nashville for the 21st Century at 03:05 AM on 05/09/08
The Cracker Subtext
Paul Krugman, and many others, are bloviating about Obama's chances with white people like me:
Discussions of how and why Mr. Obama’s support narrowed over time have a Rashomon-like quality: different observers see very different truths. But at this point it doesn’t matter whose fault it was. What does matter is that Mr. Obama appears to have won the nomination with a deep but narrow base consisting of African-Americans and highly educated whites. And now he needs to bring Democrats who opposed him back into the fold.
OK, here is the subtext. Hillary Clinton is so shrill and repulsive that the ONLY reason that someone might vote for her, over Barack Obama, is because he is black. When Obama wins 90% of the Black vote, few people say that its because they aren't willing to vote for a white person, its because they identify with Obama and also like his message.
Is it theoretically possible that the white women who have carried Hillary to victory in most of the states she won, did so because they identify with her and like what she says?
The truth is, in Indiana, Obama would've increased ground with white voters if it weren't for Republicans crossing over to vote for Hillary simply to disrupt the Democratic primary (6-7% of the vote; 12-14% of Hillary's support). Some may not vote for Obama in November, but if we wait until racist whites are comfortable with a black candidate...guess what, we'll never have a black President; likewise with misogynistic men.
p.s. Just watching Morning Joe, and when Terry McCaulife says that "Pat Buchanan has been the best;" it does say something about where Hillary's campaign is if a notorious race-baiting white nationalist is their favored pundit.
Posted by Nashville for the 21st Century at 02:05 AM on 05/09/08
Feel Good Friday
Because sometimes you have to forget about politics for a while and let the music take you to a place that makes you feel so good.
So turn up your speakers, and sing and dance along with this.
Posted by Sharoncobb at 01:05 AM on 05/09/08
Victimology 101
OK, so Sen. Obama says that John McCain has "lost his bearings" in reference to his attacks on Obama as somehow being endorsed by Hamas. Most objective observers would know that this means John McCain's straight talk express has taken a bit of a detour into gutter politics.
To McCain's camp? Obama's attacking McCain because he's older than Moses. Quick, somebody change his diaper already and get baby a new bottle... The man can take on the Viet Cong but mentioning that McCain has lost his way is beyond reproach?
Oh, and I finally saw this full quote from Hamas' spokesman that the wingers are all talking about:
Indeed, on April 13th, senior Hamas political advisor Ahmed Yousef said, ‘We don’t mind – actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance.’
Funny, you never hear, "Hamas compares Obama to JFK," which is basically what they were saying. I agree 100% with Hamas's spokesperson on this issue.
So we know what the next 5 months will be...John McCain's campaign playing the victim card as they continue to violate FEC laws, support the disastrous Bush policies, and slowly drive the Straight Talk Express onto the Rightwing Highway.
Posted by Nashville for the 21st Century at 12:05 PM on 05/08/08
