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Trouble brewing for the Republicans, or how will the Dems blow this?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

According to Daily Kos, the AP has called the special election in Mississippi for the Democrats. This is a seat that was considered to be an ultra safe seat. According to the DCCC:

After losing the last two competitive special elections for Republican seats (IL-14 and LA-06), the NRCC and its conservative allies have gone all out to try to hold MS-01. Republicans have had to spend nearly 20 percent of their cash on hand on a reliably Republican district. Democrats have spent only 4 percent of our cash on hand. The conservative group Freedom’s Watch spent at least $460,000. In total, Republicans have spent at least $1.7 million on MS-01.

Vice President Dick Cheney, Governor Haley Barbour, former Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Thad Cochran, former Senator Trent Lott, and Senator Roger Wicker have all campaigned on Republican Greg Davis’ behalf in what Politico calls, “one of the safest Republican areas in the nation.”

Additionally, President Bush, Laura Bush, and Senator McCain recorded automated calls that were sent to voters throughout the district.

This may not mean that Mississippi is in play on the presidential level, but it tells us that McCain will be playing defense in some states formerly considered safe for the Republicans. Pity the poor Republican taking on an incumbent Democrat in more Northern climes.

Has ever a political party crashed and burned in such a short period of time? Did ever political party deserve it more?

Nonetheless, we must not underestimate the ability of the Democrats to blow this election. It may seem impossible, but they are capable people, in their way.

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Joe’s convention

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A few pictures from Joe Courtney’s convention last night, which was, to say the very least, far better attended (and I suspect more enthusiastically) than its Republican counterpart. I wasn’t there, as I was doing my civic duty at the Charter Revision Commission meeting. These pictures were taken by Liz Duarte (Thanks Liz).

Joe Courtney at nominating convention (take 2)
Joe Courtney at nominating convention (take 2)
Joe Courtney at nominating convention (take 1)
Joe Courtney at nominating convention (take 1)

Okay, the above is a new feature in the latest version of WordPress. It’s called a gallery, and you can see the images larger if you click on them.

In case there’s any carpers out there: yes, these pictures are a trifle blurry, but they were taken with a cellphone, so they’re actually quite good, all things considered.

Joe said he would work like a dog during the election campaign, and I’m sure he will. It’s an odd thing that he had the closest victory of any Democrat two years ago, and now we run the risk of being complacent. Apparently that’s not a problem as far as Joe is concerned, and I don’t think it will be for the rest of us, if only because, besides re-electing Joe, we’ll be working so hard to put a Democrat in the White House. For Joe, an overwhelming victory margin might discourage top flight competition in 2010, when things might be a bit tougher for Democrats, assuming they win the White House this year.

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Political science, Batman style

Monday, May 12, 2008

I saw this on This Modern World, and I just couldn’t resist passing it on. Who do you suppose wins this election:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgJ5AcsXp4M[/youtube]

That’s it for me today. I just returned from a Charter Revision Commission meeting and I’m bushed.

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Please let this be true

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Via Atrios and the New York Post:

Defying disgusted constituents and angry Republican leaders, disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella has told pals he plans to seek re-election.

And, shockingly, the Staten Island pol is feeling “pretty good,” he confided to friends.

…

Fossella confessed last week to having a 3-year-old daughter with gal pal Laura Fay, a 45-year-old retired Air Force colonel who signed him out of the drunk tank the morning after a drunken-driving arrest in Alexandria, Va. The congressman and his wife, Mary Pat, have three children.

The revelations sparked outrage among many constituents and in Republican circles. Insiders whispered that Fossella’s career is over and that he should step down, while House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) pointedly called on Fossella to make a decision this weekend.

…

Those close to Fossella continue to support him, Molinari said. “Vito is surprised and emboldened by the support he’s been getting.”

“He’s gotten a lot of encouragement,” said Molinari. “I told him nobody is going to run a primary against him if you decide to run again.”

We’re all pulling for you Vito!

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Take your daily dose

Sunday, May 11, 2008

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV5UTHRx0a4[/youtube]

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Half a cheer for Rell

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Wonders never cease. I find myself on the same side as Jodi Rell. Even weirder, I have to tip my hat to Lisa Moody.

The state owns shorefront property in Waterford, that was formerly used as a school for the developmentally disabled. It is no longer being used for that purpose, and a Farmington developer as eager to buy it to put up luxury condos (what else). Most of our local legislators were in favor of the sale

Rell put the kibosh on the sale, and today’s Day quotes some email correspondence among the governor’s staff, including this quote from Lisa Moody:

”… We have a parcel in our midst (on the shoreline I’m told) that we’re selling on the cheap,” M. Lisa Moody, the governor’s chief of staff, wrote in a Nov. 17 e-mail The Day obtained through a Freedom of Information request.“Here’s a silly idea – let’s keep it for future generations as a natural area – no paved parking lots, no buildings or facilities – just, God forbid, a pristine natural setting on the water. Want to talk about responsible growth (or responsible ungrowth, in this case). That’s a legacy item.”

As the saying goes, they’re not making shoreline property anymore (global warming excepted). The sale price was 7.1 million. The property has its problems. The buildings need substantial rehabilitation, and there are access problems. Still, I’m with the governor, and (Oh god, how can I be saying this?) Moody on this one.

But, as the headline says, so far Rell gets only half a cheer. As the article points out:

Rell hasn’t yet said what her vision is for the property, only that the state should keep it.

Not surprising, since she has lacked vision on a number of fronts. It makes no sense to mothball the buildings and shut the place down. If we’re going to keep it we should invest in making it a place that’s available and accessible to the public. It will cost in the millions to do it, but it would provide some sorely needed shoreline access in a state where, scandalously, most of the shore is off limits to the public.

Here’s betting that Rell will never articulate her vision for the property. The buildings will deteriorate, the public will not get access, and the folks in Waterford will grow even more frustrated with the situation.

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Back to Basics-why Clinton lost

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Every once in a while, the conversation gets back to basics. Via Suburban Guerilla, I found myself at the American Prospect, where we find the following observation:

Admittedly, this is the kind of counterfactual that’s impossible to prove, but my guess is that if she had voted against the war Clinton would be the Democratic candidate. Given the closeness of the race, her inherent advantages going in, and that the war had to be a liability it’s hard to imagine that she wouldn’t have prevailed without the Iraq albatross. Whether or not Clinton’s support was sincere — I don’t think it really matters — sometimes getting big policies wrong really is politically damaging. (See also the 2006 midterms.) This is evidently a good thing.

As one commenter pointed out at the American Prospect, both Kerry and Clinton voted for the war because each thought that it was a necessary precondition for a successful presidential campaign. You can add John Edwards to that list. He, at least, has admitted both to the motivation and the error. Their votes were entirely cynical, in that each voted against a war that I, at least, refuse to believe they were stupid enough to believe was a good idea.

I think it’s true that, had Clinton not voted for the war, she would be the nominee right now. She would have won those early primaries. She would have had no need to go massively negative against Obama, who might never even have run. She would have the near solid support of the party right now.

What I think needs to be said here is that a person with good judgment-the type of judgment Clinton claims to have-could have and should have been able to see all this coming. Put aside that the war was massively immoral. It was doomed to failure from the start, because all of the incompetence, and all of the sectarian violence was entirely foreseeable. Indeed, it was practically inevitable.

The vote for the war was in October 2002. It made a certain amount of cynical sense to vote in favor if you were up for election in November, 2002. (Even that argument is weak. It is arguable that the Democrats cave-in on the issue cost them the Senate in 2002, see, e.g., Minnesota, so it never even helped them in the short term). But it was entirely predictable that the best bet for the long term was a vote against the war, which was doomed to become unpopular as we inevitably became bogged down. The fact that Clinton didn’t see that then is the most damning piece of evidence against her argument that she has either the judgment or the relevant experience to be a better president than Obama.

(Edited to insert missing word)

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Architectural treasure in Groton

Saturday, May 10, 2008

In its endless front page pursuit of the trivial, the Hartford Courant today ran a front page article on the outhouses of Chester, a posh community in Middlesex County. Since this is considered critically newsworthy by so august an institution as the nation’s oldest newspaper can anyone criticize me for taking up the subject. It is, after all, only fitting that I point out that here in Groton, where we’re a bit more downscale, in fact at my very home, we have one of the finest examples of outhouses in the state-nay, I must say, probably in the nation.

Our outhouse must have been a deluxe model in its day.

World\'s classiest outhouse

It may not look like much, but open the door and take a look inside. It’s a genuine four-seater. That’s right, a large percentage of the family could have used it all at the same time. No doubt some historian of the everyday could explain the need for the multiple thrones. Perhaps each family member had an assigned seat. Perhaps it was felt that the family that sat together…..whatever.

I’m sure the Courant will want to follow up on its groundbreaking front page outhouse journalism by delving into the mysteries of our outhouse. The entire subject has “Pulitzer” written all over it, but only if they expand it into a series. It would also save them the trouble of wading through, and possibly printing, all the icky news that tends to clog the front pages of some other newspapers.

In all seriousness, I’m not saying that this story has no place in a newspaper. But on the front page? These front page fluff pieces are becoming an everyday occurrence in the Courant (along with the front page ads). Aren’t you supposed to commit attempted journalism on the front page, and save the human interest stories for the Leisure section? We get the Shoreline edition, by the way, which apparently is defined as covering Middlesex (which includes Chester) and New Haven Counties. The Courant delivers here in the boonies, but we are apparently not worthy of inclusion in the Shoreline communities. I don’t know if the outhouses of Chester made it onto the front page of the Hartford edition.

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Boring convention

Saturday, May 10, 2008

I was a delegate to the State Convention in New Britain this morning, at which we chose members of the DNC and the presidential electors who will cast the formal votes in the Electoral College in December.

Short report: nothing happened.

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Jim Mitchell

Friday, May 9, 2008

My wife and I got an invitation to Jim Mitchell’s retirement party today. Jim, for those of you not from Groton, is our superintendent of schools, who is actually retiring. He was not fired, driven out or caught in a scandal. He did not piss people off by trying to get a free Audi (seasoned Grotonites will know what I mean). It is not unprecedented for a superintendent to leave at a time of his or her own choosing, but it is unusual.

I first met Jim when he was the in charge of Special Education. I don’t remember his precise title. At that time I was handling special ed cases on behalf of students, so Jim was on the other side. Since then, he rose to be superintendent of schools, replacing a disastrous choice the school board found somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Jim had the advantage of knowing the players and understanding our quirky system of government. He did a good job during difficult times, when we finally faced the fact that our aging schools had to be replaced. He’s worked for the system for 38 years, so he’s definitely earned his retirement. He’ll be hard to replace.

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