Bleeding Heartland - Recent Comments

I also haven't contributed to Obama

desmoinesdem — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:44:10 GMT

partly because I feel that other candidates need my money more.

But this is a whole new area of concern for me. If the Obama campaign puts all their field organizers in Johnson County to GOTV in the student precincts that can produce a heavy vote for Obama, where does that leave Nate Willems in his effort to hold House district 29 (which includes some rural parts of Johnson County)?

That's just one example.

I think the DCCC might get involved for Greenwald. They are unlikely to do much for Hubler, though, I agree with you there.

Well, you're not going to get any assurances, so don't hold your breath

riverdog9 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:54:14 GMT

I emailed the campaign with my concern about the impact on down-ticket races of Obama closing down the 527s. No reply. And he continues to try to suck up every available dollar from on-line contributors, with constant appeals for money.

Here is my response. I am not contributing to his campaign any more, after making contributions through the primaries. I contributed when he lost, to show that he did not lose my support when he lost a state primary. But no more.

Now I am contributing to congressional and other races, because they need the money, especially ones that the DCCC is ignoring, which would include Hubler and Greenwald.

I felt a little bad about it until Obama's FISA flip-flop, and his utterly lame defense of it yesterday. Now I don't. Glenzilla explains.

Thank you, Elizabeth, for doing the heavy lifting

cybercitizen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:47:43 GMT

to bring universal health care to America. You speak with clarity and urgency.

Great tips!

American007 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:32:17 GMT

They don't seem to do Fourth of July parades in places I've lived, but I have been in more than one Homecoming parade.

One other point:

You don't necessarily have to march in the parade to be a big part of it. Parade groups are always, always, always looking for help pre-parade. Floats and cars need decorated, signs need put together, people need stickers and drinks, and on and on and on. Show up a few hours before parade time with a little baling twine, scissors or duct tape and you'll be everyone's best friend.

Also, parades need excited people on the sidelines too. If you can't/ don't wish to march in the parade, you can still help by going to the parade and whistling, clapping, hooting and hollering when Democrat candidates and/or the party float comes by. Trust me, it makes a big impression on people! :)

Becky Greenwald

lorih — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:20:30 GMT

Will be in Emmetsburg on the 5th for Palo Alto County 150 year celebration. We need people to walk with her. If anyone lives near, feel free to come. It starts at 10AM.

have fun--that's a huge parade

desmoinesdem — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:04:50 GMT

I'll be walking the Windsor Heights parade route with Jerry Sullivan.

Harkin will be in parades

riverdog9 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:01:00 GMT

in West Des Moines (7/3) and Clear Lake (7/4). His campaign invites us to walk with him and show our support. See tomharkin.com.

I'll be in Clear Lake.

Absolutely there were--

lorih — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:17:31 GMT

including me. The decision to unite was not unanimous. We still have a ways to go to heal the party. I think it will happen, and I intend to do everything I can to convince other Hillary supporters to vote for Obama, but it is going to take time.

The media always takes stuff out of context.

lorih — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:04:54 GMT

When nothing much is happining they have to report on something. Next week someone else will say something that can be taken wrong. Hopefully it will be someone from the McCain camp and they can focus on that for awhile.

I'm no education expert

RF — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:52:24 GMT

But I don't think it is a coincidence that some of the countries with most effective educational system (based on student performance) don't put much stock in gifted and talented types of programs. When prioritizing our limited resources, I see Mr. Wellman's point. I also found it interesting that in one study the country with the highest student performance also had the smallest overall income disparity.

Wes Clark is a military hero as well

riverdog9 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:13:33 GMT

This goes under the heading IOKIYAR. John McCain's military experience means that he is not to be criticized, but another retired veteran, with serious Vietnam war wounds, and later command responsibility, is fair game. Once again, the MSM proves that they are McCain's base and they are not ashamed of it.

McCain did not command NATO armies in Kosovo, or much of anything else. His experience was tactical, i.e., in combat, as Clark noted. If there is anything qualifying about his record, it is that he has courage and perseverence. But running a country is not the same as operating the controls of a fighter plane.

Clark has military management experience. He is far more qualified, in terms of experience, than McCain. He also seem better suited in terms of temperament and judgment. Obama has both of these qualities, exercised in a different realm. His campaign is strong evidence of both management skills and judgment.

Kids with ADD are often bright, bored and distracted

riverdog9 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:05:51 GMT

They are a subset, but require even more attention than kids who are just bright and bored. The notion that only low achievers are worthy of that attention is wrong.

I encourage you to post this as a diary

desmoinesdem — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:26:40 GMT

so that more people will read it.

Interesting account!

I heard from a friend who did not stay for the platform stuff that there were a lot of sad people in the Clinton delegates' room as Tom Vilsack encouraged them to throw their support behind Obama.

he probably wanted something to brag about

desmoinesdem — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:31:53 GMT

Windsor Heights is fairly divided between Dems and Republicans these days, but I wouldn't say it's a very liberal place.

I think Boswell wanted to get something done in the way of constituent service, and this was an easy thing to do.

Ummm, ok

idiosynchronic — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:47:34 GMT

As long as the supposition to this is, "Len finally got off his ass . . " and not, "Len finally pushed for the zip code change because he feared those liberals living in Windsor Heights might vote for Fallon . . "

When my parent's suburb votes Democratic, you'll know the revolution is finally here. They live right up the street from Almo Hawkins. Last month's primary was an illustration of how many are still proud to vote Republican.

Rob Hubler is a sterling human being.

riverdog9 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:54:34 GMT

Any Democrat, and I mean ANY Democrat would be an improvement. Even, say, Heath Shuler.

But Hubler is a gift. He is a Democrat. He is light years better than Steve King, by every measure that counts for anything--personal, political, intellectual, professional, spiritual. (If I left something out, he would be better that way too.) And he would actually be a good congressman who cares about progressive issues.

Finally, (bonus) he has a shot at beating King. Iowa is going to go blue, probably in single digits, and people just don't like King. Hubler is reaching out to Republicans and independents, who might be embarrassed by the antics of the incumbent, and are Ready For Change.

So don't hang back waiting for some sign from on high. Show Rob the money .

convention

lorih — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:50:08 GMT

I went to the state convention this weekend. It was interesting--at least parts of it were, but very, very, very long.

We got there early, around 7:30AM because I wanted to beat the crowds. We did...actually the crowds never really came. Because of the floods and the date change, many people couldn't be there and we barely met quorum. I think they drafted every person who walked into the room who said they were a democrat and made them a delegate.

Before the official beginning of the convention we met "informally" as preference groups. It was decided that we wanted to demonstrate unity to the rest of the country so all delegates elected that night would go as Obama delegates, but they would be elected proportionally from each of the preference groups so some people who were supporting Hillary and Edwards would get to go to Denver.

Then there were lots of speeches...some went on too long, but most were OK. Around noon we started talking about platform stuff. The platform had been sent out a month or so ago. We had one hour to read it, vote on it, and eat something for lunch. Rob Tully should have asked one of the elementary teachers to explain how to fill in the ballots. He didn't explain it well and then just got mad when people asked for clarification. I think some people skipped the reading step of the platform and skipped right to lunch, because some of those people were getting done pretty darn fast. On the other hand, they could have done their homework.

Then we voted on the "controversial" planks. From a sociologist perspective, this was the most fascinating part. There were about 20 people who wanted to argue about each and every issue. Thankfully, discussion was limited to only 6 minutes per plank. At least 5 times during this someone would suggest suspending the rules so we could discuss it some more. Apparently "suspending the rules" requires a 2/3 majority--but actually it could have been a 1/3 minority and it would still never have happened. The only controversial planks were those flagged by the platform committee. None were discovered to be controversial by vote. By the way, we voted to legalize marijuana.

Interspersed between discussing issues we started the long, arduous task of voting for various offices. Female DNC, male DNC, Affirmative Action Chair, female elector, male elector. Democrat voting is funny. Apparently each person has to be elected with a real majority (over 50%) of the vote. When there are 8-12 people running for a single office, this never happens in 1 ballot. If a candidate gets less than 15% of the vote than he or she is kicked off the list. Then we vote again...and again...and again.

Since I'm pretty new to this, I didn't know any of these people. At least for DNC members and Affirmative Action Chair we got to hear 1 minute speeches from everyone, so I had some idea. But for the electors, there were no speeches during the first round. So I pretty much voted blind. One guy suggested that we suspend the rules and choose the elector by lot...honestly that's what I was doing anyway so it would have been fine with me. It wasn't fine with Rob Tully though, he told the guy he was out of order. This may have been because Tully was running for position of elector. He didn't get it though.

Finally, around 11:30 we got everyone elected that we needed to as a group, so we broke up into individual preference groups for delegates. In the Clinton group we had 13 women running for three delegate and one alternate spot. No men...only one male delegate was elected from the state convention and the Obama group got that one. This is because of gender balancing party rules and all of our elected officials are male (another good reason to get Becky Greenwald elected). To make a very long story short we voted again and again and again and finally picked them all. We finished at about 2:30 AM.

Despite the tediousness of some of it, I would be a delegate again. Next time though, here is what I'm going to bring: a cooler with soda and water in it, food, a book, an ipod, and a deck of cards. There is a lot of waiting around while ballots are being counted, and the snack stand closes well before the convention does.

No audience reaction

IowaVoter — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:43:59 GMT

FISA was the second topic taken up. After the woman and I spoke, the topics scattered to oil prices, foreign ownership of US factories, alternative energy, student aid, immigration, border fences, drugs, and other topics. No more talk about our constitutional crisis during the first 50 minutes of the meeting that I attended. I had to leave early. I could not tell if anyone else was informed about FISA.

good idea

desmoinesdem — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:01:32 GMT

I will talk to the admin about how to get more about Latham's and King's upcoming events publicized here.

I have heard him say similarly clueless things

riverdog9 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:29:07 GMT

Long after the "Mohammed Atta met with an Iraqi agent in Prague" story was debunked by the FBI, Grassley wrote me about it in response to a letter I sent him.

He should be videotaped saying stuff like this. We need a YouTube library for his next Senate race.

Meanwhile, it might be useful to post Latham's and King's district schedules on this blog, as a front page info box, and encourage people to film them.