blog.northeasterndemocrats.com

2007-03-06T16:26:00.000-05:00

Why, Deval?

Deval I love you. I do. And really I do not care if you drive a fancy Caddy that Zigs or any of that. You can have an aide for your wife.

But what you did making a call relating to Ameriquest was stupid. I vouched for you on this issue before the election and I thought you done as you said and involved as you had explains.

This was really just stupid and not worthy of what you campaigned on.

Read the Globe story here: Governor made call on behalf of lender.

2007-02-28T11:55:00.000-05:00

Mark Warner might be running for Senate -- at least according the Washington Post blog The Fix :

The fact that Warner is even considering the race is a major accomplishment for Senate Democrats. In the past, Mark Warner has been adamant that he would not run against Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) due to a personal friendship that blossomed between the two in 2004.

But now Warner (Mark, that is) is refusing to rule out a candidacy whether or not John Warner decides to run for another term. John Warner has said he plans to run again but, as we report in the story, has signaled Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) to be ready in the event those plans change.

Ever since Warner was elected governor in 2001, Virginia has grown increasingly competitive between the parties. President Bush carried it with 54 percent in 2004, but Gov. Tim Kaine (D) and Sen. Jim Webb (D) have won the last two statewide elections in the commonwealth.

2007-02-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

Another interesting item if found on the Hotline Blog :

When asked to select which category best describes a candidate's age, a majority of voters chose correctly for HRC, John Edwards and Giuliani. However, 41% believe McCain is 55-64. The senator is currently 71 years of age. Obama, 45, was also mistaken by 43% for being in the 35-44 range.

Only about 20% of all voters are aware of the top tier '08ers' religion. 22% correctly labeled Giuliani as Catholic and 20% correctly labeled Romney as Mormon. However, 6% incorrectly think Obama is Muslim [KATHERINE LEHR].

I always find the fact about McCain's interesting as I did not realize that for a very long time. It is interesting to see what people percieve likely based on media coverage. People are always talking about how young Obama is probably leading people to think he is younger than he is.

2007-02-27T14:24:00.000-05:00

Younger voters seem to support Democrats this year. Obama is especially popular among the younger cohort.

I found this at the Hotline On Call Blog (which you should read if you don't ):

But in general election match-ups, younger voters show their color. Giuliani beats HRC, Obama and Edwards among all respondents, but loses to all three Dems among those ages 18-29. Young respondents also prefer all three Dem frontrunners to McCain, who beats HRC and Edwards and ties with Obama among all ages.

Obama "draws stronger support from young adults than from any other age group" among Dems by 11 points, while young adults appear "slightly more supportive" of McCain than GOPers at large.

You can read the full report HERE

2007-02-27T13:57:00.000-05:00

John Edwards had some interesting comments on what happens if and when American troops leave Iraq this weekend. While I am very skeptical of Edwards this time around (I was a supporter last time) I do think this is a totally honest statement that is hard for a lot of people to admit and digest.

Asked by Schieffer if a person can run for president while saying that he does not know what will happen in Iraq if U.S. troops leave, Edwards said, "It’s the truth. It's clearly the truth. I mean, I think the American people know that. I have, I guess, enough faith in our people to think they can accept the truth. I think it’s really important for our next president to be viewed as open and honest and decent to reestablish the trust relationship between Americans and their president. And, by the way, I think it’s also going to be crucial fore that relationship to be reestablished between the president of the United States and the rest of the world."

I found this by way of ABCnews's Political Radar Blog

2007-02-27T10:48:00.000-05:00

I feel as though Brian McGrory goes a little unfairly after City Councilor John Tobin in his column today:

Read the column HERE: The Meter Is Running

But the guy I refer to is one John Tobin, an often excellent city councilor prone to occasional fits of folly. A recent Globe editorial named him "Boston's unofficial city councilor of cool ideas."

Cool ideas? Just last year, Tobin was proposing creation of a Walk of Fame in the Theater District honoring local celebrities like Mark Wahlberg and, well, maybe Mark Wahlberg. Tobin borrowed that idea from places like Anaheim and Branson. The poet laureate proposal he's stealing from St. Paul, Denver, and Santa Fe. What's wrong with us just being us?

Tobin's the same guy who, as the council was preparing to accept a pay raise, was quoted in the Globe saying: "The time involved in this job is absolutely incredible. It's mornings. It's nighttimes. It's weekends. It just never ends."

We had Tobin at our meeting last week and I would have to say that he really does care about the issues facing his district. He has clear command of the issues and really explained himself well. Based on what I know of others on the council, Tobin is as good as they come when it comes to constituent service. I think the real story when it comes to this poet item is that this is what the media wants to cover.

The Globe chose to put this on the cover of the paper because it sells more papers than talking about high property taxes. However, the idea is not a bad one alone -- it costs nothing to the city and can't hurt.

Vilsack is dropping out.

2007-02-23T11:36:00.000-05:00

Tom Vilsack is Dropping out of the Presidential Race.

It seems as though this was inevitable. Maybe another time he would have had a better chance but there are just too many stars in this race.

The Real Rudy

2007-02-23T09:46:00.000-05:00

As someone that is from New York I have just been waiting for people to talk about what New Yorkers thought of Rudy Giuliani for most of his term. This Slate article sums up the "real" Rudy pretty well have a look here:

Rudy Can Fail - He's a leader, not a manager.

But the presidential bid Rudy announced last week is staked on more than that Churchillian moment. It is also based on the notion that he is an effective manager who tamed an out-of-control metropolis and ran it efficiently. The real picture is somewhat more complicated. Giuliani was a frustrated and not very popular mayor on Sept. 10, 2001. Today, most New Yorkers do see him as a hero, but also as a self-sabotaging, thin-skinned bully. To put it more bluntly, we know he's a bit of a dictator.

2007-02-21T11:07:00.000-05:00

This story from the South End News takes a great look at the upcoming race for the seat vacated by City Councilor Jim Kelly.

Read the story here: District 2 Race Takes Shape

A response the the College Republican's Editorial in the NU News

2007-02-21T09:53:00.000-05:00

Have a look at Dave Moberg's Editorial HERE. I think the thinking on this goes just a little too far and does not take a look at a lot of the delicate undercurrents that exist in Iraq today. This situation is really much more complex than basically blowing Iraq to bits to provide security. We must look at the political situation as well as the military situation, while finding a way to move out of Iraq that leaves the country in decent shape. It is no easy task, we agree with Dave on that.

Dave writes:
Unfortunately, we're stuck with the situation at hand, and it isn't
pretty. The question is where do we go from here? Clearly, the Bush strategy has failed. But the Democratic alternative isn't much of an option either. If passing a non-binding resolution "supporting the troops" while "disagreeing with the President" is the Dems' idea of a winning strategy, we're done for.

I cannot really disagree with Dave on this count. The situation is complex and what we have seen in congress is a whole lot of posturing. We do need to work towards real solutions that accept the facts on the ground. We want to try to get Iraq towards a position that is largely where it was at when we went in. It is not going to be great but just up and leaving today leaves no security. Adding a zillion troops as Dave goes on to propose doesn't really correct our mistakes or fix the underlying political issues.

Then Dave just goes a little nuts:
Back in World War II, the American military pounded away at the
very core of the enemy. We used nuclear weapons against the Japanese. We fire-bombed the city of Tokyo. We turned Berlin into a pile of rubble. We fought to win. It seems today our politicians are unwilling to do what has to be done in order to win. We should have stormed Baghdad with swarms of Marines ready to kick some ass and take some names. We should have swept through the Sunni Triangle and taken care of business the first time. We should have turned Fallujah into a parking lot three years ago. But Bush, the Dems and those card-carrying ACLU lawyers made us fight this war with both hands tied behind our back. And look what happened. Look where we are today.

Let's put away our kiddie gloves and get our hands dirty. It's the
only way to save more American lives in the immediate future and the long run. Forget the "surge," let's overwhelm and overrun these guerilla terrorist cowards with 200,000 more troops. Whatever happened to shock and awe? Fight to win, or don't fight at all.

This is just plain nuts. Turning Iraq into a "parking lot" may temporarily solve our problem in Iraq but I am pretty sure that the rest of the world will hate us for it. I am more than sure that it will spawn more hatred of America and more violent terrorism.

I will not say that I have all the answers and I will try to explore some ideas in further posts. However, I am sure that blowing up Iraq and not paying attention to the delicate political solution is not the answer.

Site of the day

2007-02-20T21:11:00.000-05:00

Found this today: www.prezvid.com.

If they are going to stay on top of all this youtube business around 2008 then they will really be a great resource during the campaign.

City Councilor John Tobin - Wed. 7:30pm 346 Curry Student Center

2007-02-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder that City Councilor John Tobin will be speaking to our group Wednesday, February 21 at 7:30pm in 346 Curry Student Center. This should provide for an interesting and informative discussion of current issues here in Boston. To sign up on Facebook go HERE. Bring a friend!

Also, we will be selling NU Dems T-Shirts for $20 as our spring membership dues. For more visit www.northeasterndemocrats.com/tshirt.See you Wednesday night!

NU Dems for 08 Online

2007-02-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone had a great week. To start -- NU Democrats Spring T-Shirts are now on sale at www.northeasterndemocrats.com/tshirt. You can let me know if you would like one and pay at a meeting. The cost of the T-shirts include membership dues to be put towards our 2008 efforts.

2008 is rapidly approaching and it is our goal that the NU Democrats are very involved in this race. I wanted to use this weekend email to update you on what we are doing so far:

http://www.northeasterndemocrats.com/ is going to be ground zero for our 2008 efforts. At http://www.northeasterndemocrats.com/we will list all events for all candidates and information on how to get involved. If you click one of the candidate specific links on the left side of our homepage you will go to a "Northeastern University for Candidate" site. These sites will contain a little bit more information about candidates from the facebook pages for their campaigns to their internal networking sites and blogs. We will keep these pages updated with recent important information on the campaigns including news stories and stories by us on how NU Dems have been involved in the campaign. Because everything is just getting started the pages are a little lonely but will expand greatly over time. We hope that you use these pages as a way of getting involved even if you cannot make every meeting or event.

Below is a rundown of current 08 pages for candidates on our site, on facebook, and on campaign pages:

Barack Obama
NU Page: www.northeasterndemocrats.com/obama
facebook: HERE
my.barackobama.com : HERE

Hillary Clinton
NU Page: www.northeasterndemocrats.com/hillary
facebook: HERE

John Edwards
NU Page: HERE
facebook: HERE

Bill Richardson
NU Page: www.northeasterndemocrats.com/richardson
facebook: HERE

Tom Vilsack
NU Page: www.northeasterndemocrats.com/vilsack
facebook: HERE

We are back.

2007-02-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

Fellow Democrats.
We closed down our blog some time ago. This is our new blog and we plan to keep it active between now and the 2008 election. Send us your comments, suggestions, and ideas for this blog.

We hope you enjoy.
The Northeastern University College Democrats