Election Year Fun

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It makes scary sense- which I guess is what satire is supposed to do.

This is a Relief

Ventura won't run for U.S. Senate 'at this moment'
--Star-Tribune headline this evening.

Let's Hope Not..

Andrew Sullivan noted some scary stuff this past Sunday.

Bill Kristol airs the idea that if Obama looks as if he will win the election, Bush or Israel may be more likely to attack Iran before next January. Bush could say: Obama made me do it! Kristol also raises the prospect of Saudi Arabia and Egypt going nuclear in response to an Obama presidency. I think we'll see many more of these dire warnings if Obama looks like the next president..

He then points to another, similar comment from former UN ambassador John Bolton:

This morning on Fox News, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton continued his drumbeat for war against Iran. Adopting Bill Kristol’s argument, Bolton suggested that an attack on Iran depends on who Americans elect as the next President:

I think if they [Israel] are to do anything, the most likely period is after our elections and before the inauguration of the next President. I don’t think they will do anything before our election because they don’t want to affect it. And they’d have to make a judgment whether to go during the remainder of President Bush’s term in office or wait for his successor.

Andrew asks the most obvious question, "Could it happen?" His answer is that knowing Bush and Cheney and their attitude- Yes. I am afraid that I have to agree. They could do it, not just to elect McCain, but to finish their agenda before they leave office. There may be nothing as scary this year as a true lame duck administration from early November through January 20.

Now all of this rhetoric may be just that- saber-rattling, not toward Iran alone but toward the nation getting ready to elect a new president. But then again, rhetoric has been this administration's open door to action.

So, to repeat:

Let's Hope Not!

An Amazing Time in American History

“Tonight, we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Because of you, tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”
--Barack Obama, St. Paul, MN, 5/3/08

What Will She Do?

Florida and Michigan sort of seated.

Another big win for Clinton in Puerto Rico.

Tomorrow are the last two primaries.

Obama the likely recipient of enough delegates later this week.

What will Hillary do? What will she do?

Will she continue to fight, attempting to get superdelegates to change their minds and switch to her? Will she take the whole thing to a floor fight to make it even harder for Obama to have enough delegates- or if he does- call the whole process into question? Is she willing to sacrifice the election and possibly the party to suit her own political needs?

Or will she do the seemingly right thing and be filled with grace and end it now allowing time to regroup as a party and begin to focus on the fall elections?

I don't know, of course, and the pundits, even amateur pundits like me, have been consistently off base. What I hope she does is on Wednesday to announce that it is over, the votes are all in and even though she claims to have the popular vote, that it is clear that the party rules and organization and the primaries and caucuses have shown that Barack Obama is the nominee. She has stayed in until the last primary and given her supporters a chance to speak. But it is now time to unite.

If anyone reading this knows Hillary personally (well, I can believe in long-shots if she does) pass this on to her. It might be the final straw that helps her decide.

If not, well, we all just sit back and see what happens.

I Just Shake My Head

The reports continue that 10% of the people polled still believe that Obama is a Muslim. I found that hard to believe until I found something even harder to believe. I met one of those 10%. This one happened to be an Obama supporter who has followed the race closely. It is a person who has a great deal of common sense and political awareness.

Yet that person said that the one concern they had still was that Obama was a Muslim. They were quickly corrected by a couple people around them. They smiled and said they felt better about supporting him now.

Of course as Andrew Sullivan pointed out the other day in a post that

23 percent believe they've been in the presence of a ghost.
18 percent believe the sun revolves around the Earth.

As Sullivan adds, maybe 0nly 10% believing that Obama is a Muslim isn't such a large number after all.

A Chilling Thought

I have been a fan of sci-fi author Orson Scott Card since he snuck up behind me as I was reading his classic Ender's Game and pulled one of the biggest out-of-the-blue endings that I still am stunned by over 20 years later. I have read all but one of the Ender and Ender's Shadow series of novels as well as many other that Card has written.

One I missed a year or so ago when it came out was Empire. While I can't call it one of Card's best novels, it certainly fits into his overall work. It is set in a near-time future when a civil war is attempted in the United States. There are some stereotypical characterizations of liberals and conservatives and the extremes of both. On the surface it appears to be taking the liberals to task more so than the conservatives. The ending was not as big a surprise as Ender's but it was an interesting one. (No spoiler here.)

Then I realize that Card has done a quite decent job of portraying what happens when a society and culture like ours gets so deeply divided along those political lines. The insanity of extremes is seen on both sides and those in the more rational middle are often caught there in situations beyond their control. It then becomes their job to bring things to a hopeful conclusion. Whether they are able to do that is the unanswered- and perhaps unanswerable- question.

Card then adds an afterword in which he explains some of his fears and concerns about the United States in these divided and divisive times. He is arguing strongly for those in the more moderate middle of both sides to wake up before it is too late and the extremes on both sides succeed at a perhaps even unhealable divide.

That's where this is a chilling book. He makes it all sound so possible even as we argue with its possibilities. But we have lived with this deepening divide in the United States for many years now. The current campaign, especially the Democratic side but to a lesser extent on the Republican, shows how divided we can become and how we can play with and feed those divides. McCain has trouble with the "true believers" on the Right. Clinton and Obama are fighting over issues of race and gender though neither are often mentioned that bluntly.

We have too many divides; too many litmus tests for correct thinking; too many disparate groups wanting their way to be The Way. It is into such a place that we walk with great fear for we may turn to one who seeks to unite us when the truth he that one may only be seeking self-aggrandizement. So far no one like that has shown up and no new civil war seems at hand.

But if we remain this deeply divided, it may not take much.

A Morning After "What If...."

All the exit polls from Kentucky (and previously West Virginia) tend to show what I feel is a very disturbing trend. It is of course the racial divide that gets overwhelming votes to Senator Clinton over Senator Obama. Even some interviews shown on The Daily Show from other sources in West Virginia showed that people voted against Obama because he was Muslim (False!) and that his middle name was Hussein and "I'm tired of this whole Hussein thing."

Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish quoted from the Associated Press:

[T]he exit poll shows that one in five voters openly declared that race was a factor - and 81 percent of them voted for the Clintons. So one fifth proudly said they voted against a black man.

And of course many of those will either not vote in November, they say, or will vote for McCain.

What deeply, deeply saddens me is that a candidate will allow this to be used for her benefit and as part of the strategy to get the nomination. She will point out that she is getting a lot of votes without pointing out where they are coming from. She will say this shows that she has broader appeal than Obama. Probably because there are more white voters than black voters?

So what if tomorrow or next week or on June 3 Clinton has the courage and earns her true street cred by standing up and saying:

I am pulling out of this race and supporting Senator Obama because I cannot take the nomination that I won by racial division. I want this to be a united nation where race (like gender) doesn't matter. I want this to be a country where a black man is as likely to get elected as anyone else.

Yes, what if....

As Bobby Kennedy would regularly quote:

Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?"

I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not?"

Ted Kennedy- An American Icon

It came as a shock and stroke to the solar plexus when I saw the headline this afternoon that Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. He has been a central part of the American scene and the Democratic Party for 46 years since his first election in 1962.

1962? That was the year of the Cuban missile Crisis; before the Beatles were known; the first Wal-Mart store opened; the first James Bond film opened; Marilyn Monroe died; Nelson Mandela was arrested; and John Glenn orbited the earth. (Yes, Greg, I remember all those things.)

That's how long Ted Kennedy has been in the Senate. He certainly has had some bad years and aborted efforts to run for president. But he has become one of the great historic senators working both sides of the aisle quite well while remaining a standard bearer for the liberal traditions.

An icon is one who stands out in his profession and becomes almost a paradigmatic emblem of what he does. Ted Kennedy has become one of those outstanding persons. Many have disagreed with him, but he has been a steady presence.

Please Mr. Bush, Don't Get Involved

Standing in Israel whose existence can be traced, at least in part, to the aftermath of the Nazi's horrific "Final Solution" we now call the Holocaust, Mr. Bush appeared to liken Obama's willingness to talk with Iran to the appeasement policies of Great Britain prior to World War II. It is easy to paste a really negative label on someone in historic terms. Just say they would have been easy on the Nazis.

There is a fine line, of course, between appeasement, which is a giving in to an enemy and expecting them to behave, and talking to your enemies. Bush's statement would have precluded all the behind-the-scenes talks, for example, between Nixon's people and what we then called Red China. They were the big enemy. But then, without warning, Nixon announces a change. We were talking and about to enter into trade with them.

How about detente, the attempt from the late 60s to the early 80s to relax tensions with the Soviet Union? That, too, would be wrong.

Obama has gotten into trouble, not for saying he would talk with Iran, but for getting in the way of continuing to have An Enemy that is bigger than all the rest. We have forgotten Osama bin Laden as he probably roams the caves of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is still real. Are they being sponsored by Iran? Who knows. But the only way to learn what your enemy wants is to talk to him.

Will that prevent a war? Perhaps. Perhaps not. History is not very positive about the possibilities. That is not appeasement. It is good international relations. Is Iran as bad as the Nazis? Who knows. We kept talking to Stalin even as he was as horrific a leader as Hitler. We even had him on our side for a while.

No politics and foreign policy are not as simple as Mr. Bush tries to make them. I congratulate him on going to the Knesset and celebrating Israel's 60th birthday. But it was not a place for such politically charged rhetoric.

A Symbolic Win

So tonight Hillary had a big win in a state that she was expected to have a big win in and in which Obama never really contested her. They are calling it a "symbolic victory" whatever that is. It was a win. Period. Irrelevant? Probably. Useless? Could be. But symbolic? No.

Or perhaps it was symbolic of something-

• an inability to say "It's over."
• an attempt to gain some "bargaining power" at the convention.
• a campaign to undermine Obama's chances to win in November.
• give a voice to (I hate to say it) racism by pointing out the still divided American racial scene.

I don't know. I just don't know. Why do the voters want the race to continue to the end? What is beneath it all? The pundits have been trying to answer these question over and over. I don't know either.

Hillary has to know that she can't win. The people voting for her have to know this, too. Only time will tell what the results will be. Only come November will the final figures be tallied and someone new will be president. Who it is may be as much a reflection of these last weeks of the Democratic as on the final two candidates. I am tired of the ups and downs and questions and never-ending answers.

At this point all I know is that we have three weeks to go in this now interminable primary season. It was exciting and interesting for a while. It has become an odd and even dark-tinged race.

Still at Square One - or Not?

Another Wednesday. Now what?

It looks like it ain't over till it's over. Obama's big win in North Carolina came as expected. Clinton's bare bones win in Indiana says she's not going to have an easy road in spite of her optimism. Obama was the clear winner yesterday even though Clinton will probably not agree. (Interesting note- Obama congratulated Clinton for an Indiana win even before anyone but CBS News had projected a winner. After that her lead dropped to the bare bones win it became.)

Yes it was close. With 84% reporting only 38,000 votes (4%) separated the two in Indiana. No one was calling it at that point (except CBS, I believe.) That says a great deal about how close it really was. They didn't know much. At that point Obama had to win 57% in Lake Co. Indiana to move the results. Mathematically it was still possible since he had already won 62% in Indianapolis. It was still undecided when our editions of the Twin Cities papers went to bed last night. Quite a race.

So where then are we? One projection I saw said that when all is said and done in June Obama will be about 100 delegates shy of the nomination, 150 ahead of Clinton.

Which means that after last night, barring something big and magnanimous from Clinton the decision will head to the back rooms and board rooms of the Democratic National Committee. Can enough Super Delegates be convinced by Obama to assure him the nomination? Will Clinton manage to convince enough of those same Super Delegates that she has proven that Obama can't win in the fall because, look, he can't even beat Hillary? My guess is that there will be a few more Super delegates move to him this week. His major movement in Indiana will go a long way. But will it be enough to give DNC chair Howard Dean the leverage he needs to move this race away from that Square One it seems to be on?

Confusion reigns although perhaps less than on Monday.

But then again remember, it is the Democratic Party.

Grandiosity and Vengeance?

Well, no one will ever claim that this year's primaries have been dull. Actually, at this point I would like a little dull, especially after last weekend's press feeding frenzy instigated by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Bottom line is I can't believe it has been happening. On one level it makes me wonder if he wants Hillary to be the nominee- or worse- he wants Obama to lose so he can point to the terrible, terrible way that racism has affected this campaign. Barack loses or is denied the nomination and someone like Wright can point to that as one more excellent example of what he has been saying.

I was struck by the grandiosity of Rev. Wright and the self-centeredness. He reminded me of Jerry Falwell in that absoluteness of certainty that he seemed to exude as he spoke. That and a sense of vengeance. I can understand that he felt as if Barack may have repudiated him and he wants to strike back. Well, strike back he did.

Over at Beliefnet, author Diana Butler Bass had some good and nice things to say about Rev. Wright's talks. But she is coming at it from an academic/theological point of view. Such nuances and niceties are not possible in a political battle like we are facing. Rev. Wright knew exactly what he was doing and what impact it would have. It was political undermining plain and simple.

Unfortunately Obama is being microscopically scrutinized. That's what politics does. As he has become the "front-runner" the attacks get greater. In the end, though, it may not be Clinton or McCain who tolls the bell for the Obama campaign. It will be a former friend who may have simply not liked being dismissed and turned back on Obama.

If so, that may be the greatest tragedy of the election. Let's hope that the voters will not use this as an issue when they go to the polls next week.

Well, Where Are We Now?

It's another morning after. I'm beginning to get a Wednesday-After-A-Primary hangover. I can't imagine how the candidates feel.

Last night it was too close to call for a while. Nothing new about that! Hillary said a win is a win is a win and there's no pulling back if she wins. Bill, meanwhile, was working on foot and mouth technique. And Barack was wondering why things won't just work out so he can get some rest.

So around 9:00 pm Pennsylvania time Hillary was declared the winner. At that point it was yet to be determined by how much and what that would mean. As I pondered that question last evening is when I truly realized I didn't like the hangover this long drawn out single primary has given me.

• I don't like it because it is all so media driven.


• I don't like it because it has gotten so personal.


• I don't like it because it has gotten so negative.


• I don't like it because I don't like to see a former President being so obnoxious.


• I don't like it because under much of it are the old problems of racism and sexism.

(No I don't believe Bill is a racist nor Obama a sexist. It is the nature of the election, however, that those issues are under far too much of what people are concerned about.)

• I don't like it because the issues about which many people feel so deeply are being ignored for superficial and manufactured issues. Experience? Not an issue, not really. Rev. Wright and flag pins and over-the-hill former Weathermen? Forget it.

Let's get serious and talk about the war and the economy and the environment. Let's get even more serious and talk about the incredible erosion of freedom and civil rights in a terrorized country- terrorized not by terrorists but by the fear of terrorists and inflamed by demagogues.

Which, somewhat to my surprise, although it fits his character, is what Obama did in his speech. A very gracious speech that congratulated Clinton on her win. But here was a candidate showing his self-confidence (found in the delegate numbers, of course) ready to fight the next election fight against McCain and trying to show he has The Stuff.

Clinton's speech was also good. Regardless of who wins, I believe that she would be a good president and we, as a nation will be safer than we have been. She had class last night, but as one of the CNN commentators noted, that will probably disappear in a couple days as she goes back on the attack.

She did win that double digit margin though. Which raises the question for some- Why can't Obama bring this to a close? Unfortunately, no matter how good or great a speaker he is, no matter how much class he continues to exude, no matter that the even more wealthy Clinton can accuse him of elitism (still beyond my understanding!) he is at the mercy of many factors over which he is completely powerless.

The scariest thing about the whole race remains for me the dogged tenacity of Clinton that almost has an entitlement attitude about it. It will not (as a die-hard Democrat) prevent me from voting for her in the fall if she should steal win the nomination, but it will probably lose the election for the Democrats. For them to win, Obama has to be the nominee and Hillary absolutely, positively MUST work to get her votes in the blue-collar, white middle class to go out and support him. It is not an option. Her continuing to run makes that less and less likely. Unfortunately.

Anyway, we have two weeks until North Carolina and Indiana. Will that finally bring an end to the fight? Don't listen to any of the pundits. Just hope that it does.

An interesting sidebar from the McCain campaign then today as the candidate supposedly has asked the North Carolina GOP to pull an ad that used Obama's pastor against two democrats in NC who support Obama. Last I heard the NC GOP is saying "No!" Raises a question, that since McCain is in some ways not the Republican extremism and may actually mean what he says in this case, what kind of impact will he be able to have on the old pols who want to run the dirty, in the mud campaign?

Part of McCain's quote:

I don't know why they do it. Obviously, I don't control them, but I'm making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it....

[W]e need not engage in political tactics that only seek to divide the American people.

To This I Can Only Add...

...finally, the real American Dream come alive.

What I am referring to is this statement by Hillary yesterday in Winston-Salem, NC. Because of the current campaign she said, America is...

letting go of not only the heavy burden of ignorance, but of prejudice and discrimination, sexism as well as racism.

What is exciting — and for me humbling — is that this contest that I'm engaged in with Senator Obama exemplifies that. And because of what we are doing, I honestly believe we have broken one of those invisible barriers that never again will any little boy or girl in America not believe that he or she — black, white, brown, whatever — cannot grow up to be president. Because that is now over. We have created that possibility in this moment of time.

Of course, that American Dream costs a lot of money. Which may remain the biggest obstacle for most people. (Elitist? Nah.)

That, and of course, that no sane person should even want the job.

One Week To Go

Well, bitterness or whatever elitist ideas might come up in the next 7 days, we have a week left until The Pennsylvania Primary. It's kind of like the common cold. If you ignore it, it will be over in a week. If you watch it, it will be gone in 7 days.

We have gone so long since the last primaries that sooner or later the last week was bound to happen. Barack had been doing so well keeping his foot out of his mouth- or more to the point- not falling prey to the dreaded Disease Democrat. They have such a great way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It may be because they are less scripted than the Republicans or it may be that they are attempting to figure out too many different sub-groupings. But they usually end up saying or doing something that throws everything into chaos.

In part that's what Barack did last week with his comments on "bitter" citizens of small towns. Now, in all honesty, I grew up in a Pennsylvania small town which is smaller today than it was then. It has been a depressed area in many ways for many decades as lumber and then the railroads left the area. It is a place of amazing beauty, but it is not a place with a lot of future potential. It is a place where one can become bitter, I am sure.

It has always been a highly Republican area. My family was in the minority by being life-long Democrats. I am sure that is true of many, many people in the area. Like most of the United States away from the coasts and pockets like Madison or Minneapolis, it doesn't like change. That is often because change often takes more away from those places than it gives.

Do they cling to guns and religion? Not in the way many are talking about it. They stick to what has been their life- religion and hunting and fishing and the local tavern. It was an area of heavy-duty moonshining during Prohibition. (Google Prince Farrington, for example.) It is a life that tries to find stability and groundedness in a seemingly ungrounded world.

It is a way of life that I am sure none of the three Presidential candidates know. None of them lived in that environment. None of them can ever truly understand it. I have not lived in it for 40 years myself and there is much about it that I have left behind. Not entirely out of choice, but out of location. I don't live in it. But when I go back I see it and feel it. I hear my family members talk about it.

The one who wins next week will be the one who can, in essence, promise the Democratic voters of those small towns that they are not lost in the shuffle. The winner will be able to at least give them a feeling that they are not being ignored. The winner may even be the one who offers the least amount of change. That's a tough act for two people who, by their very presence are change.

In the end, McCain will win most of those areas in the fall. It will be as it often has been- the eastern and western metropolitan areas vs. the rest of the state. Is that bad? No, that's democracy when the people can at least give voice to who they are, where they have been and where they would like to somehow or another be. I guess I still think that may be the most important part of who we all are as Americans.

Sidenote: As Brian Williams pointed out on the NBC Nightly News last night, have you noticed that we have three U.S. Senators accusing each other of being "elitist?" By the very definition of being a U. S. Senator, they will be among The Elite. Most politicians- no, I would venture to say any serious politician running for president is, by definition, education, and financial status- elite.

So let's get over that and get back to issues.

A Comedy of Errors Continues

Well, it seems like Bill Clinton stepped into it. Again. Yesterday in Indiana he decided to defend Hillary's "misstatements" about the sniper fire in Bosnia.

First, Mr. Clinton made some comments about her making the statement when she was tired in the middle of the night. Not true. Then there was something about immediately apologizing. Also not true. He also repeated a claim that she was the first First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to go into a combat zone. Alas, also no true.

So the candidate's press office had to say:

"Senator Clinton appreciates her husband standing up for her, but this was her mistake and she takes responsibility for it."

Well, Bill's a good man. He admitted that he has been pushed under out of the bus on this one when he spoke to reporters today:

"Hillary called me and said 'You don't remember this. You weren't there, let me handle it.' I said, 'Yes ma'am,'"

Yes, I realize it is things like this that give people some reason to say they will vote for McCain if Obama loses. For some it's a trust issue. For other's it's all about Bill.

At the County Convention

As I mentioned last week I was a delegate to the local County DFL Convention. (DFL is the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party- the Democratic Party of Minnesota.) That was held on Saturday at one of the local high schools. All together there were about 550 delegates from the precinct caucuses held back in February. There could have been as many as 900+ but obviously some decided that a semi-sunny Saturday was more tempting.

For me it was a lot of fun. Many years ago I was involved in some campaigning for the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania when Milton Shapp was running. I have always been a political junkie (and a political science major). But for years I stayed out of politics. (More on that later.) Well, this year I decided to get back in. So, with no further introduction, here are some of my reflections on the Olmsted County Minnesota DFL convention....

• There is nothing like grass roots politics. Absolutely nothing. It is politics in its rawest form, American-style. A county convention is just one step above the foundational level- the precinct caucus. Last week when I was writing about the Big Race, Greg commented that democracy is supposed to be effective, not necessarily efficient. Well, that's the grass roots.


• The excitement in the place was palpable and contagious. You have to know a little of the local history (which I am just learning) to realize why. For years and years many of the local elections were just a glorified 1-party race- Republican. It was at times impossible to even get people to agree to run from the DFL. It was a DFL-wasteland. But no more. A Democrat is the US Representative. State house Representatives are mostly Democrats for the first time in decades and decades. No wonder everyone was excited. This was the largest DFL County Convention in our county's history.


• It was interesting being campaigned with. There are two Democrats running for the endorsement to run against Norm Coleman our Republican US Senator. Coleman was elected six years ago after the amazing and incumbent Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. It is a BIG thing to try to regain that seat. The two candidates running are former TV comedian and writer Al Franken and a college professor named Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. (His supporters and posters simply refer to him as "Jack.") I find myself undecided at this point. So, I walked around the cafeteria to the different candidates' tables and asked the basic question... "Why should I support your candidate?" (I even had a chance to ask Franken himself. No real answer given since I didn't expect one.) Once I asked the question I became a "target" of politicking. I can't imagine what the Superdelegates are going through.


• I was struck though by the passionate supporters of some of the candidates. It was actually a little scary. I could have sworn I saw myself from 40 years ago running around with passion and grandiosity, hope and self-righteousness. My candidate and my way were the way. Some candidates inspire that kind of passion more than others. Is such passion wrong? No. It may be quite healthy until it begins to judge the other candidate's supporters as less committed, less patriotic, less radical, or whatever the particular view may be.


• Which brings me to Hillary's supporters at the convention. They were particularly loud and trying to be as obvious as possible. I couldn't quite figure out why since that race for delegates here in Minnesota was decided long ago (two months now.)


• One of the realizations I had though about myself was that for many years I have been on a cynical sideline. The events from 1968 - 1974 (end of Watergate) left me with what I would have called a "realistic" view of politics. In reality it was a cynical one born from shattered dreams, an awareness of my own- and others- self-righteousness and divisive approaches to politics. There was also a fatalism that said, even though the system "worked" at least on some levels and Nixon was brought down, the toll was too great. Idealism doesn't work. It will always lose.
  
  Perhaps that's true. It may always lose. But for the first time in the past generation I have the feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, there is still reason to be involved in a deeper way. I have always voted. I have supported candidates but I have left things stay short of excitement. I remember feeling good when Bill Clinton was elected. I was overjoyed when we in Wisconsin elected Russ Feingold. I was looking forward to having a chance to vote for Wellstone. But I was constantly being gnawed by the cynicism.


• Well, perhaps it is time for my generation's self-centered grandiosity and self-righteous entitlement to step aside. Above everything else I was impressed, truly impressed by the young people at the convention. Some will be just barely 18 in time to vote. But there they were campaigning, talking, being out front.
  
  Well, maybe I shouldn't step aside and ignore it. I am willing to get out there and work with them. I am willing to once again believe that there is possibility. More than ever I am proud of what we can do as Americans when we work together. This campaign will not be an easy one no matter which Democrat finally gets the nomination. Lies, negative campaigns, name-calling- we ain't seen nothin' yet.
  
  But maybe, just maybe, we can step a little higher than that. Raise the lowest common denominator to one that respects the political differences and seeks instead to live who we can truly be.
  
  WOW! Wouldn't that be even more exciting?

Local Politics Continuing

Back in February at our local DFL caucus I volunteered to be a delegate to our county convention. I figured, "Why not?" It should be interesting.

Last night we had a "training" session for the convention at the local DFL headquarters. Wow. The place was packed. The county convention this coming Saturday is probably the largest ever held in the county. So far there are about 900 delegates scheduled. When you upgrade the alternates in order to give a full convention it will be around 1100 delegates- nearly as large as the state convention will be in June. To say the local DFL leadership is happy is an understatement.

And most of us are new to this whole system. It truly is a grass roots movement. When you work from the type of caucus system that Minnesota has, you run that risk. Newbies get interested in a particular year due to an interesting race and you never know what might come out of it. We will have 54 resolutions we can pass on to the state convention. We will be electing 27 delegates and 27 alternates to that convention. We will be hearing speeches (of course) from both of the DFL US Senate candidates. (Al Franken is the better known one, of course.)

It will be another interesting day in an already more than interesting election year. While the national stuff goes on (and on and on and on...) it is here at the local level that it is also still happening.

I am looking forward to it. I will blog about it afterward and update you on what it's like to be on at least the outside of the inside while all this is happening. I guess you can teach an old dog some new tricks - or at least give him some new experiences.

Meanwhile With the Big Race

(Sorry, I guess I shouldn't play the Race Issue.)

Seriously, though, things continue to get worse on that level. I am getting more and more worried. I heard on the news the other evening (last night I think) that 20 some percent of both Obama and Clinton supporters would consider supporting McCain if their candidate isn't nominated.

You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe that kind of approach since both of them have almost exactly identical positions on almost every issue. The differences are often a matter of language. And yet, their supporters would vote for McCain. Talk about narrow-minded politics.

Which leads me to part 2 of the rant. Some Big Money Clinton Supporters have threatened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because she made a statement about the superdelegates being open to the will of the people. It was a "we're going to take our money and run if you don't listen to us" threat. Talk about shooting the Donkey right between the eyes. I gather that Pelosi's office made a statement today that she stands by what she has been saying all along. Good for her!

I know I am a lonely voice in this little old blog. But I am sure I am not alone when I want to tell the Big Guys and Gals to lighten up. The die-hard Democrats may say that the party won't be hurt, but when elections are as narrowly decided as they now seem to be, it isn't the die-hards the Democrats look to lose.

It is the election itself in November.

Unfortunately, as Winston Churchill once said,

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

It is messy and challenging and a lot of other things. But I agree with Mr. Churchill. I am not ready to trade it. I just hope we don't.