Friday, February 01, 2008

My Guy Barack Won The LA Debate









Tuesday Evening


I worked the subway crowd on 14th and 8th. I realized only in the aftermath that it had been a GLBT event.

Wednesday Evening

Sylvan threw a salsa party not far from the event the evening before at Plumm. I like the buffet dinner part, then watched people dance. After a few hours, I left. I was in a mood for a movie. I walked towards Union Square to catch a flick, but instead ended up buying one, a De Niro flick for $10.

Thursday Evening

Time: Thursday, January 31 at 6:00 PM
Host: Generation Obama
Location: The Grand (New York, NY)
41 East 58th Street
New York, NY 10018


That was the bomb. Jeremy's Generation Barack Obama threw a lavish debate watch party on the 58th, The Grand. He threw in some good news at the very beginning. We were now only three points behind in California, and we were running neck and neck in New York City. After South Carolina and the Kennedy endorsements, what do you expect?

The crowd was more than 700 strong. Met some interesting people.

Met a law professor at Brooklyn Law who I might be able to make use of for my startup. Met two EKU grads, Eastern Kentucky University. They threw a few Berea names at me. Do you know such and such? Met some other men and women. Met a guy who teaches and is also a screenwriter. A movie of his is about to hit the theaters. Big league stuff.

"You don't go to random bars," he said. "If you want to meet alert women, you come to these political events."

I think I spotted Lewis Cohen. He was with a stunning woman. Looks like the dude is going places. Once in a while Lewis Cohen will do the right thing, like show up for an Obama event.

Obama 2008 Is Working For Me

I met Anna Lewis at the event. She had a big Women For Obama sticker on her chest.

"Are you a mover shaker with Women for Obama?" I teased her.

"Yes, I am," she said.

I followed up with her a little later.

"In this town if this guy Jeremy knows you, that is like a status symbol," I said.

She said she was a movie producer. I said, put me in one of your movies for five seconds, you don't have to pay me.

"So you want to be an extra?"

"Well, that is not how I would put it. I don't have the time to be a movie star."

You can put me in as a terrorist, or something, I said.

"You want to be a terrorist?"

"No. I just thought that might be an easy role to get hold of."

She gave me her email address. Looks like I might end up in some movie. This Obama thing is so totally working out for me.

Jesse

Jesse Jackson is a great American, but Barack is greater. Why is Bill Clinton trying to confuse people?

Bill Perkins

Bill Perkins is the next Mayor of New York City. Anthony Weiner is a good guy, but he should continue as Congressman. Jewish Governor, Black Mayor, brown friend to the Mayor, fair enough.

It is time to put a Democrat in that office. Bill will get a solid reaction in Harlem and Brooklyn. He needs to really start reaching out to the white crowds in the city. That is the Obama way. He has been the mascot for Obama 2008 in this city.

He is a well-educated man - Cornell grad - who could offer sound management, racially inclusive policies, and a meritocratic team.

In The News

Dozens Killed in Worst Baghdad Attack in Months New York Times
Female bombers kill 72 at Baghdad pet markets Reuters
2 Mentally Retarded Female Bombers Strike Pet Markets in Baghdad ... ABC News
US Loses Jobs, Recession Fears Gain Strength TheStreet.com
A Blow Against Al-Qaeda — and Musharraf
TIME A U.S. Predator strike on a militant compound in Northwest Pakistan may have killed a top al-Qaeda operative. If confirmed, the death of Abu Laith al-Libi, believed to be one of the highest-ranking leaders of the terror group after Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, would be a coup in the war on terror. ..... "Coordinated attacks using Pakistani intelligence and U.S. firepower
The Battle for the Latino Vote many like that "young boy, what's his name? Barack Obama?" .... Obama, who is half-white, half-black, pretty much transcended race, winning Iowa, which is 95% white, and placing a close second in New Hampshire, which is 96% white ..... the Obama campaign has made Latino outreach one if its top priorities ..... The campaign's extenstive Latino outreach program includes 6,000 precinct captains and 223 teams of 1,500 trained volunteers. They were the first up with Spanish language TV and radio ads, and have placed tens of thousands phone calls reaching out to Latino households. ....... Obama trails Clinton in polls of Latino voters 59% to 19% ..... Overall, Clinton leads Obama 39% to 27% ..... Her campaign has placed nearly 650,000 calls to Latino women — part of the nearly two million they've done total, twice as many as the Obama campaig ...... There should not be a woman in this state that we do not reach out to ..... Up to half of the four million likely California Democratic voters are expected to vote before primary day, as more than a million already have done .... Salazar said she might well have voted for Obama if she had waited until Election Day. .... home to two women U.S. Senators, as well as Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House
A No-Friction Clinton-Obama Debate
Microsoft and Yahoo: A Perfect Match?
Bill Clinton, Get Out of the Way "There may be a better salesman than I am," Bill Clinton said, smiled, then paused as chuckles rippled through the audience. ...... The Bush Administration wanted to develop two new nuclear weapons, he said, while it was trying to persuade the Iranians to stop enriching uranium. "There may be a better salesman than I am," he said, "but that's a tough sale. We're telling the Iranians, �You can't have any of something we want two more of.'" ........ Unwilling to stop campaigning after his last event, he had gone to the cafeteria at the University of South Carolina. About 15 kids were there, and they started texting their friends. Pretty soon several hundred kids had gathered, and Clinton held forth for two hours, answering their questions. ....... for Bill Clinton, there is no more powerful jones than grabbing an audience ..... those unutterably decent, hardworking, middle-class, churchified African Americans. They had been shocked and hurt, and then enraged, by his foolish, two-week effort to diss Barack Obama. ...... He was the first President to talk easily with blacks, as equals, without condescension. He was the best white politician I have ever seen in a black church. ..... he thinks he won New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton. ..... He has made it a co-candidacy. He has cheapened it by using cheesy, misleading tactics against Obama. ..... His reappearance made her seem weak, unable to defend herself. ..... If she is elected, who exactly will be President? What happens when there is a real crisis? My guess is, she'd be able to handle almost anything ... except him. I could easily see him jumping the shark, sending mixed messages when a single voice of authority is crucial — especially if the crisis involves one of his specialties, like the Middle East.
The Year of the Youth Vote The Senator's daughter Maddie Esposito had seen the way her mother teared up whenever she heard Obama speak. ...... "You know you believe in him," Maddie admonished her damp-eyed mother. "It's time to step up." The next morning, Maddie, a college freshman home for the holidays, added a threat: "You have to do it, or I'm never talking to you again." ....... Kids like Maddie Esposito are the muscle of Obama's army. His campaign has become the first in decades — maybe in history — to be carried so far on the backs of the young. ...... Caroline Kennedy's three teenagers began working on her last year. ..... His opponents promise to fight, but Obama promises healing. His is the language of possibility, which is the native tongue of the young. ...... Combining with digital-age technologyold-fashioned shoe leather, the Illinois Senator first rallied Iowa students to cancel Clinton's cakewalk. ..... a youthquake that reverberates upward ..... Their interest in the election exceeds their interest in celebrity news or sports — 7 of 10 said they are paying attention to the race. .... his superior ground game. ..... To win those kids, Obama did something unusual in politics: he made them a genuine priority. After his rallies in towns across the state, he met backstage with student leaders from the area — a privilege most campaigns reserve for local VIPs and fund raisers. ........ 19th century politics using 21st century tools ..... voters are more likely to go to the polls if they are asked face-to-face by someone they trust ..... personal canvassing is more effective than direct mail or phone calls from strangers ........ know your voters and turn them out personally ..... A student-to-student phone bank dialed tens of thousands of dorm rooms and cell phones. ...... teasingly racy "Show Us Your O-Face" parties ...... "People feel more comfortable if they're part of a group." ..... Facebook, the largest of Internet social-networking sites, boasts a market share of more than 85% of four-year U.S. universities ...... young people are intensely connected online. ..... she is an eternal piece of their mental furniture. .... Obama, by contrast, radiates the new. He doesn't just talk about change; he looks like change. His person and his platform are virtually indistinguishable. Obama, like Tiger Woods and Angelina Jolie, has one of those faces that seem beamed from a postracial future, when everyone will have a permanent, noncarcinogenic tan. ...... We've yet to see Obama flustered or harried; instead, he gives off the enigmatic Zen confidence of the guy who is picked first for every game. ..... What concerns many of them is the nature of politics: the perceived gridlock of parties, conniving of special interests and shallow biases of the media.
Work Out and Drink Up
After civil debate, Obama attacks Clinton Newsday
Small donors add up to $36b secret weapon for Obama The Age
Obama not sure Clinton would get his voters MSNBC






Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Running Mate



Fairytale, Slum, Jesse

Bill Clinton said fairytale. Hillary said slum. Bill Clinton said Jesse.

Obama-Sebelius


That might be a great ticket too. Senator-Governor.
Kathleen Sebelius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia chair-emeritus of the Democratic Governors Association. ..... moved to Kansas in 1974 at the age of 26 ...... In 1994 she left the House to run for state insurance commissioner and stunned political forecasters by winning — the first time a Democrat had won in more than 100 years. She is credited with bringing the agency out from under the influence of the insurance industry ....... . She refused to take campaign contributions from insurers and blocked the proposed merger of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, with an Indiana-based company. The decision by Sebelius marked the first time the corporation had been rebuffed in its acquisition attempts....... as of January 2006 was one of the most popular governors in the country ..... 22 months of continuous job growth, although the majority of the job growth was the creation of local government jobs. Taxes were never increased during her term in office, nor did essential service suffer cuts. ....... did not support an April 2005 amendment to the Kansas Constitution that made same-sex marriage in the state unconstitutional. ....... On 2006 May 26 Sebelius formally announced her candidacy for re-election. Four days later, Mark Parkinson, former Kansas state GOP Party Chair, switched his party affiliation to Democratic; the following day Sebelius announced that Parkinson would be her running mate for Lieutenant Governor. ...... landslide re-election with 57.8 percent of the vote to Barnett's 40.5 percent. ....... During the 2004 election Sebelius was named as a potential running mate for John Kerry. In the aftermath of Kerry's defeat in the 2004 presidential election, some pundits named Sebelius as a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. ........ she was chosen by the Democratic Party's congressional leaders to give their party's official response to Republican President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address ......... Sebelius is now chair of the Democratic Governors Association, a popular launchpad for those with national political ambitions. ..... In November 2005 Time named Sebelius as one of the five best governors in America, praising her for eliminating a $1.1 billion debt she inherited, ferreting out waste in state government, and strongly supporting public education — all without raising taxes. Also praised was her bipartisan approach to governing, a useful trait in a state where Republicans have usually controlled the Observe also the presence of Legislature.Republicans such as Keith Sebelius in her family. ...... In February 2006, the White House Project named Sebelius one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run and/or be elected president in 2008.





Obama-Napolitano

That is another possibility.

Janet Napolitano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

McCain-Romney

That would be a good ticket. I think it would be great to see a Mormon on a national ticket. Romney has been manufactured to run for the vice presidency and lose.

Message To Elizabeth Caputo

I want you to quit your current job and come join my corporate team early in 2009. You can become COO. First year or two might feel like a paycut, but the equity will bountifully make up for it over the years. The pay goes up too.

In The News

Why Edwards Never Caught On TIME What no one, not Clinton or Edwards, was prepared for was the insurgency candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. ..... a $6 million home on 100 acres outside Chapel Hill ..... personal worth is as much as $30 million ...... his campaign was stunned when he garnered just 4% of the vote in the Nevada caucuses ...... should help Obama consolidate the sizeable anti-Hillary contingency
Giuliani Completes His Collapse
McCain Disproves the Doubters The contest between John McCain and Mitt Romney has long resembled a horror movie, a blood-and-guts battle between a man risen from the dead and a candidate seemingly created in a lab. ...... what he might be thinking in the darker recesses of his mind "Why won't you die?!" .... "People understand the difference between a very good salesman and a commander in chief." ..... His embrace of comprehensive immigration reform ..... "There's still a huge number of states to go," says unaligned GOP pollster Whit Ayers. "And Romney has a lot more money." ..... Romney outspent McCain in Florida on the order of eight to one. ...... that skeptical bit character in horror films — the one who refuses to believe that the monster is real.
How the Kennedy Nod Helps Obama for a moment there, it was a bit overwhelming for Barack Obama. ...... The Obama campaign is planning a full schedule for Kennedy, particularly in places, such as the Latino community, where Obama remains an unknown quantity and the Kennedy name still carries enormous emotion. Kennedy also carries significant clout with organized labor, which could be looking for a new candidate to rally behind ........ Kennedy declared Obama to be nothing less than his brother's rightful heir ..... proceeded to demolish every attack line that she and her husband have thrown Obama's way. ..... his move was in large part the product of his unhappiness with Bill Clinton's hard-knuckled style of campaigning for his wife. Two weeks ago, the two of them had an angry confrontation by phone. ....... he got word through former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, one of his prominent supporters, that Senator Kennedy was trying to reach him ..... Before Kennedy's sister Jean Smith left the event, she handed the Illinois Senator a slip of paper and asked for one small favor. Obama obliged—and gave her an autograph.
Heading for a Delegate Donnybrook? 75 media markets and nearly 1,700 delegates up for grabs on February 5 ..... both Obama and Clinton will continue to rack up convention delegates through the spring ..... Clinton and Obama could split the delegate haul in roughly equal fashion ...... February 5 won't determine much of anything at all. Except that the race will go on. And every delegate up for grabs after that becomes even more valuable to all sides. ..... Jesse Jackson and Michael Dukakis fought a bruising five-month battle for the nomination ..... the fight will go on to all the other states. ...... neither side captures a clear majority before April or even May. ..... Clinton is running ahead of Obama in the super-delegate sweepstakes, although they can technically change their allegiance even after they have pledged it
John Edwards to Quit Presidential Race Washington Post
Edwards to Drop Out of Democratic Race New York Times
A New Burst of Killings in Kenya TIME a new wave of ethnic violence has broken out across the country. ..... "We all have multiple identities but I hope you see yourselves as Kenyans first," Annan said. ...... forcible circumcision of Luos, who traditionally do not practice that rite ..... Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, long accused of being the object of favors from successive Kenyan governments, against Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjin, which had hoped an Odinga victory in the December 27 election would right decades of perceived injustices. ....... the police are not doing their work, they are also political, they are favoring one side ....... Kenya's economy, whose chief engines are horticulture, tourism and tea. All three industries have been crippled.
Clinton gains Florida fillip after bruising by Obama AFP Florida may have been a phantom stop on the White House road, but Hillary Clinton trumpeted her Sunshine State victory as she vied to regain the limelight from her high-wattage rival Barack Obama. ....... "Obama and Clinton tie for delegates in Florida -- 0 for Obama, 0 for Clinton." ...... "Now that Senator Clinton has lost badly in South Carolina, she's trying to assign meaning to a contest that awards zero delegates and where no campaigning has occurred." ...... Los Angeles on Thursday, for their last televised debate ..... staunch support from the Hispanic community -- which backed her by a two-to-one margin in Florida.
In Background, a Battle for Superdelegates Washington Post But he considers Kennedy "a mentor" who helped to get him elected to Congress in 1982. ..... superdelegates, who account for about a quarter of the total number of delegates ..... Sebelius, Kennedy (Mass.), Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano are among those who recently signed on as Obama supporters. ..... Of the nearly 300 superdelegates who have committed to a candidate, out of a total of 796, Clinton leads Obama roughly by a 2-to-1 ratio ..... superdelegates can change their allegiance at any time ...... The threat of a wholesale shift hangs over both candidates. Kennedy's endorsement came in part after the veteran Democrat grew frustrated with Clinton campaign tactics that some construed as racially charged. ..... "The only reason Hillary Clinton is ahead right now is because more politicians, particularly politicians in very blue states, have endorsed her," said McCaskill ...... Richardson said: "If I do endorse, it's going to be a gut feeling. It's not going to be about statistics, about past ties. I've been on the campaign trail with both of them. I feel that I know them. I feel I know the issues. I feel I know what makes them both tick." ...... "Some people fell in love very easily. Other people have to be courted like you're asking them out on a date. Seriously, it's a dating game. It's exciting."
Obama denies snubbing Hillary Clinton Los Angeles Times
Obama strikes gold in Kansas
National Post dropping in on the town where his white mother grew up to "talk about the roots of my life that directly connect to the broader story of the country." ....... had never before visited El Dorado ...... places where oil is still pumped ..... Clinton, is concentrating on the Democratic strongholds of California, New York, New Jersey and her one-time home state of Arkansas ..... Obama hopes to run Ms. Clinton close in the big states, while scoring in smaller, traditionally Republican "red states" such as Kansas, Utah, Idaho and Alaska. ..... the place where his grandparents met as high-school sweethearts ..... exotic childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia.
Clinton Savors 'Great Victory' FOXNews
Spike in turnout could benefit both Clinton and Obama
Boston Globe a 90 percent increase in Iowa, 30 percent in New Hampshire, and 83 percent in South Carolina ...... Obama beat her among white 18- to 29-year-olds, 52 percent to 27 percent .... Latinos in that state chose Clinton over Obama 64 percent to 26 percent. ..... She beat Obama handily among women in New Hampshire and Nevada, the two states she won, but Obama beat her among women in Iowa and South Carolina, the two states he won. ...... Obama is unlikely to beat Clinton among Latinos, but he can work to close the gap
California is Clinton country... MSNBC more votes will be cast by mail in California than were cast in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina combined ...... 47% of all votes will be cast by mail. ..... state voters are fiercely independent, and wouldn’t be swayed in significant numbers by Obama’s significant win in South Carolina