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Dear Democrats Around the World,

This is DA Wednesday Wire No. 138, 7 May 2008.

Wednesday Wire is copyright protected, but I choose not to exercise it. If you do quote what is here, it would be nice to give credit.

WW is now also appearing, in part or in whole, on the GroupNewsBlog.net and Americans Away from Home. Both are interesting and very different websites, well worth a visit.

Topics This Week

1. The North Carolina and Indiana results.
2. Let’s Do the math…again.
3. A (not so bold) Prediction and what will happen if it isn’t correct.
4. A further look at the Jeremiah Wright affair
5. The Carter Center and the Bush Library
6. State by State
7. Reading Recommendations
8. And finally…

1. The North Carolina and Indiana results.

The Indiana count went down to the wire because one county likes to report only after they have counted all the votes – Lake County, where Gary is, nearly pushed the result in the other direction. Note the McCain totals – for a guy who has already won the nomination, these numbers are pathetic. The Ron Paul numbers have to be of great concern for November to the Republican leadership.

INDIANA (99%);                  
    Clinton                  Obama
    Votes     %      Del.    Votes     %      Del.
    638,192   50.89   38     615,753   49.11   34

    McCain       Huckabee      Paul        Romney
    Votes   %    Votes   %     Votes   %   Votes   %
    317.8K 77    41.0K  10     31.5K  8    19.5K  5
	
NORTH CAROLINA (99%)           
    Clinton                    Obama                                            
    Votes      %      Del.     Votes     %     Del.
    657,943    41.86   42      890,700   56.68   60

   (13 delegates still not distributed (estimates are 10 for Clinton and 3 more for Obama)

    McCain       Huckabee    Paul      No. Preference
    Votes   %    Votes   %   Votes  %  Votes  %                                 
    381.1K 73    52.9K  12   40.3K  8  20.3K  4       

The SurveyUSA run as the most accurate pollster took a big hit. SUSA had predicted a five point win in NC and a 12 point loss in Indiana for Obama. The most laughed-at pollster this season was Zogby, until last night. He predicted a 14 point win in NC and a two point win in Indiana for Obama – darn close.

2. Let’s Do the math…again.

After tonight, here’s where Hillary stands and what she needs to win the nomination. The numbers come from the Democratic Convention Watch website (www.demconwatch.blogspot.com)

                         Clinton           Obama
Before tonight              1609            1745.5
Tonight (so far)              80              94
New totals                  1689            1839.5
Needed to get to 2025        336             186       

Remaining pledged del.     230 (including 13 from NC)
Remaining unpledged Supers 270.5 (the .5 is DA Chair Christine Marques)
Total available            500.5

Assuming that Hillary runs the table in the remaining primaries and gets 60% of the pledged delegates; the breakout would be +138 for Clinton and + 92 for Obama.

(Note: Clinton has not won 60% in any primary since Super Tuesday)

New totals                  1827             1931

Clinton would need 198 of the remaining 270.5 unpledged Super delegates or 73.2%. As Chris Bowers noted in Open Left dot com, the remaining Super delegates are generally not in favor of Clinton, but have various reasons for not stating their choice, the major one of which is that the Clinton have done much for individual elected officials and senior activists in the party and the Supers don’t want to appear to be ungrateful. That will now change. Bowers also notes that the media collectively changed its tune last night and are saying what WW readers have known since the Wisconsin primary – it’s over.

3. (Not so bold) Predictions and what will happen if they aren’t correct.

Media reports after the vote last night are suggesting that the Clintons are contemplating loaning more millions to her campaign since the well of campaign donations is surely to dry up. (Update: dailykos is reporting that Clinton loaned her campaign $6.4 million in April.) All television and campaign appearances have been cancelled for 7 May and the candidate, the family and the campaign staff will be in assessment mode. There are two possibilities:

1. Clinton announces her withdrawal either today or tomorrow – an ignominious end to her campaign, but would instantly save millions for the fall campaign for Obama; bring a huge jump in the polls for all Democrats and put McCain under greater scrutiny than he has thus far received from the corporate media.
2. Hillary fights on to West Virginia where she should win big (unless it is known that this is her last battle) and then she announces her withdrawal on a high note and with grace. A loss here would be even more brutal for her reputation.
3. With a or b, the Super delegates don’t have to decide anything; all can climb aboard the bandwagon without penalty and the party unites well before the convention. But if neither of these predictions are correct, then we go here:
4. Hillary doesn’t quit, fights on in the remaining primaries, and takes the battle for Michigan and Florida to the DNC Rules and Bylaws committee (where Democrats Abroad has a member) on 31 May. This option would please the press the most since the “blood on the floor of the convention” scenario will sell lots of advertising and would likely tear the party apart for November…

If I had to stake a bet on something; I would bet that Gore, the Edwards, Dean, Pelosi, Reid and even Jimmy Carter will be giving some private advice today. (For an interesting poll on what Dean should do, go to www.americans-away-from-home.com and look at the Friday poll.)

4. A further look at the Jeremiah Wright affair.

While Barack Obama came out of North Carolina and Indiana with the nomination; exit polls showed that the Jeremiah Wright issue was still prevalent in the minds of a lot of voters. Over the course of the next few days, we may find out that the Republican voters who were following Rush Limbaugh’s advice and voting for Hillary in Indiana were the voters who were thinking most about Wright; the GOP may raise this issue again in the fall. Can they derail Obama as Clinton could not?

1. For Democrats, Obama handled the situation well. In late March he made a memorable, some say historical, speech on the subject. After Wright came back to the political stage with wall to wall appearances, tremendous press coverage and punditry comments; Obama further and strongly separated himself from his former pastor’s views. Whether based on his own values or political calculation; that move may have saved him last night in both North Carolina and Indiana.
2. The relationship between Wright and Obama is decidedly different than the relationship between McCain and the several extremist/right wing pastors associated with his campaign. The relationship was very personal – Wright performed the marriage ceremony between Barack and Michele; he baptized their kids; Obama was often in the pews on Sunday morning and participated in the church’s activities. Wright’s endorsement was not one that had to be asked for; it was unquestioned that Wright would support Obama; the real story here is that Wright undermined his own parishioner. McCain sought the endorsement of Rev. Hagee, Rev. Moon, Pat Robertson (he didn’t get it) and others. James Dobson’s support would be a big plus for McCain with the Republican social conservative base.
3. The role of the corporate press in this issue – essentially making a story out of Wright, while ignoring the same sort of offbeat extreme political views from McCain’s pastors, particularly ”God’s role” in 9/11 or Katrina, is a national scandal. The Democrats will probably not get much traction in the press by independently pushing the McCain-Hagee connection, but a re-emergence of the Wright-Obama connection argument by the GOP will also not get as much play – precisely because Obama has already distanced himself. If the GOP does attempt it, Obama’s campaign can afford then to push back pretty hard.
4. The ‘Obama is a Muslim” Swiftboating has been put to rest with this affair, so the Republicans, by October they may well be very desperate, are likely to try it again anyway. Forewarned is forearmed.

5. The Carter Center and the Bush Library.

Jimmy Carter’s visit to the Middle East and his discussion with Hamas and Syria have a couple of Republican congressmen in a snit. MI – 09 Rep Joe Knollenberg and PA – 09 Rep Bill Shuster are proposing the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals (CARTER) Act to deny further Federal funding to the Carter Center, which engages in many human rights and poverty reduction projects around the world, as well as election monitoring. (More details at www.muzzlewatch.com.)

Shuster’s opponent in the south-central Pennsylvania 9th district is school teacher Tony Barr, who lost to Shuster in 2006 (Bush’s best PA district in 2004.) . If you are from Pennsylvania or would just like to send Shuster a message a donation to http://tonybarr2008.com/ might be in order. Unfortunately, Knollenberg’s main Democratic opponent also condemned Carter’s talks with Hamas, so he won’t get a mention here.

While it is unlikely that the Shuster-Knollenberg effort will result in loss of funding for the Carter Center, the appropriate Democratic response, should it happen, might well be a denial of funds to the National Archives for any support of the Bush library at Southern Methodist University, a topic touched on several times in WW (full disclosure, my alma mater). The SMU website now proudly banners it as home of the Bush Presidential Library, but the recently concluded Quadrennial Conference of the United Methodist Church passed a resolution 844-20 to require a vote on the issue by its South Central Conference, which owns SMU, (Methodist churches in TX, LA, AR, KS, OK, NM and NE) before the deal can be sealed. Both the Bush Administration and the University wanted to bypass this step (required by the bylaws of the church). That vote will take place in July in Dallas and it could be close.

6. State by State.

INDIANA. Republican Governor Mitch Daniels is vulnerable this fall and the race to see who will be his Democratic opponent is too close to call and may require a recount. Former Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson trails Architect Jim Schellinger by less than 500 votes out of more than 1.2 million cast. Either Thompson or Schellinger is give a very good chance of defeating Daniels in a more purple Indiana.

LOUISIANA. In a major victory for the Democratic Party nationwide, Don Cazayoux defeated Woody Jenkins 49-46 to take a seat that has been in Republican hands since the late 1970s. Jenkins was supported by advertisements from extreme right wing 527s and Woody once had ties to neo Nazi David Duke, which didn’t stop the RNCC from pouring a lot of money into this race. House seats tend to stay in the control of a party for long stretches and this a major loss for the Republican party and bodes well for the May 13 special election in Mississippi’s first district between Dem.Travis Childers and Republican Greg Davis. Childers almost won the first round. You can help at http://www.childersforcongress.com

NORTH CAROLINA. The battle for Elizabeth Dole’s seat is now set with the primary win of State Senator Kay Hagan (http://kayhagan.com/). She won 60% of the vote against four opponents. Dole is favored, but this race is considered a second tier race that could mean the difference for a filibuster proof Senate. The race for Governor (Gov. Easley is term limited) will be between Dem. Lt. Gov. Bev. Perdue and Charlotte mayor Republican Pat McCrory and is seen as a toss up this far out.

7. Reading Recommendations

1. “How to Talk about McCain’s Age” by Bernie Horn at www.ourfuture.org. A lesson in framing that will be most valuable.
2. “In One Flaw, Questions on Validity of 46 Judges” by Adam Liptak at nytimes.com . Too bad this doesn’t apply to Bush’s appointments to the federal bench, but nonetheless an amazing circumstance.
3. “Your Poll of Polls” by Devilstower at dailykos.com/story. A great way to look at the bias of polls and compare them to actual results.
4. “HNN Poll: 61% of Historians Rate the Bush Presidency Worst” by Robert S. McElvaine at hnn.us/articles. Not a scientific poll (how do you randomly select historians?), but highly interesting; read the comments too.
5. “Is Barack Obama Another Adlai Stevenson?” by Jean Baker at hnn.us/articles. A comparison I had not thought of.
6. “Surge in U.S. Hispanic Population Driven by Births, Not Immigration Dynamic Differs From ’90s Growth, Census Data Show” by Conor Dougherty andMiriam Jordan at online.wsj.com. The Hispanic vote has traditionally been very low, but when (not if ) it starts to build, the party that paid attention and didn’t bash their very presence in the US will benefit. Even John McCain and George Bush understand that.
7. “Landing the White Whale” by Harold Meyerson at washingtonpost.com.
8. “Bringing the White Working Class Into the Progressive Majority” by Robert Borosage ourfuture.org . The appeal to let unions work again may be the solution to the vexing problem of people who vote against their own interests.
9. “The All-White Elephant in the Room” by Frank Rich at nytimes.com.
10. “Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm” by Gary Wolf at wired.com. The only relationship of this article to politics is if you want to memorize election statistics, but otherwise very interesting for your and your kids/grandkids.
11. “Behind the Lines Almost Blue: Is Texas about to be a Democratic state again? The fact that were even asking the question is a sign of how weird and unpredictable this election year has been.” by Paul Burka at texasmonthly.com. With the right candidate, there are a lot of red states changing color. Texas is one of them.
12. “Clinton’s “Nuclear Option” More Of A Conventional Weapon?” by Marc Ambinder at marcambinder.theatlantic.com. If the prediction above does not become true next week, read this article again.
13. Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan: at cartercenter.org. The full report of Carter’s trip to the Middle East.

And finally…

From the History News Network poll recommended above; a couple of quotes (among many good ones):

The comments that many of the respondents included with their evaluations provide a clear sense of the reasons behind the overwhelming consensus that George W. Bush’s presidency is among the worst in American history.

No individual president can compare to the second Bush,” wrote one. “Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill. In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.

And:

His administration has been the most reckless, dangerous, irresponsible, mendacious, arrogant, self-righteous, incompetent, and deeply corrupt one in all of American history.

Best regards
John McQueen
Am Goetzenberg 2
69126 Heidelberg, Germany

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Those wishing to bank transfer the funds may write to me at johncmcqueen@gmail.com for the details; still working on PayPal for those who wish to use that method.

Dear Democrats Around the World,

This is DA Wednesday Wire No. 137, 30 April 2008.

Wednesday Wire is copyright protected, but I choose not to exercise it. If you do quote what is here, it would be nice to give credit.

WW is now also appearing, in part or in whole, on the GroupNewsBlog.net and Americans Away from Home. Both are interesting and very different websites, well worth a visit.

Topics This Week

1. Indiana and North Carolina – the Numbers speak loudly
2. A crazy campaign week
3. The Indiana Voter ID Decision
4. Help Improve Overseas Voting
5. The Senate Races from the Money Angle
6. State by State
7. Reading Recommendations
8. And finally…The future of WW

1. Indiana and North Carolina – the Numbers speak loudly.

Here are the most recent polling numbers (from pollster.com) for Indiana and North Carolina, whose primaries are coming up next week:

INDIANA. Pollster.com average Clinton 50.5 Obama 42.8

Poll         Date    Voters             
PPP(D)      26-27.4  1388 LVs  50 (-)   42 (-)
SUSA        23-25.4   628 LVs  52 (55)  43 (39)
R2000       23-24.4   400 LVs  47 (49)  48 (46)
ARG         23-24.4   600 LVs  50 (53)  45 (44)
Howey-Guage 23-24.4   600 LVs  46 (-)   46 (-)

NORTH CAROLINA. Pollster.com average Clinton 37.5 Obama 54.1

Rasmussen  28.4     774 LVs  37 (-)   51 (-)
SUSA       26-28.4  727 LVs  44 (41)  49 (52)
ARG        26-27.4  600 LVs  42 (41)  52 (52)
PPP(D)     27.4    1121 LVs  39 (32)  51 (57)

Indiana and North Carolina have both tightened in the past week to ten days, but in opposite directions. Obama may still have a blowout win in North Carolina, but this year’s best polling outfit (SUSA) shows a narrow lead for Obama; they also show a narrowing lead for Clinton in Indiana. The same pattern was true for them in Pennsylvania; so much so that SUSA was off target there. Next Monday’s polls will tell whether the Wright appearance and Obama’s nearly complete disassociation from his former pastor is having any impact.

2. A crazy campaign week.

A rather bizarre week in the campaign.

1. The Pennsylvania primary is played up as a big win for Clinton (which it was) and the Superdelegates break 7 to 4 for Obama in endorsements.
2. The endorsements come from strange places: With Obama leading by double digits, North Carolina Gov. Easley endorses Clinton; with Clinton leading by nearly 40 in Kentucky; Rep Chandler endorses Obama; with Clinton having won New Mexico; Senator Bingaman endorses Obama; with Obama having won Missouri, Rep Skelton endorses Clinton. The Clinton lead among superdelegates is now down to 20 and continuing to fall.
3. All of a sudden, Rev. Jeremiah Wright is everywhere. The Sunday talk shows, the National Press Club with simulcasts on three networks; wall-to-wall coverage. The North Carolina Republican party puts out a blatantly racist ad linking Wright to Obama; John McCain denounces the ad while mentioning the content and saying he has no power to stop it. McCain announces that talking about Wright is inappropriate and then talks about it because “Obama said it was OK.’ The blogosphere is ablaze today with a story that a key Clinton supporter arranged and organized the National Press Club speech for Wright (she denies it); yet removes her ‘why I voted for Hillary’ posting from her website.
4. An obviously uncomfortable Barack Obama strongly denounces Wright’s statements made to the Press Club audience and essentially breaks with his pastor. The reaction ranges from ‘courageous’ to ‘ it’s too little too late’ to “pandering to white voters.”
5. McCain announces that he favors a freeze on gasoline taxes for the summer; Clinton agrees, but notes the need to replace the funds since the tax pays for road maintenance and other infrastructure items; Obama says “No” for the same reason and gets blasted by both McCain and Clinton. The price of gas rose more than 18 cents (the federal gas tax McCain doesn’t want to collect) in the past ten days.
6. After two years of saying “no’ to Fox News, Obama is interviewed by Chris Wallace; mild interview, no Fox bashing by Obama; not much unpleasantness from Wallace, but some very severe criticism from the blogosphere. Hillary then announces she will be on the Bill O’Reilly show tonight.

3. The Indiana Voter ID Decision.

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board is a major decision that could change the face of American politics for the very negative unless the Democratic Party decides to fight for its voters on every level. The Supreme Court, in a mixed 6-3 decision upheld the constitutionality of the Indiana Voter ID law that requires a government-issued photo identification be presented in order to vote. With this ruling, at least 20 states are poised to pass similar legislation that will significantly reduce the ability of first time, elderly, African American and poor voters to vote in this year’s presidential election. The court-sanctioned phony issue of voter fraud (no one has ever been prosecuted in Indiana for impersonating another voter) is the fulfillment of a Republican dream to suppress the number of voters from the very groups that would have the most interest in throwing them out of office. Below in reading recommendations 7g and 7h are a ‘friend of the court’ brief and a discussion of the key issues by renowned election law expert. Loyola (LA) University professor Richard L. Hasen. While, as Hasen points out, there is no single majority opinion in this case, which gives a ray of hope that the worst can be avoided, the fact that the Supreme Court has now ruled that very strict ID laws can be passed, Republicans can now push hard at the state level to legally tilt the electoral playing field to their advantage everywhere.

Democratic Party leaders have reacted with outrage at the decision, but outrage must lead to action to overturn the ruling through electoral reform legislation. The absolute minimum is a constitutional amendment giving every citizen the right to vote. (U.S. citizens do not have this right.)

In other states the push to enact similar legislation must be stopped. In states that do enact the stricter controls; the party and its allied groups need to mount campaigns to provide the required documents to voters in time for the election.

This decision will make touch screen voting machines, planned long voting lines in urban precincts; pre-election voter list reviews and other suppression techniques seem very mild.

4. Help Improve Overseas Voting.

Quoting partially from a letter from Christine Marques, International Chair:

Dear Democrats,

Representative Carolyn Maloney’s bill HR 4237 Overseas Voting Practical Amendments Act of 2007 is moving forward - and fast.
With this bill, voters abroad won’t get hung up on technicalities - like missing postmarks or the paper weight of our ballot requests.
Remember 2000? 2004? We’ve been working with Representative Maloney so that key voting reform measures are adopted and in place before Election Day 2008. But we need your help - and urgently.

Join us in a letter writing campaign supporting HR 4237, by this THURSDAY, MAY 1st. Send your email message to Executive Director Lindsey Reynolds, at ed@democratsabroad.org. (Please remember to say which state you vote in, and the country you reside in.) ….

In reading recommendation 7f below, links to information about the bill and the text of the bill are provided. This letter writing campaign to get this passed is very important to the better handling of requests for registration and ballots and the return of ballots this fall. The bill currently has 8 sponsors and needs many more; so please encourage your Representative (or Senator) to co-sponsor (if in the House) or sponsor (if in the Senate).

For WW readers in the US, please call the local office of your Representative and ask them to help out with HR 4237 The Overseas Voting Practical Amendments Act of 2007.

Thanks.

5. The Senate Races from the Money Angle.

The chart below comes from Swing State Project and gives a clear indication who is competitive in trying to take Senate seats from the opposition. In some cases the Incumbent column reflects a replacement for a member who is quitting for whatever reason. Note, too, that some primaries have not yet been held, so two or more major candidates are listed, e.g. New Mexico, Oregon. While it is early, anyone under 10% has a lot of work to do to be competitive. Several incumbents not listed here have no opponent.

Rank	State	Candidate	Party	CoH	Incumbent*	Party	CoH	Rating
1	VA	Mark Warner	D	4,384,294	Jim Gilmore	R	208,133	2106%
2	NM	Tom Udall	D	2,582,990	Steve Pearce	R	855,203	302%
3	NM	Tom Udall	D	2,582,990	Heather Wilson	R	1,196,053	216%
4	CO	Mark Udall	D	4,236,533	Bob Schaffer	R	2,160,863	196%
5	ME	Tom Allen	D	2,687,701	Susan Collins	R	4,511,493	60%
6	MN	Al Franken	D	3,491,480	Norm Coleman	R	6,960,913	50%
7	NJ	Rob Andrews	D	2,232,312	Frank Lautenberg	D	4,702,249	47%
8	NH	Jeanne Shaheen	D	1,837,539	John Sununu	R	4,313,762	43%
9	LA	John Kennedy	R	1,623,391	Mary Landrieu	D	4,564,082	36%
10	ID	Larry LaRocco	D	253,707	Jim Risch	R	935,876	27%
11	OK	Andrew Rice	D	597,478	Jim Inhofe	R	2,221,848	27%
12	NE	Scott Kleeb	D	281,095	Mike Johanns	R	1,335,390	21%
13	AK	Mark Begich	D	204,207	Ted Stevens	R	1,318,722	15%
14	IL	Steve Sauerberg	R	1,074,982	Richard Durbin	D	7,567,277	14%
15	MS-B	Ronnie Musgrove	D	337,249	Roger Wicker	R	2,765,229	12%
16	KY	Greg Fischer	D	854,557	Mitch McConnell	R	7,741,422	11%
17	NE	Tony Raimondo	D	140,720	Mike Johanns	R	1,335,390	11%
18	NC	Kay Hagan	D	312,000	Elizabeth Dole	R	3,200,000	10%
19	KS	Jim Slattery	D	286,125	Pat Roberts	R	2,986,794	10%
20	OR	Jeff Merkley	D	473,833	Gordon Smith	R	5,149,251	9%
21	GA	Jim Martin	D	333,132	Saxby Chambliss	R	3,637,392	9%
22	KY	Bruce Lunsford	D	666,373	Mitch McConnell	R	7,741,422	9%
23	TN	Bob Tuke	D	217,093	Lamar Alexander	R	2,874,512	8%
24	SC	Buddy Witherspoon	R	257,911	Lindsey Graham	R	4,777,019	5%
25	OR	Steve Novick	D	197,007	Gordon Smith	R	5,149,251	4%
26	TX	Rick Noriega	D	329,294	John Cornyn	R	8,688,954	4%
27	WY-B	Nick Carter	D	26,743	John Barrasso	R	1,139,381	2%
28	MA	Jim Ogonowski	R	186,929	John Kerry	D	9,323,486	2%
29	AL	Vivian Figures	D	44,628	Jeff Sessions	R	4,033,195	1%
30	SD	Joel Dykstra	R	20,393	Tim Johnson	D	2,523,586	1%
31	MT	Kirk Bushman	R	8,097	Max Baucus	D	6,394,024	0%
32	SD	Sam Kephart	R	2,107	Tim Johnson	D	2,523,586	0%
33	MT	Michael Lange	R	1,976	Max Baucus	D	6,394,024	0%

6. State by State

CALIFORNIA. Cindy Sheehan kept her promise. She has filed the required paperwork to run as an Independent against Nancy Pelosi in CA-08. She needs 10,000+ signatures by the end of August to get on the ballot, which is not seen as a great hurdle. Pelosi is also facing Shirley Golub in the Democratic primary, another anti-war, pro-impeachment candidate. Golub is not expected to win, but her vote total on June 3rd may give an indication whether Sheehan will cause any sleepless nights for the House Speaker.

NEVADA. What happens when the party walks out of its own state convention? Probably a first in American political history; the Ron Paul campaign (he is still a candidate) took over the Republican state convention, passed new rules allowing any state delegate to run for national convention delegate and were only their way to electing a majority from Nevada for Paul for St. Paul in early September. What happened next?

In a written statement, party chairwoman Sue Lowden said the vote to allow self-nominations doubled the number of people competing for 31 spots to the national convention. That overwhelmed the party’s capacity to process the votes.


“Unfortunately, with the rule changes implemented this morning, we did not have time to complete the process,” she said. “Our contract for the meeting space had expired, as had our budget, and ballots were unable to be physically produced by the nominations committee. We had to temporarily recess the convention.”


The GOP leadership walked out of the convention and said it had to be rescheduled.


“Paul spokesman Jeff Greenspan said the walkout was a first in his 21-year career in politics.


“I’ve seen factions walk out, I’ve never seen a party walk out,” he said. “I’ve never even heard of that.”

Those Republicans just hate democracy, don’t they?

TEXAS. One for the books. A House committee on immigration decided to have a look at the new wall being proposed for south Texas. Colorado Rep Tom Tancredo, who ran for President on an anti-immigration platform, was treated pretty unkindly by the assembled citizens of Brownsville, who think the whole idea of a wall is wrong, since folks on both sides of the Rio Grande seem to get along OK. The treatment turned to loud boos when Tancredo suggested that the wall be built on the north side of Brownsville; essentially putting Brownsville on the Mexican side of the border.

7. Reading Recommendations

1. “Bowling 1, Health Care 0” by Elizabeth Edwards at http://www.nytimes.com. I was for Edwards before he dropped out. I wondering what would have happened if the other spouse had run.
2. Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge: Candidate Benefits From Calculations Of Elected Officials” by Jackie Calmes at WallStreetJournal. A lot of pundits and observers think Clinton made a huge mistake by sticking to the ‘Swing State’ 2000 and 2004 strategy. It may have cost her a majority of the superdelgates.
3. “Taking Back the Debate Over Israel: Sick of right-wing Jews speaking in their name, progressive American Jews have launched J Street to change the way the game is played in Washington.” by Gary Kamiya at commondreams.org. A follow-on to the Jimmy Carter argument a week ago.
4. “POLITICAL FUTURES: BETTING ON THE ELECTION” by SLATE at slate.com. Tired of polls, how are the people betting. Follow the links to find out.
5. “But Does Business Really Outperform Government?” by Pierre Tristam at commondreams.org . A normal letter writer to the Daytona Beach Times puts it well. Use this in every debate and add the contracting out of the military for a totally convincing argument.
6. “H.R.4237 Overseas Voting Practical Amendments Act of 2007” by : Rep Carolyn B. Maloney at (info) thomas.loc.gov.
7. “Amicus Brief on Crawford et al v. Marion County Election Board” by Richard L. Hasen at electionlawblog.org(pdf). Hasen is one of the foremost experts on election law in the US; he supported the people against Indiana and the Supreme Court.
8. “Initial Thoughts on the Supreme Court’s Opinion in Crawford, the Indiana Voter Identification Case” by Rick Hasen at electionlawblog.org A further explanation of what this case means.
9. “Why TR Lost the Republican Nomination in 1912: What New Research Shows” by Lewis Gould at hnn.us/articles. A familiar game that was played in 1912. This is your history lesson for the week; there might be a quiz….
10. “Selling the President’s General: The Petraeus Story” by Tom Engelhardt at tomdispatch.com. In my former life, I worked for a lot of generals like this, not pretty.
11. “An Act Of War: Interview: Seymour Hersh” by Sarah Brown at informationclearinghouse.info

And finally… The future of WW

As I mentioned last week, I have received many comments on the future of WW as it pertains to contributions. They were all very helpful and persuaded me that here is what I need to do.

1. No one who reads Wednesday Wire right now will be deprived of continuing to be able to read it, including those who receive it after forwarding from country and chapter chairs, interested readers, whoever. A subscription fee was universally rejected and my least favored option.
2. I will ask for contributions on the following basis:

1. A contribution is for one year, which is approximately 40 weekly issues per year; plus, for 2008, 4-5 daily issues for the national convention, approx. 25-30 daily issues in October 2008 leading up to the Election and 3-5 Election Night reports giving results.
2. Those who contribute $25 or €15 will be Wednesday Wire Associates and will receive WW directly from me, whether on the current DA listserves or, after they are folded into the DA website, on separate direct lists. Wednesday Wire Associates will receive the WW 2008 Election Guide, similar to the one produced in 2006. The Election Guide will have plenty of background information, special charts for following the President, Senate, House and Gubernatorial races on Election Night.
3. Anyone making a double contribution, i.e. $50 or €30 will be a Wednesday Wire Sponsor and will be mentioned as the sponsor of an edition of Wednesday Wire. The sponsor can also publicize their favorite charity, NGO, or public service organization with links. Sponsors will be named in the order received. Sponsors also receive the 2008 Election Guide and a WW Post-Election summary report.
4. For contributions (b and c above) , a check for either the $ or € amount may be sent to the address below. Please make sure that a valid email address is included. Next week, I hope to have a PayPal method in place for those who prefer that; bank transfers can be arranged by emailing me at johncmcmqueen@gmail.com; please put a phone number in the email and put the words “WW contribution” in the subject line.

Once again, my appreciation to those who wrote with suggestions and my deepest thanks in advance for any and all who contribute to keep WW alive.

Best regards
John McQueen
Am Goetzenberg 2
69126 Heidelberg, Germany