Mixing It For Ferrer

On the 25th, the DFNYC Mixer is for Ferrer. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, State Assemblyman Scott Stringer, and Councilman Bill Perkins are going to show up, as is Howard Dean's brother Jim Dean.

Where: Stir, 1363 First Ave. (btwn 73rd & 74th)
When: Tuesday, October 25, 7-10 PM

A day before that Howard Dean is hosting a fundraiser for Fernando Ferrer.

Where: Session 73, 1359 First Ave. @ 73rd Street
When: Monday, October 24, 6:30-8:30 PM

I just wanted to familiarize myself with the names a little.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler: "Congressman Jerrold Nadler represents New York’s Eighth Congressional district. The Eighth, one of the most diverse districts in the nation, includes Manhattan’s West Side below 89th Street, Lower Manhattan, and areas of Brooklyn including Borough Park, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Sea Gate, Bay Ridge, and Bensonhurst...... He was re-elected to his seventh full term in 2004 with a resounding 80 percent of the vote....... the September 11th terrorist attacks on his district ...... a prominent member of the House Judiciary Committee ...... a third-term representative in 1998, he rose to national prominence as a vigorous defender of the Constitution during the Presidential impeachment hearings........ There is nothing more fundamental to being an American than the assurance against unwarranted government interference in one’s personal affairs, and the guarantee of due process under the law....... the first to challenge the Republicans’ “doom and gloom” solvency forecast....... ratings of 100 percent from such groups as the League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, Children’s Defense Fund, and the American Federation of Teachers....... an intimate knowledge of every neighborhood and community feature, and tireless advocacy at all levels of government........ even securing free cellular phones for the Shomrim ...... “I don’t believe that New Yorkers work hard and pay taxes so they can line Mr. Trump's pockets,” Nadler said ....... the often-complex world of government services...... The district includes one of the nation’s largest communities of new immigrants—especially from the former Soviet Union........ one of the largest and most diverse Jewish communities in any congressional district, nationwide........ a principal supporter of federal hate crimes legislation....... worked extensively on Black-Jewish relations...... the 2003 Legislator of the Year Award from the International Association of Firefighters....... Nadler launched his public service career in the late 1960s while a student at Columbia University....... credited with authoring much of New York State’s body of law on domestic violence and child support enforcement...... the only male to be honored as Assemblymember of the Year by the National Organization for Women...... from CNN's Crossfire and Larry King Live to PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lerher to NBC’s Meet the Press......

State Senator Eric Schneiderman: .... a B.A. in English and Asian Studies at Amherst College..... two years as a Deputy Sheriff ...... graduating with honors from Harvard Law School ...... an anti-crime advocate for his entire career...... eviction proceedings against crack dens and drug dealers..... elected to the New York State Senate in 1998...... In 1999, he led the campaign to block the National Rifle Association's "Eddie Eagle" program from becoming a part of New York's elementary school curriculum....... In 2002, the Senate’s leadership redrew Eric’s district to eliminate most of his base and then undertook an unprecedented campaign to throw Republican support behind his opponent in a Democratic primary...... won re-election with over 67% of the vote....... has continued his work as a public interest lawyer throughout his years in office...... challenging the unlawful practices of the Metropolitan Transit Authority .... exposing fraud in the MTA’s bookkeeping...... his only title was “#1 Target of the Senate Republicans.” ..... the incompetence and gridlock that sustain Albany’s status quo......

State Assemblyman Scott Stringer: .... in his sixth term representing Manhattan's Upper West Side and Clinton...... Scott highlighted how Governor Pataki's budget plan amounted to a tax increase of nearly $2,000 for most New York City households ..... his bill to allow battered women work release when their crimes were committed under abusive duress became law in 2002..... documented the shocking lack of textbooks in City schools...... renewed the public's focus on the "ad-ization" of residential neighborhoods throughout Manhattan...... led the fight against Light Emitting Diode (LED) or ultra-bright, digital advertiser, screens that have begun to proliferate the cityscape....... Introduced legislation to prevent cell phone companies from charging customers a full minute's rate for fractions of time as small as one second ...... and John F. Kennedy High School..... In 2001, Scott was a candidate for New York City Public Advocate... Scott represents the 67th Assembly District, the highest voter turnout district in the City.

Councilman Bill Perkins: ..... started his political work as a tenant leader at Schomburg Plaza in Harlem ..... served as the Chair of the Council's Select Committee on Pest Control, which, for the first time, created a comprehensive strategy to solve the city's growing rat problem....... has opposed racial, ethnic and religious profiling .... lead sponsor of landmark legislation to protect the rights of the gay, lesbian and transgender community...... graduate of the Collegiate School and Brown University...... the NAACP New York Branch Executive Board...Represents: Central Harlem; parts of Morningside Heights, Upper West Side, East Harlem

• The Official Site of James Dean
• Fernando Ferrer
• Howard Dean - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• The New York Times > Howard Dean
• Wired 12.01: How the Internet Invented Howard Dean
• The Unlikely Rise of Howard Dean

Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch

Bill Clinton Has Left The Building

Finally I not only got to see Bill Clinton, I also got to shake his hand, and have a brief conversation with him. Now I want to see Amitabh Bachchan.

Yesterday late at night I got an email from Castro, not Fidel, the other one. The email gave me specifics of Bill Clinton's appearance with Fernando Ferrer. Where, when, that sort of thing.

I got out of bed late. After the morning essentials, I walked over to the train station. By the time I got off the train I was running a few minutes late. I started running. But I was an hour early, it ended up.

I took a few pictures and then became part of the ropeline. Bill Clinton works the ropeline like noone else. To him each person truly is unique, and each moment is unique, and he considers himself to be the master of the spoken word segment of it. How do you know Bill Clinton is breathing? His mouth is open. How do you know he is thinking? His mouth is open. I think he keeps his mouth in an open position because he never knows when he might speak yet another word. And this man wants to meet everybody, literally everybody. He thrives on the ropeline act. He empathizes with people who come to see him. He knows how much it means to them that they get to shake his hand. And he complies.

It was in 1996. He was on the campaign trail. I read in the news. He worked the ropeline at one event. When he got done, he felt like he had not shaken enough hands. So he went back to the beginning and worked the same ropeline all over again.

The ropeline is this man's icecream.

When Bill Clinton was in kindergarten, his friends would say, "Let's go watch Billie Clinton think!"

JFK had a different approach. He hated shaking hands. It is said none of his friends, buddies amounted to anything. When he went into the White House as a President-elect, that was his first time. He had been that insignificant in the Senate. In the Senate his colleagues put him on an insignificant committee. When he first entered the Congress, he took one look at the well, and said, looks like a bunch of worms. He was interested in the presidency, and that is all he cared about. But then he was also up against the WASP glass ceiling. He had to invent his path to the top. The trodden path was not going to work for him.

So Bill Clinton gets out of his car. And he comes down the ropeline. He is doing the unique person, unique moment thing. And finally it is my turn.

"Mr. President, you are Elvis," I say, his hand in mine.

"Thank you, thank you," he says. Then he realizes I am not done talking. He looks down to the ground.

"I have been to Arkansas several times. I have also passed through Hope."

At that point he has not yet left me quite, but he is not yet with the next person.

That is when Fernando Ferrer grabs my hand.

I have attended so many of this man's events by now. Hopefully I get to strike a conversation the next time I get to see him. I am already lined up to see him two more times. Howard Dean is doing a fundraiser for him, and the evening after Dean's brother is showing up with Ferrer at the DFNYC Mixer.

Then I move on, kind of following Clinton and Ferrer, from a distance.

I find myself standing next to this cute, black woman perhaps in her late 20s. She is with her girlfriends.

"Just look at him. He is so cute. Gorgeous. Just look at his face."

And I am thinking, I got a line I can quote in my blog entry.

"He is so cute even the men wanna shake his hand," she adds.

And I burst out laughing. I got outed. She joined me. We were both howling.

Then there was this part when the two of them spoke.

"In 1991, when my mother and my wife were the only people who thought I could get elected president, Freddie Ferrer endorsed me. When I became president, I sent $100 million over to the Bronx because I knew Freddie had the leadership to make good use of it," Clinton said. He said some more.

This part of the event became controversial later.

There were all these white boys with TV cameras who were outright hostile to the Ferrer team. They wanted to know why the microphones were turned off. "If Ferrer can not manage an event, how can he manage a city?" And there was this use of the children metaphor. Children. Women and children. Women, children, blacks and Hispanics. I am all too familiar with that racist children metaphor. "Why were children holding the microphones?"

One Ferrer person was getting pounded by a hostile TV reporter after Clinton had already left. The cameraperson was a woman, white woman. She took the camera off her shoulders. I think the hostility was too much also for her. It was a tribal white boy, white woman, minority male triangle. I was watching from the sidelines.

I should have intervened. "Excuse me, I happen to have a Ph.D. in race relations. I think you are being a racist jerk. This is not only unprofessional, it also goes against the spirit of this great city."

Another Ferrer person complained the media largely boycotted the Ferrer press conferences. Most except the Spanish media.

I think there are a few things coming into play.

One, Bloomberg has double digit leads in the polls. Part of the pounding Ferrer is getting is just for being the underdog.

Two, Ferrer's couter offensive has not been aggressive enough.

Three, racism is an issue, sure. I smell these things. The white boys in the media can get so predictable at times.

Four, the Democratic Party is not united behind Ferrer. A lot of white Democrats think as long as they send Democrats to Congress, it is okay the city does not go to a Democrat.

One was openly mocking how maybe the Ferrer campaign had thought the Clinton event would be their turnaround. But instead they, the media, were going to focus on the microphone issue.

Later I met a reporter - white - who played the Clinton speech to me on tape. His microphone apparently had worked.

This one New York Times reporter who was getting interviewed by a TV reporter took a break from the interview and asked me, "Are you with the Times?"

"No, I am with the DFNYC."

He looked puzzled. He probably thought I was with some TV station. DFNYC? WNYC?

Going by skin color, Ferrer looks white to me.

This is a little confusing.

Social progress is a tricky issue. Race, class, gender, all of them.

Bill Clinton has been at the receiving end of some regionalism himself. He will tell of something called the Arkansas bias.

Do I think that race is the number one issue in the Ferrer-Bloomberg tussle? No way. Do I think it is an issue? Sure.

For me it has been an experience in demystification with Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton claimed he wanted to demystify the presidency through his autobiography.

Bill Clinton is in a league of his own.

At the train station on my way back I met an elderly Hispanic lady who asked me if I had been to the event. She knew the answer. When you are her, it is touching that a president cares about you. Presidents are not known to much care about people like her. They are distant objects busy doing their own important things. But Bill Clinton shows up in your neighborhood.

I chose to get off the President Street station on the 2 train in Brooklyn, even though it is quite a walk from there to my place. This has been a special day. I also had two slices of pizza at two different joints. To celebrate this great day. And I had paan in my neighborhood. Paan is considered auspicious.

148 Photos.

In The News

• Clinton Backs Democrat for N.Y. Mayor
• Bill Clinton backs Ferrer, but event is plagued with problems Newsday, NY
• Ferrer's Big Day With Bill Clinton Backfires 7Online.com
• Clintons Give Ferrer a Hand While Staying at Arm's Length New York Times
• Bill stumps for ol' buddy 'Wilfredo' today New York Daily News
• Clinton steps up to campaign for Ferrer Independent Online, South Africa
• Clinton Backs Democrat for NY Mayor Herald News Daily, ND

Bill Clinton Has Left The Building

Date:	Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:28:05 -0400
From:	"Dorcas Castro"
Subject:	Clinton Meeting The People Of New York With Fernando Ferrer!
To:	paramendra@yahoo.com

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow .....

Please join us on Thursday, October 20th at 1:00pm on the Triangle Corner of 170th Street & Charlotte in Seabury

Bronx, NY

President Clinton will be meeting the people of the

City of New York on their own turf, rallying for Fernando Ferrer,

the next Mayor !

Bring your enthusiasm, hopes & desire for change!

take the #2 or #5 train to 174th Street & Southern Blvd. Walk 3 blocks South to Jennings turn right to Charlotte.

Hope to see you there!

Dorcas Castro

Volunteer Coordinator

New Yorkers For Ferrer

14 East 38th Street 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10016

212-684-2005 ext. 147

Please donate your time & volunteer for us!

100 Hours Of Video Online Will Elect Ferrer

Polls show Bloomberg has a 27 point lead. That is inaccurate. He had a 14 point lead before he pulled his dishonest security stunt. (Bloomberg: No Mr. Security) I would say there is a 10 point error. I know enough about polling techniques to point out the inaccuracies, deliberate and otherwise. That still gives Bloomberg a five point lead or so.

Bloomberg has blanketed the media. He thinks the New York City media is like a house in the Bermuda where he goes for weekends - he is too good to enjoy NYC during weekends: it can be bought. And considering how the local media has been boycotting Ferrer events, makes you think he just might be right. Whatever happened to Thomas Jefferson's idea of a free press?

Ferrer has been doing a ton of events, Bloomberg hardly any. But the public thinks Ferrer has been hiding. New Yorkers don't have the time to show up for events. They are busy working. They are the ultimate worker bees.

The Ferrer campaign needs to video record all Ferrer events, hours and hours of them, and put them online at the campaign website. That is inexpensive, and the campaign's best shot at bridging the exposure gap. Hours and hours. Five hours of video a day or more. Show the crowds, the enthusiasm.

Ferrer is beyond qualified. He was Bronx Borough President from 1987 to 2001. That is not like being president, that is practically being the King of Bronx. Ferrer implemented urban renewal in the Bronx in ways that it became the talk of the planet, literally. Mayors all over the world wanted to know how he was doing it.

I have yet to meet a single Indian entrepreneur who has read a Bloomberg biography or thinks of him as an inspiration.

Ferrer is right on the policy, and he is right on the leadership.

But then a campaign has its own realities, and those have to be faced.

Do a ton of events, and video blog all of them. Bypass old media. If they were fair, they would have been showing the events on the evening news. But they are not. Maybe they are like those handful of white Democrats who are for Bloom.

100 hours of video online will elect Ferrer. That is to be the launch pad.

And the real clincher will be the two debates. Ferrer has to win both of them.

Jay Leno is the top comedian in the country and he rehearses all his lines. Nothing wrong with rehearsing lines. There has to be thorough preparation. Many mock debates. Ferrer should face all possible Bloomberg jibes in the rehearsals. And he should be ready with solid one liner rebuttals. And he should be willing to go on the attack, keep Bloomberg on the defensive.

Do events. Video blog events.

Hold many mock debates.

Might as well start with the event with Bill Clinton tomorrow. If the event lasts four hours, the video should be four plus hours. Make it possible for people to participate even if they can not attend.

Uh, I finally get to see Bill Clinton tomorrow. (Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Clinton, Amitabh In Town)

Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard
No Taxation Without Representation
Bloomberg
The Bloomberg Machine
Ferrer Can

Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard

There was supposed to be some kind of a DFNYC event where you get together and call a bunch of people, but instead I got an email saying the Ferrer campaign would rather DFNYC people showed up at the campaign headquarters to help any way they can.

So I showed up a little after noon. Not far from Times Square. That must be the campaign headquarters district in town, because I think Siegel had his headquarters somewhere around there as well. I was just going to soak the atmosphere, and try and throw in a few ideas.

I got to meet last name Castro. "Where I come from, people talk of Castro like he were Bob Marley. Any relation?"

Jesse Jackson was in town, and Castro was on her way to attend an event with him. How lucky of me! Too bad I did not have my camera with me. But, oh well.

Every town worth its salt in the South has some street named after Martin Luther King. They despise you while you are around, and they worship you after you are gone. And there was this street in Harlem. Only later in the day I learned Bill Clinton's office was on the same street.

If he were not black, or if this country were not racist, Jesse Jackson would have been president somewhere along the way. That man understands the contours of race relations like a physicist and quantum physics. He has the instinct for the political process, for power. He has fought so many battles by now, on his face rests the cool of a statesman.

Sharpton has unique hair. I mean, I have seen it on TV and in pictures and stuff, but when you walk right behind him for a little while, you really notice it.

The first meetup for Howard Dean I attended was in Bloomington, Indiana, in October 2003. It was a home setting, over a dozen Deaniacs in attendance. Bloomington is a progressive town, but it is the Midwest. Everyone was white. We were there to watch a Democratic presidential debate. I got this clear impression people were laughing harder to Al Sharpton's jokes because I was in the room. So I guess Al Sharpton and I are not that unrelated after all.

For much of the walk, march, rally, whatever you will call it, I was distributing Ferrer campaign literature. Towards the end I got to shake the Sharpton hand, and the Jackson hand. Jackson looks you in the eyes, and then he locks you. Suddenly the rest of the world goes away for a small frame of time. Suddenly all the background noise is gone, he is so looking at you. I was not nervous. But I was too happy, this was too big a moment. This was my moment to say a significant one liner. I said hello. All I could say.

You should see the crowd react to Jesse. In Harlem. I saw women who were literally delirious and shaking. Jumping up and down on their feet. These people were not going for handshakes. Nah. Not their style. They wanted full-blown hugs, hugs that last a while. Young men, old men, schoolchildren. This is not your run of the mill politician. This man is in a league of his own, a Senior Statesman of the Democratic Party for life. This man has a gift.

Whoever is the first black to make it to the White House, perhaps Obama, he or she will be standing on the shoulder of this particular giant.

The black woman president of Manhattan was also there. I got to shake her hand as well. Virginia.

I hope this really boosts Ferrer among the blacks. It is the strange psychology of the powerless that a lot of blacks in Harlem seem to be behind Bloomberg.

Jackson and Sharpton spoke. Jackson mentioned Ferrer had helped in his 1984 and 1988 bids for the White House. And Sharpton said Bloomberg was "Guliani with good manners." That is not a compliment. These black leaders, they speak poetry. They have a slightly different grip on the English language. There is this rhythm. This sway. Sometimes words rhyme, if not the metaphors do. They speak different. Maybe it is the cocktail of the undercurrent of black culture and an European language. Something is going on.

Sharpton mentioned some figures. 50% of blacks unemployed, 40% of Hispanics. That was heartbreaking to hear. They should be calling the National Guard on this one, maybe the Fire Department. That is not a campaign detail, that is a crisis. Really made me think. What's going on? Either democracy and the market are not working, or they have not been introduced. I would like to believe it is the latter. The chronic unemployment is a tragedy. But it is also policy level fascination. Unemployment should be more in the 10% or a 5% range. And I do believe it can be done. You introduce democracy and the market, that is what. A functioning democracy would be where each voter feels direct ownership of the top office and the city budget. Currently there is a disconnect. Market would be about micro credit. Credit without collateral, credit at lower rates than usual.

Black America continues to be so very neglected. Martin Luther King started the work. He sure did not come anywhere close to finishing it. I mean, one should be able to imagine a high tech boom in Harlem.

"Keep hope alive."

After the event I dropped by again at the Ferrer headquarters. I was there for a few hours. Got to stuff quite a few envelopes.

But I was trying to suggest an idea: I did talk to quite a few people.

Bloomberg has blanketed the airwaves with his ads because he has tons of money. He is the one sitting at home, Ferrer has been out doing a ton of events. But the image out there is the opposite. Use a few camcorders, record all the events, and put them up at your website.

The idea did not make much headway in the maze of bureaucracy.

"We do take pictures and post them."

"All our five or six TV ads are at the site."

"I have been here only a week."

"All our events are listed at the site."

Political consultants with years of experience are very good at the details they have mastered. But a paradigm shift is something else. Experience and expertise are great stuff, but new, good ideas stand in a class of their own. Ferrer is not as behind as the polls would have you believe, but he is behind, and that asks for something inexpensive and drastic. Or at least that is where I stand.

Towards the end of the Jesse Jackson event, one elderly volunteer kept emphasizing upon me the point that it was okay to take Bloomberg's money if he gives it to you to work on his campaign, just take the money and don't do the work. And he did that in a polite way. Granted it was a largely black and Hispanic crowd, but did I look that out of place? Are a lot of Indians Republicans? I know the most famous one is: Congressman Bobby from Louisiana.

First he started talking to Castro in Spanish. He did not want me to understand. Then Castro eased him into English. And that is when he gave me his advice.

Before I left he pulled out a letter of endorsement he had composed, in English and Spanish.

"I wrote it myself," he said with pride glistening in his eyes.

"Where did Bloomberg make his money? It must be drug money." He was not trying to sound clever. He totally meant it.

Pass me some loyalty stripes I can spray on myself.

Bobby, you are giving an entire subcontinent a bad name, man. Switch, please.

No Taxation Without Representation

Non-citizens should be allowed to vote. To not allow is to disrespect the very essence of New York City. Suddenly I am a single issue person against Bloomberg: I feel so strongly about this issue. This reminds me of Boston and the American revolution.

DFNYC endorsing Gifford Miller was a mistake. Anthony Weiner is a whiner. And I don't even know the guy, directly or indirectly.

Campaign 2005: Much At Stake For Immigrants (2005-09-01)

For the first 150 years after the founding of the nation, non-citizens voted and held public office: alderman, coroner, school board member. Yet the policy fell casualty to the anti-immigrant backlash of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While many European countries have been allowing legal immigrants to vote for public offices for many decades, only a few municipalities in Maryland and Massachusetts allow non-citizens to vote for local affairs. Non-citizens in Chicago vote in school board election. New York had the same practice from the 1970s until 2002 when the school boards were disbanded.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on his weekly radio program on WABC-AM in April of 2004 that he opposed giving legal immigrants who are not United States citizens the right to vote in New York City elections.

The mayor said that while he sympathized with the plight of immigrants, particularly those who pay taxes, he still believed that "the essence of citizenship is the right to vote, and you should go about becoming a citizen before you get the right to vote."

Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner have said they agree. Fernando Ferrer and Virginia Fields say they disagree, that non-citizens should be able to vote in local elections.

Bloomberg

Moskowitz, Frequent Bloomberg Critic, Endorses Him
Profile of the Incumbent: Bloomberg Lives By Statistics And Gives Aides A Free Hand
Ferrer Returns to "Two New Yorks" Theme as Bloomberg Picks up More Endorsements
Consultants Consider How Ferrer Can Rebound

My early blog entries have all been based on tribal instinct, and that is important. (Ferrer Can) Party loyalty is important. But I am capable of objectively looking at the other guy. For one, I did not know the longest time that Bloomberg did not inherit his fortune. He made it. I respect entrepreneurs. That new fact made me take a second look at the guy.

The lives-by-statistics article is a good one on Bloomberg. Some things in there that look good on him are: (1) the open house setup of his office that broke with 190 years of history, (2) his being driven by objectivity and numbers, (3) his delegation style, (4) his refreshing criticisms of the working of the political world ("too much horse trading"), (5) his respecting his own privacy: I admire his not telling the media where he goes for his weekends, and (6) his attempts to heal racial wounds.

That last one is key. Looks like all he had to do was shake Al Sharpton's hands early on! That is news to me. Guliani apparently would not have done such a thing. Looks like where politics touches race is kind of surface. But then that is whole another topic. Although Sharpton is an important man, and his hand has to be shaken, my idea of working on race relations goes way beyond shaking anyone's hand. It has to be policy talk. One that comes to my mind is community outreach programs by the police department so as to bridge the trust gap between the department and the immigrant communities.

So Bloomberg is a self-made billionaire who has a proven management style who pays for his own campaign and so is not beholden to interest groups, and he is largely socially progressive in his personal capacity. That last part really seems to work for him. The voters seem to feel a direct connection to him. I mean, if the guy is leading among blacks.

If I could vote, who would I vote for? That's easy. Ferrer. It is called party loyalty. I do think Ferrer still has a chance. But it is uphill. He needs to come fighting.

I think the biggest hole is he is not talking about his executive experience as Bronx Borough President. He has to be able to say his management style is better. Policy talk alone will not help. Some lines to say:

"Bloomberg lives by numbers. That is great. I want to live by numbers and people both."

"Bloomberg has an open house office for his senior staff. I want to have that and an open house approach to the people of New York. I will hold regular town hall meetings, one a month, for my entire term."

"Bloomberg is a self-made billionaire, and I admire that. But most people who worked for him and helped him make his fortune were products of public schools. Bloomberg should be ashamed of the dropout rate in the city's public schools."

"You want a mayor, not a CEO. What do people mean when they say Bloomberg is not beholden to any interest groups? You have to be beholden to the people of the city, as a whole and their many organized groups. You have to be responsive. I believe Bloomberg is distant."

"You don't see me on TV that often, because I don't have $100 million of my own to spend on ads. But if you get swayed by 30 second beauty ads that show you the city skyline and ask you to vote for Bloomberg, I am not your man. Do not vote for me. I am the message man. I invite you to intellgent conversations on issues."

"Crime rates are down. Good job, Bloomberg. But what are your plans for the next four years?"

"Do you promise not to revive the stadium plan?"

"Do you promise not to raise taxes, and to not break your promise to not raise taxes?"

"Where do you stand on Amadou Diallo?"

"Do you think George W. has been good or bad for posterity?"

Another big mismatch is it is Ferrer and his $1 million versus Bloomberg and $100 million, something of that sort. Bloomberg has basically blanketed the media. I tried suggesting countering that through email viral marketing techniques that would not cost a dime but would really reach voters if done right: you only get emails from people you personally know. But the idea has not been picked up.

For now it does feel like a Bloomberg shoo-in. But then the fun is in watching, in following the race, regardless of which way it goes. Unless Ferrer were to do something dramatic. Get more aggressive. It is possible for the race to tighten up over the next few weeks.

We will see how it goes. I mean, it does not look good that not even the Democrat President of Bronx has endorsed Ferrer. What's up with that?

The Saudi Royal Family Has Got To Go

The War On Terror is the same magnitude as the Cold War, but it does not have to last 70 or 50 years. It can be concluded by the year 2020 or earlier. And you do that by ensuring a total spread of democracy in a proactive way. Spreading democracy the progressive way has got to be the progressive strategy to win the War On Terror.

The House Of Saud has to fall, it has to get out of the way. Looks like there is a convergence point between me and Osama Bin Laden there. But then disagreements start. How to get there? We disagree. What to do after getting there? We disagree. His strategy of getting there is violent. And he wants to turn the country into a medieval theocracy. We want a Saudi Arabia that is a republic and a democracy.

The idea has got to be to ensure the most sophisticated moral and logistical support to the grassroots, non-violent activists for democracy right there in Saudi Arabia. We are going to give Osama a run for his money right there. We are going to train non-violent activists for democracy like he never trained an Al Qaeda fighter. It is going to be war with communications technology.

King George was wrong for America. The House of Saud is wrong for the people of Saudi Arabia. Monrachies make no sense.

Either a country is a democracy, or it is not, there is no middle ground. And countries that are not democratic need some rapid therapy.

The Arab immigrants in New York City will take the lead, first by aligning themselves with DFNYC, and then by splitting like amoeba to spearhead their own movements. Democracy For Qatar, Democracy For Yemen, Democracy For Kuwait, Democracy For Saudi Arabia, what have you.

NYC is the capital city of the world, and it is going to act like it too.

5 Steps To Democracy

Once the activists can get a critical mass of people out in the streets, all the world's powers need to come around to recognizing them as the new interim government. Start out by kicking out the ambassadors of the old regime.

I Am Running For Dean 2008 Campaign Chair

I think I am. I think of Dean 2008 every single day. Google my name: I am qualified. It can be said I moved to NYC, the progressive capital, to set up shop, although it has been more like gelling than an outright announcement.

I am old enough, in my early 30s. You could not have hired a 40 plus executive to launch Google. Dean 2008 is nothing less than a Google. This is like launching a Google. You need me. I will hire older CEO, COO, CTO, CFO types if I have to balance it out, duke it out. But not for the sake of it. You need the person with the idea leading the effort. Nuts and bolts are not the primary challenge. What you are looking for is oomph, fire in the belly, and I have it.

I am the only person who has so totally thought it through. I deserve it because I have thought it.

Dean 2008 is like a major dot com startup. Only its impact will be much larger than any dot com ever. A startup does not get launched by a veteran. A startup gets launched by a newbie.

Only a Deaniac can lead Deaniacs. I am a 2004 veteran.

Dean 2008 can not be launched until January 2007, and that is all good. But that does not prevent me from working on it every single day till then. On my own. Howard Dean is an inspiration, and that is all I really need to do my work. And I am really hoping I can make enough money through online marketing and blogging in a residual way by then that I can become a Campaign Chair who refuses a salary. A volunteer might better inspire an army of volunteers.

There is not another Democrat in America who has a strong on defense prescription like I do, and the experience I have acquired by telecommuting into the movement for democracy in Nepal.

I have personally won an election in the South. I think I have a solid strategy to win at least half the Southern states.

I have invented a few concepts that are really going to blow the competition out of the water.

I can do it. I have the talent, the vision, the will, the desire. I am ready as is. I will prepare more.

50% Women Friends, 50% Women Colleagues

A progressive corporation would be 50% women top to bottom. That would be one aspect. But it would not be too efficient to have a quota system. For the political sphere, I think the four concepts can really create a level playing field. And it does so without even identifying the various groups and subgroups. It is a mathematical model that treats each Home Sapien as one unit, and then builds up. Maybe someone can create something similar for corporations. It might even be a mirror image with slight modifications.

In a non sexist world, half of a man's friends would be women. Half the colleagues.

I just posted a blog entry at my Group Dynamics blog that kind of throws light on some of the tools I have worked on the social progressive front: A Few Diagrams. Click on the diagrams to study them. That way they appear larger.

Social progress is tricky. A 6 or a 7 can feel defensive among the 9s. A 5 can mistake himself for a 6. A 10 might make little or no sense to a 5. I think the key is to stay engaged in respectful dialogue.

2008: Some Themes

1. One person, one vote, one voice.
2. Total, transparent democracy.
3. Non-violent militancy.
4. Face time, screen time.

U2, Me Too

I could not believe it when I read the headline yesterday. My Google News page has a custom section for Hillary. And there was news that U2 had blasted Hillary. I am like, is that a typo? I thought Bono and Bill Clinton were friends, and the Irishman Bono was also grateful to the guy who did some political healing to the pain in the U2 song Sunday, Bloody Sunday, in ways only Bill Clinton could have. Bono was there at the dedication ceremony of the Clinton Library.

U2 is a class act. Don't get me wrong. I am a huge U2 fan. But then so is Hillary. And Hillary's best work lies ahead of her.

Apparently Hillary and some other Senator, Republican, had sold some U2 concert tickets as a fundraiser. Hillary has money: she is a multi-millionaire, and I am happy for her. But it is in the nature of politial fund-raising that you get to raise small amounts from many individuals. And that is all good. That is the democratic way.

U2 should have had the decency to say whatever they had to say privately. They could have picked up the phone. They could have requested a step-back from the Hillary staff.

The statement said, "U2 concerts are only for U2 fans." So who bought those tickets from Hillary at high prices? Not U2 fans? Come on.

The hurt has been done.

Hillary went on a talk show with a celebrity woman friend of her own, invited her to NYC and all that. Hillary will take her around.

Men can be predictable. Men. White men. Whites. In certain situations, they act certain ways.

If you hurt your man friend's wife, is that supposed to make that man think you and him are closer than him and his wife? That would be immature.

And there is this whole crowd thing.

Bill Clinton is a rare leader. He really makes the crowd come alive. The crowd is a virus at low temperatures, there but not moving. And Bill Clinton comes along, and raises the temperature, and the crowd comes alive. And the crowd starts having sex and money thoughts. And Bill Clinton is just vocabulary, bearing the brunt of all that talk.

And there is this another weird thing. Happened to both Amitabh Bachchan and Bill Clinton. The crowd so loves you, it has to constantly look for the other woman in your life. Because, if you love your wife, you could not be returning back the crowd's love. In Amitabh's case, it was Rekha in the press.

The crowd is a cloud, at best passing. Genuine affection only comes from intimate relationships.

Hillary said on the show, "Bill Clinton is a husband you want to keep around for 30 years because he does the dishes." Looks like the Man from Hope is hurt.

Bono, what did you do now?

Like the JFK daughter Carolyn asked Jackie Kennedy when a bunch of Nobel Prize winning physicists rang alam bells on apparent White House unconcern on atomic weapons: "What did Daddy do now?"