Thursday, January 04, 2007

Obama Has To Announce In January

The Name's Obama, Barack Obama

Why now?

Because you are not married to a former, popular two-term president who is still young. You have to get in early. And because you retain your Senate seat, the campaigning all the way to summer will be rather light. There is family, there is the Senate, and there will be the campaign.
So you announce and you lie low.










The man has to say it. He has to do it. It has to get official. He has to run for President Of The United States. Finally we will see a new century dawn. This is to be a brave new world now on.

McCain, A Piece Of Cake

Obama competes with Clinton, Kennedy, FDR, Lincoln (that only good Republican) and Jefferson. McCain is a minor nuisance along the way. The goal is greatness. The presidency is but a pedestal, a launch pad for that greatness.

McCain had much to offer his country when he was in Vietnam, perhaps, and he did. But what does he have to offer now? Nothing.

McCain's only thing will be to be hawkish on Iraq. That recipe will fail again like in 2006. De ja vu.

Hillary Is Methodical

She works hard. She is disciplined. So you are going to have to match her and best her in the money and organization departments. Better ideas will not suffice. And she is smart herself.

How To Tackle Hillary
  1. You have to even her out on money and organization and outdo her on ideas and execution. How you manage your campaign is key. Can't afford obvious mistakes. (The Matrix, Democratic Vision For The 21st Century, Policy Making The Matrix Way)
  2. You can't secretly hope to have her as your running mate or become her running mate and still beat her. (Eliot Spitzer For Running Mate)
  3. You have to turn her number one strength into her number one weakness. Is Hillary Bill Clinton's cameo, Billie Clinton's third term denied by the constitution? What is that guy doing behind the scenes, pulling the strings? You admire Bill Clinton, so do I, but he is fair game if he shows up for the fight. I love the guy, but do the American people really want to give him a third term? Enough dynasty politics. George Washington had a republic in mind. Besides, after the 1990s, is it not time to move the national debate from the person of Bill Clinton to, say, universal health?
  4. The country carries plenty of justified guilt on both race and gender. Show race is the bigger issue, but never directly. You are more like Michael Jordan than Martin Luther King to most white folks. Leave it at that.
  5. Plan on a 50% female cabinet, a third of whom are non-white. Neutralize the first woman president thing. Have much visible female presence on your campaign team.
  6. This is a marathon. Take the long view. Don't let her daunt you. The Clinton Machine is a myth in this era of YouTube videos, blogs and email. The emphasis has to be on the DirectConnect now possible between the candidate and the individual voter. She started her run by talking up to a whole bunch of pols across the country. She is methodical. That is her strong point. But then her weakness is she is not all too spontaneous. She is not known to improvise a whole lot. She can lack freshness that way. She might lose severely on the excitement factor.
  7. Cash on the generation gap, your number one strength. Hillary does not do email. Remind people, this is a new century.
  8. Granted both of you like each other, but stay ready for the ugly. Attack ads will be traded for sure. That is in the nature of a presidential campaign. Too much is at stake. When you get hit, you hit back. Don't hesitate. Sometimes you go on the offensive. Stay strong, civil but strong. I don't think you two will enage in personal attacks. But you sure are going to have to attack her positions, and her leadership flaws. For example, her ways when working on health care were too secretive. That is anathema to the political process.
  9. You are not going to get another chance to run for president. This is your one chance.
  10. Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Hammer that point home. That cost Bush the Congress, that will cost Hillary the White House, and that will cost McCain the White House. How smart is Hillary really if she has been behind a dumb war?
Hillary Is A Plus

Hillary's candidacy necessarily sparks a debate on gender, and that is good. It is best when race and gender get talked about at once.

Dean And You

January 2007 is a great time to start your campaign. It is possible Bill Clinton will convince Hillary to not throw her hat into the ring until say October. That's what Kerry did, and look how well it worked for him. October also worked for Clinton back in the days. And Howard Dean burned out.

Don't buy that. But don't repeat the Dean mistake. The guy used up most of his money even before Iowa showed up. Do not, do not do anything like that. If you can't handle a $50 million budget, how can you handle a few trillion?

But other than that, do the Dean thing. Build The Matrix. Raise money the grassroots way, but also the fundraiser dinnner/lunch way.

And skip another Dean mistake. Do the policy wonk thing three out of four days of the week. (Policy Making The Matrix Way)

This is a 10 year undertaking. Keep that perspective. You can't burn out. If you burn out in one year, you don't deserve the subsequent eight, or nine, depends on how you look at it.

January 2007 is the best timing. Do it at least one week before the State Of The Unioin. Don't do it on Oprah. Instead appear on Oprah in the aftermath. Call a press conference. And give a 20 minute speech, and then take a few, select questions, and it is all over.

You just need a few basic themes to emphasize until summer. But you have to start signing up the grassroots volunteers now.

October in South Carolia, Nevada. November in New Hampshire. After Thanksgiving, camp put in Iowa. I have been all over Iowa, so have you. It is a nice little stretch.

A Different Kind Of Campaign, A Scientific Campaign

Me

I can't get on your payroll. You could not pay me enough. I could be your Campaign Manager. (The Virus Of The April Revolution) But I can't. I just want to be a friend. Kind of like a shadow Campaign Manager. I just want to be one of the most visible stars in The Matrix, that is all. Besides, I can sometimes get radioactive, politically speaking. So it's best I am not formally part of your team. And I am not going anywhere outside the city boundaries. I already been everywhere. There you go.

I am no pol. I am an aspiring entrepreneur. I watch politics like some people watch sports. I don't have baseball. Politics is my baseball.

Stick To The Basics
  1. Be yourself.
  2. Read a lot. Continue to be a policy wonk. Substance and style both matter.
  3. Spend much time with your family. That is good for you, your family, and your candidacy.
  4. Eat well, exercise regularly, sleep plenty. Some foolish candidates think when they mess such things up that means they are giving their all to the campaign. Not so.
YouAre: Barack McDream Obama

McDream is your middle name. Barack McDream McImagination Obama.

Democratic Vision For The 21st Century
The Matrix
Three Pillars, Draft 2

A Different Kind Of Campaign: A Scientific Campaign
The Spectrum Concept: Wide Applications

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Barack Obama for President at Dem Rally in Little Rock, AR.

In The News

Web-exclusive comment: Barack Obama Globe and Mail
Report: Hillary Believes Obama Threat Will "Diminish" TPMCafe Hillary Clinton views Barack Obama as her primary rival for the Democratic nomination for President, but she believes that the threat of Obama will "diminish" ........ Clinton has been holding extensive consultations with Democratic leaders in key primary states and elsewhere, and says that Dems who have met with her describe her as "leaving little doubt that she plans to run ....... she believed the threat of his candidacy will diminish as voters learn how inexperienced he is in government and foreign affairs
In Meetings With Allies, Clinton Hones 08 Strategy New York Times New Hampshire ..... the 10 years since she last visited ...... Patricia McMahon, one of the dinner guests, a former Clinton White House aide who is now a state representative. ...... a series of nearly nonstop political consultations that Mrs. Clinton has engaged in — over dinner and drinks, at private offices and at her home in Washington ...... Depending on her audience, she appears to be either seeking information to use in campaign strategy, pressing potential supporters to hold tight and wait for her to announce, or gauging how certain issues — in particular, her initial vote for the war in Iraq — might play. ......... Mrs. Clinton has pressed to find out everything from whether former Vice President Al Gore will run again (he is inclined not to, people tell her) to how much support remains for Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s 2004 candidate, among Democratic leaders (anemic, she has heard). ........ Clinton and her camp are already asserting that experience will be a key attribute for any successful candidate during difficult times — an argument that her team will no doubt make in a more aggressive way against Mr. Obama if they both jump into the race. ........ tremendous fluidity in presidential politics ........ She and her aides have strongly asked Democrats not to report what has taken place there, from what she says to what she eats and where (she had the lamb at Ruth’s Chris, the Dover sole at the Four Seasons). .......... she would prefer to delay the formal start of her campaign until later this year and focus instead on notching accomplishments as a prominent member of the new Democratic majority in the Senate ........ why her husband was able to delay making his presidential announcement in 1991 until October ......... you can lose key people if you wait ........ Mrs. Clinton has talked, both in person or by telephone, to influential Democrats in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada ........ she asked precisely where she should go in places like Iowa and New Hampshire if she, as expected, does a round of trips there after forming a presidential exploratory committee. ....... No detail has been too minor for Mrs. Clinton. ...... The senator spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day on vacation with her husband in the Caribbean ....... working through her long call list with Democrats around the country and holding private lunches and dinners in Washington and New York. ...... Some New Hampshire Democrats expressed concern that Mrs. Clinton’s first dinner with political players from their state, on Dec. 9, was limited to three Democrats who were active in her husband’s campaigns in the 1990s and not a broader group that reflected the vanguard of state party politics today. ..... “It’ll only be tricky for her if she stops with those people,” Ms. Norelli said. “Democratic politics has certainly changed since the 1990s
Barack Obama: Danger To Progressives Black Star News
CNN sorry over Osama/Obama mix-up
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Obama? Osama? Ocrapa Regret The Error
OSAMA? OBAMA? POTATO, POTAHTO? Free Market News Network
Will Obama's memoir help or hurt him?
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Obama Admissions on Drug Use Could Signal New Era in Politics FOX News
Barack Obama Was A Junkie? HipHopDX
Report:Clinton Says Obama's Appeal To Fade Playfuls.com
Report: Hillary Clinton Believes Obama Presidential Momentum Will ... ABC News
Clinton Seen as Best Former US President
Angus Reid Global Monitor
Most Americans Expect Hillary Presidential Bid Angus Reid Global Monitor

CNN confuses Obama with Osama
Edmonton Sun
Confusing Obama with Osama? CNN makes on-air goof, then apologizes WQAD
CNN Apologizes for Mistaken Headline ABC News
Why Barack Obama is ready for the Presidency
OpEdNews

Obama appearance on "Oprah" not likely before late January Honolulu Advertiser Obama would announce his candidacy on the "Oprah" show soon if he decides to run.
Obama Stays Out of Public Eye in Hawaii Forbes
Obama stays out of public eye while isle supporters push for run KPUA
Where’s the beef, Barack? Obama simply rehashing old ideas
Naples Daily News
Obama and Edwards Vie for America's Youngest President Title
The Spoof (satire) Former president Herbert Walker Bush ..... "They're kids .. babies these guys running for the highest office in the land. Look at me, look at my son. Do we look like toddlers to you? ...... Houston reporters told the ex-president "no" and assured Mr Bush that he and his wife Barb especially were indeed the oldest looking people in the land if not the universe. ..... Oprah Winfrey backs the Senator from Illinois with over 0.0000021% of her cash reserves. ........ Edwards today not only announced his plan to run in 2008 but also his plan to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq the moment he's inaugurated.
John Edwards joins race for White House Times Online
Underdogs run for president under the radar of Obama-Clinton hype San Jose Mercury News
Overflow Crowd Greets Edwards' Tour
ABC News
Edwards Can't Get Across Gay Marriage Bridge 365Gay.com
Edwards hopes persistence pays off in presidency Los Angeles Times universal healthcare, higher wages for the working poor ....... is stressing "personal responsibility." ..... he urged Americans to volunteer for anti-poverty work and cut fuel use to ease global warming. ...... called for the immediate withdrawal of 40,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops from the war in Iraq ...... "It would be an enormous mistake to adopt the McCain doctrine and escalate this war in Iraq" ...... Iowa was the first stop on his three-day swing to the first states to hold Democratic nomination contests. Edwards plans to campaign in New Hampshire and Nevada today and in South Carolina on Saturday. ....... "Obama and Clinton are taking up an enormous amount of political space" ...... To maximize media exposure, he timed his announcement for the normally slow news week before New Year's. The death this week of President Ford complicated that plan ....... he starts with debt lingering from 2004 ..... "huge atrocities" in northern Uganda ..... "We said after Rwanda we'd never let anything like this happen again," he said. "Well, it's happening right now." ....... hammered the Bush administration for refusing to negotiate with adversaries ...... He was the first in his family to attend college. ...... Known in 2004 for his discipline in sticking to a poll-tested message

Obama's Gift to Hillary FrontPage magazine.com By Dick Morris .... While the media endlessly promotes him and his ratings rise, other candidates are frozen. They can't raise money and they can't get commitments. ..... All the media adulation is merely setting Obama up for a nasty fall. .... Just ask Howard Dean how it works. He was golden from September to November of '03, but crashed when the pressure got serious in December. Even his campaign manager conceded that "this guy isn't ready for prime time." ..... he is able to choke off other challengers to Hillary. Already, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh has joined Virginia ex-Gov. Mark Warner in dropping out. Ex-Sen. John Edwards finds himself going backward in the polls, the momentum he gained during his wife's book tour slipping away amid Obama-mania. Even Al Gore may have to think twice about getting into the race with Obama sucking up all the oxygen in the room.
Pins for Obama's balloon Buffalo News
Who’s afraid of Obama? Napa Valley Register
Obama erases Hil lead in NH New York Daily News
Obama speaks loudest when he says nothing Seattle Times Evan Bayh, recently visited New Hampshire to weigh his prospects for a 2008 presidential run. He was flattened by crowds running to see Obama and dropped out. ...... Obama's appeal comes not from the things he says, but from who is saying them. He scores as an exotic who talks of barbershops and church socials in the flat tones you'd expect from any son of the prairie. ...... "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America, there is the United States of America." These unremarkable words, spoken at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, set off wild applause. ....... Before a thousand swooning fans in New Hampshire, he says, Evita-like: "This isn't about me. This is about you." ...... he doesn't even get a haircut without first consulting his wife. ...... It takes some doing for a politician to write a 364-page book, his second volume, and skate past all controversy.
Edwards, Obama Easily Edge Out Hillary in 2008 Iowa Poll About - News & Issues
Poll Shows Obama and Clinton Neck and Neck BET
Obama/Clinton Race On AlaskaReport

How long can Obama stay interesting?
TeenSpeak Online
Jabs about middle name just the beginning for Obama
Houston Chronicle he rides a wave of rapturous news coverage. Santa Claus could hardly have drawn more excited crowds than those that turned out for Obama in New Hampshire. ..... A hefty 40 percent of the Democrats surveyed in the latest Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg poll said they did not know enough about him to have an opinion on him. ..... Candidate McDreamy's balloon has left potential foes so little to puncture that some have begun to pick on his middle name.
Behind Obama-mania, an especially complex machine Los Angeles Times the South Side and the Near North Side, the Loop, the South Loop, the West Loop, West Town, Irving Park, Portage Park, Hyde Park, this Catholic parish or that, the Poles, the Czechs, the Jacksons, the Bridgeport Irish (who are not to be confused with the Lace Curtain Irish, or with anyone else, for that matter). ...... the collar counties around the city, and, of course, downstate, which seems to include everything that isn't Chicago, from the northwest suburbs to the sundown towns (as in, if you were black, you'd better be out of town before the sun set) of Little Egypt, which are closer in almost every way to Alabama than Chicago. ..... Obama-mania has exploded across the country this fall ........ He has been urged to run for president by everybody from Oprah Winfrey to a shockingly large number of ideologically opposed political commentators. ........ Obama arrived in Chicago in 1991, unbidden, with a fresh Harvard Law degree, big ambitions and virtually no reason to think they would ever be fulfilled. In a place of fervid group loyalties, he was a nearly complete outsider, having spent just three of his prior 30 years in the city, a member of no group but his own. ...... Five years later, he was elected to the state Senate ..... What he had instead of a loyal base was a million-dollar smile, an optimistic message of inclusion, and a willingness to work with anyone willing to put a shoulder to the wheel of his choosing, no matter their ideological stance. ...... Chicago politics tends toward polarization. Depolarization is Obama's stock in trade. ........ Talk to people who live there now and you could easily get the impression that Obama grew up one block over. ...... "Barack is wildly less threatening than Harold Washington," said Judson Miner, who hired Obama into his small Chicago civil rights law firm in 1991. "Even the North Shore ladies love him." .......... when Obama arrived in Springfield, the state capital. There was suspicion that Obama, with his fancy degrees and a job teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, was an elitist. It turned out he was a more or less regular guy who played pickup basketball and poker. ......... Obama was somebody you could sit and have a beer with ..... Obama, who frequently quit buying but not smoking cigarettes, perpetually bummed them. ........ charm, intellect, hard worker, ability to relate ...... he removes race from the equation. Some critics would say he works too hard at this. Yet there is no one in contemporary American politics who has gone to greater lengths to define and embrace his racial identity. He wrote an entire book — his first, a memoir titled "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" — about that act of definition. ........ "My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn't, couldn't end there. At least that's what I would choose to believe," he wrote. ...... Obama is one of very few politicians who cause a rustle just entering a room. Heads turn, cameras flash, and whooping and hollering commence often before he reaches the stage. Other politicians might need two warmup speeches and a battle of the bands to generate that much noise and excitement......... It's the same almost everywhere he goes. Crowds are bigger and noisier than for whoever was the last unlucky pol to roll through. ........ He drew perhaps 500 people to a Manhattan Barnes & Noble for one of the first events of his fall book tour. ........ He was 30 years old," she said. They talked for a while. Nothing exceptional happened. The next day, Saltzman recalls, she told a friend that she had just met the man who was going to be the first black president of the United States. ......... "After Barack spoke, she nudged me on the shoulder and said, 'This young man is going to be president of the United States someday. I just hope I live long enough to vote for him.' " ............ the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention ....... "It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in 40 years in politics," Jones said. ...... People who have known Obama for a while, like Jones, Walsh and Dillard, tend to describe him in ways eerily similar to how he is described by people who know him hardly at all......... "A lot more people know him, but he's the same guy. I've spent a lot of quiet nights with him. This is not an act by any means. When we were in the state Senate together, you would get guys, real right-wingers, they would consider Barack a guy they wanted to work with." .......... he has spent much of his life as an outsider figuring out a way to fit in. ....... there is no place Obama doesn't feel at ease, no room he's uncomfortable entering. ....... Giving speeches, he's more prone to a casual conversational mode — he sometimes greets crowds by saying "Thanks, guys" — than to high-flying rhetoric, although that's there if he needs it. He speaks words one measured syllable at a time, with the emphasis — like a young David Brinkley — on the ends of phrases. He often speaks in the first-person plural: We ask, we see, we wonder. We take challenges seriously. He invites audiences in. He communicates comfort, so much so that he often draws applause even when describing what he sees as the nation's dire circumstances......... He said he had been given a polite reception, then had yielded the stage to Obama, who received a raucous welcome, as if Elvis had come on stage. ....... "Sam," he said, "this is my house too. This is God's house."
Early star power of Clinton, Obama wilting field Boston Globe Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois are already rewriting the script of the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign, driving potential Democratic rivals to the sidelines. ..... Trading on their star power, capacity to raise tens of millions of dollars with relative ease, and ability to dominate news media attention, the two senators are casting a huge shadow over all others who may run. ......... Bayh became the third Democrat to quit the race before Clinton or Obama had taken formal steps to enter. ........ "Simply put, it's the Obama factor" ...... there's no oxygen left out there for their candidacies ...... Clinton and Obama have demonstrated the advantages of celebrity status in a world of constant cable news and expanding Internet communities. ...... A poll released yesterday shows Obama running about even with Clinton among likely voters in the New Hampshire primary. ...... At this point, Clinton and Obama are eclipsing a group of Democratic heavyweights that includes the party's presidential and vice presidential nominees in 2004, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Edwards. ....... Clinton and Obama both appeal to Democrats on a symbolic level.
NH visit lets Obama gain on Clinton Earthtimes.org since Obama's New Hampshire visit, he has overcome a 23-point gap and now is nearly tied with Clinton in the upcoming primary ..... Barack Obama got five days of constant media attention in New Hampshire
Can Bill Clinton step back? DetNews.com He stood far behind, hiding in plain sight, though his glowing white hair and ruddy complexion rendered him as inconspicuous as a face on Mount Rushmore. ...... Bill stood poker-faced. He clasped his hands. He held his head high. He clapped when appropriate. He smiled ever so faintly. And he did not move. When Hillary offered thanks to him and turned around to acknowledge him, he did not step forward, did not step to her side. He stayed put, several feet away, as if taking pains to soak up not one ray of the spotlight he so dearly loves but that, now more than ever, must be hers and hers alone. ......... Bill is poised to mightily help or deeply hurt his wife's White House prospects. ....... He's a razor-sharp political strategist. He knows the institution of the presidency. His fundraising chops are unrivaled. All that is well and good -- perhaps too good, according to a September CNN poll, which showed his favorable rating higher than hers, 60 percent to 50 percent. ........ the other Bill, the one who could be a massive and messy distraction. That Bill is the ex-president known for his outsize appetites and lack of discipline, the Bill who still revels in the limelight, who runs with global jetsetters. He is prone to pop up in the press for even the smallest of curiosities, like being spotted at dinner with another woman ........ If she runs, will voters focus too much on him? ...... Can voters look at Bill without thinking of sex? If they don't think of sex, they'll likely think the word: "president," which may also not be such a good thing for the spouse who wants that title. ......... The media-industrial complex will again feed like hungry hounds on the Clintons, their past and future; on the Clintons and their mysteries ....... opinions on her are strong and run the gamut. Gallup last month asked 1,003 respondents to state what comes to mind about Hillary. Thirteen percent said they disliked her. Ten percent said she's qualified to be president. Nine percent said she's riding Bill's shirttails. Eight percent called her strong. Six percent called her intelligent, and another six percent called her dishonest and said they didn't trust her. ......... the last thing she needs is people asking, as they have in the media and at cocktail parties: Can Bill control himself during her presidential campaign? ....... Could Bill's hunger for the spotlight pose problems? You bet ....... Hillary will have to be careful not to be upstaged by him or lost in the glare of his global political stardom. ...... the issue of Bill "a central question to her candidacy."
Couple's styles are study in contrast DetNews.com

Edwards/Obama trounce Hillary Clinton in Iowa poll Seattle Post Intelligencer
Testing the Waters, Obama Tests His Own Limits
New York Times
The Media Honeymoon is Over for Barack Hussein Obama Student Operated Press
The Obama backlash. It's started. Chicago Sun-Times
Barack Obama's Middle Name Huffington Post

The Daily Obama Yahoo! News
Obama on Obama Chicago Tribune
Obama: Not ‘the un-Hillary’ Chicago Tribune
Obama: Family worries about his safety Chicago Sun-Times You are not assigned Secret Service protection until you are effectively the nominee ..... Obama said he "might have to build in" his own security provisions. ..... Obama's family has been nervous for some time for his safety. ..... During that Kenyan visit, Obama's half sister, Auma, gave an interview to Laurie Abraham of Elle magazine in which she worried about his safety. ........ "Not to be offensive, there are crazy people in America as well, with crazy ideas. And at the end of the day, what matters is that he's a black man. The history of America is quite violent,'' Auma said in a story in the Elle December issue. ....... he believed he would be a "viable candidate" for president who could move the nation beyond the generational politics that have defined the last 40 years. ..... a politician who a little more than two years ago was a state senator toiling in Springfield. ...... has ignited a stunning level of excitement nationwide ..... he had no real concerns about his ability to put together a staff and raise the tens of millions of dollars he would need ........ "Do I have something that is sufficiently unique to offer to the country that it is worth putting my family through a presidential campaign?" ....... He said his two books, the first an autobiography written when he was in his late 30s and the second a more policy-oriented book, offer much detail about who he is and his views on issues. ...... Asked how he would address the issue of his relative lack of experience, Obama said he thought that the campaign itself--how he managed it, his position on issues and his framing of a vision for the country--would answer the question. "That experience question would be answered at the end of the campaign," he said. ......... Vice President Dick Cheney, a former defense secretary, and departing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "had the best resume on paper of any foreign policy team and the result has been what I consider to be one of the biggest foreign policy mistakes in our history ........ in three national polls released this week, Obama has leapfrogged many of those contenders and put himself in a position to be an alternative to Clinton ......... He said he could "help turn the page in ways that other candidates can't do." ..... Obama called Clinton, 59, a "tough, disciplined, smart, intelligent public servant." But, compared to Clinton, he maintained he was able to look at "some issues differently as a consequence of being of a slightly different generation." ....... Obama said he placed Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the same position Clinton holds among Democrats, with great name recognition and resources and the ability to sew up much of the party establishment. ....... Obama said he was under no illusions about how a GOP presidential campaign would be run against him. ......... "War hero against snot-nosed rookie," Obama said.
Clinton to Tout Re-Release of 'Village' Forbes

Draft Obama movement... Boston Globe
Obama helps sell out Democrats' event The Union Leader
Obama: Selling books or running for president? Chicago Sun-Times
Hillary Clinton Dives In: Barack Obama Forces Move National Ledger
Dick Morris doesn't like Hillary Clinton Seattle Post Intelligencer

Gov. Tom Vilsack, Dem 2008 White House hopeful on Obama: "I don't ... Chicago Sun-Times Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat running for president lacks the pizzazz of his major rivals; at least thats how it seems to me and the reporter who politely asked him if he was bland. ..... "Who would hire someone who did not have CEO experience."
Barack Obama Comes Praises Sen. Clinton FOX News
Barack Obama Comes Praises Sen. Clinton Washington Post commented on the fatal police shooting of a 23-year-old in Queens, saying the 50 bullets that officers unloaded struck him as "excessive." ...... He called her smart and tough. .... The Democrat quoted Ronald Reagan and told a story about Bobby Kennedy visiting the Mississippi Delta in 1967. He talked about the current minimum wage being insufficient and how single mothers like his do a heroic job. .... Once his speech was over, he received a rousing standing ovation from the scores of people in the audience gathered at a midtown Manhattan hotel.
Barack Obama Does Hillary’s New York Bayou Buzz
Hillary Clinton's Early Moves Washington Post
Hillary Clinton Reaches Out to Iowa Democratic Leaders FOX News
Clinton Reaches Out to Iowa, NH Dems Washington Post Clinton spoke to New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch last week ..... A June Des Moines Register poll found Edwards leading among likely caucus goers, 30 to 26 percent. .... The New York senator, who tops every national poll of likely Democratic candidates
Iowa governor: Smart campaign can beat Clinton juggernaut in '08 Christian Science Monitor
Why the early field for 2008's election is the biggest yet Christian Science Monitor
Gearing up for the most competitive US presidential race MSN Money
Old Clinton team ready for action Concord Monitor Long after his ascent to the White House, Bill Clinton has remained close to his New Hampshire volunteers, inviting them to holiday parties in Washington, sending letters and hosting lunches when he traveled through town. ..... "She has so many advantages that it's almost mind-boggling. She doesn't need a Rolodex; she doesn't need to build relationships." .... In her New York campaigns for U.S. Senate, "she spent a lot of time visiting every nook and cranny in the state ...... she's very thoughtful, very deliberate and very exacting in what she does .... She is substance; she is depth; she is a quick study ..... her husband's old network of donors. ..... after two Bush presidencies, voters could recoil from another White House dynasty. .... polls that show Clinton receiving about one-third of primary votes. ..... Clinton's apparent acceleration of her White House timetable followed a media frenzy over Sen. Barack Obama ........ Clinton hired a national spokesman and fundraising director this week
Speculation rife over Hillary bid Washington Times
Hillary vs. Obama? Long Beach Press-Telegram would give voters hungry for a change a real choice for a change.
Possible Clinton Rival For President Visits NYC NY1

Barack Obama Is the Almighty - Bow Down To Him Now Huffington Post
America looks for Bobby Kennedy in Obama DetNews.com
Obama's Moment? Yahoo! News
Dreaming of Obama New York Magazine
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama Commentary
HILL BARACKING OFF New York Post Iowa Democrats say there's a growing feeling in the key 2008 state that Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to take a pass on the presidency if rising rival Barack Obama jumps in. .... Iowa Interim Democratic Party Chairman Rob Tully said. .... surging Democratic darling .... Sen. Clinton has been holed up at her home in Chappaqua and hasn't appeared in public in over two weeks. ..... There was no sign of life at her house yesterday, and Secret Service agents at the Westchester County property wouldn't say whether she was there. .... she is not building an adequate political organization in Iowa ..... "I have never seen a reaction other than Bill Clinton in terms of the excitement that people have to meet Barack Obama. Some people just wanted to touch him," Tully told Fox ...... "As we have said before, Sen. Clinton's decision-making is not dependent on anyone else's plans," said her spokesman, Howard Wolfson. ..... Clinton is the only top-tier presidential contender to spend zero time meeting and greeting local voters in the kickoff states of Iowa and New Hampshire. ..... Obama has already bested Clinton in the personal, retail politics that New Hampshire voters and party bigwigs crave. ....... New Hampshire had the absolute best day of any Democratic Party in the country," said Sullivan, referring to a congressional election sweep and huge state Legislature gains. ... Sullivan did not receive a congratulatory call from Clinton.
Obama goes from church to Jay Leno United Press International
Bam-bam Obama Sets the Record Straight on Jay Leno Show AXcess News
Jay Leno: Supersize softballs for Barack Obama Chicago Sun-Times
Obama could spoil a Clinton presidential bid The State Others speculate Clinton is waiting to declare so she can feel the love of being asked — a groundswell of warmth for a Clinton candidacy. ..... members of Clinton’s team had quietly begun interviewing Democrats for senior and mid-level campaign team positions. .... “Hillary Clinton had a good year, but Obama had an unbelievable, rock-star year,” said University of Virginia politics professor Larry Sabato. “Obama is the really big winner ... He eclipsed her.” ...... Obama is setting himself up as the real progressive to counter Hillary’s centrist tendencies.
Clinton’s Talks With Democrats May Signal Bid for President New York Times, United States Senator Clinton met last week with Charles B. Rangel ...... she was entering a new phase of contacting officials to line up support for a possible presidential bid. ..... growing speculation about a hard-fought contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between her and another possible hopeful, Senator Barack Obama ..... Mr. Obama’s political profile has been rising as an antiwar Democrat who proved wildly popular on the campaign trail, aiding candidates in the 2006 elections. With Mr. Obama scheduled this month to visit New Hampshire, the site of the first presidential primary, some Clinton allies see him as the single biggest obstacle to her nomination. ...... she seeks to build a united bench of Democratic support in her home state and then reach out for support nationally from elected officials, major donors and allies of both her and her husband ...... “The message is, ‘Everybody keep their powder dry,’ ” the adviser said. “She is seriously looking at it. She’s not making any decision yet.” ....... Senator Clinton was strongly inclined to run for the presidency and was eager to do so, and that her outreach was an important new chapter that was likely to end with her declaration of a candidacy ...... she did not sound equivocal or unsure. ..... rather was lining up support ..... taken the affirmative step of asking key officials to support her if she does run. ..... Clinton had spent the past week calling allies to describe her plans and her thinking ..... Clinton had no schedule of public events last week, instead holing up at her homes in Washington and in Chappaqua, N.Y., and in private meetings ...... she wants to run for the White House but is weighing whether she can in fact become the first woman to win the presidency ..... remains a highly divisive figure for many Americans from her eight years as first lady, her leading role in the failed effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system ..... a majority of Democrats would prefer to support other party figures — Mr. Obama, former Vice President Al Gore or former United States Senator John Edwards. ..... she had planned to brief New York officials first and then reach out to national party leaders .... she was expected to become more definitive in her comments about her intentions by the start of the new year. ...... was a powerful political force that did not have to hew to any timetable. At the same time, the adviser acknowledged, she cannot wait too long ...... At some point, you have to start locking down political operatives ..... Clinton has also kept her political operation well tuned, with a veteran staff of aides and advisers on hand and more than $10 million left in the bank
Senate Will Be Tough on 2008 Hopefuls ABC News
Hillary Clinton Seeks Support for Possible 2008 Presidential Run FOX News
'Not-Hillary' Field Takes Shape Wall Street Journal For two years, the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential field has held an unusually well-defined shape: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and everyone else. ..... Sen. Clinton's formidable assets include universal name recognition, unrivaled fund-raising capacity and strong ties to Democratic constituencies -- and the most-talented political spouse in American history. ...... As for Mr. Kerry, his self-described "botched joke" on the military this fall may have renewed doubts about his political skills ...... any viable candidate must raise at least $40 million in 2007 ...... The person with the greatest chance of altering the race appears to be Sen. Barack Obama, an African-American just two years removed from service in the Illinois state senate, whose message of hope and optimism has created a political sensation. ....... "Barack Obama is the Robert Kennedy of American politics for 2008," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart. "He generates more passion and more interest ... than any candidate I've seen over the course of the last two generations." ...... Mr. Bayh is visiting Iowa next week, and Mr. Edwards's campaign is staking its strategy on an early Iowa win.
Hillary Clinton decides to run for President Capitol Hill Blue, VA
The rise of Obama The State, SC “In a country of 300 million people,” he said with a laugh, “there is a certain degree of audacity required for anybody to say, ‘I’m the best person to lead this country.”’ ... Three years ago he was little-known, a black state senator with an interesting family history and impressive academic credentials. ....... Both Clinton and Obama have embraced a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops tied to benchmarks rather than a timetable. ...... “If he decides to run ... he can put the money together and he can attract the talent,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign Obama has consulted. ....... a cross-generational politician who wants to move beyond the fallout from the 1960s and break the conventional left and right, liberal-conservative pigeonholes of American politics. ....... A photograph of Martin Luther King Jr., a portrait of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and images from the civil rights era hang from his office walls. ..... The most conspicuous item in his office is a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali, set against a photo of Ali taunting a fallen Sonny Liston during their 1965 rematch. ...... Already a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Veterans’ Affairs committees, Obama asked for and received seats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committees.
Hillary Secretly Recruiting Staffers NewsMax.com, FL
Hillary Opting Out Of Iowa With Villsack In The Race? All Headline News
Democrats intensify plans for White House Houston Chronicle, United States Bayh said he would set up an exploratory committee to raise money and help assess his prospects. .... Bayh has pointed toward a run for the White House for months, and had $10.5 million in his Senate campaign bank account as of Sept. 30. .... The 50-year-old senator has charted a centrist's course throughout his political career, including two terms as governor and eight years in the Senate.
Why Tom Vilsack is Starting So Early TIME If you're thinking about winning the Democratic presidential nomination and you're not already on a first (Hillary) or last name (Obama) basis with millions of Americans, it won't be easy. ... the emerging Netroots ..... you have to turn all that money, buzz and potential into an actual win in Iowa — or at least a close second. ..... Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada ..... Edwards has been in Iowa so much he's essentially the second presidential candidate who lives in the state. ..... Vilsack isn't even guaranteed the support from people who have been close advisers in his earlier runs for office. One former top adviser, Chicago-based strategist David Axelrod, is likely to join Obama's team ....... In 1991-1992, Bill Clinton could run as a different, new kind of Democrat because many in the party didn't back him on such policies as reforming welfare and supporting a free trade agreement with Mexico. ....... Howard Dean fundamentally disagreed with much of the Democratic field on the Iraq war ..... John McCain and a few others who want to send in more troops ...... the six-part "New Direction" that congressional Democrats will act on when they take control in January. .... Neither Obama nor Clinton has declared they are running and if only one of them does, there's a lot of room for another major challenger to emerge.
Let's Go to Iowa
Immigrants in Iowa
USNews.com: Democrats May Take Over the House of Representatives ... consensus-based, six-part "New Direction for America" or "Six for '06" plan ...... increase the minimum wage, negotiate lower prices for Medicare prescription drugs, implement all the 9/11 commission recommendations, end tax breaks for oil companies, and increase federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research ....... hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, and launch investigations











Bill Clinton

John Kennedy

Franklin Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln by Charles Carleton Coffin - 1893 - 542 pages
Abraham Lincoln: A Biographical Essay

by Carl Schurz, Truman Howe Bartlett, Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana (Library of Congress), Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress), Bruce Rogers - 1907 - 134 pages
Abraham Lincoln: Tributes from His Associaties, Reminiscences of Soldiers, Statesmen and Citizens
by William Hayes Ward - 1895 - 295 pages
Abraham Lincoln: A Tribute
by George Bancroft - 1908 - 76 pages
Abraham Lincoln: a paper read before the Royal historical society, London, June 16th, 1881
by Isaac Newton Arnold, James Washington Sheahan - 1881 - 212 pages
Abraham Lincoln: Memorial Address Delivered at the Lincoln Centennial Celebration of the Jewish...
by S Schechter, Jewish Theological Seminary of America - 1909
Abraham Lincoln: His Youth and Early Manhood, with a Brief Account of His Later Life -
by Noah Brooks - 1901 - 204 pages
Abraham Lincoln: Rede bei der Gedächtnissfeier in der Dorotheenkirche zu Berlin, 2. Mai 1865
by Henry Philip Tappan - 1865 - 36 pages

Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
by James Schouler - 1893 - 252 pages
Thomas Jefferson
by David Saville Muzzey - 1918 - 319 pages





MYD, High Tech, High Touch


A few days back I received my third inviation in about a year to officially join the Manhattan Young Democrats, currently my favorite progressive organization in town. I declined. (Rupert Murdoch: "You don't join clubs, you stay an outsider.")
  1. Women are in charge. I grew up in a part of the world where gender is today what race might have been in the US South 50 years ago. So I have a dog's sense of smell on sexism, I think. Race matters, gender matters.
  2. It has a good balance of structure (to get things done, to keep the ball moving) and informality (to party).
  3. It is officially affiliated with the Democratic Party. I have gone to a few of its meetings at the party office. Spitzer, of course, knows Kristina, just like the Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer does. I like that connection. Protesting is good, but I'd rather be in power and steering things. Protesting can feel like preparing to prepare to prepare. The real challenge of political action always has to be to get into power and get things done. The mechanics of power fascinate me. You wouldn't let just about anyone to operate on you, would you? Holding office requires a skill set.
  4. Kristina Hoke is "one smart cookie," like someone told me at the MYD Spring Gala last year. (MYD Spring Gala)
  5. It does not really take much of your time.
But that has made me think.

I moved to NYC the summer of 2005 to work on my technology company idea, but I got sucked in to work full time for the democracy movement in Nepal, perhaps the only Nepali outside of Nepal to do so, which is fine, because that is the most important work I ever did in my life to date. And in the course of that work I turned down many invitations to join organizations. (Hamro Nepal: 50 Members) I worked through the ecosystem concept. My blog allowed me to penetrate organizations. When the leader of the second largest party in Nepal emails you saying thank you for thinking about Nepal all the time, and says he finds your blog "inspiring," is that not like being a member of his central committee perhaps?

But what if I were to take a bite at MYD? I think the first invite might have been something to do with MYD then not having a website: Indians and software. So let me start there.

I think in this day and age it is key to weave your organizatin seamlessly into the web. When you do that well, it allows you to really emphasize High Touch, as in face time.

What to do?

You start with a homepage that you don't pay for. That not pay for part is key. A website you don't have to pay for is more democratizing. That means anyone can do it.

So you go to Blogger. And you get a domain name like http://myd.blogspot.com is already taken. What about http://mydem.blogspot.com that is available? But you already have a domain name at http://www.manhattanyoungdems.org so what to do? You do the forwarding thing. So people still go to http://www.manhattanyoungdems.org but then they get forwarded to http://mydem.blogspot.com.

The first thing to do would be to tinker with the Template to get rid of the sideburns and the date and time stamps to page entries, so the whole thing looks more like a website and less like a blog. You go to the Settings and choose to display only one post at a time. Then you create a post and change the year to something like 2010, so that that page always stays at the top, and is your homepage. Take a look at this, a Nepali organization that has close to 70 members: http://undf.blogspot.com.

You could still choose to have a "sideburn" to display links to all pages at the site, or you could have all the links at the very top, or at the bottom. I suggest having about five such links at the very top, for easy navigation. The first link would be Home, so people can click back to the main page no matter where they might be at the site.

And then you start creating pages and linking to them from the main page.

Anyone can do this much. You don't have to be a techie. You could be President or Secretary.

This also means you can upload an unlimited number of photos at your own site. Blogger is my favorite photo hosting service. You click on an image and it becomes fullscreen. It is quite an experience.

Become your own media. A political organization is constantly trying to get the word out, is trying to introduce the organization to prospective members. There is nothing like videoblogging all your events. Forget C-Span. I recommend Google Video because YouTube has the 10 minute, 100 MB limit. And once your videos are there, it is so easy to embed them at your own site, or at any site. It is a simple copy and paste a few lines of readymade code.

Then you weave all your members into social networking. In this day and age, there is no excuse for anyone to not have a homepage. It is so easy to do. MySpace of course is the hottest name in social networking, but Orkut is also pretty good. Make it mandatory that everyone get a MySpace account and add all the officers as friends.

There should be a page at the site that links to the MySpace page of all the members, perhaps in an alphabetical order. In this day and age, people should not have to exchange business cards. You meet someone at some event, and as long as you remember their name and face, you should be able to get in touch, or add as a friend, as the social networking sites let you do.

A MySpace account and a link to it would do more to add to the vibrancy of the organization than the small membership fee.

I call it density. How many people in the organization do you know? How well do you know them?

So far, so good. This is the High Tech part. But that is only one third of the game. High Touch is two thirds. And this is what an organization like MYD has already been doing, and doing well. This is about face time, and soft skills, and doing events, and getting people to show up, and making sure people have a nice time, and they are productive as necessary (phone banking anyone?). This is about political acumen, and strategy and all those things you can not buy with MasterCard.

It is just that I think High Tech totally enhances High Touch. The focus continues to be on High Touch. And while you are at it, join my Obama 2008 communities at Orkut. Or join one of several at MySpace: BARACK OBAMA 2008, Barack Obama for President, Barack Obama for President.

Eliot Spitzer, Governor
MYD Month

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