I have now lost two posts about the Las Vegas caucus to my evil browser, so this one is going to be a picture tour. I'll just say, for all the whining about caucuses - and they are problematic in many ways - the ones in Las Vegas were just awesome. Cocktail waitresses, cooks, maids, nightclub PR flacks, pipe fitters, random Las Vegans all came together in the Wynn casino on the strip in a gaudy ballroom to pick a President, and it was... exactly like Iowa. It was raucous, cheerful, and exciting, as that video above shows. People are all the same, and when they are empowered it's just wonderful to observe.
These two guys are holding signs that say 'I support the union I support Hillary', the union being the Culinary Workers whose leadership endorsed Obama. The signs were paid for by the Clinton campaign, which outworked and out-organized Obama.
My full picture set is here, or you can follow me on the flip for a guided tour.
This is a good piece on how the Culinary Workers have lost legitimacy by getting ahead of their members on the endorsement game. The union leadership lost control of the union, whose rank-and-file rebelled and voted for Clinton in higher numbers than expected.
As a general rule, endorsements are particularly useful in a low information environment, like a Mayoral election or an early Congressional or Senate primary. They do not matter that much in a Presidential election, because voters have plenty of information and third party validators at hand. Unions are very good at getting their members to turn out for Democrats against Republicans, but it takes a lot more effort on the part of union leadership to distinguish among Democrats.
Mark Pera is running against corrupt right-winger Dan Lipinski in a February 5th primary in Illinois. Throw him some coin. While the Presidential is sexy, change actually happens in primaries. Don't be dumb money, make your political money count.
The new Red-to-Blue DCCC list is out, focusing on open seats. Frankly, I think the DCCC should focus first on helping people who ran strong races last cycle, not open seats. This would be a clear message that people who run for office get backing, and a long-term boon to recruiting. A high quality candidate challenging a Republican incumbent is probably in a better position than a weak Democrat in an open seat contest.
UNITE-Here is running Spanish-language ads against Clinton on her trying to prevent people from voting. This is some explicitly issue-based progressive advertising, in contrast to much of the personality-based stuff we're seeing about antipartisan personalities.
The AT&T wants to play traffic cop and spymaster to the internet, policing it 'for abuse'. Scholars and Rogues has more.
Jonathan Singer has more on the closing gap between Clinton and Obama in California.
The Coal industry is pushing clean coal with a $35 million astroturf campaign. 'Clean coal' is also known by its more traditional name, 'coal'.
Tim Shorrock has a significant article on the outsourcing of our spying apparatus, and millionaire neocons like Steven Cambone and Mike McConnell.
By joining QinetiQ, less than a year after he resigned from the Pentagon, Cambone has been hired to implement the very policies he helped pioneer at the Pentagon, not as a public servant but as a private businessman benefiting from taxpayer dollars. And with Cambone in the driver's seat in northern Virginia, QinetiQ is set to build on its already thriving business to become one of the premier suppliers of technology to the "intelligence enterprise" that Cambone built.
I'm learning more about the military reform movement, and the defense procurement industry. it is EXTREMELY messed up, and it's time civilians reassert control over policy-making and stop acting so obsequiously to anyone in a uniform. The lack of oversight and the immense corruption has ravaged our military and killed a good number of American troops.
The Director's Guild has settled on a deal. The implications for the writer's strike aren't clear yet.
When asking Nevada culinary workers on Tuesday to ignore their union's endorsement of Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton called his wife the insurgent in the race - and Obama the "establishment" candidate. It was an odd statement, for nobody can seriously dispute that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party's establishment choice. And while UNITE-HERE, the Culinary Workers and Nevada SEIU have rallied behind Obama, hotel and casino executives are largely supporting Clinton.
What the ex-President meant to say was that culinary workers should make up their own mind -- regardless of what their union recommends. But the Nevada teachers' union (which supports Clinton) has ignored pleas from their own rank-and-file members to drop a lawsuit that, if successful, would prevent casino workers from voting in Saturday's caucus. The party decided months ago to have "at-large" precincts inside Las Vegas casinos, but now some Clinton partisans - including Bubba - want them shut down because attendees are likely to support Obama.
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