(Yes, who wins in Indiana today is VERY important. But when thousands and thousands of votes are suppressed, we all lose. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
A Katrina-level hurricane may ravage Indiana today; we have to be ready to report on its path of destruction through the state. We have to make the real imaginable to those who are not there, just as we did in 2005. This hurricane will pound at the pillars of democracy, blowing countless voters out of their polling places -- because they do not have the proper state-sanctioned photo identification.
Low-income voters, the elderly, and young students would be affected the most. They are the ones who may not have needed to get proper identification in the past, or who may not have maintained it as current into the present. The first two groups are those least able to take time away to work their way through the bureaucratic requirements needed for them to be able to exercise their most basic democratic right: an equal opportunity to vote on who will lead their nation.
A terrible lesson in voter suppression may be taught today. We need to collect individual stories and make sure that people see it for what it is: the political equivalent of Katrina, in which the legitimate demand of the less privileged for protection is intentionally ignored, to widespread shock and outrage.
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I have been searching for a way to convey to Clinton supporters how offensive her attempts to change the topic from the Tuzla Fables to the Wright sermons ever since the former undercut her campaign. If fanning the flames of white racial resentment against Blacks is her only path to victory, she has no path to victory. It has struck me the old consciousness-raising technique of recasting acts based on race, gender, sexuality or religion as if they reflected one of the other dimensions of difference, may shed some new light here. Being a Jew who originally wanted Russ Feingold to run for President (despite some misgivings about his electability), it occurred to me that we can examine the legitimacy her actions are by imagining how they might translate to a situation where religion, not race, was the concern.
Join me, then, in the parallel universe where it is Russ Feingold rather than Barack Obama who won Iowa, drove John Edwards out of the race, and now had an insurmountable pledged delegate lead over Hillary Clinton.
In this universe, controversial sermons from Feingold's rabbi have recently come to light. How might the Clinton campaign respond?
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The positions of the various candidates regarding Florida's pledged delegates now appear to have been staked out as follows: Hillary wants her 105-67 margin to stand, while Obama wants the delegation to be split evenly, presumably at 92.5 apiece (including the 13 slots that went to Edwards.)
While I continue to believe that a mail-in ballot is possible, there are legal and political problems, as well as what is still a significant cost. So, OK, what's the negotiated solution?
Split the difference. There's even a principled way to do it. Here's the plan, below the fold:
Hard positions have been staked out regarding what the Democratic superdelegates should do if they are mathematically able to determine who wins the nomination for President. Obama supporters argue that if the popular will -- presumably such a will that supports Obama, and putting aside for now the question of how clearly it can be ascertained -- is overturned by superdelegates, they will leave the party forever. More credibly and more importantly, they argue that the large number of new voters who appear to be energized by the Obama candidacy -- young Democrats, independents, etc. -- will not come out for Hillary. Clinton supporters argue -- here, if not as regards Florida and Michigan -- that rules is rules, and that the superdelegates' untrammeled right to choose the President they prefer cannot be taken away at this late date.
Full disclosure: I've been an Obama supporter since shortly after Edwards was held to 5% in Nevada. I try to be fair about it when it comes to superdelegate voting ethics, though, and I think that there is some room for agreement between these sides. While many argue that it simply won't come to this, that superdelegates will not overturn the popular will, it certainly seems possible to me that it might. I expect Clinton to pull back ahead in the delegate count, with the help of Ohio even without the help of Texas, by the time Pennsylvania's votes are counted on April 22. While I believe that Obama should do well enough in the primaries in May and June to finish with a delegate lead, it's possible that it won't happen, or certainly possible that that lead will be slight.
By considering what the different possibilities are, I think that we can at least narrow the debate. We won't find completely common ground, but we should find more than one would expect after watching this week's news. More below.
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This is part of a series of diaries rolling out the Congressional campaign of Ron Shepston -- the veteran, aerospace engineer, athlete, and grandfather whom you may know as CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream. For anyone who doesn't yet know, Ron is running against the ethically-challenged Rep. Gary Miller, who apparently believes that his role in Congress is to make money for his out-of-district friends, in CA-42. I'm running his campaign full-time.
Something significant to our campaign happened yesterday. We met with a representative of the DCCC. More below.
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Blogging is largely about talking the talk - and that's important. This diary is about walking the walk.
A few months ago, another member of this community and I made a pair of expensive decisions -- decisions to do what we felt we were obligated to do as patriotic Americans. He -- the good-looking, likable, established-in-the-community one -- decided to run for Congress if I would manage his campaign full-time. And I agreed to manage his campaign (at a steep discount from standard "Democratic consultant" rates) if it would be more than a token run.
A brain trust of Southern Californian bloggers - people like thereisnospoon, hekebolos, Shockwave, OrangeClouds115, occams hatchet, dday, atdleft, vernonlee, honorary Californian clammyc, and many others - were there at the beginning and have provided support and sage advice since. Others have joined the train since then. Tomorrow at 9 a.m. PDT, with the announcement of the name and handle of the nominee, the train leaves the station.
We want you on that train with us. We're ready to crash that train right through the gates of Congress - and you know that that means we're going to make a lot of noise.
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