Maybe someone out there who knows the inner workings of EMILY’s List can explain to me why this group has not put money behind Becky Greenwald, the Democrat challenging loyal Republican foot-soldier Tom Latham in Iowa’s fourth Congressional district.
I have been going over the list of Democratic women running for Congress whom EMILY’s List is supporting, with a particular focus on the six challengers most recently added to this group in early August. I do not mean to knock any of those candidates, and I recognize that every race has its own dynamic.
However, after comparing Greenwald’s race to those of other candidates, I remain puzzled that EMILY’s list is not more involved in IA-04.
Follow me after the jump for more.
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Many conservative pundits were not impressed by John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, since her glaring lack of experience undercuts McCain’s main message against Barack Obama.
On the plus side for McCain, just about everyone agreed that putting an anti-abortion mother-of-five on the ticket would delight the evangelical Christians who were so crucial to George Bush’s re-election.
Although the “pro-family” interest groups applauded McCain’s choice, I had a hunch that Palin wouldn’t be unanimously embraced by the evangelical rank and file.
I lurk and occasionally comment at a few “mommy blogs” written by religious conservatives. Checking in on some popular sites in the evangelical Christian blogosphere over the weekend, I did find some commentaries that praised Palin for her views and for continuing a pregnancy while carrying a child with Down syndrome.
However, if you join me after the jump, you’ll see that plenty of evangelicals are far from “fired up and ready to go” for this Republican ticket.
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Iowa’s most prominent pundit, David Yepsen, wrote a piece in the Des Moines Register warning that it would be perilous for the presidential candidates to ignore rural America at their parties’ nominating conventions.
His column inspired me to look into what Barack Obama and John McCain are offering voters outside major cities and suburbs. What I found is after the jump.
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I am not a pollster or a statistician, but I have been thinking about some factors that may cause problems with the polling of this year’s presidential election.
My questions are after the jump. I welcome input from anyone with expertise in this area.
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The case for Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate is simple: he’s got a lot of experience at the federal level, particularly in foreign policy. That will reassure voters who may be concerned about Obama’s resume and blunt a major line of attack from John McCain (whose ads have been questioning whether Obama is “ready to lead”).
But plenty of people in Washington have served in Congress for 20 or 30 years. What makes Biden better than most of them as a running mate? Media scripts about the “gaffe machine” notwithstanding, I submit that Biden’s campaigning ability will be a huge asset to Obama.
I know the stories about Biden putting his foot in his mouth, and I am old enough to remember the Clarence Thomas hearings, when Biden talked too much and didn’t put Thomas on the spot enough.
But he is a much better campaigner than people give him credit for. Follow me after the jump for more.
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I don’t see much evidence that Barack Obama has a problem with women voters. He leads among women by more than Al Gore or John Kerry did at the same time during their own presidential campaigns. The most recent Iowa poll shows Obama leading by six overall but by 12 among Iowa women.
Among purveyors of conventional wisdom, however, there is still a perception that Obama has work to do among women voters, and particularly the women who preferred Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
The Obama campaign has been scheduling women’s outreach events to address this issue. Today Governor Kathleen Sebelius is campaigning around central Iowa, and one of her appearances is a lunch in Des Moines specifically geared toward women.
Last Friday I attended a different women’s event featuring Dana Singiser. She served as Director of Women’s Outreach for Clinton’s presidential campaign before joining the Obama campaign as Senior Adviser for the Women’s Vote.
Singiser wrote an Obama campaign memo on John McCain’s “woman problem,” released earlier this week.
Join me after the jump for more.
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On Saturday a fundraising solicitation arrived in the mail from Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. It asked me to confirm delivery of the enclosed “supporter card” within ten days, and also to “help keep my 2008 re-election campaign on the road to victory” with a special contribution.
Funny, I wasn’t aware that Harkin needed any extra help. Everyone in the election forecasting business has labeled this seat safe for him. The available polling shows Harkin with a comfortable lead.
According to Open Secrets, Harkin had $4.1 million cash on hand at the end of the second quarter. His little-known Republican opponent, Christopher Reed, has raised a total of $11,765 for his Senate campaign and had $292 (two hundred and ninety-two dollars) on hand as of June 30.
Harkin’s letter got me thinking that we need a “Use It Or Lose It” campaign for 2008.
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Congressman Tom Latham is a conservative Republican representing Iowa’s fourth district (D+0). He has a lot more money in the bank than Democratic candidate Becky Greenwald, but Iowa political observers think this race could be very competitive. The DCCC and EMILY’s list are said to be watching the race closely.
Yesterday Latham opened up his war chest to start running statewide radio ads touting his advocacy of drilling for more oil on U.S. territory.
I don’t have audio from this ad, but judging from this press release, it hits some of the same points John McCain raised in a television ad launched last week. That commercial blamed Barack Obama for high gas prices because Obama opposes more offshore oil drilling.
Join me after the jump for more on Latham’s strategy, which may be repeated by down-ticket Republicans across the country.
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It doesn’t get much more visionary and ambitious than Al Gore’s recent speech on energy and climate change, and this sentence in particular:
Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.
My only quibble with this fantastic speech was that Gore said little about the transportation sector, which is the second largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Changing our transportation policies and funding priorities could greatly help us address the climate change emergency. More on that after the jump.
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Barack Obama’s campaign held kickoff events in 15 Iowa field offices on Saturday, coinciding with the first statewide canvass of the general election campaign. In addition, the Obama campaign plans to open at least two more field offices in Iowa.
The Des Moines Register published an alphabetical list of cities and towns with Obama field offices. In this post, I group the offices according to Congressional district.
If 17 field offices sounds like a lot for a medium-sized state like Iowa, keep in mind that Obama had at least 40 field offices here before the caucuses in January.
Also, the Iowa Democratic Party has in effect shut down its “coordinated campaign” for getting out the vote, which means that Obama’s field offices will coordinate GOTV for all Democratic candidates in the state.
Details are after the jump.
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We don’t hear much about state legislative races on national blogs, because it would be overwhelming to keep up with what’s going on all over the country.
But you should get involved on behalf of a good Democrat running for your state’s Assembly, House or Senate. Here’s why.
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If you’re not going out of town for the holiday weekend, I highly recommend that you march or ride with fellow Democrats in your local Independence Day parade.
These events are fantastic outreach opportunities for campaigns and a great way for you to meet like-minded neighbors.
It’s not too late to volunteer. Just contact your county Democratic Party, or the campaign of a local candidate, or the Obama campaign office if there is one in your city. Ask where and when you should show up if you want to help out during the July 4 parades. (Keep in mind that some communities have parades on the evening of July 3.)
A few more tips to help you enjoy the parade are after the jump.
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Slightly revised from the version posted at MyDD, thanks to feedback from several thoughtful readers. Note: If Hillary Clinton were the nominee, I would have written a similar diary addressing her volunteers.
This diary is for people planning to volunteer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign this summer and fall. My goal is to help you be more effective in communicating with voters like me, who don’t care for Obama.
I know that the Obama campaign has scripts and training sessions for its volunteers, and those worked well in the primaries.
Now you have to reach out to Democrats who weren’t buying what Obama was selling in the primaries. It seems to me that many Obama supporters respond in a counter-productive way when they encounter people who are not sold on the candidate.
In this diary, I will offer two basic principles to guide your conversations with non-supporters.
Then I will cover types of comments you may hear from resistant Democrats when you are doing GOTV for Obama. Those are all based on things I have heard people say (not comments I have read on blogs).
I will give examples of what I consider ineffective and constructive responses to those comments.
Follow me after the jump if you care to hear more.
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Thanks again to Matt and Chris for letting me post here about this race, and for creating an Open Left for Fallon page at Act Blue that has raised $6,200 so far.
It’s election day in Iowa, and the Democratic primary between Congressman Leonard Boswell and Ed Fallon is one of the highest-profile races in the state.
Both campaigns have expressed confidence about the outcome–Boswell’s because of an internal poll reportedly showing him way ahead, and Fallon’s because of direct voter contacts by the candidate, his staff and volunteers.
In this diary I will discuss Boswell’s closing argument, as expressed in broadcast media advertisements as well as direct-mail pieces.
I will also go over the main rationale for Fallon’s campaign and the key events during the final days before the primary.
Join me after the jump for more.
If you weren’t here over the weekend, I discussed some other recent developments in the race in this post.
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First, I want to thank Matt and Chris for posting regularly on the Democratic primary in Iowa’s third Congressional district, and especially for creating this Act Blue page to raise money for Ed Fallon.
As of now the Open Left Act Blue page has raised $5,585 from 78 donors.
A little more than two weeks before the Democratic primary in Iowa’s third Congressional district, Ed Fallon has challenged Congressman Leonard Boswell to shift his support as a superdelegate from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.
It’s a shrewd move for several reasons that I will describe after the jump.
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Less than a month before the Democratic primary to represent Iowa’s third district, Ed Fallon is trying to make Congressman Leonard Boswell either debate him or pay a political price for refusing to debate.
Join me after the jump for more on that and other recent developments in the race.
Congressman Leonard Boswell’s campaign has been giving the incumbent an image makeover as the June 3 primary approaches.
I learned from direct-mail pieces this month that Boswell is “Taking on George Bush for the Changes We Need,” as well as “working to bring the troops home every day” and “Taking on powerful interests” to deliver health care to all Iowans.
These campaign communications bring to mind Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: “What you do shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.”
Progressive Kick has created a website that shows in quite an entertaining way what Boswell has been doing during his six terms in Congress. Let’s just say he hasn’t been much of a crusader against powerful interests.
Join me after the jump for more.
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It’s been a while since I’ve posted here about the Democratic primary to represent Iowa’s third Congressional district, but I’ve been busy covering the race at Bleeding Heartland.
Today I want to bring you up to date on the increasingly negative campaign that six-term incumbent Congressman Leonard Boswell has been running against Ed Fallon.
For more background on the race, here are links to some of my previous diaries:
the introductory diary, with biographical information on Boswell and Fallon
The cases for Fallon and Boswell
Boswell and Fallon pick up the pace
Will Democrats vote on the issues?
Who would be a more effective representative?
Follow me after the jump for more…
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Welcome to the latest diary in my series on the Democratic primary in Iowa’s third Congressional district. Ed Fallon is challenging Leonard Boswell, who was first elected to this seat in 1996.
Today, I consider who would represent this district more effectively in Congress.
Here are links to my previous diaries on this campaign:
the introductory diary, with biographical information on Boswell and Fallon
Welcome to the latest diary in my series on the Democratic primary campaign in Iowa’s third Congressional district.
Today’s topic: will progressive Democrats vote for the candidate who is closest to them on the issues, or will other concerns push them toward the incumbent?
Here are links to my previous diaries on this campaign:
the introductory diary, with biographical information on incumbent Leonard Boswell and progressive challenger Ed Fallon
this diary about the main arguments for and against each candidate
this piece about the candidates’ activities in February and early March
Welcome to my latest diary on the Democratic primary to represent Iowa’s third Congressional district. It’s been a while since my last summary of how the race is going, because I got sick recently and spent a week in the hospital.
Both candidates have stepped up their campaign activities in the past month, and I’ll bring you up to date in this diary.
For background on Ed Fallon’s challenge to incumbent “Bush dog” Leonard Boswell, see this diary, which has biographical information on both candidates, and this diary, which outlines the main arguments for and against each candidate.
