Tag: Elections

Knucklehead: Unless you are Rudolph Giuliani fan (and I know some very smart people who are), here’s a story that will make you chuckle:

It’s clearly laid out in 140 pages of printed text, handwriting and spreadsheets: The top-secret plan for Rudy Giuliani’s bid for the White House.

The remarkably detailed dossier sets out the budgets, schedules and fund-raising plans that will underpin the former New York mayor’s presidential campaign – as well as his aides’ worries that personal and political baggage could scuttle his run…

One page cites the explicit concern that he might “drop out of [the] race” as a consequence of his potentially “insurmountable” personal and political vulnerabilities.

On the same page is a list of the candidate’s central problems in bullet-point form: his private sector business; disgraced former aide Bernard Kerik; his third wife, Judith Nathan Giuliani; “social issues,” on which is he is more liberal than most Republicans, and his former wife Donna Hanover… “All will come out – in worst light,” the memo continues.

These documents could haunt the campaign later by making it impossible to make Rudi’s personal issues go away via the Bush/Rove method of denying they exist.

Giuliani is the most over-rated would-be president out there. Aside from his spotty mangerial record, his personal history is a mess. Voters in Peoria may forgive him for having gay friends, but may be less forgiving about his marital transgressions, particularly the very public affair he engaged in while he served as mayor of New York, and was very much married to someone else.

After the losses come the long knives. GOP losers in the Senate are blame-gaming Sen. Elizabeth Dole for her failure of leadership as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. And campaign insiders are now telling reporters that party leaders lost confidence in Liddy’s leadership early on:

In recent interviews, officials said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., as well as Ken Mehlman, the party chairman, set up outside checks on the committee at critical points in the campaign.

As early as last summer, Mehlman signaled he lacked full confidence in Dole’s committee. In an unprecedented move, he set up an independent entity to control more than $12 million that the Republican National Committee spent for television advertising in Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri…

Frist also wanted an outside check. In an unusual move, he hired a polling firm, The Winston Group, shortly before Labor Day to conduct surveys in six important races.

Based on the results, officials said Frist stepped in to help overhaul Bob Corker’s struggling campaign in his home state of Tennessee. Corker ended up beating Democrat Harold Ford Jr. Frist also pushed for a resumption of party-paid advertising in Montana and questioned plans for a multimillion-dollar investment in New Jersey.

And:

Two more weeks of ads in Montana might have made a difference, said one of many Republicans who expressed anger that Dole’s committee aired no television advertisements in Burns’ behalf for between Labor Day and Halloween.

In Virginia, Allen and the Senate campaign committee combined were outspent on television advertising in each of the last five weeks by challenger Jim Webb and the Democratic campaign committee, according to internal GOP figures. The gap exceeded $700,000 in the final seven days.

Two more weeks of ads, huh? Yeah, that probably would have done it for Conrad Burns.

If I were sympathetic to Dole I would point out that she wouldn’t have had to do the impossible in Montana and Virginia if the incumbent candidates hadn’t performed so poorly. It’s a miracle that the races were even close when you factor in Allen’s macaca moment and Burns’ constant and inane spoutings-off.

Republicans lost because of George Bush’s war-on-a-whim in Iraq but if they want to blame their poor showing on each other, far be it from me to stand in the line of fire.

At last, a reason to thank George W. Bush! The shame and disgrace he has brought upon the fine Bush name might keep Jeb from running for president.

At least that’s what Mr. Crybaby Snitty-Snear is saying.

The shadow of President Bush seemed to loom large over his younger brother on Wednesday, as the outgoing Florida governor ruled out any plans to return to elected office.

“No tengo futuro (I have no future),” Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami, when asked about any possible political ambitions after he steps down next month.

…the unpopularity and dismal job-approval ratings of his brother may have scuttled any plans Jeb Bush may have had for a future in politics after running one of America’s most crucial swing states for the past eight years.Bush did not elaborate on his terse “no future” comment.

Has Jeb ever made a comment that wasn’t terse?

Anyway, it’s just so sad when the name that was your free pass to success in life is turned into a liability by your half-wit big brother. So. Very. Sad. Just ask GOP lackey Sam Brownback.

“Jeb would have made an outstanding presidential candidate,” said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback…

In a backhanded slap at President Bush, Brownback cited “a heritage issue” as one factor currently weighing against a Jeb Bush presidency.

“People may be wanting to see a different name,” he said.

Ya think?

Delusions of grandeur: Former Bush cabinet member Tommy Thompson is apparently exploring a run for the presidency, according to Congressional Quarterly:

Tommy G. Thompson — a former Wisconsin governor who served in President Bush’s Cabinet — is officially exploring a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

The former secretary of Health and Human Services registered his Thompson Presidential Exploratory Committee – 2008 with the Federal Election Commission on Dec. 13.

Thompson first came to national prominence during a 14-year tenure as governor of Wisconsin, during which he made his biggest mark by overhauling the state’s welfare system. He first won the office in 1990, unseating Democratic incumbent Anthony S. Earl by 53 percent to 46 percent. Although Wisconsin is a partisan battleground, if not slightly Democratic-leaning, Thompson proceeded to win a record three re-elections, all by landslide margins.

After winning his last race, in 1998, Thompson resigned in February 2001 to accept his nomination by Bush to head HHS. He served through Bush’s first term, then resigned in January 2005 and was succeeded by former Utah Republican Gov. Michael O. Leavitt.

Thompson had mulled returning to Wisconsin politics to run for the Senate or governor, but decided against it.

California Conservatives may not be great in number but they do have a lot of money. That must be why former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani — a flaming liberal on social issues like abortion and gay rights — is planning to speak at the state Republican convention in February.

An article yesterday in the San Franciso Chronicle about Giuliani’s upcoming visit gave this glowing account of his resume:

Giuliani, called “America’s mayor” after his formidable performance in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, already has established a camaraderie with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — a Republican in the same moderate, bipartisan mold who also supports gay rights, abortion rights and stem cell research.

“Formidable?” I guess I was watching another channel when Rudy was being formidable. All I saw from him after the 9/11 attacks was a mayor doing his job.

We are disaster prone here in California but when our elected officials do their jobs efficiently in the aftermath of an earthquake, a riot or a brushfire, we don’t make them into saints — hell, sometimes we don’t even reelect them.

My theory is that Rudy was deified by the national media, which happens to be headquartered in his hometown, because, as individuals whose city had been attacked, they were scared and needed a leader. They were smart enough to know that Pres. Bush was play-acting at leadership that day he climbed on the rubble of the World Trade Center and shouted bumpersticker slogans at firefighters — and Giuliani was at least competent to lead.

As fouled up as New York City can be, its residents do not live with the constant presence of looming disaster, like those of us who live in areas prone to hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes. I have a theory that, goddess forbid, if the attacks had happened in Miami, Witchita or San Francisco, there would have been less soul searching before everybody rolled up their sleeves, cleaned up the mess and got back to their routines.

[…]

In the 2000 elections, the ultra-rightwing candidate was Gary Bauer, an ideologue with no elected experience whatsoever. In 2004, of course, the wingnut candidate was the president himself.

Looking ahead to the 2008 campaign, with the losses of prospective candidacies by soon-to-be-former senators Bill Frist of Tennessee, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and George Allen of Virginia, the far rightwing position is open.

Probable candidates include Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and one of the wingnuttiest wingnuts left in the Congress, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas. (Imagine Santorum without the killer looks and winning smile.)

Brownback announced today that he is forming an exploratory committee:

[Brownback] announced 20 members of his exploratory advisory committee, an eclectic mix ranging from anti-abortion activists to business executives, including: Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, and the Rev. Frank Pavone, head of the advocacy group Priests for Life.

My candidate for the GOP nomination remains former Speaker Newt Gingrich. I hope every Democrat and independent will support Gingrich as the Republican nominee.

Populist Democratic candidate Larry Kissell has conceded his race for the 8th District congressional seat held by textile heir Rep. Robin Hayes:

“The fight for the future of this district is too important to postpone another day. That’s why I’m running for Congress in 2008 starting right now,” Kissell said in a statement. “After today’s recounts, I offer U.S. Rep. Hayes a belated congratulation for his victory now that the votes have been counted.”

Kissell conceded even though only five of the ten counties in the district had completed the hand recount requested by the Democrat. The rest were to conduct the hand recounts on Thursday.

Kissell trailed Hayes by just 329 votes out of 121,523 cast following a machine recount last week. He gained only two votes Wednesday during the first phase of the hand recount, during which election officials manually recount votes in a sample of precincts covering 3 percent of the votes cast in the race.

Rep. Hayes has a record of voting for trade deals that have moved textile jobs from his district overseas — despite the fact that his family built a fortune in the textile industry in the region a century ago.

The midterms are not over. In fact, in North Carolina’s 8th District, Larry Kissell, one of my favorite candidates, may still have a chance to topple the Republican incumbent, Rep. Robin Hayes. Kissell is a former textile worker and teacher, and Hayes is an heir to the Cannon Mills textile empire, which employed tens of thousands of people in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in its heyday. (Toward the end of the heyday, I lived in the 8th District during my high school years.)

Cannon Mills is gone now. It has been sold and renamed at least three times. The heirs to the fortune, including Rep. Hayes, sold out long ago. Still, Rep. Hayes caused a stir during the debate on CAFTA in June 2005. Just two years earlier, on July 30, 2003, the last vestige of the Cannon family’s empire, by now called Pillowtext, closed its mills, leaving around 4,000 of Rep. Hayes’ constituents jobless in a single blow. Voting for CAFTA could certainly cause more jobs to move overseas. But Rep. Hayes was apparently strong-armed by then House Majority Leader Tom Delay, on behalf of the White House political office, into voting for the treaty.

Despite lingering anger over CAFTA in his district, conventional wisdom said Rep. Hayes would skate by Kissell on election night. But the final vote showed Kissell trailing by only 350 votes. Two and a half weeks — and a couple of recounts — later, Kissell is still not ready to concde:

Voters in North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District will have to wait for a manual inspection of ballots next week to determine who will represent them in the 110th Congress, with four-term Republican Rep. Robin Hayes holding a mere 329-vote lead over Democratic challenger Larry Kissell.

A count of provisional ballots and a machine recount that ended Wednesday revealed that Hayes’ margin diminished by nearly 150 votes since he declared victory over Kissell on Election Night two weeks ago…

Johnnie McLean, the chief deputy director of North Carolina’s board of elections, said county elections officials will manually inspect ballots in 3 percent of precincts on Nov. 29 and 30. If the sampling reveals a statistical inconsistency, state officials may decide to pursue a districtwide manual recount.

Kissell ran as a populist which offered a stark contrast from Rep. Hayes, who embodies corporatism.