Elections 2007

Voters In Maryland and Virginia rallied to the polls yesterday, only to find out that ... there wasn't any election there.

More than 700 people called the Virginia State Board of Elections to ask, "Why aren't my polls opened, and where do I go to vote?" said Susan S. Pollard, a spokeswoman for the board. On a typical day, the board fields 150 to 200 calls.

If we can take this as a random sample -- I think we can -- these 700 represents thousands of confused people who have never participated in the process and who don't read newspapers.

Oh, and do you really need to kill animals to show what a great president you'd be?

The late President Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis has an Op-Ed in the current issue of Newsweek (web edition); good-naturedly slamming the current crop of Republican presidential wannnabes for the constant comparison's of their earthly beings to his dearly departed one.

Patti's plea is a simple one. To paraphrase Patti and the witty Lloyd Bensten, "I knew Ronald Reagan. And you, sirs, are no Ronald Reagan".

Fear. Sigh.

In comments made by Bill Clinton in Iowa this past week, we see rhetoric that could have come directly from Vice President Cheney's mouth. A subtle shift in his and Hillary's stump speeches in the "closing arguements" phase of the Iowa caucus campaign is meant to give pause to those concerned about national security and the spector of other attacks on our country.

Borrowing from Karl Rove's "if you don't vote for X, we'll all die", here's Bill:

More holiday-wrecking mixing of politics and Christmas. First Santa endorses Hillary Clinton, then Mitt Romney asks for early state victories for the holidays and also gets endorsed by Santa. Watch before drinking eggnog:

I think I have found my ticket for the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

A combination only Unity08 could love.

The GOP successfully defended two House seats in special elections today: Virginia 1 and Ohio 5. Ohio 5 is noteworthy because of a very bitter primary fight and the subsequent investment of the major parties. The Democrats were hoping for an upset in a low turnout December election, but failed to even push the meter beyond what happened in 2006. I've been tracking it all night on Nixguy and it turned out to be a lot less exciting than promised.

All of which would be a complete waste of time for the Democrats except that they did manage to get the NRCC to push the panic button and dump nearly a half million into defending the seat. Which is just cold comfort to the Democrats, because the real takeaway is that the GOP is just as safe as ever in safe GOP districts. Which might be enough to stop the tidal wave of retirements that has been setting the GOP back.

Of course it may also just mean that low turnout helps Republicans. Always.

Two critical elections were held over the weekend, determining the potential legacies of the two most powerful socialist-leaning leaders in the world.

In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez fell just short (49%-51%) of passing a national referendum which would have dramatically increased his power. On the other hand, Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won a tremendous victory in Russian parliamentary elections, ensuring Putin's continuing influence at the helm of Russian governance.

Of course, both of these results could be viewed as positive for American interests. Hugo Chavez is attempting to establish an anti-American socialist empire in South America, so any curbing of his power is to the advantage of the U.S. (See opinion roundup here.) Conversely, Putin and his political supporters may reflect the best option for democratic preservation in present day Russia. Putin may have been forged in the old-regime mold of communist-hardened tough-men, but his opponents are red-communist detritus of the Soviet Union who would make the iron-fisted Putin seem warm and fuzzy by way of comparison.

Regular readers will know that we here at Political Machine spend a lot of time covering how the media covers political debate and discussion. Some early repercussions from the latest CNN-YouTube GOP debate were covered here and here. From both sides of the political spectrum we're finding an awful lot lacking in not only the cable network-sponsored debates, but the cable and print pundit discourse in general.

LA Times reporter Tim Rutten's article yesterday certainly struck a chord with me:

CNN: Corrupt News Network
A self-serving agenda was set for the Republican presidential debates.

(Note: CNN is an AOL Trusted Partner)

As if Bernard Kerik's indictment, employing a priest who has faced allegations of child sex abuse and new allegations of hiding security costs incurred during adulterous trysts with future wife Judith Nathan, three marriages and pro-abortion, pro-gay rights and anti-gun stances weren't enough for Republican conservatives to stomach, now come new allegations of Rudy's involvement with some of the very "Islamic Terrorists" he promises to quash if elected President of 9/11.

Mr. Giuliani has had a long and involved relationship with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah al-Thani since right after 9/11 and the government of Qatar in dealings with his company, Giuliani Partners.

That doesn't sound too sinister until you start looking into Sheikh al-Thani and Qatar going back to the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993...

I've been looking forward to the CNN GOP YouTube debate ever since the Republicans mocked the Dems for doing it and then decided to join in the fun after all. I'm really glad they did.

Check out this great ditty homage to this upcoming debate courtesy of "pudgnet" of Snohomish Co., Washington. I love it!

You can catch more of Pudge's stuff here apparently.