phoenixdem's blog

A member of Hillary Clinton's campaign says that Barack Obama's delegates won in red-state caucuses are "second-class delegates." Not only is this simply wrong, but it is the kind of thinking that cost us the 2004 election.

So much has been said and said again about the Hagan and Neal Senate situation that I felt it was important for me to put down, in one place, my opinion on the matter.

Let's start with the facts, nothing else. Here's the sequence of events:
1. DSCC recruits Brad Miller, Miller takes a pass.
2. DSCC begins recruiting Martin and Hagan.
3. Buzz develops around Martin, who becomes the DSCC's top choice.
4. Jim Neal announces his candidacy.
5. Hagan says she won't run.
6. Martin announces he won't run.
7. DSCC turns back to Hagan, who is interested in getting back in the race.
8. Neal visits the BlueNC community and acknowledges that he is, in fact, gay.
9. Hagan announces her candidacy.

When it comes to sleazy candidates, it's hard to do better than Senator Fred. And when it comes to cheesy songs, it's even harder to do better than Lee Greenwood. A match made in heaven.

I'm pretty bullish about our chances for taking back the White House in 2008. I think our top tier is very strong, and any of our top three candidates would be a great nominee and President.

Likewise, I like our chances against the Republican top tier. None of the GOP's big three (Giuliani, Romney, and Thompson) puts much fear into me. At this point, I'd place my bet that Romney wins the nomination, and I think we'd trounce him.

There's one Republican candidate that scares me though. Well, they all scare me, but this guy scares me because he can win. Politico has a great article about him here. I think Huckabee has several things going for him:

So, I'm cruising the blogosphere today, and I stop by RedState, just to check out what the wingers are up to. And I run across this post, which fascinated me.

It's a 20-minute clip of an Iowa radio interview with Mitt Romney. Now, the first half is pretty funny, because the host is totally nuts and somewhere to the right of Tom Tancredo. His theories on jurisprudence are fascinating, to say the least. Then, he starts to basically accuse Romney of being a bad Mormon, which is awkward. But the real fun begins at about the 10-minute mark, when the show cuts to commercial.

I'm sure you've all heard about Hillary Clinton's attack on Barack Obama. Now, I'm not as anti-Clinton as a lot of folks on the blogosphere. I think she'd be a good, progressive President. But this attack makes me wonder if she's going to be a good candidate.

With the recent PPP poll on Martin vs. Dole, many folks are wondering if Grier Martin will get in the race. And if he does get in, can he win? I argue that Martin has everything to gain by getting in the race, because it will allow him to raise his profile and build political capital even if he loses. Further, I think he can win by following the model of Jim Webb.

Political Insider has a piece from Roll Call, which suggests that Raleigh and D.C. Dems are trying to recruit Attorney General Roy Cooper to run for the Senate against Elizabeth Dole in 2008. Sounds great, doesn't it? Won't happen, though.

Looking ahead to 2008, several things are clear. First, we can see that Liddy Dole is more vulnerable than we would have expected a year or two ago. Second, we see that there is still a bit of apprehension about the race, and it's not considered to be a top-tier target for the Democrats. National Democrats think North Carolina is just too red, and their concerned that the Presidential race at the top of the ticket will drag down any Democratic candidate against DOle.

I happen to think that we can take Dole down - the latest poll data all seems to indicate that Dole is not popular, and the North Carolinians are open to the idea of a new Senator. I also happen to think that, if we're going to beat Dole, we need to start now. This is my strategy for beating Dole in 2008. Jerry Meek, take notes.

I have something of a casual interest in British politics, which I indulge when I've become saturated with the U.S. variety. I've become very interested in David Cameron, the current leader of the Conservative Party and PM hopeful. Cameron is a super-slick, Conservative answer to Tony Blair, and he's battling to rehabilitate the Tories' image. Whether or not he succeeds, I don't know, and I'd definitely like to see Gordon Brown whip him in the elections. But his desire for transformation has produced some interesting political ideas that Democrats could call upon. My favorite? Sort It.

Sort It is the Conservatives' effort to demonstrate that they really do care about the average Brit, and want to make life better. Probably a bunch of shit, but the way they execute it is quite fascinating. Go to www.sort-it.co.uk - explore for a while, then come back to me.