Obama Beats McCain in the Hispanic Vote

During the Democratic Primary, the media talked about Obama's troubles with Hispanic voters.

However, this NBC/Wall St. Journal poll released yesterday shows Barack Obama beating John McCain among Hispanic voters 62% to 28%. According to exit polls from 2004, John Kerry won the Hispanic vote 53% to 44%.

That increase in support could swing some states in the Southwest to Obama...

"That does not bode well for Republicans" in the Southwest, the Republican pollster added, in swing states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, where Hispanic voters are numerous enough to tip the result. Sen. McCain, who comes from a state with a large Hispanic population and has favored liberalizing policies toward illegal immigrants, has hopes of matching Mr. Bush's record of winning more than 40% of Hispanic voters.

Friends With Benefits

I saw this story on ABC the other night...

An organization that promotes sexual abstinence for teens received a federal grant of over a million dollars, twice what it had requested, despite the skepticism Department of Justice staffers had about the group and the fact that it refused to participate in a congressionally mandated study.

So why did the Best Friends Foundation receive the grant from the Justice Department’s juvenile justice office even though dozens of competing organizations were rated higher by the office’s own reviewers? Current and former staffers say it was because of Best Friends’ powerful president and founder, Elayne Bennett.

Not only is Bennett the wife of Bill Bennett, a former Reagan and Bush administration official and conservative political commentator, but she is also personally close to the chief administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), J. Robert Flores.

DOJ staffers were deeply skeptical when Best Friends applied for a grant of around a half-million dollars last summer. For one thing, the organization had backed out of a congressionally mandated study to examine whether or not abstinence programs are effective.

Then there were the DOJ staffers own internal reviews, which placed Best Friends behind dozens of other competing organizations. Out of 104 grants in their category, Best Friends ranked 53rd.

Nothing like being able to call up a friend when you're in need of a favor.

Iowa Democratic Party State Convention is Postponed

Just found out that the Iowa Democratic Party State Convention scheduled for Saturday in Des Moines has been postponed due flooding across the state. A robo call is going out to all delegates and alternates. No word on when the convention will be rescheduled.

Obama Widens Lead In Iowa According to New Poll

Rasmussen released a new poll today showing Barack Obama has widened his lead in Iowa.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Hawkeye State finds Obama leading John McCain 45% to 38%. This is the fourth Rasmussen poll in the state and Obama had a two to four point edge in each of the earlier polls. A month ago, Obama was up by just two percentage points.

Kos takes a closer look at the polling numbers and his conclusion is great news for Iowa Democrats...

That's a 12-point swing in Obama's direction with women, and a 14-point swing among Democrats. There's still plenty of room for Obama to grow, as he continues working to unite the party. Considering these trends, Obama will put away Iowa early.

Go Ahead, Vote Republican

My favorite, though I'll admit that I am a little biased...

I'm voting Republican so that my little Caitlin can be in the classroom with at least 30 other children. That way she can be challenged by fighting for attention.

It's All About Turnout in the General Election

From MSNBC's First Read...

Using the 2004 results as a baseline, we were curious as to which states would swing to Obama if he does raise overall turnout by 20% (approximately another 22 million voters) and wins those new voters by a 60%-40% split. Assuming an even distribution -- which we know is potentially a flaw in this estimate, so back off! -- a 20% turnout increase breaking 60%-40% for Obama would swing four states from red to blue (Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, and Ohio). If Obama wins the new voters by a 65%-35% margin, two more states come over (Colorado and Florida), with another (Virginia) essentially too close too call.

Winning new voters by a 60%-40% split is definitely doable in Iowa if the same trend from the Iowa caucuses holds, where Democrats gained 60,000 registrants and Republicans gained just 7,600. That means it is all about turnout turnout in the general election.

High turnout will surely help Democrats down ballot in state house races and for county seats.

The Candidate You'd Want to Have a Beer With

Well, it's definitely not John McCain.

Marshall County Plans to Ban Plastic Bags

I have been frustrated with how reactionary local government is here in Marshalltown and Marshall County. So lets just say that I was surprised to see this story in the Des Moines Register this morning.

Marshall County officials say they intend to pass a first-in-Iowa ordinance that mandates the use of only biodegradable bags for customer purchases in retail stores.

Merchants who violate the ordinance would faces fines of up to $500 for repeat offenses.

"We have hundreds of plastic bags that find their way into farm fields and bushes and trees," said county Supervisor Patrick Brooks, who got the idea from a public television documentary on fish in Africa that mysteriously died. Researchers found the fish had eaten small pieces of plastic.

"This is a major concern, these types of issues, and we're just now starting to address them," Brooks said.

The proposal has met early skepticism from retailers who worry about the added cost.

"I really don't see how they can force someone do that," said Stan Groth of Haley's Grocery in Marshalltown, a third-generation family business.

The ordinance would also prohibit paper bags that are not recyclable.

A lot of attention is put on national issues, but this shows what electing Democrats to local position can accomplish. Republicans had dominated the County Supervisor seats in Marshall County for years. In 2006, Democrat Patrick Brooks was elected. Since then Marshall County has adopted a wind turbine ordinance to encourage small wind turbines throughout the county and now this ordinance. Both are progressive, forward looking actions.

Hypermiling

With gas prices topping $4 a gallon, it is important to know that the way you drive can have a huge effect on your gas mileage.

Hypermiling is drastically modifying your driving habits to fuel efficiency on their vehicles. There are people who have made a sport out of doing just this, sometimes without regard to safety or traffic laws. You don't need to be that hardcore though, to see savings at the gas pump.

Here are some steps from Hypermiling.com...

The first step toward saving gas and increasing mpg: Always know your gas mileage after each visit to the gas pump.

The second step: do you drive agressively but not know it?

The third step: How long are you sitting still at red lights? Video

The fourth step: Keeping yourself moving in traffic congestion

The fifth step: Slowly accelerate after stops

The sixth step: Your cruise control saves gas (but not by using it they way you might think)

Obama Expanding the Map

Polls show that Barack Obama expands the electoral map and puts some usual red states in play. You can see which of these red states the Obama campaign are targeting by looking at the first states Obama is traveling to since clinching the nomination.

From the NY Times...

On Monday, Mr. Obama will travel to North Carolina — a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years — to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with Mr. McCain on the economy. From there, he heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964.

On top of that Obama will be in Iowa on Wednesday, showing that they consider Iowa to be a battleground state once again this election.

It's All the Kids Fault

The Bush Administration is blaming students for the high unemployment rate recently released for the month of May.

Today’s increase in the unemployment rate reflects the fact that unusually large numbers of students and graduates are entering the labor market.

I highly doubt that the first thing students did upon graduating was head to the unemployment office.

And who gave these kids the idea that they'd be able to get a job after they graduated?

Senator Rahm Emanuel?

Robert Novak is reporting that Nancy Pelosi is privately backing Rahm Emanuel as Barack Obama's replacement in the Senate if Obama is elected President.

At first glance, I thought this was a horrible idea. Emanuel would definitely not be considered a progressive Democrat and was in opposition to Howard Dean's 50 state strategy.

Chris Bowers, however, says Emanuel moving to the Senate might be a good thing for Progressives.

I am not ready to jump on Pelosi for this, for several reasons:

1. It simply might not be true.
   
2. Moving Emanuel out of the House would also take him out of the House leadership. Rahm Emanuel is one of the few people who would actually lose power by moving to the Senate. As such, such a move would be fine with me.
   
3. Moving Emanuel out of the House would open up the potential for a progressive, post-Pelosi speaker. Sure, Hoyer is listed here as a successor to Pelosi, but he is actually one year older than Pelosi. Clyburn is the same age as Pelosi. As such, right now Emanuel, who is 19 years younger than Pelosi and Clyburn, is clearly in line to be Speaker, starting sometime in the middle of next decade.
   
4. Moving Emanuel out of the House would open up the potential for a progressive replacement in his House seat. Back in 2002, he narrowly won his primary against a grassroots progressive, from what I understand.
   
5. In 2010, if he were in the Senate, Emanuel would undoubtedly receive multiple primary challenges for his seat, at least one of whom would probably be progressive. So, his place in the Senate would not even be a guarantee.