Of Course Hillary Is In to Win

Hillary Clinton made her first trip to Iowa over the weekend. She held a townhall meeting in Des Moines and met with the Democratic State Central Committee (video here), as well as events in Cedar Rapids and Davenport.

What struck me most with her visit are Hillary's campaign slogan of "I'm in to Win". Most would admit that Hillary is one of the frontrunner's in the Democratic Primary. She has the greatest name recognition of any candidate, she has the most money of any candidate, and she has the a former President that can attend every campaign rally she holds. If she is the favorite then why does she need to stress that she is in the race to win. I sure hope so, you are the favorite.

"I'm in to Win," would be a decent slogan for a candidate like Bill Richardson or Tom Vilsack. These candidates don't have the money or the name recognition yet and are rumored to be running for vice president.

John Edwards stresses action with his campaign theme, "Tomorrow Begins Today." Barak Obama speaks about hope for a better America with "the Audacity of Hope." Hillary is focusing on talking herself up with "I'm in to Win."

Join the Troops, Stop the Escalation

Braley Visits UNI to Discuss Student Loan Releif

On Friday, Bruce Braley visited UNI to discuss the recently passed bill that lowers interest rates on student loans. From the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier...

"This bill affects the 5.5 million students who currently receive subsidized Stafford loans," he said. After completing four years of college, such students are typically $13,000 to $14,000 in debt. The bill's effect "will be $4,000 over the life of their loans, just in terms of the interest they will pay."

Under provisions of the bill, the average Iowa student beginning college in 2007 would save $2,300 by the time the subsidized loan is paid off. An Iowa student beginning college in 2011 --- when the lower interest rate is fully phased in --- would save $4,460. Current UNI students have taken out 6,385 Stafford loans, which total more than $23 million in debt.

"It's a staggering impact on this university," said Braley. "That's why I was proud to be a co-sponsor of this bill."

Braley also favors other steps to make college more affordable...

He favors increasing the maximum subsidized student loan per year from $4,050 to $5,100 and expanding the eligibility. He also favors allowing students to have more than one of the variety of tuition tax credits available to them.

With college tuition more than doubling over the past 6 years, it is great to see Rep. Braley making this a priority. It looks like he sees the big picture and the student loan relief bill is only a start of lowering the cost of college and making higher education more accessible.

Will the Real Chuck Hagel Please Stand Up?

Senator Chuck Hagel (R -NE) has gotten a lot of attention for breaking party ranks and being outspoken on the Iraq War. Hagel impressed the lefty blogosphere when he ripped Joe Lieberman apart on a recent appearence on Meet the Press.



Hagel is considering running for President and he even mentioned he might run as an independent. When looking at where Hagel stands on the issues, Hagel is not the straight shooting maverick that he seems. He is very conservative and hasn't found a corporate give away that he does not like.

What Happened to My Country takes a look at Hagel's record and brings up this important information on Hagel's background: Hagle used to be CEO of a company that made electronic voting machines.

In 1996 when Hagel first ran in Nebraska for the U.S. Senate, his company's computer-controlled voting machines showed he'd won stunning upsets in both the primaries and the general election.

According to Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, Hagel won virtually every demographic group, including many largely Black communities that had never before voted Republican. Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska.

Six years later Hagel ran again, and as his website said, Hagel "was re-elected to his second term in the United States Senate on November 5, 2002 with 83% of the vote. That represents the biggest political victory in the history of Nebraska."

What Hagel's website fails to disclose is that about 80 percent of those votes were counted by computer-controlled voting machines put in place by the company affiliated with Hagel.

Some candidates have fundraising ability, some have name recognition, some are great public speakers, Hagel has voting machines.

Lobby for Clean Elections in Iowa on Monday

Monday, January 29th
Clean Elections Lobby Day at the Iowa Statehouse
11:00 Briefing in Room 118
12:00 Rally featuring former Congressman Berkley Bedell
12:30 - 3:00 Lobby your local legislators
5:30 - 7:30 Receiption at Iowa CCI offices at Forest Ave. and MLK Blvd.

Thanks to Blog for Iowa for posting this letter from Ed Fallon earlier in the week...

Lobby for Clean Elections in Iowa on Monday
By Ed Fallon

... In this weeks update... I want to talk about a bill setting up a system for voluntary public-financing of elections.

The bill sometimes called the Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections act, or VOICE is under consideration by the House State Government Committee. VOICE provides qualifying candidates, i.e., those who agree to limit their spending and reject contributions from private sources, with a set amount of public funds to run for office. Supporters feel it will help restore the principle of “one person, one vote, reduce the influence of special-interest money, and restore public confidence in government and elections.

Nine states now offer some form of this law. In Maine, after four election cycles, 84% of Maine lawmakers were elected without a penny from a PAC, lobbyist or big donor. In Arizona, nine of eleven statewide office holders, including the governor, were elected using that state clean-election system.

The bill before the Iowa House State Government Committee is based on these states laws. It funds the system in part with a 1% sales tax on political advertising, a voluntary $5 check-off on Iowans state tax returns, and a tax deduction of up to $200 in personal contributions to Iowa clean-election fund.

For those of us who want to take a bite out of big money, Monday, January 29th is an important day at the Statehouse. Former Iowa Congressman Berkley Bedell will be there to push for state and federal campaign finance reform. If you can get off work, even if just for the noon rally, it would be great to have a strong public showing.

Monday activities start at 11:00 in room 118 for a briefing on the proposed legislation and a discussion on how to be an effective citizen lobbyist. At noon, there will be a rally featuring Berkley Bedell. From 12:30 until 3:00, participants will have time to lobby their representatives and senators. That evening, between 5:30 and 7:30, a reception is planned at the Iowa CCI office (Forest Avenue and M L King Blvd in Des Moines).

Please be a part of this effort! Campaign finance reform was THE central issue in my campaign for governor last year. Last Saturday in Iowa City, I heard it resonate powerfully in John Edwards presidential campaign (the loudest ovation from the crowd of 700 came after Edwards announced his support for voluntary public-financing of elections). This year, Iowa has a real opportunity to become the 10th state in the nation to enact a clean-election law. Come to the Statehouse next Monday. That may not be possible for a lot of you, but you can still weigh-in with an e-mail or phone call to your legislators.

To find out your state representative and senator, go to http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/.

For a complete list of legislators, go to http://www3.legis.state.ia.us/ga/legislators.do?.

To contact a lawmaker by e-mail, use the following formula: FirstName.LastName@legis.state.ia.us.

To reach a lawmaker by phone between Monday and Thursday, call (515) 281-3371 for Senators and (515) 281-3221 for Representatives.

Thanks!

Ed Fallon

Feingold to Hold Hearing on Congress's Power to End the War

On Tuesday, January 30th, Sen. Russ Feingold, chair of the Judiciary Committee's Constitution subcommittee, will hold hearings on Congress's power to end the war in Iraq. Sen. Feingold had this to say...

“Congress holds the power of the purse and if the President continues to advance his failed Iraq policy, we have the responsibility to use that power to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq,” Feingold said. “This hearing will help inform my colleagues and the public about Congress’s power to end a war and how that power has been used in the past. I will soon be introducing legislation to use the power of the purse to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of our nation’s foreign policy.”

Feingold also said that Democrats are being too timid on opposing the war in Iraq...

“It’s a walk in the park right now to oppose the idea of this war. It’s also very easy to oppose the escalation,” Mr. Feingold said. “They are once again being too timid and too cautious.”

Political Insider thinks the hearings are a good idea because it will force the media to discuss the issue.

As Sen. Feingold prepares to hold hearings on Congress's authority to cut off war funds, let's see if the media can keep a few questions straight: 1) will the Democrats really try to do this? 2) do they have the Constitutional authority? 3) should they -- meaning, is it politically smart and/or the right thing to do? 4) what would the real-world effect of cutting funding be?

Feingold is trying to hold an intelligent discussion on the issue and hopefully the media picks it up. However, it is more likely that the media will continue name calling and letting emotions prevent any actual discussion to take place.

I was originally against pulling funding for the war, but if Bush is deadset on putting more troops in harms way then I don't think he gives Congress any choice, but to pull funding.

Hillary Faces an Uphill Battle in Iowa

Here's the story form Political Wire...

When Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) arrives in Iowa "for her first presidential campaign events this weekend, she will encounter unfamiliar terrain -- a landscape where she is not the perceived front-runner for the Democratic nomination," reports the Washington Post.

"That puts Clinton in the unusual position of having to prove herself against other Democrats, and having to build up a political infrastructure in Iowa at a time when many rivals already have a head start. Her appearances [in Iowa] -- her first in more than three years -- are certain to start a media frenzy, potentially intruding on the direct access to candidates that caucus-goers have come to expect."

I have not heard many activists that excited about Hillary's campaign. Some would like to hear more and said they might for her because she is a woman. Some on the other hand said there is no way they would vote for her because she is too divisive.

Right now I would put Hillary in 4th place in Iowa, Vilsack and Edwards have a leg up on her when it comes to organization and I think Obama has an advantage from being from nearby Illinois. It will be interesting to see how the media plays up her visit in Iowa today.

Bush on the Serious Challenge of Global Climate Change

At the State of the Union address, Bush surprised many when he acknowledged the "serious challenge of global climate change." Bush said...

America's on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these technologies will help us become better stewards of the environment, and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change.

Here is a video of Will Ferrell as George W. Bush discussing the effects of global warming...

Democratic Nomination Calendar Looking Messy

The Democratic nomination schedule is looking like it is going to be a mess. Some large states that are feeling left out might move up in the schedule creating a scrum in February of 2008.

From Political Wire...

"As many as four big states - California, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey - are likely to move up their 2008 presidential primaries to early next February, further upending an already unsettled nominating process and forcing candidates of both parties to rethink their campaign strategies," the New York Times reports.

"The changes, which seem all but certain to be enacted by state legislatures, mean that the presidential candidates face the prospect of going immediately from an ordered series of early contests in relatively small states in January to a single-day, coast-to-coast battlefield in February, encompassing some of the most expensive advertising markets in the nation. The changes would appear to benefit well-financed and already familiar candidates and diminish the prospects of those with less money and name recognition going into such a highly compressed series of contests early next year."

These states want to move up because they felt Iowa and New Hampshire had too much influence in 2004. I agree, but adding more states to the early portion of the calendar only makes the problem worse.

Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina are ideal states to have at the beginning of the schedule because to win a candidate must participate in retail politics. These smaller states allow candidates with limited funding a chance to get off the ground because it is cheaper to buy ads.

If these larger states do move up, it only benefits the well funded candidates. If the changes do take place, it is likely we will have Hillary Clinton as our nominee by Valentine's Day. What needs to be done is stretching the nomination process out, so the nominee isn't decided until April or May.

Local Control of Clean Elections

David Sirota wrote this post about local control of clean elections for Congressional races. Sirota writes...

In 2001, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) offered legislation to simply allow states to create voluntary public financing systems for their congressional elections. This legislation cost no federal money at all, nor did it create an unfunded federal mandate: it was simply a "local control" issue. If a state is sick and tired of its congressional delegation whoring for special interests instead of the state’s constituents, the Wellstone legislation said that the state’s legislature could set up a public financing system for its federal elections. States that are happy with their legislators being bought and paid for by special interests are allowed to continue in the current pay-to-play system. It’s the state’s choice. That’s about as "local control" as you get.

Unfortunately, the bill was voted down, with just 36 Democrats supporting it. But six short years later, 27 Democrats who voted for this legislation remain in Congress, a number of Republican Senators who voted against this legislation have been replaced by Democrats (Tester, Webb, Casey, Brown, Obama, etc.), and at least some Republicans still in the Senate have voiced their support for the concept of public financing of elections. Translation: this proposal really could pass with a little push.

Clearly, a full federally funded public financing system is ideal, but the state option would be a pretty great step too, and actually would offer more in the way of organizing potential for the progressive movement.

This is just one of those ideas that just makes sense and might just work. Local control is at the heart of a representitive democracy and having the people in the states decide who they want to fund their representives should appeal to people on both sides.

Anti-War Rally in Des Moines on Saturday

Anti-war March and Protest Rally
Des Moines, Iowa
Nollen Plaza and Hy-Vee Hall
January 27, 2008

11:30 am Gather at Nollen Plaza for March to Hy-Vee Hall
Protest Rally---12:00 pm-2:00 pm
Hy-Vee Hall Rooms 1 & 2

Anti-war rally with Featured Speakers
ß Ed Fallon
ß Frank Cordaro
ß Jean Claussen
ß Kathleen McQuillen
ß Jamie Woodsen

Sponsored by The Progressive Coalition of Central Iowa (Iowaprogressives.org), Catholic Worker House, Des Moines for Darfur, Move-on, NOW, STARPAC, and WILF.

I found it interesting that Hillary Clinton is holding her event in Des Moines at the same time as this rally. That won't help win over the anti-war caucus goers.

DNC to Model 2008 Campaigns on Loebsack's Victory

From Kos...

New DCCC chief Chris Van Hollen outlines his 2008 strategy. Amongst the requirement for DCCC support is this encouraging one:

The support of net-roots organizations was key to Democrats success in 2006. Frontline members will be required to build an aggressive online operation with the goal of acquiring 30,000 e-mail addresses by November 2008.

DCCC support for candidates will also be conditional on building a strong local grassroots/netroots presence. In the past, money was the deciding factor. Now, after seeing cash-poor Demcorats like Loebsack and Carol Shea-Porter win, and others like Larry Kissel come up painfully short, the party has finally realized that people-power can act as a significant substitute for big money.

I read somewhere that of all the Democrats that won in November, Dave Loebsack raised the least amount of money. He didn't have money to run ads. Heck, he didn't even have that much support from the national Netroots. Loebsack won by focusing on the grassroots. You know the people on the ground, the ones who actually go out and vote.