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Friday, August 29, 2008 7:24 PM
My cousin had to remind me that when I visited him last year in Alaska, we stopped in Wasilla to use their rest room.
Thursday
night was incredible, amazing, historic, overwhelming... pick an
adjective. 38 million people tuned in. A bounce in polls was already
noticed before the speech. New citizens swarmed the Obama voter
registration tables at naturalization ceremonies at the Miami Dade
Auditorium.
But the McCain campaign hit back in full force, celebrating the
Senator's 72nd birthday by nominating the Mayor of Mayberry to second
highest office in the nation. Introducing Alaska's Sarah Palin - beauty
queen turned PTA mom, turned City Councilwoman, turned mayor of
Wasilla, turned Governor of Alaska. She's anti-choice - even in cases
of rape and incest, anti-polar bear, anti-equal rights for all, thinks
global warming is NOT man made, had a parent who was a science teacher
but thinks creationism should be taught in school, was for the bridge
to nowhere before she was against the bridge to nowhere, and oh yeah,
she likes to shoot things and then eat them.
It was a Rovian Hail Mary Pass of a pick. We'll see how she holds up
on the campaign trail. At 44, she has five kids, the youngest a special
needs infant with Down's Syndrome. We'll see how she holds up in a
debate on foreign policy with Joe Biden. She's Commander in Chief of
the Alaskan National Guard but has been on record saying she has no
idea how we will ever get out of Iraq, and also has said she hasn't
paid attention to the Iraq War, though her oldest son is shipping off
there on Sept 11.
She would be a heartbeat away from being President of the
United States, but don't worry, for the next two months she's going to
stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
There are still people, like the cashier I registered to vote last
night, who haven't been paying attention. People, like the kid I met
yesterday at Office Depot, who don't fact check before they forward.
People who, for whatever reason, can't see the obvious difference
between what has been and what could be. They rely on tabloids and Ron
Fournier's AP wire stories for news. And the GOP thinks the People
Magazine human interest element will outweigh the fact that John McCain
has still voted in lock step with George Bush 90% of the time. It's up
to us to see that it doesn't. This isn't a student council race. As
Dennis said in his speech last week, Wake Up America.
No one knew Palin was McCain's pick because even McCain didn't know
McCain's pick. He met her twice. Does Karl Rove also pick out McCain's
pants? John you're wearing the blue ones today. Obama
thought long and hard about who his Veep would be. He knows Joe and
trusts him. McCain got a mail order bride. And I am not belittling
Palin. She has to wrestle her conscience that she is not only being
used as the replacement kitten for the much loved family cat that got
run over, but that she will be leaving everything she loves so dearly -
small-town America, the nature and wonder of Alaska, ice fishing, snow
mobile racing, and wolf hunting to swim with sharks in Washington.
In their consistent patronizing manner, the GOP thinks American's
should buy into this choice because there is no difference between
negotiating with hostile youth hockey teams and hostile nations. Loose
nukes vs. loose moose - is there really a difference? Apart from the
tundra and melting ice caps, Alaska is right next door to Russia,
that's their response to her foreign policy experience. Hello? If living next door to a country gives us foreign policy experience, then everyone in Key West should run for President.
The McCain campaign has run it's campaign on two messages: POW and
experience. They hung their hat on Obama not being experienced so does
the whole marketing campaign attack get thrown out the window? Who
knows? Blackberries to breast pumps is girl power story, and we
shouldn't underestimate its appeal or her drill here, drill now, kill
the bears drill drill drill stance, but Sarah Palin stands for everything that Hillary Clinton has fought against. They are Polar Bear Opposites,
and the GOP, who brought you the same brilliant nomination of Harriet
Myers, hopes that women will see feminism before philisophy. I for one
see through it. Hillary fought tooth and nail for every vote, so I find
the insertion of Palin and her glass ceiling references an insult to my
intelligence. It's pandering. Pandering to the conservative guns, g-d,
gays base. Pandering to ego bruised women and pandering to
disenfranchised Eskimos. But not equal pay pander because John McCain opposes that.
The RNC is starting their convention on Labor Day... And Gustav is
barreling his way up toward New Orleans to kick it off. The
evangelicals prayed for rain. And they will get it. One week late.
Gustav was just upgraded to a cate-freaking-gory 4. Hold onto your hat.
Fierce winds from the Gulf are about to collide with a mass of hot air
descending from Minneapolis. Yeehaw.
The Republicans are considering a makeover for their convention, and
plan on turning it into a relief telethon with the Red Cross. A bit of
schadenfreude. McCain might be making his speech from a disaster zone
like Bush did at Ground Zero. And it is up to everyone who supports
Obama to remind the world that for all his finger pointing, when
Katrina hit and New Orleans drowned, it was McCain standing
shoulder-to-shoulder with Bush, holding a birthday cake and smiling
pretty for the camera.
There may be a ground swell for Sarah, but the swell for Obama is
hard to match and in the two months she has, she not only has to
capture voters' hearts and minds, she has to study geography, national
policy, foreign policy, debate Joe Biden, deal with an abuse of power
investigation against her, and prove to us that she wasn't chosen as
window dressing.
Will people suddenly start taking cardboard cut outs of Sarah and
bring them to Denny's creating such an ear-to-ear grinning frenzy that
everyone rushes over to have their photos taken, grabbing bumper
stickers and buttons and checking to make sure they're properly
registered to vote? Four of us did that with Barack yesterday -
Barackfast - Breakfast with Barry - Bagels with Barack. *
Do women as a whole want the party that continually votes against
EQUALITY FOR ALL to be the party taking credit for shattering the very
glass ceiling that it installed? Give me an 18 million cracks break. We
might have the lowest ranked schools in the world, but I am not that
stupid.
This race is not about gender. It's not about race. It's about policy.
UPDATE
While people argue over who has experience and who is ready to lead let me point out a fact: Sarah Palin got her passport in July 2007. Her very first passport. She needed it to visit troops in Kuwait. Yeah, I know she is from Alaska and the family didn't have money to travel just like lots of other Americans. Except those other American's aren't running for Vice President of the free world.
Palin it seems was a member of the Alaska Independence Party prior to becomming mayor. A big member of the group got her elected Governor. She addressed their convention in a video. Their objective? Alaska first. (not Country First.... but.....Alaska First) Their platform: To seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the
federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance
with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution. They want to secede. If you are shaking your head in disbelief, don't worry. You aren't alone. You can read about it on Kos.
New Orleans dodged a bad one. The storm has been downgraded. And the candidate who thinks family planning should not be taught in school and abstinence is the way to go.... Sarah Palin, just announced that her 17- year old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant and will be marrying her boyfriend. (McCain insists he already knew which is doubtful since he didn't even know Palin before he chose her.) There is much speculation behind the suprise news as it comes out only after DailyKos began questioning the birth of Palin's son in April. Rumors began circulating around the internet that Palin faked her pregnancy and the baby is actually that of the now pregnant daughter -- who was withdrawn from school for the last five months of Palin's pregnancy. They say she had mono. Now I had mono in college. I was written up as one of the worst cases my doctor had ever seen. I was out of school for three weeks. Not five months. Who knows what is true or not? But they claim the daughter is five months pregnant, which means she couldn't possibly have been pregnant when her brother/son was born. It's all so Desperate Housewives.
And China also insists its gymnasts are 16 and showed passports as proof.
Barack Obama has come out asking that people leave this matter to the family. Family's are off limits in the campaign. His mother was a teenage mom and had him at 18 and it's none of our business. OK, I can appreciate the idea that it's a family matter. Christian Coalition conservatives have called it An American Story and they says it is a private family matter.
But what I want to know is why is Bristol's pregnancy a private family matter, but Terry Schiavo's private family matter was everyone's business? Including the President? And while the children are off limits, doesn't this say something about the failure of an abstinence only program and a dire need for family planning education? Palin ascribes to the former and not the latter.
If you haven't already done so, please visit www.barackobama.com and donate to the Red Cross to help hurricane victims.
Good Gravy! Hannah and Ike. AAAACK. It's all just too much.
* details to come on a Barackfast near you.
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008 8:13 AM
Now THAT was a speech. For all the drama that the media built-up, Hillary rose to the occassion and delivered what has thus far been the best speech of the convention. Now I am not a fan of making everything under the sun about the Clinton's, but last night was Hillary's moment and she shined. My hat's off to the writers that worked with her to craft one of the most challenging speeches I've heard.
So I say thank you to Hillary and I hope Bill delivers and redeems himself tonight. And I hope Biden takes off the gloves and gives people what they are itching to hear and didn't get from Mark Warner's vegan prose. I wish they showed Dennis K's speech on MSNBC. Will have to search for it.
Now onto other news:
Larry Feldman beat Evelyn Greer in the race for School Board. And this was a BIG upset because Rudy Crew's job is now on the line. !!!!!!!!!
And WINZ, without notice, dumped Nicole Sandler's local call-in show, and replaced her with uber bigot, Don Imus. And they did so the week of the Democratic National Convention. And they did so even though her show was beating sister station WIOD in key demographics. WINZ thinks Imus is 'entertaining'. I think it's time to turn the dial. What about you?
I really wanted to hear from the candidates and delegates this week on Convention news. I saw Brett standing behind Andrea Mitchell last night on MSNBC and will be looking for Maryanne Patlak and her OBAMA quilt. I didn't see it - probably because the pundits was listening to themselves talk, but Joe Garcia said he was onstage with Raul for the Red to Blue Candidatea and I hope he, Raul and Annette and making waves there.
More to come.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:30 PM
Miami Dade Resurgence
from Daily Kos, by Kos
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county, 56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican (the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent, registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic. The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48 percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot, these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:28 PM
Miami Dade Resurgence
from Daily Kos, by Kos
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county,
56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent
of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican
(the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the
GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent,
registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic.
The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the
region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly
Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent
registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48
percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the
swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted
Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of
their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At
the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased
Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter
registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to
squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot,
these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic
challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside
entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their
voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have
changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on
Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush
won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's
rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of
what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as
will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us
one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:27 PM
Miami-Dade's Democratic resurgence
Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 03:06:15 PM PDT
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county,
56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent
of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican
(the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the
GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent,
registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic.
The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the
region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly
Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent
registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48
percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the
swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted
Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of
their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At
the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased
Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter
registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to
squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot,
these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic
challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside
entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their
voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have
changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on
Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush
won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's
rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of
what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as
will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us
one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
Be the first to rate this post - Currently 0/5 Stars.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:26 PM
Miami-Dade's Democratic resurgence
Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 03:06:15 PM PDT
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county,
56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent
of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican
(the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the
GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent,
registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic.
The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the
region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly
Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent
registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48
percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the
swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted
Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of
their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At
the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased
Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter
registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to
squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot,
these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic
challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside
entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their
voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have
changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on
Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush
won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's
rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of
what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as
will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us
one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
Be the first to rate this post - Currently 0/5 Stars.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:25 PM
from daily kos
Miami-Dade's Democratic resurgence
Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 03:06:15 PM PDT
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county,
56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent
of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican
(the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the
GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent,
registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic.
The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the
region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly
Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent
registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48
percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the
swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted
Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of
their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At
the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased
Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter
registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to
squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot,
these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic
challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside
entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their
voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have
changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on
Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush
won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's
rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of
what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as
will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us
one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:24 PM
from daily kos
Miami-Dade's Democratic resurgence
Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 03:06:15 PM PDT
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county,
56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent
of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican
(the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the
GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent,
registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic.
The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the
region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly
Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent
registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48
percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the
swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted
Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of
their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At
the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased
Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter
registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to
squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot,
these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic
challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside
entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their
voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have
changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on
Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush
won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's
rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of
what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as
will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us
one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
Be the first to rate this post - Currently 0/5 Stars.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:23 PM
from daily kos
Miami-Dade's Democratic resurgence
Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 03:06:15 PM PDT
Check out the numbers in Miami-Dade this year alone, from January to August:
January 1, 2008:
Total Dem Rep
White 263,649 119,026 85,021
Black 217,371 178,878 9,278
Hispanic 535,188 138,622 252,896
Total 1,083,720 459,370 360,458
August 1, 2008 (PDF):
Total Dem Rep
White 271,244 123,603 86,406
Black 239,486 200,666 9,358
Hispanic 581,069 164,529 260,222
Total 1,169,252 515,545 369,771
Of 85,532 new registered voters in the south Florida county,
56,175 were Democrats, only 9,313 were Republican. That is, 66 percent
of new registration were Democratic, only 11 percent were Republican
(the rest were third party and "no party affiliation").
Even more incredible is the shift in the Latino voter away from the
GOP. Of the 45,881 new Hispanic voters, only 7,236, or 16 percent,
registered Republican. 25,907, or 56 percent, registered Democratic.
The ranks of registered African American has grown by over 10 percent. And sure, Republicans picked up 80 of them, but another 22,035 of them slotted in with the Democrats.
Want to see how far Democrats have come? Let's go back to January 2000:
Total Dem Rep
White 269,642 133,719 92,191
Black 160,934 139,114 6,921
Hispanic 354,009 86,682 203,403
Total 811,599 370,404 309,915
In 2000, Democrats had a roughly 60,000-vote advantage in the
region. Today, it's 146,000. In 2000, 57 percent of Latinos (mostly
Cuban Americans) registered Republican, while only 24 percent
registered Democratic. That gap has closed significantly today, to 48
percent Republican, 28 percent Democratic. I'd bet quite a bit that the
swelling ranks of Latino "no party affiliation" are full of closeted
Democrats too ashamed to tell their hard-core Republican parents of
their true party sympathies.
This obviously has huge repercussions in several races this fall. At
the top of the ticket, Obama will obviously benefit from the increased
Democratic performance in the region, and his continued voter
registration efforts in Miami-Dade are epic. The campaign plans to
squeeze out every last Democrat possible. But lower on the ballot,
these numbers have benefits to our three South Florida Democratic
challengers in FL-18, FL-21, and FL-25. None of these districts reside
entirely within the boundaries of Miami-Dade, but the bulk of their
voters do live in that county. Let's see how those district have
changed from January 2008 to August 2008 (PDF):
In FL-18, O2B Democrat Annette Taddeo is taking on Illeana Ros-Lehtinen in an R+4.3 district (Bush won it 54-46 in 2004):
Jan Aug
Republican 107,295 109,562
Democrat 89,289 102,433
Total R+18,006 R+7,129
In FL-21, Democrat Raul Martinez is taking on
Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the toughest district of the lot -- R+6.2 (Bush
won it 57-43 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 107,536 110,278
Democrat 76,491 85,635
Total R+31,045 R+24,643
And in FL-25, O2B Democrat Joe Garcia is taking on Mario Diaz-Balart in a R+4.4 district (Bush won it 56-44 in 2004).
Jan Aug
Republican 110,925 114,048
Democrat 97,577 110,424
Total R+13,348 R+3,624
In a series of elections were every vote will count, the GOP's
rapidly eroding voter registration numbers are a telling harbinger of
what's to come. All three of these House elections will be close, as
will Florida's presidential contest. Every voter registration gets us
one step closer to victories that would be game-changing, truly epic.
On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Annette Taddeo for Congress
Raul Martinez for Congress
Joe Garcia for Congress
Be the first to rate this post - Currently 0/5 Stars.
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Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:19 PM
Phelps has made history and broken world records. The Cold War might be coming back if the neo cons have anything to say about it. A Tropical Storm is heading our way. But what is consuming me right now is an email I glanced past and then read after my mom sent it to me saying she signed it.
The Bush Administraiton is trying to redefine abortion to include birth control. Un-freakin-bealiveable. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt has been trying to float variations of this all week. The Houson Chronicle posted the details. YOU can sign the peitition through Planned Parenthood and MoveOn.Org and let Leavitt know this will not go unnoticed. The rule change is repressive. It's fascist. And as Janet Crepps from the Center of Reproctive Rights said, "It's pernicious."
73% of Americans believe birth control should be available and accessible to women regardless of income. The HHS might be backing down from this stealthly insertion/rule change - which by the way does not require Congressional votes. This is from the Houston Chronicle:
" Health and Human Services officials are considering a draft regulation
that would classify most birth control pills, the Plan B emergency
contraceptive and intrauterine devices as forms of abortion because
they prevent the development of fertilized eggs into fetuses.
The rule, which does not require congressional approval, would
allow health care workers who object to abortion on moral or religious
grounds to refuse to counsel women on their birth control options or
supply contraceptives. It would forbid more than half a million health
agencies nationwide that receive federal funds from requiring employees
to provide such services. Pharmacists could use the rule as a
justification for refusing to fill birth control prescriptions, and
insurance companies could cite it as a basis for declining to cover the
costs...
[The] draft rule could void laws in 27 states that require
insurance companies to provide birth control coverage for women
requesting it. The rule also could counter laws in 14 states requiring
that rape victims receive counseling and access to emergency, day-after
contraceptives."
So the pill might no longer be covered by health insurance. But you can bet Bush's hypocritcal bippy that Viagra still will. And don't even get me started on the whole "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," garbage.
Take action now. Sign the petition below. Then call your Senators and Congressional Rep. and raise a stink.
Birth control is NOT abortion.
Can you imagine living in a place where birth control is
considered an "abortion" and health insurers won't cover it? Where even
rape victims are denied emergency contraception?
It seems unbelievable, but the Bush Administration is quietly trying to redefine "abortion" to include birth control.
The Houston Chronicle says this could wipe out dozens of state laws
that protect women's reproductive freedom and protect rape victims.
This "rule change" doesn't need congressional approval.
Can you sign an emergency message to Health and Human
Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, whose department is considering this
rule change right now? We'll pass your signature and
information to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which will deliver
the signatures to Leavitt. They'll be able to follow up with you on
this issue.
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