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I have been hearing rumblings for some time that Michele Bachmann's 2008 DFL opponent Elwyn Tinklenberg might be seeking a rematch in 2010. I did a FEC check about a month ago and realized Tinklenberg still had a ton of money in the bank that he did not spend. Not very smart usually. But From what I had heard a lot of that money came in way too late to make media buys and that sounded reasonable.
Well here's what baffles me when I read today's Minnesota Independent article about Tinklenberg testing the waters:
He gave $250, 000 back to the DCCC - I just don't get it
As we continue to wrap up our coverage of the historic 2008 and move into 2009, we take a moment to wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Chanukah. I still have trouble trying to figure out how to spell Chanukah and I'm in my 32nd celebration of the festival of lights.
I hope every gets a day off to spend with friends and family. All the Jewish friends probably ate a wonderful meal at the local Chinese restaurant last night. I enjoyed about three bowls of chili at our friend's house. Daddy B needs to be entered into the world chili cookoff. Apologies to my wife who had to sleep in the bed with me last night.
My big gift was Guitar Hero for the Wii. We got the band together for a late all night jam session. What great fun as we finally figured out how to put the Wii on the big flat screen.
Enjoy your day and hopefully I will not have anything newsworthy to report later.
Today should be a very somber Veterans Day as we think about the those serving, those we have lost and those injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the Veterans seemed to be put on the backburner of issues during this election to the economy, gas prices and health care.
IAVA and the AD council have teamed together to launch a new ad campaign directed at helping veterans facing transition challenges.
The campaign aims to address the mental health consequences of combat, which threaten to overwhelm a new generation of veterans. The 1.7 million men and women who have served, or are currently serving, in Iraq and Afghanistan are facing an increased risk of mental health issues. Nearly 20 percent of military servicemembers who have returned - 300,000 in all - report symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, yet only slightly more than half have sought treatment, according to a RAND Corporation study released in April 2008. Untreated mental health conditions can cause or aggravate other debilitating problems in the veterans' community including high rates of unemployment, suicide, homelessness, substance abuse, divorce and child abuse.
Our schedule for today will include sporadic posting.
I plan on covering some live updates from polling places here in Alabama.
I'm not sure of my schedule because of several interviews scheduled as well as being on call for election day legal problems.
Please help us and post any stories from your experiences.
I just watched Barack and Biden vote. It took Barack about ten minutes longer although Biden had his 91 year old mother with him. He did have the girls with him and a longer ballot I think.
John McCain is campaigning today. He's out of his normal routine of sleeping in and going to the movies on election day apparently.
I don't think that we can tell anyone to not be concerned. But are we in danger of losing to McCain? I can say in all likelihood no.
I don't believe this will be a nervous election night if you are concerned about just the Presidential Election.
However, I would personally like to see a blowout and also take a number of competitive House and Senate seats. I'm look forward to sweating out some results in Alabama Congressional and very likely the Georgia Senate race between Jim Martin and Saxby Chambliss.
Obama still holds high single digit leads in most national polls. He is still way ahead in a number of state polls. McCain may make this a 2-4 point race nationally, but in terms of the electoral vote I'm not changing any numbers his way.
Unfortunately, hate and rudeness have made their way into Presidential candidates appearances. Yesterday , when Obama stopped for a few minutes to campaign in a North Carolina BBQ joint, one lady yelled "Socialist, Socialist" and refused to shake his hand.
I cannot imagine if John McCain walked in a restaurant and people refused to shake his hand. Oh the Republicans would say it's anti-American because McCain's a war hero. Well I think that it is Un-American to refuse the hand of a man putting his and his family's life to run for President.
Whether or not I agree with John McCain, I would respect him enough to say thank you for your service.
Obama has faced more scrutiny than any person in history running for political office. He has withstood overt threats and certainly hundreds of pieces of hate mail and phone calls that we will never know about.
This is the man that I will be proud to call President.
So the McCain camp announced yesterday that they would be going on the offensive. They definitely need to "change" their tactics because they definitely are not working according to the polling trends. However, before team McFalling could real get their attack initiative going, the DNC launched this beauty when McCain was riding on the "Straight Talk Express"
"I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads.
Sooner or later people are going to figure out that if all you run are negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you are not ready to articulate it"
The Republican lovefest of everybody not named George or Dick will continue this evening as John McCain accepts the nominations. Another bunch of Awkward embraces I'm sure. Is his whole family going to take the stage like Palin's.
They should have put John to bed last night before he came out at the end of Palin's speech. He looked a little more than confused at what was happening.
((We've had a great night $100 in $20 increments. I know i pledged some more also. Let's see if we can't reach our goal) - promoted by admin)
Tonight Sarah Palin will be introduced as the Republican running mate for John McCain. No doubt, the McCain/ Palin ticket will get an immediate fundraising boost as we did last week.
We must do our part and continue to give. The Republicans are not even talking about Bush at this convention. They are doing a good job of making voters forget.
If 100 of us give $5 tonight we can raise $500 collectively. I know all of us are in a bind, but together we can make a difference. Let's show the big money Republicans that we are still in it to win it. We cannot sit by and say that Palin is awful and that guarantees it is a win.
Collectively, The Progressive Electorate has raised $295 for Barack. I know that we can at least do $1,000 with your help.
The Olympic Games are winding down. The DNC convention is on the agenda for the next week. Labor Day is only a week away.
So it will most likely be a slow news week for the Congressional races until after Labor Day. That should be good for us as we can catch up on some of the races.
10:32 - at 66% we have a three hundred vote difference between Waters and Cheeks Kilpatrick.
KS-02- Ryun is losing to Jenkins by a little over 1,600 votes with 84% of the votes counted.
Call Ga for Jim Martin - Yes!!!!
Michigan 13 - This is it no runoff. Right now it's anybody's guess in this three person race. Kilpatrick sitting at 33% to Mary Waters at 41% with 45% in.
8:45 - The question now appears to be how much does Martin win by. I think Georgia voters realized what was at stake and made good decisions.
55% in
52,574
Jones 40%
78,992
Martin 60%
131,566
8:18 - with 27% in
Jim Martin 34,273 56.6%
Vernon Jones 26,281 43.4%
Totals 60,554
Hopefully this holds as the night progresses
8:03 - got home a little quicker than expected
With 13% of the precincts reporting
Martin 56% - 16,322 votes
Jones 43-44% - 12,694 votes
I believe this is a clear sign that the campaign believes they need to shore up support with the Latino and female electorates in two important swing states.
Daily Kos, commissioned a poll from Research 2000, that shows Wicker leading Musgrove by 1 point (45-44) and Obama trailing by 9 points (52-41)
11% are undecided in the Senate race whereas only 7% are undecided in the Presidential Race. However, commenters have made a good point in that white voters are considering voting for Obama (19% now and only 20% needed to win the state according to one blogger).
Ronnie Musgrove has a 41% unfavorable rating with Republicans but that is okay because only 6% of identified Republicans would vote for Musgrove. That tells me that African American turnout will need to be key for Musgrove to win.
I hope that there are good voter registration drives going on in Miss. While we may not need Miss to win the Presidential Race, we are going to need a large Obama turnout to win this Senate seat.
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