Hopefully we'll see this sort of stuff really come out in the fall

When it's the general election.....because I think this election can really have a lot of this sort of content really cut through the traditional media sources and political commercials...and yes, make it fun as well as serious.

Harsh ABC Debate Coverage...

I think the reviews of ABC's debate on Wednesday have gotten pretty harsh...

A More Perfect Union

I'm very pleased with how Sen. Obama handles the issue that is really just underneath his whole campaign -- and it hits me as a direct, sophisticated, and honest approach to the issues of race in this country. I'm as hopeful as ever that he can make it through this campaign as we look towards making our country better.



(full text here)

Of course, in the less serious fashion, it is fun to know that the Obamas have been watching Heroes on the campaign trail as well. One of the things that I enjoy about Science Fiction fandom -- and why it is important to me that MISFITS takes its non profit status seriously is that while at times it's not *the most* diverse population around, it is also more diverse than many communities of choice that I've experienced -- we don't all share the same racial background, or religious background, or political background, or economic background -- but we can all work for common cause by choice. It may be "just for fun" -- but really, the pursuit of happiness is a good goal.

Do the Math

I'm enjoying CNN's Delegate counter game which lets you work out how the delegate scores have to break for each candidate to win, and let you analyze the campaign. Pretty neat.

Messing with Texas

I know that there has been a lot of ink about how confusing Texas's Texas Two-Step Primary and Caucus system is -- but I've got to admit I like it.

I agonized a little about my problems with Minnesota's caucus system -- but I also recognize that there are some virtues to the caucus system, and I'd hate to have a rush to eliminate the good part of it.

One of the challenges we have is that we don't ever really have a system where one person equals one vote -- a person in a larger state, after all, will have less impact in the senate. Congressional districts don't all have the same amount of voting participation, even if they're about the same size in population.

It may be a bit nerve wracking to have something as close as this presidential nominating process be impacted by the rules in a state like this -- but one of the things that is often true, especially when you have a very large voting population -- is that the rules tend to dictate the winner just because you're always going to have some error in the election result.

So sometimes, when it is close enough that a coin flip might as well decide it -- it's going to be the team that has the rules that will decide it. Sometimes, that'll be frustrating (like it was in 2000) -- but that's really almost inevitable at times.

Impressive Political Response

One of the good things about a healthy primary season is to see how well the political organizations respond to each other. One of the challenges is that primary battles aren't quite the same battles that you see in a general election -- one thing that was very noticable when you compared Republican and Democratic debates from earlier this year was that there were times where it looked like the two parties weren't even on the same planet, as the subjects and tone of the debates were often very, very different.

So when the Clinton campaign has an ad (that could very well be an ad that John McCain would run in the general election) like this:



It's nice to see the Obama campaign counter it with an ad like this in a matter of hours:



If Obama is the eventual nominee, I think he's going to be a better general election candidate because of his campaign's experiences in the primary season.

The Geek Vote

I can't believe for a second that it would actually happen, but I'd be very amused if Barack Obama made an appearance at the San Diego Comics Convention.

One of my strangest memories mixing politics and fandom was meeting Senator Paul Wellstone in the hallways of the Sheraton after a CONvergence planning meeting. We gave him a brief description of what we were doing -- though I regret not going into the non-profit side of MISFITS a bit more.

While I look at the convention and fandom as a whole as being a bit of fun and a recreational activity, I also think it's a good way for us to do good as well. And one thing I've also realized is that some of the skills that you get out of this sort of organization running transfer over into other realms as well.

louder and more dissonant

The sign of a real phenomena is when the parodies start in such a short period...

A Thought About Google Ads on My Blog

I put a little bit of advertising on my blog -- I don't (and haven't) expect to make any more money except to offset some of my costs for having a domain. And the internet is something where you never know when you hit the internet lottery for one thing or another, and it seems to be smart to have a way to capture that if you do. And I figure it is also one direct way to get experience with the Google ad system, as I never know when having that experience might be useful for its own reasons.

But one of the interesting things has been that now that we are in a political season, and because of that I'm doing a bit more discussion about political issues, I'm getting political ads both from candidates and organizations I might like, and also candidates and organizations that I don't. And I'm ok with that.

I'm very fond of how the internet can impact the political system -- it is a chance for us all to have our own little letters to the editor, and political candidates have a chance to put out as much information in an unfiltered way as possible. And I think making it easier for smaller donors to help participate in fund raising is really good.

Ok, still Barack Time

At this point the only influence we still have in Minnesota is to donate money or tell your friends now that the caucuses are over here. But this was a very nice and interesting video about the advantages of Obama by Lawrence Lessig.

Primary and Caucus

I was quoted in an article that just went up in the Star Tribune about my frustrations about my caucus experience.

I've been thinking about it some more today. I don't really want to reject all of the advantages of the caucus system. I like that we had the chance to get some face to face interaction with our local political leaders, and it was very hands-on democracy.

I know that a lot of people were frustrated that they couldn't really participate in what candidate the DFL will endorse for Senate this year. It's not just me -- I've overheard other people that felt frustrated that they weren't really able to be a part of that decision.

What I think might work is something that has both -- a primary for the state wide races like President, Senate, House of Representatives, and Governor. The caucus works as a chance to meet your neighbors, discuss the issues, and feed resolutions to the party at a grassroots level.

I don't really know the best solution -- and as you'd expect from a newspaper article you've got one main sentence pulled out of a couple of minute conversation that supported the story that he wanted to write, but I certainly think there is a better way.

Caucus Frustration

In theory, caucuses make some sense -- they're true citizen participation. But they're very, very frustrating. While we had a poll for the Presidential candidates, I'd like to have a straw poll that let you choose Senate candidate as well -- while we had Al Franken visit our caucus room, they only way that we could really "vote" for him is if we moved on to the March district caucus. And if you can't make that amount of commitment, you're effectively disenfranchised. And given the number of other people that were frustrated that they weren't able to express their opinion on the senate race tonight, I don't think I was alone.

It was extremely crowded -- the room was overflowing, and we left before the end, because I knew that I couldn't go on to the next level of caucusing.

I think the caucusing works relatively well for putting together party platforms and suggestions -- yes, you're going to have crazy or impractical resolutions, but if you let people have their say, you're going to get those. But for candidates for higher office -- I'm not so sure. I think it's too difficult to get a real representative choice there, and I'd rather see the primary have more say in this sort of situation.

I'm not quite sure the best way to fix that -- obviously, you'd have to change how the party makes decisions. And that would require getting it through the people that have the most interest in the current system.

Obama Rally Pictures

I get into a bit more of a political spin during this time of year, I suppose.

It was one of the longest lines I've ever seen:



But it's always exciting to see one of the best speakers out there





(pictures by Alicia LaMunion)

Yes We Can

Spotted on You Tube

One Week Until Caucus Time

I figure someone's blog is much like the bumper sticker on a car. In many ways, it's the primary and/or caucus season that is more interesting to me -- because more often than not party affiliation will determine who I vote for in the November election. And for that not to be the case something really, really unusual has to have happened at the caucus level, and that's not in the cards this year.



And this is one of the more interesting caucus experiences with a Senate race as well, and so here's a little video from Al Franken showing how that part of the process will work here.

It's a contest!

As a political junkie, I think it's going to be an interesting month to watch in both parties over the next few weeks. And it'll make Minnesota's Caucus on the first Tuesday in February very interesting and exciting -- I can't wait.

I know that some people would like a nationwide primary -- but I think there's some virtue to having a series of primaries over multiple weeks, so we can see how a Presidential candidate wins -- and loses. Because a President is going to have to deal with both of these when they are in office.

I'm not necessarily thrilled that Iowa and New Hampshire are always the first ones are out there. But at the end, it's going to be more than just the 1% of the country that decides -- and that's going to be a healthy thing as well.

One of the better political speeches I've seen..

He's a brilliant speaker...

Challenge of the Super-Duper Friends

It's an amusing mix of 1970s Superhero cartoons and 21st century politics in the Challenge of the Super-Duper Friends.

Al Franken is in

I don't think this is a surprise to anyone, but Al Franken is in for the Senate. He grew up in the same town that I live in, so he's as home town as you get, really -- despite his previous entertainment career.

We're a state that elected Jesse Ventura and Paul Wellstone -- so of course Al has a chance. And at the very least, it'll make for a much more interesting campaign.

Franken For Senate?

I figure that if Al Franken is giving up his talk radio gig he's going to go for the US Senate here in Minnesota. He wouldn't be the strangest possible candidate for state wide office -- after all, we did elect an ex-wrestler and actor as Governor long before California brought in Arnold.

I figure it'll make for a very interesting campaign, at least. I saw Al Franken do a book reading a little over a year ago and I noticed then that despite his jokes, he was much more like someone who was looking at politics than as a comedian.

The Best Response

There's been more than a share of silly controversy about my soon-to-be Representative Keith Ellison's plan to use the Koran as part of his personal swearing-in ceremony. And he found a great copy to use. Thomas Jefferson's.

Totally classy.

Language Matters

One of the things that's interesting (and sometimes scary) is how language can be used for political purposes. I know that one of the things that annoys me is when you hear one of our two parties called the "Democrat Party" instead of the "Democratic Party". It rubs me the wrong way -- which is perhaps exactly why it is used at times by Republican-leaning types -- but it still bugs me and immediately means I put my "this is a biased source" filter on. It's like when I hear "Homicide Bomber" on FOX News -- it is a redundant phrase, really.

As a part of that, I found this list of politically-loaded phrases that was listed in connection to the following Slate article to be interesting.

I think it's worth being aware of the language choices like this as a part of your general media literacy -- recognizing any sort of biases that are out there.

Vote!

Don't forget to vote tomorrow (if you are a USA person....)

Tracking the elections in Minnesota

I think this will be a good site to track the most interesting races in Minnesota on Tuesday.

Political Season (Part 2)

A month or so ago I posted my thoughts before the primary, and at that time I didn't have the website for Minnesota Senate seat 44 Democratic candidate Ron Latz. Now I do.

Vote for Worst Road in Minnesota

I haven't, as yet, followed all of the ins and outs of the Transportation Constitutional Amendment in question, but here is an interesting poll for the Worst Road in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has more information about the amendment as well. So that may be a good place to get some more information so you can make up your mind about the amendment over the next two months.

Death and Taxes

This is a really fascinating -- and definitely frustrating -- graph of where your tax money goes. It's the perspective it gives you that is really the thought provoking piece -- even the smallest piece of this is far more money than one can imagine, but the perspective is the big piece, as well as seeing what items are gaining in importance and what ones aren't.

This is perhaps especially worth looking at during a political season.

(from boing boing)

Election Results

StarTribune.com has election results.

Biggest news is certainly that Keith Ellison gets the House of Representatives nomination.

Now on to November...

Ballot Box

One of the things that is especially nice before an election is to check out all of the races that will be on the ballot -- and the Star Tribune Politics page does a good job of listing them all.

I've already seen the candidates in my DFL primary, and while I'm still undecided on the fifth congressional district I've worked out the others.

More fifth congressional district primary thoughts

I'm reading City Pages article on Keith Ellison. I'm still undecided on this race -- and I may well not decide until I vote -- so I'm reading through all of the information I have.

It does do a good job about getting to some of the facts concerning some of the less-pleasant attacks against Ellison. I'm sure he'll be a popular Republican target state wide if he wins, but that isn't necessarily a negative. So was Wellstone, after all...

Political Season

It's almost primary time here in Minnesota. I'm generally a Democratic voter, and actually, there are a few races where the primary is probably more important than the general election, so that'll be the primary that I vote in.

I thought it might be convienient to put together some links together for it, especially as I think about who I'm likely going to vote for. I'm not including everyone -- just the ones that I'm considering...

Minnesota House 44A: Steve Simon

Minnesota Senate 44: Ron Latz is running. I don't see a website for him yet -- perhaps because this was a bit more sudden with Steve Kelley running for Attorney General. There's a page for at the house for his current position as State Representative in 44B.

Hennepin County Sheriff: This is one that I'm not yet decided on. A couple with websites: Tom Fitzhenry, Juan Lopez, Rich Stanek. Based on endorsements alone, it counts against Rich Stanek, as he's got a lot of Republicans, including ones that I really don't like.

US House District 5: My impression is that there are three top candidates for the race. Keith Ellison, Mike Erlandson, and Ember Reichgott Junge. This is one that I haven't come to any real conclusion on; it might be one that I make when I walk in the voting booth door. Right now it is likely between Ellison or Erlandson for me. This is the big race, and why it is important to vote in the primary here. It's one to take seriously.

State Auditor: Rebecca Otto

Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie

Attorney General: Steve Kelley has been our state senator for several years. He's been good there. I'm sure either Bill Luther or Lori Swanson would be ok, but I think the home town plus endorsements all count in Kelley's favor.

Governor & Lt Governor: Mike Hatch & Judi Dutcher are the endorsed candidates. Mike Hatch is the current Attorney General. Dutcher was a Republican, but she's they type of Republican that doesn't exist much anymore, as they stop being a party of fiscal responsibility and move to the extremes -- and why I don't consider them very often as candidates. Becky Lourey is a bit of an outside choice.

Senate: Amy Klobuchar.