The World Around You

My personal choice is Senator Bayh…nice counterbalance to Barack, but I’d be in favor of a number of others.

Marc Ambinder - Obama Veepstakes

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I’m so proud of the quick response of the Obama team…this is the candidate we want going against John McCain.

The response ad to Clinton’s 3am was quick and right on point.

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Now that legislators have spent every bit of one time money we have, they are going to put off the difficult budget making process for another month or two hoping and praying money will fall from the sky to save us…instead of making the tough choices. That’s leadership in Alabama.

montgomeryadvertiser.com ::  Legislators put state Budget work on hold

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Josh Kraushaar has an interesting tidbit to follow-on Montgomery mayor Bobby Bright’s announcement of a congressional run yesterday,

After spending months mulling over a campaign, Bobby Bright, the popular nonpartisan mayor of Montgomery, Ala., announced Tuesday that he is running as a Democrat for the seat vacated by Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.).

Bright had also been recruited by Republican campaign officials, to no avail.

Obama was one of the reasons behind his decision to run. The district, centered in Montgomery, has a 29 percent black population and overwhelmingly voted for Obama in Alabama’s presidential primary.

Those results proved encouraging to Bright, who needs high turnout from African-American voters to prevail in the heavily Republican district.

Bright’s campaign recently released a polling memo suggesting that a huge show of support from the African-American community could “add 3 to 5 points” to his margins against leading Republican opponents.

Congressional hopefuls ride the Obama wave - Josh Kraushaar - Politico.com

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When you’re strategy is as big of a mess as Hillary Clinton’s right now, you know the end is nigh. Senator Obama said yesterday that this will all be over soon and I certainly agree.

Finger-pointing, frustration in Clinton camp - Mike Allen and John F. Harris - Politico.com

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Former Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White states the case for Clinton supporters to make the switch to Obama. I am so tired of the argument that Obama supporters are somehow blind to political realities.

Senator Obama has real ideas and concrete plans to get them done that don’t involve “battling the Republicans” but leading the country. A Clinton presidency would be very different from an Obama presidency and if she can’t “get” that she’s been in politics for too long.

Hotline On Call: Fmr Cleveland Mayor Leaves HRC For Obama

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Well, actually, he was just bribing the other inmates to watch his segment on 60 Minutes on Sunday…but still.

With canned mackerel from the prison commissary, ex-Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman bribed his cell mates to let him watch the “60 Minutes” broadcast chronicling what he sees as his unfair prosecution for bribery and corruption.

Siegelman’s brother, Birmingham businessman Les Siegelman, said the former governor told him the initial vote on what to watch Sunday evening in his Louisiana prison cell didn’t go in his favor. With the promise of canned fish, the majority of the 70 inmates bunking together voted to watch the CBS news show.

Siegelman bribed inmates with mackerel to see TV show - Breaking News from The Huntsville Times - al.com

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Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (one of my favorite names in Alabama politics) is running for president of the state Public Service Commission. It should be an interesting race against Lucy Baxley for a seat that has been occupied by Jim Sullivan for some time now.

montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Cavanaugh joins Baxley in PSC race

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I haven’t watched the 60 Minutes episode from last night yet, but I’ll take Tim Lennox’s word for it that there wasn’t anything new.

The show did a nice job of explaining a very complicated story for folks who knew next to nothing about it, but I honestly didn’t see anything new…except for the allegation regarding Karl Rove asking Jill Simpson to get photos of Siegelman in a “compromising sexual position with an aide”. Bob Martin of the Montgomery Independent told us on Friday’s FTR that the show has a second part to the report that will focus on the trial, and perhaps, on allegations about Judge Fuller. But if that’s the case, there was no announcement of “more to come”. CBS did have the first video I’ve seen of Siegelman in prison, in a yard emptying a mop bucket. They also showed former Siegelman aide Nick Bailey behind bars.

Tim Lennox OFFair & ONline: Siegelman on 60-Minutues

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The Huntsville Times has the kind of piece you don’t often see in a big newspaper, dealing with whether God “protected” some people and not others in the recent storms. It ties in closely to an interview I heard this week on the NPR program, Fresh Air with Bart Ehrman about his reasoning to become an agnostic, which largely revolved around religion’s inability to explain human suffering.

I think it’s good for people to ask these questions, I just didn’t expect to see it as the lead story in one of the leading daily newspapers in Alabama.

Does God ‘protect’ some, not others?- al.com

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Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright will announce his candidacy for the third congressional district seat being left vacant by Terry Everett, as a Democrat, on Tuesday at noon in Dale County. Bravo to the Montgomery Advertiser for getting someone to confirm on the record what Danny had reported at Doc’s Political Parlor earlier today. You’re closing the gap, mainstream media!

montgomeryadvertiser.com ::  Bright set to announce Congressional bid

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The lobbying firm Alcalde & Fay worked quickly to wipe a bio of Vicki Iseman off it’s website, but thanks to Google’s caching ability, we still have the info:

VICKI ISEMAN

Vicki Iseman, Partner, represents corporate and public clients on issues as diverse as government contracting and regulatory reform. Her experience includes representation of clients before Congress, Federal government agencies and local opinion leaders.

She has extensive experience in telecommunications, representing corporations before the House and Senate Commerce Committees. Her work on the landmark 1992 and 1996 communications bills helped secure cable access for broadcast television stations. Her experience in the communications field includes digital television conversion, satellite regulations and telecommunications ownership provisions.

She has been active in grassroots communications campaigns for clients, building community based support for legislative initiatives. Among others, she participated in the “Keep America Moving” campaign that educated community leaders on the allocation of Federal highway trust funds.

In addition, she has consulted for clients who are interested in government contracting opportunities. She has assisted corporations through the authorization and appropriation process. An active fundraiser, she has organized and participated in many political fundraising events.

A native of Pennsylvania, she holds a B.A. degree in Education from Indiana University in Pennsylvania.

Oh, and if you don’t know, Vicki Iseman is the lobbyist the New York Times is now claiming John McCain got awfully cozy with…

One other thing, her e-mail address is iseman@alcalde-fay.com

Alcalde & Fay Government and Public Affairs Consultants - Meet the Firm

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Yet another report, this time from Harper’s that the Siegelman report will air on 60 Minutes on Sunday.

Left In Alabama:: Siegelman On CBS News

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If these numbers can hold up for any length of time, Clinton’s “electability” argument goes out the window.

In a head-to-head matchup, Obama beat McCain 47 percent to 40 percent. He led McCain among independents, in all age groups except those above 70, and in all regions but the South.

McCain beat Clinton 50 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head matchup. The Arizona senator led Clinton in all regions of the country, among independents and in all age groups.

Obama surges past Clinton | Reuters

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Leave it to our state senators to muck up the ban…

Mitchell’s version prohibits PAC-to-PAC transfers, but it no longer defines political parties or legislative caucuses as PACs. That means a PAC could give to a legislative caucus, the caucus could mingle the money with other donations from individuals and PACs, and then could give money to a candidate.

“We’re fooling the public into thinking we are closing loopholes when we are creating another one,” Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery, said.

Dixon said he expects an explosion of legislative caucuses, which will be used to disguise campaign donations.

Sen. Pat Lindsey, D-Butler, agreed there will be many.

“Put a sign on his head and say, ‘I’m a caucus,’” he told McLaughlin.

My state senator (Senator Dixon) is exactly right, they’re very good at appearing to close one loophole while opening up another. This is just ridiculous.

montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Senate committee rewrites PAC bill to remove ban

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Something I haven’t seen discussed (and maybe I just missed it), is that with the last 10 primaries in a row, Obama now has a 25-11 lead in states won. Even if Hillary pulls off a win in either Texas or Ohio on March 4th, if you assume he takes the other states he is expected to win, even under her best case scenario he is going to be around 35-36 to her 14-15. How can you deny a candidate whose taken that may state primaries and caucuses the nomination?

I honestly don’t see how Hillary Clinton has any but one path to the nomination remaining, even if she, pulls off the impossible. She will pull out every trick in the book in the next two weeks and win both Texas and Ohio. The only argument she has left is that she won the big states: Florida (sort of), New York, California, Texas and Ohio. Save that, she has nothing.

13 days until she is forced to exit the stage.

Senator Obama must continue to pound the drum…most states, most popular votes, most delegates. How do you deny him the nomination? Regardless of whether he meets some magic number…

UPDATE: Michael Barone has a similar thought.

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After the graceless way Senator Clinton has now lost 10 races in a row…it’s about time Senator Obama got a little passive agressive back. Way to trounce on her speech by beginning yours in the middle of it!

Marc Ambinder (February 19, 2008) - Networks Interrupt Clinton For Obama

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Roger Simon has the latest nightmare scenario from the Clinton camp. If it’s close when we get to the convention, they won’t only be pursuing superdelegates, they’ll be trying to switch over Obama’s pledged delegates. You see…the pledged delegates aren’t really pledged at all.

“Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot,” a recent DNC memo states. “A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.”

The nightmare scenarios get worse and worse. Does no one care what the people want? I’ll continue to hope that Hillary is unable to win in Texas or Ohio and this will all be moot.

Clinton targets pledged delegates - Roger Simon - Politico.com

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Of course, the news of the morning is that Fidel Castro has resigned the presidency of Cuba. It’s about time. I hope this leads to some change in our relationship with the island nation, but I fear it won’t make any difference at all.

unpartisan.com:Fidel Castro Resigns Presidency

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We’re going to be keeping the city attorney busy if the city proceeds with it’s plans to begin ticketing using red light cameras. The practice of using the cameras is not expressly allowed under Alabama law and that is where the city is going to get itself in trouble.

I agree that the use of these cameras could help save lives, but I don’t want the city to move forward on something they will eventually fight and lose on in court. I also have concerns about where the cameras will be placed and how the locations will be chosen, the potential for discrimination is high.

montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Red light cameras to scan in April

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Danny is reporting from a reliable source that there is a new grand jury investigation into issues with Alabama’s two year college system. Also, that there may be some as yet undelivered indictments from the previous grand jury.

New Grand Jury Looks at 2-Year College System » Doc’s Political Parlor

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So much for all that B.S. from some of my friends in the blogosphere that Governor Riley had managed to kill the 60 Minutes story on Governor Siegelman, it will air tonight, according to Tim Lennox.

Tim Lennox OFFair & ONline: Set Your TiVo - Siegelman on 60 Minutes

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The Alabama legislature has something right. The “you’re old enough to fight for your country, you’re old enough to drink” argument is ridiculous on its face. You could just as easily make the reverse argument…if you aren’t even old enough to drink in this country, should really be allowed to fight and die for your country?

I was pleased to see some of our “esteemed” senators give the right answers to this question. We would lose federal dollars for highways. We would expand our already bad enough drunk driving problem and increase an already difficult to address underage drinking problem.

montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Alabama avoids military drinking age debate

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