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Please accept my confession…I have an Obama bumper sticker (on my brand new Jeep), an Obama tee shirt (that I am afraid to get dirty) and an Obama pin attached to my car’s sun visor (it rests perfectly in my sight). I guess you’d say I am an Obama zealot, and believe me I feel no guilt about it. This morning I made a pilgrimage to his online kingdom, the “Obama for President” website that is…to my  revelation I discovered I could ascend to an unprecedented level of Obamaism. Obama is giving me the opportunity to do what I have never done before for a political candidate…I can download Obama ringtones for my mobile phone. This is an offering I will not deny. The campaign is offering twelve Obama rings, all composed of beatitudes from his speeches, accompanied, of course, by inspirational music. All twelve are unique, but represent a belief of the candidate. My biggest challenge is to select the worthiest…If you would like to join my journey to find the perfect Obama ringtone follow the link below…listen…then send your vote through our comments section.

Obama Ringtones

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This “third party” thing is for real…It looks like candidates Bob Barr and Ralph Nader will be a factor in the 2008 presidential election. This is especially true of Libertarian hopeful Barr. Campaign officials for the former Republican Congressman maintain his name will appear on the ballot in 34 states, and they are hopeful this number will increase to 48 by election day. Then there is Independent Ralph Nader, who by the way (74) is the oldest candidate in the race. Nader has submitted papers in 23 states and he too believes he’ll be on 45  ballots by Nov 4. As a comparison… in 1992 third party candidate Ross Perot’s name appeared on all 50 ballots but he campaigned in only 16 states. No one denies the effect those 16 states had on the Clinton/Bush election. This unexpected surge by the third party presidential candidates is having an additional effect. A recent Zogby poll says that most Americans want these candidates to have their say. Of those polled 55% want Bob Barr to participate in the upcoming presidential debates while 46% also want Ralph Nader.

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I just sent a text message to Barack Obama’s campaign (“VP” to 62262) so now I’ll be one of the first to know who he selects to be his running mate.  That’s the prize you get for connecting with the campaign.  The reply message I received seconds after pressing “send” said “Welcome to Obama Mobile.  You will be one of the 1^st notified when the VP Candidate is selected.”  As soon as I get the word, I’ll pass it along to all of our loyal readers here on the blog.

Despite receiving the invitation to sign up several days ago, I initially decided against it figuring that I’d find out soon enough through some other means.  But today I read an oped column by Garrett Graff who was one of the web gurus involved in John Dean’s presidential campaign.  As Graff explains, “announcing Mr. Obama’s running mate by text message has little to do with proclaiming the selection and everything to do with getting out the vote on Election Day in November.”  As someone who has volunteered occasionally during the past ten years to do Get Out the Vote telephone calls leading up to and on election day, I immediately saw the benefit of a campaign being connected via text with tens of thousands of voters.  Between Caller ID, answering machines and busy families, it’s almost impossible to reach a receptive and responsive human being by calling a home telephone.  The recent flood of robocalls and the resulting disdain in which they are held by most telephone owners has further diluted the historical benefits of Get Out the Vote efforts.  And Graff cites an impressive statistic: 30% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 don’t even have a landline telephone.

This November, the majority of young people born in 1990 will be eligible to vote.  These are kids who mastered the computer before they could walk and are more at ease communicating via text message than by landline.  Anyone involved in politics who is not interested in learning more about the power of this technology as an electioneering tool is guaranteeing his own obsolescence. 

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Congressman Harold E. Ford, Jr. of Tennessee is the current Chairman of the DLC - Democratic Leadership Council. Remember his keynote address at the 2000 Democratic National Convention? He and other DLC disciples - the Clintons and assorted US Senators, Congressmen, Governors and state legislators - are advocates “for an activist government” but one that is reinvented “so that it is both more responsive and more accountable to those it serves and to the taxpayers who pay for it.” Sometimes they are  referred to as “third way” Democrats. Even though Barack Obama is not a DLC member the DLC leadership and members like Congressman Rahm Emanuel and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius - a possible V. P. nominee - have now embraced Obama as the Democratic nominee. Do they have influence on Obama? Will there be a new coalition with the DLC and Obama-believers? Check out their website to brush up on who they are and their broad-ranging views on economic opportunity, security, values, reform and other elements of their activities in regional, state and the national government. While on the DLC Home page look for the story on our Massachusetts State Senator Marc Pacheco of Taunton - the New Democrat of the Week for August 6, 2008. Find information at: http://www.dlc.org/.

Note: Regarding possible DLC influence on Barack Obama - Indiana Senator Birch  Evan Bayh an apparent leading contender as the VP nominee was chair of the Democratic Leadership Council for four years.  mps

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Hillary Clinton is blogging and chatting today. In an opening statement for participants (my bold) she says:

I want to thank everyone for joining me here today for our live chat. I’m so grateful to all of my online friends for the amazing support you continue to show me. Your kind words mean so much to me, and you have been instrumental in working to help retire our campaign debt. I’ll never forget all you’ve done for me.

It has been great getting back to work in the Senate for the people of New York. And now that the Senate is in recess, I’m very excited about getting back out on the campaign trail to help elect Barack Obama and grow our Democratic majorities in Congress. With the Democratic convention coming up, the excitement and curiosity is certainly starting to build. I want to assure you that Senator Obama and I are working together to make sure it’s a big success. We will ensure that the voices of everyone who participated in this historic process are respected and our party is fully unified heading into the November election. While no decisions have been made yet, I will make sure that we keep you up to date and involved with all of the Convention activity.  It means so much to me to know that no matter what the coming months and years bring, you’ll be working right by my side. With your help, 2008 is going to be a great year for Democrats.

Clinton supporters should check out http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/ It seems that Senator Clinton has moved forward in this 2008 campaign season. What do the PUMA-types think of this approach and how will they respond?

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Globe “City and Region” columnist Kevin Cullen landed a hit today on local State Representative Colleen Garry of the 36th Middlesex District which includes the communities of Dracut and Tyngsboro. Garry who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee generally flies below the political radar. She is considered to be conservative - she is for heterosexual marriage only, against in-state tuition for the undocumented and against stem cell research. What’s curling Cullen’s non-partisian hair? It seems that Colleen Garry is a whiney “HillBillie” who is pouting over a decided lack of “Barack Obama outreach” to her and other HRC supporters. She’s looking for more than e-mails and wants a more personal contact from the campaign. I guess that Garry’s pique was noted in a Herald article which focused on the recent 5 million-dollar Obama haul at a Boston fundraiser. I’m sure an Obama operative will be in touch with Garry soon! Will she answer?

Cullen aside - Garry and other Hillary supporters are at a political crossroads. Crushed that HRC’s nearly 18 million votes weren’t enough to pull-off a win for the Democratic nomination for President against a less-experienced guy from Illinois and angry that the historic moment for a woman (particularly this woman) becoming President  won’t happen in 2009, they must make a choice. Will they stay home? Will they disrupt the Democratic Convention? Will they pull-out all the stops to bring Obama down? Will they vote for John McCain? Are they PUMA-nistas? Will Hillary Clinton herself be able to bring them into the fold for the November election? Will conversion to Obama-olgy only come with HRC on the ticket as VP? Stay tuned.

On another note - with credentials as a solid Hillary Clinton supporter in the primary I’ve purged the whininess and tucked away the pain. Perhaps it’s age and innate pragmatism - but changing the focus, mentality, philosophy, morality and bureaucracy of the current administration to a new agenda is far too important for the future to hold onto personal angst. I’m on the train - if only in the cheap seats.

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McCain is getting a ton of mileage out of his unique TV Ads. This is the latest called “The One”. In Karl Rovian fashion he attacks Obama’s strength…in this case it is his popularity. It ends with the figure of Moses (Charlton Heston) parting the Red Sea. Since we are the bluest of blue states, McCain won’t waste his money playing this in our market. The Ad is pretty clever. Once again, thanks to YouTube…

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The Commission on Presidential Debates has confirmed the 2008 schedule (posted on DemConWatch) of four debates and the probable Moderators. For additional information check out http://www.demconwatchblog.com/

First presidential debate:
Friday, September 26
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

Moderator: Jim Lerer

 

Vice presidential debate:
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Moderator: Gwen Ifill

 

Second presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Moderator: Tom Brokaw

Town Meeting Format

 

Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Moderator: Bob Schieffer

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President Bush visited Kennebunkport for three days last week. He attended his cousin’s wedding. I took some time and headed up to Walker’s Point to see, what I could see. Most observers believe this will be Bush’s last visit to Maine as president. It was obvious he has only a few months left in office. Everything was very low key. Here is a short collage of videos I took during my visits.

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At 10 a.m. on Saturday I’ll join Warren Shaw on radio station 980 WCAP to discuss the presidential election campaign.  With that in mind, here are links to the “issues” sections of the McCain and the Obama websites.

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