Democracy for Utah - National Party

Howard Dean on Lieberman

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:46:01 -0700

John Aravosis: (In re: the Lieberman vote) What do recommend that we tell our readers ... when so many issues that come up that Democrats cave time after time? They keep feeling like we're getting more Democrats and we're going to have even more Democrats to cave next time.

Dean: [...] [Lieberman] behaved very badly during the campaign and did some things that inside the club are unforgivable. So if you run and get a mandate for reconciliation is your first act to kick this guy out of the party? Well, people of my generation think yeah, damn right we should. But in this new spirit of reconciliation, which is why I think Barack Obama got elected by 66 percent of the under 35 vote, maybe if not (unintelligible) I'm very willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the Senators and to Barack Obama on that one. Do we want to have a big fight over what happens to Joe Lieberman? I don't think so. I think we want to have a big fight about whether we have a decent health insurance program or a renewable energy program.

Why are urban areas more Democratic?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:12:47 -0700

Why do urban areas tend to be more Democratic? John Judis, co-author of 2002's The Emerging Democratic Majority, says a big factor is the rise of the professional class (TNR):

The new Democratic realignment reflects the shift that began decades ago toward a post-industrial economy centered in large urban-suburban metropolitan areas devoted primarily to the production of ideas and services rather than material goods. [...] Clustered in the regions that have undergone this economic transition are the three main groups that constitute the backbone of the new Democratic majority: professionals (college-educated workers who produce ideas and services); minorities (African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans); and women (particularly working, single, and college-educated women).

As late as the 1950s, professionals were the most Republican of all occupational groupings, but they were also relatively small in number — about 7 percent of the labor force. Today, professionals (who are the brains, so to speak, of the new post-industrial economy) make up 20 percent of the labor force and are a quarter or more of the electorate in many northern and western states. They range from nurses to teachers to TV producers to software programmers to engineers. They began voting Democratic in 1988 and have continued to do so ever since. [...]

If unionized industrial workers were the vanguard of the New Deal majority, professionals are the vanguard of the new progressive majority. Their sensibility is reflected in the Democratic platform and increasingly in the country as a whole. It has sometimes been described as socially liberal and fiscally conservative, but that doesn't really get it right. Professionals are generally liberal on civil rights and women's rights; committed to science and to the separation of church and state; internationalist on trade and immigration; skeptical of, but not necessarily opposed to, large government programs; and gung-ho about government regulation of business, especially K Street lobbyists.

Obama won the White House without the South

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:02:07 -0700

With the outcome of the presidential race in Missouri still undecided, Obama's EV lead currently stands at 364 to 163. I was fooling around with the numbers today and realized — even if you removed Missouri, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina from the Obama column, he would still win with 309 EVs. That's a comfortable win without a single Southern state.

That should finish off, once and for all, the idea that Democrats have a "Southern problem."

Evidence that America's turning blue

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:53:49 -0700

Click on the images for more info.

Bad Lieberman; go stand in the corner

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:11:11 -0600

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13274.html

Lieberman could be ousted from the chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, but only if the dems gain 4-5 more seats in the Senate, according to the Politico news story. (See above)

Why not make him Vice Chair? That would settle him down, as his BFF McCaine didn't give him the veep post on the Republican ticket.

Sarah in Speech Class 101

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:32:16 -0600

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/09/ap-kept-off-palin-plane-a_n_125179.html

Check this out; Sarah's handlers aren't letting her talk to reporters until she feels more comfortable. Is that so the public won't be UNcomfortable?

LEBANON, Ohio — John McCain took a risk in picking little- known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate, but now the campaign's playing it safer.

She's s

Denver by Starlight..and Fireworks

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:13:52 -0600

Speaking of Denver...John Lee asked me last night "Did you cry?"

Yup, I did. And I think there were lots of other peoople in the stadium cried, as well. There were 80,000 of us. Someone had to cry!

Here are the two main feelings that I brought back from the DNC Convention-
The bridges between the racial divide were made stronger.
I looked around the audience full of people cheering, crying, hugging and saying "Amen!"

Ted Kennedy's final battle: healthcare for all

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:37:34 -0600

Ezra Klein:

The Kennedy tribute was touching, but it was Kennedy who was powerful. Walking out to chants of "Teddy, Teddy," Kennedy sounded strong and sharp. He's old now, and sick. He walks slowly and the mane has thinned. But he's still got that voice, that rumbling bass — as Harold said to me this morning, "the last voice in American politics." The words, as they've always been, were clear, and the message was simple. Broadly, it was this: Health care. Before he even mentioned Obama's name. Health care. After he spoke of the hope Obama brings. Health care.

In the last few weeks, I've spoken to a couple Kennedy aides who all told me the same thing: Health care. Kennedy has told them that this is his final crusade. Aides who work in other legislative areas have been told that their issue areas are going to almost dissolve, and they'll become something like support staff for the health team. Kennedy means to pass a bill. He means to muster the full force of his legislative talents, his sprawling staff, his longstanding relationships, and even the poignancy of his condition. It will be his legacy. It is his dream. Health care.

Obama campaign targets down-ballot races -- WAY down-ballot

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:02:39 -0600

Dana Goldstein and Ezra Klein in The American Prospect:

[T]he Obama campaign's most aggressive effort to influence the down-ticket races that Democrats traditionally ignore is playing out in solidly Republican Texas. In June, Obama sent his chief strategist, David Axelrod, to Houston to deliver an important message to Texas Democratic funders. The Obama campaign had decided, Axelrod announced to a crowd of 250 at the downtown Wortham Center, to send 15 paid staffers to the state and organize thousands of volunteers to get out the vote, an unprecedented commitment of resources to the Lone Star State from a Democratic presidential campaign. The goal isn't for Obama to win Texas' 34 electoral votes. Rather, by registering Democrats, Obama hopes to help the Texas Democratic Party regain control of its state legislature, which would allow Democrats to redistrict the state's congressional delegation for 2010, potentially winning House seats in the process. That's not simply down-ballot organizing — it's way down-ballot organizing, reaching into state legislatures to influence coming congressional reapportionments in order to create large national majorities years down the line. Obama, looking ahead to governing with as large a congressional majority as possible, is determined to take advantage of a population boom in the Houston area, which is increasingly dominated by immigrants.

At times, the campaign's down-ticket energy takes on a life

Will she ever stop whining?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:04:15 -0600

So today, Hillary complains that she would have been the nominee would have pressed Edwards about his affair. The article say, "NOT".

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/11/clinton-aide-if-affair-pushed-edwards-out-she-would-have-won/

Happy Birthday Senator Obama!

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:49:02 -0600

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PRESIDENT!!

Barack's birthday is today.
Send him a best wishes gift at utah4obama.org
or on the Obama site of your choice!!

What happens if Democrats succeed with universal healthcare?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:31:54 -0600

Kos tells the story of a woman he met in Austin who was convinced that elected officials can't do anything about problems like health care or the mortgage crisis:

[...] Well, I responded, what about health care, are you happy with your health care? She lit up, "I know no one who is happy with their health care!" and then segued into a rant about the disgraceful state of the health care system. Well, I responded, Democrats are working for universal healthcare, but Republicans have gotten in the way. But we'll be able to do it next year.

"Ain't no one who can fix that stuff," she sighed, slumping. That brief expression of fire and brimstone snuffed out in an instant. She was adamant that it was all hopeless. [...]

I had one last argument up my sleeve. Look, I get it, I told her, government hasn't given us many reasons to be confident of late. I can certainly empathize. But can we make a deal? If Democrats push through universal health care in the next four years, will you vote for Barack Obama in 2012?

She looked initially uncomfortable at the thought, but after a pause and a brief internal struggle, she softened and said, "Yeah, I will."

That, in a nutshell, is what Kristol and Ponnuru and Lowry and every conservative in this country fears the most.

DNC kicks off 50-state voter registration "drive"

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:47:49 -0600

DNC.org:

Governor Howard Dean will lead a national grassroots voter registration effort. The cross-country bus tour, "Register for Change," will build on the overwhelming enthusiasm and voter turnout seen during the primaries as Democrats mobilize and organize voters for the fall election.

The tour kicks off with events in Crawford and Austin, TX, on Thursday, July 17th. Dean will also deliver the Opening Keynote Speech at Netroots Nation 2008 in Austin, TX. On Friday, July 18th, and Saturday, July 19th, the tour will continue with events in Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

So when's the bus coming to Utah?

Obama campaign focusing on congressional seats, not just the White House

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:06:45 -0600

Politico from June 25:

[Deputy campaign manager Steve] Hildebrand's plans underscore the unusual scope and ambition of Obama's campaign, which can relatively cheaply extend its massive volunteer and technological resources into states which won't necessarily produce electoral votes.

In Texas, for instance, Obama's three dozen offices were overrun with volunteers during the primary; the campaign's challenge is, in part, to find something useful to do with all that free labor. But, while Hildebrand said Obama is unlikely to pay for television advertising outside a core of about 15 states the candidate thinks he can win, he will spend some money on staff. Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, reportedly told donors in Houston that he would send 15 staffers to Texas, and the campaign has committed to having some staff on the ground in all 50 states. [...]

A "new president alone isn't enough," Obama wrote in a message sent to the DSCC's e-mail list. "I've served long enough in the U.S. Senate to know that Washington must change, and I also know that big changes don't happen without big Senate majorities — and right now, Democrats occupy only 49 seats."

Democrats still 'keeping their powder dry'

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:50:02 -0600

Apostropher at Unfogged:

Practically the entire record of the Democratic Party as a group over the past seven years is one misguided instance after another of "keeping their powder dry" in anticipation of a time when they held a stronger strategic position. By all indications, the Democratic Party will enter 2009 with the White House and significant majorities in both chambers of Congress. I'm soliciting odds on the following three predictions:

This pattern of behavior is so deeply ingrained in the Democrats that they will continue to quake in fear of a wildly unpopular party that just imploded under its own stupidity and hubris.

Despite a far weaker electoral position than the Democrats ever had to deal with, the GOP will have no problem behaving like an effective opposition party.

The GOP understands and is willing to demonstrate that "powder" is not a finite commodity that must be conserved and that, in fact, using your powder magically generates more powder.