Huppenthal petitions challenged: I *love* being able to say "I told you so"

Yes, I'm a bad man, but I really enjoy it when something I more or less predicted (more than a year ago!) starts looking like it will come to pass.

From my post a from a year ago -

Hi. Your snarky (but oh-so-friendly and helpful) neighborhood liberal blogger and Democratic activist here. I don't normally write for you folks, but this one is for you.

Some of you have signed nominating petitions for one John Huppenthal for next year's race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

{snip}

Under the laws of Arizona and the rules from the Arizona Secretary of State, a candidate must form a committee (file paperwork with the state formally declaring the candidate's interest in a particular office).

From the Secretary of State's candidate handbook (page 29 of the .pdf) (emphasis mine) -

4. Statement of Organization OR $500 Threshold Exemption Statement.
A Statement of Organization registering the candidate’s campaign committee OR a $500 Threshold Exemption Statement must be filed before making any expenditures, accepting any contributions, distributing any campaign literature or circulating any petitions. If the candidate has an exploratory committee open at the time of filing, then the candidate, chairman and treasurer must file an amended Statement of Organization to change the committee to a candidate’s campaign committee.

So far, Huppenthal has only formed an "exploratory" committee - filer ID 201000065, formed and last amended on March 16, 2009. As such, any signatures he has collected to date are invalid.

So check out this AZ Republic story today -

John Huppenthal, a Republican state senator vying for his party's nomination as state superintendent of public instruction, is being challenged by the state Democratic Party on the basis that many of his 11,000 petition signatures were gathered before he had formally entered the race.

His case is scheduled for a June 18 hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Yessss!

Now, there is no guarantee that the challenge will be successful - we *are* in Maricopa County, Arizona, where somedays it seems as if the principle of "the rule of law" has been replaced by the principle of "IOKIYAR*".

However, the law seems clear - he had to change his exploratory committee to a candidate campaign committee *before* collecting sigs. He amended his campaign paperwork on January 14; he submitted his petitions on January 20.

I'm guessing that he didn't collect 11K sigs in 6 days.

Anyway, the complete list of challenges received by the Secretary of State's office is here; the current list of withdrawn candidates is here.

*IOKIYAR = "It's OK If You're A Republican

Later...

Turns out the reps of Joe Arpaio and Scottsdale both travel well

Had a bit of an ego boost this week.

A writer for Sun-Sentinel.com (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) linked to an old post of mine when writing about the city manager there. Turns out that George Gretsas, the city manager in question, is a finalist for the same job in Scottsdale.

After enjoying the ego boost of the link (and the increased site traffic), I read the article and the comments accompanying it.

Most of them were as expected ("Gretsas is great/lousy", "Scottsdale is lucky/screwed", etc.) and similar can be found on almost any MSM website with a similar story.

A couple of them were eye-openers, however.

From commenter Trudy -

Trust me Georgie will fit right in in Snotsdale. Toodles

"Snotsdale"? I think she may have visited AZ once or twice, because I've only heard that one from natives.

From commenter Robert Walsh (the typos/spelling errors and poor sentence construction are his) -

Scottsdale Arizonia is a beautiful City.Good luck Mr.Gretsas with this process.I have been to Scottsdale very wealthy community.Very pretty city and I.m sure you would be an assest to Scottsdale-Only one proplem if I come to visit that Sheriff out there if this is Maricopa County. that Sheriff is wacked-Anyways if he wants it I hope he gets it

"wacked"?

Be still my beating heart. I think he is talking about our own Joe Arpaio.

"Snotsdale" and "wacked", accurate criticisms from a state that can't design an understandable ballot or count ballots once they are cast.

I'd say we've hit rock bottom, but the Rs in the lege might read this, view it as a challenge, and break out their shovels.

Later...

Throwing stones at Glassman while living in a glass house

Greg Patterson, the former state legislator who writes the Republican blog Espresso Pundit, is widely considered the dean of R bloggers in Arizona, and also one of the best. While he almost always is wrong (he *is* a Republican, ya know), he usually makes his points intelligently and civilly.

Well, apparently he has abandoned intelligence so that he can jump on the IOKIYAR bandwagon.

From his post criticizing one of the supporters of the Glassman for Senate campaign -

I thought the small print in his announcement was interesting...

Co-Chairs: Flagstaff Mayor Sara Presler, Phoenix Councilman Michael Nowakowski, Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez? She's in charge of elections in Pima County. What is the elections director doing endorsing a candidate? Is she going to recuse herself from this election cycle?

I can understand Patterson's wariness when an official who oversees elections seems to endorse a candidate in an election he/she oversees. Even the appearance of impropriety can undermine Arizonans' faith in their political system.

As happened in 2004, when then-Secretary of State Jan Brewer, the state's senior election official, was one of the AZ co-chairs of Bush/Cheney 2004.

Yet there was nary a mention of Brewer doing the same thing that he has criticized Rodriguez for in his post.

Normally, I don't directly call out another blogger on his postings. However, Patterson moves in higher circles than most bloggers, including me, because of the respect he has earned through his years in the blogosphere. That higher level of respect comes hand-in-hand with higher expectations.

If the anonymous writers at Seeing Red AZ or even the mostly anonymous ones at Sonoran Alliance want to engage in a little "do as we say, not as we do" hypocrisy, nobody much says anything because they really aren't expected to be better than that.

There are only a couple of bloggers in AZ who *are* expected to be better than that**, and Patterson is one of them.


** = Tedski at R-Cubed, before he suspended his blogging to concentrate on his campaign for the lege, is the other.

Later...

Housekeeping

Regular readers may have noticed an addition to the right sidebar - a list of links to the websites of Democratic candidates for statewide offices and to legislative districts (U.S. and AZ) covering Scottsdale (CD5, LD8 and LD17).

I've tried to include all such candidates, however I couldn't find websites for two candidates - David Bradley for Corporation Commission and W. John Williamson for LD8 House. When those candidates' sites go live (or are pointed out to me if already live), I'll link to them. Also, if I've missed any Democratic candidates who fall within the above categories, drop a note to me in an email or a comment and I'll update the list.

Lastly, while I've tried to group candidates for the same office together, there is no rhyme, reason, or secret endorsement involved in the order they are listed. They all seem to be good Democrats and better yet, good candidates. I'm not choosing a side in any of the primaries, at least not in this blog.

Later...

Technical issues

Due to a virus, I am in the middle of reformatting my computer and upgrading my firewall/anti-virus software. As such, blogging will be very light for the next few days.

I recommend surfing over to Blog for Arizona, Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion, or any of the other blogs listed in the blogroll for the latest information and insight into AZ's political scene.

Computer issues

Due to a trojan horse (hiding on the Yahoo! Music site, I think), posting will be light for the next couple of days while I reformat (completed) and restore (ongoing) my system.

However, right now I need a break, so I am going to go see "District 9".

Later...

Technical issues

Due to some technical issues (aka - I need a new home PC), posting will be light to nonexistent into early next week...Kind of like rain in central Arizona. :)

Have a great weekend!

Tedski will be live-blogging the House session,

...so I will stick with the Senate side of the quad.

His website, Rum, Romanism, Rebellion is here.

More to come...

I scored 289 out of 400

A score, according to the test, that indicates that I am "very progressive."

The quiz is available at The Center for American Progress. (Thanks for 4&20 Blackbirds out of Montana for the heads up)

BTW- Compared to most of the commenters at 4&20, I'm slacking on my progressivism - most of them scored well over 300.

My turn to be under the weather...

Today is mostly going to consist of cold medicine, soup, juice, and sleep.

Depending on how I feel later, blogging may be a possibility (Congressional Republicans have come out with their "budget", aka - more tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and spending cuts for anything that doesn't involve invading other countries to take their oil.)

April Fool's Day is definitely the appropriate day for the Reps to trot out a budget proposal that is more of the same garbage that helped put the country in the economic mess that it's in.

But that will be later, if at all...time for a nap.

Later...

Whooo hooo! I've hit the big time!!

Tedski's arch-pain-in-the-assneck, Roy Warden, has started spamming me (here and here)!!

I feel so...so...so...privileged. Really.

Housekeeping

Regular readers may notice a change to the list of links along the right hand side.

I've deleted the permanent link to the Arizona Guardian.

While it is still an informative and well-written site, it has now gone to a subscription fee model (upwards of $150/month). As such, I cannot link to it nor, in good conscience, can I point people toward the site.

I wish the writers and organizers of the Guardian well with their venture - the AZ Capitol Times needs the competition. However, making a living off of fee-based internet reporting in the age of blogs and in a cratering economy is a steep mountain to climb.

Something to keep an eye on...

Thanks for the heads-up on this go out to Seeing Red AZ (of all places! :) ) Evidently there is at least one thing that both Democratic and Republican bloggers can agree on...

From the Idaho Statesman -

State Rep. Steve Hartgen, a former newspaper publisher, says he might introduce a bill to force people to use their real names when posting comments on the Internet.

"A modest proposal that simply required the posting of a true name with respect to comments and blogs would go a long way," Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, told the Times-News, adding that the absence of such a provision "discourages people from participating in civil life. To me, it reflects a coarsening and cheapening of public debate, which I think is not healthy for Idaho."

Yes, this loon is from the land of Larry Craig, survivalists, and white supremacists, which means that one of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed types on West Washington could pick up on the notion and try to run with it here.

Note that I'm not specifying party here - any one of our state's finest is capable of coming up with the idea of encouraging free expression by restricting it.

Later...

Light posting forecasted for another few days...

Apologies for the slowdown in post frequency, but between election/GOTV activities last week, burnout, and work, I just haven't had the time, energy, or words available.

One lesson learned during the past week - if you're going to head north to get away from the Valley for a few hours, don't dress like you're in the Valley. You know, shorts and a light long-sleeved shirt.

Went to Prescott Sunday. Got slushed on. (aka - freezing rain, though it could have been sleet. I've been living here for so long, I've forgotten the difference. I don't think it was hail though - that tends to hurt when it bounces off of you.)

It was cold. It was wet. It was fun. :))

Otherwise, expect continued light posting, with occasional drizzling sarcasm in the evenings.

Be warned though, the idiot Congressman from Georgia who equated Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler may inspire a post this evening. One with a downpour of sarcasm, not just a little drizzle.

Later!

Higher priorities

Posting will be light until Tuesday night after the polls close.

No hypocrite I, so I will be involved with the GOTV efforts that I've urged everyone to help with. (Just read that sentence. I think an after-election grammar refresher is in order. :) )

If all goes according to plan, posting will pick up from the election night parties of Harry Mitchell (Fiesta Inn in Tempe) and the Arizona Democratic Party (Wyndham Phoenix).


Later!

Time for some counter-posting

I don't normally do this, but the denizens of AZ's Republican blogosphere went a little goofy on the AZ Republic yesterday, mostly keying on the Sunday edition's Political Insider column.

And for once, most of the criticism was unfair to the Republic.

...Over at Seeing Red AZ, they complained that the Insider column falsely described former state GOP communications director Tony Reinhard as currently "leading the Maricopa County GOP."

They complained that the writers of the Insider column had "waged an ink-driven coup, removing Maricopa County Chairman Tom Husband from his leadership position."

In their righteous indignation, they forgot one minor detail - Reinhard became *executive director* of the Maricopa County Republican Party in early June.

An "ED" job title sounds like "leader" to most people, folks.


...Over at Sonoran Alliance, they called the column a "cheap shot" at State Sen. Jack Harper (R - Surprise!) and gave Harper a forum to respond. In that response, Harper asserted that he was misquoted in the column where the authors wrote "Why don't you come visit me?" Harper crooned any time he saw a member of The Republic's Capitol Bureau. "Do I have to do something crazy again?" "

What Harper claims that have said to Amanda Crawford, allegedly for the sole purpose of making polite conversation, was that he and the other Senators [his EMPHASIS] "missed her in the Senate and she only seems to come over when “SOMETHING crazy” happens."

Ummm...ignoring for the moment Harper's wanton violations of Senate rules and decorum to railroad through a same-sex marriage ban referendum that earned him the ethics complaint that further earned him the mention in this week's Insider column, there are still these factors to consider -

- Harper's involvement in a scheme to shield Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas from professional sanctions for any of his unethical actions in office;

- Harper's use in May of high-handed tactics to suppress debate on the Senate floor to kill a certain-to-pass anti-texting-while-driving bill from State Rep. Steve Farley (tactics similar to those used during the consideration of the same-sex marriage ban; guess he was just warming up for the main event a month later :) );

...His bill to open up Arizona's presidential primaries to...Republicans. Under his failed plan, Republicans could have voted in any primary they chose; members of other parties could have only voted in their own primaries;

...His "guns in restaurants" bill;

...His refusal to hold a confirmation hearing to confirm Gen. David Rataczak as commander of the Arizona National Guard because he was miffed that Governor Janet Napolitano hadn't deployed more troops to the state's border with Mexico;

...His continuing efforts to blame U.S. Congressman Harry Mitchell for the substandard conditions at the *AZ* veterans' home (here and here);

...His proposal to limit citizen-based ballot initiatives to those first considered by the legislature;

...I could go on all night posting dozens more citations like this, but I have to work in the morning, so here's the point -

Harper's response has no credibility because he is one of the major sources of crazy at the legislature in general and in the Senate in particular.

He doesn't add to his credibility by responding to a perceived slight, and Sonoran Alliance didn't do him any favors by giving him an outlet for his whining about Amanda Crawford and the Republic.


Later!

Odd and Ends

...Courtesy an email from MCDP...

Two new candidates have stepped forward to run for office in the West Valley.

- Out in Sun City, Leigh Strickman, a small business owner and PC, has filed to run for the District 4 County Supervisor seat currently occupied by Max Wilson. She is running as a write-in candidate and will need 600 people to vote for her in September to make it on to the ballot in November. If you want to volunteer, you can reach her campaign at strickman08@gmail.com or call 623-698-8004.

- And in Litchfield Park (also District 4), educator Randolph Lumm is running for the Maricopa County Community College Governing Board. He needs to collect 2500 sigs to qualify for the ballot, so anyone interested in helping him should contact the West Dems office at (623) 249-7407 to volunteer.


...In a sign that perhaps certain Republicans don't really get the whole "politics is about people" thing, as in "real people with real concerns", CD5 candidate David Schweikert is following up his June fundraiser at the Scottsdale Gun Club with a fundraiser in a gated community in north Scottsdale at the end of this month.

By contrast, Harry Mitchell (D-CD5) spent much of the same period either working for or honoring people for whom weapons and protective walls are more than a conspicuous assertion of social status.

On Sunday, July 13, he participated in the unveiling of a "permanent display" that serves as "a visual reminder of the sacrifices members of the military and their families are making." (EV Tribune). He followed that up on Tuesday, July 15 by chairing a hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs Committee into the Department of Veterans Affairs' outreach efforts for veterans who are at risk for PTSD and/or suicide. (AP via SF Chronicle coverage here.)

A quick perusal of Schweikert's campaign website finds rhetoric that is heavy on Club for Growth/Republican neo-con talking points and light on any concerns for CD5 or the people who live here. In fact, other than pro-forma mentions of Barry Goldwater and "Arizona values," this website would serve for any GOP candidate from Maine to California, and serve with very few changes (mostly on the contact information pages.)

And he's the presumptive Republican front-runner here. The other candidates are worse.


...Over in California, Der Governator is proving that he's a true, dyed-in-the-wool Republican - he's ticked off at the California legislature for its failure to pass a budget (as well he should be!), so does he vent his anger at the legislators who are failing to do their jobs? Of course not - that's not the Republican way.

Nope, instead he is trying to cut the pay of every state employee to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour. (SF Chronicle)

Given that most of the affected employees are covered by contracts (union or personal), don't expect this one to go far. On the other hand, picking on working people, especially people who work for the government, will surely endear Schwarzenegger to the radical corporatist wing of his party.


...On Tuesday, the 11 candidates for municipal office in Scottsdale met in two separate forums sponsored by the East Valley Tribune. Trib coverage of the Mayoral forum here; coverage of the Council forum here.

The forums will be replayed on Scottsdale's City Cable 11 on the next two Sundays from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

I'm not going to do a full write up of the event (a bit of dozing off during the mayoral portion of the program and a format with a lightning round combine to make that an overly ambitious idea), but I do have a couple of quick observations -

- Lisa Borowsky did better Tuesday than she did at last week's COPP-sponsored forum. She wasn't spectacular by any means, but her voice didn't get drowned out this week, either.

- Joel Bramoweth needs to learn the meaning of the word "succinct." After watching his performance, one sharp-tongued observer opined that if Bramoweth is elected to the Council, the rules that dictate a three-minute time limit for public comments may need to be expanded to Council members, too.

Yes, I was that observer. :))

- Ron McCullagh is running a campaign straight out of the Republican playbook. Right now, he's reading from the page labeled "When in doubt, scare 'em." However, this being Scottsdale, instead of citing the usually boogeymen of illegal immigrants and terrorists to engender fear among the audience members, he went with "payday loan businesses" and "massage parlors."

Hey, it *is* Scottsdale after all. :))

- The biggest disappointment, and this applies to the entire cast of council candidates, was their lack of original ideas on addressing Scottsdale's traffic crunch. When asked about when they thought was the best solution available, they all paid obeisance at the "light rail is dead" altar before advocating for more buses and existing transit options.

While their answers varied a bit in length and vocabulary, they could all be summed up thusly -

"Let's close our eyes and click our heels together three times while saying 'let's do more of the same things that aren't working now and hope that the problem will go away before we have to do something substantial.' "

Given that early ballots go out at the end of next week, time is getting short for any epiphanies on the part of the candidates; don't expect any improvement between now and the election.

Note: I called CityCable11's Dennis Grzelak (the manager). According to him, at this point in time, there are no plans to make the video of the forums available online; if you want to view them, catch one of the Sunday rebroadcasts.


...Sometimes bloggers can make an impact... (thanks to Jobsanger in Texas for the heads-up on this) -

It seems that blogger TxSharon of Bluedaze has been keeping track of the environmental damage caused by energy giant Chesapeake Energy and similar companies. with nice, full-color pictures of some of their pollution.

Chesapeake Energy has responded to her diligence by referring to her as a "radical" and stating that "free speech" is all fine and dandy, but it shouldn't apply to people not directly affected by a given issue. (TxSharon doesn't live in the area of Ft. Worth most directly affected by Chesapeake's actions.)

In other words, they apparently believe that witnesses to a crime shouldn't say anything about it, only direct victims should.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, as near as I can tell, Chesapeake doesn't have much, if any, presence in AZ, but this situation still calls for attention.

It's ok to go viral with this. (hint, hint :) )

Later!

Compliments, and pressure...

Last week was a good week in the 'ego' department...

First, I open up the June 27th issue of the Arizona Capitol Times, and there, featured in the Cap Times' "Best of the Blogs" section - The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award from June 23, wherein I "chided" (the Cap Times' word) a laundry list of Republicans for criticizing the Arizona Democratic Party for sending an observing to a couple of the Reps' public events when they have done the same thing (oh, and I had a picture to prove it :) ).

At first, I thought the mention might have been a response to some criticism that I had directed at the Cap Times for overt partisanship on June 6th, but then I realized that either way, that they were responding to the criticism or that they thought the Crappie Award post merited wider notice, it meant that an MSM outlet was paying attention.

Yup, definitely an ego boost there, one that alone would have made for a good week, but there was more to come.

On Friday, Pico at Wild Chihuahuas posted an incredibly complimentary piece about yours truly; after reading it, I had to go bathe my head in icewater to reduce the swelling.

Of course, the fact that it was 110+ had *nothing* to do with the decision to do so. :))

I've realized that a compliment from a fellow blogger, someone who is doing the same thing, plugging away steadily in relative obscurity, doing their part to knock down the wall of insanity that is Arizona politics, is much more meaningful.

That's not a knock at the Cap Times (whatever the motivation, their notice is a compliment that I'm grateful for), but when a thoughtful colleague takes the time from their own efforts for a tip o' the hat to mine, well, that's a special compliment, and a humbling one too.

Not least because now I have to live up to the praise for a while! :))

Later!

I hate that when it happens...

...the staff cuts/exodus at the AZ Republic are really impacting the professional quality at the paper, and that impact isn't a positive one.

Earlier today, I wrote a post stemming from an AZ Republic article about the effects of polling place locations on voter behavior. The Rep article was itself rooted in the publication of the study in another publication (The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

It was an interesting, if dry, insight into some of the more mundane operational aspects of elections themselves, as opposed to the campaign and candidate aspects that most folks (including activists!) think of when they think of elections.

Too bad the Rep didn't at least note that they had published another article on the same study, written by Robbie Sherwood, former reporter and current District Director for Congressman Harry Mitchell. .


In 2006.


There's no reason to criticize Anne Ryman, the reporter who wrote Tuesday's article. Presumably, she was just fulfilling an assignment from an editor.

The editor who gave her that assignment should be given a refresher course in "how to research your own archives to make sure you don't repeat yourselves."

Or at least a course on using Google. :))


One good result was that I contacted two of the authors of the study, Marc Niederehe Meredith of Stanford and Dr. Jonah Berger of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Turns out that Meredith is working on another project that is looking into some of the effects of vote-by-mail upon campaigns and elections. A rough draft of the report should be available later this summer, and it should be very interesting.

Later!

Snippets....

And the whole "Short Attention Span" motif continues... :)

...Perhaps the bloodiest races in the state this year won't be a legislative or congressional race, or even one of the Corporation Commission races - they're going to be in the races for Republican PC in LD11. There will be competitive races in 45 of the 83 precincts in the district. In most LDs, folks at both major parties are happy if they just have PCs in that high a percentage of precincts; there usually aren't more than a few precincts that have candidates competing for the slots. To illustrate this phenomenon just look at the same list from the Maricopa County Recorder's Office - in the overwhelmingly Democratic LD16, there are only 4 precincts (out of 45) where there are competitive races for Democratic Party PC slots.

Of course, LD11 is the center of the anti-McCain Republican universe; most of the precinct races there can be broken down into an anti-McCain ticket and a pro-McCain ticket.

Is it possible for both tickets to lose?? :))

Anyway, should be fun to watch...if you're a Democrat.


...Bob Lord, the Democratic challenger to John Shadegg in CD3, has been getting beaucoup love nationally.

First, DailyKos added him to their "Orange to Blue" fundraising program.

Then, he was added to the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program, a program that raised an average of $400K per candidate in 2006.

Finally, the non-partisan Cook Political Report changed it rating of the CD3 race, upgrading Lord's chances of election. The race had been rated "Solid Republican"; it's now rated as "Likely Republican."

That may not sound significant, but in 2006, CD5 was rated as "Likely Republican" until late in the race.

Like when the results came in, and Harry Mitchell had sent JD Hayworth to the electoral showers.


...Went to the monthly meeting of the Community Council of Scottsdale on Thursday night. They had two candidates for City Council speaking to them, Tom Giller and Oren Davis. I'd seen Mr. Giller at different neighborhood/community meetings and at a couple of City Council meetings but it was my first opportunity to hear Mr. Davis.

He actually did well; he's a political rookie (and it showed with his speaking style) but he also showed an honesty and directness that is fairly rare in politics these days - he actually spoke to a hostile crowd and didn't try to pander. He probably didn't win any votes at the meeting, not even mine (I'm never sold on a candidate the first time I see him/her in action.) However, he didn't talk himself into the "No way in hell could I ever vote for him" category, either.


...Congratulations!! to ManEegee on receiving a scholarship to Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) in Austin in July. Looks like Tedski (he of the Democratic convention media credentials) isn't the only AZ blogger gettin' some respect beyond the land of cactus needles and dust storms.


...In the "interesting visitors" department, at 3:58.47 p.m. on Thursday, this blog received an unexpected hit from the AZ Republican Party (IP address - 68.14.244.235). The fact that a GOPer was checking out my blog wasn't a surprise (that's just monitoring what is being said in the blogosphere, and that's just standard practice these days). What was surprising was how they found my blog.

They Googled "voter reg trends", and found this post.

Ummm...I'm not exactly a party insider, and I'm definitely not a Republican Party insider (yeah, so I'm a master at stating the obvious :) ), but I know that voter reg trends are pored over, parsed, and dissected by some of the best minds at both major parties, and in far more depth than can be done by one man with a spreadsheet program.

So why use Google to find someone else's analysis?


...And in the "am I a raging cynic or what?" category, George Bush has promised immediate aid for flood-stricken residents of Iowa and other midwestern states.

Sooooo...am I the only one who's noticed that Iowa's population tends to be paler and more likely to vote Republican in November than the population of the Katrina-afflicted New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?

Timely disaster relief should never be based on electoral or racial considerations.

Any other question?


Later!