Vote early, vote often

Pundits are still playing American Idol-style games with the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates while the election is very likely being decided under their noses. In the trenches, Barack Obama and John McCain are getting early voters out and sending their lawyers in to fight over the rules.

From 20-30 percent of ballots were cast by election day four years ago. It's expected to be higher this year. Of the swing states that are expected to determine the outcome 53% of ballots cast in Nevada, 47% in Colorado, 51% in New Mexico and 36% in Florida were early ballots last time.

Ohio is taking its first shot at "no fault" (my term) absentee balloting, and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner can expect to be in a legal firestorm for months. She's being challenged for denying some Republican registrations and for allowing some Democratic registrations.

Researchers say it may be a wash anyway, because early voters tend to be the most committed to their candidate. According to the Washington Post:

The early-voting trend does not benefit one party over the other, experts say, because each is targeting infrequent voters. On the Democratic side, that means urban, often minority voters and students. On the Republican side, it is older voters and those in more rural areas who favor absentee ballots.

The wild card may be Hillary Clinton and Obama getting so many new registrations. For instance, in Georgia 39% of early ballots so far are by Afro-Americans, who make up 29% of the population. College students in Columbus, Ohio treated same-day voting like a cult-movie opening, pitching tents to be the first in line. There are reports of thousands of students being bused to registration locations.

Crime watchers

And then there are the felons. The NAACP has gone to court to register some prisoners. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The state Department of Corrections halted (Reverend Kenneth) Glasgow's registration drive after two days because of complaints from the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party that registering inmates without adequate monitoring could lead to voter fraud. Fewer than 80 inmates filled out registration forms. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has filed suit challenging the prison commissioner's decision to stop the registration drive...

Only two states — Maine and Vermont — place no limits on voting due to a criminal conviction; even prison inmates can cast a ballot. Kentucky and Virginia are the only two states that permanently bar felons from voting, although the governors of those states can restore voting rights to individuals.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear streamlined the process in March, and has since restored the rights of more than 740 released convicts. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine promised to fast-track applications for voter restoration that his office received by Aug. 1, adding three people to his staff to process applications before Monday's registration deadline.

This is a touchy, and very serious issue. Both Beshear and Kaine are being accused of playing politics when they rush registrations. The "non-serious felonies" (I wouldn't make that up) that don't take away your right to vote in Alabama would be misdemeanors in many other states.

Both sides are guilty of slipping into a mindset that the end justifies the means, foreclosing rational discussion of the subject. The scurrilous, slanderous and snide implication is that all felons are Democrats, and there are about four million who have lost the right to vote.

There's a grain of truth that further muddies the waters. Thirteen percent of black men have lost that right. It's obvious what their vote would be, particularly in this election.

Blacks represent "about 40 percent of the people who've gotten their rights lost and restored," according to civil rights attorney Reggie Mitchell. "With an African-American running, and such a critical mass, this could have a tremendous impact."

Which leads us back to "registering inmates without adequate monitoring could lead to voter fraud." Was that said with a straight face? Adequate monitoring? Of inmates?

Probably my favorite line, until I ran across this line from Auglaize County Elections Board Director Carolyn Campbell: "A lot said by voting now, they can stop listening to everything on TV."

Today's fun fact: President George Bush still owes the Greenberg-Traurig law firm $314,000 for work on the 2000 Florida recount.
Today's question: Does John Scalia still work for the firm?
Today's quote: Get over it! (Justice Antonin Scalia)

PAC woman

More cleverness from Hillary Clinton. She's the "Honorary Chair" of HillPac.com, a Political Action Committee "Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee".

That gives her the freedom to control her own exposure and message, to prove her support for Barack Obama/Joe Biden and to pile up a mess of markers from candidates she helps in the swing states. You never know what's going to happen in four or eight years. Contributors will be in "her" database, not anyone else's.

That's my cynical take, anyway. My first impression, that some of the money might go to paying off her primary debts, appears to be wrong; apparently only $5,000 can directly go to any candidate.

According to the website "We are going to be focusing on key battleground states including New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada and more to help Democrats this fall." That can only be helpful to Obama, and the expenses won't be on his dime. It won't hurt Clinton's standing as a power broker in the party either.

Hey, tell them Hillary sent you.

Odds and ends

Good for John McCain.

Running mate (we may have to change our vocabulary here) Sarah Palin brings us one step closer to the day it won't be a big thing when a woman runs for public office. Closer, but it will be awhile: every story about Barack Obama still has to adjectivally note that he's half-white; it's been 24 years since Geraldine Ferraro was number two for the Democrats.

I just wish I'd bet on Alaska's Governor a year ago, when some pundits were pushing her as a solid second to counteract then-favorite Hillary Clinton. Yes, I do check the internet odds; following the money is at least as useful as this poll-a-day nonsense we get.

A new deck

McCain is gambling here too: he's thrown in his callow and shallow cards; Palin is younger and less-experienced than Obama. That undercuts one of his main attack points.

But apparently his pollsters have told him he has a good chance to pry away a chunk of the Hillary horde and Palin connects solidly with the Bush base, particularly the coathanger crowd.

The spin begins

At the same time, he's trying to have it both ways: pet pundits have already said 'sure it's an important job' but not that important-- misattributing that famous old Will Rodgers line.

Also, a professional putz trotted out the talking point that her high-maintenance newborn Down's Syndrome baby can be a plus instead of minus. I'd like to say I couldn't make this stuff up, but of course I could, I just wouldn't say it.

The man with the best job in the country is the Vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, "How's the President?" -- Will Rodgers

Roadrunner taxes

John McCain is pandering when he tries to use repealing the federal gasoline tax as one solution to high gasoline prices. I know roadrunners are native to Arizona, but they've got to be taxed too. Maverick isn't alone, of course, Hillary Clinton tried to saddle the same horse during the primaries.

It's a use tax, plain and simple: 18.4 cents on diesel and 24.4 cents on gasoline. A small part of your gasoline bill that goes straight into the Highway Trust Fund. There have been wild-eyed proposals to raise it to European levels and force conservation, but we all know that's impossible politically in this country.

Higher prices mean less driving. According to MSNBC, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters "said in a statement Monday that the drop in driving miles demonstrates that the federal gas tax is no longer sufficient to finance the nation's transportation infrastructure."

Maybe everyone's forgotten that bridge in Minnesota already. In fact, the National Conference of State Legislatures just called for a tax increase.

A little rationality in the campaign, please.

Abraham, Martin and... Barack?

Jeez, Hillary, you've gone too far this time.

Hillary Clinton brought up Robert F. Kennedy's assassination as one of the reasons she should stay in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. The remarks were made to the editorial board of South Dakota's Sioux Falls Argus-Leader but the New York Post (Who else would it be?) is making sure they get wide play.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone took a shot at Barak Obama, because there's been a determined campaign to paint him as 'the other'. You know: 'not one of us'. The sort of dehumanizing a nation uses against its enemies when it goes to war. So the thought crossed my mind.

That's me, I kept it to myself and I'm not a national figure anyway. She should keep that sort of thing inside too, even if it pops up in guilty 3 am dreams.



And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know

(Abraham, Martin and John, Emmylou Harris)

Bad Grief!

Evil is not a word I throw around loosely, but what else do you call people who attack the Epilepsy Foundation website with flashing animation?

As you'd expect, it caused some seizures and headaches. Luckily, there are no reports of serious injuries. I just don't get where these griefers, hackers or whatever are coming from.

I actually saw this post on a web forum: "Wow, you guys have no sense of humor, thats damn funny. It might be morally reprehensible, but its freaking funny."

Hilarious, since nobody bit off their tongue or was killed. I found it chilling, like watching Richard Widmark in The Kiss of Death. But that was fantasy.

Speaking of fantasy, this is reprehensible, but funny:

"Some girl who played World of Warcraft died in real life, and those horrible failures of human beings planned a funeral for her... RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A PVP ZONE! They posted about the event on the messageboards and urged people not to bust it up.

I don't think I need to explain what happened; the video speaks for itself."

Small grin

Now, hacking into Barak Obama's website and redirecting visitors to Hillary Clinton's, that's just good dirty fun. I'd say it's fifty-fifty whether "Mox" is even political. Except... Netcraft warns that there are still vulnerabilities that could lead to something nasty.

For some reason the comment link keeps disappearing on the main page. If that happens, just click on the headline if you have something to add, then go to the bottom for the comment link. I don't know what's going on with Blogger.

Bitter times

Not original, I know. Everybody's made fun of the Governor's Better Times campaign slogan by now, but I'm not talking locally. Yet. (A little foreshadowing, folks)

Nope, it's the foot Barak H. Obama planted firmly in his mouth when talking about the working class:

It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to express their frustrations.

Hillary Clinton called the remarks “elitist and arrogant”. A strong indictment indeed, coming from her. The usual suspects crowded print, airwaves and the internet with reaction.

They should lighten up a little. Sure, it's the usual pop-psychology pap we all use to explain how other people can Get It Wrong. It ignores the fact that people can honestly disagree. Saying it in San Francisco? Well...

Really, though, that argument gets a lot of mileage because it's got an element of truth. In hard times it's human nature to cast about for a villain, and we sometimes (usually?) get it wrong. There are always profiteering pundits to egg us on.

On the home affront

I see that on Saipan every day. Blame the contract workers, blame the locals, blame the airlines. Heck, let's all blame Washington. There's a nasty undercurrent lately.

Let's back up. Contract workers come for jobs. They don't control anything. If there's a path to naturalization, well, why not?

Local leaders? Well, who elected them? After all of these years, a lot of voters are the children of aliens. There's a large group of other Micronesians and people from the states. With so many elections decided by a handful of votes those are blocks that could make a difference, and they don't.

I constantly hear 'outsiders' say I didn't know what anybody stands for so I voted for so-and-so. I know him and he's a nice guy. Sorry, they're all Nice Guys; that's how they get elected. Do some digging, or don't waste your vote. Oh, and shut up about the fine mess we're in.

Report card day

Ah, that's too serious, so I'll have to end with something light WARNING: I'm being facetious here. After all, nobody in his right mind would suggest having a recall vote on every single elected official

It would be fun. We could combine it with the non-voting delegate vote to save money. Even the Judiciary? Why not, especially if you've read the self-serving I've-got-mine-Jack folderol they're peddling. Now that's why they need a PIO.

They'd all be retained, of course, but it would be interesting to see how many would get a B plus from voters.