INDIE ROCK THE VOTE

Yo La Tengo and Chris Stamey content.

THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE DRINKING GAME

Since the first debate is tonight, it's time to unveil this year's version of The Presidential Debate Drinking Game.

Rules: print up identical small slips of paper, each with one of the following words or phrases:

terror
freedom
security
draft
Saddam
United Nations
North Korea
Nuclear
Nucular
Our allies
Saudi
Israel
miscalculation
Iran
Iraq


Fold the individual slips of paper in half and put them into a bowl or hat. Have each guest draw one slip before the debate begins. Every time one of the candidates says the word on your slip, you must take a drink. Given how scripted the debates are, the game should end with every player becoming legally drunk.

During the '96 debates, I was unfortunate enough to draw "taxes" and was inebriated before the end of Dole's opening statement.

LAST-MINUTE REMINDER TO REGISTER TO VOTE!

I realize if you're reading this you're likely already registered, but the deadline in Ohio is Monday. Here are the details from cardstock-measurer Ken Blackwell's office in case you (or friends and family) need to run this last-second errand.

YINZER THINK TANK WORTH CHECKING OUT

Richard Mellon Scaife and Teresa Heinz Kerry aren't the only political power brokers from western Pennsylvania. OK, they may be the only politically-oriented billionaires in the region, but there's also this collective and its affiliates (both explicitly racy and subversively adorable) working in both the United States and abroad.

BLACKWELL BACKS DOWN ON CARD STOCK

...but not on provisional ballots.

OBERLIN VOTES! BARRED FROM JAIL

The Sherriff won't let them register inmates.

JOHN EDWARDS AT CARNEGIE MELLON TOMORROW

If you're at Carnegie Mellon and want to hear the VP candidate speak, here's your chance:

Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate, John Edwards, will hold a town hall meeting on Tuesday, September 28th, at Carnegie Mellon. Senator Edwards' speech will focus on health care issues and will conclude with a Q&A session with the audience.

The event will be held at the Weigand Gym in the University Center from 11 a.m. until 12 noon tomorrow. Approximately 1000 tickets will be distributed through the Kerry-Edwards Headquarters located at 225 Ross Street in downtown Pittsburgh, 412/434-0524.

Carnegie Mellon will simulcast the meeting to McConomy Auditorium; Carnegie Mellon ID-holders will be welcome to watch the event from McConomy on a first-come, first-serve basis.

We also invite you to participate in the myriad additional events and opportunities to engage in the political process that will be hosted on campus throughout the coming 5 weeks prior to election day.

This event will be co-hosted by Student Government and the College Democrats.

IT IS THE CLOSEST THING TO THE COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW ON TV, AND IT'S HILARIOUS

Daily Show viewers have greater awareness of what's going on in the presidential campaign than viewers of any other programs -- including the national news. I think this is pathetic, but not that people are getting informed by the smartest comedy show of recent years. What's pathetic is how much better it is at doing serious analysis of the issues and spin than the network news (and cable news networks) try to do.

I was a budding young news junkie in the 1980s; glued myself to ABC News for senate elections in '86, watched CNN all of the time when I finally got cable. If I watch CNN now more than once a month, it's unusual; the network has gotten worse at informing and reporting. I still read plenty of newspapers (moreso online), but find the "serious" news organizations to be a good deal less serious than they used to be. Jon Stewart is Walter Cronkite compared to Aaron Brown or Brian Williams; he's capable of asking questions about the big picture, not talking points.

The sad thing about Dan Rather getting flummoxed in the memo scandal is if he goes, he'll actually be replaced by someone less in touch with the important stories facing the nation. Now that CBS has shelved Ed Bradley's story on WMD in Iraq until after the election (heaven forbid the electorate is informed about why the United States has allowed a thousand of its citizens to die over the past couple of years) it has effectively castrated itself to support Bush at a time the media perceives CBS is attacking Bush. Could Karl Rove be behind this? Naw.

NY TIMES STORY ON OHIO REGISTRATIONS: EXCELLENT NEWS

The New York Times answers my question last week about partisan registration in Ohio -- and the news is very, very good. Also true of Florida.

The analysis by The New York Times of county-by-county data shows that in Democratic areas of Ohio - primarily low-income and minority neighborhoods - new registrations since January have risen 250 percent over the same period in 2000. In comparison, new registrations have increased just 25 percent in Republican areas. A similar pattern is apparent in Florida: in the strongest Democratic areas, the pace of new registration is 60 percent higher than in 2000, while it has risen just 12 percent in the heaviest Republican areas.

There's a lot more in the article; this is the big story of the election and very good news for both Kerry and the prospects of getting Nancy Pelosi the speakership in the House. (Jane Mitakides in Dayton will benefit from these drives.) Now the question is getting the state to recognize all of these registrations: Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is attempting to impose guidelines throwing out registrations that aren't printed on thick card stock, and to deny provisional ballots to voters who show up at the wrong polling place. You can join Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in calling for him to reverse those guidelines.

The address:
J. Kenneth Blackwell-R
180 E. Broad St., 15th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-466-3910
E-Mail: blackwell@sos.state.oh.us

A GOOD YOM KIPPUR TO YOU ALL

...and hopes for a good year ahead.

FAITH-BASED INTELLIGENCE

Greg Theilmann, formerly of the State Department, spoke at Cleveland State and attacked the Bush administration for knowingly going to war on bad intelligence. From the Post-Dispatch:

President Bush has said he believed all the charges he made before invading Iraq. But Thielmann said the administration knew better.

Before retiring in September 2002 after 28 years of federal work, Thielmann ran the Office of Strategic Proliferation in the department's intelligence bureau.

Thielmann said the bureau debunked myths about Saddam Hussein's importing uranium, using aluminum tubes to make nuclear weapons and helping the al-Qaida terrorists, his longtime enemies.

Yet Bush and his aides still spread some of those claims.

"They had what I call faith- based intelligence," Thielmann said. "They weren't looking for the truth. They were looking for propaganda."

Bush has said the world is better off without the brutal Hussein.

But Thielmann said, "We're much less safe because of the Iraqi war." He called our military overstretched, our ports undermanned and our enemies inflamed.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY FROM OKLAHOMA

The fight for the senate seat between sane Democrat Brad Carson and, um, creative thinker Tom Coburn has seen Coburn reeling from an advanced case of foot-in-mouth disease (calling Oklahoma City constitutents "crapheads", questioning the heritage of Cherokee constituents, performing an unauthorized sterilization) and dropping in the polls. Now comes word Coburn has replaced his campaign manager with Jason Miller. Miller's most recent achievement? Running Jack Ryan's campaign for senate in Illinois. Watch for an incompetent smear campaign that will likely backfire and help Carson.

KNOW YOUR CANDIDATES

The Cincinnati Enquirer posed a set of questions (most having to do with the economy) to House candidates from both parties in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky (including Nick Clooney.) Compare their answers here.

KONOP BEHIND, BUT NOT BY MUCH

The Lima News released a poll showing Ben Konop trailing incumbent Rep. Mike Oxley by about six points; Oxley is also below 50%. It's still an uphill battle, but in a race many thought a David-and-Goliath struggle, Konop is showing himself to be quite competitive.

Kos speculates that these numbers, and Kerry's 10-digit deficit in a conservative part of Ohio, are very good news for Democrats. I'll take the good news; but what I really want to know is how voter registration in Hamilton County is shaping up. That's Bush's core, and if it's comparatively lagging behind the vigorous registration in the northwest part of the state, Kerry will be in excellent shape.

CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE IN CINCINNATI

Progress or a ploy to get conservatives to the voting booths? Several states are putting referenda up this fall to ban gay marriage, part of a trend (including the GOP platform) of assaulting the rights of homosexual citizens. Cincinnati passed a ban on any kinds of protections relating to sexual orientation in 1993, and now voters will decided on repealing that ban this November.

MOVEMENT IN THE PLAME CASE?

The Washington Post reports that a confidential source in the administration (not Scooter Libby) who spoke to Walter Pincus has revealed his or her identity to prosecutors. And Patrick Fitzgerald just sent new subpoenas to Matthew Cooper and Time. Does this mean he's hit a dead end or is making headway? I'm not sure.

5765

Happy new year!

JOHN LOTT MIGHT ENDORSE KEYES

Surprise, surprise, Alan Keyes celebrates the expiration of the assault weapons ban. If Barack Obama and most of the American people are unacceptably leftist on this issue, then so is that notorious organization of pinkos, the Fraternal Order of Police.

Keyes's candidacy is having the effect of making one of the most progressive political candidates in national politics sound like a moderate from Kansas. Obama's staff should give Keyes a giant fruit basket for Christmas this year as this lunacy will help Obama's reputation for years to come.

NYC IS BACK IN THE RECYCLING BIZ

One of the major controversies in urban waste management this decade was New York City's decision to suspend recycling pickups of glass and plastics two years ago. In the wake of substantial public outcry, the city reversed itself and entered into a contract with scrap dealer Hugo Neo to collect and sell the materials; today Michael Bloomberg announced the development of a large new recycling facility in Brooklyn.

Recycling is not without its problems (no, the link isn't to John Tierney or the Cato Institute, but a thoughtful look at the environmental inequalities in American waste management by David Pellow), and the residents of Brooklyn may find grievances in the new system. The dramatic reversal by Bloomberg indicates how much recycling is a part of contemporary environmental values.

HYDE PARK POLS (OBAMA AND CLEVELAND CONTENT)

Laura Washington describes the process and possible contenders for replacing Obama in the state senate when he resigns to join the U.S. senate. Will Burns, the candidate she describes most favorably, is a Cleveland native.

EVEN MORE VOTERS IN OHIO

The number of registered voters in Ohio may swell even more now that the state is going to inform 34,000 convicted felons on parole and probation that they can vote in the general election. This is in reponse to a lawsuit charging that some election offices wrongly told the felons that they are ineligible to vote.

Under the agreement reached Monday, felons will receive written notice during regularly scheduled meetings with their parole officers, Singleton said.

Election officials denied any wrongdoing, but state officials agreed to furnish the written notices to end the suit, according to court papers.

Singleton said it was important to resolve the matter before the Oct. 4 deadline for voter registration.

No idea how many people affected will register (or where -- the story doesn't specify which county's election offices allegedly gave the incorrect information), but this can't hurt turnout.

ROUND ONE

The Plain-Dealer has a modertately favorable impression of Fingerhut's performance in his first debate with Voinovich. The report I found most interesting was this exchange that highlighted the tensions of industrial work and environmental health in a depressed economy:

Fingerhut said one way to encourage job growth in the state would be to force Ohio's many coal-burning electric power plants to upgrade pollution-control equipment.

He said that would do two things: put companies to work that make the equipment and allow the electric plants to burn the state's home-mined, but more sulfurous coal.

"Eric, I think your problem is that you don't understand Ohio's economy," Voinovich snapped back. "If you put coal out of business in Ohio, you put manufacturing out of business . . . and the jobs go to India or elsewhere."

Fingerhut responded to Voinovich quickly and curtly: "With all due respect, senator, you're not looking at the future of Ohio's economy."

He added that "the companies of Ohio's future are being stifled" because the pollution- control standards now being applied to coal plants don't have to be followed stringently "because they're not the law."

Let's see if there's followup in the next debate.

JUST TRYING TO BE HELPFUL

Thanks to Archpundit for pointing out this article. Several years ago, I did opposition research for the Democratic party. We thought we had it easy with Newt Gingrich's, uh, problemmatic relationships with women (though it is true, that never kept him from winning re-election), but the Obama campaign has the best opposition research opportunities of all, just by publicizing Alan Keyes's speaking engagements.

The unusual nature of this contest has led the Obama campaign to throw out the traditional playbook. For example, most campaigns are not in the business of promoting an opponent's public appearances, but Obama's aides often mention to reporters the moment they hear of a Keyes' event. Apparently, they believe the more exposure Keyes gets, the better it is for Obama.

"Just trying to be helpful," a smiling Gibbs explained last week after informing a reporter that Keyes had called a news conference just a couple of hours later.

I will miss this race when it is over. And I wish the DNC would somehow pin Keyes to Bush; Keyes is an opposition researcher's most vivid fantasy.

POLLS NOT PUBLISHED

This story may be of national interest, given how obsessively people are poll-watching this week. I had a conversation with the Lorain County Board of Elections here in northern Ohio, and they report unprecedented (and significantly larger than usual) voter registrations. The numbers are so great that they are slowing the board's ability to mail confirmations to new voters. This could lead to chaos, but is also another reason to ignore polls measuring likely voters as opposed to registered voters. The former are the ones favoring Bush, and they are less likely to account for this surge than the registered-voter polls do.

Cuyahoga County is experiencing a similar influx of registrations.

Unfortunately, every kind of poll has Voinovich up by double-digits on Fingerhut. Maybe it's time for another walking tour.

SOME PERSPECTIVE ON 9/11

From Juan Cole.

And while we are remembering, today is also the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Camp David accords. Perhaps one day, we will come back to the table instead of bombing it.

BUT IT DOES PROVIDE JOBS

At this point, Ohio's presence as ground zero in the presidential race has led to so many visits by Kerry and Bush that the local news in Cleveland is taking the angle that we've had too many damn visits and the costs of security are mounting. I like the idea that the candidates are actually paying attention to my state, but if the local media have campaign fatigue now I cannot image how annoyed they will be six weeks from now.

THESE MORONS RAN OFF HARRY CARAY, SO ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE

If Jerry Reinsdorf's crew lets legendary organist Nancy Faust go after this season, it will rank as dumb as any move Ken Williams has made over the past three months. It's bad enough that she's had much less to do since the Sox moved into new Comiskey; this management team is unable to build on its traditions (despite living in a city where the other team has made a lot of money off of its heritage).

NOT ALL DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGERS ARE STRAPPED FOR CASH

There's one Democratic challenger in Ohio's House races who isn't lacking cash. Capri Cafaro, whose family's made millions from shopping centers, has now poured $1.33 million into her campaign. It may not be enough to get a 26-year old rookie to unseat 5-term incument Steve LaTourette, but it does mean that concerned donors who want to make a difference in Ohio races can focus on other candidates, such as Jane Mitakides, Ben Konop, and everyone over at Democratizing Ohio over in the links section.

RUST NEVER SLEEPS

More bad economic news in the midwest. Mitsubishi just announced plans to lay off 1,200 works per week at their plant in Normal, Illinois. Between his fiancee getting criticized in the press for her work with her father's (brutal) political presence in Guatemala and one of the area's largest employers downsizing, incumbent Rep. Jerry Weller has had better years. (If you'd like to help Weller spend more time at his beachfront condo in Guatemala, see what you can do for Tari Renner as Renner campaigns to take Weller's job.)

LIGHTEN UP, FRANCES

The remains of the hurricane are now dousing northeastern Ohio, causing floods and power outages. I'm up for now but that could change soon.

YES, HIS FEET HURT. A LOT.

Eric Fingerhut has finished his walk across Ohio. Aside from any cardiovascular benefits, he garnered a fair amount of publicity and has made a massive poll lead by Voinovich merely big (according to the Columbus Dispatch, Voinovich's lead was trimmed from 21 to 14 points). Considering Fingerhut's disadvantage in funding, this was about the best thing that he could have done three months from Election Day, and if the papers start paying attention to his speeches as he assails Voinovich on the state's economy, those polls may narrow further.

I'VE GOT FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES

Richard Perle turns on Conrad Black, business partner and defendant. Perle's discredited friends this year include Black (whose Chicago Sun-Times-owning Hollinger may make the Moonies look like a reputable publisher at this point) and Ahmad Chalabi, the eyewitness who helped Bush put on a war under false pretenses. My hope is that a few of Perle's neocon friends will get sucked into this vortex of scandal and purge Washington from their nutty ideas about security. (Plus, these Conrad Black scandals are irresistable corporate soap opera.)

A CLEAR CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Time to make the news for underdogs in Ohio's congressional races. Ben Konop's been attacking Mike Oxley for corporate fundraising while serving as chair of the House Financial Services Committee and his comments have now made the New York media. From Newsday:

"It's a clear conflict of interest," said Ben Konop, Oxley's Democratic opponent in this year's race to represent Ohio's 4th District. "He takes money from the very entities he's supposed to be regulating."

The district Oxley represents "has nothing to do with Wall Street," Konop said.

Since Oxley has massive advantages in name recognition and fundraising, free media is an absolute must for Knonop two months from Election Day.

(And if you'd like to help Konop in his fight, visit Democratizing Ohio in the links section of this site.)

JOIN TOGETHER

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend spoke in Oberlin last night about the need for young people to get involved in politics and the need for Democrats to band together this fall. A few members of the audience noted that the Kerry campaign has not been particularly cooperative with other Democratic candidates in Ohio, particularly Walkin' Eric Fingerhut, when they've requested materials and publicity. KKT claimed she'd speak to the campaign, which really should mount a more coordinated effort in Ohio. It ain't just about the presidency, and even at the presidential level, a strong united front will help get more people out to vote in an election where turnout is crucial.

BORN ON THIRD BASE (THE NEXT GENERATION)

The Bush twins are healthy, reasonably alert, 22, and don't appear to have any pressing items on their agenda. If this war in Iraq is so important to America's security, as their dad says, shouldn't they be serving in the military? Or is the war really not that important after all?

WORDS SPEAK LOUDER THAN ACTIONS

This ad should run between now and Election Day.

GET YOUR HANDS FILTHY

McSweeney's checks in on the Dave Matthews waste scandal.

ON MESSAGE

Protestors inside and outside the convention continue to get coverage by the mainstream press. Mass dissent is what -- barring something unusual -- I will remember from this convention.

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE WALKER

This walking gig is generating more publicity for Eric Fingerhut than anything else he's done; aside from more coverage in the state media, he's now getting some national attention with the AP covering the journey. If he can get Voinovich down into a single-digit lead by the end of the month, we may actually have a race on our hands.

Buy Eric some new shoes by dropping over to "Democratizing Ohio" in the links section. Any Democrat elected makes it less likely that Bill Frist remains Senate Majority Leader, and that is good for the country.

SELFISH HEDONISM

Not that Republicans need outsiders to thrash each other's sex lives. Alan Keyes has gone after Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter. He may actually be the worst possible choice the GOP could have made, considering that he thinks both Cheney and John Kass are too liberal and may manage to alienate everyone in Illinois with the possible exception of his family. Actually, his family isn't in Illinois, so he has a great chance of alienating the entire state.

SHORT EYES

House Speaker Denny Hastert insinuated this week that billionaire George Soros might be involved with criminal activity. Now Soros has threatened to sue, while Hastert stands by his allegations.

This innuendo is dangerous ground for Hastert. Aside from the effects of a possible lawsuit, he leaves himself open to speculation. The man coached boys' high school wrestling, and who can say if a boys' high school wrestling coach did or didn't take liberties with his young charges? Who knows?