More More Mormons

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/672kwvro.asp?pg=2

More on the Mormon angle, this time from The Weekly Standard, though its more of "The Romney Angle" and the Mormon issue by proxy. It makes a strong case for Romney as a pragmatic social conservative with strong fiscal conservative credentials, but the primary campaign is pretty much summed up with this:

One evangelical leader offered this succinct take on whether Romney's faith would hurt him in the primaries: "Against Giuliani, no. Against Frist, yes. Against [Rick] Santorum, yes. Against Arnold [Schwarzenegger, who is ineligible], no.

Now that Brownback is looking to make a legitimate bid, and with Frist still floating in the wings, it remains to be seen what sort of middle ground Romney can carve out with one of the "true believer" candidates taking the right and the moderate heavyweights staking out most everyone else.

For more on the LDS angle, this Time piece has been making the rounds: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1562941-1,00.html

McCain for? against?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611220001?src=newsbox-www.politicalforecast.net

We seem headed for yet another election cycle of flip-flopper charges. The highlight?

November 19, McCain was quoted in the August 20, 1999, San Francisco Chronicle saying:

But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.

An August 25, 1999, Chronicle article noted that on August 23, "McCain's campaign released a clarification: 'I have always believed in the importance of the repeal of Roe vs. Wade, and as president, I would work toward its repeal.' "

A Third Party

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/the_neocon_party.html

The idea that McCain would lose the GOP nomination is pretty far from novel at this point. That he would then cast his hat into the general as an independent, a role he has been preparing himself for since he lost in 2000, is perhaps even less so.

That said, this blurb on the American Prospect is worth a look if only to begin thinking about what an "independent" party would look like. Their tag of the "Neocon Party" may be apt, but it may not be nearly as damning an indictment as needed to beat back the widespread American desire for centrism and bipartisanship.

E-Voting? E-Liminate it!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/elections/orl-mvote2206nov22,0,1009612.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

While I was never convinced that e-voting was "good," and always believed that there needed to be a paper trail, it was an issue that I felt was perhaps being focused on too much by the American left. Following the debacle, and there can be no other word for it, on the Florida 13th Congressional Election, I'm wondering if there is any more pressing issue for the Democrats to focus on in the runup to the 2008 election. While it would be dangerous to fall into conspiracy talk about the Presidential contests in Florida or Ohio, which are at this point spilled milk and highly contested even on the left, what happened in this district was either a gross failure of technology or, if a willful and malicious act, among the most egregious sins against democracy in this country's history.

The Mormon Factor

http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20061120/pl_rasmussen/mormonromney20061120_1

How far we've come from the days of discriminating against Papists... now to the days of discriminating against Mormons. There are two parts of this article that are of note: first is the obvious that 43% of Americans fear a conspiracy of...uh, Mormons? and thus won't vote for one. The second is the electoral kryptonite to Mitt Romney: "Half (53%) of all Evangelical Christians say that they would not consider voting for a Mormon candidate." Well, either Americans (and Evangelical Christians) really are jerks, or this was a really well executed hatchet job executed by Rasmussen on behalf of Bill Frist to move him to the top of the "Values" ticket in the GOP pre-primary.

The Perils of The New York Mayorship...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11202006/news/regionalnews/critics_to_kick_rudy_patootie_regionalnews_david_seifman___city_hall_bureau_chief_.htm

I've had my doubts that Giuliani could parlay his success in the Mayor's office into national political success. Simply put, New York politics isn't pretty and the Kerik nomination proved it. Apparently, there are some New Yorkers who agree with me. Though some attacks may backfire -- he is still widely loved for his role in 9/11 -- there are only so many missteps that his halo can deflect.

What Are They Thinking?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900376_pf.html

Does the Democratic party really want people to think that it's the party of the Draft as it heads into its first two years of Congressional control in over a decade? Aside from letting an elder statesman of the party air his old policy proposals to make a point, I can't help but think this does nothing but harm. As the majority party, the Democrats can't afford to be the people sniping from the back any longer -- if they don't have constructive suggestions toward the betterment of the country and the construction of a stronger party identity, it would be wise to keep quiet.

Obama-mania

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111800485.html

Just wanted to toss up the link to one of the better articles I've seen about Obama and the Presidency. It not only illustrates the unique moment in time this is for the junior Senator from Illinois, but acknowledges his weaknesses as well. Most notably, it reveals that he acknowledges those weaknesses as well.

"Riding High, Obama Ponders His Future, By JIM KUHNHENN, The Associated Press, Saturday, November 18, 2006; 4:08 PM"

Locating Abortion Policy

http://pewforum.org/docs/index.php?DocID=150

The abortion debate is going to come up once for certain in the '08 run, possibly twice. Whereas the last presidential election cycle saw pro-choice and pro-life advocates split along party lines from the beginning of it all, the Republican primary is going to have to seriously address the abortion issue this time around. With McCain and Giuliani stalking a middle-ish ground premised on federalism and limited access, the far right ends of the party are alternately encouraged by their return to federalism and their straying from the dogma of uniform opposition to abortion in all instances, in all places. Its too early to say how this will play out in the primary, but the polls linked above indicate that 55% of Americans would like to see abortion policy made on the national level, with 39% preferring to see it left up to the states. Perhaps by offering the Federalism answer McCain is splitting the baby, for the sake of a bad biblical pun.

Netroots on Both Sides

http://www.reason.com/news/show/116755.html

A great deal has been said about the "netroots" movement on the left, but little has been spoken of regarding the influence of their right-wing internet counterparts. While redstate.com is mentioned as a foil in passing to DailyKos, it has yet to achieve the same level of stardom in its own right as the liberal blogosphere has. Though the two ends of the partisan spectrum vary widely in perspective, they are relatively similar in the tropes they trade on -- indictments of their party establishment, a yen to appear in on insider moves, and a perpetual conviction that there side is not being given a fair shake by the mainstream media. That this article by Eric Pfeiffer looks at the Republican Study Committee, a group of fiscal hawks in Congress, and only in passing mentions the influence of the internet activists that forms their base shows how far the conservative netroots needs to come before they can come close to contesting the liberals for supremacy in the influence-through-the-internet war.

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