Among all of the campaigns Steve Bouchard has worked on. All of the candidates that he's worked for lost their election. Boy, Hillary is on roll. The only thing that he has ran was Evan Bayh's PAC. Well,Evan dumped his ambitions for the presidency a year ago.

Anyway here is a article touting Hillary's experience...or lack there of. You be the judge.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/us/politics/26clinton.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1198696486-1stCr1GeJNdjo3TyjZ+NMA

Steve Bouchard is a miracle worker and his magic will be felt in SC.

"Merry Xmas," bhoomes? You godless heathen! (<;

Happy holidays to you and yours as well.

How can anyone in good conscience vote for this racist? She's the teflon queen. If George Allen said what she said here on youtube, he wouldn't be in the running. http://youtube.com/watch?v=e1Mq8kOXV_E

Let's not make too much of a seasoned veteran of losing wars. Ohio could have been Kerry's, indeed it might have been, but he was outmanoevred on the ground by the Ohio Sec. of State. Wesley Clark and Bob Graham, despite their great attractiveness, dramatically failed to capture the popular imagination and vote, going down without much of a ruckus.
Mr. Bouchard has perhaps run big operations, but only to come up short. That is not to say that he has not learned a few tricks since 2004. In all probability, the voter registration drive underway until Dec. 26 will be more determinant of who carries S.C. on the D. side of the leger than the resumé of the respective field generals. In all probability, Senator Obama has but one day and a few hours to win or lose South Carolina, and that with an electorate full of Christmas turkey. I wish him well.

judge

Barbour has been a competent governor by all accounts. He is a former RNC chair and certainly knows Washington well. I did not propose him as a compromise candidate, some of the talking heads on XM radio did. I don't know that his time has passed - he is only 60.

I do think that he would be problematic as a candidate since he was a professional lobbyist for years and has close ties to the tobacco industry. I once read that he called GWB when the Texas legislature had passed some anti-smokig legislation and tried to lobby him to veto it on the grounds that big tobacco was a faithful Republican contributor. I think he would be slaughtered at the polls given the mood of the electorate.

Merry Xmas to all of my fellow political junkies. May the new Year bring you Health & Happiness.

The only experience Hillary Clinton will bring with her to the presidency is the same MIS_DIRECTION, GRIDLOCK, I DON"T RECALL politics we have had for the last 30 YEARS. America is on the cusp it's time for a decision redirecting our country to a path of non-distruction. She cannot make that decision, she has no experience in leadership other than the status que. She will be Americas second worst presidental embodiment. if she is jammmed down our throats as Bush was. VOTE.. America VOTE ...

Mark: I did see Paul on CNN, I believe it was. He was far more rational than the majority of his supporters. I can see why certain types of people like him but don't see his support ever making it into the double digits.

How good is Barbour at playing the religion card? Not that smooth, I suspect. Huckabee's supporters won't take a brokered convention laying down.

From what little I know of him, Barbour's time as a candidate for POTUS is well in the past. Of course, the R's tend to nominate fossils so maybe not.

I certainly don't contest the idea that HRC will win NY. Not so sure about CA once the early primaries are over and the ad wars out there commence in earnest.

Obama's polling numbers in CA have gone down and HRC's continue to climb. Perhaps femalenick can explain this trend.

I could see Barbour as an R compromise - I think he has no enemies in the Party, and I remember, I think, that Mike Espy, Clinton's SecAg, supported his Gov. run.
-------------------------------------
I am guessing that even if BHO wins the first three primaries HRC stays in. The stripping of MI and FL delegates by the DNC hurts her, of course, in that scenario. But the likelihood of her winning big delegate counts in CA, NJ, and NY is great, and under the McGovern Rules she will certainly win delegates from every primary state.

But where it seemed once likely that she would have a huge lead after Feb. 5, it seems to me now likely that she will be in no better than a dead heat after that date.

I think that Texas and Ohio on March 4 will become "in play" on the D side.

drindl,

I would also recommend "Why Americans Hate Politics" by E. J. Dionne (whom I knew some years ago, we are from the same general area in New England). It also deplores the viciousness of today's partisanship from a liberal perspective.

Mark,

As a political junkie, I would love to see a convention where the nominee is not pre-ordained from the start. It certainly looks like the Republicans might not emerge from the primaries with a nominee. I heard someone speculating on the POTUS-08 channel on XM radio as to who might emerge from a deadlocked Republican convention if none of the declared candidates can assemble a majority. The consensus opinion as to who might become a compromise candidate was Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

On another note, did anyone else watch Dr. Paul on MTP? I did.

I think he will engage more voters than the polls now suggest. Again, if he has the fifth or sixth largest delegate pool at an RN Convention where no one tops 25% going in, and if the Paulites are all neophytes at R politics, while the others have the precinct chairs and the mayors and councilpersons and commissioners, I suggest his delegates will not hang tough, but will scatter and diminish any impact he might have had.

Hi Drindl - I recommend this book to you:

Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America
by Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel

Thomas, a conservative, and Beckel, a liberal, have been writing a column together in USA Today about how we can make it work again. They have followed with this book, and it is about how partisanship is OK, but polarization is not. They posit that there is plenty of common ground if we remember that we are all in this together.

They trace the recent history of polarization and describe its unusually feral nature in DC, compared to the tameness of local and state politics.

They offer details for process.

I endorse it because I value process over ideology, as I have freely conceded here.

drindl,

We won't get past this poisonous atmosphere by playing the blame game. The left has its share of blame - look at the highly personal attacks on Robert Bork which came before talk radio really took off. Through the 70's and 80's, too many liberals adopted the attitude that opposition to their domestic agenda could only be motivated by greed, racism or ignorance.

For all of you anti-Hillary folks, I'll try and explain the way she will win the nomination and the Prez in 08. The Dems, as a whole, understand the need for "Change". Where this is a slogan to some, it is reality to most of us. The polls mean little when you consider most are not putting the "Internals" out, only what most are looking for headlines. Even Rasmussen Reports, who is about 3 to 5% favoring Repubs in his polling, show the overwhelming "Fear" Factor the Repubs have of Hillary. This idea the Repubs will energize their base, the same can be said of the Dems. Make no mistake about the "Electable Issue", Hillary is far ahead in every one of the polls I see. Until recently I was reluctant to say Hilly was the only Dem that could win in 08, now I am more convinced than ever, it is reality.

Eddie Haskell -- that desccribes him perfectly!

JimD, I'd have to say the hypertisanship we see today was begun as a deliberate strategy by well-funded rightwing thinktanks, and continued through Karl Rove, to divide and conquer--to demonize and marginalize Democrats, through the media. It started with funding a whole slew of hate radio radicals like Rush Limbaugh, and continued through Fox News and rightwing blogs, most of which are underwritten by Pajamas Media -- a rightwing consortium of wealthy industrialists. Most blogs on the left are independent and unfunded.

All of the Big Money is on the right, so the left leaning message has a much harder time getting out. Only since blogging came about, as free media, has the left had a real voice and started to fight back.

But until we get a clean campaign system, where politiicans can not bought by the highest bidder, nothing will change.

Been having a great time seeing old friends, hope you all are too. Happy holidays, whichever one you choose to observe--remember, the first one celebrated was the Winter Solstice!

The latest New Hampshire poll out today has McCain tying the race with Romney -- and Obama taking the lead. Some big developments indeed! http://www.campaigndiaries.com/2007/12/nh-poll-shows-obama-and-mccain-rising.html

Two journalists on MTP were chuckling about Romney's desire to please his audience - each separate audience. They called it the "Eddie Haskell" effect. I was amused.

Watching you on CNN, CC. "Difficultly?" Making up words as you go along?

"Horse race journalism" about covers this blog, that's true.

The other guy describes all of you as "fight promoters," which again is wildly accurate.

Thanks, Jim, for the "Newsweek" commentary.
---------------------------------
On Thursday and Friday evenings we will be meeting with as diverse a group of friends as we have in one place - they are not predominantly lawyers and accountants; they include ranchers, a lesbian golf pro, retired folks, entrepreneurs, engineers, sales pros, white-brown-black: they were collected over the years by a former neighbor who was an eclectic extrovert. They are bunched in their 50s-60s with a mirror group of adult children in their 20s-30s. In the past, when this group has talked politics, I have noted that while views are scattered, the conversation is always civil and downright polite, and never like what we see on 24/7 news.

Somehow, the simple erosion of manners involved in the attempt to "stand out" plays a role in polarization, I think.

Mark,

This is an interesting analysis of how the partisan atmosphere developed.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/81599/page/1

Mark,

Thanks for the links. I really hope lightening strikes in Iowa and propels Joe Biden into the first tier, although I do not have much hope for it happening. Of the top three Democrats, I would prefer Obama. I am adamantly against Edwards. I remember the late Senator Paul Tsongas' statement - "You can't be pro-jobs and anti-business". I also doubt his sincerity. As for Senator Clinton, I actually agree with her policies more than I do with Obama's. However, I do not trust her and I am desperate for a someone who can reach beyond the posionous partisanship in DC today. I dread a Clinton-Giuliani race - it will be the nastiest possible match-up. Giuliani, though, is looking less and less likely as the nominee. Should Clinton lose Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to Obama (which is well within the realm of possibility), I think she folds. The Republican race is far more fluid.

As for the Aptera, it is very interesting. The vehicle looks like what the science fiction writers thought cars in the 21st century would look like. Obviously, there will need to be some advances in order to make them popular -e.g. the 120 mile range must be increased. My Toyota Avalon has a 300 to 340 mile range. Also, they will need to find a way to make family size electric vehicles. They will need to prove its safety with crash test results. It looks flimsy and soccer moms would need to be reassured that it is as safe as an SUV.

Ron Paul cured my Apathy. I was part of the Reagan Youth and Revolution of 1980 & 1984, then I became illusioned with all of his predecessors. I voted for Ron Paul in 1988 as a protest again the first Brush when Jack Kemp didn't get the nomination. I have never contributed to a campaign until now. A lot of my generation is really pissed off at how the republicans and democrats are running the country into bankruptcy and destroying our personal liberties and freedoms. They have made most of the rest of the world hate us and we are fighting wars with no end. While Rudy Guiliani has $2300 breakfasts and diners with wealthy people looking for special tax breaks and government handouts to their multinational companies, Ron Paul is receiving money at $20 to 100 dollars a person. Ron Paul is like us and has united people from all across the political spectrum from anti-war, libertarians, republicans, democrats, and independents.

We reject being told to vote for who the big media and political parties want us to vote and publishing any polls to tell us that we the people are wasting our vote casting it for anyone else. We won't vote anymore for the lesser of two evils, because they are still evil. The Ron Paul Blimp is heading south right now to South Carolina and Florida. Viva la revolution of the Ron Paul Nation!!!

JimD - Here is how we beat the energy game before 2020:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237853.html?series=19

And while you are reading th Concord Monitor, try out this one, too -

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071222/OPINION/712230301

A fine editorial in the Concord paper -

http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/OPINION/712180316/1027/OPINION01

Is dyck21005 from the Clinton base?

Why Hillary Clinton is leading and why she is going to be the next president I still have not found out. The people are saying Obama and it always appears that someone is trying to remind us that we are suppose to vote for Clinton. Obama is an elected official for 11 years and Hillary is an elected official since 4 years. Never the less she has more experience than Obama. All of the stories indicate that something is being played to divert the voter from their choice to Clinton. There is an uneasy feeling that the people will have to go out on the streets to get him in office. A second election like Bush did by disfranchising the voters will have a detrimental affect on the public.

No state imports more than another! Now is the big bang and everybody see it, feel it, expect it. It is not about having the first woman or the first black being elected as POTUS. There is at this instant a singularity(America), and the instant itself requiress a singularity(Obama). This Obama guy is something else, really. The Clintons were 'good', but now, is not then. Now is Obama, and we all know it!

I do not understand the logic behind Senator Clinton's supporters insisting that she is the most electable. The polls do not bear that out and she has the highest negatives of any candidate in either party. No one would motivate the Republican base to turn out like Hillary Clinton and this could have a devastating impact on down ticket Democrats in red and purple states.

"Why the least vulnerable Democrat? The day the Democratic nominee becomes obvious the Republican attack machine will spring to action. Always, the opponent is a target to be eviscerated. If Obama is the Democratic nominee, a man less intimately understood and less defined, Republicans will rush to manufacture their own brutal definition. Can Obama withstand that kind of barrage? Does he have the personal makeup to be as relentless as his opponents? Do past political positions leave him vulnerable? Because the risks are sky-high, these questions need to be reasonably raised and answered beforehand.

Clinton is well past negative redefinition. Unlike John Kerry's 2004 campaign in which veterans opposed to Kerry's candidacy challenged his war record, it will be difficult to ram a Swift Boat into her candidacy. If there is a convict in her political past, as with Willie Horton during the Dukakis 1988 campaign, he will already have been exhumed. Besides, the Clintons are veteran enough to mount a withering counterfire of their own.

The most vulnerable Democrat, Clinton is not. The most electable, she is. America's political landscape, this time around, looks fertile for the right Democratic candidate. But one day, surely, the country will elect a woman president. I sense that moment - and that woman - has arrived."

Speaking from the head in SC the D race, like many of the early states, is simply too close to call.

Boy I bet the name Steve Bouchard puts fear in the hearts of Hillary's opponents. With Bouchard's campaign work for such hard hitters as Evan Bayh, Wes Clark, John Kerry and Bob Graham. Hell it's over. Bow down to the Queen Bee.

Obama's significant shifts, flip flopping on issues such as Patriot Act, Defense of Marriage Act, Fast Track trade authority and benefits for same-sex couples. Given how little experience Obama has, its understandable that his campaign doesnt want any kind of focus on his record, These stories clearly raise questions about Obamas electability and serve as a stark reminder about how little the public knows about his positions. The Illinois chapter of the National Organization for Women, Obama said he would vote to repeal the Patriot Act. In 2006 Obama voted for the redrafted version of the Patriot Act that some critics contended made only minor changes to the original law. On Defense of Marriage Act Obama answered No,to the question: "Do you support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. On Fast Track authority, which requires Congress to vote yes or no and without amendments on pending trade deals, Obama opposes Fast Track authority because it is a usurpation of Congress' role to ensure that negotiated trade agreements serve the best interests of our country, including protection of the environment, worker rights and human rights.In remarks to the Detroit Economic Club in May, Obama said, I plan to be president, so I actually want Fast Track. But I'm willing to constrain myself in Fast Track to make sure that we've got strong labor and environmental protections.On benefits for same-sex couples, Obama said, he would need to evaluate the fiscal impact of extending Social Security benefits to same-sex couples that married couples currently receive. Also Barack Obama (D-IL)involved in a suspicious real estate deal with an indicted political fundraiser, Antoin Tony Rezko. Obama also linked to an alleged influence peddling scandal and was nabbed conducting campaign business in his Senate office, a violation of federal law.

This man has no real experience. Yet he's hoping to rule the most powerful nation on the planet.What is it that Barack Obama has to get where he is? Nothing but flimflam.
Oprah Winfrey has fallen for his looks and charm. It's so evident that Oprah is taken in so easily by good looking men. Her show has highlighted these handsome creatures over months. Every time she swoons over them, flirting with them, sometimes even making quite suggestive remarks. Her audiences love it.Obama has no experience worth typing on a resume to sit in the Oval Office let alone rule anything for anyone from that space. when listening to his mini-speeches, does he not sound like a high school student running for the student council? or senior class president?There is no substance to this man. He gives forth the typical liberal litany -- including support for killing womb babies and sodomy. The nation takes it in stride.What in the name of common sense let alone intelligence has happened to the populace that they are so sucked in by this horrific joke? His sentences are laden with sweet sounding worn cliches -- over and over.We need to unite. We need to be liked around the world. We need to renew. We need to look to the future for this great nation. We need to forget our differences and hold hands. We need to envision tomorrows shining with God's sunshine.These speeches go on forever and ever and ever. America listens and scores fall for this tripe as if it were material for the US presidency.It's not. It's failure personified.

Chris you really should just STOP...when it comes to a state that is 505 voting AA democrats you are not qualified to report on the impact of someone coming in from Washington. BTW a lot of good he did Kerry. There are many AA who wouldn't vote for Hillary now if she was running against GWB. You guys don't get it and are incapable of getting it. If Obama wins IA she can bring anyone she likes in and it won't matter. I predict 87% AA turnout for Obama. Take it to the bank!!!

vwcat: Add to my last post. I have seen the movie trailer and it shows a clip of Obama, not someone in his campaign. Check it out.

vwcat: I am not associated with the Hillary campaign in any way shape ot form , know none of them personally, to the best of my knowledge, and can say I think stupid mistakes were made, intentional or not, as happens in all campaigns. Several things coming out of the Obama campaign could be found that are not very flattering to Hillary, if you care to look. The same can be said about the Edwards campaign. Try and not get your bowels in an uproar and support whoever you wish, then support the Dem nominee in 08, who I believe will be Hillary, just as I will support Obama in the General in 08, although IMO, he has ZERO chance, as I have stated repeatedly.

peterdc writes:
"Clinton can actually win the Presidency and Barack Obama is an untested entity."

Peter, you're talking about Bill. Hillary will be on the ballot, not Bill. With regards to elections, Hillary has been tested less than Sen Obama.

vwcat - I restored a Karmann Ghia several years ago and my eldest daughter drove it. Is there any significance to your chosen name "vwcat"?

I looked back at what I wrote earlier and the proper construction would have been that the heartfelt surge for BHO among black voters now should not be underestimated. Obviously, I thought peterdc HAD underestimated or discounted it.

MarkinAustin: I have heard that African Americans are royally ticked off at the clintons after they did that stuff last week with Shaheen and accusing Obama of being a drug dealer. Then this thing about his middle name with Bob Kerrey.
I have read in some blogs that black talk radio has been filled with angry comments about the Clintons now.

Chris, is this like you guys said what a powerful force Bill would be for Hillary?
You guys keep being impressed with these operatives and establishment and DLC types and say how great they are and how Clinton now has more of a powerful machine. Yet, from where I stand, I see how one guy, Barack Obama, stood up to the powerful machine and also took on Bill a few times and managed to make the Clinton camp look silly.
Oh, and now Bill is saying in order to save the world you have to elect Hillary. It's our only hope. And then went on a speech that sounded like it came out of the Bush team with all it's fear and doom.
Yep. She has this powerful machine and this guy is as threatening as Bill was suppose to be?

While I like WaPo's comments section (beats the N.Y.Times pontification) I feel that I can crap political insight better than what WaPo and the MSM is doing right now.

Stop this minute-by-minute political pulse-taking. Your readers are smarter than this. It's too inside-the-Beltway. Give folks positions, policies. Otherwise we get the politician who passes muster with the media, not the people.

This addition to the campaign of this very close to Bayh guy, is an indication that he is at least on the short list for Hillary to choose as her VP. Mark & Proud: I hope you are both wrong about the black vote in SC. This coming election in 08 is vital to the Dem party and I think most Dems will go with Hillary because she is the better choice, IMHO, period.

Best to you too, RadPat.

Hi MarkinA: I saw one of your postings recently in the Concord Monitor? or was it the Des Moines Register? Well, you can tell where I have been hanging around mostly when I give in to the urge to waste time a-bloggin'. The WashPost here has been mostly the same same old old lately--just like Hillary!

Obviously, I hope your first posting in this list today is absolutely right! I need to leave before lylepink gets on and starts spouting about whatever he/she/it read on Clinton's web sites today as the latest in gospel truth.

[off the topic--I read that you have a son in Bath? Lovely place--I lived 6 years in England/Europe some time ago. My daughter comes in tomorrow from Japan. I know the sad joy of a child succeeding in life, but far far away. The best of Christmas greetings to you and yours.]

I guess that leaves only one candidate with an unexplainable trail of money. Perhaps if you read chinese?

Times to Rudy: Sorry About That

Seems those stories about "sex on the city" were totally bogus.

Sorry about that.

We're printing the correction the weekend before Christmas. Hey - be grateful we didn't print it the day after the New Hampshire primary!

drindl - will you be issuing an apology for all your hysterics?

http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjI1MmM0MDA3ZTlkZTgxNGQyN2FhZGUxYzdlNWU2ZDQ=

peterdc, where do you live? I suspect that you do not count many African-Americans among your daily acquaintances.

I am in Austin where I have watched the skepticism about BHO's viability be replaced by enthusiasm over the course of several months. The politics of hope is not about a small town in Arkansas that produces governors. For black voters, it is the realization that America could actually elect its first black President.

The effect of this heartfelt surge in states where the Ds rely heavily on the black vote cannot be underestimated.

The South Carolina primary is a little more than thirty days away. You failed to mention any of Bouchard's South Carolina credentials. It appears the Clinton campaign is managing their South Carolina campaign the same way they are managing their Iowa campaingn: with DC operatives. This is the very reason why Clinton is struggling in Iowa because she is being out-organized by folks who know the local political landscape. For Bill to bring this guy in before Christmas translates that problems exist in their operation in South Carolina. This cannnot be interpreted as good news with the primary looming around the corner. This is tough job for one man to do with so little time. If this decision were made several months ago it would have been deemed a sound move. Unfortunately, this decision was made in December and appears as a move of desperation.

I think that Clinton will win SC. When people actually go into cast their ballots- a number of things will come into play and not the least being the reality that Clinton can actually win the Presidency and Barack Obama is an untested entity.

I second that, mark. And Steve Bouchard's no Oprah.

Let me be the first to say that I actually do not believe that BHO can be beaten in SC.