2008 Presidential Nomination May be decided by March or earlier..

Los Angeles Times, Nov 22nd.

After months of suspense, New Hampshire on Wednesday scheduled its presidential primary for Jan. 8 — the state’s earliest date ever — in a move that promises one of the swiftest nominating fights in campaign history.

With Iowa casting the first votes Jan. 3 and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses Feb. 5, the nominees for the White House could be decided in a one-month blitz of balloting — and possibly in just a handful of days, if a candidate manages to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.

In the meantime, the presidential hopefuls will campaign nonstop through a holiday season that usually offers a break from politics, halting only for Thanksgiving and perhaps again on Christmas.

“We fully expect candidates working the Communion line at St. Joseph’s on Christmas Eve,” said Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, who was only half-kidding. “There is no precedent, no protocol. I suspect the campaigns will be pushing the envelope as far as they think they can get away with.”

Although the date for New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary was no surprise — the campaigns had Jan. 8 circled in pencil — the announcement set off a new round of speculation about which candidates might be helped or hurt.

The contests in Iowa and New Hampshire — which have drawn the vast majority of the candidates’ time and attention — are both exceedingly fluid, with the results in the first expected to heavily influence the outcome in the second.

The one certainty is that big states like California, Florida and Michigan will not carry the weight they sought by scheduling their contests earlier than in previous elections. “It’s obvious that the disproportionate influence of Iowa and New Hampshire is alive and well, and will live in 2008,” said Northeastern University political scientist William Mayer.

The announcement Wednesday by New Hampshire Secretary of State William M. Gardner laid the last important piece of the campaign calendar into place, ending a guessing game that kept candidates and their political strategists on edge for the better part of the year. Gardner acted a few hours after the Michigan Supreme Court cleared the way for that state to holds its primary Jan. 15, overturning a lower-court order.

Click here to go to the Los Angeles Times for more of this story.

When will they ever learn…..  When will they ever learn?

Washington Post, November 16th.

Senate Republicans blocked the latest Democratic effort to end the Iraq war, rejecting a $50 billion funding package that would require President Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.

The 53-45 vote fell seven short of the 60 votes needed for the measure to clear Republican procedural hurdles. A GOP alternative, which would have provided $70 billion with no strings attached, failed 45-53, or 15 votes short of the 60-vote threshold.

The Democratic version, approved by the House earlier this week, would have required President Bush to start a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq within 30 days of its enactment and shift the military role to specific missions. Those include protecting U. S. diplomatic facilities, assisting Iraqi Security Forces and engaging in targeted counter terrorism operations. It set a December 15, 2008 goal for completing the process.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) said he may bring the Democratic bill back to the floor in December, but he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have asserted that Bush would not receive more war funding this year unless the president accepts Democratic withdrawal terms.

“Our troops continue to fight and die–and our treasury continues to be depleted–for a peace that we seem far more interested in achieving than Iraq’s own political leaders,” Reid said. “Our bill sets a reasonable goal for the end of combat operations. And it finally ensures that the President will be accountable to the Congress and to the people.”  Click Here to read more in the Washington Post.

Does anyone not believe that next year’s election will the dirtiest in history?  Republican McCain Smears Republican Romney in the New Hampshire Primary!

East Valley Tribune, November 16th

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s attorney general is investigating phone calls to voters that pretend to be opinion polls but then undercut presidential contender Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith - and make favorable statements about Republican rival John McCain. McCain says they’re not his doing and he wants them stopped. Romney says it’s a religious attack and “un-American.”

Western Wats, a Utah-based company, placed the calls that initially sound like a poll but then pose questions that cast Romney in a harsh light, according to people who received the calls. In politics, this type of phone surveying is called “push polling” - contacting potential voters and asking questions intended to plant a message, usually negative, rather than gauging attitudes.

Readers of these pages may remember that Western Wats is the company that was hired by Randy Graf who was then challenging Gabrielle Giffords for the congressional seat in the 2006 election.  Similar smear “polls” were conducted in Congressional District Eight involving tens of thousands of phone calls. 

A spokesman for the company would not comment on whether it made the calls. However, its client services director, Robert Maccabee, said, “Western Wats has never, currently does not, nor will it ever engage in push polling.”

The 20-minute calls started on Sunday in New Hampshire and Iowa. At least seven people in the two early voting states received the calls, some as recently as Thursday.

Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch said New Hampshire has never prosecuted a case involving such calls but was moving forward. He cautioned against expecting an immediate resolution.

Court Orders Maricopa County Attorney to Appear in Court to Justify Missing Subpeonas issued in media suppression case.

The Arizona Republic
Nov. 16, 2007 10:03 AM

A judge has ordered that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office appear at a hearing Nov. 26 regarding its investigation into the New Times.

In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Ana Baca noted that Maricopa County Attorney’s Office grand jury file did not contain the proper paperwork - including the original grand jury subpoenas, the original affidavits of service and written notations showing the date that any presentations about subpoenas were made to the grand jury.

The subpoenas, which were issued to the New Times, demanded information from reporters and information about all the readers of the publication since Jan. 1, 2004, including their Internet domain names and browsers and what other Web sites they visited before reading New Times.

The subpoenas, which were issued to the New Times, demanded information from reporters and information about all the readers of the publication since Jan. 1, 2004, including their Internet domain names and browsers and what other Web sites they visited before reading New Times.

The editors of the New Times wrote about the grand jury subpoenas and were later arrested for revealing the secret proceedings. The arrests came at the request of the office of the special prosecutor handling the case.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Republican, has since fired the special prosecutor, Dennis Wilenchik, and dropped charges against the New Times editors.

For further information, click on this link the the Phoenix New Times. Predictably they are a bit upset.

There is also an informative story in the Phoenix Examiner that speculates that the County Attorney and Sheriff Joe Arpaio  may have illegally used the secret grand jury process.

New Direction is Wanted by Democrats, 75% of Independents, and 50% of Republicans
Only One Person in Four Thinks We are On the Right Course
Sixty Percent Believe War In Iraq Was Not Worth Fighting
Meanwhile, Seven in Ten Think The Economy Stinks

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Sixty percent of all Americans strongly want the country to change direction after nearly seven years of President George W. Bush’s rule, according to a new opinion poll released late Sunday.

The survey by The Washington Post and ABC News indicated that only 24 percent of those surveyed think the nation is on the right track, and three-quarters said they want the next president to chart a different political course.

A new direction is wanted not only by Democrats, but also by three-quarters of Independents and even half of Republicans, according to the poll.

More than six in 10 called the war in Iraq not worth fighting, and nearly two-thirds gave the national economy negative marks.

Meanwhile, about seven in 10 see an economic recession as likely over the next year.

There is evidence in the new poll that the coming battle for the White House is shaping up to be another hard-fought, highly negative and closely decided contest, The Washington Post said.

At this point, Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front runner, holds the edge in hypothetical match-ups with four of the top contenders for the Republican nomination.

But her margins are far from comfortable against the two best-known Republican candidates, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Senator John McCain, The Post said.

Not one of the leading candidates in either party has a favorable rating above 51 percent in the new poll.

Twenty-eight percent said they feel strongly favorable toward Clinton, but more than a third, 35 percent, have strongly negative views of her, the survey showed.

For the fourth consecutive month, President Bush’s approval rating remains at a career low, The Post said.

The Pinal County Democrats hold their meetings at 7pm on the third Wednesday of each month in Florence. We generally gather for a dutch treat supper at about 5:30 pm at the A&M Pizza on Highway 287 west of Florence. This is great opportunity to meet and greet fellow Democrats in an informal setting. The meeting is held at the offices of the Pinal County Attorney at 31 N Pinal St. Carpooling is generally available from SaddleBrooke.

Our regular November meeting will be held Saturday, November 10th 2007. Speakers to be arranged. The meeting starts at 3:30 pm following a half hour of social interaction. As normal, the meeting will be held at the Activities Center (HOA #1) at 64518 E Galveston Lane. Following the meeting we will have a pot luck buffet at the home of one of our members. See you there!