Question of the Day

Rocky, Ralph and Jim

Former SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson is participating with independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader at a campaign event tonight (7:30, Libby Gardner Hall, 1375 E. Presidents Circle, U. of U.) and apparently supports Nader’s presidential quest. Many Democrats are mad at Nader for running, fearing he could be a spoiler who hurts presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s chances if the presidential race is tight.

 So let’s project a few years into the future and assume that the Republican Legislature after the 2010 Census carves out a highly-liberal, highly-Democratic congressional district comprised mostly of Salt Lake City and the liberal portions of Summit County. Given the fact that Anderson is snubbing the Democratic Party this year, can he win the Democratic nomination for Congress in 2012? And if it’s Rocky Anderson vs. blue-dog moderate Jim Matheson, who wins the nomination in that district?

Utah Priorities Project

Research Reports on Key Utah Issues

By David Newell, Research Analyst, Utah Foundation

Utah Foundation’s Utah Priorities Project is well underway, with additional research reports on the remaining top ten issues of concern for Utahns to be released in the late summer and early fall. These issues include immigration, crime, water, education (teacher quality), healthcare, transportation, and environmental issues.

However, if you want to get up-to-date on the issues that voters care about most, you don’t have to wait; Utah Foundation has already published research reports and briefs on other top issues, including Utah's energy situation and gas prices, per pupil spending, Utahns' incomes, state government spending, and Utah's housing situation.

This research has produced information critical for candidates running for state and local office, as well as for citizens and anyone who wants to be informed about issues affecting our state. For example, the report on energy and gas prices concluded that, while Utah has enjoyed some price and supply advantages compared to the rest of the nation, a strategic view of energy is needed to ensure that we maintain some of our comparative advantage. Also, the brief on Utah wages concluded that Utahns perhaps don’t earn as little, compared to the rest of the nation, as has previously been thought. The brief on housing revealed that there is a shortage of housing in Utah that is affordable for those making the median wage. Check out these reports and others here.

CPPA Newsletter Looks at Work Week

In the latest Policy Perspectives newsletter, published by the U. of U.’s Center for Public Policy & Administration, David Patton takes a look at the four-day work week. Other articles cover topics ranging from changes in philanthropy, to the need for regulatory changes to reduce fraud in charitable giving, to a look at new approaches to limiting judgments in medical malpractice cases.

How to Ride the Bus (or Train)

Tired of spending $80 to fill up the gas tank but scared of public transit? Read this insightful and informative Daily Herald editorial to learn how to navigate  the system. See also Tribune and Deseret News stories on rising UTA fare costs.

Washington Watch

Jason Chaffetz Profiled
NPR  profiles 3rd District GOP candidate Jason Chaffetz (scroll down).

Bishop Touts New Survey
Rep. Rob Bishop announces "a new online survey that will allow school officials, parents, teachers, and community members to share their stories of how high energy prices are impacting Utah's schools. The Back to School Energy Survey, posted on the Republican portion of the House Education and Labor Committee website, will gather critical information about how schools are coping with rising fuel costs. It will also give Congress valuable information and an important new resource as it works to respond to America's growing energy crisis" (see press release).

Today in Political History

July 31, 1875:  Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, dies in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66.

July 31, 1914:  The New York Stock Exchange closes due to the outbreak of World War I. Trading didn't resume until December.

July 31, 1953:  Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican," dies at age 63.

(Source:  NY Times) 

Wise Words

“There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader.”

-- Rudy Giuliani  (Source:  Woopidoo) 

Utah Political History

Democrats Win in 1932 Utah, tormented by the Great Depression, turned its back on Republican politicians, voting what was in effect a recall of Herbert Hoover and Reed Smoot in an election that had the appearance of wholehearted support for Democratic candidates, especially Franklin D. Roosevelt and his promise of a "New Deal" for the American people. Both presidential candidates made visits to Utah, Roosevelt in mid-September, and Herbert Hoover the day before the election, when he gave a major address in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Roosevelt won with 116,750 votes compared to 84,513 for incumbent Herbert Hoover. Hoover had won Utah in 1928; he received 10,000 fewer votes in 1932 than he had in 1928. Roosevelt, with his 58 percent of the vote, received more than 35,000 votes more than had Alfred E. Smith in 1928.

Utah's support for change was also evident in the defeat of five-term Republican Senator Reed Smoot by University of Utah science professor Elbert Thomas -- also by a 58 percent margin: 116,909 to 86,066. Smoot, an apostle in the Mormon Church, was first elected to the United States Senate in 1903 and had been the leading force in Utah Republican party politics for three decades.  (Source:  Utah.Edu) 

National Politics

Best Stories From . . .

-- Denver Post: "As Republican presidential candidate John McCain weighs his running-mate options, political experts say Mitt Romney would energize fundraising and generate the most enthusiasm in the Rocky Mountain West. Speculation that Romney ... tops McCain's vice-presidential list has burgeoned in recent weeks as voters rated the economy their No. 1 concern."
 
-- TIME: "So, does he double down -- or does he compensate? That's the stark choice facing Barack Obama as he ponders whom to tap in the next few weeks as his running mate. ... Does Obama counterbalance his relative inexperience in general, and in foreign policy and defense matters in particular, and go with a trusted old-timer or pick a fresh face, someone who can pose as an agent of change, a relative newcomer just like himself?"

-- Slate: Columnist Jack Shafer explains "why nothing the press throws at Obama sticks."

-- Washington Post: "Ted Stevens's indictment [Tuesday] could not have occurred at a more politically inopportune time for the senator from Alaska or for his fellow Republicans. ... [S]ome Republican strategists in Washington expressed concern that his legal troubles ... could move the Democrats closer to achieving a 60-seat majority in the Senate. 'We've had nothing but challenges all the way through, so what else is new?' said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), who was tapped earlier this year as a lead fundraiser for the National Republican Senatorial Committee."

Blog Watch

-- At Salt Blog, Eric S. Peterson says of this Holly Mullen post criticizing Rep. Jim Matheson for being a moderate Blue Dog Democrat: "[D]o we really want to eliminate Intra-party diversity? Do we just want our politics to come in two flavors: straight up republican and democrat? ... For having grown up with a retired sheet metal working dad who was very much pro-labor and who used to write 'IMPEACH REAGAN' on dollar bills but now still supports the war on terror, I have to say there is diversity within the party that some tend to forget too easily. If you ask me, the blue we democrats represent comes from a blue collar and I think its unfortunate that for some liberals the only blue-collar they know of is the upturned one they wear on their Ralph Lauren Polo shirts while they bitch over iced-lattes about all the boorish states inbetween the coasts."

Lighter Side

Best of Late Night Humor

Craig Ferguson: Obama was in Germany [last week], and 200,000 people showed up. There was so many Germans shouting and screaming that France surrendered just in case. 

David Letterman: From the “Top Ten Signs Barack Obama is Overconfident”: Proposed bill to change Oklahoma to “Oklobama”; Offered Bush 20 bucks for the “Mission Accomplished” banner; Asked guy at Staples, “Which chair will work best in an oval-shaped office?”; The affair with Barbara Walters; Having head measured for Mount Rushmore; He’s voting for Nader; Offered McCain a job in gift shop at Obama Presidential Library; Been cruising for chicks with John Edwards. 

Jay Leno: Barack Obama is back from his big European tour. Did you see him in Europe? People were cheering him, holding up signs, blowing him kisses. And that was just the American media covering the story. ... Barack Obama was on “Meet the Press” Sunday. John McCain was on a new show called, “I Wish I Could Meet the Press.” ... Polls show Obama more popular than McCain in Germany, France, and Great Britain. However, McCain leads in Mesopotamia, Gaul and the Holy Roman Empire. So, it’s pretty balanced. ... In world news, I guess you’ve heard Barack Obama [was] elected Chancellor of Germany. ... You can tell the French are still a little gun shy. After speaking in front of 200,000 Germans, when Obama arrived in France, they said, “You came alone, right?” ... You know, they said on the news earlier [this week] that this political campaign has only 100 days left. Only! Anybody complaining that this thing was dragging out? ... I don’t know what’s less likely, Barack Obama getting enough experience in 100 days, or John McCain living another 100 days. ... The National Enquirer caught former presidential candidate John Edwards sneaking out of his girlfriend’s hotel room at the 2:40 in the morning. See, Edwards got caught ‘cause the reporters were there waiting for him...[I]f Edwards didn’t want to get caught, he should have met this woman at the hotel where John McCain was staying. There are no reporters. ... If this story turns out to be true, there go his chances at becoming vice president. He could still be governor of New York. ... And in Puerto Rico, it [was] Constitution Day [Friday]. So, that’s where the Constitution went. I knew we weren’t using it anymore. (Patriot Post)