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Campaign Tip
Technology & Politics
If you’re trying to figure out how to better use technology like blogs, web sites, e-mail, etc., in campaigns, you might want to check out the Politics and Technology blog, whose mission is to explore “how campaigns, candidates, and grassroots advocates are using the net as a communications and organizing tool.” The blog has categories on on-line advertising, use of audio/video, case studies, design & usability, e-mail strategy, grassroots organizing, and more.
News Analysis
What History Says About Mitt Romney’s Chances
By James Seaman
Most of the handicapping surrounding Mitt Romney’s presidential bid remains pure speculation. Some facts, however, can shed light on the murky presidential picture. Romney hails from the northeast and formerly served as a governor. “Big deal,” you say, “we already know that.” But these two factors present compelling historical evidence of Romney’s challenge and opportunity.
John Kennedy remains the last northeasterner and the last sitting senator to win a presidential election. How will a northeastern governor fare against a field of senators named McCain, Hegel, Clinton and Obama? Let’s take a closer look and try to understand what these factors might tell us about Mitt Romney’s chances.
For the last half century, the northeastern label has spelled doom for most presidential candidates. The demographic shift of Americans from the Northeast to the sunbelt of the South and West has fundamentally altered the nation’s political landscape. States like California and Texas have gained electoral votes at the expense of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Accompanying the migration is a tendency among non-northeasterners to view themselves as outside of the establishment. Never mind the massive federal subsidies that have helped the West grow. Westerners perceive themselves as rugged individualists with an anti-government bent. Even the Bush family, with the Yankee blood of Andover and Yale coursing thickly through its veins, has adopted the Southwest and its mentality as home. Self-perceived as independent doers, many westerners disdain what they see as the talkers and intellectual elites of the Northeast. Whether these views of self and other hold any truth is irrelevant, for perception creates reality.
(Read entire article)
Washington Watch
Cannon Wins Taxpayers Union Award
Rep. Chris Cannon wins the National Taxpayers Union's "Taxpayers' Friend Award." Says Pete Sepp, Vice President for Communications for the NTU: "When some of the toughest fiscal issues came before the House of Representatives last year, Chris Cannon put taxpayers rather than special interests first. Fewer than two dozen House Members scored as well as Congressman Cannon on NTU's Rating, a performance that proves his commitment to reducing and controlling the size of government. Utahns should be proud that Chris Cannon was looking out for their pocketbooks in 2006" (no link available to press release).
National Politics
Real Clear Politics: Polling guru Peter Brown says Republicans may take a more moderate tone in the 2008 presidential election.
Washington Post: The nation’s governors have less influence than usual in 2008 race.
Wall Street Journal: John Fund says Hillary Clinton’s biggest challenge may be voters’ aversion to “dynastic politics.”
Economy Watch
Innovation Crucial to Success
Washington Post essay by Bill Gates tells how to keep American competitive in the global economy: focus on innovation.
Trend Watch
Unstoppable Collaboration
Cass R. Sunstein writes how Wiki technology is enabling collaboration, resulting in an “unstoppable movement toward shared production of information, as diverse groups of people in multiple fields pool their knowledge and draw from each other's resources” (Washington Post).
Today in Political History
Feb. 27, 1922: The Supreme Court unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right of women to vote. (Source: NBC5.com)
Feb. 27, 1991: President George H.W. Bush declared that "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated," and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight. (Source: New York Times)
Wise Words
“Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.”
-- Sydney J. Harris, former journalist for the Chicago Sun Times & Daily News (Source: Campaigns & Elections magazine)
Podcast Watch
Peter Corroon Interview
Utah Dialogue's Ben McAdams and Charlie Luke interview SL County Mayor Peter Corroon "about his decision not to fund the Real Salt Lake soccer stadium, his goals and ambitions for the remainder of his term as mayor, and other important issues he sees facing the county."
Blog Watch
The Senate Site posts audio clips of Sens. John Valentine, Curt Bramble, Lyle Hillyard, and Pete Knudson and Rep. Brad Dee discussing "this year's historic funding for public education" (for more on the Legislature, see Utah Democratic Caucus, Paul Rolly, Under The Dome, Utah Taxpayer, Red Pills, Anderson Development Blog, and Jay's Ashram).... Utah State Democratic Party posts pictures from last week's Utah County Democratic Party honors dinner, which was held "to thank all the Democratic candidates that stepped forward and placed their name on the ballot in Utah County".... Heidi Nedreberg explains why she wants to "talk like a liberal," but "walk like a conservative".... The Seattle Times' David Postman reports that SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson is traveling to Olympia, Washington, Thursday to testify in favor of a resolution calling for the impeachment of Pres. Bush.... The American Spectator's Philip Klein says of this AP article about Mitt Romney's polygamist forebears: "When I saw this outrageous story, my first thought was that it read like an Onion parody of how absurdly overboard the media goes in digging up dirt on presidential candidates. It's hard to know whether to chalk this up to liberal bias or religious bigotry that for some reason is tolerated when Mormons are involved. ... My only hope is that the AP has gone so far overboard with this one, and utterly embarrassed itself to such a degree, that it will force the media to create some boundries as far as how they cover Romney's religous background" (see also Power Line, Hot Air, and Evangelicals for Mitt). |
