Thinning the Herd: Tommy Thompson, We Hardly Knew Ya!

The first non-event event of the presidential nominating season is over. The Iowa Straw Poll, a thinly veiled Iowa Republican party fundraiser masquerading as an election, has gone to the man who bought the most votes, mulit-millionaire Mitt Romney. He is now considered the top candidate among the lower tier of candidates, the most formidable of the future also-rans. He must be very proud. For every $35 ticket he purchased for the masses to attend the straw poll and cast a vote for him, he received at least ten times the return in free national press. Maybe the White House is for sale.

The worst news coming out of this poll is that Tommy Thompson, former two-term governor of Wisconsin, former Secretary of HHS, and godfather of welfare-to-work, is reportedly ready to fold his campaign. This is not bad news because the country will miss out on his extraordinary leadership qualities and his charismatic speaking style. We won't. It is bad news because the field for New Hampshire is getting smaller. Marra and I want to see LOTS of candidates, and every candidate who drops out makes each October campaign event a tougher ticket for us. Of course, Tommy Thompson wasn't going to draw half of McCain's crowd from a Manchester town hall meeting, but someone would attend. Now that someone will be in OUR way, as we jockey for a good seat close to the stage. People were bound to quit eventually, but we were hoping it would happen after our trip, not before.

T. Thompson isn't the first to fall. Several fell out of contention before the election season even got going. Bill Frist chickened out last year. George Allen got "macaca-ed". Tom Vilsack of Iowa practically announced and withdrew the same day. Evan Bayh and Russ Feingold decided to wait for a veep phone call rather than raise money for 2 years in a losing effort. George Pataki? That guy dropped off the map completely. All were contenders according to the pundits. Now they are all pretenders in the history books. When the story of the 2008 election is written, these names barely make the prologue.

Perhaps things will turn in our favor, and the field will expand before October 13th. Fred Thompson could replace Tommy Thompson. Newt Gingrich could bring his kinder, gentler professorial style to the race. Who knows? Maybe the Bloomburg-Hagel independent ticket will begin its exploratory committee work in time for our trip. Now that would be fun. One can always hope.

JS

The Comeback Family

I've profiled several candidates so far in this blog, but I have not yet written about the the most divisive, most highly charged, most highly anticipated candidacy this season. Let's start today.

Hillary.

That's pretty much all you need to hear, and your blood pressure goes up, either with excitement or dread. According to the polls, half of you are silently saying, "I hate her and everything she stands for" while the other half is thinking, "I can't wait til she gets in that Oval Office and fixes this mess".

After 15 years in the national spotlight, you'd think I'd have a more established opinion about her. I don't. I sometimes think I'm the only one still making up my mind about her. The reason I haven't ruled her out as a viable option - I call it "Right Wing Backlash".

When it comes to the Right's coverage of anything Hillary (or Bill for that matter), I am reminded of the Shakespeare line, "I think thou dost protest too much". Are Republicans worried that without Hillary as their 2008 general election opponent, they will have lost their most effective fundraising bell to ring - fear of Bill with power again?

I don't like some of the unfair treatment I see her getting. Recent example: I don't typically watch the cable politi-tainment shows, but I surfed past Sean Hannity interviewing a Clinton staffer. He asked this question: "Wouldn't an American victory in Iraq hurt Hillary politically?" His overt implication, and the idea he hoped to imprint on his listeners, is that Hilliary is actively engaged in sabotaging the American efforts in Iraq to secure her chances of being elected. I am an admitted cynic, but are you kidding me? Hannity asked the equivalent of the classic backhanded question, "Do you still beat your wife?", and he works for the 'fair and balanced' network. I have already had 2 friends launch preemptive strikes, letting me know that consideration of a vote for Hillary was either treasonous or plain stupid. And this is before I even raised the subject.

If this represents the early level of divisiveness that I can expect during a Clinton administration, perhaps that is enough reason to reject her candidacy. She could have great plans (not sure she does), but her odds of implementing anything meaningful while the Right distracts America with demands for Independent Counsel investigations on everything from Bill's pardons to Hillary's choice of shoes could be too much to overcome.

I will listen to her, and allow her to make her case. I will also review her actions over her past years in Washington very closely. As a good HR professional, I know that past performance is the best predictor of future behavior, so Marra and I will need to delve beyond the speeches and the public displays. We'll need to weed through the conservative hate books and the liberal love letters. We will have to look at her record, one issue at a time.

Since Hillary's money is sure to hold out for awhile, I'm sure I'll be writing again about her soon. Love her or hate her, I hope I get her picture with Marra.

JS

McCain Lost But Not Forgotten

As Zell Miller, the former governor of Georgia and Democrat in name only, shouted his invective-filled keynote revenge rant during the 2004 Republican National Convention, the party faithful on the floor screamed with approval and blood thirsty enthusiasm. Miller was reaching across the aisle with red meat anti-Kerry rhetoric and the crowd was loving it. For anyone not in the hall, however, viewing the speech from the comfort of their living couch, it was a keynote address that summed up everything the "folks" hate about the political parties in America. It was one ugly pep talk.

Immediately afterwards, NBC had Republican runner-up for the nomination, John McCain, in the booth for his reaction and comments. McCain had no time to prepare his thoughts, let alone script any remarks, between the time the speech ended and the cameras were on him. The first question: "Senator, what did you think of Zell Miller's speech?" Without hesitation, McCain replied, "I didn't care for it." He then went on to tell us that he felt that Miller's address crossed the line, and was far too personal an attack against Kerry. At that moment, I knew that our country had missed out on someone special in John McCain. In the middle of the Republican coronation party for W, when party unity isn't just a friendly suggestion but a strictly enforced requirement, when all matter of election year hyperbole is encouraged and rewarded, McCain spoke his mind (and I think the truth, too).

The media has given him up for dead this cycle. His fund raising efforts have been far below expectations, and he has purged much of his senior campaign staff in the past few months. He's flying commercial, and he isn't generating any "buzz". It looks to me like he plays better from behind anyway, and that the role of front runner doesn't complement his style or accentuate his strengths. When a man not even in the race, Fred Thompson, can poll at 13% in Iowa, that says to me that the Republican faithful are dissatisfied with their front runners, Guiliani and Romney. That is McCain's opening, and don't be surprised if he breaks through.

I want to hear him take questions while we're in NH, and that will be a priority for us. I don't always agree with McCain, and his role as The Great Compromiser in the Senate could work against him. One thing I'll say, though, is he is a leader. That's a good start. Now if he only had better hair...

JS

The Real Homework

I have debated whether or not pulling Marra from school for 4 days during October can be justified. I struggled with the thought that I am creating for her a precedent that there are good reasons to skip out on school. I can't have her throwing this back at me one day ("But Dad, remember you let me skip school that time when we..."). Yes, I plan it to be a working trip for the both of us, but it is not math and science class, and the names of the various campaign managers and staffers in NH will not be on the Virginia SOLs. So, I need some goals for the trip, specific lessons to be taught. After all, I'm supposedly one of her 2 best and most influential teachers in life...regardless of my academic qualifications.

Here's the preliminary core lesson plan:

It takes work: My children have been blessed with natural smarts, and one could coast through elementary school and some high school on that alone; however, if Marra doesn't learn that hard work is essential, she could ultimately be left behind, in school and in life. While in New Hampshire, I hope we see volunteers really working for their candidates, sweating the details - accomplishing more with their passion and effort than with their God-given brains. I hope she sees the value, if not the immediate gratification, of hard work.

Value Teamwork: The candidates may get all the glory and notoriety, but it is the inner functioning of their teams that moves a campaign forward. I want Marra to come home having experienced a real team, accomplishing more together than they could have apart.

Talk to strangers: Every parent who watches Dateline or any other of those fear factor news programs knows that kids have to be taught NOT to talk to strangers. Important lesson for kids as they grow. As Marra matures in the coming years, I want her to exercise sound judgment, yes, but I also want her to see that meeting new people in appropriate settings is a vital life skill. We must reach out and be willing to communicate with new people, and Marra needs me to model that behavior successfully.

Recognize a bullsh*t answer: Ah, this is a critical thinking skill. Marra will hear many answers to many questions during our trip. Many of those answers will bear no relationship to the question, or will allow for multiple interpretations by different listeners. I would like Marra to learn to recognize when a question is not answered (of course, this skill must remain dormant when I avoid her questions about my formative years. Don't want to freak her out.). With some coaching, perhaps she could also learn to follow up with the person when her question is not answered. How priceless would it be to have Marra get a question answered by a candidate, and then hear her say, "Thank you, but you didn't really answer my question, did you?" Can you say "You've been YouTubed!!!"

Participate in making things better: "Decisions are made by those who show up". Great quote, and I don't know the origin. I heard it on "The West Wing" (sometimes known as "The Left Wing") and it stuck for me. Marra and I will meet people motivated by their passion to make the world, or at least their part of it, better for everyone. Even those with whom we may disagree will be in New Hampshire with noble intentions (except the neo-cons), working often for no money to see that the message of their chosen leader is heard, acknowledged, and considered.

It is big world: We live in the richest country in the world, in one of the richest counties in the country. Believe me, I tell her all the time that we are not rich, but relative to the world, we are wealthy beyond imagination. There is more to this world, and while I am not ready to sign Marra up for the Peace Corps, I do want to expand her vision slightly beyond her own bedroom walls and her own possessions. Frankly, I could use that lesson, too.

I end with this quote:

"They say that these are not the best of times
But there the only times I'll ever know."
Billy Joel - "Summer, Highland Falls"

These are her times, and I hope that she will one day look back on our little excursion north and say, "I was a part of something important."

JS

News Flash: No Ethanol Questions in Iowa Today!

I begin with a brief apology - I feel I was a bit rough on the blogging community in my previous post. The crack about "would-be novelists" was uncalled for. I am learning that blogging with meanness is easier and more interesting than blogging with fairness and niceness. Good lesson. I'll edit myself more closely, but try to keep in the interesting stuff.

This morning, I enjoyed a political junkie's delight - I watched the Republican presidential candidates debate in Des Moines on ABC's "This Week" program. The delight part was that I was uninterrupted, as Cherie has taken the kids on a little trip for a few days. It's awfully quiet here without them, but the good news is it's awfully quiet around here. I am a portrait of FOCUS in their absence. I am also a portrait in LOUD in the evenings in their absence.

The debate, moderated by George Steph....olos, former wonder boy Press Secretary to Bill Clinton, began with a troubling set of stats. Troubling because they were presented at all. Before the first question was asked, George Steph...olos reviewed the latest poll standing of each candidate in Iowa. Romney leading, McCain on life support, Fred Thompson (not a declared candidate and not a participant in the debate) running at 13%, Tancredo and Tommy Thompson basically invisible. The morning's conversation, apparently, was going to be more about who's up and who's down than who has the best ideas and experience to implement those ideas. I felt that the horse race stats diminished some of the candidates before they even had a chance to open their mouths. That's a shame. It seemed to me that a first time viewer should see everyone on that stage as an equal, and perhaps form their own opinion over time. It got worse later when a commercial break in the proceedings began with the question, "Tell us who's winning the debate" at abcnews.com. More game show gimmicks for a process that shouldn't need a leaderboard posted every few minutes. It stops voters from considering all options, and funnels their interest too narrowly, too early.

For today, let's look at those candidates who said things that made me think, "What is he thinking?"

Tancredo stood by his earlier comment that we should threaten to bomb Islamic holy sites in order to deter future terrorists. Thank goodness Tommy Thompson correctly pointed out to Tancredo that if he bombed Mecca, Al Qaeda would have 1 billion new members the next day. Tancredo is not in my top 50 at this point.

Sam Brownback, the most hard core evangelical candidate for the Republicans this time around, said that if elected, he would put a judge on the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Excuse me, pretty sure that the judicial branch is supposed to be an independent body, not another department in the White House. Is he saying that any nominee for the Court would need to tell him how he/she would rule on that case before being submitted for confirmation? Are there other court cases that this judge would need to rule on for Brownback before hearing the case? I understand Brownback's cause, but sadly for him, he's running for President of the United States, and we have three branches of government. He'll need to work within the system.

Tommy Thompson vowed to cure breast cancer by the year 2015. Now, when political candidates tell me that they can cure a disease, I think we can safely say that they are overreaching, don't you think? (Unless, of course, Bill Frist says it - he can diagnose brain conditions over a TV screen, don't you know.)

Both Guiliani and Romney stated unequivocally that they "support the 2nd Amendment". I guess that begs the question, are there other Amendments that you don't support? And by the way, I believe that many gun control advocates support the 2nd Amendment as well, but they interpret the Amendment differently than the NRA. So, nice pander, but not sure that tells me anything, except that you both desperately want the NRA to like you and vote for you.

When Ron Paul, the Libertarian candidate pretending to be a Republican candidate, voiced his opinion that we need to leave Iraq now, Mitt Romney was on screen muttering, "Has he forgotten about 9-11?" Excuse me, Mitt, but can we once and for all accept the fact that the Iraq War had nothing to do with 9-11, but has over time, through repeated administration statements, become linked to those events? Al Qaeda is in Iraq because we deposed the secular leader of that country and left the doors open for the bad guys. Can we now move on to how to we repair a broken situation?

Mike Huckabee, the other Man from Hope, told us that it is time that we "end our dependence on foreign oil". Governor Moonbeam, Democrat Jerry Brown, was on this issue 30 years ago, and nothing has changed, at least not for the better. Does Huckabee mean we should focus our resources on renewable energy, including nuclear, or does he mean that we should be drilling for oil in every backyard in America, especially if you live in Alaska? Not sure, but that would be an important follow up question.

All in all, I am mostly encouraged by the crop of available candidates on both sides so far. While there is no one that has risen to the top of either Party in my view, at least 90% of the announced candidates are serious contenders with serious, well considered views...now that Gilmore is out.

I hope we meet Ron Paul in New Hampshire. I want to have lunch with THAT guy. Crazy like a fox.

JS

For Those About to Blog...

Today in Chicago, the Democratic candidates for President (7 out of 8, anyway) gathered to pay homage (and give out free promotional T-shirts) to 1,500 liberal bloggers at the Yearly Kos convention. From the little I've read, every candidate supplied the proper red meat for their blue state base, everything from universal health care to high emissions standards to promises to reverse the rotation of the earth so that the Iraq war never started. I'm glad I missed it. The political cynic in me cannot handle too much blatant pandering in one conference.

I have come to accept that one person's special interest group is another person's constituency, but the whole group of hopefuls all kowtowing to a far left agenda, all in one day in one place, to what is arguably a fringe group of frustrated, part-time, struggling would-be novelists would be too much for this Watergate Democrat. Even I think an event like that would need some "fair and balanced" ideas to keep it watchable.

(The flip side is that it's about time that the liberals found an effective way to at least begin cutting into the power of the Republican talk radio/cable news machine monopoly. Perhaps next year, the Kos convention will have 15,000 leftie attendees, all with Sean Hannity's home email address.)

Of course, I was encouraged to hear that bloggers as a group are now courted directly by the campaigns. And since I am blogging now, perhaps the various campaigns would be interested in pandering to me and my family. How about a tax break for owners of pre-1996 Volvo station wagons? For that small piece of pork, I'd be willing to post a favorable blog about Jimmy Carter's 1978 human rights agenda, or even paste on a liberal-leaning bumper sticker (how about "Your Karma Ran Over My Dogma", perhaps my favorite nonsense message of all?). I guess since candidates are all hot for bloggers now, I must ask that you please forward my web address to the candidate of your choice. Let's see if he/she will want to personally try to earn my vote. That's all I really want - to be pandered to. I am not a special interest group. I am a constituent.

I'll have to work on controlling my cynicism before I reach Manchester.

JS

It's All About the Hair

I've discussed a few Republican candidates in previous posts - Hunter, Gilmore, Guiliani, Romney - so now it's time to take a first impression look at a Dem. This time, however, I wanted to engage Marra in the process. I wanted to get the 11 year old perspective in a generic way, and I wanted to evaluate her depth of understanding of some of the issues. I needed to temper my own expectations with some realism of the fact that she is only 11. I sometimes get carried away...

The candidate selection this time was easy. Marra wanted to look more at John Edwards. As you may recall, she scored him an astonishing 10 smiley faces (and no frowny faces) for his responses during the CNN/You Tube debate last week. So her curiosity was piqued. I started her at his official website, pointed her to the link for "Issues", and I left the room. I'm trying not to hover, while I'm busting out of my skin waiting for her to slowly become engaged in all this political nonsense. Only 9 more weeks to go before the trip!

"Can I watch this video, Daddy?" she shouted from the office. "Sure", I called back. It's the candidate's website, and Edwards has small children at home. I'm not worried about content.

"Daddy, what's all this about hair?"

Great. She was watching his You Tube-style video, poking fun at his own hair and the national obsession with the price and quality of his haircuts. High level policy stuff. I explained "Hair-gate" to her as simply as possible. I made a mental note that in New Hampshire, half my time will be spent explaining the ridiculous personality dramas and minor campaign turf battles that are inflated to drive interest in cable TV programming. Not sure yet what the other half of my time will be spent doing, but we'll save that for another posting.

Marra read his introductory statement about what he wants for America - his vision statement, as it were. Her comment - "I understand all the words, but I don't know what he's saying."

I read the statement myself, and I silently agreed with her. It struck me as very much like Edwards. He was trying to make me FEEL his passion. He wants to win my vote with an emotional appeal. The guy must have been a great trial lawyer. He certainly knows the buttons to push to connect with the "folks".

"That's rhetoric, Marra." Tough concept to impart on a pre-teen. My attempt: "It's a lot of meaningful words strung together to make you think he is saying something meaningful. And it works, a lot of the time." That hurt to admit.

She liked his position on education, advocating smaller schools. I didn't break the news to her that every candidate advocates smaller schools and classroom size, and that most education decisions are made locally, not nationally. I needed to encourage her gently, not make any sudden movements and scare her away from the process. I can be patient...for now.

For me so far, Edwards is still the class warfare candidate, the one who likes to pit Rich vs. Poor, Big vs. Small. I am not sure how dividing the nation in this manner makes him the candidate best suited to bring us together. As I have said, however, I will remain objective (as long as possible).

So Marra has begun looking at candidate positions on their websites. We will crawl first, then we will walk. Like I said, we still have 9 weeks to go.

JS