Thus endeth the candidacy

Here is a portion of the email that Bill Richardson sent to his supporters after he dropped out of the Presidential race today. He didn't endorse anybody yet. Maybe that way all 3 of the remaining candidates will keep him in mind for VEEP. But I appreciate what he said about all of the other Democrats. I still think he's a class act.

Running for president brings out the best in everyone who graces the stage, and I have learned much from the other candidates running. They have all brought great talents and abilities to the campaign.

Senator Biden's passion and intellect are remarkable.

Senator Dodd is the epitome of selfless dedication to public service and the Democratic Party.

Senator Edwards is a singular voice for the most downtrodden and forgotten among us.

Senator Obama is a bright light of hope and optimism at a time of great national unease, yet he is also grounded in thoughtful wisdom beyond his years.

Senator Clinton's poise in the face of adversity is matched only by her lifetime of achievement and deep understanding of the challenges we face.

Representative Kucinich is a man of great decency and dedication who will faithfully soldier on no matter how great the odds.

And all of us in the Democratic Party owe Senator Mike Gravel our appreciation for his leadership during the national turmoil of Vietnam.

I am honored to have shared the stage with each of these Democrats. And I am enormously grateful to all of my supporters who chose to stand with me despite so many other candidates of accomplishment and potential.

Now that my time in this national campaign has come to an end, I would urge those who supported my candidacy to take a long and thoughtful look at the remaining Democrats. They are all strong contenders who each, in their own way, would bring desperately needed change to our country.

Hmmmm. what's up with THIS? A 'Dream Team?'

Richardson supporters moving to Obama camp

Posted: 10:08 PM ET

Obama and Richardson chat at Sen. Tom Harkin's Steak Fry in Iowa.(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

(CNN) — CNN’s Candy Crowley reports that supporters of Bill Richardson in Iowa are now moving over to Barack Obama as their second-choice candidate — a vital designation in the Democratic caucuses. A Clinton source tells her that “The 'Richardson thing’ is real," and that Clinton supporters in the caucuses report “people are moving en masse from Richardson to Barack Obama.”

Obama supporters dispute the reports.

Earlier Thursday, word spread that Richardson caucus goers in precincts where the former New Mexico governor was not “viable” – could not meet the required 15 percent threshold — were being urged to go with Obama as their second-choice candidate.

A Richardson spokesman told CNN that “no deal was cut between the two campaigns.”

The spokesman also said that there is a “natural overlap between Richardson and Obama supporters” on such issues as the war in Iraq and bringing change to Washington.

Wild Bill for President

It was just me and this rattlesnake out on the desert, and I won the staring contest.

Omygosh! I almost forgot, I came to Denison just so I could get my picture taken with that famous columnist and cartoonist from around here, where is that guy?

Finally, a voter with a bigger head than me!

I'm gonna miss Ted so much after Jan 3, that i think I could just cry!


Okay, so I didn't have as much luck as a photographer as I did with Obama last Spring. But I did have quite a day. 10:45 at Denison Town Hall with Governor Bill, lunch with a former mascot and a former cheerleader, both much smarter than me, and then 1:30 at the Fire House for Hillary. No, she didn't break my camera, and no I don't dislike her so much that I refuse to take her picture- my batteries just died.

Maybe next week when I have more time and I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard, I'll write about it. For now I'll just say that I'm more at ease if she HAS to get the nomination, but I am more impressed with Governor Richardson than ever, and I always have been. Still not 200% decided/committed yet- hopefully I will be by next Thursday when I go caucus.

Both were very interesting events. Richardson's may have been more what Iowa is supposed to be about, Clinton's was more of a production- but while she's no Bill Clinton, she is much better on the stump than she's been in the debates. Bill Richardson may be no Bill Clinton either, but he seems much more consistent from a town hall meeting like this to the debates to his commercials, web messages, and Sunday morning talk circuit. That may be one of the things I appreciate about him. That makes him seem genuine and makes him at least seem to have integrity.

But please, even Mike Gravel or Dennis Kucinich would be better than any of the Republican candidates out there. Dodd and Biden are every bit as good as Edwards and Obama. Hard decision, but that's a nice problem to have! Now if we could just field a decent candidate to run against Steve King for Congress!


Here are a few more candidates coming to the area between now and Caucus Day if you're interested.
Jill Biden (Wife of Joe Biden): December 28 Cronk's Cafe =12:00 Noon

Chris Dodd: December 29 Cronk's Cafe = 1:30 P.M.

John Edwards: December 30 Cronk's Cafe = 4:00 P.M.

Funny job interview commercials

The race is on

In case you didn’t know it, the 2008 Presidential race is already underway. I know, I know, it’s as bad as the stores and Christmastime. I think I saw Wal-Mart employees stocking the shelves with Halloween costumes the Monday after Easter.

In the interest of civic participation, this feature would like to present you with a number of potential candidates for your consideration- since most of them will begin visiting Iowa this summer, if they haven’t been here already.

Since they’re the current party in power, lets start with the Republicans.

The front-runner for the GOP nomination seems to be a woman named Dr. Condeleza Rice. She’s a PhD doctor, not a medical doctor. You’d think that would be a plus, but she doesn’t really seem to have a brain of her own. Her ideas, thoughts, policies, plans etc. are pretty much those of her bosses, Dick, Rummy, and the one known only as “W.”

Right-wingers will try to sell her as the historic, because she’d be both the first woman and the first Black president. But let’s face it, voting for the current Secretary of State would pretty much be voting to continue the Bush administration. With the numbers, the war, the personnel changes, all the retired generals criticisms and the price of gas- this may not be our best bet.

Next there’s Senate Majority Dr. Bill Frist. He’s a medical doctor, not a PhD and he tried to prove it when he diagnosed the late Terri Schiavo as not being in a persistent vegetative state and having plenty of brain activity by watching a few minutes of news clip video of her. Hmmm... the autopsy showed that she had very little brain left let alone brain activity.

If you believe in religious freedom, you may also not be comfortable with the fact that he participated in the whole “Justice Sunday” thing where he and televangelists railed on independent judges who refuse to set up a fundamentalist theocracy.

There’s also Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker who spearheaded the Republicans’ “Contract on America” back in the 1990’s. He pretty much invented “Talking-point memos” and gave Rush Limbaugh office space in the Capital building. Scary, isn’t it time for the pendulum to swing a little more toward the center?

Now I always used to love Senator John McCain. He’s from my home state of Arizona, he’s a Vietnam Vet, he used to be his own man, a straight shooter who’d break party ranks when it was the right thing to do. Best of all he wanted a balanced budget and to clean up campaign finance.

But alas, he has started to kiss up to the fundamentalist like “guy-smiley” Jerry Fawell and Pat Robertson. How “base” can you get?

My favorite Republican has to be Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. He’s still a deficit hawk who believes in fiscal responsibility and he’s been very skeptical of the Bush administration’s mishandling of Iraq. Unlike McCain, he seems to still be willing to stand up for what’s right, even if it means standing alone.

Now, in the interest of equal time, let’s turn to the left.

The biggest name among Democrats is still New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Okay, is she capable? Probably. Is she electable? possibly. But there are plenty of problems.

First of all, merely by being who she is, she’s divisive. There’s nothing she does or believes- all Democrats considered, she’s pretty moderate, but people vehemently hate her. Even more viscerally than her husband, and even though he was a liar and a philanderer, he was still a Rhode’s Scholar brainiac student of the law and economics.

I for one think the best way of keeping America sharply divided, keeping the wing-nuts on the extreme right angry and active, and guaranteeing that either Jeb or Prescott Bush will run for President would be to elect Hillary.

Who else is there? Well, there’s Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Centrists and even Republicans may like him. He believes in fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction. Even if it does mean, yes, rolling back the massive Bush tax cuts that benefited the richest 2% of Americans. He’s very articulate, clear, and smart. And yes, he’s a Southerner.

Hmmm. Moderate/Conservative Democrat from the South. He may have appeal.

Don’t forget Former Vice President Al Gore and former Vice Presidential Candidate North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Handsome Southern gentlemen both, but these two are probably more aggressively progressive and have lots of creative ideas for things like health care, education, and tax reform.

Bringing up the rear; New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, former Clinton Secretary of Energy. Hmmm, what was that about working toward not being dependent on foreign oil that President Bush mentioned in his State of the Union Address?

Oh yeah, did I mention that he’d be the first Hispanic President?

Finally may I introduce Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold. He co-sponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“McCain-Feingold Bill”). He is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. He actually voted against the Iraq War Resolution and yet voted in favor of funding to support our troops.