There have been a bunch of great posts by Tracy Joan and others about taking off Election Day and working the polls or a campaign.  I am fortunate to be doing that but many people can't.  However that does not mean your help is not needed on Election Day.  Please help your local candidates even if it is for a few hours before and after work.  I have never been involved with a campaign that had too many volunteers.  They can always use more.  

Here are some of the things you can do part time on Election Day :

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This scandal keeps getting worse.  After the incident was brought to the leadership's attention, Cong John Shimkus, the Chair of the Page Board, apparently interviewed Mark Foley without Cong Dale Kildee, the lone Dem representative on the board, present.  Clearly the intent was not to really address the problem but instead to sweep it under the rug.  

Additionally, pages were warned about Foley's behavior and told to avoid him.   Rather than getting the guy out of Congress, you tell high students to avoid him.  Unbelievable.

Majority Leader John Boehner, who doesn't get along with Hastert, just shoved him under the bus by saying he inquired about the matter and was told "we're taking care of it." So this is taking care of it?  A private meeting without the full page board in the room instead of launching an inquiry.  It is the responsibility of the leadership to look out for the well being of these pages but I guess keeping loyal votes is more important.  So glad our current Congressional leadership practices the "family values" it preaches.

TIME FOR REGIME CHANGE IN CONGRESS!!

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I just read a piece in Washington Monthly (link below) that makes my blood boil.  Basically, numerous senior Dem members of the House, the exact people who stand to gain from a Dem majority, are doing nothing to help us get one.  They are behind in their DCCC dues and are barely participating in the Red to Blue campaign.  See the link below.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_08/009341.php

The two most egregious examples are John Conyers, who would chair the House Judiciary Committee and Pete Stark, who would chair the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.  These are extremely important and powerful positions and yet these two seem to be doing nothing to help make this happen.  It should be noted that neither have serious races and both have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash on hand (see chart in article above).  These guys are both good on issues but this type of behavior is unacceptable when we are fighting to have a bulkwork against the Bush Admin.

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I just read a piece in Washington Monthly (link below) that makes my blood boil.  Basically, numerous senior Dem members of the House, the exact people who stand to gain from a Dem majority, are doing nothing to help us get one.  They are behind in their DCCC dues and are barely participating in the Red to Blue campaign.  See the link below.  

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archive s/individual/2006_08/009341.php

The two most egregious examples are John Conyers, who would chair the House Judiciary COmmittee and Pete Stark, who would chair the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.  THese are extremely important and powerful positions and yet these two seem to be doing nothing to help make this happen.  It should be noted that neither have serious races and both have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash on hand (see chart in article above).  These guys are both good on issues but this type of behavior is unacceptable when we are fighting to have a bulkwork against the Bush Admin.

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I read Chris Bowers Breaking Blue post on where Senators fall on Lamont-Lieberman with shock.  First of all, no Dem Senator should be backing Lieberman this fall whether or not he is a friend.  Once you lose the Dem nomination, you have to be cut lose.  To their credit, most prominent Senate Dems have done so.

I was stunned to see Salazar and Pryor's name on this list because both are so junior.  Carper is secure in his seat and a marches to his own drummer unfortunately.  This is a problem because backing from these members continues the falicy in Lieberman's mind that he is still viable and complicates efforts to get him to drop his independent bid.  The best thing for Dems is for Joe Lieberman to accept the primary results and move on.

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A new book coming out about Rudy Giuliani apparently has pretty harsh and valid criticism of Rudy's preparation for and handling of 9/11.  One of the biggest observations made by Ray Kelly, NY Police Commissioner for both Mayors Dinkins and Bloomberg, is the ill fated decision to locate the Emergency Command Center in 7 World Trade Center, right across from the mainly WTC site.  Considering the 1993 attack, that was an extremely  dumb decision and had an impact in dealing with the events of that day.  

Kelly also thinks Bernard Kerik should have been at a command center that day not following Rudy around.

Below is the link the NY Daily News article.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/4 42237p-372477c.html

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I know everyone is focusing on Lamont-Lieberman but the Repubs were just let down by one of their own, Antonin Scalia, who denied their stay on the Circuit Court decision regarding DeLay getting off the ballot.  DeLay must run for re-election or there will be no Repub candidate.  There is a good chance Nick Lampson will be returning to Congress.  Read more about it in the story below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060807/ap_o n_el_ho/scotus_delay_s_replacement_5

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I saw Mark Warner last week at DL21C in New York for the first time since 1996 when I lived in Virginia.  He was everything I remembered and more.  He was substantive, funny and charismatic.  I am not sure where he got the reputation of being stiff and dull but I have never found him to be either.

The reason I am supporting Warner is the message he is enunciating.  His overall theme is that America is a great country but we are losing the things that made it great and we are at an important crossroads.  He discussed how if we work together and sacrifice together when necessary we can get the things done we need to maintain our status as a world leader.  He talked at length about the need to restore America's reputation in the world, to provide a fair and level playing field for all Americans and to give people the tools they need to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.  

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Matt had an excellent post this morning on the CBC defense of William Jefferson.  I admire Nancy Pelosi for addressing the corruption issue head on and think she is absolutely correct on the merits.  However, she has screwed up the politics of this issue by treating Jefferson differently than Alan Mollohan.

Jefferson and Mollohan are basically under investigation for the same thing - selling their offices to enrich themselves.  I know the argument about the video tape of Jefferson and the marked bills in his home.  I also know the Mollohan argument that he made his money in a hyped up real estate market and is being railroaded.  From the evidence leaked to the press it appears Jefferson has been caught red handed.  The Mollohan investigation is more complicated and could bring out that he was doing the same thing as Jefferson just in a sophisticated manner.   We have no idea.  What we do know is that neither has been indicted yet but Jefferson is being asked to give up a seat on Ways and Means while Mollohan gets to keep his seat on Appropriations.

What should Pelosi have done?  Rather than addressing this problem on an individual basis, she should have proposed a change to the House Dem Caucus rules.  The current rules require any member of the leadership or committee chair/ranking member to step aside temporarily if they are indicted of a crime for which there is a prison sentence of two or more years.  Once the legal proceeding is completed and if the member is found not guilty he/she is free to reassume this position.  This rule should be extended to all committee positions.  While a member is under indictment, he or she should relinquish their spot on all committees until the completion of the legal proceedings.  If the member is found not guilty, they receive their committee assignments back with full seniority.  

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I just finished reading the NY Times article on The War on Contraception and must admit it was one of the most frightening things I have read in a long, long time.  I am not much of a moralist and have no problem with consenting adults having sex outside of marriage.  However, as a recently married person I had a whole new reaction to this article - HOLY CRAP THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT WANTS TO TELL ME AND MY WIFE HOW MANY KIDS WE SHOULD HAVE AND WHEN WE SHOULD HAVE THEM.  In their world, we should have lots and have them immediately.

We both love kids and want to have them, but we want to make the decision on the right time and the number of children we want.  The wonderful thing about living in the 21st Century is that the technology exists that allows us to do this.  IT USED TO BE CALLED FAMILY PLANNING.

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