Meet Chet Edwards, US Congressman from the TX 17th district which includes Crawford, TX.
I taped his remarks to a crowd at the VFW post in Manchester just last Sunday.
He was stumping in NH with Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) and the focus of the day was vet issues.
Edwards is extremely knowledgeable on Vet issues and a tireless champion for their interests, our interests, in the Congress.
The two have become fast friends in DC as Congressman Edwards, Carol's new BFF down there, is the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and VA (MILCON/VA) and she's trying to get either a full service VA hospital in NH which is currently the only state in the country without one or equivalent care in communities for the state's 130K plus vet residents.
On Monday I attended an Edwards event at Exeter Town Hall in NH. It was NH Retail at its very best.
The Edwards stump has taken a major step forward since I saw him two weeks ago, the content has changed and the tone has shifted to that of an urgency in his current speech. The distinctions are now razor sharp between John Edwards and the rest of the field, "you have choices in this election and you need to be aware of them." The reality of where we are as a country today and the vision for where we all want to be as a people are now painted in excruciating and moving detail on one issue after another: universal health care; corruption; disenfranchisement of the citizenry; economic fairness; our two unequal school systems; global warming and conservation the list goes on ...
And it's only about 23 minutes so you can imagine, man. Follow me below the fold for the full video and the antidote.
Last Sunday evening at the end of a long, hot, winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour of NH. They were greeted by well over a thousand people at a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth NH.
His remarks were sharp, clear and passionately delivered to an enthusiastic crowd.
He threw down the gauntlet on universal health care in the field and challenged the entire Democratic party on financing campaigns through lobbyist money. He presented the voters in attendance not only with his vision for change in this country, but he gave us a very clear picture of the kind of America that he wants us to create together. The grassroots are not only central to the campaign in this vision, but they need to be central going forward from January 20, 2009.
The full Q and A is now posted also: click here to see all of that tape.
On Saturday, I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process.
Overflow crowds and running behind schedule were the order of the day. Edwards only had time to take a few questions at the end of his remarks. They are presented here in Part Two. If you're going to an event in NH, for a Democrat, then you'd better plan to get there early. All the passion and attention seems to be on our side this time. Thank God that at least "some people" know what the GOP is doing to our country these days.
Part One of this vlog covers the remarks and makes the case that the Edwards message is a populist message that we, as a party, can be proud of and one that is long overdue. I don't think that any other candidate in this race deserves the mantle of progressive populist the way the Edwards does. That's why I support his candidacy for President.
I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH on Saturday. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process. The media is certainly not capable of any meaningful discussion of the issues in this campaign and they will not be reformed in time for the primaries. Nary a patriot in the DC press corps.
Before the event started I heard some of the Edwards advance people talking about the overflow crowds they had seen at the stops all day long. He had done a bunch of house parties that were packed with 200 to 300 people. The Epping event left about 100 people standing out on the lawn under threatening skies. In this clip posted by the campaign at YouTube he's talking to an overflow crowd - in a garage in Nashua.
If you're going to an event in NH, for a Democrat, then you'd better plan to get there early. All the passion and attention seems to be on our side this time. Thank God that at least "some people" know what the GOP is doing to our country these days.
Giuliani 48%, Clinton 42%
Giuliani 44%, Obama 42%
Giuliani 45%, Gore 42%
McCain 40%, Clinton 47%
McCain 38%, Obama 46%
McCain 41%, Gore 45%
"Connecticut voters credit New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for his role in the 9/11 recovery," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D.
"This follows the pattern of another neighboring state, New Jersey, where Quinnipiac University polls show Giuliani running strong," Schwartz added.
(Video coverage and transcript of a Ned event in New Hampshire... thanks, mbair -- and hello to any granite-staters visiting MLN for the first time here! - promoted by mattw)
I went to a NH meet and greet with Ned Lamont appearing on behalf of Chris Dodd for President. It was old school Granite State grassroots with about 30 people attending an open discussion of current events in a lovely private home.
Ned came to discuss why he thinks that Dodd is the best choice for the nominee and why he thinks the NH voters should give Dodd "a fair shot," but Lamont also spoke for himself on issues ranging from Iraq to hedge funds and gave some very funny and illuminating remarks on his race for Senate in Connecticut last year.
Lamont was very relaxed and charming as it was an informal setting and he came across as genuine. He didn't have an answer from Dodd on every question posed, but he did answer our questions directly and engaged us all in that living room Sunday night in Portsmouth, NH.
Follow me below the fold for all the video of the remarks and the Q & A.
I just got an e-mail from DFNH about Ned Lamont coming to Portsmouth for a meet and greet. He'll be speaking "on behalf of Chris Dodd."
Anyone else planning on attending? I think I'm going. It's not on the DFNH website yet and I don't think that Dodd will be there but it looks interesting.
Last Monday night I attended a Town Hall meeting on the UNH campus in Durham, NH. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards were there to talk and take questions from a group of about 500 attendees. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) was there and received a very warm reception from all in attendance. When I left she was in a circle of at least 15 kids discussing her current work in DC as the US Rep from their district.
The questions were tough, but I think fair. This is NH after all and these voters are very savvy to say the least. They were there to hear the candidate speak, but they also had a lot to say to the Edwardses and those that asked a question generally conveyed their concerns in doing so.
Most people do not want to speak on camera at all and as I canvassed the crowd before the event I told many of those on line that I do this because I don't think the media gets it right, everyone agreed.
I wanted to say a few words about primaries, since there's been much talk surrounding the potential for multiple candidates in the 4th CD in 2008.
Generally speaking, I think primaries are an unalloyed good for the Democratic party. Not only do primaries allow everyone to have a say in the direction of the party, but a contest for the nomination provides voters with an early glimpse of a candidate's ability to satisfy the diverse interests in the city, district, or state where the election is being held – and provides some evidence that the candidate has the ability to actually win an election besides.
Al Gore's '00 campaign, where Bill Bradley gave him a good stiff challenge for the nomination, is a perfect example. Bradley made the traditionally cautious Gore shake off the cobwebs and display some vigor before facing a right-wing smear machine and a dismissive press. I don't mean to make everyone relive the race, suffice to say that if Gore got to walk to the nomination, it would have been supremely unlikely that he would have won the popular vote.
It may be that primaries are more attractive to progressives in the party: the progressive wing of the Democratic party fought for decades to get an "open primary" system in Connecticut, and I was struck by the extent to which the Caucus of Connecticut Democrats' early platform materials leaned on this point from the very start of the organization. That organization's membership wound up in influential legislative positions in Connecticut, and only in the last couple of years could a candidate get onto the primary ballot by collecting signatures (potentially working around a traditionally unified party leadership.)
Curiously, we have Joe Lieberman to thank in part for making primaries possible through his early advocacy work as co-founder of CCD, even though he probably doesn't think it was such a hot idea in retrospect.
Moving on to the situation in the 4th CD specifically, the fact that Jim Himes is from Greenwich, was an early supporter of Ned Lamont, and has been getting a lot of love in the blogosphere lately – while Mike Richter's higher-profile backers worked to promote Lieberman before the August '06 primary – could lead a casual observer to view a potential 4th CD primary as another exhausting round of last year's political battles.
However, this would be lazy thinking, and 1000 raps on the knuckles to the first reporter to trot that storyline out for public consumption. Here's a couple of reasons why:
First, the 2008 cycle will see a pivoting of alliances within the party from the old Lieberman-Lamont axis (or Malloy-Destefano axis) to, it would seem, Malloy and Blumenthal camps, as the two suit up for the 2010 gubernatorial race. (Yes, already.) I know I don't have a pony in that race, and I don't get the sense that too many other bloggers are eager to choose sides either.
Secondly, once Lieberman comes to campaign for Shays (and he's done as much as a politician can in public statements to promise that he will), there won't be any "Lieberman-Lamont" dynamic in the Connecticut Democratic party. By the 2008 election, there will be a much healthier consensus regarding support for the party's nominees, and Lieberman will be effectively neutralized in state political circles.
Finally, and pardon my speaking for the blogosphere generally, we're political junkies who want detail on potential candidates, and we're thrilled to see any candidate make serious preparations to run.
Since it seems that "polarization" is the default narrative for anything we blogger types participate in, it bears mentioning that bloggers are much like anyone else: we like access, engagement, expertise, and a willingness on the part of our candidates to fight for our interests publicly. In that regard, bloggers aren't any different from the party leadership, and it's both early and inappropriate to be "closing ranks" (even though we're all going to pick favorites at some point or another.)
I write all this because I'm expecting that the call for "party unity around X" will arise in short order from various quarters, and I think it's important to note that having a discussion about our priorities is essential to maintaining a diverse, evolving party that changes with the times, and its active membership. If we have a public debate about who should take on Shays in 2008, it won't be a rehash of the 2006 campaign, but rather, a step en route to whatever the party is becoming. And neither the bloggers nor the insiders have a monopoly on that.
A total of 23 states may hold primaries on February 5, 2008. By the end of the day as many as 50% of the delegates will have been chosen. The end of the long primary season is changing the game plans of all candidates as they figure out how to put their resources into the larger delegate rich states and to assess if Iowa and New Hampshire will have as much impact as they had in the past.
The presidential primary system as we have known it for 35 years is dead. History books will record that the era that began with the Democratic National Committee's post-1968 reforms ended Aug. 19, 2006 at the hands of the very same DNC.
The Nation is reporting that Ned Lamont will support the Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. Chris Dodd. Lamont was popular with the netroots which is an area of support that Dodd hopes to cultivate.
Over at MyDD, there's a little discussion going on about the merits of having a primary challenge against Senator Max Baucus (D-MT). It's been noted that he's no friend to Democrats on many domestic issues. You know it's bad when even The New Republic thinks that Baucus is a sellout:
If you look closely enough at recent domestic policy debacles, you'll invariably see his fingerprints. Facing George W. Bush's massive tax-cut proposal in 2001, Baucus undermined the Senate Democrats' strategy of forcing concessions by maintaining a united front. In private negotiations with his GOP counterpart, Chuck Grassley, Baucus produced a bill that handed the White House virtually all of its top priorities. Afterward, he boasted that he'd done Democrats a favor, since they "would have been in trouble in 2002 just saying no to every one of the president's proposals." We shudder to think what might have happened had the Democrats been labeled "obstructionist."
Then there was the 2003 Medicare debate. Baucus, true to his method, agreed to a set of procedural conditions that undermined Democratic unity and preordained a disastrous outcome. Then he used the little authority he retained to--how to put it?--give away the store. In addition to agreeing to Health Savings Accounts--a gambit that he had once condemned as irresponsible--Baucus assented to a provision preventing Medicare from negotiating discounts with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Baucus and his defenders--alternately known as his press office--make two arguments on his behalf. The first is that Baucus is simply doing what he needs to do to get reelected. (This argument usually masquerades behind the mantra of doing what's best for the "people of Montana.") But, unless the way to get ahead in Montana is to insist on overcharging Medicare patients by billions of dollars, the senator has been going far above and beyond the call of duty.
On Monday I attended an Edwards event at Exeter Town Hall in NH. It was NH Retail at its very best.
Last Sunday evening at the end of a long, hot, winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour of NH. They were greeted by well over a thousand people at a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth NH.
On Saturday, I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process.
I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH on Saturday. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process. The media is certainly not capable of any meaningful discussion of the issues in this campaign and they will not be reformed in time for the primaries. Nary a patriot in the DC press corps.
cross-posted at 
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