George Bush is unelectable. That's our opinion and we're sticking to it. Pass it on. So that when people go to google and search for "unelectable," guess what will come up. It's not there yet, but remember " miserable failure "--it doesn't take long.

Update: check this out.

Diebold shows its true colors again. Via Cursor:

Internal Diebold e-mail recommends charging Maryland "out the yin-yang" if the state requires the company to add paper printouts to the $73 million voting system it purchased.

Taegan Goddard of Political Wire gives three good reasons why those forecasting a McGovern-type loss for Howard Dean (or whoever becomes the Democratic nominee) are wrong. Goddard explains why it will be a close race.

Say hello to Color of Money:

Today Public Campaign launched it's new interactive website. It allows users to conduct their own research on campaign money, race/ethnicity, and income in their own communities, looking up information about their state, city, and zip code, as well as viewing color maps of the 25 top contributing metropolitan areas nationwide.

Along with the website, a 34 page study was released that shows a dramatic disparity between America's diverse population and the small number of people who finance political campaigns: nine out of ten dollars contributed by individuals to federal campaigns and parties (of contributions more than $200) in the 2000 and 2002 elections come from majority non-Hispanic white zip codes, yet nearly one out of three Americans is a person of color. Eighty-five percent of the campaign contributions studied were "hard money" contributions, untouched by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday to hold up the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act ban on "soft money" contributed to political parties. A PDF version of the study can be downloaded from here.

ABC News has pulled its reporters from the Kucinich, Sharpton and Mosely Braun campaigns, according to this Kucinich press release:

This appears to be another instance of what Kucinich criticized at the debate, namely the media trying to pick candidates, rather than letting the voters do so. In a democracy, it should be voters and not pundits or TV networks who narrow the field of candidates.

This move, before any state's caucus or primary, appears based on a belief that viable candidates can be predicted 11 months prior to an election, a belief that flies in the face of the historical record. Time and again candidates dismissed as "fringe" have wound up either with the nomination or with a significant impact on the convention and in the primaries.

This action by ABC, as well as Koppel's comments during the debate, can only serve to disempower Americans, communicating to them that someone other than they is deciding elections and that their votes don't mean much.

He's right of course. This is still a nine person race. Let the people decide, not the media, pollsters, campaign strategists, pundits and endorsers. We'll make up our own minds, and we want to hear what these candidates have to say.

Andrew Young, a civil rights "trailblazer" will endorse Wesley Clark on Dec. 21 in South Carolina:

Young's ties to the glory days of the civil rights movement may help Clark, a neophyte to American politics, in the black communities.

About half of all Democratic voters in South Carolina are black. Minorities play major roles in several other primary and caucus states, including New Mexico, Michigan and Arizona.

Some background on Andrew Young:

Young, 71, was a congressman, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Atlanta's mayor for two terms and a gubernatorial candidate in 1990, losing to Zell Miller in a primary runoff. Young's rise to prominence began in the civil rights struggle, when he was a top lieutenant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. His election to Congress in 1972 made him the first black elected to Congress from Georgia since Reconstruction.

Bump and Update: Gavin Newsom won the Mayor's race in San Francisco. But Matt Gonzalez made a great showing, losing by only 5 points. See below for vote numbers as they came in:

With 100% of the vote in:

GAVIN NEWSOM . . . . . . . . . 118,651 52.57%
MATT GONZALEZ . . . . . . . . . 107,030 47.43%

Actually, Gonzalez did incredibly well considering that Newsom spent $4 million on the campaign, outspending Gonzalez by 10 to 1. And that Bill Clinton came to town yesterday to stump for Newsom.

****************
original post 8:06 pm

Official results for the San Francisco Mayor's race between Democrat Gavin Newsom and Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez (see Left vs. Left) will be available here beginning at 8:00 pm PST.

Results in the District Attorneys' race will also be posted on the site.

Update: 97% of the vote in,
GAVIN NEWSOM . . . . . . . . . 115,859 52.41
MATT GONZALEZ . . . . . . . . . 105,223 47.59

Update: 9:00 pm results with 86% of the vote counted:

Did Howard Dean make another gaffe today in the e-mail he sent out to supporters announcing Al Gore's support? Here's the line at issue:

And I look forward to January 20th, 2005, when we follow the example of another great Tennessean, Andrew Jackson -- we will throw open the doors to the White House and let the American people back in.

Andrew Jackson, a great Tennessean? Not according to J. M. Branum, a law student and Kucinich supporter who authors the JMBZine blog:

No, Andrew Jackson was not a great Tennessean, but rather was a very dangerous man who did some horrible things in our history. My own ancestors (the Cherokee) were sent on the genocidal "Trail of Tears" by Jackson, despite the fact that the Cherokee had won their case in the US Supreme Court. Jackson defied the rule of law and prevailed in doing so. Those who suffered were the thousands of American Indians who died during the removals to Indian Territory in the west.

Jackson is no hero in my book and I'm disappointed that Dean thinks he is worthy of praise.

President Andrew Jackson authorized the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Here's more on the Trail of Tears.

Here's a short paragraph from an 1830 Jackson speech on the Act:

Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark said today in New Hampshire that he has not ruled out Hillary Clinton as a VP candidate.

We don't think it will happen. Hillary has repeatedly said she will serve out her six year Senate term.

Meanwhile, Clark has picked up an endorsement from Kris Kristofferson, who sent the campaign an e-mail saying:

"Just when the world is being dragged into the death spiral of an unending cycle of violence by a vision-less, coldblooded collection of think-tank warriors goose-stepping their way into the new millennium with a stunning lack of respect for human rights, the environment, or international law, along comes a man with the proven credentials of intelligence, integrity, and courage singularly equipped by his spirit and experience to lead us out of this mess. Don't listen to what the lying liars say about him; listen to what he says. Wesley Clark is a prayer answered."

Today is election day in San Francisco for Mayor. It's liberal Democrat establishment candidate Gavin Newsom vs. progressive Green party candidate (and former Democrat and public defender) Matt Gonzales. Gavin is heavily favored, having the support of outgoing mayor Willie Brown, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and the San Francisco Chronicle. Clinton was in SF yesterday, stumping for Gavin.

We think Matt Gonzales will make a respectable showing. The San Franisco Chronicle recently ran its Editorial Board interview with Gonzales.

While both candidates are progressive, Gonzales is more so. The AP puts it this way:

The candidates have such similar positions that both would be considered liberals in almost any city outside California. But in this race, which has hinged as much on looks and lifestyles as their approaches to homelessness and economic development, Newsom has been cast as a Republican in liberal's clothing, Gonzalez the fringe spoiler.

Gonzales put it this way:

"It will be a test of who turns out to vote," said Gonzalez, whose campaign has attracted a mix of college students, unemployed dot-commers, artists and activists old enough to remember the 1960s.

"You have to give us some props for putting this thing together and bringing it to this place," Gonzalez told reporters Monday. "We've assaulted the traditional ideas of politics."

Check out John Nichols' OnLine Beat in The Nation discussing the race. And here's a list of bloggers for Matt.

If you're looking for enlightenment about the death penalty from this year's crop of Democratic presidential contenders, you're unlikely to find it. Only Kucinich, Sharpton and Mosely Braun oppose it. This article in the Boston Globe traces the other six candidates' evolving positions on capital punishment--three, Dean, Lieberman and Edwards, have moved from opposing it to supporting it--at least in limited situations.

The article traces the shift first to 1988 and the disasterous Michael Dukakis bid for President:

In 1988, Dukakis's stock crashed after he was asked whether he would favor the death penalty if his wife was raped and murdered. He replied with detachment: "I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime. We've done so in my own state." He went on to lose 40 states to George H. W. Bush.

The 1992 emergence of Bill Clinton, who supported the death penalty, was another factor. Here are the shifts among the major candidates:

It's official. Al Gore has endorsed Howard Dean for President:

Gore said Dean "really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grass-roots level all over the country." He said the former Vermont governor also was the only Democratic candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war.

"Our country has been weakened in its ability to fight the war against terror because of the catastrophic mistake the Bush administration made in taking us into war in Iraq," Gore said.

Gore is flying with Dean to Iowa today to campaign there. The AP describes the effect of Dean's endorsement this way:

The approval of Bill Clinton's No. 2 bolsters Dean's case that he can carry the party's mantle in November and represents more than an Internet-driven outsider relying on the support of largely white, upscale voters.

Joe Lieberman appeared on the Today Show this morning and said Gore's move "caught him completely off guard." And he got in one dig at Gore:

Asked on "Today" whether he felt betrayed by the former vice president, Lieberman said, "I'm not going to talk about Al Gore's sense of loyalty this morning."

Update: Here's the story on the secret plotting behind the endorsement.

Update: A new cnn/gallup poll shows Dean ahead in the Democratic race for the first time.

Twenty-five percent of registered voters who identify with or lean to the Democratic Party say they are supporting Dean for the nomination. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark ranks second with 17 percent. Three weeks ago, Dean and Clark were tied at 17 percent." [link via Political Wire.]

Update: Lieberman fights back.