Burnt Orange Report

More Convention Wrap-Up

By Byron LaMasters

Apparently, I'm the last person on Earth to find out about Jib Jab's "This Land" video. Absolutely hilarious if you haven't yet seen it.

Natasha has her version of our Novak baiting on her blog, Pacific Views (my picture and version of the events are here). Natasha probably scored more interviews than any other blogger. She did a great job, and if you don't read Pacific Views regularly (I didn't), it's definitely worth it. Check out some of her work:

Joe Trippi.
Andrei Cherny - Senior DNC Advisor.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) on farm policy (I'll be posting my thoughts on this interview in the next couple of days).
Kevin Knobloch, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Javier Brown, College Democrats of Georgia.
Jerry Springer.

Jesse and Ezra of Pandagon.net are just really cool. Yeah. That's about it. Read them, even though they really don't need the extra traffic.

So is Bill Scher of Liberal Oasis. He got me copies of all the embargoed speeches that got emailed to him (I wasn't on the email list) if I didn't get a print copy that was passed around. He also took some great pictures of Kate Snow of Good Morning America interviewing me in Blogger Alley. Bill also got some great coverage of several caucuses so check out his blog if you don't already.

I spoke with a high-ranking DCCC official, and their polling shows some good news for Richard Morrison, and they are considering targeting the race. I'll post more details on it in the next few days.

David Weinberger applies the smackdown on Charles Cooper's silly critic of the Convention Bloggers. Rick Heller of Centerfield also defends himself against Cooper's attacks.

I finally gave in to Wonkette guest editor Boi From Troy and did a short interview with him. I figure he's been hitting on me since Monday, and even if he's a Republican, I figured five minutes of flirting was worth the several hundred (thousand) visitors the link from Wonkette would bring. Breaking stories like Why Margaret Cho got disinvited from the HRC party also helps getting Wonkette linkage.

That's all that comes to me for now.

When the "bounce poll" doesn’t really measure the bounce

By Byron LaMasters

How can the Newsweek Poll out today that claims to measure the “bounce” Kerry received out of the convention actually measure the bounce when half of the poll was taken before the acceptance speech. A fair “bounce poll” would poll from Friday through Sunday after the Thursday acceptance speech, but this poll was done on Thursday (before the speech) and Friday. Not surprisingly, the results for Thursday and Friday are vastly different:

In interviews on Thursday, July 29-before the Kerry nomination acceptance speech-Kerry/Edwards received the support of 47 percent of registered voters, Bush/Cheney 45 percent and Nader/Camejo 2 percent, according to the Newsweek Poll. In Friday interviews after the speech, Kerry/Edwards received 50 percent, Bush/Cheney 40 percent and Nader/Camejo 3 percent. In the two-way race, in interviews on July 29, Kerry/Edwards received 49 percent and Bush/Cheney 47 percent. On July 30, Kerry/Edwards got 54 percent and Bush/Cheney 41 percent, the poll shows.

Newsweek comes to the conclusion that Kerry had a two-to-four point bounce, based on the poll (two point bounce against Bush, four point bounce with Nader included). Before the convention, Newsweek had Kerry leading Bush by six points head-to-head, and Kerry led Bush by three points with Nader included. Thus, this poll giving Kerry an eight point lead over Bush head-to-head and a seven point lead with Nader included shows a two-to-four point bounce. But does a poll partially taken before the acceptance speech was given really qualify as part of a poll measuring the bounce? I think not.

The only relevant information from this poll regarding a convention bounce is that of the poll data from Friday. And that data confirms my belief that Kerry’s speech was a home run. The polling for Friday (presumably with a larger margin of error, I’ll admit) shows Kerry with a ten point lead with Nader included and a thirteen point lead head-to-head. Thus, the early polling data here shows a Kerry post-convention bounce of about seven points (both head-to-head and with Nader included). If that holds up, the Kerry folks ought to be very pleased . In a polarized electorate where less than twenty percent of the voters are truly up for grabs, a seven point bounce would be quite a feat.

MIA: The Dallas Morning News MIA Article

By Byron LaMasters

Here's a shocker. You may recall that I blogged on Thursday on the Dallas Morning News article chiding Oscar Mauzy among others for not attending the Democratic Convention. The Morning News however, forgot to mention that Mauzy had been dead since 2000. Well, now when you go to the page where the article appeared, you get a funny message:

This file is no longer available 01:50 PM CDT on Friday, July 30, 2004

What? No correction? No retraction? I think it's time to write a letter to the DMN editor. Of course, it'll be an open letter so all of you can read it as well. I'll post it tomorrow. And they can't deny it, either. I've got the screen shot.

Back Home

By Byron LaMasters

I'm back home in Dallas from the Democratic convention. I'll have lots of posts over the next few days wrapping things up. I still have lots of material from interviews, etc. that I would like to post, along with many pictures. Today, I've been catching up with laundry and watching convention videos from the C-SPAN archives to get another perspective of them. The convention is an incredible experience. I got around 4-6 hours a night, so I slept for about 14 hours last night catching up. The trip was so fast-paced. I think I would have needed 100 hours a day to sift through all of the news and information that I needed to cover the convention as well as I would have liked. In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently. I wanted to go to some state delegation events, but was unable to. The main state delegation events were morning breakfasts at 8 AM. That would have required waking up at 6 AM to get to the subway station at 7 AM in order to find my way to an 8 AM event. Considering that I didn't get to sleep until 3 AM at the earliest nights, going to delegation breakfasts was not a realistic plan if I wanted to maintain my sanity throughout the week.

I'd like to especially thank the DNCC for giving us the opportunity. They were very helpful, and when a lot of us had a hard time getting an wireless connection on Monday night, they were up there with two teams of technicians on Tuesday afternoon. The blogger breakfast went great. The only conflict of the week between the bloggers and the DNCC was due to Matt Stoller's "Not sold on Obama" post on his personal webpage after the blogger breakfast. And to be honest, I'm a huge fan of Obama, but his comments at the blogger breakfast were pretty generic. I was mostly focused on taking pictures of the guy, so I didn't hear everything, but I think Obama felt obligated to just stop by personally thank the bloggers who had been following his candidacy much longer than most Americans. He certainly got a reception Tuesday night. His was the best speech of the convention along with Bill Clinton. They both get an A+. I'd disagree with Jim - that Kerry's acceptance speech was the best I've ever seen. It was a damn good speech, but not the best ever. John Kerry simply isn't a great speaker. But he rose to the challenge and captured the moment. I give him a solid A.

Speaking of Obama, check out his blog. It just got bombarded with visitors on Tuesday night. According to Atrios - Obama's webpage was getting 18,000 hits a minute during the speech.

As for Kerry. He keeps breaking records. As he did earlier in the year, John Kerry broke online fundraising records in two consecutive days. The U.S Newswire reports:

The highly successful 2004 Democratic National Convention ensured Kerry and Edwards started this tour with tremendous momentum at their backs. The four-day showcase of the Kerry- Edwards plan to make America stronger at home and respected in the world energized Americans everywhere.

On Wednesday, the campaign shattered its previous online fundraising record, raising over $3.3 million dollars in one day, only to crush it on Thursday with a total of $5.6 million raised - bringing its two-day total to $8.9 million. At times during Kerry's speech, johnkerry.com received over 5,000 hits per second.

The campaign also succeeded in energizing people in states across the map. On Thursday night, more than 200,000 Americans gathered with friends and fellow supporters at over 5,000 house parties to watch Kerry accept the nomination.

Most importantly, millions of Americans over the last four days learned about the lives of service and strength Kerry and Edwards have lived, about their experience standing up for middle-class values and their plan for America's future.

Wow! Not only that, but Kerry / Edwards are on the road drawing tens of thousands of people in mid-sized conservative-leaning cities in Pennsylvania:

10,000 in Greensburg, PA.

20,000 in Harrisburg, PA.

17,000 in Scranton, PA.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Mmmm... Tradition!

By Jim Dallas

Apparently, the appropriate response to trolls and trolling is to post recipes.

I did not know this.

Why Margaret Cho was Disinvited from the HRC Convention Party

By Byron LaMasters

One of the few controversies this week at the Democratic convention was the disinvitation of comedian Margaret Cho to the July 27th "Unity Party" for GLBT delegates sponsored by the HRC (Human Rights Campaign). Cho has a huge following in the gay community, so her participation in the event was widely anticipated by the organizers and many delegates. The Washington Blade provides some background:

The Human Rights Campaign says it stands by a decision to drop bisexual comedian Margaret Cho from the roster of entertainers invited to perform at a July 27 “Unity 04” party in Boston for gay delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Cho had promised to put on an “incendiary” act attacking President Bush, according to HRC spokesperson Steven Fisher. Fisher said such a performance would have diverted the event’s “message” away from the organizers’ aim of helping to elect John Kerry president.

Some of Cho’s gay fans said the comedian became a victim of efforts by the Kerry campaign and some of its gay supporters, including HRC, to tone down controversial rhetoric inside and outside the convention hall.

[...]

Fisher said that 10 of the 12 groups that signed on as sponsors of the Unit 04 party supported HRC’s proposal to withdraw the Cho invitation.

Fisher said HRC raised concerns after Cho informed the gay rights group through her publicist that she planned to use new material at the Unity 04 event from her “State of Emergency” national tour, which is set to begin soon. He said HRC called Cho’s representative and asked to review the material.

Cho then informed HRC she would put on an “incendiary” performance and would not in any way “tone it down,” Fisher said.

“We said we feel she’s great but this was not the right forum,” Fisher said. “This is a political convention where everyone is on message.”

According to sources close to the HRC, Cho's "new material" which she refused to tone down (thus prompting her disinvitation) included references to "fist 'cheney'-ing" and sexual humor regarding the Abu Ghraib prison. Organizers were worried that such humor would be offensive to some, and would cause a media frenzy that would distract from the overall positive tone of the convention, and thus decided to rescind their invitation to Cho.

Hey, We Don't Suck As Much As We Thought We Would!

By Andrew Dobbs

Greg puts it best. The Bush Administration is bragging that the record $420 billion deficit isn't nearly as big as the $477 billion to $525 billion predicted earlier this year by the administration. This is idiocy at its finest.

If I took a class and made a 57% average in it I failed. If I retake it the next semester and make a 59% average I don't get to brag that I improved, that I did better than expected. I still failed. The Bush Administration is spending half a trillion bucks more than it takes in. Anyone who has been in debt before know it isn't something to brag about and letting our country sink into massive debt is shameful.

Dale Bumpers used to have a great saying- you let me spend $100 billion in hot checks and I'll show you a good time too. Bush's economic "recovery" (which, by the way is slowing down precipiously) is built on the shoulders of irresponsibility and is setting us for long term failure.

$15K in 14 Days

By Andrew Dobbs

Just wanted to let everyone know about a big fundraising push we have going on over at the Texas Democratic Party. We are trying to raise $15,000 to provide access for our new state of the art voter file for all of our state house candidates. The file was put together with the help of the DNC's "Demzilla" file and has all the top notch data mining information. Our candidates will know everything they could possibly need to know about the voters in their district and they will have a great advantage over their GOP opponents.

The problem with that is that the file isn't free. In fact, it is quite expensive. We need the cash to give our candidates a great chance at if not taking back the Texas House at least gaining quite a bit of ground.

As a result, we have a $15 K in 14 Days netroots fundraising effort underway to raise the money needed to make this tool available for our candidates. Since this is my job and what not, I am going to ask you all to do what you can to help us turn Texas blue again by donating today. I know you have been so generous to Karl-T. and Byron so that they could offer you all some of the best commentary on the convention on the web. Please help me out so I can look good while helping some great Democrats get elected in the process.

Thanks people, hope you can spare some cash and have a great week!

Bob Novak Without the Makeup

By Byron LaMasters

As I left the convention center with several fellow bloggers, Natasha of Pacific Views spotted Bob Novak and proceeded to chase him down to try and interview him. I ran after Natasha to see what was going on. She finally caught up with Novak, and asked him a question about the outting of Valerie Plame. Novak was approaching security, made a funny evasive manuever, mumbled something, then continued walking much faster. The rest of our group caught up with Natasha, and we started walking towards the Charles River out of the Fleet Center to catch a taxi to meet up at this place in Cambridge with some other bloggers. About a minute later, Novak is storming back towards the Fleet Center, probably having forgot something. Natasha doesn't miss a beat. She asks Novak again, "Do you have a statement regarding my question"? At that point, Novak turned around and I caught this flattering picture of the Real Bob Novak.

Enjoy.

Afterwards, Natasha, everyone else and I kept north to get a taxi as Bob Novak turned into a bat and flew away.

The Best Speech I've Ever Seen

By Jim Dallas

Kerry's acceptance speech - out of the park! Natural but idealistic, easy-going but serious, small and big.

You gotta believe!

UPDATE: Here's some extended commentary from an IM between me and Byron.

Jim D.: The speech to me seemed very Capra-esque.

Jim D.: It started off with a sort of Clintonian "my momma always said" touch and had it's Kennedy-esque moments..

Jim D.: But it was a speech which let Kerry talk about big ideas without becoming overwhelmed by them.

Jim D.: It was passionated but poised.

Jim D.: Much like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Jim D.: It captured the mind of our candidate, but it captured also his heart and soul and because of that I trust Kerry more than before. I mean I can say I am really FOR this guy and not just a defeated Deanie..

Byron L.: post that.

Jim D.: It came across real good on TV (C-SPAN at least).

Byron L.: what you just said.

Values

By Byron LaMasters

I'm pleased that John Kerry is framing the Democratic domestic agenda about values. What are values? Republicans would make you believe that values are about stem cell research, abortion, guns, gays and God. But what are values really about? Should they be about ideology? Or should they be about doing things that actually make a difference in the lives or ordinary people.

Values are not just words. They're what we live by. They're about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families.

[...]

We believe in the family value of caring for our children and protecting the neighborhoods where they walk and play.

[...]

You don't value families by denying real prescription drug coverage to seniors, so big drug companies can get another windfall.

We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest Commandments: "Honor thy father and thy mother." As President, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits. And together, we will make sure that senior citizens never have to cut their pills in half because they can't afford life-saving medicine.

[...]

You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in the service, if you deny veterans health care, or if you tell middle class families to wait for a tax cut, so that the wealthiest among us can get even more.

Democratic values are about helping people. Republican values are about advancing an extreme ideology. Family values should be an issue in this election, and I'm glad that John Kerry is making it one.

"I Accept Your Nomination for President of the United States"

By Byron LaMasters

Just testing this out. I might have missed the words, but here's the reaction from the nosebleed seats:

Here's my video of it: here

2000 vs. 2004

By Byron LaMasters

Bush 2000 - "I will restore honor and dignity to the White House"

Kerry 2004 - "I will restore trust and credibility to the White House"

One failed. Now, Kerry has his chance.

Hampsters for Kerry!!

By Byron LaMasters

Well, Kerry certainly must have the hampster vote after the night. After Alexandra Kerry's inspiring story of John Kerry diving into the river, grabbing that hampster, getting out of the river, performing CPR on the hampster (mouth-to-mouth) and saving its life.

Somehow, it's just not quite as inspiring as pulling Jim Rassmann out of the Mekong River in Vietnam, but in the world of hampsters, John Kerry is probably hailed as a hero nonetheless.

Speaking of Rassmann, he's up next, and the runners are handing out "Veterans for Kerry / Edwards" signs.

Tammy Baldwin Interview

By Byron LaMasters

Tammy Baldwin is probably best known as the first and only open lesbian to be elected to the United States Congress. She is also the first non-incumbent open gay or lesbian to win election to that body. As a Congresswoman from Madison, Wisconsin, she has been highly involved on health care issues. I also had the opportunity to ask her about higher education since her district includes a large university - The University of Wisconsin. Along with Bill Scher of Liberal Oasis, I had the opportunity to spend ten minutes to ask her a few questions.

First, we asked how she felt that GLBT issues had been handled at the convention. She was very pleased. She felt as if she had two very distinct honors in that regard. First, her selection as a vice chair of the convention was the first time that an openly gay person had been selected for that honor for a Democratic convention. Second, she was honored to have the opportunity to speak on the opening night of the convention on health care issues. She said that her selection was significant for the state of Wisconsin - a swing state this fall, and also for the fact that the Democratic Party has embraced gays and lesbians in positions of prominence in the party, not just on the sidelines.

As the first open lesbian in congress, Baldwin believed that her success as a candidate was due to her involvement in local and state level politics first. By the time that she ran for congress, her sexual orientation was old news, because voters had a chance to see her as a public servant who cares about good health care who happens to be gay. She said that she'd work with the media to make sure they'd get their one "can an out lesbian win" story during her first campaign, but only once. Then she'd move on to the other issues for which she was fighting. As for advice to other gay and lesbian candidate, Baldwin said that the key was to build your way up. A gay or lesbian candidate with no experience on other issues can be easily labeled as a one-issue "gay candidate". When Baldwin first ran for office in 1986, there were slightly over a dozen openly gay and lesbian elected officials nationwide. Today, there are well over 200. She believes that state and local offices are the training grounds for Congress, and the they are the best way to build political skills and position oneself.

On higher education issues Baldwin shared many of the concerns that many students, especially of those at the University of Texas, as she represents a large university in Madison - the University of Wisconsin. Wisconsin, like Texas, struggles with the same concerns of higher tuition rates. She felt that John Edwards' "two Americas" speech perfectly captured the problems of many students. She said that the solution to the problem was increasing funding for the Pell Grant program, and lifting the ceiling on the amount for grants so that it could cover a higher percentage of costs. Higher education funding has shifted vastly to students so that scholarships, grants, a part time job, and a small loan is usually no longer enough. Now, many students must take out dramatic loans and are strapped with huge debts for many years. Such debts leave many students with limited opportunities after college, making them less likely to take jobs after college where they give back to their communities after college such as joining the Peace Corps or teaching in an inner-city school. Baldwin decried this as "depriving our country of a talent pool".

John Kerry will be visiting Wisconsin next week and Baldwin cited health care, job instability and Iraq as the most important issues in the state. Baldwin said that while Bush has visited Wisconsin frequently, he tends to stick to the "conservative hamlets". When asked how Bush would be treated in Madison, Baldwin replied, "I don't know. I haven't seen him here".

I also had the opportunity to interview Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) yesterday, but I haven't yet had the chance to put it up. It may be up tonight, maybe tomorrow, maybe over the weekend....

The Wingnuts Will Hit on this....

By Byron LaMasters

Knowing the right-wing, it'll only be a matter of time before Republicans will attack Kerry for waffling on the critical issue of which sport is the toughest. From Kerry's ESPN interview:

3. A little while ago at ESPN.com, we did a package on the toughest sports to play. Since you have participated in so many, what do you think is the toughest sport?

I think there are different kinds of toughness. There are one-on-one, physical combat, body-violence tough sports. But there are tough sports mentally and otherwise physically, too.

Rugby is a tough sport. Professional football is a very tough sport, it's gladiator combat out there. Something like the Tour de France, when Lance Armstrong or Greg LeMond wins. Particularly, I think Greg LeMond's first win as an American was really a breakthrough, and that took a kind of talent and discipline, mental and otherwise -- it's pretty extraordinary. Triathlons. I'm always amazed by marathon runners. I've run a marathon and the concept of doing an under-five-minute mile 26 times in a row is pretty mind-boggling.

I think climbing Mount Everest is tough, without oxygen. To be the best in any sport is tough. The mental discipline of the U.S. Open, getting through ... there are just different kinds of toughness. Basketball is tough. These guys are throwing elbows -- it's combat out there. I think hockey, obviously, is very, very tough.

There you go. John Kerry can't even give a straight answer on what sport is the toughest. He's obviously not qualified to be president.

Translate me this

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Apparently some version of one of my profiles has been translated into Spanish and made into this and this and this and this paper/online. I imagine it's got to be AP Spanish or something, I'm not entirly sure. Here is the (badly) translated text.

The performance of the blogueiros will not be restricted to the commentators politicians. Some democratical commission agents including Karl-Thomas the Musselman, youngest delegated of the Texas also will have its blogs. The youngster of 19 years, that when child dreamed in being the first man to step on in Mars, despertou for the politics in the 2000 elections. The blogueiros ones go to offer one another angle, one another market for notice and information is of the convention

The democratical commission agent says not to believe that the blogueiros ones go to supplant the traditional media, but detaches the paper of them. "the blogueiros ones go to offer one another angle, one another market for notice and information is of the convention", affirms Musselman. "We are not under a flag of ' right and balanced ' (slogan of the Fox sender). We can be a little more irreverent, more critical, more analytical ", we add the blogueiro. "This is the nature of that we are, and is therefore that the people read blogs."

I also seem to have been translated into German as is evident here (taken from the AP story)
And if you are in Longview, TX, you might pick up your paper (Longview News Journal ) or check this out online; they picked up the Ausitn American Statesman profile from Monday. Nothing new, just interesting that it's out in Longview now too.

Also, I've been listed on the front of the Out for Democracy Blog. Entry is here.

Oh, and MTV just interviewed me.

Atrios is Real!

By Byron LaMasters

I can prove it! The picture was taken at the blogger party last night hosted by the DCCC at Meze. They made us feel important at least. Whether we are or not is probably debatable. But being a VIP at a party in convention week with a wristband for free drinks and a "blogger goodie bag" and free t-shirts upon leaving certainly made me feel at least a little bit starstruck.

(left to right. Jeralyn of Talk Left, Duncan of Atrios, and Byron of Burnt Orange Report)

Orange Mike

By Byron LaMasters

He's a Dean Delegate from Milwaukee. From the Fourth Congressional District of Wisconsin. His real name is Michael Lowrey, but as you can see as he takes a break from the floor to check his email up in Blogger Alley, he is aptly named:

Boston Globe on the Texas Delegates

By Byron LaMasters

The article is really pretty silly. I mean there's some good points, but overall, the article paints the wrong picture of the Texas delegates. It starts with a picture of Texas delegates looking very bored. Well, yeah - the picture was taken early in the afternoon when no one was paying attention - in Texas, or in any other state. But this is just silly:

Texans are not taking the slights as well. The 232-member delegation is a proud bunch, easily recognizable in vests emblazoned with the Texas flag and cowboy boot-shaped pins that flash in neon red, white, and blue lights. Some wave American flags festooned with faux sprigs of bluebonnet, the Texas flower.

Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News weighed in on the matter of the Texas delegation's lodging at the airport hotel in verse: "Hello, Mudda, hello, Fadda. I am overlooking Lufthansa. The Texas Dems have come to Boston. And state support for Bush is gonna cost 'em."

But Texas' treatment comes as no surprise, given the Texas Democratic Party's anemic condition -- a dramatic comedown from last century when such Democrats as Sam Rayburn and Lyndon B. Johnson dominated both Texas and American politics, said Earl Black, a professor of political science at Rice University.

"Texas Democrats are weaker than they have ever been," Black said. "Every major statewide office is held by Republicans. . . . I'm sure whoever is deciding who goes where has written off Texas so completely that Texas Democrats have to settle for the crumbs."

Texas delegates protest, arguing that Bush is losing favor in his home state.

"Don't count Texas out," said Earlie Davis, 72, a retired teacher from Dallas.

Others seemed resigned to Texas' diminished role.

"Texans want to do anything possible to see George Bush go," said Jim Fletcher, 55, a businessman from Fort Worth. "Even if that means taking a back seat."

Can someone explain this to me? Why does the Globe say that "Texans are not taking the slights as well", when their only source is silly Dallas Morning News ditty, but not of any delegates. The most negative thing they could find was a warning to the media to "not count Texas out". I guess the reporters are just bored. They're making up news where none is there. All of the Texas delegates I've spoken to are enthusiastic about the opportunity. Travis County's 14th senatorial district didn't have nearly eighty people run for six delegate slots because they were expecting to be treated to fabulous parties, cocktails, happy hours and boat trips. Sure some fun is nice, but Texas Democrats were eager to come to Boston to participate in being part of making history to nominate and elect a new cycle.

Oscar Mauzy is MIA at the DNC!!!

By Byron LaMasters

Yup. The Dallas Morning News breaks the news. Oscar Mauzy is missing in action at the Democratic Convention (screenshot available here):

MIA at the DNC

The Democrats best known to the most Texans aren't at the Boston Hilton this week. They aren't delegates, so they're on vacation or back at work. They include:

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Austin

Rep. Chet Edwards, Waco

Rep. Martin Frost, Arlington

Rep. Solomon Ortiz, Corpus Christi

Rep. Max Sandlin, Marshall

Former comptroller and lieutenant governor nominee John Sharp

Governor nominee Tony Sanchez

Former attorney general Jim Mattox

Former land commissioner Garry Mauro

Former agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower (although he came for a day to promote his book.)

Former House Speaker Pete Laney

Former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (who is in frail health)

Former state senator and Texas Supreme Court Justice Oscar Mauzy

Former Senate nominee Victor Morales

Good research to the guy at the Dallas Morning News. It's abundantly clear that Texas Democrats are running away from the Kerry / Edwards ticket!

A slight problem, though. And I won't even mention the fact that Jim Hightower and Victor Morales have distanced themselves from the party in recent years (Hightower supported Nader in 2000, Morales refused to support Kirk in 2002). A bigger problem though is that Oscar Mauzy died in 2000 - almost four years ago:

OBITUARY:

Justice Oscar Holcombe Mauzy, champion of the people and friend of the underdog, died peacefully after a brave battle against lung cancer on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2000.

Born to Harry Lincoln Mauzy, Sr. and Mildred Eva Kincaid Mauzy on Nov. 9, 1926, Oscar was the sixth of eight children and the namesake of long-time Houston mayor Oscar Holcombe. Although his father's death when Oscar was only three prevented Oscar from knowing him, he was always proud of his father's work as a union organizer. The family was raised by Mildred Mauzy in Houston's Fifth Ward.

Oops. Next time the Dallas Morning News wants to engage in Democrat-bashing on their headlines, they ought to do better research. Or, if they want to list dead Democrats as being MIA in Boston, they ought to include Ralph Yarborough, Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn. Then again, they mentioned that Lloyd Bentsen is in frail health, so you would think that they would point out that AWOL Oscar Mauzy is dead.

Hat tip to Tom Blackwell.

Vote Against Perry- Today!

By Andrew Dobbs

Alright, so not for real but this online poll at the Brenham Banner's website will let you rate the governor's performance. Only 33 people have voted so far and 81.8% of them have said his performance is "Outstanding." They must mean it stands out in their mind because it is so rediculously terrible, but let's be on the safe side and vote "Poor."

The poll is on the left hand side of the page, a little ways down. Vote now!

Update: Well, in a little over 45 minutes we went from 33 votes with 81.8% saying they like Perry to having over 215 votes with about 84% saying they don't like Perry. Good job guys! Keep checking up on it!

Update 2: Looks like there was some sort of tossing out of the votes- after being well over 200 it is down to 41 votes and went from 85% poor to about 39%. Teach these Nazi bastards not to screw with us- vote if you haven't already!

Question

By Jim Dallas

And I want Byron and Karl Thomas to get me the answer.

Four years ago, much was made of Gore writing his speech on a notebook computer.

This year, both Kerry and Edwards wrote their speeches out on yellow legal pads.

Has our party been taken over by luddites?

Hutchison's Liberal Record

By Andrew Dobbs

Alright, now that headline is not an endorsement of Kay Bailey Hutchison, in fact it is quite to the contrary- it is pointing out that to the hard right of the GOP she will be quite odious. Quorum Report editor Harvey Kronberg wrote an interesting (if mistaken, as I'll argue) column for News 8 Austin discussing some of her recent boat rocking in DC:

Here in Texas, social conservatives and evangelicals dominate the Republican Party infrastructure. While affirming religious freedom, the state party platform goes so far as to declare the United States is a Christian nation. The platform calls on the party to deny assistance to any Republican candidate that does not completely and uniformly subscribe to their two pages of prohibitions on abortion and scientific research using fetal tissue or stem cells.

That's all fine. Whatever encourages citizens to engage in the political process is worthwhile.

But how important is all of that in electing public officials in Texas?

Last week, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison cast her first vote against a Bush nomination to the federal bench. Leon Holmes is an evangelical and the former head of an Arkansas right to life group.

Hutchison has long said she supports abortion until viability.

In the overheated rhetoric that usually accompanies controversial judicial nominations, one Texas social conservative labeled Hutchison a "religious bigot". Two former Republican Party chairmen castigated Hutchison for being a Republican in name only and said conservatives would work to defeat her should she run for governor in 2006. (...)

Religious conservatives are a key part of the Republican coalition in general elections. But the truth is that they are rarely successful in dominating the Republican primary above the level of state rep or State Board of Education.

The congressional primary last spring makes my point. Houston's Ben Streusand outspent Austin's Michael McCaul, pouring millions into messages targeting social conservatives. But as is typical, McCaul beat Streusand by a factor of almost two to one. Don't get me wrong. There are exceptions.

But if history is any guide, the storm and fury over Hutchison's vote last week will have little significance if she chooses to run for governor in 2006.

I respectfully disagree with Harvey on this one. To begin, his key example- the McCaul v. Streusand race isn't really a good one in this instance. Yes, Streusand reached out to grassroots social conservatives more than McCaul but McCaul is also a social conservative. It's not like Streusand was pro-life and McCaul was pro-choice, they are both pro-life. At that point the powerful social conservative voting base of the GOP picks their candidates on other important (or not so important) characteristics such as experience, likability etc. McCaul's victory doesn't prove that abortion doesn't matter above low level races- it proves that it only matters when there is a difference between the candidates on the issue.

With Hutchison v. Perry it will be an issue. Perry is 100% pro-life and Hutchison is moderately pro-choice. Perry will have a boatload of money- new laws suggest that her federally raised money couldn't be used for a race in Texas so she is starting off broke. The latest Ethics Commission numbers say that Perry has a shade under $5.1 million cash on hand. He will continue to be better funded and the social issue threatens to blow the race up. Hutchison "missed" the final vote on the partial birth abortion ban and is publicly pro-choice. For the right wing religious types that control the levers of the GOP in Texas, she's likely to lose a GOP primary.

I really want to run against Perry- he is very unpopular and corrupt, we can beat him. Still, running against Hutchison might not be too bad- with the social issues out of contention a lot of Republicans will stay at home or will consider voting for a moderate/conservative Democrat. A nominally pro-life Democrat like John Sharp or *shudder* Tony Sanchez could perhaps strip her of some of the social conservative vote and benefit from the taint of GOP corruption in this state. Still, she is the most popular politician in the state- right up there with George Bush- so she'd still be a much more difficult challenge.

Lesson: the GOP is in a bind right now and we Texas Democrats are looking at the possibility of gains in 2006 and beyond.

More BOR Rumor Mongering!

By Jim Dallas

Yahoo!News via Kuff:

Speaking during a weekend panel at San Diego's Comic-Con convention, show producers dropped a bomb: An upcoming Simpsons story line will focus on what happens when Springfield legalizes gay marriage.

"We have a show where, to raise money, Springfield legalizes gay marriage," producer Al Jean told comic book fans. "Homer becomes a minister by going on the Internet and filling out a form. A longtime character comes out of the closet, but I'm not saying who."

And with that, Simpsons aficionados got their gaydar on and began winnowing down the list of potential suspects.

The early favorite appears to be billionaire Monty Burns' ever-devoted sidekick, Waylon Smithers, who--aside from being a yes-man--has been known to collect Malibu Stacy dolls, lives in the gay part of town (where Homer once shacked up with two gay guys), has a Mr. Burns screensaver and dreams of a naked Mr. Burns jumping out of a birthday cake.

But that might be too easy. According to online fan scuttlebutt, there are other characters who might be secretly having a gay old time in Springfield, including Homer's regular-guy cohorts at the nuclear plant, Carl and Lenny, as well as Moe the bartender, the Reverend Lovejoy, Principal Skinner and Comic Book Guy. Of course, the producers didn't rule out a lesbian wedding, either.

If it's not Smithers, I'll be shocked.

The Edwards Speech (As seen on TV)

By Jim Dallas

Not being in Boston, I've had to watch everything on TV.

I tuned into ABC last night to watch the Edwards speech. First off, and most importantly, Peter Jennings was being a real dick last night; the pre-speech commentary was mostly a string of Republican anti-Edwards talking points. And then Jennings seemed largely bored at the conclusion of the speech. The SCLM strikes again.

Now, on to the speech itself. It was good, and very well delivered given the fact that Edwards was just recently sick. I think I agree with Josh Marshall that Edwards was at "about 75%"; but not so much because of the delivery but because, as far as I can tell, there didn't seem to be a very clear theme to the speech. Put another way, I liked it, but I spotted a few areas where, had I written it, I would have done it differently.

Also, I was perplexed by the phrasing of one of Edwards's applause lines, to wit:

"And by doing all those things, we're going to say no forever to any American working full-time and living in poverty. Not in our America, not in our America, not in our America."

Now, the way it came across on TV was "we're going to say no" to the people (as in, "minimum wage workers, go cheney yourself.") Not, "we're going to say no" to the idea of people working minimum wage and living in poverty, which is clearly what was intended. It took a moment or two for me to realize what he was saying.

It doesn't have to be that way!

All in all, Edwards is still one of the best speakers in America today, and I'm proud that he is our vice-presidential nominee.

Photos

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Photos from Tuesday start here.

Photos from Wednesday start here.

Also for you Houston folks, I might be in a piece on FOX 25 tonight at 9 pm.

As a side note, today I finally got up before 8 am and made it to the Texas Delegation Breakfast. There were a number of Congressmen there, some speaking (Gene Green, Ken Benson, and Ciro Rodriguez (who Party Chair Soechting endorsed in hoping he won the recount battle going on in that district against Democrat Henry Cuellar).)

New Mexico Governor and convention Chair Bill Richardson spoke to our delegation, thanks us for helping his state's economy with our Senators. The guy is actually really funny, much better today than his speach yesterday on the floor. Maybe he's better with smaller crowds. Either way, he actually recognized me on the floor of our Breakfast as the delegation's youngest, which was pretty awesome.

I'm off now to the official GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered) lunch with Glen, Mark, and the Austin people. Texas is proud to have two of the seven Transgendered delegates at the convention, (one is from Austin, Christina).

Over the Top

By Byron LaMasters

America, we have a nominee tonight. I had a DCCC party for bloggers to get to, but I stayed at the Fleet Center to watch an important part of history occur. Soon after John Edwards spoke, the official nomination process began. Alabama yielded to Massachusetts in order to allow John Kerry's brother and sister read announce Massachusetts' delegates unanimous vote for Kerry. Then Alaska yielded to North Carolina to cast their votes for John Kerry. Finally, around 11:30 PM EST, the Minnesota delegation came up to vote. They yielded to Ohio, where John Glenn announced that Ohio's delegates had put Kerry over the top. Yup. The Florida of 2004 is Ohio. And if John Kerry wins Ohio, it's highly probable that he'll win the White House.

USA! USA! USA!

By Byron LaMasters

George W. Bush's supporters chanted it in the 2002 election rallies to drown out anti-war hecklers. Well.. Democrats can do it, too. A great salute to our veterans here in the Fleet Center tonight.

Will Kerry Make an Appearance?

By Byron LaMasters

He's in town. Al Gore made an appearance four years ago. Will Kerry? I wouldn't be surprised if he joins with Edwards after Edwards gives his speech, but we'll have to see...

Kucinich Sightings

By Byron LaMasters

Just came back up to take my seat and sure enough, there's Dennis Kucinich signing books. I was going to see if I could ask him a few questions, but he got a phone call and the security guy didn't look too friendly, even if he worked for a guy supporting a Department of Peace. Oh well.

That's all for now...

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Hate to say it, but that's all for tonight. My battery is going out in the middle of Bill Richardson's 'so-so' speech. I'll update tonight if I can, and the past couple of days will slowly come back online. There are some great little stories I have to tell, and there might be some exciting press that the Texas delegation is going to create tomorrow thanks to an idea of mine. Think fundraising....on the floor!

LCR Supporters Swing to Kerry

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Past leaders of the Austin Log Cabin Republicans chapter, Andy Smith and Paul van Wupperfeld, were just shown on the big screen as switching their support to Kerry. It's just another example of groups that voted for Bush in 2000 that won't this time. And I'm still searching for what class of Gore voters are switching to Bush.

So if Bush's vote total is shrinking, and he was half a million short in 2000, then I'm trying to figure out how he's supposed to win this fall?

Bob Graham

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Now, Bob Graham, the first candidate to drop out of the presidential primary, is speaking. After Sharpton, it's a huge drop-off in energy. It's sad, because I know people in Florida liked him a lot, and he's a good man. But it's just really an example of why he never took off in the polls. Bob Graham is in serious need of some Joe-mentum.

Karl: He's approaching Dick Gephardt levels of interest here.
Nick: He's surpassed it.

Oh, and Rob Reiner just walked by the Texas delegation as well as Ron Kirk (who ran for Senate two years ago in Texas).

I'm here blogging live on the floor, around the other young Texas delegates (Nick Lawrie, 24 and Matt Glazer, 21) and Matt and I and Christina (one of Texas two Transgendered delegates) have our laptops with stickers on them. That of course, drew a photographer out of the woodwork. Normally they only go for the people with big silly hats.

Sharpton

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I was right, Shapton has grabbed the crowd's attention. And in less than 15 seconds he managed to give out one of his infamous zingers. You do have to give him credit, he can rouse an audience and make you understand and believe in him. He's managed to get the entire audience on it's feet twice, thrice 8 a dozen times already.

"This is not about a party, it's about living up to the promise of America."
"Mr. President, read my lips, out vote is not for sale.

Lieberman Appears

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Dennis Kucinich just finished speaking on the floor. While he was the man who stayed in the race until about a week ago, and has been gathering a number of delegates across the states, his reception still was not heralded as the big unifying speech that Dean's was last night. It's a bit of a shame, but still, the party in my opinion owes him less than it does Dean and I think the organizers accepted that. Texas (having 75 'stealth' Dean supporters in other delegate roles) has only 1 maybe 2 Kucinich 'stealth' delegates. The Kerry campaign was actively trying to squelch that movement. (You can always tell when Kucinich is excited because he starts hopping around at the podium).

Soon we will be moving on to Al Sharpton. I have a feeling that he will get a greater reception with more people listening than Kucinich. It will indeed be an interesting night pre-Edwards. I think today has been a bit more negative in tone than the last two days. I hoping Edwards lifts it up at the end.

Kucinich Speaks

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Dennis Kucinich just finished speaking on the floor. While he was the man who stayed in the race until about a week ago, and has been gathering a number of delegates across the states, his reception still was not heralded as the big unifying speech that Dean's was last night. It's a bit of a shame, but still, the party in my opinion owes him less than it does Dean and I think the organizers accepted that. Texas (having 75 'stealth' Dean supporters in other delegate roles) has only 1 maybe 2 Kucinich 'stealth' delegates. The Kerry campaign was actively trying to squelch that movement. (You can always tell when Kucinich is excited because he starts hopping around at the podium).

Soon we will be moving on to Al Sharpton. I have a feeling that he will get a greater reception with more people listening than Kucinich. It will indeed be an interesting night pre-Edwards. I think today has been a bit more negative in tone than the last two days. I hoping Edwards lifts it up at the end.

A Few Texas Degates Express their Opinion on the War

By Byron LaMasters

Texas has no Kucinich delegates, who I might add - just finished his speech with a strong endorsement of John Kerry.

News Reports

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I wanted to leave with with an update on news reports that this blog or myself have been mentioned or profiled in. I know there are probably more out there than trackable, but here is my best findings. Some are really excellent and they all seem to take different angles though of course there are general themes (youngest delegate or blogging)

KUT Radio Diaries: Reported by Public Radio Exchange
Go Here to Listen to Series
Login is easy. Make one.

These are really cool. I'm doing them with Nick Lawrie of Ausin, 24.

Daily Texan Blogging Article

Houston Chronicle Profile and Picture
Fellow delegate-blogger Patti Fink is in the back left of that picture. This ran on the front page of the Chonicle paper, and online edition. Greg has a screenshot from this morning.

Dallas-Fort Worth Star Telegram Profile
There is a good picture here and a really well written fun article.

Austin American Statesman Profile
Probably the most political in tone of all the articles, with comments from this blog. The author, Ken Herman, won a Pulitzer when he was 24 I have been told.

Waco Tribune-Herald Article

Michael Moore and his Posse

By Byron LaMasters

I turned around after taking a picture of Sean Hannity's hate station to see Michael Moore walking in the hallway with a gaggle of several dozen reporters. Taking pictures of the entourage was a challenge, since these types of things tend to act like a wrecking ball. Either you get out of the way as it comes towards you, or you get trampeled. I got shoved up against a trash can a little bit, but I squeezed through to take some more pictures. Here's one for now. Moore is being talked to by U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY).

Sean Hannity

By Byron LaMasters

Yeah. I got to see where he's spewing his lies and crap on the first floor of the Fleet Center (check out Media Matters).

Bush V. Choice Blog

By Byron LaMasters

NARAL Pro-Choice America has a set up a webpage with a blog. Anyway, go check them out if you have the chance, and let them know in the comment threads what you would like to see from them.

Wednesday Pre-Convention

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Waking up at 9 am today was early, too early for me it seems, but I had to get downstairs to the delegation breakfast due to our state Party Chair 'complaining' (kinda) to me the other day that I keep sleeping in. Apparently they have been wanting to introduce me as the youngest in the delegation (not that most of them already know, but I understand).

Well, that didn't happen today (for some reason there was no food in sight by the time I got there (isn't a breakfast supposed to have food) and I managed to get some coffee moments before it disappeared.

My plan was to attend some of the Democratic GAIN trainings today, but that fell through as I have been so far behind in blogging. I ended up taking the Blue line (Boston T (subway)) into downtown, transferring to Green line and then off at the Hynes Convention Center stop. Instead of exiting left on the street, I went right to find some grub.

Walking down Newbury St was quite an adventure. There are all kinds of shops there, a lot of them upscale but not mainstream. Local things, and just generally a really great atmosphere that wasn't too busy.

Whenever I go to cities or events, I tend to explore the not so walked areas. While this was more that, it’s still too close to the center of everything for me. On Friday, if I have time, I’ll probably ride out and just see the far flung parts of town.

Either way, I end up eating at a place called Finagle A Bagel, which I’ve been dying to eat at all week. Finagle has actually become my word of choice this week and I have been using to excess almost. Either way, I met up with a photographer for the Dallas Morning News there and we proceeded to start a photo shoot. Due to the rain we moved to the Library and sha-bam, here I am!

I’ll start working on back-dated posts now and then post some more from the floor of the center starting around 4:30 EDT.