State of the states
My first piece for Politico.com is up today. I’ll be doing a weekly presidential primary report from New Hampshire, and other journalists will report from Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina. Check it out each Friday.
Another Michael Moore misrepresentation
So I went to the Regal Cinema on South Willow Street to see Michael Moore present the New England premiere of his new film, “SiCKO.” The headline of the press release from The Weinstein Company read: “Michael Moore To Present New England Premier of ‘SiCKO’”
But when I got there, no Michael Moore. He wasn’t coming. No one was exactly sure why. Someone said his flight was postponed or delayed. Someone else said he arrived in New Hampshire last night. But it was OK. Hardly anyone else came, either, so he didn’t miss anything.
Bill James speaks, sort of
Here’s an interview with Bill James, senior baseball operations advisor for the Red Sox, in which the statistical guru who changed the way baseball players are measured says there’s a lot more randomness in the game than most people are willing to admit. Unfortunately, when asked to reveal some of the statistical truths about player performance he’s discerned but has yet to make public, he says that, well, there are some things he knows but they’re going to remain Red Sox secrets.
Edwards to concentrate on NH
Politico.com’s Mike Allen and Ben Smith report today that John Edwards is refocusing his campaign on New Hampshire. I think that’s a smart move, for many of the reasons stated in the article. Edwards probably cannot afford to win Iowa and lose big in New Hampshire. He needs to do really well in both, and that means spending a lot more time on the ground in New Hampshire building a strong organization, raising money and winning voters.
I think Sen. Clinton was essentially correct when she said during the debate in Manchester that there are more similarities than differences among the Democratic candidates, and I think most Democrat voters see it basically that way. Edwards has a real challenge proving to early primary and caucus voters that he’s so different from (and better than) Clinton and Obama that they simply have to go with him. He can’t do that by releasing more policy papers. He has to convince voters that he’s not only smarter, but he’s a better leader and a more trustworthy politician. And that he has to do in person.
Michael Moore in Manchester
Michael Moore will be at the Regal Cinema on South Willow Street at noon on Friday to present the New England premiere of his new film, “Sicko.” That’s right, the New England premiere will be in Manchester, not Boston. After the showing, Moore will trek over to the Palace Theater for a panel discussion on health care, scheduled for 2:15.
Obama will fix everything
If you want a good impression of how left-wing Sen. Barack Obama is, read his speech from today’s Take Back America conference. It’s an excellent speech. And it’s extremely left-wing. The more he talks, the more it seems he does not want to be seen as a moderate, which was the image he had back in 2004.
That Fisher Cats ‘record’
The NH Fisher Cats set an attendance record on Saturday night. The official fan count was 8,227, a single-game record. I happen to know the count could not have been more than 8,224.
You see, I bought three tickets for this game way back when there was snow on the ground. Kept them all this time, and then on Saturday I went for a bike ride with the tickets in my pocket. Cargo shorts have lots of pockets. I missed one before throwing the shorts into the wash. Three tickets became one mushy ball of paper. So I had to buy three new tickets. Which means the official fan count is off by at least three fans. Sorry, Fisher Cats. I’ll check all my pockets next time!
Though I paid twice for the seats, it was worth it. Great game on a beautiful, warm night, and a fireworks show at the end. The only downside was that at one point they played Lee Greenwood’s I’m proud to be an American, the worst patriotic song in the history of bad patriotic songs.
Now, I have nothing against patriotic music. But I don’t think it’s too much to insist that it be good music. This song is to music what Neifi Perez is to hitting. I have no doubt that in some circle of hell “I’m proud to be an American” is on permanent loop.
If the Fisher Cats want a good patriotic song, they could pick Living in America by James Brown or America by Prince. Yes, Prince. Good lyrics, good music, and either one would have the fans hopping instead of reaching up to cover their ears.
Gatsas amendment sent back
The Senate today sent Sen. Ted Gatsas’s education funding amendment, CACR 20, back to committee. Only three senators voted not to spike the bill.
Lantos’s speech
I tried to get a copy of the speech Rep. Tom Lantos gave at the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington this week, but no copy exists, according to his office. There was a laptop battery problem, and the speech was eaten. Rep. Lantos spoke from bullet-pointed notes, not from a full text, so he was mostly speaking off the cuff and there is no verbatim copy of his remarks.
But thanks to YouTube, there’s video! (C-SPAN was there, too.)
Lantos’s staffers, apparently unaware that video cameras were present, took notes and pieced together some quotes, which are posted here. They’re all guaranteed accurate by his staff, I’m told. Interesting that they haven’t posted the video or transcribed it.
One quote I particularly like: “Everyone who has tasted communism, from Albania to Estonia, knows that without the United States, this existential struggle would have been lost.”
Problem is, that’s not exactly what he said, despite the staff guarantee of complete accuracy. Here’s the full quote, pulled from the video:
“There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that after the current tyrannies exemplified by Ahmadinejad in Iran will have been swept away by the forces of history, the United States of America, the city on a hill, the United States of America of which not only I am proud to be a citizen, but every single individual who has tasted communism from Albania to Estonia knows that without the United States of America this existential struggle for human freedom and human liberty would have been lost.”
The video has more good stuff, including the jibes against Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder.
Tommy can you, um, be heard?
GOP presidential candidate Tommy Thompson sent out a press release this afternoon headlined: “Tommy Thompson to Make Major Announcement about the Future of Presidential Campaign”
Everyone thought he was dropping out of the race. His major announcement?
“I will definitely participate in the Iowa straw poll on Aug. 11.”
Now you know.
Asked how his fundraising would look at the end of this quarter, Thompson said, “My fundraising is going to be adequate, but not great.”
That might describe his campaign as well, though “adequate” could be too strong a word.
Thompson, who calls himself “the reliable conservative,” has been reliably ignored in New Hampshire. In eight UNH Survey Center polls from Feb., 2005 through last fall he rated zero percent. In February of this year he registered 1 percent, and this past April it was 2 percent. This month it’s back down to zero.
Thompson is not catching fire. I don’t think he’s even a glowing ember. But he continues to carry on because, he says, he really thinks he can win.
In an April 5 interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, Thompson said, “I’m going to win. How many times have the big bucks lost?”
If he’s going to win, he’ll have to convince some actual voters to actually vote for him. So far, he’s been unable to do that, even though, according to him, “Nobody except me is really offering ideas to solve the problems.”
Well, Republican voters don’t think that’s true. In New Hampshire, GOP voters like Romney, Giuliani, McCain, and Thompson, with a few preferring Huckabee, Paul, Brownback, and Gingrich. That they prefer two unannounced candidates to Thompson indicates that Thompson, despite his claim that “I’m good at retail politics,” is doing very poorly at it.
Thompson does have a great resume. But he’s got to convince voters that he’s a dynamic leader, someone who can carry America through the War on Terror, stand up to Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, and move the country in the right direction through sheer force of will. Thompson does not emanate that vibe. Until he starts, he’ll have a hard time raising money or votes.
If he’s just hanging on in hopes of getting the VP nod, he’s still going to have to do tremendously better than he’s doing. At this rate, he’ll be lucky to be appointed ambassador to Fredonia.
Katrina Swett’s dad insults former German chancellor
U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, compared former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to a prostitute at today’s dedication of America’s new Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington. Lantos, a California Democrat, is father of Katrina Swett, who is running to become the Democrats’ challenger to Sen. John Sununu next year.
Lantos said he’d like to call Schroeder “a political prostitute, now that he’s taking big checks from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. But the sex workers in my district objected.”
Lantos was not pleased that Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac refused to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
I’ll try to find the full text of Lantos’s remarks.
Update: President Bush calls Rep. Lantos “no better friend to freedom.”
