tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59999022009-02-20T23:05:13.205-05:00Some largely trivial musings on politics, academia, pop culture, and life in Rhode Island, courtesy of a graduate student forever in search of new procrastination techniques.Kevinnoreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1131600096942587182005-11-09T23:09:00.000-05:002005-11-10T00:26:31.263-05:00

I don't have anything in particular to add about the Virginia and New Jersey Governor's races that isn't already being said, so instead I'm going to say a little about the outcome of the special election in Missouri that I mentioned yesterday. To make a long story short, the Democratic candidate Jane Bogetto won, and by a considerable margin:Bogetto (D) 57.6% (4,866)Byrd, M. (R) 42.4% (3,600)

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1131491912747632292005-11-08T18:02:00.000-05:002005-11-08T19:55:44.400-05:00

A few races worth watching tonight in this off-off-year election. The big prize is the Governor's mansion in Virginia, where Republican Ed Kilgore was favored early on but has fallen behind Democrat Tim Kaine in recent polling. With President Bush visiting Virginia last night to campaign for Kilgore, whichever side wins is certain to tout it as a referendum on his Presidency. Unofficial returns

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1131313042275807142005-11-06T16:35:00.000-05:002005-11-06T16:37:22.286-05:00

According to this entry on the Daily Kos, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine needs out-of-state volunteers to help with last-minute phonebanking before the election on Tuesday. The polls seem to be neck-and-neck in this one. If you're interested, scroll through the comments section for contact information.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1130813322767135552005-10-31T21:19:00.000-05:002005-10-31T21:52:12.086-05:00

The Survey USA numbers (see below) present some interesting insights into the nature of the race here in Rhode Island. Perhaps not entirely surprisingly, Chafee has higher approval ratings among Democrats than Republicans:Democrats (32% of sample)Approve 64%Disapprove 31Not Sure 5Republicans (19% of sample)Approve 52Disapprove 43Not Sure 6Independents (46% of sample)Approve 54Disapprove 40Not

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1130446239370878522005-10-27T16:47:00.000-04:002005-10-27T17:05:47.230-04:00

Last June, I blogged about a story regarding allegations by Seymour Hearsh of sexual assaults against children in American-run Iraqi prisons. Through a Daily Kos thread, I discovered that Hersh has apparently corrected the story to some extent since then: he now says there was only one incident, and it's unclear what (if anything) American personnel had to do with it.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1130442092145365112005-10-27T10:55:00.000-04:002005-10-27T16:32:07.296-04:00

Survey USA has released a new 50-state poll tracking approval ratings for each U.S. Senator. I decided to take a look at the current "freshman class," since their images are presumably less cemented back home and therefore perhaps more reflective of national trends:CLASS OF 2000Thomas Carper (D-DE) 63-28Ben Nelson (D-NE) 63-29Hillary Clinton (D-NY) 63-34Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) 56-37John Ensign (

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1128885162376743502005-10-09T15:09:00.000-04:002005-10-09T15:12:42.380-04:00

I'm admittedly jumping on this bandwagon at the very end, but I'd encourage everyone to check out http://www.fluwikie.com/.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1126819593165604552005-09-15T16:50:00.000-04:002005-09-15T17:26:33.186-04:00

Now that Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey has officially jumped into the race, we have a new poll testing all the possible matchups (minus low-profile Democrat Carl Sheeler) from Darrell West of Brown University:Primary MatchupsRepublicansLincoln Chafee 44%Stephen Laffey 24%Don't Know/No Answer 32%DemocratsSheldon Whitehouse 32%Matt Brown 16%Don't Know/No Answer 52%General Election MatchupsLincoln

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1124942481261188052005-08-24T23:59:00.000-04:002005-08-25T00:02:41.086-04:00

Passing this along for a friend:http://aliciaismissing.blogspot.com

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1124942099877599812005-08-24T23:50:00.000-04:002005-08-24T23:54:59.883-04:00

I have decided, once again, to try to start blogging a little more regularly again. If I am successful, the entries will probably take on a slightly different character than they have in the past, when they basically consisted of either long analyses about politics or brief comments and links to some oddity or other that I'd run across. Both of those kinds of posts will still show up, but I may

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1112585962873789102005-04-03T23:38:00.000-04:002005-04-03T23:51:52.386-04:00

I was out of town when this happened so now I'm playing catch-up. Patrick Kennedy has also decided not to run for Senate, saying that he thought he'd be more effective by keeping his seat on the Appropriations Committee. It's also been suggested that his mother's recent health problems played a role in his decision.With Jim Langevin also having passed on the race, there seems to be a certain

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1111595516456534822005-03-23T11:24:00.000-05:002005-03-23T11:34:32.366-05:00

According to the Providence Journal, Rep. Jim Langevin has decided not to enter the Senate race against Lincoln Chafee. I've written in the past about why I thought Langevin might actually be the best candidate to take on Chafee, but this does at least spare us from the year-long spitting contest about abortion that seemed inevitable if he did run.The article goes on to state that party leaders

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1111007632348235452005-03-16T16:11:00.000-05:002005-03-16T16:13:52.346-05:00

51-49.Blech.Does anyone know why the two Dems from Hawaii voted for this garbage?

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1110480844802379302005-03-10T13:36:00.000-05:002005-03-10T13:55:57.270-05:00

Looks like Chafee provided the crucial vote on Bush's Orwellian-titled "Clear Skies Act":President Bush's bid to rewrite the nation's air pollution laws ground to a halt in Congress Wednesday when Republicans were unable to overcome objections in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the bill would weaken central pillars of environmental protection.[...]Democrats, joined by Sen.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1110306304449070302005-03-08T13:24:00.000-05:002005-03-08T13:25:04.450-05:00

Daily Kos thread: Bono for President!

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1109946435433118972005-03-04T09:15:00.000-05:002005-03-04T09:27:15.436-05:00

Lately I've been getting a number of spams that are even weirder than the www.url98u.com ones from last year, in that these don't even attempt to sell anything or generally make any sense at all. They're just medium-sized collections of aphorisms and pithy sayings. The best part (for those who enjoy these sorts of things) is the names of the people supposedly sending them. Yesterday, for example,

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1109514755993062202005-02-27T09:31:00.000-05:002005-02-27T09:32:35.996-05:00

I bet you didn't know that this once existed, now did you?

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1109378447984798352005-02-25T19:20:00.000-05:002005-02-25T19:40:47.986-05:00

According to this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Republican state legislators in Georgia are preparing for a mid-decade redistricting similar to the infamous redrawing of the Texas congressional districts in 2003:Putting aside their reluctance to draw new political districts, Republicans in the House and Senate rolled out competing versions of a new congressional map Tuesday."We

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1108661780412277382005-02-17T11:53:00.000-05:002005-02-17T12:36:20.433-05:00

Darrell West of good ol' Brown University has released a poll testing various possible matchups for the Senate and Governor's races in 2006. On the Senate side, the potential Democrats are Rep. James Langevin and Secretary of State Matt Brown, with potential Republicans being Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey and, of course, incumbent Sen. Lincoln Chafee:SenateLangevin (D) 41Chafee (R) 27 Chafee (R)

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1107737554485019542005-02-06T19:51:00.000-05:002005-02-06T19:52:34.486-05:00

From a Daily Kos thread about the possibility of a Gore 2008 campaign: Gore would be this decade's Nixon, except he'd actually not be evil.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1107454998294799992005-02-03T13:14:00.000-05:002005-02-03T13:23:18.293-05:00

Drowned out among all the shouting over the Gonzales nomination and the State of the Union address is a disturbingly partisan maneuver in the House. From Common Cause: In ousting Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO) today as chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Republican leaders are sending a clear signal that partisan politics trumps accountability and ethical standards in the "people's House." Rep.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1107285199696041972005-02-01T14:02:00.000-05:002005-02-01T14:13:19.696-05:00

Amnesty International weighs in. The No-to-Gonzales site at Newsfare, which I linked to in my previous post on this subject, is asking everyone to call their senators to urge them to oppose the nomination. Just for the record, let me say that I really don't think this is obstructionism or sticking it to Bush just for its own sake. Gonzales failed to give satisfactory answers and explanations on

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1107235608911881862005-02-01T01:22:00.000-05:002005-02-01T00:27:15.683-05:00

From the AP: Iraqi election may affect the Middle East Ya think? (In all seriousness, it's a decent article despite the bizarrely self-evident title -- check it out if you have a minute.)

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1106959151821464042005-01-28T16:32:00.000-05:002005-01-28T19:39:11.820-05:00

With all the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee having voted against the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, it looks like perhaps Senate Democrats are preparing to vote against him en masse when the nomination reaches the floor. Personally, I'm all for it. Despite his attempt to soften his stance at the committee hearing, this editorial from the Washington Post

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1106877868240443752005-01-27T20:22:00.000-05:002005-01-27T21:06:13.346-05:00

Spelling even more trouble within Republican ranks for Bush's Social Security plan, apparently some on the religious right are upset that not enough attention is being given to their favorite issue, a constitutional ban on gay marriage. (The title of this post, incidentally, comes from an episode of The Daily Show, in which Jon Stewart delivered the line in a Gollum-like voice to mock the

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0