tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59999022011-09-04T12:27:34.615-04:00Some 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.comBlogger981100tag: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.com32tag: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.com6tag: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.com3tag: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.com22tag: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.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1106185421575851102005-01-19T19:40:00.000-05:002005-01-27T19:04:00.346-05:00

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island is certain to be a prime Democratic target in the 2006 elections, if nothing else because he's a Republican here in one of the bluest states in the country. Still, a race against Chafee is a more complex picture for Democrats than one might think: he's a respected maverick and the most liberal Republican in the Senate, his father was also a popular

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1105827080408240322005-01-15T16:57:00.000-05:002005-01-18T23:11:26.396-05:00

Yes, I'm still here. Er...there. Somewhere. I've been meaning to get back to blogging for a while now, but I always seemed to end up not doing it for one reason or another, particularly the feeling that I would have to begin by writing up some sort of post-mortem on the Kerry campaign and my involvement in it. Hopefully, enough time has now passed that nobody would be particularly interested in

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1096573715000047372004-09-30T15:42:00.000-04:002005-01-18T23:12:02.303-05:00

Between the Kerry campaign and an important exam, I've been too busy to blog much lately, but anyone who's been here semi-regularly for the past year or so will know that opposing U.S. complicity in torture is something of a personal cause for me. With that in mind, some excerpts from a relevant Washington Post article: The Bush administration is supporting a provision in the House leadership's

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1093724839569880162004-08-28T16:18:00.000-04:002005-01-18T23:12:46.186-05:00

For those of you who are wondering, I'm not really going to be doing polling updates on this blog any more and have removed those posts. Running the Numbers is still active, as are numerous other state poll-tracking sites on the web. Anyway, this column by Eleanor Clift confirms what I had sort of suspected about the Swift Boat Veterans campaign, namely that, while it may not be technically

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1089909532156479762004-07-15T13:16:00.000-04:002005-01-18T23:13:22.506-05:00

Who needs new sitcoms this fall when we have the Illinois Republican Party to keep us entertained? As has been reported, some Illinois Republicans' bizarre plan to salvage their faltering Senate campaign against Barack Obama by enlisting former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka is apparently not going forward. To be honest, as absurd as it seemed, the possibility of a Ditka candidacy did make me a

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1088551083288126462004-06-29T18:50:00.000-04:002005-01-18T23:14:45.720-05:00

Remember during the good old days of the Florida recount, when analysts occasionally tossed around extremely weird scenarios involving two separate states of Florida electors, with Congress having to adjudicate and the Senate being in the position of Lieberman casting the 50th vote in favor of his own ticket and Gore breaking the tie? Well, something roughly equivalent may be brewing in Canada.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1088380065473209692004-06-27T19:47:00.000-04:002005-01-18T23:19:44.846-05:00

Why would there be bats in hell in the first place?

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1088216249943561652004-06-25T21:50:00.000-04:002005-01-18T23:20:32.116-05:00

For a guy who's supposed to be some sort of evil genius, Karl Rove has certainly signed off on a fair amount of downright weird PR strategy lately. Apparently unsatisfied with the sometimes nearly incomprehensible imagery of the ad about John Kerry and his "wacky" gas tax, Republicans have now put an ad on Bush's campaign website about "John Kerry's Democratic Party" as the "Coalition of the

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1087869006025781422004-06-21T21:44:00.000-04:002005-01-19T01:01:00.166-05:00

Apparently I wasn't the only one to scratch my head at the supposed Russian intelligence. According to this transcript of Sunday's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) had never heard this story either: BLITZER: Senator Lugar, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, this week dropped a bombshell, suggesting that, after 9/11 but before the war in

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1087673615409195122004-06-19T13:59:00.000-04:002005-01-19T01:06:06.786-05:00

In a story that seems to have inspired a collective "Huh?" around the blogosphere (including some conservatives), Vladimir Putin is now claiming that Russian intelligence informed the U.S., after 9/11 but before the Iraq War, that Saddam's regime was planning terrorist attacks inside the U.S. and against U.S. interests abroad: By BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA, Associated Press Writer ASTANA, Kazakhstan -

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1087605749631472182004-06-18T20:33:00.000-04:002005-01-27T19:17:11.713-05:00

It is probably inevitable that, if the torture scandal becomes damaging enough, some political operators seeking to protect the administration will quietly start suggesting that, while torture may be grisly and hard to stomach, it might be a justifiable and effective means of gathering intelligence if circumstances are dire enough. Personally I find this unpersuasive -- rights and principles are

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1087339826039735352004-06-15T18:46:00.000-04:002005-01-27T19:30:08.033-05:00

This is definitely worth a couple of minutes. The group FaithfulAmerica.org has put together an ad in which Americans of various religious traditions condemn the torture of Iraqi prisoners and pledge to work for justice and, as the final speaker puts it, right these wrongs. At the website, you can watch the ad and then click to endorse it or to donate money to help them raise the funds to play it

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1086996404523789772004-06-11T19:22:00.000-04:002005-10-27T16:53:10.456-04:00

UPDATE 10/27/05: It now sounds as though Hersh was inaccurate in the comments quoted below and that he says so himself here.I'm going to resist the temptation to go off on a partisan screed about this, though in all honesty it just makes me want to go crawl in a hole somewhere more than anything else. This is something I just read about today, and if it's true, then needless to say it's very

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1086829378979661162004-06-09T21:00:00.000-04:002005-01-27T20:02:06.330-05:00

As a liberal from Missouri, I have a soft spot for Ashcroft-bashing, and so I'd urge you all to have a look at this video, courtesy of filmmaker Jason Woliner and the Music For America site. (Be sure to keep an eye out for Mr. Stay Puft.)

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1086274241149851402004-06-03T10:48:00.000-04:002005-01-27T20:20:01.036-05:00

Just saw it on Yahoo news. Reportedly it's for "personal reasons," but there will undoubtedly be speculation that this is related to the various intelligence controversies of the past couple years. I'm sure there'll be more about this as the day goes by.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1086221676137575532004-06-02T20:11:00.000-04:002005-01-27T21:45:55.840-05:00

Just to prove that even I can enjoy an occasional laugh at Kerry's expense, here's an entry from the Daily Kos: I met John Kerry today. by whitedawn Wed Jun 2nd, 2004 at 16:36:54 EDT In a cafe in the Spanish part of town. John Kerry and his entourage came into the little Spanish cafe my friends and I frequent in the south part of Tampa this morning. He took time to talk to everyone that was

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1085887383634189172004-05-29T23:14:00.000-04:002005-01-16T19:34:03.836-05:00

At first, I took the recent warnings from Ashcroft and Mueller more or less at face value, in spite of the obvious politicking in Ashcroft's warning that the terrorists might be hoping to influence our election in light of what happened in Spain. As it turns out, this may in fact be just the latest reason to ask ourselves, "Are these guys lying, or are they just incompetent?" (In Ashcroft's case,

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1085588602536522562004-05-26T13:18:00.000-04:002005-01-16T19:38:06.036-05:00

Quoted via an article in the Toronto Star, here's high-profile neocon Richard Perle: "I would be the first to acknowledge we allowed the liberation (of Iraq) to subside into an occupation. And I think that was a grave error, and in some ways a continuing error," said Perle, former chair of the influential Defence Policy Board, which advises the Pentagon. With violent resistance to the U.S.-led

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1085344681389199972004-05-23T16:35:00.000-04:002005-01-16T19:38:54.876-05:00

C-Span junkies who enjoy watching the British House of Commons on Sunday night should tune in tonight. Apparently during this week's session of Prime Minister's Questions, some people from a "fathers' rights" group got into the visitors' gallery and threw a condom filled with purple flour at Tony Blair. (I briefly wondered if this story was a joke when I heard about it, before deciding that it

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1084416959951045152004-05-12T22:45:00.000-04:002005-01-16T19:47:33.326-05:00

The other day, I thought to myself, mostly jokingly, that it probably wouldn't be long before some right-wing kook would blame this whole thing on women in the military. Well, apparently I had missed the fact that, on May 5, Ann Coulter did just that: I think the other point that no one is making about the abuse photos is just the disproportionate number of women involved, including a girl

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1084416184138074462004-05-12T20:56:00.000-04:002005-01-16T19:48:46.713-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while, and recently I pondered declaring myself on "hiatus" and just focusing on Running the Numbers for the time being, but I'm going to have a go at trying to do this a little more regularly. The Abu Ghraib scandal is obviously first and foremost on the minds of anyone following current events these days. While Vietnam comparisons have been making the rounds ever since

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1083014054359240992004-04-26T17:14:00.000-04:002005-01-16T22:07:55.983-05:00

For political junkies, the event to watch this week is the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania, where incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter faces a serious challenge from conservative Rep. Pat Toomey. Recent polls have shown Specter with only a slight lead over Toomey, and many are saying that voter turnout could well decide the race. From my side of the aisle, I'm tempted to root for a Toomey

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1080184599487955762004-03-24T22:16:00.000-05:002005-01-16T22:47:48.656-05:00

About Richard Clarke, that is. Now good luck finding it. I've been trying to follow this firestorm for the past five days, and after all the excerpts, quotations, interviews, allegations, attacks, rebuttals, and counter-rebuttals...well, frankly I'm confused. Certainly my instinctive distrust of the Bush administration leads me to suspect that his story is probably true, but then again, how

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1079578627892227592004-03-17T21:57:00.000-05:002005-01-16T22:51:18.076-05:00

It's not clear if the group in question really speaks for Al-Qaeda (and it probably doesn't mean anything even if they do), but I couldn't help but chortle a little at the second half of this story, especially with all the right-wing griping about Kerry's "foreign leaders" remark and the Spanish election: Purported Al Qaeda Letter Calls Truce in Spain Wed Mar 17, 4:56 PM ET By Opheera McDoom

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1079146916336225792004-03-12T22:01:00.000-05:002005-01-16T22:59:22.390-05:00

Most of the chattering class would agree that the Democrats have a stronger chance of winning back the Presidency this fall than they do of taking back the House or the Senate (particularly the House, where redistricting has just about made a joke of the whole process). However, things have started looking up on the Senate side lately: Republicans are having trouble fielding top-tier candidates,

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1078959984803508752004-03-10T18:06:00.000-05:002005-01-17T00:51:34.203-05:00

No, I don't think it would actually happen, and I'm not sure how the two of them could make the ideological case for it (despite a maverick streak, McCain is still pretty conservative), but it's fun to imagine Karl Rove going nuts when he hears about McCain's comments this morning. Meanwhile, for further indications of an already-intense race, hop over to Salon and check out their "New Pentagon

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1078438610850756372004-03-04T17:16:00.000-05:002005-01-17T01:15:06.646-05:00

I've updated the Scorecard again with all the Super Tuesday numbers I can find at the moment. While I'll continue updating it once a week until the primaries are over, I'll be devoting my number-crunching time more towards monitoring state-by-state Bush vs. Kerry polls from now on. I'm working on a feature that will combine those numbers with the 2000 results for one of those fun little red vs.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1078331891169483432004-03-03T11:38:00.000-05:002005-01-17T01:24:06.126-05:00

First off, a brief note about Rhode Island. It looks like we came up a little short of our stated goals: a delegate sweep (Edwards picked up 4 out of 21) and the largest percentage vote for Kerry of any Super Tuesday states (Massachusetts beat us by 1%), but we did well despite the low voter turnout. Speaking of which, on the down side, it looks like we'll have the fewest votes of any non-caucus

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1078185336125559762004-03-01T18:55:00.000-05:002005-01-17T01:37:07.280-05:00

With John Kerry having won almost all of the primaries thus far and only John Edwards remaining as a serious opponent, tomorrow looks to be the most pivotal day in the Democratic primary race since the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Here in Rhode Island, things are still relatively quiet. We've done some phonebanking and some roadside visibilities, but at nowhere near the intensity of New

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077852230087455552004-02-26T22:23:00.000-05:002005-01-17T11:14:46.976-05:00

There's been a lot of talk about how the Republicans are supposedly going to use John Kerry's voting record on defense against him, and an article by Fred Kaplan in Slate (which has hardly been a bastion of pro-Kerry sentiment) nicely illustrates how a lot of what the Republicans are peddling is bunk. I find this paragraph particularly illuminating: Another bit of dishonesty is RNC Chairman Ed

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077728902269026652004-02-25T13:08:00.000-05:002005-01-17T11:17:24.960-05:00

The results from Idaho, Utah, and Hawaii confirmed what I suspected would happen after Wisconsin: the race has gone into a sort of holding pattern with Kerry having the support of a little over half of Democrats and Edwards a distant but respectable second. The only exception is in Hawaii, where Dennis Kucinich managed a second-place finish and picked up some delegates, perhaps because he was the

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077671368931087732004-02-24T20:09:00.000-05:002005-01-18T22:48:14.126-05:00

With only thirteen delegates at stake and nine other states voting on Super Tuesday, it's no surprise that the Rhode Island Kerry Campaign is pretty low-key so far...which still puts us ahead of the Rhode Island Edwards Campaign, which is completely nonexistent as far as anyone can tell. It doesn't seem like anyone thinks the outcome here is in doubt: barring a complete implosion during the next

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077635886430757152004-02-24T10:18:00.000-05:002005-01-18T23:10:46.456-05:00

As pointed out over at Counterspin, the evidence from the "Winter Soldiers" investigation (which was part of the basis for John Kerry's testimony to Congress in 1971) is online here.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077556123483739742004-02-23T12:06:00.000-05:002004-02-23T12:12:00.466-05:00

HEH-HEH-HEH, THEY SAID "ASS" Excerpt from a recent entry in Ryan Lizza's Campaign Journal at the New Republic website: ONE WORD: Another poll shows George W. Bush's job approval rating dropping. The Pew Research Center finds that it has sunk to an all-time low of 48 percent. That confirms the trend we've been seeing in other polls this month, but even more alarming for the White House has to be

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077503699043228852004-02-22T21:34:00.000-05:002004-02-22T21:37:44.640-05:00

THE PLOT THICKENS Well, my hit counter has gone through the roof (relatively speaking) since the "Monkeys and Keyboards" post of two days ago, apparently all due to people typing "www.url98u.com" into their search engines. If anyone cares to use the comment feature -- how come so many people are looking for that site? Are other people getting the same bizarre spams that I am? (Three more have

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077293880195737802004-02-20T11:18:00.000-05:002004-02-20T11:20:42.560-05:00

MONKEYS AND KEYBOARDS I don't usually bother to read spam, so maybe this is normal, but I couldn't help but notice the rather odd addendum to this little missive I received yesterday: "B U Y Y O U R M E D S H E R E: http://www.url98u.com/ In my opinion, program delights David Coulthard's Buddha, mumbo-jumbo gazeno atypical erection.Well, favours sleeps with of bookshop which attacks

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1077115374432098442004-02-18T09:42:00.000-05:002004-02-18T09:45:33.640-05:00

WISCONSIN POSTGAME WRAP-UP Well, I have to give John Edwards credit: the polls showed him nowhere near John Kerry a couple of days ago, and yet he managed to make this one a real race. If the exit polls are right, his close second-place finish can be attributed to the two factors that arguably may still be of some concern to those of us in the Kerry camp: (1) Edwards seems to run better among

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1076792360311612812004-02-14T15:59:00.000-05:002004-02-14T16:01:54.153-05:00

THE LITTLE SCANDAL THAT COULDN'T I'm reluctant to give this any space at all, but for those of you who come here for my latest ramblings on the Kerry campaign and are wondering -- yes, I've heard the rumors circulated via the Drudge Report, and after a couple of days I am convinced that there's almost certainly nothing to this story. Obviously I'm biased, but after reading a couple of accounts

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1076481235299600362004-02-11T01:33:00.000-05:002004-02-11T01:36:24.466-05:00

AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE While John Kerry's first two Southern primary wins are certainly welcome news for his supporters, he'll no doubt be sharing headlines with Wesley Clark, who will reportedly announce his withdrawal from the race tomorrow. Clark never demonstrated (at least not to me) that he was 100% ready for the campaign or for the job itself, and after nearly losing Oklahoma to Edwards

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1076344000457864292004-02-09T11:26:00.000-05:002004-02-09T11:29:07.530-05:00

MORE NUMBERS I've revamped the Scorecard, relying now on the Washington Post's Election 2004 website and adding the totals for Gephardt, Moseley Braun, LaRouche (snicker), Uncommitted, and "Other" into the mix. I haven't yet added in the Maine totals, since it appears that, as of about 11 a.m. this morning, they still aren't anywhere near finished counting, though it looks like Kerry, Dean, and

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1076045627738733782004-02-06T00:33:00.000-05:002004-02-06T00:36:09.966-05:00

SOME ODDS AND ENDS Just a few plugs: - Missouri Democrats continue to show their good sense: Gephardt to Endorse Kerry. - My friend Jenn has a good article on Kerry's chances in the South in Thursday's Brown Daily Herald. - The Green Papers site may have done me one better as far as keeping the raw vote totals in the primary (they factor in the totals for Gephardt, Braun, and others in

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075954975322175272004-02-04T23:22:00.000-05:002004-02-04T23:25:16.310-05:00

NOW FOR SOME PROPER LONG-WINDED BLATHERING So I'm back to ramble some more about the Feb. 3 primary results. As I said, I think the only possible downside for Kerry is that South Carolina wasn't a closer race. For reasons I discussed previously, I think he actually benefits from having Edwards and Clark hang around a little longer, but a photo finish with Edwards would have made an even stronger

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075873882792440992004-02-04T00:51:00.000-05:002004-02-04T00:53:42.826-05:00

QUICK NOTE ON THE FINAL RESULTS I'll be back sometime within the next 24 hours to say more, but in general it looks like things are moving along nicely for Kerry with five wins out of seven. About the only thing his supporters might have hoped for but didn't get was a closer finish in South Carolina, where Edwards won by double digits. Anyway, looks like I was six for seven on the predictions (

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075862361193807502004-02-03T21:39:00.000-05:002004-02-09T11:30:49.043-05:00

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER With 67% counted, Edwards has just pulled ahead of Clark in Oklahoma -- hadn't seen that one coming. Meanwhile, New Mexico looks like a three-way race between Kerry, Dean, and Clark. Still no numbers from Arizona or North Dakota, but I'll assume the professionals know what they're doing in calling both for Kerry.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075860683518259562004-02-03T21:11:00.000-05:002004-02-03T21:13:43.153-05:00

MSNBC CALLS TWO MORE; LIEBERMAN TO DROP OUT I'm watching MSNBC, and the ever-audible Chris Matthews has announced that they've called Arizona and North Dakota for Kerry as well (though I've yet to find any numbers at all for either of them). I think the Arizona win is important for Kerry, particularly if he doesn't win Oklahoma (where he's still in a close 3rd place according to the latest

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-107585929629508952004-02-03T20:48:00.000-05:002004-02-03T20:50:35.543-05:00

AND...THEY'RE OFF! Well, the first results of the night are in, and no big surprises so far: Kerry wins in Missouri and Delaware, and Edwards wins in South Carolina (as I expected, though I must admit I was hoping Kerry would be closer). Right now, it looks like Oklahoma may take a while to figure out, showing Clark and Edwards in a dead heat so far with Kerry not too far behind. Nothing yet

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075507465185025492004-01-30T19:04:00.000-05:002004-01-30T19:23:07.450-05:00

MORE AMATEUR PUNDITRY Much to my own (pleasant) surprise, John Kerry seems to be picking up support in the next round of primary states faster than I suspected, to the point that I'd actually now be surprised if he doesn't win at least a plurality of the Feb. 3 primaries. (Incidentally, I get a lot of my polling info from The Hedgehog Report and Real Clear Politics. Both are conservative-leaning

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075410695050952812004-01-29T16:11:00.000-05:002004-01-29T16:13:47.530-05:00

EDWARDS QUALIFIES FOR RHODE ISLAND PRIMARY BALLOT According to this article, some affidavits have been collected and John Edwards will be on the Rhode Island primary ballot after all.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1075310808508192912004-01-28T12:26:00.000-05:002004-01-28T12:45:10.543-05:00

SO. No points for guessing that this post is about John Kerry and the New Hampshire Primary. (g) It actually all feels a bit weird right now. Having gone on my first "canvassing" trip to New Hampshire all the way back in August 2003, I've spent so much of my recent life in vague anticipation of the New Hampshire primary that it's almost hard to believe that it's really over. It's also pretty

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1074468490533341202004-01-18T18:28:00.000-05:002004-01-18T20:47:48.436-05:00

THE INTERN WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD After a week or so of almost non-stop campaign work, I have a brief respite before heading back to the Manchester field office late tomorrow afternoon, where I imagine we'll be doing some last -minute phone calls to Iowa voters (who are plenty sick of us and probably most of the other Democrats by now, unfortunately) and then sitting glued to the TV waiting

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1073794182170754112004-01-10T23:09:00.000-05:002004-01-10T23:12:58.033-05:00

WESLEY CLARK, SORCERER OF LIGHT BTW, I think this wins the award as the most unusual path to this blog thus far: Google Search for "wesley clark dungeons and dragons character."

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1073787082184968032004-01-10T21:11:00.000-05:002004-01-10T21:11:42.843-05:00

OFF TO THE RACES I'll probably be somewhat scarce for the next couple weeks as I'll be putting in lots of time volunteering for Kerry up in Manchester. (Conveniently, Brown's spring semester doesn't start until the day after the New Hampshire primary.) Of course, at the moment it looks like New Hampshire has become something of a secondary battlefield for Kerry: with Clark moving into second

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1073258742244787982004-01-04T18:25:00.000-05:002004-01-04T18:26:47.043-05:00

EDWARDS CAMPAIGN APPEALS RHODE ISLAND BALLOT DISQUALIFICATION It appears that Edwards' failure to get enough signatures for the Rhode Island ballot has finally gotten some attention, as reported in this article from a North Carolina publication. If the Edwards spokesman is right about some signatures being thrown out because no ZIP code was listed, they've probably got a good case, as that

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1072644337706243302003-12-28T15:41:00.000-05:002003-12-28T15:45:54.533-05:00

FINAL TALLY FROM RHODE ISLAND SIGNATURE DRIVE As far as I can tell, the Rhode Island Secretary of State's office has finished the signature count; you can see the results at http://www.sec.state.ri.us/ppp/index.php?page=pppc if you want. Anyway, we came in third among real Democrats with 1,225 signatures (meaning that I don't count Lyndon LaRouche, who somewhat embarrassingly outpaced everyone

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1071880941795794312003-12-19T19:42:00.000-05:002003-12-19T19:49:05.333-05:00

WHEW! (I THINK.) Well, 4:00 p.m. on December 19 has come and gone, which means that the signature drive to get John Kerry's name on the Rhode Island primary ballot is over. As far as we can tell, we made it, barring any counting errors yet to be discovered. (One of the local canvassing boards actually overcounted by 113 signatures, which didn't get caught until today, but fortunately it still

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1071200307668082632003-12-11T22:38:00.000-05:002003-12-11T22:38:40.033-05:00

RALPH NADER, WILL YOU PLEASE GO NOW? If, like me, you really, really, really do not want to see Ralph Nader run for President again, go here and let him know.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1071074773943996382003-12-10T11:46:00.000-05:002003-12-10T11:46:25.830-05:00

ON A LIGHTER NOTE Just thought I'd share my favorite part of the agreement we had to sign in order to bring our Kerry signature drive to a booth at Providence Place Mall: "Applicant may not engage in fighting, boisterous conduct or utilize or encourage the use of physical force, abusive or obscene language or threats toward or against any other person. No nudity shall be exhibited by Applicant(

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1071066385293729722003-12-10T09:26:00.000-05:002003-12-10T09:26:37.420-05:00

THOUGHTS ON THE FINAL DEMOCRATIC DEBATE I don't know if it's just my own point of view as a frustrated and perplexed John Kerry supporter, but the debate in New Hampshire last night seemed to me to have a slightly surreal quality. In a way, they almost seemed to come full circle in their tone and tactics. After their increasingly open disagreements with each other in more recent debates, they

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1070685028765756052003-12-05T23:30:00.000-05:002003-12-05T23:31:16.800-05:00

LET IT SNOW Well, it looks like we're getting our inevitable First Big Snowstorm of the Season here in Rhode Island -- sounds like anything from 8 to 14 inches tomorrow, and that's in addition to the 1 to 3 falling tonight. Hopefully the plows are at work on the roads, which were in pretty horrible shape earlier (it took over an hour to drive the 10-15 miles from Providence to Warwick). This has

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1070323549365081562003-12-01T19:05:00.000-05:002003-12-01T19:06:14.290-05:00

I CAST A SPELL! If you have ever... (a) played Dungeons & Dragons; (b) known someone who played Dungeons & Dragons; (c) been vaguely aware of the existence of Dungeons & Dragons; ...you should listen to this.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1070237396091572702003-11-30T19:09:00.000-05:002003-11-30T19:11:41.810-05:00

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" Those of you who know me may be aware that a couple friends and I have, for the past six years or so, been on a very intermittent quest to track down a classic bad horror movie called The Creeping Terror. Basically, we were sitting around one night with nothing to do and paging through a video guide, and its description of this obscure, cheap Z-grade flick about people

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1069438425213430972003-11-21T13:13:00.000-05:002003-11-21T13:13:52.570-05:00

ENERGY BILL BLOCKED IN SENATE The Senate has just voted to block Bush's energy bill thanks to a rather unique political alignment: Tom Daschle joined 12 other Democratic "defectors" to vote in favor of cloture, while all five New England Republicans -- Snowe and Collins of Maine, Gregg and Sununu of New Hampshire, and good old Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island -- voted with John McCain against

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1069432253028391962003-11-21T11:30:00.000-05:002003-11-21T11:36:55.990-05:00

MAX CLELAND AND THE 9/11 COMMISSION There's an interesting interview over at Salon with former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia (who, incidentally, recently visited the Boston Kerry HQ and gave a nice talk for the volunteers). Cleland talks about the ongoing 9/11 commission investigation, the problems they've had getting info from the Administration, and the war in Iraq. For those of you who don't

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1069076976832295622003-11-17T08:49:00.000-05:002003-11-17T11:13:20.150-05:00

OF CASTLES AND CANVASSING Well, the trip to Hammond Castle Museum on Saturday went off considerably more smoothly than I'd anticipated: most of the inscriptions we were looking for were (a) inside and (b) concentrated in a relatively small area, and the ones that were outside were reachable with minimal acrobatics. Having centered in on the "museum" aspect of the building's title rather than the

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068855327480712302003-11-14T19:15:00.000-05:002003-11-14T19:15:55.940-05:00

EVILNESS UPDATE Kevin's Marginalia is down to 32% evil according to the ever-reliable Gematriculator. Woohoo! (Yes, it's true: I have absolutely no life whatsoever.)

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068834399371982302003-11-14T13:26:00.000-05:002003-11-15T18:20:23.566-05:00

VANESSA KERRY VISITS BROWN Anyone who's been following the Democratic primary race probably knows that recent days have not been kind to the Kerry campaign, and between the firing of his campaign manager, a rather ho-hum Tonight Show appearance (I think Triumph the Insult Comic Dog got more screen time), and a particularly pessimistic Salon article, I must admit I was starting to feel like the

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068674972009270172003-11-12T17:09:00.000-05:002003-11-12T17:10:56.810-05:00

ADDENDUM ON ROCK THE VOTE Apparently the Brown student who asked the inane "PCs or Macs?" question at the Rock the Vote debate (and caused more than a little collective embarrassment here) didn't come up with the question herself, but rather had it fed to her by CNN personnel looking to help the candidates "appeal to a younger audience." (Yeah, because nothing "appeals" to us quite like being

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068229857442894682003-11-07T13:30:00.000-05:002003-11-07T13:33:26.100-05:00

MORE ON IRAQ: "THE LAST-MINUTE OFFER" I'm definitely having one of my befuddled moments on Iraq right now after reading this yesterday. One thing that I'm becoming increasingly convinced of is that Saddam may not have been nearly as savvy as I'd assumed he was. As for whether that actually made him more or less dangerous, I'd have to plead...well, befuddlement. I haven't read Salon's take on

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068081881279961002003-11-05T20:24:00.000-05:002003-11-05T20:24:44.653-05:00

WASHINGTON POST: SADDAM WAS SURE OF HIS OWN SURVIVAL My reaction to the apparent failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has generally gone back and forth between anger and just plain befuddlement. Even though I opposed the war, I kind of figured that Iraq probably had some WMD, and I was pretty surprised that none turned up when the U.S. invaded. (Though maybe I shouldn't have been,

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068081152364211762003-11-05T20:12:00.000-05:002003-11-05T20:12:35.866-05:00

A FREE EVIL DETECTOR Thanks to Alfred for discovering this site. Apparently this blog is 43% evil. On the other hand, I checked and my genre TV reviews page (still online but now in cold storage) is only 14% evil, so maybe there's still hope for me.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1068043848550190722003-11-05T09:50:00.000-05:002003-11-05T20:06:24.293-05:00

ROCK THE VOTE FORUM Last night was definitely the most fun I've had since getting involved with the Kerry campaign. A group of us from Brown, Providence College, and Stonehill shared a bus up to Boston to do "visibility" outside Faneuil Hall before the debate (meaning standing outside with Kerry signs and cheering). We definitely had the biggest turnout of any of the candidates (including

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1067781820068277132003-11-02T09:03:00.000-05:002003-11-02T09:09:27.380-05:00

WHAT'S ALL THIS, THEN? OK, since I've decided not to give up on this just yet, I'll post the obligatory "who am I and why am I doing this" intro.... I'm 26 years old, originally from St. Louis, and a fifth-year graduate student in the Classics Department at Brown University in Providence, RI, with a vague plan for specializing in ancient religion and an even vaguer plan for being ready to start

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999902.post-1067303588588316402003-10-27T20:13:00.000-05:002003-10-27T20:13:09.663-05:00

Hey, just seeing if this actually works. Of course, there's a good chance I'll give up on this before I even get started, in which case this will be the only post here. Ever.

Kevinnoreply@blogger.com0