Palin's Cruel Streak

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Sunday August 31, 2008 · 9:26 PM PDT

2008/08/31 · 21:26

You might have heard last summer about Mitt Romney’s strapping his dog to his roof on family vacations, which created a bit of a kerfuffle in the primary campaign last summer. But we haven’t heard too much about Sarah Palin’s cruel streak, which makes Romney’s Irish Setter’s unpleasant travel pale in comparison.

Of course, Palin's no animal lover. She's put extraordinary effort into undoing federal wildlife protections for polar bears, beluga whales, and pretty much any other animal that gets in the way of the oil industry's plans.

But her wolf bounty really takes the cake for animal cruelty.

glennhurowitz

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Sunday April 13, 2008 · 6:29 PM PDT

2008/04/13 · 18:29

During the ongoing Compassion Forum, Hillary Clinton talked about "our great drug companies" in the context of a discussion about providing affordable prescription drugs to the poor. She was saying they're great because they invent new drugs which people can then make generics from, though she said that they needed to do more to work with the government to provide affordable drugs. I think it's really accepting a corporate frame to describe drug companies in that way when their sky-high prices continue to cause a lot of Americans to have to choose between drugs and other vital needs (like food).

Study: Hillary's Popular Vote Hope a Mirage

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Wednesday April 09, 2008 · 12:30 PM PDT

2008/04/09 · 12:30

Wharton professor Gregory P. Nini and I just released a new study that casts serious doubt on the use of the popular vote to provide legitimacy in the current Democratic nominating contest.

A major problem with using the popular vote as a measure of democratic will is that some states have held primaries while others have used caucuses, which have far lower turnout.

According to our analysis, an additional 4.1 million voters likely would have participated in the Democratic nominating process had every caucus state instead held a primary – people who are left out of current popular vote tabulations. Additionally, it is likely that the candidates’ share of the popular vote would be different.

glennhurowitz

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Wednesday March 19, 2008 · 7:28 AM PDT

2008/03/19 · 07:28

Wharton professor Gregory P. Nini and I just authored this new paper showing that more than two million additional people would have voted in those primaries had they thought the results would be counted.

Among the proposed alternatives for seating the delegates from Florida and Michigan is to use the results of the primaries that already happened, based on the argument that doing so would avoid disenfranchising the 1.7 million Floridians and 600,000 Michiganders who already voted. However, doing so would disenfranchise many people from FL and MI who did not vote in the earlier primaries because they did not expect their delegates would be seated at the convention. Based on a statistical comparison with turnout in other states' primaries, it appears that roughly two million more people would have voted in FL and MI had they expected their delegates would be seated.

Download the full study here.

John Edwards's Knockout Blow

glennhurowitz

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Saturday January 05, 2008 · 7:43 AM PST

2008/01/05 · 07:43

John Edwards will need a virtuoso performance at tonight's debate to achieve the dramatic come-from-behind win he needs to stay alive. He's facing an opponent in Barack Obama who proved with his amazing Iowa victory that he is an extraordinary organizer, possibly a strategic genius, and above all an inspiring presence who captured Iowans' hunger for change. And he's got momentum. And let's not forget Hillary Clinton, who can count on lots of money, a ruthless campaign operation, and real affection for her and Bill Clinton in the state.

But Edwards can definitely win - with a slight retooling of his message.

- Give us a little hope
The first thing Edwards has to do is combine his anti-corporate message with an inspiring vision of a hopeful future. Anti-corporate attacks, though they strike a chord with many Democratic voters, can only go so far.

glennhurowitz

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Thursday December 27, 2007 · 11:00 AM PST

2007/12/27 · 11:00

Here's what "Santa Barack Obama" was up to over Christmas, according to this new ad by Democratic Courage, the political action committee I run.

It's running on television in Iowa during the holiday season (you can help keep it running by contributing here).

glennhurowitz

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Friday December 14, 2007 · 10:14 AM PST

2007/12/14 · 10:14

I'm on the second day of my book tour in Iowa for my book Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party and I'm seeing something amazing: John Edwards surging from conventional wisdom's forgotten candidate towards what seems to me an almost definite win on Caucus Day. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased: I'm personally a John Edwards supporter and the president of the Democratic Courage political action committee that ran this ad against Hillary Clinton.

But here's what I'm seeing. First - a taste of some big news: a major up-for-grabs statewide leader with a large and loyal following told me he is going to endorse Edwards in the next week. I'll report the person's identity as soon as I get the go-ahead. Second, Edwards supporters are super savvy about the caucuses. I remember attending a caucus in 2004 (as a Kerry campaign volunteer) and watching the Edwards folks, many of them union members, out-organize every other campaign to convince wavering voters to come to their side.

glennhurowitz

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Sunday October 14, 2007 · 10:34 PM PDT

2007/10/14 · 22:34

As part of his effort to limit the influence of corporate lobbyists and other big money scoundrels, John Edwards announced this weekend that, as president, he will invite one million people every two years to participate in a deliberative democracy forum to hatch and debate policy ideas as a way to put ordinary people front and center in the governing process. It's like having one million consultants, but instead of the consultants being hacks providing self-serving and often false advice, they're ordinary people finally getting a bit of access to the governing process. I'd caution that this kind of effort is a great incubator of ideas but doesn't substitute for developing the raw political power necessary to get laws passed - though it can help if the million participants act as ambassadors for the ideas they've helped develop.

glennhurowitz

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Wednesday October 10, 2007 · 10:01 AM PDT

2007/10/10 · 10:01

On Tuesday, Barack Obama announced his support for President Bush's bid to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement to Peru.

Yup - Obama is once again helping pass one of President Bush's top priorities - even as Bush blocks the entire Democratic agenda and daily rains rhetorical abuse down on Democratic heads. Is this how Obama is going to negotiate in the White House?

glennhurowitz

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Sunday September 23, 2007 · 9:50 AM PDT

2007/09/23 · 09:50

When 23 Senate Democrats joined all the Republicans in a vote Thursday to condemn MoveOn.org for its New York Times ad questioning whether General David Petraeus would deliver truthful testimony about Iraq, they also condemned one of the planet's biggest defenders - and everyone concerned about the environment should be concerned about this as well, no matter your feelings on Iraq (this is true also of groups that work to promote public television, clean elections, and democracy in general).

MoveOn has been one of the environment's best friends, running a sustained and highly effective campaign to tackle the climate crisis. I've personally witnessed the fruits of their labors.

When I was working as Deputy Field Director for a major national environmental group, we worked closely with MoveOn.org to set up district meetings across the country to fight George Bush's energy policy; MoveOn's involvement enabled us to do far more in less time than we otherwise would have been able.

glennhurowitz

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Wednesday September 05, 2007 · 6:52 AM PDT

2007/09/05 · 06:52

It was a rough summer for the Democrats.

"You're weak on terror," screamed the Republicans.

"You're spineless," yelled progressives.

"You make decisions on purely political grounds," sniped the mainstream media.

No love. True, Democrats did cave to President Bush in a particularly craven manner when they signed off on his drastic expansion in warrantless spying on American citizens. And they've yet to summon the backbone to meaningfully confront him on the Iraq War.

But, though you wouldn't know it from listening to most progressives or the mainstream media over the last month, Democrats actually made major steps forward on other parts of the progressive agenda in the final months of the summer session.

glennhurowitz

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Thursday August 30, 2007 · 7:27 AM PDT

2007/08/30 · 07:27

September 4th Event Marks New Phase in Struggle for Planet I'm incredibly excited about the September 4th Climate Emergency Fast being organized by the U.S. Climate Emergency Council and others. I've signed up, and hope you will too by clicking here. In one week, the number of fasters has grown from 395 to 795 and continues to multiply. Everyone I've talked to about it is instantly drawn to it; people seem to instinctively understand that we need to move beyond polite letter-writing, lobbying, and yes, blogging, that has characterized response to the climate crisis thus far.

In most true crises, people take to the streets if the government doesn't act. What's happening to the planet is a crisis of that scale, but thus far hasn't got the dramatic response it merits. Institutional advocacy alone just won't cut it.

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Palin's Cruel Streak

Hillary: "Our great drug companies"

Study: Hillary's Popular Vote Hope a Mirage

Wharton Study: FL/MI Results Highly Distorted

John Edwards's Knockout Blow

Video: What Barack Obama Did This Christmas

From Iowa: Why Edwards is Surging

John Edwards's One Million Consultants

Barack Obama: World's Worst Negotiator

Senate Condemns Enviros' Best Friend

What Progressives Can Learn from the Animal Kingdom

The Fast to Stop Global Warming