Is Obama sucking the DNC dry?

By George Dienhart

Amidst all the hubbub about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton breaking fundraising records, the mainstream media seems to be overlooking the incoming receipts of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC has been lagging behind not only its presidential candidates, but also behind the Republican National Committee.  In fact, the RNC has risen over twice what the DNC has- 36.5 million for the GOP, while the DNC has raised only $17.7 million.

With all the attention focused on the presidential race, people have not paid attention to these all-important figures. The parties largely fund congressional races, and also run ads for their presidential candidates. This is big important news, which also shows that the Democrats may be in more trouble than they think. Earlier in the election cycle, Republicans spoke of retaking the house- then they were besot with a wave of retirements that stunned both leadership and the rank and file voter. I actually heard a stunned talk show host, Michael Medved, moved to silence when one of his callers informed him of how many house members actually planned to retire. To my knowledge, he has not brought up retaking the house on his show since.

The numbers are daunting, but people are asking for change, and in change, there is often opportunity.  At last count, 22 Republicans were retiring. Some of these races will be in safe districts, some in competitive districts. The key point is, this could be good news in that it may usher in a new wave of younger, more energetic Republicans.  Raw state will begin profiling and analyzing the situation in each of these congressional districts today.

First up, Wyoming Congresswoman Barbara Cubin’s at large seat.

Cubin is a somewhat controversial 7-term congresswoman from Wyoming. Wyoming is sparsely populated, and as such has one at large district. Cubin won re-election in 2006 by the slim margin of 48.3% to 47.8%. Wyoming is normally a solidly Republican seat. The last election was close, but not because of a disaffection for the Republican Party, because of Rep, Cubin’s bizarre behavior and missed votes.  Cubin’s antics have included distributing obscenely shaped cookies and threatening to slap a man in a wheel chair. With a good Republican in the race, this should be an easy win. The Republican front runner appears to be businessman/rancher Mark Gordon.  Gordon has jumped on the “change” train. His website quotes him as saying "People all over the state and the nation are calling for new blood, fresh ideas, and leaders willing to listen and able to think outside government, outside the beltway, who have the kind of proven business and ranching experience needed to bring about sensible change.”

 

Next:  Tom Davis (R-Va 11^th district.),

Quote of the Day

Quote from U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, dated April 11^th

"[W]hen I hear people say let's bring the troops home and end the war, good God, it's not going to end the war. ... I think it's going to give you a war of significantly increased proportions. ... I remember how we reacted to Rwanda. How could we have let that happen? Why didn't we step in? Why didn't we get the international community engaged? Well, you know, what if you have a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq and it's not a question of why didn't we step in, it's we stepped out. How is that going to affect people?"

Peachtree City Tatoo shop

by George Dienhart

I have mixed feelings on this. I have one tattoo, which I had applied – when I was in the Marines. Tattoos are a part of military tradition- it’s just one of the seedier parts. Given a do over, I probably would not have got it done- but I live with my decision.

2 weeks ago, I was coming out of the McDonalds parking lot, and noticed a tattoo parlor had moved into the shopping center. Every fiber of my being knew that this was the wrong business for Peachtree City. It’s not a military town, and most parents (myself included) do not want our sons and daughters pierced and tattooed. I am sure that city hall heard a lot about this new business, and they reacted, I believe, appropriately. They have answered the town’s questions about health and cleanliness of such a business. This was done through enacting several statutes that will ensure that a doctor is present for direct supervision. This most likely means that the shop will need to move.

Again, I may be a hypocrite for supporting the city in this decision, but children are supposed to learn from the benefit of parent’s mistakes. I have a tattoo, and even I do not think that this business belongs in an area frequented by so many children.

NIMBY's 1, Capitalism 0

by George Dienhart

Nimby means “Not in my back yard”. Local Duluth residents have apparently applied enough pressure to ensure that a Wal-Mart Supercenter will not be built in Duluth. Now Wal-mart will begin the process of finding enough land in a neighboring area to build their Supercenter, thereby depriving the city of Duluth of any associated tax receipts.

For now, there are already two Wal-Mart stores within six miles of the proposed location, in Duluth and neighboring Suwanee. My guess is Wal-Mart will target Suwanee for the Supercenter and close both regular Wal-Marts. Good luck finding a tenant for the Duluth Wal-Mart when that happens.

Moulitsas Melts down over Foxnews

by George Dienhart

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas appears to have had a major meltdown over Hillary’s appearance on Fox News.

We are used to a lot of hysteria from the left, especially over Fox News. This was more of the same. According to The Politico Moulitsas told Michael Calderone 'Democrats are being idiotic by going on that network.’

Idiotic? Mediamark Research (again, thanks to the Politico) benchmarked 47 percent of Fox viewers as undecideds/independents. Only 39% consider themselves conservative. I suspect this has always been the case. With Bill Clinton making an ass of himself day after day, and CNN owning up to it’s nickname of the “Clinton News Network”, Democrats were bound to be upset by an organization offering a “fair and balanced” perspective.

The left has made a lot of the “fair and balanced” tag. The DNC has done it’s job, marking Fox as a conservative network. At this point, I need to ask, how many news organizations ensure that they have a talking head from both sides of the issue virtually every segment. Just Fox. That’s fair and balanced.

Leftist bloggers like Moulitsas have a long history of emotional fits over Fox News. It’s because of the fair and balanced approach. The big problem for the left is that when both sides of an issue is presented in a conversation, they come up looking bad nearly every time. The only time the left can get it’s point across is when it is talking at you, as opposed to talking to you. That is the problem for the liberal movement. Most members of the “liberal elite” don’t believe that individual Americans can be trusted with making decisions, so instead of presenting you with information, and letting an individual decide, they prefer to tell you what to do. Whether it is through blogging, CNN, or a penchant for spending you money, the left believes that they should be in charge of your life.

Lets remember that at the polls next year.

 

More good economic news.

by George Dienhart

The nation’s unemployment rate dropped last month. Wall Street was looking at an increase to 5.2%. In reality, the rate dropped to 5%. Construction jobs fell by 61k and the manufacturing sector fell by 46k. The good news is service sector jobs rose by over 90k and professional companies added 39k new jobs. The financial sector lost gained jobs for the first time in 9 months.

All this and economic growth last quarter- sounds like we might be coming out of the slowdown already. It certainly looks as though we may not be heading into a recession. We’ll see how the left spins this..