College Democrats of North Texas

McCain Suspends Campaign, Engages in Political Blackmail

2008-09-24T18:18:00.004-05:00

John McCain announced this afternoon that pending bipartisan agreement on the financial firm bailout deal, that he will suspend his campaign and will not participate in the debate in Oxford, MS on Friday, September 26, 2008. On Wednesday afternoon Senator McCain announced:

“I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Barack Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."

Senator Barack Obama later stated that he had spoken with McCain earlier on the phone in an effort to release a statement from the both of them about their "shared principles in the approach to resolving the economic crisis." Obama did not agree, however, that the debate should be postponed.

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person will be the next president," Obama said in Clearwater, Florida. "It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once. It's more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people."

Obama also said,

"If I can be helpful, then I'm prepared to be anywhere, any time. ... [I] don't want to infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics."

Of course if Obama and the Democratic Congress rolled over to GOP demands for a bailout deal, McCain would resume the campaign and appear at the debate on Friday evening.

The Obama campaign has said that the Democratic Nominee will be at the University of Mississippi to debate John McCain. The University of Mississippi will also continue preparations for the debate.

Will John McCain do the right thing and debate Barack Obama just when our nation need to hear from the two of them the most? We'll see...

Polls, primaries, and an attempt at political foresight.

2008-05-08T13:01:00.006-05:00

Over at RealClearPolitics, Steven Stark asks Will Wright be Obama's Gennifer Flowers? He ultimately comes to the conclusion that the independents and undecideds will make the choice between Obama and McCain, on Election Day. It goes without saying that those two voting blocks will make or break this election for our party - but, even though Stark states the obvious in this instance, his other points are interesting.

On the other side of our blue spectrum, Time discusses The Five Mistakes Clinton Made. While I don't think we've seen the last from her campaign, I think that it's about time to seriously consider the consequences the party will face by a continuing contest (although, I suppose, one could argue that it really isn't a contest any longer.)

To be fair, however, take a peek over at Open Left. Yesterday, a piece entitled Moving Forward was posted, discussing whether or not the Indiana and North Carolina primaries really had any impact on the race. The question of whether or not Obama's victory was decisive factors heavily here.

In the land of Texas politics, State Rep. Rick Noriega's Campaign Blog discusses the new Rasmussen poll right here. This poll is exciting news, folks. To have our Senate race competitive? And this early? That's fantastic. Let's hope that the Noriega camp continues to point out all the things that Senator Cornyn isn't doing for our state.

In other Texas news, Burnt Orange Report once again discusses the crooked and corrupt politics of Speaker Tom Craddick. No holds barred when it comes to the hypocrisy from the Speaker of the Texas House. Here's to showing him the door at the next available opportunity, Texas Democrats.

Finally, take a look over at what our friends at The Texas Blue had to say about Tuesday's contests - and the ups and downs of trusting CNN's tracking numbers. The effects of the outcome remains to be seen, but rest assured that the tide remains in our favor.

The Case Against McCain

2008-04-07T15:06:00.003-05:00

This is pretty simple. He just does not get it as shown in this clip from MSNBC where McCain's Iraq is good speech is interrupted by mortar blasts in the Iraqi green zone.

In case you haven't seen it...

2008-03-20T13:24:00.004-05:00

John McCain is confused about Iraq, Iran and Al Qaeda.

Barack Obama spoke on Race in America, is shaken up by negative backlash about Pastor Wright.

William J. Clinton Presidential Library releases Hillary Clinton's schedules as First Lady. Hillary is endorsed and supported by Elton John, and gets important endorsement by Rep. John Murtha.

Hope you're having a great Spring Break!

Super Tuesday and Moving On

2008-02-07T07:03:00.000-06:00

It's done.

Super Tuesday, I mean. The final results were a mixed bag if anything. Obama won the most states, but it is estimated that Hillary got the most votes and won the most populous states (except Illinois). While she was supposed to win Massachusetts (Obama never lead in the polls here) and California (they've been voting by mail for 3 weeks people!) most people seem to think that Obama was supposed to win both because he was gaining and Ted Kennedy endorsed. Nonetheless, his margin of loss was larger than I anticipated in both states.

Still, what really matters is delegates. Obama won this on Super Tuesday, according to NBC by something around 4 delegates. The estimations going into the night was Clinton would win by 100, so Obama performed and performed well by this measure.

Now what? The next states, over the next two weeks, are Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana, Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland, Wisconsin, and Hawaii. In other words, good news for Senator Obama, where he is running ads and has active ground games in all 9 territories, while Sen. Clinton is only running in 2. The delegate count can be expected to shift heavily to Sen. Obama for now.

Then comes March 4, when Texas (along with Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont) get a say in the process. The campaigns are coming to Texas. Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama are coming to Texas. This will be an amazing race for anyone who has an interest in politics. We'll have more on this in the next week as we find out what the plans are for Dallas, Fort Worth, and Denton by both campaigns.

TX-Sen: AFL-CIO Endorses Rick Noriega because "He's had Enough!"

2008-01-25T18:56:00.000-06:00

Texas' AFL-CIO rolled out their endorsements this week and Rick Noriega was at the top of their list. The following video was his speech that won him their endorsement. Impressive stuff.

The full endorsement list was as follows:

U.S. Senate: Rick Noriega

Railroad Commissioner: No Endorsement*

TX Supreme Court Chief Justice: Jim Jordan

TX Supreme Court Place 7: Sam Houston

TX Supreme Court Place 8: Susan Criss and Linda Yanez (dual endorsement)

Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3: Susan Strawn

Court of Criminal Appeals Place 4: JR Molina

Court of Criminal Appeals Place 9: No Endorsement**

*Three Democrats are running, two of a high quality

**No democrat is running

Thank you Sen. Gallegos!

2008-01-24T17:50:00.000-06:00

Last year, 2007, Lt. Governor Dewhurst and the Republican majority in the State Senate and State House made Voter I.D. a priority in the Texas legislature. This bill would require any residents in Texas to bring forward a photo I.D. or 2 forms of non photo I.D. with them to the polls when they go vote. Women who just get married and have not updated their I.D.s would not be able to vote. Poor folks who do not have their I.D. on them, out of luck. The list goes on.

In the State Senate, the rules are that any eleven senators can place a hold on any bill and not allow it to pass, luckily there are eleven Democratic senators in the State Senate but all eleven had to be present at all times. State Senator Gallegos needed a liver biopsy last session and his doctors said he needed to leave and go home. He sacrificed his own personal health to prevent this bill form becoming law. The following video is his story.

Thank you Sen. Gallegos! Texas owes you a debt of gratitude.

35 Years After Roe v. Wade

2008-01-22T15:24:00.000-06:00

Today is the 35th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

In the Feminist Blogosphere today is also known as Blog for Choice Day, where women are encouraged to share their stories and give another perspective on abortion: thankfulness that they had a choice. Abortion is a multi-faceted topic, and up until very recently women that have had the procedure have been cowed into silence. Only those that regret their decision (after they were allowed to have their choice of course) were encouraged to share their stories. The idea was to shame them, force them to act as if they are guilt-ridden and traumatized.

Today NARAL and other Feminist groups on the internet are encouraging the other side of the debate to speak up, and work to protect their freedoms.

My story? I have none. I do know, however, that I am thankful to even have a choice (for now at least).

Here are a few blogs that I have found that thoughtfully and sensitively broach this very personal subject.

Scanner Emily Farris: Roe v. Wade 35 Years Later

Jezebel: Unlike Alveda King I Am Neither "Reformed" Nor a Murderer

Huffington Post: If Men Could Get Pregnant, Abortion Would be a Sacrament

Trouble in Numbers, On the Stigma of the Second Abortion

Huffington Post: Admitting the Complexities of Abortion

TX-26: Introducing Democrat Ken Leach

2008-01-22T10:08:00.000-06:00

As you all know, filing for Texas has been come and gone. While we democrats missed several opportunities at the U.S. House level (see TX-14 Ron Paul or TX-21 Lamar Smith) we did file in what are the most competitive districts in Texas with quality challengers. In TX-26, the U.S. House seat that encompasses the City of Denton and the University of North Texas, we did not disappoint. Our unopposed Democratic challenger against incumbent Republican Michael Burgess is Ken Leach.

Rather than bore you with my positive take on Ken, the following is Ken's announcement speech from the Denton County Democratic Party headquarters on how he will beat Rep. Burgess and what he plans to do as your next representative from the 26th district of Texas.

Of note, Ken filed on the first day possible and collected the necessary number of signatures (700) to appear on the ballot rather than simply pay the filing fee. He is clearly prepared for what is going to be a very tough contest in the upcoming year.

The Independents in New Hampshire; thoughts before the primary, 2008

2008-01-07T23:48:00.001-06:00

The nation’s first presidential primary will be held all day tomorrow for both the Democratic and Republican parties in the state of New Hampshire. For the first time in modern political history, the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary are extremely close together, with only five days between them. Now that these five days are complete, a record turn out is expected in the nation’s first presidential primary tomorrow. As expected, five days is little time in politics, and can help some candidates and hurt others more dramatically.

THE DEMOCRATS
Riding the momentum after winning the Iowa caucuses this past Thursday, Sen. Barack Obama is seeing record crowds turn out for his events in New Hampshire in the past five days. It is interesting to note that win Sen. Obama announced his candidacy in early 2007, he visited the state with record turn out in crowds but never seemed to gain much traction in the polls. Ever since Sen. Clinton’s drop in national polls in the past two months, Sen. Obama closed the lead in New Hampshire with Clinton. As expected, because of his nine point lead in Iowa over Clinton (she came in third place, behind Sen. Edwards), Sen. Obama received media attention that in effect labeled him as the decisive and surprise winner of Iowa going into New Hampshire. By the weekend, the momentum from his victory in Iowa was largely felt around the state. It is important to note however that 40-45% of New Hampshirites are “undeclared”, or independent as they are not affiliated with any party. These independent voters are a HUGE segment of the voting block and decide elections for the state. In 2006, one could glimpse at the mid-term congressional election results to see that those independents voted heavily Democrat, as the trend was around the country. This time around, independents are flocking to the Democratic Party as they did before and riding on his “wave” of momentum, Sen. Obama is the candidate of an overwhelming majority of the independents in the state. In Iowa, Sen. Obama had an unprecedented level of independents caucus for him. In New Hampshire, we could see the number of independents significantly increase and therefore give a huge win to Obama in the first presidential primary in the country. My thoughts have always been once Obama won Iowa, which he did decisively, he would win New Hampshire and do not be surprised if those his margin over Sen. Clinton and Sen. Edwards are even higher than they were in Iowa. This is simply because of the most important voting block in New Hampshire, the independents which would give him a huge boost. It will be interesting to watch if Sen. Clinton places second, which is expected and where her campaign will go from New Hampshire. Once he receives two solid early state victories, it will be very difficult for the Clinton campaign to stop Obama’s momentum, something he received at the right time going into Iowa and now escalating into New Hampshire, which would only escalate further with a win tomorrow night. Democrats and independents are flocking to Obama’s change message over the experience and “ready to lead” message of Sen. Clinton, something that was widely seen around Iowa on Thursday.

THE REPUBLICANS
Though on the Democratic side it seems there will be a clear winner, on the Republican side it is between two candidates, Sen. John McCain and Gov. Mitt Romney. It is interesting to watch the John McCain surge in New Hampshire in the past several weeks as his campaign seemed to die during the summer. This is politics after all, and anything can change. When Sen. McCain ran in 2000, he lost in Iowa to then Gov. Bush and won in New Hampshire by a huge margin because of those independents voted overwhelmingly for McCain. This time around, independents are going heavily Democratic, and their preferred candidate of choice is Sen. Obama. McCain is not really liked by the base of the Republican Party and this is where Gov. Romney is drawing his strength. I see the race on the Republican side as either one of the winning, though I will give Sen. McCain the edge. If Sen. McCain were to lose New Hampshire to Romney, I think it would be very difficult for his campaign to come back, being that his campaign is in debt and the mere fact that many Republicans do not like the “straight talker”. If Gov. Romney were to lose to McCain in New Hampshire, I think many of Romney’s supporters would question where his track to the nomination would be and where he would go with another second place finish. I do not accept the fact that if he does not win New Hampshire, his campaign is finished, as I believe Romney will hold on at least until Super Tuesday on February 5. Since a huge block of the independents in New Hampshire will be flocking to Obama, I think that hurts McCain, and in turn helps Romney. However, I am not sure if that will be enough for Romney who has obviously been having problems. Though I will not give a prediction on the Republican side, watch the margin of victory for McCain over Romney or Romney over McCain. New Hampshire is going to decide which candidate goes up against Huckabee in South Carolina, who is the favorite there.

Thoughts before the Iowa caucus, 2008

2008-01-02T23:27:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow night we will know the results of the Iowa caucus for both the Democrats and the Republicans. For over a year now, I have been closely following the race for 2008 of both parties as it is the first time since the year 1928 that there is not an incumbent in either of the primaries. This historical footnote makes tomorrow’s event in Iowa augments the importance than one would normally associate with it. In a presidential election that will be the most important in my lifetime thus far, and probably in a historical sense the most important general election since 1968 between Nixon and Humphrey, as a historical realignment of the country, we are in for incredible race that officially begins tomorrow with the Iowa caucus. Of course, Iowans do not decide who the parties respective nominee are, but decide where the race will go. That is what is so incredibly essential about tomorrow’s event as it will re-shape the race going into the country’s first primary in New Hampshire, next Tuesday. With this year’s compressed primary calendar, Iowa’s role as deciding where the race goes is even more important in my opinion. Some discount this logic, as Giuliani’s campaign, which is the antithesis of modern presidential primary history. Most, however, have staked the campaigns on Iowa on both the Republican and the Democratic sides, as it will garner an extraordinary amount momentum and media attention winning the first contest of the 2008 presidential race.

The REPUBLICANS:
The Republican race has been very interesting in following because it is clear that Republican voters are not happy with their choices for their nominee. To be honest, it seemed rather clear to me that Gov. Romney was going to easily win both Iowa and New Hampshire, but in the past month, an Arkansas governor who was in the second-tier in this race changed everything. Gov. Mike Huckabee’s rise was a huge threat to Romney as he was staking his campaign on early state wins, which would propel him to the nomination. In Iowa, the race has come down to these two men. If Hucakbee loses the caucus to Romney tomorrow, I think it will be very difficult for him to make a “come back” as he will most definitely not win New Hampshire, only five days after Iowa. Romney, again, has staked his campaign in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire and therefore losing Iowa would be bad news for him, though I believe he can still recover because my thoughts at this moment lead me to believe that if Hucakbee does win Iowa, it will be incredibly close which is not what recent polls suggest. The reason I have deducted this is because of Gov. Romney’s incredible ground organization that he has in Iowa. For little over a year, Romney has been courting Iowa voters and this fact alone can place Romney stronger than polls suggest. If Romney does win Iowa, it will simply because of his large ground operation around the state and his supporters staying loyal to him. The feeling that I am getting is that Huckabee supporters are very much attracted to him but I am not sure will get out of their way like Romney supporters to go out and caucus. For both the Republicans and Democrats, turnout is key and when a campaign has a huge ground organization in the state, they have the advantage. That isn’t to say Huckabee will not win tomorrow’s caucus, but do not be surprised if Romney pulls it off. If Huckabee does pull off a win, Romney is in deep trouble as it will be a huge victory for Huckabee who two months ago was struggling with fundraising and was a second-tier candidate expected to drop out after Iowa. The great thing about politics is that it is constantly flucatiting and the best example in this 2008 presidential campaign is the rise of Huckabee on the Republican side as a major threat to Romney who seemed almost untouchable in Iowa and New Hampshire. All of that has changed and expect a tight race on the Republican side. One thing to watch out for is to see how well Sen. John McCain does in Iowa as many as late as fall had said his campaign was dead. For some reason, McCain has picked up momentum and it will be interesting to see how many caucus for him and if he gets third place with a strong finish, it will certainly receive media attention.

The DEMOCRATS:
Regardless of what you hear about the Iowa race being between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, it really is a three-way race with Sen. Edwards. It is incredibly difficult to poll for the Iowa caucus, though usually the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s flagship newspaper seems to be the most accurate, looking back at past caucuses and their results this week found Sen. Obama leading (32%) over Sen. Clinton (25%) and Sen. Edwards (24%). These poll results are interesting because they included a large sample of independents and those who have never caucused before. Obama is counting on these individuals to caucus for him and if we see record numbers of independents caucusing, then Obama will do very well tomorrow night. Sen. Clinton is also relying on first time caucus goers as the brink of her support, though it seems she has reached the cap on her support in Iowa. Though the race is extremely close, if Obama receives those independents he desperately needs, we can see a push that will result in a win of tomorrow’s caucus. This of course is what Sen. Clinton’s campaign is most worried about (which is a real possibility), even more so than her finishing third tomorrow night as the media spotlight and momentum will propel Obama towards the nomination. Sen. Edwards is hoping that these independents and first time caucus goers stay home (which historically, they often have) because the bulk of his support comes from those who have indeed caucused before and are definitely pledging to him. As I mentioned in the introduction, because of the historical importance of this election and the media presence surrounding this election, do not be surprised if a large number of first time caucus goers and independents will vote in the Democratic caucus in Iowa tomorrow night, as he continues to hold the momentum he has received since November. The independents and first time caucus goers who are undecided will help Sen. Obama immensely and though I believe the results will be close, it could give him a win which overnight would give him attention around the world that would be unprecedented. Remember, many Iowans are undecided before caucusing and because of Obama’s momentum, do not be surprised if a majority of them caucus for him.

It is a fascinating race to watch on both sides and tomorrow is the official start for the 2008 presidential campaign. For the next eleven months after tomorrow, the country will be focused on the campaign to the White House which will ultimately lead to the forty-fourth President of the United States.

THE LIST!

2008-01-02T23:05:00.000-06:00

Filing is over. Ladies and Gentlemen, here are your Democratic candidates in Denton County for the 2008 election cycle. On behalf of the College Democrats of North Texas, I wish them all luck and congratulate them on stepping up to the enormous challenge of running for public office. Onward to November!

-County Democratic Chairman - Neil Durrance of Denton

-District Judge, 16th District - Karen Guerra of Carrolton

-Constable, Pct. 5 - Mike Ballard of Denton

-State Board of Education, District 16 - Edra Bogle

-County Commissioner, Pct. 1 - Phyllis Wolper of Denton

-State Rep., District 63 - Jesus Garcia of Ponder

-State Rep., District 64 - John McClelland of Little Elm

-U.S. Rep., District 24 - Tom Love of Dallas

-U.S. Rep., District 26 - Ken Leach of Gainesville

Texas Candidate FIling - The Final Day

2008-01-02T14:35:00.000-06:00

This is it. Today is the final day to sign up to be a candidate in Texas for either the Democratic or Republican primary. We have had several great candidates come forward in Denton and statewide ranging from State House candidate John McClelland to United States Senate candidate Rick Noriega. I'm hearing of the 20 something names on the ballot across Denton the Democrats will be contesting around 75% of them. I will try to post the full list of Denton County candidates when they are posted later tonight.

In a surprise, one of the most unnecessary primary battles was expected to be Judge Susan Criss vs. Judge Linda Yanez for Texas Supreme Court place 8, but some breaking news today says that Judge Yanez may have not filed filed enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Back in early December Judge Yanez did say she thought collecting signatures was undemocratic. Capitol Annex has more on this story.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T03:42:00.000-06:00

Pretty simple. Spend some time with your family today and go spread some good cheer.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and vacation from classes. Consider this an open thread to chat about whatever until the eggnog works its way through your system. Enjoy the day!

TX HD-97: Guess What? We Won!

2007-12-18T22:44:00.000-06:00

The results are in! Democrat Dan Barrett has won the special election to replace retiring Republican Representative Anna Mowery by a margin of 52.2%-47.8% against Republican Mark Shelton. This is a gain for the Democrats and gives Democrats a margin of 71-79 in the Texas State House, 5 AWAY FROM TAKING BACK THE MAJORITY!

This district gave Bush 61% in 2004 and just elected a Democrat to the State House. Texas Democrats won one special election for the State House in 2006 and five more in the November 2006 general election.

The final numbers were 5,365-4,913. Dan won on both election day and in early voting. The College Democrats of North Texas came out twice in October to help State-Rep. elect Barrett make it into the run off. Congratulations to anyone who helped with this as well as to Dan Barrett himself!

Onward to 2008!

TX-SEN: Noriega Stands Up for FISA FIllibuster

2007-12-18T22:35:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Winter break! Let's see what we've missed from finals week.

For those who have not been following, Sen. Chris Dodd (D), a candidate for President, had promised to filibuster to FISA bill if it contained text that would retroactively pardon the telecom industries for handing over records of phone conversations to the United States government without a warrant. Even though he is not a U.S. Senator yet, Texas candidate Rick Noriega issued the following statement.

"On Christmas morning 2004, outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, my buddies and I drove to our base camp to use the computers. We wanted to be with our kids when they woke up that Christmas. To get there we drove through a near ambush--anytime we drove on the Jalalabad Road, it was risky, and we had an incident on our way.
That Christmas morning, I suspect the government listened to our conversations. They occurred between two countries; Afghanistan and the US. They probably didn't realize the difference in tone in my voice as I spoke to my wife and children that morning as my heart raced still from our encounter on the road. My wife did.

I fought to defend our country and our constitution in Afghanistan. I fought for the right to privacy for every Texan. Mr. Cornyn must now stand up for the privacy of every Texan and American too. We as a nation cannot grant anyone sweeping amnesty if they violated the law.

Americans understand the need for safety and the need for intelligence gathering. What they will not accept is an abuse of power, of crossing the line on American's privacy.

I would join Sen. Dodd in opposition to any retroactive provisions that allow a "get out of jail card" for violating the Constitution. If Mr. Cornyn had ever had the opportunity to have his Christmas conversation listened to by the government, on a day that he feared for his life in a convoy on Jalalabad Road, he would do the same."

Good for him! Rep. Noriega will make an awesome Sen. Noriega.

TX-SEN: Rick Noriega is Officially In!

2007-12-05T22:13:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of updates over the last two weeks. School is kicking into high gear with finals coming up next week, I ask you all to bear with us for the next week of two until Winter break starts, at which point we'll be blogging regularly once again. Okay, onto the story . . .

Rick Noriega has officially filed to be the Democratic nominee for the office of United States Senate from the state of Texas. There's not much I can really add to the video posted below other thank I encourage our readers to check out Rick's website. Rick has shown that he supports us, coming out of his way to visit UNT earlier this fall, so I encourage each of our members to support Rick Noriega in any way they can.

Also, as one can assume based on this post, filing for public office in Texas (federal, state, and county offices) has started for the 2008 cycle. The final day to apply to run for office is January 2. Do you know anyone running as a Democrat in your area, or know of any shocking developments in regards to someone dropping out early? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

We'll be sure to let you know if major developments occur.

One Month to Go: Iowa, January 3, 2008

2007-12-03T17:10:00.000-06:00

Adam Nagourney, the chief national political reporter for The New York Times, explains that though this 2008 presidential campaign began very early, given that this will be the first presidential election without incumbents in the primaries since 1928, the campaign has really begun.

Mr. Nagourney's analysis is that Iowa is the prime battleground for the Democrats between the three-way race of Sen. Clinton, Sen. Obama, and former Sen. Edwards. He also states that New Hampshire is starting to become the prime battleground for the Republicans.

With only one month to go until the Iowa caucus, "the battle lines are drawn".

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/us/politics/03web-nagourney.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Kasparov Arrested

2007-11-25T16:42:00.001-06:00

Garry Kasparov, former Chess Grand Master and current candidate in the 2008 Russian presidential race, was jailed in Moscow on Saturday after being convicted of organizing a demonstration in opposition to the leadership of President Vladimir Putin.

According to the Associated Press: Kasparov, who is running for president as a member of an opposition party called the United Civil Front, was sentenced to five days in jail for "organizing an unsanctioned procession "of at least 1,500 people directed against President Vladimir Putin," of chanting anti-government slogans and of resisting arrest."

In an interview his assistant Marina Litvinovich reported that Kasparov was forced to the ground and beaten by riot police prior to his arrest.

Two riot police testified in court that they had been given direct orders before the rally to arrest Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin's harshest critics.

For more on the detainment of Garry Kasparov see the Associated Press article.

When he was interviewed on the Bill Mahr show, Kasparov predicted this action by Putin's government, stating that "anything can happen to me and to thousands of other activists in our country that are fighting the regime, because this regime has no allergy for blood."

What does this have to do with American politics? The answer is simple, our own President George W. Bush has "looked this man in the eye" and was able to "get a sense of this man's soul," a soul which is "very straightforward and trustworthy." While at the same time our President's dear friend is imprisoning political opposition leaders, saber rattling, and supporting Iranian nuclear research.

There is no question that this Administration's State Department will not raise any outcry against a known corrupt government. Yet again, Bush's administration has failed.

Holiday Open Thread

2007-11-23T14:49:00.000-06:00

We're on break for the Thanksgiving Holidays. Use this thread to comment as to what you're thankful for and what you want to see our organization do over the next semester.

We'll be back in school and blogging up a storm on Monday.

Have a happy holiday everyone!

Democratic-led Congress is leading in a new direction, one year later

2007-11-21T11:29:00.000-06:00

A year ago, the American public voted for change and elected Democrats to majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate. I wrote an opinion piece in the NT Daily, the campus newspaper, to outline what the new Democatic-led Congress has achieved thus far, one year after they were elected:
Democratic-led Congress is leading in new direction - OPINION

Another Oops?

2007-11-20T16:57:00.000-06:00

Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan's forthcoming memoir is sure to be on the bestseller list. The publishing company released three paragraphs earlier today.

This story was broken this morning by The Politico's Mike Allen.

“I had unknowingly passed along false information,” McClellan wrote. “And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

This does not bode well for the already weakened White House. Generally, even former spokesman, don't speak out against the administration that they worked for. This is doubly so for McClellan, who was Bush's spokesman during some of the tougher months of his presidency. For him to come and speak out, even in a memoir, does not do anything to strengthen the floundering White House.

I'm left wondering if perhaps a round of subpoenas will follow.

Either way, current White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, along with the entirety of the White House, will have some cleaning up to do. And I, for one, am excited to see just how Miss Perino will dare to attempt to give the press corps the answers fitting into the administration's playbook. Sic em, White House press corps.

So, is there a lesson in this for us, Democrats? If you lie with the dogs, you're going to get fleas. And while there is medication for those pesky fleas - there's still many hoops to jump through until you're "clean" again. So, Democrats, don't lie down with the dogs because we don't like fleas.

The Day After

2007-11-18T15:20:00.000-06:00

Well, after getting back at 2:30 A.M. and getting a good's nice rest, I just want to make a few quick comments about yesterday's event.

First of all, pictures are up! Find them here.

Second, the official count of people at the event was 3,100, not the estimated 2,000 I estimated. Considering tickets were $25 each ($15 for students), Sen. Obama made some good money coming through Texas. It would be interesting to see how many people in Texas would come out to see Sen. Clinton or Sen. Edwards for an event similar to the one from last night.

Third, The College Democrats of North Texas got a little press coverage. I was featured in the Dallas Morning News political blog (Article Here) and Web Master Sebastian Arduengo was quoted by the Austin American Statesman (Article Here).

I hope everyone who went yesterday had a good time. I'll see you all Tuesday for our last meeting of the semester.

Obama official Liveblog!

2007-11-17T15:59:00.000-06:00

It's official guys, I'm in the press area. It's 4:00 right now and I will be here until the event is over. As of right now, there is a band on stage singing about how they are "Crawling From the Wreckage." They just said their name is Fastball, so check them out if you like some hard, fast rock.

This is my first live blog so I hope everything works out alright. Pictures will be online at our official site in the next day or two.

Point of interest, Clint Peterson, Treasurer for the College Republicans, is here as well. He came wearing his College Republicans t-shirt but has since changed to a plain black shirt.

Also, a reporter from the Dallas Morning News has just taken my picture and asked for my name, maybe I'll show up in the paper in the next few days, we'll see. I'll give you all updates as they come.

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4:21 - The internet signal is going in and out. The band finished about 10 minutes ago. From now on Josh will be taking the rest of the pictures that we will archive on the website. Also, they just began throwing t-shirts and the crowd is going a bit crazy for them. I'd estimate there is somewhere under 1,500 people here right now.

4:24 - State Rep. Mark Strama has taken the stage. He opened with "What's up Austin? Barack Obama is up in the polls!"

4:28 - Strama is wrapping up, but has said repeatedly that this is not the most important election of our lifetimes, the most important one was 7 years ago. He is now telling some fun stories about his first run for State Rep. in 2004 and Ann Richards reaction to his run.

4:31 - Strama is giving the same lines I heard him give in 2005 at Democracy for America about how he registered 8,000 new voters thus changing the projected outcome of his election. Rep. Strama won by 500 votes and his opponent claimed that Rep. Strama was participating in voter fraud by registering so many new voters. Good story for those who have not heard it before.

4:36 - Rep. Strama has wrapped up and the supporters on stage are trying to keep the crowd warm with some upbeat music and chants. Internets have been down for a while so forgive the lack of updates. It has also just started sprinkling, hopefully it will pass.

4:40 - Starting to get some raindrops. Closing down for a bit.

4:50 - T-shirts have been thrown to the crowd. It looks like our group may have gotten two of them, I think it is in contention between Sebastian, David, Laci and CLINT of the College Republicans.

5:06 - Sen. Obama has arrived and is preparing to take the stage. Lots of spotlights are going off. It feels like a rock concert.

5:08 - Sen. Obama has taken the stage, and repeated the lines "fired up and ready to go." He mentioned it was drizzling last time he was in Austin and had 20,000 people arrive. there are probably 2,000+ people at this event.

5:10 - A man just yelled the next Obama was going to say. Obama claims he is not a plant. *laughter*

5:11 - Sen. Obama is mentioning that in one year President Bush will not be on the ballot, nor will Sen. Obama's distant cousin, the family black sheep, Dick Cheney.

5:13 - Sen. Obama is mentioning we were promised compassionate conservatism, a uniter, and ethical Washington, and instead got Katrina, a President that could not lead the half of the country that voted for him, and more corruption than ever before.

5:15 - The topic has shifted to solutions, that we are at a stage to start solving problems that we talk about every cycle.

5:15 - Has mentioned that we can no longer triangulate our positions or focus group solutions to be "popular" so we can beat Mitt (Romney) and Rudy.

5:16 - Sen. Obama has mentioned he wants to be president of the United States, because that is what America wants the Democratic party to be. Change can no longer be a slogan, it must be "something we can believe in." This is currently on all of his signs.

5:18 - Barack is claiming he will raise the minimum wage every year to keep pace with the growing economy.

5:19 - The Senator is now talkign about when his mother was on her death bed and she had to deal with medical insurance forms, how that is not an appropriate way for Americans to treat their citizens. Promises universal health care by then end of his first term.

5:20 - Wants an environmental protection agency that believes in the environment, labor for labor, and justice in the justice department. "No more Jena 6 justice."

5:22 - Education, will respect teachers by raising their salaries. Affordable college education for all by cutting banks out and giving students grants. Debts can be worked off by volunteer military service.

5:23 - Has switched to foreign policy. Claiming he has an electoral advantage by never supporting the Iraq war. Will talk to enemies rather than strong arm them. He is now quting JFK, saying "We should never fear to negotiate."

5:24 - "It is never okay to torture"

5:25 - "I will end the war in Iraq, bring troops home in 16 months, shut down Guantanamo, and restore Habeas Corpus"

5:28 - Has given a lot of talk about how this is for America, not for Democrats or himself.

5:28 - His talking tone has shifted that this is for the future, where he does not want a future where we were not courageous enough to make a difference. This is relating to foreign policy, health care, and climate change.

5:29 - He is talking now about how he wants to end racial and sexual intolerance in America, wants to address Ghettos in America and invest in the poor.

5:31 - Jobs for the jobless, homes for the homeless. Sen. Obama has been hitting hard on reaching to to the less fortunate and giving them a real chance. He is giving his great line he gave at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner about how if a few stand up, more will follow.

5:32 - "We will reach for a nation healed, a united America"

5:33 - Rally over.

Thank you for those that followed my first live blog ever, sorry about the fault internet at the beginning, I hope to have the pictures up in the next day or two. Feel free to leave comments, I look forward to hearing what you all thought. A special thank you to Sen. Obama's press people for allowing me to sit in the media section.

5:42 - One final update, Josh and David will be going home with free shirts. Clint actually caught the second shirt, but gave it to David. Thank you Clint, you just made David's day.

Sen. Obama in Austin, TX - Liveblog to Follow . . .

2007-11-17T08:42:00.000-06:00

It is Saturday, November 17 at 8:42 in the morning. Within the next hour our organization will be leaving for Austin, TX where Sen. Obama will be holding a rally later this afternoon. Assuming I can pick up a wi-fi signal and a place to sit down, I will attempt to liveblog the event. If not, we will have a post or two rounding up what we experienced. We'll hopefully have some photos as well.

Doors open at 3:00.