Obamapedia - Recently Updated Pages

Key Websites for Obama Activism

Ropate — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:56:00 CST

Places to Get Involved:

OFFICIAL
Barack's Official Website: http://www.barackobama.com
Barack as Senator: http://obama.senate.gov

Obama Corps and the Grassroots Thinktank ("GrassTank")
http://www.obamacorps.com/
Students for Obama http://studentsforbarackobama.com/Blog/
Barack the Youth Vote: http://www.baracktheyouthvote.com
Draft Obama: http://www.draftobama.org
Obama4America: http://www.obama4america.com
Barack Obama is my homeboy http://www.barackobamaismyhomeboy.com
Obama Works (uniting public service and political action) - www.whyobamaworks.com

POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS (for Obama)
Independents: http://independents.forobama.org
Republicans: http://www.republicansforobama.org

ISSUE SPECIFIC WBSITES
Environment: http://www.envirobama.com

BLOGS:

ObamaRama: http://obamarama.org
Run Obama: http://www.runobama.com/petition
The Spirit of Barack Obama: http://www.barack-obama.tv
KC for Obama
Think on These Things: http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/
One Million Strong: http://www.onemillionstrong.us/
Jack and Jill Politics: http://www.jackandjillpolitics.blogspot.com/
Curtis McLaurin: http://curtismclaurin.com/

FACEBOOK
One Million Strong: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2231653698
Students for Barack Obama: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204780384

FUND RAISING CAMPAIGNS
Green Matters: http://www.envirobama.com/greenmatters

Good Sources of Info:

Obama's Senate Site
http://obama.senate.gov/

Obama's Official Podcast
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/

Obama Versus Hillary Clinton
http://www.barack-obama-president.com

RSS Feed of News Aggregated from Yahoo, Microsoft Live News, and Google News on Obama

Obama in Hawaii--How Hawaii Shaped Barack Obama
http://www.obamasneighborhood.com/

OTHER
Chicago Tribune, On the Campaign Trail: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/open/chi-barack-obama-gallery2,0,2268908.htmlstory

Obama4Change.com - Faces of the campaign 2008
A photo and message gallery for Barack Obama supporters: http://www.Obama4Change.com

Remaining Senate Races

echerlin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:14:01 CST

In the 2008 elections for the US Senate, the 3BlueDudes site counts the results as
Final Projection: DEMS: 58 GOP: 39 INDEP: 2 Runoff: 1

3BlueDudes called Alaska for Begich (D) and Minnesota for Franken (D). We will examine the data for ourselves. We have a mandatory recount in Minnesota, an almost certain recount in Alaska, and a runoff in Georgia. Democrats have no excuse not to win all three. Lawyers and volunteers have gathered for legal challenges, observing recounts, and continuing the campaign in Georgia, but many more volunteers are needed.

Georgia

Neither candidate reached 50% of the vote, due to a third-party challenger. The resulting mandatory runoff between Democrat Jim Martin and Republican Saxby Chandliss is scheduled for Dec. 2. You can volunteer either in Georgia or by phonebanking from out of state. Barack Obama and JohnMcCain will both be there.

Chambliss is notorious for his smear campaign against Sen. Max Cleland, claiming that this Vietnam veteran and triple amputee is not patriotic. Vote suppression is strongly suspected, both in 2002 and this time. But this time, it will be investigated.

It is extremely important to defeat Chandliss, not only for Georgia's sake, but because that gives the Democrats plus one Independent the 60 votes to cut off a filibuster without Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Please volunteer.

Alaska

Some (Guess who!) tried to call the election before all of the early and absentee ballots were counted, when Stevens was ahead in the partial count. The later counting ran significantly toward Begich, who has taken the lead. We can expect a recount and legal challenges.

Minnesota

Norm Coleman was ahead by the utterly miniscule margin of 206 votes in the initial count. The mandatory recount begins on Wednesday Nov. 19.

Welcome to Obamapedia

echerlin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:39:35 CST

Anyone Can Edit

Now What?

Remaining Senate Races:
Volunteer in Georgia runoff
Begich wins in Alaska
Automatic recount in Minnesota

Transition

Obama on 60 minutes

About

Blog

Aftermath

echerlin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:47:26 CST

"The good news is, we won. The bad news is, we won."

Election Day is over, and President-Elect Barack Obama has won decisively, as shown on the polls page. But the elections are not all over, and we have to look at where we go from here.

Elections

We know that Obama won in a moderate landslide, but not all of the Electoral College votes had been decided at the end of Election Day.

Missouri, 11 votes, McCain
Nebraska, 1st district, 1 vote, Obama
North Carolina, 15 votes, Obama

The result of the first set of counts is Obama 365, McCain 173.

Even though results have been announced, they have not been certified, nor have they been accepted by the Congress as required under the Constitution. There are cases of vote suppression and other electoral crimes to be investigated. It remains possible that Obama's victory is even bigger than we have heard. Voting reform will be a significant issue for the new 111th Congress.

In the Senate, we still have some undecided seats.

AK, Mark Begich (D), Ted Stevens (R), too close to call, 40,000 ballots still to count. If Stevens wins, he will almost certainly have to resign, and there will be a special election.
GA, Jim Martin (D), Saxby Chambliss (R), mandatory runoff on Dec. 2. Volunteers needed nationwide. The sleaze is only getting worse.
MN, Al Franken, (D), Norm Coleman (R), Dean Barkley (I), too close to call, mandatory recount. Coleman is trying to get Franken to refuse a recount. Why would Franken agree?

Many House races, state and local races, and ballot propositions remain undecided, even if one side is claiming victory from an incomplete vote count. Some results are subject to legal challenge, such as the California Prop. 8 amendment to the state Constitution forbidding gay marriage. Check your local news sources for most of these. A few will make national news. Google News is your friend.

Transition

The transition team has to identify several thousand people to appoint to various positions in the Executive Branch.

Threats against Barack Obama's life and against his family started up during the campaign and have spiked since. There have been at least two cases resulting in arrests.

Obama Transition Web site

Cabinet

Pretty good interactive piece on Newsweek. This rates its own page. At his first press conference, Obama said when asked, "When we have something to announce, we will announce it."

White House Staff

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) will be the new White House Chief of Staff.
Senior Obama campaign aide Robert Gibbs will be the White House press secretary.
Campaign strategist David Axelrod will be Senior Advisor.

What next?

We can expect some policy speeches soon, and plenty of public discussion of the Congressional agenda. Obama gave his first news conference as President-Elect on Friday, Nov. 7.

W is a lame duck President who cannot get new legislation through a hostile Congress, but he still has authority to do a number of things for good or ill. He is negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement for Iraq with a timetable for withdrawal, exactly as Obama proposed. Republicans ridiculed the idea right up to the moment they did it. Watch for last-minute environmental deregulations and Presidential pardons, among other things.

What are the other big issues?

The economy, stupid. ^_^ Stimulus package, rescue homebuyers, re-regulate Wall Street, restore competition and transparency to markets, undo Bush tax cuts, let workers and middle class have a share of economic growth,...
Trade. Free for corporations but not for people doesn't count.
Environment. Renewable energy (to combat Global Warming, and for security), reregulate pollution,...
Immigration. A path to citizenship. Help countries so that their citizens will not have to flee from war, oppression, or dire poverty.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Al Qaeda, Taleban
"Rogue states", failed states, civil wars: Iran, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Sudan, Congo, Somalia,...
Foreign aid. Obama proposed doubling US foreign aid, including a $2 billion annual Global Education Fund.
Supreme Court. Obama could have the opportunity to appoint three Justices.
Lower courts. Obama will have to appoint about 50 Federal judges immediately.
The First Dog, promised to the Obama children as a reward for their good behavior during the campaign. It must be hypo-allergenic. They would have preferred to get a shelter dog, but Obama says, "most of them are mutts, like me."

Washington Post transition coverage

Threats

echerlin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:42:49 CST

Death threats to Barack Obama began during the campaign, and appear to be temporarily spiking after the election.

Obama threats more than previous presidents-elect

Secret Service is investigating an undisclosed number of cases By EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press Nov. 14, 2008, 9:42PM

Obama Reacts To Death Threat

YouTube video

Racism, Security Threats Issues for Obama

Recent Racist Incidents and Security Threats Become Factors in Obama Campaign

By MARCUS BARAMMay 27, 2008

Racist Attacks on Obama Growing More Heated

by Mark Potok on February 20, 2008
Southern Poverty Law Center, Hatewatch

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

By Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 8:38AM GMT 10 Nov 2008

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Neo-Nazis charged over Obama 'assassination plot'

From Times Online

October 28, 2008

Voting reform

echerlin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:52:59 CST

After the disastrous 2000 Presidential election, Congress passed and W signed the grossly-misnamed Help America Vote Act, which resulted in a failed 8-year experiment with unauditable DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines. They have an impressively awful record in use, due to inherent problems with the concept and incompetent engineering and testing by the industry, sufficient to suggest, but not prove, intentional voting fraud. California's Secretary of State has decertified many DREs for these and other reasons.

What to do, then?

Proposals include

Go back to paper ballots, but use optical scanning, rather than pre-punched cards.

Pro: No hanging or dimpled chads.
Con: No audit trail. Easy to add, remove, or replace ballots.

Fix the DREs.

Pro: They would work as intended.
Con: They would not work as required, since they would still be unauditable.

Mandate VVPAT (Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) on electronic voting systems.

Pro: An audit trail exists.
Con: It is feeble, taking no advantage of computer security capabilities.

Have the electronic systems print a paper ballot.

Pro: Auditable, particularly if the system prints security checksums that can be verified independently.
Con: The author of this page has not heard any serious objection.

Develop Free/Open Source Software voting systems incorporating audit and security capabilities.

Pro: The public will own all rights to the software through GPL license. Any programmer can read the source code and check how it works. Anyone, programmer or not, can test the software, using a published test suite or tests of their own devising. No hanky-panky with illegal proprietary software updates. Runs on standard computer hardware, not expensive proprietary equipment. Auditable and secure.

Con: Open Source? What's that? Some kind of Communist conspiracy?

Ideas not currently on the table include

Using competently engineered punch card technology that does not produce hanging or dimpled chads. IBM card punches are engineered to punch incorrectly at a lower rate than once in a billion times, but so far it has been impossible to discuss this fact.

Motivation for fraud alleged

According to Marc Crispin Miller, a further problem may be that many founders and owners of major voting machine companies are members of the Christian Religious Right, further suggesting, but by no means proving, intentional electoral crimes. He claims (but does not provide adequate supporting evidence) that the heads of the principal voting equipment companies are Evangelicals and Theocrats.

Diebold and ES&S were both begun by Bob and Todd Urosevich, two allegedly ardent Oklahoma theocrats. (No data)
Howard Ahmanson, a Board Member of the Dominionist/Christian Reconstructionist Chalcedon Foundation, provided seed financing for the precursor of the first ES&S voting machine. (True)
Triad, which makes the central vote tabulators used in Ohio in 2004, is owned by the Rapp family.
SmartTech, the company that allegedly helped Bush/Cheney steal that state, is owned by evangelical Jeff Averbeck. (No data)
his associate Mike Connell, owner of GovTech Solutions, which also allegedly helped to steal Ohio, among other races, was allegedly motivated to such work by his desire "to save the babies," according to controversial critic Stephen Spoonamore. (Yes, Spoonamore says so. No other data.)

Religious Right

echerlin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:10:51 CST

aka The Base. A wide-ranging assortment of religious conservatives, all dedicated to one or another version of the overthrow of the secular Humanist/Liberal conspiracy to destroy civilization, and of establishing the Word of God, or the Kingdom of God on Earth, or something like that. Very high percentage of them vote, very high rate of volunteering for campaigns, lots of candidates for school boards. But they aren't monolithic. Pat Robertson has praised Barack Obama, who has gone on The 700 Club. See also Regent University Obama Supporters, and Bob Jones University Students for Barack Obama.

Notable individuals, past and present, and organizations

Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed

Christian Coalition of America
CBN University, renamed Regent University
The 700 Club
Christian Broadcasting Network

Dr. Robert Grant, Christian Voice
Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family and Family Research Council
Michael Farris, Home School Legal Defense Association and Patrick Henry College
Jerry Falwell (died 2007), Lynchburg Baptist College, renamed Liberty University
Ed McAteer (died 2004), Moral Majority and Religious Roundtable Council
Randy Brinson, Redeem the Vote
Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum
Bruce Chapman, The Discovery Institute
Rousas John Rushdoony (died 2001), writer
Howard Ahmanson, Jr., financier
Bob Jones, Sr., Bob Jones University
Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
Senator Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania

Issues

Creationism
Judicial activism
Sexual behavior

Abortion
Gay marriage
Premarital and extramarital sex
Contraception
Pornography

Sex education, "abstinence only"
Prayer in schools
Homeschooling
School vouchers
Race
Feminism
Death penalty
Guns
"Elitism"
Dominion
Israel and Armageddon
The Last Days

Voting audit

echerlin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:31:37 CST

Conventional voting systems have a limited audit capability. Much greater auditability can be designed into voting software, but only if there are separate trail of objects and data to compare against the electronic record.

The concept of auditing derives from accounting. In a double-entry bookkeeping system, every item can be checked against other recorded items and against external records, reducing opportunities for fraud and embezzlement. An auditable computer system must similarly incorporate two separate but linked data tracks, and external records corresponding to each. However, in a voting system there is a legal requirement that the identities of voters and the votes that they cast cannot be linked, either directly in the recorded data, or by any reasonably inference from the records. Severing that connection makes design of auditable voting systems significantly more difficult than auditable accounting systems.

Banks, for example, must be able to relate every transaction to the customers or other participants involved. Otherwise no customer would be able to establish an account balance. Since each citizen gets one vote in an election, we do not have this particular problem. What, then, can we link without giving away individual votes? Vote totals by machine and polling place matched with paper ballots turns out to satisfy the requirements moderately, as long as nobody records which individuals use which machines. Even better, we can calculate results from the selections made by voters in many different ways, but in every case the calculation in the machine is supposed to match the calculation from the selections on the ballots. Faking voting records can be made as hard as necessary with such tests.

Resources available for use in auditing conventional systems include voter registration records, the books where voters sign in at polling places, exit polls, and (in systems using marked paper ballots or punched card ballots) the marked ballots themselves. The sorry history of vote fraud shows that these are useful but in no way sufficient.

An electronic voting system that prints paper ballots would automatically have somewhat better auditing information in the two separate tracks of data, electronic and on paper. It could be designed to have much better auditing capabilities by using methods of computer security and authentication. The basic idea is to compute properties of the electronic data that must match the data read from the paper ballots, where the calculation methods used make it hard to match a given value using plausible modifications of the data.

Free/Open Source Software

echerlin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:16:05 CST

Free Software and Open Source software (FOSS) are related but distinct sets of ideas, practices, and copyright licenses aimed at using copyright law to maintain public rights to use, modify, and redistribute software, rather than to lock rights away as the property of a single company or person. In both cases, the source code of programs must be made available to users along with the executable version, or in some other convenient and simple way. The best known FOSS products are the Linux operating system and the Open Office application suite. One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit that intends to make FOSS education software available to as many as a billion children worldwide. Open Voting Consortium has created a demonstration version of Open Source voting software with auditability and security designed in.

Most FOSS programs are available at no cost (one meaning of free), but the Free Software Foundation emphasizes that freedom to read and reuse code is the more important concept. That is, Free as in "Freedom", not Free as in "Free Beer".

The advantages of FOSS can include

Greater security, since code can be inspected and tested for security holes and fixed by anyone with the appropriate skill and knowledge.
Better program quality overall, since anybody is permitted to offer improvements, and anyone can test the software.
Use in education, where students of programming and Computer Science can look at software used for real-world purposes.
Adaptability to particular requirements, incuding translation to any language.

Of course, there are poor-quality FOSS products, so users need to check whether a program will suit their needs. In particular, FOSS products may be offered in a clearly unfinished state in order to allow those interested in using it to report bugs and ask for new features.

Key Obama Articles

Obamian — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:34:46 CST

"Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City" Barack Obama Illinois Issues (1990)
"What Makes Obama Run" Hank De Zutter Chicago Reader (12/08/95)
"The Candidate" William Finnegan New Yorker (5/31/04)
"The Fresh Face" Joe Klein Time Magazine (10/15/06)
"Run Barack Run" David Brooks NY Times (10/19/06)
"Testing The Waters" David Remnick New Yorker (11/06/06)
"Obama Forged Political Mettle In Illinois Capitol" Peter Slevin Washington Post (2/9/07)
"A tribute to Hyde Park's very own" Special Section of Hyde Park Herald (2/14/07)
"The Barack I Knew" Carol Platt Liebau Townhall (03/05/07)

White House Staff

echerlin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:54:16 CST

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) will be the new White House Chief of Staff.
Senior Obama campaign aide Robert Gibbs will be the White House press secretary.
Campaign strategist David Axelrod will be Senior Advisor.

Issues

echerlin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:51:04 CST

What are the big issues?

The economy, stupid. ^_^ Stimulus package, rescue homebuyers, re-regulate Wall Street, restore competition and transparency to markets, undo Bush tax cuts, let workers and middle class have a share of economic growth,...
Trade. Free for corporations but not for people doesn't count.
Environment. Renewable energy (to combat Global Warming, and for security), reregulate pollution,...
Immigration. A path to citizenship. Help countries so that their citizens will not have to flee from war, oppression, or dire poverty.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Al Qaeda, Taleban
"Rogue states", failed states, civil wars: Iran, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Sudan, Congo, Somalia,...
Foreign aid. Obama proposed doubling US foreign aid, including a $2 billion annual Global Education Fund.
Supreme Court. Obama could have the opportunity to appoint three Justices.
Lower courts. Obama will have to appoint about 50 judges immediately.
The First Dog, promised to the Obama children as a reward for their good behavior during the campaign. It must be hypo-allergenic. They would have preferred to get a shelter dog, but Obama says, "most of them are mutts like me."

Vote suppression

echerlin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:15:16 CST

Robert F. Kennedy, jr started No Voter Left Behind to counter the electoral crimes of 2000 and 2004, and make sure that they don't wreck the 2008 elections. The Democratic Party and the Obama Campaign had a multitude of lawyers on standby in swing states. Lawsuits in several states were needed to prevent illegally throwing people off the voter registration rolls, or to restore them. One case in Ohio went to the Supreme Court.

Obama has won his election, but this fight is not over. There is a runoff election for the US Senate in Georgia between Jim Martin (D) and Saxby Chambliss (R). Chambliss ran by far the sleaziest campaign of 2002, accusing Vietnam war veteran and multiple amputee Max Cleland of being unpatriotic. Voter suppression is rampant this year. Volunteers are needed nationwide to phonebank for the runoff.

Methods of vote suppression before Election Day include

Removing properly registered voters from the rolls using very loose matching with lists of convicts, foreclosures, and other kinds of information, without public notice
Rejecting registration forms for trivial errors
Removing voters for failing to respond to mailed notices, even if they were serving in the military overseas
Sending false information of many kinds to voters: incorrect ID requirements, incorrect polling places, even incorrect voting day, threats that people with outstanding traffic tickets would be arrested, claims that wearing an Obama shirt or pin would prevent people from voting, and on and on
Throwing away registration forms for the "wrong" party
Failing to send absentee ballots in time

Election Day and Early Voting problems include

Setting absurdly short hours for Early Voting
Failing to provide enough provisional ballot forms at polls
Requiring specific forms of government-issued ID at the polls
Refusing to fix problems at the polls
Closing polls even with long lines waiting
Providing poor quality voting systems, and not enough of them, creating extremely long lines at the polls
Using incompetently-programmed and easily-hacked voting machines
Jamming telephone lines set up to report problems

Georgia runoff

echerlin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:13:49 CST

There has been significant vote suppression in Georgia this year, as in many states for many years. In spite of record Black turnout, first-time US Senator Saxby Chandliss is slightly ahead of challenger Jim Martin in the first round. Since Chambliss failed to reach 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff election on Dec. 2. Volunteers are needed nationwide to phonebank to Georgia, and to spread the word and demand media attention. We are hearing of people buying tickets to Georgia to work full time on this campaign.

Chambliss is again resorting to scorched-earth tactics, using 9/11 footage in an attempt to create fear about Martin.

Obama Jokes

JennyCr — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:52:25 CST

Hillary, Obama and Edwards walk into a bar. The bartender says, what will you have? Hillary ducks out to call her advisors. Edwards looks around the bar at the people and says, “I will have what all of them are having.” Obama looks deeply into the bartender’s eyes and says, “just give me the usual.” The barrtender smiles, sensing immediately what he wants. Hillary comes back and orders a Diet Coke. While they are drinking, a kangaroo comes in and orders a pint of beer. The bartender, thinking he is an easy mark, says that will be 20 dollars. “And by the way,” the bartender adds, “we don’t get many kangaroos in here.” The kangaroo answers, “at 20 dollars a pint, it’s no wonder.” Hillary goes out to call her advisors again. She comes back. “Give me what the kangaroo is having.” ---Michael Balter Chris Rock
SNL Opening

Funny and tasteful jokes by standup comics on the Obama jokes page.

Obama Jokes page at Just Jokes and Humor.

polls

echerlin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:39:57 CST

Individual poll results don't mean much. The "margin of error" they all cite only means a 95% confidence interval. That means that the error is worse than stated 5% of the time, or once in 20 outings. There are more than 80 national polling organizations, so we can expect maybe four of them to be more wrong than they say on a given day. If we knew which four, that wouldn't be a problem, but by definition we don't.

If you want to extract usable information (or "actionable intelligence") from polling data, the first thing you have to do is look at them all, day by day, for months. The following sites do that for you, and run additional statistical tests that they explain in plain language. Some highlights:

Pollsters.com lets you create your own charts using their data. They also offer state-by-state graphs.
3bluedudes.com shows you all of the Electoral College polls day by day, and gives the averages for that day, the last two days, and all of the most recent results per poll together. McCain has never led in the EC averages. They also show all the polls in Senate races.
fivethirtyeight.com has a chart showing the average of the popular vote polls day by day since January. You can clearly see the McCain-Palin convention bounce, and also how much they have slid since then. (The name comes from the 538 votes in the Electoral College.) They list polls state by state and nationally.

The other big question is how close the Democrats can get to a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (60 or more, including Independents). Projections have been running around 58. Al Franken has moved ahead in MN. Three previously Red state Senate races looked like tossups for a while: KY, GA, MS. Winning all of those would have put the Dems over, to the point where they could consider dumping Lieberman. On the morning of Election Day, they appear to be out of reach.

Daily data

From 3BlueDudes.com, daily munch of all Electoral College analysis updates. A ratio of 2:1 or better in the EC (359-179) is commonly considered a landslide. The latest values for all polls reported since October 8 have Obama with the 270 Electoral College votes for a win, except one die-hard Republican site that is considered a joke.

We don't get final totals on Election Day. Some races are too close to call within a day, and in some cases there will be runoff elections later, as in the Georgia Senate race. South Carolina, Missouri, and one Electoral vote in Nebraska remain undecided on Nov. 5.

Date

Obama

McCain

Tossup

Lead

Ratio

11/6

364

162

187

2.15

IT'S OVER!

338

156

182

2.16

11/3

351

187

164

1.87

11/2

332

171

161

1.94

11/1

344

179

165

1.92

10/31

345

174

170

1.98

10/30

333

166

159

2.00

10/29

347

171

177

2.04

10/28

353

171

182

2.07

10/27

341

175

166

1.94

10/26

351

158

193

2.22

10/25

346

167

179

2.07

10/24

336

173

163

1.94

10/23

344

174

170

1.97

10/22

329

177

152

1.85

10/21

334

177

158

1.90

Normally, races tighten towards the finish. Nobody knows whether that will be true this time, because Obama has the best ground game ever, and because many polls underestimate first-time turnout, which is expected to be larger than ever. Go help phone-bank to Get Out The early Vote (GOTV), and volunteer on Election Day for GOTV, as a poll watcher, or something. Don't forget the New Hampshire primary debacle, as Obama himself recently reminded us.

Cabinet

echerlin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:04:18 CST

Newsweek reports the following possibilities. Comments from 3bluedudes.com. Comments in [brackets] added.

Secretary of State

Front Runners: John Kerry and Bill Richardson. Another mention — Clinton and Biden ally Richard Holbrooke and GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel. [Hagel declined before being asked.]

My Projection: I think this is going to go to John Kerry. Kerry was the very first US Senator to throw support behind Obama and has been an Obama surrogate before it was popular. His reward will be the big stage, leading the Obama foreign policy.

Attorney General

Front Runner: Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano and Charles Ogletree.

Not going to pretend I know here,. My assumption is, Holder. Holder’s name bas been kicked around the most. I think Napolitano will have a role int he Obama Administration, she is term limited as Governor of Arizona and may be a strong candidate to either run against John McCain or run for the seat if McCain decides to leave. But, I don’t think her role will be AG. John Edwards was looking like a possibility until he got into some personal problems.

National Security Adviser

Front Runners: Gregory Craig and James Steinberg Long Shot: Richard Danzig and Sam Nunn

I have no idea, but Craig is the name thrown around the most. I thought a good fit here would have been former GA Senator Sam Nunn. But, I have not even seen his name mentioned. [Richard Clarke is the obvious choice.]

Secretary of Defense

Front Runners: Robert Gates, Richard Danzig, and Chuck Hagel. Long shot: Colin Powell, Richard Danzig, and Sen. Jake Reed

Obama would be smart to leave Gates in place for a bit. He has the knowledge of the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, has not been a blind, partisan in the Bush Administration, and has done a pretty superb job. I would assume if not Gates, then Hagel, and if Gates, it is only temporary, then Hagel. Hagel seems like a natural fit here given their friendship and philosophy on Iraq.

Secretary of the Treasury

Front Runners: Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner Long Shots: Warren Buffett, Jon Corzine, Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker, Sheila Bair

I think this will be summers. Summers was Treasury Chief under Clinton and oversaw some of the largest spurts of employment growth. [That, however, was a bubble.] He is smart, knows the job, and was very effective. The markets would likely respond well. Rubin I doubt is interested. Same goes for Buffett.

EPA Administrator

Front Runner: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [Author of Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy] Long Shot: Kathleen McGinty

Secretary of Homeland Security

Front Runners: Tim Roemer and James Lee Witt

James Lee Witt served as FEMA Director in the Clinton Administration and would bring experience and stature.

Others

[Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy,
Education, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security]

Transition Team

echerlin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:36:06 CST

11/5/2008

President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden Today Announce Leadership For the Transition of Administrations
Chicago – For the past several months, a board of advisors has been informally planning for a possible presidential transition. Among the many projects undertaken by the transition board have been detailed analyses of previous transition efforts, policy statements made during the campaign, and the workings of federal government agencies, and priority positions that must be filled by the incoming administration.

With Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s election, this planning process will be now be formally organized as the Obama-Biden Transition Project, a 501(c)(4) organization to ensure a smooth transition from one administration to the next. The work of this entity will be overseen by three co-chairs:

John Podesta
Valerie Jarrett
Pete Rouse

The co-chairs will be assisted by an advisory board comprised of individuals with significant private and public sector experience: Carol Browner, William Daley, Christopher Edley, Michael Froman, Julius Genachowski, Donald Gips, Governor Janet Napolitano, Federico Peña, Susan Rice, Sonal Shah, Mark Gitenstein, and Ted Kaufman. Gitenstein and Kaufman will serve as co-chairs of Vice President-elect Biden’s transition team.

Supervising the day-to-day activities of the transition will be:

Transition Senior Staff:

Chris Lu – Executive Director
Dan Pfeiffer – Communications Director
Stephanie Cutter – Chief Spokesperson
Cassandra Butts – General Counsel
Jim Messina – Personnel Director
Patrick Gaspard – Associate Personnel Director
Christine Varney - Personnel Counsel
Melody Barnes – Co-Director of Agency Review
Lisa Brown – Co-Director of Agency Review
Phil Schiliro – Director of Congressional Relations
Michael Strautmanis – Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs
Katy Kale – Director of Operations
Brad Kiley – Director of Operations

The phone number for the transition headquarters is 202-540-3000. The official website for the transition will be live later today.

John McCain

echerlin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:50:16 CST

RepublicanJohn McCain was the losing candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election. His running mate was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Obama vs. McCain

shoopdom — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:29:42 CST

obama won in his mind! he is a retard like u. john mcain rules