CQ Politics blogger David Nather claims Sarah Palin's image as a fighter for earmark reform is central to the McCain campaign's narrative. Nather notes that while Palin doesn't claim she hasn't asked for earmarks, she leaves an impression that she's every bit as passionate a fighter as McCain against pork barrel projects.
However, thanks to the Web site of Sen. Ted Stevens, (R-Alaska), it's clear that the campaign narrative distorts her record. Palin submitted 31 earmark requests this year alone, totaling approximately $197 million.
In a memo e-mailed to reporters yesterday afternoon, the McCain campaign said Palin’s requests were a significant reduction from the record of the previous Alaska governor, Republican Frank Murkowski, whom Palin unseated in 2006. According to the campaign, Murkowski’s final request asked for $350 million in earmarks, according to the campaign.
Read the full story at: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000002947712.
The Tulsa World reports that President Bush will conduct a business roundtable in Oklahoma City today to promote his failed plan for health savings accounts before heading off to a private closed door fundraiser for John McCain's campaign. [Tulsa World, 9/12/08: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080910_16_A4_hHepla243517]
As part of his record of voting with President Bush more than 90 percent of the time, John McCain endorsed the Bush plan for health savings accounts even though the Wall Street Journal said was "dead-on-arrival in Congress in early 2007." This plan is a radical new scheme to tax health insurance benefits for the first time in history, provide more power to insurance companies, and give families a tax credit that covers only a fraction of average health insurance costs.
"It should surprise no one that President Bush is raising money for the candidate who is promising more of the same failed Bush policies on everything from health care to the economy," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "While millions of Americans have lost their health insurance in the Bush-McCain era, John McCain says we're better off than we were eight years ago and that the fundamentals of our economy are strong. No wonder he's promising a warmed over version of the failed Bush plan that won't do anything to help Americans find health care."
You'd be surprised how many people you know aren't registered to vote.
Registration deadlines are coming up soon, and we need every single vote we can get to win this election. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to check out our new one-stop voter registration website. Just forward this message. VoteforChange.com makes it easier than ever to register. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you'll be ready to vote.
You can also:
Confirm your existing registration
Apply to vote
absentee
Find your polling place
If you don't know your own registration status or you'd like to learn more, take a minute to visit the site right now. This race is too close and too important to stay home on Election Day. If you take the time to register and vote -- and make sure everyone you know is registered as well -- we'll be able to turn the tide of the past eight years. It's people just like you who will transform this nation.
Governor Dave Freudenthal: Our two-term democratic governor set and met priorities to continue promoting a culture of bipartisan and state-wide cooperation – and to make permanent smart investments toward a stable future for Wyoming. He continues to focus on Energy and Transmission, Education, Health and Wellness, Infrastructure (Roads, Water and Sewer Lines), Quality and Excellence, Water and Drought, Wildlife and Open Spaces as well as Workforce Training. Last month, a Mason-Dixon poll published in the Denver Post found that Governor Freudenthal enjoys an 81% approval rating in our great state.
Gary Trauner: Gary Trauner, 49, is a husband, father, businessman, entrepreneur, community volunteer, and former elected official residing in Wilson, Wyoming. Eighteen years ago, he and his wife Terry chose Wyoming as the place they wanted to live and raise a family; they are now the proud parents of two Wyoming born-and-raised young boys - ages 14 and 8. Gary runs an old-fashioned, retail campaign for Wyoming's lone seat in the US House of Representatives and continues to take the high ground by focusing on the issues that really matter to the citizens of Wyoming. Gary's campaign centered on his wish to restore leadership, integrity, a commitment to service and a willingness to do the right thing, regardless of party or political consequences, for all the people of Wyoming. Gary has seen firsthand the issues that matter to most working people – how to pay for health care, how to achieve a quality education, how to juggle work and family, how to provide a decent living wage, and freedom from unreasonable government and corporate intrusion. We are proud and honored to have him as our Candidate for the US House again this year.
Nick Carter: One look at Nick's website and you understand that that he is a hard driving pragmatic goal oriented solution finder who is also just a 'regular guy." He is a Wyoming Democrat, which means that he is an independent thinker and as such will be an effective advocate for all Wyoming Citizens. He believes that our government is broken and that you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. He contends that our current representation in Washington has proven to be part of the problem and he lays out solutions which he believes will fix Washington and help Wyoming. He is 'Wyoming Tough" and we are excited with his candidacy and are working hard to send him to Washington D.C. so he can show those folks a thing or two.
Chris Rothfuss: Chris is a man with the rare combination of brilliant intellect, levelheaded common sense, global vision and local practicality and we are privileged to have him as our US Senate Candidate. We are working hard to send him to Washington D.C. to finally build a comprehensive Energy Policy for the United States. A recent WyoFile story: "The Perfect Candidate You Never Heard Of" said it best: "Polite and professional, Rothfuss actually has a lot more experience and a few more years under his belt than appearances suggest. Whether you've heard it or not, Rothfuss is the Wyoming Democratic Party's nominee for the seat currently occupied by two-term Republican Senator Mike Enzi….The unfortunate thing is that this guy really deserves a look, but if history and the realities of modern campaign finances are any indication, he probably won't get it." "…Rothfuss said his service in the Senate would take advantage of his own set of unique skills: energy and diplomacy. 'My specialty is in the energy field,' said Rothfuss. 'That's a background and strength I would like to take to Washington. I think it would serve us all well to have some expertise in Congress.' The U.S., he said, has to come to terms with what dependence on foreign sources of energy is doing to the country's security and long-term financial health. 'We have to develop domestic sources of energy,' he said. 'That includes an emphasis on efficiency, alternatives – including nuclear – and an enhancement of the power grid and storage capacity. It also means that we have to develop ways to use domestic oil and coal reserves in a way that doesn't ignore our duty as stewards of the environment.' Toward that end, Rothfuss wants to develop a 50-year national energy policy to replace the 'haphazard' approach the country has used, with a goal of eliminating dependence on foreign oil within 10 years. 'With planning, we can do that," he said. "The economic and security implications are staggering…and disastrous if we simply continue to ignore the problem.'" Well said, Chris!
Chairman John Millin John served as the state party's treasurer and secretary and has worked extensively at the grassroots level in Wyoming chairing the largest county party organization in the state. He was elected as the Chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party in April 2007, promising to increase the capacity of the Wyoming Democratic Party by recruiting grassroots candidates, mobilize Democrats across the state, and match the Democratic National Committee's strategy of competing in all 50 states by competing for each of Wyoming's 23 counties. He accepted the challenge with limitless enthusiasm and has honored those commitments. We look forward to vigorous political races in every county addressing and winning on the issues that matter most to the citizens of Wyoming
Contact: Lauri Kay Elbing
Communications Director
307-634-3367 (office)
307-277-1187 (cell)
lauri@wyomingdemocrats.com
View of river from Hunter Museum balcony. I'm in Chattanooga for the annual National Assembly of State Arts Agencies conference.
"As a committed Christian, I was deeply offended by Sarah Palin and the Republican delegates mocking and belittling community organizers the other night. Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a Governor." -- Diane Rehm Show, 9/5/08
Prickly Pair & The Cactus Chorale from Dubois traded western duds for Scottish tartans at the Scottish-Irish Festival in Estes Park. Les Hamilton (left) is a fourth-generation fiddler with Scottish roots from Wyoming's Big Horn Basin. His wife, Locke, plays guitar, sings and writes some of the songs, while Norman Winter plays bass. Sitting in with the group is Denis Sullivan from the Denver Celtic group Gobs o' Phun. Prickly Pair plays vintage Western, old-time fiddle and cowboy folk tunes. They also play -- and talk about -- the Celtic origins of early cowboy and fiddle tunes of the Northern Plains.
Prickly Pair plays a hybrid of country-western and traditional Scots-Irish folk songs. They performed a song about Irish and Scottish soldiers who fought (and died) with Custer's Seventh Cavalry, one about a Wyoming cowgirl and a Scottish bagpiper who meet and fall in love (based loosely on Les and Locke's own lives), a song by Lori Lewis from the point of view of a fiddle dreaming of his previous life as a tree, and a ballad about Scotsmen driving the last working team of Clydesdale horses across their land. According to Locke, some ranchers in the West still use these "gentle giants" on their spreads.
For more on Prickly Pair, go to http://www.thepricklypair.com/
