News Cut: July 8, 2008 Archive

Does volunteering for the GOP convention make you a Republican?

Posted at 9:57 AM on July 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, The political conventions

Considering that the Democratic convention in Denver has, so far, turned out to be a financial disaster and a logistical quagmire, Democrat big-shots have got to be kicking themselves for not picking St. Paul as the host city, beaten out by the Republicans.

St. Paul, Minneapolis and, therefore, the state of Minnesota is a Democratic state. There's no real indication that the state is the swing state it was in 2004. Sure, we have a Republican governor. But Tim Pawlenty won re-election in 2006 by the skin of his teeth, partly because he was in a three-way race and his chief opponent -- Mike Hatch -- spooked voters in the last days of the campaign by sending his running mate to farm country with no apparent knowledge -- at least on that day -- of the number one issue (ethanol) and then capped it off with a tirade against a reporter, who he is alleged to have called "a Republican whore."

Fast-forward to 2008. Republicans are due in St. Paul, and the region is having a hard time finding volunteers to help out.

Why?

Part of the answer comes in an e-mail today from my old Minnesota Fantasy Legislature friend George Linkert. It appears that people in this Democratic state don't want to help Republicans put on a good show.

I don't know how much you are following the upcoming RNC convention, and the push for volunteers, but I was involved with some interesting discussion this last week I thought you would find interesting.

I'm on the board for the Seward Concert Band, a community band based out of South Minneapolis. We were asked last week to perform on the stage at Civicfest , a non-partisan community event being held in conjunction with the RNC convention. I was in charge of polling our band members to see if we could have a viable band.

At first, responses were typically polite "yes" or "no." Then someone exploring the site, found only RNC gear available at the shop, which raised her partisan flag. After this discovery, there was some e-mail discussion about whether this was truly a non-partisan event, and a couple people started to bow out. Some have tried to change this tone in our discussion, but I am doubtful at this point if we would be able to pull this off.

I know there was some news in the last week about recruiting volunteers, I wonder if other organizations like ours are having these sorts of difficulties?

Officials of both cities have tried to stress, basically, that volunteering to help St. Paul (and Minneapolis) put its best face(s) forward for Republicans doesn't make you a Republican., but a lot of people aren't buying it.

If you're a volunteer,thinking about volunteering, or have decided not to volunteer, let's hear from you.

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Has the political landscape changed?

Posted at 11:38 AM on July 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

If the United States elected its president via popular vote, national polls on the race for president would be a lot more meaningful. A Gallup poll out this week, for example, shows Barack Obama with a mere 4-percentage-point lead over John McCain.

Interesting, and relatively meaningless since this isn't the way the U.S. elects presidents. That's why sites that track polls in individual states are far more fascinating, since the individual states' votes for president determine the number of electoral votes. When it comes to electing a president, all states are not created equal.

One of my favorite sites to do this is also the first one to do this. Electoral-vote.com awards electoral votes based on individual state polls and the degree of support for a particular candidate. (Update 9:56 pm Tues. Coincidentally Zogby unveiled the same sort of thing today.)

Today, for example, the site sees a 320-218 electoral vote lead for Sen. Obama.

That's not close, except that at least 58 votes are in states that usually dabble in supporting a Democrat until it actually comes time to vote -- Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana among them. Those states are all "weakly" favoring Obama, according to the latest polls.

Put those votes in McCain's column, and now he leads in the electoral count 276-262.

If you're Barack Obama or John McCain, where do you think the battleground states are now?

As you pick through various polls, what's interesting is how little America's political landscape has actually changed. Take this map from the USA Today polltracker. The orange is "too close" and the gray is "not enough" data. Red is Republican and blue is Democrat, of course.

Democrat are strong in the Northeast, the West, and two liberal states in the Upper Midwest. Republicans control the South.

Compare that to the 2004 -- and admittedly slightly cheesy, now -- results map on the MPR Campaign 2004 site.

And the 2000 election results map on the U.S. News Web site:

Politicians come and go. But the political landscape doesn't really seem to change, does it?

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Smurf politics

Posted at 4:41 PM on July 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Where does Rep. Marty Seifert come up with his quotes?

""They had Denny Green time management," he once said of the DFL budget talks.

"It's like saying you're pro-ag and then being anti-chicken," he also uttered when talking about DFLers saying they're "pro-job" and then taxing businesses.

We have a new entrant in the Seifert book of quotations today, courtesy of MPR reporter Tim Pugmire's story on the GOP field of candidates in upcoming legislative elections.

"We are extremely proud that we will not be a Smurf village as we move into the election process where we just have one female walking around, but we are moving into the 21st century as a party and stretching out our reach as a party to as many people as possible," said Seifert.

It's remarkable political oratory that can send a writer to Google to enter the words Smurf trivia.

I had no clue while driving to work today that I'd be considering the socio-political themes of the Smurfs. Who knew, for example, that Smurf Village is merely a front for a Socialist society?

Papa Smurf represents Karl Marx. He is not so much the leader of the Smurfs as an equal revered by the others for his age and wisdom. He has a beard, as did Marx, and thus could conceivably be a caricature as well. And lastly, he wears red, which is the traditional colour of socialism. Brainy Smurf could represent Trotsky. He is the only one in the village who comes close to matching Papa's intellect - he is a thinker. With his round spectacles, he could also be a caricature of Trotsky. He is often isolated, ridiculed or even ejected from the commune of the village for his ideas. And of course, Trotsky was banished from the USSR.

But what's that got to do with the women?

In an ideal, sexist, patriarchal state, women are not a part of the community. They do not occupy the 'public sphere' of work and the outside world, and they certainly do not work. Smurfette's main occupation seems to be standing around looking pretty, ie 'being the woman', although when it comes to problem solving, the producers have not, thankfully, made her a brainless bimbo. She is quite a bit sharper than the rest of the Smurfs, except of course, for Papa.

According to this particular treatise, however, in Smurf Village, heterosexuality is the norm. Tinky Winky take note.

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