ChrisWeigant.com

Archive of Articles for February, 2008

Friday Talking Points [19] -- A "Rare Uprising" Of Democrats

[ Posted Friday, February 15th, 2008 – 15:41 UTC ]

It's been a busy week for Democrats, with a lot to cover. There has been good news and bad, but on a whole I'd have to judge the week a success for Democrats in general. Led by what the Washington Post reports as a "rare uprising" of House Democrats. But before I get to that, I'd like to offer one observation from the campaign trail.

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What Hillary Or Barack Should Do After Losing

[ Posted Thursday, February 14th, 2008 – 16:46 UTC ]

Now, while many are holding out hope for a "Dream Ticket" with both their names on it, I personally don't think it's going to happen. Choosing a running mate is just about the only fun thing the candidate gets to do during their entire campaign. And they rarely choose the person everyone expects them to. They also rarely choose former contenders for the nomination, although it does sometimes happen. They usually either choose someone who they are personally comfortable with (think: Dick Cheney), or someone who their campaign managers assure them will "bring them votes" either geographically or otherwise (think: L.B.J.).

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Guest Column: How Hillary Could Win Fair (And Lock Up The General Election Too!)

[ Posted Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 – 15:35 UTC ]

Riding to my rescue was one of Huffington Post's own commenters, who not only suggested I write a pro-Hillary article, but also outlined what I should say in it. I thought the idea had merit, but instead of just swiping his idea and writing my own words around it, I offered him the opportunity to write it himself.

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Pathetic Senate Democrats

[ Posted Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 – 16:20 UTC ]

All hope is not lost, though. Because the House passed a version of the bill which did not include the retroactive amnesty for lawbreaking telecommunications companies. Because the Senate bill is different, it now goes to conference committee. What gets voted out of committee will be voted on again by both the House and Senate. It's a slim reed to cling to at this point, but hopefully House Democrats will stand firm against Bush and the GOP.

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Michigan And Florida Need A Mulligan

[ Posted Monday, February 11th, 2008 – 13:13 UTC ]

Democrats in Michigan and Florida need to vote again. It's as simple as that. Because it is the only fair thing to do. People are already shouting "Unfair!" about the situation, from many directions. Most of them are right, or at least have a valid point. The only way to resolve this mess is to go back to square one and do it all over. Because while it's not the best outcome for every faction, it is the only truly fair way to handle the situation as it stands now.

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Friday Talking Points [18]

[ Posted Friday, February 8th, 2008 – 15:57 UTC ]

And one more thing to drive a wedge between McCain and his party -- both Clinton and Obama should begin questioning John McCain's position on torture. This backs him into a corner, because he's (obviously, and with good reason) against it, but his base feels differently about it. Forcing him to talk about it, after the Bush administration this week admitted that it had waterboarded prisoners, is an excellent way to weaken him even further with the GOP base right now.

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How Obama Could Wrap It Up

[ Posted Thursday, February 7th, 2008 – 14:34 UTC ]

Our party is now pretty equally divided between myself and Senator Clinton. The race is about tied. We are obviously the two strongest candidates this party has to offer to win the White House in 2008. We both have our relative strengths, and much of the electorate is genuinely conflicted over who to select in the voting booth. Some say this is fracturing our party, but I don't believe that is true. The Republican Party is divided because of antipathy among their different factions for their various candidates -- but I'm proud to say that our party is conflicted over who is the best between two very good choices.

So I would like to take this opportunity to offer Senator Clinton the Vice Presidential spot on the Democratic ticket, should I be nominated for President. Should she be nominated, and should she offer the same to me, I am publicly saying I would accept that as well. I think both of us should get behind the idea of a 'dream ticket' right here on this stage. I challenge my opponent to do the same.

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As The Super Tuesday Dust Settles...

[ Posted Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 – 15:18 UTC ]

Having said that, I have to say I did pretty good picking Super Tuesday winners. But since I do this rarely, I'll get to the winner tote board in a minute, as I'd like to review my writing on the presidential race in general. If you just want to see the numbers, scroll down to the end of this article.

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Why Californians Should Vote No On Proposition 93

[ Posted Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 – 12:07 UTC ]

If you could spend $50 million of someone else's money to save your job, would you?

I suspect most people would answer "yes" to that. Actually, that's not true -- I suspect most people would say "Forget the job, can I just have the 50 million dollars?"

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My Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday Primary Picks

[ Posted Monday, February 4th, 2008 – 16:30 UTC ]

This means we return to our "pick the primary winners" series, for what could be the last time. One program note: because of the tidal wave of primaries tomorrow, the rules for picking winners need a little revision. Because there are so many states voting tomorrow, because there are effectively only two candidates left on the Democratic side, and because most of the Republican contests are "winner take all" as far as delegates go; I will only be selecting the winner for each party and each state today. Sorry Mitt, but silver and gold just don't count for much anymore.

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