The LeftAhead Campaign Series

Along with Mike and Lynne, I do a podcast each week on political topics both statewide and national. Today at 2:30, for example, we're talking about the Presidential election and the greyhound ballot initiative. In the past, we've brought on all sorts of guests to help enlighten our listeners and foster conversation. We look forward to doing more of that in the future, especially as a means to prepare us all for this year's elections.

Back in April, as the first in a series, we brought on State Senate candidate Sonia Chang-Diaz to talk about her race and the important issues in the campaign. BlogLeftMass, the loose coalition of Bay State progressive bloggers that the three of us are a part of, has often held and cosponsored important candidate forums. Lynne, Mike and I intend to continue in that role, by bringing people on air and storing their interviews online so people can go back to them throughout the campaign.

Our on-air candidate interviews are a little different (indeed, better) than the traditional debate or forum. Instead of putting everyone on all at once, enforcing strict rules on how long they can talk for, we're going to invite them all on for either an entire show or half a show. If their opponents are willing to come on, they will either get their own show or half of one. That way, each candidate will have the time to say as much as they need on any given topic, instead of giving them two minutes on how they'll cure the mortgage lending crisis.

In that vein, I'm excited to announce the next in the series of invited campaign guests. She's been working a true grassroots campaign in a day and age when that's not so easy to do so. Next week's guest, on Tuesday, July 8th, will be Christine Dorchak, Chair of the Committee to Protect Dogs. On the ballot this year will be a question which, if passed, will eliminate greyhound racing, a "sport" that's lead to 800 injured Greyhounds since Massachusetts passed a bill requiring race tracks to report injuries. The citizens initiative lost by perhaps the closest margin in Bay State Ballot Question history - since then, Greyhound Racing wagers have gone down by tens of millions at each of this state's two dog tracks. Christine will be able to talk in depth about the issues as well as discuss why all the dogs are truly going to win this time.

Mike Huckabee Dot Com

For 30 seconds of fun, go check out Huckabee's website. For something extra special , do glance through Huckabee 101, on the main page (you don't have to click anything to get to it). His "grassroots goal" is to collect $200,000 by midnight, January 4th. Rather conservative, right?

Errr.... not so much. I'm almost shocked Huckabee 101 is still on the front page of his website, because Campaign 101 teaches not to put stupid things on the front page of your website. Out of Huckabee's $200,000 goal, he's so far achieved $30,961.09 of it. That's a whopping 15.5% of his goal (I'm rounding up). Woot!

To put that in perspective, any of the top three Democratic candidates can sneeze more grassroots support than that.

I Must be Gay

Apparently, the back-on-air Don Imus thinks anyone who doesn't like Mike Huckabee must be gay.

[Imus] yesterday stuck his foot back in his mouth calling WTKK afternoon drive guy Jay Severin “gay.”

During a political discussion, the I-Man inquired as to why Severin didn’t like GOP hopeful Mike Huckabee. “Why don’t you like Huckabee, because you’re gay or what?” Imus inquired.

So what does that make me? Oh, wait...

In any event, the Herald has more. Here's to Imus being fired again. When he's rehired after his second firing, maybe the third time will be the charm?

Another Idiot in Office?

Let's not elect Mike Huckabee.

On a recent New Hampshire campaign swing, Huckabee said that he would support the Bush administration's proposal to double funding for AIDS but said that he didn't want to shortchange other diseases that kill more people.

"I want to make sure that when we look at a disease, whether it is AIDS, diabetes, or cancer, we look at it from the macro perspective, and we don't just single out one thing that affects, in America, you know, about 5,000 people a year," Huckabee said.

Where does the idiocy come into play?

The Centers for Disease Control reported that there were 42,514 new AIDS cases and 13,064 deaths from the disease in 2004, the most recent year for which it provided data. About 1.5 million people in the United States have been infected with the AIDS virus since 1981, resulting in more than 500,000 deaths.

He ought to know better than to open his mouth on an issue he clearly knows nothing about. More importantly, AIDS is a serious threat to not only this country, but the entire world. A President must have a working knowledge and understanding about HIV/AIDS. Earlier in the career, Huckabee specifically refers to AIDS a "plague," when he was trying to "isolate" gays and lesbians, now it's not a big deal? We need a President who understands HIV/AIDS, who's willing to take measures against it and who understands that this is far more than a gay person's disease. Clearly, he doesn't get any of that. Even more clearly, he can't be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.

All About Huckabee on Air

Over at LeftAhead, Lynne, Mike and I talk up the Mike Huckabee campaign for POTUS. We explored many of his largely unearthed baggage, but questioned whether there is enough time for voters to catch on (I doubted it; Mike and Lynne didn't). Lynne came on to talk about the dynamics of the Republican Race - and thinks Willard Mitt Romney has a far greater chance of winning this than I'd give him credit for. Over all, this was one of our best shows we've done to date, so go listen in.

Oh, Geez. Huckawhat?

I don't think it's big news that the Republican Presidential field has expanded lately to include another top-tier candidate, largely replacing our former never-here, didn't-care Governor, but Mike Huckabee sure isn't bringing anything new to the table. Emphasis mine:

I don’t think the issue’s about being against gay marriage. It’s about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that’s important. You have to have a basic family structure. There’s never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived. So there is a sense in which, you know, it’s one thing to say if people want to live a different way, that’s their business. But when you want to redefine what family means or what marriage means, then that’s an issue that should require some serious and significant debate in the public square.

Thankfully, the pillars of civilization seem to be holding in Massachusetts, despite all those new sets of two moms and two dads raising perfectly happy and healthy children of their own. Somehow, thankfully, I don't think anything would be different in Kansas.

Yet, Huckabee couldn't stop himself. He went on.

GQ: I just wonder what you’d say to the gay couple who says, “Well, we want to live this way, and my partner can’t come visit me in a nursing home.”
HUCKABEE: He can with a power of attorney. That’s the fallacy, that this requires some new definition of marriage. It’s simply not the case.

Did anyone ever bother to tell him how much that costs? After thousands of dollars, gay couples can have a tiny few of the same benefits of married couples, all the while "traditional" families merely need to pay for a marriage certificate. Furthermore, many states like Virginia have very onerous laws that prevent gay couples from creating legal agreements which could be construed, in any minute way, as being a couple. And let's not even get started on health care benefits!

So, in some states, for the wealthiest and most privileged of gay couples, they can maybe, sort of have the privilege of visiting their partner in the hospital, but not actually be the provider of insurance that could cover the surgery their partner needs. And that's supposed to be a good thing? Oh, that Mike Huckabee... what a swell guy!

Orignal Source: GQ.