Thunderstruck

Warning: The following post contains purely anecdotal evidence not necessarily intended to prove anything or offer any sort of profound insight. It is merely attempting to provide intellectual fodder. Proceed with caution.

Talking to some of the old-guard Democrats (some elected, some not) at the Gold Dome yesterday, I asked about Roy running and heard the following answers: "Lord I hope he does," to "he better not...he brings his baggage with him...and he's the reason we [Democrats] are in this mess" to I'm not opposed to him running. Then there is this.

Another interesting point of discussion was a slate. Everyone agreed in principle to the idea, but being organized is not our strong suit.

Other campaign notes: heard from three people who would know, that Terry Coleman will not be running to replace Tommy Irvin, but rather for insurance commissioner. Apparently from what I heard, Coleman "doesn't think he could" defeat Gary Black. I'm still not clear if he was even asked to run for Ag Comm.

Rob Teilhet might have primary opposition from an ex State Rep from South Georgia.

There is a general sense of trepidation when discussing our governor's race. I think that need not be said.

No one seems to have any idea who will run for Lite Governor. My money is on Tim Golden, but that is nothing more than a guess.

There has been renewed talk about Vincent Fort running for city council president. I asked him if he was running (I had heard he was going to run) and his response was: "I'm just praying on it right now." When asked "are you leaning one way or the other" he said "I'm just praying on that." That is a huge change from the original talk of running for the post late last year when he said "no." 

Watch out for one of the Tavern's favorites Alan Powell to raise hell throughout the state soon. He may even run for something higher than state rep in the near future. Said he would "entertain" the thought of running for Ag Comm.

Seriously Kasim? You're going to kickoff your campaign at midnight on a Friday? That means all the papers have gone to press so you miss the Saturday news. The weekend T.V. news doesn't get watched (FWIW: The CBS news after the basketball game had no mention of it that I saw), meaning you get no coverage. The best you can hope for is a mention on Sunday.

400,000 Americans left the Catholic Church between 2006-07.

Why must Pope Benedict be happy? Because fewer followers means it is easier to consolidate power. Make no mistake, that is what he wants, more than anything else.
 

There is some growing talk of Sen. Robert Brown's future and I think people are missing the obvious choice for the good state senator. 

I say Brown ends up running for Congress here is why.

He chaired Marshall's campaign.

DuBose lives in Jim's district. DuBose said at JJ he doesn't want to go to D.C.

When I asked Rep. Marshall last year about moving up, he said he would consider a statewide race, but he doesn't want to give up seniority etc.

It seems that Congress would be the logical place for Brown to end up and he would be the logical person to replace Marshall (all this of course, assumes Jim Marshall wants to move up, which is a big if).

Who wants to serve as Lite Governor when the it'll be a tough statewide race to win, the position will be powerless etc., when you could serve in the majority party of Congress, you'd likely be more amenable to leadership meaning more pork for the district and more support for your initiatives etc.

Congress seems like the place for Brown.

Sorry AIG, you had your shot.

Time to go.

Yes, I'm saying it. Let AIG die.

I guess you could call Jim Martin raising money for Harry Reid something of a role reversal.

Travis Fain has the deets on his nascent candidacy.

He was mum on which party he would caucus with, although if you are curious, FEC reports seem to say he is a Democrat.

Maybe "umbrage" is too strong a word, but never the less, I have to disagree with this International Herald Tribune article. It claims Pope Benedict's recent absolutly and completly idiotic decision to lift the excommunication on the Lefebvrites has "exposed" rifts in the Church.

It hasn't. His actions have created fissures in the Church which fully fits the style of his papacy. Benedict has wanted nothing other than to turn the Church into an antediluvian reactionary body that pushes people away from Her graces, rather than highlighting the beauty and compassion contained in Her teachings. It seems that as long as his brand of hyper-conservatism defines the Church, Benedict would be happy. Regardless of how the faithful feels, or how true to the ideals of love and compassion the Church is.

Ugh, I miss John Paul II.

 

 

 

So what are people's thoughts on DuBose Porter running for governor? 

I'm guessingDecaturguy is pleased as punch right now.

In case you missed it, Richardson withdrew his name from the Sec. of Energy Commerce slot (sorry, he has such a stellar resume I was getting all of his cabinet positions mixed up).

Now, if I could, I would like to say that I am humbly offering my services as SofE SofC to President-elect Obama.

Grift walks into a bar and criticizes the "Old Media" through the lens of the "New Media" with me providing the odd comment or two. E

Happy new year and I can't tell you how little I like the new design (sorry Flack, probably with time I will).