In case you didn’t bother to watch the MI primary returns, Mittens McRomnibus won big over John McCain last night. Of course, the fact that his dad was the governor of Michigan had nothing to do with that.
What does this mean for us RI spectators?

On the most tangible level, the vote on Tuesday was proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown: this is a party that is adrift, deeply divided and uninspired when it comes to its presidential candidates and unsure of how to counter an energized Democratic Party.

Even in victory, Mr. Romney stood as evidence of the trouble the party finds itself in. He won, but only after a major effort in a state he once expected to win in a walk. That was before he lost Iowa and New Hampshire, two other states where he had campaigned all out.

Oh, also, the MI GOP sent out a press release congratulating John McCain on his MI victory, only to backpedal when that turned out to be wrong. (more…)

Thank you, finest and bestest health care system in all the world!

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.

Isn’t that like saying that for-profit healthcare kills 100,000 people a year?

Is just how much my aesthetic sensibilities end up lining up with David Brussat’s. (My eyes are a bit friendlier to modernism, abstractly. But not in Providence, in practice.)

So let’s forget his more broadly neo-conservative politics, and throw a few hits his way:

David Brussat: Roses and roseberries for 2007

THE SEVENTH YEAR of the first century of the third millennium (Anno Domini) saw the near-completion of four major new building projects downtown. Because Dr. Downtown handed out a “bottomless bucket” of raspberries for GTECH last year, he is going to take a leaf from the book of fisheries management and dispense only roses this year so that the raspberry crop will be able to supply what the doctor fears will be needed next year.

So this year, let’s make roses out of raspberries.

So, I was pretty happy with the Iowa results, and I like Obama — WAY more than Clinton. Some of that follows from his campaign, his rhetoric, etc. Some of it’s a function of stuff he did in Illinois, and of my personal political quirks and preferences. (For instance, he’s been supportive of instant runoff voting, which is a concept you only know about if you’re really paying attention to the deep flaws in our structures of governance.)Odds are very high that I’ll be voting for him on March 4th.

But after tonight’s debate, and the re-hash of talk of bombing Pakistan and such, I feel compelled to post some left-critique of Obama. Paul Street is an author and Iowa resident and Edwards supporter. He’d certainly argue that Obama is better than Clinton, but deconstructs some of Obama’s more dubious rhetoric and policy positions in important ways. Here’s “ Why I’ve focused on Obama: Seven Points.”

The left shouldn’t give Obama a pass — and given Edwards’s strong Iowa showing, Obama will hopefully realize that there’s space enough for him to stand up for the left-leaning principles that I still hope underly his politics and ambition.

(I’ll say also that I don’t trust Edwards — I do like his recent rhetoric, but the correlation between political rhetoric and action isn’t so tight, and there are enough hypocrisies in Edwards’s personal life — hedge fund leader, super-rich, gazillion dollar estate clear-cut out of the North Carolina woods — that I don’t think he should be fawned over either. Basically, I’m a curmudgeon.)

I know that this doesn’t mean anything, but we don’t have much to go on in RI, and I think it’s notable in that the numbers are so damn close to what most people would probably expect. Clinton’s up over Obama by slightly more than I’d have guessed, but that’s in line with the one legit poll that I’m aware of.

Now, it’s time to demonstrate the power of the Daily Dose: Why don’t we all head on over and vote for Mike Gravel.

Less than two weeks before Iowa, the mainstream press took a little looksie at what “ the bookmakers in Las Vegas and London” were predicting. At that point, the answer was the same dreck the pundits wuz spewin’: Hillary was going to take the democratic nomination.

Political futures markets, which are illegal in the US, but run like whoa out of Scotland and other gambling havens, and for academic purposes at the University of Iowa, are arguably better predictors than the polls. But they work best in close proximity to the event. Which is why the Iowa electronic futures market, which covers presidential nomination politics, was one of the best places to catch Obama’s momentum leading into the Iowa caucuses.

On January 1st, the IEM had Obama trading at .267, with HRC at .62 (the share values are rough correlates for their percentage chance at getting the nomination). On January 3rd, Caucus day, Obama peaked at .50, and the average price was .384. Today, Obama’s average trading price was .450, with HRC down to .512. In other words, smart money is being put down on Obama (though not by me or other law-abiding American citizens). Or, at the very least, the “Hillary is inevitable” train is a rusted out relic bound for the scrapyard. (more…)

Dennis Kucinich has asked his Iowa supporters to caucus for Obama in precincts where there aren’t enough of them for Kucinich to get delegates to the state convention. That’s a 15% threshold, and with Kucinich polling at 1%, it’s unlikely that he’ll achieve delegates anywhere.

With Kucinich polling so low, this might not be a huge deal, but it’s noteworthy that he chose Obama and not Edwards, as he did four years ago. (And whom Ralph Nader just endorsed.) Edwards’ platform is more in line with Kucinich’s this go around, but there’s been bad blood between the two throughout the campaign.

I posted a few days ago about Cynthia McKinney’s run for the Green Party presidential nomination. Interesting news today that Elaine Brown, former Chair of the Black Panthers, has given up her run for the GPUS nomination for prez, and left the party altogether.

Here’s her hard-hitting press release:
ELAINE BROWN WITHDRAWS FROM GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Renounces Green Party Membership

Brunswick, Georgia,
December 28, 2007

OPEN STATEMENT TO THE GREEN PARTY

As of today, I am no longer a candidate for the Green Party nomination for president of the United States, and I hereby resign from all affiliation with the Green Party. I believe the leadership of the Green Party of the United States has been seized by neo-liberal men who entrench the Party in internecine antagonisms so as to compromise its stated principles and frustrate its electoral and other goals. They have made it impossible to advance any truly progressive ideals or objectives under the umbrella of the Green Party, and, thus, rendered it counterproductive for me to go forward as a Green Party candidate or member.

(more…)

UPDATE: the count is in! OK, while these signatures still need to be certified by the SecState (only Obama already has 1000 certified and is therefore already on the ballot), we now have total numbers for the candidates as of 5 pm on the last day. Looks like eight candidates on the ballot: 3 dems and five republicans.

SO who pulled in to RI ballot station?

• Chris Dodd worked his ass off and pushed over 1000. He may not be on the ballot in New York or VA, but Dodd smiles upon RI.
• Romney’s sitting at 1258, and McCain at 1240. They’ll make the ballot.
• David Huckabee’s dad bumped it up to 1140.
• Ron “ Zeitgeist” Paul is at 1135.

AND who never boarded the train from Losertown?

• Biden, Richardson, Dunkin’ Hunter, Uncle Fred and Denny. To be fair, DK and “Fthomp” (its the sound of his campaign) did have some late momentum, shooting up to 700+ sigs each. Still, they and these other leeches should probably stop running for president at this point.
• John. Edwards. What. The. Fuck. Ok, I’ll give you credit for adding over 500 signatures yesterday, after languishing below 500 with days before the deadline. Yes, 955 sigs, your current toal, is very many, and its very close to 1000. But it looks like you aren’t going to be on the ballot. It’s like when you’re getting ready to go out to a big party and you just want to look good so you spend all night checking and primping and planning and then you look around and its 4am. You flaked out on Rhode Island John, pure and simple, and your flaky campaign is just on an endless ride back and forth from Flakesville to Losertown, where you are the mayor.

(more…)

that local politico and RIFuture blogmaster Matt Jerzyk announced yesterday that he’s endorsing Obama for Prez.

RIFuture also has hopeful stats on Obama’s electibility, courtesy of USA Today:

• Barack Obama - 51% — Rudy Giuliani - 45%
• Barack Obama - 53% — Mike Huckabee - 42%
• Barack Obama - 57% — Mitt Romney - 39%

On Huckabee’s use of religious imagery, Ron Paul told Fox News: “It reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once said…he says, ‘When fascism comes to this country it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.’”

There’s much ado these days in the CHARIHO (CHArlestown RIchmond HOpkinton) school district.

The three towns once realized that they were stronger together than in isolation, and merged their school districts. But in order for a bond to pass - say, to build a new school - all three towns need to approve it individually. And this fall, for the fifth time in seven years, Hopkinton voters vetoed a bond issue meant for district school improvements.

After the ballots were counted last night, talk quickly turned into what this would mean for the district, which must now finance needed repairs out of its capital budget, and whether it would result in its disintegration.

In the end it’s pretty rare that politicians throw around rhetoric quite this harsh:

Disappointed supporters of the plan turned their anger against Hopkinton officials who had openly opposed the building plan.

“What you’ve done, I think borders on evil,” Gregory Avedisian, who led an advocacy group in favor of the project, told Hopkinton Councilwoman Barbara Capalbo and Hopkinton School Committee member George Abbott.

“There is no good reason” for the measure’s defeat. You flat-out lied” when giving reasons to defeat it, Avedisian said.

Further complicating matters, the voters of Hopkinton would need to approve Hopkinton’s being booted-out. Richmond and Charlestown could leave the partnership, but the vast majority of school infrastructure is housed in Richmond, meaning they can’t run off on their own without paying alimony to the others.

So who the hell knows.

In my mind, this is more evidence FOR the need for schools consolidated at the regional level, with regional governance over broad funding matters (and some local control over other matters). It’d mean greater equitability, greater efficiencies, and less of the visceral parochialism that holds this state back in so many ways.

Yup. Actually, the details are in dispute. According to Vifill Atlason, the 16-year-old teen in question, seen at right with his parents, he called the White House on a high security phone line, introduced himself as Icelandic President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, and told increasingly high levels of adminstrative staff that he was calling to chat with President Bush. Atlason bravely deflected the staff’s pitiful attempts to verify his identity by looking up information wikipedia and google. The BBC, in line with the White House’s explanation, is saying that the teen called the main White House switchboard, and was ultimately transferred to the President’s personal secretary:

Vifill says that Mr Bush’s secretary booked him in for a phone meeting with the US president.

“I wasn’t rude and was addressed as Mr President by the White House staff over and over again,” he said.

But he never got to have his chat with the president - the White House eventually spotted that something was awry…

(more…)

Karen Malcolm of Ocean State Action had this op-ed in the Journal a couple days back, titled The American Dream in Rhode Island:

We don’t have to accept this deterioration of the quality of life for ourselves, our families, our neighbors. We do not have to accept tax cuts that only benefit our most wealthy, while making the load heavier for working people. We don’t have to be deceived by unfair attacks on union families that are fighting for livable wages without questioning the soaring compensation for those at the very top of the income ladder. We don’t have to allow children to be denied RIte Care while for-profit insurers take millions out of our state’s health care system. And we don’t have to forgo safe and affordable child care or investments in our public schools without carefully scrutinizing the millions in special tax treatments given to multinational corporations.

Very important, in light of persistent and disturbing rumors that schools will again see no new state funding next fiscal year. (Meaning cities will be forced to raise regressive property taxes, exacerbating the vicious cycle of poverty, high property taxes, disinvestment, and underperforming schools.)

I hope the Journal starts getting a little introspective: Could it be that the pervasive pessimism of the Paper of Record — in our small state and single media market — could itself be undermining quality of life in Rhode Island? Especially in light of those pesky statistics ( here and here) indicating that the amount our residents pay in fees and taxes is exactly normal.

Chris Barnett from the Secretary of State’s Office would like you to know:

Rhode Islanders will have a lot of choices when it comes to the state’s March 4 presidential primary. Ten Democrats and 10 Republicans filed Statements of Intent to compete for their party’s nomination by today’s 4 p.m. deadline.

The Republicans are Hugh Cort, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo and Fred Thompson.

The Democrats are Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Ray Stebbins and Rosemary Turner.

This is the first time since 1952 that there isn’t an incumbent president or vice president in the race. That makes the 2008 primary more wide open than usual.

With 20 candidates in the mix, we should see a bump in turnout. After all, with this many names on the ballot, there ought be no shortage of candidates for Rhode Islanders to get excited about.

There is more info on the RI Secretary of State website.

College Republicans to Welcome Senator Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign to RI on Post Road outside of T.F. Green Airport at 3:30 PM Today.

Group plans to gather to thank Hillary for voting for war in Iraq, pledging to keep combat troops there to fight Al Qaeda.

Warwick, RI – Today at 3:30 PM the College Republican Federation of Rhode Island and its chapter members on six campuses throughout the state will gather on the corner of Post Road and Airport Road (Staples Parking Lot) with signs and banners to welcome Senator Evan Bayh and Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign to Rhode Island, and to thank her for voting for the war in Iraq and for pledging to continue the presence of troops to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq if she is elected President.

Senator Hillary Clinton, who served as College Republican President when she was a student at Wellesley, will benefit from a fundraiser held at 6 PM tonight in Warwick, Rhode Island.”From one former College Republican Chapter President to another, I would like to welcome the campaign of Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton to Rhode Island and thank her not only for the vote she cast in 2002 that authorized the war in Iraq, but also for her recent commitment to keep combat troops in Iraq to fight Al Qaeda if she is elected President next year,” said State Chairman Ryan Bilodeau.”The average Rhode Islander should be proud to have Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the state today,” added Bilodeau. (more…)