NDN Blog

Building directly off of Simon's post below on the significance of tonight's Democratic Presidential Candidate debate in Las Vegas is a great piece from USA Today. From the article:

Nevada's growing Hispanic population is one reason the Democratic Party scheduled caucuses for Jan. 19, just after the nominating contests in the less diverse states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

"It's giving the Hispanic vote and the labor vote a voice early in the process," said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Jill Derby.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

- DISCLAIMER: the information in this might be more disjointed than usual, as I will be playing Presidential Pong while I post. Speaking of which, is anyone else upset at the limited amount of players? I bet Fred Thompson is quite the presence on the tennis court...

- As Simon points out, tonight is the Nevada Democratic Presidential Debate. Hosted by CNN and the Nevada Democratic Party, the debate begins at 5pm/8pm EST. (Sadly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will not be in the audience.)

- Fred Thompson was endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee. The endorsement comes with the usual amount of speculation, though, as Mitt Romney's supporters questioned the NRLC's motive. Earlier this week, Thompson also unveiled his "Four Pillars of a Revitalized National Defense."

- David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register was very flattering in his praise of Barack Obama's speech at the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner. Check out Obama's speech on YouTube. (Note the tailored introduction that reminds us of the introduction used by the Chicago Bulls during their home games.)

- Quick Obama related note: Yesterday in the Valley, Barack Obama unveild his innovation agenda at the Google campus. Afterwards, he took questions and did a YouTube interview.

- Mike Huckabee continues to move up in the polls. The findings of a recent New York Times/CBS poll puts Huckabee in second place behind Mitt Romney.

- Leading up to tonight's debate, Hillary Clinton's campaign welcomed another endorsement from Nevada Assemblyman Ruben Kiuhen. Also, the campaign is promoting the latest of a few fun web videos, entitled "Caucusing is Easy."

- Chris Dodd - whose first hour on the job as President would solve much of the topics he discusses on the stump - knows his JFK trivia!

- Ron Paul continues to rake in the money. Check his home page for an updated amount, which is currently just above $8.2 million.

- The Biden campaign announced that its candidate has received his thirteenth Iowa political endorsement, Rep. Mary Gaskill, a member of Iowa's House of Representatives.

- There are a few new ads out worth checking out: Fred Thompson weighs in on immigration, John Edwards is up in South Carolina with "America's Jobs and America's Workers," and Rudy Giuliani finally joins the TV ad space with "Tested."

- Yesterday in Florida, Rudy Giuliani kicked off Viva Rudy, a group of Hispanic voters supporting the former Mayor. First there was the race between Rudy and Mitt Romney to see who was toughest on immigration, now he's touting his support within the Hispanic community? Interesting...

- John Edwards, whose two Americas special play in Presidential Pong is incredible, has a very interesting plan to reform how we treat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

Simon just did an interview with the Thom Hartmann Program on Air America. Click to listen or right click the link and click "save link as" to download it. Simon speaks about a third of the way into the program.

REMINDER: Today we are rounding out our 2007 New Tools Campaign with a lunch event devoted to social networking. Details are below:

Social Networking Tools
Wednesday November 14, 2007
12:00 - 2:00 PM (Lunch will be served)
Phoenix Park Hotel
520 North Capitol Street
Washington, DC
RSVP: Dave O'Donnell - dodonnell@ndn.org - or 202-384-1212

We will be bringing together four experts who know the technology and the best new strategies, and can clearly explain what works. They are:

Chris Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer, Facebook; John Hlinko, President and CEO, Grassroots Enterprise; Cheryl Contee, Vice President, Fleishman Hillard, San Francisco; Ben Rattray, Founder and CEO, Change.org.

- The RNC stripped New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Wyoming, and Michigan of half of their allotted delegations to the convention because of violating party rules by holding their primaries before February 5th.

- Senator Hillary Clinton has taken rapid-response to the internet with the introduction of the Fact Hub. One thing that most likely won't appear on the fact hub: Governor Ted Strickland's endorsed the Senator. One thing that may appear: this article from The Hill discussing her earmarks - Senator Clinton received more money in earmarks than her rivals.

- Fred Thompson gets advice from Ira Teinowitz from AdAge about campaigning in New Hampshire.

- There are a few new ads to check out: Mitt Romney's new ad, "Change Immigration," defines his stance on immigration; Barack Obama, who will appear on "Meet the Press" this Sunday after ending his Change We Can Believe In tour, released "High and Dry," which focuses on reforming pension and bankruptcy laws; and Tom Tancredo says the Supreme Court is "one death or retirement away from reversing Roe vs. Wade" in a new radio ad airing in Iowa.

- Chris Dodd's time in the Dominican Republic is the focus of a very interesting article running in the Concord Monitor. Dodd was there serving with the Peace Corps.

- Chris Cillizza analyzes the influence of the Club for Growth in Mike Huckabee's campaign. Huckabee, whose statement reacting to Mitt Romney receiving the endorsement of Paul Weyrich had a disapointed tone, hasn't seemed to let anything slow him down. Take this piece from Michael Gerson for example. And then there's the possible endorsement from James Dobson...

- Speaking to Saint Anselm's College, Joe Biden outlined "A New Approach to Pakistan."

- The Edwards campaign posted a video to YouTube on the experiences of the 5 winners of their "Build with John" contest" in New Orleans, LA.

- There has been a lot of talk over Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani: DailyKos blogger DHinMI discusses the issue, as does Chris Cillizza from The Fix, and Josh Marshall from TPM media (below):

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

In today's Washington Post, Jose Antonio Vargas takes a look at both the good and the bad that the internet brings to presidential campaigns. Peter Leyden, Director of our New Politics Institute, was quoted:

"Remember the 'vast right-wing conspiracy' that Hillary Clinton talked about in the late '90s? Well, it's the 'vast right-wing conspiracy' gone online -- and then some," said Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute, a liberal think tank that helps Democrats take advantage of the Internet. "What the Web does so well is it picks up the early warning signals, the first glimmers of a movement. Think of the online world as kind of a more visceral connection to the zeitgeist."

Related side note: NPI has an event coming up that looks at social networking, which is definitely mentioned in the Post piece. Learn more about the event on our website.

Simon was just featured on Wisconsin Public Radio's "At Issue with Ben Merens." During the program, Simon stated that "today's progressives face a political opportunity as great as any since 1932." Listen to the program. Listen to it here (requires Real Media).

For more information, read Simon and Peter Leyden's article - "The 50-Year Strategy" - in Mother Jones.

- Chris Cillizza from the Washington Post blog, The Fix, takes a focused look at the possible longevity of the 2008 primaries.

- In an effort to court Latino voters, supporters of Barack Obama - who recently made an appearance on Saturday Night Live - have launched a mini novela series, Tu Voz, Tu Voto. Learn more about the series or watch the first novela on the Amigos de Obama website.

- According to the Washington Times, House Republicans feel that Rudy Giuliani is the best candidate to return their party to the majority because of his ability to make inroads into the Northeast - specifically New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

- Hillary Clinton unveiled her energy/climate plan. Bill Richardson - a former Secretary of Energy - also outlined his plan in his book, Leading By Example: How We Can Inspire an Energy and Security Revolution. For a broad look at how the candidates view environmental issues, check out this website from the League of Conservation Voters.

- Ron Paul is on a roll with regard to online fundraising. Yesterday, his campaign announced that they have broken the record for the single largest fundraising effort in the 2008 campaign. (What a way to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day!)

- John Edwards outlined his strategy for Iran in Iowa yesterday. Prior to that, Edwards kicked off his Americas Heroes Tour in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

- Mitt Romney picked up a big endorsement from Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation.

- Chris Dodd is a serious guy. Not only has he refused to let up on the fight for constitutional rights, but he also enrolled his daughter at an Iowa elementary school.

- Today in South Carolina, Fred Thompson's campaign launched Veterans for Fred.

- Governor Bill Richardson was on CNN recently discussing the current situation in Pakistan. Joe Biden discussed the same issue on CBS's Face the Nation.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

As many of you know, we at NDN and the New Politics Institute are very interested in how people are using the new tools available to them in getting their message out. One of the tools we focus on, mobile media, is one that is catching on at every level. Take the campaign that It's OUR Healthcare! (IOH) recently conducted for example:

IOH launched a text messaging campaign to lobby the Governor on health care. They set up a giant screen displaying text messages (like the one below) that were sent in by supporters and passersbys alike on the grounds of the State Capitol for all to see.

Learn more about their SMS campaign at MobileActive.org or on the IOH home page.

- AdAge points to a Politico piece on proper polling that is worth checking out for anyone interested.

- Best video of the day: Joe Biden walking down the street, eating a sandwich, and challenging Rudy Giuliani. Crucial question: what kind of sandwich was it?

- The biggest piece of news today is that former President Jimmy Carter spoke about the U.F.O. he saw. This, of course, in context of Dennis Kucinich's comments from Tuesday's debate.

- Speaking of the debate, the Washington Post points out how Hillary Clinton has been regrouping from her performance. She has received a big endorsement and launched Hillblazers. And then there's her politics of pile-on video, which drew the Edwards campaign to respond in kind with a video of its own, the politics of parsing.

- Follow-up: One thing the "politics of pile-on" seems to have done is bring out a lot of comments describing Senator Clinton as "one strong woman." (An interesting contrast is Mark Penn's effort to show her as the most experienced candidate regardless of her gender.) Such comments led Matt Lauer to ask Barack Obama about the gender references on NBC's "Today Show."

- Chris Dodd took issue with the limited questions asked at the debate in this piece from the Huffington Post. Perhaps if we ditch the lightning round...

- Barack Obama is the focus of an upcoming New York Times Magazine piece. He also recently outlined both his views on Iran and his plan to end violence against women.

- According to John McCain, John McCain's record on abortion is "the most consistent of any of the major candidates."

- Governor Bill Richardson - who will be the first candidate to be interviewed by Playboy - received the endorsement of former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca. Perhaps Iacocca agrees the Larry Sabato and simply thinks that Richardson is unbeatable.

- More ads are going up: Barack Obama goes up on air in New Hampshire tomorrow with a new ad entitled "Need."; Mitt Romney is also up in New Hampshire with "Experience Matters."; Chris Dodd has two ads up: first, "Duet" and second, "View From The Shop."; Ron Paul is up on radio in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina; and John Edwards is up in Iowa with "Heroes."

- Draft Gore.com launched its ad campaign yesterday. Check it out here.

- Fred Thompson had his first trip to Nevada today. Note the details of the disco ball and the mechanical bull in the article.

- And lastly, Colbert finds out about his candidacy from Carol Fowler, the Chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party:

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.