We aren’t sure why Mitt Romney makes for such an inviting target but it doesn’t take an advanced degree to figure out why he’s become such a marked candidate -- if nobody cared and he wasn’t a frontrunner here in NH primary land, he wouldn’t have these Charlie Brown moments wondering why “everybody’s picking on me.”

Continue reading "Mitt Romney's excellent NH primary adventure" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 02:57 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Some might call it gloating and some may just say, like Mitt Romney, “lighten up” but the Democratic National Committee couldn’t help themselves last week. By offering potential Republican candidate Fred Thompson a real life jacket and a metaphorical poke in the eye in the wake of a staff shake up in his yet to be announced campaign, the DNC acted rather, well, like Republicans during their flights of omnipotence fantasy.

I’ve added the complete DNC press release below along with a Sunday Boston Globe article “Not so fast” by David Greenberg that cautions against too much pre-election glee on the part of Dems. The GOP has some built-in (electoral college) advantages that won’t be easy to overcome -- and that the Iraq war may not be the clear cut-winner issue that it appears today. See: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/07/29/not_so_fast/

Continue reading "DNC offers "life jacket" to Thompson" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 11:51 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

(Later Post: Shortly after I made the entry below about Bill Richardson's counter-terrorism plans and how it should spark a necessary debate, the Barack Obama campaign announced that Sen. Obama would make a speech, “The War We Need to Win,” laying out his comprehensive strategy to fight terrorism worldwide in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. "He will discuss how the war in Iraq and our failed leadership in Washington have made us less safe than we were before 9/11 and outline his plan to start fighting the right war on the right battlefield," the campaign said.)

It really was a shame that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s plan to deal with and defeat Al Qaeda -- which he delivered in the form of a major policy address in Manchester Friday -- was mostly lost in the Clinton-Obama Kabuki theatre duel over who has bigger foreign policy muscle.

Continue reading "Richardson targets Al Qaeda: Let the debate begin (it has)" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 10:45 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, who knew that such a primary issue fuss could break out over a voter-submitted debate question about hypothetical meetings with unsavory dictator types from Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and other such hot spots.
For those who have been on vacation or haven’t been keeping score, the very public spat between the Hillary and Barack camps emerged Monday night at the I/Me/We/Us/YouTube debate and has evolved into broadsides about who has the right stuff to be president.

Continue reading "Clinton v Obama, Round 1: experience or audacity?" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 02:10 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Let it be known that in the continuing courtship of Republican presidential hopefuls Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt ("Lighten Up") Romney, no issue is being ignored. In this latest blast from the Brownback camp, Romney is accused of being less than adoring towards that curcial non-voting block of the Boy Scouts.

Romney Hostile to Boy Scout Leadership and Principles
Supports gay scout leaders, was cold to Scout participation in Olympics

ALEXANDRIA, VA – In his 1994 Senate race in Massachusetts and later as CEO of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, Mitt Romney opposed Boy Scout officials who wished to prevent gay men from becoming troop leaders and was hostile to Scout participation in the 2002 Olympics.

Continue reading "Brownback loves Romney, Chapter 25: Who loves their Boy Scouts more?" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 10:00 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, I bought it!

After more than three decades of often mind-numbing verbal tussles masquerading as political debates, we got a plunge into the unknown with the CNN/YouTube presidential debate...the citizen video delivery of the 40 or so questions was refreshing and covered a wide range of emotions RARELY, if ever shown by droid typical journalism questioners (in all fairness, the idiotic form of traditional phony debates demands droidness of all participants) and were often lively, funny, creative and sobering....

Continue reading "YouTubed" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 09:28 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

I was away on vacation, very much off the grid and out of touch from the primary circus for more than a week...I returned to find the latest Republican love spat between Sen. Sam ("Where is NH?") Brownback of Kansas and former Massaschusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the currenty leader of the GOP pack.

The Brownback/Romney showdown for conservative hearts is fast becoming one of my favorite snippy melodramas of the primary -- and reminded me why the primary beat offers numerous opportunities to laugh and wonder why.

In this latest installment of unrequited yearning (Brownback would love the Mittster's poll numbers and fund rasing prowess), Brownback's campaign -- which is betting everything on Iowa -- has invented a new term: "Mitt-amorphasis."

Continue reading "Brownback loves Romney, Chapter 22." »

Posted by Michael McCord at 12:04 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

I received this message from a reader in Kansas who likely hasn't voted for Sen. Sam Brownback -- or certianly won't be supporting the Republican's interesting (as in we don't see him much here) bid for the White House.

"Sam Brownback plays dress-up in Iowa while Kansas floods," said reader Glen Foss from Parsons.

Continue reading "We ain't in Kansas..." »

Posted by Michael McCord at 02:59 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

(This was originally posted on July 4 at 8:07 a.m. -- on the wrong blog!)

July 4 metaphysical musings
As I ponder the great question of why so few candidates are in New Hampshire at July 4th parades and barbecues, here’s a few matters to consider:

Do you know the way to Marlow?
Kudos to Gov. Bill Richardson and his staff for seizing the opportunity to be the first presidential hopeful EVER to visit long-ignored Marlow. The Richardson folks heard a story on NH Public Radio about this historical anomaly in first-in-the-solar-system land and so the Democratic contender will take his campaign to Marlow tomorrow -- which has the locals, not surprisingly, rather excited.

Continue reading "Independence Day musings" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 03:01 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)