Who did you vote for in the Primary Election of 2004? And why? How does that vote -- or the reasoning behind that vote -- affect your actions this go around? Remember in November of 2004, Howard Dean was the annointed frontrunner and presumptive nominee of the Democratic Primary. Poll after poll showed Dean ahead -- he was the Internet money raising darling and the new type of candidate. Then......".....EEEEEEAAAAAAWWWWWHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Now, Dean is the Chairman of the DNC. And the ...

I knew it. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. I often thought political commercials could just substitute names for any candidate running. "Doug Smith cares about you. He cares about children, and the environment. He'll keep your taxes low, the parks clean, and every four years, Doug will make sure the road in front of your house is paved. Doug. Doug is a proud American." Sure enough, yesterday, National Public Radio reported on a firm that provides canned advertisements to (mainly lo...

Yesterday I was home for the holiday. I went to the gym, came home and my neighbor, Linda, was shouting at me from across the street -- "Could I do her a favor?" It seems the old man, known to me only as Crazy Guy, our neighbor, hadn't been seen since Saturday. His kids called Linda to check on Crazy Guy. She was afraid to go in his ranshackled house by herself. I pounded on Crazy Guy's door. No answer. We let ourselves in, me leading the way. We pounded on his bedroom door,...

So today, after I wrote my initial thoughts on this subject, John McCain came out and called for an end to the third party, 501-C-4 advertisements supporting his campaing in South Carolina. For those of you not up on this subject, Rick Reed, who helped produce the famous Swift Boat ads during the doomed Kerry campaign, has been running spots supportive of McCain in South Carolina. Today, McCain denounced these advertisements. As I wrote earlier, I couldn't believe he would support the run...

Like it or not, the now famous Swift Boat advertisement in the last Presidential election harpooned John Kerry. The result: brace yourself for an entire season of off-based, dishonest commercials. It's already started. On the Democratic side, Move On published the now infamous "General Betrayus" advertisement -- lampooning a decent man's testimony even before he took the stand. On the Republican front, "The Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America" (a group started by Rick Reed wh...

It seems the latest Congressional debate is over the Alternative Minimum Tax. When originally enacted, the AMT affected a small portion of the wealthiest taxpayers — forcing them to pay some taxes instead of skating by on loopholes. Now, unless something is done, the AMT will affect the average tax payer in a big way. But what is worse than the average tax payer getting hit with the highest tax bracket? Perhaps it’s hedge fund managers buying their way out of owing a fair tax burden by don...

Senator Clinton’s sex is a distraction from the real issues of this campaign. It’s just the type of “issue” the GOP loves to focus on: personality, private life, and whether you put your hand over your heart during the National Anthem. Geeze, it’s a lot easier to discuss if you like Mrs. Clinton than whether the planning was thorough for Iraq, or whether something could have been done to head off the current sub prime mortgage crisis — or even the price of fuel to heat our homes. By discussin...