Red State Rebels

Hear some music, help elect Nicole LeFavour

Finally! The temperatures have cooled down here in the Treasure Valley, and we're looking at a run of fine summer evenings just ahead. If you don't have tickets for Wilco or other plans tonight, head down to Hyde Park to catch some live music to benefit the Nicole LeFavour for State Senate campaign. Vocalist-guitarist-fiddler Jonah Shue and pedal steel man Jake Hoffman will play on the patio of SunRay Cafe & PIzza (formerly Lucky 13) at 1602 N. 13th St. from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $3 to $30, and all ages are welcome. If you can't make it tonight, you can donate to Nicole's campaign here.

Obama, backed by the facts, on the high road

No VP announcement yet. There's now speculation that Barack Obama's text messages may go out Friday night, ahead of a Saturday rally with his VP choice in Springfield, Illinois, where his campaign began. Meanwhile, here's video of Obama addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars yesterday.

And here's a new DNC ad on John McCain's laughable definition of rich, and what his tax policy would mean for McCain and his wealthy buddies ... and for the rest of us:

Despite the clear differences between someone who will extend the Bush-Cheney era and someone who will move us into the future, this race is a tie. If that makes you mad, get ready to volunteer to help Obama win this thing.

Obama's VP: We may know within 24 hours

It sounds like Barack Obama may announce his VP pick in the wee hours Wednesday, in time to get coverage on the morning news shows. For those of us in the West, that may mean a text message at 3 or 4 a.m. I'm excited to hear who it is, but I'll retrieve my message when I wake up circa 6 a.m., thanks!

As for John McSame, it sounds like he's going to reveal his running mate on Friday, August 29, to try and blunt any bounce Obama and his VP get from the Democratic National Convention, which concludes Thursday, August 28. Of course, a rally at a 10,000 seat arena in Dayton is going to look a little silly compared to the spectacle at Denver's 70,000-seat Mile High Stadium the night before, but never mind. (P.S. Check out what a Daily Kos diarist says Obama ought to do the day after McCain accepts ...)

First Senate debate in CdA, online tonight

U.S. Senate candidates Larry LaRocco, a Democrat, and Rex Rammell, an independent, will meet in the first of 10 planned debates tonight (Monday, August 18). The live event is at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time in the Riverstone Room at the Hampton Inn & Suites, 1500 Riverstone Drive in Coeur d'Alene, but people statewide can catch the event live on LaRocco's website starting at 7:30 p.m. Mountain/6:30 Pacific. Questions for the debaters are also being taken in advance of the event here.

This is an interesting gambit for LaRocco, whose poll numbers are rising, and for Rammell, who is one of the stronger third-party candidates Idaho has seen. There will be sharp differences between them on most issues, and both are likely to win more support from independents and undecided voters than will Jim Risch, who will dodge these debates (and the Idaho Public TV-Idaho Press Club-League of Women Voters event this fall). If LaRocco and Rammell can keep Risch's support well under 50 percent, LaRocco will have a chance to prevail in the election on November 4.

Update 5:50 p.m. We'll have the live stream and chat capability here at RSR as well.

Update Tuesday morning: The recorded video of the debate is available above.

Idaho for Obama HQ re-opens this week

Idahoans took the political world by storm in February by packing Boise's largest sports arena for a pre-dawn speech by Barack Obama. Three days later, we did it again by giving Obama the biggest margin of victory from any primary or caucus state. Now, Idahoans for Obama are getting set to make history again as we reopen Obama for America's Boise office. The new digs are downtown in the Jefferson Place building on the southeast corner of 9th and Jefferson Streets.

Idaho last voted for a Democrat for president in 1964, and we know it will take a lot of hard work to help Obama prevail here. But the fact is: Idahoans don't want a third George W. Bush term, which is what we'd get with a John McCain presidency. Like the rest of the nation, we are ready for a visionary, forward-thinking president who can bring people together across party lines to start solving our nation's most pressing problems, including sustainable energy; a strong economy for everyone; affordable and accessible health care insurance; and real national security based on leadership, not fear-mongering. Idahoans know: Barack Obama is that president.

Join us from 5 to 7:30 p.m. this Thursday, August 21, as we open the new HQ. Food and drink will be served, courtesy Lisa Peterson Catering. Buy Obama gear and learn about volunteer opportunities and what you can do over the next 11 weeks to help Obama make history, yet again, in Idaho and across the nation. Click here to RSVP. And click here to visit the newly designed Idaho for Obama website to learn about other events and volunteer opps all over the state. Idaho matters ... for a change!

P.S. West Ada County Obama supporters ... click here for info on a Meridian canvass this Saturday.
 

Wayne Hoffman, unhinged

I recently read a book called The Big Sort, all about how America is being hurt by the way many of us are  increasingly choosing to live, play, and worship with like-minded people. Yet there's less of this happening in Idaho than elsewhere. Even in blue Boise, there are healthy numbers of Republicans, and Democrats are proudly emerging in some of the most unlikely places in our state. We may disagree with one another's political views, but we are basically a civil people.

But not everyone fits that description. Wayne Hoffman, a former newspaper reporter, has lately launched way, way off the deep end into partisan hate in his role as spokesman for Rep. Bill Sali (and, curiously enough, for Sali's congressional campaign) - an office which has lately come under withering scrutiny. Hoffman and Sali have become national laughing stocks for their inept, classless, and perhaps illegal operation, yet when a conservative Idaho newspaper dares to criticize any of these well-documented problems, he accuses its editors of sliding into "a sea of liberalism, filth and innuendo." Whew. In Hoffman's world, anything but absolute fealty to reactionary Republican principles will not be tolerated, even when the editorialists in question made pains to note that their criticisms weren't politically motivated but lodged out of a desire that Sali must take action to retain the public trust.

As much as I dislike Bill Sali's politics and policies, I have to believe that even he realizes this level of rhetoric from a government employee is way beyond acceptable. If Sali still has any hope of having his 1st District constituents believe he represents them all, he should fire Hoffman immediately - from both of his jobs - and hire replacements who will keep the work of his taxpayer-funded congressional office and his partisan re-election campaign truly separate.

Exxon-McCain '08, live in Idaho Falls

John McCain is in Big Oil's pocket, and a Friday morning event in Idaho Falls will help Eastern Idahoans understand why voting for McCain is such a bad idea. Head to the Exxon station at 1940 W. Broadway in Idaho Falls at 11 a.m. Friday for an event that organizers say will "highlight John McCain's promise of $4 billion in new giveaways for oil companies already enjoying record profits and a gas tax gimmick that will line their pockets even more.  The event will highlight Exxon John's opposition to Senator Obama's plan to give middle class families an energy tax credit paid for with a windfalls profits tax, his pattern of voting against incentives for alternatives to oil, and his history of opposing efforts to increase fuel efficiency standards for automobiles."

Click here to learn more about the national Exxon-McCain '08 campaign.

HRC's name will be placed in nomination

From CNN:

Barack Obama's campaign has agreed to put former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's name in nomination at the Democratic National Convention this month. ... Obama's campaign encouraged Clinton to put her name in roll call "as a show of unity and in recognition of the historic race she ran and the fact that she was the first woman to compete in all of our nation's primary contests," according to a statement from the Clinton and Obama press offices.

"They are both committed to winning back the White House and to ensuring that the voices of all 35 million people who participated in this historic primary election are respected and heard in Denver," the statement said.

This takes some chutzpah on the part of the Obama campaign, given the close outcome of the primary and the unwillingness of some Clinton supporters to accept her narrow loss. You never know what late-inning turn of events could spark some weirdness in Denver. In the end, though, this will probably just prove - once again - that Team Obama knows what it's doing.

This may be the surest sign yet that we won't be seeing an Obama-Clinton ticket. We're also getting a clearer picture of how the DNC speeches are lining up. So far, speakers include (not necessarily in this order) ...

Monday, August 25: Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Claire McCaskill, tribute to Ted Kennedy, Michelle Obama 
Tuesday, August 26: Govs. Kathleen Sebelius, Ed Rendell, Janet Napolitano, Deval Patrick, Brian Schweitzer, Sen. Robert Casey, former Gov. Mark Warner (keynoter) and Sen. Hillary Clinton
Wednesday, August 27: President Bill Clinton, to-be-named VP's acceptance speech
Thursday, August 28: Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter; Barack Obama will accept the 2008 Democratic nomination for president

Names left off here may or may not indicate who's still under consideration as Obama's VP. Personally, next to the Obamas' speeches, I am most excited to hear Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer tell us all what for! There's much more on all things convention related at the unofficial Democratic Convention Watch and the official convention site.

LaRocco plans live town hall today

U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco plans his third online town hall meeting today. It'll run from 1 to 2 p.m. Mountain Time and noon to 1 Pacific. Come back at those times to hear what Larry has to say and ask him a question about how he'll fight for working Idahoans and bring real change to Washington.

Update 2:30 p.m.: The town hall meeting has concluded. Here's the recorded video:

Evan Bayh for VP?

It seems that Evan Bayh is getting some attention as a possible VP for Obama, and it seems a lot of the attention is negative. 

He is a senator from Indiana and in case you are wondering you pronounce his last name like bye.  He was a Governor and a Secretary of State.

I will be honest and admit I am not recalling much about him, if I knew something it is successfully forgotten. 

How about you?

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