The returns are already coming in from Iowa and New Hampshire:
"Hillary Clinton back in Iowa for 1st time since 2008" by Dan Balz and Philip Rucker | Washington Post September 13, 2014
DES MOINES — Hillary Rodham Clinton returns to Iowa this weekend for the first time since her devastating loss in the 2008 presidential caucuses, arriving as the undeclared frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic nomination but still trailed by criticisms about her first campaign here.
The former US secretary of state and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, will be in Iowa for Democratic Senator Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry Sunday. But if the ostensible purpose of her visit is to pay tribute to Harkin — who is retiring after 40 years of elective office in Washington — she will not escape from the speculation that this is simply one more step toward a formal presidential campaign.
Must have heard a who.
At a minimum, it will mark her initial foray on the campaign trail for this fall’s midterm elections.
‘‘I don’t expect her to talk about her future decisions,’’ said Harkin’s wife, Ruth, who is a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter. ‘‘They’re going to be announced next year. But this is a very significant moment for her to greet Iowa voters.’’
Clinton’s 2008 effort in Iowa was plagued by startup problems and affected by the overall dysfunction of her campaign team. By the time she corrected her course, Barack Obama had moved ahead of her.
But it was more than staff problems that hurt Clinton here in 2008. As a candidate, she often chafed at the demands of the caucus process, including the time required to court individual activists across the state. She disliked traveling too far from Des Moines and certain friendly hotels.
Added to that are questions raised by this summer’s book tour about whether her campaign instincts have dulled. Clinton’s time since leaving the Senate has been devoted to foreign policy discussions inside the administration, interaction with world leaders, and more than a year of lucrative speechmaking as a private citizen — rather than being in more regular contact with everyday Americans.
At this point, Clinton has no strong challenger in Iowa, for her a welcome contrast to eight years ago when she faced then-Senator Obama and a well-entrenched John Edwards, the party’s 2004 vice presidential nominee.
Scum, but the reason scandal leaked out was he mentioned the two-tiered society of cla$$.
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Related: Democrats want liberals, not moderates
But at what co$t to their very $ouls?
The son of the devil:
"Kentucky US Senator Paul rallies GOP in New Hampshire" by Rik Stevens | Associated Press September 13, 2014
MANCHESTER, N.H. — US Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a possible Republican candidate for president in 2016, whipped up the faithful in a visit to New Hampshire Friday, lighting into President Obama and the state’s mostly Democratic congressional delegation.
Headlining a Unity Breakfast Friday morning in Manchester, Paul maintained that Obama had overstepped his authority by leaving Congress out of key decisions including the use of military force in Iraq and Syria.
‘‘Does this not scare the you-know-what out of you,’’ Paul asked to cheers from the 350 Republicans, including the entire slate of statewide candidates and most of the candidates they defeated in Tuesday’s primary.
Later Friday, Paul endorsed Scott Brown for US Senate against Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent.
Brown is the former senator from Massachusetts who moved to New Hampshire in December and won Tuesday’s primary to set up a run against Shaheen.
Paul faulted Shaheen for supporting Obama’s agenda, including health care overhaul, but tied it all to one theme.
She is feeling secure.
‘‘The top of the list is his disregard for the Constitution,’’ Paul said.
The senator implored the Republicans to work together after a sometimes testy primary, saying they could win in November and help retake control of the Senate.
‘‘I don’t see division; I see unity and I smell victory,’’ he said.
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"Rand Paul tests N.H. presidential waters" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff September 12, 2014
WASHINGTON — Every few weeks, inside a Manchester, N.H., radio studio, conservative host Jack Heath gets a phone call from Washington. Rand Paul is interested in coming on his show. Again.
Perhaps more than any other potential 2016 presidential candidate, Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, is putting an early emphasis on New Hampshire, a state where his father did well in 2012 and where the “Live Free or Die” motto may provide a template for his ideology. He already has paid staff in the state, talks frequently with local activists, leads in an early poll, and on Thursday night arrived for his third trip of the year.
Not that he has decided to run. But the swirl of speculation boosts the buzz.
“I would only want to become involved if I had a real shot at winning,” Paul said in an interview. “I think the country, the party, and in many ways all of the electorate is moving in a libertarian direction. Really there is a great possibility. But we’ll see how it looks in the spring.”
New Hampshire, perhaps better than any other state, neatly illustrates the promise and the peril of any Rand Paul presidential campaign.
Paul can capitalize on the passion that his father, Ron Paul, then a US House member from Texas, brought to some segments in the party during presidential bids in 2008 and 2012. But at the same time, Paul must distance himself from his father’s ideology enough to be seen as a viable contender, not just a fringe candidate.
He must convince voters that his skepticism about US military invention abroad can coexist with backing strikes against the Islamic State.
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Jim Forsythe, a former New Hampshire state senator who was chairman of Ron Paul’s campaign, said unlike Ron Paul, Forsythe said bluntly, the son “knows how to filter what he’s saying.”
That more cautious approach is evident when Paul is asked how he would campaign differently from his father.
Who cares?
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Two months ago, Paul hired Mike Biundo, a New Hampshire-based GOP operative who helped run Rick Santorum’s campaign in 2012. Biundo is now the chief New England strategist for Paul’s political action committee, RAND PAC, and is planning a more formal organization that could aid a presidential bid. It is being built upon the network that Rand Paul helped his father build.
Rand Paul was very much a part of his father’s earlier runs for the White House. As early as 2007, he was sending ideas to his father’s New Hampshire staff, and later filled in for his father at events.
“He’d introduce his dad or stand in for him. And that’s when a lot of people started urging him to run,” Forsythe recalled. “Everybody back then was recognizing his potential. But he was very resistant.”
In 2008, Ron Paul got 8 percent of the vote in the state primary, finishing fifth. But in 2012, he got 23 percent of the vote, trailing only Mitt Romney.
Meaning Paul actually won.
“I think it gives us an enormous organizational advantage if I decide to do this,” Rand Paul said of the groundwork laid by his father. Moreover, he said the state’s ethos is politically fertile ground for a libertarian. “The [state’s] motto somewhat represents the people: Live free or die. There definitely is sort of a ‘leave me alone’ coalition of folks in New Hampshire.”
Some former backers of the father said they liked the way the son is seeking to reach beyond libertarian purists.
“People flocked to Ron Paul. If you believed in liberty and freedom and the Ron Paul philosophy, you would go to him,” said Andy Sanborn, a state senator who was cochairman of Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign in New Hampshire. “Whereas Rand’s approach . . . it’s such a dramatically broader demographic of people.”
While polls mean little this early, Paul has gained publicity from a July NBC News-Marist poll that found Paul leading among potential Republican primary voters, with 14 percent, followed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, with 13 percent; former Florida governor Jeb Bush, with 10 percent; and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, with 9 percent.
“He’s been the most proactive,” said Heath, who hosts the “New Hampshire Today” show on WGIR-AM on which Paul is a frequent guest. “I’ve said this on the show, but if the primary were held today, he wins the New Hampshire primary.”
But a source of tension for Paul could be the perception that he is an isolationist at a time when there is overwhelming support for military action against the group known as the Islamic State, or ISIS.
I was told we were WAR WEARY, and even that is wrong. We have come to HATE THEM!
And yet, the lying, war-promoting, propaganda pre$$ is trying to say we are all behind airstrikes and an invasion of the Middle East to get ISIS. Been here, done it!
“There’s been a segment of the Republican Party that has been eager for all war, you know, indiscriminately in favor of being involved in every hot spot in the world,” Paul said. “There’s some in our party who, if they had their way right now, would have boots on the ground in 15 countries. I don’t think that’s where the Republican Party is, I don’t think that’s where the American people are.” Still, he objected to being called an “isolationist,” saying, “I think that ISIS is now a threat, and we do have to do something.”
I wish "we" hadn't created them through intelligence agencies and ally assets.
Paul said he has been to New Hampshire more than 20 times. On Friday he has a schedule with all the hallmarks of a presidential campaign. He is to speak at the GOP unity breakfast, attend a luncheon in Manchester with local business owners, and endorse GOP Senate nominee Scott Brown during a rally at the University of New Hampshire.
For a future trip, he has a potentially dangerous idea in mind: doing a little New Hampshire-style ice sailing.....
Time for me to set sail with this post as I am told to "stay tuned."
I think not.
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"New Hampshire primary turnout was 19 percent
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Just over 19 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday's primaries, according to Secretary of State Bill Gardner.
Gardner said the 121,881 Republican ballots cast was the third highest number of votes cast in a Republican primary. In contrast, only 43,556 ballots were cast in the Democratic primary, which featured almost no contested races at the top of the ticket. There were 2.8 Republican ballots cast for every Democratic ballot, and Gardner said that high of a ratio hasn't been seen since 1962.
The secretary of state's office is still confirming the totals, but unofficial results in one of the most high-profile races show Scott Brown getting 58,774 votes, or 49.8 percent, to win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, with second-place finisher Jim Rubens far behind with 27,109 votes, or 23 percent. Brown is challenging Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen in November.
In the 1st Congressional District, Frank Guinta defeated Dan Innis 49 to 41 percent to win the Republican nomination and face Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter.
I want Guinta for the obvious reasons. I despise betrayals.
In the 2nd District GOP primary, Marilinda Garcia won 49 percent of the vote, with Gray Lambert finishing second with 27 percent. Garcia will face U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster.
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Havenstein won the GOP nomination for governor.
"House and Senate leaders, usually proud sorts, staged showdown votes in their chambers Thursday on measures that are going nowhere. And in the logic that prevails during the weeks before crucial congressional elections, they want everyone to know about that futility."
Then this blog might as well shutdown. Haven't seen a damn thing since.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"Shea-Porter, Guinta gear up for battle No. 3" by Holly Ramer | Associated Press September 15, 2014
CONCORD, N.H. — Democrat Carol Shea-Porter and Republican Frank Guinta aren’t just in a rematch in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District. They’re in a threematch.
The November election will feature the same two candidates for the third straight time, turning the district into a best-of-three ping-pong tournament, and it’s the voters who are bouncing back and forth. Shea-Porter held the seat for two terms until Guinta defeated her in 2010, and then she beat him in 2012 to regain the seat.
That's AmeriKan politic$! Some call it mu$ical chairs.
Such repetition is unusual, but not unheard of, in congressional races. In the Ninth District in southwest Indiana, Democrat Baron Hill faced Republican Mike Sodrel four times, with Hill winning in 2002, 2006 and 2008, and Sodrel winning in 2004. Sodrel lost the 2010 GOP primary to Todd Young, who defeated Hill in the general election.
In New Hampshire, the most recent example happened in the First District, where Democrat Joseph Oliva Huot and Republican Louis Wyman faced each other in 1962, 1964, in 1966. Wyman won the first match, Huot the second and Wyman the third.
Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, expects this year’s matchup to have a similar dynamic to previous ‘‘wave elections’’ — Shea-Porter rode the national wave of support for Democrats in 2006 and 2012, while Guinta benefited from the Republican version in 2010.
That is where we are right now.
‘‘It’s not so much that voters are going to prefer one or the other, or have fallen in love with one candidate or the other,’’ he said. ‘‘Republicans are just going to vote for Guinta and Democrats are going to vote for Shea-Porter, and whichever party is able to turn out more of its supporters wins.’’
And although the race features repeat candidates, research over decades has shown that only about 40 percent of Americans can identify their members of Congress, Smith said.
‘‘These are relatively unknown people in the minds of most folks,’’ he said.
Though Smith expects Guinta will focus more this time on trying to link Shea-Porter to the increasingly unpopular President Obama, the candidates likely will employ similar campaign strategies as they did in their previous contests.
‘‘They can just dust off the same arguments,’’ Smith said. ‘‘There’s not going to be much new under the sun. If possible, it might be even nastier.’’
Is that why I'm so unenthused about parlortricks?
Guinta’s spokesman, Jay Ruis, said the campaign will emphasize Guinta’s plan to repeal and replace the president’s health care overhaul law, promote economic growth, and eliminate federal debt. Guinta also will remind voters about the many town hall meetings and job fairs he hosted when he was in Congress.
‘‘Elections are inherently about a vision for the future of our country and given the congresswoman’s growing inaccessibility and indifference to the district, I am not convinced Granite Staters are familiar with her positions,’’ he said.
Shea-Porter’s spokeswoman, Marjorie Connolly, said voters know, like, and trust Shea-Porter and recognize she is working for middle-class families and small businesses, while Guinta sides with the wealthiest Americans and big corporations.
She came as antiwar and then betrayed that trust.
‘‘New Hampshire voters didn’t know the real Frank Guinta in 2010, but quickly felt buyer’s remorse when his extreme Tea Party agenda became clear, and voted him out at the first opportunity,’’ she said.
Once again, the lash to people who threaten the agenda in any form.
And why bother? Corporately co-opted Tea Party already split movement and given true Tea Party Patriots bad name. Political $how fooley.
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Related: Missing hiker rescued on Mt. Washington
"Hillary Clinton in Iowa stirs 2016 speculation" by Ken Thomas | Associated Press September 15, 2014
INDIANOLA, Iowa — Hillary Rodham Clinton, making her return to Iowa for the first time since the 2008 presidential campaign, implored Democrats on Sunday to choose shared economic opportunity over ‘‘the guardians of gridlock’’ in an high-profile appearance that drove speculation about another White House bid into overdrive.
That's when I hit the brakes.
I'm tired of the fal$e narrative and presented paradigm of politics every two years before going back to bu$ine$$ as usual.
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The former New York senator and first lady did not directly address a potential campaign but said she was ‘‘thinking about it’’ and joked that she was ‘‘here for the steak.’’
She later said that ‘‘too many people only get excited about presidential campaigns. Look — I get excited about presidential campaigns, too.’’ But she said the upcoming midterm elections would be pivotal for the state’s voters.
Oh, yeah, those. I hope the Republicans shove it up there ass.
‘‘In just 50 days Iowans have a choice to make — a choice and a chance. A choice between the guardians of gridlock and the champions of shared opportunity and shared prosperity,’’ she said.
Who would that be as the 1% grab up more and more wealth?
Where was that when you had a filibuster-proof Congress and all we got was crappy corporate health care written by in$urance companies?
What is she talking about when even the propaganda pre$$ acknowledges the destruction of the American middle class? Is it just say what is on the card, pipe the talking points?
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After a summertime book tour, Clinton was making her biggest campaign splash in 2014 so far, opening a fall of fund-raising and campaigning for Democrats who are trying to maintain a Senate majority during President Obama’s final two years....
All that corporate and lobbyist loot poured into politics. Gotta do something with it, I guess. God forbid you take care of the masses. Even their charity drives are $elf-$erving these days.
Hillary Clinton, who would become the first female president if she runs and wins the presidency, used her speech to strike a chord on women’s issues, citing the need to elect candidates who would allow women to make their ‘‘own health care decisions’’ and promote equal pay for equal work.
Being programmed for it, another victory for American diversity, blah, blah, as we can than transit from a race diversion driven my media to a man-woman divide as all our kids are sent abroad to maintain and establish empire and to fight and destroy all those opposed -- to secure the world for freedom, liberty, democracy, and all that stuff. Even if "we" have to lay waste to the place and kill millions.
She also lauded Obama’s economic record, noting the increase in exports for the state’s farmers, Iowa’s low unemployment rate, and a boost in the production of renewable energy. Her address also offered references to her husband’s economic mantra of helping people who ‘‘work hard and play by the rules.’’
???????
Those are the people that got $crewed while the looting bankers got bailed out and kept their ill-gotten bonuses while paying the government chump-change kickbacks after damage done?
More and more that thing looks like a collaborative $cheme between the indu$try and the government that $erves them.
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