They are running out of ballots

After predicting a record turnout for this primary, there seems to now be a good chance that 8 of the cities have begun to run out of ballots. In fact, they were running out of ballots with 6 hours to go. What does that say about the primary election here?
Well, for one thing, it means that we should begin giving up all the old cliches about what has happened in the past, stop thinking of this in terms of what Clinton did here in 1992 or what McCain did here in 2000 and begin thinking about what the candidates today are saying and what that portends for the continuing election process.
Since I am completely out of the election forecasting business, what this signifies to me is that even when they knew there would be a huge turnout, they were not prepared for how large a turnout there would be in fact.
My mind wonders what this could mean and how to interpret it. I mean if you knew there were X number of people eligible to vote in your state wouldn't you be prepared with many more ballots and shown a bit more professional standards than this. What a weird response to being the premier state primary!
Oh well. This is less suspicious than using an electronic system by Diebold, right?

Monday before the Primary

We are getting close to the time when all good men and women are about to cast a vote for the kind of change they want to see. The real change and no matter what we all now think of that word, it is a really good thing to know that we can all make a difference. Each of us can do something by calling ABC News/Disney and let them know what you think about their preemption of citizens' rights to choose and to be given the information they need in order to make an informed choice.
So here is the phone number, 212/456-7777 and ask for the complaints department.
Another way to make a difference no matter where you are is to remember that impeachment is the most viable way to make those changes happen. If we don't impeach and continue to push for that, we will go through this over and over and I don't think any of us really want that. Right now, thinking about how much is wrong with government and why so much needs to be fixed, what we need to understand is that without holding our representatives accountable for their oaths of office, we abdicate our greatest power to hold them legally to that.
Thus, you want change, then you have to do some things too.
One of those things is to stay tuned here for all the updates about the impeachment events. I will provide it soon.
Also, there is more information about the undecideds and other great stuff from another follower of this blog. I will advise you too about all of that. What I am saying today is that we have loads of other interesting information about to flood this blog about the cool folks who are working here for Dennis' campaign and who believe in him so much that they have foregone comfort, sleep, good food, showers, clean clothes, time to read and money. So, in honor of their efforts, I am going to bring their stories to you over the next two days.

The time is running out

And we need everyone's help to get the word out about what Dennis Kucinich's campaign stands for. I have been plugging away and from the comments I am receiving (thanks to John and Brendan in particular), the word is getting out. More and more people are asking for the URL for this blogspot and we are looking at the moment of reckoning here in New Hampshire. Of course, this is not the end of things no matter what happens. But considering the number of undecideds still being polled in this state, it is a big question that the mainstream media won't acknowledge. They want you to know certain things and not other things.
Just as they were adamant to frame the questions that the candidates would have to answer last night, such as the way they framed the discussion about health care. Each and every one of those four people kept promising to change things. Change is now the new debased word that needs to be forgotten and ultimately restored when the meaning of it has been redeemed.
You shall know them by the real change they make. Just please tell me what kind of real change they are advocating? A little bit of disguised pandering to the health insurance industry never hurts a candidate who takes money from them for her campaign, Hillary.
Just like you can rail about corporate greed and not ever taking one penny from the health insurance companies, but there is obviously nothing wrong about taking money from the larger hedge fund managers, John Edwards.
Then my last word on this kind of duplicity is to say, if we really want to see change, if we really want to make a change in how our government governs us and relates to the world, then we have to return to the real agenda that a true Democrat like Dennis puts forth. Ask and demand an end to this illegal war and bring to justice the criminals who lied and cheated in order to send innocent people to their deaths. Demand that our health care system be fair and equitable and not the privilege of those who can afford it. And not run by people whose sole job is to deny us the coverage we pay for.
This is just the beginning of the fight and it won't be over until we are able to turn the ship of state around. We can do it and we must do it in order to change for real the terms under which the government governs us.
Please, please, lend a hand and get the ship moving in this new direction, back to the principles that helped to give it birth. We can all do it if we just start thinking that thought and seeing where it leads us to act, to help and to serve the common good.
There really is strength through peace.

Live Response to Democratic Debate by Dennis

Dennis will be talking in response to the comments being made by the democratic candidates even though he is not at the debate itself. We have already been there on the campus marching through the grounds expressing our discontent with Dennis being silenced. It was a loud and impassioned throng that came out in the hundreds to give a civil response to the control of the debate by media conglomerates. It was thrilling to see the numbers of people who came out and shouted and chanted as Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich marched with banners at their backs and cameras flashing at them. In the snow we trudged around with the sounds of the snow underfoot being lost in the raucous exuberance of Dennis' supporters who felt both disappointed and confident. Disappointed that we are shut out, not just Dennis. Confident that what Dennis represents speaks for all of us.
So, the horse race talk continues. There is not much to recommend their commentary but to laugh at the incredible double entendres these people spew forth as if they were not aware of their own arrogance. It is an incredible show of hubris, spread across the airwaves with no corresponding self-awareness.
Now that the media gets to determine what the discussion should be and to frame how the nuclear terror threat presents itself. Dennis strongly opposes any further inflaming of the situation in Pakistan. He comes out against the whole notion of further militarization of our response to the condition in Pakistan.
Let me continue in another post. Stay tuned.

Things Happening Fast and Furious

It is almost unbelievable to see the news today about Kucinich. Talk about there being a constant storm of problems facing a campaign, then just peruse the news today and you will see that he is in court in Texas for a really good reason. The Texas Democrats require a loyalty oath for him to be on the primary ballot.
I can hear the voices of people going, can you fXXXXXX believe that? What country is this? He must be standing up for all of us when he refuses to sign up to support the Democratic candidate no matter who it is. We remember, don't we, Mr. Kerry reporting for duty? That is not an option this time around is it?
While we know why Dennis is the Democratic candidate who is the most true to the real Democratic Party, we know too that it does not require a loyalty oath to be a member of the party nor to run for president.
How much brain matter does it take to realize that the premise of the primary process is not to have to swear your loyalty to a party when you are a valid member of that party.
Thus the lawsuit is justified and the following one is as well--going to the FCC to sue ABC News for excluding Dennis from the debate tonight. What the hell are we looking at here? A campaign that cannot be allowed to exist due to the fear factor and thus is relegated to the courts to sort out its access problems is making a mockery of the whole election process.
This is a mockery of a democracy. Please start complaining to the appropriate authorities.

What happened in the granite state

There is nothing granite-like in Dennis but I can tell you now from having spent a few days with him that there is something very different about him. No, he is not an alien and would not be confused with one. His though is a towering intellect that will not stop. Determination pours from him as if he were a battery driven speaker that has an endless supply of ideas, words to express them and an unapologetic way of talking.
I have never seen a campaign in my life. I never was interested enough to find one of interest to watch close up. It seemed like it would just be the most tedious way to spend one's time. You would be chasing from place to place in order to meet people and talk to them and listen to them and find out what their concerns were and then you would be exhausted and wonder just why you were doing this every single day for over a year.
But watching Kucinich over the past 3 days was a wonderful lesson in campaigning for anything one believes in and wants to do no matter what. Something incredibly spiritual and dependable seeps from his eyes as he speaks. He can look straight at you in the eyes and say what you have heard him now say over and over again for three days and it feels fresh and heartfelt.
I spoke at length with one of his interns in New Hampshire, Sanjay Seth. What a huge amount of enthusiasm he displayed for the congressman and his efforts to become our next president. He reported on listening to him every day and while he heard the same speeches on the same topics over and over too, he reported that it always felt like Kucinich was saying what was in his heart. Sanjay smiled, he always smiled while I was watching him work, he loves doing what he is doing, advance work on the campaign.
I intend to return to New Hampshire at least for a day or two during the primary voting on January 8th. It would be great to see how the people there have taken in Kucinich's message of hopeful hard work (my words).
Tomorrow I will write here at length about the impeachment teach-in because to me that was one of the best events that I could have had the pleasure to attend. But what better way to introduce the events from the past few days than to introduce the people I met who work there on the campaign.
Starting in no particular order, there is Sanjay Seth who comes from North Dakota and seems to thrive on hard work. At 19, he is in charge of the advance detail work for when the congressman appears say at a bookstore or at a convention or in a school. He gets the podium ready, makes sure all the material needed to spread the word is available and that most important of all, that those who want to join the campaign have the material they need to make the choice to sign up.
Sanjay tells with glee the story of his father, a doctor in Bismark, North Dakota who helped him to see what Kucinich is all about by having walked up and down with Kucinich signs pasted all over him on one of the coldest days in Bismark and how people stopped and spoke to him about Dennis' run for the presidency during the previous election.
Here we are in 2007 and Sanjay is making his way throughout the state of New Hampshire trying to make things as nice as possible for Dennis and so that he can make a mark on what is becoming one of the most ad hoc organized campaigns a valid and potentially successful candidate has probably ever assembled.
Sanjay is not interested in politics as a career, he is a poet and we look forward to seeing some of his work.
Hal, excuse me Hal, I didn't stop to get your last name but Hal is another wunderkind working with the campaign who put together Kucinich tv. If you have ever watched it, you know what a great thing it is to have an internet tv connection to the campaign and it was all started by, set up and thought up by our pal Hal.
That is the start of my report. It could go on forever, but my eyesight has walked out the door. By the way I am listening to one of Dennis' favorite singers, Michael Franti. Check him out too and you will not be disappointed just as Dennis is no disappointment.