From the Associated Press:

Clinton said a more even discussion of politics could come from Internet sites and Web blogs. He cited the tendency of blogs to scrutinize one or two subjects rather than a full plate of issues.

“They can do research and get the facts and don’t have to bad-mouth people. Sometimes they do, but they don’t have to,” Clinton said. “I think all these blog sites are creating a whole new opportunity for public debate that may revitalize our politics in an old fashioned way.”

Clinton and (Former President) Bush lauded the role telecommunications and technology can play in improving healthcare, spreading individual freedoms and eradicating poverty.

And as for personal technology, the former presidents said they were dedicated to using cell phones or wireless devices.

“The hour I’m here is about the longest I can be away from my Blackberry,” Bush said.

Just to add my own thoughts I am glad to see President Clinton have such a positive thought about blogs & the Internet. Especially since during his years The Drudge Report & sites like it played such a pivotal role in releasing information about his personal indiscretions. Meanwhile it is really cool to see elder Bush is a Blackberry user. Somehow I just wouldn’t have pictured it on my own.

In an interview for ABC’s 20/20 Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani made remarks about the role of his wife in his administration that has resulted in some minor waves. He told interviewer Barbara Walters that if elected president he could see his wife attending cabinet meetings.

The role of the First Lady has regularly been under scrutiny in the history of the country. Tradition more than any established or constitutional rule created the position and each First Lady has made the role her own. Since the White House is both the office and residence of the Chief Executive someone has always been responsible for making it a home. With the attitudes of the nation being what they were in our past this often meant the wife of the president, when there was a wife, took on the role of keeping up the manor as well as attending to social functions.

It hasn’t always been the case though. Many First Ladies have shied away from being a socialite and several have shied away from running the home at all. Often these roles were given to children, nieces, cousins etc. Some First Ladies stayed away from the White House & Washington itself as much as possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the politics of ‘08 heat up the policy of ‘07 is starting to get in gear. So far the year has been marred with scandal and bad press for the administration leaving it with little in the way of policy under its belt. But it is reported today that a new deal on immigration might make its way into the Congress.

The provisions from the latest draft are being reported by CNN as follows:

1) Under the plan, undocumented workers could apply for three-year work visas, which the plan dubs “Z” visas. They would be renewable indefinitely but renewal would cost $3,500 each time.

2) The undocumented workers would have legal status with the visas, but to get a green card, making them legal permanent residents, they would have to return to their home country, apply at a U.S. embassy or consulate to re-enter legally and pay a $10,000 fine.

3) The plan also tries to make border security a priority by requiring 18,300 Border Patrol agents and 370 miles of physical fencing be in place, as well as electronic monitoring of the southern border ongoing before a temporary worker program could start.

This plan is MUCH more conservative then the one authored by Sen. John McCain & Sen. Edward Kennedy last year which was supported by the administration. It was recently reported that John McCain was surprised by the level of opposite this plan had in Iowa and the Senator was said to be reviewing his position. This bill also addresses the concerns of many conservative voters who expressed dismay over the issue and the Republican stance in the ‘06 elections believing the bill was equal to “amnesty”.

Immigration will undoubtedly remain a major issue for both sides and especially in some key swing states that have felt the economic burden of illegal immigration.

Think Progress has the story and video of more gaffes from John McCain who claimed Iraq is so safe:

General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.

While on CNN confronted with the news that General Petraeus spokesman said he never travels in an un-armored humvee in Iraq McCain denied that he had ever suggested it in the first place.

This Straight Talk Express tour has not been good to McCain.

I thought I would throw in some personal thoughts about the recent developments surrounding John Edwards candidacy and the disclosure that his wife’s cancer has returned.

First to the topic of a recent interview with Katie Couric on this weekends 60 Minutes program on CBS. Couric, whose husband died of cancer and left her with two children whose ages are similar to the Edwards children, asked very frank and difficult questions of both John & Elizabeth Edwards over whether their decision to continue the campaign was putting politics above family.

Read the rest of this entry »

ABC News reports that the Giuliani Campaign fixed a major flaw in its Web site which was pointed out by the Associated Press. Apparently the flaw could have allowed people to view information submitted to the site including user information. No information was believed to have been compromised.

In the National Review.

From ABC News:

According to the webblog TechCrunch, which tracks new Internet products and sites, McCain’s MySpace page profile included a pranked letter on Tuesday morning that read: “Dear Supporters, Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage … particularly marriage between two passionate females.”

On his own website, the co-founder of Newsvine, Mike Davidson, claimed responsibility for pulling the prank.

Davidson claims that he designed the MySpace template that McCain is using and usually lets anyone use it for free as long as they give attribution.

However, apparently McCain didn’t give him credit and Davidson sought retribution.

“I think the idea of politicians setting up MySpace pages and pretending to actually use them is a bit disingenuous, so I figured it was time to play a little prank on Johnny Mac,” writes Davidson.

Also see techPresident for more.

Looking over this list it seems like Edwards has gone with some more traditional choices for his campaign staff. After the blogging controversy that held up his campaign the last couple months I just hope that his team has learned a lesson and is indeed vetting their choices a little more thoroughly. From an Edwards Press Release:

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – The John Edwards for President campaign announced today its top communications and policy staff. The team includes veterans of numerous campaigns with years of strategic, policy, and communications experience, who will help share Senator Edwards’ vision of change with the country.
The team includes:

Deputy Campaign Manager, Jonathan Prince
Prince has more than fifteen years experience in strategic communications, message development, crisis management, writing, politics and government. During Senator Edwards’ 2004 campaign, Prince served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Strategy and Policy. During the 2004 general election, Prince managed Citizens for a Strong Senate’s $10 million independent media effort in six key Senate races. He was a Senior Advisor in the Clinton White House, managed communications strategy at NATO during Kosovo, and also served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. In addition to Senator Edwards’ 2004 campaign, he is a veteran of both Clinton presidential campaigns With Dr. Sharon Moalem, Prince also wrote “Survival of the Sickest,” a bestselling book about evolutionary medicine.

Senior Advisor for Communications, David Ginsberg
Ginsberg currently serves as Vice President at PSB. Ginsberg has held senior positions in several presidential campaigns, including Senior Advisor for Communications in the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. He served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications in Senator Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign and as Research Director of Gore/Lieberman in 2000. He also served as Research and Policy Director for John Edwards for Senate in 1998.

Policy Director, James Kvaal
Kvaal was a senior policy advisor in Senator Edwards’ Senate office, where he handled education, tax policy, and other economic issues. Before joining the Edwards team, he was a policy advisor in the Clinton White House economic staff. He has also worked on higher education policy at the U.S. Department of Education and the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Deputy Policy Director for Domestic and Economic Policy, Heather McGhee
McGhee was previously a member of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a New York-based research and advocacy organization.

Deputy Policy Director for Foreign Affairs and National Security, Michael Signer
Signer was previously an attorney at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington, D.C. He is a Principal of the Truman National Security Project, an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech University’s Master’s in Public and International Affairs Program in Old Town, Virginia, and served as Deputy Counselor to Governor Mark Warner in Richmond, Virginia.

Policy Communications Coordinator, Alex Navarro
Navarro joins the campaign after working as Communications Director for the Working Families Party. In 2004, he worked as Press Secretary for Senator Edwards’ New York campaign. Navarro has worked in press and policy roles for numerous New York campaigns.

National Spokesman and Senior Advisor for Communications, Mark Kornblau
Kornblau will serve as Senator Edwards’ traveling spokesperson. He returns to the Edwards team after serving as Senator Edwards’ Press Secretary during the 2004 general election. Following the election, Kornblau worked as the Vice President of Corporate Communications for Zagat Survey. Kornblau has years of political experience, working as New Hampshire Communications Director for Senator Kerry’s presidential primary campaign and later as a National Spokesman. He has also worked as Communications Director for Senator Evan Bayh, Press Secretary for Debbie Stabenow’s first Senate campaign, and Communications Director for Congressman David Wu.

Research Director and Senior Advisor for Communications, Christina Reynolds
Reynolds was a researcher on Senator Edwards’ 1998 Senate campaign and the Research Director during his 2004 presidential primary run. She also served as Director of Research and Policy at the DCCC during the 2006 cycle, Communications Director for Senator Tom Daschle’s 2004 reelection campaign, Research Director for Senator Tim Johnson’s 2002 campaign and Deputy Research Director at the Democratic National Committee.

Deputy Research Director, Peter Bondi
Bondi was a researcher at the Democratic National Committee for the 2006 cycle, and joins the Edwards campaign following work on Jon Corzine for Governor, Bob Menendez for Senate, Betty Castor for Senate and Joe Lieberman for President.

Director of Communications Planning, Candace McAdams
McAdams was most recently the director of Marketing and Communications at the White House Project. In 2004, she worked on Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign. Prior to the campaign, she worked at Dan Klores Communications, a national public relations and integrated marketing firm, where she specialized in crisis management and political, corporate and non-profit accounts. Before joining DKC, McAdams worked on Capitol Hill for former Congressman Martin Frost. In 2000, she was Deputy Press Secretary for the Steve Israel campaign.

Deputy Director of Communications Planning, Teresa Wells
Wells most recently served as the Traveling Press Secretary to Governor Jon Corzine. Previously, Wells worked on Corzine’s gubernatorial campaign and the presidential efforts of Senators John Kerry and Bill Bradley.

Deputy Press Secretary, Andrea Purse
Purse most recently served as a Press Advisor for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Press Secretary for Congressman George Miller, following communications positions at the Center for American Progress and Campaign for America’s Future.

Deputy Press Secretary, Jenni Lee
Lee previously worked as Deputy Press Secretary at Senator Edwards’ One America Committee. During the 2004 campaign, she worked as Assistant to the Campaign Manager for the Vice Presidential nominee.

National Press Secretary, Eric Schultz
Schultz joins the campaign after working as New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s Communications Director. He has also served as Senator Schumer’s Press Secretary. In 2004, Schultz was the New Hampshire Communications Director for the Kerry/Edwards campaign and the New Hampshire Deputy Communications Director for the Kerry campaign during the primaries. Before joining the Kerry campaign, Schultz was the Deputy Press Secretary for Senator Barbara Mikulski.

Deputy National Press Secretary, Kate Bedingfield
Bedingfield served as a Regional Press Secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 cycle. She joins the Edwards campaign following work at the AFL-CIO and on Paul Hackett for Congress as well as the Kerry-Edwards general election campaign.

Director of Internet Operations, Aaron Myers
Myers was Director of Internet Development for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. He was also Internet Director for Senator Edwards during the 2004 primaries. Myers was Senior Web Producer for Gore/Lieberman in 2000. He also previously worked for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and has guided online projects focused on workers’ rights and the environment as a consultant.

Senior Advisor for Online Communications, Mathew Gross
Gross was Director of Internet Communications for Governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2003 and 2004. He has served as an online and communications advisor to numerous progressive and environmental non profits and global NGOs, and, in 2006, served as the Internet Strategist for Jon Tester’s primary and general election victories in the US Senate race in Montana.

Senior Advisor for Online Communications, Ryan Montoya
During the 2004 general election, Montoya served as Mrs. Edwards’ Trip Director. In 2000, he served Vice President Gore in several capacities, including Director of Advance in New Hampshire and Director of Scheduling and Advance for Vice-Presidential nominee Senator Joe Lieberman. Montoya worked on Clinton/Gore ‘96 and was a Presidential Appointee in the Clinton Administration.

Director of Online Communications and Organizing, Ben Brandzel
Brandzel joins the campaign after working as Advocacy Director at MoveOn.org. He also founded the MoveOn Student Action organization. Brandzel has also worked as an online engagement consultant for the United Nations World Food Programme and Oxfam America. He also worked as an organizer on Governor Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.

Online Communications Manager, Tracy Russo
Russo most recently worked as the Blogger and Online Outreach Coordinator at the Democratic National Committee. Previously she directed the finance and online operations for Texas Congressman Ciro Rodriguez on behalf of the consulting firm ConklinScott. She has also worked as a field organizer in Alaska, Virginia, Ohio and her home state of Florida.

Senior Advisor, Jennifer Palmieri
Palmieri, who served as National Press Secretary in the 2004 Edwards for President campaign will be an advisor to the campaign.

iFilm has a series of clips that go inside a Hollywood Fundraiser for Hillary Clinton that raised over two million dollars. The clip I find most interesting is the one below where Clinton is asked about funding for NY post 9/11. She gives a very honest answer in which she says she is grateful to President Bush.

Read the rest of this entry »