Politalk

Oct. 2

I was at dinner the other night with some politically savvy friends. One of them, a highly successful doctor, was talking about her distaste for Hillary Clinton. There's no way she'll win, she said, too many people hate her.
Don't be so sure, I said. The same thing was said when she ran for the U.S. Senate seat in New York. Her poll numbers steadily rose as she went around the state, listening to voters and working hard every day. She won easily, and it seems to me she's doing the same thing now. Yes, the number of people who don't like her is high. But the number who do still outnumber them...and virtually everybody has made up his or her mind about her.
Yesterday Barack Obama's camp made headlines when it was announced he had raised 20 million dollars over the past three months. No word from the Clinton camp...until today. She had raised 24 million.
Bottom line...if you know anything about the Clintons and Hillary's history, you know she's in it to the finish. If someone is going to beat her, they better bring their "A" game and never let up...because she won't. She is as relentless a campaigner as you'll ever see, and stays on message. And most of all, she's got a lot of money...with lots more on the way.

Oct. 23

Missouri representative Jo Ann Emerson has done it again. She has endorsed former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani for President. And she's agreed to serve as the chairwoman of his Missouri campaign.
This despite the fact that she disagrees with him on issues like abortion and gun control. And that her colleagues from Missouri have avoided taking sides in the crowded race for a party nominee.
It reinforces Emerson's well deserved reputation as a bit of a maverick...a smart, blunt person who is practical, not ideological when it comes to party politics. She recently crossed the aisle to vote for the SChip program (expanding access to health care for poor children), which prompted a veto by President Bush.
Whether you agree with her positions or not, I for one think it's refreshing to see someone who votes her conscience rather than simply toeing the party line. Washington could use more like her.

Oct. 29

Interesting tidbit in the softball article in the Post-Dispatch Sunday about former congressman Dick Gephardt. Gephardt is now a well paid lobbyist, among other things. And so where he once was for a resolution calling the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 genocide, now he's lobbying against it on behalf of the Turkish government.
As California representative Anna Eshoo said, "It represents a sea change in terms of position, but money does that." Yes, it does. Is it any wonder that people are so cynical about politicians and especially members of Congress? To paraphrase the old saying, money talks, and everything else walks.