The topic below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

The silly season of presidential politics is here. Posturing, fundraising and repositioning to simultaneously win support from party activists and independent voters that decide general elections. A candidate that can thread the needle with their party's base and remain viable to the center has achieved a sublime nexus.

In our current culture a candidate must demonstrate fidelity to their party's core principles and a maverick streak of independence. They must project manliness (or in Hillary Clinton's case toughness) with a soft side of empathy. After six years of Bush's insipid rule a winning candidate will also need to project gravitas but not appear above us. As women are burdened with a double standard Hillary Clinton will have to demonstrate firmness without coming off as shrill. Most importantly a winning candidate better have terrific hair.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Working through whom to support for president in 2008 has been cathartic for me. Typically I try candidates on for size by writing hypothetical speeches in their voice and occasionally post the results. I did this with Russ Feingold several months ago and liked how it felt but alas he isn't running. Recently I did the same for Barack Obama and enjoyed the challenge but it required writing in heavy religious overtones and felt uncomfortable. As I review the prospective field in the Democratic Party I neither see nor feel a president among Joe Biden, Wesley Clark, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Tom Vilsak.

Each has merits and flaws. From my vantage point however, the right candidate must combine maturity, gravitas, experience, intellect, authenticity, foresight and desire to serve a cause bigger than themselves. Al Gore has flaws of his own but is best suited for the job. We don't need a nominee who sticks their finger to the wind and follows the politics of expediency. Now is also not the time to nominate a pretty face or sound bite machine with a glass jaw. The real question is will Gore run? So I decided to compose a hypothetical announcement speech in Gore's voice and try him on for size. Looking at 2008 I like how Gore fits.

Since Russ Feingold will not be running for President, I will now be endorsing Al Gore for President for 2008. I am asking anybody who supported Russ Feingold for President to support Al Gore for President so we can restore the rule of law to the White House and restore the system of checks and balances to our Constitutional system.

Like many of us, I was not enthused by Al Gore in 2000. I voted for Nader as a way of pushing the Democratic party to the left and thus creating a Green Revolution. I thought that Bush would not be that bad of a President anyway, as he would be bipartisan and supposedly be above the fray. In the meantime, we could move the party and the country to the left and everybody would be happy.

The diary below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal on August 27th.

Richard Nixon manipulated Americans into believing he had an honorable exit strategy from Vietnam. Ronald Reagan successfully convinced voters he championed a Norman Rockwell society that valued hard work and neighborhood generosity. In 1988, oilman George Herbert Walker Bush won in part as the "environmentalist" candidate. Twelve years later his son stole the presidency after campaigning as a "plain spoken" truth telling man of the people with a "humble" foreign policy.

An unpopular war raged but the president refused to acknowledge error or change course. A talented and ambitious congressman continued to support his president in spite of private doubts and even misgivings from his own children. He largely supported the president's domestic agenda and as a Washington insider received many briefings from the Pentagon, State Department and CIA.

They all told him the administration's policies were working and a premature withdrawal was tantamount to weakness. The war was of course Vietnam. LBJ was in the White House. And a Massachusetts congressman named Tip O'Neill was on a collision course with President Johnson after years of steadfast support.

The diary below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal, on April 9th.

Good evening, I love New York! Applause. Smiles broadly and waits for silence. And I proudly accept your nomination for President of the United States. Crowd erupts with sustained applause and cheers.

My friends, the time has come for an American renaissance of community, values, and justice. Almost seven years ago in this great city Osama Bin Laden unleashed his terror and the Republican Party unleashed a reign of indecency. Tonight we begin anew in the very city where it all went wrong. We bring hope.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve a constitutional amendment stating that marriage in the United States shall consist only of the "union of a man and a woman." But the amendment is not expected to get the approval of two-thirds of the Senate, which is necessary to pass a constitutional amendment.

Stating the obvious, Democrats "complained that bringing up the amendment is a political move designed to appeal to the GOP's conservative base in a midterm-election year."

Well duh! Perhaps a clever Democrat could find a way to defer debate on the issue until after November?

CNN's The Situation Room reported "one Democrat walked out of the session that was held in a private chamber just off the Senate floor." Sen. Russ Feingold "complained to Chairman Arlen Specter that the meeting wasn't sufficiently open to the public. We're told that led to this exchange. Specter told Feingold, 'I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more of a protector of the Constitution than am I. If you want to leave, good riddance.' Feingold then responded, 'I've enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman. See you.'"

More interestingly, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said "Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who supports the gay-marriage ban, has expressed support for polygamists in his home state of Utah. "I never said that," Hatch responded.
"I know some (polygamists) that are very sincere. ... Don't accuse me of wanting to have polygamy."

My husband is Barry Welsh who is currently the Congressional Candidate in Indiana's 6th District.  I usually write from a personal perspective of someone involved in a congressional campaign.  Barry is a minister of a small rural church in South Eastern Indiana; he is also a born and bred Hoosier who works hard to serve our community both on a local level and a statewide level.  Barry has always been a man of his word, he doesn't lie, steal, cheat nor backs down from what he stands for.  I married him for some of those same qualities and have no regrets.

When Barry discussed the idea of running for congress, it was a well thought out and planned decision to run for office.  He took his time to make sure that I would be able to handle his being in politics, the campaigning and the personal sacrifices.  I supported him then and I support him now and I will always support him because he is what he is - what you see is what you get.  No matter what the circumstances, my husband has always made me proud of him.

I know some of you know that my husband Barry Welsh is a Congressional Candidate running in Indiana's 6th District and I've been writing about my lessons learned in a political campaign.

We have been looking at how Barry's campaign has been and is going - planning speaking engagements, meet & greets, endorsements, fundraisers, volunteers and it's been really interesting.  The Indiana's 6th District covers 19 counties; relatively the size of New Hampshire and each are unique and essential in their own right.  The people of the district cover a wide spectrum of socio-economical demographics and it's the same expressions of worry, frustration and anger that I see that is bringing the district together.

Some really good news that I can't wait to share.  My husband Barry Welsh has been chosen as a Feingold Finalist!!  

The last few weeks, Barry and I have been pondering the status of his congressional candidacy.  Tonight on my way home, deep in thought, praying to God to guide me with an unquestionable sign about the campaign, the night was dark and the road curvy and narrow between fields of harvested corn or wheat or soy.  I had my high beams on always trying to be watchful and careful of deer and hitting one.  As I was praying to God for an unquestionable sign, I see two deer ahead, crossing the dip in the road and I slammed on my breaks

In talking to people online, I have heard two conflicting message. The one, prevalent of most people here, is that the Democratic Party has not shown enough spine and that we need to return to the days of 1860 and draw a clear distinction between ourselves and the Republican Party. But the problem comes when I try to help lay out a Progressive agenda including my endorsement of Russ Feingold for President and Chuck Pennacchio for Senate. All of a sudden, when it comes time to actually do the hard work of challenging our favorite DINOs in the primary, people freak out and tell me why it is so impossible to elect Feingold because (insert difficulty here).

The Bush administration is continuing their sick and pathetic policy of torturing people in Iraq when they think that all the lights and cameras are off. This is the subject of a new report out of Iraq from Amnesty International. The Bush administration would like you to think that the Abu Girhab photos were just a matter of a few frat boys gotten out of control. But this new report shows that the Bush administration's torture plans are far broader than that. In their twisted logic, they thought that as soon as all the lights and cameras were off, they could go right back to doing whatever they wanted to.

This is directed at anybody who thinks that their vote will not be important in the next election for whatever reason. It doesn't matter whether you are a Green disgusted at what you see as a lack of spine by the Democrats or a former Hackett supporter disgusted at what you see as an insular establishment who determines the candidates for Senate in smoke-filled backrooms. You are missing the key point as to why it is so important that you go to the polls and vote for a Democrat. You forget that a vote for a Democrat for Senate or the House is a vote for John Conyers as chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

A horrifying example of our broken health care system gone wrong took place in Yelm, Washington recently. A man on Wellbutrin, an antidepressant, attacked and nearly killed his wife of 60 years after being diagnosed for depression and being placed on Wellbutrin. This is one more example of our health care system gone horribly wrong and a graphic example of how the Bush administration places a price on human life. This forces me to rethink my support of laws against the so-called hard drugs like meth and cocaine.

In what would be a horrifying nightmare for anybody in this community, Eric Attwood, in the middle of the night, took a knife and tried to stab his wife. He stabbed her once, but then she got away and got help. Now, Attwood and his wife are separated by court order and he is charged with attempted first-degree murder.

http://actionalert.blogspot .com/2006/02/feingold-gonza les-perjury.html

 On Monday, Senator Russ Feingold will resume his questioning of Alberto Gonzales in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Wartime Executive Power and Surveillance Authory.  You may recall that Gonzales appears to have perjured himself in his responses to Feingold's previous round of questioning on the administration's warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.  

This note is a call for action requesting bloggers to help shape the terms of the debate in the media both before and after the hearing by contacting editorial boards at major daily newspapers in your local community to encourage them to take a position against attempts by the Executive Branch to circumvent the law.

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