The Maverick

Oh I get it now. About two months before the election, the Republican political machine is starting to become crystal clear. Let me start out by writing that I thought John McCain delivered a magnificent speech last night. He was respectful of the junior senator from Illinois, while also laying out clearly why he disagrees with Senator Obama. I have always liked John McCain. I have found that he has been affable while being interviewed, but also tenacious for the causes he believes in. I am voting for Barack Obama not because I dislike John McCain as a person, I just disagree with too many strong issues to cast my vote for him. There is no doubt that this is a year that favors Democrats. Which is why it would take a Republican maverick like John McCain to actually win this election. McCain is not your typical Republican candidate. He’s much more like Teddy Roosevelt than George W. Bush. McCain is stubborn, hard nosed, and boorish at his worst; just like Teddy Roosevelt. Also, like Roosevelt, he is a former military hero. But let’s not kid ourselves, he is here to win. If that means that he has to dig deep in the trenches, play dirty, and slip on a pair of brass knuckles, he will do it. Again, the Republican political machine is now crystal clear. Sarah Palin will be used in a variety of ways. I highly doubt she will campaign much with Senator McCain. In terms of getting volunteers and donations, it is not the independents and moderates who give their time and money, it is the base. The base has been very unhappy with John McCain. They don’t like that he is moderate on many issues and has close working relationships with Democrat senators like Joe Lieberman, and my favorite Senator, Democrat Russ Feingold from Wisconsin. They don’t like that he is pro-environment. They don’t like that he is hardly an evangelical. They don’t like that he is in favor of stem cell research. But guess who they like? Sarah Palin. Governor Palin will be spending most of her time energizing the Republican base. As we know there are three keys to winning an election. Getting your base to vote for you, getting your opponent’s base to stay at home, and getting independents and moderates to vote for you. Palin will do wonders motivating her base to donate money, volunteer, and vote. Her speech alone resulted in huge donations to the Republican Party. She will also be used to get independent, moderate women to get out and vote. Obama is obviously aware of this and has spent the past week getting a coalition of women leaders to campaign for him. Senator Amy Klobuchar will be all over Minnesota for Obama. Hillary Clinton is on a jet to Florida as I write. Claire McKaskel is doing a tour of Missouri. Let’s get back to John McCain. With the base fired up and frothing at the mouth for the “hottest governor from the coolest state”, John McCain showed from last night’s speech that he will go after moderates and independents. He is the first candidate in this election to talk about education. His speech had a heavy focus on the problems with America’s education system. In addition, he spoke of health care and of tax breaks for the middle class. My guess is that John McCain will spend his time on traditional swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. I would think that Palin will focus her time on the states that are normally solid for Republicans but are statistical ties in this election (Indiana, North Carolina, Montana, and South Dakota.) There is no doubt that this will be another razor thin election.

1. Our good friend Michael Moore, a man I have turned my back on in the past three years, has an interesting idea. I was reading USA TODAY this morning and he has a new movie, Slacker Uprising, will be released for free online on September 23rd. Apparently he was greatly inspired by Radiohead’s new online album. I wouldn’t pay to see another one of his movies but I supposed I could waste 85 minutes on some lazy Saturday afternoon.

2. As much fun, exciting and interesting the RNC has been. I am exhausted. I’m tired of protestors destroying the city of Saint Paul and embarrassing their cause in the process. I’m tired of the late nights. And I’m tired of hearing about Sarah Palin 24/7. I’m ready to get back to business as usual and relax for a while. Unfortunately, that will not be the case this weekend. I am giving a work presentation tonight. I am off to St. Cloud for a wedding tomorrow and I head to Fargo on Sunday for work. Sheesh.

3. My sister for two season tickets for University of Minnesota gopher basketball. She will probably only want to go to a game or two at the most. Which means if anybody wants to go to a gopher game with me and see the fighting Tubby’s dominate Iowa, Illinois, or Purdue, just let me know.

4. A total of 818 people were arrested for protesting the Republican National Convention. That is a lot!