Take a good long look at the picture to the left. This is a saguaro cactus. It is native to Arizona, parts of Mexico and a small piece of California. It DOES NOT GROW in New Mexico.

Despite this fact, every four years you morons insist on putting it on the slide for New Mexico that appears on the giant screen behind the stage at the Republican convention.

In 2004, I was in Madison Square Garden during the run through and stopped you idiots from doing this. I saw the slide, called some folks at the convention, and got it taken out just before it went on air.

Unfortunately, I can’t be there every four years, so you’re going to have to write this shit down and put it in a file for next time. I cannot be clearer. THE SAGUARO CACTUS DOES NOT GROW IN NEW MEXICO! Including it is an insult to New Mexicans – all of whom know that this cactus doesn’t grow there.

The fact that you do it every four years says, “F**k You!” to a state that you need to win.

It would be easy enough to let someone from the delegation see the slide before you use it. So please, for the love of God, stop doing this.

Sincerely,

An Angry New Mexican

My only real concern about their effort thus far is their recently announced “Name the Blog” effort. I’m not sure who vetted the names to “narrow” the list, but I see at least three euphemisms for excrement in the list.

Elephant Droppings
Midwest Movement
Junk From The Trunk

I’m not sure if those were submitted by some Democratic Prankster Squad or what, but I am tremendously surprised that they made it into the final voting.

My favorite, and I think the only one worth the digital ink, is Conventional Wisdom. Voting is open now, though at the moment you can’t yet vote on the 3/12 “games.”

Update: I’ve added a link to the contest for your use, sorry about the oversight. Also, all the stuff that was labeled for 3/12 voting now inexplicably says 3/17. The stuff that was 3/17 yesterday now says 3/13 – but you can’t vote on it yet, despite the fact that it’s been the 13th for almost 8 hours.

[N]one of the eight Democratic contenders for the White House are making time for the Democratic Leadership Council convention Sunday and Monday in Nashville, although DLC staffers sought for weeks to woo the candidates.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be homebound and resting on Sunday, instead of seeking allies at the coalition that is behind the only two-term Democratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The DLC is the organization that saved the Democrats in 1992. The organization’s founders had tired of watching the party nominate ultra-liberal after ultra-liberal only to lose handily in general elections. The DLC took a young (relatively) governor from Arkansas and connected him with the moderate wing of the party that had been all but abandoned. In doing so, they elected the first Democrat to the White House in 16 years, and re-elected him four years later.

How were they repaid by their party? With screams that the party had sold out and demands that it return to the bygone days of Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, and Walter Mondale.

The explanation for blowing off the one organization that has actually elected a President in the last quarter century? They have togo hang with the College Dems because they’re the activists.

This actually makes me feel better about our chances next year. I can’t imagine the field of GOP candidates blowing off the ACU or RTL convention to attend a CRNC conference. As long as the Democrats are putting all their eggs in the basket of college students (a group not traditionally known for voting strength) we should be just fine in November of 2008.

When the GOP picked Minneapolis (and irritated the Dems by doing so), I knew I was right. Unfortunately, I had no idea Denver would do all it could to pooch the bid. They had union troubles, money troubles, more union troubles, organizational problems, and even more union troubles. I almost thought for a moment that they’d blow it.

But they finally pulled it out. Denver has been picked to host the Democrats and I have been proven right yet again.

The convo is the low hanging fruit, so I’ll pick it first. I think the NYC officials are underestimating the importance of the one piece of the puzzle they don’t have – a swing population in a target state in a targeted region. It’s great that they have unions, and it’s great that they think they can raise ungodly sums of money for the convention, but the reason for a convention is to appeal to the electorate through the very small bit of coverage they’ll see.

Colorado makes a great showcase for a party that wants to put out a welcome mat for disaffected moderates and libertarians who are turned off by the GOP’s religious wing. New York has none of that.

The RNC was very wise to pick Minneapolis early and beat the DNC to the punch. Minnesota is much like Colorado in its appeal as a showcase for swing votes. Should the DNC decide to go with New York for money and union reasons, it will be clear that they’re not at all interested in actually appealing to a more moderate voter.

On the Giuliani front, DuHaime is a great hire. Mike is a really good guy and very talented. He also is pretty savvy with technology so he should be willing to be more aggressive and try different things online.

I have fears that McCain, trying to be the establishment candidate, is going to forego some of the technology innovations that would be the hallmark of a maverick campaign – and certainly marked him as one of the first Internet savvy campaigners. He’s likely going to play it much closer to the sleeve and take fewer chances now that he has the lead. Even with Dean’s Internet guy on board, don’t expect to see a Dean-like campaign.

DuHaime will add a lot to Giuliani’s effort, but the big question now is whether he can attract more high-caliber talent to his team. The giant sucking sound coming out of Alexandria is the McCain team trying to reassemble the Bush-Cheney operation. They’ve been largely successful, so we’ll see who Rudy can tap.

Sam Waterston, the star of NBC’s Law and Order, has drafted a little note encouraging interest in the effort to elect a moderate ticket made of one Democrat and one Republican.

In the interest of full disclosure, I serve on the Rules Committee for Unity08. I offered to do so because I find this to be an interesting political experiment. Honestly, I’m not sure how relevant this is going to be now that we have a split government. I think moderation can be achieved in one of two ways. Unity08 was one of those, but the other is the tried and truth method of divided government.

Now that the Democrats have reclaimed the control of Congress, our government can go one of two directions – compromise and cooperation or total, chaotic gridlock. I hope for the former, but I suspect we’ll probably get the latter. Either may render the Unity effort mute moot (thanks to Divided We Stand United We Fall for cathing that one…).

If they’re able to get more celeb endorsements and encourage more people outside the political realm – but in the public sphere – to speak up, they may be able to get a lot of attention if Congress starts drifting toward inaction.

Denver is making a bid to host the Democrat’s convention in 2008. They are on a short list of cities and will learn of their fate later this year. Back in May, I posted on the reasons I think they should win. Today there is an indication that I may have overestimated the Democrats desire to win.

The AP is reporting the Democrats might skip Denver because of union loyalty.

You see, the Minneapolis-St. Paul bid benefits from the fact that 13 out of the 96 hotels that would be used are union. Denver doesn’t have any union hotels. So despite the fact that 92% of private sector employees are not union, and the fact that only 13.5% of the Minnesota hotels are unionized, that is still reason to turn your back on the West.

It really is a stupid argument, but one I think might actually hold sway with the liberal party. The Democrats stand to gain so much more if they make a concerted push into the mountain West based on an agenda that pushes less institutional rigidity and more recognition of individual liberty. They’re likely, however, to cave to the unions because that’s what they do.

I still stand by my prediction that they’ll end up in Denver. The truth is the people pushing the lack of Union hotels are the people competing against Denver for the convention. The Democrats are, however, tied to their antiquated machinery. It would not surprise me if they pick a union friendly city rather than making a serious effort to appeal to the purple states of the Rocky Mountain region.

2006-25 Conservative Direction: GOP

WHEREAS, the Republican Party of Wisconsin at the local, district, and state level at the Convention, has passed numerous resolutions of a conservative nature; favoring a smaller less intrusive government, a right to bear arms, and a directive to secure our borders, etc.; and

WHEREAS, these resolutions are the direction that the people of the party want their representatives to adhere to; and

WHEREAS, the people of the party recognize that while they cannot compel their representatives to vote in this manner, they can and do expect them to:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, urge the Republican Party to withhold all promotional and financial support of those candidates that do not consistently subscribe to this overall conservative agenda, be they incumbent or new candidates, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party actively and vigorously seek candidates that will go in this conservative direction, and respect the wishes of party members.

While I don’t think any Republican (with the possible exception of those currently in control of Congress and the White House) would quibble with the concepts of small government, the right to bear arms, and protecting our borders, this resolution sets a dangerous path for the party because it doesn’t define “conservative”.

I’m as conservative as you’re going to get on fiscal matters, and the size of government, but most social conservatives would consider me moderate to liberal on a lot of social issues. Would I get the support of the party? My guess is no.

The Wisconsin GOP has set a dangerous precedent for other state parties to follow. A resolution like this can be used to keep anyone out of the process – which candidate is the most conservative? – but will likely be used to keep moderates from getting party support.

Their general theme seems to be that Unity 08 does not have a clear agenda. That largely stems from the fact that Unity08 is relying on the supporters to supply the agenda. It is an ambiguous agenda because the specifics have not yet been written. This will be the first ticket for President that is entirely derived from the people, rather than a controlling few.

I have seen firsthand the way the GOP manages their platform process at the federal and the state level. The platform is written by a very select few, rammed through a largely compliant platform committee with little chance that there will be significant changes, and presented as a grand vision to the supplicants who are told that it’s ok to disagree, as long as you keep pushing the button.

Like Skinner’s rats, we keep hoping to get the feed pellet, but it never happens. Instead, the party apparatchiks continue to be spun by a relative small number of people who rarely leave DC and wouldn’t recognize real America if it walked up and bit them on the ass.

That is no way to run a political party in a country that is by, for, and of the American people. Urging people to prostrate themselves before party leaders who know full well their only interest lies in keeping their job and lining their own pockets is no way to change the world for the better.

The promise of Unity08 is that the people control the agenda. The people control the ticket. The people can write the platform or shape the agenda through action, rather than through inaction.