Regarding Comments

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 534

My esteemed fellow blogger desmoinesdem over at Bleeding Heartland has put up an interesting post regarding political versus non-political blogs, and was kind enough to mention iPol in the course or discussing how and why some blogs moderate comments.

I left a comment on that post, but thought it would be as well to include it in its own right here, for the benefit of readers who may have wondered what is the iPol editorial policy regarding comments.

Other than spam (i.e., "click this link for the truth about Barak Obama!"), the only occasion upon which I will not post a comment submitted on iPol is when the comment is a personal attack against another person, like another reader or fellow blogger. This has happened only twice, I'm happy to say.

Beyond that, I've never screened out negative comments about myself or something I've posted - take a look at the comments related to my interview with Dennis Kucinich for a good, healthy sample of comments who (to put it mildly) disagreed with me.

Where I feel commentors have, in my opinion, missed the point, or simply gotten it wrong, I will respond with a counterpoint, but, again, that's all done in the open, where readers can see the comments and judge for themselves.

I feel this approach strikes the best overall balance between preserving healthy debate and exchange of views, while keeping the troll factor to a minimum.

Disagree? Feel free to...well... leave a comment!

Edwards Plans Iowa Bus Tour

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 539

After pedaling through part of the state during last week's RAGBRAI, John Edwards is trading in his bike for a bus and planning a 30-county campaign swing, to take place August 13 - 19.

Starting and ending in Des Moines, Edwards' bus tour will be making the following stops:

MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2007
Des Moines
Perry
Jefferson
Carroll
Denison
Onawa

TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2007
Sioux City
Ida Grove
Rockwell City
Pocahontas
Clarion
Clear Lake

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2007
Manly
Osage
Charles City
Waterloo
Waverly

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2007
Grundy Center
Ames
Des Moines
Oskaloosa
Ottumwa

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2007
Centerville
Bloomfield
Keokuk
Burlington
Wapello
Iowa City

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2007
Dubuque
Davenport
Cedar Rapids

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2007
Des Moines

After a similar jaunt by Chris Dodd a month ago, during which singer/songwriter Paul Simon came along, I wonder if Edwards' will be bringing along any musical accompaniment of his own? Couldn't hurt!

The Mailbag, Vol. 2

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 540

This is a post on some things sent over the transom that caught my eye during the past week, but didn't otherwise make for posts in and of themselves.

YouTube Ripple

No, not the latest flavor at Ben & Jerry's; I'm talking about how campaigns are starting to riff on the CNN/YouTube debate. First, the Richardson campaign kicked off it's own initiative to take questions from voters via video, email or on-line form. In an email announcing what its calling "Ask Bill," Richardson's campaign described it as follows:

"We're going to upend the status quo and skip the media middleman. Direct questions, direct answers. That is the strategy we've been using in living rooms and meeting rooms across the country -- and our rising poll numbers show it's working.

Want to know more about my experience negotiating with the world's toughest dictators? You won't get that answer on the CNN debate -- but you will from "Ask Bill." Want to know my favorite flavor of ice cream? I'll take that question too. ¿Quiere saber cómo aumentaré el sueldo de maestros? Pregúnteme ahora- en inglés o en español- y contestaré en cualquiera."

A few days later, John Kerry weighed in with his own twist on the theme, launching the "Roadblock Republican Radio Contest." An email from Kerry's Senate reelection campaign gave the following details:

"Republicans are feeling the pressure for change on Iraq. But I'm not a patient person. Especially when the lives of our troops are at stake. I refuse to wait around for the Republicans to move without giving them a little more pushing.

Quite simply, we want to take an unusual step - and we want to do it early. I think we need to run radio ads in the states of the Roadblock Republicans, making it crystal clear that they don't deserve to be reelected because of their continued support for the Bush Doctrine of escalation without end. We need to turn up the heat even higher.

It's the pressure of activists and the voice of the people that have gotten us this far in the Iraq debate, not the cookie-cutter ads and thirty second soundbites of Madison Avenue media firms.

So we decided, why don't we let you speak in this radio campaign? If user generated content can change presidential debates, I know it can help change the next election on the most pivotal of issues.

That's why we're running a contest. We want you to send in a script for a 30 second radio spot (that's about 65 words long), we'll whittle it down some to the top 20, and then we'll open up the voting to everyone. The winner that's chosen by the people will be what we air in the states. And we'll fundraise for the airing of that spot, with each of you able to choose with your contribution where you think we should run the ad. No political professionals making the spot, or choosing where to run it. It's all done by you."

All this is a direct result of the buzz from this week's voter-submitted questions in the CNN/YouTube debate. Look for more of this in the coming weeks.

And While You're Asking Richardson...

Chris Dodd's communications director, Hari Savugan, sent me an email last week with a subject line of "FYI - Richardson Admits Flip-Flop on Guns." The email contrasts Richardson's statements during his widely-panned May 27, 2007 appearance on Meet the Press with a story that ran in the Albuquerque Journal July 27. What it boils down to is that, in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy earlier this year, Bill Richardson reversed his position on a loophole in current law that allows buyers at gun shows to purchase firearms without passing a background check (Richardson supported the exemption before, and now does not). When I asked how Richardson's current stance on this issue compares to Dodd's, Savugan replied, "Chris Dodd has consitently [sic] favored instant background checks and closing the gun show loophole, whether he's running in a Democratic primary or not." So, while Dodd and Richardson now hold the same position on this issue, Dodd's camp faults Richardson for the switch.

The real story here, to my mind, is not the position on guns, although I think Richardson did the right and responsible thing in switching his position; the switch appears to have been driven by events - not polls, but events - and changing one's views in response to real-world developments is far more virtue than vice (think about the last 4+ years of "staying the course" for perhaps the best lesson here). In my view, Bill Richardson was wrong before, and now he's come down on the right side of this issue. So I'm not really troubled by the flip-flop, if that's what this was.

Rather, I think the real story is that, with a little less than 6 months to go before the caucuses, the sixth-place candidate (Dodd) is taking this kind of shot at the fourth-place candidate (Richardson), rather than one of the top three. As we move into August, the gloves are starting to come off. There's no doubt that Chris Dodd's best hope - perhaps his only hope - of moving up from the bottom of the field is that one or more candidates above him stumbles; but that being the case, I would have thought he would have aimed higher, at Clinton or Obama. Last week would have been a particularly opportune moment for doing so, with the top two contenders embroiled in a war of words between themselves over foreign policy; imagine, then, the impact of a solid shot from Dodd on a domestic issue would have had in opening a second front against the most prominent rivals in the Democratic race. That really might have helped Dodd. As it was, I think his campaign went for the forward pass and wound up not moving the ball at all.

The Candidate Formerly Known as Kucinich

Finally tonight, news from Planet Kucinich. The Kucinich campaign sent around an email on July 22 from campaign manager Make Klein (who took over from David Bright last month), announcing that Kucinich's initial website at http://www.kucinich.us had been scrapped in favor of http://action.dennis4president.com. But neither the hiring of Klein as campaign manager, nor the retooling of Kucinich's website could match the breathtaking impact of the news Klein flashed to supporters in an email dated July 27:

"Last week, Dennis Kucinich launched his presidential campaign with house parties from coast-to-coast, a ground-breaking new website and a historic campaign to change government policy by sending text messages."

Learning that Kucinich had launched his presidential campaign only the previous week must have come as something of a shock to supporters who had been laboring under the misapprehension that the candidate who's campaign now refers to by his first name, rather than his last, had declared himself a candidate back on December 12, 2006 ("I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States" was the exact quote from the speech - not much ambiguity there, I would have thought). But, now that Mark Klein has declared that the campaign has finally begun, I think we can expect to see signs that the kidding around from Dennis has come to an end. Really. Big things will happen. Naysayers will come crawling to Cleveland for forgiveness. Front-runners will lay down and quit the race. The clouds will part, and angels weep in gratitude at the advent of global justice now.

Or not.

It's All Local

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 543

Its been said that all politics are local. Judging by this clip up on the Washington Post's website today, this is particularly true if you eat at the diner down the street from my house.

Dodd Rolls Out Health Care Plan, Looks to Private Sector for Universal Coverage

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 543

Senator and presidential candidate Chris Dodd rolled out his health care proposal today at a "kitchen table" campaign stop in Marion, Iowa.

Details of the plan, as released by the Dodd campaign, are:

• Universal HealthMart. The Dodd plan will create a health insurance marketplace called the Universal HealthMart that is based on, and parallel to, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP). Individuals and businesses will pay for coverage within Universal HealthMart based on their ability to pay. If a person or business is unable to pay for insurance, the government will subsidize their premium share on a sliding scale based on income. Universal HealthMart will offer a variety of comprehensive plans and entitle every American to the same benefits and types of plans as Members of Congress.
  
• Universal Affordable Coverage. Under the Dodd plan, coverage will flow automatically to all Americans regardless of their employment status, health status or economic means. Coverage will follow people, not their jobs. Enrollment will be automatic unless individuals and employees choose to have insurance outside Universal HealthMart. Coverage will be phased in over four years. As more and more Americans participate, Universal HealthMart will gain increasing leverage to negotiate premiums and lower costs. Price discrimination based on condition will be eliminated.
  
• Better Care for Kids: Under the Dodd Plan, every child in America will have guaranteed health insurance equivalent to the health coverage Members of Congress have for their children. All children will have access to preventive health screenings including vision, hearing, autism, and other neurological disorders.
  
• Portability. Health coverage will be portable as it follows individuals, not jobs. Regardless of where people live, they will have access to and be able to maintain their Universal HealthMart insurance. Universal HealthMart health care will carry across jobs as long as employers participate in the system.
  
• Automatic Coverage. Coverage will occur through direct enrollment or automatically when people file their tax returns, complete W-4 forms, or show up for health care with a provider. Through the process of automatic coverage and enrollment, universal coverage will be guaranteed.
  
• Choice. Every American will be guaranteed a number of comprehensive health coverage options in the Universal HealthMart. Individuals will gain the ability to choose for themselves and their families the kind of health plan they want. The choice no longer needs to be in the hands of employers whose primary interest may be controlling costs.
  
• Focus on Prevention. The Dodd plan will focus on chronic disease management and preventive measures. People who make personal choices to improve their health through smoking cessation, weight loss, and exercise will have access to plan rewards and incentives. Chronic illness will be prevented and treated through an integrated system of chronic disease management modeled after the system used by the Veterans Administration and outstanding private delivery systems. Within Universal HealthMart, this care model will employ the most innovative methods of care coordination including interoperable health information technology and coordination between providers and levels of care.
  
• Lower Costs for Employers. In addition to realizing the benefits of reduced premiums brought on by the bargaining power of Universal HealthMart, employers who participate in Universal HealthMart will no longer be required to negotiate insurance premiums or shoulder the costly task of administering health plans. Employers and their employees will have guaranteed access to a variety of plans and will contribute based on their ability to pay. Better and guaranteed coverage of employees will result in better health, less absenteeism, and higher productivity.
  
• The Power of Technology. The Dodd plan will lower administrative costs and eliminate inefficiency by investing in technology and data collection for better care. Better use of interoperable health information technology will reduce administrative costs, improve quality, and enhance coordination of care. Widespread use of information technology will provide the mechanisms for monitoring and improving quality. In addition to improving quality and enhancing the coordination of care, incentives for using technology will also result in further cost savings and lower premiums.
  
• Affordability. Savings in better care and better efficiencies will help finance new coverage. Premiums will be driven down for employers and employees as negotiators bargain from strength on behalf of a large pool of people and businesses. In exchange for a larger market and a lot more customers, most of whom are pretty healthy, the insurance industry will be forced to end price and coverage discrimination against people who need medical care.
  
• Funding. Universal coverage will not require a new tax. Instead, much of the plan can be paid for by eliminating the existing inefficiencies in the system. Universal HealthMart will be financed primarily by employer and individual premiums and contributions. Other revenue streams such as those that would result from ending the war in Iraq will be identified for transition costs.
  
• Easy to Accomplish. The Universal HealthMart model, the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Plan, already operates in every county in the country.
  
• Action now. Universal coverage is an important priority for our productivity, our economic growth and the lives and health of our people. Within two years of enactment the Dodd plan will phase in universal coverage by age group based on current levels of insurance and health need. Within two years of enactment, all children, young adults to age 29, and adults age 55-64 will have health insurance. In the following two years, all remaining adults age 30-54 will be enrolled.
  
• Existing Public Insurance. Under the Dodd plan, Medicare remains intact but will be given power to negotiate with pharmaceuticals on the cost of prescription drugs. Medicaid will also remain intact. All people under 100% of poverty will be eligible for Medicaid with adjustments in the federal match to hold states harmless.
  

Addtional details are available on Chris Dodd's website.

In a conference with the media after the announcement, Dodd commended John Edwards and Barack Obama for introducing their own proposals to achieve universal health care coverage, but faulted the Obama plan for lacking a clear path to coverage for all, and said Edwards' proposals fell short in envisioning regional, rather than national coverage plans, and also in requiring a tax increase. Senator Dodd maintains that his plan, which he says would cost $50 - $70 billion over the four years required to implement it, could be paid for without increasing taxes, mainly by using money that's currently being spent on the Iraq war.

My initial impression is that Dodd's plan is a very, very conservative approach that relies on the existing health insurance market to bridge gaps primarily created by that very same system. The Universal Healthmart Dodd proposes seems little more than the type of federal buying pool long discussed as a means of reducing insurance premiums and pharmaceutical costs. There's nothing here that would set the insurance industry or American Medical Association trembling in their shoes, certainly. Senator Doodd is right when he identifies health care as an issue of deep concern to Americans, but I suspect many who look at his proposals will wonder how you fix the existing system while at the same time going out of your way not to rock the boat.

RAGBRAI

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 543

Non-native Iowan that I am, I must confess that the annual RAGBRAI bike marathon across the state has never held the mythic stature with me that it does with others who have lived here their whole lives. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a cool event, but to hear some talk of it, you'd think it's right up there with the Iliad, rather than roughly on par with the Butter Cow at the State Fair.

[Now having cleared the room of native Iowans, let's continue, shall we?]

I first heard about RAGBRAI more than 20 years ago, back when Bruce Babbitt was tooling up for his White House run and hit upon RAGBRAI as the ultimate Iowa "get to know you" event. Babbitt rode the entire route, almost 400 miles, and summed up the experience by muttering, "They told me this state was flat."

Ever since Babbit, at least one or two candidates have saddled up for RAGBRAI each presidential cycle (excuse the pun), although so far Babbitt is the only one to have gone the distance. This year, John Edwards spent a day in the saddle, hanging with Lance Armstrong, and Joe Biden deputized his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and his niece, Missy Owens, to ride on his behalf.

What riding in RAGBRAI actually buys a campaign has never been entirely clear, beyond some free media some six months before the caucuses (a lot more important back in Babbitt's day than in this year's insanely accelerated race). But it's nice to see the tradition hold up, all the same.

Here are links to coverage of the experiences of this year's political RAGBRAI-ers:

John Edwards
Jill Biden

Flash Read on the CNN/YouTube Debate

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 546

Here's my flash read on the CNN/YouTube debate.

Home Runs:

Joe Biden - for his answer on Darfur: "By the time we're done with diplomacy, those kids will be dead." A home run not only for Biden forcefully getting his point across, but even more for taking Bill Richardson's answer about diplomacy and turning it from the home run Richardson thought it was and making it look like a called third strike instead.

Barak Obama - for his answer on the minimum wage: "We would be willing to work for the minimum wage because most of the people up here already have a lot of money." Particularly damaging to Chris Dodd, who had the bad luck of being the previous speaker.

Chris Dodd - for not having a bad word to say about anybody on the "candidate to your left" question.

Hillary Clinton - for the look of pure steel on her face when answering the question about whether Islamic countries would take a woman president seriously.

CNN - for giving the moderator's job to someone other than Wolf Blitzer.

Strike Outs:

Barak Obama - for venerating Ronald Reagan every time he gave an example of effective presidential leadership. This was a Democratic debate, after all, not a Reagan tribute.

Joe Biden - for his response to the "do any of you have family serving in the military" question. Instead of talking about the MRV provision in the defense appropriations bill, why didn't he mention that his son is in the Delaware National Guard, subject to deployment to Iraq? The MRV thing may have been a valid point, but Biden missed a golden opportunity to make himself human to the electorate.

John Edwards - for the Hillary jacket thing. Edwards was going for lighthearted, but instead looked patronizing for talking about the outfit of the only woman candidate on the stage. Even worse, it reinforced the perception that Edwards is lightweight, superficial, and all about appearances.

Gravel and Kucinich - for meeting expectations. I'm starting to think that Clinton and Edwards had the right idea about them.

Richardson and "New Realism in American Foreign Policy"

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 550

New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson today gave an address to the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy in Des Moines on "A New Realism in American Foreign Policy." Richardson's campaign had billed this as a "major speech," so my expectations were quite high.

And so I trotted up to the Des Moines club at lunchtime, found myself a rare ringsisde seat near the rostrum, and had a nice chicken piccata while chatting with a really nice group of tablemates, including a state senator, two board members of the Center for Citizen Diplomacy, and an American expat to the UK in the process of returning to this country. And then came the introductions, followed by Bill Richardson taking center stage; I fired up the camera, took out my notebook, and got ready to scribe.

But that is where the usual blogging script ended today. After a few minutes, I capped my pen, stashed my notebook in my briefcase, and took the conscious decision to avail myself of the opportunity to view a campaign event through the eyes of a voter, a step removed from the virtual echo chamber of the political blogosphere. Here's what I saw.

A tired, possibly ill candidate read a prepared text from a teleprompter with a wheezy, wooden delivery, conveying the impression that his remarks had been scripted for him by someone else on a subject he really didn't understand or care much about. A "major speech" who's salient points, while substantive, detailed and well-reasoned, have been on the candidate's website for some time now. A rambling, distracted Q&A after the speech, including an awkward moment when the candidate confessed he had forgotten a question in the midst of attempting to answer it.

This is symptomatic of another sort of new realism in this campaign: the killing pace of the 2008 race a full six months before the Iowa caucus.Bill Richardson is a world-class authority on diplomacy and foreign affairs, and in reality is by no means the wondering, sometimes vacant person who delivered today's speech. Rather, Bill Richardson has been on the road for ten straight days now, and the realities of life on the second tier of the Democratic field are clearly taking their toll.

Bill Richardson isn't the only candidate to suffer these slings and arrows. Just last Friday, I listened to Joe Biden explain how flying commercial from D.C. to Iowa adds something like 13 travel hours to every round trip and lessens his campaign productivity by 30% compared to other candidates fortunate enough (i.e, well-funded enough) to make the trip on privately chartered aircraft. But the effect on Richardson as evinced at today's event must be particularly worrisome to himself and his staff, given that he has been saying that the way he plans to win not just the Iowa caucuses but the Democratic nomination is by outworking the rest of the field.

But the really bad part of all this is that this event showed those in attendance the worst public side of Bill Richardson: the Bill Richardson of Meet the Press and the first two debates, the rambling, ill-prepared, less than impressive Bill Richardson. This in contrast to Richardson's best side, which usually comes out at events like today's: engaged, authoritative, funny, and winning.

That said, the actual substance of Richardson's speech was nothing but solid, and deserves not to be overshadowed by its poor delivery today. In aid whereof, here are the main talking points:

"A New Realism in Foreign Policy

"This administration’s lack of realism has led us to a dangerous place. We need to take a different path. A path based on reality, not unilateralist illusions. A path that understands that the gravest dangers that threaten us today do not threaten only us – and that therefore to pursue our national interest and meet these challenges we must work with our friends, our enemies, and everyone in between. This is a path not of hard words, but of hard work. A path of moral strength, not pious judgments. A path of strong diplomacy, backed up by a strong military and strong alliances. This is the path of American leadership.

"First and Foremost, We Must Repair Our Alliances

"This means restoring respect and appreciation for our allies, and for the democratic values which unite us.

"Renew Our Commitment to International Law and Multilateral Cooperation

"This means expanding the Security Council to reflect international realities, and it means ethical reform at the UN, so that this vital institution can meet the challenges of the 21st century. It means more third world debt relief, and a World Bank focused on poverty-reduction. It means shifting aid from loans to grants for the poorest countries. It means reviving the Doha round of trade talks and seeking agreements which seriously address wage disparities, worker rights, and the environment. It means more resources for the IMF, so that it can protect the international economy from financial panics and shocks. And it means respecting the Geneva Conventions and joining the International Criminal Court.

"Lead Global Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

"We must join the Kyoto protocol on global warming, and then go well beyond it. We must lead the world with a man-on-the-moon effort to improve efficiency and to commercialize clean, alternative technologies. We must cut our fossil fuel consumption dramatically and rapidly, and get others, including China and India, to follow us to a sustainable energy future.

"Use Tough, Patient Diplomacy

"We need to stop treating diplomatic engagement with others like a reward for good behavior. The Bush administration’s refusal to engage obnoxious regimes has only encouraged and strengthened these nations' paranoid and hard-line tendencies. The futility of this policy is most tragically obvious in regard to Iran and North Korea, who responded to Washington’s snubs and threats with intensification of their nuclear programs.

"Focus on the Real Security Threats, From Which Iraq Has So Dangerously Diverted Our Attention

"We must do the hard work to build strong coalitions to fight terrorists and to stop nuclear proliferation. Most urgently, we need to lock down ALL of the world’s fissionable material. Quickly. Before terrorists get their hands on a nuclear bomb. To accomplish this, we must increase funding for the Nunn-Lugar program to secure former Soviet nuclear weapons. And we must work aggressively with our Pakistani allies to make sure that, no matter what happens in the future, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal cannot fall into the hands of Jihadists.

"Pay attention to the Americas

"To our own back yard. Illegal trafficking of drugs and persons across the Mexican border threaten our national security. We need both better border security and comprehensive immigration reform – reform that provides for a guest worker program with a realistic and earned path to legalization. And we must abandon this notion of building a fence along the border. No fence ever built has stopped history and this one wouldn’t either. It just won’t work. Let’s use that money for real border enforcement -- and I have proposed doubling the number of border guards to do just that.

"Lead the global fight against poverty – which is the basis of so much violence.

We must promote equitable trade agreements, to create more jobs in all countries. And through our example and our diplomacy we must encourage all rich countries honor their UN Millennium goal commitments. A Commission on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, composed of world leaders and prominent experts, should be created to recommend ways of meeting Millennium commitments."

In many ways, these proposals can be said to embody the sum total of Bill Richardson's impressive foreign policy experience, and they merit serious debate among the candidates and serious consideration from voters. But whether these proposals get the hearing they deserve will largely depend on the effectiveness of Bill Richardson as his own best messenger. I've written before on this site that if resumes were everything in American politics, Bill Richardson would have it made. But there's quite a bit more to being elected President of the United States than simply pointing to one's resumes, and, as today shows, Bill Richardson still faces considerable hurdles in getting out of his own way in this regard.

Belated Thoughts, Old News

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 552

I realized this morning that I left a couple of posts from last week dangling with a promise of concluding thoughts, and hadn't followed through. D-oH! So here are wrap up thoughts from last week's doings at iPol.

Chris Dodd
On July 8, I made the drive from Des Moines out to Council Bluffs to catch the final stop on Dodd's "River to River" tour of Iowa. This was also to be the last of Dodd's joint appearances with legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon.

I loved going to this event. It was like something out of a Capra film: picnic in a park by the river on a blazing summer's day, when in rolls a presidential candidate for a short speech, followed by an unplugged set from a famous singer. The crowd responded well to Dodd, and boogied (the average age at this event was waaaay north of 40, so, sadly, "boogied" is the appropriate term to use in this instance...not a pretty sight!) like mad to Paul Simon classics like "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard." But I couldn't help thinking of another Paul Simon chestnut, "When Numbers Get Serious;" if Dodd doesn't come up with a very, very big play on his own or catch a major break at another candidate's expense, he may not have the wherewithal, financially or electorally, to stay in the race much past Iowa.

And that would be a shame, if for no other reason than it's the underdog, small campaigns like Dodd's that make events like the one in Council Bluffs possible.

Barack Obama
Ever since Obama declared his candidacy earlier this year, he's had a problem, albeit one that most other campaigns would love to have: meeting expectations. Every Obama event is attended with the question of when, or whether, Barack Obama will emerge as a true heavyweight destined to make his mark on history. I'm sure many would say that he's already done that; but if Obama's candidacy ended today, how many would still believe that? Since the first day of his candidacy, It's been all about potential for Obama, with the question being when will he make the leap from political phenom to presidential sure thing.

So I thought it a shrewd move, as well as a hopeful sign, when Obama built his July 10 Des Moines town hall event around a combination of Iraq, his signature issue in this campaign, and the economy, which heretofore hadn't come much onto his campaign radar. Obama pulled it off, but it wasn't his most stellar moment in the campaign; when it came time to go into detail about the direct cost of the Iraq war to the IA03 congressional district which includes Des Moines, Obama had to resort to reading the stats from a crib sheet. Not the image you want to project when trying to convey gravitas.

None of this made the appearance a failure for Obama, necessarily. But Obama's graduation to heavyweight will have to wait a bit longer, it seems.

Throwing all this into sharp relief, of course, was the simultaneous appearance of Hillary Clinton, only a few blocks away, at an event also themed around Iraq. As with all things in this race involving the Clinton-Obama rivalry, the two events generated lots of pundit chatter, but to no conclusion.

Bill Richardson
The transcript speaks for itself, so I will only add that an exclusive, one-on-one interview with a major presidential candidate, let alone one with four Nobel Prize nominations under his belt, has got to rank as the highlight in any blogger's week.

Joe Biden
I must admit, I found Joe Biden to be extremely impressive during his appearance at the Iowa Historical Society on July 13. A big part of the rap on Joe Biden is that he is said to be long winded when speaking, never passing up a chance to deliver a thousand word answer when one of a hundred words would suffice. I actually found the opposite to be true at this event: Biden brings out so many policy points and supporting facts so quickly and in such detail that any attempt to live blog his remarks is bound to amount to a summary, at best; there's no long "get to the point" lag time to allow you to compose your post at leisure.

Another point that gets made against Biden is that while he comes across as professorial (understandable, since he does, in fact, teach constitutional law), he doesn't come across as presidential. I've been inclined to agree on this point, up until this event. But walking out of the building afterwards, it occurred to me that there may be one president from the last century who provides at least a plausible correspondence with Biden in terms of temperament and presence: Harry S. Truman.

But before Biden should let his thoughts wander anywhere near such comparisons, he'll need to continue to work on smoothing his campaign technique, particularly when it comes to physically crowding voters he is addressing - he really gets right on top of them, in many cases uncomfortably so for the voter. And it remains to be seen whether the strategic political mistakes Biden admitted and discussed at the event can be reversed to an extent that gets him out of single digits in Iowa, or anywhere else. But here's wishing him luck, all the same; Joe Biden has got too much policy acumen to remain confined in the Senate.

OK, so much for old business. There's 181 days to go between now and the caucuses on January 14, and lots of twists and turns to come.

Richardson To Give "Major Speech" July 19 in Des Moines

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 554

New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate will Richardson will be back in Des Moines this coming Thursday, July 19 to deliver what his campaign is billing as a "major speech on Iraq and U.S. foreign policy."

Richardson will deliver the speech at a luncheon sponsored by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, a Des Moines-based policy study group. According to the group's web site, the speech is titled, "The Future Role of the United States in World Affairs."

I've attended previous events sponsored by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, featuring Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, and have been impressed both times. Given Bill Richardson's foreign policy stature, this speech will be a "must see" on my calendar.

Richardson's speech will be delivered at 11:30 AM on July 19 at the Des Moines Club, 34th Floor, Ruan Center, 666 Grand Avenue, Des Moines. Doors open at 11:00. The event is open to the public, but costs $25.00 at the door and an RSVP is required.