The Spencerian

Welcome to the Dance

By now you likely know of my deep loathing for the insufferable "year end" list.  I avoided doing any kind of list last year with a nice assist from Mayor Bloomberg and a timely snowstorm.  I didn't do a list last year (or the year before, or the year before), and I won't do one this year (though if Mr. Rothstein of Chicago is interested, we could develop a wager again for Election 2012; he should know I've left that door wide open if he'd care to walk through and likely trounce me once again).

To be honest and to be fair, you should know that I am reluctant to make a list of this or that for 2011 in part because it feels a bit like looking a gift horse in the mouth.  2011 was a good year for us.  Really good, in fact.  And for many of our friends, it was a very difficult year, I'm afraid.  I'm supposed to quantify all the great and good things in list form?  That seems cheap.  Tawdry, even.

My only real hope is that 2012 is a good year for us as well, and with the April(ish) arrival of Finn, it holds that promise in its delicate hands.  Duncan and I both have good thoughts and the highest of hopes for our friends and neighbors in 2012 as well.   

I apply the same logic to politics (and blogging, actually).  The things about which we can write and investigate have been blessedly abundant, and any of us who do this for fun or professionally ought to be most thankful for the bounty of this pre-election year.

2012 holds promise.  But here I will cop to my fear and apprehension.  Will it be the good year I so want it to be?  Personally, professionally, politically?  

I hope so.  I can't wait to have Finnegan in the world -- I know a lot's riding on him already, but the memory of the joy of having his sister here is still so vivid, it's easy to translate it into giddy anticipation.  Professionally, I've been at JWB five years in February.  That's the longest I've ever been at one job, anywhere (look, I'm a political creature; we move around a lot).  I'm curious to see what's in store for our changing organization.

As for politics, well, I've always thought of it as a kind of dance (albeit a drunken, nearly incomprehensible hootenany of a barn dance, but you get the idea).  Sometimes you have to sit one or two songs out.  Sometimes a careless drunk steps on your toes.  

Sometimes, though, the line goes 'round and 'round.  And you're in the lead.  

Here's to a happy, healthy, productive 2012 for us all.

Thanks for Your Vote

I know it was kind of a last-minute sort of deal, but I wanted to just take a minute to thank you for going to read the entries at Creative Loafing Tampa's fiction contest.  And if you voted for my entry -- Twilight & Brimstone -- thank you even more.  It means the world to me.

I don't know if I won yet -- they'll publish the winning stories in their January 5 issue, and a reading by the winners and judges on January 8 at 7:30.

Hey, whether I get chosen by the readers -- including you -- or the judges, like I said yesterday, I already won.  To be in the top ten out of more than 80 submissions is huge, and I'm so grateful.

Thanks. 

Administrative Business: Commenting

Just wanted to give you a quick update on an administrative piece I've updated here.  It's about the "comments" piece of the blog, which I gather is a bit of a headache for many bloggers.

Prior to today, you could leave an anonymous comment on any post on the blog.  I thought that was fair, open and a good way to do business.

The problem was all the spam comments.  Frankly, it was getting to be a pain to manage.  So now you have to leave a name and email addresss before you post -- and you have to do one of those random letter generator things.

I hate it, but it's apparently the only way to weed out the spam.

I hate the spam, but I love your comments.  Half the reason I started this blog was to get feedback from other folks, and the comments are a great way to do that.  

Anyway, thanks for reading -- and commenting.

Messina Appeal: No Bull****

Have you seen the Jim Messina video yet?  

Yeah, that one.  

In this video, Messina, the Obama/Biden 2012 Campaign Manager, lays out several maps to victory.  Interesting maps, for sure.  I'd point out the one -- one of five -- dedicated to Florida alone.  

It's also notable for him calling "bullshit" on the notion of the billion dollar campaign.  Literally:

“People have speculated this is a billion-dollar campaign,” Messina said. “That’s bulls---. We don’t take PAC money unlike our opponents. We fund this campaign in contributions of $3 or $5 or whatever you can do to help us expand the map, to put more people on the ground, to build a real grassroots campaign.”

Nice.  I suspect that was to get his point some attention, and it has.  

It was also followed up by an email: 

You may have heard chatter from the other side about the President's so-called "billion-dollar war chest." When they say that, they're intentionally doing two things:

1.) Because they know that kind of sum turns people off from politics, they're misleading you. We do not and will not have a billion-dollar war chest.

2.) They're trying to make you think your support doesn't matter to the President. What kind of difference does $5 or $25 make to a billion-dollar campaign?

Here's the truth: $5 and $25 donations have powered this organization from the start. And we measure our success not by how many dollars we raise, but by how many people are inspired to own a piece of this campaign.

Smart move.  And I'm glad he did it.  Hopefully people will keep donating.

Can You Go Vote? I've Got a Story at CL Tampa's Fiction Contest

I posted this over at Clintonaut, but figured it couldn't hurt to have here as well.  It's not political, so I hope my regular political readers will forgive me.  I do mention a lot of the good things that have happened here at the Spencerian in the last year, for which I'm grateful.  

 

Thanks for reading.

# # # #

 

You know me.  I'm not big on pushing my own stuff.  Nor am I very good at it.  

But I'd like your help with this:

Yes, you're going to need to go vote.  But let me ask this favor of you by saying this first:

2011 has been a good year for me and my writing projects.  At my political blog, the Spencerian, I've had a number of posts selected as the Post of the Day from the Florida Progressive Coalition.  My friends at Progress Florida have also picked posts to be highlighted in their weekly Best of the Blogs roundup.  In both cases, these are top-notch political organizations, and I always end up in good company.

In August, Chris Cillizza, who is running one of the best political media teams in the nation over at The Washington Post's the Fix blog, picked the Spencerian as one of nine of the best Florida had to offer.  That was huge for me, and I'm still humbled every time I think about it.  

In October, the Spencerian became a Newstex syndicated blog.  I was deeply honored that they reached out to me, and I'm glad to be a part of their team. 

Back in February, I started Clintonaut, which I have billed as a blog for fiction and the occasional anecdote about my time in the Clinton Administration.  Clintonaut has been home to lots of flash fiction challenges from a website I love, Terribleminds, honcho-ed by an accomplished writer named Chuck Wendig.  Chuck doles out lots of advice for writers, and I gobble it all up nearly as fast as he can write it.  

Often, Chuck's challenges involve winning something, and in October, my entry won me a copy of his novella, Shotgun Gravy (which you should read).

It was November when I started publishing, chapter by chapter, a novel I started nearly twenty years ago: The Deal.  I realize it's far from perfect -- in fact, I figure it's probably marginal, at best.  It certainly flies in the face of a lot of the conventional wisdom Chuck offers on his site.  But I felt like I had to do it, and with only a few chapters to go, it feels good to have it out there. 

It has been a good year for me and my writing projects.

Really, it has been a great year for me and my writing projects, and I want to sincerely thank you for reading, whether it's fiction or politics or both.  It means the world to me.  

This brings me to the favor, which I will not ask for in the traditional way.  

Over at Creative Loafing Tampa, they had a fiction contest.  You had a 3,000 word limit (which isn't just a whole lot, trust me), and the theme was "Heat."  That was it: incorporate "heat" into your story, and keep it to 3,000 words.  Cost five bucks to enter.

Three judges -- Jeff Parker of the University of Tampa, CL columnist Catherine Durkin Robinson [who I should say is an acquaintance by blogging and a Facebook friend of mine], and CL Editor-in-Chief David Warner -- chose their top ten out of the more than 80 they had submitted.  By the way, you submitted anonymously, so no one knows who wrote what.

So here's the news: my story made the top ten.

Now it's up to the voters.

The winner of the most reader votes gets $250.  The judges choice gets $500.  Both get published in the January 5 issue of CL Tampa, and get to read their stuff at an event on January 8.   

The thing is, voting closes at 12:00 pm tomorrow, Friday December 30.  

A normal person would tell you the name of his story and have you go vote for it.  

You and I both know that I equate "normal" with "easy" and easy is no fun.  I am in good, even great company with those other nine stories.  You'll see.  

Here's my proposition.  Go read the stories. 3,000 words is a lot, but it's not that damn much.  Remember -- there are no names associated with any of them.  

Go read.

And try to guess which one is mine.

And then vote for it.  Or decide it's crap and vote for something else.  Or, if you'd really like to vote for mine and want to make sure you got the right one, you can email me and request the name of the story.  I'll tell you, and I will thank you most sincerely and profusely for your vote.

bkirby816 [AT] Yahoo [dot] com

In fact, I thank you in advance.

Remember, you've only got until 12:00 tomorrow, so email me tonight or tomorrow morning and I'll get back to you.

Here's the thing: I'm not in it to win it.  I mean, I'd love to win, but truth is, I've already won.  The top ten?  Out of 80?  Are you kidding me?  That's great, and I'm flyin' high, gang.  It's wonderful to have that much recognition.  Anything more would just be gravy.

2011 has been a great year for me and my writing projects.  But it would all be meaningless without you.

Click here to read these nine great stories and mine, and go vote.

The Obama/Clinton (Non) Ticket Deal: The Only Thing You Need To Know

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Hillary Clinton is not running for President of the United States in 2012.  She is also not running as President Obama's Vice President in 2012, as former Labor Secretary Robert Reich seems to think, and I'm going to tell you why.

First, though, let me say this: I've been dismissive of the former Labor Secretary in the past, and maybe that was a mistake.  After all, the Clintons and Secretary Reich have been chums since their college days.  Maybe he knows something I don't.

Well.  He knows a hell of a lot I don't, but I just mean in regards to 2012.  He professes to have no insider information, but you tell me: how hard would it be for, say, the former president to let slip a little inside baseball to his old college buddy?  I mean, you can see it, right?

...Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that’s been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that.

If that's all it would take, then the Democratic base is in sorrier shape than I thought.

The deal would also make Clinton the obvious Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 — offering the Democrats a shot at twelve (or more) years in the White House, something the Republicans had with Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush but which the Democrats haven’t had since FDR. Twelve years gives the party in power a chance to reshape the Supreme Court as well as put an indelible stamp on America. 

I recently had a conversation with a friend and colleague about 2016, embarrassingly enough.  We were playing the old who's who game for Democrats.  Mayor Cory Booker's name was the opening parry.  I rebutted with Senator Mark Udall of Colorado.  Gavin Newsom was bandied back.  I curveballed it with Senator John Tester.  Andrew Cuomo was spiked across the net, and after too long a time I remembered Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.  It was an abject loss for me (on so many levels), but we agreed that it would be worth watching the speeches of the Democratic Convention for sure.  

And of course, the field-clearer is Secretary Clinton.  

Okay, here's why HRC in 2012 as the VP is a bad idea, if Secretary Reich (or anyone) is listening.  Remember how Secretary Reich said this?

...Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that’s been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that.

Pretty much replace "Democrats" with "Republicans" and you get to the heart of the problem.  

Republicans, if you haven't noticed, are, as the kids say, a hot mess.  A hot mess.  Look at his GOP primary.  Look at it!  A racist Texas Congressman who thinks it's okay for people without health insurance to just die is about to win the first-in-the-nation caucus!  They're more than likely to end up nominating a Mormon who actually introduced the first version of the health care reform law when he was governor of Massachusetts! 

These guys are a train wreck.  The tea party weirdos have divided the base, fractured it -- perhaps irreparably.

Unless, of course, Democrats do something to unite that base.  Let's see, in the last few decades, what has been something or someone who has united the Republican base, time and again.

Oh, yeah.  These guys:

photo credit: Mary Altaffer/WireImage.com/via Esquire

 Okay, so I have one more reason for the Secretary not to do it: 

image via CBS News/AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus

Now, I assume that Secretary Clinton would have learned the lesson of the Clinton Administration that former Vice President Al Gore seemed totally and completely unable to, which is that you have to successfully put distance between yourself and the previous administration, while simultaneously embracing it. 

This was impossible for Gore to do in 2000, and he bricked it every chance he got.  Not having Clinton campaign in Arkansas?  This was as dumb a move as they come.  Had Gore won Arkansas, Florida wouldn't have mattered... well.  Nevermind.

My take is that four years sitting out -- say, helping your husband with his foundation -- allows you to do good work and cheer-lead for the second-term Obama Administration from a safe distance.  Embrace, but give distance.  

As VP, she'll be the second face of the Obama Administration, and who knows: after four more years of Obama, my guess is folks will want something new.  Totally new.  Four years on the outside?  That may be just the ticket.

Pinellas Politics Roundup

I had some pretty harsh words at Commissioner Morroni's expense a few days ago.  It seems the Commissioner wanted to re-enact the first Pinellas County Commission meeting of 100 years ago.  Complete with period garb.  

Now, Commissioner Morroni associates with a more conservative element, and so he and I would likely disagree on just about everything politically.  

That said, you can disagree with folks, but you don't wish them ill, and so it is on that note that I'm sorry to report that Commissioner Morroni, who had battled cancer in the past, has had that cancer return.

Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni announced Wednesday that his cancer has returned.

Morroni, who was treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2008, said he met with doctors at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa who confirmed the news Tuesday. He is awaiting test results while the cancer team at Moffitt can determine a treatment strategy, which includes chemotherapy.

He and his family will be in our thoughts as he fights this tough battle.

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A scoop from Peter Schorsch at SaintPetersblog: State Representative Darryl Rouson is re-thinking what would have been a tough bid for the State Senate (against Republican Jim Frishe in a district that hasn't even been officially drawn yet).  

After taking a hard look at the proposed district lines for the State Senate seat to be drawn for south Pinellas, Representative Darryl Rouson has reconsidered his bid for State Senate, will drop out of the race and run for re-election to the Florida House, according to sources very close to the campaign.

I said not long ago that a lot of politics is timing, and knowing when to say "no" as much as saying "yes" -- if this is Rouson's "no," then I have to think he may be making the right move here.

Question, which was not answered on Peter's site: does this mean Representative Rouson will face former St. Petersburg City Council Member Renee Flowers?  (Actually, I know the answer to that: yes, because Ms. Flowers already filed).  The real question is, what kind of primary fight does Representative Rouson have on his hands now?  

Guest Post: Health Care for More Than the Lucky Few - 10 Reasons to Champion the Affordable Care Act

The following is a guest post from Darden Rice, the Florida Communications Director for Know Your Care/Protect Your Care.  

Let's face facts: health care reform is going to be a big deal this election year (and, just FYI, it's going to be a big deal for years to come).  I don't care who the GOP nominates -- the ads attacking "Obamacare" will be relentless.  You'll be sick of them by Labor Day.
 
But what does health care reform really mean?  To hell with the political noise, how does it impact us? 

Health Care Reform is the most important legislative accomplishment in years.  It's important that we understand it, and that's exactly why Darden is here.  

# # # #

How does the landmark health care reform legislation, called the Affordable Care Act, really measure up on the 2011 scorecard? It scores 4 stars out of 5.  That’s pretty good given its youth and grand vision to improve health care access, affordability and quality for all Americans in this decade. Despite a lot of noise and confusion over opponents’ claims, a quick look at the facts shows that this reform law is well on its way to helping protect working families and the middle class. Even here in Florida, and in spite of Governor Scott’s vehement opposition to the law through litigation, refusal to accept significant federal funds or prepare to implement its upcoming provisions, we see positive results. 
60% of Americans say the ACA should be given time more time to work to fully realize its benefits.*  

Here’s why: 

1) GRANDMA WILL GET BETTER BENEFITS - The Affordable Care Act  (ACA) protects Medicare for current seniors and strengthens it for future generations by focusing on the provision of free preventative care, reducing medication costs, and cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse, ending handouts to insurance, medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

2) SAVING FLORIDA’S SENIORS MILLIONS - More than 100,000 Florida seniors have benefited from the prescription coverage gap discount this year, saving nearly $52 million. Seniors will receive bigger discounts in the years ahead. By 2020, the so-called ‘donut hole’ coverage gap in prescription medicine costs will be closed completely.

3) COVERAGE FOR YOUNG ADULTS - Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million more young adults (under 26) have health insurance coverage in 2011. An estimated 78,000 young adults in Florida will gain coverage this year because of this provision. 

4) A POUND OF CURE - Nationwide, 24 million people - or approximately half of those who have traditional Medicare – have taken advantage of free preventative health benefits, including an annual evaluation, and/or other free screening services, such as mammography, colonoscopy, and immunizations.

5) FOLLOW THE MONEY - Through 2011, the Prevention and Public Health Fund has already provided a total of $23.3 million to Florida to support the critical work of State and local health departments. Even though Gov. Scott has turned away many ACA related funds, there is still a financial lifeline to help enact its provisions.  

6) CUTS WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE - It will be much harder to bilk Medicare and Medicaid. In a sweeping effort to restore accountability, the Affordable Care Act returned $5.6 billion back to Medicare by cutting waste, fraud and abuse. 

7) YOUR CHILD’S ASTHMA WON’T GET HER KICKED OFF YOUR INSURANCE PLAN - The Affordable Care Act protects 960,000 children in Florida with pre-existing conditions right now.  In 2014, under the ACA, NO person can be denied insurance coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, and they will pay the same premiums as those without such conditions. 

8) JOBS, JOBS, JOBS -  Within one year of  the passage of the Affordable Care Act, 1.4 million jobs have been created.  235,000 of those jobs are in healthcare, a growth sector. 

9) THE AMERICAN SPIRIT OF SERVICE - The ACA strengthens a longtime program that allows medical graduates to get up to $175,000 in loans paid off in return for five years of medical service to underserved communities. 10) SCHOOL BASED CLINICS- $2.6 million for School Based Health Centers in Florida will help clinics expand and provide more health care services directly to communities.  

A WORD ABOUT HEALTH CARE REFORM OPPONENTS: Many of the opponents of health care reform in Congress want to take away most or all of the provisions mentioned above…but only from you. These protections are still good enough to keep for themselves as members of Congress. And, of course, they see healthcare as a privilege, rather than a basic human need.  They think that the more money you have, or the more important your job is, the more entitled you are to get your health care needs met.

IS THE LAW CONSTITUTIONAL? Social Security and Medicare went through the same growing pains and Supreme Court challenges to become the important, highly valued services they are today.  More than a hundred law professors, 35 economists, and three Nobel Prize winners say there's no doubt the new health law is constitutional. A majority of circuit court judges have ruled in favor of the law’s requirement for everyone to pay into their own insurance, including notoriously conservative justices.  

THE BOTTOM LINE: The Affordable Care Act is working to both protect more American families and to fix a badly broken health care system. We need to keep the law in place and begin the work to make it even better.  Learn about this new law’s benefits, know how it affects you, fight for it, and defend it.  The facts are on your side, and your life might someday depend on it. 

*Bloomberg News National Poll, June 2011. Study #2023. 

Off the Radar Welcome Back (Your Dream Was Your Ticket Out) Edition

So Christmas was great.  Santa Claus definitely visited Emeline.  Twice.  Maybe three times.  Hey, the guy's been across two thirds of the globe by the time he gets here -- he's bushed.  He gets confused... maybe he hits a little of the "Christmas cheer" on the ride over the Atlantic.  I don't know.

What I do know is that it was great.  I'm a lucky guy -- lucky to have the family I do.  Lucky to have a job that affords me a bit of time off, lets me unplug and come back, fresh and ready to go with new ideas for the new year.  

All of that being said, I'm glad it's over.  And I'm looking forward to whatever 2012 has in store.

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Conservative Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is retiring.

Frankly, I have to say good riddance.  I know it's terrible strategy -- "Democrats!  In danger!  Of losing!  The Senate!" is the bottom line of the POLITICO piece linked above -- but how you can be as conservative as Nelson and still be characterized as one of the "most endangered" Senators is beyond me.  

You might recall Senator Nelson's name from the health care fight days.  He was the one who held hostage the entire bill in order to get, well, stuff for his state, for lack of a better way to say it.  

And this is what his opposite has wrought.  A retirement -- at the age of 70, I'd note -- under political duress.  What a legacy. 

Democrats can do better.  Who knows.  Maybe we will.

# # # #

Remember the mess a few months ago around Michele Bachmann's comments on the HPV vaccine?  Yeah, seems like a long time ago.  Wasn't all that long ago.  A lot can happen in politics in a little amount of time.

Anyway, Dan Savage had this to say about it, in part:

Religious conservatives loved the HPV virus because it killed women. Here was a potentially fatal STI that condoms couldn't protect you from. Abstinence educators pointed to HPV and jumped up and down—they loved to overstate HPV's seriousness and its deadliness—in their efforts to scare kids into saving themselves for marriage. And they fought the introduction of the HPV vaccine tooth-and-nail because vaccinating women against HPV would "undermine" the abstinence message. 

As a father and as a political moderate, I read the whole thing with gritted teeth.  But as much as it scares me as a father, and offends the (wannabe) political moderate, I am obliged to offer you this challenge: find one word in there that's false.  It's in your face, it's aggressive, it's reactionary.  

You go back and listen to what people like Bachmann have said in their abstinence messages, and you tell me that this isn't true.

As an aside, I'm guessing it'll be Bachmann that drops out of the GOP primary race if she doesn't do better than third or fourth in Iowa.  

# # # #

Memorandum to my friends in the "regular" media: editors still matter.  

Yeah, okay, check out the headline from the Aaron Deslatte Orlando Sentinel piece, found here at Saint Petersblog: Florida's safety net has survived budget cuts.  And when you click the link from Peter's site to the Sentinel, you'll see the same headline.

You think, great news!  Thank god all those poor people are getting the services... wait, what?

Because of course that's not right.  And I was all set to go to work on Deslatte and the Sentinel and call them out for fibbing, a la PolitiFact and their so-called Lie of the Year.  And then I read the article.

Well, the doggone safety net didn't survive at all!  Unless you call the tattered mess of whatever sorry tapestry of service still serves a handful of Floridians a "safety net".  Trust me, this isn't a net you'd want to have under your high-wire act.

So before you get all pissed, click the "single page" link on the Sentinel site.  And then check the headline again.

See there?

"Loss of stimulus funds imperils social services."

So, which is it?  Did the safety net live?  Or are social services imperiled?

Or is my brain scrambled having watched "Tangled" too many times, now?  Cut me some slack.  I've got a toddler, and it's Christmas.  Also, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) has some chops.  Don't you think?

 -- More later -- 

Merry Christmas, Friends and Neighbors

If you've been good this year, then may you find the blessings of Christmas under your tree.  Or wherever you look for them.  If you've been naughty, then may you take stock in 2012 and start anew.

Merry Christmas, friends and neighbors.

Finally Friday Skipping Out Edition

No news, they say, is good news.  And so I'm letting you off the hook with a Finally Friday that does little more than wish you well for the holiday season.  Sometimes you just have to let the politics go.

It's Christmas in our house, and I intend to focus on my ever-patient wife and beautiful, happy daughter, who, without question, made Santa's "good" list this year.  I'm sure it's the start of a life-long trend for her, one her brother will follow as well.

At any rate, it's light posting for the next several days, friends and neighbors.  Merry Christmas, to all.

It's Time to Help One of the Good Guys: Keith Fitzgerald for Congress

I'm running for Congress because our political leaders have failed miserably when it comes to standing up for hard-working American families, creating jobs, lowering the deficit and honoring our nation's seniors by protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Floridians and all Americans deserve a representative who is committed to serving the public with honesty and integrity. That means doing what's right for everyday Americans, even if it upsets the powerful special interests in Washington and the billionaires on Wall Street.

From the Keith Fitzgerald for Congress website.  Donate today if you can.

DailyKos decided to lead off with a quick overview of the race in Florida's 13th Congressional District.  And for good reason.  The Federal Election Commission came out with a pretty harsh report on the campaign dealings of one of CREW's Most Corrupt Congressmen (Vern said it "exonerated" him, and it surely did not). 

Even if Buchanan really did think the report "exonerated" him, he couldn't have been popping the champagne corks.  The House Ethics Committee announced that they were extending their own investigation.

The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that it was extending an inquiry into a complaint again Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) by 45 days, the committee's first public acknowledgement that it was pursuing a probe involving Buchanan.

The top Republican and Democrat on the panel announced a joint decision to look further into claims against Buchanan brought to them by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) on Nov. 8. The Ethics Committee was up against a deadline to either extend the matter by another 45 days or publicly disclose the complaint that OCE had transmitted to them.

No indication was given as to the nature of the probe.

On top of it all is the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice of Buchanan, the National Republican Campaign Committee's Finance Chairman.

Makes you wonder when the guy has time to be an actual Congressman.

Oh, wait.  Apparently, he doesn't.  Amidst all that, Buchanan missed one of the year's key votes on the payroll tax cut.

Stop the madness -- let's just stop it.  It's time for the people of the 13th Congressional District to have a Member of Congress who cares.  One who cares about public service, one who has honesty and integrity.  

Let's get together and help Keith Fitzgerald.

Yes, I'm asking you to donate to his campaign just two days before Christmas.

But I'm aslo asking you to help me do what they're already doing at DailyKos -- let's make this race the most talked about race in Florida.  Because it should be.  

Help me get the word out.  Share Keith's website on your Facebook page -- go to his Facebook page and "like" it if you haven't already.   Go follow the campaign on Twitter (@GoFitzGo).  Do all of that -- and share it.  Share Keith's campaign with your networks.  Friends, neighbors, political circles.

Vern Buchanan is a crook.  He is exonerated from nothing.

Keith Fitzgerald ought to be the next Congressman from Florida's 13th Congressional District -- and you should help him get there.

This is my holiday wish: help my friend Keith Fitzgerald.  Help us spread the word.

Q & A: Smart Question, Dumb Process

Dear Spencerian Editors: 

Hello.  At the risk of sounding ignorant, can you explain the importance of Iowa in political campaigns. My wife and several friends that discuss politics always bring this up and the answer is collectively I don't know and it is left at that.  I would like to put this question to rest. Your explanation is greatly appreciated. Thank You.                                

Happy Holidays,

John S.

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First of all, thank you for the fantastic question, John.  Second, a sincere and hearty thank you for providing a question which allows me to bring back this series that I really enjoy a lot, We Answer Your Political Questions.  Now, on to your timely question!

Before I go into any depth on Iowa and the unique caucus/primary process we have in this country, let me make one thing abundantly clear to you: your question is not ignorant, nor are you.

The caucus and primary process by which we ultimately elect a President and Vice-President is ignorant.  It is profoundly ignorant.  It is ignorant on a grand scale.  It is stupid.  It is dumb.  It is thoughtless, pathetic, weird, moronic, foolish, almost wholly without merit, and entirely unworthy of a democracy as grand as the United States of America.

That this fundamentally flawed process hasn't been changed in many decades is a woeful testament to our broken political system.  Not that there haven't been good ideas.  More on those in a minute.

First, though, let's talk about Iowa (and New Hampshire, and us other early primary and caucus states, too) and the fact that a bunch of self-important old, white corn farmers* determine the nominee for President of the United States.  

Now, I used a lot of negative words to describe the Iowa Caucuses and our larger process for how this all works about.  I said it was "almost wholly without merit."  "Almost" was the key word, there.  

For those who enjoy the entertainment/media spectacle, it is utterly fantastic.  I cast myself in that sorry lot: being able to write and blog about candidates making fools of themselves in places like Iowa simply makes for great content.  Newt Gingrich getting cussed by a camo-clad local at a grocery store?  That's solid gold right there.  

There is another, much more practical (less awful on a human level) reason for having caucuses and primaries: these events select the delegates who will represent their state at the party conventions, held next summer (you can visit the site for the Democratic Convention, which will be in Charlotte North Carolina the week of September 3, by clicking here; you can visit the site for the Republican Convention, which takes place August 27-30, and will be in my neck of the woods in Tampa, by clicking here).

You have to remember, John: you don't actually vote for a presidential candidate in a primary.

You only think you do.  

I know.  You're in Iowa, and you saw all those names on the ballot -- Gingrich, Perry, Romney, Bachmann, Santorum, Paul -- and you selected one on a ballot, put it in a box, walked away.  So what happened next, at each of those precincts where the voting took place?

Here is what will happen on January 3 of 2012 in Iowa -- and what the result will be: caucuses -- events where people come together and vote -- will happen in all of the 1,784 precincts in Iowa.  Those precincts will then send delegates representing whichever candidate won that precinct to their appropriate county convention, one of 99 in the state.  Those conventions then pick delegates to go to the Iowa State Convention.  It is there that candidate-representative delegates will be selected to go to the national convention (in the case of the Republicans, down here in Tampa this August).  

So, on January 3, some people will identify a handful of people to go to a county event, where other people will be selected to go to a state-wide event, where other people will be selected to come to Tampa in August and pledge their nomination for... Well.  Who wins the Iowa Caucus may well be a far cry from who gets the nomination.  

I know what you're thinking, John: that's an awful lot of work.  Doesn't somebody do it better?  

The answer is, well, sort of.  New Hampshire, as I'm sure you've heard, has the first-in-the-nation primary.  This is different than a "caucus."  In a primary -- like the one in New Hampshire -- delegates to the national convention are selected directly, on primary day (in this case, on January 10, 2012; just around the corner).  

You can see the difference.  In Iowa, these local-level delegates end up trading their support and repositioning their loyalties.  Sometimes complex alliances are formed, and two candidates with fewer committed delegates each will throw support one way or the other in order to defeat a third candidate.  And with nearly 2,000 precincts, you can see why political experts agree: you need a strong campaign staff in Iowa, and you need it early.  

In New Hampshire, the delegates going to the national nominating convention are picked right then, that day.  You win New Hampshire, you've taken your first steps in garnering enough delegate votes at the convention to win the nomination.   

I know what your'e thinking again, John: that's not much better, really.  

And you're right.  Because New Hampshire is the first primary in the nation, and because Iowa the first caucus, the candidates spend and inordinate amount of time there, and the media focuses an inordinate amount of attention on them.  

It's a messy process.  And it's a bi-partisan mess.  In the 2008 election, I was going to vote for John Edwards in the primary here in Florida (please remember, this was before Senator Edwards'... problems came to light).  But by the time it got around to us, he was toast.  I ended up voting for Obama.

Which, in a funny way, is some of the case Iowans and New Hampshirites make for having one-state, early caucuses and primaries.  Let's take a quick page from the playbook of former Florida Governor and former Senator Bob Graham, himself a former presidential candidate:

Iowa and New Hampshire are not perfect, but they are more likely to eliminate flawed candidates than states where voters see only television commercials. In 1972, Ed Muskie, a former vice presidential candidate and Maine senator, was supposed to trounce his Democratic rivals in New Hampshire. But voters picked up on Senator Muskie’s tendency to wear his temper on his sleeve. He barely won a contest that should have been a cakewalk. His candidacy soon ended.

Twenty-four years later, Iowa caucus-goers killed the hopes of Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, another early favorite. In the 1996 Republican contest, Mr. Gramm dazzled insiders and pundits with his money-raising prowess. After Iowans met the acerbic Mr. Gramm face-to-face, they voted him fifth in the caucuses. He dropped out of the race.

New Hampshire voters did not derail the candidacy of Gov. George W. Bush in 2000, but they tried. By giving John McCain a resounding 19-point victory, New Hampshire primary voters sent Americans a strong early warning about a man whose presidency has been a major disappointment.

We shouldn't question the judgement of the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire.  Anyone that spikes the Phil Gramm campaign is good in my book.  

However, I think Senator Graham has a better way:

In our new political environment, Iowa and New Hampshire are unlikely to reclaim the role they once played in screening our future presidents. Too many other states are eager to influence the process, too.

So if we can’t recreate the past, what would be the next best screen? Some have wryly suggested a political version of “American Idol,” with voters sizing up candidates from living rooms across the nation and eliminating one candidate per week until the party nominee is chosen. I think the better analogy is college football’s Bowl Championship Series, which rotates the title game from year to year among the traditional bowl games.

A series of five regional primaries, spaced three weeks apart and rotated every four years, would give voters from Miami to Maui to Manchester opportunities to be first in the nation. Candidates could spend more time with citizens of neighboring states and less time on coast-to-coast flights. Because the primaries would be stretched out over three months rather than three weeks, reporters and other political scorekeepers could not rush to declare a national winner.

Regional primaries are not as intimate as living rooms in Cedar Rapids and Portsmouth. But they might accomplish what the 2008 primary season probably will not: a comprehensive and meticulous screening of the men and women who would be president.

How Americans aren't clamoring for this is beyond me.  I always kind of thought people liked having a say -- a la American Idol, as Senator Graham alluded to.  Of course, a better way doesn't always mean a popular way, and Iowa (and New Hampshire, and all the others), as I said above, provide a lot of good stuff for folks in the media to write about.  Makes you wonder, though: do Presidents Gramm, Muskie and McCain agree?  

In closing, let me add one more region to the five Senator Graham suggested: social media.  If our current process seems vaguely antiquated to you, that's because it is.  Woefully so.  I can set up a questionnaire on Survey Monkey in ten minutes.  I can do virtually the same thing on Facebook in five.

I have friends in the technology world who could probably take me to school on how to do this on-line better than I could explain it.  The point is, that's a big missing piece to me.  You want to engage young people (we need to)?  You want to increase electoral turnout (we need to; 2010 was just under 38%, 2008 was just under 57%.... in the greatest democracy in the world, we can do better).

Simple question: why hasn't there been a Facebook Primary? Where's the Twitter Primary?  It's nearly 2012, people.  I mean, I was supposed to have my flying car by now.  

John, thank you again for your wonderful question.  Hope I've been of some help.  And I hope you and your family have a safe and happy holiday, and a glorious new year.

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* For the record, John, I like Iowa.  I like Iowa a lot, actually.  I know people from Iowa, and they are good people.  They are wonderful people, as a matter of fact, and I care about them a great deal.  The point of that particular comment was, if you look at the demographics of Iowa, they don't necessarily match up with much of the rest of America.  For example, the state as a whole is 91% white.  America is about 72%.  The numbers are disproportionate when you look at Asians and Hispanics as well.  Iowans are a little older than the American average, but only by a couple of percentage points.  At any rate, I hope my Iowa friends and family will forgive me. 

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I WANT TO ANSWER YOUR POLITICAL QUESTIONS: Ask away.  I'll give it my very best shot.  No question is too weird, no subject is off the table.  Just so long as it's political. 

Just email me: bkirby816 AT yahoo DOT com

Almost Friday Beat Version Edition

Thug Congressman Vern Buchanan is as awful and corrupt as they come -- literally.  Looks like the House Ethics panel is extending their investigation into his shady dealings and campaign shenanigans.

No word on how the Justice Department investigation is moving along.

Just this week, the Federal Election Commission came out with a scathing report against Buchanan, questioning his credibility and pretty much called him out as a crook.  The idea that the report "exonerated" him, which he said after it was produced, is ridiculous.

The FEC came "close to supporting a finding" that Buchanan broke the law -- they were worried about the credibility of one of their witnesses.

Look, if you want a Congressman who isn't as corrupt and crooked as Vern Buchanan, then go support Keith Fitzgerald for Congress.  

Go Fitz Go!

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Someone told me about Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner commenting on the body of the First Lady.  

I swear to you, I thought it was a joke.  I thought someone was yanking my chain.

"She lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself."

Remember when people used to resign in shame?  Those were the good old days. 

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I told you Jeb Bush wasn't running for president.

Not that I needed my point proved, but it was proved today when Big Daddy Bush -- President George H.W. Bush, that is -- endorsed Mitt Romney.

Bush and his wife, Barbara, said that if their son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, did not run, then they would back Romney in November 2010 on CNN. "We like Mitt Romney. We know him well and like him very much," he said.

You're telling me that Jeb Bush's father -- a guy as connected enough to the Republican Party to be a former President of the United States himself -- is going to endorse Mitt Romney, then promptly revoke his endorsment when his son gets in the race?  

Time to get out of dreamland, you goofballs.

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I don't know what the world of the near-term future looks like for my children, and I desperately want to.  

My guess, though, is that we'll see a lot more things like this from people like Louis C.K., who gave away most of his $1 million in earnings from a comedy special he sold for five bucks on the Internet.  

You can agree or disagree with what he did and how he did it.  I'm not sure the mechanics of it are the point -- the point is that he did something different.  And he did it on his own terms.  

You might call it a localization of capitalism.  

I'm not sure I fully understand it, but I think I like it.  And it may well be the future.

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Falling down.  All the way down.

It's almost Friday.

I first heard this version of this particular song from The Primitives in 1989.  I was eighteen years old, at Curry College in Milton, Mass., just outside of Boston.  

This song came over the radio, and I damn near went insane.  It was shit-hot rock and roll, mean and fast, and totally and blessedly new to my ears.  I grew up on an eclectic mix of The Beatles, Jimmy Buffett, The Eagles, and a lot of other stuff, not to mention the fact that the 80s, my formative years, were a low point for popular music.  

At Curry, I heard a lot of new old stuff, like Bob Dylan and The Byrds and other things I'd just never managed to explore before college.  It was this music though -- this and so much more, from the likes of U2, R.E.M., Love and Rockets, The Smithereens -- that lit a fire with me.  

The flame is still burning.   

Never heard anything like it before, and I don't suppose I've heard anything like it since.  

I Take Joy in the Republican Election Conflagration

It makes me a terrible person, I know, and I'm quite certain Santa Claus intends to leave a gigantic lump of coal in my stocking, but I love reading about the consultants on the GOP side fighting it out. 

Mitt Romney’s campaigns for governor and president have employed perhaps the three signature political admen of their generation: Mike Murphy, Alex Castellanos and Stuart Stevens.

They are talented consultants who made reputations and fortunes in a rough and sharp-elbowed profession. To varying degrees, they have parlayed that success at gritty Republican politics into the glamour of high-profile media careers.

Also: They hate each other.

Nothing better than a bunch of creeps hatin' on each other.  

This makes me no better than them, I know it.  But I don't drink anymore, I'm a virtual vegetarian now, I don't smoke, don't do drugs, and so schadenfreude is pretty much all I got left.  Let me bask in the glow of their misery.  

I am also fully aware of karma, and expect that this will be me at some point sooner than I'd like to admit.  It is the nature of things.  

On a vaguely serious note, this is a problem for Romney (one of many).  I said it before with respect to Gingrich and Cain -- a campaign apparatus (staff, and yes, consultants) matters.  It just does.  And when you have staff and advisers saying things -- on the record -- such as "Murphy wouldn’t come back in unless they agreed to shoot Stu in the head," and "Stu" is your number one campaign guy, then you have campaign problems.  Period.

That being said I know who will play creepy jerk Mike Murphy in the straight-to-DVD movie they'll inevitably make of Election 2012.  Jesus, can you even tell the difference? 

Image of Mike Murphy via POLITICO/AP Photos                                     Image of Phillip Seymour Hoffman via here

I'm sorry.  I could've posted about something a lot more serious.  Say, an Iowa farmer calling Newt Gingrich a fucking asshole.

Lord, is this the best election year, or what?