Elections

Pelosi: 'Impeachment is off the table'

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged not to pursue impeachment of President George W. Bush if Democrats win the November election.

"Impeachment is off the table," said Pelosi in an interview aired Sunday on CBS "60 Minutes."

Asked if that was a pledge, Pelosi said it was.

"Yes, it is a pledge," she said. "Of course it is."

By Scott Galindez
t r u t h o u t | www.truthout.org

This November 7th, there is a strong argument for voting for process. Our forefathers set up three branches of government to insure that power would not be concentrated in the hands of a few. I am not arguing that under ideal circumstances one party can't effectively control all three branches and effectively exercise oversight. For that to happen, members of Congress would need to put the country ahead of partisan politics. In the current political climate that is unlikely to happen.

11:45 A.M. Monday 10/30/06
UC Irvine Campus
At the Flag Pole / Gateway Plaza

CINDY SHEEHAN
PDA National Advisory Board Member,
Peace Advocate and Gold Star Mom

MIMI KENNEDY
PDA National Board Chair, Election
Protection Advocate and Actress

TIM CARPENTER
Executive Director of PDA
Help us ORGANIZE and MOBILIZE the VOTE for
PDA Endorsed Congressional Candidate

STEVE YOUNG (48th District)

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Democrats win control of the U.S. Congress in the November 7 election, it would turn the Capitol upside down and create a political nightmare for the already embattled President George W. Bush.

If his Republicans lose the majority, Bush would hear newly empowered calls to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and would suddenly face promised Democratic-led congressional investigations with subpoena power into the unpopular war.

A Report by Sari Gelzer, www.truthout.org
Pombo Meets His Match - Jerry McNerny's "People Power."
Video.

In California's District 11, Democrat Jerry McNerny is up against GOP congressman Richard Pombo, who not only has five times the fundraising budget, but has won his seat in the house seven terms in a row and is chair of the House Resources Committee. Strong grass-roots mobilization paired with a dissatisfaction with Pombo's support of Big Oil's and developer's interests over his local constituents' needs has brought even Republican voters to the conclusion that they are no longer being represented by their Republican candidate, with some choosing to vote for McNerny this election. The war in Iraq, the environment, and immigration are all key issues in this race, and voters are not taking this election lightly.

PDA Activists and Volunteers Ready for Full Slate of Weekend Campaign Events

WASHINGTON, DC – With less than three weeks till Election Day, progressive Democrats across the nation are fired up and working overtime to bring an end to the venal and incompetent Republican domination of Congress.

Progressive Democrats of America’s members, activists and leadership are at the forefront of this effort, working hard for two dozen PDA-endorsed candidates across the country. The “Organize, Mobilize and Deliver the Progressive Vote in 2006” tour featuring PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter, coming off a raucous weekend in Arizona, will roll on into Cleveland in support of Rep. Dennis Kucinich and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown. Other events – rallies, canvasses, fundraisers – are planned in congressional districts from Massachusetts’ 1st to California’s 51st. Here are some highlights:

By The Virginian-Pilot

Less than three weeks before the Nov. 7 election, politics and reality have converged to unravel U.S. Sen. George Allen's stay-the-course mantra on Iraq.

For months, "we win, they lose and there is no substitute for victory" has been Allen's battle cry on the Middle East and terrorism.

Those who dared to challenge Bush administration orthodoxy on the war, including Democratic challenger Jim Webb, were dismissed as coddlers of terrorists.

By Noam N. Levey, Janet Hook and Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times

On the campaign trail, 'stay the course' is a nonstarter, even among Bush's staunchest allies.

WASHINGTON — Public anxiety over the Iraq war, already reflected in polls and demands from some Democrats to withdraw U.S. troops, is now prompting calls for change from some unlikely quarters: Republican congressional candidates.

Peter White, Independent Candidate for Congress
MA 10th District
P.O. Box 913
Hyannis, MA 02601
508-778-4288
www.peterwhiteforcongress.com

Independent candidate Peter White has joined the Longhouse Coalition, a national group of 45 Congressional candidates who are committed to impeaching Bush/Cheney, bringing our troops home from Iraq, and supporting progressive changes in our government.

By Ian Urbina, New York Times

Washington — New electronic voting machines have arrived in Yolo County, Calif., but there is one hitch: the audio program for the visually impaired in some of them works only in Vietnamese.

"Talk about panic," said Freddy Oakley, the county's top election official. "I've got gray-haired ladies as poll workers standing around looking stunned."

As dozens of states are enforcing new voter registration laws and switching to paperless electronic voting systems, officials across the country are bracing for an Election Day with long lines and heightened confusion, followed by an increase in the number of contested results.

Protect Your Vote!
All U.S. citizens have the right to vote and have the votes count, but human or computer error and unfair actions may stop you from voting. ProtectMyVote.org gives you the information you need to protect your right to vote. Our job is to help prepare you before you go to vote to prevent problems and help you if something goes wrong.
http://protectmyvote.rescueourdemocracy.org/

By Paul Rogat Loeb

I've never been the kind of donor who gives matching grants. In fact I've
never been a major donor at all, just someone who gives $25 here and $50
there to a bunch of causes I believe in, because that's what I can afford..
So I loved the Democratic National Committee email that invited me and other
ordinary citizens to make modest online pledges, to be redeemed when new
donors contributed. For a moment, I got to play Ford Foundation. And a woman

Measure Meant to Raise Awareness About Bush's 'High Crimes'; Some Call It a Wasted Effort
BY Sean Barry, The Daily Californian

In the last six years, President George W. Bush has never set foot in Berkeley—his anemic 7 percent of the vote in Berkeley in 2004 places the city among the least Republican in the country.

But come November, Berkeley voters may drive the final nail in the coffin of their relationship with the administration by supporting a ballot measure calling for the impeachment of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545 | Click to subscribeIf you are having trouble viewing this message, please click here.

Dear friends,

An overwhelming majority of people in this country supports
peace. Let's make sure this strong antiwar sentiment makes a powerful impact at the ballot box.

Contact: Tim Carpenter, PDA executive director, 413-320-2015 tim@pdamerica.org

LIVONIA, MI – Progressive Democrats of America’s “Organize, Mobilize and Deliver the Progressive Vote: 2006 Michigan Victory Tour” will roll into town on Sunday, Oct. 22, for a rally in support of Tony Trupiano for Congress that will feature Rep. John Conyers, PDA National Board Member activist Cindy Sheehan and the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/17/211257/18

By Zack Pelta-Heller, AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/story/43080

With only a few weeks left until the midterm elections, the war in Iraq is still the most dominant issue nationwide. The fact that the Bush administration has chosen to stay the course on a highly unpopular war bodes well for Democrats, who need only six seats to control the Senate. Control of the upper house for the Dems, however, won't come easy.

Webb and Mark Warner fielded questions Monday at a town hall forum in Greenspring Village, a well-heeled retirement community of nearly 2,000 near Springfield that is its own voting precinct and routinely has among the highest voter turnout in the state.

Most of the questions from the audience of nearly 300 were about Iraq. When one resident asked whether Webb would vote to impeach Bush, Webb responded that he would do "everything in my power to bring accountability to what has happened on a variety of fronts in this administration."

When the resident pointed out that Webb had not answered the question, Webb simply smiled in response. Full Article.

Trupiano is the Democratic nominee in Michigan's 11th District. The audio of this interview is here: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14658

David Swanson: Tony Trupiano, it's great to talk to you; so how does campaigning compare to working on the radio?

Tony Trupiano: There is no comparison. As you and I are talking, we are 22 days out of the election. David, I can honestly tell you I am not the same person today that I was when I sought your advice and counsel some 14 months ago when I began this process. I have a much different and I think a much more passionate appreciation for the process of democracy. At some level, I'm profoundly disappointed and at other levels I am amazingly empowered.

You have the right to vote and to have your vote counted, but human or computer error and unfair actions may stop you. www.ProtectMyVote.org gives you the information you need to protect your right to vote.

Our job is to help you if something goes wrong. Such as:

✔ Your name was taken off the voter rolls.
✔ Someone “challenges” your right to vote.
✔ Your voting place is moved, closed or has long lines.

An article by Justin Raimondo.

By David Swanson

Here's a 30-minute mp3 file of an interview I recorded earlier today with Tony Trupiano, the former national radio host who is now the Democratic nominee to throw Bush-follower Thaddeus McCotter out of his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives where he fails to represent Michigan's 11th District. While I support Trupiano and encourage others to do so, in this interview I ask him about positions he's taken that I find troubling. In case you don't have time for the whole interview and want to skip ahead, here are some topics discussed, in order:

By Cindy Sheehan

Numbers have been flying around the airwaves lately.

How many Rebublican Congresspeople have had to resign from scandals this past year? 4. Randall "Duke" Cunningham (R-Ca), Bob Ney (R-Oh), Mark Foley (R-Fl) and Tom Delay (R-Tx) . How many more "R's" are implicated in the scandals that the above four resigned for? Who knows?

How many staff members of the corrupt administration have resigned in disgrace this year? 4. Andrew Card (R), I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (R), Susan Ralston, (R) and Scotty "Spokesliar" McClellan (R). (Sorry if I missed any scoundrels).

By Adam Nagourney, New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 — Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

The decision to effectively write off Mr. DeWine’s seat, after a series of internal Republican polls showed him falling behind his Democratic challenger, is part of a fluid series of choices by top leaders in both parties as they set the strategic framework of the campaign’s final three weeks, signaling, by where they are spending television money and other resources, the Senate and House races where they believe they have the best chances of success.

Klobuchar Leads By 20 Points
http://www.ostroyreport.blogspot.com/#101506

Senate hopefuls Amy Klobuchar (D), a prosecutor, and Rep. Mark Kennedy (R) battled it out on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday. It was a strong showing for Klobuchar, and a standard evasive-Republican performance by Kennedy.

On Iraq, Kennedy regurgitated the GOP party line that the U.S. must stay the course. When asked by host Tim Russert if he would have changed his vote knowing what he now knows about the lack of WMD, Kennedy said: "We acted, you know, you can't really play TiVo and rewind in the real world, but let me just say this: First of all, I stand by my vote."

By Kate Zernike, New York Times

Edgmont, Pennsylvania - When Joe Sestak announced he was running for Congress, national Democrats and media consultants told him not to talk about pulling troops out of Iraq, arguing it would only encourage the image of Democrats as weak on national security.

Nine months later, having ignored their advice, Mr. Sestak has put a 20-year Republican incumbent on the run for the first time, turning a bid by a political novice into a real race. Polls show that Mr. Sestak is running even or better with his opponent, Representative Curt Weldon, and that the war more than any other issue is propelling voters toward him.

Election 2006: The Fix is Already In
By JOHN WALSH, www.counterpunch.org

"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd the population into concentration camps and turn the country into a wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you dare do that. Let ME do it.'"
Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost Authority."

By David Swanson

If you live in a solidly red (Republican) or blue (Democratic) district, then the Fifth Congressional District of Virginia might strike you as a moderate area being contested by two moderate candidates. The historically Democratic district, which continues to vote for Democratic state governors, switched when its current congressman, Virgil Goode, left the Democratic Party in 2000 to join the party he usually voted with anyway. But Goode does not always vote like a Republican. This huge area of farmland has been hard hit by corporate trade policies, and Goode has voted against CAFTA and every other "free trade" proposal put before him. Meanwhile, Goode's Democratic challenger this November, Al Weed, is running on his record as a soldier and a farmer, promising to crack down on immigrants, and citing Jesus as the inspiration for some of his positions.

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Peace Action Inc., Formerly SANE/FREEZE
1001 Wayne Ave, Suite 1020
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Ph 301.565.4050 · Fax 310-565-0850
Working for Peace Since 1957 www.Peace-Action.org

Question Candidates on Peace
Asking important questions of candidates, also known as Bird-dogging, is a tactic that many organizations, and concerned citizens, use to pressure candidates to take a public stance on an issue, or to question a stance that a candidate has already taken. It usually consists of one or more bird-doggers who go to a public event where a candidate will appear. The bird-doggers ask the candidate pointed questions about issues they care about in order to elicit a response. Because members of the media often attend candidate events, bird-dogging plays an important role in getting candidates’ positions “on record” and holding them accountable to their constituents. For more details on Bird-dogging go to www.PeaceVoter.org.

By Esbe, www.OpEdNews.com

The Elephant in the room has been upstaged by a penis and the Establishment is elated.

The Elephant in the room of course is the complete melt down in Iraq and the announcement that Afghanistan can't be secured from the Taliban. The introduction of CCP (Congressional Page Penis) is a gift to everyone and everything save –of course- for the Iraqis, the Afghanis, US troops and the thinking half (O.K. the thinking third) of America.