Ramblings

Each day I become more annoyed by my local area daily newspaper, The Tampa Tribune. It has always been a right-leaning newspaper, but in recent years has been more right-moderate. Not so this election. I expected the paper to endorse McCain, that was a given. But there has been a desperate mean-spiritedness that has permeated this campaign, not only from the editorial chief and staff, but from the editor-in-chief of the entire newspaper, as well. Articles that should be reported as straight news are published with headings intended to slur Senator Obama. A very recent one: "Obama 'Flooding' Florida -- He and his friends will barnstorm the state this week..." his "friends" in this case being Senator and former President Clinton, Gov. Bill Richardson, etc., NOT the so-called "friends" from the rabidly mean McCain commercials that the Tribune hoped we would think of when thinking of Obama's friends. The headline may not seem like much, but it is one of the continued veiled and not-so-veiled attempts to denigrate Senator Obama. The only letters to the editor being published now are those that support McCain and Palin and unfairly criticize Obama; the "Letter of the Day" today is a representative sample. No mention has been made of the inflammatory and dangerous remarks at McCain/Palin rallies, which began right here in the Bay area at a Clearwater rally for Palin. Poll results published are only those that favor McCain.

In contrast, The St. Petersburg Times, published across the bay, is a moderate-to-left-leaning, six-time-Pulitzer-prize-winning, larger circulation newspaper that is S L O W L Y coming out in support of Senator Obama (they are doing it in a four-part installment). The St. Pete Times is well known as one of the nation's finest newspapers.

Our family has subscribed to the Tribune for many years, but this is the first time I have noticed a true lack of honest journalism in our local paper. We can't change it, as the Tribune is owned by a private entity and can print whatever they want. But we don't have to continue to contribute to its continued publication.

We are leaving the Tribune and subscribing to the St. Pete Times TODAY.

Also, here's a very interesting article from the Washington Post. Fascinating read: "From Outsider to Politician"

I've already voted, but of course I am always interested in hearing more about Barack Obama. Frontline on PBS will be doing their every-presidential-campaign profile of the Democratic and Republican candidates on October 14th. This one is called, "The Choice -- 2008." Below is a preview of the portion about Senator Obama.


Don't forget to record and/or tune in, but it will also be available to view online.

At the risk of giving an initial opinion while needing to get to sleep, I think Joe Biden most certainly won the debate. To my surprise, Palin didn't faint or fall down, though her voice sounded pretty shaky until the debate was well under way. Will it affect the race? I don't think it will, and now we can get back to concentrating on the presidential candidates. More tomorrow.

Taking a moment from working, in less than two hours Joe Biden and Sarah Palin will begin their long-awaited debate, and I'm hoping this will help seal the deal for Senator Obama. Palin will not likely fall completely flat, but I expect her to provide enough evidence to further convince those who seem to still need convincing that she is NOT the person for the job. Not now, anyway. I expect her to pop up somewhere else on the national scene in time.

My "YES WE CAN" shirt finally arrived in the mail today from DemocraticStuff.com! I ordered buttons for the family, a football fan one for me (as seen in the icon), one that says "Vegetarians for Obama" for DD, and one that says "Hippies for Obama" for DH, who can't seem to leave the '60s behind. The shirt, of course, is way too big, but you can never tell how these things will run. I'll shrink it some in the washer and dryer and wear it with jeans over the weekend. Ha, I should wear it while walking down the street I saw yesterday with all the McCain-Palin signs in their yards!

Well, back to work. I'm hoping for an interesting show at 9 p.m....

Okay, "red" state! The latest word is Senator Obama is leading McCain 51% to 43% in Florida (!), which will bode awfully well if it continues. The word is also that Obama is leading in Ohio 50% to 42%, and in Pennsylvania 54% to 39% (this information is from MSNBC). Hope this holds, and builds! Woo-hoo! :D

Today DD and I took a different road to our favorite Publix store that caters to organic foods and vegetarian fare, and it was a dismaying experience. Almost every house on the main road there had a "McCain-Palin" sign in the front yard. When we arrived, there was a woman putting groceries into a mini-van next to us with an M/P bumper sticker. I had the urge to say, "Do you R E A L L Y want to vote for McCain?", but I restrained myself. Unfortunately, I didn't see any Obama-Biden stickers or signs at all, though that's not really surprising in our heavily evangelical Christian/right wing populated area. We don't like to put stickers on our car, and we're not allowed to put up political signs in our neighborhood (deed-restricted), but my bold Obama-Biden T-shirt is arriving in the next day or two, and I'm going to wear it when out and about as much as possible for the next 5 weeks.

I have made calls on Senator Obama's behalf, both during the primary season and recently, and the recent calls to voters right in my area were discouraging. The things they believe about Mr. Obama are astounding. I've had to take a step back and regroup before starting again, as it was too easy to become angry at the people I was calling, which wouldn't help the campaign at all (and does nothing good for my stress level).

Oh, the joys of living in a red state... :(

I first became involved in a political campaign in high school. One of my friends wanted to work to help get John Gilligan elected as governor of Ohio in 1970, but she wanted another friend and I to work with her. So we went to the campaign headquarters, where we were given straw hats, sashes to wear and lots of pamphlets and bumper stickers to hand out, and we hit the streets. We talked to many people and had a lot of fun, and I don’t know how many voters we may have influenced, but we gave it our best; anyway, John Gilligan did indeed win that year. My friends and I all received invitations to the inaugural ball; my mother said I was too young to go!

Living in South Carolina several years later, I became interested in the campaign of Charles “Pug” Ravenel, who was running for governor at that time. I was especially interested in the death penalty being abolished there and very much wanted a Democrat in the governor’s mansion, so I got behind Mr. Ravenel’s campaign. I typed letters, did filing, made phone calls, went door to door, passed out literature, and gave it my all. Mr. Ravenel WOULD have won, had he been able to meet the residency requirement for candidacy; he was a South Carolina native, but had gone north to Harvard and had done business there for some time, and he hadn’t been back in the state long enough. How disappointed we all were! (The death penalty WAS abolished for a time in S.C., though it has since been reinstated.)

After that campaign other interests crowded in; I became a registered independent, not wanting to align myself with either major party, though I voted most often for Democrats. I did not work in any campaigns. However, I recently decided to get involved again, to volunteer for Senator Barack Obama.

Grassroots campaigns capture the imagination. This is where the rubber meets the road, where families, friends, neighbors and co-workers influence each other one-on-one. Small contributions from many, many people lead to big campaign coffers. A bit of campaign work on the part of many, many individuals yields big results.

For my small contribution to the campaign, I’ve been making calls on Senator Obama’s behalf to my home state of Ohio. I don’t know how many people I’ve helped make a decision or how many will actually vote next Tuesday, but I’m giving it my best. For me there is again the thrill of being a part of the political process. It’s a great feeling!