Category: Fall 2006 Newswire
If Democrats Win, Meehan and Kennedy in Line for Chairmanships
Committee
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 6
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 – If things go the Democrats’ way tonight, Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) could get a boost in their committee standings.
Meehan will likely chair the subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities of the House Armed Services Committee if the Democrats win control of the House. If the party wins control of the Senate, Kennedy will likely chair the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Meehan, the senior Democrat on his subcommittee, said he would be in a position to hold oversight hearings, “which thus far the Republicans in Congress have been unwilling to do, on issues such as providing our troops with the equipment they need, addressing the increasing threat of sniper attacks in Iraq, and the military’s policy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ ”
Meehan said his focus also would be on the war in Iraq.
“With a Democratic majority, Congress will be able to provide some much-needed oversight of the Bush administration, and hold the president accountable for his failed policy in Iraq,” Meehan said.
Kennedy said his top priorities on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee “are to increase minimum wage so that millions of hardworking Americans get the raise they deserve, expand opportunities for families and students struggling to afford college, strengthen retirement security, fix the broken Medicare Part D drug program so that seniors in Massachusetts and across the nation no longer have to choose between their medicine and putting food on the table, and continue the fight to expand access to affordable healthcare.”
Polls have the Democrats taking 20 to 35 seats in the House; the party needs 15 to win control. But the Senate is anyone’s guess. Democrats need to pick up six Senate seats to win control, but Senate races are tight in many states. Some polls show the Democrats falling just short of a six-seat gain, while other polls show them picking up the six needed to grasp the majority.
“Democrats are the party of hope, progress, and opportunity and the American people are tired of the cynical divisive politics that the Republicans have been promoting,” Kennedy said. “It’s time for a change and we’re ready to put in place fair policies that help American families.”
###
Will Money Be Enough Against a New Hampshaire ‘Dynasty’?
FECKEENE2
The Keene Sentinel
Lauren Katims
Boston University Washington News Service
11-2-06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- In the final days before the election, Democratic challenger Paul Hodes may have raised more money than Republican Rep. Charles Bass, but he is competing against something bigger than a campaign treasury: He is challenging a political dynasty.
The name Bass goes back more than 100 years, noted Rep. Charles Weed (D- Cheshire County), a politics professor at Keene State College.
People are not “political junkies,” he said, so they do not always look at the voting record; they look at the name. And in this case, Bass is the name that comes to mind.
Nevertheless, said Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, non-partisan group in Washington that tracks political contributions, Hodes can be considered a “serious” candidate because he passed the $1 million threshold in money raised for his campaign.
According to the latest Federal Election Commission filings, Hodes had raised more money than Bass, which is uncommon for a challenger.
Through Oct. 18, Hodes raised $1,246,059 and Bass $1,001,629. But Bass had $331,796 left in his campaign kitty and Hodes had only $56,288 to spend, according to the filings.
Weed said the money left in the bank doesn’t matter at this point.
“Hodes has gotten the message out,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s an awful lot to do in the last three weeks that hasn’t already been done.”
Ritsch says that at this point, voters have made up their minds and the opponents should be focusing on getting their supporters to the polls. And even though Bass’ leftover money can be used for advertising, gathering support is not something you can buy, he added.
So, the question remains: will money be enough to win this election?
Judging by the amount of money he has raised, Hodes has a good chance of winning, Ritsch said.
Dana Houle, Hodes’ campaign manager, said the Bass family name is not hurting the challenger’s campaign.
Bass, who defeated Hodes by 58-38 percent in 2004, is the son of a former Rep. Perkins Bass, who served from 1955 to 1963, and the grandson of Robert Bass, who was elected governor in 1910.
“People want someone in Congress who is going to hold the president accountable,” Houle said. It does not matter how important someone’s grandfather or father was, he said, Bass is not doing an adequate job.
Lindsay Jackson, spokeswoman for Bass’s campaign, said that although the Bass family has a “strong political tradition, working hard for the people of New Hampshire,” the incumbent has established his own name. “He’s running on Charlie Bass,” she said.
Bass always pushes his moderate stance around election time, making him appealing to the masses, Weed said, especially in a time when there is such a negative attitude toward the Bush administration.
For now, the race could go either way, according to the Cook Political Report, a non-partisan analysis of electoral politics.
This is a good time for Democrats, Weed said, and Hodes has a good chance.
###
Liberal Bloggers Buoying Democratic Efforts
Donation
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 —Bloggers are having a direct effect on campaign contributions during the midterm elections, according to experts in the media field.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., donated $250,000 last week to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and another $250,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But in the week before that, a number of liberal bloggers posted messages asking members of Congress with excess campaign cash to give more to the candidates who need it.
Kerry, who is not up for re-election this year but is expected to seek the Democratic presidential nomination again in 2008, was a particular focus of the campaign.
A posting Oct. 19 on DailyKos.com, a liberal blog, was typical of the effort, criticizing Kerry and three other senators for holding onto an excess of campaign money.
“They can hoard that cash,” wrote Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the site. “That’s their prerogative. But we shouldn’t forget when they ask us to sacrifice for their efforts in 2008.”
Chris Bowers, a contributor to MyDD.com, started the “Use It or Lose It” campaign in an Oct. 20 blog posting.
MyDD (for direct democracy) describes itself on its Web site as “a group blog designed to discuss the progressive movement and political power.” It does polling, research, commentary, analysis and activism, its site says.
“It’s hard not to see a connection between that [campaign] and Kerry’s recent donations,” said Jonah Seiger, managing partner at Connections Media, a Washington-based Internet strategies firm. “I would suspect that Sen. Kerry would not say that’s why he made the donations, but the timing reflects otherwise.”
The Kerry camp denied that the donation was in response to campaigns such as “Use It or Lose It.”
“Sen. Kerry wants to go the extra mile to make sure Democrats here in Massachusetts – and across the country – have the chance to put America back on the right track,” Brigid O’Rourke, Kerry’s Massachusetts press secretary, wrote in an e-mail message.
Kerry had almost $14 million in campaign cash left over in his presidential campaign fund at the end of September, the most recent filing period, according to the Federal Election Commission.
“To Kerry’s credit, he stepped up and made the contribution,” said Simon Rosenberg of the New Politics Institute, a Democratic group that studies the effects of technology and media on politics. “I think he made a thoughtful judgment as to what to do. He made a donation to the right place at the right time.”
Rosenberg said Kerry’s donations were a direct result of the efforts of the “netroots,” the term online activists use to describe themselves.
Unfortunately for Kerry, his controversial statements about the U.S. military in Iraq earlier this week have cast a pall on these donations.
“He’s not getting much benefit because of what he said,” Seiger said.
The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee agreed that the Internet-based groups have helped the party.
“Throughout the cycle, the remarkable grassroots movement for change has buoyed Democratic efforts to expand the playing field, support our candidates and ultimately win a Democratic majority that can take our country in a new direction,” Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said in a statement.
But politicians should not respond to pressure that could be perceived as threatening, according to Seiger.
“They shouldn’t be intimidated,” he said. “They should stick to their principles and strategies.”
Nevertheless, Web sites of this nature can be helpful in the end.
“The amount of information out there, the discussion around campaigns and elections, is only a good thing,” Seiger said. “More transparency is never a bad thing.”
###
DAR Takes on Myths of Early America
- Photos by Jill Connor
MYTHS: In the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington D.C. down the street from the White House houses a number of artifacts from the Worcester area especially in the Massachusetts room shown here. In the corner stands a grandfather clock made in Oakham by William Crawford between 1790-1820. Patrick Sheary, is originally from Worcester but now lives in D.C. and works as the Curator of Furnishings for the DAR museum.
MYTHS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Katie Geyer
Boston University News Service
November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- The tall wooden timepiece built in Oakham, Mass., and now on display at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum here can be called a tall clock or a case clock. But never call it a grandfather clock.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), with a mission of promoting historic education and preservation, is out to set the record straight. Tall clocks were not called grandfather clocks until the 1870s, when the song “My Grandfather’s Clock” became popular. So tall clocks like this one, made by William Crawford between 1790 and 1820, must not be labeled “grandfather.”
The clock myth is part of the DAR's exhibit, “Myth or Truth? Stories We've Heard about Early America,” which began on Oct. 6 and will run until next March 31 at the museum. The grandfather clock myth is one of many that the museum director, Diane Dunkley, says have been driving the DAR and other American history buffs crazy.
"They're the sorts of things that historians know but the general public doesn’t know," she said. "There’s a lot of discussion [at the DAR] all the time about ‘did you hear this one?’ ”
And so was born an exhibit that challenges silverware, flag makers, door hinges, Yankee Doodle and the number 13.
Ms. Dunkley said the myths come in several different forms.
"There are myths that start out with a kernel of truth and then just sort of get embellished for whatever reason," she said. "It's like playing a game of whispers."
"And then there are things that people just make up to explain things," Ms. Dunkley said.
Patrick Sheary, the DAR Museum’s curator of furnishings, is a native of Worcester and regularly maintains furniture in the museum’s various state rooms, including the Massachusetts room. The room is a replica of the front parlor of the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, Mass., where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were said to have been when they heard Paul Revere’s message in 1775 that the British were coming.
Mr. Sheary, who has worked there for 11 years, said that the most famous item in the room is a Chinese tea chest said to have been one of the two surviving tea chests thrown into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
“It conjures up lots of debate,” Mr. Sheary said, because without the presence of water marks, he said, the DAR questions whether the box had any involvement with the Boston Tea Party.
One myth featured in the DAR’s exhibit is the common assumption that people were shorter, on average, during the revolutionary period, than they are today. The DAR says scholars have compared the average height of Revolutionary soldiers with the height of soldiers in the 20th century, and the difference is within fractions of an inch.
Similarly, at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Mass., curator Tom Kelleher frequently explains to visitors that the village’s low-ceilinged revolutionary period houses are not necessarily evidence that people were shorter back then.
When people make assumptions about the low ceilings, he said, he asks them, “Well, are you hitting your head?” Although the ceilings seem low, “you don’t have to duck,” he said.
Mr. Kelleher said that Americans have come to expect a certain amount of space in a house and that high ceilings would have been seen as a waste of material and of heat back then.
The curator echoed the DAR’s warning about historical myths.
“Good stories stick in our minds,” he said. When people hear of evidence that Americans have changed, he said, they think it is very interesting. But as interesting as these stories sound, Mr. Kelleher said, it is best to have a healthy skepticism.
He said questioning history teaches critical thinking. “Not just about history, but about life in general,” he said.
But Kenneth J. Moynihan, a professor of history at Assumption College, said that myths about height and artifacts and the like may catch the public’s eye, but they are not the kind that really have power. “We have myths about everything,” he said. “Some of them are important and some of them are not.”
For example, he said, there is a powerful myth that surrounds the founding of our nation. “A major factor in our self identity is that either we bought the land fair and square or the Indians had it coming because they [attacked] the white people,” he said. “That’s the level of myth that really has power, not necessarily myths about how tall people were.”
The professor said he is working on a book about Worcester’s early history in which he plans to challenge some of the assumptions about the town’s past.
Ms. Dunkley of the DAR said the public as well as historians should always question the sources of their information.
"What we really want the public to do is say, 'OK, that’s an interesting story.' Then go see what they can find out."
###
Former Page Recalls Her Experience; Praises Program
- Photos by Jill Connor
Portraits of Class’s Profile subjects: Kaitlyn Funk(cq), a page appointed by Rep. Jeb Bradley (cq) (R-1st NH) for the 2004 summer session, visits her former work place. Kaitlyn, a George Washington University student from Manchester, New Hampshire, thought it was a "great experience" and occasionally comes back to Capitol Hill to have lunch with other former pages.
NHPage
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
11-2-06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 – For one summer month between her junior and senior years at Trinity High School in Manchester, Kaitlyn Funk was a congressional page.
Now a sophomore at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., studying philosophy, she has nothing but good things to say about the previously low-profile program, which has now become synonymous with sex and scandal.
“It was a phenomenal opportunity to work on the floor and help representatives,” said Funk, whose father encouraged her to apply.
The page program allows high school students to come to Washington for a semester or one of two summer sessions and assist members of Congress by running messages and answering phones, among other things. Each page is sponsored by a representative or senator.
Funk was sponsored by New Hampshire Republican Rep. Jeb Bradley.
“We think the page program is extraordinary, as it allows students to learn about the legislative process firsthand,” said Salley Collins, press secretary for the Committee on House Administration.
Funk, now 19, agrees, often using the word “cool” to describe her experiences on Capitol Hill.
As a page, Funk witnessed the House vote on the controversial Defense of Marriage Act.
“It was cool,” she said about being on the floor for the vote. “My parents were watching it on TV and I was there. I got to see it happen.”
Not only does the program give high school students a close-up view of Congress, but it also allows them to explore a new city and meet new people.
The program gave Funk a freedom not usually experienced by a 16-year-old, and when she moved back home that August, she joked, she was “hard to live with.”
“It was an adjustment coming home,” she said. “I had tasted independence.”
Going into her senior year at Trinity, Funk said she felt more prepared because of her experience in Washington.
Funk’s U.S. history teacher Marigrace O’Gorski said that Funk was a “very enthusiastic student who was always participating.”
While in Washington, Funk bonded with other pages and counts many of them, including her current college roommate, as her friends today.
“When we were out of work, we could go anywhere in the city,” Funk said. “We had the Metro, we had money and we had each other.”
According to Collins, the pages are under constant supervision while they are in the dorm where they live and while they are at work. If they going out they are required to use the buddy system and they have to sign in and out of the dorm.
Funk said she believes the bond among pages is so strong because other high schoolers cannot relate to the experience.
“It’s an experience that no one else can understand,” Funk said. People would ask her where she was all summer, and she would tell them she was working on the floor of Congress and they wouldn’t understand how momentous that was, she said.
Funk has strong opinions on the Mark Foley scandal, which involved a House member having inappropriate email conversations with former pages, but she insisted that the program was safe and that she never heard anything about inappropriate e-mails or instant messages while she was a page.
“There was never any talk and nothing ever happened that would lead me to believe that there were inappropriate relationships going on,” Funk said.
While pages frequently run messages between members and their offices, Funk said, they never really have much interaction with the members themselves, except on the floor.
However, after the scandal broke, she said, two of her male friends who were also former pages told her they had received e-mails from Foley.
Despite the recent scandal and the whirlwind of rumors about getting rid of the program, Funk can’t say enough good things about it.
“I always talk it up,” she said. “Even if you’re really not that interested in politics, I think that as a citizen of the United States, it’s a great opportunity.”
###
Fantasy Congress Game May Help Engage Younger Crowd in Politics
FANTASYCONGRESS
New London Day
Margaret Stevenson
New London Day
November 1, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1—“Most people know about the Three Stooges instead of the three branches of government,” said Andrew Lee, creator of new interactive online game called Fantasy Congress.
“This idea has the potential to be another avenue for young people to become interested in learning how our government works, which I think makes it fascinating,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.).
The Web site, fantasycongress.org, was launched last month and already has received quite a bit of publicity and had more than 21,000 users as of this week.
“I like the idea of it,” said Brett Arnold, a civics teacher at Waterford High School. “It can help show students how Congress operates in Washington and the democratic process,” he said.
The game’s Web site, in addressing educators, says, “Fantasy Congress is the perfect tool for bringing home the process of legislation and the role of Congress to your students.”
Lee, the game’s creator, is a 21-year-old senior at Claremont McKenna College in California. The idea of a game involving Congress came to him a few years back when a roommate of his was involved in Fantasy Football, he said.
“If more people cared about government, we’d have a better government,” Lee said.
Just like the popular fantasy sports games, players must make up their teams with real people. However, instead of drafting athletes, participants of Fantasy Congress draft members of Congress of varying seniority.
“One of the upsides to Fantasy Congress over Fantasy Baseball is that you don't really have to worry about your team being destroyed by injuries,” Lieberman said. “Then again, there probably aren't many Fantasy Baseball owners who worry about losing their shortstop because he has ties to Jack Abramoff.”
When drafting your team of 16, you choose two senior senators, two junior senators, four senior House members, four junior members and four with mid-range experience.
Points are scored as members move legislation through committees, then to the floors of the House and Senate and finally to the President’s desk. The rankings of each legislator are updated daily according to what progress they have made in the real-life Congress.
As with other fantasy games, you can change your lineup of legislators on the weekends, adding different members to the lineup and benching others.
At the end of the congressional session, the player wins whose members of Congress have totaled the most points.
“This could enhance student interest in government,” said Dan Mello, chairman of the social studies department at Ledyard High School.
Mello said that while his students learn the lawmaking processes in school, the game could help it become more real to them.
“Any opportunity to teach students and give them hands-on experience, like using Fantasy Congress, is a valuable lesson,” said Brett Arnold, who teaches civics at Waterford High School.
Lee, who referred to himself as both a football fan and political junkie, said while he was watching CNN, his roommate was discussing Fantasy Football and he felt like “a lonely political blogger.” He wanted to find a way to get people more excited about politics.
“Fantasy football notes every stat that could occur,” Lee said. “If we did this for Congress, we would have a more effective legislature.”
The idea to create an interactive game to get people more excited and interested in Congress hit him. With the help of three other students, his idea became a reality a few weeks ago.
On the site’s home page, a letter from the creators says, “In this game, we give you the power to draft and manage a team of members from the U.S. Congress. Enjoy our gift to you, o great nation: the power to play politics!”
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), said, “Young people have more power than they give themselves credit for, and can affect the agenda in Washington in many ways.”
Todd Mitchell, chief of staff for Rep. Robert Simmons (R-Conn.), said, “Any approach that gets more young people involved in the political process has Rob Simmons’ stamp of approval.”
The site encourages Fantasy Congress players to use their “political savvy” when choosing their members. A legislative tutorial is available on the site to explain how a bill becomes a law.
“Whether it is through Web sites like this one, volunteering on a campaign or, most importantly, heading to the polls on Nov. 7th, our democracy is only enriched by more young people engaging in the democratic process and policies and issues affecting the nation,” Dodd said.
Lee said he and his colleagues received a $5,000 prize from their school for winning a Web entrepreneurship contest and so far have poured $2,000 of that money into the Web site.
“We are thinking about advertising,” Lee said when asked about maintaining the Web site. “Right now, we are still college students, though. We’re more worried about midterms,” he said.
####
Maine Representatives Have Little Power, Ranking Says
Congress.org
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/1/06
WASHINGTON, Nov 1 – A ranking of the most powerful and effective members of Congress has placed Maine Democratic Reps. Michael Michaud and Thomas Allen in the bottom 10 percent of the House.
Allen placed 397th and Michaud 414th, out of 437, according to Congress.org, a non-partisan service of Capitol Advantage, a company that specializes in facilitating civic participation. The rankings, announced Monday, were based on 20 criteria that demonstrated power and the ability to be effective in Congress, according to the Web site of Congress.org.
But the Maine lawmakers’ low rankings could change next week if the Democrats gain the 15 seats they need to take control the House.
If that happens, Michaud would be bumped up 101 places and Allen would skyrocket 215 places, reported Congress.org.
“The primary consideration has to be whether you’re in the majority or not, so after Nov. 7, I expect to be in the majority, and that would be a big leap,” Allen said.
The Maine representatives’ weak rankings are a result of a number of factors. The number of years in Congress drives assignment to key committees and eventually status as chairperson or senior minority member. Michaud, although the senior Democrat on the Health subcommittee of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is only in his second term.
Both representatives also have low rankings because of their party’s minority status.
“Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-NY) {who rank at the top of the House list] are very powerful people,” Allen said. “But what they’ve done with that power is to help the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry, the oil industry, and the coal industry take in billions of dollars. They haven’t served the interests of middle-income Americans.”
The rankings were created by a team of academic experts and congressional staff that sifted through thousands of media articles and amendments and hundreds of bills and campaign contributions, according to the Web site of Congress.org.
The team created a “Sizzle/Fizzle” factor that accounts for variables that are harder to measure, such as a legislator’s unique background (Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.), newfound popularity (Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.) or diminished power due to scandal (Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio).
The ranking did not take into account members' ability to steer federal funds to their states through the appropriations process (also known as earmarking), their effectiveness in assisting constituents in their states and districts, or their visibility in their home states. While these variables are crucial to members’ reelection and important to their constituents, they are hard to measure and rarely contribute to power in the House or Senate, according to Congress.org.
“If they ignore helping your constituents and getting money for the state, it’s clearly lopped off a significant part of the job of being a congressman,” Allen said.
Michaud was traveling and unavailable for comment, but his press secretary, Monica Castellanos, agreed with Allen, pointing to the transportation reauthorization bill that provided $48 million for Maine’s 2nd.
In the 100-member Senate, Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins ranked 42nd, while senior Sen. Olympia J. Snowe was positioned 14 places behind her in 56th.
###
Republicans May Have to Handle the ‘Angry Voter’
Angervote
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 1, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 – The Republican Party has more money than the Democratic Party going into next week’s mid-term elections. But analysts say anger may trump cash this year, and there’s plenty of anger to go around.
“Barring a dramatic event, we are looking at the prospect of GOP losses in the House of at least 20 to 35 seats, possibly more, and at least four in the Senate, with five or six most likely,” Charlie Cook, publisher of The Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections, wrote on the organization’s Web site Monday. “This year, it is the war in Iraq and scandals… . It would seem that voters of all ideological stripes feel the GOP-led Congress has become dysfunctional.”
The Republican-controlled Congress has an approval rating of 16 percent, according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, and President Bush’s approval rating lingers at below 40 percent. This party disapproval and dissatisfaction with a seemingly endless war, according to many experts, could be a strong enough factor to deflect the Republican money machine.
Democrats in many key races have gained substantial leads in the polls, and analysts are predicting a Democratic takeover of the House and possibly the Senate.
But Brian Darling, director of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group in Washington, said the polls are misleading and the Republicans shouldn’t be counted out yet.
“The polls indicate the American people are dissatisfied with both parties,” Darling said. “Those projections are changing. Most of these races are tightening up, and the pundits are modifying their predictions. Americans are pretty evenly divided, and this election will reflect that.”
Darling said that the Iraq war approval-disapproval ratings show a growing dissatisfaction with the war, and that this will play a factor in voting. But the numbers, he said, don’t necessarily reflect which party people will vote for.
“Some of the opposition is the antiwar sentiment,” he said. “But another side is our conservatives that want to see progress in Iraq. So we’re having dissatisfaction from the right and the left on the issue. Clearly the president doesn’t use ‘stay the course’ anymore.”
Nathan Gonzales, political editor of The Rothenberg Political Report, said it’s unclear how massive the “angry vote” will be, but issues like the war and congressional scandals could hurt Republicans.
“I think the war in Iraq is certainly an issue in a lot of these races, because it feeds into a big reason why people disapprove of the job President Bush is doing,” Gonzales said. “It may not affect hardcore partisans, but it is certainly affecting soft Republicans and independents.”
The online sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., will affect various districts on a local level but will not have a national impact, Gonzales said.
“As a blanket message, I don’t think it’s sticking,” he said.
President Bush has been scarcely shown in Republican ads nationwide, but he’s been in many Democratic ads linking Republican candidates to Bush and what the ads call the president’s failed policies. That hasn’t stopped the president from campaigning in largely Republican districts.
“President Bush is going to districts where the base needs to be rallied and the base needs to be unified,” Gonzales said.
Darling said the Republicans can chop away at Democratic leads by getting back to the GOP’s platform of slimming government and calling for less spending.
“I guess the mistake that many conservatives feel the Republicans have made are they spent too much money, they’ve embraced big government, they’ve been too supportive of earmarks,” Darling said. “And those in the conservative movement have looked at the Republican Party to make a pledge to do away with earmarks.”
Gonzales said it’s all about the district, and that a Republican candidate in an angry district would “need to convince the voters that the Democratic opponent is an unacceptable alternative.”
Aaron McLear, spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said Republicans should focus on the economic benefits of the Bush tax cuts and remind voters of the progress the party has made in the war on terror with legislation like the Patriot Act.
“The question is, what did we learn on 9/11?” McLear said. “We need to take to be on the offensive in the war on terror.”
McLear said that while the polls may favor Democrats now, they don’t reflect the Republicans’ ability to mobilize their voters on election day.
“I think we showed in 2004, when people saw Kerry winning, the Democrats didn’t see our sophisticated means of getting the vote out,” he said.
###
New Hampshire Congressman Labeled as Not Doing Enough for U.S Troops
VETERANS
Keene Sentinel
Lauren Katims
Boston University Washington News Service
10-26-06
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26-- A new report by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group, labeled New Hampshire congressmen as not doing enough.
The report, released last week, gave both New Hampshire senators a grade of “D” and Rep. Charles Bass a “C+.”
Grades are based on 169 House votes and 155 Senate votes since 2001 that the group identified as affecting U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, war veterans and military families. The issues ranged from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury research to supplemental appropriations and death benefits.
“Congress as a whole is underperforming,” said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the group. The average grade in the Senate was a “C” and in the House a “B-,” he said.
A major reason legislators did so poorly is because veteran’s issues have not been a priority for this Congress, Rieckhoff said. Less than one percent of the population has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was different when almost every family was affected by someone fighting in World War II, he said.
Rieckhoff said he wants to make sure people are just as informed about this war.
However, the New Hampshire congressmen’s press secretaries did not seem to be concerned about their members’ bad report cards.
“Congressional rankings rarely take into consideration the full scope of any lawmaker's legislative record or their work on a particular issue,” wrote Barbara Riley, Sen. John Sununu’s spokesperson.
She added that Sununu has visited troops twice abroad and has spent time with injured soldiers and their families.
But Rieckhoff said their ranking system is the most comprehensive way to figure out how the congressmen feel about the issues. And he said that if people do not agree with their method, they can still use the group’s research to see how their members voted.
“We want to show Americans the issues that are import to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and find out who really does support the troops and who just spouts campaign promises and empty rhetoric,” Rieckhoff said. “Veterans are not political chew toys.”
Rieckhoff said he has gotten both negative and positive feedback from members of Congress. Senators and representatives may be upset about their low grades, but so is he, Rieckhoff said.
The organization’s Web site shows Sununu and Sen. Judd Gregg voting against increasing funding for traumatic brain injury research, which Rieckhoff said has been categorized as too expensive by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“If the Senate or anyone else is unhappy with their grade, they should work with us to find out how they can get a higher grade next time,” Rieckhoff said.
####
New Web Site Lets Users Play Congress
FantasyCape
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
October 26, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 —Usually the words “Congress” and “game” do not go together. But a new Web site, FantasyCongress.org, has combined the two in the hope that people will pay more attention to government.
The site is similar to online fantasy sports leagues where users score points, for example, with home runs or touchdowns. In Fantasy Congress they score when the legislators on their “team” succeed in moving bills through the Congress.
Only three weeks old, the site already has 14,000 registered users, said Andrew Lee, a senior at Claremont McKenna College in California , who created the site with three of his friends.
“The thing we care about the most, it’s getting people involved in Congress,” said Lee, a philosophy, politics and economics major.
Zach McLaughlin, a civics teacher at Sandwich High School, said he thinks the site might appeal to certain students.
“There is a niche group that would be interested but it’s not something that would cultivate new converts,” he said.
McLaughlin said the site’s problem lies in its scoring system. The points are only based on the strength of a member’s piece of legislation. For example, when a legislator’s bill gets referred to committee, that member gets 5 points. When a legislator’s bill gets signed into law, that member receives 120 points.
“They’re removing the value part of the equation,” McLaughlin said, noting that he thinks youths form their opinions of a member of Congress as a result of beliefs, rather than legislative success.
“Here, effective leadership is based on legislation,” he said. “They’re making a judgment based on how many pieces of paper a member of Congress has passed.”
Added Steven Broderick, Rep. Bill Delahunt’s (D-Mass.) press secretary: “The system is not an accurate barometer of what members of Congress actually do.”
Sorting through all that legislation when updating the site can be overwhelming, especially with mid-terms on the mind, Lee said.
“Congress is able to go ahead and change the laws, write them in different ways,” he said. “But we want to take it to the next level.”
Lee said he hopes to have several options for drafting players, as well as new forums available, by the time the next Congress takes over in January.
People who work for the current Congress are already taking note, according to Lee.
“Congressional staffers love the game but they don’t want us to say their names because they didn’t draft their bosses,” he said with a laugh.
Some staffers do, however, said Brigid O’Rourke, state press secretary for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
“For a sports fan and a political junkie, this is the best of both worlds,” she wrote in an email. “I can have a Tom Brady on my fantasy team, and now I can have John Kerry too!”
Both Massachusetts senators have moderately high scores: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) ranks 36th of 100 senators, with 870 points. Kerry is 49th, with 715 points. Comparatively, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has the highest score in the Senate, with 1991 points.
In the 435-member House, Delahunt ranks 340th, with 62 points. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) has the highest score for House members, with 1,905 points.
The site has been so popular that it has been experiencing delays. Lee said he apologizes, and things should be moving quicker any day.
As a result of the site’s popularity, Lee said he’ll probably need more help and more money, possibly adding advertisements to the site. For now, the site’s creators are focused on one thing.
“We don’t want it to die,” Lee said. “We just want to keep it running.”
###
