McCain affirms support for NAFTA, praises Canada

I do not recall anyone in Canada suggesting we would leave Afghanistan if the United States pulled out of NAFTA. Having said that, I appreciate the kind words about Canada from John McCain.
-Darryl

McCain affirms support for NAFTA, praises Canada

Updated Fri. Feb. 29 2008 2:47 PM ET

The Associated Press

ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Republican John McCain said the desire by Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement would jeopardize crucial military support from Canada.

McCain used a town-hall style meeting Friday at Dell Inc. headquarters to emphasize his support for NAFTA. The effects of the 1994 trade pact are still hotly debated, but studies indicate the deal has resulted in record exports from Texas to Canada and Mexico.

Trade and national security are "interconnected with each other," the Arizona senator said.

"One of our greatest assets in Afghanistan are our Canadian friends. We need our Canadian friends, and we need their continued support in Afghanistan,'' McCain said.

"So what do we do? The two Democratic candidates for president say they're going to unilaterally abrogate NAFTA.''

"How do you think the Canadian people are going to react to that?" McCain said.

In fact, Clinton and Obama did not say they would abrogate the agreement.

Rather, both Democrats said at a debate Tuesday in Cleveland they would insist on renegotiating NAFTA and would threaten to opt out of the agreement unless Canada and Mexico come to the negotiating table.

"I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it, and we renegotiate on terms that are favourable to all of America,'' Clinton said.

Obama agreed: "I will make sure that we renegotiate ... I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labour and environmental standards that are enforced.''

McCain, speaking to reporters later Friday, allowed, "maybe they're not saying 'abrogate'.''

"They're saying 'radically restructure'," he said. "I think Canada would view that as a betrayal of the long years of negotiations that we agreed to.''

Stocks flop; Oil tops $102

Stocks flop; Oil tops $102

Feb. 28 - U.S. stocks fell nearly one percent on Thursday as signs of economic weakness and oil at a new $102 record caused investor unease. The Dow fell 112 points to 12,582. The S&P 500 lost 12 points to 1,367. The Nasdaq gave up 22 points to 2,331. Crude oil surged to close at a new record of $102.59 a barrel.

Obama Blasts Bush, McCain

Obama Blasts Bush, McCain

Democratic candidate Barack Obama says the economy is on the brink of a recession. And he blames economic policies pushed by President Bush and Republican presidential contender John McCain. (Feb. 28)

Media too harsh on Hillary?

Media too harsh on Hillary?

MSNBC "Live with Dan Abrams."

Prince Harry on front lines in Afghanistan

Prince Harry on front lines in Afghanistan

Feb. 28 - The British Ministry of Defense confirmed that Prince Harry has been serving in Afghanistan's Helmand Province since December. The Defense Ministry said Prince Harry has been serving with the British Army in Afghanistan for 2-1/2 months. Following leaks in the international media about his deployment, officials are now reviewing whether he should remain there. Harry, the third in line to the British throne, was sent to Afghanistan with his regiment in December.
Pavithra George reports

PM warns against opening NAFTA

PM warns against opening NAFTA

STEVEN CHASE and KATHERINE O'NEILL AND DAWN WALTON

From Friday's Globe and Mail

February 29, 2008 at 4:57 AM EST

OTTAWA, EDMONTON, CALGARY — It would be a blunder for the next White House to reopen the North American free-trade agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned yesterday in a blunt response to U.S. presidential hopefuls' vows to rewrite or scrap the deal.

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both pledged this week to cancel NAFTA if they cannot secure significant changes.

During Question Period yesterday, Mr. Harper cautioned that future presidents would be opening a can of worms if they moved to renegotiate the deal - because Canada would want changes too.

"If any American government ever chose to make the mistake of opening [NAFTA], we would have some things we would want to talk about as well," Mr. Harper said.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama clashed over trade, health care and the war in Iraq during Tuesday night's debate

The Prime Minister didn't elaborate. But International Trade Minister David Emerson warned a day earlier that privileged U.S. access to Canada's energy riches could be disrupted if NAFTA is reopened or scrapped.

Mr. Harper said he doubted that election-year pledges south of the border would ever unravel NAFTA.

"I would caution about jumping to a conclusion about what a future president may do," Mr. Harper said, noting that the Chrétien Liberals threatened to back out of the deal while campaigning in 1993.

"I have learned to take with a grain of salt what opposition politicians say about trade agreements during election campaigns," he said.

Separately, the Canadian embassy in Washington and Mr. Obama's election team denied a CTV report that a senior Obama adviser called Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson within the past month to warn him that Mr. Obama would criticize NAFTA, and to assure him it was "just campaign rhetoric."

However, CTV News stood by its story yesterday, saying that high-level sources in the Harper government confirmed its version of events.

U.S. unions have blamed the deal for the disappearance of thousands of jobs, but studies have repeatedly shown that trade has thrived and all three NAFTA signatories have benefited since the deal took effect in 1994.

In Alberta, which ships much of its oil and natural gas to the United States, Premier Ed Stelmach said he wasn't taking the threat from the two candidates too seriously.

"I've heard similar discussions during [past] elections," Mr. Stelmach said, referring to former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien's pledge in 1993 to scrap NAFTA.

"Of course, during the 13 years he served as prime minister, [Mr. Chrétien] didn't do that because the agreement is good for both counties," the Progressive Conservative Leader said during a provincial election campaign stop.

Mr. Stelmach characterized the attack on NAFTA as Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton "fighting for support" among Democrats.

He said Canada and the United States should instead work together to address the economic threat from abroad.

"But quite frankly, both for Canada and the United States, the biggest competition comes from Asia, and I would sooner work together," he said.

With reports from Shawn McCarthy and AP

Dion's leadership and the budget

Dion's leadership and the budget:

The federal budget just passed its first confidence vote 230-45 and it is clear that confidence motions on the crime bill, Afghanistan extension until 2011 and the budget will pass. If Liberals abstain or if only a few show up and oppose, this minority government will survive until at least the fall and quite possibly until the fixed election date in October 2009.

If Dion was smart, he would simply declare that his party needs time to prepare for an election and as a result he will ensure that the parliament works until the fixed election date, unless something radical is put to a vote. That would take the drama out of each of these confidence votes and would allow Dion to rebuild his image, pay off leadership debts, retool fundraising, attract candidates and put together some kind of grass roots policy process to find out who they are and what they want to achieve as members of the Liberal party.

What Dion cannot do is continue to play chicken only to back down in the end when the other parties call his bluff. In January 2006, if you told me that the Liberal opposition would work with a Conservative government to kill Kyoto, extend the "combat" mission in Afghanistan until 2011, cut the GST 1% and put most of the surplus onto debt repayment I would have said you were nuts. Over the last six months, it has become the reality for Liberal MPs and a morale killer among their supporters. Put this all in the context of the "Not a Leader" ad campaigns, and Dion has a huge uphill battle to climb. 23 MPs elected as Liberals have either retired, announced they will not run in the next election, crossed the floor, took a job elsewhere or were tossed from caucus. (Ray Bonin, Brenda Chamberlain, Joe Comuzzi, Roy Cullen, David Emerson, Joe Fontana, John Godfrey, Bill Graham, Wajid Khan, Jean Lapierre, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Paul Martin, Bill Matthews, Joe McGuire, Gary Merasty, Stephen Owen, Jim Peterson, Lucienne Robillard, Andy Scott, Paul Steckle, Belinda Stronach, Tom Wappel, Blair Wilson.) The by-elections on March 17 will be another test of Dion's leadership. Anything less than a sweep for him will throw more fuel on the fire. Every one of those seats went Liberal last time.

The NDP are attempting to be the official opposition but don't seem to be going anywhere in the polls. If anything they risk getting beat by the Greens in many ridings while splitting the vote to their disadvantage in urban ridings where they currently hold some seats. Having said that it seems like they do have some small momentum in Quebec that may cut into the Liberal vote in Montreal. If Elizabeth May gets into the debates, she is going to have to account for her alliance with Dion and his record and recent actions on the environment. Green supporters and candidates who were angry with the Dion deal before, should be furious now. May should break of her alliance with Dion or at least explain the rational of maintaining it. Finally the Bloc has lost purpose in the federal parliament but further complicate the left vote in Quebec.

Stephen Harper has taken the center and right of the spectrum and it is only a matter of time now before the polls start showing majority territory. If not, I have full confidence in the event of a campaign that Conservative numbers will go up once people start paying closer attention to politics. Liberals, Greens, NDP and Bloc find themselves fighting over the left. Every day that Dion abstains, the less credible he is when he talks about Conservatives being scary or having hidden agendas. By-elections that will likely bring Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay into the Commons will only highlight further the weak leadership of Dion and increase the internal politics of the party. In the fall, the Toronto Star had this to say about Dion after he abstained on the mini-budget:

*****

Dion's credibility hangs by a thread

Nov 01, 2007 04:30 AM

At what point does Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion take a stand and say: "No More! It is time to change this government"?

That's a question well worth asking after Dion and his Liberal MPs abstained yesterday from voting in the House of Commons on the minority Conservative government's tax-slashing mini-budget. And it is one worth considering in light of Dion's earlier willingness to give tacit approval to the Conservative throne speech and other measures, such as a get-tough-on-crime agenda and a weak environmental plan, while at the same time the Liberals insist they oppose much of what Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposes to do.

Is there a line across which Harper cannot go without the Liberals bringing down this government?

Since the throne speech two weeks ago, Canadians have gotten a clearer picture of what Harper's government stands for and what it does not. His mini-budget champions only big tax cuts. But it does nothing to help the federal government build the caring, compassionate, inclusive society that most Canadians want for their country.

Indeed, Harper has made it clear that he envisions a narrow, diminished role in the future for the central government.

Harper has been in power for nearly two years, and his record on social, environmental and multicultural issues is abysmal. Where is a national anti-poverty strategy? Where is a serious environmental program? Where is a real effort to bridge cultural and ethnic differences and promote multiculturalism?

Harper's out-of-hand dismissal of the pleas for help from Canada's cash-strapped cities with their crumbling infrastructure and expanding list of unmet needs shows an anti-city bias, despite all the evidence that cities have become the major engines of economic growth.

His tough stance on crime, despite official statistics indicating almost all forms of crime are falling, indicates he is far more concerned with the consequences of alienation and societal failure than he is with seeking solutions for their root cause.

In his so-called green plan for Canada, Harper willingly risks the future health of the planet for a small, short-term economic gain.

Legislation he introduced to force Muslim women to remove their veils when voting panders to the worst kind of bigotry and is an affront to the value of tolerance vital to a multicultural society. And last year Harper killed the $5 billion Kelowna Accord, which Ottawa and the 10 premiers signed to help natives fight poverty in their communities.

At the same time, Harper's penchant for secrecy, as opposed to the government openness, accountability and transparency that he promised, indicates a lack of respect for the very people who elected him.

In his own alternative plan for Canada that appeared in the Star a few days after the throne speech, Dion said that Canadians "need a government in Ottawa that speaks clearly, honestly and directly to Canadians about these challenges we must overcome."

Canadians deserve as much from the leader of the opposition. But they haven't received it lately from Dion, who refuses to stand on principle because doing so might spark the election he clearly wants to avoid. Instead, Dion has gone along with Harper measures he claims to oppose because he says Canadians don't want an election.

Unfortunately, as they demonstrated yesterday in allowing the mini-budget to pass, the Liberals are letting Harper reshape Canada according to his own vision. The $60 billion in tax cuts contained in the mini-budget could have been better spent tackling issues that Dion ranks as his priorities, namely climate change and poverty.

On the issue of poverty, Dion's alternative throne speech talked about doing more "to support early learning and child care, post-secondary education and lifelong learning" and doing "everything we can to help parents climb over the welfare wall so they can provide the stability and security their children need." But how does he propose to do that after letting Harper allocate the federal surplus for tax cuts?

In his essay for the Star, Dion also said he wants to build "the richest, fairest and greenest country in the world."

He cannot do that, though, by continually propping up the Harper Conservatives. And he cannot do it if he won't tell Canadians what his bottom line is before his party will defeat the government. Is there one issue that will force him to act? Hasn't Harper done enough already in his bid to reverse or discredit the progressive social policies introduced by previous Liberal governments?

These are questions Dion needs to answer immediately if he hopes to maintain any credibility with the voters.

********

I think this Super Bowl ad following Dion's election as Liberal leader has set the tone from the beginning:



This week, Rick Mercer made that image of Dion mainstream with his "Liberal Song" segment. Clearly Dion's credibility is no longer hanging by even a thread.



The Conservative Party wants leadership to be the ballot box question whenever the election is called. The question now for Liberals is do you go now, cut losses and get a new leader for next time or do you wait and hope for the best until 2009?

For Conservatives the question is what are the next priorities for the upcoming year and going forward?

We know the economy and potentially NAFTA could become major issues over the next year and are major issues already. David Emerson was able to come to an agreement on softwood lumber and I like the fact he reminded Democrats about Canada's oil in response to their rhetoric on NAFTA in the Ohio debates. They must know that negotiations are give and take and there are some issues Canadians may want addressed as well. The global position on the environment is basically in a holding pattern until George Bush leaves office and will take a backseat if economic times are uncertain. Afghanistan has been settled. Issues can always come up on the foreign affairs by surprise. There is no fiscal room for major tax cuts or spending initiatives beyond what has been committed to thus far. A good crime bill was just passed and for some reason health care hasn't really found its way on the agenda thus far. The recent City of Toronto blue-ribbon panel report quashed the one cent campaign from David Miller once and for all. The country is more united than it has been for decades behind federalism with the fiscal imbalance addressed and despite the minor squabbles that remain between premiers and the federal government. The budget also provided for public transportation projects, natives, more police officers and various environmental initiatives. Nothing is really jumping out as an election issue in the short term.

Addressing waiting times would be my number one priority at this time along with sound management of the economy during a possible US recession. The top foreign policy priority for me would be strong relations with the new American President regardless of who he/she is after November.

It will be interesting to see where things go from here in Canadian politics. Right now things are looking good for Stephen Harper and federal Conservative candidates in tight swing ridings. Of course in politics, anything can change on a moments notice.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Question Period, February 27, 2008

Question Period, February 27, 2008

Stephen Harper humiliates Stephane Dion during Question Period yesterday

"I want to talk about leadership, vision and credibility," Harper shot back. "Let me just say to the leader of the Opposition, when he comes and makes ferocious attacks on a budget that he has every intention of allowing to pass he simply has no credibility in those attacks."

Emmitt Smith introduces Barack Obama

Emmitt Smith introduces Barack Obama

Former Dallas Cowboy Emmett Smith introduced Senator Obama at his rally in Dallas, TX on February 20th.



John Lewis switches support from Clinton to Obama



New Obama Ads for Obama and Texas:

Bloomberg: I Won't Be a Candidate for President

Bloomberg: I Won't Be a Candidate for President

Chris Dodd endorses Obama

Chris Dodd endorses Obama

November 2008 will be all about Iraq

November 2008 will be all about Iraq

Barack Obama responds to John McCain's attacks.



McCain admits he will lose if he cannot convince America to support Iraq war



McCain wants to see America in Iraq for 100 years

By-election in Newmarket-Aurora?

Stronach another step closer to political exit

Belinda Stronach, who's stepping down as the MP for Newmarket-Aurora, has also finally given up her duties as the head of the Liberal women's caucus.

Stronach had remained in charge of the women's group even though she announced last spring she wouldn't be running again. She did appear late last fall to unveil Pink Book Two, the Liberals' second set of platform policies for women, but as of today, she's wound down the job. Stronach is returning to the private sector -- specifically to help run the Magna car parts empire founded by her father, Frank.

http://thestar.blogs.com/politics/2008/02/stronach-anothe.html

Credit: Susan Delacourt, the Star's Senior Writer in Ottawa, has covered federal politics for more than two decades as a reporter and bureau chief. She is Senior Writer for the Star's Ottawa bureau and a frequent guest on CBC Newsworld's Politics.

Obama staffer gave warning of NAFTA rhetoric

Clinton and Obama debate NAFTA






********

Obama staffer gave warning of NAFTA rhetoric

Updated Wed. Feb. 27 2008 11:45 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Barack Obama has ratcheted up his attacks on NAFTA, but a senior member of his campaign team told a Canadian official not to take his criticisms seriously, CTV News has learned.

Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have been critical of the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement over the course of the Democratic primaries, saying that the deal has cost U.S. workers' jobs.

Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources.

The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value.

But Tuesday night in Ohio, where NAFTA is blamed for massive job losses, Obama said he would tell Canada and Mexico "that we will opt out unless we renegotiate the core labour and environmental standards."

Late Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign said the staff member's warning to Wilson sounded implausible, but did not deny that contact had been made.

"Senator Obama does not make promises he doesn't intend to keep," the spokesperson said.

Low-level sources also suggested the Clinton campaign may have given a similar warning to Ottawa, but a Clinton spokesperson flatly denied the claim.

During Tuesday's debate, she said that as president she would opt out of NAFTA "unless we renegotiate it."

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Wednesday that the candidates' criticisms of NAFTA were misguided.

"(They) should recognize that NAFTA benefits the U.S. tremendously," he said. "Those who speak of it as helpful to (just the) Canadian or Mexican economies are missing the point."

Liberal MP and finance critic John McCallum told Canada AM that the U.S. pulling out of NAFTA "would be a disaster for Canada."

But he added, "I hope and I believe that it's politics, because they're in a high-stakes contest. I believe after this nominee is decided, this issue will go away."

John Fortier, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise institute, said that in an effort to gain votes in the anti-NAFTA state of Ohio, each candidate might find themselves "locked-in" to their pledge to renegotiate NAFTA.

"Last night, both candidates really locked themselves in to at least doing some serious renegotiation," Fortier told Canada AM. "But how serious they are and what the changes (will be) . . . that's another question.

"But I don't know how Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton can get out of last night's very clear pledge that they are going to use the opt-out (clause) as a threat to do some serious renegotiation."

Crucial primaries in Ohio and Texas are just one week away.

During Tuesday night's debate, each candidate was quite specific about using the six-month opt-out clause in NAFTA, to pressure Canada and Mexico into renegotiating the deal.

The March 4 primaries are seen as vital for each candidate, but particularly Clinton. It's expected that without a decisive win in both Texas and Ohio, she has no chance of winning the Democratic nomination.

Clinton once had a large lead in each state, but recent polls are showing the candidates as close to even, with Obama surging ahead.

Early polls show that there is a strong possibility of a Democrat in the White House in January 2009.

Obama, in particular, is surging in popularity throughout the U.S. and some polls give the Illinois senator an almost double-digit lead if he were to run head-to-head against the expected Republican candidate, John McCain.

With a report by CTV's Tom Clark in Washington

**********

Funniest Rick Mercer Skit I have ever Seen

Funniest Rick Mercer Skit I have ever Seen

"the Liberal song"



Previous one based on the throne speech:

Canada's Next Great Prime Minister Promo

Canada's Next Great Prime Minister Promo

Ten semi-finalists compete head-to-head in a grueling three day political bootcamp. Who will be Canada's Next Great Prime Minister? Watch on March 23rd as our 4 finalists compete to win the competition of a lifetime!

www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister






Highlights from 2007:

STATEMENT BY FRANK KLEES

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release

February 25, 2008

STATEMENT BY FRANK KLEES

(Newmarket-Aurora) – The following is a statement from Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees:

“This morning, the Globe and Mail reported that I have leadership ambitions for the PC Party. That statement is false. My commitment to and reasons for my support of John Tory as Leader was made clear in the Op-Ed published by the Toronto Star on Friday, Feb. 22, 2008.

I have been and continue to be a steadfast supporter of John Tory as Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The leadership review has come and gone with a huge majority of grassroots Party members declaring they do not want a leadership election. John Tory is our Leader and it is time for us to move forward together and focus on winning the election in 2011.”

-30-

For more information:

Frank Klees

(416) 509-8999

Article Link here: http://www.frank-klees.on.ca/news/2003/documents/Why_votingforTory.doc

Or visit www.frank-klees.on.ca see “in the news”

Welcome CNN and Reuters Readers...

Welcome CNN and Reuters Readers...

I just noticed that a lot of my hits are coming from the CNN blog search and also the Reuters www.voterswithoutvoices.com website. Thank you for visiting and caring about the Canadian perspective of the current US Presidential elections. I am a Canadian Conservative supporting Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Breaking News...No election

Breaking News...No election

Update: There will not be an election on this budget according to Dion. Highlights below:

Budget highlights

• $12.9 billion surplus, $10.2 billion to debt reduction;
• new $5,000 a year tax-free registered savings plan in 2009;
• creation of crown corporation to manage EI premiums and surplus;
• new electronic, 10-year passport by 2011;
• new student grants program and overhaul of loans
• $500 million for public transit, gas tax fund made permanent;
• $250 million for an Automotive Innovation Fund
• $400 million to recruit 2,500 more police this year;
• $250 million to develop carbon capture and storage this year;
• $300 million investment in nuclear energy and safety in 2009;
• $330 million over 2 years for safe drinking water on First Nations reserves.

More to come...



Budget due at 4pm

Today is my favorite day of the year. The NHL trade deadline. Once that wraps up at 3pm today, an hour later, Jim Flaherty will deliver the budget with several confidence votes to follow. March 4 is the day everyone will be watching to determine if there is an election resulting from the budget. All indications are that the Liberals will allow this budget, the Afghan motion and the justice bill in the senate to pass. Early on, I predict that we are not going to election until the fixed date in 2009. More to come...

Good trade deadline sites:

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/deadline2008/

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

A Message from John Tory

A Message from the Ontario PC Party

February 25, 2008

Dear Fellow Conservative:

First, thank you for taking the time to attend the Annual General Meeting this past weekend in London. That it was the biggest convention we have ever held as an Opposition party is a testament to your devotion to our Party and to the task of getting ready to win in 2011.

I was very gratified by the success of the initial PAC (Policy Advisory Council) meetings which represent the beginnings of what will be the most grassroots-driven policy development process in the history of the Party. As delegates heard on the weekend, these initial meetings will be followed by both an on-line survey open to all PC Party members this spring and regional policy conferences starting later in the spring.

We also made great progress on the organizational and technology side, receiving valuable input on fixing our database and central membership registry and establishing a new party headquarters which will properly serve the ridings!

We elected an excellent new executive. A perfect blend of new and experienced faces, I know that under the leadership of our energetic new president Ken Zeise, they will get things done! I met with them yesterday afternoon and I have no doubt they will make us proud.

I would like to thank the many hard-working volunteers for their help this weekend. I know it was a challenge to accommodate such an enormous crowd. We strive to make each convention better than the last.

In the months before and during the convention, I heard over and over that those of us here in Toronto, starting with me, listen to the grassroots, on policy, on the organizational needs of ridings and on everything else.

This is a very important point. It is an essential component of leadership to listen to those who have experience and good advice to give. It is vital to consult.

Some say its “indecisive” to listen and consult. But I disagree.

I will never apologize for listening. That’s what leaders do.

And when they’ve listened, they decide and they act quickly as I did on Saturday after you overwhelmingly urged me to stay, which was helpful and gratifying even if it did mean I didn't get a bite of dinner!

In stating my intention to remain as leader, I was listening to the delegates representing the grassroots of our Party who said by a substantial 2-1 margin that they did not want a leadership convention. Those delegates agreed that we are better off using our time, energy and money now to start getting ready to defeat the Liberals and form a new government in 2011.

Leadership reviews produce tensions in a political party because they force people to choose sides in an internal family discussion. I am asking people to put those discussions behind us and move forward to address the many challenges we agreed upon over the weekend:

• The need for the best ever grassroots policy development process.
• Supporting riding associations better.
• Fixing our technology.
• Raising the money we need to do these things.

I have already begun to get on with that work and I am absolutely committed to delivering results. I want your help and I need your support. If you have any comments arising out of the weekend and want to pass them on to me please do not hesitate to email me at: john.tory@pc.ola.org.

Thank you for your continued involvement and dedication to our Party and for your support in the days ahead.

Sincerely,

John Tory
Leader, Ontario PC Party

****

*Note: Credit to www.draftaleader.com for posting this letter, a link for membership renewal and a listing of the new executive. I think it is a good first step in moving past this review and onto the more important task of building a PC victory in 2011

-Darryl

Mike Huckabee on SNL

Mike Huckabee on SNL

Good segment that shows Huckabee has a great personality and sense of humor. Very funny appearance. Also below is the SNL that Obama did around Halloween.
-Darryl


Huckabee does SNL news segment



Obama does SNL intro segment

Darryl, Stephen Somerville and Frank Klees on TV to talk about John Tory's leadership review this past weekend

Darryl, Stephen Somerville and Frank Klees on TV to talk about John Tory's leadership review this past weekend

Live at 9pm on Rogers Cable 10 in Newmarket and York Region. Not sure if the new deal for Rogers to acquire Aurora cable will make this show available in Aurora as well.
-Darryl

Today at:
	9:00 PM Live phone in show that takes a deeper look into politics and news events that effect the residents of York Region.

Pam MacDonald

About the show

Now on two times a week, Insights is a live, interactive program that profiles issues and events from across York Region.

Host Pam MacDonald takes your calls live and lets you have your say every Monday and Wednesday live at 9:00 pm.

Is there an issue you'd like to see profiled on Insights? Call us at 905-836-7196 or e-mail insightsrci.rogers.com

FOR INFO:

Steve Walsh
Producer
(905) 836-7196

Tension boils over at Tory convention

Tension boils over at Tory convention

Congratulations to everyone involved in this video. All of the people involved did a great job embarrassing themselves and also the entire Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario with the ridiculous way they conducted themselves with television cameras all around. I am all for passion in politics and democratic debate, but this made both sides look bad at the convention. Thanks to these fools, the opposition and media are having a field day with this video.

Note: I was flipped this Sunday night, but didn't want to post it to avoid further embarrassment. Now that Jason Cherniak and Warren Kinsella have posted it on their blogs, I guess that is not possible now.

-Darryl

Shoving match between Tory supporters and grassroots Conservatives at John Tory Leadership Review February 23, 2008 at London Convention Centre.

"The simmering tension between pro- and anti-Tory factions bubbled to the surface following the leader's speech. As Willis spoke to reporters, a group of his supporters gathered behind him chanting "Tory! Tory!" A woman angrily shoved them aside, telling them to "shut up."
(Canadian Press, February 23, 2008)

"As Roland Willis, a member of Mr. Devlin's campaign, told reporters that Mr. Tory made a bad decision on the faith based schools policy, a group of the leader's supporters began shouting, "Tory, Tory, Tory." This prompted an elderly woman who is part of the Devlin camp to rise out of her seat and shout, "Shut up." She then punched the young man, Jeff Lindquist, in the chest."
(Globe & Mail, Feb 23 2008)

Ralph Nader enters 2008 US President race

Ralph Nader enters 2008 US President race


Ralph Nader announces his presidential run for the 2008 presidential race on Meet The Press. Will Bloomberg enter next??? Ron Paul????
-Darryl

Live from John Tory vote in London

Live from John Tory vote in London

Update from Dinner: Last night John Tory announced after the AGM dinner that he would stay on as party leader and that there would not be a leadership race. A few Tory supporters encouraged him during dinner to make an announcement he was staying so that the media and opposition wouldn't make the decision for him over the next few days. A grassroots campaign took off to get several caucus members to send blackberry messages to Tory to announce he is staying right now. Several went along with that, at least one refused and ultimately Tory's blackberry started buzzing with messages of support and requests to settle this question once and for all. Tory then quickly organized a speech and delivered it as dinner was winding down. The end result was that John Tory made the decision that 66.8% was a victory and that he would lead the party into the 2011 election campaign. I will have a full report on the convention later today and will also be on Rogers Television tomorrow night with Frank Klees and Stephen Somerville on Insights with Pam MacDonald to talk about the convention further at 9pm. More to come...


Update: Results are in and Tory has gotten 66.8% of the vote among 1300 delegates. Obviously this is the worst result possible because it is inconclusive. Tory has asked for time to digest the results and make a decision about if he should continue to lead this party. He really has three choices: stay on, resign, or resign and run in a leadership contest. Tonight at the hospitality suites and over the next week we should have more clarity. At this point it is disappointing that we do not have a number where there is a clear result one way or the other.

***

I finally got to vote and just voted no to a leadership race to support John Tory. Voting lines are slow and voting has been extended until 3:15 to accomodate those in line. Results may not be in until some time around 5pm.

I thought John Tory delivered the best political speech of his career earlier today. He showed a lot of passion and hit a lot of the points to address concerns about the last campaign and his leadership. Potentially the speech has the potential to get him around the 70% range once the results came in.

Overall the convention has been a good opportunity for PC Party members to come together. I think the policy development sessions were well attended and will return the party to grass roots policy development.

Overall I am happy with my vote for Tory. Will post results as soon as I get them.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Off to London to support John Tory

Off to London to support John Tory

In a couple of hours I will head two hours West to London, Ontario where the PC Party will be holding a leadership review and a series of policy sessions. On the issue of the leadership review, I will be voting against one.

John Tory in my opinion is the best person to lead this party to victory in 2011. I believe he has the work ethic, integrity, fundraising ability and is the best person to break into communities such as young people, urban residents and new Ontarians where we have done poorly in the past. I also think that outside of faith based schools, the party presented a strong platform in the last election that addressed issues like poverty, the environment and cities that traditionally Conservatives don't talk about much. I would have liked to have seen more tax and spending cuts. I also think we need to do more as a party to heal the rift with teachers by involving them in our platform for education. We must have stronger relations with the federal Conservative Party and Stephen Harper. Finally I agree we need more grass roots involvement in policy development and how we make decisions on our party.

John Tory is a good man with a strong resume. He deserves a second chance as Harper, McGuinty and others have had in the past before winning power. I appreciate his corporate background at Rogers, the CFL and of course his tireless work with various community organizations. I was also impressed that he came to our riding and answered our questions as well as listened to our ideas to move forward as a party. He even made a personal house visit to Ernie Crossland, a member of our party for over 50 years. John Tory is a moderate and very close to my own personal views on most issues.

There is no alternative candidate currently waiting in the wings who has more potential to win the next election than John Tory at this time. Tim Hudak, Randy Hillier and Christine Elliot are all potential candidates. Federal Conservative MPs like Flaherty, Baird, Clement, Van Loan or Chong are unlikely to leave government for a chance to lead a party in opposition. No outsiders have come forward. The strongest MPPs in the PC caucus including Whitmer, Klees, Ruciman, MacLeod, Sterling, O'Toole and others have endorsed Tory in public. All the major Ontario newspapers have also called for PC members to give Tory a second chance. I want to see Tory's potential without the faith based schools disaster as an anchor on the campaign. I think as a party we are very lucky to have John Tory as our leader and in politics for the right reasons.

John Tory is the leader that can take our party into the future. John Tory is the best potential leader who can lead us to victory in the next provincial election. John Tory deserves another chance to live up to his potential and be one of the best Ontario premiers in history. I hope he survives the leadership vote this weekend.

My prediction: He will get somewhere between 65%-75%. The big question that everyone will be asking on Monday is how much is required to stay on as leader (80%?), and will Tory be able to unite the party should he hold on to the leadership. I think ultimately John Tory will be the leader that takes us into the 2011 election.

As for the other positions, chill the beer in the hospitality suites if you want my vote! :-)

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Frank Klees: Why I will be voting for Tory

Why I'll be voting for John Tory

Feb 22, 2008 04:30 AM

Frank Klees

If honesty, sincerity and integrity are qualities that Ontario Progressive Conservatives want in their leader, then John Tory deserves a resounding vote of confidence from delegates at this weekend's London convention.

Perhaps more than any other member of the PC caucus, I had the opportunity to work alongside Tory since his election as leader in 2004. I observed him in meetings with stakeholders, at community and cultural events across the province and at countless political functions.

He was always forthright, spoke with conviction about his calling to public life and tirelessly demonstrated his commitment to bring integrity back to Ontario politics.

Over the last three years, Tory has successfully connected with many communities that were previously beyond the reach of the PC party and he has forged solid working relationships with a wide range of organizations in every sector of our province.

His dedication and hard work is deserving of the respect and loyalty of every member of our party. That's why I am supporting Tory and why I will be urging all delegates to do the same.

No one was more disappointed with the results of the last provincial election than me. And I was one of the first to tell Tory where I believed mistakes were made and what it would take to get the party and his leadership back on track.

Tory's response to our discussion was consistent with the character of the man I have come to know since we faced off as leadership candidates in 2004.

He acknowledged not only the mistakes that were made leading up to and during the election campaign, but most importantly, he took responsibility for those decisions, committed to learn from mistakes made, and immediately got to work to engage party members in what has proven to be an important first step in the rebuilding of our party and the re-affirmation of our trust and confidence in his leadership.

Key in my decision to support Tory is his commitment to developing the party's grassroots. That process, which was abandoned in the development of policy leading up to this past election, would have had one of two significant results.

Either the now infamous "faith-based" policy would never have made it into the party's platform, or there would have been a province-wide, grassroots "army" that would have understood, vetted and embraced the policy and would have effectively defended it against Premier Dalton McGuinty's distortions.

Delegates to this weekend's convention will witness the reinstatement of the party's grassroots Policy Advisory Councils and a renewed commitment to being engaged in developing policy leading up to the next election.

This singular commitment by John Tory is an important signal to party members that he is serious about implementing the changes necessary to rebuild the party and demonstrates that the experiences of this past election have strengthened his resolve to build on those lessons.

The most important of those lessons is that effective leadership in the Progressive Conservative Party begins with a healthy respect for the role of the individual member.

John Tory earned my respect through his proven track record of success before politics, and he has earned my loyalty because of how he has handled defeat in his first election as leader.

I will be voting to give him the opportunity to put into practice the lessons learned, to build on the foundation he has laid and to ready our party for the responsibility of governing in 2011.

Frank Klees is Progressive Conservative MPP for Newmarket-Aurora and ran against John Tory for the party leadership in 2004.

********

Conservatives should give Tory another chance

Toronto Sun
January 13, 2008

The political debate in Canada is a swinging exercise between democracy and tradition. It might sound healthy, but it also offers an opportunity for some to hide the real political problems behind technicalities.

For example, according to the democratic statutes of all political organizations, every leader must go through a leadership review after every election. It means that members of that party have the right, and the duty, to express their concerns about their leader and vote accordingly.

Unfortunately, and here's where tradition steps in, a leader "must" have at least "one more chance."

This means that whoever challenges the leader becomes a "traitor." We all remember what happened with the federal Liberals and Conservatives on that score in the past.
Another clash between tradition and democracy is about the vote during that leadership review.

Democracy says that 50% plus one should be enough to win. But according to "tradition" (Whose? Joe Clark's, that's who!) it must be at least two-thirds of the vote.

Why is it that 50% plus one vote is not enough for a leader to run a political organization in Canada, yet political parties govern the country with far less support?

(Bob Rae ran Ontario for five years with only 37% of the popular vote and Jean Chretien ruled the country with less than 50% for 10).

Let's look at the ongoing debate surrounding the approaching leadership review of Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory.

I believe the people wanting him ousted shouldn't be considered traitors because they are just following the rules of democracy that allow an honest and open debate about his performance in last October's provincial election.
The question is: Are they putting forward an open and honest debate?
In order to answer that question, we should go back to the leadership that brought Tory to his position and what happened within the party following that up to its Oct. 10 defeat at the polls.

MADE MISTAKES
Yes, Tory has been defeated and he and his advisers made mistakes.
But the education issue (Tory's controversial support for public funding for faith-based schools) is only part of the problem and note even the major one.
The other part is party unity, or rather, the lack of it.

Did Tory have the support of all the leaders of his political organization?
The most popular alternatives, Jim Flaherty, John Baird and Tony Clement, all left him to join Stephen Harper's team.

Did they help Tory during the election? I don't know, but if they did, their efforts were not often seen in public.

Flaherty, leading up to the provincial election, was more often seen in photo-ops with then Ontario Liberal finance minister Greg Sorbara, than Tory.
Premier Dalton McGuinty ran an effective campaign with the help of many colleagues. But where were the Conservative equivalents of the Sorbaras, George Smithermans and Dwight Duncans helping out Tory?

Was it Tory's decision to exclude others, or others who decided to take a leave of absence and let Tory get crushed?

Going into their London convention asking for the removal of Tory because of the school funding issue, means some Conservatives are adopting the tactics started by the Liberals against them.

They might well argue the Liberal campaign against Tory was sneaky but effective.

Well, it was sneaky. But it was effective not only because of the mistake made by Tory but because of the internal divisiveness among Conservatives.
As for moving forward, Tory has admitted his mistakes. If Conservatives are serious about winning the next elections, they should start debating the issues, real issues.

Elections are about winning, but the school funding issue wasn't so much the cause of the Conservative defeat as the symptom of a divided party. The Liberals used it as a tool to highlight the underlying problem of the Conservatives -- party unity, or rather the lack of it.

So, does Tory deserve another chance?

I believe so, not because of tradition, but because the internal opposition has not convinced many people they ever gave Tory a real chance -- the first chance -- to lead a united party.

*********

Tory merits second chance

Toronto Star
January 13, 2008

If 2007 ended on a low note for John Tory, the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader, the new year isn't getting any better.

Rumblings of discontent with the party over Tory's leadership started even before the Conservatives suffered a bruising loss in the Oct. 10 election, which was widely blamed on Tory's ill-conceived proposal to extend public funding to faith-based schools.

Now, the drive to oust him has moved into the open with the formal launch last week of an organized campaign aimed at removing him as leader at the party's convention Feb. 23 in London. A position paper penned by former party president Rueben Devlin and former MPP Bart Maves says Tory "woefully underestimated the effectiveness of the Ontario Liberals and we all paid a very costly political price."

How much steam the Grassroots PC movement will gather is anyone's guess. But the Conservatives should think twice about dumping Tory, who vowed last week to "fight like hell" to keep his job.

The party has a better chance of mounting an effective opposition to Premier Dalton McGuinty over the next four years and fighting the Liberals in the next election if it stays near the political centre where most Ontarians' sensibilities lie. That's why the party should give Tory and his progressive brand of conservatism another chance.

Tory is the first to admit he made mistakes during the election. But political leaders can learn from their missteps and misjudgments, as McGuinty clearly has since becoming Liberal leader in 1996.

While the Star endorsed the Liberals in the election, we firmly believe Ontario needs devoted and compassionate politicians like Tory.

Tory, a former businessman, has an admirable track record in the voluntary sector. And throughout his failed Toronto mayoralty bid in 2003 and his time in provincial politics, he has shown himself to be genuinely committed to public service.

Unfortunately, those qualities are in glaringly short supply in all levels of politics. Conservative delegates should keep that in mind when they gather next month to decide Tory's future.

********

Party should endorse John Tory

The London Free Press
February 21, 2008

Given the spectacular way Conservative Leader John Tory blew last year's provincial election, it's understandable rank and file Tories have qualms about his leadership as they gather to decide his political fate this weekend in London.

On Saturday he faces a leadership review. While technically, 50 per cent plus one of the votes cast in his favour will give him the right to continue; realistically it will take a 75 per cent approval rating to put questions about his leadership to rest.

Tory's biggest problem is that he's a Red Tory in a party whose grassroots and caucus are more conservative than he is. His election debacle wasn't just that most Ontarians rejected his promise of full-funding for faith-based schools; it was that the people most opposed were bedrock Conservatives.

But that was then, this is now. Does Tory deserve a second chance to lead his party in the 2011 election?

Yes.

Tory's smart enough to learn from mistakes. In his life before politics he was a successful and sensible businessperson with a strong sense of public service, demonstrated by good deeds, not just words.

He went into politics for the right reasons -- not because he needed a job.

Conservatives thinking of booting Tory after one election defeat � the same number Premier Dalton McGuinty and former premier Mike Harris endured before both winning back-to-back majorities -- should think twice.

Who can better expand the party beyond its rural, agricultural base than Tory?

Who's a better fundraiser?

Who's better known?

Conservatives waiting for a Harris clone to lead them back to the promised land should remember Harris was right for his time � following a decade of fiscally reckless Liberal and NDP rule. But today, voters don't want unending confrontation, particularly in health and education. They want better results.

Should Tory win a solid endorsement, he needs to remember that simply listening to his party's grassroots isn't enough. He has to heed what they're saying and fashion it into a platform that attracts new supporters while inspiring old ones.

He's up to the job.

*********

Give John Tory a second chance

The Globe and Mail
February 19 2008

For many Ontario Conservatives, it will be tempting to punish John Tory for last fall's dismal election showing by ousting him at the leadership review to be held next weekend. By any measure, Mr. Tory botched his first campaign as leader - primarily with his disastrous pledge to expand religious school funding, but also by otherwise failing to lay out a vision for the province that differed from that of the governing Liberals. Even his supporters would have to concede that, if he were being assessed solely on the basis of his performance as leader so far, Mr. Tory would deserve to lose his job.

But for the Conservatives, the review cannot solely be about looking back. It must also be about looking forward to who would best position them to win the next Ontario election, and who would serve as an effective premier if elected. These factors weigh in Mr. Tory's favour.

Recent Canadian political history has produced many examples of leaders who learned from their mistakes. Stephen Harper, for example, ran a far more disciplined campaign in the last federal election after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in 2004. And Ontario's current premier, Dalton McGuinty, ran a campaign in 1999 that is remembered for its sheer ineptitude. But he overhauled his office, sharpened his party's message, improved his communication skills and proceeded to win consecutive majority governments.

If Mr. Tory is serious about making similar changes, there is hope for his leadership yet. He must make good on his promise to surround himself with stronger staff and listen to what they say rather than run a one-man show. He must shy away from gimmicky hot-button issues such as the religious-schools promise and develop a comprehensive policy agenda that addresses the mounting economic challenges faced by his province. And he must learn to communicate that agenda clearly and succinctly, a skill he acknowledges was lacking in the last campaign.

If there were a better candidate waiting in the wings, the Conservatives would have no reason to endure Mr. Tory's self-improvement process. But there is a reason that few names have been bandied about as potential replacements during the leadership review. Within the provincial caucus, there is no heir apparent. And barring a decision by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to return to the provincial scene, which is beyond improbable, there are no members of the federal Conservative caucus who would be an improvement, either. Most likely, the party would find itself with another leader who would emerge from the next election pledging to learn from his mistakes.

A successful business executive with a strong social conscience, a history of community activism and considerable personal charm, Mr. Tory has succeeded in every other walk of life. There is a reasonable chance that he will yet succeed as a political leader, too. Ontario Tories should resist the temptation to lash out in anger and allow Mr. Tory an opportunity for redemption in 2011.

***************

Witmer pledges support for Tory's PC party leadership

The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo)
February 21, 2008

The Ontario Progressive Conservative party will gather in London from Friday to Sunday for our annual general meeting to review the last election, but more importantly to focus on our future.

Delegates to the convention will be asked to vote yes or no to the important question of whether the Ontario PC party should have a leadership review and, therefore, begin a search for a new leader. I urge the members of the Ontario PC party to vote "no" to a leadership review and to rally behind our leader, John Tory. He is the right leader
for our party and the one who can lead us to victory in 2011.

Since he became leader in 2004, Tory has spent a significant amount of time meeting with people from all across the province to get to know the unique issues that face Ontarians in every region. These meetings, along with his tremendous business and volunteer experience, have provided him with a solid understanding of the needs of Ontarians.

Tory understands the challenges facing the manufacturing sector and has worked hard on behalf of Ontario's workers to hold Dalton McGuinty to account for the severe loss of jobs in this important sector.

He has met with countless farmers and recognizes the important role that farming families play in Ontario.

He is a leader who has truly appreciated the economic power of Ontario's North and has laid out a plan to revitalize this important part of our province. And, Tory understands both the challenges facing the health care sector in our province and what it will take to deliver a plan for a healthier Ontario.

Tory is one of the few Conservatives who has had the courage to stand up for private sector involvement in the delivery of our public health care system -- engaging partners with proven track records as we work to improve access to health care services for Ontarians. In addition, Tory is the only leader who has the experience and the commitment it takes to, finally, put e-health records to work for Ontario, enabling doctors
and nurses to spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, supporting better health care planning and sustainability and improving health care and patient safety.

These are only a few of the areas that demonstrate that Tory has a plan to make Ontario strong. I believe that they are some of the areas that would have -- and should have -- been discussed at length during the last election campaign, but were instead overshadowed by one issue.

Tory listens. He has taken the responsibility for our election loss; he has met with party members to discuss that loss and he has already acted on the advice that he was afforded in those meetings and made changes to the policy development process, riding support and the opposition leader's office.

Tory is a hard-working, honest and compassionate individual who has capably demonstrated his genuine commitment to public service and to the people of Ontario. I hope that the members of the Ontario PC party will vote no on Saturday and give him the opportunity to put that commitment to work for our party, and our province in 2011.

Elizabeth Witmer is the MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, the deputy leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, and the Opposition House Leader and party critic for health and long-term care.

*************

Letter of Support from Janet Ecker

February 22nd and 23rd mark the date of our next party convention. We have an important decision to make do we vote to support our current leader John Tory or do we launch a new leadership race? I am writing to ask you to support John, by voting no to a leadership race.

Why? Like you, I was very disappointed at the results of the last election. It’s tough to work hard for a strong candidate locally and provincially someone who deserves to be elected, and then see that person go down to defeat. It is even more difficult when expectations are high.

Yes, campaign and policy mistakes were made. John has publicly and privately stated this fact and has, as a leader should, accepted responsibility for them. He has spent the weeks since the election, travelling the province, listening to our party’s supporters about how we should move forward. It is an important first step if we are to rebuild our party and lay the foundation for victory the next time around.

I have had the privilege of working with many of our party’s leaders. I was proud to serve as a member of Premier Bill Davis’s staff, just as I was equally proud to serve as a senior member of the Mike Harris government. They were different men for different times, both successful leaders and Premiers. And each built a legacy our party can be, and should be, proud to defend. But they were also leaders who made their share of mistakes too.

Mr. Davis lost his majority and had back-to-back minorities before leading us to victory in 1981. Despite those who pushed to have Mike Harris leave after his 1990 defeat, the party stuck with him. He learned and grew and won two back-to-back victories, defying both critics and pundits alike.

There are other examples. After his 2004 loss, Stephen Harper went on to become Prime Minister. Dalton McGuinty followed his 1999 defeat with a majority win.

I believe John Tory deserves another shot. We stand a stronger chance of winning the next time, if we work together, united behind him, than if we divide ourselves in another contentious leadership battle. Now we need John’s work ethic, his ability to fundraise, his ability to touch a broader constituency, his broadly-based reputation for integrity. We need a leader who has learned from his mistakes; who is prepared to forge ahead, not because he has no other place to go, but because he truly believes, deep down, that he can do the job we expect.

I know it won’t be easy. He will have to work hard and so will we. But there is no easy option here. There is only the option of a hardworking, talented leader, backed by a hardworking and united party, building a victory plan together. Let’s help him do that.

Sincerely,
Janet Ecker

*********

Majority of caucus backing Tory

Sun Media
January 15, 2008

John Tory has secured the support of a large majority of his caucus heading into a do-or-die leadership review.

A poll of Tory MPPs by Sun Media found at least two-thirds of the 26-member caucus are enthusiastic in their endorsement of Tory, including interim party leader Bob Runciman and former leadership contender Frank Klees.

"I'm a John Tory guy; John's my main man," PC MPP Ted Chudleigh said.
Only one MPP, Oshawa's Jerry Ouellette, told Sun Media he will remain neutral in the leadership review.

Ouellette said he's not encouraging people to vote either way.
"I'm not taking an active role in pushing for a review," Ouellette said.
Several MPPs, including potential leadership successors Tim Hudak and Christine Elliott, did not respond to Sun Media requests for their position on the leadership review.

PC delegates attending the party's annual convention on Feb. 23 in London will vote on whether they want to hold a new leadership contest.

A no vote supports the continuing leadership of Tory.

The review is required under the party's constitution when it loses a general election.

Rueben Devlin, a spokesman for Grassroots PC, a group urging party members to vote in favour of a new leadership contest, said many of their members prefer to remain anonymous.

"I guess one of the practical reasons is that a lot of the people on the yes side like their jobs," Devlin said. "We know where the caucus is but that's not unexpected because there's a chance that they'll have to work together (with Tory) after the vote."

If Tory were to survive the leadership contest, any MPP who opposed him would probably discover a whole new meaning to the term backbencher, he said.

"They'd be sitting on University Avenue," Devlin said.

Devlin said more people will be coming out within the next few weeks in support of a leadership contest, including past MPPs.

PC MPP Norm Sterling, who is backing Tory, said he doesn't believe there is broad support for the yes side.

"One or two per cent make a lot of noise and send a lot of e-mails unsigned, " Sterling said.

PC MPP Ted Arnott, another fan of Tory, said he's done a great job as leader and believes he will survive the vote.

"I don't blame him for the results of the election; it was an unfortunate series of events," Arnott said.

Other MPPs who are publicly endorsing Tory are Toby Barrett, Lisa MacLeod, Norm Miller, Joyce Savoline, Laurie Scott, Jim Wilson, Elizabeth Witmer and John Yakabuski.

**********

Ontario's Tory hopes party will forgive and forget

KAREN HOWLETT

From Friday's Globe and Mail

February 22, 2008 at 3:58 AM EST

TORONTO — Prime Minister Stephen Harper advised him to come up with a clear, succinct message, much like the five-point plan he campaigned on during the federal election two years ago. Former Ontario premier Mike Harris talked about the importance of reaching out to grassroots Tories.

Since John Tory's crushing defeat in last October's election, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader has sought advice from politicians who won elections after losing the first time around.

He too is hoping for a second chance when his leadership is put to a vote at the party's annual convention in London, Ont. tomorrow.

Mr. Tory needs the support of only 50 per cent plus one of delegates at the convention to stay on as leader - a target he is widely expected to achieve. But he knows he needs much more than the minimum threshold set out in the party's rules before questions about his leadership can be put to rest.

The convention will bring together Mr. Tory's supporters and leaders of a campaign seeking to oust him. The Together With Tory campaign released a letter yesterday signed by 33 MPPs and grassroots supporters in Southwestern Ontario endorsing his leadership.

"A change in leadership will only delay our preparation for victory in 2011," the letter says, echoing similar missives sent from other regions.

Rueben Devlin, head of the Grassroots PC campaign seeking a leadership review, countered that Mr. Tory has not learned from his political failures. "We can't afford to risk another defeat," he said in a letter.

Sources close to Mr. Tory said he considered resigning on election night after he lost his own seat and his controversial policy on religious schools helped Dalton McGuinty's Liberals glide to a second majority.

Instead, he decided to fight for the job he has held for the past 3½ years by embarking on a long and often painful postmortem of what went wrong. Mr. Harper telephoned Mr. Tory shortly after the election and stressed the importance of being concise, the sources said.

Mr. Harper also talked about the importance of connecting with grassroots members of the party. This was a clear reference to Mr. Tory's efforts to position himself as a moderate in the mould of his mentor, former Ontario premier Bill Davis. Mr. Tory's ascension to the leadership of the party in the fall of 2004 marked the end of the Common Sense Revolution started by Mr. Harris. But some of Mr. Tory's critics say he has alienated the party's right wing by veering too far to the left.

Mr. Harris also talked about the need to have a consistent, simplistic message and to get grassroots party members involved in the policy-making process, the sources said.

The four months have been difficult for Mr. Tory, the sources said. He has visited 82 of the province's 107 ridings since the election, talking to party members. It is not in his nature to be adversarial. He and his wife, Barbara Hackett, have found the fighting within the party particularly difficult, one of the sources said.

The infighting continued this week after Andrew Brander, one of Mr. Tory's supporters, launched challenges to the eligibility of about 60 delegates on the grounds that they are representing ridings where they do not live. Those close to Mr. Tory said his detractors have also launched challenges.

A Great Plan to Fix Toronto's Finances

A Great Plan to Fix Toronto's Finances

I think Larry Tanenbaum and his blue ribbon panel did a great job of uncovering some revenue generation opportunities as well as savings in Toronto's books. Tanenbaum and his team did more in four months than David Miller has been able to after years in office. After claiming the city was responsible fiscal managers and having its house in order, this report shows that much more can be done. The recommendations of selling Toronto hydro to pay off Toronto's debt resulting in 450 million in interest savings a year should be taken very seriously. Other revenue generating options could put the city on firm financial footing well into the future. More power to the mayor's office and to a CFO who could look into the books of the cities 119 corporations and commissions would also be welcome and needed changes to the culture of Toronto city hall. These recommendations in combination with uploading from the provincial government gives Toronto an opportunity to be fiscally independent without the 1% of GST handout demanded in the past. David Miller should take these recommendations to heart and get his house in order. At that point he could go to Ottawa and ask for help with the infrastructure deficit and need to expand public transportation with full credibility.

One element I disagree with the report on would be toll roads. These roads have already been paid for by Ontario taxpayers and the motorist already pays a heavy tax burden at the gas pump. We cannot punish middle class commuters attempting to get to work in the city unless there is a legitimate practical public transportation alternative that is convenient. I am glad the province has already ruled this out.

Stephen Harper and John Tory should also both get on side with this plan for the city of Toronto's fiscal crisis. Now I hope Larry Tanenbaum puts this much planning into the future of the Leafs.

Great coverage on this issue from the Toronto Star

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

*****

Billions of dollars could be unlocked from assets, city advised

Business enterprises, holdings could be `monetized' through sale, leasing or partnerships, panel says

Feb 22, 2008 04:30 AM

john spears
city hall bureau

As the bank slogan says, Toronto is richer than it thinks.

The mayor's panel on city finances suggests the city could – if it wanted – unlock up to $3.5 billion from the business enterprises and other assets it owns.

And that doesn't even begin to touch the extra money that could be squeezed from Toronto's $17.9 billion real estate portfolio, much of it underutilized.

Turning assets into cash could allow the city to pay off its debts, the panel says – and relieve it of paying $440 million a year in principal and interest.

The panel is careful not to couch its recommendations in terms of a mass sell-off.

"Monetization" is the term it uses. That can mean a sale, but it can also mean turning assets into cash through leasing, forming partnerships or even increasing investment to generate new income.

Here are some opportunities:

Toronto Hydro. The utility that owns the wires delivering power to every home and office in Toronto.

The utility does make significant payments to the city: In 2006 it paid $46.2 million in dividends, and $60 million in interest on debt held by the city. But the panel says the potential is far bigger than that.

"By some estimates, Toronto Hydro could be worth $2.5 billion to $3 billion (before debt repayment of approximately $1.2 billion and taxes) if it were sold to another municipality, the province or the private sector," the report figures.

Even if the whole company isn't sold, sections could be chunked off. For example, one unit of Toronto Hydro owns the city's streetlights and markets energy-efficiency products; another unit, Toronto Hydro Telecom, has fibre-optic connections to 490 buildings. Neither is valued in the report, but Toronto Hydro paid the city $60 million for the streetlights in 2005.

Panel member Jim Stanford was swift to point out that selling isn't always the best option.

"You could do a partnership with outside investors," he said. "You could restructure the balance sheet of Toronto Hydro so the city gets to take more money out of it."

Toronto Hydro could even get into the business of generating renewable energy, he said – the corporation has already said it wants to explore a wind farm in Lake Ontario off the Scarborough Bluffs.

Opponents of hydro privatization were already warning yesterday that they'll jump into action if a sell-off occurs. Paul Kahnert, of the Ontario Electricity Coalition, said privatizing would lead to double-digit rate increases. And he warned that a private hydro utility would ignore important social issues such as protecting the environment.

The Toronto Parking Authority is a well-run business with respectable net revenue of $41.5 million in 2007, but the panel says more can be realized. One option: Turn it into an investment trust, meaning the city sells the revenue stream while continuing to own the real estate.

Real estate. The city also has extensive holdings through the TTC, the Toronto Economic Development Co. and its own offices and works yards. Sometimes, two agencies own adjacent properties, but don't get together to develop them. Other properties are simply fallow. Panel member Paul Massara points to the derelict bus terminal sitting on prime land at Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave.

The panel wants to put all the real estate holdings in the hands of a "senior officer for real estate."

"We believe the city could conservatively target $150 million annually from real estate development, sales, etc.," the panel said.

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Rescue plan for ailing Toronto

Tolls, taxes, asset sales and a culture change at city hall. Those are key ingredients of a blue-ribbon panel's plan to extricate Toronto from its chronic fiscal quagmire

Feb 22, 2008 04:30 AM

Royson James

A panel of eminent Torontonians, linked in various ways to the mayor and who, as such, have no desire to embarrass him, say city hall can extricate hundreds of millions – billions even – from its $8.2 billion budget and massive operations.

The mayor sees this as a "ringing endorsement of our civil service."

The six-member group of experts says that after four months of nosing around city hall it has unearthed a treasure trove – enough to make the city fiscally stable well into the future.

The mayor says he'll look into it.

The business types say they were "most shocked" by the 119 boards, agencies and corporations the city owns but "has little say or control over their budgeting and decision-making."

The mayor says the report proves "the idea that this city is mismanaged" is nonsense. "It's not true."

Torontonians can read the recommendations and decide for themselves.

That Mayor David Miller interjected bald politics into the debate yesterday is a too-eager attempt to sugar-coat what can be interpreted as an indictment of his administration and others that went before.

Asked why a university president, a labour union economist, a financier, a paving magnate, a real estate executive and a non-profit executive can find so much buried money – after just four months of digging – the mayor stumbled through an answer, saying that's why he asked them to look.

In fact, the panel was forced on Miller. He asked the "experts" to look at the books after a torrent of criticism greeted his introduction of two unpopular taxes last year.

"First, get your house in order," ratepayers said. And some councillors refused to vote for the vehicle tax and land transfer tax measure until Miller called in fresh eyes to look at the city's entrails.

Miller relented. But he constituted a friendly enough group that wouldn't slam the city top to bottom and recommend massive changes, especially ones that would upset the unionized workers.

Yesterday, Miller said that when he established the panel he told them there would be two or three meetings. That, in itself, tells you how much stock he placed in this process. And it is a cautionary note about how seriously the recommendations might be greeted at city hall.

The panel's report is responsible, cautious to a fault and careful not to upset those who will have to implement the suggestions. Still, it found, after 200 meetings, the city can:

Squeeze $150 million a year in savings, starting next year; and earn $150 million annually through better real estate management.

Reap $3.5 billion from its holdings with Toronto Hydro, the parking authority and Enwave. This would eliminate the $2.6 billion debt and the $400 million we pay in principal and interest each year.

There's more, but that alone shows how much money Toronto might be sitting on. Do just some of the above and say goodbye to the annual embarrassing journey up to Queen's Park for a bailout.

So, who will drive this? Who will secure these savings and funds?

The panel, with its corporate view of the world, wants a "strong mayor" system where Miller hires and fires the chief administrative officer and is, by law, responsible for the budget.

It's hard to believe such a governance change can turn around the mindset at city hall. But the likes of Larry Tanenbaum believe so. The head honcho of the Leafs and Raptors says that, while the report he helped pen is not a ringing endorsement of the city's past, it is a "ringing endorsement of the future."

Everybody's a politician.

*******

Recommendations gain strong support

Feb 22, 2008 04:30 AM

Jim Byers
City Hall Bureau

The lefties said they loved it. The right-wingers rejoiced. The province said it sounded just fine.

The reaction to a wide-ranging expert panel report on how the city of Toronto works – and doesn't – came in for near-unanimous praise yesterday, from everyone from Mayor David Miller to his most vocal opponents at city hall.

But it's far from clear whether politicians have the stomach to make some of the changes the report envisions, including handing more power over to the mayor.

"I have no idea who will drive the report," said Councillor Howard Moscoe, an ally of Mayor David Miller. "I imagine the mayor will pick some parts and bring them forward."

A panel of independent experts yesterday tabled a report that suggests a near-revolutionary overhaul of the city's operations.

Among other things, it calls for regional road tolls, selling off surplus city lands and giving the mayor a tighter rein on council.

Panel members said they want the report endorsed in its entirety and not to have politicians cherry-pick the lowest, sweetest fruit.

"We would hope, expect, that council can make decisions to take Toronto forward," said panelist Paul Massara, a Bay Street financier.

Panel members told the Star's editorial board they haven't considered asking the province to impose changes on the city if council balks at making the tough calls.

"If the councillors are going to be that parochial or whatever ... so be it," said panel member Larry Tanenbaum, chair of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Miller said he "accepted the report in its entirety," but didn't specify what ideas he'll push for right away. The mayor said he's open to selling surplus real estate.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, like others of council's right wing, has always insisted there are savings to be found within the budget, including contracting out – an issue the report doesn't touch.

"I think the report's great," he said. "What it does show is there's a solution here we can look at to put ourselves on good financial footing."

With files from Kerry Gillespie

and Paul Moloney

*********

`Strong mayor' called key

Give mayor the power to hire and fire city manager and pay councillors on executive more, report says

Feb 22, 2008 04:30 AM

Paul Moloney
city hall bureau

Toronto would be better managed if the mayor had more power and was surrounded by a select group of well-paid councillors who helped to set city priorities

But for that to happen – and it could happen quickly – Toronto council must fully use the powers handed it under the new City of Toronto Act.

That's a key proposal from a blue-ribbon panel organized by Mayor David Miller in October to look at the city's books and identify savings.

Yesterday the panel offered up a wide range of ways for the city to cut costs but warned that little can be done without changing the way business is conducted at city hall.

"You have to get governance right before you're able to really bring in these other ideas and get them executed properly," said panel member Larry Tanenbaum.

The other ideas include finding ways to get more revenue from city-owned Toronto Hydro, the Toronto Parking Authority and Enwave, finding budget savings, and raising new money with tolls and fees.

Implementing them "means a strong mayor system," Tanenbaum said.

Mayor David Miller should be able to hire, fire and issue orders to the city manager, the city's top bureaucrat, who oversees a workforce of 37,000 direct employees and 13,000 more who work for city agencies, the six-member panel said.

The current system, whereby city manager Shirley Hoy reports to the entire 45-member council, is "unwieldy, difficult to operate, and diffuses accountability, authority and responsibility," the report said.

The result is that it's more difficult to get things done, panel chair Blake Hutcheson said. "The city needs to be able to set priorities," he said in an interview. "It's about trying to get a structure in place where our city can say, `These are the six things that matter,' as opposed to having 44 different (councillors) agendas."

It's not the first time Miller and council have been told they should support a strong-mayor system.

The recommendations echo those of the Governing Toronto Advisory Panel, a three-member body that reported in 2005 on how to better focus on civic priorities.

"I think we're all saying the same thing; you do need a strong mayor concept," said Martin Connell, who served on the 2005 panel.

However, council balked at endorsing the proposal in 2005.

Since then, the city has lurched from budget crisis to budget crisis – until Miller finally won a long struggle last year to introduce a controversial land transfer tax and vehicle registration fee. Still, the city has not yet settled its fiscal problems.

The provincial government does have the power to step in and force changes if city council won't.

Both governance reports call for higher pay for council's 13-member executive committee, which includes the councillors who chair key committees such as public works, planning and parks.

All councillors earn the same – almost $97,000 annually – but those on the executive deserve a significant raise, Connell said.

"It has to be based on the responsibilities that are attached to the job."

Nobody's asking for a raise, stressed Councillor Joe Mihevc, who chairs the community development and recreation committee. "I'm not asking for more money for my work," Mihevc said.

"However, it is a lot more work. I take some comfort in the panel noting that being chair of a committee is a substantial volume of work."

Obama vs. Clinton debate in Texas

Obama vs. Clinton debate in Texas

Last night's debate was pretty much what you see is what you get. The Democrats are united for the most part on policy positions and the desire to end Republican rule in the White House. Both candidates scored well with the CNN dialer when attacking George Bush. Early contrasts were pointed out among where the Democrats will stand in November vs. where a John McCain led Republican party will position themselves. I thought Obama won the debate on almost every question up until the last one. I liked his strong support of Afghanistan, additional detail into some of his proposals and the way he defended himself against the Gov. Patrick speech issue. I think Hillary showed some passion and humanity again in her answer to the closing question and it is obvious that she is going to have to present more of that side or else Obama has got this thing won. There was no knockout blows. Both candidates came out strong. Obama has now won 11 in a row. With polls tied in Texas and time on Obama's side, I think this one is now Obama's to lose. An Obama win in Texas and the game is probably over.
-Darryl

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6



Part 7



Part 8



Part 9



Part 10




YouTube makes impact in debate. Below are the videos Hillary was referring to:

Legislative accomplishments (Go to 2:30 in the video)



Just words?

Obama wins Democrats Abroad global primary

Obama wins Democrats Abroad global primary

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

Associated Press

February 21, 2008 at 10:37 AM EST

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama won the Democrats Abroad global primary in results announced Thursday, giving him 11 straight victories in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Illinois senator won the primary in which Democrats living in other countries voted by Internet, mail and in person, according to results released by the Democrats Abroad, an organization sanctioned by the national party.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has not won a nominating contest since Super Tuesday, more than two weeks ago.

More than 20,000 U.S. citizens living abroad voted in the primary, which ran from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12. Mr. Obama won about 65 per cent of the vote, according to the results released Thursday.

Voters living in 164 countries cast votes online, while expatriates voted in person in more than 30 countries, at hotels in Australia and Costa Rica, at a pub in Ireland and at a Starbucks in Thailand. The results took about a week to tabulate as local committees around the globe gathered ballots.

“This really gives Americans an opportunity to participate,” said Christine Schon Marques, the international chair of Democrats Abroad.

There is no comparable primary among Republicans, though the GOP has several contests this weekend in U.S. territories, including party caucuses in Puerto Rico Sunday.

The Democrats Abroad controls seven pledged delegates at the party's national convention this summer. However, the group's system of dividing the delegates is unique, and could create an anomaly in which Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton end up with fractions of delegates.

The party will send 14 pledged delegates to the convention, each with a half vote. The primary was used to determine nine people, or the equivalent of 4.5 delegates. Mr. Obama won 2.5 and Ms. Clinton won two, according to Ms. Schon Marques.

The Democrats Abroad will hold a global convention in Vancouver, Canada, in April to select the other five people who will attend the convention. They will represent the remaining 2.5 votes.

The system creates the possibility that Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton could each end up with an extra half vote at the convention, Ms. Schon Marques said.

Democratic parties in U.S. territories use similar systems, in which they send twice the number of delegates, giving them each a half vote. But their systems are designed to ensure that that candidates do not end up with fractions of delegates.

Heading into the Democrats Abroad primary, Mr. Obama led with 1,351 delegates, and Ms. Clinton had 1,262.

Stéphane Dion's promises will lead to $62.5 Billion Debt

Stéphane Dion's promises will lead to $62.5 Billion Debt

Stéphane Dion has promised over $62.5 in new debt through his reckless spending commitments.

Obama wins huge in Hawaii

Obama wins huge in Hawaii

Obama, McCain win Wisconsin and Hawaii

Obama, McCain win Wisconsin and Hawaii

-Barack Obama wins both Wisconsin and Hawaii

-John McCain wins Washington, Wisconsin and Hawaii

-Obama delivers a 40 minute barn burner speech were he provides more substance to go along with style. Focuses on McCain instead of Clinton for most of it. Most detail he has provided on foreign policy.

-Clinton fails to thank Wisconsin or congratulate Obama on his victory. Obama responds by delivering his speech half way through hers. Major networks cut to Obama speech while Clinton was still speaking.

-Wisconsin win for Obama could provide momentum going into Texas where he has the chance to lock this thing up on March 4.

-Obama delivered his speech from Houston Texas. Clinton was in Ohio.

Obama's victory speech last night



Part II:



CNN Projects Obama wins Wisconsin - his 9th win in a row



John McCain addresses his victory and goes after Obama



Hillary speech cut off by Obama:



CNN "Best Team on Television" talk about Hillary's falling campaign



Clinton supporter discusses major networks cutting off Hillary's speech in order to cover Obama




More to come...

Why I am a Canadian Conservative supporting Obama

Why I am a Canadian Conservative supporting Obama

People have asked why as I a Canadian Conservative I would support Barack Obama. The answer to that lies in both personal interests, the global economy and foreign policy. The primary thing that appeals to me about Obama is as follows:

1, The US for most of it’s history has been divided between African Americans and Whites. I think Obama has the potential to put this division in the United States based on race behind them once and for all. Obama is the dream Martin Luther King was referring to. He has potential to be a major milestone in American history in the way JFK, FDR and Lincoln before him in my opinion.

2, I have a cousin serving right now in Iraq. Another cousin is in the US navy. Barack Obama has been against the war in Iraq from the beginning. He is not beating the war drums in Iran like McCain has in the past. He has the most credible plan to bring the troops home within his first term of office. I want to see my family home safe. A candidate that doesn’t mind if troops are in Iraq 100 years from now is a non-starter for me. Despite his opposition to wars with Iran and Iraq, Obama is a strong supporter of Afghanistan and that is important for Canadian troops currently serving there.

3, America is going broke. A record 3 trillion in spending was presented in Bush’s most recent budget. In this fiscal year, America will face a budget deficit of 500 billion. The war in Iraq costs 10 billion per month. All of that money could have been better spent rebuilding New Orleans, improving education, securing America’s borders and rebuilding infrastructure. McCain supports a never ending war in Iraq. That to me means a never ending budget deficit. Interest on the increased national debt will reduce the available tax revenue that can be spent on things that benefit America’s middle class citizens. The national debt in the United States has increased from 5.7 trillion before Bush took office to 8.8 trillion now. That is not a fiscal record any principled Conservative would be proud of. With an economy heading for a recession, America needs to get its financial house in order. That is not possible with the current foreign policies implemented by Bush.

4, Obama supports a tax cut for the Middle Class, the group of people most affected by the credit crunch and American downturn in their economy. The Bush tax cut was designed for the wealthy in a country where already 2% of the population controls 50% of the nation’s wealth. Obama is not taking any money from special interest groups that disable the fight for universal health care, sound environment policies and foreign interests. The people need to reclaim their government from corporate interests and foreign lobby groups.

5, Obama is running a campaign based on unity and not division. He is reaching out to a new generation and for the first time has brought young people out to vote. He is reaching out to independents and moderate Republicans. He has put together a coalition of people never involved in politics before. He has a far better chance to defeat the Republican than Hillary and it is crucial to get a Democrat in the white house as far as I am concerned. After 8 years of division, we need a president who can unite America.

6, Obama represents real change. He is not a Washington insider and has not been part of the Washington establishment for decades in the way Clinton and McCain have. The last thing we need is more of the same. I am for 180 degree change, the complete opposite to George W. Bush. McCain is not a voice of change. I am not a big fan of the Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton dynasty that seems to be controlling the White House over the past few elections. I want change we can believe in.

7, Obama wants to have talks with Castro (probably Fidel’s brother now), Chavez and the leadership in Iran, North Korea and Syria. I do not support blind appeasement, but I think talks and diplomacy have the potential to produce some results. Not talking to America’s enemies and this policy of pre-emptive strikes has done nothing to secure America from terrorists or improve America’s standing in the world. Obama is the best leader available right now that has the potential to restore America’s image with their allies as well as the world in general. I was willing to forgive Hillary’s vote on the Iraq war. Her vote to classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization demonstrated she was willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt in Iran. We do not need Bush/Cheney light on foreign policy.

8, Obama has several policy initiatives with regards to Climate Change. Bush has stalled any action on the world stage and domestically since he was elected to office. With Obama in charge, there is a good chance we will reach an international agreement on global warming that will include both the United States and China. Obama has limited ties to the oil industry. He is the best option for progress on the environment.

9, Stephen Harper and Canadian Conservatives see America as our closest ally and recognize that our economy is directly linked to theirs. Conservatives are more likely to take pro-American foreign policy positions then the Liberals and especially the NDP. Good relations between our two nations is essential to our standard of living in Canada. In the past two Canadian elections, Conservatives and Harper have been compared to Bush. I also think Bush has embarrassed the Conservative cause and is a major obstacle to a majority government in this country. Harper can cozy up to Obama all he wants. I am looking forward to anti-American elements in the NDP and Liberal party that will accuse Harper of being too close to Obama/America. I hope we see a strong working relationship between Prime Minister Harper and President Obama by 2009.

10, While there is a lot of focus on gender and race during this campaign, one thing that hasn’t been looked at is age. I am 27 years old and want to see a generational change in our international leadership. McCain is almost 45 years older than I am and also is over 70 – well above traditional retirement age. I am all for senior citizens and McCain’s contribution to American politics as well as his heroic military record. At the same time, it is time to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders. Obama has the potential to be one of the youngest Presidents in American history.

Traditionally, a lot of far right Conservatives will argue that no Canadian Conservative can be a Democrat. While it is true that Republicans are the right wing choice vs. Democrats on the left; I think it is essential to understand that America is a far more Conservative country than Canada. Both Obama and Clinton’s policies would be more acceptable in the Conservative caucus than the Liberal caucus. In the United States the word Liberal is a dirty word. No option (accept Kucinich/Nader) is anywhere close to where Liberals and NDP currently sit on the political spectrum. I see the battle between Republicans and Democrats in a similar context to the battle between the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservatives. When talking about the politics of a foreign country, we need to be careful about automatically supporting the candidate that is considered more Conservative. I was a big supporter of both Sarkozy in France and Merkel in Germany. I would understand if some neo-cons supported a candidate like Tony Blair over James Cameron based on foreign policy despite the fact that Labour is considered more Liberal than the Conservatives in England. I certainly would not consider myself a Conservative in Russia or Saudi Arabia. If there was an Israeli election I would support Kadima over Likud. I also try to put myself in the shoes of someone who lives in the country I am talking about when I consider my positions. I have always been a Democrat supporter in the US as got interested in politics because of Bill Clinton. For me right from the beginning, this election has been between Hillary and Obama. The only acceptable Republican choice that was ever viable for me was Ron Paul who has no chance of winning the Republican nomination.

Several people have argued that Obama has not been clear on what he actually stands for. For those people I recommend viewing his 68 page platform by clicking here: Barack Obama’s Blue print for Change you can also see his position on each issue by visiting here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Last night’s speech in Houston lasted almost 50 minutes. It has been the most specific I have seen from him in terms of what we can expect with an Obama presidency. I hope this post clears up why I am a Conservative supporting Obama.

Thanks for reading…

Darryl

Why I am a Conservative

Why I am a Conservative

The question that seems to be coming up most often since I returned from Chicago is "Why would a Canadian Conservative support an American Democrat". The question has come up on this blog. It is on my wall on Facebook. I attended a Stockwell Day event in Aurora last week and people wanted to talk about the American election and of course my support for Obama as well. To be honest, it is a fair question and I don't mind answering it. For years I have been asked why I am a Conservative and in some cases if I am in the wrong party.

Why I am a Canadian Conservative?

The answer starts when I was 14 years old, one year after Kim Campbell was tossed from office. A teacher at Sacred Heart had the class for a project go out to an election campaign and gather information for a project. At the time, I had no idea what any of the parties stood for. There was a provincial election and my neighbor Lindsay Mason on the corner lot had two large signs on her lawn for Frank Klees and the Common Sense Revolution. I asked her to point me in the right direction and sure enough a friend and I ended up at the campaign office getting literature and other information for our project. We were invited to participate in a rally and literature drop on Saturday. The election was the following week. On the night of the election Lindsay took my friend and I took the Frank Klees victory party. He had defeated Charles Beer and Aurora Highlands golf club was full of media and supporters. I heard Frank's victory speech and at that moment I knew I wanted to get involved in the political process. As Mike Harris came to power I began to be interested in following the news and also inspired from the ideas of the Common Sense Revolution. The same neighbor also took me out to a Reform campaign during the following federal election campaign. I was attracted to the ideas of democratic reform and grass roots activism in the Reform platform. Jack Hurst introduced me to Preston Manning who was the first national leader I had ever met. In 1997 I was campaigning door to door, phoning and going out with people old enough to drive on sign crew to help Shauneen MacKay who was facing John Cole (PC) and Karen Kraft Sloan representing the Liberals. After several weekends and evening hours spent campaigning, I was incredibly disappointed when we lost. I didn't realize that Reform and Progressive Conservative would split the vote leading to a Liberal win in York North. As I finished high school, I remember Mike Harris calling an election in 1999 in Lindsay's backyard. Protesters were everywhere. My parents are teachers so they went through a strike against the government while I was a firm Mike Harris supporter. The election started with a staged media event where I would plant an education question to Mike Harris. Following that media event taped in Lindsay's living room, we went outside and Mike Harris held a press conference in the backyard where he dropped the writ. Some of the teachers at my high school were heckling and protesting him including one in the trees. I then volunteered on the 1999 election campaign with Julia Munro who defeated John Volpe in York North. Bob Yaciuk (Alliance) and Joe Wamback (PC) would split the right vote again in 2000 and once again Karen Kraft Sloan went to Ottawa. Although I came back one weekend to help on the campaign, for the most part I stayed out of York North politics while I attended the University of Windsor. I badly wanted to see the right united so that the never ending cycle of Liberal rule would end.

At Windsor, I initially went to school for a commerce degree; but took all of my electives in political science to meet the requirements for that degree as well. In the post 9/11 world, I had a real interest in taking courses on American foreign policy, the Middle East, and of course Canadian politics. Again it was fun being on the defensive for my Conservative views in a place where the majority of the locals were strong NDP supporters. As school went on, I had the opportunity to learn more about the issues and formulate my positions on them. In my third year the dream to unite the right was coming to reality. I took out memberships in both parties and voted in favor of the merger. During the 2004 leadership race, I got excited about the prospect of Belinda Stronach leading the party from my home riding of Newmarket-Aurora. I did a bit of volunteer work on campus, but was surprised to get a call in March 2004 from Jack Hurst about the Newmarket-Aurora nomination race. Jack told me that Belinda was in a tight race for the local nomination and that every vote means something at this point. I was skeptical and not sure if I wanted to drive back to Newmarket from Windsor just before exam time. Eventually I was convinced and sure enough Belinda only beat Lois Brown 512-412 despite being a leadership contender. What I learned after, was this nomination was partially a debate about what is the definition of a real Conservative. That debate of course increased in our riding on May 17 2005 when Belinda crossed the floor and joined the Liberal cabinet. Some of the Board of Directors and volunteers left as well. Others stayed because of their "conservative principles". I wanted to stay a Conservative and worked on the core campaign team to unseat Belinda with Lois Brown as our candidate and also worked as sign chair in the winter weather. In the last election we came up 5000 votes short and the people gave Belinda another mandate. This time we are hoping to do better with Belinda out of the upcoming local race. I also worked hard for Frank Klees in the last provincial election and will be supporting John Tory in London this weekend. I promote politics to all of my friends, family and co-workers. I wear Conservatism on my sleeve and try and talk politics with anyone who will listen or has an opinion. I believe the first test of Conservatism is how active you are working for and promoting the cause. The second test is where you stand on the issues. The third test is how well do you accept political realities of the day and adapt the Conservative brand to build a majority coalition of Canadian voters.

Below are the Key positions that I feel make me most at home in the Conservative Party:

Democratic Reform originating in the Reform Party

-Free votes for MPs on votes not a matter of confidence
-Elected senate
-MP Recalls for broken promises
-Increased referendums on major issues
-Fixed election dates
-Grassroots up approach to MP representation
-Some mix of democratic reform involving proportional representation
-Caps on individual, corporate and union political donations
-More transparency with lobbyist dealings
-Ethics and accountability

Fiscal Conservatism:

-Reduced government spending
-tax cuts across the board
-debt repayment
-simpler tax system
-balanced budgets
-no corporate welfare
-free market approach
-job creation focus
-free trade with allies
-abolish the CRTC, LCBO

National Unity and Federalism:

-Decentralized federalism
-Respect constitutional authority of provinces
-Address the fiscal imbalance with cities
-Reduce trade barriers between provinces
-Final constitutional solution to Quebec within Canada

Justice:

-Much tougher animal cruelty laws (see Mark Holland private members bill)
-Crack down on white collar crime
-Victims bill of rights
-Tough on gun crime, violent crime, sex offenders and child sex offenders
-Tough on hard drugs (I support the legalization and taxation of marijuana)
-Mandatory minimum sentences
-More resources to police, customs officials, courts, crown lawyers and prisons
-Targeted programs to address the root causes such as poverty in the cities
-End of the safe injection test site in BC
-No activist judges at the Supreme Court
-Increased civil liberties

Military:

-I support the mission in Afghanistan
-I support a strong military and providing the requirement equipment to our troops
-I appreciate the lead role Stephen Harper has played on arctic sovereignty
-I think we need to prepare our forces for disaster relief, peacekeeping and nation building operations
-A strong air force, navy and military that can defend Canada's borders and sovereignty
-Increased cooperation with NORAD, NATO and NASA

Social Conservatism:

-I am pro-life accept in situations of rape, incest or where the mothers life is in danger
-My pro-life position extends to capital punishment, euthanasia, anti-war, human and animal rights
-I believe in the separation of church and state
-Initially I supported civil unions but now that the issue is resolved I support gay marriage and do not want to see this issue reopened again.

Foreign Affairs:

-I support a larger role and a leadership role for Canada on the world stage
-I support the UN and diplomacy first
-I opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning and still do
-I do not support a military strike on Iran at this time
-I support the war in Afghanistan because it is backed by NATO and the UN and came in response to an attack on North American soil in a place where Bin Laden was allowed to operate freely. I was also happy to see the Taliban regime removed from power. I now want to see a peaceful and democratic state where the Afghan people have the chance to live a better life than in previous decades where the country has only known war.
-I also support our mission in Haiti and other UN missions we participate in around the world
-I want to see an end to the genocide in Sudan/Darfur
-I support a two state solution to the Middle East conflict
-free trade of the Americas
-free trade with the EU and other democratic allies
-improved relations between the West and Russia/China
-more focus on Africa and meet our 0.7% of GDP aid target
-I would like to see Canada take a leadership role on the environment
-I support a world free of nuclear weapons


Areas I am also concerned about not always associated with being Conservative:

-Environment, a national cap and trade system, binding targets on industry, international agreement including US, China and India
-Legalization of marijuana and tougher animal rights laws
-Issues related to natives and land claims
-Poverty
-Public Transit and infrastructure
-Universal Health care system with private partnerships
-Cities and municipalities
-Large investment in public education, colleges and universities

To conclude, like all Conservatives I rank different issues with different priorities and ultimately disagree with some aspects of the platform from time to time. I consider myself a Conservative Libertarian with a social conscience. I would consider myself a moderate on the social issues and am closer to the center than the far right of the Canadian spectrum. I prefer to be called a Green Tory than a Red Tory because I support action on global warming and like some of the Green's tax shifting positions in their platform. I am 27 years old, so I feel I am also part of a new generation of Conservatives that will have to adapt the brand to different times ahead in the future. I am not the authority of Conservatism. I have no right to tell someone else that they are not a Conservative because they disagree with me. I am just a guy who volunteers and votes Conservative, does occasional media and enjoys having a blog where I can discuss the issues and what I believe are the solutions with people who care about politics as much as I do. I hope that answers the question on if I am a Conservative or not. Next post is why I am a Conservative supporting Obama.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Highlights from my Super Tuesday Trip to Chicago to help the Obama Campaign

Highlights from my Super Tuesday Trip to Chicago to help the Obama Campaign

On Super Bowl Sunday, a friend Chris and I hopped in a car and made our way up to Chicago. On Monday we headed over to Obama headquarters across from the Sears Tower and made phone calls to New Jersey and California attempting to get the vote out in those primaries. The campaign office was in a skyscraper and took up a full floor for the phone center. Inside the office were a diverse group of white professionals, African-Americans, Hispanics and young people. If I had to guess there was easily 500 volunteers on Monday and close to 1000 on Tuesday. Teenage girls not even old enough to vote were calling Democratic phone lists on their pink cell phones trying to convince them to go out and vote for Obama. There was a phone script. Some followed it while others did not. I personally tried as best I could to avoid saying the word "eh" so that no American would realize they were talking to a Canadian on the phone. One thing I took away from the trip is the great deal Americans get on their cell phones. They are able to call across the US and in some cases North America without paying long distance charges. I cannot even make a local call from Richmond Hill to Newmarket without getting hit for a long distance charge. Around 1pm on Tuesday we wrapped up calling and were sent to the Hyatt Regency for the victory speech rally.

Once we arrived at the Hyatt Regency, it was clear that politics in the US is much different than in Canada. The about of security for Obama is something to see. Swat teams were going through the parking garage, sewers and dumpsters looking for potential threats. Chicago police, FBI and Secret Service were everywhere. To get inside we had to show ID, pass through explosive and medal detectors. Sniffing dogs were present as well and no coats or bags were allowed inside the ballroom that is labeled “Obama headquarters” by CNN. I was allowed to take in my camera and blackberry after security was able to prove that they were legitimate photo and communication devices. We made it into the podium area around 2pm local Chicago time. At that point there was already an army of media inside the room preparing to broadcast live from that location as the results were expected to come in. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and all the major American networks were crammed together positioning themselves for Obama’s speech later that night. We met Jesse Jackson who was spinning the Obama prospective to CNN’s Susan Malvo – part of the “Best political team on television”. We were instructed to tell every media that we had come all the way up from Toronto to support Obama’s campaign.

By about 3pm we positioned ourselves in the first two rows in front of the podium where Obama would speak later that night. Polls were not expected to close until 7pm and our time was spent talking to various people who had won tickets via internet draw. Some had worked weeks on Obama’s campaign. Others had supported him back to his campaign to become a Senator. There was a lot of excitement in the air. Plenty of “Yes We Can” and “We Want Change” chants. From about 6pm on, the large television screen began broadcasting CNN’s Super Tuesday political coverage. At 7pm, there was an immediate projection and Barack Obama had won Georgia. The place went crazy after taking 88% of the African American vote and winning the white male vote 49-46. White women were booed for voting Clinton overwhelmingly. The next set of polls to close included Illinois. Again there was an immediate projection for Obama. That of course was no surprise as Hillary did not have much of a presence in the state and polls were showing Obama with a huge lead in his home state. The remainder of the night saw ups and downs as in the end I believe Obama took 8 states and Clinton 6. The only two states that surprised me were Connecticut and Massachusetts. In Connecticut, I was expecting a Clinton win. Obama surprised me with a victory. In Massachusetts, I thought the Kennedy and Kerry endorsements would give Obama a good chance to win the state. In the end, some may question the influence of Kerry and the Kennedys because ultimately Obama was blown away there. California was expected to be very close and the official results were not known until I work up in the morning.

As 9:30 was approaching, we started to see speeches from other candidates. Mike Huckabee was first. Later Mitt Romney. Hillary Clinton was the first democrat to speak. Unfortunately I could not hear the content of our speech because at Obama headquarters there was not stop chants of “No She Can’t”. Make no mistake though, Democrats are happy with both candidates and will ultimately come together to support the winner in November. Slowly, people began to fill the bleachers behind Obama’s podium and once in place “Change we can believe in” signs were handed out to the crowd. Once everything was in place, the Black Eyed Peas “Yes We Can” music video came on the screens and the crowd started getting fired up chanting various slogans for half an hour. Illinois senator Richard Durbin then came out to fire up the crowd and introduce Barack and Michelle Obama. Obama then made his speech and to be honest with you, I have seen many politicians speak and none were as inspirational as Obama when you see him in person. During Obama’s speech, I was about 10 feet away from him a the podium. There was a secret service agent on either side of me. After his speech Obama shook hands with several supporters behind him and in front of him. I got the opportunity to shake his hand and tell him Canada loves you as well. He gave me a quick thumbs up and hugged a person next to me. At that point the Chicago Tribune snapped a photo and you can see part of me in it. Following the rally, we hopped into a cab and headed back to the hotel where we waited for the official results from California. On Tuesday night there was a chance that Hillary would wrap up the campaign. On Wednesday morning we realized that not only was Obama still in the race, he had the momentum and won more states. We then left at 4am Chicago time on Wednesday and headed back into Newmarket around 4pm. Conditions were freezing rain for the drive back. We were tired from only two hours sleep but fired up from the three days of our American election trip and the experience of seeing Obama live. If Barack Obama becomes the first black president, we will have played a small role in making history South of the border.

Another thing I want to comment on regarding our trip, is the beauty of downtown Chicago. We stayed at the Raffaello Chicago located next to the John Hancock building at Michigan Avenue and Delaware St. He had drinks on the 96^th floor in the Signature Lounge at the John Hancock building. The deep dish Pizza lived up to the hype and will change the way I look at Pizza in the future. The hospitality offered by the staff and locals was second to none. Everyone treated us like an honorary Americans once they found out that we had driven 8 ½ hours to help Obama on our vacation time. I came back from the trip after learning some election techniques in the United States and appreciating the experience of being part of the Super Bowl of politics. I look forward to returning in November when the real election takes place.

It also didn’t take long after crossing the Sarnia border that the stage was being set for a Canadian election. Afghanistan, the crime bill legislation and the upcoming budget seemed to point to an imminent election North of the border. In 3 weeks, we should know who will be the nominees on both sides hopefully. Sometime around April 7, we will likely know what leader is going to work with Obama, Clinton or McCain beginning in January 2009. It will be interesting to see what influence, if any, the American election campaign will have on Canadian voters.

Update: I just got a call from the Obama campaigning thanking me for coming up to Chicago from Canada to help with the campaign. They were also wondering if I would be willing to go up to Milwaukee or make some calls into WI or HI. Do you mind if I come up for a visit Uncle Lou?

Thanks for reading…

Darryl

Former President Bush Endorses McCain

Former President Bush Endorses McCain

Former President George H.W. Bush is endorsing Republican Sen. John McCain for president. McCain says Bush's endorsement will help unite the Republican Party.

U.S. Military overwhelmingly support Anti-War Candidates

U.S. Military overwhelmingly support Anti-War Candidates

Another John McCain music Video

Another John McCain music Video

John Tory speaks with Don Newman on Politics

John Tory speaks with Don Newman on Politics


John Tory speaks with Don Newman on Politics about the party, and the future.

Michael Moore "Vote for Hillary Clinton an Immoral Act"

Michael Moore "Vote for Hillary Clinton an Immoral Act"

February 08, 2008 CNN Wolf Blitzer



Michael Moore on Larry King

Obama vs McCain who wins the generational battle?

Obama vs McCain who wins the generational battle?

Barack Obama in Milwaukee, WI

Barack Obama in Milwaukee, WI

I have relatives based in Milwaukee and surrounding area. Wisconsin is the closest thing I have to a home state primary. Below is a video of Obama speaking in Milwaukee. Later today results should be in from Wisconsin and Hawaii.
-Darryl



Our Moment is Now Ad:



America's Youth Behind Obama!!!!

John McCain "No You Can't" Music Video

John McCain "No You Can't" Music Video

Thanks for sending this in Chris...

Original credit: http://www.barelypolitical.com/



Original "Yes We Can" video for Obama

Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee endorses Obama

Chafee Endorses Obama

By Jeff Zeleny

Former Senator Lincoln Chafee (Photo: CJ Gunther/Reuters)

MILWAUKEE – Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican Senator from Rhode Island, said today that he is changing party registration – at least on primary day next month – and endorsing Senator Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy.

“I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability,” Mr. Chafee said in a conference call with reporters today.

Mr. Chafee, who lost his re-election bid in 2006 and became an independent last year, was one of the Senate’s most moderate Republicans. He served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Mr. Obama.

The endorsement comes in advance of the Rhode Island primary on March 4, the same day as voters in Ohio and Texas help determine the Democratic presidential nominating fight. Mr. Chafee offered no guarantees on the power of his endorsement, but said he simply told Mr. Obama he believed he was the best candidate for the job.

“I said I’d do anything he wanted,” Mr. Chafee said, recounting his phone call to Mr. Obama on Tuesday, “and I was going to vote for him.”

In one regard, it is a curious choice. Two years ago, Senator John McCain came to Rhode Island to campaign on Mr. Chafee’s behalf. Mr. Obama campaigned for his opponent, Sheldon Whitehouse, who ultimately prevailed.

This year, Mr. Whitehouse supports Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. And Mr. McCain is on his way to winning the Republican nomination

Asked about switch of loyalties, Mr. Chafee said: “I’m sure Sen. McCain will understand.”

Bush goes after Obama...could it be Republican fear of facing him in a general election?

Bush goes after Obama

Romney Endorses McCain

Romney Endorses McCain

Mitt Romney is endorsing his former rival John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. Romney is asking his 280 delegates to support McCain. (Feb. 14)



"John McCain is your nominee"

Barack Obama in Madison, Wisconsin

Barack Obama in Madison, Wisconsin

Barack Obama speaks of his victories in MD, DC, and VA and looks forward to the primary in Wisconsin.



"Debate" TV Ad

On the air in Wisconsin.



"President" TV Ad




Michelle Obama on Larry King Live

Larry King carries an extended interview with Michelle Obama, covering a wide range of topics concerning the campaign, her family, and more.

Ezra Levant fights for freedom of speech

Ezra Levant fights for freedom of speech

Great video…yesterday the complaint was dropped. It is good to see someone call out Saudi Arabia as oppose to calling them a moderate state. Ezra Levant is also 100% right with all the points he is making. What he is talking about is our fundamental freedoms in Canada, the Charter and the core of our multicultural immigration system. This video is something everyone who cares about our constitution and human rights should watch.

-Darryl

Details of the complaint



What was your intent?



The real violence in Edmonton



I don't answer to the state



Entitled to my opinion?



Attributes of free speech



How does the commission make decisons?



Closing argument

Animal welfare groups back Liberal MP's private bill on cruelty

Feb 12, 2008

OTTAWA - Animal welfare groups are backing proposed legislation from a Liberal MP that aims to make it easier to prosecute people who abuse, starve or kill animals for no reason.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Ontario SPCA are among those pushing Mark Holland's private bill.

Shelagh MacDonald of the federation said it's time to toughen the law.

"Why does our government, that claims to be tough on crime, continue to turn a blind eye to our shameful, archaic and inadequate animal cruelty law?"

She said surveys show Canadians support strong laws and humane societies need them.

"They want to be able to appropriately punish the callous, uncaring perpetrators who inflict so much pain and suffering on these animals, but the law continues to fail them in its inadequacy."

The present law dates to 1892 and deals with animals strictly as property, she said.

The legislation would bring the country's animal-cruelty legislation into the 21st century and make it easier to deal with those who mistreat animals, said Hugh Coghill, chief inspector for the Ontario SPCA.

He said there are provincial laws on cruelty, but they are a weak patchwork.

"In serious cases of animal suffering, we need to be able to lay charges," he said. "We currently don't have the proper tool to do that in the province of Ontario and for most of Canada."

Some have complained that this kind of legislation would allow radical activists to go after farmers or trappers or hunters with cases designed to harass or cause a nuisance.

MacDonald, however, said the use of animals for legitimate purposes is protected.

"There is absolutely no legal basis on which to claim that hunting, fishing, trapping, farming, scientific research and, indeed, euthanasia carried out by humane societies and SPCAs would not be considered a lawful excuse," she said.

"No one at this table is seeking to stop hunting or fishing or any other lawful use of animals," Holland added.

He said there are checks and balances in the legislation that would prevent individuals from bringing frivolous charges.

"An individual can't take somebody to court," he said. "It would have to be an SPCA officer or other legal official."

Holland's Bill C-373 resembles earlier Liberal legislation that failed in the Senate under the previous government.

Another bill, S-203, is back in front of the Senate, but the animal groups says it falls well short of what is needed and they prefer Holland's version.

Good skit from Mercer

Good skit from Mercer

LA, NE, WA and Virgin Islands Say YES WE CAN

LA, NE, WA and Virgin Islands Say YES WE CAN

Another fantastic and inspirational speech from Barack Obama. There is no question he has the momentum and is the best candidate to bring change. The crowd in this video is fired up and representative of a movement that is taking hold everywhere in the United States. I think we are looking at the next President of the United States.
-Darryl




After winning the Nebraska, Washington State, Louisiana, and Virgin Islands Democratic primaries and caucuses, Senator Barack Obama addresses a roaring crowd at the Virginia Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

Big Primary Day today for Democrats

Big Primary Day today for Democrats

Today there is another big voting day in the Democrat primary. Hillary's staff seems to be working for free this month and not drawing salaries. Hillary herself has written a check for 5 million to her own campaign. Meanwhile Obama is drawing rock star crowds in Seattle and has raised more than 7 million since Super Tuesday. LA, WA, NE all vote today. Obama should pick up at least Louisiana and Washington.
-Darryl

Barack Obama Strongest in November versus McCain


Obama in New Orleans, LA



A Chorus of Millions

President Bush and Karl Rove support McCain

President Bush and Karl Rove support McCain


Here is video of President George W. Bush speaking at the CPAC 2008 conference and urging the election of the GOP Nominee to keep the White House in Republican hands.



Fox News: Rove and Bush support McCain

Poll: Obama more likely to beat McCain then Hillary

Obama has advantage in head-to-head with McCain

• Story Highlights
• Polls suggest Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain would be tied
  
• Sen. Barack Obama would have a clear lead over McCain, polls suggest
  
• Men would be more likely to vote for Obama than Clinton in a general election

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain became the likely Republican nominee after Mitt Romney decided to suspend his campaign Thursday. Now, the Democrats are debating who would do better against the Arizona Republican.

Democrats are debating who would do better against Sen. John McCain, the GOP front-runner.

Two polls this month have asked registered voters nationwide how they would vote if the choice were between McCain and Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton.

A CNN poll, conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation February 1-3, shows Clinton three points ahead of McCain, 50 percent to 47 percent. That's within the poll's margin of error of 3 percentage points, meaning that the race is statistically tied..

A Time magazine poll, conducted February 1-4, also shows a dead heat between Clinton and McCain. Each was backed by 46 percent of those polled.

Sen. Barack Obama believes he can do better, arguing "I've got appeal that goes beyond our party."

In the CNN poll, Obama leads McCain by 8 points, 52 percent to 44 percent. That's outside the margin of error, meaning that Obama has the lead.

And in the Time poll, Obama leads McCain by 7 points, 48 percent to 41 percent -- a lead also outside of the poll's margin of error of 3 percentage points.

In both polls, Obama looks stronger than Clinton. Why?

Don't Miss

• McCain works to unite party
• Neck-and-neck race could hurt Democrats
• ElectionCenter 2008: Candidates

Obama's explanation: "I think there is no doubt that she has higher negatives than any of the remaining Democratic candidates. That's just a fact, and there are some who will not vote for her."

That was three weeks ago. Now, only two Democratic candidates remain.

Clinton does have higher negatives than Obama -- and McCain. Forty-four percent of the public say they don't like Clinton, compared with 36 percent who don't like McCain and 31 percent who don't like Obama, according to the CNN poll conducted February 1-3.

Why does Obama do better against McCain than Clinton? Obama does do a little better than Clinton with independents and Republicans.

But the big difference is men: Men give McCain an 18-point lead over Clinton, 57 percent to 39 percent, according to the CNN poll. The margin of error for that question was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

But if McCain and Obama went head to head, McCain's lead among men shrinks to three, 49 percent to 46 percent -- statistically a tie.

Women, on the other hand, vote for either Clinton or Obama by similar margins.

Some Democrats may be worried about how Obama will fare with white voters. Whites give McCain a 15-point lead over Clinton, (56 percent for McCain, 41 percent for Clinton).

But Obama actually fares better than Clinton with white voters. McCain still leads, but by a smaller margin, (52 to 43 percent).

Obama argues that he can reach across party lines. And he does do a little better than Clinton with Independents and Republicans, at least in these polls.

But the big difference is that Clinton doesn't draw very well with men. Obama does.

Romney drops out of Race

Mitt Romney drops out of Race

Obviously there was no point spending his own money for something that wasn't possible to win. Huckabee and Paul are sure to follow in short order. On the Republican side the debate is now about who will be McCain's VP.
-Darryl

Photos from Super Tuesday Obama rally in Chicago

(Photo credit: Chicago Tribune. Arrow pointing to me)


Photos from Super Tuesday Obama rally in Chicago

On Super Bowl Sunday, we headed up to Chicago to help with the Obama campaign for Super Tuesday. It was a terrific experience and one that I will never forget. I will blog more about the results and my trip in the next post I write. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos from inside the Obama rally on Super Tuesday. The energy and unity in the room was incredible. Seeing Obama speak live was inspirational. The experience of being part of an American election campaign is something I will learn from in Canadian politics. Thank you Chicago for all the great hospitality. Yes we Can!!!!

-Darryl

CNN truck parked outside the hotel


We entered the room around 3pm Chicago time. Obama spoke hours later.



This is what Obama looks at when giving his speech. Media from all over the world are in Chicago. I have never seen anything like this before. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and others are broadcasting live as the night unfolds.



Those inside are able to see the results broadcast live on CNN. Every time CNN cuts to Obama headquarters following a projection, the place goes insane!




Crowd is fired up and ready to go. Signs are handed out. Crowd is chanting "Yes We Can", "We want change", "Fired up ready to Go" and O-bama for hours leading up to the speech.






The crowd is energized and inspired by the speech delivered by Barack Obama








Barack and Michelle after the speech. They also take the time to shake hands with supports including myself.



Tuesday's Obama speech took place from the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. 2500 people were jammed inside the room where Obama was speaking. Several thousand more filled the overflow room downstairs.



Obama's ad that aired during the Super Bowl:



"Yes We Can" video played just before Obama enters the room



How it all turned out on TV - Obama's Super Tuesday Speech




I hope you enjoyed these photos from Super Tuesday...

Darryl

Clinton and Obama continue past Super Tuesday

Clinton and Obama continue past Super Tuesday


Senator Clinton speech Super Tuesday



Senator Obama speech Super Tuesday



Super Tuesday result: Sen. Hillary Clinton wins big states, but Sen. Barack Obama carries more states

Current Delegate Count after Feb 5: (needed to win 2025)

Clinton 823
Obama 741
Edwards 26

McCain wins Republican Nomination

McCain Republican Victory Nomination Speech

I am not sure if Romney is going to continue spending his own money for something that is simply not possible at this point, but it is clear that McCain has won the Republican nomination and will face one of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Conservatives on the far right now have three options with regards to McCain. They can hold their nose and vote form him to stop Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. They can vote for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. The third option is most likely and they will simply not be motivated and will stay home. Huckabee and Paul will likely stay in the race until McCain officially clinches the delegate count. Do Paul supporters stick with the party? Do Huckabee and Romney supporters unite behind McCain? Who will be VP?

My bets for VP:

Mike Huckabee (if he wants to address the right and evangelicals) or Joe Lieberman (a "Democrat" to appeal to independents). The time is now to begin your McCain VP pools. I very much doubt Romney will get the post due to the tense relationship between the two men.

Congratulations McCain! You have now won a divided party, the record of George Bush and a party that has no clue where it stands. He now has to chose between appeasing Liberals or Rush Limbaugh. He also must realize he is fighting against popular opinion on the war as well as a huge wave demanding real change. To his credit he has shown leadership in his party on the environment, is a war hero with extensive foreign affairs experience and realizes that you cannot cut taxes unless you also cut spending as well. His overall solution on immigration is practical and also common sense. His ability to reach out in a bipartisan way is essential given the fact Republicans will not control the Congress or Senate. He has experience and strong credentials. Republicans have made the right choice. Quite frankly McCain is the only candidate from the final four that has any chance to give Democrats a competitive race.

We are now down to the Final Three with a Chance to Be President: McCain, Clinton or Obama. It is time for McCain's critics to fish or cut bait. What a comeback for John McCain.

-Darryl


Super Tuesday Results:

Sen. John McCain wins nine states; Romney seven; five for Huckabee


Republican Delegate Standings (1191 required to win)

McCain 680 (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, Delaware, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma)
Romney 270 (Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana)
Huckabee 176 (Alabama, West Virginia, Iowa, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee)
Paul 16


McCain victory speech



Mike Huckabee speech



Mitt Romney speech

Live blogging...super Tuesday in Chicago

Live blogging...super Tuesday in Chicago

I just saw on CNN that George Bush released a 3 trillion dollar budget, a record for spending in the United States. The deficit could also break records by the time it gets through both houses. There is no question in my mind that when it comes to fiscal policy, George Bush is a left leaning Liberal and has proven that with each and every budget he has prepared.

Today I spent the day at Obama headquarters making calls in New Jersey. Based on my calls, it looks to be close to 50/50 in the state with several undecided voters. I am looking forward to returning to Obama headquarters tomorrow. I will also get the opportunity to see Obama live in Chicago tomorrow night where he will be delivering his speech following the results along with his wife Michelle.

I also had a chance to swing by Ron Paul's office on my political tourism vacation. I will write more about the atmosphere when I get back on Thursday.

While on TV it looks like the election has consumed America, being here I can tell you that it is really not being followed that closely by most people. Like in Canada, a small percentage of the population volunteers for an election campaign. Obviously in Illinois, Obama will easily win this state.

Yesterday's endorsement from Arnold's wife seems to be a huge boost for Obama in the state of California.

Chicago is a beautiful city to be in. If you haven't had a chance to visit, I strongly recommend you do in the future.

I will try and do one more blog tomorrow. I am not getting kicked off the frontdesk computer at my hotel...

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Off to Chicago for Super Bowl and Super Tuesday

Off to Chicago for Super Bowl and Super Tuesday

I am about to take off for Chicago, Illinois to catch the Super Bowl and also to volunteer in the Obama campaign for Super Tuesday. We are now 72 hours from the results coming in for the biggest Super Tuesday in American history. The world is watching and waiting to see who is going to lead the United States after George Bush in these crucial times. Canadians will likely be impacted by the American election as much as their own. Americans realize that they are not just voting for their own domestic concerns, who they elect as President has an impact on virtually every major world issue. I am looking forward to seeing how American elections contrast from Canadian elections in terms of strategy and get out the vote tactics. It should be a good few days of political tourism. I am hoping to have some type of access to the internet to report on things as they happen on the ground.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Conservative Party hammers rivals in fundraising

Conservative Party hammers rivals in fundraising

Obviously the Conservative party has perfected the art of raising money from grassroots supporters and random phone calling. This 11 million dollar funding advantage will make a difference whenever Canadians head to the polls. Just under 17 million dollars raised in 2007 is a strong reflection of Stephen Harper's leadership and Conservative party outreach efforts.
-Darryl

Conservative Party
Fourth Quarter: $4,892,921.63 from 44,324 contributors
Fiscal 2007: $16,990,765.90 from 159,122 contributors
Liberal Party
Fourth Quarter: $1,944,946.11 from 13,618 contributors
Fiscal 2007: $4,537,966.46 from 35,783 contributors
NDP
Fourth Quarter: $1,424,524.23 from 15,698 contributors
Fiscal 2007: $3,979,736.63 from 53,110 contributors
Green Party
Fourth Quarter: $414,274.84 from 3,390 contributors
Fiscal 2007: $984,605.30 from 12,003 contributors
Bloc Quebecois
Fourth Quarter: $336,384.80 from 3,888 contributors
Fiscal 2007: $430,061.48 from 5,038 contributors

Super Tuesday Preview:

Super Tuesday predictions

There are now three days remaining until the biggest Super Tuesday in American history. Early states have had their say, several debates have already taken place, major endorsements have come out and the candidates have been campaigning for over a year now. Everything in the race to become President of the United States rides on the results that will come in Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, it is highly likely that we will have a good idea who the two nominees will be for November's contest and how the race is going to shape up between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. If things are extremely close on both sides we could go right to the convention where every delegate will make a difference. The regional strategies and targeted states chosen by each of the top two candidates on both sides will determine their fate. Super Tuesday is extremely expensive in terms of campaign advertising expenses and obviously no candidate can be in 22 states at the same time. 52% of Democratic delegates and 41% of Republican delegates will be won on February 5.


States that will be voting and their delegate count: (My predictions in brackets)

Democrats:

Alabama 60 (Obama)
Alaska 18 (Clinton)
American Samoa 13 (Obama)
Arizona 67 (Obama)
Arkansas 47 (Clinton)
California 441 (Obama)
Colorado 71 (Clinton)
Connecticut 61 (Clinton)
Delaware 23 (Clinton)
Democrats Abroad 11 (Obama)
Georgia 104 (Obama)
Idaho 23 (Obama)
Illinois 185 (Obama)
Kansas 40 (Obama)
Massachusetts 121 (Clinton)
Minnesota 88 (Clinton)
Missouri 88 (Obama)
New Jersey 127 (Clinton)
New York 280 (Clinton)
North Dakota 21 (Clinton)
Oklahoma 47 (Obama)
Tennessee 85 (Clinton)
Utah 29 (Clinton)
Total 2088

Republicans:

Alabama 48 (Huckabee)
Alaska 29 (McCain)
Arizona 53 (McCain)
Arkansas 34 (Huckabee)
California 173 (McCain)
Colorado 46 (McCain)
Connecticut 30 (McCain)
Delaware 18 (McCain)
Georgia 72 (Huckabee)
Illinois 70 (McCain)
Massachusetts 43 (Romney)
Minnesota 41 (Romney)
Missouri 58 (McCain)
Montana 25 (McCain)
New Jersey 52 (McCain)
New York 101 (McCain)
North Dakota 26 (McCain)
Oklahoma 41 (McCain)
Tennessee 41 (Huckabee)
Utah 36 (Romney)
West Virginia 18 (McCain)
Total 1069

*Surprisingly there have not been many polls thus far regarding Super Tuesday. I have only seen a couple of some of the larger states. Regardless of who wins the states above, it comes down to the rules of each of them (winner take all vs. proportional) and how close the race is nationally. Right now Clinton and McCain are the front runners on each side, while Obama and Romney are close behind. Obama picked up some key endorsements, a major win in South Carolina and raised the most funds in January. Romney stands to benefit from criticism regarding McCain being too liberal from Conservative pundits such as Ann Coultre and Rush Limbaugh.

Ron Paul might do well in Maine tonight and led all Republicans in fundraising last quarter. While his support might be steady nationally and on Super Tuesday; it is unlikely he is going to win any states on Super Tuesday. Huckabee might pull off a few surprises and could win some states such as Arkansas (his home state) on Tuesday. Romney has squeezed him out as the Conservative option in this race but Huckabee could take enough votes from Romney leading to a McCain landslide and victory Tuesday night.

Hillary and Obama is going to be too close to call and the race will continue to go on well after Super Tuesday. I am predicting a slight edge for Clinton, but ultimately I think Obama has more momentum days before 24 primaries are set to vote.



Current Standings:

Democrats (Magic Number 2025)

Obama 63
Clinton 48
*Edwards 26

Republicans (Magic Number 1191)

McCain 95
Romney 67
Huckabee 26
Paul 6
*Giuliani 1


Tuesday is like the Super Bowl for political junkies. I personally will be heading up to Chicago for the experience. When all is said and done on Wednesday, I think only McCain, Obama and Clinton will have a realistic chance to become president.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

****

Interesting videos from the campaign trail:

Ann Coulter: I'll campaign for Hillary if McCain is the nominee



Kansas Governor Endorses Barack Obama



George Clooney talking about Obama





CNN on Obama's online popularity



Obama in LA



Hillary and the band?




Hillary Ads:













Romney ads:



Mitt asks for your vote:



McCain ad: Trust Huckabee



Huckabee explains his Super Tuesday strategy:



Ron Paul at CNN Republican Debate:

Moveon.org endorses Obama

Moveon.org endorses Obama

This will likely increase Obama's ability to raise funds and it will also likely mobilize some additional volunteers on Super Tuesday. Moveon.org is the most powerful Liberal advocacy group in America with 1.7 million voters on Super Tuesday. Total membership is 3.2 million and they have a huge campaign machine behind them. The problem is, Moveon.org is very controversial in the United States as was demonstrated by their "General Betray Us" ad released earlier this year. This endorsement will no doubt mobilize Obama's campaign machine but it is almost certainly going to hurt his chances among independents and moderate Republicans. It should be interesting to see how this plays out on Tuesday and beyond.
-Darryl


******

MoveOn Endorsement Throws Progressive Weight Behind Barack Obama

3.2 Million Members Nationwide Mobilize to Get Out the Progressive Vote for Senator Obama

Group Has Over 1.7 Million Members In Super Tuesday States

In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nationwide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%.

Senator Obama accepted the endorsement stating:

"In just a few years, the members of MoveOn have once again demonstrated that real change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. From their principled opposition to the Iraq war - a war I also opposed from the start - to their strong support for a number of progressive causes, MoveOn shows what Americans can achieve when we come together in a grassroots movement for change. I thank them for their support and look forward to working with their members in the weeks and months ahead."

Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's Executive Director, issued the following statement on the group's endorsement:

"Our members' endorsement of Senator Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history. Seven years of the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration have left the country desperate for change. We need a President who will bring to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America's standing in the world. The enormity of the challenges require someone who knows how to inspire millions to get involved to change the direction of our country, and someone who will be willing to change business as usual in Washington. Senator Barack Obama has proved he can and will be that President.

"With 3.2 million members nationwide and over 1.7 million members in states that vote next Tuesday, we'll be able to immediately jump into action in support of Senator Obama's candidacy. We've learned that the key to achieving change in Washington without compromising core values is having a galvanized electorate to back you up. And Barack Obama has our members 'fired up and ready to go' on that front.

"We congratulate Sens. Clinton, Dodd and Biden, former Senator Edwards, Governor Richardson, Congressman Kucinich and former Senator Gravel on running tremendous campaigns. We thank them for their contributions to the important debate that has gripped our nation and for their ongoing engagement with our members. We're looking forward to working together to bring progressive values to the nation's capitol and to end this disastrous war in Iraq. MoveOn members are committed to putting a Democrat in the White House in 2008 and ushering in a new era of progressive values no matter who wins the nomination."

MoveOn members' comments in the vote reflect the reasons they support Senator Obama:

"Obama's grassroots organizing experience and unifying message combine to show he will work for working people and speak to a broad cross section of the American public. We need this," said Linda Blong of Penngrove, CA.

"There are defining moments in our nation's political history and this is one of them. Barack Obama appeals to the very BEST of the American Spirit," said Estina Baker, Hackensack, NJ

"Barack Obama represents CHANGE in so many levels. He brings HOPE that America can, again, be respected by the rest of the world and that Americans can be proud, again, of our leaders!" Isabelle Mollien, Denver, CO

"Obama has the ability to draw people to him, to energize people who generally don't vote, to create an atmosphere of long-overdue possibility around himself and what he could bring to the office. It is my belief that he can re-establish the lost connection between the American people and their leader, and put our country back on course to be a positive force in the world." Matthew Smith in Columbus, OH

MoveOn's endorsement means a fresh infusion of people-power for Obama in the critical days before Super Tuesday. MoveOn will immediately connect thousands of progressive activists into the Obama GOTV volunteer operation. It will also use the same cutting-edge computer-based phone program that made 7 million GOTV calls for Democrats in 2006 to allow MoveOn members to call other MoveOn members in Feb. 5 states and encourage them to vote for Obama.

Today's endorsement is the first time MoveOn.org has endorsed a candidate for President in the Democratic primary. Over the past year, MoveOn surveyed a rotating sample of 30,000 members each week to determine their membership's preference in the Democratic presidential primary. For months, MoveOn members were divided among many candidates -- as many waited to see who would take bold progressive positions on the issues. As the primary race has gained momentum, the polling showed a consensus forming and, with Senator John Edward's withdrawal from the race, members made their decision in favor of Senator Obama. The vote took place from Thursday, January 31st to Friday, February 1st.

http://www.moveon.org

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Moveon.org Ad: John, Mitt, Mike: Leaders of the free world?



Moveon.org Ad: "General Betray Us" reaction:

Gov. Schwarzenegger, Mayor Giuliani, Forbes & Rambo Endorse John McCain

Gov. Schwarzenegger and Mayor Giuliani Endorse John McCain






Rambo endorses McCain



Steve Forbes on McCain



McCain TV Ad: Real Conservative

NFL & Bills coming to Toronto

NFL & Bills coming to Toronto

I have gone to many Bills games in Buffalo and am looking forward to getting some tickets for the regular season game in Toronto for each of the next five seasons. I think this is good for the Bills, good for the NFL and good for football fans in Toronto area and Canada. I think this agreement will only strengthen the relationship that exists between the GTA and the city of Buffalo.

-Darryl

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Goodell confirms Bills games in Toronto

Canadian Press

February 1, 2008 at 2:11 PM EST

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Buffalo Bills are coming to Toronto.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday the league has reached an agreement with the Bills that will allow them to play eight games — five regular-season contests and three exhibitions — in Toronto over the next five years.

"Earlier this week we completed our process, due diligence on the proposal for the Buffalo Bills to play a limited number of games in Toronto over the next five years," Goodell said at his annual state-of-the-league news conference. "I think it was done very thoughtfully, I think it was done to help regionalize the team even broader than it has.

"They (Bills) have a tremendous amount of interest north into Canada, into the Toronto-Hamilton area and I think this will be great for all fans because I think it will give the opportunity for the people of Toronto to have a game in their market and it will also give Buffalo Bills fans a chance to go to that game".

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell answers a question at a news conference Friday in Phoenix. (Eric Gay/AP)

Goodell said the Bills will play one regular-season game in each of the next five years, with exhibition contests played every other year.

The commissioner didn't provide specifics, but earlier this week sources said Buffalo will play a regular-season game at Rogers Centre in December 2008 after the CFL season, avoiding possible conflicts with both the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

As part of that deal, season-ticket holders with both CFL clubs, along with the Bills, will be given priority at purchasing tickets to Buffalo's game in Toronto.

Games in mid-to-late December are harder for the Bills to sell out because of weather concerns. That wouldn't be a problem in Toronto as the Rogers Centre is a domed facility.

In October, Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. asked the NFL for permission to play the games in Toronto, starting in 2008. The plan, Wilson said, was to an attempt to expand the Bills market as well as its fan base by playing games in a more vibrant Toronto marketplace.

The hope would be that playing games in Canada might result in more Canadian businesses purchasing the high-end seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The Bills attract a solid group of fans from southern Ontario - between 10,000 and 15,000 per game, depending on the opponent. The Greater Toronto Area boasts a population of about five million people, compared to just 1.25 million for the metropolitan Buffalo area.

Talk of the NFL coming to Toronto has existed since the 1970s. But the combination of Wilson's statement that the Bills would be sold to the highest bidder upon his death, the club playing regular-season games at Rogers Centre, the strength of the Canadian dollar and deep pockets of the Toronto NFL group headed up by Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum has many believing the NFL's arrival here is inevitable.

Final CNN Democratic Debate in LA prior to Super Tuesday a Draw

Final CNN Democratic Debate in LA prior to Super Tuesday a Draw

Last night was a very civil debate where both candidates agreed that America will make history by either electing the first black or female president of the United States in November 2008. There was a great effort to show Democratic party unity, and it seemed to me like the Obama/Clinton ticket cannot be ruled out for November. Both said kind things about John Edwards in an attempt to lure his supporters to their side. Contrasts between the candidates focused on Iraq, Iran, health care and solutions for the economic downturn. Attacks were civil and there was lots of compliments to each other. I think the difference among the democratic candidates is far less than the differences among Republicans. On Tuesday, voters will likely have to decide which of their two strong candidates has the best chance to defeat John McCain in November. Last nights debate was a draw with neither side really having huge momentum going into Tuesday. After the debate concluded, I felt great about the quality of both Democratic options for President.

Since the debate was in LA, Hollywood was out in full force. Excitement among democrats continues to be high throughout the country with tickets actually being scalped as if it was a major sporting event or concert last night. Overall a good night for Democrats.

Thanks for reading…

Darryl

Final CNN Democratic Debate in LA prior to Super Tuesday

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