By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
This little pug gives it a try. Click it and lick it:
http://www.roberthein.dk/screenclean.swf
Any good political captions that are clean would be appreciated.
By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
The Iowa caucus successes of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee signal major shifts in the presidential fields that Charlottesville’s state legislators warmly welcome.
One of the lessons of Iowa is: “You never count your chickens before they are hatched,“ said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County and the first announced candidate for Virginia governor in 2009.
“Barack Obama inspires people and this country needs inspiration,“ Deeds said today. “We have been through seven years now of a very tough and dark period for this country, and Barack Obama inspires and Mike Huckabee inspires the base of the Republican Party.“
Asked what a big Iowa lesson is, Deeds said it would be “that the candidates who speak from who they really are, instead of who they want to be, that message resonates.“
Deeds said he was also encouraged by the lesson that “neither candidate who spent the most won.“
Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville, noted that “change won big in Iowa. Obama is very inspirational and I think he capitalized on that theme.“
“It’s clear that people want change on both sides of the political spectrum,“ said the former Charlottesville mayor.
By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
The 100th anniversary Mock Convention at Washington & Lee University set for later in January expects to hear from some interesting political figures, from Charlie Wilson to Jim Webb and Tim Kaine.
Wilson, whose support of American CIA-led efforts to knock Russians out of Afghanistan, is a former Texas congressman made somewhat famous in the movie about his exploits in which he is played by Tom Hanks.
Webb, Virginia’s freshman U.S. senator, and Kaine, the Richmond Democrat in the Governor’s Mansion, will be joined by some national figures at the Jan. 25-26 event in Lexington.
Richmond Mayor and former Gov. Doug Wilder is set to speak, along with former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, former Georgia U.S. Sen. Max Cleland and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, son of U.S. Sen. Joe Biden.
Up-and-coming Texas state Sen. Patrick Rose and former Memphis Rep. Harold Ford Jr. are among the talented younger speakers on the W&L roster.
In a prediction announced today, Mock Convention organizers said they think that Hillary Clinton will take Iowa, in Thursday night’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.
The Lexington event Jan. 25 and 26 will predict the winner of the 2008 Democratic Convention this summer in Denver. The W&L students have been correct in 14 of the school’s last 15 conventions in picking the nominee of the party out of power in the White House. About 95 percent of W&L’s students participate.
