Unconventional Wisdom

Yeah he and his wife aren’t getting along too well and it’s at the expense of their 6 year old daughter. Former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey is in a tussle with his estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey over whether or not their daughter Jacqueline might be allowed to attend her sixth birtday party hosted by her father. Her father currently lives with another man announced in this article as his “partner”.

 It’s seems really nasty too. The parents are bickering and the judge in this case is wondering if she’s the only one actually considering this child’s best interest. At least for the former governor’s part, he’s grateful that Jacqueline can’t comprehend the ugliness and that she’s not yet reading the new papers.

Fresh off of a victory in the Governor’s race there it looks like the GOP has a statewide candidate to challenge the incumbent Democratic US Senator. From The Hill…

Louisiana GOP state Treasurer John Kennedy announced Thursday he will challenge Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is considered the most vulnerable Democratic senator up for reelection in 2008.

In a statement on his website, Kennedy, who switched parties in August, said he would file the necessary paperwork to run for the Senate. He said he would run an aggressive campaign on how he would help move Louisiana forward “in tandem with our new reform leadership in Baton
Rouge.”

Louisiana elected Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal as its new governor earlier this month. Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, the Democratic Incumbent, did not run for reelection.

Landrieu is in her second term in the Senate, and won reelection in 2002 with 52 percent of the vote compared to Republican Suzanne Haik Terrell’s 48 percent. Landrieu comes from a well-known political family in Louisiana — her father was the New Orleans mayor — but is considered vulnerable partly because President Bush twice carried Louisiana. In 2004, he won with 57 percent of the vote.

In addition, the state’s population has changed since Hurricane Katrina, with many black voters in New Orleans, who tended to vote for Democrats, moving out of state.

Is almost up and I missed a couple of days but that’s OK. This place needed a workout and it got it. I didn’t feel like posting a serious post so for right now this’ll do. Off to bed now!

I got the ball going over at the forums. If this is your first time here perhaps you might want to visit and then register for an account. Anyway I’ll get this blog in the Christmas spirit with a Blogthing.

For the twelve days of Christmas, your true love will send you:

Twelve punk rockers drumming Eleven marshmallows a-puffing Ten reindeer a-leaping Nine ladies yodeling Eight goats a-milking Seven eggnogs a-intoxicating Six puppies a-barking Five Golden Girls Four calling secret admirers Three French chefs bearing escargot Two stale fruit cakes And a chimp in a peach tree

What Will You Get for the 12 Days of Christmas?

There will be more soon, hopefully!

From CNN’s Political Ticker…

 The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a high-profile backer of Sen. Barack Obama’s White House bid, says all the Democratic presidential candidates are ignoring African-American issues except former Sen. John Edwards.”The Democratic candidates — with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign — have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country,” Jackson writes in a Chicago Sun-Times Op-ed appearing in Tuesday’s edition.

“The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention,” Jackson continued. “No urban agenda is given priority. When thousands of African Americans marched in protest in Jena, Louisiana, not one candidate showed up.”

Jackson, who endorsed Obama’s candidacy earlier this year, previously caused a headache for the campaign when he reportedly told a South Carolina audience in September that the Illinois Democrat is “acting like he’s white.”

Criticizing the Democratic candidates’ response to the case in Jena, Louisiana, Jackson also said then Obama needed to be “bolder” in his stances if he hoped to do well in South Carolina — a state in which African Americans constitute more than 50 percent of Democratic primary voters.

I had a protracted discussion with my mother about this but on a different type of politics Chicago. She doesn’t think blacks will automatically support a black candidate and that this type of talk is the function of talking heads. She might be right about that.

I think she’s off base when she says that politicians don’t take voters for granted. I can agree that it doesn’t make sense but politicians do especially when you judge by some of their actions. Say a politician from one district or jurisdiction endorses said candidate but they don’t come back and campaign often enough. I’m sure there’s some strategy involved with that but I think it does happen.

I think it’s easy for both major parties to do unfortunately. The Democrats think that blacks will vote for them. The Republicans don’t think blacks will vote for them. As a result the Democrats can use some semblance of strategy to keep blacks within their fold and the Republicans will do little or nothing to chip at the margins.

I gave you a taste of what’s going on in Illinois’ 14th Congressional district where Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker of the House announced his early retirement from the House of Reps sparking a special election contest to replace him. Then I see that Senator Trent Lott (Republican – Mississippi) former Senate majority and minority leader and is the current Senate minority whip. He announced his resignation today apparently.

Check out this article from of all places The Huffington Post. It’s about Hillary Clinton and the possibility that her candidacy is likely to energize Republicans at the expense of Democratic activists. I found this thru Instapundit.