Congressman Ike Skelton at the Missouri State Democratic Convention in Columbia on Saturday

Ike Skelton was the final featured speaker to address the assembled delegates at the convention. You could have heard a pin drop throughout most of his speech.

Before and after he spoke he had an unending line of supporters, friends and constituents walk over to the guest/observer seating area to speak with him and greet him.

His remarks:

Thank you so much. Fellow Democrats it’s wonderful to be with you today. Take pride in what you’re doing. You are representing the wonderful American people. You’re making the politics, which, it’s not a dirty word, you’re making politics work in our country and I’m really proud of you. And let me thank you for your efforts, not just as a Democrat, but as an American. [applause]

Priorities are important. We have a priority today. We will have it, not just on Election Day in November either, we will have it after a successful election on that day to work with and supporting those that we elect.

Priorities. Old John was on his death bed. Family came in to see him to say “good bye.” His family priest came in and did the last rites. Old John was lying there ready to breathe his last breath. And he smelled something. Chocolate chip cookies! [laughter] “My favorite!” And he crawled out of bed and he crawled into the kitchen. And sure enough, there was his wife, making chocolate chip cookies. She was putting them on a plate and he reached up to take one. And his wife slapped his hand with the spatula and said, “You can’t do that.” He said, “What did you do that for?” She said, “Those are for the funeral.” [extended laughter] Obviously her priority [laughter] was different from his. [laughter]

We have a priority ourselves. That priority is to have a Democratic win in this state in [garbled]. [applause]

We are presently in the throes of a hard fought Democratic presidential contest. Difficult? Yes. But Democracy at its best. And I notice some speaking how “divisive” it is and how divisive it will be. But let me remind you, we have been there before. This past Thursday my fellow colleagues, Democratic colleagues from Missouri as well as our United States Senator, Claire McCaskill, and I had lunch [garbled] May the 8th, Harry Truman’s birthday, in Room 128 of the capitol building. Room 128 was named “The Board of Education” by the late Sam Rayburn, where he would hold forth late in the afternoon and the early evenings, back in yesteryear. And you had to be really special to be invited to have a little branch water and play cards. And Harry Truman was invited there from time to time when he was vice president. April the 12th 1945 he was in that room just a short period of time [garbled] with Sam Rayburn and a few of the other congressional Democrats. The phone rang and he was called to the telephone and told, “Come to the White House immediately.” He ran from that room over to the other side of the capitol and drove over to the White House where he was told that President Roosevelt had died. And that he, the vice president, would become the president of the United States.

It was a difficult time for him. He didn’t know much, he hadn’t been in on many of the decisions that the previous administration had made. But he worked at it. Made some tough calls. And some were quite unpopular.

The Democrats lost the congress in 1946. Harry Truman decided he should remain as president. At the Democratic national convention it was contentious. Claude Pepper led, Senator Claude Pepper led the movement to dump Harry Truman. Strom Thurmond and several other Democratic delegations left the convention [garbled] establishing the dixiecrat party. Harry Truman persevered.

That 1948 campaign was difficult and President Truman campaigned on the back end of a train with his famous whistle stop tour of America. And he was losing. The Gallup organization stopped polling a week before the election knowing that he was down so far he could not win. Harry Truman persevered.

About a week before the election I was with my dad who was a good friend of Harry Truman’s, having known him back in the late 20s. And I asked, “Dad, can President Truman win this election?” And he said, “Don’t count Harry Truman out.”

I remember election night as a teenager, high schooler, listening to the Republican oriented radio announcer…saying how, even though President Truman was winning such and such a state, other states were going to come in for Governor Dewey. Harry Truman won that. Divisive. But he won and glued our country together and today it’s interesting to note republicans like to claim the legacy of Harry Truman. [applause]

Keep that in mind when people speak about we are going through a divisive era in our party.

It happened again. In 1960 I was a young lawyer attending the Democratic national convention in Los Angeles and representing Stuart Symington as several others were. Trying to woo the delegates for a favorite Missourian of the day. And it seemed like he was everyone’s second choice. And a fellow the name of Kennedy went over the top, barely, on the first ballot.

And there we knew he was going to be chosen, Senator Symington was going to be chosen vice president. We had heard that officially. He was not. Senator Lyndon Johnson was chosen. But the divisiveness of that convention glued itself together behind the Kennedy Johnson [garbled]. And, and it worked. Kennedy pulled people together and the democrats decided to work together and we did. And we won.

So don’t let anybody tell you that what we’re going through today will be divisive. We’ve been there before. We will win in November and be proud of it. And we will be able to say we have a Democratic president as well as a Democratic congress. [applause]

We as democrats have our values. We want a strong America, we want a decent America. A strong America economically, a strong America militarily, and a strong America diplomatically. [applause] A decent America following the needs of the people…while we speak of health care or jobs. We understand the needs of our neighbors. We really care for them.

We also want our country to have restored to its respect among the nations of this world. [applause] [garbled]] I’m not exaggerating when I say our country is in trouble. Not just economically, but international. Our young men, our young women in uniform are making us proud, despite the fact that on two occasions prior to the president ordering our troops into Iraq, two occasions, I warned him of the aftermath. And they sent two high officials from the White House over to see me. To say, “Ike, it’ll be all right. Don’t worry about it.” Sadly, I was right.

We have a tall order. As Democrats and as Americans we have a tall order to right our country domestically and to right our country internationally. We can do it. We can do it if we work at it and believe that we can do it.

Beware of the naysayers. Beware of those that say that we’re so divided we can’t get the job done. We can and we will. [applause]…

State delegates gather on the floor prior to the start of the official proceedings.

It may seem that everything in politics is organized from the top down, but there is is a glorious and sometimes unpredictable element in the mix – the people who participate in the process.

As our little group drove home from the convention late last night I asked everyone to describe their experience in one sentence. One individual replied, “What the hell just happened?” We all laughed. But we understood.

Having attended the state Democratic conventions in 1996 and 2000 I was fully aware of and prepared for the process and progress of the day’s events. It’s always going to be a very long day. This time around I wore several hats – as a voting state delegate (in the 4th Congressional District), as a participant on the Resolutions Committee, and as a blogger covering the event.  

In the past I have jokingly described the grass roots messiness of a state convention as a cross between a circus and a zoo. You really must add to that description that the freshly painted circus train is hurtling down the rickety tracks at top speed, you’re trying to avert your eyes (but, good lord, you can’t help but look), and whatever happens next, you’re going to have to sit there and watch that paint dry for a few hours…

State delegate and volunteer Jane Van Sant registers another 4th Congressional District state delegate.

Then there are the people. The put upon congressional district chairs who are responsible for getting their charges checked in with the proper paperwork and the proper credentials. The earnest junior (and very young) staffers. The statewide candidates. The party staff people. The professional political aides. The endless sea of party activists who have come to the convention as state delegates. Everywhere everybody engages in conversation. You greet old friends and are introduced to new ones. Conversations trial off when in that mass of humanity someone else walks by and grabs your arm to start a new conversation. The individuals running for those precious at-large national delegate slots buttonholing other state delegates and making their case with their words and a flyer or card pressed into the hand of the ones who will have a say.

Those running for at large positions (segregated by gender) have the opportunity to make their case in a one minute (and sometimes less) speech to the floor. As I listened to the seemingly endless assembly line of speeches I was struck by the diversity of the individuals and their stories. What is it that brought them here to this place and inspired them to stand up for the candidate they believe in? They told us. Their one minute stories were as diverse as their ages, economic status, ethnicity, and hopes for the future.

That is what Democracy sounds like.  

The Missouri State Democratic Convention will be held at the Holiday Inn Select Columbia Expo Center in Columbia on Saturday, May 10th.

Schedule of Events

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Exhibitor Registration

8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Volunteer Briefings, Standing Committee Meetings

9:00 a.m.  – 5:00 p.m. Exhibitor Booths and Cafe Vendors Open

9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Delegate and Alternate Registration/Credentialing

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon VIP and Guest Registration

11:30 a.m. – 12 noon Replace vacant delegate positions with alternates.

11:00 a.m. Expo Center Opens for Seating

12:00 noon Convention begins

Blue Girl, Clark, hotflash and I will be there covering the entires [“Preview” is our friend] show. It’s a rare chance for the four of us to be in the same place at the same time. It’s also an opportunity for you all (and us) to say hello to each other, visit a bit, and talk about what’s what in Missouri and national politics.

Besides, the state convention is always a gas.

You will know us by our media credentials.

There’ll be a lot of opportunities to interact with activist rank and file Democrats and Democratic candidates from across the state. Buttonhole someone and ask them a thing or two. We all intend to do so.

The business at the convention includes seating all the county delegates, electing 8 national Clinton delegates and 2 national Clinton alternates, electing 8 national Obama delegates and 2 national Obama alternates, and electing the Missouri DNC representatives. Think about that last one for a minute. They’ll be 2012 super delegates. Yep, that’s right. Your Missouri super delegates are elected.

Now, the convention is (if I understand it correctly) open to the public to observe, but you’ve got to have delegate or media credentials to get out on the “floor”.

There will be plenty of speechifying – some from Missouri politicians and a lot from average folks who are running for those delegate slots. I guarantee that it’ll be interesting. That’s one reason why we’ll all be there to cover it.

A sitting governor intervenes in the parole process, setting up the release of an individual who then goes on to commit another horrible crime. Sound familiar? Well, our political media will only cover a story like that if that governor is running for president, right? Think again.

The Kansas City Star’s resident political stenographer writes this gem in today’s paper [tiny URL]:

….Stick this one in your bonnet: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will win either the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary.

Whaaaat? You’ve never heard of Huck?

Get him on your radar screen. Huckabee has supplanted John McCain as the hot GOP contender on the circuit these days….

Of course, our political chattering classes can’t be bothered to do a little bit of research:

….Suttlar noted that just prior to Huckabee’s appearance before the board the board had voted 4-1 against Dumond’s parole. After Huckabee’s board appearance, her colleagues largely reversed themselves, voting 4-1 for Dumond’s release.

“Why did all the votes change?” Suttlar asked. The board members knew the governor’s position. And Huckabee knows what influence a governor has over a board. Who’s going to turn down a governor?”

A board member, who only agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said, “We are not talking rocket science here. The board jobs are known to some degree [to be] political patronage…

Why would the Star’s Kraske jump on the Huckabee hype bandwagon? Stenography.

Fun While It Lasted [tiny URL]

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 26, 2007; 11:13 AM

….My view of the Huckabee hype is fairly simple: Reporters have run out of things to say about Hillary, Barack, Rudy, Mitt and the gang. Every conceivable story has been written, from cleavage to laughter to multiple marriages, and it’s only October. We need a dark horse to shake up the race. Reporters like Huckabee. So he becomes the flavor du jour….

Lazy stenography.

Saturday, October 27, 2007
Gail Collins: There To Make MoDo and Bobo Look Smart

….DuMond was released not out of some independent sense of compassion but because a wingnut campaign on his behalf was launched because the woman DuMond raped was a distant relative of Bill Clinton…

And the Missouri connection? You know, something that maybe, just maybe, a so-called Missouri political reporter should know?

…Saturday, June 30, 2001

Arkansas parolee is charged in killing of Missouri woman

LIBERTY (AP) – Prosecutors on Friday charged Arkansas parolee Wayne DuMond with first-degree murder in the death of a Missouri woman and said they had not ruled out seeking the death penalty for the convicted castrated rapist.

DuMond, 51, is charged in the Sept. 20 death of Carol Shields, 39, of Parkville, who was found suffocated in a friend’s Clay County apartment about 10 miles from DuMond’s home.

The woman was killed about seven weeks after DuMond moved to the Kansas City area…..

Missouri Courts

7CR101002894 – ST V WAYNE E DUMOND

07/25/2001  Docket Entry:  Filing:
Text:  1 – 1002100 – MURDER 1ST DEGREE – Class A felony – EMPTY CHARGE CODE SECURITY FIELD
  Docket Entry:  Judge/Clerk – Note
Text:  RELATED CASES FIELD: LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
  Docket Entry:  Filing:
Text:  Indictment filed : BOND DENIED : warrant issued MJM….

….7CR101002894 – ST V WAYNE E DUMOND

Date Filed:  07/25/2001
Location:  Clay 
Case Type:  Criminal/Infract.- see Charges
Disposition:  Jury Verdict – Guilty
Date of Disposition:  01/09/2004…

As for Mike Huckabee intervening in the parole of an individual who later goes on to commit murder in another state? Our dysfunctional media has rules about covering those kinds of things in their political reporting. IOKIYAR.

(it’s okay if you’re a republican)

Oh sure, Matt “baby” Blunt won’t live in the Governor’s Mansion, but he’ll do fundraising there? Push the panic button.

From Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made in the October campaign finance report filed by Missourians for Matt Blunt, Inc. on 10/15/07 available from the Missouri Ethics Commission:

MO Mansion Preservation PO Box 113 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0113 9/28/2007 Fundraier Exp
$799.50
Paid

From Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made in the Amended April – Committee Quarterly report filed by Missourians for Matt Blunt, Inc. on 10/15/07 available from the Missouri Ethics Commission:

MO Mansion Preservation PO Box 113 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0113 3/31/2007 Fundraiser Expenses
$10,300.00
Incurred

MO Mansion Preservation PO Box 113 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0113 3/31/2007 Fundraiser Expenses
$725.00
Incurred

MO Mansion Preservation PO Box 113 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0113 3/31/2007 Fundraiser Expenses
$8,482.00
Incurred

Note that these expenses are “incurred”.

At the end of a February 7, 2007 press release from Melanie Blunt’s state web site:

….Incorporated in 1974, the Missouri Mansion Preservation is a statewide, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the Mansion’s restoration and educational programs.

There’s more:

Blunt campaign denies raising money at mansion

By David A. Lieb
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10/17/2007

….The September expense of $799.50 was for several dozen 2006 Mansion Preservation Christmas ornaments, which featured Blunt’s young son, Branch, crawling up the mansion stairs, Hancock said.

A $725 expense listed in March was for a Feb. 19 mansion luncheon for members of the St. Charles County Republican Committee, Hancock said.

Abele said an $8,482 expense listed in March was for a pair of Christmas parties. Both were held Dec. 2 — one for members of the Missouri Republican State Committee and their friends; the other for Blunt’s friends and supporters in general, Hancock said.

The March expenses also included $10,300 for a mansion barbecue for Blunt’s political supporters and friends that occurred in Aug. 23, 2006, Abele and Hancock said….

If it fundraises like a republican….

There’s enough material in the October quarterly campaign finance reports available online at the Missouri Ethics Commission to occupy hundreds of curious Internets denizens for months.

In looking at the reports for Michael Gibbons, the lone “name” republican candidate for Attorney General, I was struck by the “burn rate” of his committee, Missourian for Gibbons. That is, the amount of money his committee has already spent.

The Summary of the October report filed on 10/12/07 shows [to date] $389,439.00 in total receipts, $148,326.55 in expenditures, $21,300.00 in contributions, with $220,811.71 on hand. That’s some burn rate. 

The Itemized Expenditure Over $100 Supplemental Form which is part of these reports can also enlighten us as to what caused that hefty burn rate. In addition to the following there are staff costs, supplies, and returned contributions listed.

October 12, 2007 [report]:

Capitol Consulting LLC PO Box 931 Jefferson City MO 65102 09/13/2007 reimburse supplies
$423.95

Capitol Consulting LLC PO Box 931 Jefferson City MO 65102 09/13/2007 independent contractor-fundraiser
$2,500.00

Capitol Consulting LLC PO Box 931 Jefferson City MO 65102 07/20/2007 independent contractor-fundraiser
$2,500.00

Capitol Consulting LLC PO Box 931 Jefferson City MO 65102 07/19/2007 independent contractor-fundraiser
$8,844.70

Capitol Consulting LLC PO Box 931 Jefferson City MO 65102 07/19/2007 reimburse supplies
$614.21

July, 15 2007 [report]:

TAPAWINGO NATIONAL GOLF CLUB 13001 GARY PLAYER DRIVE SUNSET HILLS, MO 63127 06/07/2007 RENTAL FEES
$10,592.85

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 05/09/2007 IND. CONTRACTOR-FUNDRAISER
$2,500.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 05/09/2007 REIMBURSE SUPPLIES, POSTAGE, PRINTING
$523.15

THE ROCKET GROUP LLC PO BOX 913 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102  05/15/2007 PRINTING AND DESIGN
$2,686.11

ARISTOTLE INTERNATIONAL INC. 205 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, SE WASHINGTON DC 20003 05/15/2007 COMPUTER PROGRAM/HOSTING
$2,125.00

ARISTOTLE INTERNATIONAL INC. 205 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, SE WASHINGTON DC 20003 05/15/2007 COMPUTER PROGRAM/HOSTING
$4,250.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65109 04/07/2007 IND. CONTRACTOR-FUNDRAISING
$2,500.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65109 04/07/2007 REIMBURSE SUPPLIES, POSTAGE
$489.91

THE ROCKET GROUP LLC PO BOX 913 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 05/15/2007 WEBSITE
$5,714.18

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 06/05/2007 IND. CONTRACTOR-FUNDRAISER
$2,500.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 06/05/2007 REIMBURSE SUPPLIES, POSTAGE
$1,046.40

I got invited to a golf tournament once, but I didn’t have a set of clubs and I hadn’t played in years. I didn’t get to go.

April 16, 2007 [report]:

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 03/05/2007 IND. CONTR-FUNDRAISER-JAN/FEB
$5,000.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 931 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65102 03/05/2007 REIMBURSE SUPPLIES, PHONE
$2,671.70

January 15, 2007 [report]

ARISTOTLE INTERNATIONAL INC. 205 PENNSYLVANIA AVE, SE WASHINGTON, DC 20003 10/10/2006 COMPUTER PROGRAM
$9,124.99

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 921 JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65109 10/13/2006 IND. CONTRACT-FUNDRAISER
$500.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 921 JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65109 10/13/2006 REIMBURSE PHONE
$25.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 921 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65109 12/14/2006 IND. CONTRACT-FUNDRAISER
$1,500.00

CAPITOL CONSULTING LLC PO BOX 921 JEFFERSON CITY MO 65109 12/14/2006 REIMBURSE PHONE
$75.00

That’s a lot of fundraising and computer stuff. Raising money is hard work. And where have we heard of Capitol Consulting before?

I’m getting this really strong urge to crossover in the February 5th presidential primary and vote for Rudy Giuliani. Something tells me that I should.

New York Daily News, October 12, 2007

Bernard Kerik’s legal nightmare is about to get worse, with federal prosecutors expected to file charges against the former police commissioner that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned….

….Giuliani has extensive ties to Kerik, promoting him to correction commissioner, then to police commissioner. Giuliani later also hired him at his firm, Giuliani Partners, and recommended him to President Bush for the job of Homeland Security secretary.

Past associations could haunt Giuliani, March 26, 2007

….Kerik’s close association with Giuliani became radioactive when Kerik pleaded guilty last June to a misdemeanor of accepting a gift from a company seeking city work.

Kerik acknowledged accepting $165,000 in renovations on his Bronx apartment from a company attempting to land city contracts. But he never explicitly admitted that his efforts on behalf of the company were tied to the work on his home….

Giuliani Testified He Was Briefed on Kerik in ’00, March 30, 2007

Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik’s relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Mr. Kerik’s appointment as New York City police commissioner, according to court records.

Mr. Giuliani, testifying last year under oath before a Bronx grand jury investigating Mr. Kerik, said he had no memory of the briefing, but he did not dispute that it had taken place, according to a transcript of his testimony.

Mr. Giuliani’s testimony amounts to a significantly new version of what information was probably before him in the summer of 2000 as he was debating Mr. Kerik’s appointment as the city’s top law enforcement officer. Mr. Giuliani had previously said that he had never been told of Mr. Kerik’s entanglement with the company before promoting him to the police job or later supporting his failed bid to be the nation’s homeland security secretary….

And that’s why Rudy recommended Kerik to dubya for Secretary of Homeland Security. It all makes sense. Cronyism for idiots.

Catherine Hanaway is out of the 2008 Attorney General race.

This certainly changes the dynamics.

…Hanaway broke months of speculation today when she announced she would not jump into the increasingly intriguing race for Missouri Attorney General. Instead, she will finish out the last 14 months of her term as a United States Attorney in the Eastern part of the state.

But the former Speaker of the House concedes that the decision to stay out of the race wasn’t easy….

Let’s see, could Catherine Hanaway raise money and run for office without resigning?

STANDARDS OF CONDUCT [United States Attorneys’ Manual]

1-4.410

Restrictions on all Employees
  Employees in the Department of Justice may not:

  A. Use their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election (5 U.S.C. §7323(a)(1).
  B. Solicit, accept or receive a political contribution (5 U.S.C. §7323(a)(2), except for a political contribution to a multi-candidate political committee from a fellow member of a federal labor organization or certain other employee organizations, as long as the solicited employee is not a subordinate and the activity does not violate G below.
  C. Solicit, accept, or receive uncompensated volunteer services from an individual who is a subordinate (5 C.F.R. § 734.303(d)).
  D. Allow their official titles to be used in connection with fundraising activities (5 C.F.R. §734.303(c)).
  E. Run for nomination or election to public office in a partisan election (5 U.S.C. §7323(a)(3)), except that in certain designated communities an employee may run for office in a local partisan election but only as an independent candidate and may receive, but not solicit, contributions. 5 C.F.R. §733.107 lists these communities.
  F. Solicit or discourage the political activity of any person who is a participant in any matter before the Department (5 U.S.C. § 7323(a)(4)).
  G. Engage in political activity (to include wearing political buttons), while on duty, while in a government occupied office or building, while wearing an official uniform or insignia, or while using a government vehicle (5 U.S.C. §7324(a).
  H. Make a political contribution to their employer or employing authority (18 U.S.C. 603).

  [Updated February 1998]

1-4.420

Restrictions on Career SES, Criminal Division, and FBI Employees, and all Political Appointees
  These employees may not:

  A. Distribute fliers printed by a candidate’s campaign committee, a political party, or a partisan political group.
  B. Serve as an officer of a political party, a member of a national, state, or local committee of a political party, an officer or member of a committee of a partisan political group, or be a candidate for any of these positions.
  C. Organize or reorganize a political party organization or partisan political group.
  D. Serve as a delegate, alternate, or proxy to a political party convention.
  E. Address a convention, caucus, rally, or similar gathering of a political party or partisan political group in support of or in opposition to a candidate for partisan political office or political party office, if such address is done in concert with such a candidate, political party, or partisan political group.
  F. Organize, sell tickets to, promote, or actively participate in a fund-raising activity of a candidate for partisan political office or of a political party or partisan political group.
  G. Canvass for votes in support of or in opposition to a candidate for partisan political office or a candidate for political party office, if such canvassing is done in concert with such a candidate, political party, or partisan political group.
  H. Endorse or oppose a candidate for partisan political office or a candidate for political party office in a political advertisement, broadcast, campaign literature, or similar material if such endorsement or opposition is done in concert with a candidate, political party, or partisan political group.
  I. Initiate or circulate a partisan nominating petition.
  J. Act as a recorder, watcher, challenger, or similar officer at polling places in consultation or coordination with a political party, partisan political group, or a candidate for partisan political office.
  K. Drive voters to polling places in consultation or coordination with a political party, partisan political group, or a candidate for partisan political office.
  L. Run as partisan candidates for local partisan political office even in those communities listed in 5 C.F.R. §733.107 in which other Department of Justice employees may run for office. However, they may run as independent candidates in a partisan political election for a local office in the municipality or political subdivision, except for those appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. See 5 C.F.R. 733.105(b) and (c)(1).

  The restrictions listed above A through L apply only to Career SES, Criminal Division, FBI Employees, and all Political Appointees, and are permissible activities for all other employees.

Uh, yep. Other candidates are raising serious money. She wouldn’t be able to keep up without resigning. All the action is going to be in the Democratic Party primary.

On Sunday, September 16th the 30th Harkin Steak Fry will take place at the balloon field in Indianola, Iowa. Democratic Presidential candidates Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator John Edwards, Senator Barack Obama, and Governor Bill Richardson will be in attendance (and speak to the crowd).

I plan on attending this year.

On September 12th in 2003 I received a phone call from a friend the day before the Harkin Steak Fry. He asked me, “Do you want to go?” It’d been ages since I’d taken a road trip – I agreed to go. So, we drove the 4 1/2 hours to stand in a muddy balloon field and listen to Democratic presidential candidates. We had the time of our lives.

At the time my friend and I were avid Howard Dean supporters. As we drove into Indianola we stopped to get gas. We were conspicuous in our Howard Dean t-shirts, as were the occupants of a car from Minnesota doing the same.

The Dean campaign arranged for a meeting and staging place at a park shelter near the grounds of the event – publicizing such on their blog and forum. We arrived early and helped some twenty-something campaign types move picnic benches and set up the speaker stacks for the sound system.

It started drizzling.

The campaign twenty-somethings unloaded a pile of boxes and started handing out orange t-shirts emblazoned with the legend “Hey Harkin, these steaks are Dean-licious!” So, we helped. And we kept handing them out. I watched in amazement as the parking lot filled up and all those people (some flying in from great distances) showed up. I estimate the crowd in orange t-shirts under and around the shelter to number 400 to 600. Somone passed the word that Dean supporters from at least a dozen different states were in attendance.

We passed the time conversing with each other and new found friends. In some cases, exchanging e-mail addresses so we could continue the conversation.

Along with a few friends I had raised the money to print 1500 “‘No W’ – Next regime change, November 2, 2004” bumper stickers. I distributed a large number of them to the crowd.

Howard Dean arrived (with Joe Trippi) and stood up on a picnic table to address the crowd. After he finished speaking he and his entourage started walking to a small bus which would take them to the steak fry. I maneuvered through the crowd and called out, “Mr. Trippi. Mr. Trippi.” He turned to look at me as, with a self satisfied grin on my face, I handed him a bumper sticker. He read the bumper sticker, said with a strained look on his face, “Oh, great”, turned and walked away. I thought, “Oh, well.”

The orange clad host walked the relatively short distance to the grounds of the steak fry. We saw John Kerry go by in a van past our line of orange  walking along the highway.

We had opportunites to interact with some candidates on the grounds – and we heard them all speak. Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry, John Edwards, Bob Graham, Carol Mosley-Braun, and the Big Dog (Dick Gephardt had been there earlier in the day – Joe Lieberman didn’t attend).

There was that sea of orange.

We had a gas. I recommend the experience.

I still have that orange t-shirt.