All right Democrats. It is time to get our collective act together and put the past behind us. It isn’t about anyones hurt feelings. I voted for Hillary in the primary and one of the checks I wrote this primary season was to her campaign. But I can read the tea leaves, and Obama is going to be the nominee.

So take the long weekend to lick your wounds, and when Tuesday rolls around, start with mending fences. It is time to get over yourself. It isn’t about you, or me, or even the candidates. It is about electing a Democrat and saving the Supreme Court.

Looked at through that lens, Obama is perfectly suited for the job, because he was a Constitutional Law professor. That is hugely important with a Supreme Court that has a liberal wing that is as chronologically advanced as our liberal justices are. Especially with Roberts as Chief. Ugh…

McClatchy has an article on the importance of Missouri this fall. Obama carried the state – narrowly – on Super Tuesday – because of St. Louis and Kansas City. In the outstate areas, Hillary is the overwhelming choice. At the State Democratic Convention I saw Hillbillies for Hillary t-shirts, and my father in law, who has voted in the primary for the guy who eventually won the White House since 1980 is a huge Hillary Clinton supporter. I have been telling everyone since September, when we went to the country for bow season, that she is the outstate favorite.

Obama – and the state and national party apparatus – have challenges in this bellwether state – but they can be overcome with grassroots organization, and most importantly – presence.   When Missouri voters in outstate areas are asked about Obama and the response ranges from

“I feel like I just don’t know him yet.”

 to  

“I can’t vote Republican.   I’ll either vote for Obama or not vote. If it were today, I would not vote. There’s still six months . … He’s gonna’ have to convince me. I haven’t seen it yet.”

Our mission is clearly defined.  Convince voters.   I spoke to my father in law before the state convention and asked him if there was anything he wanted me to impart to the leaders of the party.  He said I should tell them to make their presence known, that no one was going to vote for them if they didn’t bother to ask.

So here is how Obama wins in Missouri, and helps deliver the Missouri Sixth congressional seat to Kay Barnes, the Democrat opposing the odious Sam “96%” Graves,    (as in he votes the way aWol wants him to 96% 0f the time), and takes a congressional enemy  off the chessboard.

It’s politics 101.    What Howard Dean did for the nation with the brilliant 50 State Strategy, the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party (national and state need to get their act together and combine resources for this) need to do in Missouri.   Call it a 114 County Strategy.

Get someone on the ground in every county – it can be as simple as a dedicated cell phone and someone willing to answer and return calls, and store yard signs, bumper stickers, lapel pins and campaign literature in their garage or basement and pass it out when people ask for it, and put an add in every county paper every single week.

If Obama campaigns hard in Kansas City, St. Louis, and the Sixth Congressional District…He wins.  KC and StL are reliably Democratic.  The Sixth is vulnerable and due to flip.  The Sixth is also huge in area – the population isn’t dense, but the people aren’t either.  They know that republican policies have damaged them economically and sent their kids to fight and die in a senseless conflict that should never have been undertaken.   A couple of stops in St. Joseph would pull supporters for both Kay Barnes and Representative Nancy Boyda of the KS 02 and fill the stadium at Missouri Western.    Do the same thing in Hannibal and bolster democratic turnout among rural voters in three states.   What’s not to love about this plan?

Now the Democratic Party needs to get their act together and start plotting strategy.  Ask any veteran and they will tell you – It is always – always – a bad idea to cede the hill country in any fight.  

Saturday after noon the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters held a grand opening in Kansas City.  The doors opened at 10:00 a.m. and volunteers started phone banking, then at 2:30 a group of local and state elected officials who are endorsing Senator Clinton in her bid for the White House spoke to the standing-room-only crowd.

The headquarters is located at 7442 Holmes, on the northeast corner of 75th and Holmes, across the street from the northeast corner of Tower Park.  The office space is being donated by local businessman, developer, community re-investor and Democratic fundraiser Nick Abnos, owner of the Abdiana Futon chain.  

I arrived at the headquarters at about 2:00, with the local politicians who have endorsed scheduled to address the crowd at 2:30.  State Representative Rachel Storch, State Senator Jolie Justus, Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, and United States Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver.  They were great speakers one and all – well-spoken,

articulate in their expression of why they are supporting Senator Clinton – but Congressman Cleaver spoke last, and that man can move a

mountain with his oratorical skills.

He had a lot of things to say, and much of it quotable – but I am sharing this post with fellow  SMP blogger Michael Bersin, so I will just relay  one of them before I turn it over to him below the fold…speaking about the Republicans and the concern-trolling of certain factions of the Democratic Party – “We are all Democrats.  We can’t let them separate us.”  

Amen, Mayor (Congress is only national) you got that right.  

“we cannot let them separate us…”

  “This is the first time in America we will have either a woman or an    African American President…”

“I know in Martin Luther King’s lifetime, when he spoke about the  promised land we wondered if we would ever get there. While we’re not there yet, in the promised land, we’re in the front yard…”

“Talk about supporting our troops…You support them by putting them  on a ship or plane and bring them all home to their families…

“I know Senator Clinton and Senator Obama – there was no struggle in  deciding who [to support].”

“Hillary will not pull out of Missouri [unlike 2004].”

“There is no purpose to this [escalating animosity in the primary]. We’re all  Democrats…”

“There can be no change without struggle. Hillary Clinton knows struggle. She knows how to struggle.”

The crowd reacted to each statement as Congressman Cleaver built to a crescendo.

Today’s Kansas City Star had the following small item:

Clinton

opens a local office for the final push

…More than 100 supporters crowded into the office in the 7400 block of Holmes Street to listen to a few minutes of speeches revving them

up for the Feb. 5 primary. Missouri shares a primary date with New York, California, Illinois and more than a dozen other states.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver noted how John Kerry angered Democrats in 2004 by pulling resources from Missouri in the final push toward the

general election. Cleaver said Clinton has told him she will push hard in the state in the primary and, if nominated, in November.

tiny URL

As always, the stenographers miss the flavor of an event.

( – promoted by –Blue Girl)

Saturday after noon the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters held a grand opening in Kansas City.  The doors opened at 10:00 a.m. and volunteers started phone banking, then at 2:30 a group of local and state elected officials who are endorsing Senator Clinton in her bid for the White House spoke to the standing-room-only crowd.

The headquarters is located at 7442 Holmes, on the northeast corner of 75th and Holmes, across the street from the northeast corner of Tower Park.  The office space is being donated by local businessman, developer, community re-investor and Democratic fundraiser Nick Abnos, owner of the Abdiana Futon chain.  

I arrived at the headquarters at about 2:00, with the local politicians who have endorsed scheduled to address the crowd at 2:30.  State Representative Rachel Storch, State Senator Jolie Justus, Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, and United States Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver.  They were great speakers one and all – well-spoken, articulate in their expression of why they are supporting Senator Clinton – but Congressman Cleaver spoke last, and that man can move a mountain with his oratorical skills.

He had a lot of things to say, and much of it quotable – but I am sharing this post with fellow  SMP blogger Michael Bersin, so I will just relay  one of them before I turn it over to him below the fold…speaking about the Republicans and the concern-trolling of certain factions of the Democratic Party – “We are all Democrats.  We can’t let them separate us.”  

Amen, Mayor (Congress is only national) you got that right.  

“we cannot let them separate us…”

  “This is the first time in America we will have either a woman or an    African American President…”

“I know in Martin Luther King’s lifetime, when he spoke about the  promised land we wondered if we would ever get there. While we’re not there yet, in the promised land, we’re in the front yard…”

“Talk about supporting our troops…You support them by putting them  on a ship or plane and bring them all home to their families…

“I know Senator Clinton and Senator Obama – there was no struggle in  deciding who [to support].”

“Hillary will not pull out of Missouri [unlike 2004].”

“There is no purpose to this [escalating animosity in the primary]. We’re all  Democrats…”

“There can be no change without struggle. Hillary Clinton knows struggle. She knows how to struggle.”

The crowd reacted to each statement as Congressman Cleaver built to a crescendo.

Today’s Kansas City Star had the following small item:

Clinton

opens a local office for the final push

…More than 100 supporters crowded into the office in the 7400 block of Holmes Street to listen to a few minutes of speeches revving them

up for the Feb. 5 primary. Missouri shares a primary date with New York, California, Illinois and more than a dozen other states.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver noted how John Kerry angered Democrats in 2004 by pulling resources from Missouri in the final push toward the

general election. Cleaver said Clinton has told him she will push hard in the state in the primary and, if nominated, in November.

tiny URL

As always, the stenographers miss the flavor of an event.

Hillary Clinton came to Kansas City today for a fundraiser and to meet with faith leaders from the community.  After the fundraiser, she held a press conference in the Iowa Room of the President Hotel to discuss her meeting with the local faith leaders.

She entered a few minutes late, accompanied by Missouri Congressman and AME minister Emanuel Cleaver, Jackson County Executive and state campaign co-chair Mike Sanders, and about a dozen local clergy, who stood behind her as she took questions.

Dave Helling went first and asked about her philosophical differences with the ministers…issues such as reproductive freedom and gay marriage.

The Senator handled the question ably.

She pointed out that there was a whole lot more that they can find common ground on, and we need to listen to one another and treat one another with respect.

She mentioned specific points of agreement they share, on issues such as housing, and education, and healthcare, and stopping the revolving door between the prison and the street.

The next question was asked by Mike Mahoney. He asked her about something former President Clinton  said the day before – that he [Bill Clinton] would not be surprised to see former presidents asked to serve in various capacities in a Hillary Clinton administration. 

And she laughed (we’ll get to that in a minute) before saying “I wouldn’t be surprised to see that either!”

She gave the current occupant credit for, in the wake of the Indonesian tsunami, asking former presidents Bush and  Clinton to lead American efforts there, and it improved the image of America  in the eyes of Indonesians and of people throughout the region.

Dave Helling then asked if she was planning on campaigning in Missouri,  and brought up the Kerry campaign (Helling mistakenly stated that Kerry did not campaign here, but he did – he pulled out of the state three weeks before the election, but he most certainly did campaign here).

“I intend to campaign vigorously in every state.I want to represent the entire country.” She responded.  This is her second trip to  Kansas City in recent months and her third or fourth to the state.

The next question was about the torture revelations of the last couple of days, and the incumbent saying today “We do not torture.”

On this she grew quite serious.  We are only finding out now how far the administration has gone, and she reminded all that there was no information forthcoming until the Democrats took over in January. She did state unequivocally that no administration, no person, no president should be above the law.

That was supposed to be the last question, but she took one more, on immigration.

She didn’t come close to touching the current third rail of politics.  She favors the standard “comprehensive immigration reform™” that every politician and their aunts, uncles, cousins and pets espouse. In her version it involves strengthening the borders and employing technology. She did give more than perfunctory acknowledgment to the idea that helping Mexico  develop their economy so people won’t feel like they have no choice but to leave their homes and families and enter the U.S. illegally to better their lives.

She didn’t say anything new or controversial, but she did stress that business owners employing undocumented workers are a huge part of the problem and until they are held accountable, no other efforts will be truly effective. 

Overall, I had a pretty positive impression of her. She was relaxed and composed and confident. She seemed to exude competence and ability.  She was charming and well spoken and didn’t butcher a single sentence.  Overall, she seemed downright presidential.  We could certainly do worse, as the last seven years have shown us. 

Now – about the laugh.

Get over it.

The laugh is real.  I was just a few feet away from it a few hours ago.  It is genuine and there is a twinkle in her eyes when she laughs that ya just can’t fake.  That laugh endears her to me on a certain level.  It is the same laugh that I stopped trying to stifle the first time I heard “Freedom Fries.”  It is the laugh that should assault Chris Wallace’s ears every time he spouts a wingnut talking point.  It is the laugh that should have issued forth thirty years ago when the foam flecked loonies and assorted hypocrites started emerging from the lunatic fringe.

People stopped laughing at the assorted array of idiots, and look where it got us!  For the love of all that is holy, stop acting like the wingnuts have any credibility, stop taking them seriously, and start guffawing at these idiots every time they say something stupid. 

And when the Maureen Dowds and Frank Richs and various M$M chuckleheads start obsessing about the authenticity of a presidential candidates laugh instead of the substance of their message…mocking, derisive laughter directed back at them is the only appropriate response.