Charlie Crist on The Huffington Post

Midwin Charles: Revenge of the Wives

2008-11-20T12:03:57Z

In late October, Barbara Walters listened to architect Peter Cook defend the extramarital sexual adventures that triggered his bitter and wildly gossiped about divorce from celebrity model Christie Brinkley this summer. Cook is the lesser known of a series of high-profile men who have suffered enormous personal and professional losses in the last several years due to sex scandals, including Jim McGreevey, Elliot Spitzer, and John Edwards.

In most cases, we watched these men's wives stand by them at press conferences, looking stunned, while their husbands announced their infidelities and family betrayals. A few of those women, however, struck back. Brinkley and Dina Matos McGreevey both sued in the courts to obtain custody and/or child support from their husbands. (McGreevey claimed he had no income at the time, having entered the seminary. He currently teaches at a local New Jersey college and lives in a nearby mansion with, and owned by, his partner.)

Both Brinkley and Matos McGreevey took their grievances to the most public forum possible. Brinkley even requested her divorce hearing be made public. As a result, the most lurid details of Cook's transgressions -- including his sexual relationship with his 18-year old assistant and his payment to her of $300,000 to keep the affair quiet -- became widely available.

Was it necessary for Brinkley to request the hearing be open to the public? Did Matos McGreevey have to sue for child support and alimony in a trial televised for the world to see? The answer is yes.

Both women employed the most powerful method available to them under the law to seek what they believed to be their rightful due. This strategy invited the fiercest public scrutiny of the facts in pursuit of a favorable adjudication of their grievances. By introducing a mountain of unvarnished facts (as well as plenty of allegations) into the record, they limited their husbands' ability to shape the story to their own favor or plausibly deny its most damaging aspects.

Many criticized these women's decisions to take their grievances public for the harm it might do their children, a concern that was essentially moot. These are public figures, and much of the information aired at these trials was already widely available. When Cook and Brinkley's split initially hit the news, Cook's mistress's attorney promptly gave an interview to Inside Edition with tantalizing details of the relationship. And who can forget Jim McGreevey's carefully staged "I am a gay American" press conference?

Of course, the sword is double-edged. During the McGreevey divorce, a former McGreevey aide told the Newark Star Ledger he had routinely engaged in three-way sex with the spouses before the governor's 2001 election. McGreevey himself soon seconded the allegation.

Even if this claim were true -- Matos McGreevey flatly denied it -- the claim had no relevance in rewarding either custody or alimony. Issued during the divorce proceedings, this allegation's sole purpose was to discredit Matos McGreevey, thereby framing the narrative in a manner more advantageous to the former governor.

In going public, Brinkley and Matos McGreevey did not exact revenge on their ex-husbands, nor did they attempt to gratuitously shame them. Rather, they exercised their rights under the law to fight for what they believed was their due -- and the courts largely saw things their way. Brinkley won sole custody of her children. Matos McGreevey won joint custody and child support.

When the facts, particularly the most sordid ones, are to one party's advantage, telling that story in a courtroom may ultimately be vital to winning the resolution that party seeks.

The question remains, which wife will be next?

GOP Ponders Gloomy, Dark Forecast

2008-11-13T11:19:34Z

MIAMI, Nov. 12 -- Republican governors were the brightest spot in an otherwise dispiriting election last week for the GOP, but the chief executives gathered here Wednesday provided a gloomy assessment of their party's failures and a dark forecast for the future.

The Republican Party is ill situated to serve a changing America, they said. Members make excuses for corruption. The Bush administration and congressional leaders are fiscally irresponsible and have ceded the tax issue -- of all issues -- to the Democrats. Large swaths of the country are off limits to GOP candidates. Republicans have lost the technology advantage, and if they were part of a corporation, "heads would roll." It's going to be worse in 2010.

The Republican Governors Association, meeting at a sleek hotel on Biscayne Bay to survey the damage, itself is a thinned version of what it was in the heyday of GOP dominance of national politics. There will be 21 GOP governors come January, a loss of one, and only 16 of them made the trip.

Alan Fein: I Like What I See in Florida

2008-11-01T14:37:31Z

I just returned from the early voting site at the Government Center in Downtown Miami. The sight was thrilling. There is a steady stream of voters, and the crowd skews to the young and minority. At another site here in Miami, over one thousand, mostly minority, voters are waiting in line. They want to change our country. I salute Governor Crist for expanding the early voting hours here in Florida. It took some courage, and it was the right thing to do.

When I got back to the computer, I saw that the three tracking polls that Gallup has been showing have converged, and all are at approximately 52-42 Obama. Just a few days ago, the "traditional" model -- based on past voter behavior -- was at 49-46, assuming "sporadic" voters wouldn't show up at the polls. At the same point in time just days ago, Gallup's "expanded" model was basically in line with the polling for all registered voters, with Obama in the low 50's and McCain in the low 40's. The "expanded" model assumed that people who said they were planning to vote actually would.

So, how does Gallup explain today's convergence? Early voting. Early voting patterns have been consistent with the assumptions in Gallup's "expanded" poll that "sporadic" Democratic voters would actually show up. And, indeed, in early voting, it appears that "sporadic" Democratic voters are doing just that. So, they've gone from "unlikely" voters in the "traditional" model, to not only "likely", but to people who can actually check "voting" off of their "to do" list.

Getting people to the polls is just what Obama's young, smart operation has been doing for nearly a year now, leaving primary opponents shaking their heads. Convincing "sporadic" Democratic voters to get to the polls has been what the effort in South Florida has been all about. I have never seen a volunteer effort like it in any Florida campaign, ever. I expect the laser focus and effort to stay in place through Tuesday.

Stephen Elliott: Notes From The Swamp, Florida In The Final Days Of The Election 2 - Where's The Evil?

2008-10-31T12:07:05Z

I spoke this morning with a woman who is organizing lawyers for early voting in Southern Florida. They're sending two shifts of lawyers to each poll. I asked if there was any evil going on. She said no, she hadn't seen much evil at the early voting centers. That's a big contrast from 2004, when Republicans would show up at early voting centers with signs saying, "Vote For Kerry! Support Gay Adoption!" But this year the evil is noticeably lacking. If there was voter intimidation in Southern Florida this person would know about it.

There has been a preemptive lawsuit filed in Dade County to stop the GOP from frivolous ballot challenges based on things like recent foreclosures. The Florida GOP said they have no intention of challenging based on foreclosures. The Florida GOP this year are like puppies on valium. They're so convinced they've lost it's seeming like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's like the Dallas Mavericks in the final game of the 2007 playoffs, like they just want to get it over with, but that didn't stop Baron Davis from slamming over Dirk Nowitzki, who is seven feet tall. The Democrats are energized, filling stadiums, waiting hours to vote. The Republicans are staying home, counting their money.

Speaking of Republicans, last night we had drinks with Roger Stone, the man responsible for the Brooks Brothers Riot in 2000 that shut down the recount. Scott Rothstein was nearby with his bodyguards, chomping on a fat cigar, laughing. Rothstein's law firm was upstairs and Roger Stone has a suite of offices attached to Rothstien's firm. Rothstein is the third largest McCain fundraiser in Florida. Recently Rothstein bought the restaurant in the building entryway. Now the waitresses all wear black corsets and martinis cost $9, it's like a high end version of hooters.

There was lots of kissing on the cheek and men whispering in one another's ears. The suits were expensive, but a bit shiny. One man was said to be the local crime boss. It made me think of Joan Didion's Miami, where "politics have consequences." I thought the real story here was Scott Rothstein. I'd like to spend a day with him.

Stone was surprisingly charismatic. He said he agreed with Governor Charlie Crist on extending early voting. "You can't be afraid of Democracy." He said high ranking Republicans were extremely upset by the move. He said there was no coordination between the state party and the McCain camp. He strongly supported McCain but clearly thought he had run a terrible campaign. "Why would you ask a lobbyist to run your campaign for president? What skills do they have that help you run a campaign?"

We asked if there was anything that could be done by the Republicans in the coming days. "There is no silver bullet," he said. He said you should begin criticizing your opponent early and then build over time, so in the final thirty days you don't sound shrill. He compared John McCain's campaign to John Kerry who, "Also thought once you said something you've said it and you can move on."

He blamed some of the apathy in Florida on McCain's decision not to pick Crist as his running mate. "A lot of enthusiasm drained out of the state Republican party."

The strange thing about Roger Stone is that he's not that far right, he's voting against the anti-gay marriage amendment for example. But he believes strongly in dirty tactics. In 2004 he was responsible for the signs in Philadelphia that read Kerry/Specter, as if John Kerry and Arlen Specter were on the same ticket.

Now he says he regrets the Brooks Brothers Riot. He feels responsible for electing George W. Bush president, which has been a disaster. He says he feels responsible for the soldiers that have died in the unnecessary war in Iraq. "All those dead soldiers are on me." So why did he do it? "I owed James Baker a favor," he said. "I had to do it."

Stone took us upstairs to his offices, filled with Nixon memorabilia. Stone thinks McCain will lose Florida by the same margin Kerry did. I asked him if he would vote for Obama over Bush and he wouldn't say. "I wish Gore had run this time."

Notes From The Swamp 1

- Stephen Elliott

Obama Camp Giddy Over Early Voting Extension In Florida

2008-10-28T17:24:47Z

The Obama campaign is, not surprisingly, ecstatic with the decision by Florida's Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to extend early voting hours in his state -- a decision that most every political observer predicts will help the Democratic nominee in this mega-swing state.

"We applaud Gov. Crist for responding to the overwhelming enthusiasm shown by Florida voters during this election season. To this point, an estimated 2 million Floridians have already cast a ballot over the last eight days," reads a statement from Florida Obama-Biden State Director Steven Schale. "It is critical that everyone who is eligible and eager to vote be able to participate and have their voice heard. And now with the extended hours, thousands more will have that opportunity."

Democrats were pining for Crist to make the move for days, reasoning that the limited amount of time for Floridians to cast early ballots would effectively limit the vote totals that were trending Obama's way. Indeed, the peculiarity of Crist's decision is why he -- a McCain ally -- made it in the first place. A Republican strategist in the state told Politico that, "He just blew Florida for John McCain."

The extension will mean that votes will be cast 12 hours a day, not eight. So far, George Mason University has calculated that more than 2 million Floridians have cast early ballots. Of that total, 44.7 percent have been for Democrats and 40 percent for Republicans. If Obama were to keep these margins through November 4th, it could create a distance between him and McCain that the Republican ticket can't overcome.

Observers in the Sunshine State said they weren't necessarily surprised by the Governor's decision even if it seemed likely to hurt his good-friend.

"It just reflects from the get-go that he has always been into expanding the electorate. It is consistent with his approach. I think he is just in touch with the kind of demographics that our state has," said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida.

"I just think that Gov. Crist is a person who tries very hard to represent all of the people. And he knows that even if this is not of the best interest of Republicans, it is in the best interest of Florida as a state and as a whole," said Joyce Cusack, Democratic Leader pro tempore of the Florida House of Representatives.

But the practical implications of extending early voting were hard to dismiss. In addition to providing voters with a greater window of time to cast ballots around their work schedule, the move promises to help lesson lines on Election Day itself. And, while the Republican ticket traditionally is bolstered by absentee ballots, the general rule in this scenario is that the larger the vote totals the more likely it is that Obama can pull off the victory.

Crist, in a hasty arranged press conference Tuesday afternoon, hitched his decision to respecting the sanctity of the right to vote. "Many have fought and died for this right," said the McCain ally who has, this cycle, proved willing to buck his party's interest.

Schale echoed the refrain: "We encourage Floridians to continue casting their votes before Election Day, either at an early voting location or by mail, and to participate in this election - because voting is democracy in action."

UPDATE: Obama deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, who was recently dispatched to Florida for the last weeks of the race, told the Huffington Post's Seth Colter Walls that the campaign sent a couple of go-betweens to speak to Crist about expanding the hours for early voting locations.

"We had a couple of key supporters make a suggestion to him, to advance the premise that Florida elections need to be run very smoothly," Hildebrand said. "And that three or four or five hour waits for people to vote is not a smooth process."

Hildebrand declined to identify the individuals who took the Obama campaign's message to the Governor, saying: "this was not a pressure deal by any stretch. The Governor was incredibly cooperative, and recognized that this was best for the election process."

Florida Extends Voting Hours In The Face Of Overwhelming Poll Numbers

2008-10-28T15:22:06Z

Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday extended early voting hours across Florida to 12 hours a day.

The executive order comes after record early voting turnout has contributed to long lines at polling sites.

Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours a day each weekday and for a total of eight hours during the weekends.

Brad Friedman: John McCain: "One of the Greatest Frauds in Voter History"

2008-10-16T22:47:23Z

Some (But Not Enough) Republicans Backing Away from the GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Hoax as John McCain Puts Winning by 'Destroying the Fabric of Democracy' First, and His Country and its Democratic Ideals a Distant Second...

Hopefully, soon will come the GOP's ACORN "voter fraud" fraud backlash, though I realize that's still very much a hope given the continuous right wing media's full-throated ~~reporting~~ attempt to punk American democracy in regards this issue.

Palm Beach Post, thankfully, bothered to do some actual reporting yesterday, and led with the following good news:

Republican National Committee officials are turning up the heat on a left-leaning organization linked with Sen. Barack Obama that tried to register "Mickey Mouse" to vote this summer, but state officials say accusations of voter fraud in Florida are mostly unfounded.

The story goes on to quote FL Secretary of State Kurt Browning who says: "'we have not seen a persistent problem across the state of Florida' with registration fraud by ACORN or other groups."

And FL's Republican Governor Charlie Crist who says: "There's some who sort of enjoy chaos. That's kind of what's going on more than fraud."

Bingo, Charlie. And rather ironic, given the outrageous statement John McCain made during last night's debate; the GOP's own far-worse-than-ACORN's record of registration form problems in California; Crist's own record of voter purges in his own state; and the Republican Party's dismal history of trying to use ACORN at the last minute, just before elections, in order to wreak the "chaos" that Crist was referring to...

John McCain: 'Destroying the Fabric of Democracy'

Said the once-honorable McCain during last night's debate: "We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

So who's really "one of the greatest frauds"? And who's really "destroying the fabric of democracy" here? Even ABC's Jake Tapper called that claim "so hyperbolic I don't even know where to begin," and Dahlia Lithwick at Slate tonight says "Even for McCain that was a little bit of breathless chest-heaving."

As I've pointed out, both at The BRAD BLOG on Tuesday, and over at the UK's Guardian today, there has been absolutely zero cases, or even evidence of any "voter fraud" by either ACORN, or any of the 1.3 million voters registered ACORN over the last two years.

It's also no small point that the comments above come from FL's Crist and Browning. Those two have been in the process of purging thousands of legal Florida voters from the rolls based on the flawed "No Match, No Vote" concept which dumps thousands of legal voters from the rolls simply because they do not have a perfect match on their registration forms with either the state's Dept. of Motor Vehicles or the U.S. Social Security databases.

Eg., If I'm registered to vote as "Brad Friedman", but my driver's license says "Bradley Friedman", I can be tossed from the rolls, along with thousands of others, under the sort of strict matching that Crist/Browning are now allowing in their state.

That same sort of "perfect match" test, previously approved by a wholly politicized U.S. DoJ, resulted in the purging of some 26% of new voters in CA in 2006, and 43% purged in Los Angeles County alone, before the policy was trashed in this state.

That's a similar type of database cross-checking that OH Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner is being forced to make following a Republican lawsuit brought against her this week. She's now had to file an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court, to avoid the "chaos" being brought about in Ohio, after the federal appeals court ordered her to change the state's policies by Friday. Republicans had filed suit alleging 200,000 improper voters might have recently signed onto the Buckeye State voting rolls.

Same Old Desperate GOP Attempts to Effect Elections

But, as we've pointed out previously, these last minute claims of "ACORN voter fraud!!!" are nothing new. See Lorraine Minnite's must-read "The Politics of Voter Fraud" [PDF], and even the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)'s own bi-partisan report [PDF] on voter fraud in the U.S. (or lack thereof) before it was re-written by the GOP "voter fraud" scammers who controlled the commission.

The original EAC report, before it was re-written without the agreement of the authors, noted "there is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling place fraud." The only dissenting voice to make up that "not unanimous agreement", was a member of the now-defunct "non-partisan" American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR), who The BRAD BLOG was the first to out, back in 2005 as nothing more than a phony GOP front-group pushing for voter-suppression legislation, and publishing propaganda to support it.

The report, after being rewritten by the EAC (chaired, at the time by Paul DiGregorio, a Missouri colleague of the ACVR's founder, Bush/Cheney national general counsel, Mark F. "Thor" Hearne) rewrote the above to read instead: "there is a great deal of debate on the pervasiveness of fraud."

So it's an old scam, but one that's being perfected now that the media is almost entirely controlled, wall-to-wall, by Right wingers.

Back in 2004, Michelle Malkin and wingnut "media" outlet Newsmax (along with many others of her ilk), alleged ACORN "voter fraud" in Ohio, just days before the Presidential election. In that case, both of them had falsely reported that ACORN was registering terrorists to vote in the Buckeye State.

Despite all the phony charges and bogus lawsuits against ACORN in 2004 having fully collapsed by the next year, the same nonsense was drudged up again in 2006.

After the Bush Administration had managed to purge a number of their own U.S. Attorneys because they refused to bring phony ACORN "voter fraud" charges during the previous election, their new USA in Missouri was kind enough to bring several indictments just days before an incredibly tight Senate race in the state. We would later learn that bringing such indictments at that time, so close to an election, was in strict violation of the DoJ's written policies.

Those 2006 indictments in Missouri -- the state was later described by McClatchy as "Ground Zero" for the GOP's "voter fraud" scam -- were the topic of an extraordinary Senate Judiciary hearing, finally convened after the Democrats took over Congress in 2006. The charges were brought by new Bush puppet U.S. Attorney, Bradley Schlozman, who was confronted about them in the must-watch exchange below, with Patrick Leahy (D-VT)...

Schlozman was later forced to retract his testimony, where he had blamed the DOJ's Public Integrity unit for his bringing the prosecutions.

GOP Registration Fraud Outpaces ACORN

Finally, Steven Rosenfeld filed a superb report yesterday at AlterNet, pointing out, ironically enough, that the California GOP had the same voter registration error problems as ACORN in 2006. Only much worse...

Faked names on voter registration forms. Error rates as high as 60 percent. Firing the people responsible for these errors. Investigations launched by local and state police. Sound familiar? This is not ACORN in the 2008 election's final days.

This is the California Republican Party and its contractors in 2006, when the same problems that are now dogging ACORN and providing political fodder for GOP attacks plagued an effort by California Republicans to register 750,000 people.

Rosenfeld's excellent reporting goes on to "put ACORN's errors in perspective" by noting...

More than 120 million Americans may vote in November. ACORN, which hired 13,000 workers to register 1.3 million voters, had a few bad hires - like any big company.

But unlike the California GOP in its 2006 voter drive, ACORN has a policy of telling local election officials when it believes it has fraudulent registrations. It is required by states to submit all voter applications and urges election officials to prosecute knowing mistakes. The current case against ACORN comes from its own disclosures.

...before noting that ACORN's estimated error rate on registrations seems to be "less than one percent".

By contrast to the GOP in California, then, Rosenfeld points out, as based on a 2006 series of reports from Los Angeles Times:

In 2006, contractors for the California Republican Party had local error rates of 60 percent in San Bernadino County, the Los Angeles Times reported, where 1,800 out of 3,000 submitted registrations were incomplete and could not be processed.

How does ACORN's nationwide error rate compare to other voter registration problems? The data is thin, academics say. But two statistics are telling.

A 2007 National Science Foundation report for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found county election workers who entered voter information into county databases made mistakes 5 percent of time, if poorly trained. This is not the same as making up a voter's name, which is a prosecutable offense, but not all of ACORN's errors are fake names. Some are the same people filling out more then one voter registration form.

This month in Columbus, Ohio, Franklin County Board of Elections Deputy Director Matt Damschroder said about 2.5 percent of the 200,000 new voter registrations turned into his office in 2008 could not be processed because of typos, unreadable writing or missing information. He said that error rate was pretty good.

Moreover, in gathering signatures for ballot measures, it is a common practice for their sponsors to turn in "150 percent of the legal requirement," said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News. "With some people, you can't read their hand writing."

Nobody in the national media is praising ACORN for an accuracy rate of 99 percent in its voter registration drive. Nobody praised the California Republican Party for an accuracy rate that probably also was in the 90th percentile in 2006.

Presuming the GOP's California failures were accidents and not meant to defraud the democratic process, much less create an opportunity for Republican voter fraud (I realize that's a big presumption), that doesn't even begin to explain the purposeful destruction, by outfits paid by the RNC, of Democratic registration forms alleged to have occurred in in Nevada, and elsewhere where Team Bush actually paid millions to such operatives, and then tried to hide that fact from public disclosure.

And what about those 75,000 voter registration application cards discovered "in a construction trash bin at Atlanta Technical College in southwest Atlanta" in 2007? Did John McCain, the GOP, and Fox "News" forget to get exercised about that one for some strange reason?

Real Issues Ignored, 'Fabric of Democracy' Shredded

In the meantime, the very real concerns about the impending 2008 election are still being largely ignored. Never mind, for the moment, that our voting machines don't work, and that there is absolutely no way to confirm the accuracy of at least 30% of America's votes which will be counted on unverifiable Direct Recording Election (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting machines. The real November Surprise is likely to have been spelled out for us in advance, but largely ignored by the bulk of the media, in several recent reports.

CBS News reported on Sept. 30th, on two different reports, by two different public advocacy groups noting tens of thousands of recently purged voters.

New York Times reported on Oct. 8th, on its own investigation revealing that tens of thousands of voters have been illegally purged in at least six swing states, based on erroneous use of the U.S. Social Security database for matching.

Greg Palast at BCC's Newsnight noted on Oct. 10th (on video) all of the above.

Of course, The BRAD BLOG has had our virtual hair on fire about all of the above, and much more, for years.

Unfortunately, the good guys don't have a Fox "News", a Rush Limbaugh, a Sean Hannity, or even a national candidate who is willing to stand up and tell the truth to a ready-to-listen national audience about the real scams being played out right now on American voters. And only occasionally, does anybody in the corporate mainstream media get the ACORN "voter fraud" fairy tale close to correct.

Though his desperate, dangerous and destructive, derision was misdirected at ACORN last night, instead of back at himself and his own party, where such charges rightly belong, John McCain was correct in one sense.

He and the GOP are "now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

As Lithwick notes at Slate tonight, in a just-in must-read, all of the disingenuous sturm und drang about creating just the impression of voter fraud. With that impression, the U.S. Supreme Court has already expressed its willingness to allow for still more draconian Photo ID restrictions -- sure to disenfranchise millions of minority, elderly and student (read: Democratic-leaning) voters -- at the polling place. Just like their recent decision to allow an Indiana Photo ID law that disenfranchised vets, 90-year old nuns, college students and untold others, and Florida's "No Match, No Vote" rule being implemented by Crist and Browning (even as they decry the "chaos" being caused by their fellow Republicans over ACORN.)

In McCain's pretend bloating and blustering last night about ACORN "destroying the fabric of democracy", despite lack of any evidence of any such voter fraud, he was, as Lithwick points out, "either deliberately or unconsciously encouraging his own supporters to grab a handful of the stuff and start ripping."

===

Brad Friedman is an investigative journalist/blogger and the creator/publisher of The BRAD BLOG, which has been focusing for some years on the many issues involved in election integrity. He can currently be seen in a number of documentaries on the topic, now in release around the country, including David Earnhardt's Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections, and the just-released Murder, Spies & Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story, by documentarian Patty Sharaf.

Republican Governor Crist: GOP May Be Exaggerating Voter Fraud In Florida

2008-10-15T19:20:55Z

Florida's governor says his fellow Republicans may be exaggerating claims of voter fraud in the state.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday that he has confidence in Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who says there's only been a scattering of isolated incidents.

Crist said in the closing days of any campaign "there are some who sort of enjoy chaos." There may be more of that going on than fraud, he said.

The Republican National Committee and GOP presidential candidate John McCain have accused an activist group of fraudulently registering people in Florida and other states. It has focused on young people, minorities and others seen as more likely to support Democrat Barack Obama.

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David Sassoon: Florida Releases State Climate Plan: Huge Economic Gains Redefine National Discussion

2008-10-15T15:20:05Z

Today, Florida is releasing its plan of action to address climate change, and the news is good and big.

Fifty separate policy recommendations pave the way for Florida to realize $28 billion in net economic savings between now and 2025, and to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The report's executive summary, posted today here, calculates that emissions would be reduced 64% from business-as-usual projections by 2025 if all fifty policy recommendations are implemented. That translates into a 51% reduction of emissions below 2005 levels, and a 33% reduction below 1990 levels. The reductions blow past the targets Governor Crist asked the Action Team to hit.

Florida's fuel consumption would also decline dramatically and lessen its dependence on both dirty and foreign sources of fossil energy -- a projected total fuel savings of 53.5 billion gallons of petroleum, 200.2 million short tons of coal, and 6.394 billion cubic feet of natural gas during the period of 2009 through 2025.

What is particularly noteworthy is that this plan emerges from the Republican stronghold of Governor Charlie Crist's administration, a man who was on the short list for Vice-Presidential nominee. Secretary of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection Michael Sole headed up Crist's Action Team on Energy and Climate Change which produced the plan. He was deputy secretary of the department under former governor Jeb Bush.

Kathleen Shanahan, who was Jeb Bush's chief of staff, also served on the Action Team. She also served as Chief of Staff for Vice President-elect Dick Cheney during the 2000 presidential campaign and transition. Also on the action team was Mark Kaplan, who also served in the capacity of Chief of Staff for Jeb Bush when he was governor. Rick Baker, Republican Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida also helped produce the plan. All 50 recommendations were adopted unanimously by the 27 members of the action team.

Although the plan's focus is on Florida, its release is timely and important to the national dialogue on the fate of climate change solutions during these economically troubled times. The authors state in no uncertain terms that they believe climate action is not a costly policy package best postponed for better times, but the central and vital engine of economic recovery.

The Action Team completes its charge during a time of economic uncertainty. While it may be assumed by some readers that the current economic environment would hamper Florida's progress toward a low‐carbon economy, the Action Team firmly believes that current economic conditions precisely sharpen the "call to action" first issued by Governor Crist in 2007. Now is the time for strategic investment in Florida's low‐carbon energy infrastructure if we are to be successful in diversifying the state's economy, creating new job opportunities, and positioning Florida's "green tech" sector as an economic engine for growth.

The plan is probably the most advanced and comprehensive of any climate program in the nation and provides of model for national emulation. A large number of climate actions are already being implemented, thanks to a series of Executive Orders and laws enacted by the Florida legislature. Governor Crist issued three orders in 2007. The state legislature, during its regular 2008 session, passed three bills, including House Bill 7135 (HB 7135), which contains many provisions that are moving Florida aggressively forward in energy security and climate change mitigation. Some of the recently enacted policies and programs are already in rule-making, and the state can point to a significant number of early achievements in state government greenhouse gas emissions reductions, private sector renewable energy projects, utility‐based solar energy, energy efficiency, and related research and development.

The plan also takes a sensible approach to cap and trade. Florida will examine the pros and cons of joining existing regional cap and trade efforts -- RGGI and WCI in particular -- and will likely join RGGI. RGGI, or the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, is already auctioning carbon permits in 10 Northeastern states and will officially kick off in January 2009. The Florida plan regards cap and trade as a measure to be used in combination with the other 49 state policy actions, not as a silver bullet solution that will send an all-transforming market signal.

The cap‐and‐trade program is intended to be implemented concurrently with other recommended policy actions, to guarantee that emissions targets are met within the covered sectors, and, potentially, to generate additional reductions and cost savings.

The Action Team was cautious about the cap and trade policy. The plan's huge emissions reductions and billions of dollars in cost savings were all projected without inclusion of the impact of cap and trade. The expectation is that after further analysis, cap and trade will be found to contribute to even steeper emissions reductions and by bringing more flexibility to the market, will support the overall cost-saving potential of the plan.

The Florida plan comes as a capstone to a recent flurry of climate action in the Southeast, which has been the most laggard region in the nation, despite being the most carbon-intensive. South Carolina, under the leadership of Republican governor Mark Sanford, released its climate plan a few weeks ago. Arkansas is set to release its plan by the end of the month. North Carolina, which completed a plan last year, has also just completed a jobs study which shows impressive job creation as a result of recommended climate policies -- congruent with Florida's expectation of the economic development potential of action.

The plan is sure to have national political implications in the weeks before the Presidential election. It confirms the green jobs and approach to energy and climate issues strongly advocated by the Democrats, and highlights the consequences of McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, a climate skeptic, as his running mate, instead of someone closer to the mainstream, like Charlie Crist.

It also drives a stake into the heart of a heavily-funded denialist effort to stall state-level climate action, which targeted the Center for Climate Strategies -- the neutral and expert facilitator of the Florida planning process, and many others -- with a misinformation campaign. The campaign relied on op-eds, endless FOIA requests and an economic critique authored by the Beacon Hill Institute to try to generate right-wing political heat, but a recently completed peer review found Beacon Hill's study to be analytically flawed and biased with a pre-determined ideological agenda. The negative campaign, led by the John Locke Foundation and the Heartland Institute, was ignored, now finally in Florida's Republican insider stronghold.

Though Governor Crist was a Republican loyalist as an early supporter of lifting the offshore drilling moratorium, this plan demonstrates where his true intelligence is focused -- not so much on "drill, baby, drill" but more on "jobs, baby, jobs." With this plan, he has redefined the national center on climate and energy issues which holds out hope that with a new administration in partnership with bipartisan leadership governors, strong climate and energy policy will be at the top of the nation's action agenda, despite the current economic crisis

John Sauer: Finding the Toilet in Stockholm

2008-08-27T14:56:21Z

Last week a mix of water and sanitation experts gathered for World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden to mull over the world's biggest public health crisis. The problem is that not enough people paid attention.

Each year over 2 million deaths could be prevented with improvements related to access to safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene. To put that in perspective, we have it within our grasp to prevent the equivalent deaths of 10 Asian tsunamis or 1,000 Hurricane Katrinas. Yet a major effort--like those that have been launched to address HIV/AIDS and malaria--to tackle the global drinking water and sanitation crisis remains elusive. The scope of this disconnect is baffling; water- and sanitation-related diseases (like relatively-easy-to-prevent diarrhea) kill more children each year than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

One reason why there hasn't been a Herculean effort to address this global scourge is that we in the water and sanitation sector are not doing enough to influence how this issue is understood by others. We have not been proactive or coordinated enough to frame the issue to the media and the wider development community in an action-oriented "this-can-be-done" tone.

All too often, water and sanitation has been framed as a "privatization" issue instead of an "access" issue. This is problematic. The "privatization" frame is confusing. It too often results in a blame game that takes attention away from the end result of the sector's work: getting water and sanitation to those who need it. Many of the most innovative, scalable solutions to the water and sanitation crisis are locally initiated approaches, such as the production of latrine slabs or ceramic water filters. They are put in place by a combination of actors: beneficiaries, communities, governments, local entrepreneurs, corporations and NGOs. The work of all of them is necessary to solve this problem.

There is a great need for the water and sanitation sector to reframe the issue so that those outside the sector understand what is at stake and become part of the solution. This effort will take leadership, resources, and working together (for more than one week in Stockholm). I propose "universal access" as the theme that guides this new direction. Developed countries have had universal access to water and sanitation for nearly 100 years. It makes no sense why the rest of the world can't get universal access as well.

Another explanation why the water and sanitation crisis remains in the shadows is that "sanitation" specifically has been ignored. Let's face it-- diseases associated with sanitation, like diarrhea, do not have "disease appeal" for governments and donors. The result is that very few people in the general public even know that 2.5 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation--nearly half of whom actually have to resort to open defecation. Those who do learn are outraged and take action.

More resources must be devoted to recruiting sanitation champions. HIV/AIDS has a built-in constituency because many people have a direct connection with someone who has suffered from or died of HIV/AIDS. Malaria has David Beckham trumpeting its cause. Sanitation needs a brave soul to be its spokesperson.

It has become a joke in the sector that no one in their right mind would become a "sanitation spokesperson." But this is no laughing matter. The lack of sanitation is one of the main reasons there isn't greater progress towards enabling the world's poor to meet their basic needs; malnutrition, poor education and disease burden are all exacerbated by inadequate sanitation. And the plight of the poor becomes more related to the survival of all as the world gets smaller each day.

In fact, some high-profile individuals have spoken out about the urgency of access to sanitation and they should be applauded. Matt Damon, Ashley Judd, Keira Knightley are a few. Would they be willing to form a Sanitation Celebrity Council to move this issue to its tipping point?

So the appeal I'd make to the 2,500 experts who went to Stockholm is to start a "universal access" campaign and to make sanitation--the most important medical advance since 1840--a major part of it. It's time to elevate water and sanitation to the status that it enjoyed during the UN's first Water Decade, which ended in 1990. This is, after all, the second Water Decade (2005-2015) in case we forgot. It's time to get this done.

Michael Carmichael: August is the Cruelest Month for Democrats

2008-08-07T11:12:43Z

August always marks the launch of tornado season, and today is especially poignant for it is the anniversary of the single most deplorable act in world history: the genocidal bombing of Hirsoshima -- an event that incinerated over 100,000 people in one atomic instant. Ominously August is the month when Democratic candidates traditionally meet their doom in a wasteland of presidential dreams.

It was August, 1968 when Mayor Richard Daley ordered the police to beat the Yippies in the streets of Chicago. Five hundred civilian casualties resulted, and Abraham Ribicoff addressed the Democratic National Convention to condemn Mayor Daley for his "Gestapo tactics." The Humphrey campaign dropped precipitously in the polls but valiantly fought back to a photo-finish with Nixon who barely eclipsed his rival in the sordid precincts of Daley's Chicago where the election was finally decided.

On August 1,1972 Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the Democratic ticket following embarrassing revelations about his medical history that included electroshock therapy.

In August 1984, rumors began to circulate about the unsavory business dealings of Geraldine Ferraro's husband, John Zaccaro, that destroyed her credibility and led to a massive Democratic defeat in the Reagan landslide.

In August 1988, George Bush, Sr.'s campaign launched the notorious "Willie Horton" TV spot that demonized Michael Dukakis who behaved like a deer caught in the headlights and failed to respond to the unscrupulous attack that drenched of racism.

In August 2004 the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth launched their scurrilous attack on John Kerry reversing the polarity of the election in one dreadful week when Robert Shrum vetoed any response while awaiting polling data that delayed the rebuttal for two tortuous weeks.

In August 2008 the Republican attack machine is zeroing in on Barack Obama with their brazen plan to finish him off this month by destroying his standing in the polls. This August the Republican method for executing another Democratic challenger will be a textbook political dissection. Karl Rove and his acolyte Steve Schmidt who is currently directing McCain's strategy unit have elevated character assassination to an art form.

At this point, the Republican attack on Obama appears to be working. Over the past eight weeks, Obama has dropped from a commanding double-digit lead to a dead even horse race that is now within the margin of error - or worse. If the campaign continues on this course, McCain will command a large lead by Labor Day.

However, the news is not all bad for there is still time aplenty for Obama to change the course of history and turn the tables on McCain. But the stakes are high and bound to go much higher next month when a flotilla of Republican 527s will launch simultaneous attacks on Obama from emails to websites to TV spots to a full length documentary designed to redefine his campaign as a dangerous cult of personality -- a mere fabrication of the mainstream media -- a puff of smoke -- a cavalcade of hype -- a particle of trivia -- nothing more, nothing less. In the Republican master plan, Obama's political demise will be a Pre-Columbian sacrifice by ritual mutilation -- a death by one thousand cuts inflicted via flickering images flashed across screens in our palms, our living rooms and our offices.

Barack Obama is on a remarkable journey. On his journey, he has to make a crucial decision. In the game of presidential chess, Obama must decide who shall become his Vice Presidential running mate -- a person capable of steering the ship of state should presidential succession take place during his term of office.

The Democratic National Convention convenes in two and a half weeks. Since the Olympics begin on Friday, there is little time for either Obama or McCain to make the selection of their Vice Presidential running mates public without the overbearing distraction of the Beijing Olympics.

Both candidates have deployed starkly different searches for their potential successors. McCain has openly considered a group of Republican hopefuls from Charlie Crist and Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney.

Obama has observed the traditional ritual in his own way that is remarkable for its silence and mystifying in its obscurity. Word has leaked out that a few grandees are being vetted including: Evan Bayh, Joseph Biden, Tim Kaine and Kathleen Sebelius. While Hillary Clinton was being seriously considered, official word came last week that she would not be the nominee.

While each of these people have their merits, the most important characteristic for each of them is their strategic viability -- their unique abilities to help McCain or Obama win the election.

In a little studied and very under-reported poll by John Zogby, we learned that there is a very interesting method for determining the strategic viability of each of the Vice Presidential hopefuls.

On the Republican side in Zogby's poll, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney were virtually tied as capable of helping John McCain win the November election. For months the smart money has been on Romney for a constellation of reasons: personal rapport with McCain plus his immense personal wealth and his acceptance by the Bush Dynasty -- still the royal factor in the GOP.

But Zogby's results for the Democrats were much more interesting. While Hillary Clinton led the other Democrats, she brought the largest dollop of negatives to the ticket, in effect canceling out her positive impact. Bill Richardson had the same problem, while Joe Biden's negatives more than cancelled out his benefit to Obama. The results for Sebellius, Bayh and Kaine were just as depressing. They brought more negatives than positives to the ticket.

One person towered over the field of potential running mates for Obama, but he presents a mysterious paradox. Colin Powell was overwhelmingly the most popular potential Vice Presidential running mate for Barack Obama. Powell was the only candidate that would bring a net gain of circa thirty per cent to the Democratic ticket. A shift of this magnitude would cover the electoral map in a much deeper shade of blue and transform several states including: Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; Georgia; Colorado and New Mexico from red to blue.

The fact that Powell has been a Republican for the past decade or so is actually quite trivial. Powell is as apolitical as an American of his stature can be. A military commander tested in wartime, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a Secretary of State -- Powell strengthens Obama's candidacy more deeply and more consummately than any other American. If he were to select Powell, Obama would reinforce public confidence in his role as a unifier, a uniter, a unique presidential candidate capable of redefining American politics at a critical juncture in world history.

Over the past two months Powell has made it known that he is now counseling Obama. That tantalizing fact suggests that -- at the very least -- Powell will endorse Obama in what would be a devastating reversal of fortune for McCain. Powell's role as counselor opens the door to his potential role as Vice President.

August is the cruelest month for Democratic tickets, but Obama has the opportunity to reverse the polarity of a troubled nation and to inaugurate a new era of world history. Whether Obama will select Colin Powell or Evan Bayh or Joseph Biden could seal the fate of his rivals or liberate them to follow their tried and trusted formula of August demolitions followed by September desecrations and the surprising events that are bound to come in October.

In one fell swoop, Obama could press the button and change the course of history. Perhaps that is why he has so conscientiously shielded his vice presidential contemplations from the gaze of his staff, his confidants, his loyalists.

Time will eventually tell what the thunder said.

Alan Fein: Obama Calls McCain's Bluff on Drilling

2008-08-04T18:24:18Z

Coming just the day after Exxon announced the largest quarterly profit in the history of the Earth, Barack Obama's announced willingness to consider the proposed Senate compromise to allow the possibility of new and limited oil drilling leases seemed a bit curious. When you drill down a little deeper -- pardon the pun -- you can see where he's going with this. Obama is actually calling McCain and Big Oil's bluff. Let me explain.

In my June 30 post, I laid out in some detail how McCain and Charlie Crist were carrying Big Oil's public relations water on this issue. The oil companies have been trying to change the subject away from their huge profits. They argue instead that the real reason for high gasoline prices is not their market power and greed, and not OPEC's power and greed. Rather, it's the government's fault for not letting them drill more. Forget the fact that they haven't drilled on most of the sea beds they have already leased. Forget the fact that they are not refining at full capacity. The real problem, they say, is that they can't drill more American oil for Americans.

This, of course, is nonsense, and a smokescreen for profiteering. Gasoline is expensive, first, because the nation-states that run OPEC control most of the supply. Gasoline is expensive, second, because Exxon and its cohorts are along for the ride, claiming that they "only" make ten cents on every dollar of revenue. That's ten cents per dollar, not ten cents per gallon. So that when their "revenue" on a gallon of gas went from $2 to $4.50, their profit on that same gallon went from twenty cents to forty-five. It is the only business where the cost of materials go up, and profits don't go down. They go up. What a business.

So, just like Bush convinced Americans that Saddam caused 9-11 and was an imminent threat to nuke us, Bush and McCain have temporarily convinced a majority of Americans that prices will go down if we just let Exxon drill. And it's that celebrity Obama who won't let them.

So why won't Obama just hunker down like he did with the summer gas-tax holiday and continue to explain that the drilling issue is a fraud? Here's one reason why: Bush and McCain have been making the argument that if we just let the world markets know that we're considering opening up more of our seabeds for drilling, the "psychological" effects on the market will cause the price of gasoline to come down. What they actually expect is that.

They are probably right about that. I hate to be a cynical conspiracy theorist, but sometimes even paranoids have enemies. The Saudis and other OPEC members like the Republican status quo. They see that $4 gasoline may spur Americans to action and -- shudder the thought -- change. The American oil companies (American in name only) certainly like the Republican status quo. Call me paranoid, but look at 2006: the price at the pump went from over $3 in August, 2006 to about $2.20 by election day. There was not a similar drop in 2004, but those who control the price of oil could still point to the destruction of the Iraqi oil industry and a busy hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico to justify high prices.

Bush and McCain want to trap Obama and help their pals in Houston at the same time. If, as they expect, the price of gasoline goes down and it takes some pressure off the economy, they can say it's because they took leadership on drilling while Obama dawdled, just as Joe Lieberman tried to suggest on Meet the Press yesterday. If the greedy stay greedy and the price stays high, they can blame the tree-hugging, coral-loving Democrats for not making it happen faster.

The Senate compromise allows Obama to call their bluff. We need to know more about the compromise, but as reported, any drilling that actually happens under the compromise will require waivers from the individual states and, importantly, the Department of Defense, which I'm told has no patience for this. Obama will also insist on extremely stringent environmental protections and oversight. Third, if there were new leases, the oil companies may actually have to pay market prices for them. Because almost all of the leases currently in place were negotiated by the Reagan and Bush I Administrations, you can imagine how well the oil companies did. (I agree with the recent Huffington Post column by Jared Bernstein, in which he argues that Big Oil wants to tie up cheap leases while their friends are still in power.) And, most importantly, the compromise would require Big Oil to give up its lucrative and ridiculous tax subsidies, and the money saved from the subsidies would fund research and development of alternative energy. While McCain says he's all for alternative energy, it's kind of like No Child Left Behind -- he doesn't want to help pay for it, especially if it's going to come out of the pockets of the oil companies.

So, imagine if Senate Democrats and Republicans -- all of whom say they are appalled by Big Oil's profiteering - actually agreed on a comprehensive energy policy that would help fund alternative energy by cutting Big Oil's tax breaks, but allowed for the possibility of extremely limited drilling 50 miles off the coast, if the states and the DOD allowed it, for which Big Oil would have to pay market rates. The oil companies, McCain and Bush may actually say "no, thanks," and their bluff will have been called.

Charlie Crist: McCain's Vice President?

2008-08-01T16:15:40Z

AUG 27 -- Chuck Todd Suggests Crist's Marriage Is A Sham: On MSNBC, the analyst says the wedding may be off if Crist isn't picked as McCain's VP.

MSNBC pundits this morning discussed potential running mates for John Mccain and whether there is a "glass ceiling" for unmarried individuals in politics. After Andrea Mitchell floated Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) as an example, Joe Scarborough noted that Crist is engaged. Chuck Todd suggested the engagement may be staged so Crist can be Vice President.

...

As the group laughed, Andrea Mitchell remarked, "That is so mean." "Wow," said Scarborough.

AUG 1 -- Crist Hangs Out With McCain In Florida: Crist and his fiancee join the candidate on the trail.

Crist, whose endorsement of McCain before the Florida primary in January is widely credited with McCain's win there, is spending the day with McCain as he campaigns there today. And his presence today will surely fuel the rumor mill about Crist's place on McCain's potential running mate list.

AUG 1 -- Crist's Bid May Be Waning: The St. Petersburg Times wonders why no one is asking for Crist's records.

Political consultants say common vetting practices include scouring public records. Some of the offices that house the records of Crist's long life in public service, such as the state Senate, the attorney general and the Commission on Ethics, report no written requests for documents.

Many of those records can be obtained elsewhere, however, and McCain's campaign could have asked Crist directly for material it considers relevant. Crist's closest confidant, his father, Dr. Charles Crist of St. Petersburg, wouldn't say if he knew of any checks into his son's background...

Another common source of information, consultants say, is information gathered by previous opponents. Crist ran for the U.S. Senate in 1998, education commissioner in 2000, attorney general in 2002 and governor in 2006. So far, the records compiled during those races seem not to have been tapped.

"No one's called me, and I would have expected I would be called,'' said Steve Andrews, a Tallahassee lawyer who was hired to dig into Crist's background by a group supporting his opponent in the 2006 governor's race.

JULY 4 -- Crist Gets Engaged: "Longtime bachelor" Crist boosts his VP chances by tying the knot.

Weighing the pluses and minuses of Sen. John McCain's potential running mates is a favorite pastime. So nuptial news from the Sunshine State is inviting a new query: Does popping the question raise one's stock in the veepstakes?

It's no secret that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is in the running, so it was big news when he proposed to his sweetheart of nine months, Carole Rome, on Thursday.

The longtime bachelor, whose single status created headaches for him in past campaigns, picked up a diamond-and-sapphire sparkler this week, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Top McCain Surrogate Refuses To Endorse McCain Attack On Obama

2008-07-30T14:38:49Z

This is pretty great. John McCain's claim that Barack Obama would rather lose the war than lose the presidential race is so repugnant that one of his most prominent surrogates -- Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who's also talked about as a potential Veep -- refused to endorse it.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, to his credit, pressed Crist at least three times on whether he agrees with the notion that Obama wants to lose the war, and each time, Crist ducked, finally saying: "I have no idea. I would hope not."

Harvey Wasserman: Al Gore Inches Toward Solartopia

2008-07-21T13:39:56Z

Bit by bit, Al Gore seems to be inching toward a Solartopian view of a future that must be completely sustainable in green energy. This week he advocated getting to an electric power system that is "carbon free" within ten years.

This is an important step toward the mainstream for the decades-long social movement for a totally green-powered Earth. It comes alongside the equally telling move by oil baron T. Boone Pickens to invest $2 billion in wind power.

Gore has reportedly raised some $300 million (that's not a typo) to spend on moving pubic opinion to support the transition to a totally "carbon-free" electric supply system.

That idea has been around at least thirty years, and is a sub-set of the Solartopian demand that our entire energy economy become free of all fossil and nuclear fuels.

Of late, Gore has become the corporate media's designated hitter on renewables. He has helped greatly in moving public acceptance of the critical need to achieve a green-powered Earth in a relatively short period of time. It's extremely helpful that Gore emphasizes that the conversion to renewables and efficiency will create economic wealth and millions of new jobs while alleviating the national security nightmare of being dependent on foreign oil.

But there is still a long way to go. Electricity is still just a sub-set of all energy consumption. Converting our electron supply system entirely to green power is half or less the battle.

And Gore has left out some critical pieces of the puzzle. Most important is his avoidance of the massive industry-sponsored relapse toward nuke power, an absurd diversion that could make the transition to a carbon-free world financially impossible and ecologically moot.

Gore's primary focus, of course, is on climate change. He has been remarkably effective in convincing the world that it's a major problem.

His thorough and persuasive "Inconvenient Truth" was long on scary facts, but slim on solutions. Most of them, stacked at the end of the film, focused on things individuals can do to trim their energy use.

These were helpful but marginal, because they largely omitted corporate responsibility for causing these problems.

Now Gore seems willing to acknowledge that large corporations -- including electric utility companies -- are at least somewhere near the core of the problem. How far he's willing to take that analysis, and what he's willing to do about it, remain to be seen. He is, after all, a lifelong inside player with an apparent aversion to acting outside the box (most critically in the catastrophic lack of a meaningful response to the theft of the 2000 election).

It's thus extremely problematic that Gore continues to publicly avoid the issue of nuclear power. There are those who believe he remains essentially pro-nuclear, as he was earlier in his career. In that, he followed his father, US Senator Al Gore, Sr. (D-TN), a very pivotal early backer of atomic energy.

But just prior to the 2000 election, then-Vice President Gore wrote me a letter (posted at www.nirs.org) firmly renouncing atomic energy as a possible solution to global warming. Apparently due largely to his efforts, nukes were not included in the Kyoto Accords as a route to be taken for reducing carbon emissions. This was huge victory for the safe energy movement.

But Gore's stance on building new reactors today has not been part of the public dialog. If the issue is mentioned on his web site, I couldn't find it. Just prior to this week's speech, he apparently told the Associated Press that he expects reactor generation to stay at "current levels." But does that mean it will continue to account for about 20% of our overall electric consumption, or does it mean the same gross amount will be produced? Would that require building new reactors, or expanding the capacity of existing ones, or none of the above?

Privately, I am told that Gore now opposes atomic energy, including new reactors. But if so, his public silence -- and lack of action -- is deafening, incongruous, and ultimately unsustainable.

For example, his web site lauds Florida Governor Charlie Crist for taking various steps to fight carbon emissions. But Crist now enthusiastically supports forcing Florida ratepayers to foot the bill for four new reactors -- while they are being built! The cost estimates for these plants have more than doubled in the last year. Their would-be builders refuse to give the Public Service Commission a firm price, with margins of fluctuation at a staggering 50% and more. Should they be completed in, say, ten or fifteen years, they are likely to cost Florida ratepayers a minimum of $50 billion, far and away the largest public works project in the SunShine state's history (which could net at least as much power from a $50 billion investment in green energy and efficiency).

By contrast, the "huge" buy-out of some 185,000 acres of sugar company land aimed at saving the Everglades is to cost less than $2 billion, a mere 1/25ths of the proposed nuke tab, which has gotten virtually no state-wide scrutiny or public debate. Fittingly, mere construction of two of the proposed reactors, at Turkey Point, would utterly decimate the southern reaches of the Everglades National Park long before the first ray of radiation could be produced there.

A major root of the Solartopian vision of an Earth totally free of fossil and nuclear fuels dates back to the 1975 "Toward Tomorrow Fair" at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Featuring, among others, the work of wind pioneer William Heronemus and efficiency guru Amory Lovins, the gathering joined the vision of a totally green-powered Earth with the rise of the grassroots No Nukes movement.

The tens of thousands of us who took the fight to reactors at places like Seabrook, New Hampshire and Diablo Canyon, California, still carry a clear image of an Earth that must be entirely powered by natural sources that are sustainable and pollution-free. It's critical to remember that our success has been substantial, and that the 1000 nukes promised by Richard Nixon in 1974 were held to 104 operating now. Had even more social capital been sunk into this failed technology, our task would be even more difficult than it is now. We have no way of knowing how many Three Mile Islands and Chernobyls were avoided along the way.

The Solartopian transition still demands an end not merely to fossil fuel consumption, but the rapid phase-out of the rest of these reactors. They are unsafe, unreliable, unsustainable and indefensible against terror or error. Their fuel cycle is a significant source of global warming gases, and they emit very substantial quantities of heat into the atmosphere and the rivers, lakes and oceans they use for cooling. They cannot guarantee against catastrophic emissions, and thus cannot get private insurance. They are absurdly expensive to build, and getting moreso. They cannot compete with renewables, which are getting rapidly cheaper.

Indeed, construction of new nukes can only proceed with massive infusions of taxpayer and ratepayer money. Draining this social capital away from the transition to truly green Solartopian technologies could be devastating.

Which means that sooner or later, if he really wants to have a lasting impact, Al Gore must join us in publicly, forcefully opposing nuclear power. It is significant that he now advocates a rapid transition to green electricity, with all its economic, employment, ecological and national security benefits.

But if that's really going to happen, new nuke construction must be stopped, and the old reactors must be phased out as rapidly as possible.

Al Gore is a welcome and powerful force in this long-term campaign to save the planet. To really help tip the balance, he must take the jump into the No Nukes fight with both feet. As befits a Nobel Prize Winner, he might even have them dragged off a construction site or two.

--
Harvey Wasserman's SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, is at http://www.solartopia.org. He helped coin the phrase No Nukes, and helped co-found Musicians United for Safe Energy. This article first appeared at http://www.freepress.org.

Ron Levitt: Florida's Upbeat Democratic Delegation

2008-07-18T14:59:19Z

Florida Democrats -- accustomed to being in the political spotlight since 2000 when they believe they really elected Al Gore President -- are getting used to be playing second banana -- still clinging to the hope they will play a major 27-electoral-vote role in an Obama 2008 victory but vastly confident that they -- for the first time in many years -- will elect a Congressional delegation with a huge state-wide victory.

Karen Thurman, of Orlando, the State's Democratic party chief, is among the main cheerleaders, despite the fact the Florida delegation to the Denver nominating convention goes to the Mile High City with only half a vote per delegate and being housed in suburban hotels far from the convention action at the downtown Pepsi Center, which will be near housing temporarily occupied by early Obama victory states.

Nevertheless, there is a whole lot of confidence among the Florida Denver-trekkers, anxious to show the nation (and their home base) that the Sunshine State could pick up as many as seven Congressional seats in November. A variety of polls and election sampling are being cited for the buoyancy.

Meanwhile, Sen. Barack Obama's Campaign for Change opened its Florida headquarters to the public this week. Central operations and senior staff members for Obama for America and Obama's Campaign for Change will be based in the office, which is located at Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood. Florida Campaign Director Steven Schale will lead Obama's efforts in the state.

The Campaign for Change is a project of the Florida Democratic Party, led by top staffers who will work to harness the enthusiasm of Obama's grassroots-level supporters and organize them in communities across Florida -- "neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend and colleague to colleague" -- working for the benefit of Democratic candidates up and down the ticket.

The location of the headquarters in the old-fashioned, historic Latino neighborhood, was significant, staffers are telling everyone. The latest polls among Hispanics in Florida from the latest Quinnipiac University swing state poll taken on June 18 show a slight edge for Obama but 8 percent "undecided."

But, as close as the presidential poll is, in at least seven key contests playing out across the Sunshine State, Florida has emerged as the top battle ground for House races in the 2008 election cycle.

According to Eric Jotkoff, Democratic State Headquarters Communications Director, today Democrats in key Congressional races have announced that their campaigns have raised more money than Republican incumbents. Combined with the fact that new voter registration numbers show an overwhelmingly large swing towards the Democratic party, "these figures prove that Democratic momentum is sweeping the state heading into the height of campaign season."

"With at least seven key campaigns, Florida has emerged as the top battle ground... And now, many of our Democratic challengers have once again out-raised their Republican opponents. It's not rocket science -- it simply proves that Floridians are fed up with the Republican party and will do what it takes to bring change, by electing Democrats in November."

Miami Republican incumbents fared particularly poorly, being out raised by all three Democratic challengers. Former Hialeah Mayor/Democrat Raul Martinez raised more than $600,000, compared to GOP's Lincoln Diaz-Balart's $481,558. Democrat Annette Taddeo raised $321,000, as opposed to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's $300,929, and popular former Miami-Dade Dem party leader Joe Garcia raised $513,049 against Republican Mario Diaz-Balart's $392,103.

Even in the critical I-4 corridor of Central Florida (crisscrossing Orlando to Tampa), Republicans are showing signs of weakness. Last week, it was reported that Suzanne Kosmas out raised the GOP's Tom Feeney for the third quarter in a row and has $140,000 more cash on hand than Feeney. "Now we learn that Feeney was forced to spend $45,000 on legal bills last quarter because of his ties to convicted felon Jack Abramoff," Democrats bragged.

Adam Putnam, a top member of the Republican leadership, admitted that his fellow House Republican Ric Keller is also vulnerable, and the numbers agree: Keller was out-raised by the combined total of his opponents by nearly $70,000.

"We have out-registered Republicans by more than 100,000 new voters since January," said Jotkoff, "And our phones have been ringing off the hook with people wanting to volunteer. Floridians are enthusiastic about the change that the November elections are going to bring."

Big oil has also played a new role in the election year battle, Lifting a ban on offshore drilling will not bring down gas prices or solve the nation's addiction to oil, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday, rebuking a proposal supported by his party's presidential nominee and his host, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Politicians have been throwing out all kinds of ideas in response to skyrocketing fuel prices, from rethinking nuclear power to allowing offshore drilling, Schwarzenegger said at a climate change summit hosted by Crist.

"But anyone who tells you that (offshore drilling) will bring down our gas prices immediately or anytime soon is blowing smoke. America is so addicted to oil that it will take years to wean ourselves from it. Finding new ways to feed our addiction is not the answer," he said.

Dems say that the comments highlight the distance between Schwarzenegger and Republican nominee John McCain on energy policy. The governor spoke at an energy panel with McCain in California on Tuesday, but he didn't mention drilling.

And while Crist and Schwarzenegger have worked together on addressing climate change, Crist recently changed his mind to support offshore drilling. The Florida governor has been mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain, but says his change of heart has more to do with the economy.

Meanwhile, Floridians prepare to head to the Denver convention -- assured of a big lead in Congressional support, a keen hope that Florida will once again go blue, and mindful that even half a vote per delegate in a distant suburban hotel (mild punishment for having an early primary), will still put them in the action line of delivering a huge chunk of electoral votes in November.