politics

Last month Nancy Pelosi brought up "tax reform" and the idea of a National Sales Tax. That is the second or third time this year she has brought it up. Not to mention President Obama, he brought it up early in the year.

I decided to write the Democratic Party and encourage them to rally behind Pelosi and her push for tax reform. Below is a copy of my letter (some sources were used from here) to all Democratics members of congress:

Here is the fax I sent today to our representatives. If you haven't started reading the Health Care Reform bill (HR 3200), you should. This is the only way we can question the legislation and ask our representatives what different parts of the bill mean and why they support it. I tried to remain professional and party neutral throughout the questions. The questions are real and should not depend on which party I support.

I know you can't believe everything you hear in the media, but from the past 8 months history of bailouts, stimuluses etc, many congress members admitted they didn't read those bills. Let's keep them honest this time around. If they need more time, plead with the Whitehouse and ask President Obama to grant more time to for the Congress to read the entire bill before voting.

I have spent some time trying to find a complete list of phone numbers, fax, and emails to contact any or all of our US Representatives and Senators. With all the congress related websites, I am surprised no one has compiled such a list. With all the hype on contacting our representatives, I thought it might be useful to put such a list together.

Back in October of 2008 Purdue students were well organized Obama supporters. Every time I went to campus I saw Obama supporters out rallying and sharing talking points with passer-byers. On two occasions I took the time to ask campus Obama supporters what they liked about him, trying to understand their position. I was interested in knowing if they really were thinking for themselves or letting the media / friends think for them. I was unable to find common ground with the campus supporters and Obama's key policies.

Well it seems my candidate has a losing battle ahead of him. Last report I heard McCain needs 57 delegates to clinch the nomination. I saw McCain's interview last night on Larry King Live, a more friendlier McCain was on my TV compared to previously. That still doesn't change my stance on him being a war monger, nor how I feel about his understanding of our economy.

I figured Romney would pass his delegates on to McCain, simply for the chance of being the running mate and to show the republican party he has no interest in dividing the party. I feel this move though was really for his interest in 2012. Only time will tell.

I wanted to share an observation I have made. Rasmussen Reports' (a leading polling site) home page has not had Huckabee's name on it for over a two weeks. Prior to Romney dropping, Rasmussen Reports had Romney's and McCain's name (as well as Obama and Clinton) listed in content on several occasions. Big deal? I think so, here is why.

First, I want to congratulate Huckabee for winning Kansas and Louisiana yesterday. Apparently we are still waiting to get results from the state of Washington; it looks like a close race between McCain and Huckabee.

I was really disappointed the first couple days after Romney announced his decision to end his campaign; the media began announcing that McCain would be the nominee for the Republicans. There were other things mentioned as well like Huckabee has no chance, he's gone a dropout soon, and just a few days McCain will take the nominee etc. When did reporters begin making predictions and when did it become okay for them to misguide voters? The job of the news media is just to tell the facts not to assume or predict.

Changing subject...

I saw this and just had to share it. Huck camp, send out some more!

The super Tuesday results are starting are almost final. As of this morning, the count has not been official for the Republicans. I suspect by the end of the day the total count will be finalized.

I am a little disturbed that CNN, MSNBC and Fox all have different delegate count for the Republican candidates. I am assuming that Fox has the total count correct, since the candidates have more delegates than the other networks. Currently, McCain has 610 delegates, Romney in second place with 257 delegates and Huckabee has 202 delegates. Ron Paul made out with 9 total delegates.

All this talk in the Republican debates about who's better at managing the economy, you would think that at the very least they would be able to balance their own books for their campaign. The truth is, according to opensecrets.org only Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee have a positive balance.

Nobody in the media is talking about this, although it is very important. I understand each candidate is not actually balancing their checkbook so to speak (their campaign managers are), but they should not be spending money that they don't have. That's what is wrong with this country, we spend more money than we actually have and then we wonder why we are in debt and how did we get here.

Summary: After Super Tuesday, Romney will drop to 3rd and Huckabee will take 2nd with delegates. McCain will be ahead of everyone by 300+ delegates. Here's my count: McCain 635 delegates, Huckabee 320 delegates, Romney 245 delegates and Paul will drop afterwards. Stats don't include delegates from Illinois. Read on...

Over the last couple of months I've been following the Republican candidates enough to feel comfortable about giving some predictions for Super Tuesday.

Probably like yourself, I had never heard of Mike Huckabee until about two to three months ago. And even then, I learned more about him through a friend, a great web designer, who informed me a little bit about Mike Huckabee. At the time the news media wasn't giving Huckabee very much coverage. I was a little disappointed about that early on because I want to learn more about this candidate. At the same time, it forced me to go to his website and read up on where Huckabee stands on issues.

I have received word through the "grapevine" that Tony Dungy (from the Indianapolis Colts) is planning to support Mike Huckabee for president (www.mikehuckabee.com). Dungy is due to make this announcement in the coming days while he is in Florida, if the source is accurate.

I hope this is the case, as people have respect for Dungy. Dungy coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers some years ago and has been in the media lately about him retiring or coaching for the Bucs. Dungy is a great leader among football player as well as the community in general. His support could give Huckabee a boost.