Der Spiegel's weird take on PA's blue-collar voters and their attitudes

I greatly enjoy reading Der Spiegel, http://www.spiegel.de/international/ but I wanted to point out two odd things I noticed about this particular column, which I received today.

While the latter part of this sounds a lot like one of those problem columns for Stephen Glass at The New Republic, especially the description of the language used by the country club set, the crazy part is the description of a resident who filled the reporter's head and notebook with adjectives and anecdotes:
An aging provincial Lothario, wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt and a baseball cap over his unkempt hair, he isn't exactly thrilled about the selection.

I don't even think the New York Times begins descriptions of people as "aging Lotharios," much less, as an "aging provincial Lothario," unless they're old film actors.
And in The Times Magazine, not the paper.
Well, so far, anyway.

Perhaps I'm wrong here, but from a distance, it reads like the reporter latched onto an obliging PA voter thru which she could write a column full of the very sort of condescending stereotypes that Barack Obama has been found guilty of uttering.

Not surrogates.

Almost as if she felt it was her duty to say, people of San Francisco, I've found one of those people Obama was talking about.

Judge for yourself below.

German language version of Der Spiegel is at: http://www.spiegel.de/
_________________________________________________
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,547227,00.html
SPIEGEL ONLINE
04/14/2008 01:24 PM
RACE IN THE RACE
Blue-Collar Distrust of Obama in the Rust Belt
By Cordula Meyer in Reading, Pennsylvania

FL Primary: Herald's Reinhard Wakes Up Too Little, Too Late

My comments follow the article
__________________________________
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/beth_reinhard/story/448692.html

Miami Herald
Early primary had support of Democrats
By BETH REINHARD
March 8, 2008

Ten years later, Democrat Hillary Clinton is still blaming the "vast, right-wing conspiracy.''
Only this time, instead of attacking her husband's integrity, the VRWC is depriving Florida Democrats of their voting rights.

''I have long said that they should not be the victims of the unfortunate consequences of some of these rule changes that the people of Florida, for example, had nothing to do with,'' Clinton said on NBC's Today show this week. "They were dragged into this by the Republican governor and the Republican Legislature.''

Dragged? More like hopped, skipped and jumped with both feet.
For fear that the idea that the GOP caused Florida's latest voting fiasco will gain as much traction as the equally ridiculous falsehood that Clinton rival Barack Obama is a Muslim, here are the facts:

• The legislation that moved up Florida's presidential primary from the second Tuesday in March to the last Tuesday in January was sponsored by a DEMOCRAT, Jeremy Ring, in the Senate, and a Republican, David Rivera in the House.
• EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT in both chambers voted for the early date except for one House member, all of them grown-ups knowing full well that the rules of both national parties called for delegate penalties.

Psssstt. Here's the Democratic Party's dirty little secret: It wanted to boost Florida's clout in the presidential primaries just as much as the GOP did.

True, Democrats probably couldn't have stopped the legislation even if they had tried harder than half-heartedly proposing a couple of amendments. The earlier date was a priority of House Speaker Marco Rubio, one of the most powerful people in state government.

But put that aside and consider how the two different parties then responded to Florida's defiance regarding the primary schedule. The Republican National Committee took away half of the state's delegates. The candidates shrugged and then proceeded to barnstorm the state, spend millions of dollars on television commercials and engage in vigorous debate over issues important to Florida like hurricane insurance.

In contrast, the Democratic National Committee went nuclear, taking away all of Florida's delegates. Since the primary was now worthless, the candidates readily caved to pressure to boycott the state.

If there's a conspiracy here, it's not from the vast right wing. It's from Democrats apparently bent on self-sabotage.

''I don't think a Democrat can turn his or her back on Florida, so, yes, I think Michigan and Florida should count,'' Clinton added in the televised interview, arguing that her victories in the two states should earn delegates after all.

Turn his or her back? You mean the way Clinton, Obama and every other major candidate turned their backs on Florida when they went along with the boycott? The way they all turned their backs when the national party inflicted its zero-tolerance policy against a state crucial to victory in November?

For shame.

Now the pressure is mounting for Florida and Michigan to vote again in the hope of breaking the near-tie between Clinton and Obama.

Here's the funny thing: Even if the states hold new contests, the resulting delegates are unlikely to break open the race. That's because if both states' delegates are counted, the total needed to secure the nomination also increases.

I call this the vast, wing-nut conspiracy.

Beth Reinhard is the political writer for The Miami Herald.
__________________________________________
It's nice of Beth Reinhard of the Miami Herald to finally awaken from her winter hibernation and finally start writing some backgrounder pieces about the motives of those most responsible for moving up the Florida Primary date to January 29th.

Too bad she and the Herald should've been writing about this subject contemporaneously, months ago, especially in the days leading up to the January 29th non-vote.

You know, like political reporters from the Orlando Sentinel, St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune did in their papers and later on their political blogs, Central Florida Political Pulse and The Buzz.

Anyone who's been following the issue on South Beach Hoosier would already know that.

Reinhard never quite explains why the Herald slept on that story, does she?

The story that Adam Smith of the St. Pete Times has been all over from the beginning.

She never even attempts to explain why the Herald lumbered on like a zombie, even as other
media in the state were reporting important contextual facts to their readers, so caught up were Reinhard and her Herald colleagues in the horse race, and their all-too-predictable reporting of same.

Did you happen to notice what two names she specifically doesn't mention in her column?

Only the two leading Democrats in the Florida legislature: Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller and House Minority Leader Dan Gelber.

I'd love to have the list of the attorneys whose opinions and counsel the Florida Democratic Party relied upon on in pushing this through.

There's a new question for all the South Florida TV reporters, who keep going round-and-round in circles on the issue of a vote re-do, almost to banal lengths.

"Senator Geller, Representaive Gelber, can you please tell us the names of the lawyers who told you that you would ultimately prevail?"

Steve Geller cries 'revisionism" re FL Dem primary date change

So, based on today's March on Politics blog posting, William March of the Tampa Tribune's political blog, comes word that after-the-fact, State Senator Steve Geller is now arguing publicly that he was not really serious about what he voted on months ago when he voted for the January 29th primary date...

So does that mean that Steve Geller, a man who truly considers himself a master tactician and political operator, was hoodwinked months ago?

Well, it really can't be both can it?

That he wasn't serious but he also wasn't hoodwinked?

How do you prove a double-negative?

It reminds South Beach Hoosier of something a longtime favorite of his used to say, but with laughter.
Richard Lewis used to regularly say at some point in his absolutely hilarious appearances in the mid-'80's on Chicago's Steve & Garry Show (Steve Dahl and Garry Meier), on WLUP-FM, about his many bad dating experiences: "Two wrongs don't make a right."
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507659/

(See http://www.dahl.com/ for latest info on broadcaster Steve Dahl.
Steve was responsible for some of the very best radio programming SBH has ever heard, and on some afternoons, especially in the summertime, they seemed to be playing in the background of every other store in downtown Evanston, when S&G were their most popular and nobody wanted to miss their comments. They were just amazing!)

If Geller is telling the truth -now- and South Beach Hoosier doesn't think that he is, why did so many people who were actually in the Capitol and who have no reason to lie about it, contemporaneously characterize his demeanor the way they did, suggesting that he was wearing his trademark smirk in the moments before his vote?

As usual, with almost everything Geller touches, his answer rings both hollow and self-serving.

Does he really think that nobody is paying attention when he does these things?

Maybe he thinks he's like so many members of the Hallandale Beach City Commission, to name but one locally elected panel of whom I've personally observed this particular behavior in, who so often appear unsure of the material that's in front of them and ask meandering or self-serving questions, but then, afterwards, want the public who observed their nonsensical actions and unusual behavior to disregard it.

Like they were all just actors playing a role.

Like Geller is really just a Romulan spy in a cloaked ship, which allows him to act upon his whims and flights of fancy un-noticed by the rest of us -until he has to de-cloak before firing a weapon.

My own experience in local, state and national politics is that regardless of the locale, in a circular firing squad, the person who loaded the gun is just as responsible as the person who fired it.
Just dust it for fingerprints!

A good C.S.I. team will find Geller's are all over the gun. _______________________________________
Tampa Tribune
March on Politics
Geller Tries To Set Record Straight On Florida Primary, Says Dems May Suffer In November

Posted Feb 22, 2008 by William March
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/geller-tries-to-set-record-straight-on-florida-primary-says-dems-may-suffer/

In case you missed it last July, Herald reporter Gary Fineout had some info about Geller's new political group, a new committee of continuous existence (CCE) called "Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow." Now that's comedy!!!

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2007/07/geller-raising-.html

Previous South Beach Hoosier posts on Steve Geller, most recent first:

http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2008/02/bte-noire-steve-geller-to-be-roasted.html

http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2008/02/steve-gellers-antics-cowardly-miami.html

Kate Snow ignores Bill Richardson -"Bill Who?" es la problema!

For months now I've been waiting to join the live autopsy on the failed Bill Richardson presidential campaign corpse, and add my two cents plus interest.

See my earlier posts on Bill Richardson first, though, so you know where I'm coming from on him:
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/09/us-constitution-still-apllies-in-south.html
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/06/thoughts-on-bill-richardsons.html

That will come soon enough, as I describe some of the issues and steps my political campaign and media friends and I were continually emailing and calling each other about, as we watched his campaign implode in slow-motion for weeks. I'll try to share some of the steps he and the campaign needed to follow in order to ramp-up even before he officially announced, and thru either lack of courage, wisdom or common sense, or all three, he all but ignored, thus guaranteeing his lame current status, where the week that could've been, is instead the week where he's already long forgotten.

Tonight, on ABC's World News with Charlie Gibson, Kate Snow did the ubiquitous "The Latino Vote" story on the importance of this demographic in Nevada to pandering Dems, just hours before their curious Saturday caucus, where we now can see clearly that some unions are created a little more equal than others.
VIDEO: Webcast: The Race for Vegas

(If I caught it right, Kate even told us that, in essence, when you ask, "Como se dice "caucus" en espanol?" you'll get nada, as there is no exact translation of the word. Oddly enough, it's not said on this linked story, yet when I watched it on TV live at 6:30, I could've sworn she said it. I seem to also distinctly recall her saying Sergio Bendixen's name also, but... speaking of Sergio... http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-01-16-florida_N.htm)

Hear Kate's observations from Las Vegas in a Politics Live Now report, even talking about being with Chelsea for a few hours at UNLV.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4156758

Don't know if the UNLV event with Chelsea was also a sorority thing, as when she was at Stanford recently -the Pi Phi house.
Stanford Daily's Editorial: Chelsea lacks class at exclusive event
http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2008/1/16/editorialChelseaLacksClassAtExclusiveEvent
In the piece on the Nevada caucus, which is the logical result of the DNC wanting to be sure to show that they're as salsa-friendly as they are ethanol-friendly and maple syrup-friendly, Kate never said the name of the first and only Hispanic candidate to run, who some thought would use Nevada as a springboard. Guess who?

Letter of the Year -so far!- is an excellent Jan. 12th response to Andrew Sullivan's Jan. 9th post, How "Left" Is Obama? at The Daily Dish http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/01/how-left-is-oba.html
A former U of Chicago law student zeroes in on Obama's main weakness like a laser beam.
"Bottom line: Obama delivers a good message about ending divisiveness in Washington and working to find common ground. Perhaps the only opportunity in the last 4 years to test that message was the John Roberts vote, and Obama lined up with the partisans."
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/01/dissent-of-th-9.html#more

I thought the same exact thing at the time and wondered why so few others were willing to say so.

This reminds me, in an upcoming post I've been working on for a few weeks, I'll show you what the Chicago Tribune was writing about Obama before he was a pol and just Ye Olde Street Organizer on the South Side, and trust me, it's hardly magical or lyrical, and far from "a fairy tale."

Chelsea Clinton the mannequin; serial jerk Bob Kerry

My comments are below the story
_________________________
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071231/D8TS58V00.html
Chelsea Clinton Guards Her Words
Dec. 30, 2007
By Beth Fouhy, Associated Press

VINTON, Iowa (AP) - It's one thing for Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign to turn down interview requests for the candidate's daughter, Chelsea. But can't a 9-year-old reporter catch a break?

Sydney Rieckhoff, a Cedar Rapids fourth grader and "kid reporter" for Scholastic News, has posed questions to seven Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls as they've campaigned across Iowa this year. But when she approached the 27-year-old Chelsea after a campaign event Sunday, she got a different response.

"Do you think your dad would be a good 'first man' in the White House?" Sydney asked, but Chelsea brushed her question aside.

"I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute," Chelsea told the pint-sized journalist.

Such is the paradox of Chelsea as she campaigns across Iowa in the closing days before the state's caucuses Jan. 3.

Tall and attractive, Chelsea cuts an impressive figure on the campaign trail; she plunges enthusiastically into the crowd after her mother's speeches, shaking hands and posing for pictures while asking, "Are you going to caucus for my mom?"

But onstage, Chelsea never speaks; she stands next to her mother and applauds but utters not a single sentence and doesn't even say hello. And reporters covering the campaign have been put on notice that Chelsea is not available to speak to them. An aide follows the former first daughter as she works the crowd, shushing reporters who approach her and try to ask any questions.

Famously protective of their daughter's privacy, Bill and Hillary Clinton have taken pains to shield Chelsea from the harsh glare and rough edges of presidential politics. She stayed largely absent from her mother's campaign until December, when she made her first visit to Iowa.

For her part, Sydney looked a bit crestfallen after Chelsea turned her away. But luckily for Hillary Clinton, Sydney's mother has made up her mind to caucus for the former first lady.

"I like her position on family values and health care. And I think it's time we have a female president," Robyn Rieckhoff said.
_________________________
For more on the topic of Chelsea as a mannequin, see this Associated Press story from May 14th, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18654658/ , which compares Chelsea's experience in Washington to Patti Reagan Davis, titled Chelsea Clinton weighs role in mom’s bid, Could become the first first daughter to do it all over again.
_________________________
Letters, we get letters...

Dear SouthBeachHoosier:

We love it when women are seen but not heard, and used mostly as props for whatever political or social purpose suits us at the moment, including death by stoning for fraternizing with men outside her family, or whippings for being gang-raped.

Sort of like how we often score political points at home and abroad by tweaking President Bush and Secretary Rice and the U.S., by asking for Bill Richardson to deal with some problem that, if it even involves the U.S. in the first place, is more properly the domain of the U.S. State Dept., since that's their actual job, and they are, after all, overseen by an elected U.S. Congress, while Richardson is not. We love the free lancer!


Meanwhile, we do nothing but complain about U.S. 'meddling' from the sidelines, as we do in Darfur, as we allow thousands of innocent people to be killed because it suits our larger political purposes and goals, and their religion is the wrong one.

Love,
The Middle East, Islamic parts of Africa and Asia and parts of macho South America not named Chile.
________________________
As to the AP story, here's what nobody wants to say out loud but knows is true: the fundamental differences b/w Chelsea Clinton and Patti Reagan were that Patti was actually quite interesting; from California not Arkansas; had lots of friends back home and because she was older and independent, didn't have to always be in D.C, and play the dutiful daughter card; wasn't forced to play the role of a young scholar.

(Or, have a mother like Hillary that talks piously in public about the benefits of public education, perhaps to appease the NEA and AFT -and the powerful education lobby, largely unregistered, that so many of my frieneds belonged to- but when push came to shove, enrolls her own daughter in a prestigious private high school like Sidwell Friends, a school that I used to live only a few blocks from, and would occasionally watch their field hockey or soccer games; just be honest and say it's for security purposes and nobody would argue the point);

Patti was cute and crazy mischievous; more importantly, she was always up to something that would make for good copy, especially if it would somehow allow the press to highlight the differences between what her father said and meant, and what Patti actually did.

In the comparison, Chelsea Clinton, while likely a perfectly nice and relatively normal person, honorable considering what she's been thru, is, frankly, a bore.
Even now, all these years later, nobody can remember a single memorable quote of hers, much less, have any audio or video of a single interesting thing she's ever uttered about anything.
If she had, we'd all know it, thru its sheer repititious airing since 1992.

But friends of mine and people I know in Washington, D.C. who are still very connected to the political and media fray in D.C. STILL remember Senator Bob Kerry's cruel joke about Chelsea, which is ironic now, given that Kerry's a Hillary supporter, and only too willing to help malign Obama, like Gov. Jean Shaheen's husband, Bill, thru calculated false charges.

(See Shaheen's mea culpa at:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2007/12/obamas_nh_leade.html
and http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/13/clinton_apologizes_to_obama_fo_1.html )


Whether it's done to perhaps further Kerry's career in a possible Hillary administration, after his very mixed-record at The New School comes to its end, or just because he doesn't like Obama's lack of experience, should hardly matter.
He still said it.


You have to wonder, at what point does the national media take away Kerry's perpetual 'hall pass,' and start asking the question of why having the support of a serial jerk like Kerry is such a bonus for Hillary & Co.?
The guy whose own family restaurant business ran afoul of many state business wage regs?

Frankly, his dating actress Debra Winger -a SouthBeachHoosier favorite- while Nebraska's governor was about the only interesting thing about him. Let me paraphrase some comments of a friend of mine who was a veteran staffer for a Nebraska congressman.

Kerry's Vietnam experience and the attention he received for the Winger thing gave him lots of traction in Washington at first. But he fundamentally misread it.
He started believing he really was that fascinating, and started believing what he was saying, and both bore little truth to the reality.


Once it dawned on Kerry in Washington that he was just one vote in a hundred, and that he no longer held sway over a semi-cowed regional press, his ego got out of control.
He became eager to tell others, esp. reporters, how truly exceptional he was, what a statesman he'd be when the time came... blah, blah.


You don't have to take my word for it, but a Republican congressman most of you have never heard of named Doug Bereutter, had much more influence over the intersection of U.S. agriculture and foreign policy than Kerry had.
That's what Nebraska cares about because farm exports are what pays the bills.
It's as simple as that.
That's why even conservative Republicans from there want to lift the trade embrago with Cuba.
I saw Bereutter in action dozens and dozens of times in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, under both Chairman Dante Fascell of Miami, whose picnics I often attended, and later, Hoosier Lee Hamilton, before the GOP took over after the 1994 congressional election, which sent real shock waves thru my circle of friends, since a few lost their jobs at the committse as a result of the switch.
(As you may've already guessed, given my background and the subjects of this blog, I lived in both of their congressional districts over the years. More on these great men in a future post.)

While I often disagreed with Bereutter's particular ideas or proposals, they were always tethered to the reality of his state's economic future and some commonly accepted facts.
Eventually, Bereutter became Chairman of the re-named House Committee on International Relations. Honestly, did you ever see him on Meet the Press?

(See my earlier mention of Bereutter in a from April on the Washington Post's anti-Putin editorial:
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/04/wash-post-editorial-aims-right-at-putin.html )

Kerry on the other hand was a guy who really loved seeing his reflection in a camera lens, whether TV or newspaper. This banner was later grabbed by yet another Nebraska egomaniac who wanted to be recognized as a brilliant and thoughtful statesman, Chuck Hagel.

(See Kerry's apologia: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/kerrey-apologizes-to-obama/ and http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/16/kerrey_for_clinton.html )

Sad but true: Chelsea is a cipher.

Also, if you didn't know, I believe it was the Washington Post that once wrote in quite laudatory fashion about a bill in Congress that Chelsea's current boyfriend's mother, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky -who was also a very popular TV reporter in Philly before she was elected to the 103rd Congress- voted for to support President Clinton, but which most observers said would all but ensure her re-election defeat in '94.
It did.

Jan. 14th Broward Legislative Delegation Public Meeting in Hollywood

State Senator Steven Geller, the Broward County Legislative Delegation, along with State Representatives Joseph Gibbons, Evan Jenne and Elaine Schwartz will hold a joint Town Hall meeting with their constituents. That's y-o-u.

Bring your wit and wisdom, loaded or rhetorical questions, and any post-holiday venomous
feelings you've got left over.

Perhaps you can even get some face time on local Miami TV news that night by asking, early on in the proceedings, why they allowed their visceral hatred for touch-screen voting booths to be tied into a clunker of a bill moving the Democratic & GOP Presidential Primaries to January 29th. That would be a nice start.

The primary where your Democratic vote is pure "beauty contest," with zero practical effect on delegate status.

I'll be posting some interesting talking points and prospective questions here as the meeting draws close, and they will be the that'll leave little wiggle room for evading.

My favorite kind!

Where: City Of Hollywood Commission Chamber, Room 219,

Date: Monday, January 14, 2008

Time: 7:00 PM To 9:00 P.M.

SouthBeachHoosier: Jill Long Thompson for Governor of Indiana

Jill Long Thompson for Governor of Indiana
http://www.hoosiersforjill.com/

I first spoke to Jill Long in the Fall of 1988, when I was doing some research work for USA Today for their federal election coverage, specifically, interviewing House candidates from all over the country about what personally motivated them, aside from their own parochial district issues and pet peeves.
There were lots of crazy people running for office that year, as there always are, but they were outnumbered by the hundreds of very dedicated people I spoke to, not all of whom were well-to-do, but all who were willing to put their family's life on hold for a bit while they did something they felt compelled to do, for whatever reason.
After listening to literally dozens and dozens of smart, well-meaning and earnest candidates from all parts of the country for weeks -and all the others- I wasn't prepared for my conversation with Jill.

I spoke to her fresh from her having just shaken some hands with some prospective voters outside of a 7-11 store near her campaign office, where she'd gone with the intent of just grabbing some things for her and her staff.
Though my phone call to her from Washington was out-of-left field, her charming personality and compelling policy answers just knocked me out.
What was supposed to be a short, to-the-point interview -it was USA Today after all- turned into a really interesting 15-20 minute conversation about her district and what she thought it needed and how she could best accomplish that feat.

I had a better grasp and memory of political news and its cross-currents than most people, but frankly, I'd never heard of Jill Long until I called her.
(Perhaps that was perhaps I hadn't met Charlie Cook yet, which was four years later.)
But that day changed everything -she was no longer an unknown name to me .

Sadly for my copious notes, Jill eventually lost that '88 election to incumbent Dan Coats, but despite being an underdog in what'd long been a very safe GOP district -formerly represented by both Dan Quayle and Coats, who'd be appointed to succeed Quayle in the Senate- her powers of persuasion were such that in 1989, she convinced enough Hoosier voters in Indiana's 4th Congressional District to elect her to congress, after all, to fill the vacant seat.

Once Jill was elected and had gotten her feet on the ground in Washington, I came by her office to try to arrange a meeting and find out what it felt like to actually have the responsibility of her district on her shoulder.
Well, even before I got a chance to walk through her doorway and arrange a chat, I ran into her in the hallway on her way to a hearing or meeting.
I introduced myself again and after a bit, as we walked and talked together towards her meeting, she laughed at my being able to remember exactly what she'd said that day out of a couple hundred conversations with candidates I'd had.
Then I reminded her that just because I no longer lived in Indiana, "I always looked after fellow Hoosiers." Or words to that effect.

That was the first of perhaps a dozen or so conversations I'd have over the years with Jill while she was in Washington, and every time we spoke, her friendly, calm and confident demeanor betrayed none of the condescending attitude I'd seen quickly infect other newcomers to the Hill, even Dems I'd once liked, contributed to, or, even personally campaigned for.
(Believe me, my friends and I knew exactly who THOSE Dems were! We had a growing list.
When our friends or friends-of-friends expressed an interest in wanting to work for someone on this carefully chosen bad boy honor roll, they were quickly educated as to the relative shortcomings of their pol of choice, whether intellectual, character or personality.
If we'd only had a blog back then!)

When I ran into Jill one afternoon in 1993 while on my way to get to my Capitol Hill softball team's game on The Mall, sponsored by DNG, Democrats for a New Generation, I showed Jill the t-shirt logo we'd agreed upon.
With the great help of my teammate Michelle Marinelli, then in the office of Congressman Tom Lantos, and one of the team's vocal leaders, it was based on a unique Democratic donkey button I'd been given years before at a political rally.
Happily for me, since I really LOVED the design, once I showed it to them, the rest of my
softball team liked it enough to want it to represent us.
(The very same softball team where I'd meet my dear and now life-long friend from Hope, Arkansas, Shannon (Lauterbach) Morales.)
Jill just loved the design, and once I saw her positive reaction, I quickly promised her that I'd somehow scrounge one up for her to wear -eventually.

Once again, weeks later, with her button in my gym bag, as always seemed to happen, I ran into Jill a below-ground congressional hallway on my way to her office.
She was so pleased with how the button looked that, much to my amazement, she immediately placed the button on her jacket lapel to show it off, while dozens of people gawked and walked past us, curious as to what this little button this Member of Congress had actually looked like, which greatly pleased me.
Quick to see the humor, Jill then joked that it'd quickly become a must-have for fellow Dems on the Hill.
I laughed and thought -and not for the first time- that anyone who was as politically savvy and intelligent as Jill, but more importantly to me, as genuinely sincere, plus a straight-talker to boot, was just what the Democratic Party desperately needed in Washington.
A 'breath of fresh air' to use an old cliche that I've never uttered here, to cut through the myriad geographical and institutional cliques/niches that have long bedeviled the party on the Hill, especially over at the DNC.
Sort of like how I view another SouthBeachHoosier favorite, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota's very positive influence on things on the Hill ever since she got elected.
See http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/06/thoughts-on-bill-richardsons.html
and http://hersethsandlin.house.gov/

Though I personally try my best to keep up and read the online papers and blogs, I'm clearly no expert about what's currently troubling or frustrating Indiana voters these days.
What sorts of new policies and strategies they'd like to see given a chance and actually get
implemented to improve the economy or their quality-of-life, and which ones need to be jettisoned as dead-weight, good ideas that couldn't be publicly reconciled with the current political reality, for whatever reason.
(See Former Bush Aide Fights Nickname: Gov. Privatize, By Monica Davey, June 16, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/16/us/16indiana.html)

And I'll be honest, every time I had a chance to speak briefly with, see, or even be in the same room as present Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, back when he was working his magic in Washington for Senator Richard Lugar, it was hard not to come away impressed.
I've always been fond of folks, regardless of party, who are known as real ideas people.

(But then I've always prided myself on being a better judge of politicians than most of the people I've known, esp. in the media, since my track record in those things has generally been better by far.
I was behind Carter, Hart and Clinton when they were getting near zero name recognition, and still remember the names of the know-it-all reporters and columnists, national and local, who buried them prematurely.
I told just about everyone I know that Dukakis would select Senator Lloyd Bentsen for Veep exactly a week before Chris Matthews mentioned it on Larry King's then-late night Mutual radio show broadcast out of Arlington.
Days later, I told some folks on Bentsen's staff who had a group hose on Capitol Hill, who were looking for a new housemate. They laughed, but I, of course, had the last laugh on them in more ways than one, and eventually moved into a much nicer, cheaper and more spacious place in Arlington.)

That consistent intuition tells me one thing.
That I'd trust Jill's combination of character, drive, intelligence and personality more than just about anyone else in politics you could possibly name.
Personally, I only wish that South Florida had more people down here who had half as much to offer the public as Jill does to the people of Indiana, to help clean-up the myriad ethical, financial and public policy messes/scandals down here -and in Tallahassee.
Jill for Governor? Absolutely!

http://www.hoosiersforjill.com/