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Florida Democrats are looking for a way to salvage the party's importance in the presidential primary season, fearing the Republican-imposed date of Jan. 29 will drive candidates away from the state. The three top candidates, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama, all have said they intend to make Florida a priority, but they have done little more than drop by to raise money so far. There have been few public events. With Florida's new primary date, candidates risk violating national party rules, which means they would not be able to claim any of the state's delegates, if they campaign...

I have a request for people here more skilled than I. I read Lanny's piece in the WSJ concerning the remarks made against Joe Lieberman in Daily Kos. This particular statement "as everybody knows, jews ONLY care about the welfare of other jews" made by a Kos poster named TomJones, I have been unable to find in Daily Kos. Did they remove it or is this a fabrication of Davis? Please do not treat me as a troll. I want to use this in arguments and discussions, but if it never happened, I do not want to look foolish. I...

Six weeks ago, New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told the dueling Senate candidates in Virginia to cool it. Then the campaign started heating up. During and after a televised debate last week, James Webb called Harris Miller "the Antichrist of outsourcing." Interrupted once too often by Miller, Webb told Miller to "shut your mouth." A blogger who supports Webb called Miller "Benedict Arnold on Steroids." Miller and Webb are competing in a June 13 Democratic primary. The winner will take on U.S. Sen. George Allen, a Republican, in the general election Nov....

Political Commentary Manchester, NH, July 10 - Indiana Senator Evan Bayh says it's good to be back in New Hampshire. Judging by the standing ovation he received at a small gathering in Keene, New Hampshire Sunday afternoon, Democrats there are glad to see him as well. Who could blame them. After unsuccessful bids by Al Gore and John Kerry, Democrats in New Hampshire are hoping a new face will surface. Bayh's credentials as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former governor who has experience balancing a budget is an alluring combination. The would-be Presidential candidate says...

Ballot recount begins in District 28 race BY LAUREL ALMADA Times staff writer The results of the U.S. Congressional District 28 recount are expected to be in later today, after the court appointed committee counting the ballots completes the process. The second recount began Thursday morning at the Webb County Justice Center's central jury room. "It's been going well," Henry Cuellar spokesman T.J. Connolly said Thursday evening. "The people in charge did a commendable job of organizing." U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez spokesperson John Puder shared a different opinion. "It's gone very slow," he said, adding that he believes the process...

SAN ANTONIO - U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez uses a stable full of buzzwords when he talks about this year's Democratic primary in District 28 - "abuse," "irregularities," "wrongdoing," "integrity of the vote." Tuesday he ratcheted up his rhetoric by producing a chart that directly compared last week's ballot recount to the so-called "Box 13" skullduggery in South Texas that some claim stole the 1948 U.S. Senate election for Lyndon B. Johnson. But Rodriguez still stops short of claiming that it was outright vote fraud in Webb and Zapata counties that allowed his opponent, Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar, to take a...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Suspended Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant has been charged with 55 counts of violating election laws. Oliphant, already facing a Senate trial for her conduct in office, is accused of not opening polls on time and not keeping them open late enough during the September 2002 primary. The Florida Elections Commission levied the charges against Oliphant at its Feb. 19 meeting. If found guilty, Oliphant faces a fine of up to $55,000. She has 30 days to respond and can choose to appear in administrative court or in front of the Elections Commission. Oliphant, a...

Senator Zaffirini shrugs off political opponent’s claims By Tricia Cortez Times staff writer Raymond Bruni has accused his opponent, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), of being “controlled by special interest groups” and of “abandoning the middle class and working families.” He pointed to campaign contribution reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, which show Zaffirini has raised $249,680 from July through the end of February, in which approximately one-third has come from PAC, or political action committee, money. Bruni has also questioned the communications workshops she has given to public entities in Laredo, in which her firm, Zaffirini Communications, has...

BOSTON – The image is unforgettable: John Kerry leaning overboard at some personal risk to save a life. But this isn't the oft-told tale of the senator's wartime heroism. It's the story of Licorice, the hamster. Long before Mr. Kerry ran for president, his daughter Vanessa, 6 or 7 at the time, took her pet rodent on a family vacation that also involved a boat and a big dog. When they pulled into dock, the dog got so excited that its tail knocked the hamster cage overboard. That's when dad – decorated with a Silver Star for dragging a Green...

<p>After John Kerry's Tuesday win in Wisconsin, it's fairly safe to say he's the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee. But is it also safe to say, as a number of polls suggest, that Democrats, believing he is their party's best chance to beat George Bush, have been turning out for Mr. Kerry with zeal?</p>

<p>Sometime this week, would-be Democratic presidents will travel the misery circuit of South Carolina, barnstorming selected small towns and cities and seizing on the campaign red meat of abandoned textile mills, uninsured families, bedrock poverty, rising unemployment and the steady erosion of manufacturing jobs.</p>

Conservatives like me don't get a vote in Democratic primaries, but we do have an interest. Even we frothing right-wingers know that the country needs a serious and responsible Democratic Party to counter the Republicans when they need countering, and beat them when they need beating. So with the first actual votes about to be cast, I've been figuring out whom to root for. I've graded the candidates in three categories. INTEGRITY/LEADERSHIP By this stage in the 1992 race, Bill Clinton's character flaws were already evident. None of this year's candidates seem to have any of those sorts of problems....

BOONE, Iowa — Marisol Rincón sits in her modest kitchen while the temperature outside hovers in the low single digits and downy snowdrifts blanket the Iowa plain. At her feet, two Chihuahuas frolic while her son and nephews play video games in the living room. The McAllen native has lived in this town of 13,000 some 35 miles from Des Moines since 1997, one of a growing number of Hispanics putting down roots and creating booming immigrant communities in states like Iowa, Georgia and North Carolina. "Back then, there wasn't much raza," Rincón said of Hispanics. "Now you see us...

I wish Howard Dean's opponents would make up their minds. First they told us the former Vermont governor was a reincarnation of George McGovern, a scary, antiwar liberal who, if he wins the party's presidential nomination, would take Democrats over the cliff. Now, some of his opponents are suggesting that he is Newt Gingrich's political soulmate. My head is spinning. Would someone explain to me how Dean can go from being George McGovern one day to being Newt Gingrich the next. He can't be both, so which one is he? If I were Dean, I'd take the McGovern comparision as...

Le Cirque du C.A. Michael Graham www.michaelgraham.com Have you even seen such a sad collection of electoral oddballs, fringe political freaks and quasi-criminal losers in your life? This is the kind of campaign disaster that challenges one's commitment to the democratic process itself. It's scary to think that one of these knuckleheads gets to win. California? Who said anything about California? I'm talking about the Democrats' presidential primary. Not that the California Recall Election And Performance Art Festival isn't a cracking good show. A screaming Greek harpy, a black midget, a power-hungry Austrian millionaire, a porn lord in a golden...

The first known death threat against controversial Democratic presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton apparently has come from an Akron home. According to police reports, a North Hawkins Avenue man called Powernet TV at 11:10 p.m. Sunday, about 10 minutes after the production company started broadcasting a Sharpton speech on Akron's Time-Warner Cable Channel 15. The message, in slow, slurred speech left on Powernet's voice mail, said: ``This is the Godfather. I'm gonna blow Al Sharpton's brains out.'' Caller ID traced the threat to the Hawkins Avenue house. Sharpton campaign manager Frank Watkins said the call is the first death...

THE SILENT HAWKSen. Bob Graham of Florida has been dialing for dollars over the past two weeks. While convalescing from serious heart surgery at first his daughter's home and then his own townhouse, Graham has been using his time calling longtime donors and fundraisers for his presidential campaign. "He's pulling in a quarter million a day," says a Graham adviser on Capitol Hill. "Not bad for a guy who hasn't been getting out." Much of Graham's backing is coming from Florida, where he is a Democratic Party icon. Graham has some catching up to do with party comrades already committed...

Candidate for governor caught dozing on tape released by rival Fri Apr 12,11:45 AM ETHARRISBURG, Pa. - A gubernatorial candidate is hoping that if you snooze, you lose, distributing an embarrassing videotape of his rival dozing at a political forum. The footage, shot by the campaign of Democratic candidate Robert Casey Jr., shows Edward Rendell nodding off several times during the Wednesday event sponsored by the African-American Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) of Western Pennsylvania."It shows a glaring insensitivity to the issues important to African-American businesspeople," said Matt Casey, the candidate's brother and campaign adviser. "Apparently there wasn't...