Glassman tops list to face McCain

Tuscon Vice-Mayor Rodney Glassman

Former Tucson Vice Mayor Rodney Glassman, U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona, freshly bouyed by his SEIU endorsement, took command of the 2nd Democratic primary debate today while besting three other Democrats: former State Representative Cathy Eden (his closest competitor in the polls according to Rasmussen,) Randy Parraz, and John Dougherty.

Arizonans are enjoying debates on both sides of the contest, and it seems Glassman has gone a long way to impressing voters that he will be the best candidate to take on presumptive GOP nominee John McCain in the fall. (J.D. Hayworth trails McCain significantly in most polls.)

"John McCain and I might both love town halls, but the difference is that I would host more in Arizona than I would in New Hampshire."

Rodney Glassman

During a debate earlier today on Yuma's KAWC Radio, Glassman discussed the necessity for securing the border, a hot-button issue in the South-West in general, and Arizona in particular, and outlined national security priorities. Already known as a strong advocate for military veterans, Glassman has also recently announced a plan to ensure high-quality medical services for veterans on the Navajo Nation.

By some reports over 70% of Arizona residents support the recently enacted immigration enforcement law, which has drawn national scrutiny and a series of challenges, and this is sometimes seen as an issue that likely drives more support to GOP candidates.

Glassman also explained how he would go about bringing jobs to Arizona, saying he'll build on this success and continue to campaign on jobs, education and how to finally bring Arizona's concerns -- rather than rigid ideology -- to the U.S. Senate.

"I look forward to talking to the people of Arizona about what they want, and don't want, out of Washington," Glassman said. The lively debates are providing Arizona voters an excellent chance to see the candidates in both parties, and discover where they differ from one another, but it's already shaping up to be a likely Glassman vs. McCain election in November.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, Democratic Campaign Manager (in Minnesota,) journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Tom Hayes: What would the Founding Fathers make of politics on Facebook?

It's clear that collectively the political activists supporting Barack Obama's campaign got used to knowing - or thinking they knew - what was going on with the campaign. Reading David Plouffe's book might open a few eyes to the reality, which was anything but glamorous in his account.

Obama laid his cards on the table, as many documented during the campaign, and managed to make the election a referendum on his agenda despite the best efforts of his opponents to make it a vote on his "not like me-ness." Of course, the reasons for voting for him were diverse -- hence it was a coalition that put him into office based on a wide variety of individual beliefs and convictions about what it was possible to improve in D.C.

Some supporters (and many detractors,) for instance, failed to listen closely to his intentions for Afghanistan, choosing to assume his statements about being against "dumb wars" in general and Iraq in particular meant he'd back out of any situation overseas where bullets and bombs are flying.

It's disconcerting to others to realize that increasing the transparency of the government, which Obama also advocated, isn't exactly tantamount to inviting activists and reporters into the negotiating sessions necessitated by the arcane rules and strictures of the Congress. 

Most (not all) political activists on both sides of the major issues know that progress is fundamentally based on compromise(s) to achieve what is possible, no matter if it's making decisions in the local school PTA or the U.S. Senate.  Compromises acceptable to the majority by definition almost always fall short of the ideals of those with the strongest convictions.

Unlike the PTA, which is pretty much open to all comers, the U.S. Congress reaches compromise by a not-terribly-pretty process involving just over 500 powerful, influential, sometimes self-serving people expected to do right by the entire country while being inundated with conflicting suggestions. Expecting to see inside that process is a bit - well - idealistic for those sitting at home or working for the media, even if that is what they thought they had bargained for in electing the new President.

That's not how a Democratic Republic works. We don't hold referendums on every issue; we elect folks who seem to hold similar ideals to us and hope they manage to accomplish exactly what we want them to. That's why it's so easy to predict that polls almost always reflect the popularity of a President as in decline - at any given point in time politicians are working on decisions bound to challenge our "collective" opinion precisely because we charge them with handling the hardest and most important decisions.

Now, to balance out the curiously persistent tea baggers who apparently favor a system based on government as minimal and ineffectual as the one in Somalia, some of the hundreds of millions on Facebook are banding together on a "fan page" supporting President Obama, and not second-guessing him. The Founding Fathers must surely be smiling.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, and political analyst who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Senate Version of Bailout Bill Passes 74 to 25 - House Next

The U.S. Senate passed the new version of the Bailout Bill 74 to 25 votes. And while credit markets have not recovered all the way -- about 70 percent -- from Monday, at least it's not going to crash as it did that day.