The Best Reflections on ‘what was Iowa’

Maureen Dowd said in ‘Voting for a Smile‘ how:

It was understandable that Hillary’s “Golden Girls” acolytes would freak out when they saw the throngs of young Obama hopemongers swarming the caucuses.

Meanwhile, Mother Jones’ article, written back in November ‘07, foretells some of the old-skool media-politico dynamics relevant to what was expected vs happened in Iowa:

As the 20th century progressed, American politics became increasingly organized around broadcast media. But now top-down, one-to-many communication is giving way to a very different kind of media—diffuse, participatory, individualized…. The GOP’s success in old media—think Morning in America, Pat Robertson, Willie Horton, Rush Limbaugh, Swift Boat—was essential to its ascent, while the emergent blogosphere and social networking sites play to progressive strengths. (Finally, decentralization and lack of hierarchy are an asset rather than a liability.)

And finally, I gotta give a nod to Frank Rich for his critique of not only the fear-based politics and political reporting of yesteryear, while getting that Culture (along with Charisma) is just as important if not more so policy/experience/showing strength. Ahem,

The “they” who did not see the cultural power of these men, of course, includes not just the insular establishments of both their parties but the equally cloistered echo chamber of our political journalism’s status quo.

This LA Times article, Guatemala’s New President Will Assume Great Burden (mirror: portside), makes it sound like there is a tremendous political shift afoot in Guatemala. With an electoral victory this past weekend, Alvaro Colom is the first presidential candidate to win an election after losing the vote within the capital city in the nation’s history! But such are the possibilities when you win 20 of the 21 provinces.

According to this LA Times article, Colom is one of few non-Maya to be trained in “the rites of the Mayan shaman.” So, fitting that a mestizo, city dweller would say the following about a largely-indigenous nation:

People see the existence of so many cultures in our country as a threat. But it’s a resource and source of strength.

Buy a judge? or their courtroom decisions?

NPR coverage detailing the increasing investments and competitiveness of winning the judiciary, based on a report from non-partisan group, Justice at Stake. Their 2006 report , along with a nod to a Zogby survey of business leaders, in which 79% believe that “campaign contributions made to judges have at least some influence on their decisions in the courtroom.”

As for the NPR summary, it states:

… Documenting the increasing influence of money in judicial elections, the report shows fundraising by state supreme court candidates rose in 2006, with the median being close to $250,000 per candidate. The high-water mark came in Alabama, where the total price tag for the race for chief justice was $8.2 million.

TV ads ran in 10 or the 11 states where state supreme court judges were up for election, compared to just four states out of 18 six years earlier. Average television spending hit a new record at $1.6 million per state. And business interests outspent everyone else combined — by a 2-to-1 margin.

Why the Youth Vote Matters

or why we — those of us up to 29 — mattered in the 2006 mid-term elections is decipherable from this pretty image from the MFA folks: