Polk County Democrats

This Saturday, January 28, the Men's Club will meet as usual at 8:30 am at the HQ, but after the meeting we will break out into maintenance work sessions for the exterior of the building. Come and help if you can; wear some old clothes and bring your gloves, and there's more at "Read more"...

February 2 is the first Thursday of the second month, so at 7:30 pm on that day, at the HQ, the Executive Committee will have its normal meeting. But it's an important one, because the party search committee has identified a candidate for the vacant office of County Chair, and the Executive Committee will accept that and any other nominations at that time, and vote to elect the new chair. Mark your calendars for this important meeting, and attend if you can.

We need a new top of the ticket statewide: Governor Bev Perdue announced today (here) that she will not seek a second term. No one thought her re-election bid would be easy, and we read everywhere that she was the most-endangered Democratic governor this cycle, but this early announcement suggests that some very smart people decided it was hopeless. More at "Read more"... 

The Raleigh News and Observer (here) and many others have reported that the Republicans have claimed their first Democratic victim in their redistrictng holocaust: Brad Miller. They threw Miller into the same new district as David Price, creating not only a member-on-member primary, but a friend-on-friend primary to boot. No one will ever know why it was Miller that stepped aside, nor is it particularly important. We've lost a man before it even starts...

The Women's Club will welcome a special guest at their January 30 (11:00 am, HQ) meeting: Patsy Keever of Asheville, who is running for the nomination to face Patrick McHenry for Congress in the 10th district. The 10th district is completely new to us, and there can be no better way to get our feet wet than to talk politics with someone who's in the thick of it. Mark your calendar, and be sure to attend. Guests are as always welcome, and a light lunch of soup and sandwiches will be served.

The South Carolina primary is mercifully over and, no surprise, the Deliverance crowd there gave Newt Gingrich a big win. Those results represent an undiluted good thing for Democrats; more at "Read more". 

Redistricting -- the every-ten-years reapportioning of the House of Representatives according to the new census -- has the feel of a junkies-only issue, but there are some very real implications to it that civilians need to be aware of too. The latest is at "Read more"...

Republicans are strange, that's no secret, but their nominating process for president is strange even for them. Tim Pawlenty, a successful governor and surely as able a nominee as any of the others, dropped out after a meaningless straw poll in Iowa months ago, a straw poll won by the least-qualified candidate of the bunch: Michele Bachmann. Bachmann herself dropped out after finishing last in the Iowa Caucuses. Jon Huntsman, another successful governor, dropped out after finishing third in New Hampshire, and now Rick Perry, a third successful governor, has dropped out without even trying in South Carolina. That leaves three washed-up congressmen and Mitt Romney -- with 99% of the votes yet to be cast. "Read more" for some thoughts... 

Newt realized the Earth is very sick and now he wants to leave it for a younger planet.

-Jon Stewart (who else?), on the Gingrich moon colony idea...