WOW! selling senate seats...who wudda thunk it

Gov Blagogevich has found himself in a world of trouble after being wiretapped. This investigation led to his arrest for allegedly trying to auction off the midterm Illinois senate seat after Obama's resignation from his seat. He was released today after posting bail! Wow, the government is starting to look worse then the NFL!

Jindal on Face the Nation

Jindal is bad!

After some email back and forth working on this collective project, one of the group members addressed the importance of monitoring and dismantling "bad" internet information/sites that would be detrimental to his campaign. Here is one that uses his "Bobby is good" meme and twists it.

Does Jindal have the appeal???

After reading this article from BBC about the success of Obama's grass roots campaign and why it was so successful, it raised a question for me. After reading all the details that made his campaign successful from the internet-based fund-raising to the dedicated follow up to the donors which ultimately led to Obama's troop having 4 times the campaign offices and more money then both 2004 contenders combined; there is one fundamental denominator in all of this. His name is Barack Obama. Whether you call him Barry or Barack Hussein Obama or a terrorist, he is a self made man who has become a phenomenon. So this is a round about way of asking, Does Jindal have that appeal to become a follow up to this phenomenon? He is certainly a tough act to follow. I am sure his strategists are already asking these questions. Does he have what it takes to wow his supporters? If not, all of this stradegy, foresight and planning all goes down the tube. I must again refer back to my interview with Roy Occiorosso who called Obama a phenomenon who might not be capable of ever duplicating. (I was thinking along the lines of a miracle. Something that just happens...it just happens that America really needed it!)
UPDATE: Lincoln Mitchell touches on just what I was getting to in this post. From a strategists' perspective, they've got a good mold for a Republican model. They've got the same racial, family and age backgrounds that certainly helped Obama to win, but doesn't it stop there? In fact Mitchell points to his ethnic background as the "only" reason why he would be nominated by GOP.

Tech crunch

Started looking for more interesting Jindal video posts and ended up finding a bunch more video sites then I never knew about and basically an article talking alot about technology and media. It talks about how Youtube has found itself having to degrade some of its quality and raising 11 million dollars to keep up with the demand from tubers.
UPDATE:browsing around I found some more interesting ways grass root efforts might be able to utilize web sites for videos like motionbox and jumpcut. On this jumpcut link it hooks you right up to the Obama area. Jindal better get going.

The real Bill Ayers

It was refreshing to read what felt like unadulterated truth. This op-ed by the man accused of being one of Obama's skeletons, is just a man who has had many experiences and regrets which have made him the man he is today, a well educated, well respected man. The media tried to take that away. I just read a quote from Lincoln a minute ago that is apropos for this very man, " Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thin." I am glad to know the tree now. It is clear reminder to us who have been drowning in media buzz around this election for the last 2 years. To remember that we all hold individuals truths that are often distorted and manipulated by whomever. This is only exaggerated ridiculously when there is something to gain:power. Then, all bets are off. Truths are stretched, pulled and often completely glossed over to paint a different picture entirely.

Education is a good thing....right?

So now Obama's latest criticism is found in this WP article. It states that 22 out of his 35 apointees are from Ivy league schools, "generally share a more intellectual outlook then is often the norm in government. Well, maybe that's the problem. Shouldn't the people leading our country out of economic crisis and war be the best of the best? Speaking from the only perspective I know, my own, I am tremendously grateful for the quality of education Trinity College affords me and when driving by Yale I am impressed by its staure in our society not only for its historical signifigance but for the students that fill that school, they are among some of the smartest and most dedicated academics in the world and if thats now a bad thing...well I for one would like to be considered bad. Experience only gets you so far...and being an "average American" is well, average. The WP is throwing stones at the academia elite reminding us that some of the "worst people" have gone to Harvard and Yale...oh you mean like G.W.??? The article cites that the collection of academic elites could lead to complicated politics, maybe its time when hundreds of billions of dollars of tax payer dollars are at state that they are a little more comlicated, they might even work, imagine that. I reiterate what Roy Occhiorosso said to me the other day, he said Republicans need "new ideas not new candidates" and I agree but we have this new huge change right now and change hurts. For many all of this change is probably more then overwhelming but if the smart people are truly taking over, I for one, have no problems with it.
UPDATE:I just found a second article on NEWSER that warns of the same thing. The pre Vietnam cabinet of JFK.

CAUTION:annoiting frontrunners often can change at the blink of an eye

Today I spoke to a considerably biased political consultant, Roy Occhiogrosso about the 2012 campaign. Of course he is following Jindal-this is his job- and points out that although he gets it he cautions it and is not how sure it will last. Yes, his last political assignment was a democratic one after my interview it was glaringly obvious that he is enamored with Obama's election and believes the Republican party has quite an act to follow. Describing Obama as "transformational and inimitable" he impressed upon me that the GOP not only needs to find their own version of Obama but also to find new ideas. He cited that their fundamental principles even when perfectly implemented failed. He was very explicit about their failures in all areas from the economy to foreign policy. He said all they have done for years was "dust off old play books" and the play book doesn't work anymore. He urges new principles versus a new candidate.
There were a couple key points Ochhiogrosso made about campaign 2012:

• He cautions anointing frontrunners-hot quickly becomes not. This is due to our "hyperactive, constantly moving communication mediums".

• We assume the next election is going to be like our last one, especially in the wake of one

• We might not ever be able to replicate Election 2008- it was a phenomenon

Occhiogrooso stated "we spent 48 years trying to find the next JFK and what we found was our 1st Obama." He cautions the republican party from jumping on the non-white, non-old next candidate just to come up with the new face for the GOP and instead insisted a complete overhaul of their principles and playbook. It sounds like an exceptional order.

If Jindal were smart and was serious about a run at Obama in 2012 he should start with a super analytical breakdown of all the different websites that one could access during his campaign. That would be a good start because by 2012 who knows how much farther technology will have taken us...This is a great article on the dedication of many of his supporters. This one shows the international grass roots efforts and stresses the importance of Obama's techno saavy team that was constanting hitting the internet to keep supporters updated and informed.

Obama Mama goes green...I mean grass roots

To me these are the best examples...also one worst...of grass roots in the Obama campaign videos found on Youtube which seems to boast the best.
There are simple examples of how this grass roots fire burned throughout the U.S. from suburbia to urban(including a hiphop effort). Also a critque by Rush Limbaugh where he parallels the teachings of Hussein followers teaching their children to sing songs in homage to Saddam to children in California taught(by Hollywood movie-people) a tribute Obama, strange but true.(you have to listen to that one though)
It is plain to see that this plight was bigger than any other in American history.

Moving forward if Jindal is to hit the campaign trail in 2012 or 2016 he better pay close attention to all of these efforts that ended Obama's campaign in record breaking fundraising and phenomenal grass root support.

Sarah's used to being runner -up

She just won't go away! Yes, I am referring to Mrs. Palin who spoke this a.m. in Georgia to show her support for Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Comically the woman who Palin lost Miss Alaska in 1984 to is the very woman singing the national anthem for Chambliss' opponent at a rally.
Already banners were flown with "Palin 2012" by the audience. She spoke about abortion, gun control and taxes, her usual suspects and urged the election of Rep. Chambliss to gain more Republican control. After her speech it is mentioned that many stayed to get her autograph and pictures, she still has got many supporters which she will continue to leverage in months to come, for sure!