It’s long after dark outside the Giant Food supermarket at the Dorsey’s Search Village Center in Howard County, and Kevin Zeese is in the parking lot looking for votes.

Zeese calls it “midnight campaigning” — late-night visits to businesses and workplaces, when he says customers and workers have more time to talk and listen. It’s one way the 51-year-old attorney and activist is trying to build support for a historic challenge to the two-party grip on Maryland politics.

Once upon a time, I did my grocery shopping at 1 or thereabouts in the morning, on a regular bi-weekly schedule. My reasons were largely to avoid a number of things — and I’m thinking that avoiding a third party candidate for high office grabbing you and soliciting me for a vote would be high up on the list, even if I were not aware of the possibility at the time of my late night shopping. Probably the same if it were a D or an R, come to think of it.

The key line from there is this:

Zeese is believed to be the first candidate anywhere in the country to win the endorsements of both the Green Party and the Libertarian Party (he also has the support of the Maryland’s small Populist Party).

A break-down for these three parties:

Zeese is registered to the Green Party, which has 8,023 members in Maryland. He’s a member of the Libertarian Party, which has 4,059 members here, and the Populist party, which has 90.

I guess the Populist Party is the weak link in the chain here. But how you square the ideology of the Green Party with the ideology of the Libertarian Party, I do not know. I suppose it makes as much sense as a fusion between the Libertarians and either the Republican or the Democratic Party. (I note for the record that polls show self-described “Libertarians” drifting from the Republican to the Democratic Party, these being soft-core Libertarians who are willing to tread about in the realm of electoral politics. Not the Party itself, which, apparently, can go ahead and support Green Party candidates.)

From what I’ve gathered, the Republican National Committee and Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has essentially conceded the Senate races states of Pennsylvania, Montana, and Rhode Island — or at least left those incumbent Senators to fend for themselves — and is throwing the bulk of its resources behind the Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, and — the Senate seats where the natural Republican to Democratic advantage should make a partisan appeal sans Bush work. It is “salvage the wreckage” time

The irony that I pick up here is that the RNC and RSCC had already thrown huge resources behind Lincoln Chafee’s primary campaign to try to save that seat. Which means that they now believe they just wasted a bunch of money during the Summer. Go figure.

CNN Transcript: George W Bush: Before I take your questions, I’d like to discuss a couple subjects.

First, I want to briefly mention that today we’ve released the actual budget numbers for the fiscal year that ended on September the 30th. These numbers show that we have now achieved our goal of cutting the federal budget deficit in half, and we’ve done it three years ahead of schedule.

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I can’t locate a stray sentence I recall that I wish to quote right here and now. I’m thinking this comes from The Trials of Lenny Bruce or the oral history of Lord Buckley Dig Infinity! One other possibility may actually be a Comics Journal interview of some underground cartoonist, fame garnered in the 1960s.

It is not much of a reference, and indeed is slight. Basically the sentence has it that a group of 1950s outcasts, that there “counter-culture”, amused themselves a bit by comparing published newspaper accounts and transcripts of President Dwight D Eisenhower with the grammer-infused speaking that Eisenhower actually made. I think the term “egghead” may be directly attributed to the shape of Adlai Stevenson’s head, the supposedly more erudite and intellectual Democratic opponent who gave insults in Eisenhower’s direction such as “he can’t speak out of a paper bag” and “If I talk over people’s heads, Eisenhower talks under their feet.”

The latest issue of The Weekly Standard, by way of assuring the neconservative reader of such a magagazine, features an article on the troubles all the presidents have had at their sixth year. In the past the glib response to charges of Bush’s creative use of the English language, and other apparent signs of mental difficulty, has been to nod and throw out Eisenhower and Reagan — the psuedo-intellectual liberal elites underestimated those two, and mocked them, and the public loved them — look how out of touch you are! This worked well when Bush had high approval ratings. Today, the comparison that The Weekly Standard has shifted to is to Truman and Reagan — mostly because it benefits their military stance. Eisenhower’s 1958 Recession and various administrative scandals are an after-thought in American history. Reagan is white-washed, as one may expect it to be.

At any rate, unlike CNN — and here it is perhaps because the video is immediately at a user’s disposal on the website itself, the White House website actually has the correct words Bush used, [sic] citation in hand:

This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These budget numbers are not just estimates; these are the actual results for the fiscal year that ended February the 30th.* [sic]
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Actually this entire blog entry is patently dishonest. You will note that the CNN transcript and the whitehouse transcript are two different events. North Korea dominates, thus the second event’s transcript is available at CNN.com.

I remember once seeing an error of this like first corrected at whitehouse.gov , then later corrected back to the error… public outcry forced that change, I suppose.

So, Bush has a new technique at White House Press Conferences. When nobody gives you the question that you have a prepared answer to, just ask it yourself. Then ask yourself the imaginary follow-up answer to this question, to which nobody in the press asked.:

I thought you were going to ask the question, following up on Sanger, how come you don’t use military action now. You kind of hinted it, you didn’t say it. And some wonder that. As a matter of fact, I’m asked questions around the country, just go ahead and use the military. And my answer is that I believe the Commander-in-Chief must try all diplomatic measures before we commit our military. And I believe the diplomacy is — we’re making progress when we’ve got others at the table.

I’ll ask myself a follow-up. If that’s the case, why did you use military action in Iraq? And the reason why is because we tried the diplomacy. Matter of fact, we tried resolution after resolution after resolution. All these situations are — each of them different and require a different response, a different effort to try to solve this peacefully. And we’ll continue to do so.

Without digging into the press conference together (because, really, what could President Bush possibly have to say about any matter that has any relevance), I presume the You kind of hinted it refers to a question with a general gist that is slightly more complex and nuanced question… The answer regarding Iraq is patently dishonest, but that is par for the course and why I’m not reading the entire thing, and simply dug to what someone alerted to me as an awkward moment.

North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Pak Kil-yon, said Monday that the council should “congratulate” his country’s scientists and researchers on their achievement, instead of issuing what he called “notorious, useless and reckless resolutions.”

Asked if North Korea planned further tests, Pak told reporters, “That will be enough, you don’t think so?”

Hm.

Congratulations to the North Korean government for spending 80 percent of their GDP to detonate a couple of stink bombs underground, reminding me of the antics of Josh who sat a couple of rows behind me in 6th grade and was the kind of kid who might send off a stink bomb now and again.

Japan said it had detected no seismic waves in North Korea on Wednesday between 5:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. (2000 GMT-2330 GMT Tuesday).

There was a quake of magnitude 6.0 by Japan measurement standards at 8:58 a.m. (2358 GMT) in the ocean northeast of Tokyo, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said.

Looking around under various rocks, bemusing myself. I followed a link and then leafed down the blog to this entry.

Observation #1: Wow! I know precisely where this locale is! This is the entire highway roadside of Eastern Washington, folded in on itself into a small space. I’m amazed someone figured out how to do that. It saves space, I suppose.

Observation #2: The account described here a common election year happenstance. More commonly it’s just the swiping away of campaign lawn-signs, but defacing such as this occurs as well. I always wonder what the point is, as whatever gain one can possibly make from it evaporates on impact and is not worth the effort, even if one is of mind to do such a thing.

Observation #3: It’s a stupid one. See, Mike McGavick disclosed that he has a DUI in his past. I doubt the defacer of this sign would care if Maria Cantwell had the same offense in her past. Nonetheless, half following this race — as I’ve half followed all the semi – close Senate races (and this one really is only a “semi-close” race, ie: it’s been a forgone conclusion that Cantwell will win the thing), the stupidest moment of this campaign was Elizabeth Dole applauding the disclosure as one of the most noble things she’s ever seen in politics. Laughter emitted from my mouth.

Observation #4: The question “Arent Liberals Just So Cuddly and Nice?” is an obnoxious and patrnonizing one, though I suppose designed to be so. To see how jarring this question is, insert any category of people other than “liberal” and see how it works. Aren’t bowlers just so cuddly and nice? Aren’t truck drivers just so cuddly and nice? Aren’t Dog Enthusiasts just so cuddly and nice? Etc. Etc. Blah Blah Blah.

Say you are sitting in a cafeteria — vintage high school, only because that’s the only real cafeteria I’ve ever been party to and it fits the immaturity level of this scenario. You throw your soup across a couple of tables, and shout “FOOD FIGHT!” The person from another table throws their plate of spaghetti at you. “Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be cuddly and nice?” It is strange.

This has been advertised in the Oregonian for the past couple of months now, the “GET MOTIVATED SEMINAR” conference of a collection of motivational speakers, held yesterday. It’s an inexpensive way for corporate managers to provides something that evokes a break for their employees, while keeping them from straying outside their corporate culture Yuppie Fundo.

It’s “The Superbowl” of such things, apparently. Zig Ziglar, whoever the hell he is — I guess a professional motivational speaker who can spout out the name of Jesus Christ for everyone, since one can trace the whole structure to Evangelical Tent Meetings it’s just as well. And look… Robert Schuller is speaking! Why wouldn’t we want to hear him? Beyond them — a cast of big names from the world of Football and vaguely Republican ledgers.

Rudolph Giuliani will teach you how to lead in difficult times! Or maybe he can just fine-tune his 2008 campaign stump speech. Or maybe just rehash his RNC 2004 Convention speech — creepy politce state reference to words from the police at the DNC Boston Convention helping some delegates (the “serve” of “serve and protect”) before saying “You’d better vote for Bush”. Leave that in tact somehow.

Colin Powell — legendary soldier-statesman, who will teach you the skills of “take-charge” leadership. — may retrace himself to his political peak in 1996 — when he commanded huge leads in hypothetical races against Clinton or against Clinton and Dole… due specifically to his refusal to make any type of concrete or real stance on any issue, combined with a solid military background a sure path to commanding respect amongst the political center. This background should make him a solid motivational speaker — vague uplifting rhetoric stitched together with war metaphors. But if he really wants to be bold, Powell could talk about how to overcome selling your soul — it can be billed as “Regaining Your Integrity” or “Retaining some semblance of Self-Respect”– by alluding that day he has called “the worst day of my life” full of “intentionally misleading” words. This could inspire the audience, as they scratch their personal history and figure out how to move on from similar soul-selling moments.

Steve Forbes is there just to allow people to slowly wander in late. Don Shula can just spout out football metaphors, and remind everyone of watching football games in the 1980s — the melding of sales work and leisure.

Altogether, an exercise in futility. May it spring your business’s line-graphs slightly upward, I suppose.

Helen Chenoweth-Hage, 68, the arch-conservative Idaho Republican whose deep suspicion of the government and federal law enforcement carried her to three terms in Congress, died Oct. 2 in a car crash near Tonopah, Nev. […]

Ms. Chenoweth-Hage, a passenger in a 1999 Ford Expedition driven by her daughter-in-law, was en route to Tonopah about noon Monday and was holding her 5-month-old grandson on her lap. The driver, Yelena Hage, lost control of the vehicle, causing it to roll over, the Nevada Highway Patrol reported. Ms. Chenoweth-Hage, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene. The baby and his mother were not seriously hurt.

It is not a coincidence that she was not wearing a seat belt. Seat belt laws are Government Imposed Restrictions on Personal Liberties, you see. She died for her beliefs. Which are, to continue on with the Washington Post’s obituary:

Ms. Chenoweth-Hage, who served from 1995 to 2001 as an unabashed opponent of laws that limited personal freedom, attracted much support from the militia fringe movement that found a home in the interior West during the 1990s.

Ms. Chenoweth-Hage, who insisted on the title “Congressman,” believed that most abortions should be illegal and that the government should not pay for abortions for poor women, even in cases of rape or incest. The Scriptures, she asserted, had anointed women as the world’s moral guardians.

Blah de Blah de Blah.

She defended the militia movement. She taunted environmentalists by saying she would cut down the last tree in Idaho if it meant jobs and dramatized her opposition to the Endangered Species Act by holding “endangered-salmon bakes.” She believed the government was secretly overflying Idaho in black helicopter gunships.

Quite a character, I suppose. Eccentric House members. Easily romanticized, but after a while, I grow weary of eccentricities. Granted, she would be a decent opponent from the Libertarian side of the leger — standing aside Ron Paul — against Bush’s novel and supposed “Unitary executive branch”, badly needed from the opposition party. But otherwise, I just glare back to say: nutcase. I will point out that there is a competitve race this 2006 midterm election cycle for her old seat — the first Congressional District of Idaho… an opening for a Democrat by the name of Larry Grant.

I remember riding through Idaho with my sister, four kids, and brother-in-law. There was a local talk radio program on the radio. The discussion was insane, something to the effect of: guy shot off a gun and accidentally killed someone, “I think the man should no longer be allowed to own a gun.” Phone callers, Discuss.

“Only in Idaho”, was my brother-in-law’s comment. To get away from this talk, the station was changed to some evangelical Christian station. And then static. Idaho. Idaho. Idaho.

I’ve decided not to vote this year. The reason is because of the nasty and completely fradulent campaign for Dog Catcher.

The two candidates — Susanne McGraw and Brandon Vitter — have completely disgraced themselves. When McGraw charged Vitter with a charge of tax dodging, Vitter responded by insinuating, but never quite chargin, that McGraw has had bestial sex, and will have sex with the dogs she catches. When asked to disavow this suggestion, the Vitter forces simply go to the “Prove Me Wrong” defense, besides which prove that Vitter said anything of that kind.

To up the ante, McGraw has posted video on Youtube proving that at the age of eight, Vitter and his cousin buried their grandma’s remote control. The relevance of this charge eludes most, but add it to the tax dodge and things get fishy.

It’s this kind of campaigning that turns people off of politics. Which is why everyone should throw away their ballots, due to this down the ballot election campaign. Screw the Kulongoski — Saxton campaign. Smite it for this Vitter — McGraw election.
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A question, regarding the age-old quip “I wouldn’t vote for him/her for Dog Catcher”: is there any municipality in this nation (or any other) that holds votes for Dog Catcher? If there is, could somebody alert me to where that may be? I’ve always wondered about that.