Done Wrong by Coochian Technology

Virginia state Senator Ken Cuccinelli (R-37), a/k/a “The Cooch” and “SenKen” invited me to participate in a blogger conference call today.

I had hoped to report the ins and outs and happenings of what promised to be a prelude to an announcement of his candidacy for Attorney General of Virginia.

Instead, I can only offer a very different report.

 Truth be told, I almost was not invited even though I am a blogger and a constituent…apparently the staff thought I was a Democrat.  That idea was dispelled, I was sent the number and the access code, and at 1158 I dialed in…and was greeted by the Cooch himself!

In a spirit of good fellowship, I said “Is this Ken Cuccinelli, the next Attorney General of Virginia?”  Response, “Yep”.

Since it was just the two of us, he decided to try the “mute” feature for the conference call  to see if it worked…and if “working means” it was to cut me off from speaking to him.  He muted, I heard a message that I was muted, he came back on, and he could not hear me.

I can only think my wife will be ordering one of these soon.

He announced he was calling back in, and somehow I got cut off.  I called back in, got access, heard some voices-none of whom could hear me-and was again cut off.

This time the redial attempt(s) on the land line were not successful.  Each attempt led, after a long silent pause, to the
“fast busy” tone that typically means the system is loaded down or some technical difficulty is being enjoyed.

I attempted to reconnect using my cell phone, and was told that all circuits were engaged.

So, it appears that I have reclaimed the time intended to be on the conference call to post a blog piece about how I was excluded from the conference call due to Coochian selected technology.

It has been quite a few days…Judy Feder wants money to respond to GOP attacks but cannot tell us what the attacks were, Cooch’s staff somehow thinks I am a Democrat (Lowell still is amazed by this), and then SenKen’s tinkering  allows him to cut me off from a conference call he invited me to be part of…normally it takes me several hours, bad singing, and lots of grain products to get me evicted from an event… 

…This is all before I get to talking about the upcoming arthroscopic surgery.

As they used to say on Hee Haw:

Doom, despair, and agony on me
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all
Doom, despair, and agony on me!

Had I been allowed to participate, I would have asked about geographic balance and what the GOP  must do to get better numbers in Northern Virginia (among other questions)…now, I will simply sit and think on what might have been.

Whatever happens on the conference call, a good luck from here to my state senator on his apparent and tentatice upcoming candidacy!

Cheeky Talk in Va-10

I have on occasion mentioned an idea as coming out of the Federian Spin Zone. A recent check of my email suggests that Judy Feder has sent out a message that has to be recognized for both creativity and cheek.

I sign up for emails from about every candidate out there, and got one last week from the Feder campaign claiming she was the victim of “negative attacks” by GOP surrogates, it will only make her stronger, etc.

H’mmm…so far this is nothing unusual here…candidate A claims they are under attack, here is what they are saying and it so, so untrue…and they desperately need more money to show they won’t falter, won’t fade, etc…

In that sense Ms. Feder’s email blast is only to be expected.  Move along folks, nothing to see here…

What is so cheeky is that she doesn’t say what the attack is.

You can see the text here. Ms. Feder doesn’t say what was said. She doesn’t say who said it, or when, but assures us she will soldier on in the face of these nameless, content-less assaults she alleges are happening.

Perhaps this is in regard to the recent WaPo article that stated that almost three quarters of her listed donors are not residents of Virginia. While this is not a new fact, and was noted early in 2006, it is the first time that the MSM has caught up to the idea that Ms. Feder is not receiving huge financial support from within the jurisdiction or even the state she wants to represent in Congress. I just did not realize until now that the WaPo is considered to be a Republican ally of anyone.

There is also a degree of cheekiness found in the fact that Ms. Feder has been attacking Congressman Wolf everyday since she announced in late Spring 2006 in the prelude to her election day whooping six months later. Ever since then it is quite alright for Ms. Feder and her staff to attack Mr. Wolf but if anything is said that is not laudatory of her she goes from battle tested policy champion to meek, beset flower of womanhood being unjustly hounded in about a nanosecond.

What is that saying about “sauce for the goose…” ?

Well, I imagine this is not the last of such charges by Ms. Feder.  After all, this is the campaign that has alternately flayed Congressman Wolf for allegedly not taking her candidacy seriously and later flayed him for allegedly taking her campaign seriously.

Either way, letters like this must provide some degree of comfort for the Wolf campaign.  They were already on notice that anything they did, not matter how mundane, will be interpreted as an attack.  Now they know that things they don’t do will also be interpreted-or at least reported-as an attack.

And in case you didn’t notice, there is a word for that.

Yep, it’s all quite cheeky.

Will Obama and Casey Break the Rules in PA?

Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania will today endorse Barack Obama. Obama nation is thrilled about this.

My question-Will they destroy a truism in doing so?

In all walks of life there are aphorisms, truisms, and accepted wisdom held to be true due to long experience-to the point where they are considered something more than a rule but less than a law. But rules are meant to be broken.

One rule in politics is that a US Senator cannot be elected president-too much time in Washington, too many procedural votes to tie them up, etc. In fact, that is likely one reason that Obama ran this year instead of waiting.

Well, there are three fighters left in the ring, and all have U.S. Senator in front of their names. One rule down.

Another rule concerns the value of the endorsement of a U.S. Senator. While it is better to have folks with you than against you, history has shown time and again that typically it is the governor who has more political control than the US Senators. There are some exceptions (the Byrd Machine being one), but numerous candidacies from Dick Russell to Ed Muskie and on to the present have assumed that support of US Senators gave them great chances in a given state, only to find that a governor the candidate didn’t have in his camp had already wired the state for the opposition.

So, will Obama and Casey break the rule that says that Governor’s have more pull within a state than a US Senator does?

There may be another rule in play, analogous to that in the Princess Bride of “don’t get involved in land war in Asia!”…and that rule is “Presidential contenders should stay out of a state party’s internal politics”

Ed Rendell, Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, has long been in Hillary’s corner. His support is one of the reasons Pennyslvania has been considered part of the Clinton Firewall. I do wonder about the whole “Casey Democrats” thing, though…I thought they were called “Casey Democrats” because of Senator Casey’s father, a former Governor of Pennsylvania, for whom Ed Rendell was the natural successor. Moreover, there are aspects to this effort as being more than just a fight between Obama and Clinton…it also has aspects of being a backyard throwdown between PA’s two biggest Dems to see just who is the biggest kid in the playground.

Rendell defeated Casey for the Democratic nod for governor in 2002, and was reelected in 2006. He will have been out of office for two years when Casey comes up for reelection. I have to wonder how much of the Casey endorsement is an effort of sorts to head off a Rendell candidacy in 2012.

Just another twist and turn to an already interesting year…

Beijing Olympics-Like Mackerel in the Moonlight

When I see pictures of the Beijing Olympic facilities, and then read of the human rights repressions going on in the lead up to those olympic games, I am reminded of John Randolph’s comments about Edward Livingston, of whom he said “He is a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt. He shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight.”

The same can be said of these games. 

My friends at RK have derided Frank Wolf for his opposition to the games.  In fact recent developments suggest this criticism may be like that magic moment in 2006 when Feder briefly attacked Congressman Wolf for a vote on earmarks…then went silent when it was realized he had voted with the democrats because the bill offered was a sham and did nothing to really change things.

Here too we can anticipate a fast drop of the subject, as it is rapidly becoming clear that no matter how beautiful the facilities may be that the Beijing games are turning into a front for the Chinese government to amp up its already repressive policies.  While Congressman Wolf may have overstated the case, he is right that there is something very wrong with these games. In fact, he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are in agreement on the matter.

You know something is amiss when even the French are considering protest possibilities ranging from a leadership boycott the opening ceremonies to not broadcasting the games.

Today’s WaPo column by the great Sally Jenkins examines the bad craziness surrounding these games:

At this point, the Beijing Games are shaping up as a disaster. The violent police action in Tibet and other events of the past two weeks make one wonder if the Chinese government is fundamentally unfit to host an Olympics. Officials there have violated the basic spirit of the event and reneged on every promise they made to the International Olympic Committee about their willingness to accommodate the world. When anyone publicly tries to hold them to account — such as our State Department, that “bad-tempered” Nancy Pelosi or the Dalai Lama — they charge critics with trying “sabotage” the Games. The only event they seem interested in hosting is the Totalitarian Propaganda Back-flip.

Yep, you read it right…Nancy Pelosi, who has taken China to task over the human rights policies and been insulted for her trouble, is on the same side as Frank Wolf…so I wonder where that leaves Ms. Feder?

Ms. Jenkins goes on to note:

The centerpiece of China’s bid seven years ago was a promise to make progress on human rights and to open the country to world media coverage. Chinese officials practically begged for the Games and made all kinds of assurances. But instead, the direct opposite has happened — the Games actually have caused a significant pre-Games crackdown, abuses that range from sweeping arrests of dissidents to the strong-arming in Tibet, where as many as 130 may have died, according to the exiled Tibetan government.

In addition to the body count, the list of Chinese actions contrary to their promises include:
a) Officials have issued an edict forbidding live broadcasts from Tiananmen Square during the Games.
b) The jailing of dissidents for merely writing on the Internet.  This is known in China as “inciting subversion”
c) Bulletins about food so contaminated and air so polluted they could harm the athletes.
d) Oh, and there is that little thing about continued revelations about lead paint in items manufactured in China.

About here you might expect wailing about boycotting the Games.  You won’t get it here.  As one who was in college and then grad school during the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and had peers who hoped to participate-as anything from a spectator up to being an actual participant.  I remember those young men and women who lost the opportunity to test themselves on the Olympic stage due to the US boycott over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  I recall the disappointment of the next crop of Olympians whose achievements in the 1984 LA games were derided as somehow less than legit because the USSR and its client states returned the favor.

This is the point where Ms. Jenkins offers an original and highly creative solution-threaten to move the 2008 Olympics.  Have it in Athens or Sydeny, where the facilities and infrastructure are still in place.  The Chinese have not lived up to their end of the bargain.  Besides, when the best that proponents of keeping the games in China can offer is to say politics and controversy have always been with the Olympics and cite Berlin 1936 as an example…well, is it worth holding an athletic event that from the get-go welcomescomparison with the most odious, racist, and propaganda filled Olympics ever held?

Something needs to be done, and while there is difference on means and actions I think it better if we err (w/in the means at our disposal) in support of human rights than in effectively supporting suppression of human rights.

Better to be fresh yet dull fish instead of that bright and stinky mackerel-just ask John Randolph of Roanoke.

Triangle Shirtwaist Disaster-March 25, 1911

Today marks the 97th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, which left 148 dead and served as a critical pivot in improving working conditions in American factories.  For those not familiar with the tragedy, Wikipedia offers a recounting, but a more comprehensive one is offered by Democratic Central.

It was terrible event, 148 women and children killed by fire, suffocation, and failed attempts to flee. Doors were locked, fire escapes faulty, doors that were unlocked opened in and could not swing free for the crush of bodies. Others jumped, finding death on the pavement nine stories below, some impaled on the spikes of the fence surrounding the building.

Only 9/11 outpaces Triangle as a workplace disaster in NYC.

The memorial service at the Metropolitan Opera Theater was telling. Activist Rosa Schneiderman uttered her immortal “j’accuse” with the words:

I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting.

The disaster was the tragic inspiration for new workplace legislation in NY and across the country. A little known Tammany politico named Al Smith chaired the legislative committee that investigated and wrote the state legislation. His clear anguish over the incident and his drive to prevent a repeat impressed the NY reform coalition, and made them realize this was more than a cigar chomping, shanty Irishman from the Fulton Fish Market. From the ashes of Triangle came the governorship of Al Smith and the social legislation he pushed that eventually served as the inspiration for FDR’s New Deal.

Why talk about such things? Because when we forget such things we are doomed to allow such things to be repeated.

I have walked the battlefields at Shiloh and The Wilderness and Manassas in the dusk, and you can feel the presence of the dead. A similar thing happens when you walk by 23-29 Washington Place in New York City, look up at what is now called the Brown Building of Science to feel the awful horror of what happened.

On days like this it is a good thing to stop and remember these things…not only to remind us of where we have been, but to make sure we never pass that way again.

Other sources on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire:

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith, devotes a full chapter to the fire
The Power Broker, pages 122-126. Robert Caro describes the disaster in pungent detail, and the reaction and rise of Al Smith in its aftermath.

A Chance Encounter with Keith Fimian

I make it a policy to run with folks who are smarter than me.  It makes them feel good, and I learn stuff.  That’s why I was at the Vienna Inn, home of killer chili dogs, a few saturday’s ago having lunch and by sheer seredipity meeting putative GOP nominee in Va-11 Keith Fimian.

The table was me and some distinguished folks…a northern Va town councilman and his wife, a Vice-Mayor (and former congressional candidate) from downstate Virgina and his wife a former reporter and commentator for Fox News…plus me to make them all look really good.

As we dove into our dogs-n-chili-n-fries-beer-n-tea, up comes a fellow with a Keith Fimian sticker in the middle of his sweater.  He sticks out his hand, and introduces himself-it’s Keith Fimian, in the flesh!  We chatted for a few minutes, and then he flew away to mix and mingle with others.

I came away from the chance encounter with a few thoughts, as well as his Delta Tau Chi nickname…

KF Flyer is a very friendly man who does not shy away from answering difficult questions.  By the same token, he is not a  curious man.  It took him a second to recognize the name of my town council friend…and since my pal is a republican and is an elected official in Va-11, you might have thought KF Flyer might have made it a point to meet him already.  When he heard my other pal had been a congressional candidate, KFF didn’t ask him a single thing, like “when?”, “what district?”, “got any words of wisdom?”.  He pretty much ignored me during the conversation (which may be a mark of good judgement), but never tried to find out where I was from nor did he ask any of us what issues we were concerned about.

KFFlyer gracefully responded to a frowning gentleman sitting at a nearby table who said he hated “politicians”.  Our hero engaged him in conversation and left the fellow no longer frowning…but perhaps still not in love with politicians.  Must have been the chili dogs…

I don’t know that he is well engaged with the details of legislation.  He told of us of the need to allow more federal workers to telecommute, but did not appear to know that legislation is already in affect saying that fed workers of a certain type have to telecommute at least one day a week by 2009.  He told us that he had made his business a success by listening to his workers and what they needed to do their jobs better, and that we could make the federal government more efficient by asking federal workers what they need to do their jobs better.  It occured to me there is a slight difference between a company of indeterminate size with the bureaucracy that is the US government, but the man clearly has a dream.

KFFlyer came across as a nice, decent fellow who genuinely wants to serve and to do the right thing, but also as someone who better spend time getting up to speed on issues.  Being able to (apparently) get the GOP nod without a fight gives him the chance to get himself up to speed, and I hope he takes advantage of that time.

I came away thinking that the Va-11 race is not a lost cause for the GOP, but there is much work to be done, even one with a big campaign warchest like the KFFlyer has.  Moreover, he better hope for a really divisive democratic primary if he has a chance of winning in November.

Feder “Out of State”, Connolly “Over the Top”, LB3 in Denial

My bad knee has been diganosed as a torn meniscus. Bwana tv-fave Jericho has officially been cancelled, the Rock and Roll Nurse was booted from American Idol-guaranteeing us weeks of boring same old, same old performances…oh, and my NCAA hoops pool picks are shot to pieces.

So, we turn to more mundane subjects…back at the ranch, life is popping in the Northern Virginia congressional races…and generally courtesy of the WaPo.

Recently, the Wapo caught up to one of the prominent facts about Judy Feder’s fundraising, namely that the bulk of her fundraising to date has come from out of state. Given that this is exactly what happened two years ago, it seems surprising that the Post took this long to see that Feder has been unable to establish a reasonable fundraising base in the 10th district. Even the Federian spin on the matter is interesting…:

Feder asserted that Wolf was in her position during his successful 1980 campaign against incumbent Joseph L. Fisher (D). In an Oct. 18, 1980, article, The Washington Post reported that “nearly half of Wolf’s money has come from political action committees and other special action groups, many of them outside Virginia.”

…which does not seem to address the question at hand. Or, put another way and given the context of the article, in the midst of of a second general election campaign effort against an incumbent in a presidential year it would seem that Frank Wolf was already getting over half his money from inside Virginia.

I expect the Feder campaign to spin away from this issue as quickly as possible…although I see the possibility of Feder being labeled as “the candidate from [fill in the blank]” if she continues to focus on out of state money.

Life is really popping in Va-11. ChairGer was the target of a mailing from the Emily’s List PAC, and he was accused of “bullying, over-the-top tactics” as an elected official. ChairGer responded in a recent event by suggesting that LB3 “has a history of going really negative, really fast.” LB3 denied any part in the mailing, then said her campaign paid the EMILY list mailing expenses to put out the mailing.  But while clearly the LB3 team had a hand in the mailing, can you look at some of ChairGer’s antics and deny the “over-the-top” label?

All this happens while D-Day and LoriBlue are ignored by the media…which perhaps makes the recent “Kindler” diary at RK more significant. This post suggests that Va-11 is not a lock for the winner of the Democratic primary, and proceeds to list reasons based in GOP fundraising and geography.

In other Virginia news, the DCCC targets three Virginia GOP candidates…and in doing so gives us some of the wishfulness the democrats have for 2008. They are targeting Va-11, which makes sense as it is open; Va-2, which make sense because of the close 2006 race; and Va-10, where they say “Rep. Wolf will face a tough challenge from a strong Democratic candidate fighting for change.” The reason for the target here is “a strong Democratic candidate”. What struck me as unusual is that there were several GOP incumbents who are listed as targeted because they will face strong opposition, but the democrats won’t name that “strong candidate”. One would think they would go on and list these “strong candidates”.

Yep, tv faves may disappear and the body fail, but Old Man Politico just keeps rolling along!

Customer Service RIP

Since family and work have kept me on the reservation, so let me ease back into the fray with a real general question…

When did Customer Service Die?

My father was a small town pediatrician, developer, and banker, but he always taught that me that no matter the line of work we are all involved in to some degree in customer service.  I was reminded in the last two days of how customer service has been replaced with indifference and stupid questions.

1. Recently while paying the bill in a restaurant I gave the waitress several greenbacks to pay the bill, planning to tip her out of some of my change.  She sees the bill, ignores the fact that I am clearly waiting for her to bring back change, and says “Do you want any change?”

I said, “Yes”, but what I thought was “if I didn’t want change, you surly little twit, I would have told you to keep the change.”  Was her tip affected by her actions?  YOU make the call.

2. I had an MRI done on my right knee this AM because…well, that’s another story.  When I made the appointment, I asked where I should park.  “In the parking garage”.  Do you validate?  “Yes”.  When I get there, I see there is a small fee for parking.  Good thing they validate, because I have no $$ on me!

We finish the appointment, and I ask the nice lady at the counter (who is different than the one I spoke to the night before) to validate my parking ticket.  “Oh, I ‘m sorry, we don’t validate!”

A pity…we all need some validation now and then…

Nonetheless, it is typical of the way I find doctors offices these days.  No time for customer service, barely time to be polite.  Too often it seems staying sick is preferable to being treated disrespectfully and rudely by office personnel.  The funny thing is it is always the staff that is being prickly and rude.   Generally it is the staff, sometimes it is the doctor.  For example:

Last year I had a tooth crack.  I went in for a crown.  My dentists uses this new and amazing magnetic resonance contraption, hooked to a computer and a lathe, that makes a custom crown based on the specs the dentist inputs.  The first time he did one for me (a year previous) the whole process took 90 minutes.

This time after 3 hours he still didn’t have it right.  I had to come in for a separate sitting, when it took 90 minutes.  He told me that the first time there had been a bunch of things happening and the delay was purely “Operator error”.

Now if this was any other line of work the vendor would typically, and without being asked, do something for the customer to make up for the inconvenience.  Not here.  Full price was demanded, and nothing offered to make up for the fact that I wasted 3 hours in the chair simply because my dentists was having a bad day.

It is the staff’s, it’s the “healers”, it’s the whole kit and caboodle.  So much for customer service in the medical field.

3. I leave the MRI shop and hit an ATM on the way out.  I get a couple of $20’s.  I pull out of the parking garage, give the parking attendant my ticket, and he says the charge is $1.00.  I give him the $20 bill.  He looks at me and says “do you have any $1.00’s?”  I said, “No sir,”, but what I wanted to say was ,”Wow, if I had the singles, don’t you think I would have used the single?”

Yep, I am grumpy…being stuck in a not so large cylinder for an extended period of time will do that to you.  But come on-is there any reason to treat customers with disrespect and even contempt?  Does it hurt so much to be nice and/or to do the right thing?  Because they can be administered all the time, and in many different ways.  For instance…

As my children have gotten older and I have been on the receiving end of pediatrician trips, I noticed something…almost never were antibiotics given via a “shot”, always orally.  I asked my now retired father why he gave shots when I was a child…was it because the oral antibiotics were not available?  His reply, “No, I gave the shots in great part because it got the medicine into the system faster, the children got well faster, and parents missed less time at work!”

Practicality and customer service all in one dose.  We could use more of that today.

Elliot Spitzer, Edgar Allen Poe, and Double Hubris

Edgar Allen Poe wrote the chilling short story “A Cask of Amontillado” of a man who is bricked alive into a wall in retribution for a lifetime of perceived transgressions.

Embattled NY Governor Elliot Spitzer may feel deja vu on reading the story, except for the fact that he has gone and bricked himself in, and those who feel enmity toward him have only needed to sit back and watch. Perhaps Poe in combination with the Greek tragedians could come up with this one…

What strikes me is how Governor Spitzer has followed the scandal playbook to the letter, yet is slowly being bricked into a corner by his own actions-the victim of his own double hubris.

Typically, this is the successful scandal playbook as written by Curley of Massachusetts, crafted into an art form by Ted Kennedy, and employed by a range of politicos, is as follows:

a) An indiscretion (of varying degree and severity) is commited by a public figure
b) Said indiscretion is discovered
c) Public figure offers a public apology
d) Public figure endures the whirlwind. If he/she weathers the storm they continue in public life.

What is key is the indiscretion. For instance, in Virginia we have seen:

*Jim Moran (VA- commits all type of outbursts and outrages against civility and common sense, often with barely an apology, and he merrily and regularly returns to Congress.
*Chuck Robb, trailing Ollie North in 1993, went all mea culpa on us in admitting the Tai Collins “nude massage” thing. Robb weathered the storm and won reelection in 1994.
*Ed Schrock (VA-2) was outed in 2004 (as being gay or bisexual) as a reaction to his having aggressively opposed various gay-rights issues in Congress such as same-sex marriage and gays in the military. Nothing illegal in his conduct, but contrary to the positions he took while in office.

Spitzer is unique, as he has the misfortune that each day pops another brick into his wall of political entombment.

a+b) It was discovered he frequented a high dollar escort service, despite making part of his crime busting career on attacking prostitution;
c) He offered a public apology for his behavior, and;
d) He sits back to weather the storm…

…except more comes out. First it comes out he paid to transport the escort over state lines (in possible violation of federal law) to engage in an activity that is generally illegal outside of parts of Nevada. Next, it is reported that he spent over $80K over a period in these liaisons. Now, it appears that these activities stretch back over a period of years that includes his railing against prostitution rings.

That is where the Double Hubris comes in…it is one thing to engage in acts that not only threaten his political career if discovered and are also illegal; it is another thing to engage in that activity while on the political warpath against the same activity!

Who knows what more will come out?  Each day Spitzer seems to brick himself further into the entombment of political oblivion.

Somewhere Poe and the Greek tragedians are thinking, “Dang, not even we could come up with a story like this one-for who in their right mind would believe it?”

Believe it, folks.

Seven Weeks of Purgatory for Hillary and Obama

When Nolan Richardson led the Arkansas Razorbacks to the 1994 NCAA hoops title, he called their tight pressure defense “Forty Minutes of Hell”.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Democrats are in the midst of another unique time period, which I think of as “Seven Weeks of Purgatory.”

The term is defined in part as “any condition or place of temporary punishment, suffering, expiation, or the like. “

Democratic candidates will now have seven weeks to castigate, analyze, blame, or otherwise carry on about a nominating process that is far from over and has revealed more chinks in the process and the candidates than was recognized when the journey began. Staffers will be blamed and/or pardoned, tactics explained away or newly embraced, and candidate tactics and party selection processes will be condemned, praised, pardoned, or redeemed.  Oh, and of course, the temporary suffering of Hillary and Obama as punishment for not fighting a schedule that allows for such a huge delay in the process.

I have been puzzled by much of the primary/caucus schedule this year.  After zipping through half of the state nomination exercises faster than Dan Snyder goes through coaches, there is now an interregnum of seven weeks between the March 5 TX/OH showdown and the Pennsylvania primary. 

Seven weeks with an occasional small state caucus or primary,  but without the knock-out punch that can end it all one way or another. 

Seven weeks where putative GOP nominee John McCain can save resources and mend fences without having to campaign state to state.

Seven weeks where the Democrats can hem, haw, palaver, and stew about a variety of things, including but not limited to:

What to do with Florida and Michigan?

Howard Dean is not about to let the original results stand, but the states need to be included to help pick a nominee. If you take their delegations out of the equation but count their delegate votes toward the number needed to win, the winner will need 54% or so of the vote…which is not likely this year.  Hillary will want another primary, but Obama will want caucuses.

What is the proper role of the super delegates?

The debate continues on super delegates…are they supposed to be completely independent voters, or should they reflect the will evidenced by their states in the primaries/caucuses.  Clearly they were created as far back as 1976 as independent voters, but in a year where the establishment candidate is taking on water opinions are changing.

Are primaries or caucuses better indicative of what will make a general election winner? 

Is the ability to win a primary closer to what it takes to win a general election, or is the ability to fire folks up to come out late and stay long at a caucus a better indicator that a candidate has the stuff to win in November?

Seven weeks is a long time, and I have a hunch this hiatus will not just help John McCain, it will hurt Barack Obama.

Obama’s appeal has been at a very high, inspirational level.  Where the Clinton campaign has worked policy and legislative technique, Obama has talked hope and unity.  The problem is that at some point he has to come back to ground and reveal the policies and techniques that will bind and bolster this country.

I am somewhat reminded of the Hoot in last year’s state Senate election, saying that had she been in the senate instead of Cooch she would have made a difference by being more bipartisan-then neglecting to mention how she would accomplish this.

As Charles Krauthammer writes today, to date Obama’s rhetoric of unity and working together doesn’t quite match up to his record:

The Obama campaign has sent journalists eight pages of examples of his reaching across the aisle in the Senate. I am not the only one to note, however, that these are small-bore items of almost no controversy — more help for war veterans, reducing loose nukes in the former Soviet Union, fighting avian flu and the like. Bipartisan support for apple pie is hardly a profile in courage.

Then we get to the tough stuff..

On the difficult compromises that required the political courage to challenge one’s own political constituency, Obama flinched: the “Gang of 14″ compromise on judicial appointments, the immigration compromise to which Obama tried to append union-backed killer amendments and, just last month, the compromise on warrantless eavesdropping that garnered 68 votes in the Senate. But not Obama’s.

To date, Hillary C has the best of all worlds…she is well vetted, and Obama refuses to take her to task on much of that record, much to the dismay of some of his supporters. Hillary has no such scruples, and will continue to launch surgical strikes at Obama.

I think the upcoming seven weeks will help cast this election as a doppleganger for the Hart-Mondale struggle in 1984, and I don’t know that helps Obama. Obama will continue to take the high road, Hillary will continue to work the process and super delegates. The MSM will start to shy away from the perception that it is in the bag for Obama, and get overly tough with him in a reflexive backlash. If he goes negative, it will either rebound as being contrary to the picture he has built up OR it will be considered acceptable but may be too late.

Or not…only time will tell…

Yes, the “Seven Weeks of Purgatory” are upon us.  With all the potential for negative advertising and negative commentary and possibilities for the smallest errors to wet the political landscape in flames, the Democrats have to worried about what effect this delay in the nominating process will mean.

Meanwhile, the GOP, like Willy Wonka watching the German boy get stuck in the tube, watches and thinks “The suspense is terrible…I hope it’ll last.”