2003

Interesting FEC Regulation

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

Blair Hull’s ads (I’ve only caught them on the net, but they are playing in St. Louis metro) have an interesting feature,

Apparently, all federal candidates are going to have to do what Democratic U.S. Senate contender BLAIR HULL is doing in his television ads – saying that he authorized the messages.

In a 30-second ad about how he wants to create jobs in Illinois, Hull says on screen: "I’m Blair Hull, and I approved this ad because we need to get Illinois back to work."

Hull is doing it because of new FEC regs requiring,

Part of that law requires that a candidate-sponsored TV ad "must include a statement that identifies the candidate and states that he or she has approved the communication. The candidate shall convey the statement either:

(A) Through an unobscured, full-screen view of himself or herself making the statement, or

(B) Through a voice-over by himself or herself, accompanied by a clearly identifiable photographic or similar image of the candidate."

The interesting question is will negative ads be as easy to run? It’s hard to say, but candidates usually want as little identification with a negative ad as possible to avoid association with negatives. I mean it won’t stop the Patrick O’Malley’s of the world, but he is entertaining at least.

Kjellander Named Great Lakes Bush-Cheney ‘04 Chair

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

How will the Illinois Leader react to a leading moderate being named by Rove? Heh.

Via the Sunday Bernard Schoenberg column

Blagojevich 1, Topinka 0

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

Jeff Trigg and Bill Dennis already hit on Blagojevich outflanking Jesse White and Judy Baar Topinka on office budget cuts.

Topinka, the best hope the Republicans have of defeating Blagojevich in 2006, is now in the awkward position of complaining about budget cuts. And she can’t even claim the governor’s motives were political because Democrat White’s budget will be slashed as much as hers.

Between this and the federal subpeonas Topinka just put herself in a big hole for the 2006 Gubernatorial Election. All Rod has to do is pull out her complaints and put ’em on the air. Of course, that assumes that is her and not the ever fire breathing Patrick O’Malley in the general election. Rod may be a bit sleazy, but he is damn talented, and on top of it he just triangulated the SoS getting him essentially good press with no real cost.

I only mildly disagree with Jeff Trigg that this turns the Illinois Democratic Party into a circular firing squad. Ultimately the Illinois GOP is a party split on ideology and so they tend to turn on each other. The fight between moderates and conservatives isn’t just a fight over turf or patronage or pork, it is a fight over control of the party. The Illinois Democrats are relatively on the same ideological page and so the intraparty warfare is kept down to typical turf wars–like this.

That being said, while I disagree with the level of spending that Jeff or Bill would have for the State of Illinois, I agree that Illinois doesn’t have a budget crisis–it has a structural spending problem that focuses too much on pork and too little on essential services.

This is Your Steve Neal on Crack

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

Moseley Braun’s presidential bid must be taken seriously.

I’m not sure what the hell got into him, but the best line is when he says,

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who made history 20 years ago when he became the first African American to make a serious bid for the presidency, said Moseley Braun’s campaign is important and that women are rallying to her cause. Although Jackson has not made an endorsement, he is friendly toward her candidacy.

Of course Jesse is friendly, she is a stalking horse candidate to Al Sharpton who Jesse hates.

The Outfit Earthquake

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

John Kass related the background on some ongoing investigations into Outfit hits and business over the last 30 years. The low rumble you hear is the beginnings of an earthquake to the Outfit’s organization and the politicians tied to it.

I can’t imagine a more fun disaster to watch.

Also, How About the Readability?

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

Let me know how readable the background makes the site.

And don’t worry, despite the last several posts this hasn’t become a sports blog.

Beloki out, Lance up 21″, Hamilton stays close

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

Beloki fell and apparently forced Lance off of the road and across a field (click through to today’s race). I’ve got to see that tonight.

Hamilton stayed with the front group as did Ullrich.

Site Changes

ArchPundit July 14, 2003 No Comments

Why so slow with the Juicy Miquelon story? I’ve been busy updating the template and such.

To the left, you’ll notice a bunch of changes to the blogroll. Expanded Illinois and Missouri blogs are two big features, but I’ve also added a bunch of blogs that link to me.

Especially important is Tim Lambert’s Deltoid. Tim is the Tenacious T on the case of John Lott. I’ve been swamped lately and haven’t kept up on this blog enough–check it out and I look forward to more Lott and more general topics from Tim who is especially thoughtful.

Another blog I’ll call attention to is the new joint effort by academic related folks on the left at Crooked Timber. Henry Farrel and Kieran Healy are two of the new bloggers and they are already driving a lot of traffic this way.

And two blogs have been added from my Alma Mater–figure it out and win a no-prize (they are excluded from the competition).

Other significant changes–Donate to the DNC! For those who come here for Democratic Politics-give until it hurts. Please. I’ll post results after they start to roll in. The DNC is the only organization that can support the nominee after the primaries drain the coffers of the nominee.

I’ve also added two tip jars. I won’t say much about them other than give if you feel like it and I’ll use the money to keep the site running. The site will run if you give or not, but I’ll make some improvements if enough comes in. I’ve also added an Amazon wishlist.

A final change is I’ve added some links to Amazon including a search engine and some books I highly suggest (except Three Strikes of which I’ve only heard good things). Click through me and I get some kickbacks. If you don’t have a better deal, consider it. Again the money will be used for the site.

I’ll be updating again sometime on Monday–I have an eye appointment though so it might not be until later when my eyes are undilated.

Armstrong in Yellow

ArchPundit July 13, 2003 No Comments

Unsurprising, but hey, Lance puts time on all the important riders except Beloki. Strangely, this is being seen as weakness by many.

One interesting note is that Bernard Hinault predicted that Lance wouldn’t attack today and would save himself for the Pyrenees. It’s hard to say if he was right since the pace was so incredibly fast that Lance’s strategy was determined by events.

What is surprising? Tyler is in 6th only 1:52 behind–with a broken clavicle–in two spots. He is ahead of all of the true contenders except Lance and Beloki–18 seconds ahead of Ullrich.

That being said, more content later on Monday.

The Top Eight Riders

ArchPundit July 9, 2003 No Comments

Only an artifact of today, but the top 8 are,

1. Victor Hugo Pena
2. Lance Armstrong
3. Viatcheslav Ekimov
4. George Hincapie
5. Jose Luis Rubiera
6. Roberto Heras
7. Pavel Padrnos
8. Floyd Landis.