This Is NOT The Friday Funny, But It Could Be

Mr. Gravel - who once stood on a debate stage with the entire '08 Democratic field (which we, to be honest, supported) - didn't just take the brown acid, he crammed several sheets of it into his mouth and force swallowed the whole pulpy mess.

W-O-W!

Don't Eat The Brown Acid

Because Mike Gravel did.

And it blew his mind.

W-O-W!!!

"Pack" Journalism

575+ of us came. 575+ of us saw. 575+ of us didn't learn much.

Shame on us. Because we don't think that many of "us" get it. And we are quite sure that many of "us" aren't trying.

But we know The Politico's Roger Simon "gets" it. So does Mark Halperin, who did his best with the slop we were served last night.

We are stunned at the time, money and manpower that went into a "debate" where the moderator got more speaking time than 6 of the 8 candidates.

And not nearly enough was said about David Walker. Not. Nearly. Enough.

But the salmon buffet was nice. And we did see some of our friends from the media. And it was on CNN's dime. So...

Inside Basball Snark to one of our Clacker neighbors from last night: When people are sitting really, really close to one another there is not a whole bunch of privacy.

So, if you send a email that refers to your neighbor as "that Monday Morning Fucker" well, chances are your "fucker" neighbor is going to see it.

And that "fucker" neighbor might be tempted to tell his 400 friends in the old and new media that a well known blogger, who is nothing if not a shrill one trick pony on the Iraq War, looked completely lost when the conversation last night turned to Bob Kerrey's recent Iraq War Op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

It was kinda a big deal. And not knowing about it well, it makes you look ignorant.

Even if we are a "fucker".

We're just saying.

"I Get My Meds From The VA"

We're not live blogging the debate. Certainly not.

But we couldn't resist Mike Gravel's line when asked about veterans.

Watching this debate, in the Saint Anselm auditorium, with poor audio BLASTING from huge speakers scattered throughout the room well, we wish we had some of Gravel's "meds" right now.

Or a good single malt scotch.

Guess No One Wanted To Be A Beavis Or A Butt-Head

Both the Union Leader and CNN (and yes WMUR-TV) have made the correct choice and have decided to include Mike Gravel in their debate.

The New Hampshire Primary is better for it.

Noted: If you think our statement is a bit haughty you must not have read Saturday's Union Leader editorial.

Also, it is nice to see that both Clinton and Obama have now decided that they will participate in the debate along with everyone else.

Remember, if your candidate (on average) has the potential to lose more by participating in a debate than he (or her) has potential to gain, well, your candidate ain't presidential material.

So, good luck to everyone on June 3rd.

Now, if someone would just grant us press credentials for the debate...

Calling Bullsh*t On The Union Leader

6 weeks ago we wrote about Democratic candidate Mike Gravel being excluded from a June 3rd New Hampshire debate sponsored by the Union Leader (UL) newspaper and CNN.

The UL and CNN stated that they excluded Mike Gravel from the debate because "Gravel is a 3rd tier candidate nut".

Or something like that.

As New Hampshire's chattering classes are scared silly that the Granite State is going to lose its first-in-the-nation status after '08 why in God's name would the UL exclude a legitimate candidate (a former U.S. Senator who has filed the correct paperwork, participated in at least 2 other high profile debates and who is fully on the campaign trail) from their debate?

The UL's decision to exclude Gravel (or at least not formally invite him to debate) seriously jeopardizes NH Secretary of State Bill Gardner's work to keep New Hampshire relevant.

If New Hampshire is the last true "retail" state where "unknown" candidates can compete on the strength of their ideas then a candidate who campaigns in NH must expect to be able to campaign in a Union Leader debate as well.

They must.

Otherwise you undercut the legitimacy of New Hampshire as a retail state.

Question to John DiStaso: How much of a "must-read" will your little column continue to be at the national level if New Hampshire's Primary gets gutted? Time for you to be nervous? Maybe get out on the campaign Trail? We're just saying.

Which brings us all the way around to yesterday's Union Leader editorial.

You've got to give the Union Leader editorial board credit - they are hemorrhaging influence and political clout but they still write as if it was the grand old days of the 1940s.

Yesterday's UL editorial actually had the stones to criticize Clinton and Obama for not participating in the same debate that the UL won't let Gravel participate in:

That is going to be the nature, we suspect, of what will be the longest presidential campaign ever. It is going to be different. It is likely to ebb and flow. It is likely, therefore, for the candidates to at times assume that the electorate is a lot more familiar with their campaigns and stands on issues than is actually the case.

New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary will again play a crucial role, but it also will change. The push by so many other places to crowd us out has already meant that candidates' time is more and more divided, with a lot of it being spent elsewhere.

The two best-known Democrats, for instance, draw big crowds when they are here, but that doesn't mean many likely primary voters are clued in on their positions or nuances thereof, the clarification of which will be crucial in this crowded and well-groomed field.

So we can't fathom why Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are saying "no" to giving a wide New Hampshire audience the first real chance to see them in debate with other contenders here on Sunday, June 3.

Like we said earlier. Stones.

We certainly hope that Obama and Clinton decide join the debate in June. INCLUSION is a good thing for NH's first-in-the-nation status.

Therefore, we think that the Union Leader should just shut its mouth on this issue.

Granite State Quickie: DiStaso To Take On Bosses(?), A Huckabee House Party & Why John Edwards Makes Us Feel The Way Graham Greene Must Have Felt

The Granite State's political class is in a tizzy over maintaining New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation status.

With good reason.

And while we feel that Wyoming is a far greater threat to NH's power than Super Tuesday (kudos to eyeon08 for recognizing this angle before us), it's going to take time to sort this all out.

But New Hampshire's Governor Lynch isn't taking any chances and has already begun circling the wagons, which he did last night with a panel discussion at St. Anselm's College on the importance of first-in-the-nation status.

The Nashua Telegraph's Albert McKeon has the story here.

Note the quote by John DiStaso, political scribe at the Manchester Union Leader, bemoaning the potential impact of Super Tuesday:

"Granite State voters can thus no longer do what they always do, said DiStaso, and back long-shots."

New Hampshire loves a long-shot, no question about it.

Imagine our surprise then when we learned that Democratic Presidential Candidate (and long-shot) Mike Gravel has been banned from participating in a New Hampshire debate being hosted by CNN, WMUR-TV and The Manchester Union Leader.

A long-shot banned from participating in the Primary process by DiStaso's own news organization?

Drudge is running the story, but can it be true?

If New Hampshire is serious about keeping its reputation as a "retail politics state" (and thus its first-in-the-nation status) we cannot imagine why anyone would ban a two-term Senator from participating in a debate.

We imagine DiStaso can't either. Truly.

And we expect that at this very moment he is chatting with all parties to insure that NH remains a place where long-shots can be heard. Truly.

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Last night we attended a Mike Huckabee house party in Bedford at the home of Doug and Shannon McGinley.

About 75 people showed up to listen to the former Arkansas Governor give a stump speech and take questions on National Security, charter schools, taxes and government spending.

The former southern fat boy was a huge hit with the (very) Republican audience.

For NH Primary voters upset with McCain-Feingold, Mitt Flops and Hiz Honor's liberal social stances (as well as the fact that Rudy is going to build nothing but a token campaign for the NH Primary, THAT story is starting to STICK) Huckabee is a very attractive alternative.

We LOVE the guy. We've been saying it for months.

But don't ask us, ask the numerous Republican Party officials and activists who showed up to chat with the Governor and have their picture taken.

Huck's campaign is (more or less) in place in NH and now he's going to get to introduce himself to voters.

Money Primary? Yeah, we know.

But we still feel we'll be telling several in the Gang of 500 "we told you so" in late July.

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Today we attended John Edward's speech on ending global poverty at St. Anselm's college.

John Edwards is one of those candidates that makes us wish we only had to vote with our heart and not with our head.

The statistics Edwards rattled off about poverty in America (and the world) are revolting - 37 million Americans live in poverty, 47 million Americans with no health insurance, 1,000 high schools in America where 1/2 the students will not graduate.

On and on.

And all this in a country where we are able to muster the resources to pay basketball star Kobe Bryant $2,000 dollars per SHOT on the basketball court (total yearly salary/total shots per season). That's per shot. Not per basket.

Throw in the fact that America, which represents 5% of the world's population, consumes 25% of the world's resources, and you begin to understand why us consumers have such a serious national security problem on our hands.

What's the the total of our defense budget vs. everyone else?

Exactly.

To combat global poverty Edwards proposed a 4-part plan - 1. Make primary education available for the whole world, 2. Massive support for preventative health care in the developing world, 3. Expand political and economic rights across the globe and 4. a Presidential Cabinet-level Secretary to handle fight poverty and coordinate the programs.

Our heart loves Edwards (and so will Democratic Primary voters). Truly.

But our head is not so sure.

It's not that we are knee-jerk anti-tax (although the 33% bracket is a BITCH)

It's that if Edwards (or anyone) is going to go on a crusade to save the world (and we love crusades) we are willing to help pay for the crusade IF someone managing the crusade can explain to us where and why our tax money will be better spend on this crusade as opposed to (failed) past crusades.

The devil is in the details. And we got the sense today listening to Edwards that the details are still being worked out.

The good news is that there is still a long time to go.

We look forward to hearing more from Edwards. Our hearts and our heads.