A quick Sunday night post
Here are a few things that caught my eye this week.
First, there is a quick bit in the Washington Post about the Dems messing with the primary: ["GOP Says It Will 'Bury' Name-Calling Candidate"].

But there appears to be more interest in plans that call for keeping Iowa as the site of the first caucuses and New Hampshire as the host of the first primary, but that would insert a few other caucus contests between the two.

In the past, I would have said that it was good for the Dems to think about organized labor when looking at the primary schedule but I would have also said to not worry about the minority issue.
Now, I'm wondering if it is important to worry about either, as far as primaries go.
Many in the labor movement don't always back the candidates who have backed them, as we saw in 2004, when Kucinich and to a lesser extent, Gephardt, true champions of labor, weren't given the support they should have received [Gephardt did receive labor support just not enough to get him past Iowa, which is pretty sad. As I have said before, Gephardt would have beaten Bush in the general]. We have seen labor also cave to Democrats who haven't had the best record on labor and get almost nothing in return. Look at the unions that backed John Kerry in 2004 and look at his abysmal record on the issues of working people.
The minority question is a different matter. Since the bulk of minorities live in major metropolitan areas, the minute you move the primaries to the metropolitan areas, you change the whole dynamic, especially as it comes to money. But what if you moved a caucus into a more populated state instead of a primary? Sure, money would still be needed but more of it would go into organizing and not into ads. A candidate would need money to get people to the caucuses to hang around during that process. This might be an option. Early primaries in large populated states mean big money for the candidate to come up with. It would be a disaster and in the end, wouldn't elevate the needs of minorities one bit. More on this at a later time.
Here is some discussion about the issue over at MyDD: ["Caucus Compromise"].

Three years away, but not that far off: ["In N.H., 2008 isn’t that far off for candidates"].

Next week, a group that wants Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for president plans to spend three days in New Hampshire and start running a television ad. The cartoon ad shows her loading barrels of “Bush’s mess” onto a garbage truck and cleaning it up.

Ugh. I can't believe people think that Hillary is going to fix the nation. She'll never get anything done with a Republican-controlled Congress - unless she does things the way her husband did things when Newt and the others took Congress over in 1994.

Then there is this from the UL about Mitt Romney lining up support: ["Granite Status: Democrats confirm Bass will be targeted in 2006"].

This is also pretty huge: ["Dramatic New Charges Deepen Link Between Ohio's "Coingate," Voinovich Mob Connections, and the Theft of the 2004 Election"]. I don't know if all this "theft" stuff is legitimate. Rigging? Sure. But theft? I don't know. Everyone has been rigging elections for years. It shouldn't surprise anyone at this point.

The record business ... in turmoil: This action against Sony BMG didn't get much play in the press but it is very interesting: ["Biz left to sing the blues"]:

Emails from promotion execs up to the executive VP level spelled out the costs for added spins -- a Jennifer Lopez single required $3,600 in payments to bump it just 63 spins in one week -- as well as flights to Las Vegas for radio execs to see Celine Dion perform.

Wow, that is a lot of money to spend on one song. Why can't radio execs just let stations put together their own playlists? Here is a previous article: ["Spitzer Evidence To Be Handed Over To FCC "].

Carter on Gitmo: ["Carter: Guantanamo Detentions Disgraceful"]. I've always liked President Carter but I am wondering about him of late. His comments here are great; but the more I read about some of the things which went on in his administration, the more I lose respect for him. I guess he is trying to make up for past sins in the present tense.

Very cool science stuff: ["Large New World Discovered Beyond Neptune"].

A sad note to report: ["ManRay closes"].

Since word got out about the club’s shuttering, Gleason says ManRay has been inundated with old regulars who wanted to see the place one last time. "A lot of married couples met in my club," explains Gleason, "so we’ve had a people come out of the woodwork and ask if they could take photos in the corners where they met. It’s amazing."

I used to love going to that place. And yeah, I met my wife there too.