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From an article in the Kansas City Star on the KC mayoral race:
Still, the Internet is a good way for candidates to communicate with their base and raise funds, said Antonio French, a St. Louis political observer and sometime campaign adviser. It has the advantage of being cheap, potentially yielding more votes for the dollars spent...
French acknowledged that the blogging era is still in its infancy, is more prevalent in middle class and affluent neighborhoods, and has yet to really make an impact in poorer, minority or rural communities.
From reporter Dave Helling's story in Sunday's Kansas City Star:
Antonio French's St. Louis-based Web site, www.pubdef.net, is one of the best-known and most frequently viewed political Web sites in Missouri. French shoots, edits and posts dozens of videos of candidates and officeholders each week — often catching them in embarrassing situations that provide fodder for their opponents.
"I think video and blogs have introduced the 24-hour news cycle to local politics," French said. "That’s good for the public, but possibly bad for the politicians who don’t think before they speak." Last year, French shot video that became an issue in the Claire McCaskill-Jim Talent campaign.
An article in Friday's Post-Dispatch gives props to Pub Def for our political coverage throughout 2006. Thanks to political reporter Jo Mannies for the love.
French, who operates Pubdef, said political activists at all levels had better get used to the relentless characteristic of these blog sites.
As he sees it: "The Internet has introduced the 24-hour news cycle to local politics."
PUB DEF was quoted on "Meet the Press" this morning during the debate between Sen. Jim Talent and State Auditor Claire McCaskill.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to George W. Bush, because he’s become an issue in the campaign. Ms. McCaskill, you were quoted in the pubdef.net giving a speech which was blogged, saying, “She reminded people that ‘George Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black.’” One, why would you say that, and do you believe it?
MS. McCASKILL: Well, first, I was acknowledging how thousands and millions of Americans felt. The visual that we all saw in Hurricane Katrina was frankly, something none of us will ever forget. Incompetence turned tragic because the people there were unable to help themselves. This administration...
MR. RUSSERT: But do you think the president let people die because they were poor and black?
MS. McCASKILL: I do not, I do not believe the president is a racist. I was acknowledging the feelings of many, many Americans that this administration has left the most vulnerable, helpless—this administration has been about Wall Street and not about average Americans.
MR. RUSSERT: But do you apologize for this statement?
MS. McCASKILL: I, I think if it is misinterpreted that I was calling the president a racist...
MR. RUSSERT: Misinterpreted? “George Bush let people die on rooftops because they were poor and because they were black.”
MS. McCASKILL: That was—I was acknowledging what Americans believed at the time.
MR. RUSSERT: So you stand by it?
MS. McCASKILL: Absolutely, that’s what Americans believed. Now, I don’t believe he’s a racist, and if that—if people think—and maybe I shouldn’t have said it that way, Tim. Maybe I should have said it another way. I probably should have said it another way. But the feelings are real.
And by the way, if we had that tragedy, how ready are we for a disaster in this country? After the billions of dollars spent—once again, no accountability—they still are not looking in Congress at how all the money was misspent in Katrina. With all the billions spent on homeland security, our citizens died because we couldn’t get them food or water. This is not an administration that is ready to protect us.
Click here to read the transcript. Click here to read our original story in which this comment was first reported. And check back later to see the video from today's debate.
UPDATE:Click here to watch the entire debate on MSNBC's website.
UPDATE 2: Thanks to Christina Bellantoni for mentioning PUB DEF in her article on the debate in Monday's The Washington Times.
Talent Would Still Have Voted For Iraq War -- Even Without WMD Claims
By Antonio D. French
Senator Jim Talent told moderator Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" this morning that he would have voted for to go to war in Iraq even if he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction.
MR. RUSSERT: Knowing what you know today, knowing what you know today, that Saddam did not have the weapons of destruction that our intelligence agencies thought he had, if you knew that today, would you still vote for the war?
SEN. TALENT: Well, yeah, I mean, I think...
MR. RUSSERT: You still would?
SEN. TALENT: ...it was the—I think it was the only possible strategic choice. Look, Saddam had been an organic threat in the region for a long time. He represented a threat to us. That threat is now gone. Tim, look at what’s not happening.
MR. RUSSERT: But Senator, isn’t it an important question: if, if, if the CIA said to you, “Saddam does not have weapons of biological, chemical, or a nuclear program,” you would still vote for the war?
SEN. TALENT: Well, he wanted them. He was trying to get rid of economic sanctions. He would’ve had $70-a-barrel oil. He’d have been competing with—I mean, if action had not been taken to remove Saddam, the same people who are being critical of what’s going on in Iraq now would be screaming that we’d left him in power. We’d have another Iran there. That threat’s been removed.
VIDEO: Sharpton, El-Amin call on Ameren to abandon rate hike
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 1:10 PM
State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin was joined today by Rev. Al Sharpton in calling on the electric utility Ameren to drop its plans to raise its rates by nearly 18%. Facing millions of dollars of property damage and lost wages, Missourians should not be asked to pay even more for electricity and Ameren should be "corporately compassionate" and not ask them to, said El-Amin, who is running for the state senate.
"There must be a standard set, that when power companies fail, the people should not pay the tab for their failures," said Sharpton.
On July 7, AmerenUE filed requests with the Missouri Public Service Commission for rate increases for its gas and electric services. According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the company cited major investments in the infrastructure of its natural gas business and rising operating expenses as reasons for the rate increase.
State and local elected leaders gathered for a press conference and photo op at Wohl Community Center in north St. Louis yesterday. Governor Matt Blunt, U.S. Senator Jim Talent, Mayor Francis Slay, and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley thanked each other for their cooperation during the ongoing crisis that has thousands of St. Louis area residents still without electricity.
The politicians also asked the public to be patient, saying that Ameren, the electric utility, was doing all it can.
"They are overwhelmed," said Slay. He said Ameren's resources have been extremely strained by the amount of storm damage. "Why that occurred and where do we go from here, we're going to address in the future, but at this point, complaining and pointing fingers is not the way to approach it," said the mayor.
Monday's more favorable assessment of Ameren's handling of the situation contrasted with the mayor's comments in Saturday's Post-Dispatch. In that article by reporter Jake Wagman, Slay blasted Ameren officials for being "very, very vague" about when power would be restored to the city.
"They don't really promise anything specifically - I think intentionally so," Wagman reported Slay saying in a briefing to aldermen at City Hall. He later added: "This is a life or death situation."
Wagman asked the mayor about his change in tone yesterday. Slay said his position has been consistent. "The article was inaccurate," he said. Slay said Ameren was vague because they didn't want to get people's hopes up prematurely.
If you're interested in hearing audio from the entire press conference, you can download it here. It's about 20 minutes long. Check back for the full video later.
On the Voting Rights Act, which parts of are scheduled to expire in 2007: "First, records from the US Department of Justice confirm that the actual number of documented complaints to federal officials regarding unfair election practices was higher from 1982-2004, than from 1965-1982. Second, the study confirms that polling places and voting hours in minority neighborhoods were routinely changed shortly before elections. And finally, election officials were found to have illegally purged voters from registration lists and to have refused to translate election materials for citizens who have difficulty with English."
On the proposed new Missouri-Illinois bridge: "Recently... this region has tripped over the new Mississippi River Bridge... Unfortunately, Illinois and Missouri have been unable to agree on the proper financing mechanism to build the span. There have been several bridge plans; the most recent offered by Governor Rod Blagojevich and other Illinois elected officials in a press conference two weeks ago. In each proposed plan, Illinois has money, Missouri does not."
"Under the old new bridge plan, there is currently a $461 million shortfall towards the proposed $910 million needed to build a totally new, freestanding bridge. That is $461 million that MoDOT says they do not have. In addition, to pay for the new bridge some Missourians want to create a public-private consortium to build the bridge and then charge a $2 toll to the mostly Illinois motorists who will be using the billion dollar span. Mercifully - for our sake and that of the residents of Illinois -- the state of Illinois has offered Missourians a deal that we cannot afford to pass up."
On Iran, in a letter of support to Maryam Rajavi, the "future President of Iran": "Appeasement of the Iranian regime has failed to achieve a more democratic Iran. Instead, appeasement has only emboldened the Mullahs in their pursuit of nuclear weapons, and encouraged their support of terrorism and the suppression of human rights."
"I do not think war is a viable option for achieving regime change in Iran. The Iranian people do not want a foreign confrontation. Your commitment to providing a third option to support the Iranian people in their efforts to establish a more democratic government appears to be the best way to establish peace and security in the region and in the world. I wish you and the Iranian Resistance movement every success in your struggle against the brutal Iranian regime."
In other Clay news, Deb Petersonreports that he will celebrate his 50th birthday on July 21 at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will headline the $1,000-a-person dinner party to support Clay's re-election.
