WELCOME BACK DEMS BAR NIGHT!

The Law School Democrats Invite you to an exciting BAR NIGHT! Come by MITCH'S THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 at 6:00!

You look so attractive and tanned from your glorious summer. Why don't we reconnect? What is your favorite presidential beard? Is it Chester A. Arthur or Rutherford B. Hayes? Discuss these sober questions and so much more: the presidential campaign, the Iraq War, that New Guy Who Will Be Attorney General Thursday night!

- Erik

Campaign Opportunities

The National Democratic Law Students Council recently posted links and contact info for how to get more involved in presidential campaigns. Check it out here.

This may be the perfect extracurricular activity for the summer months. Or better yet, if you're still looking for a summer job, this might be just it.

BAR NIGHT!

The Law School Democrats invite you to our spring bar night. It may only be 40 degrees outside, but in Ann Arbor anything above 32 degrees counts as the onset of spring (at least in my book). We are bar-nighting it up at Dominick's from 6:30 to 8:30 this Thursday, March 22.

Admitted students will be in town for preview weekend, so in addition to talking Barak v. Hillary, we can also talk about how UM Law is a great community. If you have questions, contact our fearless leader, Erik Buehmann: buehmann at umich dot edu.

This Just In! New York Times Scooped By a Gaggle of Law Dorks.

The hacks at the New York Times just published a story about Candidate Lit, a story we broke here at the Michigan Law School Democrats Blog almost a month ago! The story (which might as well just be a link to my blog post) is here. The unreliable rag even has some of its facts wrong. Mike Huckabee did not write one book, he wrote one library of books. Perhaps this is why the press does not regard Huckabee as seriously as it should.

-Erik

Franken is in!

Today Al Franken officially joined the race for US Senate from Minnesota to contest the seat currently held by Republican (former Democrat) Norm Coleman. Coleman, you might remember, was elected days after proud Minnesota progressive Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. From the wreakage of his impending defeat at the hands of the firey Wellstone, Coleman wrested a narrow victory over DFL lion and former Vice President Walter Mondale, who took Wellstone's place on the ticket. Now Franken becomes the first DFLer to join the race to take back what is rightfully ours.

In my conversations with DFL activists and members of the Minnesota Legislature, opinions on the Franken candidacy are mixed. Everyone likes Franken as an activist, but some are concerned that he will not be taken seriously enough by voters. This is certainly a valid concern, especially given Norm's strength on the stump, but I believe the concern is overblown. With the exception of Keith Ellison, many of the candidates garnering the support of party activists in multi-party contests tend to lack a certain fire, even though they tend to be strong on issues of progressive policy. And let's not forget the willingness of Minnesotans to choose unconventional candidates.

This Event Will Rock Your World

On Wednesday, February 21, the Michigan Law School Democrats are presenting a special Congressional Preview in Hutchins Hall, room 250. We've put together a stellar panel of professors to discuss the challenges ahead for the 110th Congress. They'll be talking about what we, humble constituents, can expect in the coming months from both parties, how the Congress has performed so far, the impact of the run-up to the 2008 election, and other juicy topics. It should be a lively discussion (non-partisan, by the by) and enlightening. Did I mention the burritos? There will be burritos. To eat.

The panelists include:

Professor Sally Katzen, Public Interest/Public Service Faculty Fellow, University of Michigan Law, and Former Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget (1999-2001)

Professor Marvin Krislov, Vice President and General Counsel of the University of Michigan

Professor James Levinsohn, J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor, Ford School of Public Policy

If you have questions, contact Erik Buehman, buehmann at umich.edu.

Romney says YES! to Michigan after 30 years of saying NO.

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachussetts, announced his quixotic campaign for the presidency today at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It is clear that, by referencing his childhood in the Great Lakes Splendor, Mitt hopes to distance himself from his time as governor of "Taxachussetts" to make him more palatable to the Republican's conservative base. Romney was born in Michigan, the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney. George was the chairman of the now-defunct American Motors Corporation (it brought you the AMC Gremlin and the Mirthmobile from Wayne's World). Although there are questions about whether George was a "natural born" citizen, having been born in Mexico, he ran his own quixotic campaign for the presidency in the 1968 Republican Primary. His ambitions were dashed by strange comments concerning mind-control and the Vietnam war.

This brings me to two important and interesting conversation starters:

1. John McCain was born in the U.S. administered Panama Canal Zone. Is he "natural born?" Now, Congress passed a law in 1790 that specified that children of citizens born over seas will be considered "natural born." But is this Constitutional? Could we pass a law that might increase the scope of "natural born" to embrace Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jenny Granholm? What about Barry Goldwater, who was born in Arizona before it was a state? What about Zombie Barry Goldwater?

2. When should we learn from our fathers in an effort to avoid new mistakes in the future?

-Erik

More on populism

I just saw this, pertaining to my last post, in the New York Times.

Trouble from Hope

I'm going to make myself the second person (after the previous Blogger) to declare Mike Huckabee the Republican front-runner for the 2008 Presidential race. Although I'm sure that his prolific authorship is an important factor, I have another reason.

I heard Huckabee on Meet the Press on Sunday ("heard" not "saw" because I get the podcast, so I can listen while I run - there's no time for exercise AND television AND finishing my Note), and he scared the crap out of me. I'll tell you why.

Now that McCain has expended every single ounce of his once-considerable credibility to fuel the final throws of the Bush Iraq misadventure, I was beginning to feel uncannily sanguine about our 2008 chances. Clinton, Obama, Edwards, they all seemed able to put the final kabosh on feeble John "Surge" McCain.

But then I hear Huckabee. This guy is the Governor of Arkansas, from Hope (like Bill Clinton), and was some kind of preacher before entering politics. He also raised taxes on damn near everything in the state to pay for better schools and roads. He's clearly out on the wingnut fringe on cultural issues, but he has the good sense to talk about them in a temperate way. He also appears to believe in activist government stepping up to do things to help people and the environment. Oh yeah, and he's a governor, so he's not carrying the millstone of Iraq.

It's become clear, I think, that we need to solidify our hold on middle-class populist Democrats to reestablish ourselves as the clear majority party. These are people who are concerned about the economic futures of themselves and their families, and will respond positively to reasonable government solutions on health care, education, balanced budgets, and the environment. But when Democrats have failed to offer this kind of strong economic program, this core constitutency can't vote their economic interests, so they vote according to their preferences on "cultural" issues. Unfortunately, this means that many of them vote against us, and we lose.

Huckabee scares me because he is enough of a fringe rightwinger on cultural issues to keep the Republican footsoldiers unified, but on Sunday he sounded on economic issues like we need to sound. Of course, if he's truly willing to raise taxes to pay for things, he might send the Republican corporate paymasters looking for a new stooge, but the GOP will probably be in such bad shape by 2008, that they'll take what they can get.

This isn't to say that we can't beat him. The falling stock of the Republican brand might alone be enough to finish him off, and if he's drank enough fire-and-brimstone flavored Kool-Aid, it might send a whole bunch of GOP moderates our way. But this is a guy to watch.

Candidate Books.

I believe there is a rule that if you are going to run for President of the United States you must write a book. I am not sure if it is an FEC rule or something written in some secret Masonic instrument buried deep underneath the National Archives, away from the prying eyes of the public. Actually, to say you have to “write” the book is an overstatement. You can have a book ghost-written, then simply put your name on the book. The book must be published in your name. The book does not have to be political, it can be fiction, and it can have creepy and awkward “dirty parts.”

I have compiled a list of all the candidates, Democrat and Republican, for the election in 2008 and the books they have written. This list includes candidates who have announced and candidates who have formed exploratory committees. It does not include candidates yet to announce. I will update as they throw their hat in the ring. It does not include adoring hagiographies written about the candidates.

Democratic Candidates filed with FEC
Sen. Christopher Dodd: None, but he does look like Peter Gallagher
Former Sen. John Edwards: Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives; Four Trials.
Former Sen. Mike Gravel: Citizen Power (out of print and written in 1972 – I didn’t say it had to be a recent book).
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: A Prayer For America (w/ Studs Turkel); Imagine a World Without Monarch Butterflies: Awakening the Hazards of Genetically Altered Foods (this has my favorite title).
Former Gov. Tom Vilsack: None.

Democratic Candidates with Exploratory Committees
Sen. Joe Biden: None.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: Living History; It Takes a Village; An invitation to the White House: At home with History; Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets (the hardest hitting of this list).
Sen. Barack Obama: The Audacity of Hope; Dreams from My Father.
Gov. Bill Richardson: Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life

Republican Candidates filed with FEC
Sen. Sam Brownback: Kansas Agricultural Law.
John H. Cox: I don’t even know who this guy is. None.
Michael Charles Smith: See above.

Republican Candidates with Exploratory Committees
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee: From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America's Greatness; Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork: A 12-STOP Program to End Bad Habits and Begin a Healthy Lifestyle; Living Beyond Your Lifetime; Character is an Issue; Kids Who Kill: Confronting our Culture of Violence. (Huckabee rivals McCain for his prolific output. I believe this secretly makes him the Republican front runner. He also has a weight-loss book -- Americans love skinny people).
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore: None.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Leadership.
Rep. Duncan Hunter: A Martian Poet in Siberia (Ok, this is not the same Duncan Hunter, but it would be awesome if it was).
Sen. John McCain: Character is Destiny; Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir; Why Courage Matters; Worth Fighting For: The Education of an American Maverick (McCain is prolific, but he has also been running for President for the past 80 years).
Rep. Ron Paul: Freedom Under Seige (sic); The Case for Gold (the Gold Standard is awesome!)
Former Gov. Mitt Romney: Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games (I know you will be disappointed that Romney was not a World Champion figure skater, rather he was the head of the Salt Lake City Olympics).
Rep. Tom Tancredo: In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America’s Border and Security.
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson: None.

-Erik

Michigan Law School Democrats Enter the Blogosphere.

We at the Michigan Law School Democrats have our ear to the heartbeat of the youth, and we hear there is a new craze tearing up the internets called the "Blog." The law school does not allow us to endorse any political party or political belief using school funds. This "Blog" gives us a venue to advertise a broader range of Democratic events. We can also use it to enter the political and social discourse (however limited our reach).

Thanks for reading!

- Erik