Many independent and smaller party candidates have complained for a long time about lack of coverage from the corporate media. Here is one snarky, cynical response from the establishment:

A group of about 15 protestors and candidates from a Certain Political Party That Will Go Unnamed gathered outside the Washington Post building today to protest their belief that the company “routinely ignores or marginalizes the party’s candidates.”

“We’re here to challenge the Post to cover D.C.’s second party in terms of national clout,” said David Schwartzman, an At-Large candidate for D.C. Council from That Party. He highlighted the party’s 2006 general election results, when the Unnamed Party won more votes than the Republicans.

Cynthia McKinney, candidate for president from the Party The Washington Post Won’t Name, sent a statement.

“We know that if the media covered our platform ….. they would establish us as the second political party in this nation,” McKinney said in the statement that was read by SKCM Curry, her campaign manager.

The protest was partially inspired by a May 29 online discussion with Post congressional reporter Paul Kane, in which he said, “We don’t have enough resources to cover” The Party That Is Not The Democrats Or Republicans.

This may be one of the earliest times on record for a presidential campaign in the U.S. to turn so ugly and it is happening at almost lightening speed.

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is saying Barack Obama is playing the race card while at the same time releasing commercials that suggest Obama is more celebrity flash than presidential substance.

Responding to the McCain ad which says Obama is a media “star” like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton but not nearly ready to live in the Oval Office, Obama said that McCain was trying to frighten potential voters by pointing out he had ” a funny name, and he doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills,” according to Reuters.

It didn’t take very long for McCain’s people to shoot back, “Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”

This was supposed to be the race where both candidates stayed on the high road. Instead, it seems as if each believes the low road is the faster one to the White House!

Don’t count on this getting any better as the summer goes on. In fact, brace for what I predict will turn out to  be one of the most brutal presidential campaigns in recent–and not so recent–U.S. history.

Y’all may remember a while back when I wrote a critical post about Phil Gordon’s endorsements of Republicans, and not just moderates but hard cores like Andrew Thomas and Jim Weiers. I recieved a reply from Gordon’s campaign the general gist of which was that Gordon is above petty concerns like partisanship. Apparently, he is some sort of immortal creature who exists beyond pedestrian, party politics.

Well, how the tables have turned. Now that Gordon has seen the light on Joe Arpaio (I ask again, what took him so long?) he is subject to a recall organized by local knuckle draggers. So, who does he turn to for help. A couple of clues: it is a certain political party whose name begins with “d.”

This from the state Democratic Party:

Dear Friend:

An attempted recall election is being organized against Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon in an effort to overturn his most recent re-election in 2007, which he won with 77 percent of the vote.

I urge you to take a moment today to help stop these efforts now by visiting

Mayor Gordon’s overwhelming victory at the polls last year followed his important involvement in our efforts across the state in 2006. As you well know, the 2006 election was a banner year for Democrats. J.D. Hayworth, still sore from losing his congressional seat to Democratic Rep. Harry Mitchell in 2006, is fanning the flames of the recall assault on the Mayor from his right-wing, talk-show perch.

As you know, most recently Mayor Gordon has been standing up to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and condemning the Sheriff’s large-scale round-ups in Hispanic neighborhoods that are designed to create a pool of Hispanics for the Sheriff to sift through in search of undocumented people. Mayor Gordon has condemned these aggressive sweeps as racial profiling, and he has requested the Department of Justice to investigate Sheriff Arpaio’s tactics for civil rights violations.

In short, Mayor Gordon is standing up for what is right, and we need to stand up for Phil Gordon and help him stop this ugly recall effort in its tracks. What can you do to help? You can visit the website of Friends for Phil at where you can learn more about the recall effort, sign a letter of support for Phil and make a contribution to support the integrity of the electoral process in Arizona. It’s the right thing to do.

Sincerely

Don Bivens, Chairman
Arizona Democratic Party

Hey, I don’t want the guy recalled either (as much because I don’t want to grant the Cro-Magnon wing of the Republican party a head for their wall), but this is a bit, I dunno…

So, if he’s getting help from the party, has he recinded that endorsement of John McCain yet?