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Palin 2008 Republican Candidate for Vice President Sarah Palin CD ROM This CD-ROM provides an up-to-date collection of documents and material about the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, providing an essential reference for anyone interested in the 2008 Presidential election! There is also comprehensive coverage of John McCain, the Republican Presidential Candidate. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin: “Governor Sarah Palin made history on Dec. 4, 2006, when she took office. As the 11th governor of Alaska, she is the first woman to hold the office. Since taking office, her top priorities have been resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. Under her leadership, Alaska invested $5 billion in state savings, overhauled education funding, and implemented the Senior Benefits Program that provides support for low-income older Alaskans. She created Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office to provide oversight and maintenance of oil and gas equipment, facilities and infrastructure, and the Climate Change Subcabinet to prepare a climate change strategy for Alaska. During her first legislative session, Governor Palin’s administration passed two major pieces of legislation - an overhaul of the state’s ethics laws and a competitive process to construct a gas pipeline. Prior to her election as governor, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council and two terms as the mayor/manager of Wasilla. During her tenure, she reduced property tax levels while increasing services and made Wasilla a business friendly environment, drawing in new industry. Sarah Heath Palin arrived in Alaska with her family in 1964, when her parents came to teach school in Skagway. She received a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987. Palin, who graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982, has lived in Skagway, Eagle River and Wasilla. She is married to Todd Palin, who is a lifelong Alaskan, a production operator on the North Slope and a four-time champion of the Iron Dog, the world’s longest snowmachine race. Todd and Sarah fish in Bristol Bay with their children - Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig.” Senator John McCain: “U.S. Senator John McCain has a long career of public service. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1958, John McCain began his career as a Naval aviator. In 1982, he was elected to Congress representing what was then the first congressional district of Arizona. In 1986, he was elected to the United States Senate to take the place of Arizona’s great Senator Barry Goldwater. Senator McCain is currently the senior senator from Arizona. In 2000, Senator McCain ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. He is currently the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He also serves on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Senator McCain has seven children and four grandchildren. He and his wife, Cindy, reside in Phoenix.” Contents include legislative records, committee records, speeches, policy statements, news releases, images, and much more. Comprehensive sets of roll call votes in the U.S. Senate through the current 110th Congress are included, providing a record of the vote of McCain on critical issues. These roll call vote tallies are the official records as compiled by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate, recorded on the U.S. Senate database. There is extensive coverage of the Senate Armed Services Committee (McCain currently is ranking member of this committee). Buy/More Info Share and Enjoy:
One of the two leading contenders said to be under serious consideration by Barack Obama for the job of running the Democratic Party is openly gay political strategist Steve Hildebrand. The president-elect is reportedly considering Hildebrand, who was Obama’s deputy national campaign manager, to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Paul Tewes, Hildebrand’s partner in D.C.-based campaign consulting firm, has been mentioned as another leading candidate. Politico.com speculated that Obama might tap someone with a higher profile, like Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, to be the DNC general chairman and “the face” of the party, while leaving day-to-day operations to the likes of Tewes or Hildebrand. A native of South Dakota, Hildebrand cut his political teeth in party politics, not the gay rights movement. He the re-election campaign for Tom Daschle, then the Senate’s leading Democrat, when he was surprisingly booted by South Dakotans back in 2004. Hildebrand’s earlier work included Democrat Tim Johnson’s winning run for the other U.S. Senate seat from South Dakota in 2002, and Al Gore’s victory in the Iowa caucuses two years earlier. If Obama does tap Hildebrand, it will be an interesting turn of events for the DNC. Despite the high-profile role of Andrew Tobias, the openly gay party treasurer, the DNC under current chairman Howard Dean has come under heavy fire from many gay Democrats for neglecting gay issues, especially state-level ballot measures to ban marriage. Dean and the DNC have vigorously defended themselves against the accusation, but their image has been sullied by a lawsuit filed by Donald HItchcock, alleging he was fired as the party’s gay outreach liaison because his domestic partner, political consultant Paul Yandura, publicly called on gays to withhold donations over the ballot measure flap. As far as I know, Hitchcock’s lawsuit remains pending. Obama’s team would be well-served to clean up Howard’s mess before installing their own people at the party’s helm.
Many are demanding that the Republican Party, smarting from two disastrous elections in a row, move to the center in order to become more likable to the voters. This idea is what makes people hate politics, and will result in larger, more permanent defeats. The truth is, most people don’t care about politics or government. They don’t study it, and would prefer politicians handle public issues the way your doctor deals with disease: just fix it, preferably without pain, and without the tedious business of explanation. On the rare occasions when politics does matter to regular folks, they want to believe that – like doctors, or engineers, or mechanics — politicians are serious people who have devoted thought and study to difficult issues. And that’s why split-the-difference centrism is a recipe for destruction. Would you respect a doctor who used to prescribe amoxicillin, but stopped because he was afraid patients would disapprove? What voter will ever respect a GOP that changed its position, not because it was wrong, but it in order to pickpocket a few votes? If a thing is right, it does not lose its virtue by a loss of popularity. Neither does general acceptance transform evil into good. There are things that can and should be negotiated — not every choice is a matter of principle. How much money should be set aside to pay for wildfire response in 2009? Should commercial truck drivers be required to undergo hazmat training? What is the legal definition of income? But principles are not a matter of negotiation. What will we say in the next election? Will we mimic John Kerry, and say we were against abortion before we were for it? That we were for limited government and freedom before we were against it? People would leave the GOP in droves. Those independents in the middle are there because they don’t have any strong beliefs. They will not show up to phone bank, or drop literature, or canvas door-to-door. A Gallup poll conducted November 13-16 found that 87% of Republicans want the GOP to stay the way it is, or become even more conservative. Of the self-described independent voters, 57% agree — the GOP should be at least as conservative as it is now. Of the Democrats, 56% think the GOP should become more liberal — and, it will no doubt soon be reported, most mice believe that cats should become vegans. Let us not make too much of the recent swings of the electoral pendulum. There is no such thing as an undefeated political party. The Liberal Lite GOP – less filling, great taste? – would become an army of none.
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11/30/2008 
