The Ruckus

Farewell 2008 Campaign; Congratulations President-Elect Obama

2008-11-11T22:35:52Z

Congratulations to Barack Obama, soon to be our 44th President and a man who had made history this week by becoming the first person of African-American descent to be elected to chief executive of the nation.

With the end of the 2008 Presidential Campaign comes the time to wrap up what has been a wonderful partnership between the Media Bloggers Association and Newsweek. We joined together to produce "The Ruckus", a group blog for bloggers covering the 2008 Presidential race.

For the past year, MBA member bloggers have provided readers a cutting-edge perspective on politics at Newsweek.com. We were fortunate enough to have had a great group of bloggers, each contributing fascinating insights during one of the most historic elections in the history of the United States. Thank you to each of them for their contributions to Newsweek's campaign coverage.

We began the campaign season with bloggers in key primary states: Adam Fogle in South Carolina at The Palmetto Scoop, Dean Barker in New Hampshire at Blue Hampshire, Chris Woods in Iowa at Bleeding Heartland and nationally known bloggers including John Amato and his folks over at Crooks and Liars, Joe Gandelman and his hyperactive bloggers on The Moderate Voice, Oliver Willis at his eponymous blog OliverWillis.com in DC, James Joyner outside DC at Outside the Beltway, Faye Anderson in New York at Anderson@Large and Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters.

As the campaign shifted we added Jeralyn Merrit and her crew in Colorado at TalkLeft, Brian Leubitz in California at Calitics, David Oatney in Tennessee at The World According to Oatney, Greg Palmer in Pennsylvania at Keystone Politics and Jill Zimon in Ohio at Writes Like She Talks.

Throughout we had the support of Carl Sullivan and Mark Coatney at Newsweek.com and behind the scenes making things work were Alex Yuriev of Zubr Communications and Colin Hill at Scoop Host.

Our goal was to provide Newsweek readers a convenient sampling of some of the best political blogging from across the country and from key primary states. I think readers will agree that our bloggers delivered. The Ruckus became a fascinating window into all the exciting discourse and discussion that is taking place on political blogs today.

We hope you enjoyed reading the bloggers as much as we enjoyed bringing them to you.

Robert Cox
President
Media Bloggers Association
http://www.mediabloggers.org

The Moderate Voice: Fox News Blames Stock Market Ills On (You Guessed It) Barack Obama

2008-11-07T17:52:07Z

The stock market is still in turmoil. So who is to blame? If you're a financial expert, a typical American, or an economist you'd stand back and point to a bunch of factors, which would include putting some but not all of the blame on the current President. If you're purely partisan Democrat you'd will blame it totally, completely, entirely on George Bush - the guy who's still sitting in the White House running an administration comprised of members of the Republican party. But if you're Fox News, you would blame it on.Barack Obamawho hasn't spent a minute in office yet. In fact, you'd blame it on just THE THOUGHT of Barack Obama in office. Is that a stretch? No. Read THIS. It's not surprising. Since Obama's election on...

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The Moderate Voice: Could Obama Actually Win an Electoral Vote in Nebraska?

2008-11-07T17:30:28Z

Believe it or not, yes (like Maine, Nebraska apportions its electoral votes by congressional district): [Obama's] odds of bagging an electoral vote in Nebraska grew stronger this morning, with word that 10,000 to 12,000 early ballots and 5,200 provisional ballots are left to count in Douglas County. Obama won about 61 percent of the early votes counted before Tuesday's election. If that percentage holds with the early ballots left to count, Obama stands a strong chance of winning the Omaha-area 2nd Congressional District. Republicans did not concede defeat this morning, but they acknowledged the long odds. John McCain held a 569-vote lead over Obama in the 2nd District at the end of Tuesday. Not that it matters much at this point,...

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The Moderate Voice: The Funniest Election Season Ever: A Retrospective & Analysis

2008-11-07T17:26:30Z

It's difficult to imagine having made it through the long and hard fought 2008 campaign without so many memorable comic moments. We're used to election news making good comedy but this year we had good comedy making news as candidates abandoned their campaign speeches to do stand-up on late-night TV. Good political satire and comedy about the election was at an all time high. From Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton to Tina Fey's Sarah Palin , SNL earned record breaking ratings . John McCain's Letterman no-show might have hurt his campaign more had he not so deftly handled damage control in a later appearance. We had the NYTimes asking, Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America? and the Washington Post covering The Colbert...

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Writes Like She Talks: Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s achievement

2008-11-07T17:14:17Z

The judging will continue through the 2010 election season when the Ohio Republican Party continues to work at discrediting Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. I have no doubt they'll find more than enough information to present as making the case for her defeat, but in the meantime, the lack of criticism seems to be in far greater abundance and Brunner is proceeding with a summit. I'm checking into the dates and credentialing to attend the event. SECRETARY BRUNNER ANNOUNCES OHIO ELECTION SUMMIT Larry Norden of the Brennan Center to Chair COLUMBUS, Ohio – Following an Ohio election widely praised as smooth and efficient, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has announced the creation of a historic Ohio Election Summit. The Summit...

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Outside The Beltway: Obama’s Foreign Policy Priorities

2008-11-07T17:01:31Z

Debate word cloud from Flickr user EricaJoy, used under Creative Commons license. Over at New Atlanticist , we've been running a series all week on the Foreign Policy Priorities for the Next President . In addition to my introductory post, we've run installments by Elizabeth Jones , a retired U.S. career ambassador whose posts included Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia, former Saloman Smith Barney managing director Ronald Freeman , Woodrow Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter , former Undersecretary of Defense Walter Slocombe , former RAND Europe president and NSC official David Gompert , and former NATO ambassador Robert Hunter . A contribution from two-time National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft is awaiting...

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The Moderate Voice: Something Stinks in Alaska

2008-11-07T16:45:21Z

What In The Hell Happened in Alaska? asks Nate Silver. Good question. As of right now , Republican incumbent Ted Stevens is leading Democratic challenger Mark Begich 48 to 47 (with 99 percent reporting) in their Senate race. The margin is 3,353 (with almost 210,000 votes counted). As I mentioned the other day , however, there are tens of thousands of ballots left to count: absentee and early ballots, as well as questioned ones. So what stinks? 1) As Nate Silver points out, even with all the ballots left to be counted, the total number of votes will only be about 270,000, far less than the 313,000 cast in 2004. 2) As Nate also points out, the polls showed Begich well ahead. And it wasn't just the Senate race. The polls also...

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The Moderate Voice: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Moderates

2008-11-07T16:36:18Z

So says Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Money quote: What Tuesday was, was a fact that people wanted change, and it's a rejection of a moderate view. The meeting that Perkins attended sounds like it was a remarkably productive affair. Per another attendee, the singularly focused Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform: There's no one leader. There are many leaders One of the things that the meeting decided is they wouldn't decide something. Peachy. See you in 20 years or so, gentlemen, when you get your act together. That wildnerness that everyone says you need to spend some time in get used to it. Make your peace with it. My guess is you'll be there for awhile...

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The Moderate Voice: New politics of the common good: running risks on the side of honesty

2008-11-07T16:10:59Z

The only way President-elect Barack Obama can expect to live up to the hopes invested in him is to run all the risks on the side honesty. In his forthcoming press conference and speech, he should tell the people about sacrifices he expects from them to rebuild America as well as how he plans to honor his many promises especially for the economy. Obama’s resounding victory demonstrates that the old politics of social divides and religious and nationalist fervor is being replaced by the new will of the people. That will dictates changes in America’s political and economic life styles towards more working together for the cumulative wealth and strength of the nation rather than fratricidal in-fighting at the cost of the nation. His election...

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The Moderate Voice: Obama Names Rahm Emanuel His Chief of Staff. So What Does It Mean?

2008-11-07T15:45:40Z

Clintonite and Congressman Rahm Emanuel has accepted Obama's offer to be his chief of staff. Like David Corn and Ezra Klein , I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, Emanuel hasn't exactly been an ally of the liberal-progressive elements in the Democratic Party. On the other hand, he's a tough, hard-nosed insider and aggressive partisan with White House experience. So what does his appointment mean? What does it signal with respect to the Obama presidency? Is Obama signalling that he prefers centrist Clintonism to progressivism, that he'll govern from the center and twist arms as required? Is Obama signalling that he'll be aggressively partisan with respect to Congress, that he's tough and ready to do battle? Is he signalling...

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The Moderate Voice: Rahmbo: Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight (continued)

2008-11-07T15:00:01Z

As a follow-up to my previous post on Obama appointees I would invite you to take a critical look at this editorial from Mark Karlin . The very progressive (or liberal, as you like) editor of BuzzFlash describes his long, storied and occasionally dysfunctional relationship with Rahm Emanuel, providing us with an excellent insider perspective on what the new Chief of Staff will bring to Team Obama. Karlin was no fan of the pick either, but as it turns out his reasons were pretty much the opposite of my own concerns. One of Mark's greatest fears is that Rahm will be too centrist , in the mold of the old DLC and Bill Clinton's centrist maneuvering. Make no mistake, Karlin judges Rahmbo (who once mailed a dead fish to a political...

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Outside The Beltway: Punishing Lieberman

2008-11-07T13:48:19Z

Harry Reid, not unreasonably, is strongly considering stripping Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship after he campaigned vigorously for the Republican nominee for president. Reid, in a sternly worded statement after the 45-minute meeting, said no official decisions have been made. But an aide to the Nevada Democrat said Reid was leaning toward removing Lieberman as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential. While I understand that Sen. Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus, Reid said. [...] I want to spend some time in the...

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Outside The Beltway: 2008 Voter Turnout Same as 2004

2008-11-07T12:55:46Z

It turns out that, despite a huge rise in voter registrations, actual turnout Tuesday was essentially the same as in 2004. 61 Percent of Eligibles Voted A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent. The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country. Democrat Showed Up, Republicans Stayed Home “A downturn in the number and percentage of...

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TalkLeft: Colorado Voters Reject Ban on Affirmative Action

2008-11-07T12:51:07Z

Colorado is now the first state in the country where voters rejected a ban on affirmative action programs. The only votes still uncounted are about 55,000 in Boulder ( dust got on the paper ballots , another first) but the remaining Boulder votes are 70% against the ban so the papers have called the it. Amendment 46 would have barred state officials from considering race or gender in decisions on hiring, contracting and admissions to public colleges and universities. ...In Colorado, the proposal would have amended the state constitution to declare that the state may not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, individuals or groups based on race, color, sex, ethnicity or national origin. More.... We had 18 ballot...

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TalkLeft: How to Apply for a Job with Obama-Biden

2008-11-07T12:26:48Z

President Elect Barack Obama has launched a new website, Change.Gov . It will provide news from his transition team. It also has information about where to apply for a job in Obama-Biden Administration. Applicants for any of these non-career positions - whether in the White House or in any Federal Department, Agency or Commission - should use this website, as applying on-line is the fastest and most accurate way to get your information to us. (If you are interested instead in a career, civil service position with the federal government, you should proceed to the Office of Personnel Management website here .) [More...] On a related note, Obama is serious about his community service/sacrifice program: Obama will call on citizens...

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