While it isn’t an FEC filing, it is rather telling to see how certain Democratic presidential candidates are doing with online fundraising through ActBlue. Actblue, for the uninitiated, is a Democratic clearinghouse that takes donations for all National Democratic candidates (and some state ones as well). While it isn’t anything more than another fundraising source, it also represents the people and the Netroots.

John Edwards leads the charge, having been in campaign mode since the end of the John Kerry campaign… He’s earned over a million dollars through the Act Blue service. Bill Richardson – also a long time suspected candidate — is next on the list with 288 thousand dollars to his name.

Wes Clark, Howard Dean, Al Gore — all undeclared or just flat out not running — have a few thousand to their name… And while Mike Gravel and Chris Dodd are the ones who are oh-fer ActBlue, it’s Hillary Clinton’s numbers that should send a message to people…

Hillary, who keeps getting named the front runner because of her recognizability (or her last name) has earned $81. Eighty One dollars.

There are pundits on the right who think Democrats are clamoring for HRC to be the nominee, and there are media pundits who think Hillary is a shoe in… Yet if the Internet community — the activists who are vocal online — aren’t showing their support financially for Hillary, then why are they going to show their support with their votes for her next year during the primaries?

Just saying. It’s known Hillary is not big with the online community, but she still is the big name in the field unless Al Gore were to enter the fray (which I don’t think will happen, sadly).

Yesterday I had something happen that hasn’t happened before… Well, it has but I wasn’t confident to the same degree when it happened in the past. I wasn’t compelled to act immediately like I did…

I applied for a job.

Not just a job, but a high profile job.

Not just a high profile job, but one in a different city, in a different region…

Not just a high profile job in a different city, but one that is being offered by a campaign attached to a former presidential candidate.

I really should be more skeptical — and I am in a lot of fashions — towards the job I applied for with John Kerry. It was advertised on Daily Kos and that means hundreds of thousands will not only see this thing but probably apply for a job too.

The thing is… I know this job. I AM this job. I have been doing most of the roles that are described in the online agenda for years on my own. I’ve done them voluntarily, I’ve done them for next to nothing… I know this role, I have confidence I could do this job and do it well.

But in the end, it ain’t up to me now is it? At least not right now.

I’ve never lived away from home for more than a few days. I have been 2300 miles from home without family oir friends around as a social safety net though. While Boston would be like that, it’s much easier to reach my extended family in New York and Connecticut.

What’s gonna happen now? I don’t know… Could I even get up to Boston for an interview? Let alone find myself taking the position? have no clue, but I know one thing — I am that job. I have confidence in that fact and I only wish I had this opportunity more often, closer to home, to prove it.

I got a memory sticking out in my mind in the Tampa Bay area. One that doesn’t have an answer every time I look around Google or something…

I can remember in the early 1990′s here in North Pinellas, there was a candidate running for office that was of some noteriety… He would end up losing but the fact he was running in the first place made him noteworthy.

Bob Barker.

Yes, that Bob Barker…

IMDB says nothing of him once running for any elected office. I don’t know why I have this memory that he ran but I am certain he was on local public access along with other such stuff in the early 1990′s — maybe 1990, 91 or 92 to be exact.

Where do these memories come from with no proof at all of them existing? Oh well…

(NOTE — my post below has nothing to do with the Pinellas Democratic Party, it’s members or it’s direction. Apologies beforehand for any confusion or any suggestions this was targeting the local party.)

I’m getting pissed off.

I’m a user on a non-official Pinellas Democrta mailing list/user group and I’m just shocked and dismayed. Somewhat because of what is said on this, but mostly because these are (supposedly) Democrats saying it. I’m not sure if I should accept this as the normal discontent of Democratic voters or if I should feel this is wingnuttery going on?

I mean I am a blogger, I read Daily Kos, Florida Politics and Kate’s blog titled Out in Left Field but to give you an idea on some of these local “supporters” are standing… It’s like they are beyond left field. Maybe out in the bleachers? Maybe standing in the upper deck… Perhaps in the parking lot, but much more likelystanding on the freeway that passes the stadium.

OK, you get my analogy.

Being part of this group, I’ve trying to draw interest in local political campaigns and hob-nob with like-minds on the left. Yet I find so much hate for the party itself on there. Hate, naysaying, doomsday scenarios, conspiracy theories and general disconnect and discourse for the Democratic party. There is also a disconnect of the present and connection to the days of the past where the Democrats stood in the mid 1960′s.

For instance, there are people on this group complaining about both Democratic candidates running for Florida governor and attacking the party in general. These aren’t righties disguised as Democrats, these are Democrats who have ideals leading them beyond left field. No, not the ideals and principles that divided the Democratic party that you know and love (Gay Rights, or Women’s rights, the environoment or some other faction of the party) I mean their beliefs that everything is corrupted by money, by election fraud, by weak candidates and by the fact the Democratic party is so close to death.

Yes folks, supposed Democrats saying this. A far cry from the Crashing-the-gate, Democracy for America crowd, eh?

Example: Someone on the group has called Howard Dean a “Corporate Whore” for raising money for the Democratic party. The complaint was that Howard Dean “doesn’t show the same fire” he did during his presidential campaign and now he is supposedly a “pawn for the DLC.” The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee has helped raise more money for the national party (largely through small donations) and yet he must be a corporate whore for generating money at all or having to appeal to a broader group as the head of the DNC.

Right… Ok… 8-|

Example 2: public encouragement of Pinellas Democrats to vote third party or for instead of voting for Jim Davis or Rod Smith in the the Florida Gubenatorial Election. “It sends a message!” seems to be the logic behind that but after the 2000 election debacle, you’d think they’d know better. Especially Florida based Democrats.

Example 3: A woman who runs a clique of self-congratulatory members on this list tries to explain the civil rights movement from the 1950′s and 1960′s was “more intense than the ‘Grand Theft Auto’” video games. Not trying to play down the civil rights movement or the events of them — but having them compared to a video game in the first place (a stereotypically intense urban warfare game) is a mockery of analogy to describe it and belittles both those she addressed with this “logic” and those who were central parts of the civil rights movement.

And these are the regular voices that are supposed to represent the local Democratic party in Pinellas County? It’s a joke and a shame.

There are many members on this group who will not post but are Democrats and proud. They’re dismay or amazed with the wing-nuttery disconnect of the vocal minority of the group. Instead of what was supposed to be a tool for organization and a tool for sharing concerns and thoughts, articles and information with like minded people. the unofficial Pinellas Democrats mailing list happens to be a shelter for those who cannot connect to the realities of everyday life, and a general disdaine for the party they supposedly are members of.

Just why does the St. Petersburg Times persist with ranking candidates assets and liabilities as financial clout or debts? A political candidate’s financial porfolio should play absolutely no part in how a voter decides his or her vote.

True assets and liabilities are determined to voters by candidates philosophies, their standces on issues and their endorsements and the identity of campaign contributors. The fact a candidate has 2 mortgage’s on his/her house isn’t going to effect their votes unless they are shady individuals to begin with.

So Deep Throat has been revealed. An enigma of Americana politics has been answered.

The reason I am writing about this at all is some anger I have from the likes of the media and their interview candidates after Mark Felt admitted to being Deep Throat. Unethical twits G. Gordon Liddy and Robert Novak, along with serial-asshole Pat Buchanan, were the guys interviewed on air with regards to what they thought of Felt being Deep Throat.

Liddy has no credibility to state what he thinks of Felt – and by his answers on CNN and on MSNBC, you can see he would have prefered everything kept “in house.” Liddy complains that the evidence should have been taken to a federal grand jury – and in the age of conspiracies and cover ups, everything would have discretely been swept under the rug and Liddy never would have served time for his lawbreaking.

Novak has no credibility to make claims that Felt was a traitor or unethical for what he did. Novak himself is a criminal that has not been arrested as of yet for revealing the identity of a CIA agent. If you compared Felt to Novak specifically – these two operated on opposite ends of the political spectrum in what they did. While Novak was used as a tool of the political powers-that-be to get back at their enemies (Joseph Wilson), Felt was protecting the government from itself (and the powers-that-be) by revealing any information at all to Bob Woodward and letting it become public. One man is the epitome of public corruption and the other is the epitome of public service. That’s not trying to make a saint out of Mark Felt and everything he has ever done for the FBI or the government, I don’t know the man enough to make that assessment, but that is heralding him for blowing a whistle on dirty shenanigans that were ongoing in the government and letting the public know.

And Buchanan? Ok, well — Pat is Pat and Pat has always been an asshole of grandoise proportions in one way or another.

I need a date for a wedding.

Michelle and Josh are tying the knot on the day b efore Valentines (Bill’s birthday in fact) and of corus ei am invited which is great but at the same time — going alone is not something I want to do.

And yet candidates to go to the wedding with me – friends or more – are few and far between. Some people have tread on that friendship with me and I’d be reaching down to ask her to go. Others are either too far or just might feel too awkward to go. Of coruse, me not even asking and jumping to conclusions makes things worse than they are.

But then again, it’d be easier if I knew exactly who to ask and wasn’t just takign them as a friend…. But seeing I’m not in arelationship and not nearly in one… it’ll be just friends for this thing.

I can get pissed at the election but what good does that do?

I’d like to move but what good does that do changing things? Improving things…

What does it take to actually run for political office? US House of Reps for example… I don’t think The Distinguished Gentlemen is that great of a point in trying to get a gauge of this.

I think I finally get Ralph Nader a bit more this year.

Ralph was on the Daily Show last night and came off like a senile old coot and was in charge of his entire time on the program. I’m not saying his senility is the reason why he is running for office. He seems to be doing it out of principle…

The principle that the dual-opoloy of the political process must be stopped. Not stopped as so much a third choice always be there. It’s not him trying to play the spoiler but give voters a choice. I think he knows that getting Bush out of office is the top priority in the 2004 election year (“Anybody is better than Bush.” are his exact words) but at the same time, I don’t think he is going to drop out regardless of how much of the vote he is siphoning off.votes from Kerry. He believes he is siphoning off votes from Bush too…

That belief isn’t guiding him to stay in the election race however. It’s the thought there needs to be a 3rd candidate…. or a 3rd party without the corporate ties. I agree with him on that much but I know my vote is going to Kerry this year because if I vote Nader, I could help screw the US once again like in 2000. I know a lot of people chalk this up as Ego (as do I at times) but I gotta respect the thought that there needs to be another voice for the disillusioned… Even if the election will be a 2-horse race yet again.

I like to joke in private that the turning point of John Kerry’s campaign – while he was being blasted and left for dead by Howard Dean before the presidential primaries — was his “Kerryfuck” scandal. John Kerry said during an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, “Did I expect George Bush to fuck it up (Iraq) as badly as he did? I don’t think anybody did.”

Kerryfuck was born. Not just that, but it got me cracking jokes about his need to be obscene to get any press…. Well, I think Kerryfuck actually might be part of what John needs to get back into the press.

I looked in the St. Petersburg Times Perspective section today and like every other Sunday it is chock full of Bush talk… How bad Bush is doing, how Bush wouldn’t have chose this war if he served in one, how Bush this and Bush that… In each article there is brief mention of John Kerry as his opponent in November’s election and I have to wonder how much this is hurting John Kerry’s campaign.

Not only is John Kerry hurting his own campaign by not embracing the art of the Kerryfuck, the media is hurting Kerry’s campaign by focusing squarely on Boy Blunder and how bad things are going. Maybe it’s because Boy George comes off more like a human in screwed up circumstances than John Kerry? Kerry — a decorated war veteran and a Junior Senator from Massachusetts — comes off like a politician in his campaigning. He looks like the candidate who will kiss babies and then steal their lollipops in the future and not like the every-man he needs to be. He has that aristocrat flair of fictitious candidates / Presidents of the past — but does he have what it takes to seem less like a caricature and more like a human? Would John Kerry be willing to, say, show up at a Red Sox game, or perchance make an appearance at a Stanley Cup playoff game? That would certainly make him seem more human (he’s a big sports fan – that’s why I mention these things). Would he profit by making campaign stops, or by making TV appearances on Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, O’Brien and Kilborne (not to mention Jon Stewart which might trump all of the aforementioned talk shows)? By going shopping in a public place instead of having another dinner affair with chieftain fundraisers?

He’s got to generate interest in his campaign once again… For both the sake of getting media attention and for getting people’s attention. He needs to show the world that Kerryfuck – the relaxed and the more human side of John Kerry — exists and not the pompous asshole who campaigns and makes speeches and uses botox to not seem so old. He needs to get back to beating George W. Bush and not sitting back and wait9ing for Bush to beat himself.

Come on, Kerry, don’t further “fuck it up”… That’s George W’s Job…. America needs to get it’s head out of it’s ass and that will not happen with continued elitist arrogance from the Bush regime.