Month: <span>October 2004</span>

Through an odd turn of events, Cindy and I are going to an evening get-together with Martin Frost, Democrat, running for re-election to Congress in TX. His district is one of the ones that was forced to be redrawn by the Tom DeLay GOP crowd, leading to the unusual situation of two incumbents running for the 32nd district, which includes most of North Dallas — a typically white, middle- and upper-middle-class area, typically more in the Republican camp, than some of the more diverse parts of the city.

Martin Frost has been endorsed by Madeleine Albright, and has been a Dallas local since the 70’s. He was first elected to Congress in Dallas in 1978, and has a law degree from Georgetown, and a Bachelor’s in Journalism, and a Bachelor’s in History from the University of Missouri.

The opportunity came up at dinner tonight with my Dad and his wife, my grandmother, and step-grandfather, John. John’s neighbor is a lawyer here in Dallas who knows Frost, and was invited to the event, which is at a private home here in North Dallas. John wasn’t interested — he’s a Republican — but I chimed in and asked (probably too presumptuously), if I could go in his place. He called his neighbor, who said it would be fine, so there you go. Hobnobbin’ with not just a Congressional candidate, but a Congressman of over 30 years. This’ll be fun.

If I get a chance, I want to talk to him a bit about weblogs. I think he might have an interesting take on what they mean for American Politics in the 21st Century. Tune in on Wednesday for a report…

Politics

Tonight I made phone calls to about 40 people in swing states who’d previously expressed a desire to do volunteer work for the Kerry-Edwards campaign.

It was actually surprisingly fun, since I got to talk to people with the cause in common, and share information in addition to encouraging them to do a local door-to-door canvas this weekend. I’d done this kind of thing before, in a past life, and was very encouraged to hear from people how serious they are about getting out the Kerry vote.

Though some people expressed reluctance to go door-to-door, many were already doing volunteer work in another capacity, and most others asked how else they could help. Of the 40 people I called, I only got one hang-up, and 1-in-10 or so said they’d definitely go door-to-door this weekend. Cool!

Politics

Electoral-Vote.Com: “It is very likely that multiple vacancies will occur on the [Supreme] Court in the next four years. The court will undoubtedly have to rule on cases involving abortion, the Patriot Act, and other divisive issues. If you are an undecided voter, think carefully about which candidate would make better appointments to the Supreme Court. Furthermore, a president makes far more appointment to the appellate courts than to the Supreme Court, and they hear far more cases per year. … The next president’s appointments could shape the country for decades to come. It is at least worth discussing.”

Politics