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kausfiles.comJune 14, 2010 11:40 AM My Instavision debut: Glenn Reynolds conducts the post-mortem ...
1:48 A.M. ___________________________ Obama's "transcendence" is beginning to look a bit like "triangulation" to the left. ... 9:29 P.M. ___________________________ You Think You Can Lose Without Our Permission? Today's sentence to ponder, from the Federal Elections Commission's guidance to campaigns:
I guess they are worried that I might leave big debts, which would make me beholden to my creditors just as if they'd exceeded the campaign contribution limits before the election. But a) the threat of corruption of government would seem to be diminished by the fact that I, well, lost and therefore won't be exercising power anytime soon, and b) in general, my impression is that the campaign laws are an orgy of overprophylaxis. You could just have a law that says "You can't leave debts of more than $x,xxx" and bust those who violate that law. That does not seem to be the F.E.C. way. The F.E.C. way is to make you record and justify each contribution and payment because as a candidate you are an automatic suspect--a constant threat to violate the law unless each movement you make is tracked and recorded. ... I suppose, given our brains' reptilian core, every human being is a constant threat to commit murder--almost as serious a crime as accepting an excessive campaign donation--and it would probably reduce the murder rate if we required everyone to check in two or three times a day to explain what they were doing. But we don't. We rely on harsh after-the-fact punishment rather than a Federal Murder Commission and a web of reporting requirements. I suspect a similar approach to campaigns would be almost as efficacious and free a lot of idealistic lawyers for more productive work. ... 11:59 A.M. ___________________________ ___________________________ 77 Comments. | Click here to leave a comment. | Permalink  June 12, 2010 11:50 AM Our vote total has surged to over 100,000 in late counting. ... Charles Pierce (Eric Alterman without the charm) is impressed ... P.S.: I dispute the theory that California voters confused me with Jewish singer Mickey Katz. ... Sympathy for Alvin Greene, S.C. Democratic Senate nominee: From the NYT-- When asked in a phone interview Friday whether he was having “fun,” Mr. Greene quickly answered yes, before asking for clarification. “What do you mean by fun?” A musician I know says that when she goes backstage after friends of hers have played a particularly disastrous set of songs, she says either a)"Hey guys you really did it!" or b) "Did you have fun?" As a longshot candidate I can testify that "Are you having fun?" quickly becomes a really annoying question, and it gets asked by about 80% of people you encounter. Translation: "We can't think of any other reason why you might be doing this." I gave up explaining that it would be worth doing even if I wasn't having fun. ... 12:17 P.M. ___________________________ June 10, 2010 1:10 PM SacBee's Peter Schrag casually conflates opposition to amnesty with "nativism" and discomfort with "ethnic diversity," predicts that Steve Poizner's defeat means the end of "anti-immigrant wedge politics" in California. ... Schrag gets beaten up by his commenters, who note that GOP gubernatorial primary victor Meg Whitman's campaign rebounded when she "started hammering illegal immigration in TV and radio spots"--although it's not clear that Whitman herself realizes this. ... P.S.: The GOP candidates' emphasis on immigration in the primary, of course, doesn't mean that Whitman won't sell out her anti-amnesty declarations at the earliest opportunity in the general election campaign. But the fact that it was the huge theme in the primary is hardly evidence that it's disappearing as an issue. .. 1:26 P.M. ___________________________ June 9, 2010 11:30 AM TNR's Jonathan Chait goes to the record books to dispute the idea that yesterday's Senate primary results in California show "some unusual level of dissatisfaction" with Democratic incumbents. As is so often the case, Chait seems to be seeing what he wants to see. Here are those numbers: SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN 2000 (%) Dianne Feinstein 95.5 Michael Schmier 4.5 Total non-inumbent vote: 4.5 2006 (%) Dianne Feinstein 87.0 Colleen Fernald 8.0 Martin Luther Church 5.0 Total non-incumbent vote: 13.0 SEN. BARBARA BOXER 1998 (%) Barbara Boxer 92.15 James Pinkerton 7.85 Total non-incumbent vote: 7.85 2004 (Primary was uncontested) 2010 % Barbara Boxer 80.5% Brian Quintana 14.2 Mickey Kaus 5.3 Total non-incumbent vote: 19.8 If you're not a pugnacious anti-contrarian TNR writer, you might conclude from these numbers that a) Feinstein is a bit less controversial than Boxer and b) the protest vote against each candidate is rising. In fact, there was a big anti-Boxer "protest" vote yesterday--more than two and a half times that of 1998. I just didn't get most of it. ... Update: OK, not all of Quintana's votes were necessarily "anti-Boxer" or "protest" votes. But the same might be said of the non-incumbent votes in earlier elections. ... If Quintana made a special pitch to Latino voters, as he at one point said he'd would, those might not be protest voters, for example--though it's hardly a sign of strength for Boxer to lose them. ... But you still can't derive Chait's no-trend conclusion by looking at Chait's numbers. You can only get to it by explaining away the numbers. ... And some portion of Quintana's total undoubtedly was an anti-Boxer vote. ... 11:57 A.M. ___________________________ June 9, 2010 3:15 AM The press release containing my concession statment is here. ... 3:19 A.M. ___________________________ June 8, 2010 7:15 AM Here's where you can find your polling place. ... Here's how you can still help my campaign. ... Here's a downloadable leaflet. ... Manifesto here. ...P.S.: We have avoided the mistake of peaking too soon! In fact, we're peaking right now. We have a chance to send the Democratic party a very loud wake up call. ... Time to vote! ... P.P.S.: Thanks to everyone who is helping out. ... More later ... 7:19 A.M. ___________________________ June 7, 2010 12:30 AM Make your own Kaus for Senate video ad by midnight Monday and you'll win .... something! ... Details of the Kaus for Senate 24-Hour YouTube Challenge--which should raise interesting legal issues, if nothing else. ... 12:34 A.M. ___________________________ June 6, 2010 10:10 PM This is it: Election Day is hours away. Time to get out the vote and send the Democratic party a wake up call! Thank you for all your support up until now. We don't need money anymore! (We've drained the treasury to buy all the ads we can buy: radio in L.A. and San Francisco, TV in L.A., San Diego and Orange County.) What we do need is your immediate help in spreading awareness of the Kaus alternative to Barbara Boxer--and sending folks to the polls. If you're a supporter, here are the things you can do right now to maximize your impact: 1) MOST IMPORTANT: Send an email to as many friends as possible urging a vote for Kaus. If you're not in California ... maybe you have friends who are! If you are a Republican, maybe you have friends who aren't! Even better, you could ask your friends to forward the email to their friends, who in turn ... Remember, it's not only registered Democrats who can vote in this primary. "Decline-to-state" voters can vote in the race simply by requesting a Democratic ballot at the polls. 2) Talk to your neighbors about the race. There is a downloadable leaflet available here on this blog. You can distribute it to houses in your neighborhood. ... You don't even have to talk to your neighbors! Go ahead, be an alienated modern citizen! Just leave it on their doorsteps. 3) Make phone calls. You know that friend across town you've been meaning to check in on? Wouldn't this be a great time to do it? And maybe someone you know needs a ride to the polls. Good things are happening: We are not peaking too soon! We are peaking at the right time. The press is taking notice--even the tough-to-crack Los Angeles Times is writing a story. The New York Times had a piece this morning. Our broadcast ads are now up full force. Web videos are sprouting up all over. We're something fresh. Time to seize the moment and make an impact. Every vote for Kaus sends the entrenched powers of the Democratic Party the message that there are a lot of independent-minded voters who won't be taken for granted. Give the pols a jolt! Thanks, Mickey Kaus P.S.: Manifesto here. ... June 6, 2010 8:35 PM Click on the link below and you'll get a PDF Kaus for Senate leaflet you can print out and distribute around your neighborhood. That's one of the best things you can do to help the campaign, should you be so inclined. ... The very best thing you can do--right now--is to send an email to, say, your entire address book urging a vote for Kaus on Tuesday, and urging everyone to forward the email to their friends. ... Thanks!
___________________________ 56 Comments. | Click here to leave a comment. | Permalink June 5, 2010 11:50 AM Mickey Kaus has been endorsed by influential talk radio hosts John and Ken of KFI AM 640. Thanks! ... 11:54 A.M. ___________________________ Lou Cannon on why California is broken: Liberals have a disproportionate advantage in the Democratic primaries, conservatives an even more decisive edge in most GOP primaries. Moderates in either party who might appeal to independents in the general election had so little chance in the primaries that most of them chose not to run. As a result, many Democratic officeholders tend to be reflexively liberal—or at least in thrall to the public employee unions who finance them. Many Republicans, on the other hand, are rigid conservatives who stand ready to block even the most reasonable budget if it contains a whiff of a tax hike. Anyone old enough (as I am) to remember the creativity of the California legislature in the the mid-20th Century, when it was acclaimed as the best in the nation, can't help being appalled by the present collection of ideologues and party hacks. [E.A.] 4:36 P.M. ___________________________ "Knocked boots". The Kaus legend grows! ... P.S.: She meant "rubbed elbows." ... Correction of the Year, tk. ... 4:40 P.M. _____________________________ June 3, 2010 9:35 PM NBCLA's Patrick Healy interviewed me at some length about Tea Party anger (including whether California is immune). ... The disturbing Mystery of Tesla is discussed. ... I say, "If the government worked fine people would be happy with big government." I think I actually agree with that--if "worked" includes "operates with a transparency that allays fears of Dem-labor-business conspiracy to get fat off everyone else." ... 9:44 P.M. ___________________________ June 3, 2010 5:35 PM "Democrats are the party of government. We are the ones who need to make it work ..." My pitch to HuffPo readers, who are surprisingly non-hostile, judging from the comments. ... Is this evidence that Arianna Huffington has been successful at encouraging people to "transcend the stale categories of left and right" (as they say on the radio show she's regularly on). Or is it evidence that everyone is so frustrated that practically everyone is willing to question old orthodoxies? ... 5:41 P.M. ___________________________ June 1, 2010 1:25 PM Five Questions from CalBuzz. ... 3:27 A.M. ___________________________ We have our first TV ad, which you can see here. .... Press release here. ... It's based on a classic Paul Wellstone spot (done by North Woods Advertising). ... 1:45 P.M. ___________________________ May 31, 2010 11:20 AM Here are the scripts of the two radio ads I'm currently running (in L.A. and S.F.) ... 10:28 P.M. ___________________________ The Orange County Register has kindly published my op-ed on immigration on its web site. Key point: Unfortunately, we tried exactly this "comprehensive" bargain before, back in 1986. It failed. Oh, the amnesty part worked fine. It was the border enforcement that failed. And, sure enough, the result was the 12 million illegal immigrants we're now talking about giving another amnesty to. Why do I get the feeling that too many Democratic politicians -- and businessmen eager for cheap labor -- wouldn't really mind if border enforcement failed again? After all, then there would be a new group of illegal immigrants to legalize -- more potential Democrats. A new way to rev up the Latino "base" vote. And more ways to call anyone who wants to break the cycle of amnesties "anti-immigrant." Or worse. Do you have any faith that, if comprehensive reform passes, but then a few million immigrants subsequently manage to sneak across the border illegally, that Rep. Luis Gutierrez and the rest of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus won't soon agitate to legalize them too? I didn't think so. ... P.S.: The piece also has a 6 point plan. And they say I'm not programmatic. ... 11:30 A.M. _____________________________ May 29, 2010 11:55 PM Chase 'em all away: Maybe Bill Clinton doesn't belong in the Democratic Party either. ... P.S.: This fight seems to be mostly about "card check." Not a minor issue. ... 8:07 P.M. ___________________________ As promised, an expanded "issues" page has been added to this site. ... Is CDP vice-toady Eric Bauman correct in saying that my positions are "more in line with the California Republican Party than the California Democratic Party," or is that the sort of mindless if-you-aren't-in-labor's-pocket-you're-not-a-Democrat thinking that will lead the party to defeat? You make the call! ... 12:08 P.M. ___________________________ May 29, 2010 4:15 PM Hey! Over here! Rob Hotakainen of The Sacramento Bee argues that there's immense voter anger in California but no anti-establishment, outsider candidate. ... I know one! 4:21 P.M. ___________________________ May 28, 2010 3:45 PM The L.A. Times news division deigns to recognize the Kaus campaign's existence, though so far only on the web. Wouldn't want to disturb the print readers. ... It's a nice and well-done piece. I don't think I think it's well-done just because it's nice. ... 8:16 P.M. ___________________________ Kaus wins Tattler endorsement. ...8:15 .M. ___________________________ In Salon, Alex Pareene say he's caught me in a "deception" because my Senate financial disclosure form says I got $91,000 or so from the Washington Post company, but I told the NYT my pay was "in the 80s." ... But the form doesn't ask for income from "the preceding calendar year," as Pareene claims. It asks for income from the preceding calendar year and the current calendar year up to the date of filing this report. [E.A.] So the $91,000 covers both 2009 and the first part of 2010. ... Salon editor in chief Joan Walsh, an honorable person, should retract the piece and apologize. ... P.S.: Happy to be riling the Pareenes and Glenn Greenwalds of the world. (Feel free to contribute to Fight Salon's Lies! ... That's the ticket.) ... Update: Pareene twitters "Yeah, I'll correct it." But it's still uncorrected. Why rush when it's, you know, libel. ... I mean, it takes time to come up with a suitably snarky way to concede hideous error while saving face. ... 3:54 P.M. ___________________________ May 25, 2010 1:20 PM Here is my brother Steve's full report on Tuesday's Battle with the Box. ... P.S.: Yes, he's my brother, but he normally argues with me vigorously from the left. He argues that my positions are compatible with--make that supportive of-- a general progressive worldview. He also does this in a clearer and better organized fashion, than I do myself, I suspect. That's why he's the trial lawyer. ... 5:53 P.M. ___________________________ The box was on the defensive for the entire debate ...
10:57 P.M. ___________________________ Come to the San Francisco Golden Gateway Holiday Inn at 2 PM today for the big Kaus-Boxer debate. It's at 1500 Van Ness in the California Room. Will go on even if only one of us shows up. ... 12:23 P.M. ____________________________ 52 Comments. | Click here to leave a comment. | Permalink May 23, 2010 12:30 PM The currently hot Sestak story--that he was offered an administration job if he'd drop out of the PA Senate race--seems like a total non-scandal to me. Standard politics. If it's illegal, the scandal is that it's illegal. ... 11:47 A.M. ___________________________ Prof. Kleiman confirms through first person research that I'm a Democrat. ... 10:04 P.M. ___________________________ Ron Kaye, former editor of the Daily News who has become a no-BS civic reformer, endorsed me as part of a highly diverse slate on his Ron Kaye LA web site. .. Kaye also endorses Marcy Winograd, who is running against my old boss Jane Harman from the jobs-not-war left, and who might well win. (My neighborhood is a sea of Winograd signs.) ... Another Kaye pick is Gloria Romero, candidate for Superintendent of Education, who has been willing to stand up for charter schools against the teachers' unions. ... 12:36 P.M. ____________________________ May 21, 2010 12:15 PM Is Tesla really open to letting the U.A.W. organize the promising new joint venture factory with Toyota it announced today? That could be a big mistake. Not only have U.A.W. factories failed all over America, the union now actually owns a big stake in Tesla's competitors. Will the U.A.W. try to cripple Tesla like it crippled Saturn (and eventually killed off the previous, too-successful Toyota joint venture at the same Fremont, California, site)? ... Today's press release. ... 12:21 P.M. ___________________________
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Contact:
Kaus for Senate
1601-B Oakwood Ave.
Venice, California 90291
(310) 577 3141
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