Politics

AP - The government on Saturday increased the number of people reported being sickened in a record salmonella outbreak in which tomatoes are the leading suspect although investigators are testing other types of fresh produce.

What's going on this Saturday night?

A few things in my RSS reader:

• Hertzberg, back in 2001, on the too-late Jesse Helms

• Mark Leibovich (he wrote that stinging Chris Matthews profile) examines one of John McCain's greatest electoral challangers: the teleprompter.

• Rumor is that Obama might give a speech at the same Berlin location where Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."

• Maybe we should calm down about Obama's recent late-term abortion statements.

• Russ on FISA:
  

  
  

AP - Barack Obama celebrated "active faith" as an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change while speaking Saturday to a nearly all-black roomful of churchgoers, but hoping to reach far beyond them.

I'm about to take on a new job that will prevent me from blogging about electoral issues through November, so I'd like to lay out what I see the general arc of the race being from now until election day, and where the progressive movement fits into that story line.

Barack Obama will no doubt continue moderating his positions, as most politicians do in general elections. Hell, he might even moderate his stance on Iraq a bit, though I doubt it will be significant. It will continue to piss progressives off, as it should.

Eventually, most folks will realize that Barack Obama is basically saying, "Trust me," as he did Thursday with his response to the anti-FISA group on my.barackobama.com. Once again, I feel this is pretty typical. Politicians make all sorts of campaign promises, both explicit and implicit. Obama will moderate his stances in an ambiguous way while trying to reassure progressives he doesn't really mean it, or at least that when it comes time to sort out those ambiguities, he'll come out on our side.

Eventually, I'd hope that progressives realize the answer to Obama's strategy is to outflank him, positioning ourselves to hold his accountable to his statements in the way that we want. Electoral strategy says define your opposition before they define themselves. If Obama can be considered "the opposition" once he's elected - and I think he can - then we need to position ourselves to define him as a progressive president as soon as he gets in office. We must keep track of his statements and his rhetoric, and being ready to use it to push him towards progressive policies or use it against him if necessary.

This positioning won't be easy. It will help if progressives make a point to reward good behavior during the electoral season. We should loudly cheer Obama's progressive positions, and certainly pressure him however possible to adopt more of these positions. He'll probably ignore these efforts for the most part, or at best acknowledge the opposition without changing his position. But through these efforts we keep our integrity. Over the election season, progressives can develop a critique of Obama and keep their credibility, both of which can be effectively used to push him once he's in office and we have actual leverage for accountability.

On a more specific level, though the presidential election tends to suck all the fundraising money into their vast machine, we should try and focus on building strong progressive institutions. Grassroots groups like MoveOn.org, think tanks like the Center for American Progress, and netroots activists like Blue America will need to be at their best to effectively move an Obama administration in a progressive direction.

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No president was every great without strong forces pushing him towards greatness. Even FDR experienced strong pressure from mounting pro-labor sentiment sweeping America in the 1930s. In fact, FDR's presidency represented the beginning of labor's peak in America; in 1945 they represented over 1 in 3 American workers. These outside movements have traditionally built the political clout necessary to move administrations. That's what we need to build in preparation for an Obama presidency.

The role of the progressive movement as we move from an outsider group in a minority party to a strong presence in a ruling party is going to make for lots of wrenching changes. Preserving our credibility, building an independent power base, and positioning ourselves to define Obama as a progressive and hold him accountable to that definition are going to be key parts of those changes. If we get it right, we'll have real power to sway Obama's policy positions. If we don't, we'll find our cries falling on deaf ears.

But this is just one man's view of things to come. What do you think? How can the progressive movement best position itself to hold maximum power over an Obama administration?

What I wouldn't give to be in the audience for this.

GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will debate the issues of the presidential campaign Sept. 26 as part of the university's Distinguished Speakers Series, The Buffalo News has learned.

As surrogates for the parties' standard bearers, the two also could square off more than once at other locations around the nation.

"We're working on something like that for our Distinguished Speakers Series," said Bill Regan, UB's director of special events. "We're not really sure of the format yet. But we do think they are scheduled to do it at least once together before they come to UB."

One piece of advice for Edwards: watch your debates with Cheney from 2004...and do the opposite. I hope we see fierce trial lawyer guy come out against Rove rather than tactful polite but tough guy from the presidential debates last year. This is not the time to be respectful, this is the time to take Rove out.

No pressure though.

I agree with Nate at FiveThirtyEight that the fact that Edwards would agree to what looks to be a series of appearances at all that close to the election is pretty much a sign that we're not going to be seeing an Edwards as Veep redux.

Committing to a series of high-profile and sure to be much-discussed debates with Karl Rove is a great way to stay important in the Democratic Party; it's also a telegraphed sign that Edwards knows the answer to whether he'll be the pick.

AP - Barack Obama celebrated "active faith" as an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change while speaking Saturday to a nearly all-black roomful of churchgoers, but hoping to reach far beyond them.

Enjoy.

• Sarah Lane: We Need to Fight for Those Who Fight for Us.


• Zeitz for Congress addresses another kind of independence in NJ-04: Declaring Energy Independence Day.


• Project Vote asks Who Gets to Vote? State's Struggle to Register Veterans, Felons and Minorities.


• I Can Think of 62,000 Reasons Why John Stossel is Wrong! (johnny venom)


• Pentagon Inspects KBR, but Don't Hold Your Breath says ItsNeverOver.


• Mark Lotwis reflects on The Civil Rights Act - 44 Years Later.


• Court Upholds LAPD's Policy of Not Asking Immigration Status. (The Opportunity Agenda)


• Bobswern has the rundown in 2008's Grand Masters of GOP Dirty Tricks.


• Bored now exposes The Republican in the Donkey Suit.


• DLCC: Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves.


• Making America great with KCRW's Left Right and Center July 4th edition.


• A little enlightenment from RDemocrat in Americans for Ryan: Independence from Exxon Eddie!

AP - Now that they're allies, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will help each other raise money in a series of fundraisers in New York next week.