Gov. Riley in Lee County

By Jennifer J. Foster

For those of you who logged on at 7 p.m. for live blogging from the Lee County Republican Party’s annual dinner, I have just one question for you:

You know that guy Murphy? I’ve kind of had it with him today.

Actually, I don’t have anything against Murphy. It’s his law that’s been the trouble. You know, that whole if-anything-can-go-wrong-it-will mantra? Well, that’s been the theme of the day for me.

I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say that I was 35 minutes leaving my previous commitment and heading over toward Opelika and the Marriott for the event, which started at 7 p.m. I headed that way at 7:35. Not a great start. I knew it would take 20 minutes to get there, and that wasn’t considering getting inside, getting set up, etc. I honestly considerd ditching the entire thing because I just knew that by the time I got there and got set up, the governor would be finished.

I arrived just before 8, and I thought I had caught a break when a man headed back to the ballroom told me that Riley hadn’t spoken yet. I hurried to the ballroom, scoped out a seat in the back against the wall (it was actually the only unoccupied seat I saw) and opened up the computer. I’m all set, I thought.

But then, there was Murphy.

Ten seconds in, I realized I didn’t have an open internet connection. Two minutes later, I had talked with a hote employee who had good news—the room was wired for access—and bad news—no wireless capability. More bad news: Although the room has jacks, they were covered up by the tables. More bad news still: It would take 20 minutes to set up. The bad news kicker: They would charge me for it once they did set it up.

It was a non-starter for me.

Obviously, I was disappointed. I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way we had hoped. But I figured I would stay, because I thought Riley would offer some good nuggets for us political junkies (he did—more on that in a minute). I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

Barack-ary and the Big Mo

By Jennifer J. Foster

If the Democratic presidential nomination was decided on momentum, this would have been a very bad week for Barack Obama.

Jeremiah Wright. Jeremiah Wright. And then there was Jeremiah Wright.

And if that wasn’t enough, Hillary Clinton took on her archenemy, the Wicked Wizard of the Fox News Kingdom, Bill O’Reilly—and came out smelling like a rose.

The Obama campaign seemed to struggle for any good news. On Wednesday, campaign spokesman Bill Burton trotted out news of another superdelegate who has committed to Obama: California Rep. Lois Capps. But it didn’t seem that anyone was particularly surprised by the announcement.

Maybe that’s because she’s Burton’s mother-in-law.

Anyway, combined with a few other announcements of superdelegates here and there, including the surprising decision by former DNC chairman Joe Andrew to affiliate with Obama, he has cut Hillary Clinton’s lead among superdelegates by half in the last two months.

Andrew’s defection was particularly curious: He had endorsed Clinton early in the primary process—on the day she entered the race, in fact. Comments he made about his decision, both in an interview with the Associated Press and in a letter he wrote to fellow superdelegates, raised eyebrows among party faithful:

‘'I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it’s now bad for the Democratic Party,‘’ Andrew said in the interview, in a noticeable departure from Democrats’ standard mantra about how “healthy” the ongoing battle is for the party.

In his letter, Andrew wrote that ‘'a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain.‘’

Superdelegates will have the popular vote, states won, delegate count, national polls and electability to consider as they ponder their decision between Clinton and Obama. They might also be encouraged to take into consideration the congressional endorsement tally, since both candidates serve in the Senate. On that count, Obama supporter Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) all but declared victory in that fight.

The question for the Obama campaign will be whether they can use the numbers to steady the ship as Hurricane Wright passes over, or if Wright, the political equivalent of the giant iceberg that felled the Titanic, has caused enough damage to breach the watertight compartments of the Boat of Barack.

Cramer and the Blue Dogs

By Jennifer J. Foster

It seems that Majority Whip Steny Hoyer is starting to worry that the Blue Dog Democrats are getting soft on FISA. From TheHill.com:

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.), the House Democrats’ point man in negotiations on an overhaul of intelligence surveillance law, is keeping his eye on conservative Blue Dog Democrats who might defect on the issue under Republican pressure.

The topic has reached a critical point because surveillance orders granted by the director of national intelligence and the attorney general under the authority of the Protect America Act begin to expire in August ...

Conservative and freshman Democrats are growing skittish. These lawmakers expect campaign opponents to accuse them of imperiling national security if Congress does not enact new intelligence surveillance legislation.

Retiring Alabama Congressman Bud Cramer (D-Huntsville) is a founding member of the Blue Dogs. (Read more about the coalition here.) Cramer also serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, so his perspective on the need to reauthorize or tweak its provisions will carry heavy sway with fellow Blue Dogs whom Hoyer is scrambling to keep in line.

I’d be interested to know what conversations about FISA Hoyer has had with Cramer, if any, and what those conversations entailed. It will be interesting to watch how Cramer, who has no reason to toe the party line, influences this debate over the next few months.

Also of note is the impact this issue will have in the campaign to replace Cramer. How will the six Republicans and two Democrats—State Sen. Parker Griffith, in particular—handle FISA and the Democratic Party leadership’s opposition to expansion and reauthorization of the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program?

No one wants to be accused of being soft on national security—especially in an election year.

Another rule violation on Goat Hill ... *yawn*

By Jennifer J. Foster

Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. was accused yesterday of violating the Alabama Constitution when he ignored objections from Republican members as he ended debate on a controversial gambling bill that has kept the State Senate locked in a stalemate for the past nine days. From the Birmingham News:

Several senators accused Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. of breaking the law Tuesday when he allowed, over objections, a voice vote by senators that stopped debate on a bill about electronic bingo machines at a dog track in Macon County ...
He allowed a voice vote and ruled that senators had voted to carry over, or set aside, SB 191, even though senators raised their hands asking for a roll-call vote ...

Folsom prefaced the move by telling senators, “We do not have time in this body to ... keep this legislation suspended in midair for days and days and days while all of you have important legislation.“

Um, that’s great, except that there’s this thing called the State Constitution: Section 55 requires a recorded vote to be taken on any question and entered in the Senate journal at the request of one-tenth of the senators present. It seems Folsom is cool with the whole Constitution thing, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of legislators’ “important legislation.“

The News’ David White writes, “By tradition, the presiding officer has required roll-call votes if three or more senators raised their hands. More than four senators raised their hands after Sen. Zeb Little, D-Cullman, moved to carry over SB 191 to free the Senate to debate other bills.“

Admittedly, math has never been my strong suit. But the Alabama Senate has 35 members, and one-tenth of 35 is ... 3.5 (We’ll round that up to four so as to avoid implementing the Solomon solution of splitting one of the senators in half—although I could suggest a few candidates if it came to that. But I digress.).

White says that “more than four” senators requested the roll call vote; that could mean five, six or even 10. The last time I checked, each of those numbers is more than four.

Ah, well, who really expects the Alabama Legislature to follow those prickly rules, anyway? After all, the only ones that count are the ones they are making.

Wait; that’s not true, either ... They don’t even follow their own procedural rules, remember?

The sad thing about this is that Alabamians barely bat an eyelash anymore at this kind of rampant disregard for the law by their elected representatives in Montgomery. Hammered with increasingly disturbing revelations about double-dipping in the two-year college system, a steady stream of indictments accusing legislators of outright and unrepentant theft and blatant acts that legislators explain away with stories that insult voters’ intelligence, stories like this have just lost their shock value.

And

that’s what’s really shocking.

Welcome!

By Jennifer J. Foster

Hey everyone, and welcome to Clarion Caller—The Blog!

By way of introduction, I’m a 31-year-old sometimes-journalist who has worked in public education, as a campaign manager and in state government as a legislative aide. While paying my dues at the intersection of Politics and Policy, I heard plenty of campaign promises and saw lots of reasons why they aren’t fulfilled. In short, I’m a wayward journalist and recovering political addict, and I’ve written a weekly column for this newspaper for just over a year. I like to think of this blog as that column’s hipper, more active companion—kind of like that friend you had in high school that you always knew, but never publicly admitted, was just a tad bit cooler than you.

My blog used to live in the Blogger neighborhood; you can check out the old digs (and posts) here. Please bear with us as we set up housekeeping and unload all the tchotchkes from the move.

Whether you’ve found me by persistence or chance, I hope you’ll stay. It’s my goal to bring you the best in local, state and national political news and views. If you have a question, want to pass along a tip or the latest rumor you heard at the barber or beauty shop or if you just want to vent about politics, I’m your girl, and this is your blog.

Bookmark me—and tell your friends!