Back from the Cleland speech. I got some interesting answers.

[Jackpine Radical]

It was an energizing event, but kind of small. Maybe 60 people, with 1 US Representative (Ron Kind) on hand. The crowd, such as it was, was largely Kerry-supporting vets. I actually got to talk to Max 1 on 1 for a while before & after the session.

I asked if he thought he had been beaten by Saxby Chambliss or by Wally O'Dell. He l;ooked blank at the O'Dell reference, so I added, "Diebold CEO." He clearly doesn't attribute his loss to skullduggery with the machines. He says it was a combination of factors (Bush campaigning, sleazy attack ads, and the Confederate Flag issue) that brought the "Angry White Male" demographic out against him in unprecedented & unpredicted numbers. He sees himself as a test case for the Repug strategy of single-issue mobilization.

On the Kean 9-11 Commission--the reason he quit is simple. Essentially, he left in disgust. "The commission was a joke. They weren't going to look at anything. The August intelligence briefing contained explicit warnings about a threat of airplanes being flown into buildings, but they weren't going to touch it." He takes what I would call a soft-core LIHOP position. "I dont believe they had the specific dates, times or places, but...."

Max is a wonderful, down-to-earth guy. I think he was ready to talk to me for a couple of hours, but the people in charge of his schedule gently separated us.

[K8-EEE]

1. thanks for this!

Speaking of attacks I take it Ann-thrax's column didn't come up? I hope not.

[Moderator]

2. Locking.

. Discussion topics that mention any or all of the Democratic presidential primary candidates are not permitted in the General Discussion forum, and instead must be posted in the General Discussion: 2004 Primary forum.