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Let the People Speak Early
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Is It Time to Rethink State-Ownership of Corporations?
Jay Walljasper
Democracy and Elections:
Big Presidential Vote Count Error Found and Fixed in New Mexico
Steven Rosenfeld
DrugReporter:
Marijuana Is Real Medicine
Paul Krassner
Election 2008:
Obama Surges Ahead in Florida
Paul Harris
Environment:
We Are One President Away From a Future of Fossil Fuel Addiction
David Sassoon
ForeignPolicy:
Chomsky: "If the U.S. Carries Out Terrorism, It Did Not Happen"
Subrata Ghoshroy
Health and Wellness:
Will the Economic Meltdown Undermine Interest in Health Care Reform?
Niko Karvounis
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Legal Immigration? Anyone?
Media and Technology:
The Growth of Talking Points Memo: A Case Study in Independent Media
Joshua Micah Marshall
Movie Mix:
The "Battle in Seattle" and Beyond
Stuart Townsend
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Our Next President Will Transform the Supreme Court
Ellen Goodman
Rights and Liberties:
Robert Fisk: For the Muslim World, It Will Make No Difference Who Wins the Election
Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez
Sex and Relationships:
New Poll: Parents Overwhelmingly Support Age-Appropriate Sex Ed
Scott Swenson
War on Iraq:
The End of Iraq's "Awakening"?
Robert Dreyfuss
Water:
New Information Shows How Climate Change Will Affect Water
MoveOn.org PAC, the progressive online political organization, has turned the political system on its head by rapidly launching an online grassroots political primary long before the political establishment has weighed in on the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
When MoveOn surveyed its members, 96.3 percent of the 186,000 respondents said they were eager to jump into the process early.
The 1.4 million MoveOn members and new joiners are eligible to vote for one candidate from the field of nine in the primary scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday. MoveOn announced that the top tier of contenders, according to a straw poll of its members, are Dennis Kucinich, Howard Dean and John Kerry. In response to members' interest in the three, MoveOn is giving them an assist with a special focus email.
Arguing that "the real choices in the presidential sweepstakes are made long before the real primaries," MoveOn hopes to give insurgent candidacies like Kucinich and Dean a chance to be competitive with the more established, well-funded and media anointed candidacies of John Kerry and John Edwards.
"Pundits, pollsters and big donors shouldn't be the only voices that count at this early and important stage of the process," said MoveOn founder Wes Boyd.
According to MoveOn PAC ground rules, the winner of the MoveOn endorsement needs at least 50 percent of the voters plus one, which would represent what Boyd calls "serious momentum" for one candidate.
MoveOn membership currently numbers 1.4 million. It's not hard to imagine their numbers increasing rapidly as the presidential campaigns hustle their supporters to sign up and make their vote count in this first primary test. Already, emails are flying around the web urging those who are not MoveOn members to register at www.moveon.org. Each current member and new registrant will receive a unique one-person/one-voter link prior to the voting, which takes place June 24 at 12am to June 25 at 11:59pm (EST). MoveOn members will also be encouraged to make donations to their favorite candidates, reminding people that at this early stage campaign contributions are vital to keep a candidate competitive.
It's likely that no single candidate will be able to reap the necessary 50 percent on this first round. Boyd says MoveOn is prepared to hold more votes as the process evolves and members get to know the candidates better. In the event a candidate is chosen next week, MoveOn will execute an urgent fundraising appeal in time for the June 30 quarterly Federal Election Commission filing date.
Helping voters make their decisions is information gleaned from questionnaires distributed to the candidates by MoveOn. Among the seven questions, candidates were asked whether they would seek to revoke the PATRIOT Act; where they stand on crucial environmental issues; and their opinions on other controversial Bush Administration policies, flushing out candidates' positions.
Pundits like Harold Myerson of the American Prospect see Howard Dean as potentially benefiting most from the MoveOn primary process. The web-savvy Dean has raised more than $1 million online, using MeetUp.com to bring supporters together across the country.
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| More News and Analysis: | ||
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We Are One President Away From a Future of Fossil Fuel Addiction Environment: America's energy and climate future will be determined by what the nation decides to do with its deposits of oil shale. By David Sassoon, SolveClimate. October 6, 2008. |
Will the Economic Meltdown Undermine Interest in Health Care Reform? Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: The current bailout is costing us only a third of what we pay each year for chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes and obesity. By Niko Karvounis, Health Beat. October 6, 2008. |
Obama vs. McCain: How the Underinsured Would Fare Under the Candidates' Health Plans Health and Wellness: Some 25 million Americans may be underinsured; that is, their insurance, good or bad, does not cover all their medical care. By Trudy Lieberman, Columbia Journalism Review. October 6, 2008. |