New Day a’Dawnin’

My wife was all “yippee” and “yahoo” about it as I read aloud sections of a NY Times story to her from this morning’s paper.
by Charlie Leck

This blog is about a story in this morning’s New York Times. If you go to this link, you’ll notice that the story is headed by a photograph showing the women of the House of Representatives, of the convening 113^th Congress, gathered on the steps at the Capital. They set a record – these women –and I expect it is only the beginning – only the beginning.

You’ll notice something unusual in the photograph right away. There is color – bright and glorious color – in the picture. The steps are not covered with dark blue or black, pin-striped suits showing a bit of white shirt with a dark tie. Not at all! Here you’ll see bright blues, reds, some orange and pink, and splashes of green.

“Hooray,” my wife shouted, and she looked rather Tigeresque as she pumped a fist into the air. We had donated sizably to Congressional races this year and I think she was feeling that it had been worth it.

The NY Times calls it the “rise of the female legislator – 20 in the Senate and 81 in the House.”

As I looked at the photograph, I was reminded of a scene from a play we had seen this past autumn at the Guthrie Theater – Appomattox by Christopher Hampton. Frederick Douglas had just departed the White House after a visit with President Lincoln, during which they talked about the coming freedom of the American slaves. Mary Todd Lincoln joins the President as he waves his goodbyes to Mr. Douglas. The President turns to his wife and tells her of Douglas’ amazing request that the vote also be secured for the free slaves. That, Lincoln told his wife, will be a while coming.

“And for the women,” Mary inquires of her husband, “when will the vote be coming to women?”

The President merely looks at her as if it is only a bit of humor on her part; he shakes his head and smiles.

And now, here is my wife pumping a fist up into the empty space about her and shouting in joy when I read her the ridiculous quote from Claire McCaskill, the U.S. Senator from Missouri, who spoke about the progress women were making in the Senate…

“I don’t think we should be satisfied until we have the same number of women in the Senate that represent the percentage of the population that are women, so we still have a long way to go!”

My wife took her coffee cup from her lips and shouted, “Yes!”

Ashley Parker writes in her Times article about one of the women of House who “wandered the aisles with her daughter on her hip.”

Remarkable!

“The times, Mrs. Lincoln are really a-changin’ – and with remarkable speed; and I think we are all the better for it. Mention it to the President if you see him, will you?”

As an aside, I shall mention that one of the United States Senators from Minnesota is Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was reelected by a staggering landslide this past November. In addition, Betty McCollum represents Minnesota’s 4th congressional district, which includes St. Paul and the area east to Minnesota’s border with Wisconsin (including the city of Stillwater).

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Come! Come! The Bell has Rung!

The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota is underway!
by Charlie Leck

The Race is on!
U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, from my state of Minnesota, has her eye on big things in this session of Congress – things bigger than the House and reelection to it! Bachmann’s eye is on the U.S. Senate and the seat currently held by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. As far as Bachmann is concerned, the race is on!

Bachmann raised big money is her recent election campaign for the House. A great deal of that money came from outside Minnesota, from many parts of Minnesota outside her district, and from big business around the nation. She’s still got plenty of it left in her war chest and she’ll be able to raise money with great ease in a campaign that will get underway toward the end of this year for the 2012 election.

The Senate doesn’t normally elect the kind of whackos that manage to get elected to the House. A congressional district can take on abnormal and aberrant characteristics that enable it to send some strange characters to Washington. On a state-wide basis the playing field is normally leveled and the more serious and savvy candidate has a much better chance of winning.

Here’s why Bachmann could win!
Bachmann, however, may break those rules. Money counts big-time in Senate races. Thanks to last year’s Supreme Court decision regarding corporate campaign contributions, Bachman will pull down really huge amounts of money from the big-business world. She will also pull into Minnesota lots of money from the fringe political elements all over the United States. Finally, she won’t worry about playing dirty. She knows how to do it and she knows it works. She is not a gentle and kind person. Her opponent, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, is a gentle and fair person who believes in the power of the truth and in open, honest debate. Her last campaign, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, was a good, decent, open and informative campaign between distinguished candidates. Forget that in 2012.

Bachman starts now!
The new Congress convenes today. Michele Bachman is ready. She will immediately introduce a very pro-business bill to repeal the Wall Street reforms of the last Congress. Does it have a chance when there is a Democrat Senate and Presidency? That’s not the point and it doesn’t matter. Bachmann intends to send a clear message to the national business interests.

Clang! The campaign for the U.S. Senate begins today!

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If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Obama's Voice

Read Jim Klobuchar Writes
by Charlie Leck

For years, Jim Klobuchar was my reason for picking up the newspaper. He was a highly acclaimed writer for the Minneapolis Star. Lordsy, what a writer -- funny, sad, tragic, compellling, truthful, searing! He won plenty of awards and deserved them. I was one of his biggest fans.

Retired, he doesn't write much any more. He's such an active man that he's too busy for steady blogging, so he blogs irregularly, but I watch it closely to see when there is a new posting. There's one today, and I urge you to go to it -- To Mobilize America, Can Obama's Voice Recall Kennedy's? I hope you'll to read it. (Just to remind you, Jim is the father of our state's U.S. Senator, Amy Klobuchar.)