A Campaign Dictionary
8 minutes ago

You are receiving this message as a member of HillaryClinton.com's online community. Please take a look at the message below about the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) from James Carville. The DCCC is solely responsible for the content of this message.
Dear Thomas,
Just when I thought I've seen everything...
The Republicans have dragged out Newt Gingrich to headline a fundraising dinner.
President Obama and the Democratic Party are leading this country into the future. Let the has beens and never weres in the Republican Party fight among themselves. We want you to join us for a different kind of dinner. No Newts allowed.
There is less than a week left for your chance to win a free trip to Washington, DC on June 18th to meet President Obama, have dinner and go home with a photograph with him. The dinner is June 18th and the deadline to enter is less than a week away! Enter now - the more times you give the more chances to win.
Contribute $5, $10, or more and be automatically entered for a chance to win a free trip to Washington, D.C. to join President Obama on June 18th -- and go home with a photograph with the President!
Sincerely,
James Carville
P.S. Even if you don't win coming to Washington to have dinner with the President, if you contribute $35 or more, you get a free "Proud Democrat" eco-friendly grocery tote. Act now - the deadline is less than a week away!


News that DaimlerChrysler AG would sell Chrysler Group to a private equity firm was met with relief and optimism by African American Chrysler dealers who expect the deal will bring much-needed stability to the organization.
Prior to this month's announcement Chrysler had 47 black dealers (44 men and 3 women) and now they'll dwindle down to 37 (35 men and 2 women). Overall the market share for the minority and black dealer population for Chrysler remains the same as of today, before the cuts, 5 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. To the surprise of many, critics were expecting more minority dealers to be sliced.
In mid-May, Chrysler announced that it would axe a quarter of its 3,200 dealers by June 9. Thirty-eight of those 789 dropped dealerships are minority-owned, nine of which are owned by Hispanics. (About 50 Hispanic-owned Chrysler dealerships remain, Lester said.)
Hispanic Business Magazine’s list included three Chrysler dealers in the top 10. The top dealer, ranked No. 3, was Lloyd Chavez Jr. of the Burt Automotive Network in Centennial, Colo., which includes Burt Chrysler Jeep® Dodge of Parker, Colo., and other franchises. The dealership group boasted $2.12 billion in revenue last year. The second dealer was Ernesto Ancira Jr. of Ancira Enterprises Inc., which was ranked No. 7 and grossed $691.26 million. Ancira Enterprises includes Ancira 281 North Chrysler Jeep; Ancira Dodge; and Ancira Motor Co., among its many franchises. Also on the list was Frank Rodriguez of Greenway Ford Inc., at No. 9, which grossed $520.13 million. Rodriguez's franchises include Greenway Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Orlando, Fla.; and Atlanta Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Atlanta.
Everyday I go to work I gotta pin this lieutenant's badge on me," Marcarelli said. "It reminds me I got screwed out of a captain's badge because of the color of my skin."
Lieutenant Marcarelli studied hard and got the top score on a promotions exam. But then New Haven noticed of the 118 firefighters taking that test, none of the 28 black firefighters scored high enough to be promoted.
"It looked like the exam might have been discriminatory against some of the minority test takers. And that was certainly a red flag for the city under the law," Victor Bolden, New Haven City Lawyer said.
The black test-takers cried foul.
Still, fearing the black firefighters would sue, New Haven threw out the test results and promoted no one.
But then one Hispanic and 17 white firefighters sued, saying it was a case of reverse discrimination. They lost their first court battle in 2006, appealed and ended up before Sonia Sotomayor and two other judges on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007.
The three quickly dismissed the firefighters' claims and their 2,000 pages of court papers and filings with a one paragraph ruling.
SAN DIEGO--(Business Wire)--"Driver's desires, needs and attribute priorities are called the customer's vehicle DNA," according to Alexander Edwards, Strategic Vision President of Automotive. "When you understand the emotional payoff delivered by each vehicle attribute measured against the customer's vehicle DNA, you will know why an African American views the Chrysler 300 as a vehicle of choice while an Asian American chooses an Acura MDX or BMW 3-Series (accounting for price). This understanding can provide automotive manufacturers with the knowledge of how to create the right product and communicate the right messages that will sell more vehicles, build brand equity, increase customer advocacy and develop future loyalty and retention."
First, the claim is almost certainly not true. While things may have changed somewhat since the days I was raising money for a Republican member of Congress, auto dealers are almost overwhelmingly Republican. Pretty much by definition, if you’re going to be closing down auto dealerships, you’re going to be closing down an awful lot of Republican-owned auto dealerships. A quick look at the giving by the National Auto Dealers Association PAC consistently shows contributions going to Republican candidates by about a 2 to 1 margin, and nearly 3 to 1 in one recent cycle.
More telling, however, is the fate of minority-owned auto dealers under the closings. If the Obama administration were targeting political opponents for closure, it would seem likely that political allies, or at least those the Obama administration presumably favors, would have a lower closure rate than others.
It’s speculation on my part, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that minority-owned dealerships would come out better-than-expected if the Obama administration were using auto dealership closures as a tool of political revenge.
So what do the numbers show? From an article in the Seattle Medium:
Of the 789 Chrysler dealers who were notified that their contracts will not be renewed, 38 are minority owned...
At the end of April, there were 154 minority dealers in Chrysler’s 3,181 total U.S. dealer body network...
According to my trusty calculator, before closings 4.84% of Chrysler’s dealers were minority owned. What percentage of auto dealers receiving closure notices are minority owned? 4.82%
South Korea's Yonhap news agency did not provide any details about the reported launch Friday.
There appears to be a side to the Chrysler bankruptcy that has the look of an ugly partisanship not seen in this town since Tricky Dick was in the White House composing his enemies list and checking it twice every night while watching the evening TV newscast.
Bloggers on the Right side of the Blogosphere are up in arms over data suggesting that President Barack Obama’s White House auto industry potentates are targeting for closure Chrysler dealers with records of contributing either to Republicans like Sen. John McCain or to other Democrats in the 2008 presidential primary.
Posts at RedState, Reliapundit, American Thinker, Gateway Pundit, Joey Smith and Doug Ross pointed initially at the remarkable number of closed Chrysler dealerships whose owners happen to have been contributors to Obama opponents, mainly Republicans.
Big Dem Donor Group allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... Local competitors eliminated by Obama's task force!!
For more almost two decades, Ken Zangara was a good soldier for Chrysler. For many years he was the largest Dodge dealer in New Mexico, and he served a term as chairman of the Dodge National Dealer Council.
The Albuquerque Dodge dealer was active in Republican Party politics, too, and knew President George W. Bush. Zangara used his connections in Congress to get Chrysler LLC and its dealers an audience with the White House when the embattled company sought a federal loan late last year.
At an exclusive Jan. 18 White House farewell party for Bush, Zangara, 56, spoke with the man for whom he had raised so much campaign money. Zangara recalls ...
Vail-based businessman George Gillett Jr. is close to buying a big portion of the Burt Automotive empire, a source tells INDenverTimes. Burt Automotive, headed by Lloyd Chavez and his son, L.G. Chavez Jr., is the largest minority-owned automobile dealership in the nation and one of the largest Hispanic businesses in the U.S. The privately held company generated more than $2.1 billion in revenues in 2007.
Gillett, whose diverse holdings include the Vista Auto Group dealership chain, is teaming up with auto dealer veteran Rod Buscher to buy dealerships from Burt, according to a source, who spoke to INDenverTimes on the condition that his name not be revealed. Buscher previously was a partner with John Elway, a former Denver Broncos quarterback, for his automobile dealerships.
Motor city Madness
Originally, it was thought that 140 minority owned Chrysler dealers out of the 170 minority owned Chrysler dealers were going to be closed.
But the facts on the closing of the Chrysler dealerships are; out of some 170 minority owned Chrysler dealers, only about 32-38 minority owned Chrysler dealers were closed.
The original reason for the high number was; the minority dealers were smaller in size and offered only one brand. So given that thought process, why did so many stay open? My guess is Obama, Maxine Waters and politics.
What I find interesting is as was reported; out of 14 metro dealerships in the Detroit area that were closed none were minority owned.
So here is a published list of 38 Chrysler dealers that are closing in Michigan.
Posts at RedState, Reliapundit, American Thinker, Gateway Pundit, Joey Smith and Doug Ross pointed initially at the remarkable number of closed Chrysler dealerships whose owners happen to have been contributors to Obama opponents, mainly Republicans.
But those observations were all couched with important qualifiers, particularly that all conclusions were necessarily preliminary, pending completion of a comprehensive analysis of the political contributions by all closed Chrysler dealership owners had been done and comparison of those with contributions by dealers who are not being closed.
That said, when multiple dealers who have been closed are found to have contributed millions to Republicans and mere hundreds to Obama, the serious number-crunching cannot be completed too soon.
Meanwhile, Ross seems to be ground zero for this story, and I encourage you to check out his multiple updates at http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/05/red-alert-did-campaign-contributions.html.
The governor’s contention has been that, since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a federal law that directs the spending of federal money, the lawsuit should be decided in federal court.
But the state Association of School Administrators thinks the matter should be settled in state court. The state constitution gives state lawmakers the authority to pass a budget. They passed a budget that includes spending about $350 million in federal stimulus money that the governor is refusing to request. Their argument is that the budget is a state law and the governor is sworn to uphold it, and a federal court shouldn’t be involved in making a decision about the state constitution.

CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities in Mexico announced three more swine flu deaths and the United States and Canada one more death each as the world's largest vaccine maker signed a deal with the United States to produce a swine flu vaccine.
Sanofi Pasteur said Monday it has won a $190 million order from the United States government to make a swine flu vaccine. Sanofi Pasteur, which operates flu vaccine production plants at Swiftwater, Pa., and in Val de Reuil, in France, said it could begin commercial production in June.
Gunmen in Mexico have attacked four leftist politicians in two separate attacks in the country's southwest.
Police say unidentified attackers ambushed a car carrying three Democratic Revolution Party members Monday in the coastal state of Guerrero. Officials say one of the gunmen opened fire, injuring all three politicians.
In a separate incident, Mexico's Public Safety Department said gunmen near Acapulco opened fire on a vehicle carrying a congressional candidate for the Socialist Democratic Party. The gunmen missed the candidate, Manuel de la Barrera, but wounded his driver in the attack.
Critical Updates Below: Red State, American Thinker and Joey Smith provide anecdotal and quantitative evidence that would appear to confirm a decided bias against dealers who donated to GOP causes or to anti-Obama Democrats.
Special note for moonbats: no one here is saying that the sole criterion for closing a dealership was partisan. What we ask is: does it seem odd that the list of closed dealerships appears to have contributed a grand total of $200 to Barack Obama and millions to GOP candidates/causes?
In Hayden v. Pataki, 449 F.3d 305 (2d Cir. 2006), the en banc Second Circuit rejected a challenge under the Voting Rights Act to a New York law denying convicted felons the right to vote. The plaintiffs in the case had argued that in light of the long history of discrimination, both in society and in the New York criminal justice system specifically, the state’s disqualification of felons constituted disqualification based on race. The majority reasoned that Congress did not intend the VRA to apply to state felon disenfranchisement laws. Moreover, extending the VRA to the state statutes would “alter the constitutional balance” between states and the federal government, and the VRA lacked a clear statement by Congress that it intended to upset that balance.
Sotomayor joined the main dissent from the en banc court’s decision but also wrote a short dissenting opinion of her own in which she opined that the issue was actually much simpler than the majority and concurring opinions would suggest: the VRA “applies to all ‘voting qualifications,’” and - in her view - the state law “disqualifies a group of people from voting.” “These two propositions,” she concluded, “should constitute the entirety of our analysis.” Rejecting what she regarded as the majority’s failure to grapple with the plain text of the statute, she emphasized that “[t]he duty of a judge is to follow the law, not to question its plain terms. I do not believe that Congress wishes us to disregard the plain language of any statute or to invent exceptions to the statutes it has created. . . . But even if Congress had doubts about the wisdom of subjecting felony disenfranchisement laws to the results test of § 2, I trust that Congress would prefer to make any needed changes itself, rather than have courts do so for it.”
Armed with a $190 million order from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Sanofi Pasteur could begin production of a swine flu vaccine at one of its two Swiftwater facilities as soon as next month.
Announcing the news Monday, Sanofi noted the order was issued under an existing pandemic stockpile contract with the U.S.
News comes just two weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a license for Sanofi's new, $150 million, 140,000-square-foot vaccine manufacturing plant at Swiftwater. That's where initial work would begin, while an existing plant at the complex continues work on seasonal flu vaccine. Ultimately, both could produce the new vaccine.
The impassioned stimulus fund showdown between Gov. Mark Sanford and the Legislature took an unprecedented turn last week, straight into federal court. No question the governor has a better chance of winning there than he would in a S.C. Court where precedent seems against him.
Novartis has begun aggressive efforts to develop an H1N1 vaccine. We intend to use both cell-based which is potentially faster, and egg-based production methods to increase the likelihood of the greatest possible supply. Novartis has received the genetic code of the new H1N1 virus strain, and the wild virus strain. Our intention is to be in a position to manufacture a vaccine as quickly as possible.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inching closer to a swine flu vaccine, the government is beginning to analyze two candidates for the key ingredient to brew one. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to deliver one or both to vaccine manufacturers by the end of next week so scientists can begin the months-long process of producing shots.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Here, at Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater, Pa., the world's largest manufacturer of influenza vaccine, the company's labs are now waiting for the arrival of an H1N1 seed strain from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
It's one of seven labs around the world racing to find the key ingredient: the seed strain, which is an actual sample of a virus, that is used to develop a vaccine.
PHIL HOSBACH, vice president, Sanofi Pasteur: We're prepared. We're ready to go. We're still waiting for that seed virus. And once someone tells us what our role and responsibility is, we can begin the manufacturing process, shortly after receiving that seed virus.
The vaccine process begins with the viral isolate being converted into “seed stock.” CDC has already sent five isolates to seven laboratories to make this starting material. A key property of seed stock is that it’s a weakened, or attenuated, version of the original virus, which makes for a safer production process and lowers the risk of an accidental release.
Skinner says CDC expects to have the seed stock in hand next week. According to the WHO report, it will then take 1 to 2 weeks of testing in animals to make sure that the seed stock is properly attenuated. But Skinner says CDC will simultaneously conduct these animal tests and send the seed stock to some manufacturers that have biosafety level 3-plus laboratories (BSL-3 plus), which are specially designed to work with dangerous pathogens. “Those that have the BSL-3 plus labs, and some do, will start right away,” says Skinner, who stresses that, in the United States, all of this depends on the government deciding to procure the vaccine, which has not happened yet.
Meanwhile, Novartis said today that it has received a seed strain of H1N1designed to be used in the vaccine manufacturing process, according to AFP, and GlaxoSmithKline said it has received orders from several governments for tens of millions of doses of H1N1 vaccine, Dow Jones Newswires says.
* Vaccine available 4-6 mths after co gets seed virus
GSK, led by chief executive Andrew Witty, said it expects to manufacture a vaccine for the H1N1 strain as soon as a virus seed is made available by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The seed strain, or starting material for the new virus which is being grown at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other laboratories, will be given to manufacturers by mid- to late-May, she said.
"We have no doubt making a successful vaccine is possible within a reasonably short period of time," Kieny told a news conference.
84.394 State Fiscal Stabilization Fund $647,606,185
84.389 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies $386,466,967
10.566 Nutrition Assistance For Puerto Rico $240,133,000
14.885 Public Housing Capital fund Stimulus (Formula) $174,579,333
84.391 IDEA Part B Grants to States $109,098,472
93.778 MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM $93,799,306
66.458 Clean Water SRF $51,114,200
81.042 Weatherization Assistance for Low-Income Persons (A) $48,865,588
14.257 Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program $45,002,388
14.258 Tax Credit Assistance Program $42,646,082
17.259 WIA Youth Activities $42,456,987
81.041 State Energy Program (A) $37,086,000
17.260 WIA Dislocated Workers $29,524,346
84.386 Educational Technology State Grants $24,096,376
16.803 Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Formula Program - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryact.html $21,686,612
14.317 Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program Special Allocations $20,561,530
17.258 WIA Adult Program $20,128,708
66.468 Drinking Water SRF $19,500,000
14.253 CDBG Entitlement Grants $16,661,034
14.255 CDBG State's Program and Non-Entitlement Grants in Hawaii $12,753,068
84.126 Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants $12,596,832
93.703 Health Center Integrated Services Development Initiative $7,549,628
84.393 IDEA Part C Grants for Infants and Families $4,787,954
17.207 Employment Service / Wagner-Peyser Funded Activities $4,645,634
84.033 Federal Work Study $3,614,125
10.569 The Emergency Food Assistance Program (Food Commodities) $3,398,779
84.392 IDEA Part B Preschool Grants $3,336,115
16.588 Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Recovery Act STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program - http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/recovery.htm $1,978,993
10.579 Child Nutrition Discretionary Grants Limited Availability $1,532,183
66.805 LUST Trust Fund Program $1,030,000
93.707 ARRA - Aging Congregate Nutrition Services for States $865,370
10.568 The Emergency Food Assistance Program (Administrative Costs) $851,824
16.801 Office of Justice Programs (OJP) OVC FY09 VOCA Victim Compensation Formula Grant Program (Assistance) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryact.html $762,000
66.454 Water Quality Planning (604b) $516,300
84.399 Services for Older Individuals who are Blind $469,910
93.705 ARRA - Aging Home-Delivered Nutrition Services for States $426,028
17.235 Senior Community Service Employment Program $325,303
84.398 Independent Living State Grants $242,913
16.802 Office of Justice Programs (OJP) OVC FY09 VOCA Victim Compensation Formula Grant Program (Compensation) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryact.html $145,139
84.401 Impact Aid Construction $0
MOSCOW, May 22 (Reuters) - Russia on Friday confirmed its first case of H1N1 flu in a traveller who recently returned from the United States, Interfax news agency quoted a public health official as saying.
Tests showed a Russian who had returned from New York had the H1N1 virus, Gennady Onishchenko, head of the state consumer protection watchdog, was quoted as saying.
"Tests showed positive and he has been hospitalised," said Onishchenko. "He is feeling okay and his condition is satisfactory."
"Everyone who had contact with the patient has been put under observation."
The consumer protection watchdog, known as Rospotrebnadzor, declined to make immediate comment. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Dmitry Zhdannikov)
For nearly four-out-of-five U.S. voters, the problem is not their unwillingness to pay taxes. It’s their elected representatives’ refusal to cut the size of government.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of voters say the bigger problem in the United States is the unwillingness of politicians to control government spending. Just 14% say the problem is that voters are unwilling to pay enough in taxes, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Reporting from Mexico City -- The Mexican senator at the center of an ugly drug scandal temporarily stepped down Wednesday, saying he welcomed an investigation he expects will clear his name.
Coming six weeks before national midterm elections, the allegations involving 14 1/2 tons of marijuana found on property belonging to the senator's family have inflamed suspicions widely held by Mexicans that many politicians are in cahoots with powerful drug traffickers.
Southerners overwhelmingly back Sanford’s opposition to the stimulus plan, according to a new poll of South Carolina and 10 other Southern states conducted for Winthrop University and ETV. Results of that poll were released Thursday.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In a poll conducted by Channel 2 News Thursday, May 21, 2009 respondents were asked if they agreed with Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to reject federal stimulus energy funds.
Here is the official question and results of the 3,473 people who voted:
Do you agree with Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to reject federal stimulus energy funds?
Yes 53%
No 47%
All polls conducted by Channel 2 News and KTUU.com are unscientific.
Gov. Mark Sanford is taking the General Assembly to court after lawmakers required him to accept $350 million in disputed federal money by overriding his budget vetoes.
Palin has until May 25 to sign or veto a bill approving the funds. If she vetoes the $930.7 million stimulus package, or any portion of it, she will risk further angering Alaska constituents, as her approval numbers have been in serious freefall since she returned from the campaign trail last November. If she votes to accept the entire package, it will be viewed as a final cave-in to her original opposition and will carve away her support among the conservative base in the national Republican Party.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico City lowered its swine flu alert level from yellow to green on Thursday, and the mayor said "we can relax" now that there have been no new infections for a week.
Other scientists believe the new strain could have been circulating in humans long before it reached La Gloria. The new strain's ancestry has ties to a pig farm in North Carolina where in 1998, scientists discovered that pig, bird and human viruses had combined in pigs to form a new strain of swine flu that also infected a handful of humans.
Why were the viral genomes of the 1977 H1N1 isolate and the 1950 virus so similar? If the H1N1 viruses had been replicating in an animal host for 27 years, far more genetic differences would have been identified. The authors suggested several possibilities, but only one is compelling:
…it is possible that the 1950 H1N1 influenza virus was truly frozen in nature or elsewhere and that such a strain was only recently introduced into man.
The suggestion is clear: the virus was frozen in a laboratory freezer since 1950, and was released, either by intent or accident, in 1977. This possibility has been denied by Chinese and Russian scientists, but remains to this day the only scientifically plausible explanation.