Take the Joe Lieberman Pledge

By Peter Rothberg

As my colleague John Nichols reports, to the surprise of few on Capitol Hill -- but to the disappointment of many beyond the beltway -- Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman will retain his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Homeland Security Committee and his place in the Democratic Caucus. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he "feels good" about the decision and won't "apologize to anyone for what we did today."

Lieberman thus gets away with his full-throated endorsement of John McCain, his long-standing alliance with the Bush Administration on foreign-policy and his public skepticism regarding Barack Obama's fitness for the presidency.

Or does he?

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November 18, 2008

No to Lawrence Summers

By Peter Rothberg

President-elect Obama rightly spoke often on the campaign trail about the perils of deregulation and trade agreements that do not include worker and environmental protections.

The deregulation of our financial institutions has led to our current economic crisis, and it is critical that the next Treasury Secretary discontinue the failed policies of both the Clinton and Bush administrations, a legacy of deregulation of financial markets and trade agreements that dramatically slant toward corporate interests.

Given all this, as Mark Ames asks in a new Nation.com article, and in light of all of the corruption and cronyism that have marked the career of Bill Clinton's last Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, why is Obama considering him for a repeat performance? Please sign The Nation's new petition, inspired by a similar campaign started by the invaluable blog OpenLeft, asking Obama's transition team to end the consideration and take Summers off the list.

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November 11, 2008

Pushing Obama

By Peter Rothberg

As talk turns to whom the new President will appoint to his cabinet and what tasks they'll immediately turn themselves to in the first 100 days, a stirring new video from our friends at the Campaign for America's Future reminds us what is possible.

As scholar Anthony Badger wrote in his history of the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt's first 100 days in office were marked by a frenzy of legislation -- sixteen pieces in all -- that reshaped and redefined the role of government. President-elect Obama would do well to be as ambitious but he needs to be pushed. Much, if not all, of FDR's programs wouldn't have been possible without strong pressure from organized movements of people. Obama needs that same kind of pressure. The movements are out there. Join one today.

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November 10, 2008

Voters Reject Abortion Bans in South Dakota, Colorado.

By Peter Rothberg

More Good News From Last Night:

In the last few months I wrote about calls to action against two draconian state referendums intended to deprive women of their legally-guaranteed reproductive choices. Many of you responded and we won in both Colorado and South Dakota!

In the newly blue state of Colorado, voters resoundingly rejected by a three to one margin a ballot initiative that would have eliminated a woman's ability to make personal, private decisions about her health care by granting legal rights to a fertilized egg. It could have banned all abortions and been used to block stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, among other reproductive health services. It could even have prevented doctors from providing lifesaving care to a woman if the medical treatment needed could harm a fertilized egg. Amendment 48 was a darling of social conservatives and it got crushed.

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November 5, 2008

Where To Party

By Peter Rothberg

Far be it from me to jinx things but I'm not superstitious, reports are that efforts to protect voting rights are working, and the early exit polls, as imperfect as exit polling may be, look good for the Democrats.

So I think it's high time to recommend some places where progressives may well be partying tonight. The nationwide Living Liberally network's WhereDoIGoOnElectionNight.com has details on election night party spots, from the Grandview Cafe in Columbus, Ohio to Gentle Ben's in Tucson, Arizona to Spencer's Stadium Tavern in Indianapolis, Indiana to the Greek Cusina in Portland, Oregon to the Publick House in Columbia, South Carolina.

We gathered for the primaries. We turned the debates into communal spectacles. Now, it's Game Seven -- don't watch it alone. With more than three hundred Drinking Liberally chapters across the country, most of you should be able to find a gathering without venturing too far afield. If not, help spur the economy and turn your local watering hole into a de facto Living Liberally party.

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November 4, 2008

Voting Incidents Being Reported Nationwide

By Peter Rothberg

After two years, $2.5 billion, hundreds of speeches and dozens of debates, the most historic election campaign in modern American history is finally drawing to a close.

Yesterday, I posted some ideas for actions people can take if confronted with voter suppression efforts.

Click here if you've had a problem at the polls today.

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November 4, 2008

Combat Vote Suppression

By Peter Rothberg

This longest election campaign in American history, soon to be concluded, has seen a record number of new voters registered.

In Connecticut, more than 300,000 new voters have added their names to the rolls since January 1, and a higher percentage of registered voters are expected to participate in tomorrow's election than at any time since John F. Kennedy faced off with Richard Nixon in 1960.

In Delaware, 600,000 new voters signed up -- an "unprecedented" amount, according to Sussex County Department of Elections, Kenneth McDowell.

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November 3, 2008

Studs Terkel: Missed

By Peter Rothberg

Oral historian, rabble-rouser and grand old man of the American left, Studs Terkel died Friday at 96. From Robert LaFollette to Barack Obama he never pulled his punches through the chronicling of five generations of American history. Read John Nichols' appreciation of the life and work of a "true American hero," Bruce Shapiro's tribute to the "vigilant optimist" and Dennis Kucinich's eulogy to the "quintessential American writer" and watch the two videos below for a sense of what we've lost.

This study of the colorful Terkel contains footage of the great man from the 1950's through 2000, when he was 89 years old. Terkel expounds on various topics such as work, art, media, himself, his political views, his family, and his colleagues.

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November 1, 2008

Stop GOP Vote Suppression

By Peter Rothberg

My friend and Nation writer Roberto Lovato has an important post today on his Of America blog. He outlines what to do before the election to safeguard against any possible dirty tricks and, if necessary, what would be an appropriate response to the unlikely instance of a repeat of the chaos and eventual theft of Election 2000.

If current polls and trends remain, it'll be extremely difficult for any possible fraud to affect the outcome of the presidential race. Moreover, the Obama campaign seems up to the task of protecting the vote and effectively pushing back against any GOP-inspired shenanigans

Yet you need not be a conspiracy theorist to worry about a stolen election, especially in countless down-ticket races that may still remain hotly contested. A recent report in the New York Times found that in some battleground states, for every new voter registered two other voters have been removed. Colorado, a state experiencing rapid population increases, has seen more than 100,000 voters erased from its rolls. Reports from other states of suppression and fraud involving computerized voting systems, voter purges, unreasonable demands for voter documentation and other methods show that the GOP's Rovian bag of tricks is still being put to use, as Andrew Gumble argues in a new Nation article this week.

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October 28, 2008

Democracy in Action

By Peter Rothberg

Back when Karl Rove was still dreaming of a permanent Republican majority, election 08 was shaping up to be the most extensive laboratory to date for his bag of dirty tricks.

In this week's issue of The Nation Andrew Gumbel explains that the plan was to use every legislative and executive lever available to the GOP to suppress the votes of minorities, students, the poor, the transient and the elderly. And though Rove is out of politics and currently busy working the media green rooms, Gumbel warns that many pieces of his plan are still in place and could pose a threat on November 4 -- or beforehand. As Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote in a recent post, "alarming reports of dysfunctional voter registration, purges of the rolls, and possible voter suppression are surfacing weekly, if not daily."

One of the big unanswered questions about the 2008 election, according to elections expert Steve Rosenfeld writing at Alternet, is will the GOP try to contest the credentials of new voters as they show up at polling places. A typical challenger would claim that a voter lives at a different address than what is in their voter registration record. The challenged voter then must produce an ID or a utility bill proving otherwise to vote. This tactic not only delays the process, but deters others in line, frustrated by long waits, from voting.

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October 23, 2008