Dave Maass

Now that I’ve got a Flip Cam, I’m going to try to start a lil SFR video blog with some behind the scenes footage of the journalistic process. I’ve set up a YouTube page, which you can access here. I’ve already posted a 2-minute practice video with my cowriter David Alire Garcia talking about how long it will be before a gay presidential candidate is viable.

Statement from Dave Maass:

I see the cynics beginning to believe. I see a whole new generation awakening and preparing to rise up and lead. I see, in Barack Obama, a candidate who can tear down the walls between us. And yes, that is a Reagan allusion.

Obama inspires me to forgive, to reconcile, to hope and believe.

I believe Obama can win the general election and he can win it by a landslide. With a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president whose goal is to give every American, Republicans and Democrats alike a seat at the table, we’ll see at least years of substantial, measurable, and successful reform. We will become the country we dream ourselves to be.

If we don’t, if we go into the general election with Hillary Clinton on one side, John McCain or Mitt Romney on the other, we’ll still end up with two sides and that division will continue for another four to eight years. An entire generation of citizens who are ready to stand up for their country will be disenchanted, their newfound belief in democracy crushed.

The institution and its revolving doors will prove invincible. An Obama presidency would undo all the assumptions. Anything will be possible. The only hurdle Obama faces is American pessimism and fear.

As an independent I cannot vote in the New Mexico’s Democratic Caucus on Feb 5. However, I endorse Obama for president, and I urge you to watch the videos I post on this site, follow the news and debates and visit his campaign site. Please vote for him in February so I can join you in voting for him in November.

Except in Arizona. If you, like my parents, live in Arizona, there is only one clear choice, only one candidate who stands for the future in its battle against the past.

Allow me to introduce Libby “Doctress Neutopia” Hubbard, a candidate on the ballot in Arizona’s Feb. 5 Democratic Primary and contestant in Project White House.

Republicans frequently speak of national security as our nation’s chief concern. But what of planetary security? Doctress Neutopia is the only candidate still in the race I trust to keep us out of intergalactic war and to sweet talk the E.T.’s into sharing their technology.

Pop Quiz: City Council District 1

Each election season–in this case, leading up to the March municipal elections–SFR conducts a series of pop quizzes with the candidates. Here’s how it works: We set up phone interviews with the each of the candidates in particular race, then hit them with a barrage of questions, some silly, some serious. Unfortunately, one of the candidates in the City Council District 1 race refused to participate–only the second time in SFR history that’s happened. He hung up on me.

Winners & Losers: Legislature ‘08

The Lege is still in their 30-day session and so we’re rounding up their actions in our weekly W&L column. This week we tackle legislative basketball, soda pop taxes and Ed Begley Jr.

Also check out our Whack-a-Pol Democratic Caucus Guide and endorsements!

Before the State of the Union address, MSNBC’s hosts were discussing Condi Rice as a Republican vice presidential running mate. Then, after Bush’s speech, the CNN hosts were discussing Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who delivered the Democratic Party’s response as a possible Obama running mate. She’s supposed to endorse O today or tomorrow.

After her speech last night, all I can say is

a)I think Condi is a smart tactical choice, especially for, say, Romney or Huckabee, both of whom have limited international experience. The Olympics is not a double-fronted war.

b) I’ve got a crush on Sebelius.

Winner: “The Emiliano”

I closed the beard poll. No matter how hard I tried to rig the vote — using other people’s computers, voting from different cafes — the people’s hopes and dreams prevailed. It finished with a tie, yet I, in all fairness, must concede the Prince Cut’s defeat.

This was a choice between the past and the future. I resisted change. But that was before America (and Britain), all 15 of us who voted, made their voices heard:

Yes we can make me change my beard.

Don’t tell me goatees can’t happen.

For background, see the earlier InFocus post.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

I watched Obama’s acceptance speech in South Carolina twice last night. Suddenly I understood what it meant to swoon when Elvis sang. You should watch it.

Obama’s message is still for a unified America. It wasn’t the call for black-white-latino unity that got me… but the possibility of a country that overcomes partisan division, where people like my Dad and I can watch the news together again and engage in thoughtful, peaceful and productive dialogue. Last night, Obama could’ve been speaking to a brand new third party. A new majority party.

Updated: Frank Rich’s column, “The Billary Road to Republican Victory,” is damned good.

After she lost in Iowa, Hillary appeared on stage with an army of old-guardsman behind her, all of them white, wrinkly, wealthy and weterans of Bill’s administration. She got slammed hard for the spread, and consequentioally, when she won over New Hamphire, her new voice found itself in front of a crayon box of children, like some sort of political Michael Jackson.

Now, she’s been thumped in South Carolina by Obama. Who’s on stage this time? Bill and only Bill to concede. She’s supposed to appear remotely later. If Hillary wants to emphasize she’s running on her own record, this ain’t the way to do it. She didn’t win nobody over by putting him out there again.

UPDATED: 07:52pm

Is anyone buying this crap in Tennessee? Clinton’s the President of Overcorrection.

As promised, here’s the half-hour segment from New Mexico InFocus…. with me on the panel. I watched for about two minutes before wiggin’ out and deciding that I hate David Alire Garcia Forever for convincing me to shave my beard into this Three Musketeer cut. You’ll have to let me know how I did.

This still is really embarassing. Am I gettin’ jiggy on KNME, or what?

What’s not embarassing, however, and indeed, quite pride-tastic, is that yesterday my dad gave his oral defense for his PhD.

It’s been a long path for him, and I’ve been completely useless in helping him along the way. I mean, jeez…. semiconductor supply chains? I barely passed freshman electronics at Horizon High School. I can rig an LED light to a battery, but that’s about it. Dad’s a wizard, or at least he will be when he’s transported magically to the middle ages (which is exactly what happened to the protagonist-engineer Conrad in one of my dad’s favorite sci-fi series). Well, in a perfect world, the time machine won’t come along until May, when Dad expects to graduate and become the first Dr. Maass in the family. Congrats, Dad! Marlowe and I looking forward to coming home for the ceremony.

A Ron Paul supporter posted on a scan of the Arizona Republican Primary ballot on a  forum. Thanks to Project White House, it’s huge!

Look, there’s my man Rhett Smith at the very bottom. God bless democracy.