Bits of Tid: June 29, 2010

• The 2nd quarter of fundraising ends at 11:59:59 tomorrow - don't forget to make a small contribution to your favorite candidates!
• Rachel, how do I love thee?
  
  Of course, we learned today that the financial reform bill has had a couple of setbacks. But still, they say it is more likely than not to pass. And with Elena Kagan likely to join Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court, the enormity of Obama's impact on our government is just now becoming apparent.
• "Michigan NOW likes Virg," declares a headline from the Detroit News. Of course, they speak of the National Organization for Women:
  

• Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero continues to rake in endorsements from traditional Democratic Party constituencies.

  Which goes to show who has more support from involved grassroots Democrats. At any rate, the article continues:
  

  But it remains to be seen whether the endorsements translate into campaign cash. Bernero has yet to run any TV ads, while his opponent in the Democratic primary, House Speaker Andy Dillon, on Monday launched his second spot.

  Ah, yes - reminders of how Dick DeVos got on the air early and was easily elected over Granholm. Oh wait - didn't happen like that, did it?
• More reason to like Daily Kos: Time Magazine thinks it's "overrated." Kind of reminds me of when Carl Levin was talking about the Washington Post attacking him - he said that was "a badge of honor. I never made Nixon's Enemies list, and I wanted to make up for it ever since."
• I'll have some thoughts on Robert Byrd in a few days.

Democrats still in solid contention for governor's race

Or at least that's what Rasmussen says.

Before I say anything else, let me state that I'm hardly a fan of polls. After all, only two of them will matter: The one taken on August 3, and the one taken on November 2.

But if even rRasmussen says the Democratic candidates are not trailing the Republicans by very much at this point, I do believe there is something that we ought to take from this polling.

It ain't over yet.

Numbers:

MI-Gov: Rick Snyder (R) 42%, Virg Bernero (D) 30%
MI-Gov: Mike Cox (R) 40%, Virg Bernero (D) 34%
MI-Gov: Peter Hoekstra (R) 39%, Virg Bernero (D) 36%
MI-Gov: Rick Snyder (R) 41%, Andy Dillon (D) 33%
MI-Gov: Mike Cox (R) 39%, Andy Dillon (D) 37%
MI-Gov: Peter Hoekstra (R) 40%, Andy Dillon (D) 35%

It's safe to say Dillon and Bernero don't have as much name recognition as Cox, Hoekstra, or Snyder. On that alone, they should be doing a lot worse in these head-to-head matchups.

Notice, also, that the Republicans are also polling significantly under the all-important 50%. They also do so in other polls. Normally that's not a good sign for an incumbent to be under 50%, I would also argue that given their name recognition, this is not good And for much the same reason: Just as voters usually know a thing or two about an incumbent, they should also know a thing or two about these three Republicans.

So why am I mentioning all of this? After all, I just said that I'm not a fan of polls!

Well, what it says is that this election is not over yet. When people know more about Virg and/or Andy, one can reasonably expect that their numbers will rise. Right now it's"the devil you kind of know or at least have heard about" versus "the devil you don't know." When it's "two devils you kind of know or at least have heard about," our "devils" will fare better.

Gone are the days of many Democrats fearing that the governor's race was all but lost. Instead, the focus in Democratic circles seems to be upon the candidates themselves.

Speaking of polls, I read somewhere that 70% of Michigan Republicans say they are more excited about voting in 2010 than they were in 2008. Meanwhile, "only" 42% of Democrats feel that way. Kind of surprising that a full 42% on our side say they are actually more eager to vote this year than in the Year of Hope, Change, and a 15-point win for Obama in Michigan. (Don't tell the Press, which considered that "grim" news for Democrats.)

Some jokes I've received via email

This may come as a surprise to those of you not living in Las Vegas, but there are more Catholic Churches than casinos in Vegas.

Not surprisingly, some worshippers at Sunday Mass will give casino chips rather than cash when the basket is passed.

Since they get chips from many different casinos, the Churches have devised a method to collect the offerings.

The Churches send all their collected chips to a nearby Franciscan monastery for sorting and then the chips are taken to the casinos of origin and cashed in.

This is done by the chip monks.

One bright, beautiful Sunday morning, everyone in tiny Smithville wakes up early and goes to their local church. Before the service starts, the townspeople sit in their pews and talk about their lives, their families, etc.

Suddenly, at the altar, Satan appears!! Everyone starts screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in their determined efforts to get away from Evil Incarnate.

Soon, everyone is evacuated from the church except for one man, who sits calmly in his pew, seemingly oblivious to the fact that G~d's ultimate enemy is in his presence. This confuses Satan a bit.

Satan walks up to the man and says, "Hey, don't you know who I am?"

The man says, "Yep, I sure do."

Satan says, "Well, aren't you afraid of me?"

The man says, "Nope, I sure ain't."

Satan, perturbed, asks, "And why aren't you afraid of me?"

"Well, I've been married to your sister for 25 years."

One of my husband's duties as a novice drill instructor at Fort Jackson, S.C., was to escort new recruits to the mess hall. After everyone had made it through the chow line, he sat them down and told them, "There are three rules in this mess hall: Shut up! Eat up! Get up!"

Checking to see that he had everyone's attention, he asked, "What is the first rule?"

Much to the amusement of the other instructors, 60 privates yelled in unison, "Shut up, Drill Sergeant!"

The dessert chef was very smart. He had graduated Pie Baker Kappa.

You gotta be careful of corn at night. They can be early creepy with their husky voices and seedy appearance. Why, they even cob right out and tell you to shuck it right to your face.

Cheddar is as Gouda cheese as any American could wish for, and while we Edam all that is something one could never Provolone.

The Alpine Skiing competition started poorly and went downhill from there.

My girlfriend scares me, so every time we go to dinner it's intimi-dating.

I thought the telescope was broken, but after looking into it further, I found out it was not.blockquote>

Bits of Tid: June 5, 2010

• John Fugelsang has some good tweets on Twitter. One good one recently:
  
  

  The spill isn't Bush or Obama's Katrina. It's Deregulation's Chernobyl.

  
  
• Steve Benen raises an important question: Why is President Obama being criticized for doing what other Presidents were not criticized for doing? Examples Benen cites include bowing; appointing 'czars;' and even casual dress.
  
• Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Rep. John Dingell have taken steps to declare on a governmental level that Andres Gallaraga did, in fact, pitch a perfect game. Normally I'm against that kind of thing, but if this is all Dingell or Granholm had done this year, they still would have done more to stand up for what's right than certain other politicians.
  
• Alice Corey died this week at 59. Those of you who live in Michigan's 3rd Congressional district, she was one of our delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. I won't soon forget the passion she showed when she was elected as a delegate in April of that year.
  
• John Wooden, who also died this week at 99, gave us so many good quotes that I can't decide which is my favorite. One I like:
  
  

  Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

  
  Wooden would know.
  
• Finally, for some good news: I have been elected the new Grand Knight for Knights of Columbus Council 4362! That means I will be in charge of the Council starting on July 1.