Instpundit and Law Professor Glenn Reyolds has some advice for the Democrats. Some of his suggestions are well-taken. The Democrats need a message other than Bush-bashing, and a platform. Glenn suggests, among other things, lowering the drinking age to 18 to catch the younger voters.

We have another suggestion. Once they've paid their debt to society, allow those with felony convictions to vote. Consider this from an op-ed today in the Los Angeles Times by Christopher Uggen, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, and Jeff Manza, an associate professor of sociology and political science at Northwestern University:

Some form of felon disenfranchisement exists in 48 of the 50 states. Only two — Maine and Vermont — allow all people convicted of a felony to vote, including those in prison. At the other extreme, 11 states disenfranchise some or all felons indefinitely.

In many states, these laws were the product of explicit efforts to disenfranchise black voters after the Civil War. And even today, states with higher proportions of African Americans in their prison systems are far more likely to have strict laws disenfranchising felons.

The net effect — intentional or unintentional — is to dilute African American voting strength. And because African Americans vote disproportionately for Democrats, an issue that affects African Americans is an issue that affects the Democratic Party.

Howard Dean blasted racial profiling Monday in a speech to the National Council of La Raza and the NAACP in Miami, and in particular, Attorney General Ashcroft's recent memo on the subject :

"Condemning racial profiling is not enough," said Dean. "Racial profiling is a serious civil rights issue, and the administration should do more than circulate a memo saying "don't do it" to federal enforcement agencies he oversees, like the FBI and DEA.

"As President, I will direct my Attorney General to use regulatory authority under existing anti-discrimination laws"--the 1964 Civil Rights Act--to define racial profiling as discrimination, and to withhold federal funds from departments that violate those regulations."

Uh-oh, someone emailed us this editorial from the Rutland Herald, published on August 16, 2001, while Howard Dean was still Governor. Before commenting, we'd like to hear Dr. Dean's response. We reprint it in it's entirety:

For the Defense

Dean chose not to reappoint Appel for a third four-year term as defender general, the state official who heads the state’s public defender program. In appointing Valerio, of Proctor, the new defender general, Dean had kind words for Appel. But Appel had clashed with Dean on numerous occasions in his efforts to secure for his office the resources necessary to fulfill his duties conscientiously.

Just two years ago Dean tried to prevent Appel from accepting a $150,000 federal grant aimed at assisting defendants with mental disabilities. For Dean to block a government agency from receiving federal money was unusual in itself. But Dean’s openly expressed bias against criminal defendants provided a partial explanation.

Dean has made no secret of his belief that the justice system gives all the breaks to defendants. Consequently, during the 1990s, state’s attorneys, police, and corrections all received budget increases vastly exceeding increases enjoyed by the defender general’s office. That meant the state’s attorneys were able to round up ever increasing numbers of criminal defendants, but the public defenders were not given comparable resources to respond.

Michael Kramer of the New York Daily News explains why Bush could be a one-termer.

Update: The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows support for Bush is declining. Daily Kos has analysis of the poll here. We find this aspect of the poll significant:

And for the first time, slightly more than half the country -- 52 percent -- believes there has been an "unacceptable" level of U.S. casualties in Iraq, up eight points in less than three weeks.

It's only going to get worse for Bush as casualties increase and Saddam remains at large.

Kos also examines the latest Newsweek poll which finds the Dems are now evenly matched against Bush.

The Democrats vying for the presidential nomination are going after Ashcroft. Our favorite quotes:

Richard Gephardt: "In my first five seconds as president, I would fire John Ashcroft as attorney general."

John Edwards: "We can not allow people like John Ashcroft to take away our rights and our freedoms."

John Kerry: "When I am president of the United States, there will be no John Ashcroft trampling on the Bill of Rights."

Kerry advisor Chris Lehane, who was Al Gore's press secretary, chimes in: "He is a living, breathing troglodyte who happens to run the Justice Department."

Even Republicans are getting in the act:

Some Republicans expressed concern about potential damage the often unvarnished Mr. Ashcroft might cause this president. "None of those Democrats can beat George Bush, but John Ashcroft can," said one Republican strategist.

A national poll by the Pew Research Center shows that Bush's overall job performance rating has dropped 14 points to 60%. The reasons are his handling of post-war Iraq, health care and the economy. [link via Media Horse, which has a great graphic depicting the change.]

[comments now closed]

We've got to run out for a few hours--so here's some links (rather than our comments) on the Diebold voting machine scandal --

A reader emails us:

A New Zealand reporter has discovered that the Diebold "black box" voting machines being pushed in so many jurisdictions are easy to hack and change vote totals, and that this may explain to anomolies in our last election. If the reporter has the goods, this is potentially huge. Here's the earlier story from February

Bob Morris of Politics in the Zeros says,

Among their findings:

1) They could open the password file, copy an encrypted password elsewhere, then use that password to access data.

2) The machines keep three sets of books. Set 2 can be changed by anyone who knows how to use Microsoft Access. This will effect the vote totals.

As a programmer, I find it appalling that voting data is kept in Access, is
not encrypted, and the system is so badly designed that data can easily be changed.

Here's some background on Diebold Systems connections to the Republican Party.

Bev Harris is the author of the soon to be published book " Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering In The 21st Century "

Business Week reports that Bush is Not a Shoo-In for '04 . He's facing three obstacles, any one of which could blow up and cost him the election: The growing mess in Iraq, slow economic growth and his inability to speak well. [Via Political Wire]

The July 14 issue of Newsweek has an interview with Ret. General Wesley Clark. We loved this excerpt:

What do you think of President Bush’s using war imagery as a political tool, like when he recently flew onto an aircraft carrier?

The world expects something more of an American president than to prance around on a flight deck dressed up like [a] pilot. He’s expected to be a leader. That’s my fundamental issue with it. It doesn’t reflect the gravitas of the office. Furthermore, it’s a little phony.

Clark also says he suspected things were going wrong with the Bush Administration just before the 2000 elections, following a conversation he had with soon-to-be National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

Drudge reports that Gephardt's Meetup was canceled for lack of interest--less than five people signed up.

Dennis Kucinich has picked up some welcome support from country music singer Willie Nelson:

"I am endorsing Dennis Kucinich for president, because he stands up for heartland Americans who are too often overlooked and unheard," Nelson said. "A Kucinich administration will put the interests of America's family farmers, consumers and environment above the greed of industrial agribusiness." Nelson said he planned concerts to help fill Kucinich's campaign coffers.

Karl Rove wants Howard Dean to be the Democratic candidate as Rove deems Dean to be easily beatable by Bush. Rove was out rousing support for Dean on July 4. What arrogance--give it a rest, Rove, and go back to the enemy camp. You're not welcome here.

Via Kevin Drum of Calpundit, we came across the Select Your Candidate Quiz. It asks your position on a bunch of issues, then tells you which presidential candidate most matches them. We chose to have it consider only those who have declared themselves candidates and are still in the race.

Here were our top results:

1. Kucinich, Cong. Dennis, OH - Democrat (91%)
2. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (79%)
3. Gephardt, Cong. Dick, MO - Democrat (75%)
4. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (74%)

Gephardt surprised us, as we have had nothing good to say about him. Edwards was number 6 on the list, also surprising, since we assumed we had more in common with him. The bottom Democrat on our list was Bob Graham. After Graham, came Bush and Lyndon LaRouche.

For each possible candidate, the site presents his or her views on a variety of issues. We were impressed with the positions of Wesley Clark, and we hope that he enters the race:

"One of the things about the war on terror that I am disturbed about is that we've essentially suspended habeas corpus, which is something that's only been done once in American history and then only for a very brief period. When I go back and think about the atmosphere in which the PATRIOT Act was passed, it begs for a reconsideration and review. And it should be done.

Clark also favors abortion rights and affirmative action. He opposes the trade embargo with Cuba. On the war on terror and war in Iraq:

The Bush administration's mistake in Iraq, says Clark, is one of priorities. "They picked war over law. They picked a unilateralist approach over a multilateral approach. They picked conventional forces over special-operations forces. And they picked Saddam Hussein as a target over Osama bin Laden." Clark worries that the Iraq policy is fatally flawed because it's likely to create new recruits for America's main enemy -- the Islamic fundamentalists who destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

On the one hand, we say Draft Clark for 2004. On the other hand, like Kevin, we want a candidate who can win against Bush, and we are prepared to compromise, somewhat. If only we knew who that might be....