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Jan

5

Hillary: Drop the “I think” – NOW

Filed Under Politics, WH2008, Women, Writing | Comments Off

It’s painful, I know, but Hillary has got to drop the “I think” from her answers.  The debate transcript is replete with them.  And it is the number one killer for a debater, especially for a female: it clouds your assertion with doubt.  Do not use it unless you mean to give that impression. Otherwise, you are just going to sound weak.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:36 pm January 5th, 2008 in Politics, WH2008, Women, Writing | Comments Off 

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Jan

5

Transcripts of tonight’s Democratic, Republican debates at St. Anselm in New Hampshire

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Politics, WH2008 | Comments Off

Democrats

Republicans

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:29 pm January 5th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, Politics, WH2008 | Comments Off 

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Jan

5

(More) Major trouble in One Laptop Per Child paradise?

Filed Under Business, Tech | Comments Off

From the AP:

A day after learning that Intel was abandoning his project over “philosophical” differences, the laptop group’s founder, Nicholas Negroponte, said Intel’s sales representatives had been disparaging One Laptop Per Child as they pushed Intel’s sub-$300 Classmate PCs.

Negroponte said Intel even tried to undo a deal One Laptop had already sealed in Peru by citing flaws in the One Laptop “XO” machine and telling government ministers “we ought to know, because we are on the board.” Such hostile comments were prohibited, Negroponte claimed, under the July peace treaty that brought Intel into the One Laptop Per Child camp.

“I want to say we tried, but it was never a partnership,” Negroponte said. “There’s not one single thing in their contract or agreement that they lived up to.”

However, like the presidential candidates and those who’ve dropped out:

Negroponte said Friday that no longer having Intel on his team wouldn’t hurt his efforts to find more international buyers.

“No, it probably restores some momentum,” he said. “We were being extraordinarily distracted.”

Here’s more from TechBuzz and Endgadget.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:22 pm January 5th, 2008 in Business, Tech | Comments Off 

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Jan

5

In Iowa, social networks beat political machine: analysis by network expect, local Valdis Krebs

Filed Under Blogging, Campaigning, Culture, Elections, Media, Politics, Social Issues, Tech | 1 Comment

If you want to understand more about how Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus (and, I would suggest, Barack Obama as well), read Social Networks: 1, Political Machine: 0 by Valdis Krebs at Network Weaving. The implications of spreading the word in a group aka social networks such as church, homeschooling communities or gun owners, versus one by one by one aka phone-banking, in the newspaper or on the couch watching television ads:

In 2004, George W Bush won Ohio and therefore the presidency — Ohio put him over the top in the electoral college. In several conversations I have had about the 2004 Ohio election I have been told that Bush won his slim majority in Ohio by also connecting to exisiting social networks. The Bush campaign used the social networks connected to churches thoughout the state — not just evangelicals, but Catholics and Protestants also. The extended social networks of a couple hundred churches roughly equal Bush’s 119,000 vote margin in Ohio in 2004.

We have heard that “all politics are local”, now we also find out that “all politics are social”.

And if you really want to sound like you know what you’re talking about, read this paper of his from 2004 called, “It’s the Conversation, Stupid!”

That blog you want to RSS? Network Weaving.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:40 pm January 5th, 2008 in Blogging, Campaigning, Culture, Elections, Media, Politics, Social Issues, Tech | 1 Comment 

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Jan

5

Rocky Mountain News milblogger, Maj. Andrew Olmsted’s words for the living

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I read about Major Andrew Olmsted at Pho’s place this morning. Then I read Maj. Olmsted’s posthumous post here on Obsidian Wings, and then traced him back to the Rocky Mountain News. (Pho tipped to The Volokh Conspiracy.)

RIP, Major.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:52 am January 5th, 2008 in Blogging, Foreign Affairs, Media | Comments Off 

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Jan

5

Review of races for seats in State Rep. Dist. 17, State Senate Dist. 24

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, OH17, OH24th, Ohio, Politics | 1 Comment

Ohio House 17th

Aaron Marshall reviews Ohio House challengers in this Openers article, but he left out my district, the 17th. Republican Josh Mandel currently holds the seat. He has been out of the country for a few months as a result of volunteering to return to military duty and will return sometime in the spring.

One Democrat has filed to challenge Mandel, Robert S. Belovich. He appears to be a lawyer who practices in Parma, and is older than Mandel (who does not appear to have taken the bar exam yet, although that was one of his stated goals when he was running for the seat in 2006).

Belovich’s petition filing still has to be validated but I’ve been wondering, with the Ohio GOP fielding someone in every district, and the ODP so intent on getting control of the Ohio House, what’s the story behind the 17th?

Does Mandel have too much money to bother?

Does the district have too many independents to fuss over?

Are there too many other easier targets?

Does the military service make Mandel off-limits in this particular cycle?

Is there no one who has stepped up who seems strong enough, when the effort that the ODP will have to put forth in other districts to win the House is already great?

I just want to understand the strategy. I can’t complain about Josh except for the fact that we don’t agree on many issues and I want a representative with whom I do agree. But in a democracy, that’s what happens when the person for whom you vote loses. There are other things about Josh that nag at me, but as someone who has tried to pay attention to his constituents, at least me, I cannot fault him.

So, I wonder, when does the ODP decide that the disappointment that Democrats feel because they live in a district represented by someone who doesn’t share their views and positions becomes weighty enough to support a real challenge?

Only when there’s an open seat? Only when…what, exactly?

Ohio State Senate 24th Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:48 am January 5th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, OH17, OH24th, Ohio, Politics | 1 Comment 

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