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Gore Endorses Dean

Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean for president today. AP reports: "Gore said Dean 'really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grass--roots level all over the country.' He said the former Vermont governor also was the only Democratic candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war. 'Our country has been weakened in its ability to fight the war against terror because of the catastrophic mistake the Bush administration made in taking us into war in Iraq,' Gore said."

Mobilizing the Youth Vote

The New Voters Project announced plans to try to mobilize youth voters in 6 states for the upcoming election cycle. The six states areColorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin; a combined population of 2 million 18 to 24 year olds who are eligible to vote.

Gore to Endorse Dean

Reuters is reporting that Al Gore is to endorse Howard Dean for President on Tuesday morning at a Harlem event.

Move Over, Boys

Lakshmi Chaudhr writes: "Whether she is a divorced waitress in Harlem, a welfare mom in Iowa, or that thirty-something singleton sipping a Cosmopolitan at your local bar, the unmarried woman may hold the fate of the 2004 elections in the palm of her hand. 'Unmarried women, given what they think and feel, are the group with the greatest potential to be agents of progressive change in this country because of their size, their desire for change, and their record of under-voting,' says Page Gardner, manager of the 'Women's Voices Women's Vote' project."

MoveOn.org Parties in Jackson this weekend

Heard of MoveOn.org, the hip and powerful grass-roots movement that is doing an end-run around party politics and the media? This Sunday, Dec. 7, MoveOn is holding house parties all over the country to screen Robert Greenwald's new documentary, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War." The Jackson screening and party will be held in Rainbow Plaza, at the corner of Old Canton and Lakeland, at 7 p.m. Steve Rozman, political science professor at Tougaloo College, will lead a discussion after the film. See you there. Read a story about Moveon.org here. And enter your zip code here for other parties around the country.

FOX Works for GOP

MoveOn.org warns: "The wall between objective journalism and partisan politicking at Fox News fell last week when it became clear that Fox News staff contributed to the orchestration of the Republican-led 39-hour Senate talk-a-thon intended to counter the Democrat filibuster against four of President Bush's most radically conservative judicial nominees."

MoveOn.Org Irritates the Right

Michelle Goldberg writes in Salon: "Bill O'Reilly wants its nonprofit status revoked. Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie sees it as part of the 'Democrat plan to subvert campaign finance laws.' House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's office plays phone pranks on its staffers. ... Clearly, MoveOn.org has arrived."

Harvey Talks Back: The 2003 JFP Interview with Mayor Johnson

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. is having one hell of a year. On the one hand, the Vicksburg native has presided over a city for six years that seems to have shifted into high-gear renaissance mode, or certainly as high gear as re-development has been in this city since harmful out-migration to the suburban areas began decades ago. About everywhere you look in the city, it seems there is construction; dilapidated buildings are being razed; a city that has been left to decay for many years by other administrations seems set on re-inventing itself at a slow, if steady, pace. Yet, there is a dark side.

Truth in the Hands of Artists

Radiohead's Thom Yorke and author/historian Howard Zinn talk about the artist's role in politics. Yorke: "This goes back to what should be causing extreme alarm. If there are political programs on TV, yet it takes an artist to actually energize political debate, that tells you something really quite frightening about the level of the political debate happening on mainstream channels – right-wing-biased mothers. One of the interesting things here is that the people who should be shaping the future are politicians. But the political framework itself is so dead and closed that people look to other sources, like artists, because art and music allow people a certain freedom. Obviously, the duty of artists is there, but it's more an indictment of the political system that someone like Zinn views artists as the seers, idealizing them as the people responsible for inspiring change. I think that would be great, but the reason people think like that is because there is no other element of participation anywhere."

Bush's ‘Crimes Against Nature'

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes: "George W. Bush will go down in history as America's worst environmental president. In a ferocious three-year attack, the Bush administration has initiated more than 200 major rollbacks of America's environmental laws, weakening the protection of our country's air, water, public lands and wildlife. Cloaked in meticulously crafted language designed to deceive the public, the administration intends to eliminate the nation's most important environmental laws by the end of the year. Under the guidance of Republican pollster Frank Luntz, the Bush White House has actively hidden its anti-environmental program behind deceptive rhetoric, telegenic spokespeople, secrecy and the intimidation of scientists and bureaucrats."

Dixie Dems: Dean Too ‘Liberal'

The Washington Times reports that Democratic leaders in the South consider Howard Dean "too liberal" to win electoral votes in the South: "Most acknowledge the growing conservatism that dominates their region, and some concede it will be difficult, if not impossible, to carry many Southern states if the nominee is out of step with mainstream Southern values."

Bill Minor on the Democrats' Future

Bill Minor writes that Democrats didn't lose in the state as big as Republicans would like to pretend: "In the wake of the Republican mini-earthquake that hit the state Nov. 4, not just a few Democrats were wondering if their party can survive in Mississippi. That question arose after Kirk Fordice sent shock waves through Democrats in 1991, and some said it heralded a mass conversion to the state GOP in the 90s. It didn't happen. Republicans got a momentary uptick, but by the end of the decade, Mississippi Democrats, unlike those in several other Southern states, still had a decided majority in the Legislature and held virtually all state offices."

Vouchers, They Are A'Comin'

AP is reporting that national Republicans are about to make a push for vouchers: "Republican Senate leaders plan to force a vote this week on the nation's first federally funded school voucher experiment, tucking the program into broader spending legislation that would be politically difficult for Democrats to block.

Bush may veto overtime, media ownership rules

AP is reporting : "The GOP-run Senate voted in September to block proposed Labor Department rules that opponents say would make it easier for employers to deny overtime for millions of workers. The House, also run by Republicans, voted narrowly to support the rules, but later cast a nonbinding vote in favor of blocking them. The administration is insisting the proposed rules be allowed to take effect."

Schwarzenegger Takes Office in California

It's official, folks. The Governator has been sworn in. I'm really curious to see how he handles the state's $25 billion deficit. Of course, his inauguration (with Vanessa Williams and Jamie Lee Curtis, among others) sounds way better than Gray Davis':

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