I'm sure she'd like to be president. I'm not at all sure she'd want to go through the whole BS process again to get there.

There was one famous (to me) little chat toward the end of 2006 or 2007 with, of all people, me, Norm Ornstein and Howard Dean. We were discussing the upcoming 2008 race for the White House, and Howard was musing why Mark Warner didn't run. Norm let on that he would have liked to, but had some family issues (no details, but they were legit) that precluded a run by him. I chimed in with, "yeah, that's the reason I didn't run, either." That's the only time I ever managed to break up both Howard Dean AND Norm Ornstein with a one-liner. Notice, however, that I indeed did not run........

But I just do not see her wanting to deal with that snake pit (the presidency) at this time in her life.. She has given so much to the country in service..

Mark Warner came to our town in 2007 early on .. and he was putting out feelers about running, but decided not too. He was an impressive guy.. It was a coffee sort of thing. About 30 or 40 people.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when you had that conversation with Howard Dean and Norm Ornstein.. Poor Gov. Dean.. He got so blindsided by that YEAH YEAH YEAH.. of all the goofy things people will focus on, that had to be one of the strangest. That ranked right up there with Dukakis being lambasted for that hat in the tank.

That in and of itself is enough to stop a person from running.. The weird things people decide to focus on beside the facts ..

And that is the reason I have not run..

Howard and Gore have both learned to move on from what should have been but for the cruelties of fate and our system:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3369762

The best guitarist ever!! ever!! Awesome post by the way!!! Everything is so much clearer in the rear view mirror of politics. When you look back, a person (in this case lets say me has a tendency to say canidates USED to have a much clearer message.. stood for something different.. but its not true.. it's just that the silly stuff drifts away.. Love both those guys.. But then I am also a big party, bit tent, big goverment, person.

Note to self.. Pull out my Leo Kottke CD's the best way to start a morning. First saw him in Mpls maybe 76 or 77.. He was just starting out..

Here you go DFW way to start a Saturday and a cup of coffee (_)0

One night in a hotel in South Carolina, he and I traded Kottke pieces back and forth late into the night on a 12 string built by Božo Podunavac that I travel with when I'm stateside.

I'm 6 hours ahead of you, so you were a little late for breakfast (coming to you live and in color from beautiful suburban Düsseldorf today). I'll be heading Stateside on Friday if I can stay awake that long.

Right back at you from that same Kottke concert:

Not that you know Gov. Dean on a personal level..(though that is pretty darned impressive) but that both of you hammer the 12 string!!!..

My husband and I love this rendition..

I bet you followed Doc Watson too.. another great guitarist.. I saw him in concert many years ago when Meryl was still alive..


Kottke is good anytime of the day..

Edit to add this in..Love this place to get music..

http://www.redhouserecords.com/

Eliza Gilleyson!! She came up from TX to do a concert on Cape Cod while I was there a couple of years ago. Wonderful evening of music.

Very little of my stuff is out there, but if you go to the Jango/Radio Airplay site and look for The Freedom Toast's channel, listen for two tunes, one called "Canyonlands," and the other called "Lazy C Ranch."

I never got to see Doc Watson live, but rarely does a month go by when I don't revisit the video of him, Leo Kottke and Chet Atkins breaking down "Last Steam Engine Train," and I still have the tape of an old BFBS broadcast where their old program Folk Review played Doc playing the Carroll County Breakdown.

Howard is more of a fan of Leo's music, where I am more of a fan-atic. Howard also retains his sense of humor. Last year, when I was carried out of the U.S. Senate on a stretcher (I told them it was weakness from the flu, but they were scared it was a heart attack, and called an ambulance), I emailed him about what had happened. About 3 days later, I got a call saying "This is the Washington DC ambulance service with a bill for three million dollars." It was Howard, of course. My biggest regret about his not becoming president is that I will never be sitting next to the President of the United States as an invited guest at a White House Leo Kottke concert!

Listening to Canyonlands right now.. WOW that is you.. can't wait to play it for my husband.. you are GOOD!!

I did the 12 string, six string and synthesizer tracks. They let me do that on ones I wrote. The drummer was the regular Freedom Toast guy, and the bassist was a sub, as the TFT guy couldn't make it the day I had free to go to the studio in Atlanta. There is also a primitive version on there, but it doesn't play very often.

The only vocal I ever did was on the Talking TSA Blues, since I wrote that one, too. For laughs, I also did the simple electric guitar, which I NEVER play normally.

and think about that one .. That is about it.. Anyone who runs for that office, has to have a blind eyed commitment that puts all other things on the back burner for four or eight years..

And what I had to think about, is,, that is probably what you want.. someone with that blind commitment to the job..

It has always amazed me, knowing what a short time all of us have on this planet, that there are those who can step outside themselves (oh I know some are there just for the power) to say..let me give this number of years to a greater good..