Republican mayor in Iowa fed up with Republicans, will caucus for Obama

Interesting story.
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/51/31_01iowamayor.html
I don't think the Republican candidates have done enough to differentiate themselves from Bush, so they risk losing many former Republicans to the Democrats.

Besides, isn't it your candiidate whom Repubs would most want to face?

...then there's a good possibility that he's somewhere to the left of Hillary Clinton.

Be sure to give it all you've got when you get there!

so obvious...

:woohoo:

and in light of the new DMR poll, it's one of the reasons he might pull off the upset in the Iowa caucuses.

And bus loads of Illinois college students.

I'm not comfortable with the Democratic party now being the party for everyone but right-wing nut-jobs. The fact that a self described "moderate republican" likes all of the Dems except Kucinich says volumes. Even after this administration, I think a lot of Democratic and Republican voters and folks in government are pretty close on a lot of issues. Maybe they should form this new "unity" party and leave the repubs with the nut cases and the Dems with.... well, Democrats.

That's a good thing. It's only logical they would come back to the Dem Party. That's why we need a candidate who can welcome them, but hold true to his Democratic values the way Obama did in Illinois.

but I think the Democratic party should stand for more than "not wingnuts". These folks should either be working on taking their own party back (yes, likely a lost cause) or forming a new one that they're comfortable in. I don't think Kucinich is really all that left-wing - he just seems like it since the Dems have become so all-encompassing. If a new dem thinks DK is TOO left wing (as opposed to just a bit left of their own feelings) for them to feel comfortable being a member of the party he's a member of, I don't know if we should welcome them in.

That's not going to change no matter who the candidate is. The problems are so much more complex than how far left Kucinich is. What it really amounts to is getting every single person in the country to say, okay, this is where I stand, but is there anything in that other person's view that I can tolerate. That's not compromise, that's putting all the acceptable solutions on the table and crafting policy that way. It's being respectful of single payer for instance, which Obama is, but also being respectful of someone who is terrified of an 8% tax increase, which I actually am. We all have to come together on talk, regardless of left right liberal fundie. It's always been true that there have been stark differences of opinion, but it hasn't been quite as true that everyone has been labeled a traitor just for disagreeing.

Personally I still wish the Green Party would have seen this coming and strengthened their ranks with some rational policy positions and representatives so the two main parties would be Green and Dem. I think we've probably missed the chance to do that though.

not just greens and dems. Hell, I wouldn't mind being in a minority party if it meant that there was also a strong Green Party - it would make the political climate far more tolerable. My fear is that the Democratic party is becoming so all-encompassing, that it is defined by what it is not, more than by what it is. If most pre-Bush, and definitely pre-Reagan, Republicans would now be considered Democrats, what does it mean to be a Democrat? What is there to unify the party? We are no longer the opposition and can't accept being defined by that alone. Sure, there can and should be differences within the party, but not so many differences that there is no definition.

:popcorn:

We can change America, one person at a time.

BTW, Isn't it Edwards who promises to have Republicans in his cabinet?
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/NEWS09/712040382/-1/caucus

So I guess it has got to be OK for Obama to have a Republican Mayor Caucus for him, right? :shrug: