Senator Bob Casey visited the Moon Township, PA Obama office yesterday to get volunteers fired up and ready to get out the vote for Barack. As he was beginning to speak to the crowd, one of the volunteers was still on a call, and handed off to Sen. Casey to seal the deal. He had a pretty good pitch, and it took very little convincing to get this voter to back Obama.

Chalk up one more vote for the good guys. Thanks Sen. Casey!

If you haven't yet volunteered for this critical campaign, it's not too late. The country needs you to hit the phones and the streets and make sure we win this, but you have to do it now. There's only four more days for you to join this historic effort to put our country back on track.

People have a lot of different reasons for supporting candidates for office, for most of us, more than one. The economy is at the top of the list for a lot of people right now, health care, jobs, a peaceful end to the war, national security, repairing our crumbling infrastructure, protecting the environment ... and they're all equally legitimate reasons for supporting Barack Obama. My #1 happens to be restoring the good name of the US across the globe. I think when that happens, a lot of the other things will fall into place.

JK spoke at Tufts last week, and in this clip he talks about repairing our image and restoring our moral authority in the world, and how an Obama presidency can help make that a reality

The divisive and incendiary rhetoric of John McCain will not make us safer, it will only divide us further from the rest of the world, just as it's doing here at home. That's where McCain fails on national security. He may say he has the foreign policy credentials to serve as commander in chief of our military and leader of our country, but his confusion on the Middle East, his inability to see more than one side of an issue, and his lack of judgment and temperament are not what the United States needs to lead us to a more peaceful and productive world.

Barack Obama will not hesitate to defend our country as commander in chief. There will always be a need for a strong military, and he's made it very clear that he'll do what's needed to keep us safe. But he'll also bring more friends to our side by using the diplomacy that's been missing from our foreign policy for the past eight years, and that's what will restore our global leadership in matters of foreign policy, national security and the global economy.

The world is watching. Let's not screw it up.

Here's what I got from the second Kerry-Beatty debate.

First, and most obviously, Jeff Beatty is a very rude man. He oozes disrespect, and it was evident, not just in his attitude toward Sen. Kerry, but with the debate hosts as well. I don't know if he's ever seen the Senate in action, but getting things done there typically involves some level of mutual respect, if not always agreement, and disingenuous personal attacks are not any way to ingratiate yourself with other members of the Senate. Republicans and Democrats in Congress disagree on a lot of things, but for anything to get done, the arguments have to be about policies, not personalities, and Beatty doesn't appear to have the temperament to work with either side. His arguments were dishonest and his attacks unfair, and his tone was bitter and unappealing.

Beatty began the debate with his standard attack on Sen. Kerry's 'five mansions', brushing past the fact that he hasn't been living in a shack himself, and that four of the five Kerry homes were owned by Teresa's first husband, the late Republican Senator John Heinz.

When you sell your own home for $770,000, you don't attack your opponent's wealth and present yourself as some sort of regular Joe. For Beatty to pretend he's some hometown boy from Harwich, just because he spent summers there in his family's vacation home, is more than a bit dishonest. And to harp on Teresa's homes when he sold his own home in VA for 3/4 of a million last year doesn't do much for his case against rich Senators.

The Boston Herald fact-checked Beatty's Massachusetts residency. He may live in his family's vacation home in Harwich now, but he's not in any position to attack Sen. Kerry, who has lived in Massachusetts his entire life.

From December 2004 to August 2007, the former CIA operative and FBI agent listed his address as Ryder Cup Drive in Haymarket, Va. He also lived there in 1985. From 1999 to 2008, he’s also listed at an address in Marietta, Ga., according to public records.

Beatty is also listed at various other Virginia, Georgia and Texas addresses going as far back as 1992 and lived in North Carolina for three years in the 1980s, records show.

But in addition to his out-of-state mailing addresses, Beatty’s former company, Total Security Services International, was based in Arlington, Va. from 2002 until August. Also, records from his divorce are filed in Virginia, not Massachusetts.

When you support George W. Bush and John McCain, you can't ignore that and invoke Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden for political purposes. But Beatty does, repeatedly talking about Democrats, while supporting Republicans.

Mr. Beatty's problem is not just in his positions, but in his approach and his temperament. If he's going to support Republican policies, he has to own up to them. If he supports the politics and the policies of George Bush and John McCain, then he has to live with that and be honest about it. If he doesn't, he should denounce them, and throw his support behind Barack Obama.

I'm sure we'll see pigs fly first.

If Beatty is going to bring up the IWR vote, he has to acknowledge what Sen. Kerry explained twice in yesterday's debate, that it wasn't a vote for Bush to go to war. The Senator pointed to his speech prior to the vote, in which he called for the President to exhaust all other options before going to war.

As the President made clear earlier this week, ``Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable.'' It means ``America speaks with one voice.''

Let me be clear, the vote I will give to the President is for one reason and one reason only: To disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, if we cannot accomplish that objective through new, tough weapons inspections in joint concert with our allies.

In giving the President this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days--to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. If he fails to do so, I will be among the first to speak out.

If we do wind up going to war with Iraq , it is imperative that we do so with others in the international community, unless there is a showing of a grave, imminent--and I emphasize ``imminent''--threat to this country which requires the President to respond in a way that protects our immediate national security needs.

Mr. Beatty ignored the fact that Senator Kerry has been speaking out against the administration's handling of Iraq since Bush, who I have to assume Beatty voted for, lied us into war. He repeatedly brushes past inconvenient facts, and glosses over his own shortcomings. He talks school security, but he thinks it's a good idea to put guns on college campuses. He points to the Kerrys' five homes, but doesn't mention McCain's seven. He brings up the Senator's vote for the IWR, but not his own vote for the President who took us to war on false pretenses. Like the presidential candidate he supports, Beatty's erratic and mean-spirited, choosing personal attacks over policy discussion and distorting the facts to make his case.

You can't have it both ways, Mr. Beatty.

Ten days to the election, and we at KV are committed to bringing real change to our country by electing Barack Obama, and to seeing a great big blue majority in the US Congress, including the re-election of our favorite Senator to another term. We'll post when we can, but the ground game necessitates a huge effort, and we're determined to be a part of this win.

For now, we leave you with this video of JK's visit to Liberating Technologies in Holliston, MA, where he was able to see technology that will provide real hope to amputees and create jobs for Massachusetts.

I couldn't decide if we should write today about the great national security speech Sen. Kerry gave yesterday at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, yesterday's Keith Olbermann interview with Richard Clark (national security expert in the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations) in which Clark commented on fear and the 2004 election, or the medals ceremony celebrating the service of the late Armit Tilgner of Norwood, Mass.

The speech at Tufts was fantastic, at times funny but also critically important, and the Senator spent about an hour afterwards answering questions from the crowd. The Clark interview was insightful, and touched on the reason for Sen. Kerry's loss in '04. Hopefully, we'll find some time to talk about both soon. But the medals ceremony, captured by JKMediaSource, is truly touching, and really has to be seen.

Chief Warrant Officer Armit Tilgner's daughter Helen and his two grandsons, Sgt. Jason Kendrick and Specialist Jerrod Kendrick, both serving like their grandfather before them, spoke at the ceremony before Sen. Kerry, who described his own part in the event as a 'privilege', and not a duty.

Senator Kerry also had the honor of welcoming home the 180 soldiers of the 972nd MP Unit on Sunday at Faneuil Hall.

The ceremonies are an important part of what Sen. Kerry does to honor our veterans, as is the legislation he's sponsored through the years to help our service members and their families.

As a veteran, Senator Kerry has a close relationship and a great affinity for our men and women in uniform in Massachusetts and across our country. He's been a champion for their issues throughout his career, and will continue to do so in his next term. Despite the misleading rhetoric of his opponent, there is no greater friend to our active duty service men and women and veterans who have sacrificed so much for us than John Kerry.

Boy, Mr. Beatty made some pretty wild accusations in Monday night's NECN debate with Sen. Kerry. Here's another video in which the Senator's Republican challenger points to JK's 'deep involvement' regarding predatory lending practices. He started out right, the Senator was deeply involved. Just not in the way Mr. Beatty suggests.

S. 2415. A bill to amend the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 and other sections of the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers against predatory practices in connection with high cost mortgage transactions, to strengthen the civil remedies available to consumers under existing law, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

PREDATORY LENDING CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2000

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act with Senators DODD, KERRY, and SCHUMER. This legislation is a companion to an identical bill being introduced by Representative LAFALCE in the House of Representatives, along with a number of his colleagues.

Representative LAFALCE has demonstrated his strong commitment to a banking system that takes into consideration the credit needs of all Americans, including those that have been traditionally locked out of the market or are less sophisticated. I thank him for his leadership.

Homeownership is the American Dream. It is the opportunity for all Americans to put down roots and start creating equity for themselves and their families. Homeownership has been the path to building wealth for generations of Americans; it has been the key to ensuring stable communities, good schools, and safe streets.

The predatory lending industry plays on these hopes and dreams to cheat people of their hard-earned wealth. These lenders target working and lower income families, the elderly, and, often, uneducated homeowners for their abusive practices. To my mind, nothing can be more cynical.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry [D-Massachusetts] co-sponsored a tough antipredatory lending bill last year--the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act of 2003--generally opposed by the industry, and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards [D-North Carolina], introduced legislation earlier this year designed to overturn the OCC's pre-emption of state law. These actions are strong indications of things to come if they are elected. (Mortgage Banking 01-SEP-04)

August 27, 2004

Kerry Unveils Plan to Help Middle-Class Families Save and Get Ahead

Daly City, CA – In a town hall meeting with middle-class families Friday, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry unveiled a series of new proposals to ensure fairness in our economy by helping hardworking families save for the future and get ahead. Kerry’s new proposals, which will curb unfair and deceptive lending practices, represent another example of the fundamental choice facing voters in this election: four more years of an administration that puts narrow interests ahead of middle-class families or the Kerry-Edwards plan that strengthens and expands the middle class.

In a show of support for the proposals Kerry unveiled today, seven state Attorneys General released a statement commending Kerry for his “commitment to protecting America’s consumers” and recognizing the need for help after nearly four years of an “administration (that) has too often sided against families who need help and protection.”

“In this country, we respect hard work, we value our families, and we make sure everyone has a chance to get ahead,” Kerry said. “The good news is that we can do something about unfair and deceptive lending practices and put billions of dollars back into the pockets of hardworking families.”

Responsible lending plays an essential role in our society, and borrowers must take responsibility as well. But ripping off families is wrong.

As yesterday’s report from the Census Bureau revealed, middle-class families are earning $1,500 less than in 2000, and as a result, it comes as no surprise that families experience debt, foreclosures and bankruptcies at record levels.

Making matters worse, one in nine families falls victim to consumer fraud. While many lenders are responsible, some credit card companies and mortgage lenders are taking advantage of families who are already earning less in the Bush economy.

10/19/2007 Kerry Pushes Treasury on Housing Crunch, Requests Emergency Response

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry wrote to Treasury Secretary Paulson, asking him to provide a plan to address the national foreclosure crisis. Today, more than two million American families, including thousands in Massachusetts, risk losing their homes to foreclosure in the near future.

“I’m asking Secretary Paulson to take overdue action now before today’s housing crunch becomes tomorrow’s recession. They need to take aggressive action to save homeowners from foreclosure. So far, the Bush Administration has responded to the mortgage crisis just as they respond to most challenges - they protect their friends first while they play a shell game with those being hit hardest. The steps taken so far only scratch the surface of what the government could be doing to respond. Instead of helping banks and bondholders stay on top at all costs, the Treasury should be ensuring American families do not lose the roof over their heads.”

Only a paltry 1 percent of troubled subprime mortgages have been restructured by lenders. Kerry joined Sheila Bair, Chair of the FDIC, in asking for immediate action to develop a systematic approach for lenders to make loan modifications so creditworthy families can stay in their homes.

Kerry also called to immediately increase the portfolio caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by ten percent on a temporary basis, to insure that more families get access to fair, non-predatory mortgages. Unfortunately, this has been opposed by the Bush Administration.

Finally, he is pushing Congress to enact legislation to prohibit the most abusive and predatory lending practices that disclosures cannot protect against. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has also opposed legislation to stop predatory lending.

Didn't Mr. Beatty vote for George Bush? I'm thinking yes, and that shows a remarkable lack of judgment considering President Bush's neglect of the sub prime crisis.

Bush Administration Overrides State Protections Against Abusive Lending. The Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), a division of the U.S. Treasury, recently ruled that state laws on predatory lending do not apply to national banks or their subsidiaries. This move preempts state laws that crack down on predatory lending and exposes consumers to abusive lending across America. The measure is opposed by all 50 governors and state attorneys general, AARP, and a broad coalition of consumer groups. As New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer noted, "This is a continuation on the part of the Bush administration to pre-empt state enforcement in areas that are critical to ensuring civil rights and consumer rights.” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper similarly called the measure “unacceptable.” (New York Times, 1/27/04; Charlotte Observer, 1/8/04)

Bush Administration Joins Credit Card Companies to Override State Disclosure Laws. California enacted legislation requiring credit card companies to disclose to borrowers the consequences of making only minimum payments, as John Kerry proposes today. The Bush Administration joined with credit card companies to seek to overturn the state regulations in court. While the Bush Administration said that the state regulations were “pre-empted” by federal law, the Administration has not supported federal laws to require national disclosures, and has supported bankruptcy “reform” instead. (Sacramento Bee, 5/10/03)

Bush Administration Moves to Relax Reinvestment Requirements for 1,100 Banks. The Community Reinvestment Act is the key federal law requiring banks to lend to families and businesses in low- and moderate-income communities. Until today, smaller institutions qualified for relaxed review under CRA only if they had less than $250 million in assets. But under the Bush Administration, the four regulatory bodies are poised to enact a proposal to raise that threshold to $1 billion. This proposal will relax review for 1,100 banks and will have a particularly negative impact on the small towns and rural areas where smaller institutions operate. (The Hill, 7/22/04), (Senators Protest Weakening Of Community Reinvestment Act Regulations, Office of Senator Paul Sarbanes, 5/18/04)

Despite Mr. Beatty's attempt to place the responsibility for 'the bailout' on Sen. Kerry, when the truth is the opposite. The original economic rescue plan proposed by Sec. Paulson and President Bush had no taxpayer protections. Democrats, including Sen. Kerry fought for oversight, limits on executive compensation and taxpayer protections.

Beatty also got the AIG thing wrong, by the way, so that little smear has been debunked. Did Mr. Beatty manage to say anything in this debate that isn't easily discredited by a little bit of research and a bit of time with the Google?

Maybe next we should move on to the IWR, since Beatty brought it up. In hindsight, not Sen. Kerry's finest moment, but a vote to authorize the President to go to war as a last resort isn't nearly as damning as Mr. Beatty's vote for the guy who actually took us there, now is it?

Everything you need to know about Jeff Beatty is at the end of this clip.

Even as John McCain is probably kicking himself for selecting as his VP the most unqualified, divisive, hate-filled woman imaginable (after Michele Bachmann), a candidate who won't take questions from the press, won't release her medical records, and can't even manage a comedy sketch on SNL let alone an interview with Katie Couric, Jeff Beatty thinks she's a good pick to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

I have to admit, she does a mean head bop. I'm not sure how that'll help us restore our moral authority in the world or rescue our economy, but she's got rhythm, and that's got to count for something. Something, obviously, that has nothing to do with the office of Vice President, but there are some folks out there who'd just be tickled to have a beer with Sarah and Todd up there in the United State of Alaska, so I guess she has some appeal in that respect.

The rest of Mr. Beatty's portion of the debate, aka 'a view from the cheap seats', consisted of attacking Sen. Kerry's record, misrepresenting his positions, making false claims about his investments, blaming him for everything from Bush's war to Bush's economy, and taking the easy position on the economic rescue package. Beatty played the Kennedy card a couple times although he admits he didn't vote for him, attacked the Senator's stellar record on veterans' issues, rewrote history with a remark about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who the Senator has never met, and called for repealing state income tax (Question 1) claiming it would create jobs, a position rejected by Massachusetts business leaders. Taking the easy way out might get him a few votes, but everyone who understands it takes money to supply services also knows that someone has to pay for them, and everyone who sends their kids to school, depends on the police and fire departments to protect the public or drives on a road or a bridge should expect an answer.

Facts matter, Mr. Beatty.

I tried. There was just so much JK news this week, I included what I could, but I'm afraid there may be a few things missing. The Senator spent a couple days on the road for Obama in addition to attending several events in Massachusetts.

This week, the Senator had legislation passed that prohibits the DOD from funding propaganda, fought a Bush administration proposal that would weaken the Endangered Species Act, announced $213 million for home heating aid for Massachusetts families and almost a million and a half for the Malden Redevelopment Authority.

He also received a 100% rating from both the LCV and the Humane Society, and was endorsed by the Brady Campaign and the Boston Globe.

He was all over Iowa, in Des Moines (video), Waterloo (video) (photos), Ames (video), and Sioux City, as well as Wisconsin (video), (video), (video), (video), (photos), (photos), (photos), and New Hampshire, where the Senator blasted McCain and called on Sen. John Sununu to denounce the vicious robo calls McCain is placing across the country.

The Senator talked issues with reporter Donna O'Neill, the Lowell Sun did a story about a program the Senator is sponsoring to prepare disabled vets for public safety communications jobs, and there was a great piece in the Globe about Sen. Kerry presenting medals to the family of veteran Armit Tilgner who was killed in the line of duty 26 years ago.

Senator Kerry also welcomed home the 972nd Military Police Unit of the National Guard yesterday at Faneuil Hall.

Sen. Kerry is scheduled to debate his Republican challenger Jeff Beatty tonight on NECN. Beatty seems to be running on a platform of following Sen. Kerry's whereabouts, so we'll see how that works out for him. Surely, the people of Massachusetts have little else to be concerned with than that their Senator spent two and a half days outside the state to help get Barack elected.

No mercy, JK.

It's getting down to the wire, and the surrogates are out across the country, firing up supporters to get the word out for Obama-Biden. Big name pols and the other famous faces have been visiting local Obama offices in towns and cities to help spread the word, and we were able to capture a couple.

Sen. Kerry in New Hampshire

Sen. Kerry spent Saturday morning in Nashua to rally volunteers, and in Manchester for a veterans' phone bank for Obama. The Senator's speech was biting, as he took McCain to task for the nasty lies coming from his campaign, and called on NH Sen. John Sununu to stop the vicious robocalls coming from the McCain camp to voters in NH and across the country.

"Let me say something to John Sununu, those robocalls that are being run here in the state of New Hampshire by John McCain's campaign somehow trying to scare people and link Barack Obama with a past that he had nothing to do with are utterly disgraceful and have no place in American politics," the Boston Democrat said. "I call on John Sununu to break his silence and come out and tell the people of New Hampshire that those calls have no place in the Granite State."

The Senator finished up the day in Norwood, off the campaign trail, for a medals ceremony, where he presented the family of the late Armit Tilgner with replacements for awards that were lost decades ago, sometime after the Chief Warrant Officer's helicopter went down in Malaysia. More on that soon.

Pittsburgh "Gets Smart"

In Pittsburgh, Barbara Feldon, aka Agent 99 from the hit 1960's TV series "Get Smart", stopped by the Moon Township Obama office on Saturday to speak to volunteers about campaign issues that are important to her, especially health care and women's concerns, and explain how they lead to her strong support for Barack Obama.

"I think that there are very few times in history that there is someone with the leadership qualities that he has, that rise out of the mass of people and to not take advantage of that would be just a very sad thing for the country."

Her remarks were interrupted briefly by someone's cell phone, at which point Ms. Feldon started to take off her shoe before realizing the call wasn't for her. She continued with stories of her youth in Pittsburgh before seeing volunteers off to canvass.

I was able to snap a few photos of the Obama volunteers paling around with the spy.

I wish I had thought to ask her about the 'cone of silence', and if, like McCain, Max ever said he was in it when he wasn't -- but I missed her by that much, so we may never know.

Sorry about that, Chief.

Recently, the Humane Society Legislative Fund announced their support of Barack Obama for President. It's a significant endorsement given the huge number of animal lovers in this country and the fact that the HSLF has never before endorsed a candidate for the top spot.

In the Humane Society statement, they cite Sen. Obama's legislative history of animal protection, but I can't help but wonder if his opponent's running mate had something to do with their decision. Gov. Palin has an abysmal record on animal rights, fighting against protections for polar bears, and promoting the disgusting practice of shooting animals from low flying planes with high powered rifles. Just this week, Palin added the beluga whale to her hit list.

Even the Bush administration, whose environmental record is pretty pathetic, won't go so far as to oppose protection of these incredible animals.

In addition to the Obama endorsement, the HSLF gave Senator Kerry his fifth consecutive 100% rating.

KERRY SCORES 100% ON HUMANE SOCIETY HUMANE SCORECARD

BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today received a score of 100% on the Humane Society’s Humane Scorecard on animal protection issues during the 110th Congress. His score was based on his opposition to horse slaughter, animal fighting, downed animal slaughter and his work to prohibit the use in research of dogs and cats obtained from unknown sources – including stolen family pets.

"The Humane Society should be applauded for its work championing the cause of protecting animals, and I'm proud to receive a 100% rating from the group," said Senator Kerry. "I'll continue to be an advocate for animal rights and work with my colleagues in Washington to ensure the Humane Society has a strong voice in Congress that recognizes and furthers its work on behalf of all animals."

Kerry was a co-sponsor of the Horse Slaughter Amendment, legislation that prohibits the slaughter of horses for human consumption. He also co-sponsored the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act which created felony-level penalties for violations of the federal law on dog fighting and cockfighting. In addition, Kerry was a co-sponsor of the Downed Animal Protection Act which prohibits USDA certification of meat from sick or injured livestock.

Every year the Humane Society Legislative Fund creates a federal Humane Scorecard to give a snapshot of the animal protection issues considered by the U.S. Congress. The scorecard tracks key votes as well as co-sponsorship of pro-animal bills. This is the fifth consecutive year that Senator Kerry has received a score of 100%.

There's a lot that's not covered in the HSLF statement on Sen. Kerry's work for animal rights, including his protection of the North Atlantic right whale and the polar bear, but a lot of that's probably covered in his 100% rating from the LCV for his tireless efforts to preserve ANWR. The LCV also endorsed Senator Obama.

KERRY SCORES 100% ON LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS' SCORECARD

BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today received a score of 100% on the League of Conservation Voters’ (LCV) scorecard on environmental issues during the second session of the 110th Congress. His score was based on his work on global warming and moving America towards a clean energy future.

"I am proud and honored to receive a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. LCV should be applauded for its work championing the protection of our environment. Over the years we have worked together to stop drilling in the Arctic refuge, increase fuel efficiency of cars and trucks and reduce carbon emissions from power plants,” said Senator Kerry. “Come January, with Barack Obama in the Oval Office and a stronger, Democratic majority in Congress, we can end the era that put big oil ahead of everyday Americans and work to build a better future for children and our children’s children.”

Ever since John Kerry spoke at first Earth Day in Massachusetts 38 years ago, he has been a top leader on the environment, fighting to clean up toxic waste sites, to keep our air and water clean, to raise our nation’s CAFE standards, and to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other pristine wilderness areas.

Every year the League of Conservation Voters releases a “scorecard” to give voters a snapshot of how members of Congress vote on certain environmental issues. The scorecard tracks key votes as well as co-sponsorship of pro-environment bills.

LCV, the nation’s independent voice for the environment, engages in public education, lobbying and accountability to turn environmental values into public policy. LCV has made global warming and America’s energy future a central focus of its activities in Congress and in the 2008 election cycle.

I find it absolutely incredible that any American would want to move backward on animal and environmental protection, but apparently the few remaining Palin fans out there either don't know about her record or don't care. Good thing the rest of us do.

Congratulations and thanks to Senator Kerry and to and Senators Obama and Biden for their efforts on behalf of the humane treatment of animals and their stewardship of our precious natural resources.

We all know there's a clear and a very important choice that will be made 18 days from today. With Barack up in the polls by a decent margin and all of us tired from what seems like a lifetime of phone calls and knocking on doors, it might seem like a good time to coast for a bit.

It's not.

The next eighteen days are critical if we're going to take our country back and start to reverse the last eight years of Republican disaster. We need to work harder, just a little bit longer. That was Senator Kerry's message as he traveled to Wisconsin and Iowa this week, urging residents there to vote early and spend election day helping to get out the vote.

Senator Kerry was in Iowa on Wednesday, urging us to do just that.

Vote early, if you can. Not only will you avoid standing in line on Nov. 4, but it will free up your whole election day to work for Obama and help others get to the polls. Besides, you'll have 18 days between now and Nov. 4th to brag to your friends that you've already voted for Barack Obama!

How cool is that?

Check here for early voting and absentee voting rules, then go to your state page at BarackObama.com to find out how you can help bring an Obama victory over the next 18 days.

The pundits and the public will be batting around last night's debate for a while, but I think when the dust settles, we'll see that, as Hillary said last night, Obama came away with the win, going three for three in the Presidential debates. There were several topics where Barack excelled, in particular abortion, education and health care.

On health care, Obama laid out his plan very clearly, and the public responded. In this morning's CNN poll, viewers chose Obama on health care 61-32.

Here's the transcript of Obama on the issue from last night's debate.

So here's what my plan does. If you have health insurance, then you don't have to do anything. If you've got health insurance through your employer, you can keep your health insurance, keep your choice of doctor, keep your plan.

The only thing we're going to try to do is lower costs so that those cost savings are passed onto you. And we estimate we can cut the average family's premium by about $2,500 per year. If you don't have health insurance, then what we're going to do is to provide you the option of buying into the same kind of federal pool that both Senator McCain and I enjoy as federal employees, which will give you high-quality care, choice of doctors, at lower costs, because so many people are part of this insured group.

We're going to make sure that insurance companies can't discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions. We'll negotiate with the drug companies for the cheapest available price on drugs.

We are going to invest in information technology to eliminate bureaucracy and make the system more efficient.

And we are going to make sure that we manage chronic illnesses, like diabetes and heart disease, that cost a huge amount, but could be prevented. We've got to put more money into preventive care.

This will cost some money on the front end, but over the long term this is the only way that not only are we going to make families healthy, but it's also how we're going to save the federal budget, because we can't afford these escalating costs.

McCain followed up by distorting Sen. Obama's health care plan, and Obama responded:

JK spoke on the topic of health care and the differences between McCain and Obama's plans in Wisconsin on Tuesday, and YouTuber 'lanceburri' captured that part of the speech and several others.

19 days before we start to turn this country around. I think we're ready.

Shhh... WI is Wisconsin, but we're trying to keep this one on the down-low. The local media gets a little testy when their Senator spends a couple days out of the state, so we're trying not to point out to the Globe that Senator Kerry actually crossed state lines to help save our country (which includes Massachusetts, as well as several other states). Funny, I didn't see a whole lot of coverage of his recent stops across MA. Here they are in case you missed them.

Graphic: JohnKerryforSenate

To be fair, the local media in the towns and cities across MA did a pretty good job of covering the Senator's visits, but the Boston papers, well, not so much. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder, though, and it's kinda sweet that they miss him when he's gone, so I expect they'll all have full news crews to greet the Senator in Lowell this Saturday when he and Nikki Tsongas work to GOTV with Mass Dems as they again cross state lines to NH (New Hampshire. Shhh...).

Senator Kerry hit the road to rally early voters in Wisconsin yesterday in Milwaukee(video), Madison and Oshkosh (video). The Senator appeared to be having a good time with the crowd, taking a jab at VP nominee/Republican embarrassment Sarah Palin.

"To paraphrase Sarah Palin, 'I can see Canada from here'."

Good one, JK.

At all three stops, Sen. Kerry called on Obama supporters to work for every vote, and recalled 2004, noting about the opposition:

"The most important thing is to make certain that if they're lying about you, everybody knows they are."

Senator Kerry didn't hesitate to point that out on Rachel Maddow's show last night, as he spoke about the 'bankruptcy of the McCain campaign'.

Senator Kerry will be in IA today for five campaign stops before heading home to Massachusetts.

In contrast with the McCain campaign, which was clearly against having an economic strategy before they were for it, Senator Obama laid out a plan in Toledo yesterday to restore our economy, reminding us first of his long term plan for growth, which includes:

- Reforming the tax code
- Bringing down the cost of health care
- Providing affordable education
- Creating 5 million new renewable energy jobs and 2 million new construction jobs to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure

In addition, Senator Obama introduced an economic rescue plan to provide near term relief.

"It's a plan that begins with one word that's on everyone's mind, and it's spelled J-O-B-S."

To deal with our immediate needs, Obama proposed

- Protections for homeowners including refinancing loans and a 90 day foreclosure moratorium
- A $3,000 tax credit for businesses for each new job created
- Allowing withdrawals of 15% up to $10,000 of retirement funds without penalty
- Low cost loans for small businesses
- A stimulus package and extended unemployment benefits

Finally, Sen. Obama called for a return to fiscal responsibility and accountability from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street.

Yesterday, the McCain camp said this:

... “We do not have any immediate plans to announce any policy proposals outside of the proposals that John McCain has announced, and the certain proposals that would result as economic news continues to come our way,” said a campaign spokesman, Tucker Bounds. Mr. McCain’s policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said, “I have no comment on anything, to anybody” ...

before they said this:

A freeze on foreclosures will not be part of a new economic rescue plan Republican John McCain will present to voters Tuesday, a senior aide told reporters Monday.

[McCain senior policy advisor Doug] Holtz-Eakin would not provide details about McCain's new proposals, but told reporters they would be far superior to those offered by Obama on Monday.

In other words, they'll try to find one and 'bring it to ya'.

Pretty erratic, or as former Reagan and Bush economic adviser Bruce Bartlett noted, “At this point I don’t think McCain can say anything on the economy that will sound credible.”

 
Cross-posted at Reality Window

It was another busy week for Sen. Kerry, with a speech on Tuesday at an e-prescription conference in Boston, visits to Salem, Greenfield and Northampton and a trip to Pennsylvania for Jill Biden's mother's funeral.

The Senator also recently addressed the persecution of Lithuanian Jews by their government, expressed support for Obama's small business plan that mirrors his own, and issued a statement about the NOAA ship strike regulation that will help protect the North Atlantic right whale.

In an e-mail to supporters, the senator slammed the McCain camp for promoting hate at their events, likely in response to complaints from constituents.

In other news, Sen. Kerry's Republican opponent continued to say silly things.

Senator Kerry has several Obama campaign events planned in Wisconsin and Iowa next week, and a 'Drive for Change' event with Nikki Tsongas scheduled for Saturday.

Sen. Kerry visited Northampton on Thursday, and stopped by the Sierra Grille as part of the Kerry on Your Corner tour. He spoke with supporters (including a significant number of Smith College women) to talk about the upcoming election. The Senator recalled his visits to Smith when he was in school, and mentioned that his sisters were both Smith grads. The trip down memory lane also lead to a story about his mom and his early political career.

He talked about the role of young people in the important events of our country, in particular the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and the environmental movement, and of the need to increase our majority in Congress, explaining what's at stake, and calling on all of us, especially the youth of our country, to work for change.

The crowd reaction was interesting when Sen. Kerry mentioned both Joe Lieberman and Sarah Palin, both drawing laughter from those gathered. Mind you, he wasn't telling jokes, he just said their names. It's pretty telling when just the mere mention of a politician's name is followed by laughter, and not good for either of them.

A question was asked about the 'bailout', and Sen. Kerry explained the plan, how he expects taxpayers to recover the rescue money and potentially make a profit. He spoke about his warnings to the administration their failure to heed them, and about what we need to do in the future to create new jobs and grow our economy.

The Senator called the work ahead of us over the next few weeks an 'investment', and it is just that. Just as we need to invest in new jobs and new business opportunities, we also need to invest in a new administration that will provide the economic protections to restore our financial future.

Audio of Sen. Kerry's speech here.

After days of John McCain, Sarah Palin, and even Cindy McCain whipping their supporters into a hate-filled frenzy, after listening to audience members at town halls call Sen. Obama vile names and threaten violence, and after the McCain camp attempted to defend their supporters' vitriol and blame Sen. Obama for calling them on it, John McCain finally cautioned his followers to stop the venomous attacks.

They booed him.

Apparently, the hate and division that's been driving the McCain camp is stronger than McCain's ability to lead, and the fact that people turned on him at the suggestion Sen. Obama is actually a good person is an indication of the deep indoctrination of hate from the far right. Of course, the recent escalation of character assassination from the McCain campaign is nothing new, it's been promoted by right wing radio, television and newspapers since the start of the campaign, But the racist and partisan rage reached a crescendo over the past week.

So, McCain finally made an attempt to reign in the ugliest of the smears against Sen. Obama, a start if he ever hopes to recover any credibility and save his legacy. The ads are still running, though. And his running mate hasn't shown any signs of dialing down the rhetoric. The campaign insists on continuing to divide America further by pointing to Obama's rather tenuous associations while ignoring their own close ties to a host of criminals, radicals, and secessionist sympathizers like Carl Lindner, G. Gordon Liddy, Charles Keating, Phil Gramm, Todd Palin, David Ifshin, John Hagee, George Wallace, Jr., John Rakolta, Robert Liggett, Oliver North, and The U.S. Council for World Freedom. I wonder if McCain's supporters know about this stuff and choose to ignore it, or if they just don't know that their guy's history of associations with questionable characters goes a lot deeper than being on a couple charity boards with a former radical and current university professor with ties to Reagan appointee Leonore Annenberg.

Sen. Kerry sent an e-mail to his supporters yesterday, calling on us to report attacks at Truth Fights Back and stop the spread of fear and smear promoted by the McCain camp.

Hello KV,

John McCain has shown a stunning failure of leadership. His campaign, in a time of economic crisis and foreign policy drift, has degenerated into a negative and nasty campaign of smears.

The reports are piling up of ugliness at the campaign rallies of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Audience members hurl insults and racial epithets, call out "Kill Him!" and "Off With His Head," and yell "treason" when Senator Obama's name is mentioned. I strongly condemn language like this which can only be described as hate-filled.

According to reports, every ad paid for by the John McCain campaign is now a negative ad - every single one! McCain allows his running mate to make outrageous charges that only a few years ago would have disqualified someone from serious consideration for national office.

We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to fight back, spread the word about what kind of low campaign he's running, and make sure people know the truth.

We set up an action center at TruthFightsBack.com, where you can print out a flier to be posted anywhere and write an letter to your local media to spread the word about the negative and destructive McCain-Palin campaign. Follow this link:

http://www.truthfightsback.com/mccainsmears

And we want to expand our Google ad campaign. When people hear a charge, many of them search for more information. We need to make sure they see the truth by placing it at the top of their searches. So please give what you can so we can reach as many people as possible.

http://www.truthfightsback.com/contribute

We follow the search patterns of people closely and try to jump on the new charges and smears right away. But to get to all of them, we need your help!

Make no mistake, these are desperation tactics from the McCain-Palin campaign. They know that they are in trouble, that the American people are tired of the Republican policies that got us into this mess. But desperation does not excuse the kind of campaign they are now running. We all need to stand up and demand better.

And work to defeat them in November.

Thank you,
John Kerry

KVH of JKMediaSource was on hand to capture video of Sen. Kerry helping Salem residents celebrate as the city was named one of America's Great Neighborhoods of 2008. The Salem News reported on the festivities.

The American Planning Association dubbed downtown Salem one of the 10 Great Neighborhoods in America for 2008, noting that the city "blends 17th century history and architecture with a 21st century pace and liveliness."

If you've never been to Salem, you should try to make it there. Especially this time of year. Salem combines the 'witchy' with the kitschy, so if you're into Halloween, there's no better place to be. But it's not all about witchcraft and the dark days of the trials. There are great shops, beautiful architecture, and some must-see literary sites. Add a whole lot of history to the brew and you really do have a great American neighborhood.

Congratulations to the people of Salem, Massachusetts.

In July, the Senate passed Sen. Kerry's e-prescription bill 69-30, which was pretty great given the record number of filibusters from Republicans in the 110th.

The bill provides permanent Medicare funding for payment bonuses to physicians who acquire e-prescribing technology. In addition, for every Medicare prescription a doctor writes electronically, they will be paid an extra 1% bonus. Starting in 2011, Medicare physicians who are not electronically prescribing would face financial penalties. The bill passed over the summer as part of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act.

On Tuesday, the Senator spoke in Boston at the National E-Prescribing Conference about modernizing and improving medical care to meet our nation's health care needs.

Really, there is no down side to e-prescribing, which makes me wonder why 30 Senators voted against it. It's good for patients and physicians and pharmacists, lowering cost and increasing patient safety. It's good for the economy. Heck, it's even good for the environment.

This is what people care about, not the divisive rhetoric and hate speech of the McCain campaign or the distortions of Jeff Beatty's latest attack.

That one.

By almost every account, Barack Obama won the debate last night, and he won for several reasons. Obviously, he was seen as the more presidential. He was strong on the economy and on leadership, two things the country is yearning for right now. But more than anything, people do not want a nasty, vindictive, disdainful old man who will resort to spewing hate and divisiveness at a time when the most important thing right now is to pull the country together.

Senator McCain, you lose. By disrespecting your opponent to the point where you can't even use his name, you've shown the American people what you're really made of. By refusing to even shake Sen. Obama's hand at the end of a debate you've shown the world something about how you would handle diplomacy. Refusing to engage an opponent, avoiding an adversary, is why our country's moral authority is eroding.

And running out of the room like a petulant child who didn't get his way won't change the outcome of McCain's failure. As Barack and Michelle interacted with the audience after the debate, staying to shake hands and talk with voters, Sen. McCain cut and ran.

If this wasn't about who will lead our country through some very rough times, I'd say it was just kind of sad. As it is, the thought of John McCain and his equally vicious running mate in the White House is pretty darn terrifying.

With the economy in crisis, the stock market spiraling downward, the national debt clock out of digits, and McCain and Palin ignoring the economic crisis to resort to nasty smears in a last ditch effort to save their flailing campaign, most people are talking about little else. We could, of course, talk about the ugly tactics of the McCain campaign by detailing John McCain's association with a host of criminals and radicals like Carl Lindner, G. Gordon Liddy, Charles Keating, Phil Gramm, Todd Palin, David Ifshin, John Hagee, George Wallace, Jr., John Rakolta, Robert Liggett, Oliver North, and The U.S. Council for World Freedom, but to tell the truth, it was depressing just putting together the list and I'm pretty sure it's incomplete, so we'll save that for another time.

Yesterday, Sen. Kerry helped open a beautiful new court house in Springfield, Mass.