* The issue of FEC money for the greens is utterly unimportant. They may use it effectively to build themselves, they may piss it away, whateva. They are not a party so they can't go anywhere right now. If they were a party I think they'd be doomed to booshwah ways.
* What matters most right now is what several hundred million people THINK, and then what sort of organizing springs from that. The Nader campaign is not at all about the latter, never was.
I'm impressed by the reception RN gets when he goes in front of audiences for Leno or Letterman. These are not proletarian groups, by and large. More impressed by that than thousands of people coming to see Jackson Brown and his hippie elevator music.
* Nathan is right that the tone of the campaign has changed; it has moved to the left. Here in Md we get Virginny's commercials. Former GOP Governor George Allen, one of the most loathesome people ever to walk the earth, is touting his support for public schools and Federal funding of education. He is hitting Robb for the latter's advocacy of austerity policies. Robb is running commercials that say he often voted in support of President Bush's positions.
Gore's line could be partly due to Nader or to the analysis of Stanley Greenberg. His PROGRAM, when you look at the numbers, blows rhino farts, if that's not too technical for ya. His line on anti-recession policy is that more debt repayment will lower interest rates and stimulate employment. Clinton had a populist line too, but his appointments all went the other way, with a minimal number of exceptions.
The leader of my own beloved House Democrats was quoted a day ago saying we should not reserve 90% of next year's surplus for debt reduction; we should reserve 90% for the next five years.
For all the 'populist' hee-haw, the Dems have never looked worse, IMO.
" . . . It's worth checking out the DNC site where the Dems proudly note that Gore is seeking to deliver almost $10,000 per year in tax and spending breaks to families making $35,000 per year, while criticizing Bush for only delivering $2500."
Most of Gore's tax cuts are conditional. Why should you have to do something the Gov wants you to do to get a tax cut, in light of $260 billion surpluses. Bush's are much less so, albeit to the wrong people.
mbs