Genius Kids in Fremont asked its kids to cast a mock vote in the Presidential elections. The following video is really interesting and illuminating. “I did my best to be objective with the kids, but it was an Obama landslide,” says founder Rennu Dhillon.
The long election season made a star out of baseball statistician Nate Silver, who used his particular skills to create fivethirtyeight.com, a site devoted to analyzing polling data and trends. Yesterday his site predicted a 98.1% probability of an Obama win. Today we find out if he and his numbers live up to the hype or he crashes and burns as fast as he soared up.
6:30 A.M.: The tiny town of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire was the first to announce its results yesterday and Obama beat McCain by 15 votes to 6. The last time the town voted in a Democrat was 1968. A harbinger, or just something for us to hang our hat on till the first results come out around 3 p.m. pacific?
Exit polls from early voting reveal a significant lead for Obama but the remaining voters are polling in a dead heat. Anything can happen. Here we go………..
7:06 A.M.: Barack and Michelle Obama have finished voting. Obama heads to Indiana to continue campaigning. The lage Biden family singlehandedly swings Delaware.
8:40 A.M.: Back from school drop-offs. Turns out Thornton Junior high, my son’s school is a polling place. A line snaked out from the polling room..not too long though. it was great to see democracy in action.
CNN reports bad weather in…..the ‘Red’ states! Hmmm, are all those prayers in Coimbatore working? Off to my polling place now. If you haven’t voted yet, go, go, go. Even votes in blue states count- if the results are close, a solid lead in the popular vote will give the candidate a better mandate.
9:17 A.M.: I did it! Just cast a historic vote for Barack Obama, who, if elected, will be the first African American President of the United States. Obama/Biden were fourth on the list in my precinct, after Cynthia McKinnley, Alan Keyes and Ralph Nader. Like a nervous test-giver, I checked and rechecked my inking. In Fremont, California, we don’t bubble in our selection – we draw a line connecting two sections of a broken arrow. There is a touchscreen voting machine, but nobody uses it and the poll workers don’t encourage it. It sits on its lonesome off to one side and is generally brought out only in case someone with a disability needs it.
If you are reading this, share your story of voting today.
9:38 A.M.: The talking heads on TV are being pretty cautious. Looks like it is going to be a close one, no matter what the pollsters have been saying. Virginia results come in early at 4 p.m. Pacific amd those should provide some idea of which way this election is going. In Indiana, some polls close at 6 and some at 7. I predict a narrow McCain win. If he loses, it is likely to be a landslide for Obama nationwide.
10:28 A.M.: Usual stories of problems with voting machines. In Philly, apparently voting for Obama and then pressing the button for straight Democratic ticket cancels the Obama vote out. Ridiculous. Why can’t we have simple paper ballots everywhere like we do at my precinct? This is the downside of federalism and privatization.
CNN just showed video of a woman making her decision via coin toss. “Heads it’s Obama, tails it’s McCain.” It landed heads. This is in Illinois.
11:32 A.M.: Going to take a break now. From all accounts voters are coming out in droves and treating this election with the seriousness it deserves. There is an electric feeling in the air. Keeping my fingers crossed that all the polls cannot be wrong.
1:05 P.M.: Obama plays basketball with friends. It is a superstitious pre-election ritual.
1:15 P.M.: I don’t think I can just sit around for the next couple of hours for the first results to trickle in. Going to make some calls to Get Out The Vote(GOTV). Montana voters, here I come. If you want to join me, head over to barackobama.com and follow directions.
1:53 P.M. Made a bunch of calls to Montana. Mostly encountered answering machines and left guilt-tripping messages asking them to get their butts off the couch and go vote( ok, not exactly in those terms). The few live ones I got had already voted. Yay!
2:08 P.M.: Still getting frantic emails from the Obama campaign to GOTV. They want a voting number so big it takes care of any kind of voter purge, voter suppression, machine problems….
2:18 P.M.: First exit polls are coming out on CNN. Beware, these were off 4 years ago when they predicted a Kerry victory and left the Democrats with a complete lack of belief in polls since then.
3: 12 P.M.:First results are due any moment from Kentucky and Indiana. Some polls in Indiana close at 4 pm Pacific.
3:21 P.M.: Early results from Kentucky going 59-40 for McCain. Yawwwn.
3:28 P.M.: Early results from Indiana. About 19000 votes in. Obama leading 55-44.
3: 37 P.M.: Indiana neck and neck now. At 4 the polls close in the Obama friendly counties.
3:50 P.M.: Still close in Indiana. According to 538.com, the counties that have reported are showing a much better result for Obama than they did for Kerry four years ago.
4:00 P.M.: CNN calls Vermont for Obama and Kentucky for McCain. No surprises.
4:18 P.M.: Virginia, Indiana, Georgia polls have closed but too close to call.
4:24 P.M. Politico has a great map on the home page that allows you to look at county by county results in each state.
6:35 P.M. Ohio goes to Obama. Time to break out the champagne?
6:45 P.M. John King of CNN performs his magic on the board. Looks tough for McCain even if he wins all teh battleground states he is trailing in right now. Results are slow in coming in, the turnout was probably overwhelming for the election officials around the country.
7:39 P.M. Congratulations, President-elect Barack Hussein Obama!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me say at the outset that this post is for those few people who are still waffling about their choice on Election Day(tomorrow..finally!) If you have a) made up your mind and b) are surely going to vote tomorrow, this post is not for you.
However, if you fall in that prized category of “Undecided Voter”( by which I’m assuming you were just unfrozen from the cryogenic sleep you were in for the last two years) let me try and make the case for voting for Senator Barack Obama for President.
If you are an ex-Hillary supporter and can’t quite bring yourself to vote for the guy who outmaneuvered a deserving candidate in the Democratic primaries – Hold your nose and pull the lever for Obama. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that however much they(and you)may disagree on Obama’s readiness to be President, Obama and Clinton agree on policies as closely as two different human beings can. As for readiness, could the Obama campaign have done anything better in the last eighteen months? The ability to create and motivate a team of talented professionals who stay on message, display intense loyalty and close-lippedness over an incredibly hard fought election surely is resume-worthy. Those gray hairs on Obama’s closely cropped head have been hard earned. Besides, Hillary Clinton has had the intelligence and maturity to throw her whole-hearted support behind Obama. Follow her excellent example.
If you are a conservative has never voted for a Democrat before but who started doubting McCain after the Palin pick and some more after the economic crisis – Congratulations! You are to be commended for your intelligence. Contrary to the picture being painted by the McCain campaign, Obama is first and foremost a pragmatist, who respects the constitution only as a scholar of constitutional law can. He welcomes diversity of opinion but is firmly in the driver’s seat when it comes to decision making. His ability to be on good terms with people he disagrees with will be an invaluable asset in foreign policy, where he will have the talent to make world leaders with competing agendas feel like he understands and empathizes with their point of view while doing exactly what he wants.
If the gridlock on the Hill over the last 16 years has been a point of frustration for you, think about the advantage of having a President who has demonstrated the capability of making his worst enemy( with initials of W.J.C.) work for him.
If Obama’s tax policy is your sticking point – I bet you remember the Clinton years fondly. The stock market was up, the budget had a surplus, venture capitalists would listen your ideas for the next big thing. Well, your tax rates are just going back to what they were then. Not too bad, huh?
If you are an Indian American – I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of having my mom gleefully point out every Saturday morning how everything is going great in India and how awful things are in the US. Electing a president who is part of a racial minority is the first step in my fight back to reclaim the greatness of this wonderful country. I am also hopeful that with Obama as president, we will start taking steps to restore dignity to the office of the Presidency and be able to legitimately claim an intelligent and thoughtful leader . ( And no mom, Sikh Prime Ministers and women Prime Ministers don’t count – they are not elected directly by the people.)
If you are just too busy tomorrow to take a chance on those long lines at your polling place – Oh come on! Unplug that Crackberry, pack a book, a cap and a folding chair and head to the election booth. This will give you the right for the next 4 years to complain endlessly about why the government is not working for you.
Go forth and VOTE.
If you actually have policy questions( boy, do you have a cram session coming), we have a series of articles on the two candidates’ position on various issues.
Did I mention that I will be live-blogging the election tomorrow? Starting 6:30 a.m. Pacific. Enjoy.
On paper it looks like such a slam dunk; Yash Raj Films, a top quality production house with access to the biggest talents in Bollywood, and Disney Films, an animation giant, collaborating to make a cutting-edge animated movie entirely produced in India. On screen, the result is pretty sad.
Created at the Tata Elxsi’s Visual Computing Lab in Bangalore, Roadside Romeo is the story of a resourceful dog who manages to survive and thrive in the mean streets of Mumbai after being abandoned by his affluent owners. Saif Ali Khan gives voice to the lead character and Kareena Kapoor is his glamorous amour, Laila.
Trailer of Roadside Romeo( much better than the movie)
As a parent of two, I have suffered through several humdrum animated movies aimed at kids and as such my expectations were not very high to start with. But Romeo is a particularly pathetic effort.
For one, this is a movie very confused about who its target audience is. One might make the assumption that it is the small fry, but then you have the item numbers! Imagine nude but anatomically neutral dogs doing sexy moves – it is a truly creepy sight. Then there is the heavy emphasis on Bambaiyya slang for most of the movie’s humor quota – not only is it completely lost in translation, but I suspect it is a caricature even to people in India. Though Javed Jaffrey as Charlie Anna with Karunanidhi looks and a heavy “Madrasi” accent is one of the bright spots in the movie, the humor is lost to someone who is reading the subtitles to make sense of the movie.
This would have been a small obstacle if the movie had other redeeming qualities, but the script falls short – there are several moments which I can only describe by the radio term “dead air”- nothing happens for several frames. It is a shortcoming inexcusable in an animated movie, where the pace is supposed to be frenetic.
The story is also all over the place – is it about Romeo’s survival skills? It about his romance? Is it an action movie involving gangsters? Roadside Romeo uses every cinematic cliche associated with Bollywood, and just like the rest of Yash Raj Films have been doing lately, falls flat on its face.
Saif and Kareena ham it up, but it can’t save the movie. Having big names behind the microphone is a Hollywood tradition, but even here that can’t guarantee box-office success( witness the fate of “Bee Movie”, voiced by Jerry Seinfeld.)
In the end, Roadside Romeo falls victim to the same malaise that has been plaguing both Disney and Yash Raj Films – it is out of touch with the times, making movies using a formula that needs to be retired pronto. Hopefully its failure does not discourage the nascent animation efforts in India; there are wonderful stories waiting to be told and creative storytellers who can tell them – all that is required is the courage to break the mould.
By Aarti Johri
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. For most women, as they see this advertised, it is a mental reminder to schedule their next mammogram or doctor’s visit. For many others, it is a bitter reminder of loved ones lost, or battles fought against this dreadful disease. I am relatively fortunate that in my immediate circle of friends and family I have not yet directly witnessed the struggle against this or any other cancer. But even I have met many a victim of this disease; I am also part of the shared pain it brings.
I met Madhavi at my friend Swati’s home about 10 years ago. We hit it off immediately, and each time Swati threw a party, I looked forward to enjoying some good laughs with Madhavi. I soon realized that Madhavi knew a lot more about my life than I did about hers. I learnt that Madhavi had been diagnosed with breast cancer when her younger child was three, the older was about seven. For the past fifteen years, Madhavi and her family have lived successfully with this dreaded disease. As the years have rolled by, life has continued, and normalcy has prevailed, in spite of the extraneous inmate at home. Madhavi’s oldest child has joined Yale University; the younger is a senior at High School. Madhavi worked through most of this, and by the way, also earned a PhD in Computer Science.
About four years ago Madhavi was teasing me about our infrequent get-togethers. She mentioned my annual Diwali get-together; she said she wanted to attend at least one. I promptly invited her, but the dates did not work out for her. Last year I learnt that her cancer had begun to take a serious turn. I thought about all our meetings, perhaps ten in all. I remembered them being full of laughter and jokes, but could not recall the details of even a single one.
Earlier this month, I learnt that Madhavi was sinking fast; Swati told me “the doctors don’t give us much hope”. I struggled to hold onto some of my memories with her, I suddenly remembered quite a few. I recalled that Madhavi once brought an enormous flan for Swati’s party. While I could make one too, I had wondered how she made such a large one hold. I had made a mental note to call and ask her- I never did. I recalled a dinner conversation at Strait’s Café. I was questioning the wisdom of an upcoming construction project we were embarking on. Madhavi dismissed my misgivings that it might not be “worth it”, because my children would be heading off to college a few years after the construction was scheduled for completion. Don’t be silly, she said, your children will thoroughly enjoy their home for the five years that they will still be home. Madhavi and her husband had also completed a major reconstruction to their home.
My annual Diwali event was less than a month away. I knew, when I sent out the invitation, that Madhavi would be unable to attend. I still prayed that a miracle would occur; she has won before, why not this time. But miracles don’t always occur, and Madhavi passed away on Oct 7th. I struggle to come to terms with this. It is hard to accept that we will not share any more laughs, that I will not be able to seek any more nuggets of wisdom on bringing up teens from her.
As I calm my grief, I think of some lessons I have learnt:
1. I may never learn to make a flan for forty.
2. Life’s toughest challenges can be met, and met well.
3. Savor each and every moment, they are all worth it.
4. Everyone who touches your life touches it for a reason.
I know why Madhavi’s touched mine.
Snippets:
– Enakshi’s book “Naina’s Adventure” is 50% off at her website. A good gift idea for the holidays.
– Our Bandhavgarh friends are bringing us another music concert in the jungle – Advait Utsav.
–GiveIndia is sponsoring an essay contest for kids with great prizes.Details here. Deadline is October 31, 2008.Water, No Ice › Edit — WordPress
– AICON Gallery presents – Pakistan Contemporaries
Upcoming Events:
Apparently, according to the disgruntled old Punjabi lady at the sweet shop, the Livermore temple got it wrong when it “declared” the 27th of October as the date for Diwali. And so, ironically, a lazy agnostic like me trumped the devout yesterday!
Diwali as a day for celebration has been creeping up on the Bay Area for the last few years. Of course Indian Americans have been doing their best to observe it at home, replicating the customs of their childhood with the help of lamps and sweets bought at price-gouging desi stores. But it has been slowly entering the larger public consciousness.
Credit to this must go to a few pioneers like jeweler Mahesh Nihalani and his friends, who successfully persuaded the Cupertino city council a few years ago to allow an official celebration. From all accounts the last few celebrations, including artistic performances and food fairs, have been great successes and the 10 percent Indian population of that city has managed to bring Diwali into the mainstream.
I experienced this first hand when my daughter’s 1st grade teacher ( in Fremont) approached me to do ‘something fun’ for the kids for Diwali. Bucking the general trend in the semi-Indian-ghetto neighborhood where we live, her class has only 3 Indian American kids, so any event would be novelty for the majority.
We dressed in our best Diwali morning and arrived at school carrying our supplies. The kids sat in a circle expectantly. The teacher, who has been encouraging the kids to learn how to say “good morning” in various languages, asked my daughter to go around the room greeting her friends in the traditional way. I had a lump in my throat as I watched her circle the carpet. “Namaste Anthony,” she began, folding her hands and bowing. “Namaste, Lori,” he replied, doing the same. “Namaste Clarissa.” “Namaste Lori.” “Namaste Sammy.” “Namaste Lori.”
I then read the Diwali story(ies) to the kids. It was a learning experience for me too as I had quite forgotten that there were so many stories associated with the long celebrations. The kids then colored the clay pots and rangoli designs I had brought with glitter and sequins. We ended with a small snack that one of the other Indian moms had supplied.
Back home, in the evening we drew and decorated a rangoli with colored chalk and lit lamps. The kids met their friends for some bootleg fireworks saved from July 4th, praying like we do every year that the neighbors wouldn’t rat us out. Our prayers continue to be answered, though there was a tense moment when a new firecracker unexpectedly exploded, making the classic rat-a-tat sound. We all held our breath for a moment as we watched the clouds of noxious smoke pollute the sky.
It is not hard to see why Diwali can capture the imagination of the open-minded American. Sitting between July 4th and Christmas, it captures the best of both events, combining the fireworks with the lights to make a memorable event that bridges the celebratory gap. Maybe one day we will see public fireworks on the scale of independence day celebrations and more houses will be lit up on our street. (After all, the lights put up now can stay on the house till Christmas – what a labor saver!)
Till then, a very Happy Diwali and good wishes for the year ahead to all.
By Isheeta Sanghi
After a visit to the FRO in Bangalore, a speedy two day trip to Delhi’s Ministry of Home Affairs, many police reports, thousands of copies of birth certificates and passports, and a penalty fee of 2000 Rupees, I was finally all set to make my journey out of the country, back to America.
I could not help but sense some excitement; after all it had been two years since I had left the country. New York has been my dream, (I think it is a lot of people’s dream – hence the crowds.) I wanted to live my life in NYC, meet the perfect guy, and live a perfect life. Ask any of my high school friends and they will tell you that I was the crazy girl that was willing to give up the San Diego sun for New York snow. I came to New York a few months ago, full of expectations, interning (for free!) with a magazine.
But I think things in the US have changed quite drastically or maybe it is just me. I find myself missing something. For the longest time I could not understand what it was. It’s not like I was missing my parents or was homesick, it was not that I was missing home cooked food (ok maybe it was that a bit); I was not missing the easiness of school life, lord knows I wasn’t missing the BSNL internet connection. It was something else, and I did not quite figure it out until a few weeks ago.
I was missing that excitement, that craziness that only India has. Do not get me wrong, New York is pretty crazy- but it is not India-crazy. I still can not believe that I am saying it and admitting it quite openly, but I guess I have come quite a long way. I miss India! I miss the smells, the crazy dogs, the crazy traffic, the noise and of course the everyday tamasha. I miss it all. I miss arguing with the auto rickshaw guys, I miss staring back at all those Indian men that stare and seeing them realize that I know they are looking. I even miss the annoying kids that wake me up in the mornings yelling at each other with their accented English as they play soccer outside my balcony. I miss it all!
I am waiting to get back so that I can just sit out on my balcony and drink a cup of coffee in the cool Bangalore breeze. I could stick it out longer here, and make a life for myself, but I know that I will be missing something- and that something is India. It is contagious, and once you get over the dirtiness, you realize that you are much closer to reality- dealing with problems like poverty, hunger, lack of electricity in the villages.
I am not going to go all Swades or anything, but I want to go back because I think I can live a much happier life in India. Here I see people of Indian heritage in New York that are shop owners in the subways, or that wheel around a kebab cart, or that are selling newspapers on the street wearing their salwar kameezes. And I am not going to lie; my heart breaks a little bit. Because I know that that is not what they had planned; those women who were once girls had not dreamed of getting married, moving abroad and selling newspapers on the street. Likewise, I did not forecast graduating, and coming to the States only to intern for free and go order people’s Starbucks. How long can you do it for?
My Dad and I (whom most all will agree) rarely see eye to eye, but recently it is been very different. So many things happened prior to me leaving India that said ‘Stay! Stay! Stay!’ and I remember feeling frustrated that I would never be able to get out of the country. I did not realize that I had already achieved the one thing I wanted in life, contentment. The supersize everything is not exciting anymore. I can not believe I am saying this but Starbucks really is not worth what you pay at all, and even though I still haven’t found the GAP factory in India, I can no longer justify spending $50 on a ‘Made in India’ shirt. I figure I’ll just go to Shankar Market, find the left over material roll and get it made from my favorite tailor.
For anyone moving back or thinking of moving back- give India a chance. It is a beautiful place, and the people are amazing. You need to give it time, look at things with humour (even in the toughest of situations) realize that even if one of your expensive wine glasses broke in the process of moving that you’re not going to take those wineglasses with you in your afterlife, and also, it is not India’s fault that it broke. Realize that what you should take with you are the memories of where you have been more than the material itself. I have finished up my internships, and am excited about heading home to India the cows, my roots, my family, and of course the craziness that truly makes India such a uniquely beautiful place.
HAPPY DIWALI!
Isheeta Sanghi lives in India but is spending a few months in the US interning in NY.
I’ve heard that some of my socially conservative friends are voting YES on Prop 8, the proposition that seeks to overturn the California Supreme court’s decision to allow gay marriages. This is my last ditch effort to convince them otherwise. I’m trying the Socratic method of Q &A to see if I can get my argument across.
“Why aren’t they happy with civil unions? Why do they want to call it marriage?”
Contrary to what you may believe, civil unions and domestic partnerships do not confer the same rights as marriage. Defining the contract between two people as marriage (and yes, marriage is a contract) allows the couple to be legally joined in the eyes of the Federal Government, which means they have the same rights as the rest of us when it comes to sponsoring the immigration of a spouse, filing joint tax returns and many other benefits that are available for married couples. Here is a good page on about.com which goes into these differences in detail.
“My kids are going to learn about gay marriage in school.”
This is a stupid smear with about the same amount of credibility as that anti-Obama ad that accused him of promoting sex education in kindergarten. Prop 8 has nothing to do with education and in California, parents have the right to opt their kids out of any education on health and family issues. I know this because the first time the subject of human biology and reproduction came up was when my son was in 5th grade and I was allowed to review all the materials beforehand to decide if it was appropriate.
The incident referred to in the scurrilous ad is as follows – A teacher in Massachusetts read a kid’s book about same sex marriages to her kids in an effort to promote diversity. After parents objected, a bill was proposed to allow parents to opt out, a law that already exists in California. Notice that the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association both agree that Prop 8 has nothing to do with teaching in public schools.
“A decision like this should not be taken by the courts but by the people.”
Decisions that have to do with discrimination and equality cannot be taken by majority vote for obvious reasons. The Constitution of this country was founded on equality and over the years, judges have interpreted it in ways that ended discrimination one step at a time. One such decision allowed inter-racial marriages; another allowed African Americans to vote and be a part of the electoral process. If you are voting for Senator Obama for President, ask yourself – would it have been possible today if the courts had waited for the will of the majority to prevail?
“I am concerned that such open acceptance of homosexuality will encourage licentiousness.”
On the contrary, allowing gay people to marry and raise children binds them with the same social mores as the rest of us, encouraging the concept of long-term commitment and family. It lets children grow up in a loving two-parent relationship sanctioned by society that is more stable and harder to get out of, just like the rest of us.
Finally, imagine if the Luce-Celler Act of 1946( look it up) were put up to a vote today. It is within the realms of possibility that furious Americans, upset by the fact that their jobs are going overseas to India and China, could overwhelmingly vote to repeal it. And, if you were an Asian-American, that would be the end of your citizenship in this country.
The right of gays to marry is a right that has already been granted by the courts which recognized discrimination against a segment of the population and sought to correct it. Do not take away that right. As an immigrant, discrimination is an issue that you should be sensitive about and fight to end, even if those discriminated against make you uncomfortable.
Vote NO on Prop 8.
For the son of Indian immigrants, Ashwin Madia’s story is quintessentially American. A graduate from the University of Minnesota and New York University Law School, Ashwin enrolled in the US Marine Corps and served 2 of his 4 years there in Iraq. After returning from Iraq Ashwin worked as an attorney with a respected law firm in Minneapolis before deciding to run for Congress from the Third District of Minnesota against Republican Erik Paulsen, a very strong opponent.
His already close race received another inadvertent jolt recently. In the Sixth District, Republican Michelle Bachmann’s campaign was badly hurt when she made a statement asking for “media investigation” into members of Congress for their “Pro” or “Anti” American views. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) decided to pull money out of her campaign and flood the neighboring districts instead.
I spoke to Ashwin on a hurried phone conversation squeezed into the candidate’s tight schedule.
Given your on-the-ground experience in Iraq, what is your sense of what we should do there?
AM: I think there are many brave people on both sides building a better country. The Iraqi judicial officers and soldiers were the bravest people. The US bears some responsibility to leave Iraq in a better shape than when we went in and not abandon it. I favor a strategic and gradual withdrawal from Iraq. I am not happy about a fixed timetable like other people but we don’t have the resources to stay there indefinitely. We should be responsive to conditions on the ground.
What is the climate for immigrants in Minnesota?
AM: I was born in Boston and moved all over the country growing up till the family settled in Minnesota. The people in Minnesota are decent and kind. Minnesota is accepting of people from all different backgrounds.
What is your biggest challenge this election season?
AM: The biggest challenge is taking complicated ideas about complex issues and trying to transform them into 30 second sound bites; trying to share my ideas in the kind of mass media-driven market that exists today.
Tell me, in a 30 second sound bite, why you are running for office.:)
AM: I am running because we have the greatest country in the entire world. We need the courage to come together and courage to change; change the economic policy, restore oversight over the financial policy, balance the budget, aim for energy independence. We need investments in education and a responsible end the Iraq war.
What is the most important issue for your constituents?
AM: The economy is the only issue in this state.
Are you being helped by the coattails of the Democratic grassroots movement this election?
AM: My district is kind of unique in that it is very educated. The coattail effect is very minimal.
What are your internal polls showing?
AM: That we’re up by 4. It is going to be a very, very tight race.
If the $150 million raised by Senator Obama is making you leery of any more donations to the Presidential race, help out Ashwin Madia by donating at http://madiaforcongress.com. Down ballot races help elect more Democrats to Congress and give the president a clear mandate to achieve a progressive agenda.
Water, No Ice 