Results tagged “howarddean”

Howard Dean was six-term governor of Vermont, ran for President in 2004, and served as the head of the Democratic National Committee from February 2005 to January 2009. During this period he became known for the "50-State Strategy," that the party should spend money in all states rather than merely battleground states (the latter position favored by now-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel). He will be speaking at the 92nd Street Y on Thursday, September 24th, discussing his new book Howard Dean's Prescription For Real Health Care Reform. The book is as he advertises it, a thin (133 pages), lucid explanation of the health care issues most relevant to the legislation currently before Congress. Dean himself is a medical doctor, and is now one of the most vocal and insistent advocates for health care legislation, news and information about which can be found at his website www.standwithdrdean.com.

The Post reports that the Democratic National Committee will return $100,000 donated by Representative Charles Rangel, "saying it goes against a Team Obama ban on PAC money." There's debate about whether DNC chairman Howard Dean accepted the check a few weeks ago, saying it was a sign of party unity (Rangel was/is a big Clinton supporter), or if Dean didn't know the envelope contained a check. But one source told the Post that Rangel's money is considered "tainted" because it's "lobbyists' money." Previously in DNC-Rangel tanglings, some wondered why the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee wasn't speaking during the convention.

NJ Governor Jon Corzine and Pennsylvania Ed Rendell have offered a plan to re-stage the Florida and Michigan Democratic primaries. The two men, both Clinton supporters, say they will raise half of the $30 million it would take for new primaries. Funny, where's Governor Spitzer, who said he'd support Clinton but has called Obama "spectacular"?

Hillary Clinton may have won more votes in Tuesday’s crucial primaries, but the victories barely made a dent in Barack Obama’s lead, narrowing the gap by only a few delegates. Unless scandal or some other meltdown severely damages Obama, Clinton’s chances of beating him on pledged delegates are extremely difficult.

In an echo of its 2006 article about her Senate re-election campaign spending, the NY Times finds Hillary Clinton donors are concerned over her campaign's spending. Some of the line items that emerged after her campaign finance report was published: $100,000 in party platters and shovels for Iowa caucus parties (where Clinton placed third - and where it did not snow), $25,000 in hotel rooms at Las Vegas' Bellagio, $275,000 to a South Carolina firm "that was supposed to turn out black voters for her" (Barack Obama won SC by almost 30%) and $267,000 for adviser Howard Wolfson's January fee.

I Dig Doug, a new production in this year’s Fringe Festival, concerns a status-obsessed uptown debutante who decides she should so get involved in presidential politics. When the farcical story begins, the unnamed teen (Karen DiConcetto, called Girl in the program) and her equally self-absorbed friend Nicole (Rochelle Zimmerman) are coasting along on their parents’ money, only mildly concerned about their imminent college application essays – Girl is smart enough to know that if they “can get into Bungalow 8” they can get into Harvard. But Girl’s perfect world is soon torn asunder when she discovers that her personal hero, a lovelorn reality TV star, is nothing more than a phony, craven opportunist. If a Girl can’t believe in reality TV, what can she believe in?

Start sharpening your spurs, gays and gals, because Jake Gyllenhaal is coming to Broadway! If director Mike Nichols has his way, you’ll soon have your chance to stalk the sensitive heartthrob as he flees through the stage door of Farragut North, a new play about presidential campaign hardball penned by a former Howard Dean staffer. According to today’s Post, Gyllenhaal (who made his stage debut in a Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed production of Cats in their parents’ living room) is all-but-confirmed for the cast. But before that, Nichols will shepherd other boldface names to Broadway with a spring revival of Clifford Odets’s The Country Girl, about a washed up wino actor and his beleaguered wife. With Morgan Freeman and our personal favorite Frances McDormand rumored to play the couple, this has Compelling Theatrical Event written all over it.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at Union Turnpike in Queens, a fatal fall victim on Union St. in Brooklyn, and an infant water rescue at Mallow St. on Staten Island.
• What loud-mouthed inflammatory interrogator could MSNBC get to stand in for Chris Matthews? Tonight it will be Al Sharpton interviewing former DNC head Terry McAuliffe and one-time Presidential candidate Howard Dean. Set your VCRs, DVRs, Tivos, or whatever.
• A swimming pool in Hells' Kitchen is sprouting weeds as more than $3 million of private funds sits in the bank, waiting to be used. We imagine it will get sorted out around January.
• A self-described pacifist wrestled a shovel away from an attacker and started hitting the thief with it after the man went after his wife. The whole exchange occurred in a Queens cemetary and cops eventually arrested the initial shovel-wielding thief.
• The enforcement of a new city noise code is unsurprisingly lax.
• For the 130th year, the Fresh Air Fund is sending NYC kids upstate and further north for some summer recreation.
• Bookmark it: a GoogleMap of open WiFi spots around the nation.
• A downtown Manhattan pizzeria offers lapdances with its lunches. Employees must wash their . . . everything, before returning to work.

A who's who of the Democratic party has been at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in Midtown this past week. Opening day saw hopeful John Edwards and Democratic party chair Howard Dean, yesterday included former president Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Biden, Senator Christopher Dodd, and Governor Bill Richardson, today has Senator Hillary Clinton and tomorrow Senator Barack Obama and Representative Dennis Kucinich are appearing - which is why it's called the "Sharpton primary" by many. With his profile very high after the Don Imus-Rutgers women's basketball incident, the Sun notes that Sharpton is a political force.

After yesterday's "shocking" revelation that his ancestors were slaves owned by ancestors of Senator Strom Thurmond, the Reverend Al Sharpton held a press conference to discuss the news. It turns out that a Daily News reporter asked Sharpton if he'd like research his family history with genealogy website Ancestry.com - the NY Times reports that Ancestry.com "approached the Daily News seeking to publicize its African-American ancestry database" and the ball got rolling from there. At the Daily News offices, Sharpton told reporters:

"It's important for America, because in the story of the Thurmonds and the Sharptons, there's the story of the shame and the glory of America. The shame is that people were owned as property, and the shame is that every time I write my name now, I will think about how I got that name. The shame is that I am the heir of those who were property to the Thurmond family.

Continue reading "Sharpton Discusses Ancestral Ties to Thurmond"

While former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is interested in running for President, what with visiting NH this past weekend, it's unclear how the GOP feels about him. The Post reports that the NY State GOP has Giuliani's big 2008 rival, Senator John McCain, to appear at a fund-raiser in Manhattan. One Giuliani supporter says, "It's a slight," but the NYS GOP claims that the party just needs a lot of money (it's broke) and all the starpower it can line up, which is pretty believable.

NYC is a two time loser now! After the Republican party decided to have its 2008 convention in the Twin Cities, the city hoped to win the Democratic convention. But now the Democratic National Committee has announced the 2008 convention will be in Denver. Here's DNC Chairman Howard Dean's statement:

The recent Democratic gains in the West exemplify the principle that when we show up and ask for people's votes and talk about what we stand for, we can win in any part of the country. We have a number of strong Democratic leaders in the West who will be a part of showcasing the vision of Democratic leadership for America as we introduce the next Democratic President in the Rocky Mountains.

Merry Gridlock to All, via our friends at No Land Grab.

Now that Democrats have had a victorious 2006 election year, attention is turning to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. New York and Denver are the two remaining cities left in the running, and the Daily News reports Senator Hillary Clinton wants the convention back in NYC. Her advisers say her support has nothing to do with the possibility that she may run, but let's face it, New York is where Bubba was nominated back in 1992.

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbq's and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder?

Scuttlebutt from Knicks sources is that Knicks owner James Dolan (owner of Cablevision) and MSG president Steve Mills are willing to buy out pricey remaining four years on coach Larry Brown's contract. And not only that, the new coach could be general manager Isaiah Thomas. Management has been upset with Brown's criticism of players to the media, but let's face it - who hasn't been criticizing the most expensive NBA roster with the second worst record in the league for the 2005-2006 season? Brown's remaining contract is worth $44 million, and that would be some easy money for Brown (though it's unclear how the Knicks would structure a buy-out - paying in full and Brown can't coach for four years or paying a percentage, but Brown gets back into the game), who had some medical problems towards the end of the season. The Daily News says that Knicks players "staged a palace coup in front of Thomas during their exit interviews," with eight of the fifteen players blaming Brown for the poor season. Well, there's no one to blame like someone else! Gothamist thinks ownership is buying out the wrong guy, but maybe it's fitting that Thomas would have to clean up his own mess. The key for the team to succeed is to get Stephon "Call Me Starbury" Marbury out and younger players who want to be coached in. Of course, the Knicks, even with crap records, can't count on any high draft picks since they failed to lottery-protect their first round picks for this year and next after the Eddy Curry trade.

Mayor Bloomberg is pulling out all the stops to appeal to the minorities, and today's rumor that he's hired Brian Ellner to join his campaign proves that he wants to show he's a Democrat in Republican's clothing. And suddenly, the Mayor's Republican supporters reach for their Zantac. But this could be the start of a brilliant new ad: Mayor Bloomberg stepping out with his girlfriend Diana Taylor and Ellner with his partner Simon.

Fernando Ferrer's overstatement about his NYC public education (a master's at Baruch, after years of Catholic schooling) has lead to Mayor Bloomberg's campaign to issue press releases and certain tabloids, as Gawker points out, to enjoy creating insane covers and some serious questioning about blogging as candidates. It turns out that Mayor Mike doesn't write his own posts either! Shocking! Ferrer was asked about the offending post while with Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, who said, "What is this obsession with blogs? Does anybody care about education in this city?" Then someone (NY State Senator Schneiderman, according to the Politicker) said to Dean, "You started it!" Gothamist would like Dean to tell us how Ferrer will win Murray Hill (YAY!!!) and Richmond Hill and the Rockaways and...

- When you eat at Ninja, you may get a bonsai tree style dessert

After the last presidential election, in which nearly every candidate seemed to throw one, Political house parties are old news. Except when the candidate in question shakes up the status quo by footing the bill. Which is exactly what Bloomberg's camp has announced he plans to do.

As the Democrats try to regroup and figure out if there is anyone who can beat Mayor Moneybags, it turns out that Howard Dean also considered running for Mayor, because if there's one thing New Yorkers like, it's a Mayor who will yell and get red in the face. The Politicker says Dean had spoken to associates about the possibility and notes Dean's NYC upbringing ("Park Avenue, Browning, off to Andover and Yale, then back to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx"). If Howard Dean ran, that would have been some Democratic debate. And if the Reverend Al Sharpton ran too, it would bring down the house. Gothamist would assume Dean would be pro-graffiti, as he did give a speech during his presidential run in front of graffiti in Bryant Park.

The NY Times' news analysis says Bush's plan is "bold" and "risky" (yeah, he's a cowboy!). The White House on the SoU. And DCist rounds up various media reaction.

Plus, the week in full.

But take heart Howie: Scarlett Johanssen is a clear Dean supporter.

Apparently, General Wesley Clark did not do enough jumping jacks for votes in New Hampshire. John Kerry's double digit win over Howard Dean in Dean's neck of the woods spells some doom for Dean. John Edwards is excited, but at this point, Gothamist will just wait to see what happens after the convention, weigh our options, and probably vote third party again.

Wesley Clark has been blowing off the Iowa caucuses to concentrate on New Hampshire and to visit in New York. Gothamist saw him at Grand Central yesterday, where he spoke to commuters amid the media scrum. As people jockeyed to tell Clark various things ("I was in the service" or "I'm the CEO of a financial services company"), we could hear his staffers telling others who couldn't get to Clark, "His motorcade is out that door; you'll have a great chance of speaking to him outside, why don't you go wait?" Gothamist contemplated asking Clark if he was going to do any shopping in the city, you know, to support the economy and continue to soften up his image (the Fab Five just made over a military man the other night - imagine what they could do with the General!), but we got hungry and went to buy a bagel.

As the area's favorite Knick turned Senator, Bill Bradley, endorses Howard Dean, Gothamist decided to read about the Democratic debate in Iowa yesterday. The Times' David Halbfinger noted the absence of Al Sharpton, "For sheer comedic appeal, the Democratic presidential debate on Sunday was short a Sharpton..." Ah, Lorne Michaels was so on the ball in asking the Reverend to host SNL. Unintentional funniness seems to have come from one John Kerry supporter held a sign saying, "J.K. all the way," which at first seems like "Just Kidding all the way to the caucus," and the name of The Des Moines Register editor who moderated the debate: Paul Anger, who told Dean and Joseph Lieberman "to take it outside, if you need to.'" Ah, there's nothing like missing a boring debate where the Democrats don't come any closer to figuring out who can challenge Dean.

And really, is this betrayal any worse than Al Gore's snub of former running mate Joe Lieberman by supporting Howard Dean? The future is bright for Adam, though: While falling for Melana is not the most dignified thing, it couldn't be avoided in the hothouse NBC created, and now the reality TV watching world knows he's a "millionaire" (though one with a roommate in typical bachelor digs; maybe he's thrifty). Perhaps the sequel is "Average Joe with Many Shallow Girls Fighting For Him." Gothamist got swept into Average Joe fever for the obvious reasons: Rooting for the underdog is such sweet sorrow. Someone who also knows about sweet sorrow, and lots of it, Red Sox fan Lockhart Steele.