Wayman Tisdale "Way Up" EPK
RIP Wayman Tisdale. He was a giant in jazz in many ways. He stood 6'9" which made him stand out but his warm smile and his bass playing just floored you. I'm glad we drove to Tampa to see him perform. We've lost a truly gifted musician.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Obamas Host Speakers, Musicians for White House Poetry Jam - washingtonpost.com
Obamas Host Speakers, Musicians for White House Poetry Jam - washingtonpost.com
By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Perhaps for the first time ever, the White House jammed and slammed last night.
Poets and playwrights, actors and musicians packed the ornate East Room, delivering cool jazz and glorious spoken-word poetry, sprinkling a bit of hip-hop and a bit of the heroic couplet. And through it all, the president and the first lady watched -- and applauded.
"We're here to celebrate the power of words," President Obama said. Words "help us appreciate beauty and also understand pain. They inspire us to action." He introduced the first lady as his poet.
Michelle Obama told the gathering that the event was a way to open up the White House and invite in diverse voices. "I have wanted to do this from day one," Mrs. Obama said. "The notion of standing in this room and hearing some poetry."
Some called the event the first White House poetry jam in history. Technically, it was not a "poetry slam," which is a competition among poets -- a form of contest that began in the 1980s in Obama's home town of Chicago. A slam pits poet against poet as they stand before a crowd that provides instant, not-always-supportive judgment. That, of course, would not befit proper White House decorum.
The spoken-word evening, however, did showcase precisely what the best poetry slammers do: Bring their verse to life so that the poem becomes a performance, recited in a rhythm that is almost sung, allowing the speaker to ride words to the deepest valleys of emotion and then scale verbal heights.
James Earl Jones, in that voice that could make a phone-book reading sound like Shakespeare, performed from the tragedy "Othello," towering over the lectern, raising his arms, casting his eyes on the audience as he evoked Othello the Moor of Venice and his torment. Obama sat at a center table next to his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson. Director Spike Lee watched from a table up front. The room was still.
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Two jazz musicians, acoustic bassist Esperanza Spalding and pianist Eric Lewis (a.k.a. ELEW), opened the show with a funky arrangement by Lewis titled "Love Letters." Filling the room with a lovely melody, they played as if the White House were a blues joint. Later, Spalding performed "Tell Him," delivering lush vocals as she plucked her bass.
The jam featured young, rising stars in theater, jazz and spoken-word poetry in addition to established actors and writers. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon stood onstage with his wife, "Bad Mother" essayist Ayelet Waldman. They talked about the power of words.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony-winning creator of the salsa/hip-hop-inspired musical "In the Heights," performed. Poetry slam champion Mayda del Valle, a native of Chicago's South Side, delivered a personal narrative to the cadence of a hip-hop beat.
Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, a young spoken-word poet from Hawaii, asked in an emotional poem: "What happens to the ones forgotten?" Next up was Joshua Brandon Bennett, who -- like Osorio -- has appeared on the HBO series "Brave New Voices." Bennett performed an ode to his elder sister, who is deaf. "Tamara has never listened to hip-hop/never danced to the rhythm of raindrops," Bennett recited.
Spalding and Lewis provided what they called the musical transitions between the spoken-word performances.
Spalding was first invited to the White House in February by Stevie Wonder, when he received the Gershwin Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Library of Congress. "As they were making the lineup for this poetry event, they realized they wanted some people to represent the music," Spalding said in an interview prior to the event. "They called and said, 'Can you come?' I said: 'Don't finish talking. The answer is yes!' "
Desirée Rogers, the White House social secretary, is a huge fan of Lewis, a music industry source said. Rogers saw Lewis perform at HR-57 jazz/blues club on 14th Street NW (the club's name comes from a congressional resolution that designates jazz a "rare and valuable national American treasure"). Rogers saw Lewis again in New York in February at a Donna Karan fashion show, where Lewis played live on the runway. (Lewis can also count Oprah Winfrey among his fans.)
Lewis has received critical praise for his improvisation of jazz, which he calls "rock jazz." But he has also received heated criticism from some camps. He said an invitation to perform at the White House was like a validation for his music.
"I just met the first lady and I gave her a purse, a red clutch," Lewis said in an interview prior to the performance. "She loved it. She said she saw some videos of me where I reached inside the piano and played the strings. She wanted to make sure I do that on [this] performance. It was nice to receive her okay. She told me to rock the house and do my thing on the piano.
"I can't tell you how special it is that Michelle Obama asked me to go inside the piano," said Lewis, who performed "Mr. Brightside." "For her to be that cool and open-minded to request it shows me some people get it, and some people don't.
"The one that got it happens to be the first lady."
By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Perhaps for the first time ever, the White House jammed and slammed last night.
Poets and playwrights, actors and musicians packed the ornate East Room, delivering cool jazz and glorious spoken-word poetry, sprinkling a bit of hip-hop and a bit of the heroic couplet. And through it all, the president and the first lady watched -- and applauded.
"We're here to celebrate the power of words," President Obama said. Words "help us appreciate beauty and also understand pain. They inspire us to action." He introduced the first lady as his poet.
Michelle Obama told the gathering that the event was a way to open up the White House and invite in diverse voices. "I have wanted to do this from day one," Mrs. Obama said. "The notion of standing in this room and hearing some poetry."
Some called the event the first White House poetry jam in history. Technically, it was not a "poetry slam," which is a competition among poets -- a form of contest that began in the 1980s in Obama's home town of Chicago. A slam pits poet against poet as they stand before a crowd that provides instant, not-always-supportive judgment. That, of course, would not befit proper White House decorum.
The spoken-word evening, however, did showcase precisely what the best poetry slammers do: Bring their verse to life so that the poem becomes a performance, recited in a rhythm that is almost sung, allowing the speaker to ride words to the deepest valleys of emotion and then scale verbal heights.
James Earl Jones, in that voice that could make a phone-book reading sound like Shakespeare, performed from the tragedy "Othello," towering over the lectern, raising his arms, casting his eyes on the audience as he evoked Othello the Moor of Venice and his torment. Obama sat at a center table next to his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson. Director Spike Lee watched from a table up front. The room was still.
ad_icon
Two jazz musicians, acoustic bassist Esperanza Spalding and pianist Eric Lewis (a.k.a. ELEW), opened the show with a funky arrangement by Lewis titled "Love Letters." Filling the room with a lovely melody, they played as if the White House were a blues joint. Later, Spalding performed "Tell Him," delivering lush vocals as she plucked her bass.
The jam featured young, rising stars in theater, jazz and spoken-word poetry in addition to established actors and writers. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon stood onstage with his wife, "Bad Mother" essayist Ayelet Waldman. They talked about the power of words.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony-winning creator of the salsa/hip-hop-inspired musical "In the Heights," performed. Poetry slam champion Mayda del Valle, a native of Chicago's South Side, delivered a personal narrative to the cadence of a hip-hop beat.
Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, a young spoken-word poet from Hawaii, asked in an emotional poem: "What happens to the ones forgotten?" Next up was Joshua Brandon Bennett, who -- like Osorio -- has appeared on the HBO series "Brave New Voices." Bennett performed an ode to his elder sister, who is deaf. "Tamara has never listened to hip-hop/never danced to the rhythm of raindrops," Bennett recited.
Spalding and Lewis provided what they called the musical transitions between the spoken-word performances.
Spalding was first invited to the White House in February by Stevie Wonder, when he received the Gershwin Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Library of Congress. "As they were making the lineup for this poetry event, they realized they wanted some people to represent the music," Spalding said in an interview prior to the event. "They called and said, 'Can you come?' I said: 'Don't finish talking. The answer is yes!' "
Desirée Rogers, the White House social secretary, is a huge fan of Lewis, a music industry source said. Rogers saw Lewis perform at HR-57 jazz/blues club on 14th Street NW (the club's name comes from a congressional resolution that designates jazz a "rare and valuable national American treasure"). Rogers saw Lewis again in New York in February at a Donna Karan fashion show, where Lewis played live on the runway. (Lewis can also count Oprah Winfrey among his fans.)
Lewis has received critical praise for his improvisation of jazz, which he calls "rock jazz." But he has also received heated criticism from some camps. He said an invitation to perform at the White House was like a validation for his music.
"I just met the first lady and I gave her a purse, a red clutch," Lewis said in an interview prior to the performance. "She loved it. She said she saw some videos of me where I reached inside the piano and played the strings. She wanted to make sure I do that on [this] performance. It was nice to receive her okay. She told me to rock the house and do my thing on the piano.
"I can't tell you how special it is that Michelle Obama asked me to go inside the piano," said Lewis, who performed "Mr. Brightside." "For her to be that cool and open-minded to request it shows me some people get it, and some people don't.
"The one that got it happens to be the first lady."
Thursday, May 07, 2009
The Story from American Public Media
The Story from American Public Media:
the_story_768_Turning_It_Around.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)
President Obama recently outlined the administration's accomplishments during his first 100 days in office. Today we talk with another man who has taken the reins of a troubled institution during unprecedented times.
In December, Doug Rodriguez was asked by his superintendent to take over a school that received five failing marks in five years- Miami Central Senior High If the school failed again, it would be taken over or shut down. Doug has been charged with turning things around in a matter of weeks. The test scores came back last week and to his great pleasure, Doug says the data shows tremendous improvement already.
the_story_768_Turning_It_Around.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)
President Obama recently outlined the administration's accomplishments during his first 100 days in office. Today we talk with another man who has taken the reins of a troubled institution during unprecedented times.
In December, Doug Rodriguez was asked by his superintendent to take over a school that received five failing marks in five years- Miami Central Senior High If the school failed again, it would be taken over or shut down. Doug has been charged with turning things around in a matter of weeks. The test scores came back last week and to his great pleasure, Doug says the data shows tremendous improvement already.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
The Island Where People Live Longer : NPR
The Island Where People Live Longer : NPR
Weekend Edition Saturday, May 2, 2009 · Making it to 90 years old is awe-inspiring in much of the world. But on a tiny Greek island in the North Aegean Sea, nonagenarians barely merit a second glance.
The island of Icaria could be the newest of the world's so-called blue zones — places where residents have unusually long life spans.
Dan Buettner has crossed the globe many times over the years in search of blue zones, and he recently teamed up with AARP and National Geographic to study Icaria.
Buettner and a team of demographers work with census data to identify blue zones around the world. They found Icaria had the highest percentage of 90-year-olds anywhere on the planet — nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s.
Plus, Buettner says, "they have about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia."
Our life spans are about 20 percent dictated by our genes, Buettner says. The rest is lifestyle. People in Icaria live in mountain villages that necessitate activity every day. "They have gardens," he says, for example. "If they go to church, if they go to their friends' house — it always occasions a small walk. But that ends up burning much more calories than going to a gym for 20 minutes a day."
"They also have a diet that's very interesting," Buettner continues. "It's very high in olive oil; it's very high in fruits and vegetables." It's also very high in greens; about 150 kinds of veggies grow wild on the island. "These greens have somewhere around 10 times the level of antioxidants in red wine."
And though they live on an island, Icarians don't eat much fish. Buettner says pirates pushed the culture up in the highlands and villagers couldn't depend on the sea as much as might be expected.
Particularly unusual to this new blue zone are the villagers' drinking habits. Tea drinking, that is. Icarians drink herbal teas every day, morning and night, Buettner says. This seems to be one of their secrets to longer living.
"We had five of these herbal teas sent to Athens and analyzed for their chemical composition," Buettner reports. "We found out that most of them were diuretics."
"It turns out that diuretics actually lower blood pressure," he says, "so when you're chronically lowering blood pressure every day with these herbal teas, that does help explain why there's lower rates of heart disease."
"That's something we haven't seen in Okinawa or Costa Rica or Sardinia or any of the other blue zones," Buettner says.
Weekend Edition Saturday, May 2, 2009 · Making it to 90 years old is awe-inspiring in much of the world. But on a tiny Greek island in the North Aegean Sea, nonagenarians barely merit a second glance.
The island of Icaria could be the newest of the world's so-called blue zones — places where residents have unusually long life spans.
Dan Buettner has crossed the globe many times over the years in search of blue zones, and he recently teamed up with AARP and National Geographic to study Icaria.
Buettner and a team of demographers work with census data to identify blue zones around the world. They found Icaria had the highest percentage of 90-year-olds anywhere on the planet — nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s.
Plus, Buettner says, "they have about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia."
Our life spans are about 20 percent dictated by our genes, Buettner says. The rest is lifestyle. People in Icaria live in mountain villages that necessitate activity every day. "They have gardens," he says, for example. "If they go to church, if they go to their friends' house — it always occasions a small walk. But that ends up burning much more calories than going to a gym for 20 minutes a day."
"They also have a diet that's very interesting," Buettner continues. "It's very high in olive oil; it's very high in fruits and vegetables." It's also very high in greens; about 150 kinds of veggies grow wild on the island. "These greens have somewhere around 10 times the level of antioxidants in red wine."
And though they live on an island, Icarians don't eat much fish. Buettner says pirates pushed the culture up in the highlands and villagers couldn't depend on the sea as much as might be expected.
Particularly unusual to this new blue zone are the villagers' drinking habits. Tea drinking, that is. Icarians drink herbal teas every day, morning and night, Buettner says. This seems to be one of their secrets to longer living.
"We had five of these herbal teas sent to Athens and analyzed for their chemical composition," Buettner reports. "We found out that most of them were diuretics."
"It turns out that diuretics actually lower blood pressure," he says, "so when you're chronically lowering blood pressure every day with these herbal teas, that does help explain why there's lower rates of heart disease."
"That's something we haven't seen in Okinawa or Costa Rica or Sardinia or any of the other blue zones," Buettner says.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Machel, Rudder and Despers for Obama in Trinidad :: ttgapers.com
Machel, Rudder and Despers for Obama in Trinidad :: ttgapers.com
Machel Montano, Ella Andell, Arrow, David Rudder and even Stephen Marley are a few of the big name acts who will be performing during the official opening of the Fifth Summit of the Americas which will take place from April 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Spending It - Loans in the Time of Facebook - NYTimes.com
Spending It - Loans in the Time of Facebook - NYTimes.com
Spending It
Loans in the Time of Facebook
By LAURA PAPPANO
Published: October 30, 2008
If ever there was a time to ask friends and family — and strangers — for a college loan, this is it. You don’t have to be an economics major to see that turmoil in the financial markets has made loan money scarce and expensive.
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My Rich Uncle, Campus Door (owned by Lehman Brothers), the College Loan Corporation and Education Finance Partners have eliminated or cut back on private loans. Tim Ranzetta, founder of Student Lending Analytics, which evaluates student loans for financial aid offices, estimates that lending capacity for private student loans has shrunk 20 to 27 percent since last year. That means up to $5 billion that students could borrow in 2007 is no longer available.
With this bleak backdrop, “social lending” or “peer-to-peer lending” (P2P if you’re hip) might be the Facebook generation’s answer to the crisis. Peer-to-peer lending has been around for several years for buying cars and starting businesses. In recent months, a half-dozen companies have applied the approach to student loans, aiming to help fill the gap between government financial aid and the cost of college.
The idea is to connect students who need cash with people who will lend it to them. The sites deal with the paperwork and servicing (no confusion about when that payment is really due). And a student might be able to get a lower interest rate than those available through traditional loans, because lenders are willing to look beyond conventional criteria for a chance to earn better returns on their money. The lender may also be swayed by a connection with the student. Think alumni, fellow bass guitar enthusiasts or computer science majors.
Because peer-to-peer student lending is so new and so little data is available, it’s impossible to know how many students are getting loans or to predict whether this option will ever be a major source of money for college. That’s certainly not likely for many years, says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org.
The companies take different approaches. Virgin Money (virginmoneyus.com), Richard Branson’s foray into lending, focuses on formalizing and servicing loans among friends and family members. On Fynanz.com, strangers are the target lenders, and student profiles — brief and jazzy personal statements and photos — the lure. (Tip from the C.E.O.’s: sob stories don’t work.)
Lenders can spread their money around, offering as little as $50. Click around and weigh the merits of lending to Keith, the Occidental College student seeking $17,000 for a semester in Chile; or the 42-year-old single mother who needs $7,000 to go back to college to become a nurse; or the Columbia freshman Dominique, who has plans for medical school but right now needs $5,500 for books and expenses.
Of course, the loans are unsecured and few students have credit track records, so lenders must judge the likelihood of a default. GreenNote.com, whose interest rate is fixed at 6.8 percent, does not do credit checks but disburses money only to the college.
As does Fynanz. But Fynanz has developed its own rating system for borrowers: students must have a credit score of 640, and are graded — and their interest rates set by a calculation that includes year in college (the closer to finishing, the better), G.P.A. and college attended. Fynanz guarantees 50 to 100 percent of the loan depending on a student’s grades. (Less risky students give investors more peace of mind but lower returns.) The average interest rate, says Chirag Chaman, who runs Fynanz, is 8 to 9 percent.
Prosper.com, the nation’s largest peer-to-peer site, is currently tweaking its model. Because peer-to-peer sites will undoubtedly attract more would-be borrowers than lenders, Prosper is hoping to grow by creating a market in which lenders can sell the loans they make rather than having to hold them to maturity, following the lead of a rival, the Lending Club. Until Prosper receives regulatory approval, it announced last month, it is not processing any new loans.
Most companies won’t disclose the dollar amounts committed; the exception, Virgin Money, reports assisting with $12 million in student loans since June, when it began offering them.
Robert Shireman, president of the Institute for College Access and Success, calls the whole idea “potentially interesting” but says that because of the high risk of lending to a student, “the peer-to-peer approach only really works if there is some level of charity.” As for borrowers, he urges students to look carefully at fees. There’s generally no listing charge, but often a flat fee, or a fee based on a percentage of the loan, or a transaction fee with each payment.
Perusing the lending sites also makes clear how many students needing support are not finding it. At GreenNote, for example, page after page shows students with zero progress — in early fall, the tail end of the loan season, the sites featured as many as 1,000 profiles.
The ability to find a lender may also reflect a student’s connections. Akash Agarwal, GreenNote’s founder, says on his site, “A lot depends on the person’s social network.”
For some that’s a problem. Bakari Pace, a sophomore at Morehouse College who plans to go to law school, would seem a good bet for success. He gets federal and institutional aid and worked last summer at both a law firm and at a Costco, where he gave out samples of a new energy drink. One of five children in a family that survives on donated food, Mr. Pace was short of money. In August, he put his profile on GreenNote, seeking a $10,000 loan, but received no offers: none of his contacts have any money, either.
Mr. Pace went to school this fall with $4,000 on his bill and no money for books or a meal plan. Financial aid officers eventually found scholarships to cover his costs — for this semester.
For students like Mr. Pace, peer-to-peer lending may not be the best answer.
“I hope this takes off and works well,” says Richard Toomey, head of financial aid at Santa Clara University in California. With some students paying 10 to 20 percent interest for private loans, he sees GreenNote as a cheaper option; its rate is the same as a federal Stafford loan. Mr. Toomey says 26 Santa Clara students have profiles on GreenNote, and four have received loans. He personally “invested” $100 in a student whose story he found compelling.
The peer-to-peer C.E.O.’s say students are more likely to get money if they ask for less. “If you write that I am only looking for $4,000 to pay for X, Y and Z, it sits a lot better than if you try to get $15,000,” Mr. Chaman says. Three New York University alumni, he says, have committed to making $500,000 in loans to N.Y.U. students through Fynanz, which started up in June.
Crystal Gnemi, a University of Kansas senior majoring in arts and architecture, credits her snappy profile for helping her get a $7,000 loan in 48 hours on Prosper, which uses an eBay-like bidding system for interest rates.
Lenders offer amounts at particular interest rates; those with the lowest rates get in on the deal. Ms. Gnemi wrote that she planned to get a master’s in architectural engineering and that she had a 3.6 G.P.A. “while working 30-hour work weeks while taking 18 credit-hour semesters.”
Ms. Gnemi, whose father is an architect and mother a substitute teacher, does not qualify for need-based aid. Though she works as a lifeguard and interior designer, she needed a loan to cover tuition and costs. While she was willing to pay up to 10.92 percent for the loan, so many lenders — 221 — bid in amounts from $50 to $480 that the rate dropped to 8.95 percent (in the end, 123 lenders participated). A bonus: e-mail notes from 17 Kansas alumni. “I have zero friends and zero family investing,” she says. “It is fully funded by people I do not know, but have become friends with since.”
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Obama: 'Change has come to America'
Thank you America! and Thank You Barack Obama! It was an electoral walk-off grand slam!
Barack Obama makes U.S. history
BY BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
Barack Obama will stride into the White House and the history books as the nation's first black president, riding a surge in Democratic voter registration, a tide of discontent with the Republican Party and a hard-fought triumph in Florida.
''If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,'' declared the 47-year-old Illinois senator to an emotional crowd estimated at 150,000 in Grant Park in Chicago. ``Tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.''
Republican John McCain offered a gracious concession speech that recognized Obama's barrier-breaking achievement for African-Americans. He urged the country to unite.
''We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation's reputation,'' McCain, 72, an Arizona senator and Vietnam War hero, told a disappointed throng outside a Phoenix hotel. ``We fought as hard as we could. And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours.''
Obama sealed his victory with a daunting, 182-vote lead in the Electoral College, with five states still outstanding. The popular vote was less one-sided, with Obama winning 51 to 47 percent.
He reshaped American politics, burning through more money and shoe leather than any other presidential candidate in history.
By racking up victories Tuesday in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, Obama could have won the presidency without Florida's treasure trove of 27 electoral votes. But Democrats nationwide savored his victory in a state that has tormented them since the contested 2000 election.
VOTERS WERE FED UP
At a time of war and economic crisis, voters across the country fed up with the Republican administration gravitated toward the younger, more charismatic candidate who rooted his campaign in themes of hope and change. McCain, who had crossed his own party on some major issues, also tried to position himself as an agent of change.
But Obama and running mate Joe Biden relentlessly yoked McCain to the widely unpopular President Bush and the past eight years. In one television spot that ran in Florida and other states, the Democratic campaign portrayed both Republicans in a car's rearview mirror.
In the end, an increasingly diverse and Democratic electorate helped Obama persevere in a state that has chosen the Democratic nominee only three times since 1952. The so-called southern strategy that buttressed Republican candidates by exploiting racial divisions fell apart, as Obama carried Florida and Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964.
''I've always contended the so-called red states are not as red as people think,'' said Matt Towery, a pollster with Atlanta-based InsiderAdvantage. ``You cannot have such a shift in demography and not see it show up at the polls.''
Obama captured several states with large Hispanic populations, including Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida. The number of Hispanic Democrats in Florida recently surpassed Hispanic Republicans, as waves of Latin American immigrants and younger generations of Cuban-Americans have diluted the influence of the staunchly Republican Cuban exile community.
Obama started a movement as much as he launched a campaign, inspiring hundreds of thousands of young people and blacks to vote, volunteer and give money for the first time. State Sen. Frederica Wilson, who campaigned on Obama's behalf in Miami-Dade's black community, said she knew he would be president back in early January when he won the overwhelmingly white Iowa primary.
''I just marvel at America and how it has evolved and changed,'' said Wilson, who grew up during the civil rights movement. ``He went much further than they could have ever predicted that a black man would travel in America, and the world is watching.''
For Florida Democrats, who have tolerated a Republican-controlled state government since the late 1990s and relished few statewide victories since then, Obama's victory signaled a new day. The Democratic nominee didn't just invest in a rusty political infrastructure; he built a new one from the ground up.
''It's pretty clear that Obama's efforts to connect with infrequent voters and new voters is going to pay real dividends for the Democratic Party,'' said Robin Rorapaugh, a Democratic strategist based in Hollywood. ``Even local candidates who win today have to tip their hats to the amount of resources Obama put on the ground and on the air.''
Obama will take office at a time of dire economic circumstances and unfinished wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He pledged to cut taxes on the middle class and bring troops home.
The Democrat weathered attacks for his ties to a violent Vietnam War protester and the racially inflammatory pastor he later broke from. He also was assailed for his willingness to meet with hostile government leaders in Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.
FLORIDA STAYED CLOSE
Nationwide polls had braced McCain supporters for defeat, but in Florida, the race was too close to call until the last day. The state's Jan. 29 primary had figured prominently in McCain's comeback during the primaries.
''What's impressed me the most is that even when he [McCain] was short on money, he kept on going, kept on campaigning,'' said Miami developer Armando Gutierrez Jr., a McCain fundraiser who started a voter registration web site. ''That earned him a lot of loyalty.'' The first sign that Obama was headed for victory came around 8 p.m., when one of the networks declared him the winner in Pennsylvania, the one state that voted Democratic in 2004 that McCain thought he had a chance of flipping. Virginia and Ohio followed as Obama built a commanding lead. Florida helped push him over the top.
The first campaign since 1952 without an incumbent president or vice president was filled with historic moments, many of them in Florida.
The state held its earliest presidential primary, triggering a firestorm in the Democratic Party that cost Florida Democrats their say and -- nearly -- their convention seats. Univisión held the first Democratic and Republican primary debates conducted by a Spanish-language television network. McCain won his first Republican-only primary in Florida, proving that he could be the GOP's standard bearer and paving his path to the nomination.
America's best-known Democratic power couple, Bill and Hillary Clinton, helped Obama win in Florida and nationwide after some initial tension between the ex-rivals. President Clinton appeared on stage with Obama just once, in Orlando.
A frenzy of Florida visits from high-level supporters like the Clintons and the nominees themselves capped the last few weeks of the longest campaign in American history.
The race was also the most expensive; Obama, the first candidate to forgo public financing, set aside $39 million for Florida, more than any other state.
The candidates drew the biggest crowds the nation and Florida have ever seen in a presidential campaign. Obama's appearances with the Clintons and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's debut at a Central Florida retirement community each drew tens of thousands of people.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Barack and Michelle at Bicentennial Park in Miami
Barack and Michelle were in downtown Miami at Bicentennial Park for an Early Vote Rally. The enthusiastic crowd was electrifying at times and well behaved. Unfortunately it was a logistical fiasco. There were 4 or 5 security booths for a crowd of maybe 40,000 so there was an hour delay in entering the park. The stage was too low so it was barely visible for those less than 6 feet tall as there were no screens. The press was mounted on a higher platform, sad! Additionally, the sound was poor so Barack was barely heard in the far parts of the park. Hopefully the Miami officials will get it right next time.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
More Palin Doublespeak
In the fantasy land that Sarah Palin calls home, up is down, right is left and abuse of power means exonerated.
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