Caffeinated Thoughts |
- Iowa Independent Claims Huckabee Organization Still in Place
- Antsy-Pants Insiders Try To Drive Mike Huckabee to Commit on 2012.
- Arne Duncan Fails to Defend Constitutionality of President Obama’s Education Wish List
- Iowa Should Explore Educational Decentralization in Massachusetts Not Just Its Standards and Tests
| Iowa Independent Claims Huckabee Organization Still in Place Posted: 15 Mar 2011 04:23 AM PDT
Nevertheless, there are two things to be gained from this article. First, it is the opinion of many within the Iowa Political Superstructure (even those who are not part of the Huckabee team) that his on-the-ground-organization is still intact. While a few leaders may have abandoned him, the rank and file apparently have not. Second, there is no reason to believe that this can’t be replicated in many other states. Perhaps, Huckabee was crazy-like-a-fox in 2008 when he continued to campaign in Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas, and other states after Mitt Romney dropped out. Remember, Huckabee got the endorsement of the Dallas Morning News after Super Tuesday. 80% of those polled picked Huckabee to win, half the remaining (including former WHO-Radio talk show host, Steve Deace, left him off the ballot, believing he won’t run)
The remainder of the top five finishers were Tim Pawlenty (great news for him!), Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Michelle Bachmann. Share and Enjoy:                 |
| Antsy-Pants Insiders Try To Drive Mike Huckabee to Commit on 2012. Posted: 15 Mar 2011 12:13 AM PDT
But that doesn't mean some people aren't getting ants in their pants. People who make themselves blood brothers to politicians (until a better job comes along!) can hardly hold their water three minutes. They are restless. The country is falling part and needs them to fix it. "Them", meaning the operatives - not the candidates. The latter are as expendable as last week's HyVee grocery bag. Eric Woolson, who has supported Republicans and Vice-President Joe Biden in the past, had this to say to Huckabee: “As you look at the monumental task of unseating an incumbent president, Republicans need to get about the business of getting that job done….And I want to get on with the task of getting that done.” One anonymous Huckabee "loyalist" (Hah!) told Fox News yesterday "I love the Governor and I’ll wait as long as I can, but everyone wants to be part of the 2012 campaign and at some point all the jobs will be taken.” Does anybody really think there are only 10 people available in the country to help run a campaign? And if a job is open, there will be plenty of applicants, some with fresh ideas, unthought-of in 2007. I think the insiders flatter themselves. Another group that can hardly wait is the press corps. They need a story they can sink their chompers into. Last weeks' announcement about Woolson was a non-story. Tim Pawlenty hasn't offered him a job because Pawlenty hasn't even announced he is announcing his announcement of his decision to consider exploration of a presidential exploratory committee yet (a la Gingrich!). Has anybody else noticed that with all the complaining that Huckabee has gotten for not "getting in", nobody else has gotten in, either? Big donors can't give a dime, yet. And a simple examination of the public record shows that donors sometimes give to more than one candidate (and sometimes to two parties!). There is no hurry. Relax. Mike Huckabee said it this way, "My race, my pace". If all these people can't wait, who will? Those who are loyal to a candidate will wait. Those willing to work the ground game, and stay out of the limelight, and who aren't looking for a job or a story will wait. What's the rush? Voting in Iowa isn't for another 300 days or more. Share and Enjoy: |
| Arne Duncan Fails to Defend Constitutionality of President Obama’s Education Wish List Posted: 14 Mar 2011 05:15 PM PDT Anyone else find it ironic that on the same day President Barack Obama shares his wish list to further expand the federal government's role in education that his Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, gets bamboozled on a question about the constitutionality of the Department of Education? Oh priceless…
You hear Secretary Duncan rambling about the funding for the department because he can’t answer the question. The Constitution doesn’t authorize it and states plainly in the Tenth Amendment that, "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively; or to the people." I don't remember reading about education in the enumerated powers listed in the Constitution. Perhaps Secretary Duncan needed a better civics education in high school. HT: CNSNews.com via Caffeinated TV Share and Enjoy: |
| Iowa Should Explore Educational Decentralization in Massachusetts Not Just Its Standards and Tests Posted: 14 Mar 2011 04:00 PM PDT
Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds gave this week's press conference for the Branstad/Reynolds administration and the topic was education, which was one of the four priorities outlined by Governor Terry Branstad in his inaugural address. She discussed the upcoming education summit and announced some additions to the keynote speaker line up that already included U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. One of the new additions to speak at the summit this summer is Dr. David Driscoll. Dr. Driscoll was the Commissioner of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1998-2007. She brought up Massachusetts' education reform as something that Iowa can learn from, citing the standards and an assessments that they have implemented. She referred in particular to the exit exam that Massachusetts had to take prior to graduation. She was asked about it again after her prepared remarks and she said, "That's one of the things we want to take a look at. That's been very effective in Massachusetts." The exit exam taken in Massachusetts is just a tool that has measured outcomes of reform in the commonwealth that began with the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA) was passed. Lt. Governor Reynolds cites the state standards as a model, but I hope she and others in the summit dig deeper than that. It wasn’t primarily the state standards that made an impact in education reform in Massachusetts (the equitable funding provision in the bill played a part as well), but how it was accomplished with further decentralization of education. The model lately has been for education to become more centralized through national standards and policy goals. President Barack Obama even today expressed his educational wish list. Massachusetts, however, took the opposite approach by going more local. Yes they have state standards, but their were just that – standards, not curriculum (unlike what we see with the Iowa Core Curriculum). In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' the standards development had more than 1500 people involved and went through a greater democratic and transparent process than what we saw in Iowa. Because of this I do commend Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Reynolds for desiring to host town hall meetings prior to the summit that are open to the public. I also appreciate that the summit itself will also be open to the public. I believe that their desire for input into education reform to be "broad based" is a good starting point. Massachusetts went even further, not only did they keep curriculum decisions local at the school principal level, MERA also required school councils to be set up with members being elected. While each school's council has a different make-up, MERA did mandate that parents are involved. The school principal then presents curriculum for the school year, as well as, policy issues to the council for feedback. Add that to the fact Massachusetts already has smaller school districts (Boston notwithstanding) which provided greater accountability for local school board members and knowledge of board members' activity. So MERA took a system that was already very localized and made it even more local. Is Iowa willing to do the same? We need to look at further decentralization, not just increased standards to effect change with Iowa's educational system. Share and Enjoy: |
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