Franken leaves radio to explore Senate bid

Al Franken will announce today he is leaving his radio program on Air America in order to explore a run for the U.S. Senate (h/t Huffington Post).

-Justin

Meeting Today

Hey all you UDFLers:

Our weekly meeting is tonight at 5:30 in CMU Room 323.

-Justin

Spaghetti/Movie Night

If you haven't heard already we're having a spaghetti feed/movie night tonight at the home of VP Michael Walters. It will be starting at 6 P.M., and all UDFLers/DFL fans are welcome. You can call Michael at (507) 398-5793 for directions or more details. Hope to see you tonight!

- DLL

Update: Location via Google Map -JH

Political Round Up

Senator John Kerry will not run for President in 2008.

Rolling Stone has an interesting article on why Al Gore could (if he runs) be the Democrats best candidate.

Barack Obama wants universal health care within six years.

Here is some of what Speaker Pelosi's House has already accomplished.

Former Cheney Chief of Staff "Scooter" Libby's trial has begun and some one is not telling the truth.

And in case you missed it, Senator Jim Webb's response to Bush's SOTU:

McAuliffe to visit U

Former Chairman of the Democratic Party and chief fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Terry McAuliffe, will be at the Coffman bookstore on Wednesday, February 7 at 7:00pm. McAuliffe will be promoting his new book What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Coffman bookstore website.

Spring Intramurals

Hey all who signed up for intramural softball,

Our games will be at 6 pm on Sunday afternoons, and we'll need to show up at least 10 minutes early. Our first game will be on April 1. I'll remind everybody again later. If you didn't get a chance to sign up last meeting, no worries. Just talk to me some time before April.

Michael

Bachmann Molests Bush after SOTU

Do You see Michelle Bachmann's hand on Bush's shoulder last night? Well, Laura better watch her back (and for that matter, so should Mr. Bachmann), because Michelle was totally macking on G-Dubs after the State of the Union.

While the President was signing autographs for members of Congress after the speech, the sixth-district Republican put her hand on Bush's shoulder. However, it wasn't just a tap. After he signed an autograph for her, Bachmann grabbed the president and did not let go for almost 30 seconds.

After signing the autograph for Bachmann, the president turns away, but Bachmann doesn't let go. In fact, the video shows her reaching out to get a better grip on him.

Bush then leans over to kiss another congresswoman, but Bachmann is still holding on. Bachmann then gets more attention, a kiss and an embrace from the president. A few seconds later, Bachmann's hand finally comes off the presidential shoulder.

I shouldn't act so surprised-- Bachmann's well documented hero-worship of Bush II is something we've come to expect. But for a man with a 28% approval rating, her actions are just out and out fanatical.

The cringe-worthy video, courtesy of KSTP, is here.

-Aaron (h/t to Wonkette)

State of the Union

Hey U-DFLers, the SOTU is tomorrow, which means an insufferable hour of buzzwords, lies, and spin from our Escalator-in-Chief.

I will be playing this game to cope.

If you're legal, I invite you to join... My house is at 1046 14th ave SE, just north of Van Cleve Park. (Map) My number is 636 795 7893.

If all goes according to plan, we'll be completely tanked before the democratic response.

I know many of you are already pumped... BUT, if any of you need a little help, here is a fascinating visual history of the evolution of the SOTU's content (The more often the word is mentioned, the bigger it is and so forth) :

http://chir.ag/phernalia/preztags/

-Aaron

Monday, Monday

UDFL is back and ready to go! Our first meeting of the new semester is Monday in a new room, Coffman Memorial Union room 323, and beginning at a new time, 5:30pm. This will be our weekly meeting time and location for the remainder of the spring semester. See you there!

-Justin

Hillary Clinton: "I'm In"

Whew, I think it is safe to say the 2008 race has begun. Senator Hillary Clinton announced on her website this morning she is forming a presidential exploratory committee.

-Justin

Richardson enters fray

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will reportedly announce his intentions to form a presidential exploratory committee Sunday, on the heels of Senator Obama's announcement earlier this week. On the Republican side, conservative Senator Sam Brownback is expected to become the first Republican candidate to officially announce a run for the White House tomorrow.

The first debate/forum scheduled for the Democratic candidates for President is to take place in Carson City, Nevada on February 23rd.

-Justin

RNC Winter Meeting

So as some of you know I am in Washington DC right now participating in George Washington University's Semester in Washington Program. I would encourage you all to apply. It's a great way to get immersed in politics. I've been in DC since Saturday and so far I already saw President Bush ride past, and had Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) say hi as they walked by me.

Today everyone in the program got to go to the RNC winter meeting. Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin and studying in Minneapolis I can honestly say that this was probably the largest group of Republicans I have ever seen at one time.

At the meeting Bush-Cheney '04 Chairman Ken Mehlman stepped aside as Mike Duncan took over as the new chairman and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) was given the title of "general" chairman. After the speeches I got to meet Mehlman and discuss the GOP plan for 2008.

Mehlman said the key for a GOP candidate is to stake out their own principles and vision, but still be an extension of Bush so as to win primary votes. That way, they can lessen or at least try and weaken the argument from the Democrats that their (GOP) nominee is merely another four years of Bush. But he also said that unless the public again views Iraq as part of the global war on terror "there is no way we can win the presidency in 2008."

I also met Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and saw him speak while eating a free lunch courtesy of the GOP.

-Noah Seligman