Look at the Wikipedia entry for Tom Kean, Jr.  Come on, I dare ya.  There's something missing there.  Actually, something glaring missing there.  Kean, Jr. is 38 years old and claims to be able to represent the 8 million people of New Jersey.  But while Kean, Jr. has held a few political positions, this 38 year old baby has, to all appearances, never held a real job.  

The thing is, of course, that I get the impression that Jr.'s resume has already been padded about has far as it can with the active help of the most powerful Republican in the state, his father.  We have Tom Kean, Jr. who once was a volunteer fireman and volunteer Emergency Medical Technician.  Good enough but ...  Tom Kean, Jr. who served as an aide to New Jersey Republican Congressman Bob Franks.  Tom Kean, Jr. who was an assistant at the Environmental Protection Agency (obviously appointed by Whitman).  Nothing else.

Take a gander at the Federal Budget.  The magnitude of the W Bush era becomes clearer.  W is expecting a budget gap of $415 billion.  Add in the unbudgeted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the total is a breathtaking $500 billion dollars.  Of deficit, not spending.

Now federal revenues from general funds and trust funds are roughly equal at a bit iver $1.2 trillion dollars each.  The real problem is that the "crisis" ridden trust funds rack up annual surplusses in excess of $250 billion a year.  The regular budget, on the other hand, if fairly presented spends over $1.9 trillion (including the Iraq war) and racks up a stunning gap of $700 billion.  In a year.  Or more if Halliburton can manage.

Earlier this morning I saw an article on Yahoo news about a Democratic senator wanting to work with the Republicans to craft a bi-partisan plan to privatize social security.  The headline gave no name and I've got to admit my first thought (which was wrong) was Max Baucus.  Well, it was Tom Carper, "Democrat" from Delaware.

The short article was pretty bad.  Carper was quoted as saying he wanted to provide "cover" so no party would be attacked for changing social security.  (Why NOT?  If they break it, you know they won't fix it.  So the Republicans OUGHT to take the blame).

The AP's Rebecca Cook's story on the Washington Governor's recount reports, "Republican Dino Rossi won the Nov. 2 election by 261 votes and held a 42 vote lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire after the first, machine recount."

It is not at all clear, except in the article, who won the November 2 election.  The article makes the original vote totals more authentic than the recounts which include additional votes for all 3 candidates.

E-mail the AP at info@ap.org to get a clearer, more accurate picture in future AP coverage/

Yahoo reported today that thanks to pressure from Michigan Dems, particularly John Dingell, the long-standing role of the Iowa and New Hampshire parties would be studied.

What this showed to me was the real possibility of reform coming from the next wave in Dem circles.

For 50 years, the new hampshire primary has marked the start (or near start) of the Presidential campaign trail.  At first, the few primaries served as advisories to the politicians and bosses who selected the nominee at a party convention.  The last convention to play a meaningful role was the GOP slugfest that narrowly chose incumbent Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan in 1976.  For democrats the conventions of 1968 and 1972 played meaniongful roles but the 1960 convention was the last to pick a nominee.

In 1976 the Iowa caucusses replaced the New Hampshire primary as the first event of the campaign season.  Their role has been to jointly pick the party's candidates, with Iowa seeming to have more clout of late.

Neither Iowa nor New Hampshire are very typical of the American populace.  In fact, they seem more similar to each other than to the country at large.  

I was talking with someone on the phone and said that BUsh is like a pimple.  He has to come to a head before he can be cured.  Now this will seem crazy but think of the nonsense oozing out after it's been popped.

Right now, the pimple is RED and growing but come on, how many people want a lot of these things.  A privatized social security at the mercy and for the stock market and speculators.  A draft. The continuing mess in Iraq.  Osama Bin Laden on TV. Again and again.  The daily beheadings.  A continuous stagnant economy.  Debt piling on debt.  

The right is crowing a lot more than after a real victory like 84 or even 88.  This one was close despite everything.  The humble pie is gone from the Bush circus and the real stuff is out in the open.  In 2006 the Senate contests shift and Northeast Republicans have to run for re=election.  They won't want to push things too far but will certainly be squeezed by the newly "mandated." Here's hoping that they can't get away with the empty "compromises" of the tax cut expirations.