Plus Safe Seat Suslovs.

St. Louis Ruse: In how many cities does this  go on? 12:28 A.M.

Remember how Paul Bremer threw Iraqi insurgents off balance by handing over "sovereignty" two days earlier than planned? Terrorists who had timed their attacks for the formal handoff date were left flatfooted. Why not employ a similar strategy for the upcoming elections? It may be too late to move up the date from January 30, but with Iraqi officials themselves warning of "vicious" attacks on polling stations and some Iraqis fleeing the country, why not pull a fast one by allowing absentee balloting before then? Voters could sneak in and out before the terrorists could time their attacks. They could even vote and flee! ... Alternatively, officials could suddenly, on or near election day, announce that voting would be allowed for one or two days after January 30. That would (in theory) let voters wait until the insurgents had shot their wad. ...At least it might force the insurgents to improvise operations that would be easier to detect or thwart. ... 11:28 P.M.

Susan Estrich is appropriately angry over the decision of California Democratic legislators to block the reappointment of fellow Democrat Reed Hastings to the state board of education, apparently because he fails "the bilingual education litmus test." (Hastings opposes bilingual education and wants to require English instruction for a couple of hours a day, even for those students whose parents opt for bilingual programs). Eduwonk agrees  with Estrich. ... Here's an LAT news account. ... Garry South, Gray Davis' campaign guru, is quoted to the effect that:

"We're in serious trouble if Democrats are going to go on a purge and get rid of every single Democrat who has moderate, mainstream views and doesn't adhere to total orthodoxy as members of the Legislature define it."

A good illustration of why Schwarzenegger's anti-gerrymandering proposal--which would help elect not Republicans so much as more moderate Democrats instead of the safe seat Suslovs we now have--is badly needed out here. ... P.S.: A Times editorial  praises Hastings for refusing to water down standards on No Child Left Behind testing. He also supports charter schools. Hmmm.  Are those secret reasons he was defeated--with the Democrats carrying the teachers' unions water, but letting Latinos take the lead? The unions might not want to be seen publicly opposing someone like Hastings who had been effective at getting more money for schools. ... ["Suslovs" was the best you could do?--ed Yes. California Dems are still in their Brezhnev era! If you have a better "S"-word, though, I'd be interested in hearing it.]  3:45 A.M.

Friday January 14, 2005

From the WSJ's story on Jonathan Klein of CNN ...

One of his first acts was to order up a 25-part series of segments and a two-hour special called "Defending America" that will fill CNN's airwaves leading up to President Bush's inauguration next week. [Emph. added]

Set your TIVOs! I can't wait. ... P.S.: On Romenesko's letter page, Tim Graham writes:

Klein seems to be suggesting his fight against feisty Fox is going to be made by dropping the "head-butting" shows, making CNN a pure "news" channel. But I'd say Klein is trying to impress the liberal media elite, not the general public. He's trying to suggest CNN is marching closer in concept to a 24-hour Jim Lehrer NewsHour channel, which would have to make Fox want to hold a secret three-hour meeting with the sole agenda item of laughing themselves silly.