Archive - 2004
November 8th
Updates
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 11/08/2004 - 15:00Here are some updates on Kim's campaign, investigative blogging, voter fraud, the next DNC Chair, organizing caucuses, etc.
Caught up
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 11/08/2004 - 14:34For the first time in nearly two weeks, I have nothing in my inbox. This is actually quite an accomplishment. I normally get over a hundred emails a day, so if I miss a few days or if the volume is particularly heavy, it is easy to fall way behind.
The past couple weeks have seen both things happen. I’ve been taking time off for family; going to see my daughter play field hockey and going out trick or treating. I’ve spent a lot of time doing politics; organizing literature drops and get out the vote efforts.
November 4th
Investigative Blogging
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 11/04/2004 - 16:07When I, and several others, received press credentials from the Democrats to blog from their national convention this summer, many people complained that we weren’t real journalists. That is true. I have not been to J school. Nor do I make any pretense at being a journalist. I tend to think of myself as more of an activist and an op-ed writer.
That said, I have a great respect for the profession of journalism, and I believe that bloggers can learn a lot from journalists. Today, I received a call from a friend who is a retired investigative reporter. She believes that given the current economics of the news industry an insufficient amount of investigative reporting is being done. She would like to see some sort of grassroots fund to support investigative reporting.
November 3rd
Sleepless Ramblings
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 11/03/2004 - 12:41(Originally published in Greater Democracy)
It is 9:30 in the morning. Last night, we were up until about 2:00 as we went from one election party to another. Fiona is with her grandparents, so we had the opportunity to sleep a little bit late. However, the pets wanted to be fed, and there is still too much adrenaline in the system. I have a pretty bad headache, and no coffee yet.
If I ramble, or seem incoherent, I apologize.
I’ve scanned various blogs and emails. I have over six hundred unread emails. It will take a little time to get my thoughts together, but I will offer a few random first thoughts.
My biggest concern had been that if Kerry did not receive a clear mandate, there is a serious chance that the United States will experience social unrest worse than the sixties. Kerry has not received such a mandate. The battle lines are drawn in Florida and Ohio. We shall see what the next developments will be. Already, I’m finding the words ‘bloodshed’ in emails. As I re-read my post, the words ‘four dead in Ohio’ come to mind.
Kim's Victory
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 11/03/2004 - 10:31Last night was a trying night for us. We had been up since four or five in the morning, standing at the polls and running a GOTV effort out of our house. It was hard work, but it was a lot of fun.
We were hoping that the results would be coming in fairly early, and we went to Greenwich headquarters first. Unfortunately, the results were slow in coming in. A friend called us and said that she had seen on the television that Kim had gotten 49% of the vote. We were very excited, because the Republicans outnumber the Democrats two to one. As the more Republican areas started reporting, the numbers dropped to 35%. In the end we believe Kim got about 38% of the vote.
