Bill to move presidential primary could get vote on final day

5/7/2005, 3:50 p.m. CT By BOB JOHNSON The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A bill to make Alabama a key player in selecting candidates for president in 2008 is still alive going into the final day of the Alabama Legislature's session.

The proposed legislation would move Alabama's presidential primary from June to the first Saturday after the New Hampshire primary. That would make Alabama the third state in the country — and the first in the South — to take part in the process of choosing Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.

But the distinction might be short lived. In the last two presidential elections, the South Carolina primaries have been first in the South, being held on a Saturday about two and a half weeks after the New Hampshire primary. A Republican Party official in South Carolina says the Palmetto State won't let Alabama slip in front.

"We will maintain our status as first in the South primary. If Alabama moves its primary, we will move ours earlier," said Jay W. Ragley, political director of the South Carolina Republican Party.

He said in South Carolina, the parties and not the Legislature determine the dates of the presidential preference primary.

Supporters of the Alabama bill say it would give Alabama voters more of a role in choosing the next president and would lure candidates and national media coverage to the state.

"Other than coming here to fundraise, when was the last time we had a presidential candidate come to Alabama? 1988," said Sen. Steve French, R-Birmingham. French was a state Republican Party official in 1988, when Alabama was one of several Southern states to hold presidential primaries in March on a day known as Super Tuesday.

The bill passed the House by a 52-40 margin, with opponents arguing that the state can't afford the price tag — about $3 million — to open precincts and run election operations for an extra primary. The measure also cleared a Senate committee and could come up for final passage in the Senate on May 16, the final day of the session.

It originally was supported by both major parties in Alabama, but Republican Party chairwoman Twinkle Cavanaugh said the state could lose delegates to the national convention if it bumped up its primary date.

"The Republican National Committee says if we move our primary we may lose delegates," Cavanaugh said. She said the national party is getting involved "because a lot of states are wanting to move their primaries up."

Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz said "party rules do stipulate that a state could risk losing delegates" by moving its primary in violation of those rules. The New Hampshire Primary was Jan. 27 in 2004, which could put Alabama's proposed new date in violation of the GOP rules, that say no state can schedule its primary before the first Tuesday in February.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Josh Earnest declined to comment on the Alabama bill, saying the DNC has a commission that is studying the entire process of selecting delegates, including the timing of primaries. He said the commission will make a series of recommendations to chairman Howard Dean.

Alabama Democrats mostly support moving the primary.

"We want to have an early voice in the selection of the nominee, the same reason Democrats in other states want to be up early," said state Democratic Party chairman Redding Pitt. Besides bringing candidates to the state, Pitt said the early primaries would encourage more people from both parties to get involved in the political process.

"A lot of people, however positive they may feel about the nominee, may be more invested in making the decision if they could get involved early," Pitt said. He said he hopes other Southern states will also switch to the early date, creating another Super Tuesday or Super Saturday.

Ragley said the early primary has been a success in drawing candidates and media attention to South Carolina.

"It energizes the base of our Republican Party and gets people interested in learning about the party," Ragley said. He said holding the primary on a Saturday — Alabama traditionally votes on Tuesdays — is popular with voters.

"It's a very good day to have it. They don't have to work on Saturday and a ton of people turn out," Ragley said.

Church torn by Partisan Passion

Democrats feel cast out

By KEVIN S. AUSTIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/08/05

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. — The presidential election was decided last November, but in this western Carolina mountain town, the divisiveness of that race has risen again to pierce the serenity of one Baptist congregation.

And the wound hurts.

Rick Havner/AP (ENLARGE)
Some members say they were booted for how they voted.
Rick Havner/AP (ENLARGE)
Heidi and Dan Jenkins talk about the uproar at nearby East Waynesville Baptist Church in North Carolina. Some ousted members say their only sin was voting for John Kerry.
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"I've been in church all my life, and I've never seen anything like this," said Selma Morris, 78, a member of East Waynesville Baptist Church for 32 years.

Last week, a church gathering led by their young pastor kicked out nine members because they failed to support President Bush, some members say. The pastor, the Rev. Chan Chandler, had told the congregation last November that if anyone planned to vote for Democrat John Kerry, they should get up and leave, members say.

Members who protested the expulsion have stopped speaking publicly about the incident. Several calls to Chandler's house have gone unanswered.

Last week, he said the expulsions were not "politically motivated." He has not commented publicly since.

Haywood County has more than 120 houses of worship for its 54,033 residents. Not everyone in Waynesville, which has about 9,200 residents, was aware of the situation at the church, but many who lived along Woodland Drive, where the church is located, had something to say.

"That beats hell, telling people how to vote," said Arnold Bryson, whose proudly maintained house has a clear view of the simple red-brick sanctuary at the end of the street.

Down the street from the 100-member church, most of the folks browsing at Heidi and Dan Jenkins' yard sale echoed that opinion, whether they had supported Bush or Kerry.

"It is beyond belief that in this day and age in America that any church would tell us how to vote," said Heidi Jenkins, 52.

"You can't be a Christian if you hate people," said Joan Erickson of nearby Canton.

Friendly tourist town

Like many Smoky Mountain retreats, Waynesville has embraced tourism in a big way. Shoppers strolled down the classically rustic Main Street on Saturday, browsing at Just Ducky (a children's clothing store), T. Pennington Art Gallery and Textures: For the Finely Crafted Home. Frog Level, as the old downtown is known, hosted an Every Bloomin' Thing Festival.

Surrounding the shopping district are quiet neighborhoods with large craftsman style houses in brick, stone or frame.

Waynesville also shows off its Southern, NASCAR-loving roots. Just two miles south of downtown on Saturday morning, a "fire engine pull" in the Big Kmart parking lot drew 300 spectators and raised $4,000 for the Special Olympics.

The 10-man team of the Waynesville Police Department took top honors, defeating teams from the Waynesville Fire Department, Big Kmart and the Waynesville Correction Center in Hazelwood, which sponsored the event..

As the crowd dwindled by 1 p.m., master of ceremonies Robert Dudley realized he had forgotten to raffle the sheet cake made to look like a fire truck.

"We gotta raffle this cake off," he announced over the PA system. "We gotta settle this cake." In short order, they did.

Bush won Haywood County in November by 56 percent to 43 percent, larger than his margin in 2000.

Former President Bill Clinton carried the county in 1992 and 1996, and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis won by 53 votes over President George Bush in 1988.

Last year's presidential race, according to some townspeople, was no more heated here than in the rest of the nation, and no more heated than in elections past.

A shock to Baptists

Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, was stunned by the report.

"I am appalled," Land said by phone Saturday. "I know thousands of Baptist pastors, and I can't think of one who wouldn't be appalled."

The 43,000 congregations within the Baptist denomination are independent, Land pointed out. Any punitive action probably would occur at the local or state level.

Dr. Jack Sammons, head of the Waynesville Baptist Association, could not be reached Saturday.

People are eager to find out whether Chandler will address the issue at this morning's scheduled worship. Morris said she heard a rumor that services would be canceled, but that could not be confirmed.

Several members involved had scheduled a meeting for Monday with an attorney to see what recourse they might have.

Morris told the Asheville Citizen Times that the nine members were voted out of the congregation at a gathering that was scheduled as a board of deacons meeting, but became instead a congregational business meeting with about 20 members present.

Individual church bylaws could allow an expulsion, said Dr. George Bullard, associate executive director-treasurer for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Saturday, at Jack's Donuts in Waynesville, owner Frank Fulbright, 62, took a bipartisan view. After all, church members on both sides of the dispute stop by for his renowned yeast-raised doughnuts, which measure about two inches thick.

Jack's is just across the street from Lowe Fly Shop & Outfitters, which has a 30-foot-long trout outlined with monkey grass in its side yard.

"Old Satan's in there working overtime, playing both sides against the middle," Fulbright said.

Anyway, business is business. Whether Bush or Kerry walked into his shop, Fulbright said, he'd just offer them a doughnut and a cup of coffee.

Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-
Let it be that great strong land of loce
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today-O Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In that Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home-
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay-
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again-
The land that never has been yet-
And yet must be-the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine- the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath-
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain-
All, all the stretch of these great green states-
And make America again!

If you don't have it. Get the book "Let America be America again and other poems" by Langston Hughes with the preface by Senator John Kerry. Its some powerful stuff!!!

COLLEGE DEMOCRATS CALL A PROTEST AGAINST BUSH AGENDA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:

Javier A. Brown

President, College Democrats of Georgia

404-602-8485

205-218-9117 (cell)

COLLEGE DEMOCRATS PROTEST BUSH SOCIAL SECURITY AGENDA

Students rally against Vice President’s Town Hall Meeting Promoting Privatization

Georgia’s College Students will rally together at Campbell High School to protest against the Bush Social Security reforms on May 2^nd,. 2005.

Vice President Cheney will be holding a town hall meeting at Campbell High School to promote the Bush plan to privatize social security. Students from around the state of Georgia will be at Campbell High School to let the Vice President know that they are against the plan to dismantle social security.

“ We must keep the promises guaranteed to our parents and grandparents and ensure that there is stability for our own retirement,” says College Democrats of Georgia President, Javier Brown. “ Americans have spoken and do not want this reckless plan that will skyrocket the already horrible budget deficit.”

Students from across the state, along with other organizations will stand together to tell the Bush Administration “No” on Monday at 10:30 AM.

College Democrats of Georgia is the local state federation of the College Democrats of America. The College Democrats of America (CDA) is the official student outreach arm of the Democratic Party. It aims to train and engage new generations of Democratic activists and shape the Democratic Party with voices from America's youth. In election years, College Democrats work hard to mobilize student voters and recruit volunteers for Democratic campaigns, from town council to President of the United States.

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