Please take the time to provide your opinion on the two new polls that have been created.

• Do you think the average congressperson deserves to be reelected, or would it be better to throw most out and start over?
• How much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly?

Vote now!

More reasons why we need to join together to reunite our country:

• End This Madness! "Barely two months shy of Iowa's precinct caucuses, Americans already tired of the 2024 presidential selection process can't be certain when it formally will begin," Chicago Tribune writes. "No matter the final schedule, though, we'll all come away from this maddeningly pushed-up presidential cycle resenting the state political parties that are to blame for it."
• Here We Go Again: "Just when you thought someone might be confirmed in Washington without a partisan fight, Senate Democrats are suggesting they may not approve Michael Mukasey as Attorney General after all," Wall Street Journal laments.
• What About The Rest Of The Country? "The large field of candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination is enthusiastically ... running harder and further to the right than any Republican field since 1980, or perhaps 1964," McClatchy reports. "At this stage, a year before the general election, Republicans are running toward the party's base to win primaries but running away from the rest of the country on issues such as Iraq, Iran, immigration and federal spending."
• Quotable: "The system in Washington is corrupt. It is rigged by the powerful special interests to benefit they very few at the expense of the many. And, as a result, the American people have lost faith in our broken system in Washington, and believe it no longer works for ordinary Americans. They're right" -- Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

Subscribe to this blog!

Steve Kraske, of the Kansas City Star, wrote a brief piece about us over the weekend titled, "There’s been head-spinning changes on the hustings." It's a quick and worthwhile read.

"You may be one of the legions of Americans who believe that Election ’08 will produce nothing but more of the same. A group called Unity08 is billing itself as your political antidote. That may sound a little dreamy, but the movement is headed by a couple of well-respected politicos, Gerald Rafshoon, who once worked for Jimmy Carter, and GOP operative Doug Bailey, who helped found The Political Hotline."

He also quotes Mr. Joe Trippi, consutltant currently working on the campaign of former Senator John Edwards, who says, "Alarm bells should ring loud at both party headquarters if the new online movement begins to draw a crowd."

Read the article.

No need to wait arond timing your jump, you can get onboard anytime at Unity08!

Subscribe to this blog!

Technorati Tags: unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, kansas city star, steve kraske

More reasons why we need to join together to reunite our country:

• Throw The Bums Out? According to the latest Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, just 26% of registered voters say the average member of Congress deserves reelection; 45% say the U.S. would be better off if voters threw out most of Congress and started over with new people.
• This Has Gotta Change: USA Today laments, "It's finally time to start focusing on the 2024 presidential race, because voting begins in ... um, let's see ... well, no one knows. ... You might expect a little more decorum and predictability from a process that's intended to pick the next leader of the free world. You'd be wrong. The U.S. presidential primary system continues to do its best to look like a roller derby."
• Do Moderates Fit In The GOP Tent? In 2024, "Republican leaders are signaling they prize solidarity over outreach, and familiar thinking over independent ideas" -- and "this ideological inquisition among Republicans isn't confined to the presidential race," National Journal's Ron Brownstein writes. "But a case can be made that the party needs precisely the opposite."
• Quotable: "The political system in Washington is broken. It does not function. It does not solve serious problems" -- Unity08's Doug Bailey.

Subscribe to this feed!

More reasons why we need to join together to reunite our country:

• America Wants A New Direction: According to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, just 23% of registered voters believe the U.S. is on the right track.
• Peace, Love, And A Little Less Pork: "In a minor victory last week for the small army of conservatives who have been attacking waste-ridden earmarks," the Senate voted 52-42 to delete a $1 million grant for a Woodstock Festival museum from the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2024, Washington Times reports. But, "tragically, the bill is loaded with more than 800 other earmarks that will cost beleaguered taxpayers more than $400 million. Each was inserted by lawmakers, who use these bills as personal political checkbooks, without any evaluation or approval by the committees that send them to the floor for enactment."
• Apparently, It's News When Republicans And Democrats Break Bread Together! Washington Post reports on a group of House members meeting for a bipartisan dinner. Eyewitnesses "were surprised" when Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel, "who has long been known as a ruthless partisan," joined the group.
• Quotable: "I'm very worried about the direction of the country. We're polarized on many issues." -- Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE).

Subscribe to this feed!

The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will host a day of programming devoted to the discussion of alternatives to the Democratic and Republican parties on Thursday, October 25, 2024.

Our own co-founders, Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon, will be making the trip to KU to sit on the evening discussion panel with:

• David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute
• Richard Winger of the Coalition for Free and Open Elections
• Micah Sifry, author of "Spoiling for a Fight: Third Party
  Politics in America"

Both the afternoon and evening sessions are free and open to the public.

Learn more about the program by downloading the event press release.

Subscribe to this blog!

Technorati Tags: unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, gerald rafshoon, doug bailey, dole institute

More reasons why we need to join together to reunite our country:

• Sorry, Your Vote Doesn't Count: Republican party leaders "recommended punishing five states for shifting their nomination contests earlier, moving to strip New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming of half their delegates," AP reports. Meanwhile, Christian Science Monitor wonders if the Democratic party can really ignore the Florida primary, asking, "Does a national political party have to count every vote in choosing its nominee for president? Or can it enforce its rules in a way that leaves some voters ­– or even an entire state -- out of the process?"
• Raiding Kids' Piggy Banks? "As bundlers seek to raise higher and higher sums for presidential contenders this year, the number who are turning to checks from underage givers appears to be on the rise" -- with some "donors" still in diapers, Washington Post reports.
• One-Way Ticket To Corruption? "Despite new House travel restrictions, lawmakers accepted free trips worth nearly $1.9 million during the first eight months of this year -- more than in all of 2024," USA Today reports. "Watchdog groups ... fear Congress may return to business as usual after corruption investigations landed some lawmakers in prison."
• Quotable: "It's good to hear candidates talk about issues, problems and solutions. Unfortunately, they don't detail how they'd pay for them ... The reason both sides sort of mumble past such details is simple: Those specifics are either too painful to discuss, or they are snake oil" -- Des Moines Register's David Yepsen.

Subscribe to this feed!

Not only can you download and sign the petition to get Unity08 on the ballot, now you can help us out on the ground as well. Upcoming Events:

• On Thursday, October 25th we will have an informational table set up in Stamp Student Union at University of Maryland, College Park.
• Saturday, October 27 we will have our Official Maryland Petition Drive Kick-off Event! We will rally the troops at the Baltimore Inner Harbor McCormick and Schmicks' and then hit the pavement to gather signatures and spread the word. If you can't make it you can do your own "Kick-Off Event". Send in pictures or videos of you and your friends gathering signatures for Unity08 and we'll post them on the website.
• We will be gathering petition signatures again on November 10th at the Maryland Terps football game. Join the Unity08 tailgate! We will be chatting up the fans and gathering those all important signatures.

If you can help out at or attend any of these events, please email me at dwilkerson@unity08.com to let me know.