Question from a Reader

I got a question from a reader yesterday and I wanted to share the answer, as it is useful information. The reader asked how to contribute directly to Chuck Hagel's campaign chest.

Here's the answer:
Make a contribution (a check presumably) out to Hagel for Senate and send it to:
Hagel for Senate
1310 G Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005.

This is important, as one advantage that Senators have is that they can transfer any money in their Senate campaign accounts into an account for a run for President. So please donate to Hagel for Senate.

One Blogger's Take on Chuck Hagel

There is a post by Matthew Yglesias and discussion on it over at The TPM Cafe that had a couple of interesting things to say about Chuck Hagel. Matthew writes:

Chuck Hagel has really become a curious and frustrating figure on the American political scene. This speech he gave last week at Brookings on "U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East" is one of the very best I've heard from any American elected officials -- free of the sort of defensiveness and weasel words that characterize things the Democrats say.

The discussion continues in the coments on the post. One reader remarked in the context of the 2008 election:

Hagel has character, the courage of his conviction and real clear reasoning.

Watch out McCain and watch out Hiliary.

Your reasons for a Hagel Presidency (Part 3)

In our continuing series on "Why do you want Chuck Hagel to be our next President?" , we look today at the theme of leadership. Many people have said that his excellent leadership is one of the reasons that they support Chuck Hagel.

The Chuck Hagel Myspace Group has as its tagline:

"A leader we can be proud of."

Ed from Virginia wrote:

"We need Hagel's kind of leadership."

Linda from Connecticut writes:

"A lot of people are looking now for someone to lead us out of this mideast catastrophe. Your words about the origins of the problem are dead on and give me hope that you are that leader . Please run for president."

Please continue to email in your responses to the question.

Your reasons for a Hagel Presidency (Part 2)

Thank you to those people who responded to my question, "Why do you want Chuck Hagel to be our next President?" Please continue to email in your responses to this question. This is another of the answers I received.

Mark writes:

Our foreign policy is taking us into a horrific war against Islam and the East, a war our actions provoked. Hagel has the most perceptive world view and knows the lessons of VietNam and Iraq. He can prevent the coming military draft and expand our influence peacefully instead of shrinking our influence, and population, with a WMD laced VietNam.

So I don't have to move to Costa Rica, I'm voting for Chuck Hagel.

Thanks Mark!

Your reasons for a Hagel Presidency (Part 1)

Thank you to those people who responded to last week's question, "Why do you want Chuck Hagel to be our next President?" Please continue to email in your responses to this question. This is the first of the answers I received.

Edward writes:

It took courage for Sen. Hagel to speak out against the "sickening slaughter" in the Middle East. May he continue to demonstrate such clarity of understanding even against great odds and the insidious idiocy that seems to rule the day. Hagel for President!!

Thanks Ed!

My reasons for a Hagel Presidency

Last week the question was posed: Why do you want Chuck Hagel to be our next President? This week we will be sharing people's opinions as to why they would like to see Chuck Hagel as the next U.S. President. First up are the five primary reasons why I want to see Chuck Hagel in the White House.

1.) Foreign Policy - Chuck Hagel's foreign policy views are well thought out and guided by a long term view of what is best for America. He has proven to be right many times and the Republican party and the country need a new direction for foreign policy. Hagel can restore the standing of the United States on the international stage.
2.) Social Conservative - Senator Hagel has a consistent voting record as a social conservative.
3.) Deficit Hawk - One of the greatest issues facing our nation today is the national debt and the increasing bugdet deficits. Chuck Hagel has long been focused on balancing the budget.
4.) Civility - One thing that I don't like about politics today is the divisive and harsh tone that it has taken. Chuck Hagel, while conservative, can still work with those that he disagrees with and disagrees with people in a respectful tone.
5.) Electable - His personal story is dynamic and he is a conservative with a cross-over appeal that would make him dynamite in an election. He is truly "a leader we can be proud of."

If you haven't responded already, why do you want Chuck Hagel to be our next President? If you have a couple of minutes write out why you think Chuck Hagel should be elected in 2008 and email it to me and it may be posted shortly.

Technorati tags: Senator Chuck Hagel, President, 2008 Election

Chuck Hagel on Face the Nation

Chuck Hagel was on Face the Nation this morning and the video and transcript of it can be found at CBS's website.

Chuck Hagel Groups at Myspace, Yahoo, and Google

I recently stumbled across a Myspace group supporting Chuck Hagel for President. For those that are on Myspace, hop on and join the group. Another way to network and get the word out is always worth checking out.

Myspace.com is an excellent way to network and get a message out. It has been revolutionary for the music industry, and it certainly provides an opportunity to political applications as well. Myspace may well be an excellent tool to get younger voters involved in a campaign.

There is also a new Chuck Hagel group over at Google Groups as well.
As reminder, there are three Yahoo! Groups (Hagel for President, Missouri for Hagel, South Carolina for Hagel) that have been around for a while now.

We encourage everyone to join one or more of these groups in order to facilitate the communication among those grassroots supporters of Chuck Hagel in 2008. The ability to network is critical to success.

Note:
This was originally posted a little over a week ago, but Myspace was having problems that day, so it has been reposted today.

Technorati tags: Senator Chuck Hagel, Myspace, Google Groups

"Hagel Introduces Bill to Stop Counterfeiting of U.S. Trademarks"

Yesterday's press release from Senator Hagel's office:

August 4th, 2006 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) yesterday introduced the “Stop Assistance to Counterfeiters Act” (S. 3800). The legislation requires that all non-government recipients of U.S. foreign assistance certify that they do not knowingly traffic in counterfeit trademarks and that they will respect U.S. intellectual property rights law. Representative Lee Terry (NE-02) has introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives. Counterfeiting remains a serious problem affecting U.S. companies. One Nebraska-based company, Gallup USA, has had their trademark continually counterfeited by organizations that have received U.S. foreign assistance.

“The United States government must be committed to spending U.S. taxpayer dollars in a manner that respects and protects intellectual property. It is outrageous that U.S. foreign assistance are being provided to individuals or organizations that engage in counterfeiting practices. This common sense bill will help U.S. companies, like Gallup, compete fairly to provide goods and services abroad,” Hagel said.

Under this legislation all non-government recipients of U.S. foreign assistance must certify that: they will not intentionally counterfeit protected trademarks; they will respect all legal intellectual property rulings; and they respect U.S. law regarding intellectual property. The bill requires the President of the United States to suspend U.S. foreign assistance if it is found that an entity violates a certification.

"Let's ramp up the intelligence of politics"

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has a new effort to change the discussion of politics in America. His mission statement is fascinating and definately worth a read. This is his openning to it:

For more than 50 years now, we have been living in the era of television politics. In the 1950s television first began to have a major impact on politics, and the results were overwhelming.

Broadcast media brought us broadcast politics. And let's be simple and bluntly honest about it, left or right, conservative or liberal, broadcast politics are dumb, dumb, dumb.

Campaigns have been more about getting the television messaging right, the image, the soundbite, than about engaging ordinary people in understanding and caring how political issues really affect their lives.

Blog and wiki authors are now inventing a new era of media, and it is my belief that this new media is going to invent a new era of politics. If broadcast media brought us broadcast politics, then participatory media will bring us participatory politics.

"Senate Passes Legislation to Expand Domestic Energy Supply"

Senator Hagel's office put out the following press release yesterday. Yet another way that Chuck Hagel has been attempting to pursue a comprehensive and intelligent energy policy.

August 1st, 2006 - WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate today passed The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (S.3711) by a vote of 71 to 25. This legislation opens a portion of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico for exploration and production of oil and gas. It is estimated that this area contains 1.26 billion barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) was a cosponsor of the bill.

“This is common sense legislation that is long overdue. For decades our country has drifted without a national energy policy. This has left us dependent on other nations in the most unstable parts of the world for our energy supply. This bill is a responsible step towards expanding our domestic energy production. Nebraska’s agricultural producers have been hit hard by dramatic increases in gasoline, diesel, fertilizer, irrigation and heating costs. The OCS has significant oil and natural gas resources that can be developed in an environmentally responsible way,” Hagel said.

This legislation provides for the opening of more than 8.3 million acres on the OCS for oil and gas leasing. Approximately 2.5 million acres will be opened within one year of the passage of this bill. It calls for leasing an additional 5.8 million acres “as soon as practicable.” It would also place a moratorium on an area 125 miles from the West Coast of Florida until 2022. The moratorium would not only protect the coastlines of Florida, but also preserve a strategic military training area in the Gulf of Mexico.

This legislation establishes a revenue sharing program with the Gulf Coast states affected by the drilling. The revenue will be used to strengthen and protect coastal wetlands that are necessary to minimize damage from hurricanes and also enrich the Land and Water Conservation Fund that is distributed to all 50 states.

Technorati tags: Senator Chuck Hagel, Energy Policy

"Hagel offers sound advice on Mideast"

The Lincoln Journal Star has a nice editorial today about Senator Hagel's comments.

The Bush administration takes an inordinate amount of pride in paying no attention to its critics. Even fellow Republicans such as Sen. Chuck Hagel are ignored as the administration plows ahead on its own path.

That’s too bad. Over the past few years, the course of events has shown that Hagel’s advice on foreign policy, ranging from Iraq to the rest of the Middle East, could have steered the administration toward greater success in making the world a safer place.

The administration’s weaknesses were on display again this weekend as the White House continued to rebuff suggestions that it apply pressure on Israel to step down its military attacks on Lebanon.

The editorial is worth a read; take a look at the full article.