No More Incumbents Blog

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Police are currently responding to a hostage situation at Hillary Clinton’s Campaign offices in Rochester, New Hampshire.

This is just breaking as news on Fox News right now.  It is believed that Hillary is not present at those offices.  She is reported to be in Virginia.

There was also a bomb threat reported in downtown Rochester earlier, which may or may not be related to this situation.

Final Update 10:19 PM

We followed the updates of this event as it was unfolding earlier today.  Fortunately, everyone is safe and the event is over.  The man that took the office is hostage is named Leeland Eisenberg, 47 years old.  Senator Clinton took a detour flight to New Hampshire this evening to visit with the hostages, and attend a press conference before leaving for Iowa.

Update 3:41 PM

• Authorities are confirming that 3 of the 4 original hostages have been released.
• The person with the bomb is known to authorities and may have a history of disturbances in the past.

Update 3:23 PM

• Senator Clinton has canceled the remainder of her stops/events today.
• Secret Service Officially Confirms that they are not involved.

Update 3:07 PM

• The children at the local school, were bussed to another school and are being released according to a local paper.

Update 3:02 PM

• It would appear that a hostage was just released out the front door to the care of the Swat team
• 

Update 2:47 PM

• The Clinton Campaign team is cooperating with the police.
• The police have separately asked News agencies not to broadcast live feeds from chopper cameras, which might give the suspect information about what the police are doing to potentially end the hostage situation.

Update 2:31 PM

• The children at St Elizabeth Seton School are currently under lock down.  Parents are not allowed to pick them up as the entire down town area is also locked down.
• Barack Obama’s offices a few blocks away have been evacuated
• John Edwards offices (a couple offices away)have also been evacuated

Update 2:24 PM

• The hostage taker is demanding to speak with Hillary Clinton
• The Campaign Offices are about a block and a half away form a local private school
• 

Update 2:06 PM

• It is believed that there are 2 hostages.
• 2 Hostages were previously released (likely the woman and her child identified in the 1:57 PM update)
• Tactical Bomb squad is being deployed to help local police

Update 1:57 PM

• Initial reports came from a woman with a baby that ran to a nearby store or office reporting a man that had just walked into the office opened his shirt and displayed a bomb duct taped to his chest

Update 1:51 PM

• Man who came in asked to speak to Senator
• Possibly took 4 staffers hostage
• Secret Service is not involved in situation

UPDATE 1 1:45 PM

• A man walked in to the office claiming to have a bomb strapped to his chest.
• Barack Obama’s campaign office is 2 blocks down from Hillary’s office - and evacuated.
• Police are outside the office with SWAT team
• The situation was reported to authorities at about 1PM est src
• Unknown how many people are being held against their will

I finally finished watching the YouTube debate after TiVo’ing the debate last night.  I actually recorded the rerun at midnight, watched half last night and the other half this morning.

Look Presidential First or Suffer

In general, the opening featured nasty back and forth attacks by Giuliani and Mitt Romney.  The attacks exposed significant problems for both of these candidates and neither seemed presidential after they were over.

McCain’s Experience is Finally a Benefit

John McCain’s experience (mostly of campaigning for the last 8-10 years for President) finally became a positive asset for him last night.  He seemed to recognize the serious mistakes that Romney and Giuliani were making in their attacks and he seized the opportunities multiple times to offer a Presidential looking contrast to their childish bickering and attacks.  He also offered up decent responses, even though he stuck to his guns about continuing the War in Iraq, which actually generated some Booing from the Republican crowd in Florida.

Ron Paul Getting Stronger, Sounds Moderate, Almost looks Presidential

Ron Paul’s messages, and positions gained a great deal of attention when he raised over $5 million in a singled day earlier this month.  In this debate, his positions and perspective sounded reasonable, moderate, and standing next to John McCain he seemed to pick up on the Presidential vibe and at times looked a little Presidential himself.

Huckabee’s Makes a Strong Showing - Another Great Arkansas Communicator?

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the Republican candidate that is a former minister and that lost a great deal of weight, had a very good debate.  His theology or philosophy training probably served him very well last night as he continually managed to find the middle ground and safe harbor answers in the wide range of questions that were lobbed his way from YouTubers.  Who knows, maybe a Huckabee as President might actually start a trend and make the world believe that Arkansas Governors that can communicate well are not that unusual.

The Stupid Photo OP

In one of the last Democratic debates, the candidates were lined up in prime time for a photo op, and those of us at home were forced to watch the candidates come out during introductions, like prize fighters and then like that uncomfortable family picture that everyone gets reluctantly coraled into during the holidays, we viewers had to watch the staged photo op.

This photo op thing on prime time has got to go.  The debate could have covered at least another round of questions with that time.  Plus, what good is the actual photo from the photo op when the whole thing has already been broadcast on live TV?

Romney’s Torture, Giuliani’s tax funded Affair, and the Other Guys

In addition to everything else, Mitt Romney fumbled an opportunity to state that Water boarding is torture.  He stated that he still does not know that it is torture and that he would (if President) ask some experts.  The question is possibly, why hasn’t he asked some experts yet? 

Hello! Mitt Romney, you are running for President, might as well start getting prepared before you get the job not after!

If that’s too tough, I’ll give you a hint, WATER BOARDING IS TORTURE.

Giuliani had to respond to a super soft softball question about the accounting of funds spent on his security detail while he was mayor.  The question did not include any reference to the extra marital affair that Giuliani was having with New York’s finest working as paid guards.  I do not take away for Giuliani’s necessity to have people guarding him, but the affair and the accounting of city budget funds is definitely a political quagmire for this Republican.

The other candidates on the stage in my opinion didn’t really make a mark at all.  I suspect that they will drop off or out after the first primary results start to trickle in.

Tonight I Tivo’d the Republican YouTube Debate. 

That sentence alone is probably one of the most remarkable examples of just how much the world has changed recently.

However, other examples such as the recent sub prime melt down and the subsequent sky rocketing foreclosure rates, the wire tapping of US Citizens by the US government, the torture of prisoners in Iraq at the hands of US troops, all show some of the recent changes in the world and especially in the US that are definitely not as positive.

I admit, I am a bit of a technology geek, and prefer the former changes to the latter changes and wish that President Bush were responsible for Bush furniture and not the White House.  We seem to have used up the last of the Bush mojo (what little there was) with the first Bush and now we are suffering the consequences of a depleted gene pool.

Well, as I have previously TiVo’d the debate, it is now time to watch the blasted thing and see if there is anything useful that came out of this technology that might help us correct, fix or avoid those other poor examples of change in America.

Hillary Clinton is falling behind in the national polls when she is matched up with Republican candidates such as Rudy Giuliani and John McCain.  This could be a significant problem for Hillary as she goes into the Democratic primary.  This electability deficit could enable her competitors such as Barack Obama and John Edwards to potentially walk away with the Democratic nomination.

The Republicans feel that this could be bad for them as well.  Republicans feel that they can definitely win if they go up against Hillary Clinton in the general election.  There is a general consensus among Republicans that Hillary Clinton will spark such opposition and the Republican Party that the Republican turnout to vote will be extremely high.

It is somewhat surprising that the same polls show that Barack Obama could actually defeat John McCain in a national election, and that John Edwards would tie with McCain statistically speaking.  For the number two and number three Democratic contenders to beat John McCain however is not the same as beating Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani. 

John McCain is not very popular with Republicans these days.  There was a time when he had the potential to draw independent voters, however it is more hawkish stance today places him at odds with the area of the electorate that used to be his strength.  As John McCain has gone right over the last several years, he ended up losing the middle and he never really gained the right either.

So while this poll does show Hillary Clinton’s weakness, it doesn’t really show the strength of anyone else.  That means this information is probably best or most helpful for Barack Obama, who only needs to show that he is at least as electable as Hillary Clinton if not more.  He also needs to show that Hillary Clinton is not invincible.  The last thing the Democrats want is another Al Gore.

It’s worth noting that this poll, was national but only covered about 9000 people.  That is a large sample as samples go, but only a sample of potential voting electorate.  There are probably many more potential voters out there that trash the poll questionnaires as they found them in their mailboxes.

McCain leads Clinton in new poll, trails Obama - The Business Journal of Phoenix: