The Federal Election Commission today refused to eviscerate the “527s,” the organizations that raise money, so far mostly for liberal causes. In a 4-2 vote FEC commissioners said they would take no action for at least 90 days, giving MoveOn, America Coming Together and the Media Fund, as well as GOP 527s that may now emerge, to keep raising money for independent ad campaigns and get out the vote efforts.

Maybe Jim VandeHei of The Washington Post is doing it right, because sometimes he makes me scream and other times, like today, he exhibits the objectivity I’d like to see other reporters emulate. By that I don’t mean balanced; rather he doesn’t let politicians get away with untruths.

The Bush campaign has repeatedly accused the senator of “politicizing” Iraq. Bush-Cheney chairman Marc Racicot told reporters Wednesday that Kerry is relentlessly “playing politics” and exploiting tragedy for political gain.

Racicot, for instance, told reporters that Kerry suggested that 150,000 or so U.S. troops are “somehow universally responsible” for the misdeeds of a small number of American soldiers and contractors. Racicot made several variations of this charge. But Kerry never said this, or anything like it.

As evidence, Racicot pointed to the following quote Kerry made at a fundraiser on Tuesday: “What has happened is not just something that a few a privates or corporals or sergeants engaged in. This is something that comes out of an attitude about the rights of prisoners of war, it’s an attitude that comes out of America’s overall arrogance in its policy that is alienating countries all around the world.”

What Racicot did not mention was that Kerry preceded this remark by saying, “I know that what happened over there is not the behavior of 99.9 percent of our troops.”

Tom Freidman of the New York Times is smart, brash and full of confidence. He’s been a big supporter of the Iraqi war, but today, he admits, “I was wrong” about Bush.

Two recent op-eds, one in The Washington Post and the other in the New York Times suggest that the Vietnam era admonition to simply declare victory and go home may be what we need in Iraq.

And even the most conservatives pundits are having second thoughts.

Even as strong a supporter of Israel as Richard Cohen thinks the Palestinians’ “master plan” might trump Israel’s plan for permanent settlements, i.e., occupation.

Care to make a wager on whether Virginia will join the parade?

Or bet on affordable housing?

This woman is one of the ideologues we need to get rid of. Know anyone who plans to take her on in ’05?

Maybe we should ask the “Coalition of Coalitions”?

As I feared, Fairfax County, flush with new money from the state as a result of the budget negotiations, is talking about property tax cuts. No mention about using the extra money for schools.

Gov. Mark Warner’s appearance at the Arlington County Courthouse today was cancelled.

Washington Post columnist William Raspberry had a good column yesterday titled “Nader’s Advice to Kerry.” Compare it with Sunday’s article by Jim VandeHei about the similarities of the views and proposed policies of President Bush and Sen. Kerry.

Kerry is turning out to be Howard Dean’s followers’ worst nightmare. He seems incapable of challenging Bush on some of the issues Raspberry outlines. Kerry seems afraid to be a Democrat, instead positioning himself as a neo-liberal, a centrist, a moderate. Whatever the term, it’s one that lacks a backbone. If Kerry is going carry out policies similar to Bush’s, what have we gained? And if you argue that he’s simply moderating his views for the stump and will act very differently once elected, how have we advanced the nature of the political dialogue in this country? No matter how bad I think Bush’s policies have been for this country, I’m not sure I’m willing to vote for one liar over another. Maybe a vote for Nader and his denying Kerry the election will be enough for the Democratic party to change its ways.

As we’ve seen in Virginia, a Democratic leader can achieve the improbable. Not that Gov. Warner has been a radical, but he achieved a clearly Democratic agenda in funding education and made no bones about raising taxes. Sure, he sold it as a tax cut for 65 percent of the populace, but if he can raise taxes in a state sure to go to Bush in November, can’t Kerry take a truly Democratic agenda a little further in Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota and other swing states?

Gov. Mark Warner (D) plans to be in Arlington today. It’s part of a statewide tour to explain to community leaders and local officials what the new budget will mean for their communities. OK, but let’s call it what it is – a victory lap around the state. And as hard as he’s worked, he deserves it. But two quotes from yesterday’s first stop on the lap caught my attention:

“Virtually every component of the reform that we proposed back in November was part of the final compromise,” Warner told a supportive crowd outside the Roanoke Higher Education Center.

Give him credit for getting more revenue for sorely needed services. Give him credit for his political acumen and ability to build coalitions. But tax reform? When multi-millionaires pay the same percentage of their income in taxes as someone making $20,000 a year and the main method of raising revenue is to increase the regressive sales tax, we’ve still got a long way to go to reform Virginia taxes.
The governor also said, “My only concern is that we don’t end up having greater disparities, say between teachers in Northern Virginia and Southwest Virginia,” Warner said. “I think they [teachers] understand that this is a huge new investment and that they’ll fight that battle at the local level, but we do need to be concerned.”

The state should not subsidize disparities in school systems. But we need to remember the cost of living differences. Are Northern Virginia teachers earning less than their Southwest counterparts when that cost is factored in? I don’t know. But I wonder what percentage of teachers in some poorer counties can live in the county in which they teach: a feat many Fairfax County and Arlington County teachers can’t.

As a friend of mine says, too many politician hear trumpets whenever they enter a room.

“The leadership role that I’m taking on behalf of public education, mental health, and higher education has encouraged a lot of people to talk to me to pursue higher office,” Potts said. “I’m going to listen to people.”

FYI, here are the budget bill votes in the House and the Senate. The following delegates voted against the tax bill but for the budget, probably because they’ll want to claim credit for the new funds their localities get even though they did everything possible to prevent them from getting the funds:

Abbitt
Callahan
Cosgrove
Cox
Dudley
Griffith
Hogan
Joannou
Kilgore
Landes
McQuigg
Wardrup
Ware, R.L.
And of course, Mr. Speaker!