{"id":856,"date":"2010-02-17T11:35:46","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T16:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=856"},"modified":"2010-02-17T11:35:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-17T16:35:46","slug":"inside-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=856","title":{"rendered":"Inside Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night, I went to my county\u2019s Democratic convention. If you don\u2019t know anything about politics, this is where all the candidates gather to seek the endorsement of the County Party. I always find these conventions interesting because you can tell a lot about the candidates from how they handle themselves in this environment.<\/p>\n

Here in Pennsylvania, we have a few statewide races that a pretty exciting. Our Senate race for example has a primary that the entire nation is watching. Former Republican Arlen Specter vs. my current US Congressman Joe Sestak. Specter has Obama on his side as well as the Governor and the Democratic Party\u2019s State Committee, but I don\u2019t think he will actually win the primary.<\/p>\n

Last night, Sestak entered the convention like a rock star and gave a great speech that was vague and empowering. You know the type I am talking about. Remember Obama\u2019s \u201cHope and Change\u201d speeches or any of Reagan\u2019s speeches? Any politician who actually talks specifics on issues during a speech is at the disadvantage next to those who are vague and inspiring.<\/p>\n

Specter didn\u2019t show up for this convention. That alone is okay because most voters understand that it is a statewide race and he can\u2019t be everywhere at once, but he didn\u2019t even have any staff members there to advocate on his behalf. There was a signing petition there for him, but no one had signed it.<\/p>\n

As for the governors race, there are four candidates running. Personally, I am supporting my good friend Joe Hoeffel who didn\u2019t run away from me when he was a Congressman and saw me in Washington D.C. with a large \u201cDemocracy Not Theocracy\u201d sign rallying for the Separation of Church and State. Although I love Hoeffel, I thought that his speech seemed rushed. At times he was hard to hear and at other times he seemed frustrated. While I understand the frustration since he is the only progressive running and the previous speaker made a point to say that all the candidates were the same on the issues, I don\u2019t think Hoeffel should have made his frustration so visible.<\/p>\n

Then there were the long shot candidates. They usually have to read from a prepared speech or spend a lot of time yelling. Good candidates need to be loud, but not Al Sharpton loud. They can\u2019t be screaming or yelling. Projection is the key, no anger.<\/p>\n

Over all, I was glad that no candidate talked about religion and only one or two thanked God or anything like that.
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