As blue as we are, our leaders are red.  Please post here your ideas for who you'd like to see in our state and city leadership.

Names that are obviously under discussion are Freddy Ferrer for Mayor in 2005, Eliot Spitzer for Governor in 2006.  Another good idea that I cannot take credit for is Leticia James (WFP) when Major Owens (D-NY 11th CD) retires in '06.

What else you got, Kosopolitans?  

At last night's debate, President Bush emphasized the power of a president's message:

I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. What message does that send our troops?

Yet in July 2003, President Bush himself declared, "There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on."  And indeed, since he spoke those fateful words, hundreds of U.S. troops have been killed, and thousands more injured.

Mr. President, just what message were you sending our troops last July when you issued such a tragic challenge to our enemies?  How can you yourself lead this country to success in Iraq, having invited attacks upon our men and women in uniform?

You have to figure that for election lawyers, advising a presidential campaign, especially an incumbent, is the big time. After all, Ginsberg's argument last night was that he simply had to advise SBVT, because there's such a limited pool of lawyers who even do this kind of work.

Given all that, Ginsberg left pretty easily, with barely any kicking and screaming. He didn't even last 18 hours from the time the story broke.

From the AP:  http://tinyurl.com/6zo44

An election lawyer for President Bush who also has been advising a veterans group running TV ads against Democrat John Kerry resigned Wednesday from Bush's campaign.

"I cannot begin to express my sadness that my legal representations have become a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election," Benjamin Ginsberg wrote in a resignation letter to Bush released by the campaign.

"I feel I cannot let that continue, so I have decided to resign as national counsel to your campaign to ensure that the giving of legal advice to decorated military veterans, which was entirely within the boundaries of the law, doesn't distract from the real issues upon which you and the country should be focusing."

Ginsberg's acknowledgment Tuesday evening that he was providing legal advice to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth marked the second time in days that an individual associated with the Bush-Cheney campaign had been connected to the group, which Kerry accuses of being a front for the Republican incumbent's re-election effort.

Not wanting to "distract from the real issues"? That's some fine parting advice, counselor, even if your client won't take it in 87 billion years.

Remember when retiring Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) alleged that he was offered a bribe by lobbyists and legislators who wanted him to vote yes on the Medicare bill, and who promised funding for his son Brad's bid to succeed him? And remember when Smith retracted the claim?

http://tinyurl.com/5gdvf

Guess we'll never find out what really happened there:

http://tinyurl.com/63fuq

In Michigan, John Ramsey, the father of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, lost his bid for a state House seat. Former state Sen. John Schwarz won a six-way Republican primary in the race to replace retiring Rep. Nick Smith, besting Smith's own son Brad, who came in second.