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Dan Boren among 19 Demo speaker-vote dissenters

Oklahoma 2nd District Congressman Dan Boren proved me wrong. Rather than vote a fourth time for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House (he voted for her in 2005, 2007, and 2009), the Democrat joined 10 colleagues in voting for North Carolina Democrat Heath Shuler for speaker. Another eight Democrats...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 5, 2011 11:59 PM

Boren named Blue Dog whip

Congratulations to Oklahoma 2nd District Congressman Dan Boren for being named whip of the 54-member Blue Dog Coalition, the congressional caucus for Democrats who claim to hold mainstream values. Nevertheless, when the new Congress takes its first vote, Boren will, for the fourth time -- which is to say, at...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 17, 2010 10:15 PM

Being the wave in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA

So the other two volunteers from the Tulsa area had to cancel. The expected number of local Muskogee volunteers didn't materialize. I think there were about 7 by the time all was said and done, including me and my 10-year-old daughter. Only three of us had any of the four...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 31, 2010 11:18 PM

The corny stuff matters

I originally had this challenge buried in the bottom of this article, but I want to be sure you see it: Are any of you volunteering your time for a candidate between now and Tuesday? You can join me in Muskogee on Saturday campaigning for Charles Thompson, volunteer for...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 27, 2010 11:32 PM

How to be the wave -- and wash Dan Boren out of Congress

In the previous entry, I mentioned that there are congressional districts that could be competitive for conservative Republicans, districts which have voted for Republicans in the past, where the GOP challenger is a credible community leader. But they will only be competitive if volunteers show up to get the message...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 26, 2010 2:37 AM

Dan Boren pulls off the mask...

(Photoshop kindly provided by ExurbanJon of Exurban League, who had created similar images for Arizona's so-called Blue Dog Democrats, who are, in reality, "Pelosi's Poodles.") The most important vote a congressman casts is the vote for Speaker. That vote determines who will control committee chairmanships, who will control the...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 7, 2010 1:03 PM

Stipe, Boren, McMahan in tangled campaign finance web

The Daily Oklahoman has been covering the latest developments in the investigation of illegal campaign contributions involving former State Sen. Gene Stipe of McAlester and other powerful Democrats in state government. I don't have time to try to sort through the tangled mess tonight, but here are links to the...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 12, 2007 9:54 PM