New West Network

My Page: Nathaniel Hoffman

Diary Of A Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman

I once called on a U.S. Embassy abroad for assistance. About a decade ago I was stranded in the Damascus airport, denied entry into Syria. Someone at the American Embassy there helped me find a flight out.

So I think a Mexican Consulate in Boise will probably prove helpful to some 50,000 Mexican-born Idahoans. And maybe it will remind Idaho politicians that Mexico is a sovereign nation with which we have normal international relations and not a slogan with which to rally nativist voters. The Mexican Consulate in Boise will make all of the Mexican art, culture, food and music that is already present in the Boise Valley and across the state more prominent.

Maybe Reps. Sali and Simpson will stop by for a lesson in hospitality. [more]

Diary Of A Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman

The use of Internet technology by candidates should be an old story by now.

But in Idaho it runs the gamut from former state Rep. Henry Kulczyk’s apparent afterthought to the full Web 2.0 treatment at saundramcdavid.com.

The majority of Idaho candidates do not even have Web sites, let alone MySpace or Facebook profiles. And they are not getting covered in the local papers. With primary elections just over a month away, it is a challenge to find out anything online about the majority of the contenders.

So this Mad Voter is looking under rocks. We call it PaleoMedia.org. [more]

Diary Of A Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman

While the presidential race swirls on as close by as Montana, Idaho has been pretty much devoid of presidential race news since the Democratic caucuses in February.

So what do we write about?

Not the lame swill the state Democratic and Republican parties recycle from their spin doctors at the Republican and Democratic national committees, that's for sure. [more]

Diary of a Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman

The Idaho Legislature tries its hardest to co-opt the press, from dress codes to Pledge of Allegiance regulations.

I would say that standing in our monkey suits surrounded by the very body we cover and reciting a loyalty oath that has been gerrymandered into a Christian prayer is no way to start the day in a fair and balanced manner.

Editor's note: Nathaniel Hoffman's weekly blogs are part of NewWest.Net/Politics' "Diary of a Mad Voter" feature, a group blog, published in partnership with the Denver Post's Politics West intended give a glimpse into the hearts and minds of several independent-minded voters and thinkers in the Rocky Mountain West in the '08 election cycle. For more columns check in with www.newwest.net/madvoter. And for more information on each of the bloggers, click here. [more]

Diary Of A Mad Voter: Nathaniel Hoffman

In January the black poet Nikki Giovanni came to Boise.

She was asked what Martin Luther King Jr. would do in 2008. Would he march on Washington? Protest the war in Iraq?

Would he vote for Obama?

“How the hell would I know?” Giovanni quipped, launching into a little poem followed by an educated guess: “Martin would have braids and a tattoo,” Giovanni says pulling up her sleeve. “Mine says ‘Thug Life.’”
[more]

Idaho Political Grok

Monday morning peeks at how the Legislature may handle the growing number of transitional homes in the Boise Valley and the legacy of urban renewal. Reaction to the latest sex allegations on Craig, and his latest denial.

Wolves.

Cows.

In today's Idaho politics grok. Read it here first. [more]

Idaho Political Grok

Idaho reaches fuel tax agreement with four tribes before Legislative deadline, Treasure Valley Community College could cost neighboring counties and Sali on Republicans and drunken sailors... in today's (first ever) Idaho Political Grok... Just a few of the things Xutos.org is reading.

We are experimenting with an Idaho political news roundup. Let us know what you think via or in the comments... and look for tweaks to this service in the coming weeks. [more]

That's why reporters take notes

About a year ago I spent some time in Lebanon. Toward the end of my stay I travelled to the north by bus with another reporter I had met in Beirut. She took notes all day.

I paid attention. I ate as much new food as I could. I talked to whomever I could. I barely pulled out my notebook except to write down new Arabic vocabulary words.

But a year later she comes up with this story about a kid we met that day. I barely remember hanging out with him.

That's why reporters take notes. [more]

Western State Electoral Votes Clacking The Dem Abacus

It’s tough to picture any of them in boots and a hat. Scary even. But Democratic presidential hopefuls including frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have put time and money into the mountain states, particularly Nevada, in this Groundhog’s Day of a primary season.

And when they descend on Denver next August for the Democratic National Convention, perhaps we will get to see them in fleece, a Nalgene bottle clipped to their belts, titanium hiking polls at the ready.

“How cool would it be to do a party at REI?” asks Arizona’s Democratic Party Chief Maria Weeg, who is headed to the Democratic debate tonight in Las Vegas. She says it’s not news that Democrats are looking Westward in this election cycle. Democratic activists have long eyed the Western states as a potential “hotbed of new Democratic politics,” Weeg said. [more]

Where Xutos declares the end of summer in Boise

No, not that scary larry.

I mean the ancient ice cream man who plies Boise's Northend. I hadn't heard his truck for a few weeks. But one unseasonably warm day brought old Larry down my street at about 16:30 hours today. He said it was his last day. He said when all the ice cream is gone he'd be calling it quits for the year.

I handed Larry a fistful of change. He handed us two ice creams. Something creamy and something fruity.

Petra said, "Scary Larry? But he's not scary..."

[more]