Health Care Forum Video and Transcript Now Available

The Center for American Progress Action Fund, one of the co-sponsors of Saturday's health care forum in Las Vegas, has now posted the entire video and transcript of the forum. You can view the video here.

Video of Kucinich at Health Care Forum

I've gone to all the presidential candidates websites and looked for videos of the health care forum. The only video I found so far was of Dennis Kucinich. Watch it below:

Reactions on the Health Care Forum

It turned out that I have a life away from blogging after all, so I was not able to watch the health care forum on Saturday and therefore could not liveblog it. Unfortunately, neither the organizers of the forum nor Think Progress (which offered a live webcast) have so far put up any video from the forum.

However, a couple of people did some live-blogging of the forum or compiled a writeup. Jonathan Singer's take on each candidate's position is over at MyDD, another extensive roundup can be found at Blog for our Future. Taylor Marsh was also at the forum and comes away from it very oppiniated and very much in favor of Hillary Clinton while Hugh Jackson writes both at the Las Vegas Gleaner and on Nevada Today that he thought John Edwards was the big winner as he actually had a plan and is more likely to win than Dennis Kucinich who not only has a plan but a bill that is "intellectually, morally and economically sensible and reasonable."

Karen Tumulty, moderator of the forum, wrote up her thoughts here and here.

Finally, the take from the traditional media:

New York Times, Washinton Post, Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas Sun

The only thing pretty much everyone seemed to agree on was that Obama's plan was sketchy at best, some saying that he was not prepared at all.

I'll put the videos (or the link to them) of the candidates at the forum up once they're available.

The SEIU Health Care Forum in Las Vegas: Polls, Webcast and More

In preparation for the health care forum in Las Vegas today, hosted by the SEIU and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a conference call for reporters and bloggers was held earlier this week. During this call Andy Stern of the SEIU and John Podesta, former Chief of Staff of President Bill Clinton and now head of the Center for American Progress, outlined their thoughts on the upcoming forum and on how best to achieve universal health care.

Andy Stern stressed that a solution to the health care crisis is in everybody's interest as "American business will pay more for health care they make in profit" this year. Therfore, this presidential campaign should be about the issues, not about "glitz and glamour."

John Podesta noted his "battle scars" from 1994 when he worked in the White House during the Clinton's effort to achieve universal health care. He noted that the ranks of the uninsured are rising and that there are now 7 million more uninsured than in 2000. He sees today's forum as "a critical next step" saying that he has "high hopes that what happens in Las Vegas will leave Las Vegas and set the tone for the presidential campaign."

Also on the call was Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners who conducted a poll in the four early primary and caucus states regarding health care. The poll asked 400 voters in each state about their attitude towards health care. While the overall picture did look pretty good for universal health care, I was a little disturbed by the sample. 400 voters in one state is not the best sample and when you break it down into half Democrats and half Republicans, the margin of error is just insane.

Nonetheless, here are some numbers from Nevada:

Thinking specifically about the economy, what are you personally worried about the most?

Rising health care costs 39%
Higher taxes 23%
Secure Retirement 19%

The 225 million dollars a day being spent in Iraq would be better spent investing in affordable health care for every American here at home.

Strongly agree 48%
Not strongly agree 19%
Not strongly disagree 12%
Strongly disagree 18%

Who do you think would be the BEST president on the issue of health care?

Hillary Clinton 34%
John Edwards 16%
Barack Obama 9%
Bill Richardson 4%
Dennis Kucinich 0%
Chris Dodd 2%
Joe Biden 0%
Mike Gravel 0%

Now, please note that they're just asking who would be best on health care. Clearly, Hillary has an edge here both because of name recognition and because of her work on health care during the Clinton presidency.

What I found really disturbing about these numbers though, was that 50% of the respondents were 65 or older. How representative are numbers when you have a sample of only 5% below 40 years of age? And it really made me wonder how representative other poll numbers are that do not publish the age range of respondents.

Anyhow, I'm very much looking forward to this forum, as it will hopefully force the candidates to take a stand beyond "I'm for health coverage for all" and maybe they'll even tell us how they plan to achieve it.

You can view the live webcast of the health care forum over at Think Progress starting at 9am PT/noon ET.

Biden Apparently Not for Universal Health Care

Well, I think I've finally figured out why Biden, officially citing family obligations, will not take part in the SEIU health care forum in Las Vegas on Saturday. From a Q&A with the Las Vegas Sun:

How would you deal with the nation's health care crisis?

I would move immediately to insure all children under age 18, modernize medical records and provide catastrophic health insurance to lift the burden on the 46 million people who can't afford coverage.

I would also encourage states to move toward total health care coverage, and I'd have the federal government give them much more leeway in underwriting the cost. The way to get a national consensus for a major health care policy is to cherry pick the best ideas from the dozens of states doing their own.

What happened to "universal health care?" It's what everybody in the Democratic field of candidates is talking about. Mysteriously, Biden chooses not to use this term. Does that mean he would not want to insure every American while he is in office? While providing insurance for all children and providing "catastrophic health insurance" (whatever that is supposed to mean) might sound like a good start and surely is better than the status quo it just sounds so safe, one has to wonder why Biden is even running for President. When you are not willing to lead on an issue and be bold about it you might want to reconsider your candidacy.

Therefore, I'm just not at all surprised he's skipping the health care forum this Saturday. I doubt the SEIU audience would have cheered him with this overtly safe, completely undaring position not worthy of a Democratic presidential candidate.

PS: After ranting my head off, I thought I'd better verify that he's not for universal heath care. So, I've just looked up his official position on health care on his website. It's pretty apparent he's really just not for universal health care. He wants to make sure that people have "access" but that's pretty much it. Here's his entire position:

Health Care

Joe Biden believes that to protect jobs, compete in a global economy and strengthen families we have to have to address out-dated health care system. The next president will have to deal with two challenges: containing the growing costs of health care and providing access to the 47 million Americans who don't have health insurance.

Joe Biden believes we need to take three steps to contain the cost of health care: modernize the system, simplify the system and reduce errors. He supports the transition to secure electronic records so that people can provide their doctors and nurses with vital medical information in real time. He believes there should be a uniform, efficient system to submit claims.

Joe Biden believes the path toward a 21st century health care system starts with the most vulnerable in our society. He would expand health insurance for children and relieve families and businesses of the burden of expensive catastrophic cases. He supports states that are pursuing innovative alternatives to make sure that everyone has access to health care and believes we should use data from these states to evaluate what works best in providing affordable access to health care for all.

What a disappointment.

On Biden Cancelling his Carson City Apperances Yesterday

So, Senator Biden's gamble didn't quite work. He figured, he could skip the SEIU forum in Las Vegas on Saturday (official reason: family obligations) and yet get press attention by coming to Carson City on Wednesday. Yesterday, he cancelled on short notice due to "important votes in the Senate."

While that is all valid and fine, here's the problem:

Biden has a day job (as do five other candidates). He's a Senator and therefore, when the Senate is in session, he should be in DC, and not toodling around on the campaign trail. As we're still more than nine months away from the primaries and caucuses, Biden (and Dodd, Hillary, Obama, Kucinich and Richardson) should show the voters how serious they are about wanting to be President, by actually doing their day job and only campaigning when their work schedules permit, meaning mostly weekends.

Now, I was a little curious and counted the numbers of votes missed by the four current Democratic Senators running out of 88 votes since January:

Biden: 22
Dodd: 22
Obama: 3
Hillary: 2

(comparison: McCain: 25, with Brownback and Hagel also frequently absent)

Biden and Dodd (as long as they haven't been sick or didn't have some serious family business to attend to) should either resign, so they can run full-time, or should resume their day job. Being absent 25% of the time from your day job while running for President is simply inexcusable.

So, it actually did bode well for Sen. Biden that he chose to stay in Washington last night. Otherwise his absenteeism rate would have jumped by another couple of votes.

Biden in Carson City on Wednesday

While Sen. Joe Biden is not attending the SEIU forum on health care in Las Vegas this weekend. However, he seems to have liked visiting Carson City for the AFSCME forum last month so much that he's returning to Nevada's capital city tomorrow:

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, a Democrat seeking the presidential nomination, will speak in Carson City this week, his campaign announced Monday.

Biden is the only Democratic presidential candidate not scheduled to attend Saturday's forum on health care in Las Vegas. But he will make two speeches in the state capital on Wednesday, according to the campaign.

The five-term Delaware senator is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. at the legislative conference of the Nevada AFL-CIO at the Carson Nugget. Then at 7:45 p.m., he will speak to the Carson City Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Presidential Series, at the Silver Oak Golf Club.

Saturday's forum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will feature Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd, former Sen. John Edwards, former Sen. Mike Gravel, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Barack Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

The forum is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

My Interview With Elizabeth Kucinich in Heidelberg, Germany

When I learned that Elizabeth Kucinich would be in Heidelberg (a 20 minute drive from Mannheim) for the International DPCA meeting of Democrats Abroad, I contacted the Kucinich campaign and asked if I could interview her. I expected 20 minutes tops. What I got was to accompany and talk to Elizabeth and Christina Kraich-Rogers, a German native who now works as the New Hampshire coordinator for the Kucinich for President campaign, for about four hours.

I met Elizabeth and Christina at a peace vigil in Heidelberg organized by German anti-war groups. While Germany is participating in the Iraq war, it is still home to several U.S. bases including Ramstein Air Base and the Landstuhl hospital, where injured soldiers are brought before they're ready for transport to Walter Reed. Elizabeth and Christina told me about their trip to Landstuhl the night before and about their conversations with injured soldiers. I could see how deeply moved and shaken they were from this encounter (you can read more on this here).

Elizabeth (left) talks to a protester

Elizabeth addressed the crowd at the peace vigil and talked to many individually. Most seemed to be quite surprised by the presence of the wife of an American Congressman.

Elizabeth addresses the crowd. The banner reads: War is always terror.

Afterwards we headed to the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut (German-American Institute - DAI) where Democrats Abroad had their meeting. In the DAI library Elizabeth talked with me about the main issues of this campaign.

Elizabeth Kucinich, who is still a British citizen (she hasn't been in the States long enough to obtain American citizenship), came to the United States in 2005. Though her lifepath crossed that of the American people in a strange way four years before. On September 11, 2001, Elizabeth had her final exam in her M.A. course in International Conflict Analysis. The exam title: "Conflict Resolution in International Politics." Later that day, as she watched the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, she felt that "a lightswitch came on."

As many Europeans, she saw how the U.S. media "spun the grief and shock into something different." While people across the world held prayer vigils for the victims of 9/11, even in places like Iran, the administration and the media "were shutting out the world in a way that was not necessary."

After having lived in India working with Mother Teresa's organization in Agra she later went for 16 months to Tanzania and worked in a small village as an advocate for regional development.

In 2005 she took a job with the American Monetary Institute in Chicago. On her second week on the job she went to Capitol Hill. She hadn't known or even heard of Dennis Kucinich previously but to her it seemed that their "life paths merged together." Elizabeth and Dennis tied the knot in the same year.

When you meet Elizabeth Kucinich and hear her talk about the issues she cares about and her husband's campaign, you sooner or later come to the conclusion that she may just be Dennis Kucinich's strongest assett. She's passionate and knowledgeable and doesn't depend on a campaign staffer on any subject like you so often here about many candidates.

Quickly she steers the conversation towards the subject of the war in Iraq. She stresses that Dennis led 125 of his colleagues to vote against the Iraq War Resolution in the House and that "he's the only candidate who's stand against the war is consistent" as he also voted against all funding bills for the war.

In Dennis Kucinich, Elizabeth sees "a man who speaks with integrity and truth." She says that in 2008 the people of the United States should "elect a President who is honest, who is willing to stand up when it's not popular."

Privacy Rights

I mention the recent comments by Gen. Pace who sees homosexuality as 'immoral'. I ask her what her husband's response to this is, especially in light of the squirmishness on this subject by the two front-runners, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Elizabeth makes it quite clear that both she and Dennis don't share this view: "When there are people who are devoted to each other, who want to have a family together, who is the government to say they cannot do that? The government should stay out of people's bedrooms, as they should stay out of their phone calls and their libraries. This is actually an area where goverment needs to be reduced."

Department of Peace

There have been some comments stating the idea of a Department of Peace is ridiculous as there already is the Department of State. I ask Elizabeth what her reaction to this criticism is. "Anyone who says this clearly has not read the legislation," is her first response. The idea of a Department of Peace is not about shutting down other departments. It would be completely separate from the Departments of State and Defense. She explains that a Department of Peace would not solely be an international endeavour. Quite to the contrary, "it is about building structures domestically. We need to build up peace structures within our society. America has a problem with violence. Peace is more than the absence of war." Elizabeth is quite adamant about this, she says that this is about teaching children to resolve conflicts peacefully, so that later on they won't be involved in domestic violence and in hate crimes: "Anyone who does not support the Department of Peace, isn't supporting putting a stop to domestic violence."

Iran

On the subject of war and peace, Elizabeth also has a few words to say on Iran: "I can see the condition of a Third World War developing. It is about destruction or creation. We can come together. What do the American people want?"

Nevada

The recent AFSCME forum in Carson City was Elizabeth's first time in Nevada. She came away impressed by the "fantastic people" she met and "loved the landscape. Her next trip to Nevada is only a few days away as Dennis will speak to the Culinary Workers Union on Friday and before the SEIU health care forum on Saturday.

Yucca Mountain

Elizabeth says that Dennis has tried to lead on this issue and has been consistent on his stance against storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, though ultimately, this is not just a Nevada issue but also a national one as "we've spun a line on nuclear energy that it is clean and economically viable" while people and politicians ignore that nuclear waste has to be stored forever and eventually the American people have to pay for it "not in utility bills but through taxes." Therefore, Dennis Kucinich is "not in support of nuclear power. Period."

Water

On another hot-button issue in Nevada, water, Elizabeth says that it is also a global issue: "Water is the next oil." She says that everyone is responsible and can take action by preserving water as everyone has a choice - for how long we take showers, how much water our dishwashers and washing machines consume.

Climate Change

Elizabeth has been passionate about climate change since she was a child and she sees a chance for the world in fighting climate change: "Never in world history has there been an issue that brought the world together. We have the intelligence and money to bring the world together in fighting climate change. We have the chance to stop global warming now or we can fund the war and put more money into the war.

Health Care

Coming from Europe, where most countries have health care systems that cover the entire population, she is "astounded" when she travels around America "that there is a country with all these resources that it cannot provide health care for its people." She says that it's not a money problem as the United States pay more money per capita for health care than many industrial countries with universal health care: "We're paying for health care. We're just not getting it. Across the United States 46 million people are without coverage." Dennis Kucinich proposes universal single payer not for profit medicine for all.

According to Elizabeth this is also a business issue as it will reduce their costs and increase the vitality of their workforce.

First Lady

I find the "what would you do if you were to become First Lady" questions usually quite nauseating, mostly because the answers are as well. I asked Elizabeth anyway. To my question what issue she would focus on she replied: "I've never been a one-issue candidate."

"My main passions are the environment, animal welfare - welfare in general, really -, peace and international relations." Dennis and Elizabeth would be working together: "We're a joint ticket, a team. We share the same perspective of America and the world."

Elizabeth would like to start a '9/10 forum'. "The American people never got an opportunity to grieve after 9/11. What was their world like on 9/10. What were their highest aspirations. There is a narrative I'd like to start: When did you feel most secure? When were you proud of your nation? It's a discussion I would like to take across the country."

According to Elizabeth the people should focus on the good of both 9/10 and 9/12: "The heart of the world was open to the American people after 9/11. How do we recreate the sentiment of togetherness and solidarity of 9/12?"

How does Elizabeth feel living in America? "It's a great honor to live in America. I love Cleveland and made it my home." And on politics in America: "Coming from a different country one sees the politics in a different light."

Elizabeth and I in the DAI library

After my interview with Elizabeth we went downstairs to the Democrats Abroad meeting as Dennis Kucinich was to call in shortly. He talked about why he was running and took a couple of questions. Both his general remarks and his answers received at times strong applause. Especially his anti-war stance and his promise to join an American voters abroad caucus in Congress were enthusiastically received.

More information on Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich can be found at the Kucinich for President website.

Richardson to Keynote Stonewall Dem Leadership Luncheon in Vegas

Gov. Bill Richardson will be the keynote speaker at the Stonewall Democrats Western National Training Leadership Luncheon in Las Vegas on March 24th, the same day as the SEIU health care forum. It is not yet clear if any other presidential candidates will address this meeting.

For more info click here.

Kucinich to Speak to Culinary Workers Union in Vegas

Dennis Kucinich plans to speak to the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas the night before the SEIU health care forum. Details:

Start: 23 Mar 2007 - 19:00

Pending his congressional duties, Dennis will speak at the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada

Most Dem. Candidates to Attend Health Care Forum in Vegas 3/24

The Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) give Nevada its second presidential forum. And it's only March.

"New Leadership on Health Care: A Presidential Forum" will take place on Saturday, March 24th in Las Vegas. Since it will solely focus on one issue it will be more difficult for candidates to be vague on what they plan to achieve. Well, that's at least what one can hope.

Even though this forum is open to Democratic and Republican candidates, thus far only Democrats have confirmed:

• Senator Hillary Clinton (NY)
• Senator John Edwards (NC)
• Senator Mike Gravel (AK)
• Representative Dennis Kucinich (OH)
• Senator Barack Obama (IL)
• Governor Bill Richardson (NM)

Gov. Vilsack had also confirmed - before he dropped out of the race. The only declared Democratic candidates missing are Joe Biden and Chris Dodd. But with everyone else planning to attend I'd be surprised should they choose to skip this forum. After Obama didn't attend the AFSCME Forum in Carson City last month it will be interesting to see how the crowd at this forum will react to him vs. Hillary and Edwards.

The details:

New Leadership on Health Care: A Presidential Forum

March 24, 2007
From: 09:30 AM until 01:00 PM

Address:

UNLV's Cox Pavilion
4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89154
(Cox Pavilion is located at Swenson and Tropicana)

UPDATE: Dodd will also attend, according to a SEIU press release. That only leaves Biden unconfirmed.