Political buzz and more...

If true, this is very interesting regarding Senator Chuck Hagel. He differs with the administration with regards to Iraq.

Missouri Senior Senator Kit Bond might resign his seat to become President of the University of Missouri.

Gerald Ford played a key role during the Cold War with regards to Soviet Jewry.

His presidency lasted less than 1,000 days, but it was enough time to support an international accord that provided a significant boost to the Soviet Jewry movement and marked a pivotal moment in the history of the Cold War.[...]

Ford already had distinguished himself as a vocal supporter of Soviet Jews. In January 1975 he signed into law the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which denied most-favored nation trading status to countries with restrictive emigration policies — an attempt to pressure the Kremlin into approving more exit visas for Soviet Jews.

“His brief presidency was very significant for the movement,” said Mark Levin, executive director of the NCSJ, which advocates for Jews across the former Soviet Union. “By signing into law the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which was one of the pillars of the Soviet Jewry movement, as well as being president when the Helsinki Accords were implemented, which provided the international community a tool to confront the Soviets directly on their human rights abuses, particularly as they impacted the Soviet Jewish population — for that his administration will be remembered within the American Jewish community.”

As a congressman from Michigan and Republican minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Ford attended a rally for Soviet Jewry in 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Young adults, including myself, are going to be key to Miller's gubernatorial bid. The number of young voters are growing daily and they are the future of Kentucky whether it's aspiring businessmen or future politicians.

Democrat Jonathan Miller has made it no secret that he's courting the 18 to 35 demographic -- a coveted group among the New York advertising firms but not typically a key constituency in a Kentucky campaign for governor.

But Miller, the state treasurer who at 39 is one of Kentucky's younger public officials, says he sees a largely untapped power of enthusiastic activism within that group of college students, graduate students and young professionals.

Roughly half of those who have attended Miller's informal gatherings with supporters -- so-called "meet-ups" -- have been the younger crowd. About 100 attended a Northern Kentucky meet-up Wednesday night, and 250 came out Thursday night in Louisville.

Yesterday afternoon at the Lexington meet-up for Miller and his running mate, Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze, roughly half of the 90 people who showed up -- including some who missed the end of the University of Kentucky football game -- were under 40.

"I am really excited because those are the people who I really want to see more involved in politics," Miller said at his Main Street campaign headquarters. "That's what I'm hoping to see more and more of as we go along."

Miller and Maze, 56, have already focused on launching a cyber campaign to match the beginnings of a traditional grass-roots strategy in their first two weeks as a ticket.

They've set up a page on Facebook.com, a popular Internet group site, as well as Myspace.com -- both of which are regular stops for the under-35 generation. (Their chief Democratic rivals at this point, Steve Beshear and Daniel Mongiardo, have two groups on Facebook.com.) Miller and Maze also launched their campaign Web site Thursday night: www.millermaze.com.

"This is just the beginning," Miller said. "I'm really hoping the Web site will do more than just help us raise money and actually help us organize people."

Richard Becker, president of the UK College Democrats, said he's supporting the ticket because Miller talks about issues young people care about: debt reduction for college students and pushing for tuition assistance.

"He's not only speaking to young people but listening to what they have to say," said Becker, 19, who noted that Miller had joined Facebook.com long before politicians had groups there. Miller signed up under the umbrella of being a 1989 Harvard grad.

As a side note, I believe Miller joined after Sen. Bayh created a profile.

Leaders in Washington mourned the late president in a service today.