University of Oklahoma Film and Video Studies junior, Elizabeth Barrett, discusses her experience at the Oklahoma Democratic Presidential Watch Party.

Hat tip: universityofoklahoma

F.W. Mize of Norman, Oklahoma, explains why he voted the way he did to an OU journalism student. The video was taken from the YouTube page of OU visiting Professor Warren Veith.

Professor Vieth is a national reporter and editor returning to Oklahoma after an 18-year career with the Los Angeles Times. He covered the White House from the beginning of President Bush’s second term until January 2006. During his 16 years in the Times Washington Bureau, he also worked as a national economics correspondent, assistant national editor, assignment editor, project editor and night news editor.

 hat tip:warrenvieth

Since this post last week, we are still receiving emails from well meaning organizations pushing this non story. Here’s an excerpt from last week’s post:

“It’s sad to now see the OK alternative press pickup the alleged Barack Obama birth certificate controversy. First reported during the election on prominent, national right wing blogs, others soon followed suit promoting this bogus controversy.”

Former State Representative Thad Balkman sent this email out on Thanksgiving day:

Hat tip: That’s Just Bob

As for these calls for an investigation of Obama’s birth certificate. It AINT GONNA HAPPEN! Those Republicans who keep talking about his birth certificate are beginning to look as bad as the gays out in California who are trying to stop Proposition 8 AFTER the people decided in favor of it.

We lost the Presidential election. We have another chance in 4 years. In the meantime, get over it and criticize Obama when his policies fail.

Where was all of this passion during the campaign? Why didn’t these people help us nominate a better candidate?

I’m tired of hearing about this birth certificate nonsense. Can’t we talk about something more relevant?

Thad Balkman

Well said!

OKPNSnet Forum Question: Obama’s Birth Certificate? Who Cares?

(click here to join the discussion!)

In a serman titled “What Now,” Tulsa Unitarian Universalism Rev. Marlin Lavanhar describes his “tears of joy” after President-elect Obama’s victory on November 4th. Rev. Lavanhar also predicted a “new America.” We don’t fault the good reverend for his exuberant support (from behind the pulpint) for our new president, We just ask what ever happened to the sacred line of separation of church and state that the liberals worship so much?

Rev. Lavanhar is pastor of the All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. If you’re unfamiliar with Unitarian Universalism, here’s a blurb from the Church’s website:

“Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion with Jewish-Christian roots. It has no creed. It affirms the worth of human beings, advocates freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth, and tries to provide a warm, open, supportive community for people who believe that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion.”

hat tip: AllSoulsUnitarian

It’s sad to now see the OK alternative press pickup the alleged Barack Obama birth certificate controversy. First reported during the election on prominent, national right wing blogs, others soon followed suit promoting this bogus controversy.

We’re the last people looking to defend Barack Obama, but we’re amazed at the shocking display of a lack of basic high school government civics. As long as Mr. Obama’s mother was an American citizen, and there’s never been any question of that, then it doesn’t make any difference where he was born. If you are making the allegation that his white mother is not his natural mother then say it. It is very evident that Mr. Obama is of mixed heritage, so the theory that the senior Obama moved back to Kenya to conceive junior Barack is not plausible to us. The election is over. Move on!

Louis Gray, former publisher of the Native American Times of Oklahoma, discusses his work with the recent Obama campaign.

www.howobamagotelected.com

Rob McClendon shares his views on the presidential election.

 Hat tip: OklahomaHorizonTV

Related:Peace Arena: Oklahoma election post mortems

Oklahoma Voice of Reason: What a GOP majority means for choice…

From Examiner.com:

Most people - when they’ve been made an absolute fool of publicly - usually try to find the nearest hole to craw in to fade into obscurity. Not good ‘Ol “Republican” Senator ‘Harry “turn” Coates. I Learned last week that Coates did robo calls for District 93 Democratic candidate David Castillo. (Mike Christian was the eventual winner.) To add insult to injury, the calls were made from the state Democratic headquarters! Read more…

They were the races that defied the pollsters and the pundits: the two corporation commission seats held by Democrat Jim Roth (2 year) and Republican Jeff Cloud (6 year).

Roth had far more money, more support and was a far superior campaigner, but he lost. Cloud had adequate money, but his support was only lukewarm. The corporate welfare crowd adored Roth, and worked hard to move Cloud out last summer so they could run Roth in the 6-year seat, but according to reports, could not come to an agreement with Cloud over what money he should make. Despite his reputation as being lazy, and his new-found ability to tell the big lie, Cloud won. Further, even Randy Terrill had admitted publicly that there was very little difference in the way Roth and Cloud voted: for the corporate welfare crowd and against ratepayers. So why did the massively-funded darling of the media and rising star lose and a commissioner with a reputation as a D-minus achiever win? What was the difference?

First, the media, especially News9 and FOX 25 in Oklahoma City, began to pick up on the stories broken here on OKPNS about Roth last summer. The tired old establishment daily newspapers were in the tank for Roth, especially the Daily Disappointment, who supported Roth because Roth was using taxpayer funds to help the family and friends of the Publisher to make money. Who can forget the ludicrous video of Roth and the silly little girl interviewing him about his crime fighting debut? Was there a built-in bias against Roth, a sort-of gay Bradley effect? News9’s political analyst Scott Mitchell suggested as much on their coverage Tuesday night.

Related: Want more proof the dinosaur media is dying?  NBC DC Bureau Makes Plea To Staff On Buyout Program

After Roth’s Pat Hall-designed attack ad on Murphy, and the Murphy campaign’s less than muscular reply, reputable polls saw Roth rocket to a 15-point lead, and most pollsters had Roth easily winning re-election. In fact, some pollsters had told OKPNS before the election that Charles Gray had a better shot at Cloud than Murphy did at Roth.

But they were wrong. The Oklahoma Republican tide sunk both Roth and Gray, and the margins of victory for the Murphy and Cloud were far larger than pre-election predictions. Murphy ran a tough grassroots campaign, although the passive strategy employed after the ill-advised Roth attacks could have sunk her. Roth waited too late to go up with ads that defined him, and his attacks seemed extreme, a hallmark of adviser Hall that GOP Chair Gary Jones has been pointing out for years. Hall’s image of a smart adviser has gone in the toilet after his ties to the corrupt former auditor and inspector Jeff McMahan and the disastrous political year he engineered for the Chesapeake gang, who took it in the shorts Tuesday night.

But the bottom line is this: the public found out just enough about Roth, but the truth was kept from them regarding Cloud. After Cloud hinted on a radio show that the video of him being caught at an out-of-state fund raiser was a fake job, only OKPNS followed up on the story that was broken by reporter Jerry Bohnen on KTOK. Further, according to Bohnen’s story, Cloud also said he didn’t take money from those he regulated. Not one media outlet in Oklahoma bothered to question Cloud on that remarkable lie: once again, the Oklahoma media at its finest. But unlike the Pat Hall-managed crook Jeff McMahan abortion of 2006, enough of the media carried information that kept another Hall-Turpen buddy from continuing to loot and pillage the people of Oklahoma.

But unfortunately, a politician who helps abuse the ratepayers for greedy corporations, was returned simply because the public didn’t know what readers of OKPNS knew as far back as last summer and KTOK listeners knew two weeks ago. Now, the greedy corporations who owned Jim Roth will be forced to head to Cloud for comfort, as Murphy is expected to side with Bob Anthony and give Oklahomans two commissioners more concerned with the welfare of the ratepayers than playing golf, sleeping in late and using their position to leverage a job in the private sector for themselves and their family.

It was a very bad night for the political masterminds at Chesapeake Energy.

State Rep. Randy Terrill, who has bitch-slapped the company more times than a New Jersey pimp, completed his dominance of the organization as he easily won re-election to the House of Representatives, where he is the Chairman of the House Revenue and Tax Committee.

If that wasn’t enough, Chesapeake lost their boy, appointed Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth.

Despite the contrivance of the state’s two largest daily newspapers and the riches provided by the companies whose water he carried, Roth went down to defeat at the hands of Republican Dana Murphy. Murphy’s win confounded even the best of pollsters, most of whom believed Roth would win comfortably.

Consultant to Pat Hall and his cohort Mike Turpen, who are on the Chesapeake payroll, were chief strategists for Roth, and are being ridiculed for taking what seemed to be a sure win and turning into a defeat.

Now all eyes are on Murphy to see how she will treat Chesapeake, who bankrolled the vile and vicious attacks leveled on her created by their consultants. “She needs to paddle their butt. They’ll be crawling on the belly to her with cash, and everybody’s watching to see if she puts them in their place, or if she sells out, one corporation insider tells OKPNS. And observers say another big funder has something to fear: AT&T, since it is widely rumored that a Bob Anthony-Dana Murphy alliance is a certainly.