Search Results for 'Democratic Party'

Annie Kelly was just 19 when all her dreams appeared to be coming true. Annie was one of 11 children living with her widowed mother at Newgrove, Mountbellew, Co Galway. Her boyfriend, William Murphy, and her brother Thomas had earlier emigrated to Boston. Annie and William were pledged to be married just as soon as Annie got the money to follow him there. Full of excitement the young woman later sailed from Liverpool on the Cunard liner the Lusitania arriving in New York on April 24 1915.

Martin O’Malley, the Governor of the US state of Maryland, who is being increasingly tipped as a possible White House contender in 2016, has strong Mayo connections.

Despite all his bravura and political showmanship, his coarse humour,* a great fixer, a downright trickster and grafter, yet with a genuine kindness that endeared him to vast swathes of Boston voters, James Michael Curley’s personal life was unusually tragic. Following the death of his first wife ‘ Mae’ (nee Herlihy), he remarried a widow, Gertrude Dennis with two sons. This was on the last day of his term as Governor of Massachusetts, January 7 1937, “ to give her at least one day as first lady of the Commonwealth.” Between his two wives he had nine children; but incredibly seven of them predeceased him.

The Irish-American vote used to be a sure thing. If you were Irish-American, you voted Democrat. It was as simple as that. When I was growing up in 1950s Chicago, Republicans were like another species. An analogy from Baseball. As a Chicagoan, you supported either the White Sox or the Cubs. It was a tribal thing. My family were White Sox fans. So I was a White Sox fan. Cubs fans, on the other hand, were weird. Why would anyone support the Cubs? In much the same way, Republicans were weird too. Why would anyone support the Republicans? If you were Irish-American, even to pose the question bordered on the ridiculous.

Michael D Higgins

There was a famous fight in this town in the state of Maine, once upon a time. Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay — later Muhammed Ali — came to Lewiston to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. John Delahunty remembers the excitement in town. He now runs a legal firm. On this evening of November 4 2008 he is working in a voluntary capacity. He is keeping an eye on election polling stations for the Democrats. “Right across there in the town sports centre. That’s where it all happened,” says John. “It was the mid 1960s.”

Former EU president Pat Cox will address next week’s extraordinary group meeting of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, which will be held in Galway.

Independent MEP Marian Harkin has insisted that the European Parliament election debate is being deliberately diverted in an attempt by the Ganley Libertas campaign to avoid dealing with the real issues concerned. She has challenged Mr Ganley to public debate on real issues affecting the north and west constituency.

“WATCHING BARACK Obama get to The White House was such a one-off experience. For him to go from such obscurity to the highest political position in the world in such as short space time was an unparalleled journey in American politics.”

The redevelopment of Ballina Arts Centre launched The Final Push programme last Wednesday. The new state of the art, centre for Ballina has got funding from various sources and those behind the project launched The Final Push in Murphy’s Longnecks during the week. The campaign needs to raise €500,000 locally for the project and they are asking for local support for it. For more information on the redevelopment log on to www.ballinaartscentre.com/redevelopment.