DNC Refuses to Face the Feces

As part of their continuing effort to drain anything even remotely fun out of their the upcoming convention, the Democratic National Committee has put its foot down and banned anybody from carrying their urine or feces to the event. The Rocky Mountain News has the straight poop:

Poo and pee dominated a public hearing Monday on a new law that prohibits people from carrying certain items if they intend to use them for nefarious purposes.

The law, crafted in advance of the Democratic National Convention, was adopted unanimously by the City Council.

But not before a hearing laced with comedy and profanity.

Representatives from some of the groups planning large-scale protests during the DNC this month said the ordinance was unnecessary and accused city officials of fear mongering.

"The intent of this ordinance is to try to smear protesters and make them look as if they are somehow criminal or somehow going to engage in some kind of gross conduct," said Glenn Spagnuolo, an organizer with the Re- create 68 Alliance.

The ordinance makes it illegal to carry certain items, such as chains, padlocks, carabiners and other locking devices. It also prohibits the possession of noxious substances. Two of the most frequently used examples of a noxious substance are a bucket of urine and a "feces bomb."

I'm certain that you are as outraged as I am. First they force us to give up fried food. They they make everybody go green. Then they drove the hookers away. Now this! It's a horrible vision of what awaits our nation.

Clinton to Bow Out Tonight

AP:

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton will concede tonight that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.

Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that we are done with Hillary...McCain-Clinton '08 anyone?

UPDATE: Sean Higgins e-mails:

Statement from the Clinton Campaign

The AP story is incorrect. Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening.

Next Up, Health and Human Services Secretary Richard Simmons

The Democrats' ongoing efforts to convince skeptical Red State voters that they are not a bunch of nagging nanny-staters and annoying hippies occasionally bumps up against the fact that the Democrats remain a bunch of nagging nanny-staters and annoying hippies.

To wit, this Denver Post story on preparations for the Democratic National Convention this summer, headlined: "Caterers find eco-standards tough to chew."

Fried foods are forbidden at the committee's 22 or so events, as is liquid served in individual plastic containers. Plates must be reusable, like china, recyclable or compostable. The food should be local, organic or both.

And caterers must provide foods in "at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white," garnishes not included, according to a Request for Proposals, or RFP, distributed last week.

The shrimp-and-mango ensemble? All it's got is white, brown and orange, so it may not have the nutritional balance that generally comes from a multihued menu.

"Blue could be a challenge," joked Ed Janos, owner of Cook's Fresh Market in Denver. "All I can think of are blueberries."

This is supposedly for ecological as well as nutritional reasons. But, as one caterer points out, it is not clear that any of this actually is environmentally sound:

Joanne Katz, owner of Three Tomatoes Catering in Denver, cheers the committee's environmental aspirations and is eager to get involved with the convention, but she wonders if some of the choices the committee is making are really green.

Compostable products, such as forks and knives made from corn starch, are often imported from Asia, delivered to the U.S. in fuel-consuming ships. But some U.S. products are made from recyclable pressed paper. Which decision is more environmentally sound?

See, if you eat a bacon doublecheeseburger or a Philly cheesesteak in a styrofoam container, you don't have these problems.

Hillary Winning Over Whites in NC To Halve Obama Lead

That's the story in the SurveyUSA poll today showing Obama 49% Clinton 44% in the North Carolina primary race. Quoting the poll:

Obama has led by 10, 8, 10, and 9 points. Today: 5. White voters are key. Since January, Clinton had led among Carolina whites by 14, 19, 17, 22 and 23 points. But today, suddenly: 31. In the Research Triangle, Clinton is up 9 points, week-on-week; Obama is down 3; a net swing of 12 points to Clinton. Among unaffiliated voters, Clinton has overtaken Obama for the first time in 2008, though the difference is small and within the sub-group's margin of sampling error. The two tie among Moderates. Obama leads slightly among Liberals. Clinton leads slightly among Conservatives. There is enough cross-current in the political waters that SurveyUSA's final pre-Primary poll, next week, may show more movement -- though in which direction it is impossible to know.

Wright isn't helping Obama out much with his wooing of Washington at his National Press Club shindig that has now forced Obama to come out with a much less tempered statement than when the Wright story first broke. I'm not smart enough to know how this plays out for rest of the primary battle, let alone the general election if Obama makes it; but I think it is foolish to think that Obama is anything but weakened from the past few months. I've thought for some time that Clinton is the stronger general election candidate against McCain, and the past 2 months have done nothing to convince me otherwise.

This is what happens when you leave the Clintons in the game...

Joe Dirt for President!

If I lived in Idaho, I'd be voting for this guy come the May 27th Democratic Primary.

Judd, 49, qualified for the ballot by submitting a notarized form and paying the required $1,000 fee, state Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said. As a result, Democratic voters will be able to choose between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Judd.

"We got conned," Ysursa told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash.

It's Judd's second presidential bid in Idaho, the newspaper said Wednesday. In 2004 he declared as a write-in candidate for president, which requires only the submission of a declaration, and didn't get any votes.

Byrd a Dead Duck?

Washington is a vicious, brutal town. Or would be if so many of the people involved weren't also cowards.

Case in point: The scuttlebutt in Washington is that the Democrats are trying to dump Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd because he is, well, 90 fucking years old.

It isn't going that easy because Byrd refuses to give up and after a lifetime of using the appropriations process (i.e., spending taxpayer dollars) to accumulate power, all of the Democrats are afraid to take him on.:

Senate Democrats keep muttering about their 90-year-old chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, but no one wants to bell the cat.

New stories were floated this week of agitation in the party’s ranks over whether the West Virginian would be able to manage an upcoming wartime spending bill. But when fingers pointed to Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) as two agitators in the leadership, both offices issued indignant denials.

The best part of the story is this comment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

“He was so go good to me my freshman year. He has been good to me all the time,” Reid said of Byrd in a recent interview. “I feel I owe him a lot, the Senate owes him a lot. ... I wish he wasn’t in the physical shape he is in, but he is. And there are many days his mind is perfect, so I’m not going to be part of dumping him.”

Yeah, Reid but doesn't owe him so much that he won't call him a decrepit, senile old fart on the record to reporters. That's cold as ice.

Of course this is one of those cases where no matter who wins, the taxpayers lose. Either Byrd, a guy who has spent a lifetime perfecting the art of robbing Peter to pay Paul, hangs on or the Democrats replace him with a newer, younger guy who does the same thing with more energy.

Whoa

Quote from Hillary Clinton right now on Jim Cramer about more market regulations, greater SEC and Fed powers: "..they just want the market to work its magic, you know, we haven't done that since the Great Depression"

Isn't it great when people get to make up history? Or as I like to say...Lie.

Related Hilliary-is-done-point, Obama gets an interview with Maria Bartiromo, Hillary gets Jim Cramer on MAD MONEY!!! Enough said.

Bonus pic of Maria added for no reason, other than I like to look at her.

Hillary: "I Say a Lot of Things, Not All of Them Truthful"

Clinton seems to have found herself in a spot of trouble as her own Jeremiah Wright scandal (something minor that has been circulating and percolating in the news cycles) begins to blow up.

Hillary Clinton backtracks over 'misleading' Bosnia sniper story

Hillary Clinton has been forced to retract a claim that she landed under sniper fire in Bosnia 12 years ago after a CBS video emerged contradicting her account, Hannah Strange writes.

The former First Lady was attacked by Barack Obama for exaggerating her role in foreign policy-making during her husband’s presidency, which she has frequently asserted makes her more qualified to lead than her Democratic rival.

During a speech on Iraq last week, Mrs Clinton said of the March 1996 trip: “I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

But the video of her arrival shows Mrs Clinton and her daughter Chelsea smiling and waving as they walked at a leisurely pace across the tarmac from a cargo plane, stopping to shake hands with Bosnia’s acting president and listen while an 8-year-old girl read out a poem.

Hillary's response?

“You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things – millions of words a day – so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement,” she said.

What's most shocking about this whole story isn't that a Clinton lied, but rather that Sinbad is still alive and talking to reporters. Stunning news.

Full story here.

Hillary Trouncing Barack in PA

If we believe the latest poll from the liberal Public Policy Polling showing Clinton with a 18 point lead over Obama. The RealClearPolitics average has Clinton +16. All polls pre-Obama race speech.

Primary Night in Middle America

7:50 -- I turn on the TV to see the breaking news that CNN has declared McCain the winner in Ohio and Vermont clinching the GOP nomination in with his delegate count unless Huckabee sends Chuck Norris out to the states to roundhouse-kick ballot counters. Zing! I like it, easy stuff. No wonder Huckabee uses that formula. Solid.

8:20 -- Ohio looks good for Clinton. Very early results in Texas look good for Obama.

Has anyone noticed how short Wolf Blitzer looks? It might be the giant pie charts he stands next to on that stage, or he might just be really short.

As always check out Dave Weigal at Hit&Run and Jim Geraghty at NRO. Also myDD.

8:30 -- From Jim Geraghty:

Hillary's Not Quitting, Not Now, Not Soon, Not For a While

Over in the Corner, Steven Spruiell breaks some major news: "A minute ago former DNC chair and professional Clinton-friend Terry McAuliffe indicated to reporters that Clinton intends to stay in the race until all the states (and Puerto Rico) have voted."

If McAuliffe isn't just boasting, this means Hillary stays in until at least June 7.

Awesome.

Seems about right.

9:05 -- McCain wins everything, officially clinches nomination. Huckabee to speak in 10-15 min. He is supposed to drop out of race tonight.

Fox News' Fred Barnes on the political implications of the economy. "Here's the thing -- If we have a recession the economy will be worse than it is now." Fair point Fred, fair point.

This Clinton Team conference call to complain about Texas irregularities sounds fun, doesn't it?

Very, very, early results in OH look good for Clinton. The media is trying to portray a Clinton Surge tonight. Will it turn out to be the truth?

9:50 -- Paul wins his primary battle according to Weigal; the only question remaining is by how large a margin.

McCain is speaking right now, with his creepy, but hitable wife behind him. He has the "1191" banner behind him, which I was surprised to find out was not his age but the delegate count needed, and reached tonight, to clinch the nomination. He does a bunch of war stuff, but I'll give him credit for hitting the Democrats on their squabbles over NAFTA and the global economy. I think I head free0markets mentioned too. Hey, you take what you can get.

Morning Update -- Hillary wins in Ohio and Texas, giving her enough fuel to continue the primary season into the summer. Personally I'm happy. Give me 2-3 months more of primaries. No way I was looking forward to the general election starting today. November is a long way off.

Primary Blogging

I plan on covering the results -- or at least checking in a time or two -- of the primaries as they come in tonight.

My Predictions: Nothing. I can make no predictions. Other than John McCain manages to sweep the GOP primaries tonight. It's a brave call, I know. That's what I do, make the bold predictions that no one else is willing to make. As for the real primary tonight....

Question:So what happens on the Democratic side?

Answer: Who knows what's going to happen on the Democratic side, with Clinton losing her once huge leads in TX and OH, and now polls fluctuating, along with Obama experiencing his first real campaign "crisis", and some media cycles of negative coverage. Relatively speaking.

You're reading a guy who is willing to bet on everything from when my roommate will vomit for the first time of the evening to Ricky Hatton knocking out Floyd Mayweather in 7 rounds. That being said -- I wouldn't even put money down on either Obama or Hillary to come out as the winner tonight. It's especially difficult to predict a winner, because we can't know what either candidate needs to do to declare victory. Obviously if Clinton wins Ohio and Texas, it's gonna be tough to call her a loser on the night. This thing continues for awhile if that's the end result.

Obama's people said she needed to win by double-digits in both big states or else she is dead as of tonight. That seems like some serious spin to me. The way I see it, if she wins Ohio, which seems likely (but not by any means a guarantee), but loses a squeaker in Texas, she soldiers on. She finishes the night with some delegates in Ohio, some more serious street cred in her own party for winning a state that Democrats need to win in a general election, and another small victory in Rhode Island. I think she's positioned well, if that's the outcome, to continue this body-blow campaign all the way into the summer.

Of course, if Obama wins both OH and TX, it looks awful bleak for Clinton's chances. But this stuff is totally up the in the air and we should have some serious drama to look forward to tonight. That or just another awful draw where nothing really gets decided. Who knows.

Latest OH and TX polling data here and here, respectively. Lots of stuff on Obama, the Canadians and NAFTA here.

No Space Between Clinton and Obama

It's shaping up to be a fun one tommorrow in Texas and Ohio -- if not for the future of our nation -- at least for alcoholic bloggers who enjoy following these political events live.

Obama leads 47 percent to 44 percent in Texas, as Clinton gained 1 point overnight in the polling conducted by Zogby International. He leads 47 percent to 45 percent in Ohio, a turnaround from Clinton's 1-point advantage on Sunday.

Article here.

Live Blogging the Democratic Debate

Since this could be the last Democratic debate before Clinton and Company pull the rug out from underneath Barry Obama's campaign -- a la Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan; I'm planning on grabbing my favorite mind-altering substances to blog the depressing thing live here for TtP.

Check back at 9 for more.

9:00 -- Pre-debate thoughts: 1) Just caught Bourdain's No Reservations: Ireland. Good show, made me want to jump on a flight to Shannon immediately. 2) I like this idea for McCain's running mate. She's hot...as far as governors go.

9:07 -- 7 minutes before MSNBC showed the Barack HUSSEIN Obama picture of him dressed like a black, Quasimoto version of Osama bin Laden.

Too bad. I had 4 minutes in the TtP pool.

9:15 -- How you know you're watching a Democratic Debate: The candidates argue over who provides the authentic universal health care. I think I heard Hillary say something like, "I've met too many people who don't have the health care that they deserve. Deserve...

9:25 -- So...Any doubts we have universal health care by 2009? I can only hope this prediction goes the way of every single one of my other wildly off-mark predictions.

Yay! Free trade bash time!

9:35 -- I think I just heard Obama say that we could "build and export windmills from Ohio" in reference to creating green jobs that can't be outsourced. I'm serious, that was one of his 3 examples. Odd...

Certainly not a new insight, but Hillary's voice is grating. Really tough to listen to for 30 minutes; let alone 8 years.

Obama's the big winner so far. Composed and calm.

9:42 -- I think Obama has decided to stick with his " Vote for Me: I'll Bomb Pakistan" meme. I'm not judging the policy; but I don't want liberals and Obama friendly libertarians to brush this off when he gets the nomination.

9:52 -- Be sure to check out Dave Weigal tonight. He's got this debate live blogging thing down.

10:00 -- Hillary on the little man, "They are working harder than ever...they feel invisible to their government". Uh..Not quite my feelings as a middle-class worker. That's my constant wet dream in life, so I wish it was true. But the government seems to have a good idea of how much I make a year, and how much their cut is.

10:15 -- I like it. Russert is finally going after Obama like he's been hammering Clinton. Blasting him with his ties to a Black nationalist church in Chicago, and anti-semitism in the black community. I could imagine a better response than the side-stepping one Obama gave.

10:25 -- The discussion about Russia (minus Hillary struggling for Putin's successor's name, completely fucking it and up, and then pretty much saying "my bad") is almost as dull as the heavyweight clash of two former Soviets this past weekend in New York.

Pimp Slappin' with Slick Willie

Ya gotta love this bit of inside dirt reported by the AP's Ron Fournier. The context is the furious fight within Democratic ranks to round up enough of the so-called "superdelegates" to get the party nomination and why some are reluctant to back Hillary:

Some are folks who owe the Clintons a favor but still feel betrayed or taken for granted. Could that be why Bill Richardson, a former U.N. secretary and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, refused to endorse her even after an angry call from the former president? "What," Bill Clinton reportedly asked Richardson, "isn't two Cabinet posts enough?"

Translation: I made you, bitch. You're mine. Don't you even think of going to someone else.

Gee, any wonder why Hillary is struggling?

This is Supposed to Help Clinton?

On Monday, former Attorney General Janet Reno announced she is endorsing Clinton. Reno was appointed by Clinton's husband, President Clinton. Reno, who lives in Miami, later ran for Florida governor, losing a 2002 primary to Bill McBride.

Buried at the end of an AP story titled: "Clinton Tries To Bounce Back In Florida". My question: I thought the left really, really cared about civil liberties. Do any of them remember this?

Bitter Debate Hurts Obama More Than Clinton

I'm sure everyone who's reading this has already heard about all the Clinton vs. Obama bickering at the SC debate and afterwards, but I'll link to the CNN story anyway. And here's a video clip.

As someone who may (reluctantly) vote Obama for president but would not vote for Hillary, I think Obama needs to tone it down. This type of bickering from Hillary isn't much of a surprise to me, and I'm guessing it wouldn't come as a surprise to most. Obama, on the other hand, is (or at least was) banking on his more honest and friendly image.

If not for personality differences, what exactly is left to distinguish between Obama and Clinton? Except for non-binding versus binding universal health insurance mandates, I can't think of any solid difference. If Obama wants to defeat Hillary based on the friendly, new-guy-to-Washington image, then he needs to stop sounding so much like a seasoned politician.

27 Year Old Hostess at a Titty Bar Smarter Than Democratic Presidential Candidates

Yucca Mountains, "Nevada's ethanol":

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Tori, a 37-year-old Las Vegas stripper, is an unlikely person to set national energy policy.

As a voter in Nevada's Jan. 19 Democratic presidential caucuses, that's just what she'll help to do when she chooses which candidate to support. The most important issue for her is the U.S. Department of Energy's plan to store spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, an extinct volcano about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Senator Hillary Clinton of New York ``says she is against it,'' says Tori, who declines to give her last name, citing her day job working with burn victims at a dermatology clinic. ``But before she has my vote, I want to know if she means it.''[...]

Obama, Clinton and Edwards all oppose using Yucca Mountain as a waste depository, though in 2000, Edwards voted the other way. Obama, whose state has the largest nuclear-energy network in the country and the eighth-largest in the world, has said nuclear power should remain an option for the U.S.

Clinton told an environmental magazine last August that she is ``agnostic'' about nuclear energy, while Edwards flatly opposes its expansion.

Back at the Las Vegas gentlemen's club where Tori works, her colleagues also aren't unanimous on the issue. Suzanne Nakata, a 27-year-old waitress who doesn't disrobe because she ``might run for office one day,'' says Nevadans need to reconsider their opposition to Yucca Mountain if they want to reduce America's greenhouse-gas emissions.

``Honestly, nuclear waste really does have to go somewhere,'' the registered Democrat says, ``but Nevadans haven't accepted that.''

Full story -- ambitiously titled "Las Vegas Strippers may Influence Global Nuclear-Waste Policy" -- here. Directions to Baltimore strippers who may influence the waste out of my radioactive rod tonight, here.

Thanks to Sean Higgins for the link -- who, fwiw, covers stripper-influenced special interest politics better than anyone else I know.

Obama!

The Obama sweatshirts are out in full force today in my casual-Friday office. Oba-mentum!!

fwiw.....The media may have anointed him as the national front-runner, but I wouldn't count Hillary out just yet...I think we can all agree she wants to win badly, and a dirty trick or two isn't beneath the Clintons.

But He Got Shot!

I was desperate to find this video somewhere throughout the tubes, and this is the best I could find. I actually watched the Democratic Caucuses on C-Span. Not the coverage, but one of the actual caucuses that they filmed. What a supremely stupid process. Jaw-droppingly stupid. If you watched one of these things and didn't have an sudden impulse to wander around in West Baltimore with $100 bills visibly taped to your body...well then, good for you. I wanted to kill myself. Watch a caucus and witness the power that these activist hacks (Iowan activist hacks at that) hold over the rest of our country through their completely unfair, and undemocratic political machinery. Disgusting.

Anyway, check out the first video in the link. It was one of the many unintended comedic moments of C-Span's caucus coverage. An Obama supporter is trying to convince an undecided voter to join their camp. Undecided says, "What about his lack of experience". Supporter repeats the Lincoln-had-the-same-experience line. She says, "But he got shot!". Watch it. Plays great on film.

Watching Hillary

on C-SPAN, live at the Democratic fundraising dinner in Iowa, and boy is she talking slow. A very deliberate delivery would be another way to put it, but it just seems really slow to me. Creepy slow.

Now it seems like Nancy Pelosi is also talking really slow too. I'm gonna make a ham-and-cheese toastie, snuggle up with the bong and see if this really slow talking is just me, or a disease inflecting major Democratic politicians.

To the People -- Election '08 coverage that no one else could bring
you.


UPDATE: Barack, not too subtly on Hillary and what kind of candidate the Democrats don't need --- "That means [talking about Hillary] not answering questions because they [the answers] might not be popular. [We do not need...]Triangulating and poll driven positions...

After tearing into Hillary for the better part of 10 minutes, Obama goes on to tell us why he is in this race. To raise the minimum wage not every 10 years, but some unspecific amount. To give teachers a raise. To close Guantanamo Bay. To lead the world to combat the worlds problems, ie genocide, disease, terrorism..etc. As Obama would say -- THAT'S why I'm in the race.

Case study in how global warming zealots think: Obama on how now is the time for his ascension into office because we are at a tipping point in our nation. The first cataclysmic event is wait for it...wait for it... more uninsured people in the near future. Break out the survival kits folks. Yawn. However, the second cataclysmic event, and the rhetoric used to appeal to environmental doomsayers is telling. And chilling. I quote:

I don't want to see that the oceans have risen a few more inches, the planet has reached a point of no return.

That is the point of no return? So if that is the point of no return, and it is so close, then we would be idiotic and careless if we didn't do everything humanely possible to prevent it, no matter what the consequences...right? I've giving up reasoning with these folks (global warming fanatics) for just this reason. I just hope they shoot themselves in the foot at some point soon, before they too much damage by gaining too much influence in Washington. I do worry though, that as a special interest they haven't reached the peak of their power yet.

Democratic Debate

I'll give one of these a shot for Democrats. Honestly, I was watching Sleepless and Seattle and I accidentally hit the jump button. So basically I'm saying I might start live blogging Sleepless and Seattle.

9:06:True to hype, the "guys" are going after Hillary hard.

Hillary sounds like the only man up there. Really.

Big laughs, Hillary: "I've taken on the special interests." Sober or not, that's funny stuff.

9:11:Sorry I blacked out there for a minute. Came to it with Hillary yelling about Iraq or Iran. Something like that.

Joe Biden is still running for president? Biden: "We have a problem in the Senate..." No shit.

This is nothing but foreign policy so far. And I haven't even heard anything about foreign policy yet. Hillary defended her Iraq vote. Obama "reaching out", he actually used the word carrots. Dodd softly sending me to sleep about...about...I give up. They were words. Definitely words.

Hillary: "We need to reign Him (George Bush) in."

9:19: Is anyone running against Hillary? Maybe Edwards, but it's clear who has the nomination to lose.

Richardson is unfortunately disappointing so far.

Kucinich Time!!!!! He just called democrats enablers. I love it. Dennis: "Planning for war with Iran is illegal". Not sure about that one Dennis. Boy, he is short. Just noticed how short. I think he just got the first applause.

Hillary pledges to something about the Iran bomb. Note to self: Must find youtube video of her response. Great stuff.

Biden makes a good point over the hysteria of an Iranian bomb. The Pakistanis is the point.

9:29: Richardson: "I;ve gone head to head with Saddam" "There is a guy in the fourth row who's life I saved" Can't type fast enough to get all the lines down.

Kucinich Time!!!!! "I would urge the Iranians to give up nuclear power because it isn't self-sustaining and it is expensive." I;m serious, that is his answer to an Iranian question. I'm taking a smoke break.

9:45: 2 hours?? No way I make it that long. Switching to Sleepless and Seattle for now, then Boston Legal. I'll try and check back it.

10:12Obama on obama charm:The US Senate race against Alan Keyes. "They said nobody is going to vote for a black man named obama."..."I won by 30 points in the general election. No Obama, no one is going to vote for a black guy named Alan. That's more accurate. Please.

UPDATE: My concluding thoughts -- Edwards beat Obama to the punch. By punch I mean punch to the face of Hillary. Obama looked timid, not at all confident and certainly not Presidential. Richardson was backing off the Hillary attacks and screaming "Look at me!! Vote for me!!", and it just came off poorly.

By far Hillary had the strongest showing. Reading the blogosphere's opinion at large we seem to be in agreement on this. She was composed, not too shrill, and powerful. Barring some tremendous scandal, she is going to blow the field away come Iowa, which appears to be the strategy for the Clinton camp. Edwards seemed like the only other guy with any kind of shot, and that pains me greatly to say that.

Democrats Violate the Sunday Morning Relaxation Rule and Debate; No One Watches Them

I can't imagine that anyone other than Beltway insiders, who are used to tuning into the Sunday morning tv spin, and Iowans watched this morning's Democratic debate in Iowa.

My only involvement in the political process today was to read this tidbit in the New Yorker over a martini and dinner at the bar at Buck's.

At this preposterously early date in the 2004 election cycle, the candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination had participated in exactly one “debate,” as, for lack of a better word, these overpopulated, overmoderated, your-time-is-up Q & A panels are called. Two cycles ago it was zero debates. This time around, it’s—already!—eight.

The New Yorker is dated August 20th, which is tomorrow, so I don't know if they counted today's brunch snooze.

And for all of you citizens who represent the 99% of the country who are not Iowans, brace yourself for more candidate Iowa fawning and its attendant disenfranching feeling, as it has only just begun!

the first major Democratic debate in Iowa and, for the contenders, perhaps the most important one as they approach Labor Day, the unofficial start of an intensive four months of campaigning until the nation's first caucuses here.

As another indication of how insane the primary system is, the NYT has its best political reporter, Adam Nagourney, camped out in Greenfield, Iowa, while the huge population bases in California and the North East Corridor get no attention.