MsCharisma of Maryland on the "Bill Goes Insane" diary said "He is so obviously jealous of Obama."  Truer words were never spoken,  I believe that jealousy is the real source of the vitriol toward Obama from the Clinton camp.  They cannot be reasonable or rational because jealousy at this level is inherently unreasonable and irrational.  And I think that jealousy has been nakedly on display in recent days.

The number of US soldiers currently deployed in Iraq is roughly equal to double the attendance at Barack Obama's rally in Portland, OR on May 20, 2008.

I've heard other parents say that talking to their kids about procreation is the hardest conversation they have. That conversation was a breeze. Tonight, I had the most serious conversation I've yet had with my 7 year old son.

More serious than the conversation about why his dad and I divorced (mostly because that happened when he was 4). More serious than the conversation about not talking to strangers (mostly because that happened when he was 3). More serious than the conversation about how important it is to tell the truth so that people are inclined to believe you rather than doubt you.

He asked me why George Bush was president, and he is too smart to take "because more people voted for him," for an answer. His immediate follow-up question was, "Why did so many people vote for him when he's such a bad president?"

My son was less than a year old on September 11, 2001.

"I'll tell you my impression. We really in this last election, when I say we...the Democrats,  That if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts...and people ate it up."

                                        Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D PA)

Paul Kanjorksi, frankly.

There has been a lot of talk today about Travis Childers' victory in MS-01 and the Democratic party's current streak of turning Republican seats blue. Though most people seem aware of the current 3-race streak of special election victories, many people probably aren't aware of a much larger trend. After mentioning this in another thread, I was encouraged to write a diary in order to reach a wider audience.

Given Lieberman's high-profile efforts on behalf of John McCain, I wondered how his constituents were taking it. So I had independent pollster Research 2000 reprise a poll I commissioned last year testing a rematch between Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman. I found last year that buyer's remorse had set in. It's even worse this year.

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 3/31-4/2. Regular voters. MoE 4% (9/10-12/2007 results)

Lieberman has shored up his support with Republicans, who clearly see him as one of their own. He has predictably lost ground among Democrats. But interestingly, he also lost the same amount of ground (six points) with independents.

Clearly, his whole "independent" schtick isn't playing well with real independent voters. I'll have more on this poll later today. The crosstabs are below the fold. Crosstabs for last year's poll can be found here. Unfortunately, there's no approve/disapprove numbers from last time since I forgot to ask for that data (I think it was my first poll ever commissioned).

Race tracker wiki: CT-Sen

I can't stand it when I open my morning paper and get right-wing spin masquerading as a news story in my local news. Today:

Returning vets form a political surge

Five years in Iraq is a long time.

Long enough to spend $600 billion and lose nearly 4,000 uniformed lives.

Also long enough for rank-and-file to deploy, come home, discharge and run for office. Come November, an unprecedented number of Iraq war veterans will battle on ballots. From coast to coast, they're running guerrilla-style campaigns against career politicians.

Can they win?

"I'll be the youngest member of Congress," said 28-year-old Lee Zeldin, an Army reservist courting New York's 1st District, on the east end of Long Island. The JAG-attorney-turned-private-practice-lawyer is one of a dozen candidates who have joined a Republican coalition called Iraq Vets for Congress.

Since its inception in January, the group has enlisted candidates from key states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and California.

I stumbled upon something I wrote on September, 11th 2006.  This was the fifth anniversary of 9/11 and CNN's Pipeline was re-airing their coverage from that day in real time.  A short essay poured out of me literally as I watched hours of the coverage.

The events on the day I wrote the following words, took place just before the 2006 elections.  In taking back the House and the Senate, we laid the groundwork to create real change.  With a progressive President in the Whitehouse, we can truly move the country and the world in a better direction.  This essay expresses concerns that continue in my mind as I watch the ’08 election ensue.  I have not edited it.

From Samuel Jackson's not-so-real blog:

I just did me a search on Google for “self-inflicted nail injury.” Seemed apros-motherfucking-po since I’ve been trying real hard to pay attention to politics lately.

Y’all read the story about the dude in Bahrain who had a two-inch nail pulled out of his pecker? Dude shows up at a doctor’s office complaining about some severe motherfucking pain in his fuck-stick region. After a quick inspection of the area, the doctor couldn’t help but notice a two inch got-damn nail shoved down his pee-hole. When asked, the dude says that the nail must’ve been put there “without his knowledge.” Which is how I feel about this fucking superdelegate bullshit–I’ve got some superdelegates shoved down my pee-hole, and I ain’t got no motherfucking clue how the fuckers got there.

I spent a good part of the last week working the lighting for a photo shoot where we made portraits of students at the University of California, Berkeley.

What amazed me, as I introduced myself to each of these young Americans was how much energy they had, how much verve, how much curiosity. I was blown away by their confidence and their lack of cynicism...even if they hadn't learned the polished and guarded tones those of us, uh, over 30 may take for granted.

Once again, in South Carolina today, as he has across the nation, Barack Obama won the vote of young people...changing the face of South Carolina politics in the process. This diary is going to focus on that by focusing on young people themselves.

As predicted, the calls for the Left to acknowledge the success of the surge are increasing.  It was surprising to absolutely no one that throwing 30,000 more police officers into an area would result in lower crime rates, but that was not the purpose of the surge.  There are faint glimmers of political reconciliation in Iraq however.  Enough for the Right to finally declare that we're winning in Iraq, and demand the Left do the same.

The problem is that the Right has been declaring victory in Iraq non-stop for four years straight.  Widespread looting, the insurgency, all meant we were winning.  We were winning without the surge; we were winning with the surge.  Both the rise and fall of attacks on U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens meant we were somehow winning.  Bottom line:  the Right's record on defining 'victory' is horrible.  Why should we believe them now?

I am all for a bruising primary season.  I think they make for better, tougher, battle-tested candidates; and as we all know the opposition is highly unlikely to observe Marquis of Queensberry rules when we face them in the general election.   However, its good to remember that after primaries we're all going to be on the same team, so  you might want to cut back on the horse-collars and cut blocks.  

Watching the campaign in the last few days I got the same sick feeling I got yesterday watching the Chargers upset the Colts-while losing their Starting quarterback, Superstar Running back and leading receiver-and now they get to face the only undefeated team in the NFL. (reached for comment after the game Coach Pyrrhus said "well we feel pretty good, after all a win is a win")

Specifically, I think Clinton is playing with fire by bringing up the race issue and it has to potential to burn both candidates badly:

This diary is just my journey, my personal feelings.  This was written in the heat of the moment, and just represents a flood of emotions.

Ever sense the MD Senate elections I've wondered one thing: would the rationale for endorsing Michael Steele used by prominent blacks in Maryland have an impact in the future? And by "future," I mean, "a scenario where an African-American ended up running for president in 2008."

For Maryland, it looks like "the future" will be sometime around February 12th.

Based on the Iowa results, there is an extraordinary negative correlation between years of federal elected experience and support.  Look back at the candidates service in either elected or appointed federal office compared to their results in Iowa, and the pattern is clear.  

I am writing this diary to correct some deceptive information that was posted by a commenter on DailyKos and my own formulations on the candidate.  I am not an Obama fanatic but, for a variety of reasons, I think he is the best "top tier" candidate.  With that said, I do have some reservations and I am receptive to the argument that we need a fighter, not a compromiser, when it comes to defeating the conservative movement.  So I was distraught when an Edwards supporter posted a comment stating that Barack Obama had endorsed the king of capitulation, Joe Lieberman.  After a bit of research, I discovered that this comment was (surprise, surprise) an unfair characterization of Obama's support for Lieberman.

I have been critical of Obama because in my opinion he is trying to be a "centrist".  That has been my problem with him.  I am not a centrist.  I am very liberal and I like progressive candidates.   My concern with Barack, who is my senator and I voted for him in 2004, is what I thought was his tendency to appear "centrist".   But then I read this recommended diary that (finally) clarified the issue.   According to the diarist, I have been making a mistake, perceiving Barack's "inclusivism" for "centrism".

Great, I should feel better now, and consider supporting Barack I guess.  But how good is to be "inclusive" that way?  Does it really help?

'The Hartford Courant wouldn't publish a positive, smiling picture of Ned Lamont on its cover if God Himself commanded it.' "Ned Wins, Joe's In!" By Lori Price 27 Dec 2007

On Monday Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman (Republican) decertified 3 of the 4 electronic voting machine manufacturers

In his announcement Monday, Coffman said Colorado's actions would have national repercussions. "What we have found is that the federal certification process is inadequate," he said.

The decertification decision, which cited problems with accuracy and security, affects electronic voting machines in Denver and five other counties. A number of electronic scanners used to count ballots were also decertified.

Coffman would not comment Monday on what his findings mean for past elections, despite his conclusion that some equipment had accuracy issues. Several systems have been used since at least the 2004 elections.

"I can only report," he said. "The voters in those respective counties are going to have to interpret" the results.

The systems are manufactured by Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold Election Systems; Hart InterCivic; Sequoia Voting Systems; and Election Systems and Software.- AP