....making excuses for "extenuating circumstances." This is not my clip so I've quoted from the YouTube blurb.
Finally someone brings up the fact that McShame had an extramarital affair with a rich woman after his wife, who faithfully waited for him for more than 5 years became disfigured by a serious accident. Great job by Alan Colmes
In one of those stories too easy to dismiss as completely frivolous, signifying nothing other than a gimmicky promotion for some minor league baseball teams, I think there is something more substantial at play here.
Basically these are popularity contests in the truest sense. If you have a favorite candidate you get to the ballpark early so you get a free bobblehead doll. Thus there is some measure of enthusiasm for a particular candidate in the city the game is played in. Each of the six games was a sell-out. Also noteworthy and suprising was that each team supplied voter registration forms, emphasizing each citizen's right to vote.
A set number was established and whomever hit it first won the contest. For example, as people passed through the turnstiles each request constituted a vote. The first 500, or 750, or 1250 requests for an specific bobblehead would win.
Perhaps ominously for McCain he did worst in St Paul, Minnesota, which just happens to be in the site of this year's Republican National Convention.
This was how Obama responded to a question about the appearance of his foreign trip looking presumptuous to some. In an interview for tomorrow's Sunday NY Times, Obama took the question in stride, mentioning the risks of such a trip.
While Mr. Obama said he knew the risks of "flying too close to the sun," as he put it, his confidence has swelled since he claimed the Democratic nomination early last month. These days, his public statements and news conferences often contain four words — "in an Obama administration" — as he settles to find the proper measure of confidence and humility in his pitch to voters.
"How do I avoid looking presumptuous?" Mr. Obama said in the interview. "I’m very much looking forward over the next three months to going back to Iowa, literally and figuratively, and spending a lot of time in town hall meetings, talking to voters and listening to voters."
A short diary for people to comment on this keynote discussion between Markos and Ford on Democratic Party infrastructure. Right now they have MeetTheBloggers on.
You can also watch live on the Netroots Nation website, here.
Recommend this if you like. The stream is also frontpaged by Scout Finch.
Nate Silver (aka Poblano) was on CNN's America Morning with John Roberts and Kyra Philips this morning. Unlike many political pundits, Poblano is focusing on only five swing states (Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania) as determinative for the Presidential election, at this time. And that caveat is highly important. At this point in 1988 Michale Dukakis was well ahead of George Bush.
Also noteworthy for Nate Silver is word that Rasmussen has entered into an agreement with " fivethirtyeight.com to use its data in helping construct the Rasmussen balance-of-power calculator." As noted by distantcousin earlier.
Jonathan Martin at Politico passes on an e-mail obtained and apparently verified as authentic sent directly from Dole to Scott McClellan for the release of his new book highly critical of the current Bush administration.
Former world chess champion turned Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov has been on the receiving end of an unconventional prank launched by his political foes - one that draws its inspiration from the virtual world of Second Life.
Kasparov was attending a weekend meeting of a coalition of opposition groups which had assembled in Moscow to launch a symbolic alternative parliament. As he was addressing the gathering of more than 500 delegates, he was buzzed by a remote-controlled flying phallus.
Hillary Clinton says Obama should stop complaining about taking hard questions at Wednesday’s ABC News debate — since he’ll have to face a lot tougher issues if he becomes president.
In an interview with Fox 29 in Philadelphia, Clinton said of her Democratic opponent, "I know he spent all day yesterday complaining about the hard questions he was asked. Being asked tough questions in a debate is nothing like the pressures you face inside the White House."
We were both asked some pretty tough questions. That's part of what happens in a debate and a campaign. And I know he spent all day yesterday complaining about the hard questions he was asked.
But you know, being asked tough questions in a debate is nothing like the pressures you face inside the White House. And in fact when the going gets tough you can't just walk away...
I think we need a president who can take whatever comes your way.
Michelle Obama campaigned in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University with Teresa Heinz Kerry on Tuesday. The local CBS affiliate (KDKA) there streamed the video.
Michelle Obama and Teresa Heinz Kerry greeted voters yesterday at a rally at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Obama praised Heinz Kerry as an "exceptional mentor." (Keith Srakocic/Associated Press)
It has become abundantly clear to many, and has been for quite some time, that Michelle Obama has been her husband's greatest asset in this race. What is less well-known is that she is also a strong speaker in her own right. Her stump speech is impassioned and still seems emotionally raw, although I've heard her deliver this message of HOPE and DREAMS perhaps a dozen times now through the wonders of modern technology. In less capable or believable hands her words would seem cloying and trite. Here every word rings true. Whether this is because we want them to be true --need them to be-- it is undeniable that the Obama's are touching upon a fundamental principle of the American Dream.
The video below is the last 7 minutes of a nearly one hour speech.
This was pretty funny, in a bizarre universe upset down sort of way, as Fox News host Chris Wallace bashed Fox News for bashing Barack Obama over the Wright affair. This diary is entirely from Media Bistro but is just too funny not to share.
Chris Wallace turned his Friday Fox & Friends segment, where he normally teases what's coming up on Fox News Sunday, into a smackdown of the show's hosts. He prefaced the six minute exchange by saying "I love you guys, but..."
Wallace, who said he'd been watching since 6am, thought "Two hours of Obama bashing is enough." He took issue with the characterization that hosts, Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson were giving to Sen. Barack Obama's "typical white person" comments.
Basically, if it's close heading to the convention, all bets are off is what I'm taking from her quote today:
There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and superdelegates, all for different reasons, and they're all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose. Even elected and caucus delegates are not required to stay with whomever they are pledged to.
Now, a few weeks ago Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer adamantly denied active pursuit of Obama's pledged delegates would happen:
We have not, are not and will not pursue the pledged delegates of Barack Obama. It's now time for the Obama campaign to be clear about their intentions.
It would seem Clinton is throwing that out there as an open invitation. While they may not pursue (yet) it's pretty clear they won't turn anyone down who has a "change of heart." [sic]
In a Democratic Primary in Ohio today, 02/26/08, the day the candidates debate in Cleveland, and 7 days before the votes are counted, Hillary Clinton is 6 points in front of Barack Obama, 50% to 44%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WCMH-TV Columbus, WKYC-TV Cleveland, WCPO-TV Cincinnati, and WHIO-TV Dayton. Two weeks ago, Clinton led by 17. One week ago, Clinton led by 9. Today: 6. Clinton holds her ground in greater Cleveland, greater Columbus, and greater Cincinnati. Clinton is steady among seniors, among voters focused on Health Care, among Moderates, among Pro-Choicers, and among women. Though Clinton trails among men, Obama has stopped making further inroads there.
I don't see this on the SurveyUSA website yet. The crosstabs should be very interesting. The previous SUSA poll (2/10-2-11) had Clinton +17.
Asked of 733 Likely & Actual Voters (Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 3.7%)
If the Democratic Primary for President of the United States were today, would you vote for...(names rotated) Hillary Clinton? Barack Obama? Or some other Democrat?
ABC News is reporting that the Clinton campaign is now at least temporarily in dire financial straits. Earlier today we were seeing the emergence of Hillary Romney Clinton. Now it appears the "R" stands for Rudy.
ABC News' Kate Snow Reports: Members of Senator Hillary Clinton's senior campaign staff have agreed to work without pay for the month of February. Communications Director Howard Wolfson called the move "a show of solidarity with Hillary Clinton".
Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle is one of those who will forego a paycheck for the month. Solis Doyle told ABC News she offered the Senator her services for free. She said she was not asked to take a pay cut.
Front and center on MichaelMoore.com is the Nataline Sarkisyan tragedy, a story which just may vault healthcare into the national consciousness at exactly the right moment. Moore is blunt and unsparing.
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
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Here is how the traditional media is covering story. And a special video by Nataline's brother.
According to a poll released tonight by NBC/Wall Street Journal, Rudy Giuliani has gone from 33% down to 20%. If this is true this is an unprecedented collapse of a front-runner this late in the primary season.
How far has Giuliani’s standing dropped? Just 37 percent view him favorably in this survey, compared with an equal 37 percent who have a negative impression of him. In March, a month after he filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, 58 percent viewed Giuliani favorably versus only 14 percent who saw him in a negative light.
"That’s a huge shift on Giuliani," McInturff notes.
"He’s the old man in the sea," Hart states more bluntly. "By the time he gets to Florida, there’s only going to be skeletal remains," referring to Giuliani’s strategy of counting on larger states, like Florida (which holds its primary on Jan. 29) and California, New Jersey and New York (which go on Feb. 5), rather than the early states, like Iowa and New Hampshire.
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