Howard is FF.

9:26 AM EST

FF ? 

First and Foremost 

9:26 AM EST

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080212/pl_bloomberg/a_ydne3gtwga_1

Obama's Students, Independents Erode Clinton's Wisconsin Base

Indira Lakshmanan

Tue Feb 12, 12:05 AM ET

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Wisconsin has lots of blue-collar, older and female voters who form the backbone of Hillary Clinton's base. It also has plenty of college students, progressives and upper-income independents who favor Barack Obama.

With an earlier start and more support from the state's political establishment, including the governor, Obama may have the edge in Wisconsin's Feb. 19 contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

``Obama's got the momentum in this state, but I never rule out a Clinton,'' said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Joe Wineke, who supported North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

..

Edwards' Backers

Cieslewicz, who had endorsed Edwards, said he believes most Edwards supporters will migrate to Obama, as some political and labor leaders already have.

Independents can vote in Wisconsin's primary, and according to exit polls from last week's Super Tuesday contests, these voters prefer Obama over Clinton by a 23-point margin. Even some Republicans said they would cross over.

``This is the first time I'll vote Democratic in my life,'' said Timothy Baldwin, 37, a Milwaukee lawyer. Four years ago, Baldwin attended the Republican National Convention; last week, he offered a nightclub he owns for a Super Tuesday party for Obama supporters.

...

Congressman Dave Obey, a former Edwards loyalist who endorsed Obama last week, said his rural and blue-collar constituents in northern Wisconsin hold anti-Nafta and anti-war views that could favor Obama.

...

9:27 AM EST

and speaking of the other Edwards, good luck today Donna with your election ! Go Donna ! :

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2008/02/edwards_endorses_obama_too.html

Late this afternoon, congressional candidate Donna F. Edwards endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) for president, referring to him as a "fellow agent of change."

...

Let the education of Barrack commence.................maybe, somebody can run this one by him when everybody is mesmerized by visions of hope, change, Mom and apple pie....................

Mccain and the right are gonna go after him him with such strong cases of weakness, Neville Chamberlin, appeasement, Islamo fasicists under our beds(maybe even in them!), no flag lapel pin, no hand over the heart, etc etc etc................

Barrack..............just fire a few salvos of the TRUTH...........that will shut em up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJRcOF7rEfQ

Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 February 2008, 13:52 GMT BBC Printable version Deadline looms in Ukraine gas row Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is in Moscow to try to persuade Russia not to cut gas supplies to his country in a dispute over an unpaid bill.

10:06 AM EST

breadbasket Ukraine's president has two choices:

1.) 1 877 call joe 4 oil;

2.) pay up for the Russian gas (so your own citizens don't freeze to death) and start getting those fields of amber grain in east Ukraine into bio-fuel production.

10:09 AM EST 

Obama loves Obama:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080212/lf_afp/usvoteobamajapan_080212065653

Obama, Japan, roots for accidental namesake

by Shaun Tandon

Tue Feb 12, 2:18 AM ET

OBAMA, Japan (AFP) - Barack Obama, who has been credited with tapping support in unlikely places, is enjoying a groundswell of enthusiasm in a small city in western Japan, which is delighted to share his name.

Obama, Japan, is rooting for candidate Obama, hoping that if he becomes the US president he will put this ancient fishing town of 32,000 people firmly on the tourist map and, just maybe, choose it for an international summit.

Supporters in Obama -- which means "small shore" in Japanese -- have held parties to watch election results, put up posters wishing the senator luck and plan a special batch of the town's "manju" sweets bearing his likeness.

"At first we were more low-key as Hillary Clinton looked to be ahead, but now we see he is getting more popular," Obama Mayor Toshio Murakami said.

"I give him an 80 percent chance of becoming president," the 75-year-old said with a proud grin.

Murakami sent a letter last year to Obama, enclosing a set of lacquer chopsticks, a famous product of this town on the Sea of Japan (East Sea) in Fukui prefecture's Wakasa region.

"I will present you the chopsticks of Wakasa paint and I am glad if you use it habitually," Murakami said in the English-language letter. "I wish you the best of health and success."

Murakami noted that Barack Obama's birthday, August 4, happens to be "Chopsticks Day" in the city.

...

Mccain and the right are gonna go after him him with such strong cases of weakness, Neville Chamberlin, appeasement, Islamo fasicists under our beds(maybe even in them!), no flag lapel pin, no hand over the heart, etc etc etc................

"All I hear from you people is 'Bobby Lee is going to this, Bobby Lee is going to do that'. To listen to you, you'd think General Lee was going to do a triple somersault and land behind our lines. Stop worrying about what General Lee is going to do to you and start thinking about what you're going to do to General Lee."

- U.S. Grant to his staff, 1864

Actually, Mike, I think Hillary is the weaker candidate plus she has the added baggage of Bill. Just from my caucus experience I can assure you that there will be people turning out in droves voting anti-Hillary if she is the nominee. That may not be fair but it seems to be the reality.

8.

rd

Boy, I'm glad you straightened that FF out and fast:))

10:17 AM EST

Joan -

Attention getting isn't it ? [smile]

and I beat Michael to the new blog (not an easy thing to do)

mary vb
Tue, 02/12/08
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And that may be a good thing.........but if Barrack wants to be truthful to the people, next gatheirng have him pass out several thousand history books along with US foregn policy since 1945 and maybe even my own, "The Decline of The US 1980-2008"(revised edition)..........

The truth is out there for those willing to search for it..............if change is gonna happen, it neds to start with a refreshing look at ourselves first.............

Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin

It might bring back bad memories on the Blog, but it seems to me it is all about Wisconsin.  After winning 8 in a row (assuming Obama wins tthree today) it seems like Wisconsin would be the straw that breaks Clinton's back, if she loses.  Her wait until Texas and Ohio strategy is starting to sound like Rudy in Florida.  Wisconsin should be a good state for her and if she loses her campaign will start crumbling.

mary vb
Tue, 02/12/08

IMO in this election cycle either Clinton or Obama should win.  I would argue that Clinton is a low risk approach to a narrow margin while Obama has a better opportunity for a large margin but more risk (although low) of losing.

114.

FRED from Ashland OR
Tue, 02/12/08

Reply to this

99.

DANIEL ROONEY
Tue, 02/12/08

peace brother,we can disagree but let us be more civil

============
You as phoney as a three dollar bill. How can one be civil with a neo nazi like you. well i try to be nice fred but your full of hate your not going to get me down to your level are you that miserable? Definitions of miserable at Dictionary.com. ... Causing or accompanied by great discomfort or distress: a miserable climate. ... thats you fredy have you though about prozac? love ya man! lol high hitler!!!!ps my voteing card is dem. so i must be a fool!!!!

Morning Folks,

Some scattered thoughts: This is almost Shakespearean. Bill Clinton looks exhausted, like he has run out of fuel.  Hillary is determined to be the first woman president, gritted teeth, fixed smile, persistent endurance.  Is it hubris?  Her press conference about her campaign manager resigning because of family; no, it had nothing to do with the losses she said.  Come on, Hillary.

The young prince coming up, like Fortinabras after Hamlet's death, a new generation, more determined, more innocent, clear headed.  

Michael Ellis, I've thought of your objections to Obama's palliatives as I interpret your calls for the truth. There is a conservative theme in him, one I find reassuring.  For instance, while he insists on the right to broadcast what producers want, he is also in favor of the V Chip? allowing parents to control what their children watch. 

As someone who has grown up in many inner cities: Indonesia, Hawaii, and as a young man in Chicago, he affirms the necessity of strong families because he has seen the deterioration of families and the terrible costs the children pay.  

A quick anecdote from his book: he takes Michelle to Kenya to visit his family.  She is thrilled, but soon realizes how American she is. Here we have the right to choose our lives, our right to privacy, our right to opportunities without paying bribes, the right to say what we believe without punishment.  She sees the demands tribal peoples put on those that achieve. That kind of mindset is crucial for understanding the peoples of this planet in the 21st Century.

I taught American Studies at Boulder HIgh.  We came up with five premises we thought that defined Americans.  Some of them: Americans believe in the perfectability of humans (from our Puritan ancestors); We believe in the efficacy of technology, that it will make our lives better; We believe in the vision of the artist to predict ten years in advance what will occur in society.

I didn't know what it was to be an American until I lived in American Samoa as the only American family in a village.  I found new insights everyday, and realized that we think according to our culture.  Americans want justice, and often it is retributive justice.  Quick anecdote: we were robbed.  Kids came into the house while we slept.  The chiefs wanted to make sure that we the victims were satisfied. They offered us money, apologies.  We wanted the perpetrators punished. But, the kids were chiefs' sons and that would have caused great dissention within the village.  We finally realized what was happening, accepted the money, the food, and then donated it back to the village.

Barack Obama has that kind of understanding that you can't learn in textbooks, even when you teach it as I did.

My generation was hardwired for prejudice and many of us grew up in all white communities.  I was shocked when my New York roommate was picketing Kresge's Dime Store in Ann Arbor in 1960, I had no idea of the denial of Civil Rights to fellow citizens. The new generations are different.  Laws have made a difference.  They have grown up with the concept of Civill Rights, multi-ethnic peoples, and Americans as a people who are fair, who expect and demand that all people will have Civil Rights.

Given the certainty that lies and vicious accusations will be leveled about Obama, we have to be Demothenes bringing the lanterns out, scrutinizing what is being said and challenging them with the truth.  Maybe that's what my generation can offer. 

10:26 AM EST

Idaho --

-- it's more than just potato country:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-ames/obamas-idaho-awakening_b_86189.html

Michael Ames

Posted February 12, 2008 | 09:09 AM (EST)

Hailey, Idaho - Overflow voters fill the Blaine County Caucus site
Photo by Willy Cook, Courtesy Idaho Mountain Express

Ketchum, Idaho--Idaho isn't accustomed to this much positive attention. A week has passed since our very white, very conservative state went whole hog (ok, 80% hog) for Barack Obama. In the afterglow of a blowout Boise rally and landslide victories here, Obama's Idaho awakening is still being felt, if not entirely understood.

First, let's consider the record shattering voter turnout.

...

 Canyon County's caucus was 700 percent larger than its last. Boise's caucus filled the 10-year old Qwest Arena with its largest crowd ever as hundreds more voted on scrap paper outside.

...

It's as if someone touched down in our funny little Republican oligarchy and personally asked everyone to get involved in the democratic process.

...

"It's the pent up frustration of living in a red state finally finding an outlet," said Jerry Brady, Obama's state co-chair and a fifth generation Idahoan who, despite his moderate, pro-gun, unity-advocating views, was successfully branded a wolf-snuggling, tax-freak liberal by Republican foes in a tight 2006 gubernatorial bid. Obama, Brady said, found in Idaho the "geothermal energy of politics, untapped but powerful once harnessed."

Idaho Democratic Party spokesman Chuck Oxley phrased it differently: "This is the political equivalent of throwing up in your mouth a little bit," Oxley said in the grizzled parlance of a veteran in the long fight against one-party rule. In 2004, Idaho gave George Bush Jr. 68 percent, his second largest plurality nationwide (second fiddle, again, to Utah's adorable groupthink). Idaho swallowed W. whole, and last week's uprising was a sign of the acidic Bush administration repeating on us, Oxley said.

Armchair pundits point to the state's rapidly changing demographics. Idaho has grown by half since 1990. Six cities became metropolitan zones in the past decade. Canyon County is the epicenter, gaining a third of its population in the last four years. The state's make-up is changing, they say. Change begets change.

...

Maybe what happened here was about more than demographics or Bush-spite. Maybe Idaho Dems, maligned in unfriendly territory and forced to make the best of it, saw a bit of themselves in Barack Obama. They saw a man who can do one better than fight the eternal Republican machine, a man who can work together with adversaries to get something done.

...

Clinton presents unmatched policy acumen. Her proposals are sweeping and detailed. But people don't walk two snowy miles to vote for a proposal. They don't stand for hours in a stuffy room to show their solidarity with a policy. They did it because they felt, deep within them, that this time was different, that there is an enduring truth in his message of uplift and unity.

The disparity of feeling between these candidates is akin to that which separates a painting of a sunrise and the thing itself. From the former you get a sense of grandeur, a thin notion of possibility. From the latter, we awake, warmed and stirred to rise in response.

We have a lot of friends in WI who supported Howard last time around who are supporting Barack this time around.

Last week in my daughter's AP Gov't class they voted for their presidential preference. Barack - 29, Hillary - 1 and McCain - 1.

Barack is 20 not 29.

Hey Mike - Check out this voting in Vienna for Barack and Hillary (Dems Abroad) --

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2...

Obama won every single county in Washington state on Saturday. That is a rout.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo...

Finally, Michael Ellis, he does examine American foreign policy and is particularly critical about it.  He relates how we supported the dictator Suharto in Indonesia, and collaborated  with him, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people through our CIA revealing the names of protestors and supporters of democracy. (See the film The Year of Living Dangerously with Mel Gibson).

He analyzes foreign policy and points out the extremes and why we are where we are.  He says that there is no foreign policy under Bush and shows why.

We''ve got to read.  Internet rantings, paragraphs taken out of context, inferences that depict ideology are simply not sufficient to understanding anything, least of all our candidates.  

Frankly, pundits have the power they do because people don't read anything longer than headlines, sound bytes, and 800 word editorials. 

Nonetheless, blogs are lively, have lots of people with integrity who want truth and are willing to challenge what they see as cant, deception, and propaganda.  I'm grateful for them. 

 off soon, but after Samoa I've lost my abiity to know where prepositions go.  Obama is particularly critical of  (not about) American foreign polity.  I also can't distinguish between b and p, which weren't differentiated there either. 

With deep contacts in another culture we change as well, understanding more, becoming more capable of understanding others, I think.  That's one of the things that I think makes Obama extraordinary and I believe we need him and the talents he can bring to this broken government. He will be able to bring diversity of thinking and experience and the best minds and character among us. 

If you want to be free, then you don't let other people decide who your friends are and who you can vote for.

10:51 AM EST

Morning Folks,

Some scattered thoughts

..

+++

Pat -

Well, if those well-constructed, well-composed thoughts of yours are "scattered", than mine are blown to the four corners of the earth [smile].

Your's is one of the best write-ups I've seen on this blog. 

Pat in Colorado
Tue, 02/12/08
___________________________________________________________________________

Interesting and thanks.......Obama has a BIG problem on his hands if he knows as much as you say he does........conveying to an American public that their foreign policy since 1945 is mostly responsible for many of the ill feeling towards them.....not to mention the vietnam war was wrong (Gulf of tonkin) and the Iraq war was wrong and still is (wmds)....................

1/2 the country (at least) thinks otherwise.............."Mirrors are often ugly and mean."

Obama has a BIG problem on his hands

Yeah....people are turning out in droves to vote for him. 

linda b, if you're voting today, please bring us back a polling place report.

Jim Webb suggests legal action against Bush. He has started talking to people about it.
It's a matter of separation of powers. He fears that the administration will engage in an agreement with Iraq concerning long term occupation while the Dems are busy in August with the convention. huff.post..du

rich, if you're voting today, please bring us back a polling place report, too.

sitka,

"Tomorrow will be like today, and the day after tomorrow will be like the day before yesterday. I see your future as a tedious collection of hours full of useless criticisms and critiques.. You will think no new thoughts. You will forget what little you have known. Older you will become, but not wiser. Stiffer, but not more dignified."    Dr Lao 

Pat wrote "I was shocked when my New York roommate was picketing Kresge's Dime Store in Ann Arbor in 1960, I had no idea of the denial of Civil Rights to fellow citizens. The new generations are different."

Astounding piece of history.  I remember that place, too.  I bought a knife called "Granny's Parer" there, my inaugural purchase as a student living off campus.  The Kresge's is long, long gone, but I still have the knife.  You couldn't cut a stick of butter with it now.

My daughter called this morning and the precinct she votes in in Arlington, Va. had a 2 hour wait to vote. She has to go back tonite to vote.

She had to be a work so she couldn't wait. How many places is that going on?

Op-Ed Columnist
Hate Springs Eternal
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By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 11, 2008

In 1956 Adlai Stevenson, running against Dwight Eisenhower, tried to make the political style of his opponent’s vice president, a man by the name of Richard Nixon, an issue. The nation, he warned, was in danger of becoming “a land of slander and scare; the land of sly innuendo, the poison pen, the anonymous phone call and hustling, pushing, shoving; the land of smash and grab and anything to win. This is Nixonland.”


Paul Krugman.
Go to Columnist Page » Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal

The quote comes from “Nixonland,” a soon-to-be-published political history of the years from 1964 to 1972 written by Rick Perlstein, the author of “Before the Storm.” As Mr. Perlstein shows, Stevenson warned in vain: during those years America did indeed become the land of slander and scare, of the politics of hatred.

And it still is. In fact, these days even the Democratic Party seems to be turning into Nixonland.

The bitterness of the fight for the Democratic nomination is, on the face of it, bizarre. Both candidates still standing are smart and appealing. Both have progressive agendas (although I believe that Hillary Clinton is more serious about achieving universal health care, and that Barack Obama has staked out positions that will undermine his own efforts). Both have broad support among the party’s grass roots and are favorably viewed by Democratic voters.

Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod.

Why, then, is there so much venom out there?

I won’t try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I’m not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We’ve already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? We really don’t want to go there again.

What’s particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of “Clinton rules” — the term a number of observers use for the way pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent.

The prime example of Clinton rules in the 1990s was the way the press covered Whitewater. A small, failed land deal became the basis of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar investigation, which never found any evidence of wrongdoing on the Clintons’ part, yet the “scandal” became a symbol of the Clinton administration’s alleged corruption.

During the current campaign, Mrs. Clinton’s entirely reasonable remark that it took L.B.J.’s political courage and skills to bring Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to fruition was cast as some kind of outrageous denigration of Dr. King.

And the latest prominent example came when David Shuster of MSNBC, after pointing out that Chelsea Clinton was working for her mother’s campaign — as adult children of presidential aspirants often do — asked, “doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?” Mr. Shuster has been suspended, but as the Clinton campaign rightly points out, his remark was part of a broader pattern at the network.

I call it Clinton rules, but it’s a pattern that goes well beyond the Clintons. For example, Al Gore was subjected to Clinton rules during the 2000 campaign: anything he said, and some things he didn’t say (no, he never claimed to have invented the Internet), was held up as proof of his alleged character flaws.

For now, Clinton rules are working in Mr. Obama’s favor. But his supporters should not take comfort in that fact.

For one thing, Mrs. Clinton may yet be the nominee — and if Obama supporters care about anything beyond hero worship, they should want to see her win in November.

For another, if history is any guide, if Mr. Obama wins the nomination, he will quickly find himself being subjected to Clinton rules. Democrats always do.

But most of all, progressives should realize that Nixonland is not the country we want to be. Racism, misogyny and character assassination are all ways of distracting voters from the issues, and people who care about the issues have a shared interest in making the politics of hatred unacceptable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/opinio...

Hi Tom,

Were we there at the same time? I enetered as a freshman in 1960 and graduated in 1965.  SDS was founded there in those years; Robert Frost recited poetry ( I remember his poem about Dalmatian Gus who comes to visit him at night), there were 10,000 in my class.  I worked at Slater's Book Store. Wow.

Thanks for the connection.

And Rdorgan, thanks for the compliment.  

Michael Ellis, the thing about Barack Obma is that he doesn't insult, belittle, or bring angry words to people, something I could learn.  He criticizes, points out what has gone wrong and why, but he has a cool, calm temperament that doesn't engage in hand to hand or mouth to mouth combat.  

Really have to work now. Thanks good friends for the feedback.  It's really a good feeling. 

Thanks to Jim Dean for supporting Donna Edwards in Maryland. I hope she wins the primary and that sends a message to these dems who call themselves progressive, take our money and then vote with the putz.

Good luck Donna. but kind of late to be endorsing Obama. Where were you?

linda b, if you're voting today, please bring us back a polling place report.  

I will and I have already talked to friends who have voted and they say it was the hardest decision ever.

go to www.raisingkaine.com, it is a virginia blog. they are for obama but you can see the speeches from our JJ and get precinct reports from those on the ground all over the state.

The interesting thing...playing politics.

Isn't it funny how all the Female Democratic Governors are endorsing Obama, except the one who cannot be Vice President, Grahnolm of Michigan. She endorsed Hillary.

It seems they are hoping to be the female running mate that he will most likely be looking for to balance the ticket should he win the nomination.

audrey.nc
Tue, 02/12/08

Reply to this

Jim Webb suggests legal action against Bush. He has started talking to people about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obama/Webb

obama/webb would be great. and we have a dem governor who could appoint another dem to take his place.

I found out why webb wasn't at our JJ dinner. He had prior family commitments or something like that.

I swear this screwed up blog ranking is just like when I had the problem with "arrange by subject" outlook express inbox and blew the borders and didn't know how to find the right file to fix it coming at it without being able to click on something.

11:55 AM EST

Michelle Obama interviewed on Larry King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyBc33UjvDU

The interesting thing...playing politics.

Isn't it funny how all the Female Democratic Governors are endorsing Obama, except the one who cannot be Vice President, Grahnolm of Michigan. She endorsed Hillary.

...

+++

Linda in NM -

Gov. Ruth Ann Miner of Delaware, also endorsed Hillary, besides Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.

linda b

raisingkaine is run by a guy that used to be a regular blogger here and branched out after getting the messsage of "you have the power"

that is how I keep up with Virginia politics in addition to your reports and rich's ....  rounds things out so I have a pretty good feel (enough to catch tthe currents that might help in Iowa anyway)

11:59 AM EST

typo - Gov. Ruth Ann Miner of Delaware

s/b - Gov. Ruth Ann Minner of Delaware

12:07 PM EST

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1343551

WASHINGTON (AP) - D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton says she's backing Illinois Senator Barack Obama in Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary.

The city's nonvoting House member says Obama co-sponsored the D.C. voting rights bill, and she believes he'll work to give the district more home rule authority.

...

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has already endorsed Obama.

You are waxing poetic today, Pat in Colorado.  I agree with everything you said and if I had ever had your experience of living in Samoa, I certainly would have agreed with that too. ;-)

Linda quoted Krugman who wrote "Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod."

Absolutely.  I'm sure we can all agree on that point.

we elected one of the founders of SDS to the state legislature , but it wasn't something we put in the campaign literature lol

 shutting down the draft board office with a sit-in with a guy that got in real trouble with the Feds after breaking windows on State Street during the "Days of Rage" after the radical fringe morphed into the Weathermen was when we were getting death threats on local talk radio

probably just googling on some reference to that will get you on one of Daniel Rooney's terrorist watch lists now

Nixonland was a very mild version of cheneyville

the hoot for me was FBI guys working for Hoover with regulation hair cuts and black shoes and ties hanging around peace marches with cameras and trying to fit in

now there are surveillance cameras taking it all in

12:13 AM EST

CNN video is punking Obama (watch the video at the 2:00 to 2:05 minute segment and you'll see how CNN is implying something that is disturbing, that is Rovian):

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/02/11/moos.pointed.gestures.cnn

I'm not working my tail off for a War Party candidate like I normally do for the nominee. I owed Kerry for when he organized the vets against the war.