Am I the only one...

who is lovin' this?

I love the tit for tat fundraising.

I love the delegate analyses coming from both camps.

I love the super-delegate and MI/FL analyses.

I love the spin.

I love the passion coming from both camps.

I love that Hillary is going "all in".  (People might have forgot that when Hillary announced her candidacy she said those exact words... "I'm all in".)

I love the horserace!

Yes, I love all of this and more.  But mostly I love that from now until the Democratic Convention people of America will be discussing progressive/liberal values.  I admit, despite the fact that I never fully backed him, I was a little bummed when John Edwards left the race because he spoke most passionately to liberal and progressive politics.  But today I see that he has left his imprint on this race.

There's no hard turn to the center going on today.  We have 2 good candidates still fighting it out on the left.  John McCain and conservatism and rightside politics will go dark during this national political conversation for the next 6 months.  How great is that!

Democratic politics will suck 95% of the oxygen from the political news scene.  And where there's oxygen, and a spark, we have a fire.  Fire from Obama.  Fire from Hillary.

C'mon Obama, don't duck debates.  Let's have more dialogue about this country's direction, not less!

It's funny.  I read a lot of blogs but I don't see any major bloggers truly enjoying this.  Why?  Perhaps they secretly are having a good time but they're not expressing their joy in their writing.  Andrew Sullivan is having some fun with it, but he's a conservative!

Perhaps bloggers are a little burnt out or overwhelmed by what is happening.  Perhaps they're down a little too deep amongst the trees.  Everyone should grab some caffeine, take a look at what's ahead, and continue to marvel at a truly unique happening.

Personally I am just thrilled.  I go vote in a caucus on Saturday.  I have friends calling me up and asking about how they participate in a caucus, because they never have before.  They know their vote means something.  And they know that's worth 2 or 3 hours of time on a Saturday.  How cool is that!  More people getting involved.  These Primary contests never last past Super Tuesday.  Never!  And here we are...

debating policies,

debating campaign tactics,

debating progressive politics,

debating the character of our candidates,

and for some, trying to figure out where the caucus site is.

I am for Obama, but I want Hillary (and Bill) to hit him with everything they got.  Everything!  I want Obama battle tested and with the scars to prove it.  I want this Primary battle to go to the end.  I want Montana's primary in June to mean something.

We'll have plenty of time for unification.  We'll have plenty of time to come together.  The dividends of 6 months more of liberal values talk will easily counterbalance any divisiveness.

So join me in my enjoyment of this thing we call Democracy.  It's kind of a bad, messy form of choosing one's leaders, but history has yet to come up with a better alternative.

•  for all of those who say that he hate this...

  I for one am spending too much time here. :-)

  by onanyes on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 02:49:57 PM PDT

•  I, for one

  do not enjoy the near-total lack of reasonable discourse on real issues.

  The implosion of the Pubs and what they have erroneously called the "conservative movement", yeah, I can enjoy that.

  by beemerr90s on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 02:50:27 PM PDT

•  I might also be the only one...

  who would be okay with the candidates going to FOX for a debate.  We made our point.  FOX is a biased network.  Now let's go show those right wingers what real politics is.

  by rustydude on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 02:50:50 PM PDT

•  as long as there are record turnouts

  for the dem caucuses & primaries, it's hard to see things too negatively.

  by rasbobbo on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 02:57:09 PM PDT

•  Are you nuts?

  John McCain and conservatism and rightside politics will go dark during this national political conversation for the next 6 months.  How great is that!

  The Republicans have settled on a nominee. Meanwhile we're still fiddling around. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that Obama has come along and challenged the politics-as-usual crowd and we haven't just anointed Hillary, but it does put us at a competitive disadvantage.

  On the Republican side, all the focus, all the money, all the planning, will go to McCain. Go dark? They're going to start hitting on one or both of our candidates  right away.

  If we don't have a nominee by the last primary, we'll be infighting for 3 months until the convention and then have an 8 week general election. All that time the Republicans will be hammering us, and advertising their side of the story. It's this 3 months that worries Howard Dean the most I think, and why he's been saying that if no one backs out by the last primary he's going to have to sit down with both campaigns.

  by Travis Stark on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 03:00:09 PM PDT

  •  They go dark

    They won't be listened to.  All the media focus will be on Hillary and Obama.  Sure the right wing slime machine will wind up but the media will be focused on the horserace.

    by rustydude on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 03:31:43 PM PDT