OBAMA SIGNALS ENDLESS WAR IN IRAQ, SELLOUTS ON FISA, NAFTA, AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

WANTED: 175 HONEST DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES TO LEAVE FRAUDULENT OBAMA IN DENVER!

(cross-posted at BlueNC)

Public Policy Polling confirms what we already knew--North Carolina is in play presidentially.  However, news from the Senate race here isn't quite as encouraging.

On the presidential side, McCain only leads Obama 45-41--just one point over the margin of error.  Barr gets 5 percent.  Note, this is a Democratic polling firm--but as with the last poll from NC, from a Republican polling firm, there's virtually no good news for McCain.

On the Senate side, however, Liddy Dole appears to be pulling away from Kay Hagan.  She now leads 51 percent to 38 percent ... and the trends suggest Hagan's got some work to do.

In 2004, Mr. 51% of the possible vote claimed 'mandate' and chose to govern as though America looked like this





And we have all seen how that has worked out.

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In what is billed as a major policy speech on energy and the environment, John McCain has introduced a plan that just makes things worse. His proposals only benefit the big oil companies that are amongst his biggest supporters and who are well represented on the staff of his campaign. In the advance text of his speech he says:

"In the face of climate change and other serious challenges, energy conservation is no longer just a moral luxury or a personal virtue,"

I wonder when energy conservation stopped being just a moral luxury or a personal virtue.

It's quite sad that every time I click on a major news source I hope there is news that Hillary Clinton has conceded her bid for the Democratic Nomination for President.  Yes, everyday, every time.

But this recent uproar over her remarks says more about us than it does about her.  I sincerely don't believe she was using assassination as an excuse to stay in the race but that she was making connections out loud and it was in June when RFK had won the California Primary and he was killed that very same night.

But the indignation with which many are using to characterize her verbal blunder shows more that she's worn out her welcome for many of the people that do not support her.  Clinton fatigue has come to a head.

Here's my issue: the media is trying to create the narrative (based on Clinton reasoning of course) that Barack Obama cannot win working class white people. But why is no one bringing up the fact that he's winning states where there are like 2 Black people by HUGE margins of victory. I mean really, Idaho? Iowa? Kansas? Hell the entire Midwest except for Indiana. But these contests are constantly ignored by the media.

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So yesterday I promised to run an elimination tournament with the candidates from that poll, who were the top vote-getters from my v.p. polls so far, minus Gov. Brian Schweitzer, running for reelection in Montana, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA).

So today we'll take away one chair and stop the music again with your votes to see who will remain tomorrow.

You still may and should feel free to discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments, hence the name open thread.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome once again to your daily speculation thread for Barack Obama's vice presidential nominee. Today's poll consists of every top vote-getter there's space for in the poll since I've started running these threads, with the exceptions only of Gov. Brian Schweitzer, running for reelection in Montana, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA), who I do not think is a very strong choice--relatively speaking, of course, not absolutely speaking.

You may still vote for them as "Other," but I'm planning to run an elimination poll for the next few threads, eliminating one spot at a time, according to average votes overall after each round. So Schweitzer and Boxer won't return for about two weeks or so if they ever do, and one more candidate will be eliminated each day until a big smackdown two-candidate vote at the end. That should be fun.

Several Republicans and Democrats were asked on the morning shows this morning whether they would accept the v.p. spot for their party's ticket if asked. Huckabee and Romney said yes, so I can confidently cross them off my list. YOU CAN ONLY GET ASKED IF YOU SAY NO WAY OR STAY AT LEAST A LITTLE COY, people. Get it through your heads. As far as what anybody else said, it doesn't matter unless they threatened to run into traffic if given the offer to run.

(continued below the fold)

Sorry I missed yesterday. I've missed two days of daily threads since I started, but I'm confident this will not affect the quality of Obama's ultimate decision, though I still think he should make it early.

I went to see Narnia at midnight the night before and fell fast asleep when I got home from work yesterday. I dreamed Barack Obama had lied about when he was born by six years, so he was really 53. That wouldn't be much of a scandal even if it was true, so maybe it was inspired by all his other non-scandal scandals.

As I promised from Thread #5, then, here are the top Democrat picks from all of the voting in my polls so far, with Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA) and a few others knocked out (more on those below the fold), and Fmr. Gov. Ray Mabus (MS), whom I had not included before, and who I am still figuring in to my top Obama v.p. picks, included for the first time.

(continued below the fold)

One of the top qualifications frequently stated in Obama v.p. speculation is the wish that his running mate not be a sitting U.S. senator. McCain is likely not to pick a senator, and both presumptive nominees are already Senate colleagues.

So this edition of the poll tests the highest rated candidates in my five polls so far who are not U.S. senators, excluding Bill Moyers and Maria Shriver, which I think I will probably do in general in these polls from now on unless they should perfectly fit a particular niche poll in the future. As was pointed out during Moyers's single poll appearance so far, he's doing a great job where he is, doing what he's doing, and there are stronger possible v.p. candidates for Obama. And I don't really want Arnold as the Vice President's Husband. For one thing, I'd like to see him able to focus on his real strength, robot movies.

I have left in former senators, as they are a slightly different creature, and the two listed are national figures in their own rights.

(continued below the fold)

(Note: I didn't see this diaried yet. If it has been I'll delete this one.

I've been posting about our local fundraising efforts the past few days, but this smear by Republicans John Boehner and Eric Cantor seemed more important.)

While it's despicable that GOP "leaders" such as Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) would choose to slice out only the few phrases that would make the presumptive Democratic nominee for president look bad (and they have to actually ignore those phrases' real intent even at that), it's equally deplorable that a well-respected journalist such as the Sun-Times' Washington Bureau chief and political columnist Lynn Sweet would let them get away with the distorted half-quoting via her own half-baked he-said/they-said stenography at her to-the-minute blog.

[FYI, Lynn Sweet has been a Chris Matthews regular as she has covered the Obama campaign from one of his hometown papers for well over a year.]

Welcome back for more Obama v.p. speculation. "Hardball" did a round with David Schuster today, including Chuck Hagel, Tim Kaine, my favorite Sam Nunn, Kathleen Sebelius, Ted Strickland, and Jim Webb, and their crazy "experts" agreed on Hagel with Strickland as runner-up (if you just go by their points of intersection as Matthews did).

Our last edition here yesterday was all women candidates, and interestingly, Sebelius won, as she did in Thread #1, with men and women in the poll.

I've tried to switch up the poll a bit today, including all of the Schuster group from "Hardball" today.

(continued below the fold)

Hello again! And welcome to the (all-woman) Mother's Day edition of your 5 p.m. Pacific Daily Open Obama V.P. Thread.

I missed yesterday because of a family birthday party, but tonight's Mother's Day get-together for the four mothers in my immediate family is more subdued and conveniently scheduled for this speculation, so this is just Open Thread #2. (I already knew Mother's Day was coming up for a few weeks, but in case I hadn't, I've had three e-mails from the Clinton family to remind me!)

Now, of course, not all of the women listed in the poll are going to be great choices (and not all listed in the poll are mothers, though 100% are daughters), and you may have better ones to list: please list away!

(continued below the fold)

There's been a lot of irresponsible, uninformed, baseless speculation about Barack Obama's pick for a vice presidential nominee around these parts lately; here's more!

Seriously, I hate to see all of these polls with Sen. Joe Biden (MBNA), Mayor Mike Bloomberg (NY), Gen. (Ret.) Wes Clark (AR), Sen. John Kerry (MA) and Gov. Bill Richardson (NM) on them, and Fmr. Sen. Sam Nunn (GA)--whom I consider the strongest possible choice, as well as the most likely--sadly left off.

I don't mind a little unreality in my wild rantings, but these are clearly a bridge too far.

(continued below the fold)

Now, I find this particularly disturbing because we currently have a President that doesn't listen to the experts, only his gut. I have a real problem with a candidate that thinks so highly of herself that the opinions of experts do not matter to her.

On Wednesday, The Huffington Post attempted to find one expert from any and all ideological persuasion who believed that a gas tax holiday is a wise idea. It proved impossible. However, the idea is likely popular in upcoming primary states like Indiana and Ohio, and other politicians, alongside Clinton, have argued that it is in the government's interest to give all consumers a bit of at-the-pump relief.

This is the worst kind of pandering because it's destructive.

~*~*~*~JuMp~*~*~*~

(cross-posted at BlueNC)

As most of you know, the North Carolina Republican Party managed to persuade four television stations to air its despicable ad attacking Barack Obama.  Unfortunately, we didn't know who they were.  Well, now we do, courtesy of the Charlotte Observer.  

Roll credits:

*WLOS in Asheville (ABC affiliate)
*WXII in Winston-Salem (NBC affiliate)
*WCTI in New Bern (ABC affiliate)
*WECT in Wilmington (NBC affiliate)

Those of you who live in these areas--pester these stations, or if possible their owners.  Now.  Be sure to stress that in light of Obama's unequivocal rejections of Wright's comments (especially yesterday), running this ad is particularly irresponsible.

Cross-posted at BlueNC

I'm trying to get my head around Mike Easley's endorsement of Hillary Clinton.  Quite frankly, I'm mystified.

As most of us know, Hillary on the top of the ticket effectively cedes most of the former Confederacy (except for Virginia and Florida) to McCain.  Obama, on the other hand, has committed to fighting for North Carolina in November.  I would think that this would be a no-brainer for the de facto leader of the North Carolina Democratic Party.  He should have his finger on the pulse of this state.  

Instead, Easley has effectively decided to throw away his vote at the Democratic convention.  What particularly mystifies me is the statement of Easley's wife that Hillary has the tools to bring people together.  Um, have you seen the polls?  Nearly half of voters don't trust her.

Yesterday, WRAL-TV in Raleigh said it wouldn't air the NC GOP's despicable and borderline race-baiting ad attacking two Dem gubernatorial candidates for endorsing Barack Obama.  Later in the day, according to the Charlotte Observer, another station said no as well.

A Charlotte TV station says it will not air an advertisement from the N.C. Republican Party that uses a sound bite from Barack Obama's retiring minister.

"I just don't think it's appropriate to be on our air," said Joe Pomilla, general manager for WSOC-TV. "I think it's offensive, and I'm not real comfortable with the implications around race."

WSOC is Charlotte's ABC affiliate.  Which means that the Repubs are gonna have to scramble to find an outlet to air this trash in North Carolina's two biggest markets--and at least one other Triangle station, WTVD in the Triangle, isn't sure it wants to go near this one either.