After reading an article at cqpolitics It seemed like we might have a ray of hope on the FISA bill after all.

The title itself gives me a little optimism - "Surveillance Showdown Promised." Yeah, there are a lot of diaries on the FISA capitulation. With good reason, it's the whole ball of yarn in my opinion - the Constitution, the 4th Amendment, Bush's disregard for the law, etc.

But hear me out - our best bet at the moment is to not only encourage our senators to strip immunity from the bill, but also support some of the amendments that will be introduced this week.

Join me below the fold and I'll explain more...

I was looking for some help convincing my Mother-in-Law to vote for either Merkley or Novick in the General Election versus Senator Smith. I don't live in Oregon, so I don't know much about the issues. Any help would be appreciated.

She always votes Democrat, and is a big Obama supporter, but she thinks that Gordon Smith is a pretty good Senator, and my hunch is that she's leaning toward voting for him.

She likes the fact that he put forth a bill promoting Mental Health, but she said she's open to be being convinced that one or either Democrat would be a better choice.

There was a huge victory on Friday in the fight to save the Constitution, and our rights as citizens to know when the President has spied upon us illegally. But as you are well aware, the fight isn't over. As citizens and bloggers, we've been able to leverage our collective might in ways many of us previously thought impossible. Yet here we are.

As mcjoan has detailed, there are numerous directions that this can go. It would be wise to prepare for any eventuality. One such is to join a coordinated effort with firedoglake, Glen Greenwald and actblue to raise funds in attempt to convince Bush Dogs who insist on shredding the Constitution to reconsider their position.

You can vote on who to target here. There are two Bush Dogs in particular, Shuler and Carney, who voted against the House Bill on Friday and whom you can vote for to be targeted for the ad buy. But honestly, any of the six Blue Dogs could use more encouragement. After you vote, I encourage you to visit actblue to help fund the ad buy.

Yesterday, I heard on Randi Rhodes that an email smearing Barack Obama originated from an Iowa County Chair for Clinton's Campaign. You might have received this or heard about it. It lied about Obama's religious background, stated that Obama didn't know the Pledge of Allegiance, and claimed he would be sworn with his hand on the Koran.

Now I think a Muslim-American would be fit to be President, but this is about dishonesty, and a blatant attempt to use divisive ideas against an opponent.  This would come as no surprise if it originated from McCain/ Rove or the Swift-boaters, but supposedly, this is from the campaign of a fellow Democrat.

I'm not sure any of this is true, and I'm posting this diary to see if there are ways to validate the source of this email. If the Clinton Campaign is behind this, it would be truly unforgivable.