Good news and bad news for Obama fans in the latest Quinnipiac poll released today.  The PA primary race is a 9-point spread, 50-41 for Hillary.  That falls in the middle between the other two polls we've seen from Ras (5 points) and SUSA (12 points).

This quote says it all:

"The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast Saturday. "So today I vetoed it," Bush said.

Though I made the deicision to vote for Obama about a month ago now, I have reached that point where I am ready to shout it from the mountain top.  I have sent the following email to friends and family.  If you haven't done so already, please consider doing the same.  Every vote is gonna' matter in this primary.  Share what you know - communicate that feeling you have.  Feel free to borrow liberally or put it in your own words and your own way.  But make sure to tell others - YES WE CAN!

When I think of Bill Clinton and his team of DLC pro-corporate hacks getting back into power - not just of this country, but of the Democratic party that we have been fighting so hard to reform - it just makes me seethe with anger.  I can't help it.  Mainly for that reason, I have been for either Edwards or Obama for several months now.  I am now supporting Obama because I love his campaign and I think he is our best chance to keep the Democratic Party from falling back under control of those hacks.

BUT.....  

I attended a local Democratic Town Committee meeting last night here in Connecticut.  It was the meeting where a representative for each of the major Presidential candidates gives a little speech and then the floor opens up for questions.  Many of you have probably attended something like this in your town.  Well, ours was a little extra special because the representative for Barack Obama last evening was Ned Lamont.  

It was an interesting evening with only a little bit of what you might call breaking news , but it did allow me to reflect on what I have been thinking about this Presidential race.  And since no one around here has written a candidate diary in the last 7 seconds, I thought maybe I better.

This diary will certainly be perceived as a bit presumptuous.  I acknowledge that.  But all indications are that Barack Obama is about to win his second state today in New Hampshire.  He's already won handidly in the crucial bellweather towns of Hart's Location and Dixville Notch!  And rumors from Tim Russert and others are that the Nevada Cullinary Union is set to endorese him tomorrow if he wins.  I'm not saying this race is over, but if Obama wins handidly here in New Hampshire, then what kind of campaign do we want going forward?

Brian Williams had a 20-minute sit down interview with Barack Obama today and the entire thing is available online.

I have jumped onto the Obama train already - about a month ago - but this is an impressive interview to learn a little bit more about our next President.

Just saw Chris Matthews make the announcement and now they are talking about America being ready for a black man before a woman.  A bit premature analysis at this point, but that's where they are going with it.
I'll probably take this diary down soon as more people report this on the front page.

In the closing weeks before the first caucus and primary of the 2008 season, national frontrunner Hillary Clinton has decided it is time to play that ace up her sleeve - #42.  It is the card that I imagine she was hesitant to play, but with the polls tightening particularly in the key early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, it was a card she had to play.  Bill Clinton has been on the stump quite a bit lately in the 3 early states trying out new themes to promote Hillary’s candidacy – first it was change (Hillary as the change agent), now its likeability (Hillary as heartwarming).  But, at the end of the day, seeing Bill Clinton out there pushing the message makes one point clear.... no matter how hard she tries, her campaign is still all about #42.  Sort of.  

In keeping with the theme of dengre's excellent diary today currently sitting on top of the Rec List, I want to point out Krugman's column today in the Times.  Somebody will eventually do it and I don't think they have yet.  It deals with what he refers to as The Question.

I am totally sympathetic to the diarist who wrote this diary this morning.  I have been feeling the same way about this place lately, as I am sure have many of you.  It is rather frustrating and often times annoying to see every discussion about the upcoming election turn into a food fight between, often times, many of the same people.  It is enough to make me want to sign off for a while as well.  But, then I stop and remember how I felt in 2003.  And I get it.  I get their passion.  I get their frustrations.  Let me tell you something... in March of 2004, I was not going to vote for that stupid swiss-cheese-ordering-on-a-Philly-cheesesteak-John Kerry!!  But in November, guess who I voted for....

I don’t think Al Gore is running for President.  No, I have no inside information.  I didn’t talk to any of his "people".  I just believe Gore when he tells reporters he isn’t running because he can do more for the issues he cares about without being President.  But, that doesn’t mean Al Gore can’t be working in the White House in 2009 and it doesn’t mean he won’t have a lot to say about who the next President will be.

The George W. Bush administration has been very, very, very... very bad for America.  It has done many, many, many... many things that have harmed this country greatly.  

We must elect a Democrat President in 2008!!

Materialism didn’t initiate with the Reagan Revolution, but it certainly was accelerated.  It seemed to usher in a new era of wealth-above-all-else, you’re-defined-by-your-possessions-mentality.  One small symptom of that is clear to anyone who is a sports fan.   It's pretty indisputable that all the professional team sports have changed drastically over the last 30 years due to rising player salaries and the player-before-team attitude that resulted.  But the multi-million dollar salaries weren’t enough for the games’ biggest stars.  Endorsements were a way to make even more than what they were paid to play the game.  There has been no better example of that than the connection between NBA players and shoe contracts.  But I just read a story that suggests maybe this is changing ever so slightly.

Former Congressional candidate and netroots hero Paul Hackett was involved in a little vigilante incident the other month.  It appears some hooligans crashed into a fence at his house in the middle of the night.  Instead of doing what I'd do - waking up from my bed in a state of panic and then proceeding to call the cops.. no wait.. first I would look out the window and hope it was my neighbor's problem... then I'd call the cops, Hackett decided to take care of things himself.

Another lame diary by me, but the headline says it all.

It's over folks!!

MSNBC reports Burns concedes.

Link (Thanks fabooj!)

This will be a terrible diary that will barely meet the requirements, but I just heard on MSNBC that the AP is calling MT for Tester!!  We win!!  We win!!  We win!!!

link

Is that long enough?

I did a search and didn't see this posted here yet.  Tim and David must be busy, so I'll summarize what has been posted about today's campaign event at a Hartford senior center.  As the Stand Up For Change bus arrived, it was surrounded by a mob of LieberKids who kept chanting "Joe, Joe, Joe".  They blocked the doors to the bus so Ned could not get off.  They also apparently blocked the entrance to the senior center itself so that seniors who wanted to come see Ned had trouble.  Details at the offical blog