Here is an interesting take on the prevailing belief around here that the longer the democratic primary goes on, the worse off our democratic candidate will be.  This article suggests otherwise:

The first thing McCain needs is for the Democrats to find a nominee. There's a lot of bad conventional wisdom percolating that this drawn out fight is good for McCain. It isn't... at least not yet.

There may be a point where it is good for McCain, say if the fight actually goes all the way to Denver, but short of that, he needs an opponent, badly.

The article goes on to suggest that the democratic nominee, once chosen, will get a big poll bounce from which McCain will need time to recover.  In addition, his campaign will lack direction (in terms of message as well as geography) until he knows who he is up against.  

From: Russ Feingold, U.S. Senator
Date: Tue Mar 25 13:12:33 2008

Our Newest Progressive Patriot

I'm proud to announce that the Progressive Patriots community has chosen U.S. Senate candidate of Texas Rick Noriega as our first 'Progressive Patriot' of 2008. Of the thousands of progressives who cast their vote, Rick received the most votes and we'll be sending him a $5,000 contribution today to help his campaign.  While I'm sure it was difficult to choose among so many great candidates, we're thrilled to support Rick's campaign for the Senate seat in Texas.  Rick has spent his entire career serving this country.  Following a 14 month deployment to Afghanistan, Rick returned to
his native Houston to coordinate Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.  In addition to his military background, Rick was elected to four terms in the Texas House.  I urge you to check out Rick's website at www.ricknoriega.com to learn more about his record and to find out how you can help Rick succeed in November.  

From: Rick Noriega
Date: Mon Mar 24 13:56:57 2008
Re: 4000 soldiers

Yesterday we reached the terrible milestone of 4,000 Americans dead in the misguided war in Iraq. 
 
395 Texans and their families have paid the ultimate price and I ask you to take the time you would have spent on my website today offering them your prayers and your thanks for the heroic service of their loved ones. 
 
We must also offer the country a new direction so that more of our young men and women are not lost.
 
I have suspended my campaign website for 24 hours to call attention to the failed policies that led us into war and kept us there with no plan for getting out.
  
God Bless Texas and God Bless America.

Wonder if it would be fitting for blogs to do the same.   (Does anyone remember the day, back in the 90's when websites turned their pages black for a day in order to protest a court ruling supporting internet censorship?)  If Dailykos was down for a day, what could we all do with the time we would have otherwise spent here to help end the war and honor those who have served?  Write letters to the editor, write letters to congress, volunteer, donate... what else?

From an e-mail from Russ Feingold:

"Pick a Progressive Patriot" is your chance to vote for whom we will support with early financial help, giving them the ability to build strong grassroots programs that will enable them to be successful on Election Day.  

Our latest installment of "Pick a Progressive Patriot" will end next Monday at 5 PM central time.  If you aren't familiar with these great candidates, you can learn more about them on our Meet the Candidates page.

Whichever candidate receives the most votes will receive a $5,000 contribution from the Progressive Patriots Fund for their 2008 election.  You can vote for your favorite Senate challenger here.

UPDATE:  You can apparently vote more than once, over a period of time.  I voted a couple of days ago and I voted again today!

There was a thoughtful column in the Friday Chicago Tribune that readers here might be interested in. I encourage you to read the whole thing (an exerpt is provided below the fold).

Next to the article is an 11-minute video from an Obama press conference in which he discusses race issues pertaining to his campaign that is well worth watching.  His responses made me very glad that I voted for him!  I think it would reflect well on the candidate if his supporters followed in his footsteps in discussing sensitive matters in such a respectful way.

With democrats turning out to vote in droves, maybe just maybe, Texas can elect a democrat to the U.S. Senate in November.  While everyone was focused on the presidential primary race in Texas on March 4, little mention was made here about Rick Noriega winning the democratic primary for U.S. Senator in Texas.  In fact, Rick received more votes (1.1 million) in the democratic primary than did incumbent John Cornyn in the republican primary.

Evidently the republicans wasted no time activating their smear campaign against Noriega.  According to his campaign:

In response to Rick's victory, Roger Williams, the man leading the Republican effort in Texas this year, said, "Democrats want to retreat from the terrorists." This kind of language is outrageous, and it's offensive.  Lieutenant Colonel Rick Noriega didn't retreat from the terrorists when he spent over a year in Afghanistan, and he's stood tall in defense of Texas and of America throughout his 27 years in uniform.