Here's a strange one. Ben Stein has one foot in LA taking part in some brilliantly dry comedy. The other foot is planted in vintage DC republican circles. He was speechwriter for Nixon and his dad was in Nixon's cabinet.

His odd duality has surfaced again. He has called, no, begged Rove to take over the McSame campain (sic) while at the same time endorsing Al Franken.

Stein says, " He is a really, really capable smart guy, I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate."

Being half right is better than being totally wrong.

I'm not sure if Ben is exhibiting generosity to the Franken campaign, but we should.
Al's new ads are looking pretty good too.

John Edwards asked the question of the night in Las Vegas.

To paraphrase, "What do corporate donors expect in return for donations?"

No matter who you support in this race and who you have donated money to. Chances are there is a lobbyist, PAC or special interest that has given more cash to your candidate than you did. Take a look at the top donors, especially in the Obama and Clinton campaigns. Do you think that Goldman Sacks, Big Pharma and Excelon energy have the same interests that you do? When your candidate gets elected whose calls do think they will be taking?

Clearly not yours...

...below the fold, what might be a novel idea.

No matter who you support in this race and who you have donated money to. Chances are there is a lobbyist, PAC or special interest that has given more cash to your candidate than you did. Take a look at the top donors, especially in the Obama and Clinton campaigns. Do you think that Goldman Sacks, Big Pharma and Excelon energy have the same interests that you do? When your candidate gets elected whose calls do think they will be taking?

Clearly not yours...

...below the fold, what might be a novel idea.

The whole ActBlue issue was unfair. Most of us who made contributions early the process gave through ActBlue as a conduit. We are not happy that our contributions will not be matched. However, it also raises other oportunitiess that might actually be helpful...maybe.

The question is, if you gave money through ActBlue, and ActBlue is now considered a PAC contribution instead of our individual contributions to the campaign (which are not matched) does that mean that those contributions do not count towards the $2300 limit?

Does that mean that the well heeled among us who maxed out by giving $2300 through ActBlue have a clean slate so that another $2300 can be contributed directly to the Edwards Camp?

I'd love to hear from legal folks on this issue ( preferably not from the Obama or Clinton campaigns.)

Can we turn this negative into a positive?

TomP, Adam B and others, can you help us get answers on this, so we can sell our wealthier maxed out friends on sweetening the pot?

She said,

"You can DEMAND change"
"You can HOPE for change"
"Or you can work for Change"

DEMAND sounds pretty good to me.

I'm always struck by Barack Obama sniffing at the political battles that have been fought over the past 40 years. From what I can see, progressives have been battling the authoritarians for longer than that. Does he expect that the authoritarians and greedocrats are  just going to fold because he doesn't want to "(re)fight the battles of the 60s and 90s?" It is especially strange, because of all the candidates in the race, he has benefited the most from these battles. Especially battles of the 60s.

I, for one, want a democratic candidate that is ready to do battle against the dark forces (aka Republicans.)

Hillary had some history of fighting them up until 9/11. That's why they hated her in the 90s.

John Edwards has channeled his life experience, resources and talent into being the true next generation of progressive fighters. To even hear a democrat say the word "BOLD" and mean it is encouraging in party of Reid and Pelosi.

The battle rages on. Barack, if you don't want to fight the battles... then apply for a different job.

For years the medical profession has moaned about the high cost of malpractice insurance. In fact they often cite that as the reason that price of providing care is so high. The reality is that medical profession has been self-policing...and doing it rather badly.

From Tuesday's Washington Post

Study Finds Gaps Between Doctors' Standards and Actions
Physicians Think They Should Report Errors and Incompetence -- but Say They Often Do Not

More below the fold.

They used to talk about “Clinton Fatigue.” At least the press did “inside the beltway.” Meanwhile in the rest of the country there was no such thing. Bill Clinton remained engaged and popular to the last minutes of his term. But for the press, there was just no news once they ran out the Blue Dress storyline. The country felt relatively good and upbeat. There were problems still to be dealt with, but there was no “fatique” among the regular folk.