Barack Obama just accepted my invitation to get connected on the LinkedIn website!  Of course, I'm now just one of hundreds of his network connections, but the thrill of getting the email confirmation is undeniable.  But now, whenever anyone views my profile on the site, they'll see that I'm "connected" to the next president of the United States.  How cool is that?

This candidate and his campaign continue to amaze in the ways they not only understand modern reach-out techniques, but actually use them!

We're already familiar here on Daily Kos that Obama has reached out through this venue.  Now he's out there in the professional networking world as well.

I'm writing this diary as a solicitation for help in making a convincing argument to my right-wing father that he should vote for Barack Obama.  This will not be easy by any means.  My Dad has recently retired and spends most of his free time listening to Rush, watching O'Reilly, and cruising the web to pick up all the conservative talking points.  But I've had some recent email exchanges with him that suggest a crack in the shield - one permitted by John McCain not appealing to him enough (and my dad lives in Arizona, no less).

I am particularly looking for 2 things:  1) a list of policy positions that represent what Obama will change as President; and 2) position points related to Obama's openness to the issue of abortion.

This request is issued because I'm pressed for time while at work.  I could spend the time researching and compiling lists of positions, but I know I've read some incredible diaries and comments at this site featuring the great work of fellow Kossacks.  So if anyone reading this has quick access to such info, please post in the comments - I believe a catalog of position points such as we might assemble here could be valuable to many other people in my position.

This will be a brief diary - sorry.  But I just learned that I came within a city block of seeing Barack Obama today.

Of course, this isn't news, but this Crain's Business article will be of interest to my fellow Chicagoans.  Obama at Daley Plaza

We Obama supporters of the Windy City (and man, was it truly windy today - for real), have been loving the results of the past primaries and seeing so much of the rest of the country learn about our secret weapon.  But it's been at the cost of not having him around here much lately.

I haven't seen much discussion of this item here, and I think it should be noticed.  Apologies if this is already old news.

One of Hillary Clinton's, and now John McCain's, tactics to rile up their supporters is to decry overwhelming media bias.  Bill Clinton sure has weighed in on the issue, going so far as to claim a "cover-up".

But there's evidence now to the contrary.

I still believe Obama has a chance at cruising to a win in November, but it's going to take a lot more work than it ought to.  But if he loses, it will be Hillary's fault.

2008 should be our year - and not just a mere winning year, but an historic blowout, in-your-face save-the-world banner year.  But it may not turn out that way and the reason is clear.

As if she hasn't done enough to try to damage Barack Obama's chances (commander in chief threshold, Christian as far as I know, and the list goes on...), Hillary Clinton continues to inflict new wounds and tear off old scabs that are increasingly dividing the Democratic party.

She's sunk to using pathetic victimhood, ridiculously citing sexism, whining about biased media coverage (despite evidence to the contrary), accusing cover-ups, and decrying voter disenfranchisement.  All of these tactics have been attempts at convincing superdelegates that she should be the nominee.  Unfortunately, the end result is that her die-hard supporters are becoming more (and more rabidly) entrenched.

She claims that she will work her heart out for the party's eventual nominee.  She's already failed.