In the extended entry is the email I just receved from the Colorado Democratic Party.

To sum it up - there appears to be evidence that Marilyn Musgrave is running her congressional campaign out of her congressional office.  For example, she lists a suite that doesn't exist on her campaign literature.  However, it just so happens that this non-existant suite is in the same office building as her congressional office.

As most of us know, that's a BIG no no.

Inspired by Alexandra Kerry's hampster rescue story, my friend's brother-in-law built www.hamstersforkerry.com.  

Knowing full well they can only win if their ultra-right wing "I Can't Think For Myself" fanatical base comes out to support them in the fall, the GOP will rely on multiple anti gay-marriage amendments set to run on the ballots of up to 11 states, some of them key swing state, to bring in the votes for W.

Individuals who zealously come out to vote in favor of constitutional amendments banning gay marriage are NEVER going to be convinced to vote for John Kerry regardless of anything GW does so they are the perfect group to target in GOP GOTV efforts.  The NY Times could print pictures of GW and Osama in bed together and these guys would still vote for GW because "he's such a good man who doesn't believe in killing babies and wants to preserve families."

Attorney General Ken Salazar, the only state-wide elected Democrat in Colorado, has decided that he will run for Campbell's seat in the U.S. Senate. Rutt Bridges, who previously announced that he would run for the seat - but when Campbell was in the race - is going to drop his bid and endorse Salazar. In addition, many top Democrats in the state are also going to endorse Salazar at his official announcement later today ... but Mark Udall, the U.S. Representative who represents Boulder and a confirmed candidate for the seat as Tuesday, is going to stay in the race - which sets us all up for a big, unnecessary, primary battle.

Why doesn't Udall just defer to Salazar and keep his seat? It shouldn't be too difficult to keep, and would likely be easier to keep than running against whichever Republican decides to enter the race now that Owens is not running. Additionally, if Udall defers to Salarzar, Democrats can avoid a costly primary altogether and move on towards November.

Yesterday the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network called on lawmakers pursuing an amendment banning gay marriage to sign their fidelity pledge.  Putting in the long hours, RMPN discovered that...

...Focus on the Family has said, infidelity is a top threat to the institution of marriage,stated Huttner.  In September 2002, James Dobson, President of Focus on the Family, cited a study by the University of Oklahoma that included infidelity as a major threat to the institution of marriage.

 So maybe these lawmakers should instead propose a constitutional amendement banning infidelity instead of gay marriage if they really want to protect the institution of marriage?

... we've been through Gennifer Flowers - Clinton was still elected.

... we've been through Monica - and we found out that Newt wasn't too faithful either.

I'm honestly so sick of the infidelity "scandals" - if that is ALL they can find on Kerry, I'd be happy to elect him.

This is the smartest f*cking thing I've seen any of the campaigns do. It's so smart I'm almost willing to swear on Kos. The blog states:

By voting now, you won't have to do it on election day, when traffic, weather, work, illness or any other factor can make it difficult to reach the polls. Also, if you vote now, you can spend election day volunteering to help get out the vote.

More importantly, by voting now, Howard Dean has already secured votes no matter what happens with him or any of the other candidates between now and January 19th, January 27th, February 3, etc. It's an excellent strategy to defy a potential comeback by John Kerry or a strong showing by Wes Clark in the early primary states that increases his momentum. I'm dumbfounded why I don't see anything similar on the other campaigns' websites.

So this leads me to a discussion point: What do you think were some of the more "brilliant" campaign moves of this primary campaign thus far?  And while I'm sure we'll hear tons of Dean strategies, I'd really like to hear what you liked of the other campaigns ... because although one candidate will be the victor, they all did something smart along the way.

So what's Howard Dean, John Kerry, Wes Clark or John Edwards (among others...) going to do for me, the single person?

No announced candidate for President, of any political party, has specifically reached out to unmarried voters.  Some 35% of all voters in the 2000 presidential election were unmarried.  The 2004 candidates have outreach to women, seniors, families, racial and ethnic minorities, students, gays and lesbians.  What about us? www.singlesrights.com

Although I believe they are a legitimate organization, the website is kinda humorous and I encourage you to visit it.

Anyone slightly interested in the way Wal-Mart does business must read this article.

Here's a teaser:

A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles.

Wal-Mart priced it at $2.97--a year's supply of pickles for less than $3! "They were using it as a 'statement' item," says Pat Hunn, who calls himself the "mad scientist" of Vlasic's gallon jar. "Wal-Mart was putting it before consumers, saying, This represents what Wal-Mart's about. You can buy a stinkin' gallon of pickles for $2.97. And it's the nation's number-one brand."

Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world's largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement.

If you read through the entire article you'll see the connection to the title of this diary entry.

NY Times profiles some of the young campaign workers out in Iowa and uncovers some disturbingly friendly behavior :)

"We're all friends, despite what your boss might have done on Medicare," said Bill Burton, 26, the press spokesman for Representative Gephardt.

Great for unifying Democrats but a dangerous meme to the Republicans.  I think the Republicans are counting on us to eat ourselves alive, but an article like this shows Democrats across the country that, yes, we can get along - and it's already happening.

It's a pet peeve of mine - calling a cell phone that clearly has caller ID and not leaving a message.  What bugs me even more is when someone calls me twice in one night, from the same number, doesn't leave a message and now I have no frickin' clue who called.  So now I'm contemplating calling this number back and demanding the caller to identify him/herself.

Thoughts?

PS: Yeah, not so political ... but I'd like to take advantage of the polling option on kos' site :)

I'm a Clark supporter, but he's not my first choice for President.

I honestly wish that Kerry would have gotten his campaign's act together so he could have been the candidate to win the Democratic primary and go on to beat Bush. Kerry is smart.  Unlike most people, I like his nuanced reasons for voting for the Iraq resolution.  I think it demonstrates a thoughtfulness, attention to detail and reason that many of the other candidates lack.  I'm not attracted to the brash and sweeping anti-war rhetoric of other candidates because that wasted breath doesn't offer me solutions and it doesn't show me that the candidate really understands what is going on over there.  But, because of that nuanced and complicated answer that we all hate, I believe that Kerry gets it.

Unfortunately, Kerry's campaign is faltering.  There are many reasons for this, one reason likely being his complicated position on Iraq.  But I also believe that it is because his campaign was more interested in hiring hardened political-consultant types who chipped away at the excitment building in his campaign early on. They didn't let me get more excited.  They didn't let me do more.  They feared I would stray off-message.  

Well, I did go off-message. In fact, I strayed way off-message right into off-campaign to a candidate I felt had a better chance of winning because he had a better group of volunteers behind him and a staff that allows that group of volunteers to make a difference - Clark.

I wonder if there are others like me; people who support one candidate, but wish another candidate could get their act together.