After what seems a victory in Nevada, Hillary now has the momentum.  It is an exciting time for her campaign and supporters.    

I am happy that these races have been tight as it is better for our democracy.   I hope to see South Carolina tightened as well even though Obama will likely win anyways.

It seems with these tighten races the candidates have to expose themselves more and put themselves out there.

John Fout, the political correspondent for the street, has a review on last nights debate.    The Street: "Clinton Shines In Vegas". He discusses the canidates positions on economic, energy and foreign policies.  

First off I am a supporter of Clinton's, but it seems evident to me she had very strong showing in the debate last night and had a very good command of the subject matter.  

It appears the debate forum of smaller group, more discussion providing more detail conversations suits her very well.

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A good article by Joe Scarborough in the Washington Monthly. I myself being a fiscal conservative am totally on board with Joe on his points here.

'http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/...

more on flip ....

Incase you were interested in how the GOP is spinning censure...

Feingold wants to censure Bush - and personally believes it's impeachable - for, at worst, an excess of diligence in protecting the country from terrorists who have vowed to kill millions of us if they can. This is scarcely a 'high crime' or even a 'crime.'

See GOP website for more: NEWS http://www.gop.com/...

From the weekly standard....

CHANGE THE SUBJECT

POLITICS IS PRETTY SIMPLE. If the debate in an upcoming election puts your party at a disadvantage, it makes sense to try to change the debate. At the moment, the 2006 midterm election is framed as a referendum on the Bush administration and congressional Republicans, putting Republican candidates on the defensive. Party strategists, led by chairman Ken Mehlman, want to rejigger the debate so it's about a choice between candidates, putting Democratic candidates on the defensive as well. In short, they want it to be a choice election, not a referendum election.

more ....

I know many are excited about what Feingold did in the Senate well this week.  He does have priciples no one is condeming that.  I think you need to decide what your goal is right now though.  Is it to win back the Senate Majority (Harry Reids Job) or is it to shake up the party and lose seats in the process?

What Feingold did he should do campaigning.  He didn't have to go to the well of the senate and put fellow Democrats in a difficult situation.  If he wanted to shake up the party then he should have lobbied his caucus, or went to the media, but to "Get them on record" is absolutely the wrong thing to do.  These other senators may be playing it safe because that is what the need to do to WIN or retain their seats.

Here is an intelligent article on the subect from New Republic.   NRO LINK:  http://www.tnr.com/...
 More under the fold ...

E. J. Dionne Jr. of the Washington Post does a good job of laying out the dilema the Feingold censure causes in the party. Excerpt below ...

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For two decades, Republicans have used their idealists, their ideologues and their loudmouths to push the boundaries of discussion to the right. In the best of all worlds, Feingold's strong stand would redefine what's "moderate" and make clear that those challenging the legality of the wiretapping are neither extreme nor soft on terrorism.

That would demand coordination, trust and, yes, calculation involving both the vote-counting politicians and the guardians of principle among the activists. Republicans have mastered this art. Democrats haven't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

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Unfortunately there is no suggestions in the article on fixing the problem.  Other then trusting the leadership and caucus to figure things out (which may be the best option) I am curious what some thoughts are on helping the process along (sooner the better).

This is my first diary.  

I have been giving a lot of thought to the political strategies the  Republican Party employs. In particular I wanted to talk about how they play to their religious base.

What is obvious is they excite their religious base by taking their position on social issues (i.e. Gay Marriage and Abortion) in order to get them to the polls.  What I find incredible once elected they do little more then pay lip service.