Last night Barack Obama made history by becoming the nominee of the Democratic Party. We will all celebrate what this means for our country and our future.  Surely in the hours to come we will send millions of dollars into the Obama campaign to make sure that he can take the fight to John McCain...but for a second I would also ask you to think about the long-term progressive future of our country.  

Follow me for more...

Tonight as Barack Obama makes history by becoming the nominee of the Democratic Party we will all celebrate what this means for our country and our future.  Surely in the 24 hours to come we will send millions of dollars into the Obama campaign to make sure that he can take the fight to John McCain...but for a second I would also ask you to think about the long-term progressive future of our country.  For over 2 years I have been working with the Democratic Youth Strategy Council to build a revolutionary tool to empower young people to run for office, and it is here!  Tonight, while we all celebrate the potential for a brighter future, will you make an investment in the long-term future of our democracy by supporting our effort to encourage and empower young people to run for office?
CONTRIBUTE

Follow me for more...

I spent four months in 2006 studying abroad in Havana, Cuba.  

For the past half century America has held the same stubborn and dramatically unsuccessful position on Cuba.  John McCain said today that Obama meeting with Raul Castro "would send the worst possible signal to Cuba's dictators – there is no need to undertake fundamental reforms, they can simply wait for a unilateral change in US policy."  For the past 50 years America has in fact sent the signal with the embargo that Castro will never face serious reform efforts from the United States because no matter how unsuccessful, American politicians will pathetically pander to a radical interest group in Florida, supporting a policy that actually greatly helps the Castro regime.  

"Decisive", "Impressive", "Big Win"   That’s what the pundits are saying.  Obama can’t win the big states they say- except Virginia and Illinois and Georgia.  Obama can’t win swing states they say- except Iowa and Missiouri and Colorado.  
You think this is a big win, pundits?

I’ll show you a big win.....

Tomorrow Gen. Petraeus is testifying before Congress.  With the mainstream media for the most part, and certainly the U.S. media and political leaders having completely forgotten about the deteriorating condition of women's rights in Iraq, and new evidence that the U.S. is SUPPORTING groups that abuse and kill Iraqi women, let's send the Senate committees a message.  Below the jump is the contact info for the Sen. Foreign Relations Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and my draft email.

With an unexpected win in Maine today, it is becoming less and less likely that this contest will go to the convention for a few important reasons.  By my projections (which are probably overly-generous to Clinton) when the whole process plays out, Obama will have won 33 states and D.C. to Hillary Clinton’s 14 states (excluding Michigan, Florida, and the still undecided New Mexico)and has the potential to wrap it up at four critical points...  

Barack Obama is on the verge of a major win in South Carolina and with some momentum and some good press, he may have a stronger than expected finish on February 5th, but he has to do something first.  Without winning a substantial part of the Latino vote, there is no way Obama can win this race.  After a win in SC due in large part to heavy African-American support, he must prepare a major address to Latino voters between tomorrow and February 5th.

John Edwards' campaign manager David Bonoir was just interview on MSNBC.  Towards the end of the interview while he was beign questioned about the Edwards strategy of staying in until the convention, Bonoir responded with two explanations.  First, he said that Edwards needs to stay in the race because he is and has been the one pushing the policy agenda on the Democratic side.  When he was asked why he was staying in when collecting a few hundred delegates wouldn't be enough to win, he gave a very revealing answer...  

Do endorsements matter?  Maybe not, but big political or even celebrity endorsements do one very important thing...direct media attention to a candidate.  Whether or not Oprah herself actually convinced people to go for Obama can be argued, but there is no question that the media used it to fit into the new storyline of Obama’s momentum.   With three weeks left, candidates are desperate for every second of air time...will any of these important progressive figures help them out?

At this time 4 years ago we all know that Howard Dean was the overwhelming frontrunner among the Democratic candidates.  A month before the Iowa caucus Howard Dean had a lead in every single state being polled.  Four years later, those who wish to avoid a Hillary Clinton nomination have been praying for several things: that once the voters got to know her better they would turn away, that once we got past name-recognition-only polling she would fade, or maybe that the excitement of an Obama candidacy and the desire for change would overpower the "experience" factor.  If you are a Hillary supporter you are thrilled that she has held strong this long with the steady hands of political hacks...I mean "operatives."      

The mainstream media, which we all know can’t get enough of the horse race, also can’t stay on the same story for too long.  The insurgent Dean who burst onto the national scene and changed the way politics is done was a good story...for a year. And so is the infallible Hillary Clinton.  But it won’t last. The media is LOOKING...BEGGING for a change in narrative.  Any story, no matter how insignificant could be the match that lights the fuse... and it could happen any day now.

We just went through 120 minutes of a Presidential debate amongst DEMOCRATS with hardly a mention of one of the single most important issues facing our country, education.  Our public schools are the front line in the fight for progress.  They represent the single greatest hope of solving the long term issues we face in climate change, energy independence, a strong economy, and a moral foreign policy. We heard the candidates discuss how they would use Bill Clinton in their administration and answer abstract hypotheticals, but only when candidates were asked what they would do in their first 100 days was education even raised, albeit briefly, as an issue.  CNN and the mainstream media along with each and every candidate need to be held accountable.  

follow me over the fold...

When John Edwards launched his Presidential campaign he asserted that we could not wait until 2008 for change, and that his campaign would not just be about changing presidents but would take real action to change America starting now.  "Tomorrow Begins Today" he said.  In the most effective combination of issues and inspiration in a long time, he has proved he knows how to walk the walk.  A new effort launched today to combat climate change shows that unique ability.  

Today as I was making the rounds meeting the new Senators at their respective open house swearing-in ceremonies, I ran into Paul Begala.  I was making my way into the new Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey’s celebration at the Hyatt in downtown D.C. when I spotted Begala, the former Clinton aide.  I was going to just politely greet him and shake his hand, but I had an attack of conscience.  After all that Begala and Carville have done to undermine Gov. Dean’s efforts at the DNC, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  "I hope you will support the 50-state strategy," I told him, expecting the shrug off or a "nice to meet you too," but that isn’t what Begala had in mind.  

There has been a lot of talk in the last couple of days about the macro factors that were at play in the midterm elections.  The Democratic takeover was certainly due in large part to discontent over the Iraq war and the culture of corruption in Washington, but it would be a mistake not to acknowledge the massive changes that have taken place in the Democratic Party over the last two years.

follow me over the flip..

"Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good." Ultimately our system needs major reform, and the work that the Left does to advance the public debate and call for real change is a worthy effort.  But we face real choices on November 7th with real consequences.  We also are presented with an opportuity not just to elect a Democratic House but a Democratic House led by true progressives.  This is why the the left should vote with Democrats on November 7th...    

It's time for a new national youth strategy.

The Democrats have been flat out getting beat by the Republicans for years now in finding, empowering, and breeding their young talent.  Even though most young people continue to be Democrats, and Kerry's share of the youth vote crushed Gore's performance in 2000, the Democrats aren't taking advantage of the shift.  Young people today care deeply about their communities, volunteering in record numbers, but they aren't convinced that politics is the way to create the change they wish to see.  

I am proposing a new national youth strategy for the Democratic Party and progressive movement and I need your help-

Finally, the Democratic Party is back.  Since Gov. Howard Dean has taken over the party there have been many substantial and ground breaking changes that have gone unnoticed in the mainstream media.  

I will prove with research that not only has every Dean "gaffe" been vindicated by either fact or American public opinion, but on nearly every single issue, Dean's policy positions are unquestionably directly in the mainstream of American thought.  
Read on... And see [ Scott for America www.scottforamerica.com ]