Midday open thread

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday June 21, 2007 · 11:11 AM PDT

2007/06/21 · 11:11

Joe Lieberman is raising money for Republican Sen. Susan Collins today. Elise gives us the netroots' response on behalf of for her Democratic opponent Rep. Tom Allen. Contribute to Allen and send a big F.U. to Joe Lieberman.

SUSA polled Bloomberg's impact on the presidential race (iffy this far out, of course) in 16 states. They used hypothetical matchups between Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson (poor McCain, ignored), against Democrats Clinton and Obama. With few exceptions, Bloomberg helps Democrats -- flipping Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, and New Mexico. With Romney on the ticket for Republicans, Bloomberg could help Democrats pick up Alabama, Texas, and Virginia.
If Bloomberg and Unite08 want to give disaffected Republicans something else to vote for, then they can be my guest.

CBS and Fox refuse to air condom ad because the ad focuses on pregnancy prevention, not disease prevention. Amanda:

The networks are cowering because they’re scared to death of anti-choicers writing in and bitching about the idea that sluts should escape their due punishment for having sex. Make no mistake, this is not about the fetuses. Not even the most crazy anti-choicer can convince himself that condoms kill babies. The idea of preventing unwanted pregnancy—and therefore preventing abortion, actually—is the source of the angst. Once more with feeling: It’s not about the babies, it’s about punishing women for having sex.

IL-10: 2006 Netroots candidate Dan Seals, who came tantalizingly close to winning his race against Mark Kirk, is making another go of it.

FL-08: Republican Ric Keller, who barely survived in 2006, has an even tougher slog in 2008.

The Tour de France brings out fans that otherwise ignore the rest of the cycling season. If you're one of those, make Podium Cafe your tour hangout, and join the free Tour "fantasy" game. Damn I love cycling!

Speaking of cycling, I was out on a short training ride yesterday (22 flat miles) when a big-ass rottweiler ran onto the path I was on. We collided hard, even though I had braked hard to avoid the collision. So I'm all bruised and scraped up because someone didn't keep his dog leashed as required by local regulations.
Let me tell you, it wasn't fun having a rott growling and barking angrily at me as I tried to pick myself up.

A week from today my wife and I will be schlepping two kids on our way to Germany. I want to get excited about the trip (three weeks to Germany and Greece), but I'm actually terrified. This sort of trip was much more fun before having small children.