Countdown Calendar

Joe The Plumber's Day Off

The Cliffs Notes Candidate

If there was ever a candidate that was in way over their head, Sarah Palin is it. No response is too vapid, cliche, or simplistic for her.

"John McCain is a maverick because people call him a maverick."
"I have foreign policy experience because my state is next door to Russia."

And from her painfully inept interview with Katie Couric, when asked about the Russia/Alaska/Foreign Policy issue, here was her response:

"It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to, to our state."

Last time I checked, the only areas of Russia that are close to Alaska are barely inhabited. In fact, Russia's national governmental seat is in MOSCOW, which is actually in EUROPE not ASIA! 4300 miles from Wasilla, Alaska. I doubt very seriously that the Alaska Air National Guard is regularly on the lookout for Russian diplomatic flights over Palin's home town.

TDS - Best F***ing News Team Ever

Wide Stance Larry should be proud!

Watch the Republicans devour their own.

Nothing like party unity at the convention.
I guess Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy didn't get the memo.

Wasilla City Hall - a major metropolitan stopping point.

It's One Stop Shopping at the new Wasilla City Hall.
Come down and get your film developed, checks cashed... heck, we even have a new Hot Dog on a Stick!

Sarah Palin's VAST knowledge of Vice Presidential Duties

Presidential Summer Vacations

Election Day is coming!

Larry Craig and his nozzle are at it again!

Larry Craig once again puts his nozzle in his mouth with his excellent choice of words.

Mark Sanford on McBush's stance on NAFTA

Governor Mark Sanford eloquently describes the MANY differences between John McCain and George Bush, and cites NAFTA as a prime example!

McCain - Distancing himself from Bush... REALLY?

John McCain likes to claim that he has fought the Bush Administration on key issues... like global warming...

McClellan to testify this week

Let's see if Scott McClellan can shed any light on the corruption within the White House. My guess is that it will be somewhat insightful, but will come up far short in revealing the smoking gun we all know is hidden under Bush's pillow.

From The Public Record:
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s testimony later this week before the House Judiciary Committee promises to reignite the debate over the “16 words” in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address that claimed Iraq tried to purchase 500 tons of yellowcake uranium from Niger, and how the White House’s aggressive effort to defend the bogus intelligence lead to the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Read on...

McCain Campaign Leads Relief Efforts For Unemployed Lobbyists

Unconfirmed Sources reports:
McCain "Struggling Lobbyists Need Our Help!"(Washington D.C.) Ucs News- Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain Announced Sunday his campaign would help organize a relief fund for Washington lobbyists "cast aside" by the Obama campaign and Democratic National Committee. "In these tough economic times the high living K-Street lobbyists should not be made to suffer." Said McCain.
Read on...

Gas prices - Thru the Roof!!!

Gas prices keep shooting up and up and up...

Ventura Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com

Wondertwin Obamas

The real meaning behind the 'Obama Fist Bump'

Do the math...

I've taken a look at the three scenarios for how the Florida and Michigan delegates could have been split up. In NONE of the scenarios is Hillary even close to getting a majority, let alone within 150 delegates of Obama's totals. In fact, in both Scenario 1 and 3, Obama would have the requisite delegates as of last night. In Scenario 2, which is the most favorable to Clinton, Obama receives NO delegates from Michigan, yet he is within 45 delegates, where Clinton is still just below 200 delegates away. So anyone claiming that the Rules Committee stole this election from Clinton is living in a fantasy world.

Click on the list below to take a closer look at my data:

OBAMA WINS!

Dozens of superdelegates hopped on the bandwagon and endorsed Barack Obama today, speeding the freight train down the tracks. Just before the South Dakota polls closed, Barack needed just four delegates, which he easily received. Look for Montana to add another 9 delegates to his count, and by morning look for most of the remaining superdelegates to endorse Obama.

It's now midnight on the East Coast. Obama has run up his delegate total to more than 2150. Clinton stands more than 230 delegates behind Obama and nearly 100 short of the 2118 threshold, and yet she still refuses to concede.

Tenacity is one thing. Insanity is another. Now, I don't think she is insane, so she must be angling for something... whether it be the Vice Presidency, or something else. She has to get this issue settled this week and let the Democratic party move on to the General Election and beating John McCain.

Here's how the networks score it:

MSNBC:
Obama: 2156
Clinton: 1933

CNN:
Obama: 2156
Clinton: 1923

Fox:
Obama: 2154
Clinton: 1919

ABC:
Obama: 2154
Clinton: 1916

CBS:
Obama: 2154
Clinton: 1926

McCain's Lobbyists

John McCain, the 'maverick' Republican Presidential candidate, claimed that lobbyists should not have any part of a political campaign. "Registered lobbyists who work for campaigns as fundraisers clearly represent a conflict of interest," McCain said in 1996. "When a campaign employs an individual who also lobbies that member, the perception of undue and unfair influence is raised."

Flash forward to 2008. Here's a list of the McCain lobbyists who currently work, or have up until recently been working on his campaign staff. I'll be taking a closer look at these people over the coming weeks.

McCain's Inner Circle. Click on the links, these guys actually advertise that they are lobbyists on the McCain payroll!

• Rick Davis: McCain Campaign Director
• Lobbying connections:
  
• David Manafort, Inc. (Lobbying firm, founder)
  
• COMSAT
• SBC Communications
  

• Wayne Berman: National Finance Committee Co-Chair & Senior Adviser
• Lobbying connections:
• Ogilvy Government Relations (Lobbyist and Managing Director)
  
• Carlyle Group
• Citigroup
• Airbus
  

• Charlie Black: Chief Political Adviser
• Lobbying connections:
• BKSH & Associates (Chairman)
  
• General Motors
• United Technologies
• JP Morgan
• AT&T
  

• David Crane: Senior Political Adviser
• Lobbying connections:
• Quadripoint Strategies (Lobbyist and President)
• Bank of America
• Financial Services Roundtable
• US Chamber of Commerce
  

• Mike Dennehy: National Political Director
• Lobbying Connections:
• The Dennehy Group (Founder)
  

Other lobbyist/campaign members:
Carlos Bonilla
Tom Loeffler
Wiliam Ball
Susan Nelson
James Courter
Anthony Villamil
Christian Ferry
James Rill
John Green
John Timmons
Brian Ballard

Grant Aldonas
Nancy Pfotenhauer
Jerry Kilgore
Slade Gorton
Joseph Wright
Richard Zimmer
Don Sunquist
William Hilleary
Aquiles Suarez
Matt Salmon
Robert Aiker
Kirk Blalock
Timothy McCone

Other notables:
Vicki Iseman
Lowell 'Bud' Paxson

05/28/08 Midday Blog

It's been rather quiet on the delegate front since last week.
Obama has pulled a few more delegates his way. Hillary - not so many.
The way it currently stands is as follows:

Obama:
1661 pledge delegates
317 superdelegates
1978 total delegates

Clinton:
1499 pledge delegates
281 superdelegates
1780 total delegates

Remaining:
86 pledge delegates
198 superdelegates
7 pledge delegates previously awarded to Edwards
291 total delegates available


Obama should pull about 35 of the remaining pledge delegates to Clinton's 52 over the final three primaries. That would give Obama AT LEAST 2013 delegates, and only needing 13 of the superdelegates to flip his way... this is assuming that he gets no additional superdelegates between now and next Tuesday. My guess is that he will get another 5 or so superdelegates... but as he gets closer, many will jump on the bandwagon to be the one to 'put him over the top'

Again, Clinton continues on her demands to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates. There is a hearing this weekend that will hopefully put this issue to rest once and for all. Regardless of the outcome, it will at least let us move on to other issues. My guess is that some of those state delegates will be seated. How many, remains to be seen. Even if all were seated per the primary distributions for those states, Obama would be about 50 shy vs. Clinton over 200 away from the nomination.