Too Progressive

Not like it’s a big surprise or anything.  David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch does make an excellent point, though:

According to the group’s analysis, 124 fundraisers have raised money for both Bush and McCain. These former Pioneers and Rangers have raised a minimum of $25.95 million for McCain’s presidential campaign, the analysis found.

“Senator McCain has been working hard to distance himself from an unpopular president, but he is relying on the same network of big money donors and fundraisers in his run for the White House,” said David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch. “Given that McCain and Bush have both pulled water from the same well, it’s hard to see how he would pursue policies other than those that have handsomely rewarded Bush’s donors over the past eight years.”

“I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife.” - John McCain

It’s supposed to be funny.  It’s supposed to be witty.  It sometimes plays on the dimwitted people it’s making fun of.  That having been said, can everyone (especially Democrats, because we’re smarter than this) please cease with the calls for boycotts and chemical warfare against The New Yorker over a satirical image (pictured right) that appears on the cover of the magazine’s current issue.  Please?  Seriously, when I first heard about the “mass outrage” over this, the first thing I thought of was the woman (seen below) who stood in front of McPherson Square metro last Summer protesting after an article in The Onion claimed that the U.S. planned to re-hang Saddam Hussein.  Are you all really that dimwitted?

All I have to say to John McCain and the Republican party is please make this happen so I can watch Obama and the DNC have a field day as they easily roll over the McCain/Cantor ticket on November 4.  Like McCain, Cantor has been in virtual lock-step with George Bush and also likes to tout his pretend foreign policy experience as if he’s actually ever done anything useful while serving in Washington.  Not only that, but Cantor is also a known bff of the Cheney family and he even operates his own PAC, creatively (and hilariously) named “ERIC” or “Every Republican Is Crucial.”  Seriously.

Read more after the jump including details on just who is behind the push to get Cantor on the ticket (HINT: K STREET)!!

Check out the new Quinnipiac “swing state” poll which shows Barack Obama leading John McCain in arguably three of the most important swing states: Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio!  Also worth noting is the fact that the poll found putting Hillary Clinton on the Obama  ticket does not help Democrats.

Obama Leads McCain In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll Finds; Clinton On The Ticket Does Not Help Dems — FLORIDA: Obama 47 - McCain 43; OHIO: Obama 48 - McCain 42; PENNSYLVANIA: Obama 52 - McCain 40

With strong support from women, blacks and younger voters, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the apparent Democratic presidential contender, leads Arizona Sen. John McCain, expected to be the Republican candidate, among likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to simultaneous Quinnipiac University Swing State polls released today.

This is the first time Sen. Obama has led in all three states. No one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the Electoral College. Results from the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University polls show:

• Florida: Obama edges McCain 47 - 43 percent;
• Ohio: Obama tops McCain 48 - 42 percent;
• Pennsylvania: Obama leads McCain 52 - 40 percent.

The article goes on to further address the issue of whether or not to put Hillary Clinton on the Democratic ticket:

“If Sen. Obama seriously is thinking about picking Sen. Clinton as his running mate, these numbers might cause him to reconsider. The people who really matter come November - independent voters - turn thumbs down on the idea. And, many say they are less likely to vote for him if he puts her on the ticket,” Brown added.

You know the Republican party is in trouble when John McCain only leads Barack Obama by six points in one of the most reliably red states in the country. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released today McCain would beat Obama by a 50-44 margin in Mississippi. In 2004 George Bush won the state by a 20 point margin defeating John Kerry 60-40 and a Democrat hasn’t won the state since Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in 1976.

Now obviously this doesn’t mean (nor do I honestly believe) that Obama will carry the state, but to be so far out and only trail McCain in Mississippi by six points, I’d say Obama has a healthy shot at swiping the state from Republicans in November!

And really, the only question left now is who will Obama pick as his running mate.

Ooooops! Wow, just wow.

Barack Obama delivers yet another inspiring speech to a crowd of 8,000 last night in Evansville, Indiana:

CNN is now projecting that Hillary Clinton will, as expected win the state of Pennsylvania. What remains to be seen though (and perhaps the bigger story of the evening) is exactly how large her margin of victory will be. As I said in my earlier post, Clinton was expected to win tonight but as long as Obama doesn’t lose by any more than 10 points it’s a victory for him considering Clinton was 20+ points ahead just a couple of weeks ago.

10:00pm UPDATE: Clinton leading 54-46 with 49% reporting.

10:19pm UPDATE: Clinton is currently speaking to supporters in Philadelphia. With 66% of precincts reporting she is still leading Obama 54-46.

10:45pm UPDATE: As Obama begins to address supporters in Evansville, Indiana he still trails 54-46 with 78% of precincts reporting in PA.

12:03am UPDATE: Clinton now leading 55-45 with 96% reporting. CNN currently has Clinton taking 52 PA delegates (1,556 total) while Obama is carrying 46 PA delegates (1,694 total).

Considering the source I have my doubts, but if it’s true tonight could be a very interesting night.  According to ABC News exit polls Clinton is carrying the white vote 60-40 while Obama is carrying the black vote 92-8.  At the same time Clinton is carrying the female vote 55-44 and Obama is carrying the male vote 53-47.  In addition more than six in 10 Pennsylvania voters decided on their candidate more than a month ago.

Despite all the down-to-the-wire campaigning, preliminary exit poll results indicate that nearly eight in 10 Pennsylvania voters made up their minds at least a week ago, and six in 10 decided on their candidate more than a month ago — a higher number of early deciders than the norm in Democratic primaries to date.

As far as campaigning, many discern a negative tone — and more blame it on Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., than on Barack Obama, D-Ill. Two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters in preliminary exit poll results say Clinton attacked Obama unfairly; fewer, but still about half, also say Obama unfairly attacked Clinton.

In other primaries to date, similarly, more saw Clinton than Obama as having attacked unfairly. The difference in Pennsylvania, these preliminary results suggest, is that voters there are more critical of both candidates.

Clinton will likely win tonight but as long as Obama doesn’t lose by any more than 10 points it’s a victory for him considering Clinton was 20+ points ahead just a couple of weeks ago.

Check this out via USA Today:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain had income of $405,409 in 2007 and $358,414 in 2006, his campaign just announced — figures that do not reflect the wealth of his wife, Cindy, but rather focus on his earnings as a U.S. senator, author, Social Security recipient and U.S. Navy veteran who receives a pension.

Wait, what!? By no means has McCain broken the law here, but considering the fact that he is making over $400,000 a year, is married to a multi-millionaire (not to mention a thief and pill popper) and is also a Republican who advocated for private savings accounts as a means of shoring up the looming Social Security shortfall, doesn’t this make him just a bit of a HYPOCRIT!?

Just a day after Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy seemingly “nudged” Hillary Clinton out of the race for fear of dividing the party ahead of a general election fight against John McCain, Barack Obama said Hillary Clinton “can run as long as she wants.”

“She should be able to compete, and her supporters should be able to support her as long as they are willing or able,” Obama said.

Obama said the notion that the party is divided is “somewhat overstated.” But he said Democrats must pivot quickly to the general election after the primary contests end in June.

VA-02 is, in my opinion, one of our best chances to pickup a congressional seat in Virginia and as Lowell pointed out early last week, the DCCC agrees. Let’s help VA-02 elect Glenn Nye and thereby put one of America’s worst public servants in the unemployment line!

From a message I received this morning on Facebook from Glenn Nye:

Friends,

March 31st is an extremely important deadline for Glenn’s Campaign–its the day he has to file his first fundraising report! Thelma Drake, our opponent, had Dick Cheney host a fundraiser for her, but we can win if YOU help.

Can you contribute $25 or $15 or even $5?

http://glennnye.com/contributions

We’ve been seeing it a lot this year, time and again–change begins when we all work together. Small donations, when lots of committed people stand as one voice, can beat the rich and powerful.

Can you get five friends to contribute $5?

http://glennnye.com/contributions

Thank you for your interest in changing America, and for supporting our campaign.

-Glenn Nye

Oh this is rich. In a speech earlier today outlining his foreign policy positions John “INSANE” McCain is calling for a new “League of Democracies” to advance so called “western values” (bigotry, hatred, 100 to 10,000 years of glorious war in Iraq, etc. etc.) and also said he wants to explore a new free-trade agreement with the EU.

“We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact — a League of Democracies — that can harness the vast influence of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests,” McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

I realize this story is a few days old, but in light of Hillary Clinton speaking out against Barack Obama’s pastor recently, I think it’s definitely worth reading, rereading and passing around.

There’s a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she’s a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that “through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the “Fellowship,” aka the Family. But it won’t be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet’s shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

[I tried posting this last night before I went out but unfortunately Dreamhost is doing some upgrades and I’ve been having spotty access. I realize it will probably show up a little late but, bare with me here. ]

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson endorses Barack Obama at a rally in Portland, Oregon:

Chris Wallace accuses Fox news of Obama bashing and distorting statements made by the Democratic Presidential front runner:

Via News Hounds:

This could be exactly what it seems to be, a difference of opinion. But knowing that FOX is so carefully messaged and controlled top-down, it could also be a staged event to reinforce the faux notion that Chris Wallace is independent. Were the three stooges set up? In any event, it was refreshing and anything but par for the course.