On Sunday I found out that an Obama campaign office in my home state of New Mexico did not have the supplies it needed for its open house this next Saturday.  I don't know the reasons for the lack of supplies but knew instantly that I had to do something.  

Being that this is the most important election of our lives helping them out was the only thing I could do.  And I did it with my head held high.

With some schmoozing and networking I was able to get some Obama placards and buttons printed...and in time for their grand opening.

As an immigrant to this country over 15 years ago, I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the American people.....

Michelle Malkin published a hit piece on Obama's proposed social renewal plan for America, and how he intends to serve the needs of the least of us here in America. In the process, she revealed herself to be the racist, classist bitch that she is.

Okay, the background. Mark Warner is immensely popular in Virginia. He was extremely solid on the economy, tax policy, and fiscal responsibility check this right-slanted info. He has taken himself out of the race, but this may be all about dragging the process out long enough that he cannot remove his name from the VA-Sen ballot. In Virginia, you can have your name on the ballot for two positions, sorry I can't find the link I saw earlier today. Follow me below for more speculation.

We all hate how the results of the 2004 Presidential election came to pass.

We are all working hard to make sure that result is not repeated in 2008.

I think I've found something cool that could help Democrats and progressives everywhere visualize what could be in 2008.

More after the jump.

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters announced today that it is supporting Barack Obama, with just about everyone else in the United States union movement. This is clearly excellent news, at least for me. On this eve before a vacay, I thought to leave a diary entry around this news and how labor, sometimes seen as a house divided, is coming together in a big way to support who I hope will be the next president of my country.

Please read on, and enjoy some good news for a change.

For those who want some comfort in this apparently tightening race, take heart that McCain seems to consistently poll below 50% in general election matchups with Obama in his home state.  This is rather pathetic for someone who served as Arizona's senator for over 20 years.  He should be coasting away to victory in his home state.  But alas, no...

    Seth Colter Walls has a fascinating article over at HuffPo, entitled

Richard Clarke: "Quick Draw John" McCain Wanted War Before Bush Did

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

    Former NSC advisor to the Bush administration, Richard Clarke, dubbed John McCain "Quick Draw John" for his eagerness to go to war with Iraq in the days right after 9-11 -- even before Bush had made up his mind.  

   The Walls article is filled with interesting tidbits relating to a campaign conference call focusing on national security. But the money quote is the moniker "Quick Draw John", which sounds like something we want to keep repeating every time McCain's experience is mentioned.

With all the hand-wringing about polls and Mccain attacks, I thought about how to "re-frame" McCain's "judgment' argument with an ad.  McCain has been successful in focusing the Iraq judgment question on the last two years.  It's time to smack him hard on his original judgments about the war in the first place.  

With the latest NBC/WSJ and CBS/NYT polls showing Obama trending down , it MUST be obvious to everyone NOW , Obama's VP can not be based solely on governing , but also on who can help him the most among specific consituencies and swing states.

Because we need a lift.

lynchburg, virginia

Has anyone else noticed how brilliantly Obama is employing a rope-a-dope strategy?

This week, everyone is aflutter because he's down in the polls and not hitting back hard enough. McCain appears able to hit Obama again and again and again without any sustained blow-back. While McCain's numbers aren't rising (he's been stuck below 44% for 3 months now), Obama's numbers have "tanked" from 51 to 47. Everyone from every corner is, for lack of a more artful way to put it, freaking out.

I just opened an email from former U.S. President Bill Clinton with an invitation to "join Hillary and me in Denver next week for a truly exciting and historic convention."

Bill Clinton, who has never publicly endorsed Senator Barack Obama, used the email to solicit financial donations to help retire his wife's campaign debts. In that vein, the former President mentioned "Hillary" a total of 6 times in a 309 word communication.

In the email, President Clinton recounted the many roles he's played over the years at Democratic National Conventions. He stressed that Hillary is  going to continue fighting for the issues we all care about going forward and emphasized her need for ongoing support in the future.

A great and inspiring congresswoman was lost today, Stephanie Tubbs Jones. The first African American woman to be in the congress from Ohio. She may not have been a Barack supporter, but I hope that everyone will take a moment to think about the enormous loss we have all sustained. She was a true democrat, opposed to the war, and a real person, who really cared about the people in her district.

I hope we can all take time over the next couple of days to remember her. An intelligent woman, who went to soon.

Former Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurzer went to Syria last month for a conference sponsored by Law Society of England and Wales and the American Bar Association and arranged by the British Syrian Society.

So what? Right? Kurzer is on the board of the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative, which focuses on countries that have less than ideally transparent judiciaries. So it seeems like it might be appropriate.

Except, OH NOES, he is an advisor to Barack Obama. Let's be clear, yes he does advise Obama,as do many, but he was not there on behalf of Obama or the campaign. Nonetheless, that concept was the theme of a phone call by Rudy Giuliani and Randy Scheunemann this morning where they wondered why in the world is happeneing, and why isn't being questioned more and....

The Democratic National Committee announced today that it was replacing its Keynote Speaker slot from Gov. Mark Warner (VA) to Congressman Dennis Kucinich (OH).

DNC spokesperson Mary Thorne spoke at a hastily arranged press conference Wednesday evening. "Senator Obama, whom you all know is our almighty boss and we have to do whatever he says, gave the order this afternoon. "We are simply following Senator McCain's precedent of giving the Keynote Address to the fifth place challenger in the primaries. Rudy Giuliani finished behind McCain, Huckabee, Romney, and Paul. Likewise, Kucinich finished behind Obama, Clinton, Edwards, and Richardson.

John McCain is scoring points on Barack Obama by touting the alleged "success" of the "surge," and Obama is reduced to arguing that there hasn't been "political reconciliation" in Iraq, and that the U.S. should be focusing on escalating (a word he avoids, just as Bush and McCain avoided using it with respect to Iraq) the war in Afghanistan, and increasing the U.S. response to Iran (where Obama continues to lie by claiming that "Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons") and Russia (where Obama also lies by claiming that "There is no possible justification for Russia’s actions" - he should read this article by a Canadian professor of philosophy if he's looking for a "possible justification") and Pakistan.

That will mark next week.  We will not only be making our case as Democrats for why we should be the majority party in the White House, but also we will be celebrating the first woman in history to win a primary and the first African-American to be a party's nominee.  Our children and our children will read about this historic moment.

But what would make next week remarkable all the more special is if the Obama campaign adopts syndicated columnist Mark Shields's idea: