Daffodil Lane

May 1, 2007

Blue Sparks Launches as Discontent with Sessions Grows

An interesting website to say the least. The Alabama Senate race for 2008 has started to gain a lot of blogger attention over the last month or so. The rise of Ron Sparks as the logical successor to the failed tenure of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III has started circulating around the country and in Alabama itself. It was only a matter of time before an unofficial blog popped up.

For those of you who don't know Ron Sparks is the Agriculture Commissioner of Alabama. He's term limited, but extremely popular for a Democrat in a blood red state like Alabama. (In the last election he won 59-41). He has the one skill that seems beyond the realm for your average Republican candidate for office, competence.

What's been amazing is that Commissioner Sparks has seen the potential of giving Alabamians real representation in Congress and being the dedicated public servant that he is, he sees the damage being done by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III. Despite the commonly held belief by Republicans that they own the Red States, the reality is that if they want real representation of their interests they are going to have to send Democrats to represent them.

[via Sack Sessions]

Read more over at Blue Sparks.

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February 14, 2007

Al Franken's In!

Check out Al's campaign website here.

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February 10, 2007

Sen. Johnson is asking for updates from his staff

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) is requesting more contact with his office and asking for updates from his staff as he continues to recover from an injury to his brain.

"Senator Johnson is actively making decisions about his healthcare and expressing his opinions about his daily activities," said a statement from Philip Marion, medical director for the Department of Rehabilitative Medicine at George Washington University Hospital.

Johnson, who suffered from a cerebral arteriovenous malformation Dec. 13 that resulted in bleeding in the brain, has been "reading the newspaper and following news," according to his office.

This is great news indeed! I can imagine he wants updates, considering how the Republican party is acting in the Senate he's probably chomping at the bit to get back in the game. It's definitely good to see him making progress. One way or another it will take a while to recover from someone drilling a hole in your head. From his progress I would expect that he would start campaigning before too long. OK, I'm rushing him I know, but we've got so much work to do to get a lot more Democrats into the Senate to break the Republican filibuster on checks on this imperial presidency that the GOP is abusing.

Read more over at The Hill.

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January 31, 2007

Al Franken to run for Senate in Minnesota

WASHINGTON -- Comedian and radio talk show host Al Franken has begun calling Democratic members of Congress and prominent Minnesota Democrats to tell them he will definitely challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008, McClatchy Newspapers has learned.

On Monday, Franken announced that he was quitting his radio show on Feb. 14, and he told his audience that they'd be the first to know of his decision. But Franken has been working the phones in recent days, telling his political friends he's ready to declare his candidacy. McClatchy Newspapers confirmed Wednesday that Franken made calls to at least two members of the Minnesota congressional delegation in Washington to break the news. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, not wanting to pre-empt Franken's announcement.

Run Al, run!

Found via McClatchy Newspapers.

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January 25, 2007

Senate Republicans Block Minimum Wage Increase

I know what you'er thinking...Republicans have given themselves a pay raise every year since the last time the minimum wage was raised. How could they be so cruel and heartless? Well they are Republicans they don't work like you and I, they see a person starving on the street and they think it sucks to be them. Decent people wonder if there is something I can do to help. It's a fundamentally different moral compass, or lack there of, that defines who is a Republican and who is not. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I have good news for you. The 43 Republicans in the Senate that stood up to take food out of the mouths of working people's families mouth do have to answer for their transgressions. 18 of those scumbags are up for reelection in 2008, well technically 17 of them, because one has already decided to retire rather than face the wrath of the angry voters in his state. We only need 6 more votes to have the interests of the American people put ahead of the greedy corporate masters of the GOP. So if you'd like to know where to start making this country a better place here's the list of people who couldn't bring themselves to do the right thing.

* Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
* Wayne Allard (R-CO)
* Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
* Thad Cochran (R-MS)
* John Cornyn (R-TX)
* Larry Craig (R-ID)
* Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
* Pete Domenici (R-NM)
* Michael Enzi (R-WY)
* Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
* Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
* James Inhofe (R-OK)
* Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
* Pat Roberts (R-KS)
* Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
* Gordon Smith (R-OR)
* Ted Stevens (R-AK)
* John Sununu (R-NH)

Remember them with your votes at the ballot box and give generously of your time and money to their opponents in 2008. Change is quite possible. Find your Jim Webb or John Tester and help us make America better place by removing these corporate puppets onto the unemployment line. We'll get the rid of the rest of them in 2010 and 2012. Changing this country for the better starts each and everyone of you doing the right thing.

Read more over at Bob Geiger.

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Posted by: mums at January 25, 2007 2:45 PM

Posted by: Mike Miller at January 25, 2007 6:07 PM

January 24, 2007

Webb overshadowed Bush

For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech. Virginia Sen. James Webb, in office only three weeks, managed to convey a muscular liberalism—with personal touches—that left President Bush's ordinary address in the dust. In the past, the Democratic response has been anemic—remember Washington Gov. Gary Locke? This time it pointed the way to a revival for national Democrats.

Webb is seen as a moderate or even conservative Democrat, but this was a populist speech that quoted Andrew Jackson, founder of the Democratic Party and champion of the common man. The speech represented a return to the tough-minded liberalism of Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey, but by quoting Republicans Teddy Roosevelt (on "improper corporate influence") and Dwight D. Eisenhower (on ending the Korean War), he reinforced the argument that President Bush had taken the GOP away from its roots.

I don't think the term overshadowed really does justice to the complete butt whipping that Webb gave Bush and the entire Republican party last night. Also my favorite part of when there is a story written about Webb is that we always get the following paragraph included.

The contrast with Bush and Vice President Cheney—both of whom avoided going to Vietnam—could not have been starker. Webb did not have "other priorities" (Cheney) or a cushy billet defending Texas from Mexico (Bush).

Ah the money quote there, reminding the American people that the Republican party is filled with and led by draft dodging cowards.

The coup de grace of course came in the close of Webb's speech:

These Presidents took the right kind of action, for the benefit of the American people and for the health of our relations around the world. Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.

Remember as you watch Webb's speech that he shredded the one sent to him by the DLC'ers in the Democratic party to surrender America to the vile monsters in the Republican party. No, he wrote the entire thing over from scratch. No more triangulation and surrender to people who aren't our moral or intellectual equals. Do the right thing, or we'll make you do the right thing, end of story, end of comment. The Republican party has nothing of value left to contribute to the national debate on the future of this country. It's time for the grown ups to take over and it will be done in spite of the Establishment Democrats desire to surrender.

John in DC brings up the point that watching the video you see what a future president looks like. I have to say I can't disagree, if you haven't seen the speech you should definitely take a look at it.

Read more over at Bob Geiger, MSNBC and America Blog.

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January 18, 2007

The GOP's first filibuster stops ethics reform

No big surprise here, because a tiger doesn't change his stripes! The GOP is corrupt to it's dishonest to the core. The American people just need another election cycle of voting to clean things up in Washington. There are 21 of the Bush drones up for reelection in the Senate America amd if you want honesty to return to government they have got to go! I mean the notion that the Democrats would suggest that Republicans shouldn't allow themselves to be lavished by lobbyists who are effectively buying their votes on any number of matters is sacrilege really. The culture of corruption is alive in Washington and the GOP even in the minority will not change their ways. The only way we are going to break the back of this kind of corruption is going to be the establishment of a Democratic Super Majority in the Senate. It will mean the collection of 12 additional seats. The extra seats are for DLC traitors like Lieberman, who would likely sell out the party on something like this given a chance to serve their corporate masters.

[via America Blog]

Read more over at The Washington Post.

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Posted by: Jason Black at January 18, 2007 10:09 PM

Posted by: Jamison at January 19, 2007 9:24 AM

Posted by: Jason Black at January 19, 2007 10:49 AM

Posted by: Jamison at January 19, 2007 11:07 AM

January 12, 2007

Joe Lieberman gives the president a pass on Katrina

Jan. 11, 2007 - Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush’s new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating to its handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

Last year, when he was running for re-election in Connecticut, Lieberman was a vocal critic of the administration’s handling of Katrina. He was especially dismayed by its failure to turn over key records that could have shed light on internal White House deliberations about the hurricane, including those involving President Bush.

Asserting that there were “too many important questions that cannot be answered,” Lieberman and other committee Democrats complained in a statement last year that the panel “did not receive information or documents showing what actually was going on in the White House.”

Among the missing material: the record of a videoconference in the White House Situation Room in which former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown said he warned senior officials about the dire situation in New Orleans, but was greeted with “deafening silence.” Also missing: records believed to include messages and conversations involving the president, Vice President Dick Cheney and their top aides during the days in late August and early September 2005 when the Katrina disaster was unfolding and thousands of city residents were flocking to overcrowded shelters and hanging onto rooftops awaiting rescue.

But now that he chairs the homeland panel—and is in a position to subpoena the records—Lieberman has decided not to pursue the material, according to Leslie Phillips, the senator’s chief committee spokeswoman. “The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House’s role in Katrina,” she told NEWSWEEK.

I've kept relatively quiet about Lieberman's "win" in Connecticut, because through my rage I have yet to find a way to articulate how angry I am that the man, who was defeated during the primary as a Democrat, then went on to run as an Independent, was embraced by DLC Democrats and Republicans alike during his "third party" run, but was allowed to come back now and still remain the head of his committee despite the fact he isn't a Democrat anymore and despite the fact he kisses Bush's ass regularly and with gusto!

The DLC Democrats shot themselves in the foot with this one, along with sacrificing the rest of the country! Lieberman is completely removed from reality and he will not do what is right. He has no notion of what right actually is, other than right wing lunacy, which he's fully quite capable of. But true right escapes him, the right that is moral and good. He is far from either, just like his puppet master Mr. Bush. Now he's not even going to follow through on his campaign "promise" of investigating the White House's complete lack of action when it came to the events leading up to Hurricane Katrina and it's horrible aftermath and he never had any intention of actually doing anything of the sort, he was just shooting off at the mouth to be re-elected after he'd already lost! New Oreleans continues to have many issues still today today and over a year later is no where near being rebuilt! All because now he's in Bush's pocket, which enrages me to no end!

Quite simply Liebermann is not our friend, he's a puppet for Bush and all of the DLC Democrats who supported Lieberman and did not campaign for Lamont. They did this to America. Both Clintons (who I used to hold in great esteem!), Obama (yeah that's him the wonder boy!) and all the rest of the DLCers willingly turned their back on what was right and what they should have done all in the name of what?

I hope they are happy now that he does exactly what they should have seen coming...He will repeatedly lay down with Bush and stab the rest of the country in the back!! You reap what you sow as they say and I must say I've lost my faith in all those DLCers that turned their back on Lamont to support Libermann after he had lost the primary. I can't see myself voting for a DLCer anytime in the near future.

Via MSNBC.

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January 7, 2007

The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrat

I'm immediately suspicious of any article written by an America hater from the The New Republic writing anything about the Democratic party. They desperately want to create a vision of defeat for the Democrats and they will bend anything they can find in a frantic attempt to make the world they dream it to be. There has been a rise of Alpha Males in the Democratic party. Amusingly I'm one of them and I can tell you for a fact that puts none of the party's agenda in danger.

There is a fundamental difference between the Alpha males of the Democratic party and those of the Republican party. Nearly all Republican alpha's are RWA's, specifically double highs, which I've covered in depth before, so I'm not going to be labor the point again. Democratic Alpha's are actually the polar opposite. They have an internal strength that draws support to them, they don't have to oppress people to be powerful. They lack the fundamental selfishness that defines a Republican Alpha. In a word the Democratic party is having a natural backlash against the groveling politician types that have led us time and time again to defeat. While Rahm may see this as an opportunity to expand his ranks with sell outs and backstabbers like himself, he will realize his error way too late to save himself. These people are something more than just politicians, they are truly leaders and they are just as likely to snap the neck off a snake like Rahm as they are to let him do real harm to America. It's one thing to get elected as a politician, it's another thing for these kinds of men to take an oath to protect their country from all threats foreign and domestic. Trust me, Establishment Democrats are in for a shocker when they try to go back to their old ways.

And despite the desperate effort by the right wing author, this puts women in no danger or their agendas either, because of the fundamental difference between the Alpha types. Female politicians start out with a credibility gap for some reason in the minds of independent voters. In the South it's massive and everywhere else it's relatively small, but a few percentage point hole is hard to make up in the hyper-partisan environment created by the Republicans these days. I have a feeling after the 2008 season that women will regain any of the ground they've lost and start making gains toward their natural spot in power. In the meantime, I don't think that their issues will go unnoticed and ignored in a Democratic congress, unlike in a Republican one. With Nancy in the House and Barbara in the Senate, the Democrats have got women's back and they will have happy support from the "Alpha" males of the party.

Read more over at The New York Times.

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January 4, 2007

Democrats take control of Congress

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats Thursday took control of both houses of Congress with plans to quickly raise the minimum wage and toughen lobbying rules.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will accept her new position "in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship," according to an advance text of her remarks. "With today's convening of the 110th Congress, we begin anew."

The Democratic takeover after spending most of the past dozen years in the minority comes as President Bush echoes congressional calls for bipartisanship -- but with indications of partisan fights to come.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, becomes the first woman to hold that post and Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, takes over as Senate majority leader. (Watch to see what the Democratic-led Congress might accomplish Video)

"Let us join together in the first 100 hours to make this Congress the most honest and open in history," Pelosi's text said.

Amid bursts of applause, new members of Congress took oaths of office in ceremonies on Thursday in the Capitol.

Pelosi was escorted into the House chamber by her grandchildren. She greeted colleagues with hugs and handshakes as her family walked beside her.

Among her guests watching from Pelosi's box in the House gallery were singers Tony Bennett and Carole King, and actor Richard Gere.

Exit polls showed that rising discontent over corruption scandals and the war in Iraq helped drive voters to hand Democrats control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994.

"Nowhere were the American people more clear about the need for a new direction than in Iraq," said Pelosi's text. "The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end."

A national poll released this week showed Democrats have strong support for nearly all the measures they want to pass in their first days in charge.

I must say this change make me sleep somewhat easier at night. Now go out there and get them Democrats! Help restore the country's faith in our leaders and do what you promised to do! We're all anxiously awaiting your successes. Don't let us down...We've put our already battered trust and faith in you!

Found via CNN.

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January 1, 2007

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Town Hall Meeting Part 1 & 2

Check out the town hall meeting John Edwards did in Portsmouth. New Hampshire and if you want to contribute to Mr. Edwards campaign there is an Act Blue box at the end of this blog entry and I've added a permanent box on the side bar! It's time to help your country. Tomorrow Begins Today!

Part 1:

Part 2:

John Edwards (President)	$

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December 15, 2006

On Protecting Senate Minority, Reid Shows Honor GOP Lacked

Time and again the Republicans have shown themselves to be a party embodying the worst aspects of our political nature as Americans. There is no greater example than the attempt by the GOP to get radical extremist judges on the bench by destroying the power of the minority to filibuster unacceptable judges that represent a fundamental threat to the fabric of the United States.

In one of his first acts as the Majority leader in Congress, Reid basically drives a stake into the heart of the Nuclear Option, or the tyranny of the majority if you look at it's actual nature. The Democratic majority will not attempt to railroad legislation through the Senate like the Republican majority did.

This is an issue of class really. The Republican party is filled with bullies and thugs, so from their point of view that's how things should be run, but the founding fathers saw things differently than they did. The Senate was supposed to act as the saucer to a tea cup, allowing legislation to be held up by a minority to make sure that what was best for America came to the President's desk to be signed. That's why Senators have longer terms, because they are supposed to be less partisan and less impulsive. But the Republican party has gone about destroying that tradition and those safeguards for the American people. And I have to say I think even the American people who do not waste their time in the minutia of the processes of the Senate could feel that what the Republican party was doing was bad for America and putting our way of life in serious jeopardy.

So next year when you see the America hating GOP filibustering everything from raising the minimum wage to actually funding education for our children, remember this was all apart of the grand design to protect America from tyrants. We lost our way as a country for a short moment, but now we will find our way back to our historic greatness, likely over the objections of a hate filled GOP.

Read more over at Bob Geiger.

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Senator Johnson critical but stable

Senator Johnson is responding the touch and speech, which is definitely a great sign! Dr. Jay Mohr gave a great analysis on what he thinks likely happened. He brought up some interesting points that the brain fluids allow a certain amount of overflow into the spinal fluid and that if it was caught quickly enough and treated with our best medicine it's quite possible he could be up and on his feet within a week. I'm more than happy to give the Senator a few more days in bed just to be safe.

You might be asking yourself why the rampant speculation about a Senator dying when he's been in a hospital for less than a couple of days. Well you have the problem of the right wing media and their buddies in the right wing blogosphere. There so many good examples of Compassionate Conservative ideas running around the wingnutospshere it's hard to pick one that encapsulates the feelings of the radical right.

While anyone suffering a stroke is a tragic event, how f***ing hilarious would it be if the Democrats lost control of the Senate right before they were to assume power? I'd laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh

Of course, they are being helped out by the friends in the right wing media. Fox News ran coverage all days trying to figure out a way to steal Johnson's seat while doctors were working to save his life. What was most disgusting was the AP's headline early on in the coverage.

Senate back to 50-50 with Johnson out

Let's let the doctors do their thing before we start declaring people dead folks. To the technical side of things, no matter how much the right wingers want to steal the Senate, if Johnson lives there is no tradition of kicking out Senators from office just because they are ill. The entire discussion of it makes me feel queasy. It seems sheer madness to have to be forced to explain to the right wing media and their godless disciples in the Republican party that this is not how things are done in civilized society. Can you imagine the media coverage if we had started talking about Craig Thomas like they are talking about Johnson? There would be a media feeding frenzy not seen before now to destroy the left wing bloggers. Amazing that for the right wing media it's OK for conservatives to say and do anything they want and they'll print it as if it were truth. This could explain why they are steadily becoming irrelevant in our modern world.

I ask that you keep Senator Johnson and his family in your prayers as well as the United States, which would suffer greatly without his leadership in the Senate. Throw Senator Thomas in as well for good measure.

Read more over at Yahoo News.

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December 13, 2006

GOP Senators Deadlocked

I have to say I'm truly surprised by this revelation. Actually at every level there seems to be a rapidly escalating battle between the radical extremists in the Republican party. For me this is the first signs of life for the allegedly existing "decent" Republicans. Up until this point they were in happy lockstep with their insane radical extremist party members. But now that they see that their extremist buddies are walking them over a cliff, suddenly their desire to destroy the country has been replaced with a desire to save their own hides. So I have a hard time seeing how this is really a positive sign. As soon as they can get the American people tricked into believing that they aren't trying to destroy the country again, they will fall right back in line and get back to the Republican master plan which seems to be destroy the American way of life. I don't even have to ask which side our crazy Senator from District 31 is on in this fight. He's a Dwyer disciple, so I know he's screaming for blood and the immediate destruction on the state government. David Lublin over at Maryland Politics Watch asks the question who will win? Knowing what I know about the GOP, more crazy always wins. That's what happens when you're the party of bad ideas.

Read more over at Gazette.net

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December 2, 2006

Senator Seeks Investigation Into Maryland GOP Fliers

I'm glad somebody is doing something about such a vile, dirty trick! I imagine that the Justice department would be down with all guns blazing if the Democrats had even talked about doing something like that to Republicans. But as we know the GOP believes in two sets of laws, ones for the rest of us and none of those applying to them. I have no faith in a Republican to do the right thing especially not one appointed by Bush, but it's important that the Republican party be forced to stop their efforts to confuse voters in hopes of throwing elections.

Read more over at WBAL TV.

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November 10, 2006

Senate Races in 2008

Just 2 short years before we are back into the heart of the political maelstrom again in America. Markos has already started handicapping the races that we need to be looking at. Luckily here in Maryland we have no Senators up for reelection, so I get to focus on the Presidential campaign and possibly a Congressional seat pick up. We are aided massively by the civil war going on within the Republican party right now. The radical extremists of the Bush camp are working hard to push the party further right than it already is, which means they are moving farther and farther from mainstream of America and that means that their better candidates are forced to bow to extremists in the primary to win and then are so damaged in the process they can't get elected. The other advantage we have is that the Democrats only have 12 seats up for reelection, the Republicans have 21 to defend. The Democrats will have a much more battle tested GOTV machine to match the faltering 72 hour plan. I'm going to have to think about some of these seats, but Markos' analysis seems correct on the surface of it all.

Top Democratic Pickup Opportunities: Colorado, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Potential Democratic pickup opportunities: Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma.

Top GOP Pickup Opportunities: Louisiana, New Jersey, South Dakota

Potential GOP pickup opportunities: West Virginia

Read more over at Daily Kos.

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November 9, 2006

Homeless Man Recruited By Ehrlich Steele To Hand Out False Sample Ballots Angry At Treatment

YUSUF EL-BEDAWI is no fool. He knows politicians can play dirty.

He's just livid at being tricked into playing dirty with them on Election Day. All because he's homeless - and therefore, apparently, considered too unprincipled to give a damn about the integrity of the voting process.

"I might not have a home," El-Bedawi told me yesterday, "but that doesn't mean I don't care about right and wrong. No one has the right to use me that way."

But use him they did, along with at least six busloads of other poor or homeless Philadelphians who were hoodwinked into handing out deeply misleading voter guides in Maryland on Tuesday. The guides state that they were paid for by committees supporting Republican Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich, who was up for re-election, and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who was chasing a U.S. Senate seat.

Both men lost, so at least the sneaky trick didn't do The Trick.

But in the process, people like El-Bedawi were not only played for fools in Maryland, but they didn't get to vote right here at home.

El-Bedawi had been staying at a city homeless shelter on Ridge Avenue for about a week when, he said, some people who called themselves "election workers" visited to say they needed help on Election Day. They were offering $100 cash - plus breakfast, lunch and dinner - in exchange for distributing campaign literature at polling places.

Interested helpers were told to report to the parking lot of the Progress Plaza shopping center on North Broad Street at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, where they'd receive their assignments. When he arrived, El-Bedawi was surprised to see six idling buses and to learn that he'd be working the polls in Maryland, not here in Philly. He needed the money, so he got on the bus with about 200 others - recruited, he learned, from city homeless shelters and drug-treatment centers.

"I thought we'd be back by dinnertime," said El-Bedawi, 47, who planned to vote at his usual spot in Germantown. The bus dropped him and others at a school-based polling place in Baltimore, where voters were overwhelmingly black.

At first, the time passed pleasantly until some of the voters took a closer look at the flier that El-Bedawi was passing out, and went ballistic. It was labeled "Ehrlich-Steele Democrats" and "Official Voter Guide," and its sample ballot pushed Ehrlich and Steele, who are not identified as being Republican.

It also pictured three prominent black Democratic leaders above the words, "These are OUR Choices" - suggesting that Ehrlich, who is white, and Steele, who is black, had the trio's endorsement.

"People started screaming, at us, 'Do you think we're that stupid? What are you trying to pull?' " said El-Bedawi. "I said, 'I didn't know it was a lie! I'm from Philly!' And they said, 'Then go back to Philly!' "

When the voters left, he said, he was so shaken and angry, he tossed his remaining literature in the trash. On the bus back home that evening, he said, others were as upset as he was. They were told, "Don't worry about it. People don't care."

"That's some dirty, sneaky, underhanded stuff," said El-Bedawi, shaking his head. "Voting is the most important thing we do. To mess with it is wrong."

But to pay someone to unwittingly mess with it for you?

That's vile.

My repeated calls yesterday to both Ehrlich's and Steele's camps went unreturned. So I wasn't able to ask: How can you live with yourself, recruiting poor, vulnerable, minority campaign workers to unknowingly play sleazy for you at polls frequented by poor, vulnerable minority voters?

This whole farce just floors me. First it floors me that they would even try to hand out erroneous, misleading sample ballots in the first place and secondly it floors me that they think they can just treat the homeless as they did. But then again I'm not a Republican and thank God I don't think like they do! Ehrlich and Steele's people won't comment on this, not even an obviously false denial or anything and I think that speaks volumes to the reality of the situation.

Found via the Philadelphia Daily News.

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Sen. Burns concedes Montana race

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns conceded defeat to Jon Tester on Thursday, acknowledging that a tight election had gone to the Democrats' favor, Burns' campaign told The Associated Press.

Burns, a three-term senator whose campaign was troubled by verbal gaffes and voter discontent, congratulated Tester, a farmer and state legislator.

"I stand ready to help as Montana transitions to a new United States Senator," Burns said in a statement provided to the AP.

About time too!

Found at Yahoo! News via Jamison.

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Allen To Concede

Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) will concede that he has lost the election to Democrat James Webb at a 3 p.m. news conference in Alexandria, according to a source close to the campaign with direct knowledge of the senator's intentions.

As of this morning, Allen trails Webb by 7,484 votes after a bruising reelection campaign. Republican sources said Allen had concluded that no amount of recounting would change the outcome, but members of the senator's campaign staff would not publicly confirm his intentions.

A concession would spare the country from a recount that could have left control of the U.S. Senate in limbo for weeks. And it would make official what many have been saying since late Wednesday: that Webb will become Virginia's junior senator, giving Democrats a 51-seat majority and complete control of Congress for the first time in more than a decade.

Webb is expected to address reporters publicly today after Allen's announcement.

I for one and very glad to see this come to an end, especially in the case of Allen. He has clearly illustrated he is fundamentally a bad, racist person and it's time for that kind of thing to be met with disapproval and sent packing!

Found via the Washington Post.

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Bolton is Dunzo!

New York -- NewsMax has learned that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will likely leave his post next month.

After a rocky series of Senate confirmation hearings, Bolton was sent to the U.N. by President Bush in August 2005 under a recess appointment. That allowed the president to bypass Senate confirmation while it was in recess, but the appointee could only serve for the length of the current Congress which is set to expire at year's end.

There had been indications that Bolton might win Senate confirmation after the election when several key votes might be open to favoring Bolton. But the GOP's apparent loss of the Senate has doomed that hope.

"This nomination is dead and we have known it for several days," a source close to the U.S. mission to the U.N. tells NewsMax.

This nomination never was. Anyone that thinks otherwise is delusional! He shouldn't be representing us at the UN to start with! Good riddance!

Via NewsMax.

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Posted by: Jamison at November 9, 2006 1:35 PM

Posted by: Dianne at November 9, 2006 1:45 PM

November 8, 2006

The AP is finally calling it!

Webb beat Allen! Woo hoo!

The long national nightmare is over.

Read more of the good news at Yahoo! News.

Someone should probably put McCain on suicide watch....I'm just saying.

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Could The Fight In VA be over?

Rumors are flying fast and furious in DC that Allen may quit the race and give up on a recount challenge. And Allen's advisor Ed Gillespie, at a press conference, refused to say there would be a recount, instead pinning their hopes on the final canvas of votes.

The guy must be devastated. He didn't want to be a Senator. He was building a ground operation in Iowa and New Hampshire. He was telling Iowans that he was bored of being a Senator and wished he was born in Iowa instead.

He thought he was going to be president.

And suddenly, he loses a race for a seat that he didn't want in the first place? And it's not as if winning a long-shot recount would help him with his now-dead presidential ambitions. So the rumors may have some truth.

I have held out hope all day that Allen would do the right thing. I'm optimistic like that, though it usually comes back to bite me in the...Well you get the picture.

So what does he do from here? I doubt seriously he will contribute anything positive to society. He'll probably end up on K Street or someplace equally as nefarious.

Found via Daily Kos.

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Let Us Say An Offical Goodbye...

To Geroge Allen and Conrad Burns! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

There is hope for this country of ours yet!

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The DSCC Is Now Calling VA and MT!

Of course the Lieberman debacle (which I plan on discussing in the next few days) screws us anyway, but officially we have the majority in the Senate too! Woot!

More at AMERICAblog and Huffington Post!

Update: 1:2 pm: Tester finally has declared victory in MT. Congrats!

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Wow! What A Night!

Wow! What a night! That was a ride and a half to say the least! This morning I see that the GOP is already spinning, but it's very obvious that the American people spoken and they spoke loudly! That my dear friends is an ACTUAL mandate!

Now I'm curious to see how Bush Co. is going to spin this. His press conference at 1:00 pm will be interesting in that we will see whether he wants to reach out and work with the newly founded majority (which I highly doubt) or if he's going to bury his head in the sand and try to ignore this whole situation away. I lean toward the latter. But it's clear that America has spoken and we don't agree with your backward policies Mr. Bush! We want to move forward and we want to move back toward becoming the great country we once were!

So I would like to reiterate once more to Karl Rove, this is the REAL math you self-righteous thug! Wake up and smell reality! America has clearly slammed your back handed, negative, unconstructive hooliganism in your face!

I'm very pleased to see that VA and MT seem to leaning toward sanity. I was also very pleased to see that Missouri came around after I went to sleep.

It definitely is a new day dawning! For the first time in six years I actually feel faith in my country. We still have a long hard hill to climb, but we're halfway there and things are looking up!

Celebrate and rejoice! :O)

Update: 10:47 am: Oh and Democrats...Good work! Now get out there and work hard for us. We've put a lot of faith and trust in you...Don't let us down!! In short don't mess this up!

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Montana and Virginia

I'm sure you're waking up this morning asking what's the deal keep in mind that in elections past the right wing media has called races that were even closer than these for Republicans without a second blink on the subject. The GOP puppets in the media are holding out hope that the fix will come in for their masters. I wouldn't rule it out at this point, but here's how things stand.

In Montana, Jon Tester is up by about 2,000 votes. On the east coast that would be nothing, we have precincts that cast that many ballots. But in Montana, it's just not that large. A 2,000 vote lead is like have a 100,000 vote lead. The area that has caused a recount of the ballots is around Billings Montana, which for those of you that don't know is a heavily leaning Democratic area. Alright as heavily leaning as you get in a red state, but anyway, before the recount was triggered the area have Tester another 1200+ votes over Burns. A lead that would be insurmountable for Burns. This race is over, it's just a matter of seeing how big a victory it's going to be.

In Virginia, it's over as well, we are just figuring out the margin of victory here. Webb declared victory last night, which I think says all that needs to be said. This loss was a shocking defeat for the racist Southern Strategy (which worked flawlessly in Tennessee, big surprise) and the Swiftboating methodology that they used so effectively in 2004. The remaining districts that haven't turned in their numbers are minority, Northern Virginia, and around the Naval base districts. Traditionally the latter would be a guaranteed GOP windfall, but given that they had to pick from a guy that had won the Navy Cross and been Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan verses a draft dodging California Cowboy, it's a pretty safe assumption that one is going to go our way. The other two have gone against the GOP all night, so there is no reason to believe they are going to turn out any differently.

So where does that leave us? Since it was within 1% the loser Allen is allowed to request a recount, but as we learned in Virginia in 2005, those electronic voting machines spit out the same totals with great accuracy. The last recount changed the total about 37 votes, giving Webb's comfortable 8000+ vote lead, it will be more of the standard radical posturing by Allen to even attempt it.

Now I know what you're thinking, that's 51 seats in the Senate, we win. Not exactly, the Democratic party suffered a major defeat last night, that really mute any reason to celebrate. With Lieberman's victory in Connecticut, it's the same as if the Republicans had held us. If he does caucus with the Democrats and is allowed to keep his committee positions, and that's a majorly big if considering that the GOP financed his entire campaign against the Democratic party, there will be no change in the face of Congress. Lieberman is an ardent and unapologetic supportor of the Republican apocalyptic foreign policy agenda, so there will still be no oversight of the Republican debacle in Iraq or anywhere else. So even if Lieberman does side with us the Senate is pretty much a doomed exercise for as long as we are dependent on him for anything. He plans on punishing the Democrats of the Country for their efforts against him. Honestly our best hope would be that he would replace Rummy and we have a special election to get a real Democrat elected to office.

The Lieberman problem is two fold, beyond him undermining the Democratic party for his masters in the GOP, we have the fact that the DLC Democrats worked to save one of their buddies in the Senate and that has created a wedge between the Netroots and the Establishment Democrats. I think Bower's sums it up nicely.

A big thank you goes out to every Democrat who didn't run against the Democratic Party in this election cycle. Those who stuck with us can share in the spoils. Those who didn't can stick it, and expect continuing retribution. The Democratic Party won tonight. If you ran from it, then you lost. Even if you didn't lose today, you loss is coming soon. Count on it.

The Netroots is not happy with the Obama's, Hillary's and other people who only paid lip service to our efforts to transform the Democratic party away from the destructive DLC cancer that has been costing us victory in election after election. When you talk to people on the street they will tell you all politicians are alike and that's the effect of the DLC Democrats on the public's perception, because it's honestly true...The DLC represents the same kinds of corruption and irresponsible behavior that people have come to despise about politicians.

You can't sell out Americans and expect to win folks, the GOP just proved that for us in one of the most dramatic elections since the Republicans last controlled everything and led America into the Great Depression. I only hope that America moves quickly enough this time that we can avoid that natural result of irresponsible Republican political ideology. The key for the Netroots will be to find great candidates to run against the DLC candidates everywhere we can in the primary to send a message.

And to the DLC presidential hopefuls, you'd better have a radical conversion to putting America first instead of your DLC agenda, because it's going to be a long ugly fight and as your Republican buddies can tell you, you can only hope to slow us down, there is no way to actually stop the will of the American people.

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November 7, 2006

Webb Is Now Ahead in VA!

It can go either way, but Webb's ahead in Virginia!! Holy cow!!

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Posted by: cjmr's husband at November 8, 2006 12:17 AM

Senate

I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to the end of the senate nail biter before I fall asleep. I may just have to find about that one in the morning. We'll see.

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Majority?

According to the DCCC we have a majority in the House! Woo Hoo!

Update: 11:15 pm: CNN is calling it now. We are the majority! Suck that Karl Rove! That's reality and that's the REAL math!! Woot!!

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Posted by: Royal at November 8, 2006 6:53 AM

Posted by: Jamison at November 8, 2006 2:28 PM

AP Is Now Calling It For Cardin Too!

According to the AP Cardin is projected to win over Steele as well! We'll see.

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Posted by: Munchkinman at November 8, 2006 9:06 PM

Posted by: Jamison at November 9, 2006 10:02 AM

And Rhode Island Too!

CNN is projecting a Democratic win in Rhode Island, beating incumbent Lincoln Chafee!

3 down, 3 to go!

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This One Is Disappointing!

CNN is calling Connecticut for Lieberman. That really stinks. If he doesn't jump ship to the GOP I'll be stunned.

Update: 9:24 pm: My Left Nutmeg thinks this could turn around. And in fact Lamont is ahead at this point according to CNN's tally although they still have Joe marked as the winner. Maybe there is hope after all!

Update: 10:25 pm: Ned concedes. Damn!

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And Another One Bites The Dust!

PHILADELPHIA - Democrat Bob Casey has been elected to a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record).

Rick "Man On Dog" Santorum is out of there!

Yeah baby!

Via Yahoo! News.

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Posted by: Moni at November 7, 2006 9:40 PM

Posted by: katherine at November 7, 2006 10:16 PM

Dewine is Dunzo!

Stick a fork in him...He's done!

Via AMERICAblog and CNN.

Bye, bye!!!

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And Another One!

CNN projects Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez will win the New Jersey Senate race, defeating Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr.

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Also Not Surprising

Katherine Harris (R) has lost her bid for Florida’s Senate seat. Sen. Nelson (D) retains his seat.

Found via ThinkProgress.

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CNN is now saying...

That Democrats Bill Nelson and Edward Kennedy, and Republican Olympia Snowe will keep their Senate seats.

Not surprising.

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High Turnout In CT Could Bode Well For Lamont

State officials are projecting a strong turnout and reported a busy morning at the polls, which opened at 6 a.m. today. Turnout in Danbury, Wilton, New Britain and Vernon was outpacing that from two years ago, said Dan Tapper, spokesman in the secretary of the state's office.

A suspected reason for the large turnout is the race between Sen. Joe Lieberman and anti-war challenger Ned Lamont. Lamont's primary victory was widely seen as a referendum on Iraq -- and a sharp rebuke of Lieberman's pro-war views.

That's just what 60-year-old Ron Bowman, a Democrat from Windsor, Conn., had on his mind when he went out to vote first thing Tuesday. "It was a chance for a change," he said, after casting his ballot for Democratic senatorial candidate Ned Lamont over incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman, running as an independent.

Another voter who echoed Bowman's sentiment, Shirley Swanson of Windsor, said that she, too, voted for Lamont. "He's not Lieberman. Joe isn't listening to us," she said.

If Lieberman wins this race I fully expect him to jump ship tomorrow and announce he's joining the GOP. A high voter turnout indicates things might be looking up for Lamont. Go Connecticut, go! Kick Joe to the curb!

Found via the Hartford Courant.

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More On Voter Intimidation in Virginia: FBI Investigating

The head of the Virginia Board of Elections, Jean Jensen, tells MSNBC that “the FBI is now investigating allegations of voter intimidation and voter suppression.” State officials have documented “dozens of phone calls that were made to heavily Democratic precincts in which the people who were receiving the calls were either given incorrect information about polling sites [or] misdirected about election laws.”

Surprise, surprise. The GOP doing something untowardly and illegal. I'm shocked! It really astounds me that they pull this crap, over and over again and some people out there still blindly follow them. A clear example of their "morals" and "ethics" at their finest!

Take the link to Think Progress and watch the clip from MSNBC.

The Transcript is as follows:

O’DONNELL: We begin this hour in Virginia where the hotly contested Senate race between Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb now has a new wrinkle. The FBI is reportedly looking into possible voter intimidation in that state. Hardball’s David Shuster is in Richmond has the very latest. David, what can you tell us about this FBI investigation? What are the democrats alleging that the Republicans are doing?

SHUSTER: Well, let’s start with the Secretary of State as far as the Board of Elections is concerned. Jean Jensen who runs the board of elections confirms that the FBI is now investigating allegations of voter intimidation and voter suppression. State officials yesterday, after getting information initially from Democrats, said that they were able to document dozens of phone calls that were made to heavily Democratic precincts in which the people who were receiving the calls were either given incorrect information about polling sites, misdirected about election laws. And so the FBI has now interviewed state officials and state officials say the investigation continues. The Democrats, particularly the Webb campaign, they have issued a written statement saying that Republicans are behind an orchestrated effort to suppress and intimidate Democratic voters. Republicans say they don’t know anything about the investigation. A Republican official says that the GOP and the Allen campaign are focused on mobilizing voters and have not discouraged anyone from going to the polls. But as if investigation continues, slors, this is just the latest chapter in what has been a very, very nasty senate campaign here in Virginia.

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Vote Lamont

If you live in Conneticut, be sure and vote Lamont. It's time for Joe to go!

Posted by Dianne at 11:50 AM

November 3, 2006

18 Years Is Enough! Vote Ned Lamont!

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October 24, 2006

And So It Begins

U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.

Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb's full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote.

Election officials attribute the mistake to an increase in the type size on the ballot. Although the larger type is easier to read, it also unintentionally shortens the longer names on the summary page of the ballot.

Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only -- or "James H. 'Jim' " -- on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.

"We're not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don't think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that's a concern."

Every candidate on Alexandria's summary page has been affected in some way by the glitch. Even if candidates' full names appear, as is the case with Webb's Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George F. Allen, their party affiliations have been cut off.

Jean Jensen, secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, who said yesterday she only recently became aware of the problem, pledged to have it fixed by the 2007 statewide elections.

"You better believe it," Jensen said. "If I have to personally get on a plane and bring Hart InterCivic people here myself, it'll be corrected."

Absentee voters casting ballots in advance of the Nov. 7 election first noticed the problem. Election officials have been forced to post signs in voting booths and instruct poll workers to explain why some longer names appear cut-off.

Election officials in Alexandria said they have been vexed by the problem since they purchased the voting machines in 2003. Although the problem has raised eyebrows among confused voters, elections officials said they are confident that the trouble has not led voters to cast ballots incorrectly.

And so the 2006 corruption begins! I'm sorry but all of these "bugs" with electronic voting machines across the country are just a load of crap to cover up the fact that someone is trying to commit fraud on a grand scale the likes of which will make Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 look like child's play! If you still have time in your state to request a paper absentee ballot, then do! There has to be a paper trail or these a$$hats are going to get away with this AGAIN and if anyone questions the outcome they will just be "sore losers"!

Found via the Washington Post.

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Colbert Comments On Santorum and Lord of the Rings

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September 11, 2006

Electoral Vote Dot Com is back!!

As you might recall from the 2004 election cycle, one of my favorite sites was Electoral Vote Dot Com. They were awesome in their efforts to get us solid data as the Republican noise machine worked 24/7 trying to keep us from getting the information together. When they failed to try to talk over us, they started a wholesale attack on the website to take it down. Actually the assault became quite an organizing point for us. They took the logs from the attack and made them the topic university research on how to stop those kinds of attacks going forward. We were younger and much weaker back when the Republicans attacked us then. We've all become a lot smarter about the Republican attack forms on the Internet. All the big sites have learned how to deal with these kinds of attacks and we are stronger and faster than we use to be. I expect that we will see the Republicans along with their rewriting of history campaign that we see them rolling out now, the wholesale assaults on all the major liberal sites towards election time. Since they work with unlimited resources, I don't know that we will fair any better, but there are more of us now and I think we will be able last a lot longer against them. I've put the current Senate make-up vote count on the left hand column.

Read more over at Electoral Vote.

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August 18, 2006

Sen-VA: George Allen a classic Right Wing Authoritarian

John Dean didn't cover George Allen specifically in his book, but he did cover Bill Frist as part of the problems in the Senate caused by RWA's. On a side note here, Bill Frist was practicing for being a heart surgeon on cats and he ran out of cats, so he went down to the animal shelters and adopted cats under false pretenses so he could get more practice. What's even scarier to me is that this story came out in his run for the Senate in Tennessee and no one batted an eye about it. RWA's are a special kind of evil and it appears that they have control of the State of Tennessee! When you're amoral cruelty doesn't bother you. All I can say is wow! I knew it was crazy down there, I just didn't know how crazy it was.

So back to George Allen, he got in to a wee bit of trouble this week. I know what you're thinking...Jamison a racist Republican is nothing new. Very true, I have to agree with you there. Racism is a core function of the RWA's. If you go down the list it's pretty clear that George Allen is a living definition of a RWA. What I found even better was that the DSCC brought out excerpts from his sister's biography about him as a child and sure enough it's a laundry list of violent and aggressive behavior.

What's scary for me is that just like Frist this guy sees himself as a natural choice to be President of the United States. Talk about being cut from the same cloth as George Bush! Nearly all the leading contenders for the Republican party nomination are RWA's hell bent on continuing the Republican reign of terror on the United States. While that scares me, and most sane Americans for that matter, I figured this entire incident would increase Allen's popularity with Republicans nationwide. Nothing like a little race baiting to give you a bump in the polls if you're a Republican, but to my utter surprise the opposite appears to be happening! Allen has dropped to within 5 points of Webb in the Senate race and more importantly below the critical 50% mark for an incumbent. That's in a red state folks! He stared into a camera that he knew was on, knowing good and well that it would receive national coverage and sent out the Republican racist message to the country. And it cost him points. I have absolutely no frame of reference to explain what's going on here. It almost as if the real Republicans and conservatives have suddenly seen the RWA's for the corrupt evil bullies that the