My Words are Flat and Harsh

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - When you are a candidate for the 2008 presidential race only drawing about 2 percent support in opinion polls, you have to keep telling yourself that the race is still wide open and there is plenty of time to catch up.

That is the position in which Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a veteran foreign policy heavyweight, finds himself, along with his fellow Democrats New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich , Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.

All of them are hanging on for dear life to their campaigns, struggling for traction against the party's front-runners -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Some people say it is lonely at the top. Well, what about the bottom?

"Folks, I know it's hard and it requires some patience. This thing is wide open," said Biden, who made some forceful comments on Iraq, Iran and Sudan on Sunday at a debate among the Democratic White House contenders.

What about his 2 percent situation? "Our feeling is that as long as Iraq is the number one problem, whether it's New Hampshire or Iowa, we still have a major entree," said Biden's pollster, Celinda Lake.

There were no knockout punches in the debate, but each candidate's strategy was apparent. Clinton, as leader of the pack in the polls and in campaign financing, played it safe, talking of the need for a unified party on Iraq and directing fire at President George W. Bush.

Read full story here.

Hillary Clinton wants YouTube viewers to pick her campaign theme song — and the response, so far, has been music to her ears.

In a clear appeal to young voters, a YouTube video asks viewers to vote for Clinton's presidential campaign theme song on her Web site. The contest started May 16 and the number of songs was narrowed to 10 on Thursday — five initially suggested by the campaign and five write-in candidates.

They range from U2's "Beautiful Day" to Smash Mouth's version of "I'm a Believer" to Celine Dion's "You and I."

"I want to know what you're thinking on one of the most important questions of this campaign," Clinton said in a mock-serious tone during the initial video. "It's something we've been struggling with, debating, agonizing over for months. So now I'm turning to you, the American people."

According to the view counter on YouTube, the May 16 video had more than 500,000 views; a more recent post was seen by more than 40,000. Her campaign said it received more than 130,000 votes in the first round. It promises to release the final result "in the coming days."

In both videos Clinton sports a self-effacing attitude. She mocked her vocal abilities in the first post. The second features clips of people saying, "This is ridiculous" and "Are you freaking kidding me?" in response to the contest, along with Clinton making fun of some of the videos submitted.

"A little self-effacement in her recipe of self-presentation is probably a good idea," Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said. "There is a certain sense of over-calculation."

Thompson said the request for help selecting a theme song is not unusual for Clinton, who preceded her 2000 run for the Senate with a "listening tour." This is just taking that concept and putting it online, he added.

"I'd rather have a candidate ask me what I think about major issues," Thompson said. "The way it's being used is: Let's have you guys come and tell me what's the best way to package myself to sell myself to you."

He described the technique as having "a slight ickyness to it."

But Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who directs the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said any way candidates can engage potential voters, especially young people, at this stage is good.

"If they don't know who you who you are, they're not going to go out and vote for you," she said.

The five suggested songs that got the most votes:

_"Suddenly I See," KT Tunstall

_"Rock This Country!" Shania Twain

_"Beautiful Day," U2

_"Get Ready," The Temptations

_"I'm a Believer," Smash Mouth

The top write-in suggestions are:

_"Are You Gonna Go My Way," Lenny Kravitz

_"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," McFadden & Whitehead

_"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," The Police

_"You and I," Celine Dion

_"The Best," Tina Turner

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he also is troubled by the Mormon church's past practice of polygamy, but that he can overcome voter concern about his religion.

"What's at the heart of my faith is a belief that there's a creator, that we're all children of the same God and that fundamentally the relationship you have with your spouse is important and eternal," he said Sunday on CBS' "60 minutes."

But the former Massachusetts governor acknowledged that "there's part of the history of the church's past that I understand is troubling to people."

"Look, the polygamy, which was outlawed in our church in the 1800s, that's troubling to me," he said. "I have a great-great grandfather. They were trying to build a generation out there in the desert. And so he took additional wives as he was told to do. And I must admit, I can't imagine anything more awful than polygamy."

Romney, who has five sons with his wife of 38 years, says he was worried he might lose her to somebody else when he left his Michigan high school sweetheart behind in college while he did two years of missionary work in France.

Read full story here.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president and was named state chairman for Clinton's campaign.

"No one is better equipped to repair America's alliances abroad and address the urgent needs of our communities at home," O'Malley said.

Clinton praised the governor for signing the nation's first statewide living wage law on Tuesday, a measure that requires state contractors to pay at least $8.50 to workers and $11.30 in parts of Maryland such as Baltimore and the Washington suburbs where it is more expensive to live.

Maryland is a strong Democratic state. Last year, O'Malley defeated Republican Robert Ehrlich, who was the first GOP governor of Maryland in 36 years. Clinton came to Maryland during that campaign to help raise money and build enthusiasm for O'Malley and other Maryland candidates.

The races for both parties' presidential nominations are showing signs of tightening. Yet a closer look at the numbers also reveals intriguing crosscurrents that raise questions about how solid the presumed Democratic advantage may be in November 2008.

Surveys show that people would clearly prefer that the Democratic Party win the White House next year, which political operatives and analysts attribute to the deep unpopularity of President Bush and the war in Iraq and a broad desire for change.

When top Republican and Democratic candidates are paired, however, the GOP hopefuls generally do quite well or at least hold their own.

Next year's Election Day is eons away in political time, and many things could happen to alter today's dynamics. For now, the surveys leave it unclear whether the apparent Democratic edge would really hold up should GOP candidates with moderate credentials like Rudy Giuliani or John McCain face Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

When John Kerry sought the Democratic nomination in the last presidential election, his biggest Iowa crowd before the state caucuses was about 1,500 people. At a University of Iowa rally last month, Barack Obama drew 10,000 -- many of them students.

The Illinois senator's candidacy has helped spark a surge in campus activism that he has moved quickly to harness, establishing 300 college chapters and working with students to organize many of his largest rallies.

The ferment may be unparalleled since 1968, when young voters rallied behind Senator Eugene McCarthy and his anti- Vietnam War platform, said David Rosenfeld, campus program director for the Student Public Interest Research Group, which encourages campus activism.

``It's a generation that was already civically minded,'' Rosenfeld said, citing a series of close elections that have piqued student interest, debate over Iraq and the growth of online technology. ``Obama, who is charismatic and has some kind of youth mojo thing going on, steps up, and the thing takes off.''

Obama's strategy is visible on the Internet, where at least 325,000 young people have signed on to his biggest support network on Facebook.com. That far outpaces support for his main rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton.

View full story here.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani remains on top in the race for the GOP nomination and now enjoys support from 30% of Likely Voters. That's more than twice the total of any other candidate. Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson and Arizona Senator John McCain are tied for second at 14%.

Thompson has been in the 12% to 14% range for each of the five surveys since his name was floated as a possible candidate.

McCain, once considered the dominant frontrunner, has struggled in recent months. His support among Likely GOP Primary voters has fallen eight percentage points since January. His numbers now are strongest among independents likely to vote in a Republican Primary. In Election 2000, McCain did best in open primaries that allowed independents to vote. Then Governor Bush did best in Primary states where only Republicans could vote.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney remains the only other candidate in double digits. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich remains in fifth place with 8% support.

Giuliani is the most popular candidate in either party--62% now have a favorable opinion of him. McCain's favorability ratings among all voters have also fallen to the lowest level yet measured--49%. Thompson and Romney are less well known, viewed favorably by 35% and 32% respectively. See updated favorability ratings and general election match-ups for all Republican and Democratic candidates.

Among all voters, 44% now see John McCain as politically conservative. That's a significant increase from 26% in December. What's truly unusual about perceptions of the Arizona Senator is how consistent they are across party lines. Forty-four percent (44%) of Republicans view him as politically conservative. That view is shared by 45% of Democrats and 43% of those not affiliated with either major party.

Read full story here.

This political video is a collection of clips that show Kucinich's opposition to the war in Iraq.

Kucinich is not just anti-Iraq war. He's antiwar, period.

Eight Democrats vying for the White House were united Thursday in condemning President Bush's Iraq policy policy, at a presidential campaign debate more notable for the candidates' easy consensus than disagreement.

In the first televised debate of the 2008 campaign, more than 18 months before the November 4, 2008 election, Democrats were strongly critical of the Bush administration for continuing to funnel thousands of US troops and billions of dollars into what they see as a faltering Iraq war effort.

"The American people have said, Republicans and Democrats, that it's time to end this war," said top-tier candidate Senator Barack Obama, who aspires to become the country's first African-American president.

Obama criticized the "disastrous conditions that we've seen on the ground in Iraq."

Equally emphatic was Senator Joseph Biden, who condemned Bush's "fundamentally flawed policy."

"The real question," said Biden, "is are we going to be able to leave Iraq, get our troops out, and leave behind something other than chaos?"

The candidates pressed the case for a dramatic policy change in Iraq, armed with poll results showing a majority of Americans backing the Democratic push for a troop pullout.

Thursday's debate also was seen as a key step for each candidate in helping raise funds and attract staff, in what is becoming the longest and most expensive campaign for the US presidency in history. Read full story here.

The liberal group MoveOn.org is launching an ad against Republican John McCain and his joke about bombing Iran, arguing that the nation "can't afford another reckless president."

Watch McCain's Bomb Iran video.

The group plans to spend about $100,000 to air a commercial on network and some cable television stations in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that hold early contests in the presidential nomination process, spokesman Alex Howe said Friday.

McCain, campaigning Wednesday in South Carolina, answered a question about military action against Iran with the chorus of the surf-rocker classic "Barbara Ann."

"That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran," he said. "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ..."

His audience laughed, but MoveOn.org called the comment dangerous.

"America has lived through six years of a reckless foreign policy," an announcer says in the ad. "We're stuck in Iraq. More than 3,000 Americans are dead. And thousands more wounded.

"Now comes John McCain with his answer to what we should do about Iran. John McCain? We can't afford another reckless president."

The group ran ads in the same states in January, criticizing the Arizona senator's support for sending more troops to Iraq.

source: cnn.com

Republican 2008 presidential race hopeful John McCain crooned the words "Bomb Iran" to a Beach Boys' tune in joking response to a question about any possible U.S. attack over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

"That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran ... bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb," the Vietnam War veteran warbled softly to the band's "Barbara Ann" when he was asked when the United States would send an "airmail message" to Iran.

Campaign spokesman Matt David said the question was asked somewhat in jest and that the Arizona senator was adding some levity to the discussion.

The United States and others have accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. While U.S. officials have refused to take the military option off the table, they have said there were no plans to attack Iran and they would pursue a diplomatic solution.

McCain also gave a serious answer focusing on Iran's nuclear ambitions and desire to destroy Israel.

"It bothers me a great deal that they (Iran) might have a nuclear weapon or a missile, but it bothers me also to have a nuclear weapon knowing their relationship with various terrorist organizations, that they would give it to a terrorist organization," McCain said.

McCain's run for the White House, his second, has experienced some difficulties. He was third among Republicans in raising money during the first quarter, $12.5 million, and has been spending it as a faster clip than many candidates.

Several of the 2008 candidates have already put out statements regarding today’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding a nationwide ban on what opponents of the procedure call partial-birth abortion. Notice the differences between comments by Senator John McCain, a Republican who has said he opposes abortion except in cases of rape or incest, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican who has said he is personally anti-abortion but believes women should have the right to receive one. Mitt Romney, a Republican who has sought to persuade social conservatives that his abortion stance is genuine, also released a statement, as did some Democrats.

Read their views about abortion here.

WASHINGTON - 2008 Republican presidential race candidate John McCain declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.

The Arizona senator said in Summerville, S.C., that the country needs better ways to identify dangerous people like the gunman who killed 32 people and himself in the Blacksburg, Va., rampage. But he opposed weakening gun rights and, when asked whether ammunition clips sold to the public should be limited in size, said, "I don't think that's necessary at all."

GOP rival Rudy Giuliani, too, voiced his support for the Second Amendment on Wednesday, but not in such absolute terms. Once an advocate of strong federal gun controls, the former New York mayor said "this tragedy does not alter the Second Amendment" while indicating he favors the right of states to pass their own restrictions. Read full report here.

Gun control has been treated with a mix of silence and discomfort in the presidential campaign, a stance that may become insupportable once the nation finds its voice in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech mass murder.

Democrats have been deliberately muted for months on an issue that, by their own reckoning, contributed to and perhaps sealed their defeat in the 2000 presidential election. That's when Al Gore's call for gun registration cost him votes in rural America and dulled the party's appetite for taking on the gun lobby.

Top Republicans in the race are trying to close ranks with their party's conservative base on a variety of issues, making gun control an unusually sensitive one for them, too, thanks to their liberal views in the past.

Enter the massacre at Blacksburg, Va., an attack so horrific it froze the presidential campaign in place. Candidates called off events and expressed only sorrow, not opinion, in the first hours.

Read full story here.

U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) offered an amendment to the emergency supplemental bill that would help fund the war in Iraq by cutting off the enormous and irresponsible tax breaks for the richest one percent of Americans.

Watch the political video of Senator Biden as he explains how we can work to get a politcal solution to end the cycle of violence in Iraq. Joe Biden on Iraq war.

According to Biden, the first five years of the Administration’s latest cuts, set to begin this year, will cost the U.S. Government $27 billion and will grow to more than $150 billion over the next ten years. Additionally, these breaks apply only to those with the highest incomes; over 97 percent of the billions in tax breaks will go to the wealthiest one percent of Americans.

“The President’s record of tax cuts during a time of war is a record of utter disregard for our nation’s financial future,” said Biden. “It is a record of indifference to the price our children and grandchildren will pay to redeem our debt when it comes due. It is time for us to call a halt to this irresponsibility. It is time for us to pay for the choices we make. It is time to pay our bills.

“Last year alone, millionaires collected an average tax cut of $103,000 from the breaks enacted since 2001. With the new breaks set to begin this year, more than 99 percent of Americans will get nothing, zero, zip, zilch -- it will all go to the top one percent. This is the cherry on top of the whipped cream for the most blessed among us.

“My amendment says: No more of these giveaways until we can pay our bills, meet our responsibilities, face up to our own duties. If we miss the chance to take this small step back toward fiscal sanity, if we mock the sacrifice of our troops with gold-plated giveaways to those from whom nothing is asked and to whom so much has already been given, shame on us.”

Our generation must be the one that ends our nation's dependence on oil and ushers in a new energy economy. We need energy independence from unstable and hostile areas of the world, from global warming pollution, and from the old ways of doing business. If we harness American ingenuity to reach for transformative change, we can emerge from the crisis of global warming with a new energy economy that stimulates innovation, brings the family farm back to life, and creates more than 1 million jobs in America's farms and industries. Today, John Edwards called for America to embrace three great goals for this generation:

• Halt global warming by capping and reducing greenhouse gas pollution and leading the world to a new global climate change treaty.
• Create a new energy economy and 1 million new jobs by investing in clean, renewable energy, sparking innovation, a new era in American industry, and life in family farms.
• Meet the demand for new electricity through efficiency for the next decade, instead of producing more power.

As a result of the Edwards plan, by 2025 America will import 7.5 million fewer barrels of oil a day, produce 65 billion gallons of ethanol and other biofuels a year, generate 25 percent of our electricity from renewable sources, and produce more than 2 billion fewer tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. Within a generation, America's cars and trucks will be virtually petroleum-free.

Watch the video of John Edwards on climate change.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani defended his record favoring the use of public money for abortions, saying he wouldn't try to undo a Supreme Court ruling allowing the procedures.

"Ultimately I believe it's an individual right and a woman should make that choice," the former New York mayor said during a Statehouse news conference where he picked up three endorsements.

Watch political video of Rudy Giuliani talking about the public funding of abortion.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney re-ignited that debate last month when he announced a plan to expand health coverage to all the state's residents, with a caveat that those who don't buy coverage could face a penalty.

"We can't have as a nation 40 million people — or, in my state, half a million — saying, 'I don't have insurance, and if I get sick, I want someone else to pay,' " says Romney.

It's the question behind all health care debates: Who should pay?

Romney's plan says everyone should: The state would work harder to enroll all residents eligible for Medicaid; employers, most of whom already offer insurance, would be encouraged to continue doing so voluntarily; and individuals who don't have insurance would have to sign on to one of two new insurance pools, one of which would be subsidized for lower-income residents.

Here's a video of 2008 presidential race candidate Mitt Romney talking about his health care plan.

Here's my top ten list of political video sites.

1. Realclearpolitics.com

   Updated every morning and throughout the day, RCP culls and publishes the best commentary, news, polling data, and links to important resources from all points of the political compass and covering all the important issues of the day. RealClearPolitics has become a trusted filter for anyone interested in politics.

2. Youtube.com/youchoose

   You Choose '08 offers "official" channels for candidates' videos, with tallies of the number of views.

3. Isupportthismessage.com

   The site aimed at providing feedback to messages being sent by politicians and interest groups. The site, founded by a trio of dot-com veterans and political insiders, will post video, audio and print messages from interest groups and politicians, and allow users to comment on and post their own multimedia messages in response. It also displays the percentages of site readers who support and oppose individual messages. Isupportthismessage.com will then provide hard copy and electronic reports to interest groups, Congressional offices and candidates.

4. TechPresident.com

   A group blog from Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry about how the 2008 Presidential campaigns are using the Web. The site maintains a count of the candidates "Friends" on MySpace, the popularity of campaign videos on YouTube, and links to most recent images uploaded to the Flickr photo-sharing site that are tagged with the name of one of the presidential candidates.

5. Mediaresearch.org

   Written from a politically right-wing American perspective, this site is very interesting for how it depicts media bias.

6. Politicstv.com

   A unit of ptvMedia, a four-year-old political Web Video consulting firm, picks up clips of candidates, and media coverage. Channels include Comedy, where you can still see Daily Show clips, a Hall of Fame which has the Hillary/1984 spot, and highlights of political-related media coverage.

7. Prezvid.com

   Jeff Jarvis' politics site. He's been focused on how "voter generated" video can impact the campaigns and inviting people to submit questions they'd like answered by the candidates.

8. Jameskotecki.blogspot.com

   A 21-year-old Georgetown University student, Kotecki is a critic of campaign videos posted on YouTube. He produces his commentaries using a Webcam, apparently in his dorm room.

9. Onegoodmove.org

   It is constantly updated with news, video clips, and various links that are decidedly anti-Bush, anti-religion, and always either informative, entertaining, or both. Worth bookmarking for a daily visit.

10. Mediamatters.org

    Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

The 2008 presidential race is long on war rhetoric and short on warriors. Despite the high-profile roles of the battle against terrorism and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the presidential campaign, few of the candidates can claim military experience on their resumes.

Of the top tier of 2008 candidates, only Republican John McCainhas been to war and served in uniform.

Yet, while the demand for a president with a military background might be expected to run high in the post-Sept. 11 era, few see that as a determining factor in the 2008 race. Read full story here.

Latest polling in the 2008 White House campaign shows Hillary Clinton leading a three-way race for the Democratic nomination, while Rudolph Giuliani heads the Republican field, with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney showing early signs of a surge.

While opinion surveys are simply long-range indicators nine months before first nominating contests, they do serve to set perceptions of the race in the media and among likely voters, and spotlight trends that can be used by campaign chiefs to sharpen tactics.

New York Senator Clinton appears to be maintaining the lead in national polls that she has had for months. Read full story here.

I will be asking questions to help create dialogue around this and many other important topics so please add me to your Answers Network so that we can begin exchanging ideas and hopefully make changes that will benefit the future.

Found this question by 2008 presidential race candidate Sen. Barack Obama in Yahoo Answers.

Democratic Senator Barack Obama reportedly pulled in 20 million dollars in donations for his White House campaign, only a few million shy of front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Citing unnamed aides of Obama, who seeks to become the country's first-ever African-American president, the New York Times said Obama brought in 20 million dollars (15 million euros) in the first three months of the race, compared to Senator Clinton's 26 million, "enough to ratchet up the anxiety in the Clinton camp."

Clinton reported the size of her war chest as of a key fund-raising deadline on Saturday, while Obama has yet to officially reveal his takings on the campaign trail. Read full story here.

WASHINGTON - Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson on Sunday joined the crowded field of Republicans running for the White House in 2008 and proclaimed himself the "reliable conservative" in the 2008 presidential race .
Thompson, who was health and human services secretary during Bush's first term, also said he is the only GOP candidate who has helped assemble both a state and federal budget.

Since announcing last year he was forming a presidential exploratory committee to raise money and gauge support, Thompson has lagged behind better-known rivals. Read full story here.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Thursday dropped some names of potential running mates in the 2008 presidential race, but added such speculation is a bit premature.

Among those Romney mentioned for the second slot on the Republican ticket were three Southerners: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Read full story here.

I found this political video very amusing. Its about Hillary's baggages of the controversies that she has been involved in. The donkey is hilarious.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who dropped his brief presidential bid last month, endorsed Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton's candidacy for the 2008 presidential race

"This is the person to be the next president of the United States," Vilsack said at a news conference with Clinton. "She is tried, she is tested and she is ready."

Vilsack said the endorsement was in part a result of the former first lady's fund-raising efforts on his behalf during his first campaign for governor in 1998.

"In politics, loyalty is a commodity that is rare," Vilsack said.

His endorsement is a boost for Clinton in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first contest of the nominating race. Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, leads a crowded Democratic field in national opinion polls but trails 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards in many Iowa polls.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, said today that she has suffered a recurrence of cancer but that the two will continue his campaign.

Doctors discovered the cancer earlier this week in a right rib bone after Elizabeth Edwards received an X-ray for an injury that occurred after she moved a chest in her house.

The recurrence in a bone means that the cancer is “no longer curable,” John Edwards said, but “it is completely treatable.” He compared it to a chronic condition, such as diabetes.

But they pledged, jointly, to carry on with his bid for the 2008 presidential race.

"You can go cower in the corner and hide, or you can be tough and go out there," John Edwards said. "The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly."

As if to prove the point, he flew to New York for a fundraiser Thursday night and his wife traveled to Boston with their two youngest children to see their older daughter at Harvard Law School. They are scheduled to fly together to Los Angeles for more fundraising Friday.

"Anyone who wants to be president of the United States needs to understand and recognize that there will be very difficult, intense, high-pressure times when judgments have to be made," Edwards said. "And if you're not able to, in a focused, thoughtful way, to deal with this kind of pressure, you're not ready to be president."

Here's a statement from Thomas Gensemer, Managing Director, Blue State Digital

This afternoon, an employee at our firm, Phillip de Vellis, received a call from Arianna Huffington of "The Huffington Post" regarding the "1984" video currently circulating online. Initially, de Vellis refused to respond to her requests. He has since acknowledged to Blue State Digital that he was the creator of the video.

Pursuant to company policy regarding outside political work or commentary on behalf of our clients or otherwise, Mr. de Vellis has been terminated from Blue State Digital effective immediately.

Blue State Digital is under contract with the Obama Campaign for technology pursuits including software development and hosting. Additionally, one of our founding partners is on leave from the company to work directly for the campaign at headquarters.

However, Blue State Digital is not currently engaged in any relationship with the Obama Campaign for creative or non-technical services.

Mr. de Vellis created this video on his own time. It was done without the knowledge of management, and was in no way tied to his work at the firm or our formal engagement [on technology pursuits] with the Obama campaign.

I have spoken with David Plouffe, Sen. Obama's campaign manager, to inform him of this action and am appreciative of his understanding and ongoing support of our work.

We wish Mr. de Vellis well in his future endeavors.

Watch the controversial Hillary 1984 video

The Huffington Post go too far to cover a story.

It's guerrilla politics at its cleverest. The mysterious Internet video that compares Sen. Hillary Clinton to Big Brother is the boffo hit of the YouTube Web site.

The 74-second clip, a copy of a 1984 Apple ad for its Macintosh computer, has recorded more than 1 million views, with an enormous surge in the past two days.

View the controversial Hillary 1984 video .

While the video's final image reads "BarackObama.com," the campaign of the Illinois senator has denied being behind it.

Its creator remained anonymous.

But for political strategists, ad experts, even journalists, the ad presents a series of other fundamental unknowns.

_How will Web content outside the control of campaigns affect voters?

_How should campaigns react to anonymous but highly viewed attacks?

_When is Web content, no matter how provocative, newsworthy?

As the Internet looks more and more like an electronic community, politicians are increasingly devoting resources to their Web sites, planting themselves in electronic gathering places such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com and posting their videos on YouTube.

I found this Hillary 1984 video in IsupportThisMessage.com. This video is a parody of ground-breaking (in its day) commercial that Apple did for the original Macintosh computer. One of the earlier "concept" ads designed to get people talking, not just to sell stuff.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards as made poverty eradication in the U.S. his central focus since 2004, when he first sought the Democratic presidential nomination and then ran as vice presidential running mate on the ticket headed by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. The issue has remained his main rallying point as he seeks the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination for the 2008 presidential race.

But on Thursday- Edwards took his anti-poverty campaign international, calling for a systematic effort to tackle global poverty.

Edwards’ plan includes extending primary education around the world; improving preventive health care in the developing world, specifically focused on access to clean water; and creating economic and political opportunity, through microfinance for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and by building democracy.

The plan also calls for the establishment of a Cabinet-level coordinator for global poverty eradication efforts, which currently are spread out across some 50 government agencies, Edwards said.

The new plan comes atop domestic goals he already has outlined: ending poverty and building a “working society” by establishing universal health care, transcending global warming, creating a new energy economy and improving the education system.

NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has launched an online petition drive to rally support for legislation he co-sponsored to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by next March.

Read full story here.

The internet is really becoming a very important tool for the 2008 presidential race.

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Call it the presidential candidates' striptease. White House hopefuls aren't willing to just declare they're running, but rather are flirting with the idea as long as possible. First, they show some leg with an exploratory committee, then plenty of skin with a pronouncement on a faux news program or a late-night show and finally they bare all with a ruffles-and-flourish formal announcement.

"I'm here today to announce that my family and I will make a decision on my political future later this year," Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) said at a much-hyped news conference Monday in his hometown of Omaha, Neb.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) drew 17,000 people to Springfield, Ill., last month to formally announce a presidential campaign that had been up and running for nearly a month.

Republican John McCain (news, bio, voting record), who has been campaigning for president practically since George W. Bush won a second term — or more likely when he lost to Bush in 2000 — went on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" in February to say he is running. But don't confuse that with a formal announcement — that will come in April, McCain told Letterman.

"You drag this out as long as you can. You don't just have one rendition," the Arizona senator said. "This is the announcement preceding the formal announcement."

Why all the bumps and grinds before admitting what most of the country already suspects?

Discuss Washington electon videos.

The recent election 2008 polls from Rasmussen Reports national opinion survey of Likely Democratic Primary Voters highlights the stability of a campaign that has started well before most Americans want to think about it. Once again, New York Senator Hillary Clinton is on top, this week attracting 38% of the vote.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is in second place with 26% of the vote, unchanged from a week ago. Obama and Clinton are essentially even among African-American voters. Clinton leads Obama by 15 percentage points among women and by 7 among men.

Former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards remains in third place with 15% support. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is a very distant fourth, with just 3% of the vote.

Discuss the recent 2008 election polls here.

source: yahoo.com

Sorry seems to be the hardest word, unless you're presidential contender John Edwards trying to claim a top spot in the 2008 Democratic field.
While politicians campaign on their successes, the former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee keeps reminding people he was wrong to vote for the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the war in Iraq.
Hahaha... Talk about gaining votes. Hope he's sincere.

Discuss John Edwards 2008 presidential race bid.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) continues to lead to pack of hopefuls for the GOP nomination. Support for Giuliani among those likely to vote in a Republican Presidential primary inched up to 34% this week following two straight weeks at the 33% level.

Arizona Senator John McCain (news, bio, voting record) (R) remains in second place, fifteen points behind the current frontrunner. With support from 19% of Likely Voters, McCain has picked up two points from last week.

Show your support to Mayor Guiliani in the 2008 presidential race.

The 2008 preisdential race candidates are geraed up to win the youth's crucial vote. With their Web logs, Facebook profiles and college rallies, the 2008 presidential candidates are lavishing attention on a group that displays unbridled enthusiasm early in the campaign but tends to lose interest when the voting starts.

Here's a sample of youth outreach efforts in the presidential campaign:

Republican Mike Huckabee: The former Arkansas governor, 51, has a Web site geared to young voters and will soon start a blog from his campaign travels. He also plays bass in a rock band, Capitol Offense.

Democrat Joe Biden: The Delaware senator, 64, has spoken at college campuses, bought full-page ads in college newspapers and used a variety of podcasts and Web sites to reach young people. "Part of it is built on celebrity," said spokesman Larry Rasky, "but it can also can be built on a passion for the issues."

Republican Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor, 59, is reaching college voters through campus GOP groups in Michigan, South Carolina and other key states as well as through online networks and Web sites with features such as Mitt-TV. "The governor stresses technology and innovation — that appeals to the crowd that grew up in the information age," said spokesman Kevin Madden.

Democrat Dennis Kucinich: The Ohio congressman, 60, doesn't just work the college vote — he visits high schools and junior high schools, too. He favors extending the right to vote to 16-year-olds. "I reach out to young voters and young voters reach out to me," he said. "They're doing it because of my strong stand for peace, my efforts to protect the environment."

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to change the government's formula for giving states money for homeland security, with the early voting states getting a little extra.

Obama wants states that have a bigger risk from the terrorist threat to get more of federal homeland security dollars — also a recommendation from the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. That's an unpopular idea among lawmakers from smaller states who would lose funding on the switch. Read full story here.

What do you think of Obama's prosposal? Do you think its fair enough?
Be a campaign lobbyist for Senator Barack Obama on the 2008 presidential race.

By Peter Szekely

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Being female or black is less of a liability for U.S. presidential candidates than being over 72, Mormon, twice-divorced or a cigarette smoker, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll issued on Tuesday.

With the 2008 presidential race featuring perhaps the most diverse field of White House contenders ever, the poll showed being a woman or an African American carries the least amount of negative baggage.

The poll, which isolated attributes of some candidates but did not ask about any, may be good for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the only woman running, bad for Sen. John McCain, who turns 72 in August 2008 and mixed for Sen. Barack Obama, the only black candidate and a smoker who says he's quit.

Read full story here.

What's wrong with being a Mormon or a smoker? Hmmmm... Just asking...

Please don't think that I am asking this to be racist or whatever. At this point, I'm just a little bit skeptical... like thinking, can this man really do this? Or can this woman do this? As of now I'm undecided. And again, please don't think there is any malice in my question.

I'm ready to vote for a "cleaner" more decent presidential candidate though.

I don't care what color they are. Color is a negligible factor - cultural, intellectual, and moral factors are more important to me.

However, we cannot deny the fact that racism is still very much alive and well in America. No matter now much people would like to think we have moved past all that it certainly is not true. I hope we can get past this racism against women and blacks, because both are as capable of running this country as any one we have had and better than some we have already elected.

Here's the list of those who officially announced that they're running for president and filed with the FEC.

Democrats

• Senator Joe Biden of Delaware (Campaign Site)
• Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut (Campaign Site)
• Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina (Campaign Site)
• Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska (Campaign Site)
• Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio (Campaign Site)
• Senator Barack Obama of Illinois (Campaign Site)
• Former Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa (Campaign Site)

Republicans

• Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas (Campaign Site)
• John H. Cox of Illinois (Campaign Site)
• Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York (Exploratory Committee)
• Representative Duncan Hunter of California (Campaign Site)
• Former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (Campaign Site)
• Michael Charles Smith of Oregon (Campaign Site)

Libertarian Party

• Steve Kubby of California (Campaign Site)
• George Phillies of Massachusetts (Campaign Site)
• Christine Smith of Colorado (Campaign Site)
• Doug Stanhope of Arizona (Campaign Site)

source: wikipedia.org

haha...there's nothing politically correct, or politically wrong in this intro. There's nothing even political in it. I don't want to talk about politics and worst, I know nothing about it. argggh... So why read this blog when the author is dumb-pretending-to-be-a-political-analyst? Well, you see, that's the beauty of it. Sometimes, people who knew nothing say the right words...hehe...I'm just defending my self here. :D

By the way, I don't want to be a president someday....

so much for my politically correct intro.