8:15 am:
Today at breakfast, my wonderful Congressman, John Lewis, spoke to the Alabama and Georgia delegations. If you have ever heard Congressman Lewis then you know what a fascinating speaker he is - well up that 5 times this morning.

He spoke to us about the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech. Congressman Lewis said that there were 10 speakers that day - he was #6 and Dr. King was #10 - and he is the only speaker that is still alive. Damn goosebumps!

After getting the word and instructions from Hillary, Bill, and now John Lewis - I'm in!! Congressman Lewis sealed the deal by saying "if we don't elect Barack Obama in November then history will not be kind to us". This is historical and I'm glad I was a part of it last night and for the next 67 days.

Continue reading "Day 5: Good to be from the 5th CD" »

Posted by Bernita at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It ain't easy being a delegate; less more a blogging delegate. There's not enough time in the day to keep you guys updated. Today, might be a little light because of all the activities going on.

1. Need to find some visine - think my eyes are going to be permanently red from lack of sleep.
2. Go to UPS store and get boxes - remember I came to Denver via a rental RV and am leaving on an airplane. What fits in a RV does not fit on an airplane.
3. Pack all the signs from convention - part of the delegate job is to wave signs. Yes, it is very coordinated when you are at the arena. You're not allowed to wave the "McCain more of the same" sign at any random time.
4. Will try to update posts from yesterday including adding a new post about our delegation party last night.
5. Get ready to go Invesco - I'm not bringing the laptop to Invesco this evening. That would be crazy. I will liveblog from the blackberry. Yes, it is a lot of typing on a small screen but I will as long as the network isn't flooded.

Posted by Bernita at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those following the 10th Congressional District race between Democrat Bobby Saxon and Republican Paul Broun (warning scary music), this will be of interest.

Congressman Broun (the one who spends taxpayer's money to fund his campaign), has so far refused to debate Democratic nominee Bobby Saxon before voters of the 10th CD, in spite of repeated invitations to do so.

More details and Saxon release below the fold.

Continue reading "Is Paul Broun chicken?" »

Posted by Mel at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

And relatively drama-free.

"It is time to take back the country we love and whether you voted for me of whether you voted for Barack, the time is now to reunite as a single party with a single purpose," said Senator Clinton after she called for an end to the roll call vote. She's a class act.

Posted by Jen B. at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

3:43 pm:
finally made it to the Pepsi Center. They are now going through the second nominations. I believe everyone from the Georgia delegation has voted their choice. Congressman John Barrow is here with us. Apparently he doesn't think we have the "cooties" like another Georgia Congressman who is no where near Denver.

Celebrity political watch: Governor Bill Richardson just walked past our delegation.

3:49 pm:
Alice Germond is doing the roll call now. Alabama is casting the first votes. California passed their 441 votes. Don't know what that means. According to Steve Leeds, they will go back to California to get their vote counts.

Ok I'm taking a break from the laptop for a while. I now have a "temporary podium" pass. Which means I can get anywhere behind the main stage. Sweeett!

I have already taken pictures with many of the Congresswomen that were just on stage.

OMG Muhammad Ali just walked in front of me. I touched his hand.

Posted by Bernita at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

12:02 pm:
Sitting on the shuttle headed to the Clinton delegate meeting. This is our "closure" meeting.

This morning we did our roll call vote. So hopefully this will make things less clustered later today. But then again, we're democrats and we can complicate the smallest shit.

12:52 pm
Standing on a really long line waiting to get in the ballroom. Can't really get a read on the crowd. I'm anxious. Not sure if anyone else is.

1:03 pm
Greatest save of the convention - just saw Tommy Irvin walking to get on the end of the line and I just went and grabbed him. How many people are really gonna get mad at a 6'7" guy cutting in front of you? Hell I'm stoked that Tommy is still here showing his original support for Hillary. I heart Tommy!

Continue reading "Day 4: Clinton delegate meeting" »

Posted by Bernita at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Georgia's mental health services to get own department

Perdue's plan, which will require the General Assembly's approval next year, would create:

- A Department of Behavioral Health to provide mental health and substance abuse services.

- A Department of Health.. [clipped]

- A Department of Human Services.. [clipped]

h/t to Icarus for a nice catch.

Posted by Jen B. at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

She knocked this speech way the hell out of the ballpark. I fell in love with her all over again! She was amazing and made me feel proud to be a supporter. As much as she has endured, and she's sill scrapping tire marks off her back, she still remains an unbelievable ambassador for the Democratic Party.

She has been the only one in 2 days to attack and attack and attack John McCain. She didn't mince her words. She didn't shy away from telling the American people that their choice in November should be Obama/Biden.

I could not stop screaming in excitement the entire time she spoke. I'm going to have to watch it on YouTube.

Until I watch it on YouTube, here's the text of her amazing speech.:

Continue reading "Day 3: Hillary's speech" »

Posted by Bernita at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

The online gallery.

And the physical one.

Posted by Mel at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry guys, I'm still having connection issues and so have not had much access to be able to blog, post pics, etc. Today Will Fowlkes got me hooked up, as he found cat-5 outlet at our station, so we've set up our "delegate tech area" -- Will is next to me, and Amy Morton and Bernita Smith are typing away behind me. So I just now had a chance to write about yesterday, which I posted on my blog!

Posted by Angela at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In addition to everything else going on tonight, Thunder will be leading the convention chat at Tondee's Tavern using a cool app called Cover it Live. If you haven't joined in on one of these sessions at Tondee's (usually on Election Nights), it's super fast blogging fun. Everyone can play, no Tondee's login needed.

Go check it out starting at 8:15 ish!

Posted by Catherine at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

5:30 pm:
Finally made it to the Pepsi Center. I doubt if I will take tons of pictures tonight - my dogs (feet) are hurting. I'll see what happens. I just want to hear and scream my head off for Hillary. I'm glad I was able to hear her earlier today - she is still inspirational.

Tomorrow we will vote for Senator Clinton and then she will release her delegates. Hmmm... something Ted Kennedy never did when he was fighting our favorite peanut farmer. I think it will bring some closure.

6:02 pm:
TV actress Jasmine Guy came into the Georgia delegation area. Here's a photo with Mary Long and her.

Posted by Bernita at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

2:08 pm:
OK I made it back downtown to attend the Emily's List event. Big thanks to Beth Hand for getting us tickets. This is not a free event.

Here's the deal, there are no chairs at this event. Yeah, Jules, no chairs. So you have a whole lot of women sitting on the floor waiting until the event starts. Uh, huh I'm sitting on the floor in my light gray suit typing this post. So I will probably not do any live blogging since I'm not holding a laptop in the air and typing.

But I will capture the events and pictures when I get to the Pepsi Center.

2:33 pm:
Gonna try to live blog off the blackberry. The event is about to start. All the women in Congress are flowing in.

Continue reading "Day 3: Emily's List event" »

Posted by Bernita at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Where will you be watching from on Thursday?

On Thursday, August 28th, the DNCC moves to INVESCO Field as Senator Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for President. Please join fellow Democrats to watch this historic event at one of the many viewing parties around Atlanta. Below are just a few of the events taking place on Thursday! All events below are free and open to the public.

You can find many more watch parties in Atlanta listed at Barack Obama.com and on the Young Democrats of Georgia calendar.

Convention Watch Parties Thursday

Young Democrats of Atlanta
Come and join supporters of both Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. Come out and Watch History unfold on Thursday, August 28th as Barack Obama makes his official acceptance of the Democratic Nomination! For more information, contact Jacyntha Billingsley, jacyntha08@yahoo.com

Thursday, August 28, 2008
8:00pm - 11:00pm
Verve Restaurant and Lounge
511 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA, 30308

Atlanta Stonewall Democrats
Join Atlanta Stonewall Democrats as we host the Obama Acceptance Speech and Democratic Convention Watch Party at Amsterdam.

Thursday, Augus t 28, 2008
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Amsterdam Bar & Cafe
501 Amsterdam Ave
Atlanta, GA

Continue reading "Watch Parties Thursday" »

Posted by Mel at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

To read convention reports from the members of the new Georgia DNC team, please click here to vist the new Georgia DNC website and blog!

Posted by Page at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Convention opened up in grand style Monday, with the gavel dropping at 3:00pm (EST). The place had only about 5% - 7% of the total number of folks that could be in there, so Angela and I got to walk around the place and check things out.

Angela and I got there about 15 minutes before 3pm, and, thinking that the DNC would not even remotely start on time - even with the few people on the floor - Angela and I went up to the concourse for a pizza. We were accosted by delegate green guys who told us we couldn't bring the pizza back on to the floor, so we started to eat the pizze up in the hallway. Then - at 3pm - the gavel dropped.

They had started on time....

Continue reading "DNC Reports: Monday, 8/25" »

Posted by Will Fowlkes at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Celebrating Democratic Women is a luncheon put on by the Georgia Democratic women. All the Georgia folks are here. It's like we moved the People's Agenda from downtown Atlanta to Denver.

Even Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter are in the house.

12:20 pm
Xernona Clayton, founder of the Trumpet Awards, opened up the event.

Bernice King said the invocation. Lots of prayers sent to Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones family.

12:34 pm:
Valerie Jackson is speaking now. Oh she is wearing a fabulous hat. SBT can only dream about wearing hats like Valerie. She says that the only way women can succeed if they can get away from the "scared woman" disease. Scared woman disease is when women are afraid to help each other out of competition.

12:38 pm:
The great Dorothy Height is speaking. What a legend! She is the Founder of the National Council of Negro Women. She acknowledged the men in the room by saying "Men of quality are not afraid of women who want equality." Nice.

Continue reading "Day 3: Celebrating Democratic Women" »

Posted by Bernita at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Update: day two and Patrick Bell still has no idea, (and apparently no friends). Grift should start a pool.

Note to candidates, syndicating your opponent's rss feed on your own site, um...not so smart. Just in case, here's the screen snap.

Posted by Mel at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Bartow County Democratic Party Office will have their grand opening tomorrow from noon to 2pm. This is the first campaign office the Democratic Party has had in Bartow County since '92! The office is located at 12 Erwin Street, #6, Cartersville.

Posted by Jen B. at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

10:47 am:
Today is the 88th anniversary of Women Suffrage day and the day is chockful of women events.

I'm at the Women's Caucus mtg. now. So far Rosario Dawson has spoken about the need for women to vote and her work with Voto Latino.

Eva Longorio just spoke for a few seconds. She said she was here to represent all the desperate housewives in the room.

Donna Brazile is now speaking. She says that we will one day put a woman in the White House and give Nancy Pelosi a fighting majority in the Congress by electing more women. The crowd is going straight up crazy. Crowd is going wild when she says that we need to fight for hate crimes bills.

Continue reading "Day 3: Women, Women, Women" »

Posted by Bernita at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ain't no party like a pro-choice party! The ladies of Planned Parenthood rocked out last night. Who throws a party where there are 3 LAST CALLS! ? The music was great, the crowd was dancing, and everyone had a crazy good time.

Some of our favorite Georgia women who work for Planned Parenthood did an amazing and fabo job - Carol McDonald and Nikema Williams. Those two can plan any of my parties. They were active participants on the dance floor.

Continue reading "Day 2: Post Pepsi Center" »

Posted by Bernita at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live from the Denver!

Join me tonight from 6:00 - 6:30 PM EST (4:00-4:30 Denver time) on Kudzu Vine - Live from Denver! We'll hear from Democratic Party of Georga Communications Director, Martin Matheny; Tondee's Tavern blogger, Amy Morton; Newly elected Georgia DNC Member, Page Gleason; and perhaps some other surprises! Our usual host, David McLaughlin is off tonight, so bear with us novices!

If you're in Denver and would like to participate, email me and I'll get you on the schedule!

So, tune in to Blog Talk Radio - Kudzu Vine tonight! Of course, you can always listen later or download.

Posted by Catherine at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is a recap of the Interfaith Caucus event that was held for the first time in DNC history. The event took place on Sunday, August 24. Our newest DNC member, Sally Rosser, is the guest blogger and provides us with an illiuminating account of the event.

***

The Interfaith Gathering held on Sunday of the Democratic Convention brought together Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and Christians to celebrate the many things we have in common and to reaffirm our commitment to children, neighbors, our nation and the world.

There was fantastic music and readings from the Qur'an, the Bible and the Torah. The anti-abortion disruptors were few and ended before the substance of the worship began.

Faith leaders spoke to our responsibility and the focus of our efforts in changing our communities and the world. Responsibility to children, Imam Mardini called us to lift up all children and end the cycle of poverty. It was delivered by a pro-life Democrat who has remained a strong Democrat because of our Party's strong Pro-Child record.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger from Denver" »

Posted by Bernita at 5:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AJC story here.

Apparently, Billy Beckett, who referees College Football games on weekends couldn't deal with the dissension and overly emotional arguments of the Milton City Council about whether or not to have a sewer system. I will let that sink in like a riding mower over a punctured septic tank.

A person who referees football games between hyped up and very strong college athletes while being screamed at by 100,000 rabid fans, couldn't get the finest Miltonians available to agree on whether or not they needed a system to deal with the products of their digestive and urinary system - which even dogs can figure out (go outside).

They did agree to rename the city "Clayton County North". Nice job geniuses, I am sure Fulton County is counting the days before you go bankrupt and have to be bailed out again, just like in 1931.

Posted by Stefan at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nita sends this last picture of "Teddy Mania" for the night. Reports of jammed networks, dead batteries, broken iPhones, and shared aircards notwithstanding, our intrepid blog team rocks. Special thanks to Nita for going above and beyond today, both on and off the web. It was a blast. We had over 1,000 unique visitors today, which is a pretty big day for us. Welcome to all the new or returning visitors. We're glad you're here.

Posted by Mel at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In addition to everything else going on tonight, Amy Morton will be live blogging the opening night of convention at Tondee's Tavern using a cool app called Cover it Live. If you haven't joined in on one of these sessions at Tondee's (usually on Election Nights and moderated by Ed), it's super fast blogging fun. Everyone can play, no Tondee's login needed.

Go check it out starting at 7:00 ish 8:00 ish!

UPDATE: And for fans of Jack & Jill Politics, Baratunde (Jack) has a very Shelbyesque live video channel going here. It looks like he's wearing a helmet cam.

Posted by Mel at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Oh my God, Oh my God - we are HERE!! Woohoo!

of course the three old ladies had to get a special ride to the security entrance.

Here's the view from the entrance...the goosebumps are coming now.

You can't get more unified than this: Me with Jamal Simmons

Continue reading "Day 2: At the Pepsi Center" »

Posted by Bernita at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's not easy being the MSM, what with all the big ass trucks, crews, lights, cameras, egos and whatnot.

With 15,000 journalists, many of the TV variety, descending on one city, technical difficulties will arise. NBC has had its share. During Brian Williams' 1pmET hour on MSNBC, Contessa Brewer had to take over coverage from New York. Williams came back a few minutes later explaining, "We lost our audio from Denver. So many satellites trucks and cables competing for so little space from here."

A freelance crew setting up lights in the Pepsi Center skybox used by Fox affiliate service Fox News Edge got a little too close to the sprinkler system last night. A tipster writes, "They set up their lights against a sprinkler head (against instructions). There is now a major flood in their booth!"

Posted by Mel at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Mel at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In response to McCain's "Debra" ad, Clinton had this to say:

"I don't appreciate having my name or my words or for that matter Sen. Biden's words used. There's nothing I can do about it, except speak out against it, and hope people won't give it any credence."

"If you voted for me, you have much more in common with Senator Obama on every issue I campaigned on, on every cause that I have stood for, than you do with Senator McCain."

Posted by Jen B. at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Breakfast was good - thanks to Home Depot for sponsoring the event. Amy blogged about Rep. Heath Shuler speaking to us. Then we had stand on line for 30 minutes to receive our credentials. Which led to many of us to miss the morning caucus events. So not cool. I wanted to attend the Black Caucus event because they were doing something special for Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones at the start of the caucus. In addition to missing the caucus event, there were no hotel shuttles left to get to the convention center. Nice! I bummed a ride from Sally Rosser and Hattie Dorsey to get downtown.

Now I'm at the Big Tent eating a nice burrito. Look who I ran in to at the Big Tent:

Yeahhhh! It's Greg Greene!!!

Update below the fold

Continue reading "Day 2: Cluster" »

Posted by Bernita at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

For those following the DNCC action vicariously, here's the packed schedule for today. The headliner tonight will be Michelle Obama! Also on the schedule: Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Maya Soetoro-Ng (Barack's half-sister) and about 20 others.

Posted by Mel at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Pew Research Center: Men or Women: Who's the Better Leader?

Americans believe women have the right stuff to be political leaders. When it comes to honesty, intelligence and a handful of other character traits they value highly in leaders, the public rates women superior to men, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey.

Nevertheless, a mere 6% of respondents in this survey of 2,250 adults say that, overall, women make better political leaders than men. About one-in-five (21%) say men make the better leaders, while the vast majority -- 69% -- say men and women make equally good leaders.

Posted by Mel at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nikema, Leslie, Angela, and I ventured downtown so Nikema could do an interview with FoxNews. Nikema is going to be a part of their delegate diaries series, where they follow delegates around the convention. Here's her first interview. Trip cost from hotel to downtown Denver = $25.75. Yeah, we so can't wait to get our credentials so we can ride the free shuttles.

As we approached our meeting place, we heard peaceful singing coming from a small crowd. People were holding banners that said "Act for Peace", "Mennonites for Peace". This is the view looking at 12:00:

Continue reading "Day 1: Protests and Parties" »

Posted by Bernita at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Live from the Denver!

Hungry for the "behind the scenes" scoop on the DNC Convention? Missing our friends who've headed out there? Well, tune in Monday-Thursday this week from 6:00 - 6:30 PM to Kudzu Vine's Live from Denver coverage! Our "correspondents" include members of The Unity Express to report on their trip; members of the Georgia Delegation; and other special guests. David McLaughlin and yours truly will be hosting, with Tim Shiftlett as his schedule allows. If you're in Denver and would like to participate, email me and I'll get you on the schedule!

So, tune in to Blog Talk Radio - Kudzu Vine tonight! Of course, you can always listen later or download.

Posted by Catherine at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, for my first Democratic National Convention, it has been quite a day. And the Convention hasn't even started yet.

All that consumed my racing mind for the last few drawn-out weeks has been getting to the Convention. Driving to the airport. Boarding onto the plane. Flying over half the country. Checking into my hotel. Heading out to my first Convention party. Mixed emotions accompanied those thoughts throughout those weeks - wondering if this day would ever come.

Then it did.

Continue reading "DNC 2008 Reports: Sunday, 8/24" »

Posted by Will Fowlkes at 4:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hillary Clinton will release her delegates and urge her supporters to vote for Obama in a formal announcement coming sometime tomorrow morning.

Posted by Jen B. at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Thanks. An email was sent out by the OB campaign from from:
"Joe Biden" whose email address apparently is "info@barackobama.com" The email address kills me. Just create an email address for JoeBiden@BarackObama.com then all email to that address gets forwarded to the trash and a message comes back saying: "Sorry I can't check my email but I am criss crossing the country bringing our message of Change you can believe in to the people..." or whatever.

And they ALL seem to do this, Hillary's campaign did this all primary, whether it was Bill, Hill, or Maggie Solis Doyle, always info@hillaryclinton.com.

I know this is a small thing and most people consider this to be totally insignificant, but if it is, then why even have the Joe Biden's name associated with it. Go the extra step, people want to believe.

Especially if you are asking them for money.

Posted by Stefan at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Testing to see how well the blackberry will do on liveblogging.

In the lobby as the Georgia delegation is flowing in. Rep. Kaiser, Richard Ray, and Ben Meyers are chatting. More YD's arriving - Chad Brock and Brian Peterson.

Some folks are headed to the interfaith event. I'm going to try to get one or two of the attendees to write a guest blog post.

Headed downtown in a few.

Posted by Bernita at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Day 1: Sunday, August 24, 2008

6:15 am
Hey folks, it's Bernita reporting in from the DNC Convention in Denver. I will be blogging here and at Tondee's Tavern over the course of the week. My blogging will be informal - just like I'm having a conversation with you in Catherine's and Mel's livng room - oh wait I am.

Arrival:

Arrived yesterday around 1 pm (all posted times will be in Mountain Standard Time). We successfully made it to Denver in The Unity Express RV. Big thanks to everyone who made the trip possible. It was an awesome trip with loads of laughter and memories. I will update the Unity Express site as soon as I get a chance.

We scared the bejesus out of the Secret Service (yeah they are everywhere) when we arrived at the hotel. We pulled up in a 30 foot RV and started furiously uploading the beast. The RV place charges $25 per hour that it returned late. So we were just madly moving our stuff from the RV to the front of the hotel. Secret Service guy no likey us.

After we returned from dropping off the RV, we met up with a few Georgia delegates and had a huge lunch. We then set off to go walking to shops near our hotel. I lasted for about 1000 ft and turned to Angela and Nikema and said "pick me up whatever you guys are getting because I have to go to bed". I was physically exhausted.

Slept for 5 hours. HEAVEN!!

Continue reading "Day 1: Denver" »

Posted by Bernita at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

This doesn't necessarily speak to John McCain's fitness for the Presidency, but it is a fascinating peek into his wife's psyche. Some family values, eh?

From NPR:

Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman. The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.

"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.

His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.

The Portalski family is accustomed to hearing Cindy McCain described as Hensley's only child.

She's been described that way by news organizations from The New Yorker and The New York Times to Newsweek and ABC.

McCain herself routinely uses the phrase "only child," as she did on CNN last month. "I grew up with my dad," she said then. "I'm an only child. My father was a cowboy, and he really loved me very much, but I think he wanted a son occasionally."

McCain's father was also a businessman — and twice a father.

Read the whole thing to get a full picture of Hensley's douchiness.

Posted by Paula at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

David Poythress to announce his run for Governor! according to PI.

Full disclosure: The author worked in research for David Poythress in his 1998 Gubernatorial Bid.

Posted by Stefan at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Posted by Catherine at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Catherine at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)

I know everyone (especially Shelby) will have a lot to say about Mr. Biden, so out with it.

My personal take: Obama needed some foreign policy experience on the ticket, and we all know that ol' Joe really was at his best in the primary when he got to talk about his international credentials. The need for someone to blunt the McCain war hero juggernaut was presumably the reason Obama couldn't afford to woo those women who are still not sold on him with someone like Sibelius. (Now that OTHER woman, well, he didn't necessarily have to pick her, but the rumors that he didn't even vet her are a problem even if they aren't true, and if they are, well, whoooa nelly.)

I guess I don't dislike the choice of Biden, as long as he doesn't have the "NEW ENGLAND LIBERAL" target painted on him. Obama's painted himself with a pretty liberal brush already, so maybe Biden's Kerry-esque toxicity in that respect won't be a big issue. There wasn't really a slam dunk choice for VP, and I'm glad he didn't go with someone completely random or terrible.

Posted by Ataru Atlanta at 3:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Winthrop / ETV Poll - August 2008

On Thursday, August 21 at 7:30 p.m., just prior to the opening of the Democratic Convention, "The Big Picture" presents the results from the latest Winthrop/ETV Poll. In groundbreaking style, the poll includes data from respondents in 11 Southern states on a vast array of topics, from which presidential candidate they favor, to their take on whether our country is on the right track; to whether a VP candidate from the South would influence their vote; to their beliefs about the environment and race relations.

The 11 states polled are Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia, NC, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Florida and South Carolina.

Posted by Mel at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Well, back in 2004, the conservative pundits said no, absolutely not. Glenn Greenwald at Salon has the scoop. Here's a sample:

Hannity & Colmes, Jan. 24, 2004:

ANN COULTER: John Kerry can't really speak to the middle class tax cuts, inasmuch as he is ...

SEAN HANNITY: Yes.

ANN COULTER: ... a kept man. He lives off the money made by other men and left to their daughters or wives.

and

Taki Theodoracopulos, American Conservative, May 24, 2004:

If John Kerry wins in November, he will be the premiere president of this great country of ours to be also a gigolo. The dictionary defines "gigolo" as a man supported by a woman in return for his sexual attentions and companionship. It might sound rough for John Kerry, but it's right to the point. Let’s face it. The 44th president (maybe) is as close to a gigolo as I can think of, and I have known many.

Posted by Paula at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tomorrow it is, from AP

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Barack Obama's newly minted running mate will join the Democratic hopeful onstage Saturday at a rally in this capital city where Obama launched his White House bid, a campaign official said.

A senior Obama adviser told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday that Obama and his veep choice will appear in front of the former state Capitol where Abraham Lincoln once served. The last time Obama appeared there, he announced he was running for president.

The disclosure narrowed the window Obama has to reveal his running mate. The list of possibilities is widely believed to be down to Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who planned to campaign with Obama Thursday in his home state.

Posted by Mel at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)

This child looks absolutely nothing like John Edwards. Have also been thinking that this woman is the devil.

Posted by Mel at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)