Rice helps Ford, Obama helps Steele and can hoops block Connerly?

If five or six of the eight African-Americans seeking top of ticket statewide posts in Nov. 7 elections win, it may be because of breakthroughs from unlikely sources, according to analyst John William Templeton of blackmoney.com.
The visibility of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice may help Tennessee Democrat Harold Ford overcome the reluctance to believe in his national security credentials by Southern voters.
The mania surrounding Illinois Democrat Sen. Barack Obama is convincing some black Democratic voters in Prince George's County to feel that having a black senator from Maryland, even Republican Michael Steele, is more in their interest than a low-visibility Democratic backbencher.
Steele also benefits from the history of the next-door jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, which has never had the right to vote for a voting member of Congress. The D.C. Statehood Party was an early effort to seek Congressional voting rights for the District. As many D.C. natives have migrated to Maryland, a representative from Maryland could be the closest that Washington gets to a member of Congress.
Legends of schoolboy wonders like Earvin "Magic" Johnson could stop the effort of Ward Connerly to export his anti-affirmative action campaign to Michigan. Basketball coaches from Michigan State, Michigan, and other campuses have come out in opposition to Proposition 2, supported by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
The increased viability of black statewide candidates follows similar trends in corporate governance and athletics management. Once a breakthrough pioneer succeeds, others are able to follow.
Templeton noted that a decade ago, it was rare to find blacks at the top level of technology companies. But once John W. Thompson turned Symantec Corp. around, other companies began to see black contenders in a new light. The 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology recently published by blackmoney.com had several companies with at least two high-ranking black leaders.
Several years ago, the NFL had to make its teams interview black head coaching candidates. Now, the only two undefeated teams in the league both have black head coaches.
Nov. 7 will be a watershed election whatever the fate of the eight black statewide pioneers. Black voters have expanded their electoral choices as both parties field well-financed contenders. Black candidates have also proven their ability to raise the money necessary for big-ticket races.

B USH AND R USH BOTH LOVE TO G USH

THEIR NAMES THE SAME
WE SPELL IT "LAME"

THEY PREACH AND SCOLD
THEIR LIES ARE OLD
WE DON'T BELIEVE
ONE THING THEY'VE TOLD

ITS UP TO USH
TO MAKE THEM SHUSH

CAUSE WHAT THEY GUSH
SHOULD MAKE THEM BLUSH

BUT LET'S NOT HUSH
THAT ONE'S A LUSH

THEY'LL MAKE A FUSH
AND TALK PURE MUSH

SO KISH MY TUSH,
PILL POPPIN RUSH!

"Allen's crew seriously overreacted yet again."

Gee, sounds like they are under a lot of pressure...

What could possibly be worrying them to this point of emotional chaos?

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

"IF so, the GOP GOTV could fail to deliver and Rove is no longer the Bush Brain."

What goes around comes around.

Rove's sneaky ways and means include more than one overt felony, (NH phone bank jamming).

So this may not be as simple as losing an election.

It may very well be a matter of losing the protected status Rove has enjoyed over the past two decades, because his neocon Republican pals have had the power to keep the dogs of legal scrutiny off very stinky his trail. The only reason Rove has never been held accountable for his crimes is that he was immune from legal restrictions in Texas, and he's been similarly protected, on a much larger scale, since he came to DC.

With the advent a Democrat controlled House and/or Senate, that protection will disappear.

So there's much more at stake here for Rove, and maybe Cheney, than thier party losing the power, it would also mean these rogues will no longer be immune from legal repercussions for thier countless election-fraud and special-interest felonies.

Beware the cornered beast.

"became ill after eating a "marijuana-laced banana."

New evidence of bio-engineering gone awry??

I just have a couple of observations...(1) how do you get MJ into a banana?? Shows a nerdlike lack of youthful experience.. (2)Kerry will do anything conciously or unconciously to appear relevant in the mid-terms, so the stiff can gin up another run in '08. He shouldn't get off the stage for awhile, he should get off for good.. (3)Idiots like DeWine and Allen have gotten as far as they're ever going to get, no matter what the outcome on November 7th...

DeWine has run one of the ugliest campaigns I've ever seen. He just keeps lobbing ridiculous charges about Brown's character, nothing sticks, so he digs a little deeper in a desperate attempt to sully Brown. Then he sits smiling with family at the end of the ad.

I'd say the main reason his attacks are ineffective (and perhaps even tilting the race toward Brown) is that they are so desperate, and they insult our intelligence. Brown's ads largely attack DeWine's tenure in the Senate and close voting record with Bush. I don't recall any sort of personal attack, and I'd like to the think the people of my state are responding to that, and favoring the politician staying just on the cusp of the mud pit, as opposed to the one wallowing in the midst of it.

I think Ohio is done for the R's- via my unscientific yard sign Halloween poll. My OH-15 precint went 51-49% for Bush in '04. Last night, during trick-or-treating, more parents with kids than I could count commented favorably on my Strickland-Brown-Kilroy signs.

These are all parents whose kids are in the local Catholic parish school. This will be a first for me and many of them, who are indicating they'll be voting a straight D-ticket this year.

Who else saw the David Gregory interview with Micheal J. Fox today. That is a class act.

Here is a hunch... if that interview is played to the max in Missouri, stem cell issue will put McCaskill over the top.

Personally, if anyone has had a friend or relative that has had Parkinsons, Rush's tirade is absolutely disgusting.

A word of advise to Kerry, get off the stage for now.

I agree Repairman. We dont see too many politicos with class at all, especially on the GOP side.

I am absolutely amazed the GOP can only come up with BS like this, Bushes attacks on DEMs etc.

Latest NBC/Wall Street Journal polls tonight shows Bush approvals at 39%. The DEM or GOP generic preference poll still favors Dems by a 15% (52 vs 37). These numbers have not moved in two weeks.

If the GOP messages were working, it should be showing up in polls somewhere. I can not see at this late date how any thing will change this. DEMS take house and Senate by with VA and MO going to DEMS.

Also for all, word I hear is the DEM GOTV in these three states and NJ are at the best staffed levels ever. Strategically, GOP has to concentrate many operatives in districts they had not planned. In short, the behind the scenes reports I am hearing, abeit not first hand, is GOP has plenty of money but not the bodies to deliver. IF so, the GOP GOTV could fail to deliver and Rove is no longer the Bush Brain.

This Hail Mary from DeWine is almost as pathetic as Ken Blackwell's debate charge trying to link Ted Strickland to NAMBLA. Especially considering the fact that DeWine's top staffers were paying his 23 year old staff assistant, Jessica Cutler, for sex as well as pimping her out to other rich and powerful men in DC. Family values, let me tell you!

At least go down with dignity and live to fight another day. DeWine and Blackwell are coming up with total nonsense as ridiculous as Rudy Boschwitz' "Jewish letter" in the 1990 MN Senate race, or his fabricated charge that Paul Wellstone had burned an American flag. At this rate, like Boschwitz, DeWine and Blackwell are not only going down to flaming defeat, their political careers may well be over. As well they should be if this is how they conduct themselves and their campaigns.

http://sandwichrepair.blogspot.com

Allen's crew seriously overreacted yet again. I loved watching it on National new tonight. Just how can Allens campaign think this is good for their man. What a total joke. Sort of reminds of a story out in rural West Virginia. A write in candidate for a sheriff has a female campaign treasurer from the Democratic sheriff's campaign have a verbal outburst at a community meeting. She kept bereating the right in candidate and waggged her finger a little too close for comfort, splitting his lip. His defensive reaction was to smack her. He hauled off and belted her one across the face. The crowd roared its approval. The Dem Candidate arrested the write in candidate. Now the State police just arrested the sheriff and treasurer as this was all planned in advance.

For those who say politics is a blood sport, they were right.

Hey Chris, How about a forum about the Iraqi Prime Minister *ordering* U.S. troops to remove road bloks in Baghdad. Now, apparently under Bush, our troops are under the control of foreign governemnts? So, now are U.S. troops finally and openly simply mercinaries, sold by the Bush folk to the highest bidder?

GIVE ME A BREAK CILLIZA.

You have hit rock bottom.

Doesn't sound a whole lot different from what happened at Bush campaign rallies in 2004.

Too be honest, at this point in this campaign, if I were part of either Allen's or Webb's entourage, I would have concerns about security.

Let's see, the person accosting the Senator asks him about allegedly spitting on his first wife; I just wonder what might be coming next from the accoster....

I thought "stuff happens" was Rummies catch-phrase.

Another day
Another assault from George Felix Allen

Mike Stark assaulted by Allen's thugs:

Incident at Allen Campaign Stop in Charlottesville

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=5613839

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/10/breaking-virginia-gop-senator-george.html

Allen's comment? "Stuff happens."

Is that the Twilight Zone or Outter Limits theme I hear in the background behind the Senator?