Obama's efforts to connect to the Republican Party, specifically Bush, and Dick Chaney, of the Halliburton Company, dates back to the Presidents Grandfather, Prescott Bush, and indeed Chaney was once an executive officer of Halliburton.

The American military pounds Iraq with Artillary, bombs, and the like, destroying large sections of cities, and infra-structures, then Halliburton comes in to rebuild. Halliburton and Halliburton associated companies have raked in ten's of billions.

Obama is just like the BIG HALIBURTAN. Haliburton has contracted to build detention centers in the U.S. similiar to the one in Quantanammo Bay, Cuba. Halliburton does nothing to earn the Two Dollars for each meal an American Serviceman in Iraq eats.

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

Halliburton was scheduled to take control of the Dubai Ports in The United Arab Emiirate. The deal was canceled when Bush was unable to affect the transfer of the American Ports.

Now we see what some might suspect as similiar financial escapading from the Democrats.

Two years ago, Iraq's Ministry of Electricity gave a $50 million contract to a start-up security company - Companion- owned by now-indicted businessman (TONY REZKO) Tony Rezko and a onetime Chicago cop, Daniel T. Frawley, to train Iraqi power-plant guards in the United States. An Iraqi leadership change left the deal in limbo. Now the company, Companion Security, is working to revive its contract.
Involved along with Antoin "Tony" Rezco, long time friend and neighbor of Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and former cop Daniel T. Frawley, is Aiham Alsammarae. Alsammarae was accused of financial corruption by Iraqi authorities and jailed in Iraq last year before escaping and returning here.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON --
Recently, Obama's campaign staff have been vetted by the IRS to disclose his connection to the criminal money generating underworld. Besides, his connections to the REZCO MAFIA types, his up-coming tax fraud charges -- Obama needs to disclose why he is a MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" and disclose Obama's MUSLIM Farrakhan mob connection to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan and Chicago's Trinity United Church are trumpeting Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama as the second coming of the messiah. Obama should stop suppoting our intervention in IRAQ. It's time to introduce this false, fake Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke "GLORK" Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek. He is MAD!!! --

OBAM YOU'RE NO JFK --
"GLORK" Obama looks like Alfred E. Newman: "Tales Calculated To Drive You." He is a MUSLIM "Glork" He's MAD!!! Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot of Mad. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman after he spotted it on the bulletin board in the office of Ballantine Books editor Bernard Shir-Cliff, later a contributor to various magazines created by Kurtzman.
Obama needs to disclose why he is a MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" and stop suppoting our intervention in IRAQ. It's time to introduce this false, fake "GLORK" Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek.
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

I know it won't be included in the replays of Clinton's complaint about always being the first to get nailed by the media when she was asked about NAFTA, but there was an in your face tone from Brian Williams in his lead-up to the question.

Folks,
Please read what Senator Obama said during the last debate. He said that he would be willing to meet with Cuba's new leader only after both sides came up with an agenda that included human rights, the release of political prisoners and freedom of the press. These are preconditions! The only thing Senator Obama did wrong was introduce his comments with a statement that there would be no preconditons. Senators McCain and Clinton are conveniently leaving out the most important part of what Senator Obama said. That the talks with Cuba's new leader must include "human rights, the release of political prisoners and freedom of the press."

Give me a break! If this is all that Billary and Senator Straightalk can come up with then I think we'd all be best served by an Obama presidency.

One final observation. I think you can really measure what a person is about when you observe their actions in the face of adversity. Facing certain defeat, the Clintons are showing what they are all about. They are launching misleading and vicious attacks in a last minute attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Win at any cost! They care not that they are aiding the Republican party. In the end, it is not about the good of the country, it is about the Clintons.

dave - "Shouldn't he be talking about those proposals?"

He DOES talk about them in his book, on his website, and in the middle of his long speeches. The media, for entirely understandable reasons, does not relate or play these things. They are in the business of attracting viewers and the fact is that viewers tend to change the channel or turn the magazine or newspaper page if they try to get into specifics.

dave - "It is irresponsible, not inspirational, to demagogue trade deals while stating you are for free trade [etc]"

First, demagogue means to obscure or distort, and he isn't doing that. Second, it is entirely responsible to say that existing trade deals suck but trade deals in general can be beneficial, and you have good and tested ideas on how to fix them, especially when you have already published for public consumption your ideas, along with instances within cities, states and other countries where these ideas have been implemented and are working. Not every claim must be immediately followed by a mind-numbing, annotated dissertation on exactly how to accomplish it. It is, in fact, irresponsible to do THAT, because his job as a candidate and public servant is to convey as much truth as possible in the average time a voter is willing to listen.

So his inspirational speech is a public service, because it increases the amount of time and attention voters are willing to afford him, and as long as he is honest about his policies and is NOT engaging in demagoguery, that makes the electorate more informed and better able to choose correctly.

When he is forced to descend into minutia on trade it removes his ability to inform people of his proposals on health care, the economy, corporate governance, taxes, infrastructure investment, energy, foreign policy, and myriad other issues. He does exactly what a responsible candidate should do: He presents what he sees as the problem, the elements he focuses upon, and the highlights of how to deal with it. He isn't lying; more detail is available to anybody that wants it. In my experience, however, 95% of voters are neither qualified to judge the details or interested in learning those details, they are only interested in whether experts agree those details are plausible. And they are; for example, Bill Clinton's foreign policy advisor in the White House endorses Obama's willingness to meet foreign leaders without preconditions; Harvard and Yale and Princeton economists endorse Obama's plans for the economy; Congressmen and Senators and Governors and big city mayors from both parties all endorse his political approach.

In the meantime, it is a fact that Hillary was imperious and rigid in her health care approach, that whether she used the word "boon" or not she was repeatedly supportive of NAFTA even after the job losses were occurring, that she voted to authorize the Iraq war when Obama was giving public speeches opposing authorization, and on and on and on. Her experience in public life is our experience of HER, and that experience suggests she is politically tone deaf, poll driven, petty, divisive and in general an incompetent leader and manager. She blew tens of millions of dollars on her New York Senate campaign AFTER Giuliani dropped out and it was virtually uncontested. She blew $110M on her campaign by paying her top staff three times what Obama is paying his, and by all of them living like royalty with the most expensive suites and restaurants and venues available, with no fiscal restraint on services provided by the firms OWNED by her staff.

tonycastaldo - "The employers will earn a little less profit (or a lot less) but will still earn more profit there than by hiring Americans in America. He has other proposals to deal with that, and they sounded plausible to me as well."

Shouldn't he be talking about those proposals? It is irresponsible, not inspirational, to demogague trade deals while stating you are for free trade but offering no solutions to the main issue - lost jobs due to those trade deals.

from Bobby Wightman-Cervantes:

"...the people in Ohio believe NAFTA has cost them jobs (the people of Mexico and Central America will tell you NAFTA and CAFTA jobs have gone to China)..."

So... is it safe to say that without NAFTA, the jobs would have gone from Ohio straight to China without stopping in Mexica and Central America?

...just askin'

On SUNDAY??
OH No She Didn't.??

SHAME ON YOU HOLLARY !!!
For Todays (SUNDAY) Sacrelege, blasphemy, and Atheism..
Mocking the Christian belief in Salvation.
Poking fun and Sarcasm at Believing that Heaven can Open up the sky to those who believe. Laughing at the notion that there are Celestial Angelic Choirs in the Heavens, Hurling sarcasm at those who would believe they can hear. Laughing at Hope.. Laughing at GOD..!!!
Hillary..Can you say Moses?
Did he not part the Red Sea and free his people from the Pharoh?
Who are you Hillary Rodham to tell us all not to believe that all things are possible through our Lord Our God?
It is dillusional to Hope The Lord God would ever extend his ever redeeming, ever forgiving ever everlasting Love to Our Nation? To America and her United States Citizens??
Its dillusional On SUNDAY to think this could be possible ?? 2/24/08
One thing is certain..It won't be possible under your leadership. You are a non-believer.
I suppose that deceased Dallas Police Officers family should abandon any HOPE for his Salvation. His life was lost performing a difficult and demanding job too. There aint NO GOD coming for him either. Right Hillary??
May God have mercy on your immortal soul Hillary Rodham.
SHAME ON YOU HILLARY RODHAM
The Lord works in mysterious ways....
And today God exposed your true dark soul to the world. And In so doing, the Nation and the World will be better served.

Dave and Claudia: Barack has been consistent, at least in his book written in 2005 he outlines what he means by fair trade pretty well.

Not only do we need safety standards for ourselves, I believe he is talking about safety standards for the foreign workers, to make sure we aren't purchasing products built on slave labor. As he freely states in the book this will not destroy free trade and will not offset their wage advantage; but by requiring them to certify basic fair working conditions we stop the immoral traffic in exploiting workers (such as those in China, whose exploitation on the grounds of toxic exposure, unsafe equipment, company garnishmnent of pay for various "services", and even physical abuse of women workers, is all pretty well documented).

Obama's position (as I understand it) is that the playing field must be leveled and we must all be playing by the same rules, going overseas should not get you a tax break or let you treat your employees (or anybody's employees) like property to be worn out and discarded.

It is true, as he says, that the cost structure is much lower there, and will remain much lower even if we insist upon American employee safety standards. The employers will earn a little less profit (or a lot less) but will still earn more profit there than by hiring Americans in America. He has other proposals to deal with that, and they sounded plausible to me as well.

I wouldn't dismiss him as a lightweight in this arena. He is an inspirational speaker, but there is real thought behind his rhetoric; these plans are not just now thought up. He has studied the problem and has been promoting the same thing since at least 2005; along with passing laws for transparency in government earmarks and authoring and passing the strongest ethics bill in 20 years, with Tom Coburn (the hard right Republican) as his co-author. He has done more to cleanup Washington in 2 years than Hillary did in 8, or McCain did in 30.

To Tomthroop:

Here in Texas, there is a popular country bar dance called the "Texas Two Step", and this title is referring to the fact that in Texas, we have both a primary AND a caucus; 2/3 of the delegates are awarded based on the primary vote, and after we vote for that we then go to a caucus (held at 7pm after the polls close) and vote again. 1/3 of the delegates are awarded by the caucus vote. So we literally get to vote for our candidate twice in the Democratic primary. This is why it is called the Texas Two Step, it doesn't have anything to do with Ohio, Vermont or Rhode Island.

"Two-step" denigrates Vermont and Rhode Island. Certainly, Texas and Ohio are the big prizes, but Vermont and Rhode Island play a significant role, too!

claudialong,
Not arguing that there should be safety standards. But enforcement of that still won't change us losing jobs to the Chinese because that is not where the cost savings are. Also, if you stop trading with every country that we rejected shipments from, we would be trading with nobody. We even reject shipments from our good responsible friends to the North, Canada.

It's really pretty easy to figure out, dave. We need regulations to protect us from getting poisoned, for instance. It isn't just the lead in toys that come from China, it's also the deadly toxins recently discovered in pharmaceuticals for the US market manufactured in China. It's thousands of products from other countries that don't meet even basic safety or purity requirement.

We should enforce strict regulations on any country we trade with and if they don't comply, we shouldn't trade with them at all. 'Free trade' will end up being pretty expensive if it kills us.

What are we going to do? Well, it appears that as the campaign goes on, Obama is having to actually articulate on some of the issues. It seems to me that on NAFTA, he is trying to have his cake and eat it too. On one hand he has been railing against NAFTA and other free trade agreements in speech after speech, stating that these agreements are bad because they are sending jobs over to China (50,000 lost in Ohio due to NAFTA is his claim) and because of this, we are getting lead toys. I'm not sure how NAFTA does that but I'll let that go for now. So now what he is saying is the following:

"What the world should interpret is my consistent position, which is I believe in trade," he said after meeting with workers at a manufacturing plant in Ohio.

"I just want to make sure that the rules of the road apply to everybody and they are fair and that they reflect the interests of workers and not just corporate profits."

"When we think about the Doha round of trade agreements, for instance, I think it is perfectly appropriate for us to say that very poor countries should be able to export into wealthier countries on a basis that allows them to lift their standard of living," he said.

"We've got to have some minimal standards and we've got to have enforcement around things like safety standards."

What would those be that would allow poor countries who have people that can live well on 10,000 a year to trade with us? The cost of employees is sooo much cheaper that the goods will still be less expensive than American produced goods even if minimal safety and worker protections are enforced. How is this going to change the nature of free trade? The cost of labor is generally one of businesses highest costs so how would this keep jobs from leaving the US? What is Obama's new definition of free trade?

In Columbus, Tommy's Pizza on Lane Av, west of OSU is the best pizza in town. The Blue Danube on High St, north of OSU has solid, midwestern food and great atmosphere (it's a bar/restaurant).

I do not know about Ohio, but registering to vote closed down in Texas long before it became known Texas will matter. There are a lot of people (blacks in particular) who are being told they cannot vote because they did not register in time. How many of Obama's supporters will be locked out of voting because they did not register in time?

For the record - if Obama can heal the rift with the Latinos, and get the blacks to register before November Texas will be in play - McCain is not a sure thing in Texas - McCain's best friends in Texas are the inept leaders of the Democratic Party who have played this race all wrong from square one.

The decision of the Tejano Democrats to endorse Hillary angered the black leadership big time - they would have been better saying nothing -

Bobby Wightman-Cervantes

Well Chris, I love the title "The Fix", care to try....maybe add another chapter to your almaIn the United States, voter registration has never been higher (70 % of the eligible voters ) and yet there has been a steady DECLINE in voter turnout. We had a more than 10 % spike last election after Bin Laden released his video 2 days before the election, and I'm sure there will be another spike this year when Obama becomes the next President. This may placate the masses for a while, but nothing has actually changed. In this day and age of modern technology, a NATIONAL POLL - instituted so the masses can be actively involved in their REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY on a weekly basis, adding in their 2 cents on all the major issues of the week - is the best remedy for ailing voter discontentment. Of course there is probably not one elected official who would ever WANT such a thing, and that has more to do with the FACT that we are a FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC ( google United States, Wikipedia, first sentence ) and NOT a representative democracy. The PEOPLE want to be heard, my most distinguished and learned gentlemen and ladies, or so many of them would not be registering. If you truly want the people to feel positive about politics in general, why not give them an opportunity to become actively involved, say once a week, allowing them to voice their opinions on the major issues. When that day comes to pass, you will have solved voter discontentment in the United States.
nac....

Mark , when you have to drive US 77 all of the time and deal with all of the small towns and red lights it gets old - now with new overpasses the drive between Brownsville and IH 37 outside Corpus has been cut by 15 minutes in the last three years - if they finish the job it will cut another 15 minutes.

I make this drive all of the time - I will do it on Thursday to go to the VA in SA. I will leave at 3 a.m. for an 8:45 appointment - this gets old real fast.

IH 69 (US 77) was well in the planning long before NAFTA - we have a port - we are getting more and more traffic from Mexico and Central America - we need a highway to get the containers from Brownsville to the rest of the country. This means good paying jobs.

Lou Dobbs does not seem to believe that the middle class in 95% latino communities should have the same rights as in Anglo communities.

Bobby Wightman-Cervantes

It looks to me like the polls are among Democrats that voted in the previous primary. If Obama takes the same number of independents, republicans and first-time voters as he has been averaging in February, and assuming they show up in the same proportions, I have him winning Texas by 7 points and Ohio by 2.5. Plus we have seven full days of campaigning left. It doesn't look too good for Hillary (thank our lucky stars). I'm hoping Obama goes four for four next Tuesday.

Mark First - I think McCain could win Cameron County - the largest county by population in the LRGV - in the last two elections they voted Bush. You must remember we have a lot of winter Texans who vote while in Texas - these are typically white conservative republicans.

At the national level I agree LRGV will be sacrificed - that is my point - this is why Cameron County will vote Republican - they understand Obama and Hillary are con-artists.

Henry Cisneros is in an ad for Hillary telling the people that Hillary will bring jobs to the LRGV - how is that possible when she is opposed to our bread and butter (NAFTA)- Cisneros is a BS politician who will lie to the people for his own personal gain.

NAFTA and CAFTA have the potential to bring jobs to Mexico and Central America - this means these people then do not come to the US for jobs - this is good.

In Matamoros, Mexico there are factories empty because they were moved to China. Anyone who believes we are going to solve the wage differences between Mexico and the US is horribly misinformed.

We need to sanction companies which send jobs overseas and reward those who keep them in the US.

At Walmart I buy two different type ankel socks - both are made in the US - yes socks made in the US - when possible buy US - I only buy clothes made in Mexico or Central America, unless I can find something made in the US, like my socks.

We need to face the real problem - CHINA - we need to accept that certain jobs are never coming back to the US - so at least let's make sure they go to Mexico and Central America - this will help with our illegal immigration problem

BObby Wightman-Cervantes

Bobby, one more comment - I always like driving US 281 and US 77. Our US Highways are so much better than those in the east that they would think we were crying way too much.

Bobby - I do not know why people in snow think NAFTA took all their jobs to China, but I think some of their jobs did go to Mexico first, and that may explain it.

The LRGV will be sacrificed because TX is going for McC in the Fall, as far as the pols are concerned. It has surprised me how much attention the RGV has received, considering that it is delegate poor, even with the potential to turn out a large D majority in the region.

If the Ds really were a unified Party and not an amalgamation of interests that do not always coincide, they would have recognized that Cornyn has a relatively low voter approval, that huge turnout in Harris, Travis, Dallas, Bexar, Nueces, El PAso, Cameron and Hidalgo Counties in the Fall might have just pulled off a Senate seat for Col. Rick.

But the Ds are running a nationwide pair of competing campaigns; they must satisify the northern unions, and they will sacrifice the RGV in a New York minute.

Bobby, is there a possibility that McC will top 40% in the RGV in the Fall?

'So why not put labor & environmental regulations into trade agreements like NAFTA? Tax/tarrif the hell out of products produced in factories that don't meet certain standards.'

Democrats in Congress have been trying to, but republicans block it. Regulations bad!

People = this is not complex - Obama and Hillary are pro-NAFTA when then speak in South Texas and anti-NAFTA when they speak in Ohio -

The National Press will never take them to task over this. Why would the people of SOuth TExas vote for someone who opposed the source of their bread and butter (NAFTA) - Obama and his people are telling a different story to the people of South TExas - here he is pro-NAFTA

Bobby WC

bobbywc writes
"so the question is, Ms. Hilary and Mr. Obama are you with the pro-NAFTA people of the LRGV or the anti-NAFTA people of Ohio?"

You are correct, that is a good question. I wonder if there's a third door that isn't necessarily just 'NAFTA is good' or 'NAFTA is bad'. Maybe the correct answer is 'NAFTA needs to be repaired'.

I'm not an expert on trade issues, but I understand some of the complaints to be that weaker environmental & labor laws south of the border make it impossible for US businesses to compete. So why not put labor & environmental regulations into trade agreements like NAFTA? Tax/tarrif the hell out of products produced in factories that don't meet certain standards.

Not a native Ohioan, but my family is from the state, and I've spent a ton of time there.

In Cleveland, I'd recommend visiting Little Italy for lunch...it's centered at Mayfield Rd. and Murray Hill Rd. east of downtown. All of the places are great, but I'd specifically recommend Trattoria on the Hill; the tortellini/ravioli is especially great, and their marinara sauce is famous. Pick up dessert at Corbo Bakery, just a block east of there.

In Columbus, Schmidt's is famous, and rightly so. It's a bit touristy, but definitely worth the visit, especially if you like German food. It's on Kossuth St. a little south of downtown.

In Cincinnati, of course, you must visit Skyline Chili--and guaranteed there'll be one within 3 minutes of wherever you are.

And, by chance, if you find yourself in Toledo, make sure to visit the best of them all: Tony Packo's. AMAZING hot dogs and chili, and their pickles and peppers are sold all over the Midwest. It's on Front Street, right off of I-280.

Enjoy!

Of course they are bashing Obama. That's all we are going to get from now on. Now that he is the heir apparent all the corporate media will turn on him. He was fun to play with, but this is about money and the status quo, as you say, dwanitum.

Check out Obama's surge in Texas.
http://jtaplin.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/obama-momentum-in-texas/

I thought Obama *was* anti-NAFTA?
(This is an important one, I would agree.)

In any event, Ohio is very important, yet Texas very well may decide what Hillary will do...

Barack vs Hillary Analysis
The Home Stretch- Hillary's Personal Alamo:
http://newsusa.myfeedportal.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=53

Hillary has lost it, "Shame on you Barack Obama", she is going to shame everybody in public except Bill Clinton. Hillary and Bill's shenanigans have been tearing democratic apart, the harder they go at Obama, the easier it gets for republicans to use Clintons bashing Obama in ads. I fear as well that if she wins Ohio and Texas, the press is going to be trumpeting them come back kids again. Hillary,who is using Karl rove politics?

As somebody pointed out above, Bill Cristal's advice to use fear mongering, well Clintons are already using it by comparing him to Bush. The biggest problem for Obama is that media doesn't do its job, they will just carry republican fear mongering attacks as legitimate without analyzing them. I watched ABC on Sunday with George Clinton (ha hah), they were bashing Obama so bad; over at NBC, David Brooks was bashing Obama; than on CNN Howard Kurtz had all neo-con guests on realizable sources to bash Obama. Obama is facing fire from every way possible, Clintons, Nadir, media; fox, ABC, CNN, NBC alike, Republicans. Lets face it people, if you are going to be running against status quo, you will have to put up with everything, if Obama comes out of it winner, it would be amazing feat.

Bsimon, before NAFTA became a political football IH 69 was long in the planning - it was to connect the LRGV to IH 37 - and eventually to IH 10

Now that NAFTA is a four letter word IH 69 is a bad thing - all my point is - how can Hillary and Obama be anti-NAFTA in Ohio while being pro-NAFTA in the LRGV? They cannot.

The Ohio press needs to ask these liars the question - NAFTA is the bread and butter of the LRGV - the people in Ohio believe NAFTA has cost them jobs (the people of Mexico and Central America will tell you NAFTA and CAFTA jobs have gone to China) so the question is, Ms. Hilary and Mr. Obama are you with the pro-NAFTA people of the LRGV or the anti-NAFTA people of Ohio? This is a fair question - which no one will ever ask.

Bobby Wightman-Cervantes

The latest polls show movement in Obama's direction.... time is on his side.

Hillary's anger isn't a winner, it's just a desperate rhetorical surge after her post-invulnerability failures.

The latest polls also show that Obama can beat McCain, and Hillary can't.

Say "Goodnight" Hillary.

http://whathappenedtomycountry.blogspot.com

He's Mary Matalin, explaining how McCain is courting the far right:

"This week, CNN's Wolf Blitzer discussed the right wing's tepid support of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) with right-wing activist Mary Matalin. Matalin explained that McCain is out of step with the far right on several issues, in particular global warming, which many conservatives "loathe" discussing:

BLITZER: They loathe that?

MATALIN: Because it's a largely unscientific hoax. And it's a political concoction.

Matalin observed that "you haven't heard [McCain] prioritizing" climate change recently: "What you've been hearing him say since he's achieved the nomination...is to prioritize security issues," which are less controversial on the right.

http://thinkprogress.org/?tag=Radical+Right

RE: Dining out in Buckeye land

You can dine heartily and well in Ohio if you stay away from chain restaurants located near shopping malls by freeway exits. Unfortunately, this proscribes most of the state.

For an authentic Buckeye experience, I recommend an evening of bowling, beer, and pizza at a neighborhood alley. You could even strike up (no pun intended) a conversation with the keglers about the political scene.

To continue the snark on the interstate Hwy system, the folks in Durango, CO and Marquette, MI are likewise trapped a blissful multi-hour drive from anywhere near the interstate. I think I hear Durango calling my name...

"The Truth predicts that this will be the week that we hear Hillary declare we won't have her to kick around anymore."

You think she'll quit the race before the TX & OH primaries? Bold!

The Truth predicts that this will be the week that we hear Hillary declare we won't have her to kick around anymore. Hooray!

bobbywc writes
"Yes guys it is true it takes us 3 hours of driving through towns and red lights to connect to the closest interstate highway system-"

Bobby, you write that as though its uncommon. Sadly, its not. The poor folks in International Falls, MN or Grand Marais, MN suffer the same tragedy of geography. They are hours from any of the minor cities that are outliers on the Interstate Hwy system. From International Falls, getting to Duluth is a three hour affair - and then they're stuck merely at the terminus of I35 (which'll then take them to Texas, and the world). Grand Marais residents suffer similarly, though Hwy 61 has been improved lately, making the drive a bit safer & very scenic.

I live in Nashville, TN, but I travelled to Cincinnati this past weekend to canvas for Obama. The territory that we covered (suburban towns of Milford and West Chester) were pretty hostile to Democrats, but we found a few supporters and some Republicans who were thinking of voting in the Democratic primary for Obama.

If you're looking for a meal in Cincinnati, I can recommend Scotti's on 919 Vine St., near Garfield Square for some really good italian food. While there we overheard a conversation where a Republican proudly declared that she had early voted for Clinton because she will be easier to beat in November. Another Republican at the table said (using a racial epithet that I won't repeat here) not to worry, that Obama hasn't been too well vetted and so will be easy to swift boat him. The rest of the table enthusiastically agreed that they look forward to swift boating Obama.

It seems that some people will not be reached ...

'Well, we know what Hillary is doing...emailing out a photo of Obama in a native Kenyan dress to appeal to Muslim prejudices.'

Is it identified as Hillary or are you just assuming that --because this is what R's have been doing all along.

It appears you cannot win Ohio without bad mouthing NAFTA - one problem - as a Democrat you cannot win Texas without the Lower Rio Grande Valley - NAFTA is the life line of the LRGV economy - NAFTA has brought an economic boom unlike anything else in the LRGV's history

Obama and Clinton have both proven lies lies lies is the path of every politician -
So which is it - do they favor the LRGV and NAFTA or Ohio and the anti-NAFTA people - how about honesty.

The car industry is hurting again because of the large number of repos - why so many repos - undocumented workers have lost their jobs and now their cars are being repoed. This hurts Detroit's sales.

Undocumented workers have lost their jobs and now they cannot afford their mortgages - we all know what has happened with the mortgage industry.

Bigotry and ignorance seems to be the only thing politicians like CLinton and Obama care about - They are dividing the country on NAFTA when it suits their campaigns - They are no different than the Republicans - divide the country for their own need for power

Someone needs to ask Obama if he is on board with CNN and Dobbs in opposing an interstate system in south TExas which connects us with the rest of Texas and the country. Yes guys it is true it takes us 3 hours of driving through towns and red lights to connect to the closest interstate highway system- because it will promote NAFTA all of a sudden the poor people of south Texas have no right to access to the Interstate system.

Obama and Clinton are jokes - time to face reality.

BObby Wightman-Cervantes

"Never fear political junkies." Why, I don't fear political junkies, CC. But I do fear your writing skills sometimes. Let me introduce you to the comma. There should be one between 'fear' and 'political'. You need an editor, son.

Bill Kristol shares some republican strategy with Hillary:

"This morning on Fox News Sunday, New York Times columnist Bill Kristol recommended that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) employ the "politics of fear" to attack Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL):

KRISTOL: [Obama's] riding a wave of euphoria. She [Clinton] needs to puncture it. The way you puncture euphoria is reality, or to be more blunt, fear. I recommend to Senator Clinton the politics of fear.

Kristol explained that his fear-mongering political strategy would focus on Iran."

Well, we know what Hillary is doing...emailing out a photo of Obama in a native Kenyan dress to appeal to Muslim prejudices.

Despicable.

Shame on whom now?

Chris,

As Southeast Ohio goes, so goes Ohio. Remember, Strickland is from the rural, yet Democratic, part of the state. From what I have heard, Obama has already opened campaign offices in the little towns throughout SEO (something Kerry never did). If Hillary is relying upon Cleveland, Akron, and Northeast Ohio to give her a win---she won't. I cannot believe that the black vote in that part of the state won't turn out huge for Obama. Hillary's chances for victory are Southeast and Southwest Ohio. Cincinatti is filled with middle class whites who are less likley to vote for a black man. As a former Ohioan, I know the HUGE differences between the Northeast and Southwest part of Ohio. If Clinton doesn't organize Southeast Ohio--it might be over.

Oh, go to Athens, Ohio and get the best coffee in the state at Donkey Coffee & Espresso. While you are there, get a Gyro from Ali Babba's Gyro buggy.

"given the expected similarities of this November's playing field to that of the 2004 contest."

What? The 2008 election is likely to be very different from 2004. The Democrats have a huge advantage in terms of money, enthusiasm, and number of retirements. There are several major issues that weren't important in 2004, and much greater dissatisfaction with the policies of Bush and the Republicans. If all of these factors add up to even a 3% shift towards the Democrats, the playing field in November will be nothing like that in 2004.

That's not to say Ohio won't be important. Of course it will be. But I see no reason to think that the 2008 election will be a repeat of 2004, with each party winning its usual states and fighting over Ohio and Florida. As a professional political reporter, I'm amazed that you can't see the many reasons 2008 will be different.

Not a native, but Cleveland has an excellent Hungarian restaurant - we stop sometimes when we are driving across Ohio on some trip. They close fairly early, I think by 9.

Balaton Restaurant
13133 Shaker Sq
Cleveland, OH 44120
(216) 921-9691

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