I'm Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message.

¶ 6:29 PM 0 comments

One other, perhaps less appreciated, virtue of the Biden choice is what it says about Obama philosophically. Biden can be counted upon to play the role of house dissenter and skeptic. But he does so as somebody whose fealty to the basic values of the Democratic Party is not in doubt. On a wide range of issues, from economics to the courts to national security, Biden has compiled a record that would please the majority of progressives. His rating from Americans for Democratic Action is a perfect 100, just like Obama's. He scores well among other liberal groups, too.

Conservatives will blast this record, just as surely as liberals will (or should) celebrate it. But one of the virtues of having Biden as the vice presidential nominee is that he won't take those kinds of attacks lightly. He'll fight back. He'll remind people, rightly, that being a liberal Democrat means raising the minimum wage, making sure everybody has affordable health care, providing strong public schools, and protecting human rights. Then, he'll ask why conservative Republicans don't want the same things. That's exactly the kind of political debate this country needs. By picking Biden as a running mate, Obama has signaled that he welcomes this argument--and intends, finally, to win it.

¶ 12:40 AM 0 comments

Regardless of how the voters got on the rolls, Johnson said the sheer number of Democrats is a concern this year -- as is the fact that more Hispanics are now registered Democrats. About 455,000 Hispanics are now in the Democratic Party, which only this year surpassed Republicans, who count 425,000 in their ranks.

Compared to the last presidential election, the numbers are even more dramatic for African-Americans. More than 207,000 have joined the Democratic Party since 2004, accounting for 44 percent of the new-voter growth.

Ever the optimist, Crist found something positive.

''The good news is people are registering to vote,'' Crist said, before acknowledging: ``Being a Republican, I wish more of them were Republican.''

¶ 4:38 PM 0 comments

"You took an oath to defend our flag and our freedom, and you kept that oath underseas and under fire."—Addressing war veterans

¶ 12:43 PM 0 comments

For the most part, the various faith communities of the U.S. currently support Sen. Obama for the presidency. Among the 19 faith segments that The Barna Group tracks, evangelicals were the only segment to throw its support to Sen. McCain. Among the larger faith niches to support Sen. Obama are non-evangelical born again Christians (43% to 31%); notional Christians (44% to 28%); people aligned with faiths other than Christianity (56% to 24%); atheists and agnostics (55% to 17%); Catholics (39% vs. 29%); and Protestants (43% to 34%). In fact, if the current preferences stand pat, this would mark the first time in more than two decades that the born again vote has swung toward the Democratic candidate.

However, while there has been little movement since the beginning of June among most voting segments (such as ethnic groups, age groups, or geographic slices), there has been substantial churn among religious segments. During the past two months, Sen. Obama’s lead has eroded substantially among non-evangelical born again Christians (a decline of nine points); active Christians (a 20-point drop); Protestants (down 13 points); and Catholics (down 11 points).

While some Christian voters seem to be questioning their early support for Obama, the McCain candidacy does not seem to be gaining momentum among evangelicals. Since June, the current level of support Sen. McCain has among evangelical voters has declined significantly (dropping from 78% to 61%).

¶ 12:25 PM 0 comments

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), Rutgers University, which reports that:

* Women vote in higher numbers than men, and have done so in every election since 1964. In 2000, 7.8 million more women voted than men. In 2004, 8.8 million more women voted.
* Women outvoted men in every racial and ethnic group. For Asian/Pacific Islanders (but not for other groups), 2004 was the first election where women voted at a higher rate than men.
* More women register to vote than men.

¶ 8:03 AM 0 comments

WASHINGTON — Bob Barr and Ralph Nader, the best-known third-party presidential candidates, are on their way to getting onto most state ballots.

Barr, a former Republican congressman who is the Libertarian Party nominee, is on 34 ballots and hopes to be on 48 by Election Day, party spokesman Andrew Davis said. Nader, the longtime consumer advocate running as an independent, has submitted petitions to be on 23 ballots. He said Wednesday he hopes to be on at least 45 state ballots before Nov. 4.

¶ 1:15 PM 0 comments

In 2004, Sen. John Kerry lost Florida by 380,000 votes. That was with a 74 percent turnout in Florida. Some pundits say that this year there will be an 80 percent Florida turnout of the expected 10.5 million registered voters. With the minority candidacies of Ralph Nader and Robert Barr, close to four million votes will be required to win Florida. To reach that number, Obama will have to get Kerry's votes plus 700,000 more.

This can be done mostly in three areas:

• Increasing the 2004 South Florida Democratic plurality of 19 percent to 23 percent.

• Getting an additional 300,000 black Floridians to vote.

• Getting a 200,000 plurality Hispanic vote in Florida.

¶ 3:33 AM 0 comments