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POPSDemocrat tied to Obama wins special election in Mississippi More: The special election was held to fill the seat of former Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Sen. Trent Lott’s term last December. Wicker had never faced a competitive race since first elected in 1994, and the district gave President Bush 62 percent of the vote in 2004. The results amount to a rebuke of the Republican strategy of trying nationalize the race by tying Childers to Sen. Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama held low approval ratings in the district, but the nearly $2 million that GOP groups poured into northern Mississippi failed to make the race a referendum on the national political landscape. A GOP House leadership aide told Politico last week that “if we don’t win in Mississippi, I think you are going to see a lot of people running around here looking for windows to jump out of.”
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POPSGOP Leaders Warn of Election Disaster More: And in a closed-door session at the Capitol, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told members that the NRCC doesn’t have enough cash to “save them” in November if they don’t raise enough money or run strong campaigns themselves. Although a top House Republican brushed aside Gingrich’s broadside as “hype from a has-been who desperately wants to be a player but can’t anymore,” the harsh words from Cole were harder to ignore. National republican Campaign Committee run by an Oklahoman? No wonder they are getting they are getting their b***s kicked. I can think of only one or two states more out of touch with the rest of the country.
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POPSWho said? Economically Insecure White People...Are Scared to Death!
Continued from above: They know if they can keep us looking at each other across a racial divide, if I can look at Bobby Rush and think, Bobby wants my job, my promotion, then neither of us can look at George Bush and say, 'What happened to everybody's job? What happened to everybody's income? What ... have ... you ... done ... to ... our ... country?'" Jason Linkins notes a statement from Harvard political scientist Theda Skocpol to Talking Points Memo, which reads in part: I have been in meetings with the Clintons and their advisors where very clinical things were said in a very-detached tone about unwillingness of working class voters to trust government -- and Bill Clinton -- and about their unfortunate (from a Clinton perspective) proclivity to vote on life-style rather than economic issues. To see Hillary going absolutely over the top to smash Obama for making clearly more humanly sympathetic observations in this vein, is just amazing.
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POPSJohn McCain's Money Troubles Continue More: Virtually every campaign observer agrees that the Arizona senator, who alluded to his lackluster and unenthusiastic fundraising efforts last spring, is going to have to at least double his $11 million monthly take to hopefully stay competitive. Me: Looks like tepid support in the republican base for McCain. A devout republican cousin of mine called my Dad to discuss Obama as my cousin thinks he is going to vote for Obama. Cousin says he doesn't believe another 100 years of war in Iraq is in our country's best interest. So people are answering poll questions but they aren't reaching into their pockets to pony up the cash.
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POPSHillary's weakest personal dimension - seen as less honest and trustworthy More: In both surveys, Obama is described by more traits than is Clinton. Once again, his strengths are on empathy, but he also exceeds Clinton on "would work with both parties to get things done." "honest and trustworthy," is Clinton's weakest dimension on the USA Today/Gallup poll (it wasn't asked in the CNN/OR poll). In fact, Gallup has tracking that shows Clinton to be the weakest she's ever been on this measure since 1994.
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POPSElection Update: Obama nets +8 delegates as California finally certifies election Tha'ts a huge swing in a close contest. Any claim by Hillary of successes on March 4th are bogus. On top of that once the caucuses are finished in Texas, Obama will have won that state (after all the contest is about acquiring delegates and Obama will end up with 3 more than Hillary). No major media coverage of this huge development. Don't you get tired of the favorable media coverage Hillary gets?
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POPSGirl in Hillary's "Red Phone" Ad - Fierce Obama Supporter More: "I've been campaigning for Barack Obama for a few months now," she said. "I was actually a precinct captain at the caucuses a few months ago. I attended his rally a few months ago and I'm a very, very avid supporter." "I think it would be really wonderful if me and Barack Obama could get together and make a nice counter ad," she laughed. It's 3 AM, the phone's ringing, the girl in your ad is calling you to tell you she trusts Obama and that you can't win.
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POPSOklahoma Republican admits, "Iraq Probably a Mistake" More: Coburn at one point in the campaign reportedly said the war in Iraq was "absolutely not" a mistake. Vice President Dick Cheney, a vocal defender of the war, came to Tulsa to cam paign and raise money for Coburn. During that visit, Cheney criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry for flip-flopping on the war by voting in the Senate to go to war but voting against adequate funding for the troops. Still, his comments at the town hall meeting may be the first time he has ever suggested the war was a mistake. Coburn's comment came less than a week after he returned from his second trip to Iraq since entering the Senate.
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POPSObama beats McCain in Pennsylvania and Oregon, Hillary loses both Clinton is viewed favorably by 48% of voters in Oregon, unfavorably by 50%. Those figures are little changed since August. McCain is now viewed favorably by 56% and unfavorably by 42%. That’s an improvement since August when just 46% had a favorable opinion of the Arizona Senator. Obama is the most popular of all three candidates at this time—66% favorable, 31% unfavorable.
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POPSRomney, like Bush, Cheats in Debate with an Earpiece After you watch the video youtube shows a total of seven clips about Romney's earpiece and the whispering that can be heard over the microphone. In one of the videos to the right there is whispering for another question but you have to turn up the volume really loud. I still remember Bush interrupting himself as he was speaking, and no one else at the debate had said anything. He was rambling through an answer and he stopped in mid answer and says "Let me finish".........but no one had said anything. This was the debate with the mysterious lump in the back of his jacket and a power cord line. What a pack of losers.
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POPSDemocrats Bristle At Clintons' Attacks More: In Washington, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who endorsed Obama last week, castigated the former president for what he called his "glib cheap shots" at Obama, saying both sides should settle down but placing the blame predominantly on Clinton. "That's beneath the dignity of a former president," Leahy told reporters, adding: "He is not helping anyone, and certainly not helping the Democratic Party." That concern was also voiced by some neutral Democrats, who said that the former president's aggressive role, along with the couple's harsh approach recently, threatens to divide the party in the general election. there is concern that a Clinton victory could come at a cost -- particularly a loss of black voters, who could blame her for Obama's defeat and stay home in November
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POPS"Raw Exit Poll Data Indicated Obama Win in N.H.", says Chris Matthews More: We've yet to see that raw Exit data ourselves, as mentioned. But we're working on it. Even while we're still working on getting the never-released raw data from 2004, when the Exit Polls were done then, as now, by Mitofsky/Edison. (BTW: They disavow their own Exit Polling from 2004. So, naturally, the MSM news consortium hired the same folks to do the job again in 2008. Perhaps it was the company's apparently spot-on Exit Polling in Ukraine, in December of 2004, cited as evidence of fraud by George W. Bush and Colin Powell, that the challenger should have won, rather than the incumbant, as the election results announced, in contradiction of the Exit Polls...but don't get us started.)
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POPSPakistani vote-riggng scheme obtained by CNN, CBS More: The dossier also accuses Musharraf's regime of diverting US aid into political dirty tricks, charging that "ninety percent of the equipment that the USA gave the government of Pakistan to fight terrorism ... is being used to monitor and to keep a check on political opponents." Pakistani Senator Latif Khosa told CBS, "The ISI has set up a mega-computer system which has the capacity to hack any of the computers in Pakistan, and it is connected with the Election Commission of Pakistan's computers and therefore they will overturn the results." Khosa also charged that computers are being used to change the voter rolls
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POPSOhio & Colorado: Electronic Voting Unfit for Elections More: California, Ohio and Florida have chosen to use scanning machines that count paper ballots electronically "I was surprised," Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Friday of the failures his office found. "It's an awful position to be put in, but I feel strongly it's important that this equipment be secure and accurately count a vote."
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POPSDemocrat Obama Leads all Republicans for President More: Among Republicans, McCain performs the best among moderates in the general election match–ups, with Huckabee running a close second. Romney and Thompson run worst – in prospective contests against Obama, the Democrat leads Thompson 59% to 27%, and leads Romney by a 62% to 23% margin. Obama leads all five Republicans among moderates. Against Clinton, McCain and Huckabee lead among moderates, while the Democrat leads the other three Republicans. For a detailed methodological statement on this poll, please visit: http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.dbm?ID=1241
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POPSTexan Republican faces stunning defeat: Democrats riding wave in GOP Gerrymandered State.
This election is a sign of the future. In less than 2 years, Texas Democrats have picked up 8 state house seats with rumors circulating that another may be on the way. Before the primaries are over, the gains made by the Republican's have been cut in half while we still compete on the same Republican favored, unconstitutional, Tom DeLay sponsored map. We sit on the edge of a Democratic House because we have won special elections, general elections, and the hearts and minds of voters across the state. Texas Democratic Party Chairman, Boyd Richie stated simply: Dan Barrett won in a district drawn by Republicans to elect a Republican, and his victory is a slap in the face to Speaker Tom Craddick and the failed Republican leadership in this state. Voters have sent a message that they are tired of "business as usual" in Austin and want leaders who will replace the pay-to-play politics of the Republican Party with a state government that works for all Texans."
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POPSRepublicans Dirty Election Trick Delayed But Still Alive Of note is the manner in which they left the state to go ahead an allocate 2 electoral votes to the overall winner. One presumes that Republicans even crafted that in anticipation of a move towards this happening in every state. This kind of voting is closer to popular vote but with each state giving its 2 electoral (senator) votes to the overall winner it favors the republicans. The republicans usually win a majority of states because they are supported in the rinky dink states like North Dakota and Wyoming. Gotta love those Republicans. Want to give Iraq Democracy (laugh snort) but craft skewed elections in the U.S.A. Stinking Jerks.
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POPSGOP Theft of 2008 Presidential Election via California More: "They're back," said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane in an email this afternoon. "This Freddie Krueger of initiatives is back and once again, it appears the shadowy conservative forces behind this electoral hijacking are trying to hide where the money is coming from."
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POPSSubsidies still flow as Corn Farmers Prosper Hhhmmm, an African-American or Latino seeking public assistance is denigrated as a taxpayer's burden. A midwest Anglo republican voting farmer receiving public assistance......pure apple pie americana.
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POPSCouric, CBS Anchorwoman: "Iraq A Mistake" The problem with Couric? - I’d feel totally comfortable saying any of that at some point, IF REQUIRED, on television. If you aren't going to work to put the brakes on this,......who will? Newsanchors = Teleprompter readers Bring back Walter Cronkite!
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POPSGas Guzzlers fund Mid East Acquisitions More: Officials representing Qatar said the country is looking for long-term investments in a variety of industries. Three Delta, a fund backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, says it is principally focused on acquiring companies in the United Kingdom, and it aims to support existing management at the companies it buys. The Qatari investment fund has also offered to pay $21 billion for British supermarket chain J. Sainsbury PLC. The fund has hired Tony Campbell, the former deputy chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s British division, to become nonexecutive chairman of Sainsbury if its takeover is successful. Other big sovereign funds from the Middle East and Asia have said they are looking for undervalued brand-name businesses. A Dubai investment firm bought a big stake in DaimlerChrysler AG when the big German auto maker was suffering from quality problems at its Mercedes-Benz division. It sold the stake after a year, doubling its money.
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POPSFormer GOP Senator Quits Republican Party No room for moderates in the Republican Party. Good job Karl Rove. More: Chafee himself laid out some of the ways he disagreed with his party, notably as one of only 23 senators and the only Republican to oppose the resolution supporting the invasion of Iraq. He went on to criticize the “permanent deficits” caused by Republican tax cuts. Chafee referred yesterday to the broad-based, bipartisan Iraq Study Group that Congress created, a process Chafee approved of. The study group recommended a gradual pullback of American forces, and insistence that the Iraqi government take more responsibility for security. But he said that since the study group made its recommendations, which he agreed with, “no one’s paid any attention to them.”