SO I was watching the speeches last night with a roomful of friends - Obama supporters all of us. And while we were watching Hillary's speech - which was an excellent "campaign" speech, BTW - if she'd been campaigning like that from the beginning she'd be the nominee - as I was watching that non-concession, FU speech, I was asking the same thing everyone else was:

"What in the hell does she want?"

It bothered me all night - I dreamt about it for god's sake - and this morning it hit me:

She wants Congress. The whole thing.

Not sure this has been diaried yet - I'm hitting SUSA, and their screaming headline is that "Exclusive Survey Shows Obama, McCain with Big Leads in Virginia Polls".

Clicky for more....

Now that Super Tuesday is behind us - and leaves the race as evenly tied as it could possibly get...I wanted to share some good news with you out of one of the Feb 9th states: my very own Washington.

OK - so the day is almost over - a huge day. Hillary will spin claim that she won because she won the big states. Barack's team will spin that they won more states - and rightfully - that when all the delegates are counted that it is essentially a tie (or even ahead).

Let's change the story.

[Author's Note: I have spent the last three months horribly torn between Edwards and Obama - literally almost changing my mind on a daily basis. I am incredibly saddened that JRE had to suspend his campaign today, and while I'm relieved that it makes my strategy much simpler for the WA State caucuses on 2/9...I still hurt for you hardcore Edwards folks]

There are a great many days that are burned into my brain for some reason or another in my life. First Kiss, playing in the mud, the time I almost drowned at the beach, being the officiant at my best friends wedding...

But on this day, the day that John Edwards has suspended his campaign, the one I keep thinking about is from almost exactly four years ago: Feb 18th, 2004 - the day Howard Dean suspended his amazing, game-changing, inspiring, heart-breaking run for the presidency.

OK, I don't actually mean to have "the Math" in a Rovian sense.

But I'm looking at what we've seen so far in the race, and I'm wondering more and more if we're going to have a brokered convention.

As we approach South Carolina, it looks like BHO might win solidly, which will then mean we go into Feb 5th with 2 wins for Hillary, 2 wins for Barack, and John in 3rd, collecting delegates.

NOTE: Yes, I know we had MI and will have FL before 2/5 - but with no delegates awarded they are meaningless.

So, what, I thought, would it look like on the morning of Feb 6th, if this pattern continues?

Yesterday I read Barack Obama's speech at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta, the home congregation of Dr. Martin Luther King, and I wept with hope and joy that someone so compassionate, eloquent, and intelligent is running a strong campaign for the White House.

Today, I read an article in my local paper, the Seattle Times, re-published from the NYT, that examines the idea that people "worry" about the fate that Obama might face as a prominent black leader.

Almost 40 years after King's assassination, the streets that bear his name are alive with hope that Obama may fulfill King's dream, but also fraught with fear that he could suffer King's fate. Each step of the way, Obama's progress is being measured against an ingrained belief that, in the end, "America" won't let a black man become president.

It made me furious.

Am I the only one compulsively watching this site refresh?

http://www.nvdems08.com/

11:55 (approx)
STATEWIDE TOTAL (delegates)
Clinton 1   16.67%  
Obama 5   83.33%  
Total precincts reporting   0.34%

I just stumbled across this Florida poll on Pollster:

POLL: Datamar Florida Primary

A new Datamar automated survey of likely primary voters in Florida (conducted 1/5 through 1/7) finds:

   * Among 541 likely Democratic primary voters, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads Sen. Barack Obama (40% to 28%) in a statewide primary; former Sen. JOhn Edwards trails at 19%.

   * Among 481 likely Republican primary voters, former Gov. Mike Huckabee runs at 24%, former Gov. Mitt Romney at 20%, Sen. John McCain at 18%, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani at 16%, former Sen. Fred Thompson at 9%.

   * All other candidates receive less than five percent each. The margin of sampling error is 4.2% for likely Democratic primary voters and 4.5% for likely Republican primary voters.

I made some comments on Mitt Romney’s speech on Turkana’s diary yesterday, but I’ve been stewing on it all night, and wanted to put my thoughts in as cohesive a place as I could.

Whither Our Candidates?

I dare any of our candidates to get up in public and refute this phrase:

"Religion requires freedom, and freedom requires religion" – Mitt Romney

I dare them. Hell, I double dog dare them.

Get up and say something like:

"Religion may require freedom for its fair and unfettered practice, as the first settlers in this country and our Founders knew. The suggestion that the opposite is true, that freedom requires some form of religion, however, is shocking, wrong, and against everything that this country stands for."

Fortune has a big article on how Al Gore has joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield Beyer - one of the most successful venture capital funds - to focus on "make[ing] over the $6 trillion global energy business."

When you read the article, it becomes abundantly clear that Gore loves what he's doing now, and while he once again doesn't rule out a run....he makes it clear he's not planning for it.

Technically, of course, Gore was never "in" the White House. But he's been dealing with continual speculation about whether he still has designs on the place. Is there a chance he'll jump into the race? "It's a luxury to be able to focus on what you are most passionate about all the time," he says. When asked to elaborate he adds, "Casting about for words to describe this with precision is less productive than just saying that what I'm doing feels like the right thing to do." So the answer is probably not, though like any good politician, he's left the door open.

Dear Vice President Gore:

ahem

Good sir, weren't you paying attention when I told you that I'd give you until Halloween to get off your ass (you know, resting on Nobel laurels is so 20th Century) and declare that you are a candidate for the Democratic nomination?

Alternatively, you could have told us you weren't interested in running....

But now it's the end of October. Halloween is here. The holidays are around the corner, and, unless you've been busy drawing new coastlines post-greenland-icesheet-collapse on maps (hint, Tennessee is safe), we only have two paltry months until the first caucuses and primaries, and guess what:

I still haven't decided who to support, if not you, for 2008.

Here are three things to make it happen...

Updated to edit title as requested

Yes, yes, it's a misleading diary title - I hate them too - but there are several concrete things we can do in the coming weeks to make it real.

Follow me over the jump for what they are...

I'm amazed that the Gore-love diaries out there keep coming. Apparently as many people on dKos believe Gore should get in the race as I do.

Take a look at the excellent, recommended, The Gore narrative: Why he must run, and the exciting news about getting Gore on the CA primary ballot in California Draft Gore Poised to Put Gore's Name on Ballot.

Plus there's this cool video idea in America for Gore Video! Help!

But are you looking for one, simple, inexpensive thing you can do to create momentum to get Al Gore in the race today?

How about Give Just $5 for Al Gore 2008!

I was just hanging out in Jim in Chicago's diary Open Letter to Al Gore: If we build it, will you run? and I mentioned that I'd set up an ActBlue "Draft Gore" page some time ago. Fellow Kossack fink suggested we hold a challenge: can we set a goal and hit it in this last week of the 3rd Quarter?

What if we tried to raise $5,000 from 1,000 Kossacks in the next 5 days for Al Gore?

Follow me for why you should give...

OK - I'm pissed here and I probably should listen to my mother, who is right here attending YKC 07 with me, and not blog in the heat of the moment.

But I'm furious.

It was just announced that Hillary Clinton, while able to attend the Leadership Forum, can't stay an extra 45 minutes and meet us face to face for her breakout session. So now I'm stuck with a worthless wristband, and can't go see Obama, or Edwards or ANYONE ELSE, 'cause I WANTED TO GIVE HER A CHANCE.

Follow my fury for more.

this on MSNBC breaking banner:

Two Senate Democrats said Thursday they will seek a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales over accusations that he carried out President Bush's political agenda at the expense of the Justice Department's independence.

Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California, who have led the investigation into the conduct of White House officials and Gonzales, said the attorney general has been too weakened to run the department.

Just when such a vote might occur in the Senate was uncertain.

Look - it's been a busy and tragic day. Most of my morning has been spent reading about, and mourning, the events in Blacksburg, VA.

To ease my mind a bit I pointed my browser over to one of my favorite gardening and orcharding websites: Raintree Nursery here in Washington State. I figured thinking about planting fruit trees would chill me out.

What I found was a new outrage. A quiet and melancholy outrage - one that both adds more evidence to global warming, Bush political influence in all parts of government, and something that should be completely familiar to gardeners everywhere.

The United States is almost universally one zone warmer than it was 15 years ago.

Follow me over the jump for what I mean.