Anyone want to buy half a tunnel? Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went to Windsor to lobby for the sale of Detroit's half of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel to raise money for the cash-strapped city. That turned out to be a bad decision.

Kilpatrick is facing perjury, obstruction of justice, and other criminal charges. A bail condition prohibits his travel outside of Michigan without the court's permission, which Kilpatrick failed to obtain before venturing into Windsor. A judge revoked Kilpatrick's bail today, sending him to jail for at least one night.

The mayor’s lawyers sought an immediate appeal, but the circuit court judge who will take up the matter put off a hearing until Friday morning.

While Kilpatrick is incarcerated, his chief of staff will be acting mayor. A statement that "residents can be assured government will continue to operate as usual" is hardly reassuring, given that business as usual in Detroit's city government is awfully dysfunctional.

Hillary chatted with folks today. Here is a highlight:

Questions #4:

Hey Hillary you are such a great person I went to a rally of yours during the primary in New Hampshire & did some campaigning for you here in albany ny you put a smile on my face every time I saw you whether in person or on tv. You are a strong women don't give up keep fighting for whats right. I hope our country can take a new step in the right direction once Barack Obama is president. I want to say if he does ask you to be his VP you should and you would make a great vice president Mrs. Clinton:)

God Bless

Larry D.
Albany ny

Answer:

I have said repeatedly that I will do whatever Senator Obama asks me to do. I am really focused and enjoying being back in the Senate and working on behalf of my New York constituents. This is Senator Obama’s decision and his alone and I am going to respect the privacy of that process by not discussing it.

About a week ago, Kevin Drum wrote about a new book that discusses polling fallacies. Kevin quoted Taegan Goddard discussing "The Opinion Makers by David Moore:

The author — a former senior editor of the Gallup Poll — says that today's opinion polls misfire due to an intrinsic methodological problem: survey results don't differentiate between "those who express deeply held views and those who have hardly, if at all, thought about an issue."

I would have framed the issue differently. The problem with polls on issues is they rarely describe how intensely a respondent feels about an issue and how they will vote because of that issue. Case in point - today's Ras poll on Hillary as VP:

Unconventional Denver, an anarchist protest group, says if Denver turns its $50 million security grant over to programs that help the people and calls off its occupation of Denver, it will sit the convention out.

Otherwise, they intend to show the Convention is just a bunch of corporations and lobbyists partying behind closed doors and a wall of heavily armed police. Their goal is to disrupt the spectacle. Democracy is not behind those doors, it's in the streets. That's where hope and change can happen. [More...]

On Morning Joe, Chuck Todd said that the "feeling in Chicago," presumably referring to the Obama campaign, is that Hillary Clinton is seeking treatment that she would never have given Barack Obama had the roles been reversed. If they REALLY believe that, then they are fools. If Hillary Clinton were the nominee, Barack Obama would have been the vice presidential nominee a month ago. I can not believe Todd is passing on this foolishness.

Todd said something else that is quite foolish - that the last few days have given Obama the "high ground" in how he treats the Clinton camp now. The high ground? Is Todd crazy? Suppose that were true, how in the hell does "having the high ground" help Barack Obama with Clinton supporters? How does it help him win in November? Or is that NOT the goal?

More . . .

Update 8/7: Here's my breakdown of yesterday's federal court decision upholding Denver's planned protest zone.

In a 71 page ruling available here, a federal judge in Denver today upheld Denver's planned protest zone for the Democratic National Convention, finding the plan does not run afoul of the First Amendment. As the Denver Post reports:

The demonstrators wanted the public-protest area moved closer to the delegates coming in and out of the Pepsi Center, and they wanted parade routes to end closer to the venue.

Law-enforcement officials and Denver representatives argued during a one-day trial that there has been a robust effort made to allow groups of all backgrounds to demonstrate and that security concerns superceded the demonstrators' need to be closer to the delegates.

The last paragraphs of the ruling:[More...]

Didn't Gov. Tim Pawlenty get the memo? Republicans aren't supposed to praise Barack Obama. They're supposed to mock him while misleading people about his positions.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said Wednesday GOP candidates would do well to adopt a positive tone like that of McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

"Say what you will about Barack Obama," the Minnesota Republican told a conservative group, "people gravitate when you have something positive to say."

Why has Pawlenty gone off-message? Did John McCain tell him he won't be the VP candidate? Was he referring to McCain when he followed up with "They don't want to follow some negative, scornful person"?

The latest CBS News poll (PDF) tells you all you need to know as to why Obama is a shoo in in this election and what he needs to do to win a landslide. The poll has Obama leading 45-39 over McCain, the same margin he has held now for 3 months. But Obama is not winning by wooing Independents or Republicans. Heck, he is not even dominating Dems as he should. He is winning, and is a shoo in, because the country hates Republicans. Starting with George Bush who has a 25% approval rating.

Obama wins because Dems lead Republicans in party ID by 7 to 10 points. McCain does better with Republicans, 78-11, than Obama does with Democrats, 74-10, while they split Independents 40-40. But there are more Democrats than Republicans now. That is why Obama is winning.

More . . .

As this TalkLeft post explains, Salim Hamdan did not receive a fair trial before the military tribunal he faced at Guantanamo.

The judge allowed secret testimony and hearsay evidence. Hamdan was not judged by a jury of his peers and he received no Miranda warning about his rights. Hamdan's attorneys said interrogations at the center of the government's case were tainted by coercive tactics, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

John McCain applauded the process, claiming it "demonstrated that military commissions can effectively bring very dangerous terrorists to justice." That's not surprising, given McCain's support for the obnoxious law that created the military tribunals.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, recognized that the struggle to bring Hamdan to trial "underscores the dangerous flaws in the administration's legal framework." Obama rejects McCain's willingness to detain people for years before giving them an unfair hearing, and reminds us that the path to justice is enshrined in our Constitution: [more...]

ABC News has the latest on whether Hillary Clinton will put her name in nomination alongside Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention.

Answer: It's not clear.

Friday, the New York Daily News said she was not going to submit a request.

...."She is not going to submit the signed request," the [Clinton] insider told the Daily News. "People are still circulating petitions on her behalf, but this is a done deal."

Party rules stipulate that Clinton must ask in writing to be nominated herself and also submit a petition signed by 300 to 600 delegates. Without her signed request, petitions of support are meaningless.

Today's update: [More...]

Update: 2/3 of tickets will go to residents of Rocky Mountain States. 1/2 will go to residents of Colorado.

Final update: Go! Tickets available here, first come, first serve. More information available here. You must be able to show you have a place to stay since transportation and lodging is not being provided. They are encouraging Republicans and Independents to attend.

Volunteering is not required:

While volunteering is not a prerequisite for recipients, Coloradans who volunteer with the Campaign for Change will have the opportunity to receive all-star seating for Barack Obama’s speech.

More....

Reader, reader on the wall, who's the most fabulous of them all?

As McCain continues to hit at Obama's celebrity with yet another video ad, here's a better one to watch.

(Lyrics here since it's hard to hear the words over the music.)

And you were just too busy being fabulous

Too busy to think about us

This is an open thread.