Ras says it a one point race. Gallup says its tied.

What's it mean? Dirty politics works.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I want to be perfectly clear about my previous post, I think John McCain and Republicans ARE playing the race card, as they have for decades. But I believe Barack Obama is in a difficult position to combat it BECAUSE of the outrageous and disgraceful accusations that were hurled at Bill and Hillary Clinton during the primaries by many of his supporters. Jim Clyburn in particular was egregious in his smears of the Clintons. More . . .

Your turn.

McCain Camp Says Obama Playing The Race Card:

Senator John McCain’s campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing “the race card,” citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.” The exchange injected racial politics front and center into the general election campaign for the first time, after it became a subtext in the primary between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

After Obama supporters disgracefully smeared Bill and Hillary Clinton as race baiters in the Democratic primary, the fairy tale has come home to roost. Now, the McCain camp gets to race bait and get away with it. More . . .

Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe. You'll need to turn up the volume --I took this off an old VHS tape I had lying around of the 1993 MTV Inaugural Ball for Bill Clinton and Al Gore and put it on You Tube but I couldn't get it louder.

I always thought the song was called "Give them what they want." It's "Candy Everybody Wants."

This is an open thread, but new commenters, as always, are limited to 10 comments in a 24 hour period.

Our earlier open thread is full, and it seems like people have a lot to vent about today. Here's another thread, all topics welcome, just please keep it civil.

A federal judge in Washington today ruled against former Bush White House Counsel Harriet Miers and former White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton in a lawsuit filed by the House Judiciary Committee. (See also, Dan Froomkin on the White House Immune Deficiency and Marcy Wheeler).

The Committee subpoenaed Ms. Miers to testify in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. It also subpoenaed He a privilege log from Mr. Bolton. At the direction of President Bush, Miers and Bolton claimed that presidential aides are immune from congressional subpoenas based on principles of separation of powers and presidential autonomy.

The Court today ruled for the Judiciary Committee and rejected the immunity claim. The 93 page opinion is here.

The decision did not address Miers' and Boltons' claims of executive privilege, only immunity.[More...]

This is a follow-up to my post last night on why I think the Obama campaign is floating Tim Kaine as a smokescreen in the Veepstakes and the frontrunner is Kathleen Sebelius.

Here's the latest veep sweepstakes numbers from 538.com. Law Prof Michael Froomkin at Discourse.Net says the Bayh numbers may be misleading. Froomkin thinks, as do I, that Sebelius may get the nod from Obama.

Why does Obama need Kaine as a smokescreen? To make Sebelius more palatable to Hillary supporters who will be more than a bit upset at his choosing a woman other than Hillary. [More...]:

The new Quinnipiac polls for Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania are mostly encouraging for John McCain. How can that be? you might ask. McCain trails in all 3 states according to Q. Here's why - Barack Obama has lost ground in these 3 states.

First of all, I do not believe Obama is leading in Florida. In fact, since he is not going to pick Hillary Clinton, I do not think he has a chance in Florida. The crosstabs tell the tale in my opinion. Two key numbers - Obama leads with women NOW 47-42 (not enough, McCain will win men by more than the 47-45 the Q poll is showing.) He will lose women, especially in South Florida, when he does not pick Hillary. McCain leads with white voters 53-39. He will lead by more than that come November, especially if he does not pick Hillary. Obama will not win Florida. More . . .

I've got nothing for you yet. So tell me what is going on.

I just spent two hours writing up a theory that came to me at midnight. The gist is that Sen. Barack Obama, by leaking to the mainstream media that Hillary is not on his shortlist while not discouraging talk about Virgina Gov. Tim Kaine, is manipulating a planned succession of leaks.

Obama has hit his truth in advertising wall: He's got to show he's the progressive candidate for real change because that is how he sold himself to American voters. He's committed to expending untold sums of money to go after unregistered voters in the swing states -- the young, minorities and others who firmly believe he represents change. If his VP choice doesn't also embody change from politics as usual in Washington, he becomes reduced to spouting just words about change, which in turn gives him an electability problem. [More...]

The group Vote Both is shutting down:

The two former Clinton staffers who started the group Vote Both say Obama's decision to offer Clinton a prime-time speaking role at the Democratic Party nominating convention and other signals suggest Obama will not chose her.

"Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate, we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party's chances of winning in November," Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora wrote in an e-mail they planned to send Thursday to the 40,000-plus supporters who signed onto their online petition.

Hillary is likely to speak on the second night of the convention, August 26, which is the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving the women the right to vote. Here's my recap of what it was when she spoke at the 2004 convention in Boston.

Obama's acceptance speech is on August 28, which is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" Speech, which by the way, included this line:

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Update: Lanny Davis makes a final pitch for Hillary -- like a last chance college try. Too late I think.