In direct contradiction to recent Q and ARG polling, Ras sez McCain by 8 in Florida, and the off shore drilling issue does not hurt McCain:

The Florida survey also found that McCain currently leads Obama in the state by a 47% to 39% margin. Six percent (6%) said they would vote for some other candidate while 8% are undecided. However, after voters were told that McCain favored offshore drilling and Obama opposed it, McCain’s lead increased to eleven points, 49% to 38%. While a three-point net gain is not stunning, it is significant that the issue didn’t push voters towards Obama. All of McCain’s gains on the offshore drilling issue came from male voters.

Who is right? To be honest, this seems more in line with my feel for the state of the race in Florida.

By Big Tent Democrat

The Bush administration is finally getting what it wanted from the invasion of Iraq:

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

But remember, it's not about oil. The war is about WMD ... no, it's about making Iraq stable ... no, it's about spreading democracy ... ummmm ...

It's good to know that the uniformed defenders of our liberty are doing their best for their clients at Guantanamo. And their best is awfully good.

When President Bush announced plans for military commission trials in 2001, critics said military defense lawyers would not put up much of a fight on behalf of men labeled terrorists. “They wanted us to just be good little boys,” one of the lawyers, Maj. Michael D. Mori of the Marines, once told an interviewer.

But nearly seven years later, not one trial has been held, partly because the military defense lawyers have raised a continuous ruckus, challenging the commission system rather than simply defending their clients.

Raising a ruckus is exactly what defense lawyers need to do when confronted with injustice. Listen to Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler:

Good move. I think he should have announced it during the primaries as he will now get some tough media coverage for this decision when he would have gotten a free ride when he was running against Hillary Clinton.

UPDATE - Please note that I am not a believer in the current public campaign finance system as it exists. Universal public financing with much larger amounts is the only viable solution. I also believe Obama's "no lobbyist money" talk is complete nonsense. So, sorry if my lack of outrage offends.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Sen. Barack Obama today named his National Security team and delivered a prepared speech on the war on terror and Guantanamo. I'm disappointed with it.

Three examples:

There are terrorists who are determined to kill as many Americans as they can. The world’s most dangerous weapons risk falling into the wrong hands. And that is why the single greatest priority of my presidency will be doing anything and everything that I can to keep the American people safe. (my emphasis.)

If you were hoping universal health care or creating more jobs or reducing our country's reliance on incarceration would be his greatest priority, this is a letdown.

On Afghanistan: [More...]

You wouldn't have wanted to be Charles Dean Hood last night.

Hood waited in a holding cell adjacent to the death chamber in Huntsville for hours while lawyers with the Collin County district attorney's office sought his execution and Hood's lawyers tried to prevent the death sentence from being carried out.

You'll remember Hood is the defendant who was sentenced to death by the judge who was allegedly having an affair with the district attorney who prosecuted Hood's case. The death warrant was recalled after Hood raised the issue, only to be reinstated by the state's highest court. But the wrangling lasted so long that the warrant expired before Hood could be executed.

"Only in Texas," said Lawrence Fox, who teaches law at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

From Radley Balko's first post about Ryan Frederick:

Officer Jarrod Shivers was shot and killed while executing a search warrant in Cheseapeake, Virginia Thursday night. ... [Frederick said] in an interview from jail he had no idea the undercover cops breaking into his home were police. ... Though the raid was apparently part of a drug investigation, police aren't saying what if any drugs were found.

Turns out they were searching for a large marijuana grow operation. They found only a small amount of pot.

Botched drug raids by SWAT teams that employ military tactics too often end in tragedy. Whether or not there was good reason to think Frederick was growing some weed, there are ways to address that crime without senselessly risking lives.

Today's post points to evidence that raises serious questions about the murder charge against Frederick : [more ...]

Via Politico:

Clark was sitting at Obama's side when he met with retired flag officers earlier this afternoon. An Obama campaign aide emails that "General Clark attended the meeting that Obama had with retired military and admirals this afternoon and he will be an important voice on this campaign."

I like that the Obama camp made a point of correcting the Politico report that General Clark was not part of the Obama national security team. Ok, I cheerlead for one figure in politics, Wes Clark. So sue me.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Via mcjoan, the NYTimes Ed Board writes:

If Congress cannot pass a clean bill that fixes the one real problem with FISA, it should simply extend the temporary authorization. At a minimum, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should oppose FISA expansion and pledge to revisit it next year. If any significant changes are going to be made, they should be made under the next president. There are clear differences between the candidates. Senator John McCain, who is sounding more like Mr. Bush every day, believes the president has the power to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant.

Senator Barack Obama opposes immunity and voted against the temporary expansion of FISA. We hope he will show strong leadership this time. He might even take time off from the campaign to vote against the disturbing deal brewing in the back rooms of Congress.

(Emphasis supplied.) The time to lead on FISA is now Senator Obama.

Speaking for me only

This is the Barack Obama I really like a lot. The one who is going to be a great President:

Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA "devastating" and "a big mistake," despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy.

Does that mean his rhetoric was overheated and amplified? "Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself," he answered.

Self aware, rational and intelligent. He knows better than to believe his own press clippings. Good for him.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Americans who are convicted of crimes do not lose their citizenship, are not relieved of their obligation to pay taxes, and should be just as entitled to participate in the democratic process as everyone else. In Florida, however, even after felons are released from prison and from supervision, even after they've paid their fines and made restitution, there are still barriers to voting. Those barriers stem from an ugly history of disenfranchising black voters.

The issue of voting rights here has long been intertwined with race. The ban on voting by felons became part of the state Constitution in 1868, when many Southern states found ways to suppress black votes in the wake of the Civil War.

Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist has advocated a measure of reform that, since April, has reinstated voting rights for 115,232 ex-offenders. But 80 percent of them remain disenfranchised. [more ...]

One thing does bother me about the polling lately - while the state polls have shown a huge shift towards Obama - big leads in blue states (CA, NY, IL), sizable leads in big swing states (FL, OH, PA), ties in big red states (VA, NC) and yet the national polling has Obama by 4 after Obama opened as much as a 9 point lead in some national tracking polls.

The results do not jibe. One possible explanation is that the Q polls were taken from the 9th to the 16th. Early in that period, Obama's results ramped up nationally before coming back to 4. In a sense, perhaps the Q polls are already out of date. Just a thought.

By Big Tent Democrat