SUSA says Obama beats McCain:

VIRGINIA

Obama 49
McCain 42

No Clinton polling. Still, this is good news.

By Big Tent Democrat

I will live blog the Clinton campaign conference call on the Florida/Michigan controversy. Expected to speak are Howard Wolfson and Harold Ickes. Given Ickes' role in stripping the delegates, we can expect very pointed questions to be directed at him. Harold is a sharp as hell bulldog. Should be fun to see how he responds.

The live blogging will be below the fold.

Courtesy of the Q Poll.

FLORIDA

Obama 41
McCain 45

Clinton 48
McCain 41

By Big Tent Democrat

an important blogger and Newsweek columnist wrote this:

Clinton was the only top-tier candidate to refuse the ultimate Iowa and New Hampshire pander by removing her name from the Michigan ballot. That makes her essentially the de facto winner since Edwards and Obama, caving to the cry babies in Iowa and New Hampshire, took their name off Michigan's ballot. Sure, the DNC has stripped Michigan of its delegates, but that won't last through the convention. The last thing Democrats can afford is to alienate swing states like Michigan and Florida by refusing to seat their delegates.

So while Obama and Edwards kneecap their chances of winning, Clinton is single-mindedly focused on the goal.

(Emphasis supplied.) Now that the preferred candidate of that important blogger and Newsweek columnist is the almost certain nominee, I hope that important blogger and Newsweek columnist joins me in urging the DNC to do the right thing and the smart thing on May 31, seat the Florida and Michigan delegations. Let's all work to avoid "kneecapping" the Democratic nominee's chances in November.

Speaking for me only.

Todd Beeton skillfully skewers Obama supporter and math whiz Poblano on his shocking discovery that political campaigns engage in . . . politics:

Notice the loaded language [describing the Clinton campaign] ..."conspired"...[against the pledged delegate meme] Now, I'm not saying the milestone is entirely meaningless, all I'm saying is let's call it what it is: a meme pushed out by the Obama camp to influence superdelegates and the media and to manipulate public perception. . . . Look, the second it became clear that pledged delegates alone were not going to win the nomination for either Obama or Clinton, the use of psychological warfare was fair game; it's superdelegates' jobs to be influenced by things like popular vote, majority of pledged delegates and electability and as far as I'm concerned it's the campaigns' jobs to try to use any argument at their disposal to make the case to them.

MORE . . .

If you are curious about who is on the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee that will be deciding on Florida and Michigan, here's the list with their affiliations. (Don't laugh, it lists Donna Brazile as "uncommitted")

The tally: Hillary has 13 supporters, Obama 8 and 7, in addition to the 2 co-chairs have not yet endorsed. The member from Florida is an Obama supporter. One of the co-chairs, Alexis Herman, was one of Bill Clinton's cabinet members.

Co-Chairs - no endorsement
Alexis Herman (co-chair, Washington , D.C. )
James Roosevelt, Jr. (co-chair, Massachusetts )

Members - Clinton supporters (13)

Hartina Flournay (DC)
Donald Fowler (SC)
Harold Ickes, Jr. (DC)
Alice Huffman (CA)
Ben Johnson (DC)
Elaine Kamarck (MA)
Eric Kleinfeld (DC)
Mona Pasquil (CA)
Mame Reiley (VA)
Garry Shay (CA)
Elizabeth Smith (DC)
Michael Steed (MD)
Jaime Gonzalez, Jr. (TX)

Members - Obama supporters (8) [More...]

Tom Petty, 1991, I Won't Back Down

Hear that DNC?

This is an open thread.

Chris Bowers joins the burgeoning Unity Ticket Movement (by burgeoning I mean me, Chris, Todd Beeton and Ed Kilgore.) Chris writes:

I do know that we are not going to achieve a realignment unless we win all of the states where one candidate or the other is strong. We need Obama's strength in Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington. We also need Clinton's strength in Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. If we are going to truly realign the country, we need to win all of those states, plus a few others like Texas, North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana, four seemingly red states where both candidates are performing reasonably well.

In other words, we need to combine the Clinton coalition with the Obama coalitions, rather than arguing over whose coalition is superior. The nomination campaign is over anyway, so that argument is moot and academic. And, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the most obvious way to combine the Clinton and Obama coalitions to put them both on the ticket?

Chris might get run out of the Creative Class for this one.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a trial court's dismissal of a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Lawsuit."

A decorated Air Force nurse who lost a challenge to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and was fired for having a lesbian relationship will get another chance to state her case before a judge.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was unclear whether the military's policy, as specifically applied to Witt, would hurt unit cohesiveness, as the Air Force had argued in winning its case in July 2006 in U.S. District Court.

"The government now has to make a showing that it can't possibly make" -- that Witt's presence causes a problem in her unit -- given that those who worked with her in the military supplied her with glowing recommendations and outrage at her ouster, said James Lobsenz, part of her ACLU legal team.

The decision means the military can't automatically discarge gay servicepersons. Maj. Margaret Witt's lawyers think she will prevail the next time around. [More...]

Bad fence:

At a Congressional hearing this month in Brownsville, the president of the University of Texas campus there, Juliet V. Garcia, testified that she had not been consulted before Homeland Security officials announced plans to build an 18-foot-high barrier that she said would leave the campus’s technology center and golf course “on the Mexican side of the fence.”

Watching the NBC pundits, Russert, Tweety, Olbermann et. al, rail against Hillary Clinton's fight to count the votes in Florida and Michigan, it is important to remember that the Media has always been against counting the votes. Here is Eric Alterman on the Media's reaction to Al Gore's desire to count the votes in 2000:

. . . Listen to Tim Russert, among the most influential journalists in the entire country, advising Al Gore to be “magnanimous and statesmanlike,” by suggesting he tell the nation, “I won the popular vote. I gave up the presidency, in effect, because of the Electoral College and the Constitution.” . . . Chris Matthews is reported by Salon.com to have offered up a similar observation that Gore concede for ‘the good of the nation.’ . . .

The Media has always had contempt for the voters. Always. Their contempt for Hillary Clinton's fight to count the votes in Florida and Michigan is nothing new.

Our fun is over. Comments closed,

Rassmussen tells the tale:

FLORIDA

Obama 40
McCain 50

Clinton 47
McCain 41

Nuff said.

By Big Tent Democrat