By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

So the Florida Congressional Delegation is said to oppose the only viable plan for a revote in Florida:

[A]fter meeting with Mr. Nelson on Tuesday night, Florida’s Democratic members of the House of Representatives added a serious new wrinkle by announcing they were unanimously opposed to a mail-in contest. They did not elaborate, but released a statement that said, “Our House delegation is opposed to a mail-in campaign or any redo of any kind.” The statement also said the delegation was committed to working with state and national Democrats and the two candidates “to reach an expedited solution that ensures our 210 delegates are seated.”

It is too late for sitting down for more blather. Senator Bill Nelson has the plan, the financing plans and the preapproval of Howard Dean. This is the only way to have a representative Florida delegation seated. The Florida Congressional delegation has a dollar and a dream. They have done no work at all on this. These Florida Congresspersons will find they have hell to pay if they are the obstacles to seating the Florida delegation. The Florida Democratic Party is submitting this plan. Period. What do these Congresspersons plan to do? Be the reason why Florida does not have a delegation at the Convention? They need to get over it and get with the plan.

NOTE - Comments are now closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Florida finalizes mail in voting revote plan:

Facing tight deadlines for a do-over election, Florida Democrats are rushing to deliver to the national party as soon as Thursday a plan to vote again in the presidential primary — this time, by mail. If approved, ballots could start going out to voters in April.

MORE . . .

Just to remind everyone of what is at stake in November....

The House today failed to override President Bush's veto of the anti-torture bill.

The 225-188 roll call Tuesday by which the House failed to override President Bush's veto of a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects.

House Democrats today stuck to their guns and rejected telecom immunity for warrantless wiretapping in abscence of a FISA court order :

Locked in a standoff with the White House, House Democrats on Tuesday maintained their refusal to shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without a secret court's permission.

But they offered the companies an olive branch: the chance to use classified government documents to defend themselves in court.

The ACLU says the compromise is an improvement but there are still concerns.

By Big Tent Democrat

White vote - 73% Clinton, Obama 26%.

A-A vote - 90% Obama, 10% Clinton.

Turnout was almost 50/50 White-A-A. Projecting the exit poll, It will be 58-42. I expect on THIS demo breakdown, a 17-16 delegate split.

In the popular vote, if turnout was 150,000, Obama would win 87,000 to 63,000, or a net gain of 24,000 for Obama.

Voters didn't flock to the polls in Mississippi today. The Mississippi Secretary of State's Office says turnout was "light to moderate."

Some facts about Mississippi voters and today's primary:

• Mississippi hasn't voted for a Democratic president in 32 years.
• Republicans and Independents can vote in the Democratic primary.
• Mississippi has the largest African-American population (36%) of any state. 70% of registered Democrats are African American.

  Those numbers appear to benefit Obama, who's overwhelmingly won the African-American vote so far this primary season.

• There are 40 delegates up for grabs, including 7 superdelegates.

CNN election results will be here.

By Big Tent Democrat

Two nights ago, Oculus highlighted this article to me in which some voters in Mississippi demonstrated they have more sense than most blog denizens. For example:

Catherine Cowans is a black supporter of Barack Obama who is disappointed by the Clinton campaign's recent attacks on her candidate. . . . But she doesn't think that the New York senator's jabs add up to an irredeemable sin. If Clinton becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, the 48-year-old hairdresser said, she will vote for her. "I'm not angry at her," Cowans said recently during a lull at her beauty salon in this sleepy Delta city. "I still like Hillary."

And the first exit poll data from Mississippi demonstrates similar feelings:

An exit poll finds Barack Obama voters are a bit more charitable toward Hillary Rodham Clinton than vice versa in Mississippi's Democratic primary. The survey Tuesday for The Associated Press and television networks found that six in 10 Obama voters said he should pick Clinton for vice president if he wins the nomination. Four in 10 Clinton voters said she should pick Obama as her running mate if she wins.

Finally, a little sense from Democrats. Take note Nancy Pelosi. More exit polling data here as it comes in. More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

I have to wonder what in blazes Speaker Pelosi was thinking when she says this:

Thinking a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket sounds too good to be true for Democrats? The Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California says you're right. "I think that ticket either way is impossible," Pelosi told NECN's Alison King shortly after an environmental event in Waltham, Massachusetts today.

But for hopes of a Clinton-Obama dream team, there's no subtlety. "I wanted to be sure I didn't leave any ambiguity," she said.

What an irresponsibly stupid thing to say. My gawd is she bad.

With most of the progressive blogosphere seemingly behind Barack Obama, Tom Watson lines up the list of those favoring Hillary.

To be a Clinton blogger in the progressive blogosphere is to be hated, shunned, passed without notice in the street. .... We're not welcome at all the best dKos parties - if we show up, we're cursed with the universal epithet of those who challenge the Obama hegemony: "troll," they call us. ... Oh, the pain. The pure pain.

Give the gift of traffic. Here's Tom's list of bloggers writing favorably about Hillary: [More...]

Nobody really knows what New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's timetable is. The New York Times says no resignation is likely today.

And Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun says Spitzer senior adviser Lloyd Constantine says Spitzer may not resign at all.

"He has not made up his mind," a senior adviser to Mr. Spitzer, Lloyd Constantine, said. "It is more correct to say that he is not resigning."

Another source close to the governor said Mr. Spitzer was refusing to resign until he clinches an agreement with federal authorities about charges that he could face. "I don't think anything happens for a couple of weeks," the source said.

Reportedly, things aren't going so well at the Spitzer residence: [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Obama chief campaign strategist David Axelrod is making stuff up. Today he said:

[T]his has been a pattern that we've seen throughout the campaign, whether it was the Bill Shaheen incident, the Bob Johnson incident, Sen. Clinton's own inexplicable unwillingness to make a direct statement on '60 Minutes' about Sen. Obama's Christianity, even though they've shared prayer groups together in Congress. All of it is part of an insidious pattern that needs to be addressed.

(Emphasis supplied.) Politics is politics. And false outrage is false outrage. But Axelrod has dipped into flat out falsehood here. Forget that Bill Shaheen was fired. Forget that Bob Johnson was forced to apologize.

Axelrod is simply making a deliberate false statement when he accuses Hillary of being unwilling to to make a direct statement about Obama's Christianity on 60 Minutes. She did make such a statment. Eric Boehlert demonstrated that this was all trumped up nonsense.

Axelrod is making stuff up here.

NOTE - Comments closed. It is clear that these subjects are difficult to discuss. Tonight may be even more difficult regarding the Mississippi primary. Understand I will be ruthless in deleting inflammatory comments. Write with care please.

By Big Tent Democrat

Eric Boehlert writes about Tweety and Hillary's 60 Minute Moment:

Less than one second. That's how long it took Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to answer, "Of course not," to Steve Kroft's question on 60 Minutes about whether she thought Sen. Barack Obama was a Muslim. You can time it yourself by watching the clip at YouTube.

Still, that didn't stop MSNBC's Chris Matthews from complaining on-air last week that it took Clinton "the longest time" to answer Kroft's question.

More...