Austin, TX Mayor Will Wynn was charged with assault two days ago. Today, he admits it and says he has been in anger management counseling for a few years. The assault stems from an incident outside his condominium when a man made fun of his name. Wynn says he let the guy "push his buttons."

A few weeks ago, Wynn endorsed Barack Obama. Obama said he was honored to have Wynn's support. Will we see him on the campaign trail?

36 hours, $4 million online raised by Hillary. Not bad.

She's now trying for $6 million in 48 hours.

By Big Tent Democrat

I can not believe Howard Dean said this:

The two state [FL and MI] parties will have to find the funds to pay for new contests without help from the national party, Dean said. "We can't afford to do that. That's not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race," he said.

(Emphasis supplied.) Not your problem Howard? Michigan and Florida are not the DNC's problem? Sheesh. I know the DNC does not have the money to pay for this. But the problem is YOUR problem, and of YOUR making. It is our problem regarding winning the Presidential race in November. And quotes like "not our problem" just exacerbate the problem. At this rate, Dems are going to lose Michigan and Florida in a landslide.

Barack Obama is now officially a rock star, He's made the cover of Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner and the magazine endorse Barack Obama.

Curious subtitle for the article, "Obama: the Machinery of Hope." Machinery reminds me of Chicago politics. Perhaps not the best image for him.

By Big Tent Democrat

Markos is riled up about Bruce Reed of the DLC working with Clinton on debate prep (not a policy position actually.) Funny how he missed this:

[DLC Chairman Al] From said Mr. Obama had an intellectual, and not just tactical, connection to the D.L.C.

“I mean his chief economist, Austan Goolsbee, is a fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, which is our think tank,” he said.

Economic advisor vs debate prep? Which matters more? For the record, having the DLC in the Big Democratic Tent is fine by me. I certainly would not want either candidate to cast out the DLC. I actually worry more about the DLC's Third Way Unity Schtick political advice. As From says, there is a very close political tactics connection between Obama and the DLC. It is what I complain about constantly. Some others used to complain about too. Not anymore apparently.

By Big Tent Democrat

There is something otherworldy about the suggestion of some folks that the continuing race is a lost opportunity for Obama to define John McCain. Matt Yglesias writes:

Ross explains the cost to progressive politics of Hillary Clinton's decision to unleash the kitchen sink in a likely-futile effort to overcome Barack Obama's delegate lead:

Rather, the problem is that the party is losing a golden opportunity to try to put the race away early, the way Bill Clinton more or less did with Bob Dole in 1996 - by using their enormous fundraising advantage to rebrand John McCain as a Dole-style loser while he's still struggling to get his money-raising operation up to par. As Patrick Ruffini suggested earlier this week, if Obama had finished off Hillary last night he could have been up with anti-McCain ads all over the country immediately, forcing the GOP to play defense in places it usually owns all through the summer.

Think about what they are suggesting - that Mr. Post Partisan New Politics is losing an opportunity to employ a 20th Century political tactic used by BILL CLINTON! He will put up negative ads as his first act as the newly crowned Moses leading us to the promised land of The New Politics. Yes, that will surely help Obama's image of transcending politics. The irony drips.

But the more important factor overlooked is the fact that the moment Obama is not running against Hillary Clinton, he loses his biggest Media advantage, that he is running against Hillary Clinton. For some reason some folks simply do not want to believe that a lot of Obama's appeal to the Media is that he is running against Hillary Clinton. Heck, Obama's best strategy may be to keep Clinton in the race until the Convention, even if she wants to drop out.

By Big Tent Democrat

For all the wailing and moaning from NBC, especially Punchline Olbermann, host of the Obama News Hour, and some of the Left blogs about Hillary Clinton staying in the race, one has to wonder what they think of Barack Obama's failure to win either Ohio or Texas. The desperate ones have now learned the virtue of closed primaries, arguing the Rush Limbaugh tipped Republicans to Clinton in Texas. Todd Beeton points out, apparently Limbaugh holds great sway over Independents as well, who also moved strongly to Clinton. Of course they won't like my solution, let's have closed primaries.

I have said this since Super Tuesday - Barack Obama needs to demonstrate he can win a big contested state important in the general election. He has won his home state. He has won heavily African American Georgia. That's it. It is true he won Wisconsin convincingly and seems to have electoral advantages in Colorado, Nevada (which he lost) and New Mexico. But this election will be won or lost in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida. If Obama can not perform well in these states, it will be extremely difficult for him in November. Luckily, 3 of these 4 states may have contests to allow Obama to prove his mettle and put a stamp of legitimacy on his potential nomination. I'll explain what I mean by legitimacy on the flip.

Showtime in Wyoming: Bill Clinton vs. Barack Obama
The Eagles, Doolin' Dalton/Desperado Reprise, 1974 (with Linda Ronstadt singing in this segment and she's not the one wearing Jersey number 12)

Well the stage was set the sun was sinkin' low down
As they came to town to face another showdown
The lawmen cleared the people from the streets
"All you blood -thirsty bystanders, will you try to find your seats?"
Watch 'em duelin'
Doolin-Dalton
High or low ,it's all the same

The AP:

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has announced that he will visit Wyoming on Friday for a town hall meeting in Casper and a rally in Laramie.

...The Clinton campaign announced today that former President Bill Clinton will swing through Wyoming on Thursday on behalf of his wife's campaign.

Bill Clinton's stops will include a speech at 10:45 a.m. at Central Wyoming College in Riverton. He'll then travel to southwestern Wyoming for a 1:45 p.m. event at the Sweetwater County Events Complex in Rock Springs. The former president will wind up his Wyoming appearances in Laramie with a speech at the UniWyo Sports Complex at the University of Wyoming at 5 p.m.

Will it matter? I love the state, but it really is Dick Cheney country. In 2004, John Kerry won one county, Teton, with a total population of 18,000 and a population density of five persons per square mile.

The chances of a Democrat winning in November? When H*ll Freezes Over, Get Over It.

Update below: Hillary's going to Wyoming too.

By Big Tent Democrat

Your second turn. Go Gators! This is an Open Thread.

Big Tent Democrat

Todd Beeton has Howard Dean's statement:

We're glad to hear that the Governors of Michigan and Florida are willing to lend their weight to help resolve this issue. As we've said all along, we strongly encourage the Michigan and Florida state parties to follow the rules, so today's public overtures are good news. The rules, which were agreed to by the full DNC including representatives from Florida and Michigan over 18 months ago, allow for two options. First, either state can choose to resubmit a plan and run a party process to select delegates to the convention; second, they can wait until this summer and appeal to the Convention Credentials Committee, which determines and resolves any outstanding questions about the seating of delegates. We look forward to receiving their proposals should they decide to submit new delegate selection plans and will review those plans at that time. The Democratic Nominee will be determined in accordance with party rules, and out of respect for the presidential campaigns and the states that did not violate party rules, we are not going to change the rules in the middle of the game.

. . .

(Emphasis supplied.) I have a plan. But Howard Dean needs to be more proactive than he seems to want to be in this letter. I hope there is something being done with more urgency than Dean is showing here. More . . .

The comments to our threads are filling up pretty quickly, even with the "stay on topic" rules. That's a good thing.

If the comments stay as full, I may be taking requests for volunteer comment moderators.

Since I'll be out for a few hours, here's a place for you to decide the topics and keep the conversation going.

NOTE - BTD Comments closed. There is a new Open thread. Go Gators!

Despite Big Tent Democrat's five posts on Florida here today, not all has been said.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's campaigns are now okay with a second Florida primary:

Now the Clinton campaign has begun expressing openness to a do-over. "Let's let all of the voters go again if they are willing to do it," said Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe Tuesday night on MSNBC. "Whatever we have to do to get people in the system, let's do it."

Obama's campaign says it would participate if one is decided upon by the Party, but is not going to do anything to make it happen. It sounds decidedly luke-warm on the prospect:

"We're going to abide by their rules as they exist now and whatever happens in the future," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters Wednesday.

"I don't think it's for our campaign or her campaign — we're in a heated contest here — to have to be the facilitators here," Plouffe said. "This is between the DNC and those state parties."

It makes sense Obama would be only luke-warm to the idea. Just look at the results from the Florida primary, a scant 5 weeks ago. He won only the northern counties closest to Georgia and the deep south. He won no county below the top of the state.

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