By Big Tent Democrat

Matt Yglesias, quoting a Clinton campaign memo, misunderstands this point:

The Obama campaign and its allies are outspending us two to one in paid media and have sent more staff into the March 4 states. . . . If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there's a problem.

Matt seems to think the Clinton campaign is alluding to a nomination problem. No, the reference is to the general election. I think it is clear that if Obama wins Ohio OR Texas, he will be the nominee. But if he fails to win both, the Clinton campaign is raising legitimate questions about what this means in a general election, especially in Ohio. I know the Left blogs get their jollies from ridiculing Hillary Clinton and her campaign, but sometimes they DO raise a legitimate issue. It might be nice to think about this one.

NOTE - Comments are closed.

Via Sentencing Law and Policy, Hillary was interviewed by Vibe Magazine last weekend.

VIBE: In your speech, you talked about having first, second, and third chances for children. In the last ten years the rate of incarceration of women has increased exponentially. I don’t think the average person realizes that it’s not 50% or 100%, it’s like 750% in the last thirty years. There are a disproportionate number of African-American men and women who are going to be released from prison with felony convictions. What do we do about that group of people who are effectively disenfranchised when they come out?

CLINTON: Number one, we need to divert more people from the prison system. We have too many people in prison for non-violent drug offenses, which disproportionately impacts on the African-American community. That’s why I’ve been a strong advocate of eliminating the disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine [sentencing].

There may have been a reason for it 25 years ago but there isn’t any justification for it now. But it also means that in the prisons themselves, we’ve got to get back to the services that used to be there.

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By Big Tent Democrat

As a supporter of free trade and NAFTA, I am in the awkward position of being pleased that Barack Obama appears to understand that his demagoguing on NAFTA may be good politics but not good policy. CTV is standing by its story and names Obama advisor Austin Goolsbee as the person who assured the Canadians that Obama was merely posturing on NAFTA:

[T]he Obama camp did not respond to repeated questions from CTV on reports that a conversation on this matter was held between Obama's senior economic adviser -- Austan Goolsbee -- and the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.

Earlier Thursday, the Obama campaign insisted that no conversations have taken place with any of its senior ranks and representatives of the Canadian government on the NAFTA issue. On Thursday night, CTV spoke with Goolsbee, but he refused to say whether he had such a conversation with the Canadian government office in Chicago.

As I have said before, journalism does not require suspension of common sense. We now know that CTV is reporting that it was Austin Goolsbee who was the Obama advisor who met with a Canadian official in Chicago and provided the NAFTA assurances. Goolsbee refuses to deny the meeting. It is pretty clear that it did occur. And good for Obama for that.

By Big Tent Democrat

Appealing to "values voters" is a double edged sword for the candidates in this race. The problem is that much of the "appeal" that needs to be made is of the paranoid variety. To really appeal to "values voters" - you must hate the people they hate or find a way to spur the hate to vote for you. In 2004, Karl Rove, who remains the shrewdest (this is a neutral term morally) political operative of recent years, was able to provide hatred of gays and gay marriage to drive this extremist base to vote in droves. George Bush did not have to get his hands dirty. The other thing Bush and Rove did was never apologize for his supporters.

But "The Maverick" John McCain is in a different place. His Media Darling status is based in part on the perception that he does not play footsy with this extremist base. Of course he has to now, while trying to retain his Media image. This problem is amplified because he believes his opponent will be Barack Obama, the first Democratic Presidential candidate who is a Media Darling since JFK. That is why, as Glenn Greenwald discusses, John McCain has a John Hagee problem:

By Big Tent Democrat

Via Chris Bowers, party building Obama style:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he would be more willing than Hillary Rodham Clinton to work with Republicans.

"Her natural inclination is to draw a picture of Republicans as people who need to be crushed and defeated," Obama said during a telephone interview from Texas with the Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board. "It's not entirely her fault. She's been the target of some unfair attacks in the past."

"I'm not a person who believes any one party has a monopoly on wisdom," Obama said.

(Emphasis supplied.) Indeed. Who needs a Democratic Congress? Not Obama apparently.

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By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

After his Super Tuesday Debacle, John Zogby went into hiding. He did not poll the next 10 contests. Which is a shame for him as he has long had a strong anti-Hillary bias and no doubt he would have produced polls indicating big Obama wins. But he emerges today, with polls that, not surprisingly are in line with some of the polling that is already public.

The value of a Zogby poll? None. Zip. But it is fun to ridicule him. And I take that opportunity now.

By Big Tent Democrat

Can anyone deny this obvious fact? Of course there is no legal recourse for this as political parties are not subject to equal protection and voting rights requirements.

Does anyone care? Only as an opportunity to bash Hillary Clinton. I hate it when candidate support trumps support for principles.

Another black mark for the Drudge Report. After leaking today that Prince Harry was serving on the front lines of Afghanistan, the Timesonline reports Harry now must leave for security reasons.

Emergency plans to extract Prince Harry from Afghanistan were being drawn up last night after the news leaked that he had been on a secret combat tour in Helmand province since before Christmas.

He has been working in Helmand province as a Forward Air Controller – responsible for providing cover for frontline troops – and has been personally involved in clashes with Taleban guerrillas. His four-month deployment had been kept secret because of a Ministry of Defence agreement with news organisations, including The Times, but the details can now be made public after the news leaked out overseas and on the internet.

One Australian news magazine, New Idea, reported Harry's deployment a month ago, but it was not until it was carried yesterday on the Drudge Report, a major American website, that the news embargo was lifted.

Harry no doubt will be disappointed. He wanted to fight in Iraq, but that was deemed too dangerous because he'd become a target so he was deployed to Afghanistan. [More...]

Barack Obama wrote a letter outlining his support for the Gay. Lesbian, Bi and Transgender community today.

Hillary Clinton established the LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee in June, 2007, outlining her years of support for the LGBT community.

As president, Clinton has pledged to end the divisive leadership of the past six years and work with the LGBT community to make sure that all Americans in committed relationships have equal economic benefits and rights. She also will work to end discrimination in adoption laws. As a U.S. Senator, she has worked to expand federal hate crimes legislation and pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and will sign the legislation into law once she is in the White House. She will also put an end to the failed policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

For the record, both Hillary and Obama support expansion of crimial hate crime laws. I oppose them. Sentences for crimes are already sky high. Punish the act, not the thought behind it. Civil suits are one thing, I'm okay with that. But leave our criminal laws out of this.

That being said, Obama's a little late to this party. Not to mention, this sentence in his letter is a little disturbing. It's the now expected Obama pull-back.

Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together.

What's he promising? If you think something other than compromise, read it again. It's compromise.

Update (TL): What a great surprise. I just got back from taking the TL kid to dinner (to celebrate his taking the Colorado bar exam Tues and Weds) and there are contributions from so many of you -- big and small -- all are very appreciated. More people donated today than ever before. Even the $5.00 donations are appreciated. All of you have been a huge help given our traffic surge the past week which has overwhelmed our server. Our second server should now be in place. Thanks to all of you.

By Big Tent Democrat

Congrats to Hillary and very likely to Obama for their record fundraising. Now how about a little bit for TalkLeft?

Site traffic has boomed raising costs significantly. The links are available on the right hand side.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Update, snail mail and anonymous donation details below:

By Big Tent Democrat

Throughout 2007, I urged Democrats to adopt a confrontational strategy with the Bush Administration and Republicans on Iraq. I believed such a strategy was not only the right thing to do, it was the politically smart thing to do. But Democrats failed time after time, capitulating to every Bush demand. Two notable Democrats in the Senate fought against these capitulations - Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd. The rest, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, were notably lacking in leadership.

Not surprisingly, this lack of leadership has been seized upon by John McCain. Chris Bowers writes:

[N]ow McCain is pushing both sides of the blurring strategy, using surrogate James Baker to argue that even those in favor of withdrawal plan to leave troops in Iraq for a long time. . . . So, McCain wants to end the war, but to do so with "honor." Also, he is in favor of a timetable, but like everyone calling for Iraq withdrawal, including Barack Obama, he knows that American troops will stay in Iraq for "a long time to come."

And so, we arrive at the full-blown Iraq Blurring Strategy from John McCain. No one wants to end the war more than he does. In fact, he is in favor of withdrawal. However, everyone who favors withdrawal, like Barack Obama, also wants to leave large numbers of residual forces in Iraq.

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Two news items from Chicago today. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal bond for Conrad Black, while granting one to his two co-defendants. The British publishing magnate must report Monday to a federal prison in Coleman, Florida to start serving his 6 1/2 year sentence.

While the Court said there's a substantial issue on the fraud convictions (which, if decided in defendant's favor, likely would result in a reversal or new trial being granted) it found no such issue on Black's obstruction of justice conviction. The old coverup -- it gets you every time.

In the Anton Rezko trial which begins with jury selection Monday, the judge ruled today that photos of Rezko's mansion will come into evidence because it shows his opulent lifestyle and some of the alleged unlawful fundraising activity took place there.[More...]