Taylor Marsh interviewed a culinary union worker today who complained her union is pressuring her to vote for Obama. (Podcast here.) Pamela of Democratic Daily has a similar post up.

Las Vegas Sun columnist John Ralston said the union began its "it's the union above all else” pitch right after it endorsed Obama.

The “It’s the union above all else” pitch began Wednesday when Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor announced the Obama endorsement. He praised all the candidates but made it clear that his members value union solidarity above all.

MyDD diarist Izaradar, who belongs to a union, says union endorsements are more problematic in caucus than primary states:

What's the big deal, you might ask? The union leadership can't force a member to honor the endorsement of Senator Obama. If a member wants to vote for John Edwards, or Senator Clinton, they're free to do so. This is a democracy, right? The secret ballot protects our identity and our choice. Well, that's a problem.

This is an open caucus. Union members will be standing in the same room with other union members. Or maybe even their shop steward. Or their foreman. Or possibly even a union official. Everyone will know which candidate you're backing. And if you're a member of Culinary Workers Local 226, and you don't caucus for Senator Obama??? That could make for a long shift on Monday.

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It wasn't just the pollsters that blew New Hampshire. Eric Boehlert explains how the media did an equally dismal job.

After providing plentiful examples, Boehlert says:

In today's campaign coverage, what journalists think about unfolding events takes precedence over what voters think. Voters have become essentially secondary, props in the background that are occasionally queried for a color quote. And that's a big reason why the press missed the New Hampshire story -- that, and the fact that the press was so anxious to write Clinton off as "toast."

Read the whole thing. And keep it in mind as you read continuing mainstream media reporting on the presidential race.

This is bizarre. A medical coroner attributes Ike Turner's death to a cocaine overdose and finds that his long time cardiovascular disease and emphysema were contributing factors.

Ike Turner was 76 years old. His daughter said,

Turner's daughter, Mia, said she was surprised by the coroner's assessment. She said her father's emphysema was at such an advanced stage that he was on oxygen and extremely weak in the last days of his life.

"He just couldn't—he'd gone at the time of his death four or five days without doing anything, and if he'd done anything, it would have been so minimal," Mia Turner said. "He was too weak from the emphysema to do anything. He'd go in the studio for a couple of minutes and play a couple of bars and say he had to go lay down."

A Las Vegas judge doubled O.J. Simpson's bail today at a hearing on the motion to revoke his bond. (Background here.)

The judge also ordered that he put 15% down in cash, or $37.5k -- his friends are trying to raise the cash for him.

Update: He's on his way home to Florida.

If you thought Hillary Clinton doesn't have a sense of humor or takes herself too seriously, think again. Taking the role of flight attendant on "Hil Force One" from Las Vegas to Reno, she told the press corps on board:

"My name is Hillary and I am so pleased to have most of you on board," she said. "FAA regulations prohibit the use of any cell phones, Blackberries or wireless devices that may be used to transmit a negative story about me.

"In a few minutes, I am going to switch off the 'Fasten Your Seat Belt' sign. However, I've learned lately that things can get awfully bumpy when you least expect it — so you might want to keep those seat belts fastened.

"And in the event of an unexpected drop in poll numbers, this plane will be diverted to New Hampshire.

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Barack Obama has a very bad habit of denigrating the political battles of the past. A few days ago, Barney Frank wrote a terrific piece taking on Obama kneejerk swipes at the battles of the past. Here is a piece of it:

I think it is important to express my discomfort with a major theme of Senator Obama's campaign. I am referring to his denigration of "the Washington battles of the 1990's" and, usually implicitly but sometimes explicitly, of those who fought them.

. . . I cannot think of a cause that I cared deeply about then that I felt it appropriate to abandon as I aged, nor an important issue in which I had no interest then, but which now gets my attention.

This brings me to my particular concern with Senator Obama's vehement disassociation of himself and those he seeks to represent from "the fights of the nineties." I am very proud of many of the fights I engaged in in the nineties, as well as the eighties and before. Senator Obama also bemoans the "same bitter partisanship" of that period and appears to me to be again somewhat critical of those of us who he believes to have been engaged in it. . . .

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TPM's Greg Sargent has this video of Obama comparing his ability to make a transformational change to that which Ronald Reagan accomplished in 1980:

I will not take the easy political cheap shot here and take on Obama's point. Greg describes it well:

Obama is also making an argument about the readiness of the electorate for change, comparing today's desire for a new direction with the electorate's mood in 1980. In this context, Obama is presenting himself as a potentially transformational figure in opposition to Hillary, who, Obama has been arguing, is unequipped to tap into the public's mood due to her coming of age in the sixties and her involvement in the political battles of the 1990s.

Obama simply misunderstands how Reagan achieved that transformational change - to the detriment of the country I must add - he ran a partisan, ideological divisive campaign that excoriated Democratic values and trumpeted GOP values. He also race baited.

Obama is running a post-partisan, nonideological campaign that is bereft of defenses of Democratic values and ideas. He is running an anti-Reagan campaign. His argument is simply ahistorical. It is precisely BECAUSE he refuses to try and make this a transformational campaign, a campaign to fight for Dem values, to persuade the country that the Dems are right, that his campaign is a promise unfulfilled.

In short, Obama STILL does not get it.

No blogging for me today. 5:00 am wake-up calls just don't agree with me and before court this morning, I had a 6:00 am conference call that lasted over an hour.

This thread is for those who want a break from all the primary and election coverage. What else is going on out there?

with Glenn Greenwald for not recognizing his journalistic prowess. He fired off an e-mail with a level of vituperativeness that would make any DFH angry blogger proud:

I don't read biased uninformed drivel so I'm a little late to the game. But a friend who understands how my business works and knows a little something about my 20 plus years in it sent me the link to your ramblings. Since the site suggests you have law training, maybe you forgot that good lawyers to a little research before they spit out words. . . . You clearly know very little about journalism. . . . When I am writing something that calls someone's credibility into question, I pick up the phone and give them a chance to give their side, or perspective. . . .

Pretty funny. Glenn makes a good point in response (for the substance of the dispute follow the link):

Ponder how much better things would be if establishment journalists -- in response to being endlessly lied to and manipulated by political officials and upon witnessing extreme lawbreaking and corruption at the highest levels of our government -- were able to muster just a tiny fraction of the high dudgeon, petulant offense, and melodramatic outrage that comes pouring forth whenever their "reporting" is criticized

Indeed.

Speaking for me only.

Because he put the Democratic Party first. In really laying the race brouhaha to rest, Senator Obama went beyond what was politically expedient for his campaign - which was to of course appear to disclaim any desire for the dispute - to go above and beyond that. He expressly and emphatically cleared the Clinton campaign of engaging in racial politics AND he took some responsibility for the controversy. He was the biggest person in the room - for the benefit of the Democratic Party. No Obama for Obama, as I have often accused him of, this was Obama for the Democratic Party. Some examples:

SEN. OBAMA: Well, I think Hillary said it well. . . . Now, race has always been an issue in our politics and in this country, but one of the premises of my campaign and, I think, of the Democratic Party -- and I know that John and Hillary have always been committed to racial equality -- is that we can't solve these challenges unless we can come together as a people and we're not resorting to the same -- or falling into the same traps of division that we have in the past.

More . . .

Bump and Update: A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday in the case.

In other Nevada news, the Las Vegas Review Journal will endorse Barack Obama. In 2004, the paper endorsed George W. Bush for President.

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The Las Vegas Sun in an editorial today backed the lawsuit brought by the teachers' union challenging the at-large caucuses established in Las Vegas strip hotels.

As we see it, the caucuses were moved up so that all labor organizations and minorities in the state could get a bigger say, not just the Culinary Union.

Background here.

Who impressed you? Who let you down? Who do you think scored points with Nevada caucus voters?

I thought all three were good. I appreciated their lack of barbs and their attempt to put the Democrats first.

I thought the questioning by Russert and Williams was pretty poor. Instead of asking questions that would highlight their policy differences, they tended to ask questions on which all agreed.

No one failed. No one tripped up seriously. All would serve us far better than any Republican.

My final thoughts: Obama was likeable and well-intentioned. He just isn't ready in my opinion. He may be one day, but we need someone who is ready now. Hillary impressed tonight as being that person.