Bump and Update: The blogs are joining in the opening of the ACLU's "Close Guantanamo" campaign.

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On the eve of the 6th anniversary of detainees arriving at Guantanamo Bay, the ACLU has commenced its "Close Guantanamo" campaign.

Guantanamo will forever be a stain on our national legacy. It must close. Please, join the ACLU in this historic and important campaign. Wear orange on Friday. [More...]

I do not and have never doubted that Barack Obama is a committed progressive. My problem has always been with his political style - the Unity Schtick. Because in the real world of DC politics, it will not work. Barack Obama will be savaged by the Right Wing just as would any Democratic nominee. Charles Krauthammer provides a preview of what Republicans would say about Barack Obama should he be the nominee:

Speaking for me only.

Andrew Cuomo commented:

”It’s not a TV crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it,” Cuomo said. “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference,” he added. “All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”

Cuomo tried to clarify that he was not referring to Senator Barack Obama. It seems hard to see how he was not. Cuomo must apologize for this racially insensitive, at best, comment. If he does not, the Clinton campaign must repudiate it. It went well over the line.

The Bush Administration and Congress' Real ID plan (code word for national identity card) got another delay yesterday. States will have five more years to put it into effect.

The AP has more here.

Why?

DHS revised its ID plan after states and civil libertarians criticized draft regulations, issued last March and setting a 2013 deadline, as unworkable and threatening to Americans' privacy by creating a de facto national ID for 245 million U.S. drivers. Seventeen states have passed legislation opposing or opting out of the program.

America is supposed to be a country where police don't get to ask, "Where's Your Papers?" For driver's now older than 50, that will change by 2018. For those born after 1964, it may change by 2011.

Maybe we can get a Congress elected by then to repeal this ill-advised law, which the ACLU and others aptly call a "real nightmare." More here and here.

Update: Another article on the event:

A man shouted through an opening in the wall that his wife was illegal.

"No woman is illegal," Clinton said, to cheers.

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Hillary Clinton arrived in Las Vegas today and embarked on a door-to-door campaign in a Hispanic neighborhood, asking residents for their help. At a Mexican restaurant afterwards, she sat with locals and talked about her plan to ease the foreclosure crisis, which has hit Nevada particularly hard.

Mrs. Clinton said she would like to freeze interest rates for five years, and create a federal program that would help homeowners get “through a bad time,” to prevent foreclosures. Mrs. Clinton also said she believed “we’re slipping into a recession.”

She arrived a day ahead of Barack Obama. But it doesn't seem like Obama will be staying long since his schedule is packed full in South Carolina Saturday, starting at 8:30 a.m., where he also spent Thursday.[More...]

First it was the cackle. Then it was her flash of anger,the team-attack on her by Obama and Edwards and the moderator saying she wasn't likeable at the debate. Then the media pile-on about her emotional moment. Then the men yelling "Iron my shirt" at her during a campaign event. Then Tweety Matthews saying she only won her New York Senate seat because her husband "messed around." Then the "Buddy System" crack.

The sexist attacks on Hillary have been brutal. The New York Times reports they are also moving women into her camp, even some who previously supported Obama and Edwards. [More...]

By chance, I happened to watch two different network evening news programs Thursday night. Each had big stories about how we are facing a recession in early 2008.

I also caught the Republican debate in South Carolina. Every candidate was asked about it. They were all in denial.

Who's doing something about it? Hillary Clinton, who will announce an emergency spending plan today in California. The New York Times writes:

The Clinton package is to include $30 billion for an “emergency housing crisis fund” for states to help low-income families unable to make mortgage payments and in danger of losing their houses. Last year she proposed $5 billion for such a fund.

In addition, Mrs. Clinton’s package would channel $25 billion to help low-income families pay heating bills this winter, a tenfold increase of the existing federal program. Her proposal would also include $10 billion to extend unemployment insurance for people unable to find jobs.

For more details, see the Times article or this AP article.

Hillary is the first presidential candidate to come up with the plan. As the Times notes, others likely will follow suit.

The ACLU reports:

In the first decision of its kind, a federal judge today ordered the government to stop the deportation of Egyptian national Sameh Khouzam based on a secret and unreliable “assurance” from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. The judge called for Khouzam’s immediate release from jail under reasonable conditions of supervision and granted his habeas corpus petition. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit on Khouzam’s behalf, applauded the judge’s ruling.[More....]

Is anyone watching the Republican debate on Fox News? It just started and Ron Paul is there. They started with the stories on the network news tonight that we are headed to a recession. They all deny it and talk about cutting spending.

Update: Papa Fred must have had a double Starbucks before the debate. He's actually somewhat lively and cracks a few one-liners (all things being relative, of course.)

Update: the highlight so far. Britt Hume asked the candidates whether the Navy commander in the Strait of Hormuz incident in the Persian Gulf made the right decision. McCain, Thompson, Giuliani answered in sync. Then Ron Paul went on the offensive, saying he was disturbed about what he was hearing and that hewould be much more cautious because the voice on the ship radio might not have been the enemy.

Britt Hume stopped him after a minute or so and asked him what he was talking about because the other candidates had praised the Navy commander for using caution. (Hume might have well have said "What planet are you on?)

As expected, Bill Richardson dropped out of the presidential race today. Here 's a transcript of his remarks.

He did not endorse any of his competitors. Instead, he asked everyone to make up their own minds and listed their strengths:

Senator Edwards is a singular voice for the most downtrodden and forgotten among us.

Senator Obama is a bright light of hope and optimism at a time of great national unease, yet he is also grounded in thoughtful wisdom beyond his years.

Senator Clinton's poise in the face of adversity is matched only by her lifetime of achievement and deep understanding of the challenges we face.

He also appeared on CNN's the Situation Room. When asked who he thought would get the Latino vote, he said Hillary Clinton had an edge but Obama could garner support from all minorities, particularly the young ones. [More...]

Andrew Knoupt, the President of the Pew Center, attributes Obama's loss in New Hampshire to race and bigotry, not women. His piece is about why the pollsters got it wrong, but he's not too subtle:

Poorer, less well-educated white people refuse surveys more often than affluent, better-educated whites. Polls generally adjust their samples for this tendency. But here’s the problem: these whites who do not respond to surveys tend to have more unfavorable views of blacks than respondents who do the interviews.

What he's really claiming is that white people who make less than $50k a year and didn't attend college are bigoted.

Mrs. Clinton beat Mr. Obama by 12 points (47 percent to 35 percent) among those with family incomes below $50,000. By contrast, Mr. Obama beat Mrs. Clinton by five points (40 percent to 35 percent) among those earning more than $50,000.

There was an education gap, too. College graduates voted for Mr. Obama 39 percent to 34 percent; Mrs. Clinton won among those who had never attended college, 43 percent to 35 percent.

As to why this didn't happen in Iowa, he only says:

My guess is that Mr. Obama may have posed less of a threat to white voters in Iowa because he wasn’t yet the front-runner. Caucuses are also plainly different from primaries.

I'm not buying this at all, and I think it's insulting to New Hampshire voters.

Update: Here's another view, one I subscribe to more: Hillary's message and moment won the day. [More...]

We haven't had an open thread yet this week and I'm off to court for the afternoon.

You pick the topics, all are welcome, and I'll be back late this afternoon or tonight.

Update: Bill Richardson will hold a press conference at the N.M. state capitol at 3pm ET. Hope someone writes what he said in the comments.

Update: Something else I wanted to mention, given the new group of frequent commenters here. TalkLeft does have diaries, and you'd like to write one, you can e-mail me to change your user permissions to "diarist." When we get a few posted, I do a "diary rescue" (like this) to bring greater attention to them. As for diary rules, they are below: