I'm working at my day job today and tomorrow in beautiful Telluride. The weather is spectacular, it's off-season and the town is empty and it's days like these I really appreciate what I do for a living.

For those of you with the time and inclination, here's an open thread and I'll check in late this evening. (Yesterday we worked nonstop from 9 am until 11 pm, I suspect today will be a repeat.)

When I defended Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy earlier, I must admit it was not because I was thinking of this:

Could it be that Howard Dean is really a savvy political strategist? . . [F]ollowing the Mark Foley scandal, Democrats are talking about not just winning the House but piling up as many as 40 new seats and also capturing the Senate. And some of the places where they are now competing lie in the blood-red states where Dean has been on his lonely crusade to find blue voters. . . . "If we win a House seat in Nebraska, Howard Dean will get more credit than Rahm Emanuel," says Barry Rubin, executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party.

I disagree with Atrios when he says:

[W]hether you gave the thumbs up or thumbs down to any particular conflict, no matter how right or wrong it seems after the fact, doesn't necessarily say all that much about you. However, I would say an exception to that is the current conflict in Iraq, which was sold to the country in an especially divisive and dishonest manner. Supporting this war wasn't just about supporting the war, but "supporting the supporters" who, by the time the bombs dropped at least, had clearly demonstrated that they were very bad people who were not acting in good faith. Though, I suppose, they weren't quite as smelly and annoying as Some Guy With A Sign somewhere.

I disagree because I believe that the policies you support, be they war, tax cuts or what have you do of course say a lot about your judgment. War being the most important decision, it especially says something about you how you decided and what you decided on that question. He is also wrong to say that supporting the Iraq Debacle made you, by necessity, a Bush supporter. Why would it do that? Because atrios thought they were "very bad people"? That is not convincing. More on the flip.

On ABCNews.com last night and this morning is this story: Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections. A former Maryland state legislator received an anonymous envelope with three CD-Roms inside containing the source codes for the Diebold election systems.  With these codes, an election could be stolen.  Life imitates art ("Man of the Year"), or art imitates life? The source codes? What are kind of company are they running there?

When I watched "Man of the Year," all I could think of was President Bush stealing the 2004 election in Ohio.  

TChris wrote about Diebold security concerns here five months ago.

Another Radical Centrist speaks:

Why, then, should the Democrats hold back? Because, we’re told, the country needs less divisiveness. And I, too, would like to see a return to kinder, gentler politics. But that’s not something Democrats can achieve with a group hug and a chorus of “Kumbaya.”

The reason we have so much bitter partisanship these days is that that’s the way the radicals who have taken over the Republican Party want it. . . .

As long as polarization is integral to the G.O.P.’s strategy, Democrats can’t do much.

You'll recall the Bush administration's admission that the Education Department secretly paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote No Child Left Behind, and the GAO's conclusion that the Department violated a law that prohibits the government from using covert propoganda to further a political agenda.

As a propogandist, Williams apparently didn't deliver to the administration's satisfaction. Williams agreed to settle the government's claim that he was overpaid.

In the settlement, the Justice Department examined whether Mr. Williams had performed the work promised in his $240,000 contract, signed in 2003 and cited in his reports to the Education Department.

Williams agreed to repay $34,000. The administration is evidently satisified that Williams delivered $206,000 worth of illegal propoganda.

Many of you by now have seen the GOP's "bin Laden" ad with the sound of a ticking clock as the only sound until a voice appears at the end.

CNN.com ran this story about it: GOP terrorism ad sparks Democratic furor. The ad equates the GOP with being able to protect us from terrorism, even though President Bush ignored the direct bin Laden threat before 9/11 and he has not been concerned with finding bin Laden since 2002 by his own admission. Also, when Clinton had a hit put on bin Laden in the midst of the Lewisky scandal, the Republicans claimed a "wag the dog" scenario, and Clinton backed off when the GOP yelled "politics."  So who is responsible for bin Laden not being killed in 1998?  The GOP, not Clinton.  How stupid do they think we are?

Anyway, I watched the current ad before I went back and saw the CNN story, and I made the same observation that the CNN writers made:

A diplomat who inadvertently spoke the truth has been quick to recant, Emily Litella style.

"Upon reading the transcript of my appearance on Al-Jazeera, I realized that I seriously misspoke by using the phrase 'there has been arrogance and stupidity' by the U.S. in Iraq," said [Alberto] Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

He meant to say that everything is wonderful in Iraq due to the masterful stewardship of the Bush administration which is protecting us all from evildoing terrorists by fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them ... hello? is anyone still awake?

For driving the getaway car in a home burglary, Joshua Herrera was given a life sentence. Joshua didn't enter the home, but the punishment was harsh because Joshua, the prosecution said, was a gang member.

Joshua's mother, Rebecca Rivera, organized a protest march in San Jose yesterday. She joined with other Latinos who think the district attorney's office targets Latinos by seeking sentencing enhancements for gang membership.

Rivera questions why her son should have received such a tough sentence, considering he was going to college and had what she calls a clean record. And no one was killed in the 2003 event.

The president's brother Neil is peddling portable learning centers (he calls them COWs for Curriculum on Wheels) at $3,800 apiece. Neil says they help disadvantaged kids achieve higher test scores, an objective that might have motivated 13 school districts to use No Child Left Behind money to purchase the learning centers. But No Child Left Behind focuses on reading and math, while Neil's company, Ignite! Learning, doesn't offer reading instruction, and the COWs won't teach math until next year.

Why, then, would school districts want to buy from the president's brother? Follow the money:

Most of Ignite's business has been obtained through sole-source contracts without competitive bidding. Neil Bush has been directly involved in marketing the product.

In addition to federal or state funds, foundations and corporations have helped buy Ignite products. The Washington Times Foundation, backed by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, head of the South Korea-based Unification Church, has peppered classrooms throughout Virginia with Ignite's COWs under a $1-million grant.

Oil companies and Middle East interests with long political ties to the Bush family have made similar bequests. Aramco Services Co., an arm of the Saudi-owned oil company, has donated COWs to schools, as have Apache Corp., BP and Shell Oil Co.

The statement today by Barack Obama that he is mulling a run for the Presidency has brought intense focus on how the Senator has practiced his politics the last two years.

My particular criticism of Barack Obama is not at all directed at his stupendous political talent, intelligence or even commitment to a progressive agenda. It is directed at his disdain for politics. Yes politics. Because, whether for selfish image conscious reasons or for idealistic reasons, Obama has decided that Democrats need to find common ground with the Religious Right, look to compromise bipartisan solutions with Republicans and not engage in the political battle.

These pretty thoughts make David Broder and Joe Klein smile, but they are bad politics and since bad Democratic politics lead to Republican governance, bad policy. I'll explain on the flip side.

Wisconsin has not had the death penalty for 150 years. Somehow, it's back on the ballot this November. The LaCrosse Tribune has a concise, well-argued editorial urging voters to reject reinstating it.

• Life without parole keeps the public safe.
• It's ridiculously expensive compared to the cost of incarceration
• It has not been shown to be a deterrence
• It's not applied fairly

I'll add one more: The risk is too great that an innocent person will be executed. Facts and figures are here.

UPDATE by TChris. The death penalty referendum and a referendum to ban gay marriages and civil unions are the product of a cynical Republican attempt to get out the vote for their right wing love child, gubernatorial candidate Mark Green. Green's chances of unseating Gov. Doyle are dismal, but conservative groups of various stripes are working to pass the referenda, and they may well succeed. The linked sites can guide you if you want to assist efforts to defeat either proposal.