Lots of work for me today, which means an open thread for you. What's on your mind?

You pick the topics, I'll be back eventually.

(Update:Comments now closed. You all made me hungry, I'm going to the grocery store and will be back in a few hours. Also, for those of you who like to put urls in your comments, check out the comment below about tinyurls where you can make them short enough they won't skew the site and get your comment deleted.

Update: Comments now closed, new post-debate thread is here .

Hillary Obama PA live thread continued.

If you're not by a tv or on the East Coast, you can watch online here.

Our first live thread is here.

I'll be putting up some polls during the debate to see how you think the candidates and questioners are doing. Big Tent's posts will say BTD and mine will be TL.

The live blog stays below the fold so that it can be a bit wider than the front page allows. Just click on the "There's More" button or bookmark the permalink to go directly to it.

If comments hit 200, we'll start a new one.

This is it. The Pennsylvania debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

If you're not by a tv or on the East Coast, you can watch online here.

Big Tent Democrat and I will be live-blogging starting just before 6:00 pm.

I'll be putting up some polls during the debate to see how you think the candidates and questioners are doing. Big Tent's posts will say BTD and mine will be TL.

The live blog stays below the fold so that it can be a bit wider than the front page allows. Just click on the "There's More" button or bookmark the permalink to go directly to it.

If comments hit 200, we'll start a new one.

I'm on a lunch break and due back in court this afternoon. Here's an open thread, led by Johnny Cash singing at San Quentin, home to more than 600 death row inmates. More on life and waiting for death at San Quentin here.

You can read how they kill inmates here. How unfortunate the Supreme Court didn't agree, You wouldn't do a dog this way.

A quote from today's Supreme Court opinion in Baze v. Rees is below.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome. I'll be back for tonight's Hilllary-Obama debate.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Oliver Willis writes:

Hillary Clinton and her surrogates sure feel a strong need to echo right-wing attacks versus Sen. Obama. And that’s fine with me. At the end of the day this will teach us that no matter what the Clintons cannot be trusted anywhere near the leadership of the Democratic party in the future.

(Emphasis supplied.) I guess when Obama's camp says Hillary will "say and do anything," that repeating a "Right Wing attacks" is ok to Willis. But let's leave that aside. Willis' post reminded me of what Barack Obama said in 2006 about Dems and religion:

Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that - regardless of our personal beliefs - constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, some liberals dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one's political opponents, not people of faith.

Seems like Barack Obama forgot to heed to his own repetition of "Right Wing attacks." He appears to have "taken the bait" in his San Francisco remarks. Obama 2006 is quite harsh in his criticism of Obama 2008.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Apparently, the "Creative Class" blogosphere just fell off the political turnip truck. Josh Marshall approvingly quotes (now seconded by Matt Yglesias, will it make the complete rounds of the "creative Class"?) Harvard sociologist Theda Skocpol:

I have been in meetings with the Clintons and their advisors where very clinical things were said in a very-detached tone about unwillingness of working class voters to trust government -- and Bill Clinton -- and about their unfortunate (from a Clinton perspective) proclivity to vote on life-style rather than economic issues. To see Hillary going absolutely over the top to smash Obama for making clearly more humanly sympathetic observations in this vein, is just amazing.

Um, if the difference between internal campaign discussions and candidate statements on the stump (and Ms. Skocpol's characterization of Obama's statements is extremely charitable at best) is beyond Josh Marshall, then it is pretty clear he has no clue about politics. But let's face it - Josh does know the difference. This is just more of his Clinton Derangement Syndrome. Oh BTW, I would not be trotting out a Harvard sociologist to defend Obama from a charge of elitism if I were the Obama campaign.

A very old one from the Rolling Stones. Renamed Glastonbury Girl for this concert. What are you listening to tonight?

This is an open thread.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Ezra Klein is now upset about the Media coverage. Obama is getting hit so it bothers him now:

It's not damaging because we think it foretells him doing something harmful to the country. It's not damaging because it suggests his policy agenda is poorly conceived, or his priorities are awry. If you think of policy and politics as two circles in a Venn diagram, this is damage that only exists in the politics circle, and doesn't even come close to the area of intersection.

Indeed. Funny how Ezra Klein, noted health care blogger, has not a WORD of concern about how Hillary Clinton was falsely smeared on the Trina Bachtel story. Even though Hillary Clinton was actually making a substantive point about an actual issue (indeed, one Ezra claims to care a great deal about), health care. Paul Krugman noticed. Ezra Klein chose not to. To complain now about this standard issue crappy political journalism after standing silent for all the BS that has been thrown at Hillary Clinton on a substantive issue makes Ezra Klein not credible. I do not respect him or the Left blogs precisely because they have stood by and said nothing about the media coverage in this contest. As Eric Boehlert said:

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog writes that every top blog "has had it with Clinton". That is patently false, whichever way you slice it.

One example: MyDD, which has more traffic than AmericaBlog.

In fact, out of the top trafficked liberal blogs, only Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, and America Blog favor Obama over Clinton. Huffington Post as a news source seems to editorially favor Obama, but its multitude of bloggers can't be pigeonholed so easily.

Most of the top bloggers writing about the elections are not taking sides: Crooks and Liars, Atrios, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Digby.

These blogs will vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is. They have not "had it" with Hillary. Just as TalkLeft, which favors Hillary over Obama, will vote for Obama if he's the nominee. Democrats don't give up on each other.

Perhaps John has caught a bit of Obama's sense of hyperbole. Here are the top liberal blogs that write about the elections and weekly page view numbers, from the Liberal Blog Adverstising Network:

By Big Tent Democrat

Tiger is 9 back at Augusta. Mickleson is tied for 3rd, 3 back. Less prominent players Immelman and Snedeker at the top of the board.

This is an Open thread.

By Big Tent Democrat

Now you have a place where you can post your unrelated thoughts. Frankly, I am fed up with all the off topic commenting in my posts at least. J may not mind. I know I do. Stop it.

This is an Open thread.

Update (TL): I'll be posting new items later this evening. Big Tent says he'll be back tomorrow.

Update: Thread now closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

This is a perfectly meaningless poll imo and I offer it only to give you something to talk about. I have nothing to say about it.

An AP-Ipsos poll taken in late February had Obama leading McCain 51-41 percent. The current survey, conducted April 7-9, had them at 45 percent each. McCain leads Obama among men, whites, Southerners, married women and independents.

Clinton led McCain, 48-43 percent, in February. The latest survey showed [Clinton] with 48 percent support to McCain's 45 percent.

[T]he Democratic contest is unchanged from February with Obama at 46 percent and Clinton at 43 percent.

(Emphasis mine.) Ho hum as far as I am concerned.