Dow Soars Nearly 1000 Points

I don't know about you, but I'm going with:

Obama Gives Speech on the Economy; Dow Makes Record Gain

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Ralph Reed? Really? Has McCain Lost His Mind?

Right this minute, Ralph Reed, who had been repeatedly linked to the King of the Culture of Corruption, Jack Abramoff, is on CNN with Larry King and identified as a supporter of John McCain. I'm not kidding. Wasn't McCain saying today that he was going to get control of those evil lobbyists? And Reed is shilling for him on CNN? Really? Didn't the McCain campaign just have to do a dance around Reed's involvement in a Georgia fundraiser? Looks like Reed can raise the money and speak for the candidate. He fits right in.

Holy cow, just, holy cow.

psst...maybe it's an audition for a McCain cabinet post. Chief of Staff, perhaps?

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"Stop blogging! Stop blogging right now!"

Can you imagine the hell that would rain down if a top aide to Gov. Perdue picked up the phone and called, say, Erick Erickson, and said, "You should be ashamed. Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!" Yet, that's exactly the call an Alaskan blogger got from an aide to Sarah Palin, and it's far from the scariest thing the New York Times reports in "Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends, Lashed Foes." If you can stand to read one more thing about Palin, believe me, this is that article. (H/T to Jodi)

Whether she was handing out political appointments like candy to high school friends-including the top agriculture spot to a women who actually listed her childhood love of cows as a qualification-or creating a culture of secrecy in the Governor's office, Palin's reign in Alaska looks a whole lot like the Bush White House. If you've like that, you're going to love Palin. Of all the questionable things the Times uncovers, the worst by far is this simple statement at the beginning of the article:

Ms. Palin declined to grant an interview for this article. The McCain-Palin campaign responded to some questions on her behalf and that of her husband, while referring others to the governor’s spokespeople, who did not respond.

It is NOT FINE for John McCain to continue to hide his vice presidential nominee from the American people by picking and choosing just who gets to lift one or two of her many, many veils. McCain is getting a virtually unfathomable pass on his strategy of hiding and scripting Sarah Palin. If any of the other three candidates-Obama, McCain or Biden-were ducking press interviews, they would be absolutely skewered, and rightly so. Why? Because us everyday Americans won't have the chance to sit down and chat with Gov. Palin. We rely on journalists, imperfect though they are, to ask the tough questions of those who would be leaders in this toughest of times. It is both outrageous and inexcusable that John McCain is unwilling to find out-and unwilling for us to know-exactly who this women is once the curtain drops and there is no script. Veils off, Sen. McCain. It's time for Sarah Palin to put on her big girl pants and face the American people.

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Only One Pie in California

Do you recall the initiative by some California Republicans to change the electoral process by splitting up the state's presidential delegates proportionally by congressional districts? The initiative has been withdrawn and will not be on the ballot next year. (Scroll down when you get to 1250. (07-0016. Amdt. #1NS) This is good news for Democrats, who are likely to win California in the general election. (H/T to Tom Crawford)

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This is (Mostly) Good News

Republicans may be poised to beat themselves again. Maybe. Earlier this week, I wrote about a Republican effort to put a measure on the ballot to split California's electoral votes by congressional district-a move that could put twenty or more votes in the "R" column that otherwise would likely belong to the Democrat in the race. Well, thanks to GOP in-fighting, it looks as though California will remain a 'winner takes all' state in next year's fight for electoral votes. That's very good news for Democrats. (Thanks, Tom, for the tip.)

We may not be out of the woods, though. Efforts to suppress likely Democratic votes continue. Consider these examples:

Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush's two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede voting by Democratic-leaning minorities in 2008," McClatchy reports.The new Ohio law aimed at reducing voter fraud allows for "caging" -- "used in the past to target poor minorities in heavily Democratic precincts, entails sending mass mailings to certain voters and then using the undelivered letters to compile lists of voters for eligibility challenges." While Republican groups paid for caging efforts in the past, the new law makes the government pay for it. In Florida, the new law "stripped the state's 10.5 million registered voters of the right to contest challenges at the polls. Now a challenger need only swear to a "good faith belief" that a voter is ineligible to force the voter to file a provisional ballot."

The moral of the story? "Don't expect a fair fight."

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