In today's Sacramento Bee newspaper Dr. Bill Durston finally got some press coverage about his race against one of the most well-known California Republicans, Dan Lungren. You can decide whether it was a positive article or not, but one thing is for sure: Bill Durston is putting up a fight for this seat.

Part of Durston's fight to "take back our government from the special interests that control it, and to restore government of, by, and for the people" is online. He has recently created a video that pieces together clips from a debate he had with Lungren in 2006 about corruption and a more recent ABC News segment in which Lungren is found to be taking luxury vacations paid for by special interests, despite House ethics laws which prohibit such trips. If that video gets you riled up about Lungren, please consider sending Durston some love on his ActBlue page.

Speaking of ethics issues and abuse of power, one of the reasons Durston is having to fight such an uphill battle against Lungren, who refuses to debate him this year, is the fact that Lungren is paying for much of his campaigning with taxpayer money. Lungren has three "town hall meetings" coming up in the district next week and he is promoting them with color advertisements in the Sacramento Bee (a quarter-page full-color ad appeared Sept. 4), automated mass phone calls, and a fancy color mailer touting his "energy plan" that went out to residents of the 3rd congressional district. In tiny text on the mailer is: "This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense." These town hall meetings are nothing more than campaign stops. It's outrageous that Lungren's campaign for re-election is being funded by taxpayers like you, me, and Bill Durston himself.

Just as it looked like things were calming down somewhat from the nomination campaign, a whole lot of documents will be coming out from within the Clinton campaign.  We'll learn quite a lot about their decision-making and strategies.

Just when you thought everyone had moved on... former advisers to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are in a tizzy over an upcoming piece in the Atlantic Monthly that chronicles the inner workings of the now-defunct campaign. Of particular concern are nearly 200 internal memos that the author, Josh Green, obtained -- 130 or so of which he plans to scan in and post online. When the piece is published sometime next week, readers will be able to scroll through the memos, from senior strategists such as Mark Penn, Harold Ickes and Geoff Garin, and see what exactly was going on inside the infamously fractured Clinton organization.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-tra il/2008/08/07/atlantic_scores_internal_c lint.html

Last fall I was sure - like many - that Clinton would win the nomination. She had the name recognition, strength in the polls, lots and lots of money, and a 100 superdelegate lead.  We all know her campaign made some dumb mistakes (even as the Obama campaign did an excellent job in longer range planning).  

A lot of times this kind of stuff doesn't come out until after the general election, maybe even years later.  I tend to think it would be better if that were true now.

The Url below leads to a fairly detailed assessment of a phenomenon many have observed here and I am seeing in many corners of the echo chamber.

If you've been wondering about the improbable frequency of commenters claiming to be disgruntled Clintonists now ready to vote McCain, you may well be seeing the swift boat ploy of 2008.

While there are legitimate aggravated Clintonists there are differences in their comment patterns such as little presence of a drift to McCain.

After many long months Tennessee's primary election was held last night, and it is my great honor to be representing the Democratic Party as a candidate for the United States Senate. It would not have been possible without the thousands of people who have aided our cause, who recognized, as I did, that it is time for a change in Washington.

This is a march that I embarked upon, not alone, but with the support of countless Tennesseans, Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike. Our shared frustration with Washington's failure to solve our most pressing problems is what motivated to begin this campaign,  and it is my belief in our ability to correct course and change direction  that will take me through our campaign's final months.

Ugh.  How do I get myself caught up in these primary rehashes?  I hear something I disagree with and simply cannot resist saying something .  Today, it was the "Hillary won the popular vote" thing, and it got my hackles up.  My response is always, "yeah, right, not a soul in Michigan would have voted for Obama if they could". Well, I was set straight.

Of course the Rules Committee convened, and of course they decided to give Obama the "uncommitted" vote, and of course they gave each state half the delegates.  No one was completely happy, but the rules have been accepted by most, and here we are.  By accepting the compromise, yes, Hillary won the popular vote.  In this, I was wrong.  

Now, I have to say something. But I swear this will be my last comment on the primaries.  One question I asked repeatedly in the Spring of our Discontent is why-oh-why did Hillary say that Michigan would count for nothing before the Iowa caucuses, and then find religion on Michigan only after she started losing.  To me the answer is pretty apparent, but I'd be happy to hear something that's a little more flattering than my guess.  If anyone has something better, here's your chance, because, as I said, after this, I will never touch the primaries on this site again.

So, OK, rules. If we are to get anywhere, we need to accept a few things. This means that caucuses do count, just like they did when no one was complaining about them in the previous ten or so cycles. This means that the rulings of the Rules Committee stand.  Hillary accepted it, Obama accepted it, the media accepted it, Washington accepted, the public accepted it. Therefore, yes, the resolution by the Rules Committee to our screwy process is this: Hillary won the popular vote; Obama won the delegates; and Obama will be the nominee.

So, now what? Everyone has a choice. They can undermine the candidacy of Obama by repeating tired arguments from the primary and repeating talking points of the McCain campaign, or they can work towards a Democratic presidency and a Democratic majority in Congress.  Because I happen to care about the environment, war, and rights, I know where I stand.

I'm looking forward to this week.  Obama goes on a little vacation, and we get to hear a lot more from Hillary. Then, in a few weeks, we get to hear great speeches from Bill, Hillary, and Obama.  And, then in November, we get to see how all of them worked together and handed McCain's ass to him. Nice.  Looking forward already feels better than looking back.

OK. Getting-It-Off-My-Chest/Train-Of-Thought rambling, over and out.

Who better to introduce Gen. Clark than Bill Clinton? Gen. Clark may not sound like a very exciting choice but I think he will be a great asset to the ticket. Here are some great arguments in his favor.

1) He brings solid military experience combined with lot of Foreign policy experience.

2) He is a decorated war hero during Vietnam war.

3) He has no voting record and very little paper trail. He is not a politician and that is a change.

4) He was a Clinton supporter during the primary and could bridge the gap.

5) He is a pit-bull and can be a real attack dog.

6) He has appeared on TV many times and comes across very well on TV. He can make some of the toughest comments with a very smiling face.

7) Best of all he is not the other woman. LOL.

You do not hear this often from me but Kudos to Axelrod, Gibbs and Sen. Obama for the way they handled the media the past few days in answering questions about the Clintons.

I am determined to continue my mission to move us as a democratic party toward a mainstream agenda that promotes opportunity for all Americans, and demands reponsibility in turn.

One strain of thought that has persisted in the Democratic Primary came from Obama supporters who basically assert that America is racist.  They allow that we may have made some progress but the problems of race are a major factor in the lives of many people daily.  

If you listened to the criticism of HRC and WJC, if you listen to the rants of Rev. Wright and Fleger, if you listen to Michelle Obama, if you listened to Obama and Oprah campaign in South Carolina, there was a tone set that was not only inaccurate but harmful.

I am an African American who used to acknowledge the racist nature of this country.  That is until it stopped and we, the Civil Rights Community, the Democratic Party, we the Liberals won and America has changed.

While there are exceptions, and statistics to highlight the problems, the rule of fairness and equal opportunity is evident before our eyes everyday in so many ways that it doesn't make sense to try to list them.  From appointments to important jobs, available credit,educational opportunities,  to the ability to work and live where you please, the opportunity to start a business, a charity, a church, to make mistakes and get second chances etc.

Yet, time and time again, we hear people on the extreme Left, who still have too much power in our party point to examples that basically say, "If he were white, it wouldn't have happened".  

The "It" can be 1 or thousands of scenarios that assert some racial bias.

I linked to this article about a WHITE MAYOR near my home in Maryland who got treated the way the extreme Left say BLACKS GET TREATED REGULARLY:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/b al-mayor0807,0,4563211.story

The police shot his dogs, handcuffed the mayor and his family, and generally did a bad job.

Were this mayor, black, the issue of RACE would be paramount.

But the fact is, police have a tough job to do, and no matter the color, they make mistakes sometimes.  They get it right way, way, more times.

There are bad police with racist motivations.  Just like there are bad teachers with sexist movtivations.  Or bad firemen with anti-Catholic motivations.

But the system is set up to be fair, and the people in general are working hard to make it a reality.

What I'm saying is, we as a Democratic Party and especially the online community, need to transistion away from the

"Jena 6" type cases and the "Duke Lacrosse" type cases, and even the "Diallo"type "41 shot" cases because America is a good country at heart.

For us to be a Majority Party, we must first believe that, and then help make it more so.

It doesn't mean you ignore facts or patterns, but it does mean you don't try to connect dots that could just as easily be random.

I chose this above case because if the Mayor was black it would be the normal story repeated time and time again. Yet, these scenarios happen to many white and other people everyday.

Here in this case:
a white mayor treated without respect and horribly.  It might show the need for reform in that particular police department.

But had this been a black mayor treated without respect and horribly.  It might show the need for law enforcement to respect african americans in general, and that this country is still dealing with "racial issues".

That needs to change if we want to win.

Obama whether he wins or not has received a fair chance.

If Obama wins America is a great country.
If Obama loses America is a great country.

I'm voting Obama, I hope you do too.
I also hope you start celebrating the greatness of our land.

Craig Farmer
making the word "liberal" safe again!

That's right, while Obama's relaxing in Hawaii, McCain's advisors could steal the biggest hail mary from Mark Penn's playbook: the GAME CHANGER.

Here's how he'd implement it--

1. Stay on message: pick another fight with Paris Hilton; try again to draw Brittany Spears into the fray.
   
2. Bolster Maverickness with VP announcement: shock the conventional wisdom and dazzle the press by recruiting Phil Gramm to be on the ticket.
   
3. Showcase bipartisan credentials: misspeak about Iraq, drawing more cross-party ear nibbles from Joe Leiberman.
   
4. Steer the straight-talk express on track with another shake-up: it has been weeks since the last advisor shuffle--one's way overdue.
   
5. Keep the gravy train flowing: build on growing ties to shady bundlers.
   
6. Highlight accessibility: work the "pimp my wife" shtick a little more--see if it can be leveraged for fundraising.
   
7. Create more "optics" for the electorate: find President Bush, grab him with a love-filled hug and bury nose into his armpit.
   
8. Expand energy policy: call for more oil exploration...on mars
   
9. Continue to undermine opponent's positions: taunt his tax breaks for the middle class, scold his tax increases for the rich and reiterate own commitment to solving domestic problems...in Iraq.

By the time Obama returns from Hawaii, refreshed and ready to take the election bull by the horns, he won't even know what hit him.