Rein

Chicago Machine

Tied in Minnesota

Minnesota has been a reliably Democratic state for a long, long time. They were the only state to vote for Walter Mondale in 1984. The have voted for a Republican candidate only four times in the last eighty years.

But, according to the latest Star Tribune poll, those days could be coming to an end.

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows that the race is now a dead heat between Barack Obama and John McCain, each supported by 45 percent of likely voters in the state.

The new poll likely will stoke both sides' efforts during the final 51 days until the election, triggering a barrage of advertising, grass-roots politicking and, potentially, stepped-up visits by the candidates.

The poll found that McCain has made gains across the board since a May Minnesota Poll that showed him trailing by 13 points. He has picked up considerable support among men and to a lesser degree among women. He also has boosted his standing with whites, young voters and all levels of household income and education.

If Senator McCain and Governor Palin can continue to make gains in states like Minnesota, Washington, Michigan and Pennsylvania, this could turn into an electoral college landslide.

Time To Bounce

The new USA Today/Gallup Poll is out, and well, its quite good.

McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.

That by itself is good news, but the really important poll data is and always has been likely voters.

In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote.

Now obviously, no one, not even the most partisan McCain backer expects a ten percentage point victory. Convention bounces always dissipate somewhat over the following several months. But a lead this big is encouraging, especially heading into the debates, which I think we can all agree are Obama's biggest weakness.

Sarah Hurt Barack's Feelings

Barack Obama is mad as heck, and he's gonna...

Pout.

This is work I did three [sic] years ago They haven't talked about the fact that I was a civil rights lawyer. They haven't talked about the fact that I taught constitutional law. They haven't talked about my work in the state legislature or the United States Senate. They're talking about the three years of work that I did right out of college, as if I'm making the leap from 2 or 3 years out of college into the presidency.

First of all, I distinctly remember Rudy Giuliani bringing up last night Obama's tenure in the Illinois legislature, so I have no idea what Obama's talking about.

More importantly, this kind of whining coming from the man that refuses to acknowledge Sarah Palin as the Governor of Alaska is laughable.

Barack Obama, and, for that matter, Joe Biden get kicks out of mocking Palin's experience and refusing to acknowledge her title. Sarah Palin responds by verbally eviscerating both men (and Harry Reid for that matter) in front of 37 million people.

The Republicans fail to worship at the altar of the Great Community Organizer, and Obama sulks about it.

Maybe he's just upset that the lowly mayor of "Wasilly" made him look so bad last night.

Republican National Convention Cancels Program for First Day

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal.

Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the House minority leader and chairman of the convention, said the legally required business, including approval of the rules and the platform, would take place but "there would not be much beyond that."

Its the right thing to do. It would be improper and insensitive to have a giant party (which is essentially what a national convention is) until we know the scope and scale of this storm.

Real Change

3 AM

Hmmm

Will you also go with McCain?

BT: I am. Thirty-five years I voted Democrat, I'm voting for John McCain. I'd rather have four years of John McCain and the same and have a chance that Hillary will come back and win than have Barack Obama, who talked about change and hope with no substance. I'd just rather have McCain in. I think we have a better chance with McCain on terrorism.

From TAPPED

Black Republicans PAC

The New Black Republicans PAC ad on Obama. I have a feeling infanticide will strike alot of moderate voters this year.

Biden

Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Joe Biden in his own words

A Whole New Ballgame

After weeks of Barack Obama's gaffes, flip flops, out of control surrogates and just his awful policy in general, the polls are starting to close in. The glow of the poat nomination win seems to have warn off, and the bloom seems to be off the Obama rose, as evidenced by the RCP poll average, which was near a seven point difference just a couple weeks ago, moving all the way down to four, including a flatfooted tie in today's Rasmussen Daily Tracker.

As the American people learn more about both candidates, including how dishonest and utterly unqualified Barack Obama is, I expect this to continue to shrink, leading up to the Republican National Convention in September.

Dr. No of Energy Policy

Hmm

Credit to Green Mountain Politics

Obama and McConnell on Gas PSerices

Senator Barack Obama on why he wants higher gas prices.



Senator Mitch McConnell in response.

Strategy Briefing with Rick Davis

Mario Cuomo

It's pretty bottom of the barrel when your taking your material from the "esteemed" Governor Cuomo.

Congratulations Senator Obama

I'd like to offer my congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on winning the nomination of the Democratic Party. It is a massive accomplishment to be the first African-American to be nominated by a major political party, and regardless of what you may think of the man, he deserves plenty of credit for defeating the seemingly unbeatable Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I look forward to a spirited general election, hopefully one where Senator Obama is more open, honest and forthright with the American people than he has been up until this point.

McCain Embarasses Hecklers

Senator McCain quite simply made fools of these people. He pointed out that if they wanted a real debate, they would come to his townhall meetings and debate the subject with him. Since these people clearly have trouble just holding a banner, let alone formulating an argument that goes beyond a mindless chant, I can see why they chose not to debate the topic intelligently.

Without Preconditions

The new RNC web ad that states Barack Obama's foreign policy, with everyone from Harold Ford to Joe Biden to Tom Daschle pointing out how stupid it is.

Barack Obama "Can't Seem To Get His Story Straight"

Credit Mad Irishman

The Gray Lady Stops Pretending

For years and years, the New York Times has been a thinly veiled Democratic Party hit machine. Their treatment of the Presumptive Republican Nominee John McCain this year has been... something less than fair and honest.

Its an open secret that the paper has been trying everything it can to smear John McCain, and now Ed Morrissey reports that they are trying to extort the McCain Campaign. The emphasis here is Mr. Morrissey's, who deserves the credit for blowing the lid off a potentially huge story.

All of that brings us to today. It’s no secret that the McCain campaign believes the Times to be dishonest in its reporting on the candidate, and they decided not to extend an invitation to the Times for the media pool at the release of the medical records on Friday. According to my source close to the part of the campaign that deals with these issues, they have invited a variety of media outlets, including national-reach newspapers, wire services, and cable-news networks into the pool, but told the Times that they would not receive any credentials for the event.

This prompted a conversation between one Times editor and the campaign staff. Again according to the source, the editor told the campaign that the Times would take a negative view about the release of the records if an invitation was not forthcoming. It was clear that an invitation to the pool would change the nature of the coverage.

That sounds a lot like extortion, doesn’t it? Is that acceptable practice for the American mainstream media? This kind of hostility calls into question their motivation for all of their past articles and stories. Did the McCain campaign do something to annoy the editors in February and March while all of these hit pieces got trotted out?

For the record, Morrissey also posts the New York Times ethics policy. Again, Mr. Morrissey highlights the most interesting section.

A2. How We Gather the News

21. We treat news sources fairly and professionally. We do not inquire pointlessly into someone’s personal life. We do not threaten to damage uncooperative sources, nor do we promise favorable coverage in return for cooperation. We do not pay for interviews or unpublished documents: to do so would create an incentive for sources to falsify material and would cast into doubt the genuineness of much that we publish.

Follow the link to the Hot Air post where Morrissey is keeping track of a potential response from the paper. In the meantime, I suggest you all spread this story on your blogs and e-mail it to your friends. The idea that the country's premier newspaper could be blackmailing a major Presidential candidate should be a huge story, and is our duty to spread this to as many people as possible.

Leadership, Not Politics

Running in Iowa.

Can We Ask?

The RNC's new Obama website. You can submit text or video questions

Reference Check

Borrowed from Blogs for McCain

Healh Solutions

Oh Dear

Indiana votes Tuesday, by the way

Is a New Wind Blowing in Carolina?

Hillary Clinton: 44%
Barack Obama: 42%

Very interesting.

Mitt Tops the Short List?

I subscribe to the Evans-Novak Political Report through Human Events. About once a week, I get a nice little newsletter from Robert Novak that basically covers some news and rumors from the political world. Robert Novak has been doing this for a long time, and has been a key factor reporting and many of the bigger political developments during that time frame. So its safe to assume he gets fairly reliable information.

Anyway, something that caught my eye in this week's newsletter was this passage:

Will McCain name a vice presidential candidate in mid-July to step up fund-raising before the national convention, or will he wait until Democrats make their choice in late August? A rumor running through the political community now puts former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the lead for VP. But Romney has many critics in the McCain inner circle, and we don’t think the decision has been made.

Now we all had our opinions on Mitt Romney during the primary. Most of them weren't good. But Mitt does have his advantages. His economic know-how and the potential for him to deliver Michigan and Nevada could be huge. There are also negatives, mainly the perceived lack of authenticity that helped to torpedo his campaign.

I'm going to post this on all the blogs I contribute to, because this could be a huge deal if true and could be a very interesting topic of discussion.

Health Care Action

Craig Ferguson on the New York Times

Well, he said it better than I could

Nancy's Got Some Gas

Apparently gas that she pays a dollar less than everyone else to buy. And people mocked Bush.



Larry King tried to correct her and she just kept plowing on.

Maybe this is why Obama doesn't want a gas tax holiday...

Pertinent Information

While the McCain online presence has lagged behind the Democrats,
there has been a recent increase in supporter run pages. A key element of connecting and promoting the average McCain blogger or site owner has been the McCain Victory 08 Blog Roll. This lists many of the active pro-McCain sites on the web. Some of these sites are strictly dedicated to supporting Senator McCain for President, while others focus on other topics yet also are signed on as McCain supporters. For example this post was originally published at Broad Side of the Barn, a site with a broad focus yet often used to host McCain related pages like the McCain Traffic page. An affiliate of that site is Purple People Vote, a site for Independents and Moderates that is focused on the presidential race. Yet recently there has been the addition of sites like McCain Google Groups, which focuses on state based volunteering and resources. A couple new and promising social network sites have emerged, McCain Now and John McCain 2008. These site include a variety of features such as individual blogs, and topic discussions. They add a new wrinkle to McCain SocNets; though MySpace and Facebook still have active McCain groups too. A couple of the major McCain contributor based blogs include Blogs 4 McCain and Blogs for McCain Victory. There is always a need to increase the reach of the McCain online presence. For those who would like to become bloggers, or would like blogging tips there is McCain Blogger Resources. It includes a simple how to article for McCain supporters to set up there own blog. As more sites go online an join the growing McCain blogger/online volunteer community the message and reach of the McCain campaign is given a better opportunity to grow. Bloggers, site owners, network managers all welcome newcomers and hope you will consider volunteering online and off.

And that's the bottom line

Because John McCain said so.



Alot of fun. He seemed to put more effort into it than the other two as well. Raw attracts about five million viewers each week, most of them young, so it has a purpose too. I know some people won't be happy with a Presidential candidate appearing on a wrestling program, but he seemed to enjoy it, and I certainly did. Nice little break from the constant hard campaigning.

Bosnia and Back Again, starring Sen. Hillary Clinton-TRAILER

A Change of pace from the Obama-centric posts.



Love the southern accent Hill.

LEAVE BARRY ALONE!

Jimmy Carter

...

In a democracy, I realize you don't need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels," he said over the weekend, responding to a question from an Israeli journalist who noted that Mr. Carter had been snubbed by most of Israel's top leadership and reprimanded by its president, Shimon Peres. "When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that's the dictator, because he speaks for all the people.

What the hell?

And while Barack Obama seems to arbitrarily draw the line at Hamas on his proposed Madmen World Tour, its pretty clear that these men agree a lot more than they disagree on these matters.

God help us all if the Leader of the New Hope, Carter, and their sheep manage to lie their way past John McCain in November.

Vets for McCain

Check out Mad Irishman's for info on Veterans for McCain.

NEW YORK?

Could McCain win my home state of New York?

Personally, I'd bet heavily against it, but B4M has a link to a Marist College study that shows a John McCain/Condoleezza Rice ticket beating both Clinton/Obama and Obama/Clinton in New York. Losing New York would be an absolute deathblow to the Democrats, and would, In my opinion, probably indicate that we're looking at a landslide of Mondalian proportions.

I still wouldn't hold my breath, but just looking at that is pretty amazing.

Tolerance

McCain in Jacksonville

Check out this video, courtesy of the folks at the JohnMcCain.com blog

Alan Keyes Apparently No Longer a Republican

Since John McCain clinched the nomination on March 5, I like to periodically check what the campaigns of Alan Keyes and Ron Paul are up to, and if they're still in the race trying to accomplish whatever it is they're trying to accomplish.

Imagine my shock today when I checked the 2008 Presidential Election page and saw Alan Keyes listed as a withdrawn candidate. Upon further investigation, I learned that Mr Keyes is still running, but for the Constitution Party. I'm sure the GOP dearly misses that certain feeling of cringe worthy embarrassment than only a man like Alan Keyes could bring to the party.

Ron Paul on the other hand, is still running. Running to what only Ron and the voices in his head know for sure, but he's not giving up, so there's a message of perseverance in there somewhere.

In more sane and relevant news, here's another new McCain web ad.

I have No Idea

I'm not even sure what his point is.

In saner news, here's the new John McCain web ad

The first ad of the campaign

Airing in New Mexico

MASSACHUSETTS?

From SurveyUSA's polls last week.

I think this might suggest that the most elite of the limousine liberals aren't quite as "enlightened" as they want to think they are.

If John McCain wins Massachusetts, turn out the lights, Barry, the party's over.

Polls, Polls, Polls

All good news.

Rasmussen has McCain maintaining the 6 point lead he took on Monday over both challengers.

They also show Barack Obama's unfavorables steadily rising while McCain's drop.

Speaking of, as I wrote on my other blogs, excellent news from Gallup.

Just a happy day to read the polls

McCain 45 Obama 44 and McCain 46 Clinton 44

So sayeth Rasmussen

In other news, the amendment that McCain championed and Clinton and Obama paid lip service to was destroyed. Bad news for the country in the short term, potentially good news for the country in the long term if this angers the regular American enough.

Also, check out the McCarnival at McCain Blogs for a collection of great pro John McCain posts (and one from me) around the blogosphere. Then check out the rest of McCain Blogs, because its an awesome site.

Mixed Bag with Rasmussen

Some good and some bad today. Obama and Clinto both gained on McCain, with Clinton leading (within the margin of error.)

However, The Democrats continue to lose their grip on Michigan. I can't stress how huge it would be if McCain were to flip Michigan and Pennsylvania. That could be insurmountable for the Democrats.

So yeah, nevermind

Yesterday I was a little worried about the potential of a high protest vote against John McCain in Mississippi. Not so much. 79-13 is pretty definitive, I'd say. Pretty decent turnout for a meaningless election too.

The Rasmussen numbers look pretty good. Not so much the head to heads, even with McCain leading Obama within the margin of error. The real good news is that Michigan and Pennsylvania are moving back in play. I think McCain stands a great chance of winning Pennsylvania in particular against radical liberal Obama. And if the Mittster does find his way onto the ticket, Michigan may be ours too.

I'll have my thoughts on Spitzer this weekend. In the meantime, if you're a real masochist and need to read MORE of me, check out Blogs for McCain and Blogs for John McCain's Victory. We have a great team at both sites there and I'm really happy to be there.

Rasmussen, Mississippi and the new blogs

I'm sure anyone that actually reads this blog knows by now that I'm now a contributor to Blogs for McCain and Blogs for John McCain's Victory. I'm still going to post at this blog, mostly Rasmussen polls and whatever idle thoughts may come to my mind that I don't necessarily think deserve their own posts on the big blogs. I have an Eliot Spitzer post planned soon for here.

Tonight is the Republican (and Democratic, for that matter) primary in Mississippi. Obviously it means nothing, but it will be interesting to see what percentage John actually pulls in. Being the first big primary (he won Guam on the 8th) after wrapping up the nomination, this could have some Vice Presidential selection implications. If Huckabee still gets a sizable protest vote like in Texas, I'm sure the McCain Campaign will seriously consider adding a Haley Barbour type.

The Rasmussen Numbers over the past two days are swinging back in our favor after a poor week. He's now tied with both Clinton and Obama. He was losing to both (within the margin of error) on Sunday.

The "evolving" Obama.

I was reading Hot Air this morning and saw ALLAHPUNDIT, referencing a Barack Obama quote from 2004.

The failure of the Iraqi state would be a disaster,” he said at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, according to an audiotape of the session. “It would dishonor the 900-plus men and women who have already died. . . . It would be a betrayal of the promise that we made to the Iraqi people, and it would be hugely destabilizing from a national security perspective

As Allah and The Weekly Standard suggest, Mr. Obama seems to have a way of "evolving" his positions into whatever the mainstream of the Democratic party happens to be at any given time.

New kind of politics indeed

First he was having an affair. Then he wasn't really American.

Now his cancer is not in remission enough for the New York Times liking.

This would be somewhat hilarious in an Elmer Fudd vs Bugs Bunny way if the Paper of Record was not trying to subtly suggest that his cancer was worse than it really was and that it had potentially spread. And that McCain was shielding his medical records to try and hide that from the public.

Its getting out of hand now.

Obama's campaign continues to endorse John McCain

I really, really don't understand it. But please keep it up guys.

As the good Captain Ed at Hot Air posted today, Barack Obama's national security adviser disagrees strongly with Barack's stance against telecom immunity. He goes as far as to suggest that Barack isn't doing his homework and that he's reacting with a knee-jerk response.

Also, while the monster quote from Samantha Power's rant may be what's making the rounds now, Mad and Ben Smith at Politico point out Power's comments on Barack's Iraq plan that seem to have a certain Naftaquiddick aspect to them. Or to be more blunt, it appears that Barack Obama may be lying to the American voters and talking out of both sides of his mouth again.

I have to say, I do value the efforts of John McCain bloggers. I think they do a great job getting the message out. But if Obama's campaign wants to do the heavy lifting for us, they're more than welcome to.

The ad that is going to win the election.

Absolutely brilliant. Its optimistic,inspirational and uplifting. It instills hope without having to use the word over and over and over and over again.

It favorable compares him to men that are universally respected in both this country and the world. The Churchill comparison will particularly help him, I think. If you remind people what happened when Churchill stood his ground against the Nazis, it will help build resolve for our fight against radical Islamic extremism. As as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seem to want to remind us every day, both Democrats are totally ill prepared for this fight.

I'll end this with what I believe are the two most powerful quotes in an extremely powerful video.

We're Americans and we'll never surrender. They will!

Don't tell me what we can't do. Don't tell me we can't make our country stronger and the world safe. We can, we must, and when I'm President, we will!

Clinton and Obama continue to campaign for McCain

I don't really understand it. It stands to reason that if you are running against someone for the most important job in the world, you wouldn't repeatedly say how qualified he is for the job.



Or, for that matter, have your surrogates point out what a disaster you'd be.



Maybe its the new math. Whatever it is, I'll take it, especially with the Rasmussen polls tightening up a little.

Geoff at Blogs for John McCain's Victory points out Obama's problems with blue collar middle class Democrats and how that may benefit McCain. My personal feelings there are that these voters just don't feel particularly safe under a President Obama and his romantic view of the world. I think John McCain can capitalize on that. I also think that John McCain being John McCain and not a far rightwing comic book villain politician neutralizes a lot of the "Obamacans."

And finally, sad news here in McCainia. It appears as if the Crazy Train has finally fallen off the tracks for good. Dr. Paul leaves Alan Keyes, who is allegedly running, all by himself in the challenge to...well, nothing. But that's not the point. We're now deprived of people that make videos such as this.

Enough to bring a tear to a glass eye

Now the real work begins

Tuesday night was the culmination of a lot of hard work by Senator John McCain and his supporters, both online and in the field. A lot of people worked very hard to get the senator where he is today, certainly not the least of which is John McCain himself and his fifty years of service to this country.

Wednesday was largely a day of relaxation and celebration for those of us on the web, if not for McCain himself, who was already fund raising in Florida by mid afternoon.

As the guys at Politico Mafioso note, McCain got the formal laying of the hands from George Bush today.

He also started the process of taking over the RNC.

McCain Monitor reminds us that John McCain's primary job right now is to pick the right vice president to balance the ticket. That's not something we're going to have much of a say in (and frankly, thank whatever deity that you pray to that some 21 year old blogger in NY doesn't have a say in the Vice President of the United States.)

However, there are things we can do. The fine folks over at MV08 have worked hard to establish the John McCain 50 State Google Groups, and Blogs For McCain has the pertinent details on how to sign up and join these.

You can also start up your own blog and ramble to no one in particular, like I do. Brad at MV08 lists the five sites that can help to get your blog off the ground. Even if you suspect that no one is really reading your blog (as I do with mine), signing your blog up for the Wonkosphere will automatically help to raise John McCain's internet buzz and interest.

However, the best, and perhaps easiest way to help John McCain as we enter a tough general election is to donate money to John McCain's campaign.

Whatever you do, even if you choose to just vote in November and nothing more, know that you are helping to elect the best possible President of the United States.

UPDATE: And if Michael Schuyler happens to be reading this, I did in fact name this post before reading the Omnibus.

No Words Necessary,

Final Polling Numbers and Huckabee to Drop Out?

Well, today is the day that Senator John McCain, in all likelihood, wraps up the nomination.

The latest RCP Poll Averages have John McCain with a huge lead in Texas and Ohio (not to mention the Republican Nomination poll)

The Democrats aren't so lucky, as Hillary's late surges in Texas and Ohio means this thing could be going on for quite a bit longer.

In other news, in case it wasn't clear at this point anyway, Virginia for McCain is reporting that the Huckabee campaign is reading the writing on the wall and might drop out as early as tonight.

If this is true, its time for the GOP to coalesce and build our general election campaign while the Democrats fight like cats and dogs all the way to the convention.

Barbour and Perdue to endorse McCain

So sez Fox News

Apparently these are the hyped major endorsements.

I don't necessarily know if this will have any major affect outside of Georgia and Mississippi, but if it can help shore up any doubts about the deep south in the general election, they're great

Nothing Today

Its my 21st Birthday, so I'll be out all day reveling in being 21. Hopefully nothing important happens today, but if it does, anyone that reads this blog knows they can get any information they need at

Politico

Real Clear Politics

Rasmussen

MV08

John McCain's Official Site

Blogs for McCain

or

Blogs for John McCain

Take Care

Matt

Today's Update

The Rasmussen Daily Tracker results for today show John McCain expanding his leads over both Hillary and Barack. He currently leads Barack Obama 46-43 and Hillary Clinton 48-44.

McCain also has the best favorable vs unfavorable numbers with 54-42, easily trumping Obama's 51-46 and Hillary's atrocious 45-52

Over the last week, both Democrats, specifically Obama had been closing the gap. John's lead in the daily tracker on the last day of February was 45-44. Something must have happened for voters to once again realize why they must vote for John McCain.

Perhaps it was both candidates releasing ads that reminded America what a terrifying commander in chief they'd each make?

Blogs for McCain found another video that helped to confirm that.

In other mind-boggling Obama foreign policy notes, John McCain reminded everyone how silly poking Canada in the eye would be.

It's all the more confusing to watch Obama drop an ultimatum on the Canadians when you remember that this is the man that will gladly give Raul Castro a free photo op.

On the Hillary front, someone finally actually asked her campaign what big foreign policy crisis this woman has dealt with.

I see. She has "participated in a number of international things."

Oh, good. I'm brimming with confidence there.

Back on the Republican Primary front, Texas and Ohio continue to look really good. The latest (a week old) poll available at Real Clear Politics for Vermont shows a 51 percentage point lead. I don't think I'd bet on it being that big, but the writing is certainly on the wall.

The only person who doesn't seem to be reading it is Mike Huckabee, who Jonathan Martin at Politico says is now invoking The Alamo.

Does he remember how the Battle of the Alamo ended?

Hillary Clinton Endorses John McCain for President

She just hasn't realized it yet. Today she released this ad.



That's a very good point, Hillary. Who do we want answering that phone?

It certainly isn't Barack Obama with his, frankly terrifying, naive, Neville Chamberlain-esque view of the world.

But its not you either, Hillary Clinton. You can talk about your "35 years of experience" all you want, but until you can explain what exactly it is that the First Lady does that gives her experience to be commander in chief, people are going to continue to feel the way they did in the LA Times poll Overwhelmingly on issues of terrorism the American people think John McCain is most qualified to handle Iraq and protect us from terrorism.

The American people want John McCain to answer that phone.

EDIT: Captain Ed Morrissey puts it better than I could.

The New York Times

The New York Times...


...

....

Its really getting sad now.

Barack Obama is stuck in 2002.

Tuesday night in in Ohio, Barack Obama said this

"If al-Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, we'll have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."

IF? I know the standard joke on Obama is that he ignores reality for his hope and dreams spiel, but this is a bit much, even for him. Luckily, John McCain thought so too.

"I have some news. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called `al-Qaeda in Iraq."

Barack Obama, predictably, used the same tired talking points he used on Hillary Clinton in the debate to respond to McCain.

"But I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq."

Yes, Barry. We know. You didn't agree with the war. You didn't like it in 2002. You said you didn't like it in 2002. You went on the record in 2002. You gave speeches in 2002.

The problem is it is now 2008. What's done is done. The decision to go to war was bad five and a half years ago. Whether or not you liked the war in 2002 is completely irrelevant to the situation in 2008. For someone who repeatedly insists that he is the candidate of "the future" and John McCain is the candidate of "the past" Barack seems to really harp on what he would have done almost six years ago while offering only half baked solutions for how to march on in to the future.

I guess we can withdraw from Iraq and wait until you decide that al-Qaeda is there to come back. Since you seem wishy washy on whether or not they're there now, I'd hate to see what its going to take for you to be totally convinced that we should fight them in Iraq.

Rather than sit around and wait for President Obama to arbitrarily decide if al-Qaeda is in Iraq or not, I'm going to vote for John McCain this November to be my President and Commander in Chief. The alternative is going to be a disastrous combination of six year old policies and a staggeringly naive view of the dictators and despots of the world.

Even if I didn't admire John McCain as much as I did, that alternative is too scary not to vote McCain.

Rasmussen Daily Tracker: McCain 46 - Obama 43

According to Rasmussen Reports' Daily Tracking Poll, John is keeping the lead he took over Barack Obama.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in general election match-ups. McCain now leads Obama 46% to 43% and Clinton 48% to 43%. McCain has consistently held a modest lead over Clinton but he moved ahead of Obama only after publication of the controversial New York Times article last week

Its pretty clear that the Times article was a disaster for both the paper itself and the liberal causes it trumpets. Rasmussen also points out that less than a quarter of Americans have a favorable opinion if the Gray lady in the wake of this debacle.

At the same time, the initial article shows John McCain's favorable vs unfavorable ratings getting better, while Obama's get worse and Hillary's go down the drain. This is also very encouraging, as it shows that the more people hear about what Barack actually stands for, the less they like him. Hope and Change can only get you so far when people realize that you want to sit down with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without any preconditions, Mr. Obama.

In other good news, it certainly looks like March 4 could officially wrap up the nomination for John McCain. Real Clear Politics show huge leads for McCain in Texas and especially Ohio. I do genuinely like Mike Huckabee, but the time to leave this race was three weeks ago, and its going to be nice to finally be able to move into the general election.

Speaking of the general election, DNC Chairman and raving lunatic Howard Dean's challenge seems to have less solid ground every day. Now the bank that issued the loan says that the McCain campaign did not use the matching funds as collateral. You would hope that that would be the end of that, but Howard Dean doesn't live in the real world the rest of the time, so we shouldn't expect him to change that now.

BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN

My First Post.

This is my attempt to actually add something to the John McCain cause. I'm sure in the beginning it won't be very good, but hopefully by the time John becomes President of the United States, I'll actually be pretty good at this.

This first post will mainly be about me. As the election season continues, I hope to post articles and my commentary on McCain and the 2008 Presidential election.

I'm a 20 year old guy from Long Island New York. I'll be turning 21 on Sunday, March 2, so I won't be able to say that much longer. Because my 18th birthday roughly four months after the 2004 election, this will be my first Presidential election. I'm a registered Republican, and would describe myself as somewhat right of center, or a moderate conservative.

I've long admired John McCain, and have casually followed his career over the last five or six years, but I really became convinced that I needed to do whatever I can o help him get elected a few months ago. I'm fairly active on the McCain Victory 08 scene, and have volunteered for the New York effort once the general election campaign begins.

I was able to go to the New York City rally on Super Tuesday this year , so I'll occasionally post some pictures I took of that event when there isn't any big election news.

This picture is of me standing in front of the Straight Talk Express. (I've since cut off all that hair.)

Later today I hope to post some articles and my commentary on them.