What Happened in Wisconsin?

 Bill O’Reilly breaks down the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor.

Watch it here: [VIDEO]

The Left’s Incomplete Night

This Politico piece captured the night while the Michigan U.S. Senate race was still too close to call and progressives were realizing they hadn’t delivered the blowout many expected.

Yesterday’s Michigan primaries

Progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly beat moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic Senate primary. The race was far closer than late polls predicted.

In Michigan’s 7th District, Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence won the Democratic House primary after two moderates split the vote.

In the 13th District, democratic socialist Donavan McKinney narrowly unseated incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar.

Cori Bush’s comeback bid

Former “Squad” member and democratic socialist Cori Bush tried to reclaim the St. Louis-area House seat she lost in 2024. She faced the same opponent who beat her then, incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell.

Bush ran again as a sharp critic of U.S. support for Israel and as a progressive standard-bearer. The race drew heavy outside spending, much of it from pro-Israel groups backing Bell. She lost decisively, roughly 59% to 37%.

It was one of the clearer setbacks for the progressive left on a night that otherwise produced mixed results for that faction.

h/t Newsalert

Liz Cheney defeated

 

[VIDEO] If you didn't know Congresswoman Liz Cheney represents the whole state of Wyoming as their at-large Representative to the US House of Representatives. Former President Donald Trump wasn't a fan she voted for his impeachment in 2021 after the January 6th episode. This year he had been very active in campaigning against anyone who supported his impeachment last year.

Cheney is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney - some may say he was the real President instead of his own commander-in-chief George W. Bush. Anyway Cheney even cut an ad for his daughter supporting his campaign and yet, it still wasn't enough to save her campaign.

It seemed it was expected that she would lose the primary ultimately to  Harriet Hageman. While weird things could happen, due to the rather conservative tilt in the state of Wyoming it's highly likely that Hagemen will be representing Wyoming at-large in the US House....

AP: Omar ekes out House primary win over centrist in Minnesota

 On this blog I rarely go heavily into political analysis other than what's already in the news. I just found this interesting from primary nite in Minnesota. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is one of the members of The Squad often a group of female members of the US House of Representatives such as AOC, Ayana Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and more recently Cori Bush. The Squad is are very progressive Democratic socialists who hold such views as defund police.

So Rep. Omar had won a much closer primary to a more moderate Democrat in his Twin Cities congressional district.

Omar, who represents Minneapolis and is one of the left's leading voices in Congress, has defended calls to redirect public safety funding more into community-based programs. She squared off with former City Councilmember Don Samuels, whose north Minneapolis base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city.

Samuels argued that Omar is divisive and helped defeat a ballot question last year that sought to replace the city police department with a new public safety unit. He and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet minimum police staffing levels called for in Minneapolis' charter.

Samuels said his narrow loss shows that Omar is beatable: “If this was the general election, no doubt that we would have won this race." Omar countered, “Tonight’s victory is a testament to how much our district believes in the collective values we are fighting for.”

What I see in that article is a lot of references to "defund the police" and Rep. Omar is a proponent. She still won however. 

Last week Laura Ingraham visited those parts of Minneapolis that were heavily affected by the rioting after George Floyd's death in 2020. Those viewing her FOX News program found that the high crime has even bled into downtown MPLS. Police staffing levels are lower since the political establishment there aren't putting much effort into meeting minimum staffing levels. They may still believe in this idea as noted in the quote above of "abolish the police".

Of course here's one thing that confuses me:

“She’s had a lot of adversity already and pushback. I don’t think her work is done,” said Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old property caretaker for an apartment building in Minneapolis who voted for Omar. “We’ve got to give her a chance.”

A chance for what exactly? More of the same. She needs more of a chance to abolish police.

I found some numbers for Rep. Omar's race here from FOX 9 in MPLS. The numbers and percentages are real close. 

 

The Republican gubernatorial primary 2022

 Well the state of the GOP in Illinois is discussed in this column by Rich Miller. Illinois has a history of electing liberal Republicans from the late Jim Thompson to Jim Edgar to George Ryan and to perhaps a lesser extent Bruce Rauner.

With that said I've always thought it strange that in a state that seems to not like conservative Republicans, if you're not that conservative you're a RINO. And we're seeing that play out in the Republican primary which will be held at the end of June.

Richard Irvin could be described as more moderate he might be closer to Thompson, Edgar, and even Ryan. He wants to paint himself as a conservative and unfortunately he's had some downstate Republicans paint him into a different corner. It shows his closest opponent is Darren Bailey a downstate farmer most well known in this state for opposing Gov. Pritzker's pandemic mandates.

The last debate I saw Richard Irvin - mayor of Illinois' second largest city of Aurora - there were references to Irvin being a closet Democrat. There were references to Irvin who has pulled a lot of his TV attacked Bailey - a sitting state senator - as a Biden supporter were more or less dividing this state's GOP. It seems from a strong rollout there was enough time for the tide to turn.

To be honest, I was somewhat excited about voting for someone who could be the Republican nominee for Governor who happened to be a Black man and hopefully that person defeating J.B. Pritzker handing him a re-election loss. Perhaps it's saying something, now I'm not so sure.

Those millions given to Irvin's campaign by this state's wealthiest resident a man by the name of Ken Griffin - he has his name on the Museum of Science and Industry. Seems to have not done much good, and worse still Griffin himself will likely be outspent.

My final comment to this is, it seems difficult to be a Republican in this state. You can't be too conservative and that's true for the Chicago area which is where most of the voters in this state are. At the same time you can't be seen as a "RINO". And now we can add, you can't allow yourself to be seen as selling your soul to a billionaire.

In a primary election between a crook and an ex-Republican...

Who would you choose? In the 10th District for Illinois House of Representatives yesterday voters there chose the crook. Then it gets more complicated than that, today maneuvers are being made to get this individual out of that house seat.

I've been blogging about that story since it happened. State Rep. Derrick Smith had been arrested a week before the recent Illinois primary on the charge of accepting a bribe. For the next he was quiet and perhaps the weekend before the election embattled.

See I got wind of a rally held for Smith. A shameless display I could only imagine, that had US Congressman Danny Davis speaking for him. They made sure votes know it's either Smith or the ex-Republican. Whatever it was, it got Smith through the primary. Wednesday however is a much different story.

Now it seems various people in state government. The Republican leader of the Illinois House who just wasn't able to get his story straight as to what happened in the case of Rep. Smith. That is a statement was put out by the Republican leader said Smith took a bribe from a nursing home operator as opposed to a day care center operation as had actually been the case. Also now the Republican caucus wants an investigative committee similar to what helped get Rod Blagojevich impeached and removed from office.

You're wondering about the Democrats of course. Well it seems there are some behind the scenes wrangling. It appears Smith himself doesn't have clean hands. He was fired from a city job which it shouldn't have been very easy to get fired from but he was. Even then he should've had it made as a major political figure engineering his appointment to a state legislative seat.

That major figure just so happen to be our Secretary of State Jesse White. He took a stand against the appointment of Roland Burris to the US Senate by Blago. Although the only thing he did was refuse to affix his signature to some credentials. All the same he played a role to bring Smith to the state level and now we see the results of that. Another result is he himself is calling for Smith to step down the day after the primary.

Some ire is raised at the Speaker of the state house. He's often been portrayed by many as doing everything it takes to maintain his majority. But surely in this moment he's working behind the scenes to get Smith out. That being said his silence in this situation has been deafening for sure.

What's likely to happen is that when Smith finally resigns the seat he had been appointed to last year, White and Madigan surely will be vetting the successor. Needless to say this story will continue to unfold!

It's primary day in Illinois

[VIDEO] This video is from the AP, talking about the primary here in this state. It's a little over two and half minutes.

I haven't voted yet this morning but will so I can start my day today. Also it's not possible for me to watch as much as the coverage on TV as possible. I'll probably have to read about it later.

Also, unlike in previous years eyes are on Illinois especially for the Republican race for the Presidential nomination. Who will Illinois go for today on the Republican side?

I learned not too long ago that there aren't any major statewide races to be concerned about this year. This year no US Senate seats are up for election this year in Illinois.

Either way looking forward to the results of tonight's election!

Washington Post: Newt Gingrich wins South Carolina primary

I wasn't able to follow the South Carolina primary last night, but was caught off guard seeing that the former US Speaker of the House was able to win that primary. Officially Romney is 2 to 1 against Gingrich although I read a report that the Iowa caucuses had declared former US Senator Rick Santorum the winner. But for now that doesn't count in my eyes especially since there's no way to verify all the results!

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich scored an easy victory Saturday in the South Carolina primary, blowing a hole in Mitt Romney’s aura of inevitability.

The 12-point win represented a swift and extraordinary turnaround in Gingrich’s fortunes — thanks largely to strong performances in two debates. In those forums, he issued a stirring appeal to the state’s strident conservatism, convinced its voters he would be a formidable opponent against President Obama and threw Romney off his stride.

“We don’t have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has,” Gingrich said in his victory speech in Columbia, referring to Romney. “But we do have ideas, and we do have people and we proved here in South Carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money.”

He also peppered his speech with dismissive references to “elites” in the media and in Washington and New York — a sign that he intends to continue the truculently populist tone that resonated with voters in South Carolina.

After disappointing distant finishes in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Gingrich had limped into South Carolina more than 10 points down in most polls. So battered was his candidacy that Gingrich himself had conceded that his campaign might be over if he failed to turn in a strong performance.

OK the first three big primaries for the GOP are now out of the way, what's next?

Tuesday night was a big night as far as primaries go

The above AP video talked about all the races from yesterday!

I had tweeted about Arlen Specter losing his bid for re-election last night after having been vanquished in the Pennsylvania primary. I asked how that party-switch is working out for him? He allegedly switched parties in an effort to keep his job and well he didn't survive a Democratic primary.

Also the son of Ron Paul, Rand Paul, was successful in his Republican primary. He defeated Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson who was largely supported by the Republican establishment in Washington.

Here's an excerpt from a NY Times article:

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who left the Republican Party a year ago in hopes of salvaging a 30-year career, was rejected on Tuesday by Democratic primary voters, with Representative Joe Sestak winning the party’s nomination on an anti-incumbent wave that is defining the midterm elections.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul, the most visible symbol of the Tea Party movement, easily won the Republican Senate primary and delivered a significant blow to the Republican establishment. His 24-point victory over Trey Grayson, who was supported by the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, underscored the anti-Washington sentiment echoing across the country.

The outcomes of both contests, along with a Democratic primary in Arkansas that pushed Senator Blanche Lincoln into a runoff election in June, illustrated anew the serious threats both parties face from candidates who are able to portray themselves as outsiders and eager to shake up the system.

Wow! Will 2010 be quite the year or what? We shall see!

On the Barack Bus to Indiana from Chicago's West Side

This is an interesting story I found from the Washington Post. The Indiana primary is imminent in fact there was a primary yesterday in the US Pacific territory of Guam and Indiana and North Carolina are the coming up this Tuesday. A group of Chicago westsiders is the subject of this story:

Race was very much on the minds of the mostly African American group that piled onto a West Side bus in Chicago Saturday morning to campaign for Sen. Barack Obama in Indianapolis three days before the state's Democratic presidential primary. So, too, was history.

"When I was growing up, they said coffee would make you black, so I didn't drink it, I drank tea," Chicago Congressman Danny Davis, who organized the trip, told the busload of volunteers when they stopped for a coffee break. "That was before James Brown said, 'I'm black and I'm proud.'"

For many of the volunteers in the diverse group, which spanned the age and socioeconomic spectrums, it was their first time getting involved in politics -- something they were drawn to in hopes of electing the country's first black president.

"We want someone sympathetic to us on issues like police brutality," explained Dalton Brown, 34, founder of a non-profit organization called Felony Free Society. "Cops are always trying to plant dope on us, things like the Sean Bell shooting are happening all the time. Like Michelle (Obama) always says, we just want to live our American dream."

Such messages resonated with African Americans the campaigners encountered in Indianapolis, who almost unanimously supported Obama. Ada Lanier, 77, was approached by the Chicago volunteers at a McDonald's. She just happened to be carrying a spiral notebook she had turned into a scrapbook of Campaign Trail Wardrobe selections for Michelle Obama. She gave the notebook to Chicago campaigners to deliver to the senator's wife, along with the lyrics of her version of a Bobby Womack song dedicated to Obama, admonishing him to stay strong "when your foes far and wide are ripping at your hide."

There's certainly love for Illinois' junior senator who suddenly finds himself in a serious race for President. Indeed this is probably the most serious race he's been since he's ever started in politics in the Illinois State Senate.

Primary Calendar: Democratic Nominating Contests - NY Times

Super Tuesday items

I'm going to keep all items with regards to Super Tuesday in this post. There will be a hodge podge of items related to this super primary. Some personal commentary and of course links to different stories. Keeping things in perspective.

-First and foremost let me just mention that here in Atlanta there were a lot of Obama stickers in force. In the Altanta University Center consisting of Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College in addition to the ITC and Morehouse School of Medicine. You know some of you have been reading the blog long enough to know this. LOL

Anyway it's safe to say that there are more Obama supporters down here than Clinton. I haven't seen the amount of stickers or even literature on Clinton or anybody else as I have for Obama. If the AUC was a precinct Obama might win!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that apparently Chelsea Clinton campaign at Spelman College, I blogged about that last week.

-BTW, according to FOX News Georgia polls will close at 7PM

-The Bench relayed news that Huckabee has won in West Virginia.

-From FOXNews.com. Right on the homepage I see pics of all the celebrites who support either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Obama. I see that 50 Cent is up and I must admit I'm shocked he's with Hillary. He's a relatively young guy too. Here's the article pic is under.

-CBS News reports that the Dow Jones plummeted 370 point. Not a very Super Tuesday for Wall Street.

-Tribune: There's another snowstorm on the way to the Chicago area.

-Washington Post News Alert at 7:05: Obama defeats Hillary in Georgia!

-A FOXNews alert has Georgia GOP race too close to call!

-Remember last night's post about Steve Garfield. Head over to The Uptake or SteveGarfield.com Live for live coverage.

-The Capitol Fax Blog is ready to post returns, just head over and look right on the home page. You will see results for not only President but for other statewide races as well.

-Washington Post also has live coverage of Super Tuesday by journalists from both the Post and Newsweek.

-The Eleventh Hour: Stupor Tuesday. Apparently Texans don't realize that there isn't a primary today in Texas.

-Head over to this Capitol Fax post for live streaming coverage on CBS2Chicago.

-More live coverage of Super Tuesday from the State-Journal Register. Scroll down all the way to the bottom.

-From InstaPundit: Consevatives dropped the ball! And how about a quote...

Now over the next few years you can look for -- and do the work to elect -- some good governors who might make Presidents that you'll like better than McCain or Romney, and do the other bits of hard work it takes to make a difference.

An idea for the Illinois Republican party. Hello!

-Gaper's Block Merge links to a Flickr pool with Chicago election ballot receipts. Hmm that reminds me.

-Respublica: Virginians apparently don't know they're not voting today just like Texans! Also a post about Missouri on Super Tuesday.

-Capitol Fax hat-tip. Tribune has called Illinois for Sen. Barack Obama (that shouldn't be a huge surprise) and Sen. John McCain.

-Another CapFax hat-tip. A story about the dumbest election judges in Illinois from the Tribune.

-Hotline-on-Call has Super Tuesday winner available as of 8PM Eastern Time!

-Also from Hotline-on-Call: Ron Paul might actually have a chance in Alaska. Remember while the press has boiled the GOP race to McCain and Romney, as of this moment it's also Huckabee and Paul. BTW, where's Alan Keyes. He was in the race too, but not that people either cared or actually noticed.

-ChicagoClout.com: Attempting to enforce the law and force some people, assuming they're campaign workers to move 100 feet away from the polling place.

-The Bench says that turnout isn't so great in Chicago or at least around on the North Side of town. Also an election judge fight in the 49th Ward. The judges must be the worst up that way look at the earlier story about stupid election judges.

-Washington Post reports that Hillary has won in New York and Massachusettes.

-It looks like Tom Mannis at the Bench may be onto something. Clout St. says that city turnout is not likely to break any records. 45% today as opposed to 58.4% back in 1984. Also Ald. Tom Allen was said to be leading in the Cook County State's Attorney race. Since I refeshed the blog Anita Alvarez has edged Allen.

-From InstaPundit: Vote Obama, it's for the Children!

-Hot-Air has video of why rapper 50 Cent endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton.

-Out on the Stoop with a video of the Mayor of Pasadena at an Obama rally.

-Brief post by Pud. Tells us to vote and then endorses Obama.

-Social Media blog offers other internet streaming alternatives including the Washington Post.

-Hotline-on-Call gets smart alecky about Sen. Chris Dodd's machine working to not put any votes in his column, although he is out of the race.

-The Political Realm: Super Tuesday results.

More updates later here in this post!

Obama wins South Carolina

And accounts are that he wins big! I think a lot of people really love his victory speech. I'll post it here. What are some of the blogs I follow in the bloggosphere saying about Obama's victory in SC.

OBAMA TAKES SOUTH CAROLINA from MyUrban Report
I take back everything I said about South Carolina from AMillionMonkeys
Instapundit with links to other stories about South Carolina with more coverage here, here, and here.
South Carolina Democratic Primary Results from The Political Realm
The Politricks of Dreaming from AverageBro.com

Exit Polls Show Black Voters Rejected Clinton

From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire. I guess Hillary Clinton isn't going to find it much easier to get the black vote. In the primary in Michigan where there is controversy there on the Democratic side, only 30% of black voters voted for Hillary. 68% were uncommitted. Hmmm as much as people will predict that she will be either the nominee or President this makes her look less of a strong candidate than she already was.

Time will only tell if that's what this means.

Here's another food for thought from Crazy Politico's Rantings about the recent Michigan primary. Not as much about the race angle as it as about political strategy. Democrats stripped Michigan of their convention delegates but what if Hillary still needs those Delegates?

In New Hampshire...

Another important presidential contest to determine who might win the nomination for President. Iowa was last week where Obama and Huckabee won for their respective parties. In New Hampshire it's Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain.

Please note that Iowa and New Hampshire are only the first two stops on the presidential campaign trail. After this is South Carolina and Nevada. I know that Iowa and New Hampshire are hyped to be very important especially since they are the first stops on the presidential primary elections. So I had no idea South Carolina is important and early.

Still the fun thing about this election is that right now there isn't a very obvious frontrunner. I don't see one among the Republicans but the Democrats seem easier. It might be Hillary or it could be Obama, I would consider them front runners and it certainly helps if we hear about them more than we would John Edwards or New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. So there's still time for everyone to slug it out.

More about the Iowa Caucus

I was watching FOX News coverage of the Caucuses. The Iowa Republican Caucus was called for Huckabee early. The Democratic contest apparently was more of a contest. I mentioned yesterday that before the caucuses Sen. Obama was already ahead probably in polling before the caucus and at first Obama was behing Sen. Hillary Clinton and eventually Obama edged her out to win in Iowa. Former Sen. John Edwards edged out Clinton for second place in the caucuses.

Two have dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucus, Senators Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) and Joseph Biden (D-Delaware). Let's just note still that Iowa is just one stop in the road to the White House so anyone who's still in the race can hope to move up. Iowa and New Hampshire coming up on Saturday are two places where aspiring Presidents can gain some momentum and hopefully allows them to coast in the later primaries coming up.

As far as the Republican side goes I have my preferences. I could go for Fred Thompson who was in third place in the Iowa caucuses. Rep. Ron Paul is saying some things I can agree with but there are some things that doesn't help me warm up to him. I was a fan of Giuliani but he kept using the image of September 11th too often for me. That is his claim to fame but I think the American people need something more than that. So far however, no one on the Republican side has particularly interested me. Perhaps I have Republican fatigue too.

On the Democratic side it's easier to pick out who might break out of the pact. Obama did last night and after so many months on top Sen. Clinton took a back seat. Hmm perhaps her elevation isn't so inevitable. Edwards after his performance in Iowa could probably prove to be the one who can come out of no where to win the nomination. I'm not a big fan of his but we'll have to see how that works out.

I want to note something before I close this post out.

Sen. Obama the first black man to win a primary. This was brought out on FOX News but contributor Juan Williams. He mentions Rep. Shirley Chisolm (a Democratic congresswoman from New York) who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972 and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr who of course ran for President in 1984 and 1988. Of course Rev. Al Sharpton was mentioned for his 2004 run for the Democratic nomination and I'm glad Williams mercifully left out former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun's run for the presidency in 2004. It can be said now that Obama has officially raised the bar and he did it in a Midwestern state that doesn't have population or even diverse racial groups. One could wonder how well he could do in a more populated state such as California or New York.

All I can say is the best is yet to come!

Are you following the Iowa caucus?

It looks like Obama is moving up a little bit, but I'm sure you want to follow it yourself. I'm watching FOX News, but there's also MSNBC and CNN. In addition The Capitol Fax blog has links to some sites of interest if you want to follow it on your PCs.

Do you know what today is?

The Iowa Caucus!!! The first stop in the road to the White House. This is where candidates for President from both the Democratic and Republican parties spend a lot of time prior to this event to make a good showing that will allow them to stay competitive in this race. Let's note that another important primary in the road to the Presidency is the New Hampshire primary.

According to Crain's though, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has a very narrow lead in the Iowa Caucus. It's looking good, but we'll know the final tally eventually. That's what's important.

It’s close, very close, with Barack Obama seeming to hold a critical but narrow lead.
That’s the word from both pollsters and campaign insiders as upward of a quarter of a million Iowans prepare to gather in Thursday evening’s presidential caucuses.

The first formal round of the 2008 presidential campaign has turned into a real horserace among both parties, with Chicago’s Mr. Obama pressed by Park Ridge native Hillary Clinton and former U.S. Senator John Edwards on the Democratic side and ex-governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts leading the GOP pack.

Numerous factors could affect the outcome, from weather (brutally cold, but not quite as bad as early in the week) to hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV hit ads purchased by interest groups to push or punish candidates.

But the key factor, particularly on the Democratic side, is turnout — whether tens of thousands of young newcomers and political independents will show up at this state’s 1,784 precinct polling places.

If they do, Mr. Obama likely will win, outdrawing more traditional groups that prefer Ms. Clinton’s experience as former first lady and a senator or Mr. Edward’s economic populism.

If they don’t, and the college kids and others who admire Mr. Obama’s brand of post-partisan politics stay home, it will be a long night for him.

“I’ll take what we can get,” says David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief campaign strategist, conceding that a landslide for any candidate is unlikely.

Ron Paul big on 'Net, but media don't notice

I know why it's probably the netroots that support the libertarianism of Ron Paul. Or at the very least from what I've heard about him Rep. Ron Paul a Texas Republican is a man who believes in using our constitution. If the DailyKos is powerful especially if they help bring an obscure liberal/leftist candidate to the fore, then so might the netroots support an obscure conservative/libertarian candidate.

That's the focus of a Clarence Page column from the Tribune...

Of all the interesting little fish swimming beneath the currents of the major candidates in this presidential campaign season, none is making waves as surprising as those kicked up by Rep. Ron Paul.

The Texas Republican, who embraces a libertarian point of view, has been riding an unimpressive 2 percent in the polls, but if the presidential election were held in cyberspace, Paul would probably win hands down.

Paul's supporters flood online polls, such as the unscientific survey ABC News invited viewers to join after the Republican debate last Sunday. Yet, you could barely find the Texas doctor in the network's after-debate coverage, despite the vigorous applause he ignited with his call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

In endless e-mailings or phone calls to talk shows, Paul's fans blame an insidious conspiracy to muzzle the "truth."

Indeed, you might think the mainstream media would pay more respect to a guy who ended up the recent fundraising quarter with more cash on hand than Sen. John McCain, the leading maverick of the 2000 race. At the end of June, Paul reported raising almost $2.4 million and virtually zero debt in his frugal campaign, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission. McCain's faltering campaign was left with about $1.4 million if you subtract his reported $1.8 million in debt from the cash he reported having on hand.

In fact, according to news reports, Paul showed more cash on hand than five other second-tier Republican candidates and one Democrat, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska.

So why, I am often asked, doesn't Paul get more coverage? The short answer is the Catch-22 trap of win-ability. As news media allocate precious time and space, our attention gravitates toward those who have a prayer of winning. And, of course, without coverage, one's chances of winning are even worse.

Yet, like other mavericks as varied as John Anderson, Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, Paul appears to be turning on a segment of the electorate that usually seems to lie dormant. In his case, a lot of them live online.

Judging by my contacts with Paul promoters -- in person and through e-mails -- they seem to be largely young, male, independent-minded, leave-us-alone libertarians who like Paul's tiny-government agenda.

Which leads to another reason why I think Paul faces trouble in moving his campaign to the next level of public attention: organization. You can't win political campaigns without it, but organizing libertarians is about as easy as herding cats. Angry cats.

Is Paul the candidate for you? I'll let you decide that.

Obamarama!!!

Rich Miller takes some highlights from his syndicated columns on The Capitol Fax Blog today. What I want to focus on is how Sen. Obama fares after the recent Chicago municipal elections and if you believe Miller, not very well.

Here's some highlights from his Sun-Times column...

Speaking of Obama, it might be interesting to watch what the presidential candidate does in next year's primary. Obama refused to endorse any of the insurgent candidates this year, sticking with the Daley Machine and openly endorsing faded hack Ald. Tillman in her losing race to Pat Dowell, who is truly a breath of fresh air.

It's more than a little ironic that a self-styled ''new politics'' guy like Obama has no strong ties to the newly elected aldermen who seem to share so many of his self-professed political values. He's just lucky that no national political reporter has covered this hypocrisy angle yet.

Ouch and this is a good point. I have talked him up as a new generation of black leadership, but he definitely has some work to do. And how about his column in the Daily Southtown...

Barack Obama, who styles himself as the epitome of a young, black "new politics" candidate, did not endorse a single one of the bright, new, independent-minded aldermen who will be taking the helm of black wards on the South and West sides. Count him as a big loser.

Ouch again. Senator Obama probably did a good thing in endorsing the current state treasurer Alexi Gianoulis for election last year. Unfortunately he didn't do much in his own backyard. Well only time will tell.

One other thing but not from Rich Miller, he looks at Lynn Sweet's column from the Sun-Times. She looks at the debate last night of eight Democrats running for their presidential nomination in Charleston, South Carolina...

If you've been on Mars for a while and did not know the names of the Democratic White House frontrunners, you could have thought after the first presidential debate Thursday they were Sen. Joe Biden, Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Chris Dodd.

The 90-minute nationally televised debate on the campus of South Carolina State University -- the first of the 2008 season -- was dominated by criticism of President Bush and the Iraq war in a session smartly moderated by NBC anchor Brian Williams.

On the level playing field of the debate stage, the frontrunners -- Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, with former Sen. John Edwards behind them -- did not come out of the debate looking or sounding obviously more "presidential" than their second-tier rivals.

In that sense, they were upstaged by Biden, Richardson and Dodd, who showcased their years of experience.

Another ouch, but a double ouch on Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton. Perhaps after all this time they were being hyped up and now both are being cut down to size. Still we have along way until it is determined who is the Democratic nominee. Sen. Obama has plenty of time to get his act together.

Woah now

The Capitol Fax Blog in their morning shorts this morning linked to an article on where celebrities have donated money to specific candidates. This article was in the Sun-Times.

Let me preferace this by saying that in general Hollywood donates money to Democratic candidates. Think for a second here, you hear that Hollywood is considered liberal right? Well the money trail proves will prove it. It's just that I found some things that are interesting looking at this article.

I wonder what is the advantage of donating to your favored party or candidates but then donating to the other party or candidate you're not that likely to support. Is there some strategy or sucking up going on. Or are they just trying to side with the winner.

I was shocked to find that Jada Pinkett Smith (Will Smith's wife) and Berry Gordy (of Motown Records) have donated money to President Bush. Smith however has donated money to Barack Obama, while Berry Gordy (hmm I always thought it was Barry) has donated money to Bush's challenger Sen. John Kerry as well as Sen. Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Wow I wonder what's up with that.

I see that according to this article Prince back in 1990 donated money to a Republican candidate and I see that Spike Lee is donating money to Sen. Clinton. Well this will just cause me to ask questions about why the donate money the way they do. Perhaps a lot of us who aren't celebrites may ask questions about that of ourselves.