Happy Birthday, loser!

Boy, what a creep this guy is, huh?

As it is another one of those days for me (doing 5 & 5:30), the posts will be on the light side today (sorry).

Read the movie-script-ish press release from the Justice Department on the Blagojevich arrest here.

A ‘greatest-hits’ summary (if you don’t have time to read the above link) can be found here, at Politico.

Read how a phone call from Obama several weeks ago may have been the domino that started it all here.

Get a roundup on what some in the blogosphere are saying here. Be sure to check out Ambinder’s day-after thoughts, too.

Get a humorous/snarky (& warning: very salty-language-filled) take on the indictment from Wonkette, here.

Just how corrupt is Chicago politics? Pretty darn corrupt, as you can read here.

& as always, feel free to register your thoughts about this scandal in the comments section!

It’s common to give to a presidential campaign; it’s far less common to give to a presidential transition.

Today the Obama Transition team released its list of 1776 donors on its website, & they include a pair of local folks:

Faulkner, Sarah K…Lookout Mountain, TN…$250.00

Huff, Keith…Signal Mountain, TN…$250.00

More from Change.gov:

The Obama-Biden Transition project only accepts contributions from individuals’ personal funds – we refuse all donations from corporations, labor unions, and PACs. Individuals may not donate more than $5,000. We also refuse all contributions from registered federal lobbyists and registered foreign agents.

Slate’s Brendan Koerner takes a look.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama’s campaign says the Democratic presidential candidate raised $66 million in August, making for another record fundraising month. That tops the record $55 million Obama raised last February.
Campaign spokesman Bill Burton also said Sunday that Obama reached the $66 million mark with help from contributions from 500,000 new donors.
More details are expected later this week, when the campaigns file their monthly financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.
Obama decided not to accept public financing for the rest of his campaign, opting to spend as much as he can raise.
Republican candidate John McCain has accepted public financing, which limits his direct spending to about $84 million.

66 million is quite a number. Other statistics associated with it:

-Iran has about 66 million people.

-The world contains about 66 million Lutherans.

-66 million Americans have arthritis.

-In 1948, there were about 66 million radios in the United States.

-Today, there are about 66 million cell phone users.

-Consumers have bought 66 million units of the “RockStar” video game.

-Each year, there are about 66 million unintended pregnancies around the world.

-There are 66 million dogs in the United States.

-Here’s a look at some of the animals that were roaming what is now Montana 66 million years ago.

-If you laid 66 million $1 bills end-to-end, you’d be a very rich person with a lot of time on your hands.

No, I’m not trying to tie Obama into any of these numbers. But you’re absolutely welcome to try.

What do you think?

We’re not going to name names - we’d be bound by journalistic ethics to list all local contributors, which we don’t have time for - but the names are available in the public record, & this site has them.

Total contributions to John Edwards’ presidential campaign in 2008 from Chattanooga residents in 2007/2008: $8221

Here are the 11 donors who gave over $200:

Photographer, Olan Mills - $4600

Trial Lawyer - $1000

Self-employed Development Consultant - $500

Retired Male - $305

Chickamauga Lock Operator - $300

Retired Female - $300

Unemployed Male - $250

Agrifos Fertilizer Inc. VP - $250

IT Guy at Unum Group - $250

Retired Female - $230

Retired Male - $216

This purpose of this post is not to ridicule the donors; regardless of your party, these folks deserve your sympathy. They believed in a man who turned out to have feet of clay.

By the way, 1175 voters in Hamilton County chose Edwards in the February presidential primary. 

American corporations have every right to be involved in the political process. Trouble is that sometimes their involvement is not widely advertised. Let’s enlighten you on that involvement with two examples in the news today.

Which candidate gets the most money from oil companies? Do you really have to ask?

It’s John McCain. But that love has been expressed in the form of campaign contributions only recently.

Check out this chart:

This is from a new report from the nonpartisan CampaignMoney.org.

As you can see, oil companies haven’t really been McCain fans. The money started gushing only after McCain reversed his position on offshore drilling earlier this summer.

Is this wrong? No, not at all, as long as these companies adhere to the law. This is part of the American electoral process. But so is your duty to be an informed voter. Now you know.

Our 2nd story comes from the world’s largest retailer. Check out this story from today’s Wall Street Journal:

“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies — including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

…

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don’t specifically tell attendees how to vote in November’s election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

“The meeting leader said, ‘I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won’t have a vote on whether you want a union,’” said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. “I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote,” she said.”

Is this legal? Yes, because it’s not like the company is threatening anyone with their job if they vote “the wrong way.” (hard for the company to verify that anyway).

But is it ethical? Sure doesn’t smell like it.

UPDATE: The group “Wal-Mart Watch” has more details about what was said & shown at the meetings, including a slide that said “Obama = Union.”

What do you think?

The good news: Hillary raised a bunch of money since Tuesday.

The bad news: The circular firing squad is apparently continuing behind the scenes of her campaign.

For the month of February:

Hillary Clinton: $35 million

Barack Obama: $50 million

Clinton did outperform Obama’s January numbers. But she’s still behind the 8-ball.

Many of you may wonder, considering the current state of her campaign, how she got so much money.

Simple. She has lost contests.

Every time a candidate does that, that candidate will raise more money from her supporters. Obama got a similar fundraising bounce after his loss in New Hampshire.

What about John McCain? As of Thursday evening his campaign has not released any figures. It’s an easy bet his number will be far below the two figures cited above. FRIDAY UPDATE: He’s raised $12 million in February. Ouch.

‘

Hard to believe.. but the Iowa caucuses were just 34 days ago. Since then, it’s been a manic sprint to get more than half the country to pick their presidential candidate, with narratives changing by the week, and in some cases, by the day. Now that Super Tuesday is in our rearview mirror, the campaign is switching from a sprint to a marathon. It could still be another full 75 days before we know the outcome of the Democratic race to the nomination, though as we noted yesterday, Republicans seem to have wrapped up their half of the contest.

Vote08 has its running shoes on and is pacing itself for the long haul. You can depend on us to bring you the major issues in the Presidential campaign - & its impact on the Tennessee Valley. I hope you check back on a daily basis to get a rundown of where the candidates & the campaign stands each morning. & I hope you weigh in often with your opinion. All political viewpoints are welcome here, & we hope to maintain a continual discussion to find out who will be the 44th president, how we can best turn around an apparent long-term slide as a world superpower, & how best to address the other issues & challenges this nation faces.

Let’s start the morning with a look at what we can glean from the latest Presidential webpoll at NewsChannel9.com. (The poll has now closed).

Which of these major presidential candidates would you most like to see win the White House in November?
Hillary Clinton - 31%
Mike Huckabee-32%
John McCain-17%
Barack Obama-14%
Mitt Romney-7%
Total Votes: 1244

This poll is unscientific, but NewsChannel9 is able to limit it to one vote per computer. 1244 votes is a higher-than-normal amount for a web poll, so it’s great that you are paying attention!

As often happens, the numbers did not significantly change with the number of votes. These percentages stayed on track throughout the 6 days the poll was up. Can we divine what this means for the Tennessee Valley’s general election vote in November? Sure we can!

-We’re living in Huckabee country. If John McCain names him as the Vice Presidential nominee, he’s all but assured a win in these three states.

-But if he keeps Huckabee off the ticket, that could mean good news for Hillary Clinton — despite her loss in Hamilton County to Barack Obama.

-Mitt Romney never would have had a chance here as the nominee, & if Obama’s the nominee he either needs to cede the state to his rival or spend a lot of money.

Of course this is a Super Tuesday snapshot; the Tennessee Valley’s opinions on all of these candidates will change over time.

We’ll have some interesting points to ponder after the jump.

“Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama split the popular vote 50.2% to 49.8%, by a margin so thin, you could barely slide a butterfly ballot betwixt.” - Time Magazine

“We are told the GOP nomination has not been won “fairly quickly,” as in recent contests. This is a horrible misremembering of history. The senior Bush took 45 days after the first contest to secure the nomination in 1988. It took Bob Dole 35 days to become the presumptive nominee in 1996. The current president took 45 days to clear the field in 2000. The first contest this year was on Jan. 3. Let’s at least give the process until the middle or end of February before pundits start predicting doom because of how long it’s taking.” - Karl Rove

“Barack Obama’s campaign is on track to raise another $30 million in February…while Hillary Rodham Clinton’s spokesman revealed Wednesday that she had loaned her campaign $5 million.” - the Politico

“Mike Huckabee has done something that no other cultural values conservative in the history of the Republican Party, modern Republican Party has done. He has won a series of states. I mean, Pat Buchanan didn’t do it. Pat Robertson didn’t do it. He has the chance right now to emerge as the leader, as the youngest candidate in the field on the Republican side, to emerge as the leader of that cultural values wing of the party.” - Columnist Mark Shields on the PBS NewsHour last night

“A fascinating dynamic appears when voters are asked to judge the [opposing parties'] candidates’ strength and experience vs. their new ideas and potential for bringing change. McCain and Clinton match closely in both dimensions, while McCain leads Obama by 20 points on strength and experience, but Obama has a 31-point edge on representing a new direction.” - Columnist David Broder

“The most interesting demographic division in this campaign is one that’s often overlooked — not race or gender, but age. The leading candidates represent three generations, each with a distinct style and resonance. This issue may explain why the country is taking its time to make up its mind and is confounding predictions.” - Columnist David Ignatius

“[For Democrats,] will this be 1932 and a chance to elect an historic candidate with an historic mission for change? That could be either the first woman or the first African American. Also, Democrats have an opportunity to turn this into a new New Deal, or a similar 1980 Reagan moment. Each of those cases offered a package for change with a new kind of vision….On the other hand, will Democrat race degenerate into a repeat of 1968? That year, supporters of Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, who were very opposed to the war in Vietnam, refused to warm up to party nominee Hubert Humphrey. Their lukewarm support cost Humphrey the election, and helped to elect Nixon by one point.” - former ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin

“Mr. Obama does surprisingly well among evangelical Christians, an important constituency in swing states. For example, Relevant magazine, which caters to young evangelicals, asked its readers: “Who would Jesus vote for?” Mr. Obama was the winner and came out 27 percentage points ahead of Mrs. Clinton.” - Columnist Nicholas Kristoff

“There are seven reasons for anyone to support the eventual [Republican] nominee no matter who it is: The war and six Supreme Court justices over the age of 68.” - Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt

“The “either/or” crowd surprisingly claims that the two Democratic candidates are more alike than different, yet those who gravitate to Obama find their motives questioned and their loyalties on trial. Even long standing allies of the women’s movement have been unable to escape the label of “traitor” for opting to support Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton.” - Kimberle Crenshaw & Eve Ensler, two feminists for Obama

“There’s a new rule at the Republican National Committee. Refer to the two leading Democratic presidential candidates simply as “Barack” and “Hillary” and you’ll be fined $10.” - Washington Whispers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $32 million in the single month of January, matching his best three-month period last year, aides said Thursday.

The money positions Obama for the sweeping Feb. 5 primary contests, when 22 states will be in play for the Democratic nomination. Aides also announced that with their money they can now advertise in states beyond the Super Tuesday contest next week.

Obama is advertising in all but two of the Feb. 5 states and plans to begin advertising in states with upcoming contests, including Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, Maine, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. [*VOTE08 note: He's purchased some airtime on NewsChannel9 for this weekend as well.]

Campaign manager David Plouffe said the campaign attracted 170,000 new donors for a total of 650,000 donors overall.

“We think that the strength of our financial position and the number of donors does speak to financial sustainability if it ends up going through March and April,” Plouffe said of the race. “We think we will have the financial resources to conduct vigorous campaigns in the states to come.”