Thanks to all who signed up and participated in the Barack Birthday Bake Off. There are four Food Tasters for Obama logo t-shirt winners instead of three, because we had a tie in the "organizing ideas" category. The winners (three wonderful recipes are avaiable below the fold) are:
Best Recipe: Erica Rivera's Black and White Birthday Cake (an original recipe)
Best Photo: Hanneke Hoogstrate's Berry Spangled Baked Cheesecake and Banoffi Cheesecake on the Batavia (Jakarta Indonesia's colonial name, providing one more degree of separation from the candidate) ship's chest (posted on her Dutch website at http://www.blago.net/_baking_08/08_04_berry_tart.php)
Best Organizing Ideas:
--David Levy's (who prepared a Unity Pound Cake for 60 at an outdoor party of the Prince George's County MD office), and
--Michaele Camp (whose Sour Cream Pound Cake won the Bake Off hosted by Gena Bowser and Sharon Wilkerson at the Urban Tea Loft in Chandler AZ)
This is Grant from the Matthew 25 Network. By now you have probably seen the McCain campaign's "The One” Ad. I wanted to provide somewhat of a "special comment" on this ad. Because, I think many who don't come from an evangelical context may miss the point. At the bottom of the page there is a link for our petition to call upon Sen. McCain to renounce these ads, but first I want to walk through why they are so troubling.
The McCain campaign is claiming that it is "humorous," "a joke," and "a little fun." Well here is the ad...and below the fold we'll tell you why this is anything but a joking matter -
If this doesn't work, I have no idea what would...
Hillary Clinton will not only get a primetime speaking slot the second night of the convention, Tuesday, which happens to be "the 88th anniversary of the day women earned the right to vote," when the United States ratified the 19th Amendment.
On top of her speech, she will be joined on stage by all the female Democratic US Senators --- highlighting the historic nature of her run. (An extra nice gesture would be a warm introduction by Nancy Pelosi --- our first female speaker --- who of course hasn't always been on the best of terms with Clinton this cycle.)
"Tuesday night is Hillary night," said one supporter.
Very well-played by the Obama team. If I remember the 2004 Boston Convention correctly, Bill Clinton gave the main address Monday, then-unknown state senator Barack Obama gave the keynote address Tuesday (not on primetime), Edwards spoke Wednesday, followed by Kerry the final night.
I note with interest today, John McCain's new tactic of associating Barack Obama with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women. (See today's new ad and this from yesterday.) Presumably, a laHarold Ford 2006, this will be one of those strategies that will be a matter of deep dispute during the campaign and later treated as transparent and obvious once the campaign is concluded. [...]
Remember, he hired the operative who put together the Ford/Bimbo ad. But I want to keep tabs on which reporters are helping him retail the message.
I don't necessarily see the ads as comparable, though it's obvious that they're inspired by the same core strategy of challenging celebrity --- but it'll be interesting to see if the McCain campaign stays on this course and pushes too far, and how the Obama campaign chooses to deal with it if they do.
Assuming that Gov. Tim Kaine and Gov. Kathleen Sebeiius are both on Obama's short list, I wonder what the tight-lipped Obama world thinks about the leaks coming from Kaine allies as compared to the nada-nothing-bupkis coming from Sebelius's orbit?
Months ago, incredibly, the McCain campaign decided to challenge Obama by reinforcing his key message. With mottos like "Change you can't afford" and "That's not Change you can believe in," they merely deepened America's perception of Obama as the anti-incumbent.
For decades, the core Republican strategy has been to portray Democrats as fundamentally unlikable and unpersonable. "Wooden." "Stiff." "He doesn't connect with people." This strategy was honed to perfection against Kerry and Gore. Republicans insisted on winning elections not on issues, but on character and personality.
This year's Republican party? "Our opponent is popular. Everyone loves him. He's eloquent. Good-looking. Here are some photos of the masses adoring him and chanting his name. Here's a crowd waving American flags in adulation."
Am I the only one saying: Huh?
Second, why connect McCain in a negative ad with Big Oil? I have a guess about the political climate regarding offshore drilling. Hurting at the pump, Americans are perhaps showing more tolerance for drilling --- but that doesn't mean they reward the messenger who associates his campaign with it.
This ad's message is: "My opponent is gorgeous, eloquent, popular, and I'm in the pocket of Big Oil." It manages single-handedly to not only make his opponent look better, but to make himself look cheap and negative.
After watching this ad, what resonates with you? What lingers? The off-the-wall claim that Obama will tax electricity --- which makes you go, huh? Or the crowd chanting Obama's name?
And McCain's campaign is saving Obama the funds of keeping images from the Berlin rally on the airwaves.
David Mizner, a former Edwards supporter, makes a good case for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. (Interestingly, a number of former Edwards supporters voice their agreement in the diary.)
Mizner highlights her efforts in Kansas to prevent the construction of any further coal power plants in the state. Her environmental record is clearly stronger than Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who pushed an industry-backed "compromise" for coal power that infuriated progressive activists.
But Mizner could just have easily highlighted her more progressive record on choice, despite overwhelming opposition from the Kansas state legislature. Or her industry-battling record as Insurance Commissioner. Or her stance against the death penalty.
Sebelius has sky-high approval ratings, despite being governor of a conservative state often riven by social issues, whereas Kaine doesn't have the same popularity in Virginia as a Mark Warner.
Sebelius also has a stronger record of achievement. Unlike Kaine, who is still only halfway through his first term as governor, Sebelius is serving a second term, after a landslide re-election, and has spent decades in statewide office.
Some highlights from her career, via Wikipedia and TomP:
She was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1986. In 1994 she left the House to run for state insurance commissioner and stunned political forecasters by winning — the first time a Democrat had won in more than 100 years. She is credited with bringing the agency out from under the influence of the insurance industry. She refused to take campaign contributions from insurers and blocked the proposed merger of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, with an Indiana-based company. The decision by Sebelius marked the first time the corporation had been rebuffed in its acquisition attempts.
snip
Governorship
2002 Election
Sebelius defeated Republican Tim Shallenburger in the 2002 election by a vote of 53%-45%
snip
2006 Re-Election
Main article: Kansas gubernatorial election, 2006 On May 26, 2006 Sebelius formally announced her candidacy for re-election. Four days later, Mark Parkinson, former Kansas state GOP Party Chair, switched his party affiliation to Democratic; the following day Sebelius announced that Parkinson would be her running mate for Lieutenant Governor. Parkinson had previously served in the state House during 1991–1992 and the Senate during 1993–1997. Parkinson was viewed as a pro-business moderate who strongly supported public education. This was somewhat reminiscent of the fact that John Moore had also been a Republican, before switching just days prior to joining Sebelius as her running mate.[10]
She was challenged by Republican Kansas State Senator Jim Barnett. A September 1 Rasmussen poll showed Sebelius with an 11 percent lead over Barnett. [11] Other polls gave Sebelius as much as a 20 percent lead. As of 2004, 50 percent of Kansas voters were registered Republicans, compared to 27 percent as registered Democrats.[12] Sebelius, nevertheless, won a landslide re-election — with 57.8 percent — of the vote to Barnett's 40.5 percent. Because of Kansas' term limit law, her second term as Governor is her last.
Notice that her major election victories in Kansas came during the two toughtest cycles for Democrats: the conservative revolution in 1994 and the post-September 11th climate in 2002. In other words, she's thrived in the most difficult political climates imaginable.
In the end, Kaine or Sebelius would be good options. Both are loyal, warm, and long-standing supporters and friends of Obama's.
Despite his years on the Senate Foreign Policy Committee, Delaware Senator Joe Biden is simply too much of a loud-mouth and too prone to gaffes.
Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is a bland public speaker with a questionable Senate record, having served as co-chair of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, one of the shadiest organizations in recent memory:
[I]n 2003, Bayh was an honorary co-chair of the neocon pro-war Committee for the Liberation of Iraq -- a group he joined along with none other than John McCain and Joe Lieberman, according to a press release from during the run-up to the invasion.
Check this out, from the group's press release on February 14th, 2003 (via Nexis):
The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) is pleased to welcome Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) as an Honorary Co-Chairman. Bayh becomes the third U.S. Senator to join the committee after Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced their participation on January 28.
The Committee is a neo-con group that was formed to propagandize the country into war. It boasted such illustrious neocon members as Bill Kristol, former CIA director James Woolsey, and even McCain senior foreign policy adviser and Chalabi-bamboozler Randy Scheunemann, whom Josh has been blogging about.
When is the last time you observed one of our country's leaders saying something like this:
"Like most of my values, I learned about empathy from my mother. She disdained any kind of cruelty or thoughtlessness or abuse of power ....Whenever she saw even a hint of such behavior in me she would look me square in the eyes and ask, "How do you think that would make you feel?" ... I find myself returning again and again to my mother's simple principle -- "How would that make you feel?" -- as a guidepost for my politics. ... It's not a question we ask ourselves enough, I think; as a country, we seem to be suffering from an empathy deficit."
Thank you icebergslim for sharing this photo at DKos. This looks like a man that just had a really great trip. It was taken last night at Midway Airport, Chicago.
Now I don't think it is fruitful to be up to our necks in national polls at this stage of the general election. Traditionally, convention time is when many Americans leave summer relaxation behind and begin to focus on the candidates. But today's Gallup poll speaks to me:
We have some numbers we have never seen before. This is the first time since Mar. 7th that either candidate has had as high as 49 or as low as 40. It is therefore also the widest gap. ( But note the number of undecideds hasn't effectively changed.)
Best Recipe: Erica Rivera's Black and White Birthday Cake (an original recipe) 
