"Wake up, have your Starbucks, and concede, Senator Clinton. You're blowing your best last chance to be remembered as anything but self-absorbed and self-obsessed. She reminds me of the child who throws a tantrum at her sibling's birthday party and must get a gift, too."

Cross posted from my blog.

Cross posted from my blog.

This is the story of a movement that swept a nation, overthrew a political regime, and has already delivered so much of the "change" he has promised. The young voters, once viewed as complacent and apathetic with regards to government, got into the driver’s seat and wrested control of the steering wheel from the generations before them in whose hands our country took a turn for the worse. Barack Obama, the liberal senator from Illinois, campaigned in Atlanta and Boise, New Orleans and New Hampshire, crossing borders that other Democrats would’ve avoided, labeling those states as red, places where we had no chance.

Cross-posted from my blog.

Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame (Woodward’s other half) wrote a book on Hillary Clinton titled "A Woman in Charge," and shared his thoughts on the presidential candidate’s shaky relationship with the truth.

In light of evidence that her descriptions of landing in Bosnia under "sniper fire" were fabricated, Hillary and her campaign staff have chalked the incident up to a simple "misstatement" among millions of words. But as Hillary’s entire candidacy is based on the premise of having superior foreign policy experience to her opponents, and that claim has been revealed as a farce. When Barack Obama uttered words once spoken by Governor Deval Patrick, Hillary made a tremendous stink, claiming that if Obama’s campaign was based on words, the words should at least be his own. Then by your own judgement, Senator Clinton, your claimed foreign policy experiences should be your own.

An excerpt from Carl Bernstein’s book indicates that this may not be only one misstatement, but the latest in a pattern of lies in Hillary Clinton’s public life.

Cross posted from My Blog.

With his victory in Wyoming last night, Barack Obama has extended his delegate lead over Hillary Clinton to 99 delegates. Including pledged delegates (those won in primaries in caucuses) and announced superdelegates (Democratic Party leadership that can vote as they choose at convention), Obama has 1,527 delegates and Clinton has 1,428.

There are 33 delegates at stake in Mississippi on Tuesday, March 11, and Barack Obama is polling anywhere from 6 to 24 points ahead of Clinton in that state. The next contest isn’t until April 22, when Pennsylvania heads to the polls. Hillary is still polling around 15 points ahead of Obama in the Keystone State, but if we look at trends from other states where she had a double-digit lead more than a month ahead of the contest (places like Virginia, Maryland, Washington State–all of which Obama won handily), it’s fairly clear that Hillary’s lead in Pennsylvania will most likely be diminished.

Cross-posted from my blog.

Forget an Obama aide calling Hillary Clinton a monster.  As Kos reported, according to the Times Online, a Clinton aide has called the 27 states that Obama has won "boutique" and "latte-sipping."

"One Clinton aide yesterday derided Mr Obama’s victories in ’boutique’ caucus states rather than the hardscrabble terrain of the rustbelt, saying: ‘Obama has won the small caucus states with the latte-sipping crowd. They don’t need a president, they need a feeling.’"

Cross posted in my blog.

As anyone with a television has heard by now, the desperate Clinton campaign is throwing allegations of plagiarism at Barack Obama.

They deviously and deceptively avoid the facts that:

On Monday, I wrote a diary titled "You Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine: Credit Card Debt," which turned into a frank yet polite discussion amongst Kossacks about credit card debt and how to pull yourself out of it.

The conversation was extremely helpful, and I recommend anyone who missed it to read the above link and excellent advice given by Kossacks who had freed themselves from tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

As a college student, I did what everyone on my campus did and signed up for a credit card with a $2000 limit in order to score some cool red plastic cups in which to pour beer and possibly a tee-shirt for a baseball team I don't even really like.

I didn't know anything about credit cards. Since the age of 11, I'd earned allowance in the form of cash, doing chores around the house, and at the age of 16, began working part-time at on Old Navy and lifeguarding during the summers. The concept of "borrowed money" or "credit" wasn't one I was familiar with. I knew my mom had credit cards for department stores, and that my parents often whipped out plastic to pay for family dinners or schoolbooks. Other than that, I was blissfully unaware.

It seems like a no-brainer. Mitt Romney drops out, McCain becomes the landslide frontrunner and offers Mike Huckabee a place on the GOP ticket for November, which the former Arkansas Governor happily accepts.

Except it's not playing out quite that way.

As someone who has supported Howard Dean from Day One, as a candidate and as the DNC Chairman, it's hard for me to find a way to put this delicately, so I'm just going to rip off the band-aid.

Howard Dean is WRONG to call for an "arrangement" to determine our nominee.

Cross posted in my blog.

In honor of Mitt Romney’s announcement today, Op-Edna presents to you the "Top Six Political Kisses of Death", moments when any remaining glimmer of hope for the candidate in question was shot to sh*t.

It's the fourth quarter of the Superbowl. The Patriots lead the Giants by an unimpressive 7-3 in what appears to be one of the least interesting sports contests I've ever seen.

Not that it matters, because the sound on the small TV across the room is turned so low that it's impossible to hear over the clicking of keys and the ringing of phones.

I'm sitting in the Obama for America headquarters in Chicago, answering the new national hotline for voters who need help finding their polling places for Super Duper Tuesday or need other information about casting their votes on Feb. 5.

UPDATE: We all just broke out in applause when Plaxico made that catch, fyi. =P

Cross-posted in my blog.

It's easy to experience anticipation, impatience, excitement, and elation about the prospect of new leadership and new direction for a country which has suffered too long under a president it didn't actually elect. The man once perceived by many of us as just a buffoon playing dress-up in his dad's suits has come to represent something sinister, something tyrannical, something evil, in our eyes and the eyes of people around the world.

We look at our candidates imploringly, begging them to fix the Bush administration's mess and restore not only order, but happiness to our lives, which have become a day-in, day-out parade of rising costs, anger, and fear. Costs for medical care, costs for a gallon of gas or milk, costs for mortgages we were tricked into. Anger at the way our civil liberties are mangled and revoked, at how close we've come to losing choice and setting back race relations and failing our GLBT citizens. Fear for what we have become in the eyes of our fellow global citizens, fear of another attack, fear of traveling freely throughout the world, fear of what will happen to our loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan and beyond.

UPDATE: 7:18 PM EST: Barack Obama will give his victory speech at 9 PM EST.

UPDATE: 7:15 PM EST: Obama received about 81% of African American women's votes!

UPDATE: 7:05 PM EST: "Obama 'routed' Hillary Clinton," says Keith Olbermann.

UPDATE: 7 PM EST: MSNBC has named Barack Obama as the projected winner for the S.C. primary!!!

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Let's hear your predictions for tonight!!!

Well folks, official Democratic contest #4 has arrived, and in 45 minutes we will start seeing returns from the South Carolina primary.

I'll be liveblogging until Kos begins updating live, at which time, I'll refer you over to him. But until then, let's talk about what this win will mean for the victor. What are you predictions for tonight? Will the pollsters get it right and Obama will walk away with the win? Will Hillary prove to be the comeback kid once more? Or will Edwards pull a shocking upset, taking 2nd or even 1st in his native state?

EDIT: Women interested in the proposed support group, please email me at OpEdna@gmail.com so you don't have to post your email addresses on here.

Two nights ago, kept awake by pain, I wrote a diary, "What About the Medical Debt I Already Have: an Endometriosis Sufferer's Tale" about my battle with endometriosis. Because I posted it at midnight central time, many interested readers did not get a chance to see it until it was already too late to comment. So I am reposting below, with an important update.

The kindness from commentors overwhelmed me. I felt nervous about sharing, but soon learned I was not alone, even on Kos.

I'd like to try and form some sort of support group for any women on Daily Kos suffering from chronic reproductive diseases that take a major physical, emotiona, and financial toll on our lives. I'd be interested to hear your suggestions below as to how this could work (email? rotating diaries?).

The original diary is reposted below for those who missed the chance to comment. Thank you all again for your kindness and support.

I got home from work today to find yet another trademark double window white business envelope with a return address reading "so and so Medical Services, Inc." These envelopes make me nervous. Just when I think I've paid down or set up installment plans for all of my medical debt, another envelope arrives, asking for $318.60 ("but we'll accept $223 if you pay in full today!") for some laboratory/medical service that my insurance didn't pay in full. I can call the number listed to settle the debt or arrange a payment plan, but only until 6 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. I look at the clock. It's 6 P.M. Central Time, which is about the time I get home from work every single day, if the trains run on time and the weather isn't awful.

I think to myself, "Of course." I'll either have to call from work, keeping my voice low so that the colleagues in my neighboring cubes don't hear me calling a debt collector, or sneak out into the frigid January air during my lunch break, juggling my cell phone in one hand, and the invoice and my credit cards in the other. All because of my ovaries.

Is there a trend in which candidates and NFL championship teams Democrats support? PLEASE participate in this poll, I'll summarize the results at the end of the day!

They've called it for Hillary. With just over half the tally in.

You know the drill.

3:51 P.M. EST

With 50.04% of precincts reporting

Senator Hillary Clinton: 50.09%  
Senator Barack Obama: 44.59%  
Senator John Edwards: 5.03%  
Uncommitted: 0.23%  
Congressman Dennis Kucinich: 0.06%  
Senator Mike Gravel: 0%

(NVDems08.com)