Obama is Not the Black Candidate

This could be the election the younger voters come out in droves to support Obama and tip the election. The younger generation, and other Obama supporters, are more inclined to see Obama as the excellent candidate who is black -- not the black candidate.

WaPo: Defying stereotypes, the young are more engaged in this campaign than are their elders. A Pew Research Center study released this month asked voters whether they considered this year's campaign "interesting" or "dull." Among those 18 to 29, 67 percent called the campaign interesting, as did 66 percent of those 30 to 49. By contrast, 58 percent of those 50 to 64 and 52 percent of those 65 and over saw the campaign as interesting.

The increase in political interest among the young is staggering. Between 2000 and this year, the percentage of those under 30 describing the campaign as interesting was up 36 percentage points; the increase among those 65 and over was a more modest 18 points.

Could the young make a difference in Barack Obama's favor? Again, the answer is clearly yes. Age is one of the most powerful lines of division in this election. In Pew's survey, under-30s gave Obama his largest lead, 56 to 36 percent. He also led among voters ages 30 to 49 but ran behind among voters 65 and over.

Seminal: So while CNN commentators continue to be impressed by how "articulate" Obama is, America's youth see nothing remarkable in the fact of an intelligent black man taking center stage. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders paved the way for Obama, certainly: but so did KRS-ONE, Dr. Dre, Chuck D, Nas, Jay-Z, Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, and Kanye West. So did Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. So did Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. So did Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, and thousands of other major figures in our culture.

I do not often care to generalize, and racism remains a potent force in this country, but on the whole young white Americans are more comfortable with racial pluralism than earlier generations were. And that doesn't just include the mass hip-hop culture that MTV beamed into our living rooms since we were children. That also includes attending schools and colleges where racial diversity is an entrenched value, traveling at high rates to foreign countries, and growing up in an atmosphere of frank discussion about race in America, from the Rodney King beating to the OJ trial to a slew of TV shows and movies that deal with race in complex ways. Just watch the show Boondocks if you don't believe me: times have changed.

So for a lot of youth, Obama is not "the black candidate." He is a candidate who is also black.

What do younger voters admire about Obama?:

Seminal: I admire Obama for his wise decision to marry Michelle. She is an intelligent, accomplished, beautiful woman.

I admire Obama because he refuses to play the politics of fear. This is no small feat post 9/11 America. McCain and the Republicans try to win elections by playing on our fears. Obama speaks to our hopes–our desire to end a misbegotten war in Iraq, our desire to rejoin the community of nations, our desire to end the failed policy of tax cuts for the wealthy, and everyone else fends for themself.

I admire Obama because he is absolutely unflappable. Show me a time when he lost his temper or lost his cool. Contrast that with John McCain, whose temper has scared the hell out of people even in his own party.

And yes, I admire Obama for his speech in 2004, for his speech when he became the nominee, for his speech in race relations, for all of his speeches. Cohen may dismiss this as just words. So was the Declaration of Independence, so was Tom Paine's Common Sense. Obama's words have inspired millions. That too is something worthy of admiration.

Obama In Lansing Michigan Aug. 4

Update: see video here.
Obama will be campaigning in Lansing on his birthday. This event should be live streamed at cnn.com

Another live stream link. 

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will campaign Monday in Lansing.

His campaign said Obama plans to speak at the downtown Lansing Center at 11 a.m. It will be his first campaign stop in Michigan since a two-day swing June 16-17 that took him to Flint, Detroit and its suburbs.

It also will be the Illinois senator's first campaign stop in Lansing.

Courting Voters In the American Boondocks

This story is full of stereotypes and is rather candid (you'd never see writing like this from the American press) -- it's from UK's Times Online. Yikes!

Times: My guide to the mysteries of redneck culture is a shambling, garrulous, bourbon-loving writer named Joe Bageant. Raised in the backwoods of Appalachia, he returned to his roots after a 30-year absence and wrote one of those books that change the way you think of the US and the tarnished American dream. Joe, 61, is the author of Deer Hunting with Jesus, just published in Britain. It’s partly a scathing portrait of a small Virginia town divided by money, class and race; mostly it’s a lovesick and frequently hilarious rant about the poor, hopeless working-class Americans who “stay dumb and drink beer and vote Republican because no real liberal voice, the kind that speaks the rock-bottom, undeniable truth, ever enters their lives”.

Joe has a great deal to say about rednecks, God and guns, and the way that Democratic idols like Obama have failed to connect with what he calls “the white ghetto of the working poor”.

First, though, we drive out to that mountain-top honky-tonk known as the Troubadour Park, which is the home of a popular country-music guitarist, Joltin’ Jim McCoy. The occasion is Jim Jam 2008, a fundraising benefit to pay for McCoy’s bandstand, which was rebuilt this summer after the old one was hit by lightning and burnt to the ground. It’s a big outdoor space with lovely views across the West Virginia hills, but the redneck hordes are conspicuously absent when Joe and I arrive. On stage, a trio of cowpoke crooners is singing a song about “your cheatin’ heart” to an audience of five. Beside the arena, a couple of sweating barbecue cooks turn the burgers and hot dogs next to an oven shaped like a giant Colt revolver.

.....

“People just don’t have the cash to go out right now,” Judy says forlornly. Her husband, Tom Shifflett, a retired factory worker, talks about the mortgage crisis and the easy money that flowed as banks abandoned lending caution and grateful West Virginians plunged up to their ears in debt.

“A lot of it is their own fault,” Tom says. “They couldn’t wait for their new car, their new house, and if you asked them how they would pay for it, they’d say, ‘We’ll get lots of overtime.’ But now there’s no more overtime and they can’t afford the repayments and they’ve lost their credit, their cars and a lot of them are losing their homes.”

Whoever is to blame for America’s mortgage meltdown, it occurred under Republican rule and seems tailor-made to benefit the Democrats this year. Shouldn’t all these faltering rednecks, the front line of victims of Wall Street excess, be beating a path to Obama’s door? Or is there really so much racism in working-class America that they won’t vote for a Democratic would-be saviour just because he is black?

According to the story, Obama aides sought Bageant's help.

Obama's Speech at National Urban League

Obama spoke today at the convention. Video below. You can view the video at the NUL site. 

Here's a link to the transcript

Here's some of what he said:

On that hot August day, Whitney Young declared that the civil rights for which they were marching were "…not negotiable…." But he also described other marches that lay ahead: the march from "ghettos to decent, wholesome, unrestricted residential areas"; the march from "relief rolls" to "retraining centers"; the march from "ill-equipped schools which breed dropouts and which smother motivation" to "well-equipped, integrated facilities throughout the cities."

And he concluded, "Our march is a march for America."

Our march is a march for America.

Not black America or white America. Not rich America or poor America, rural America or urban America. But all America. An America where no child's destiny is determined before she's born – and no one's future is confined to the neighborhood he's born into. An America where hard work is still a ticket to the middle class – and you can make it if you try.

But somewhere along the way, we got off course. Somewhere along the way, we let a reckless few game the system, we let special interests tilt the scale and distort the free market, we stopped making the investments in our children and our workers to help us all rise together.

And today, we're all paying the price. Today, we stand at a defining moment in our history. With seven straight months of job losses; with the highest percentage of homes in foreclosure since the Depression; with family incomes down $1,000 and the costs of gas, groceries and health care up a whole lot more than that – so many people are looking at their children, wondering if they'll be able to give them the same chances they had.

Our cities have been especially hard hit – facing shrinking tax bases, growing budget deficits, and social services that just can't keep up with people's needs.

And let's be very clear: when more than 80 percent of Americans live in metro areas; when the top 100 metro areas generate two-thirds of our jobs; when 42 of our metro areas now rank among the world's 100 largest economies – the problems of our cities aren't just "urban" problems any more.

When rising foreclosures mean vacant homes, abandoned streets and rising crime that spills over city limits – that's a suburban problem and an ex-urban problem too.

When tens of millions of people in our cities are uninsured, and our urban emergency rooms are overflowing – that's a suburban and ex-urban problem too.

Obama Art at the Democratic National Convention

Submit your art at manifesthope.com to have your work hang at the Democratic National Convention.
Obama's art goes for big bucks -- more on Obama poster artists.

My Name is Barack Obama Video

Obama says McCain is being cynical, trying to distract people from talking about the real issues. The McCain camp is trying to portray Obama as risky because that strategy is McCain's single hope. McCain's ads and other nonsense appeals to the fears of the "white working class" and these silly fools. Can't there be more of us than them? (she hopes).

Three Debates for Obama and McCain

3 for Obama and McCain and 1 vice presidential debate for Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, and Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota (I'm just guessing here).

These debates will likely seal the deal. Side by side, the differences will be crystal clear.

Schedule: 

The first debate planned by the commission is set for September 26 in Oxford, Mississippi, three weeks after the Republican National Convention concludes September 4. The other presidential debates are set for October 7 and October 15 and the vice presidential debate for October 2.

Swamp: Sen. Barack Obama's campaign released a letter today to the Commission on Presidential Debates that accepts their framework for three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.

Campaign manager David Plouffe's language in the letter also seems to suggests it is unlikely Obama will take Sen. John McCain up on his challenge for additional town-hall-style debates.

Kitchen Sink is McCain's Best Chance to Win

Get ready for more kitchen sink from the McCain camp. It's seen as McCain's best hope. McCain is employing Hillary's strategy to appeal to the "low information" voter who doesn't necessarily seek out information but gets their news from Fox and TV ads.

As I recall, Hillary lost more than a political campaign using the kitchen sink. While she gained support of certain diehards, she lost the respect of many democrats.

NY Mag: Until last week, it was an open question which of these visions of McCain bore a closer relation to reality. But with the weeklong string of attacks uncorked by the Arizona senator and his people during Obama’s trip abroad and in its aftermath—some brutal, some mocking, but all personal and focused on Obama’s character—we now have an inkling of just how deep in the mud McCain and his people are willing to wallow in order to win in November: right up to their Republican eyeballs.

.....
The racial undertones of this assault are subtle but undeniable, as Obama himself suggested when he asserted last week that his opponents are trying to make voters “scared” of him because he “doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency.” They’re most glaring in “Troops,” which features footage of Obama sinking a three-pointer in Kuwait, despite the fact that the shot took place at a military base, which undermines the ad’s argument. But the spot’s deeper aim is to foster an unconscious simile: Obama as a blinged-up, camera-hungry, NBA shooting guard, Allen Iverson with a Harvard Law degree. Am I reaching? Consider this: Would the ad have featured footage of Obama on a golf course draining a hole-in-one? “No, it wouldn’t,” laughs a GOP media savant. “The racial angle is the first thing I thought of when I saw that ad. It fits into the celebrity stuff, too.” (For McCain, that impolitic, pro-Obama Ludacris track was manna from hip-hop heaven.)

The man behind the Obama smearing is none other than a Karl Rove disciple, Steve Schmidt.

But Weaver, Murphy, and McKinnon are no longer guiding McCain. Instead, the motor behind his operation now is Steve Schmidt, the shaven-headed strategist who earned his bones running Karl Rove’s war room in 2004, Frenchifying and de-war-heroizing John Kerry. What Schmidt and his associates have apparently concluded is that McCain’s weaknesses—on the election’s most salient issues and as a candidate—are so pronounced and Obama’s vulnerabilities so glaring that the low road is their guy’s best, and maybe only, route to the White House. They’ve concluded, in other words, that even if McCain may not be able to win the election in any affirmative sense, he might still wind up behind the big desk if he and his people can strip the bark off Obama with sufficiently vicious force.

Obama in Titusville Florida Video

Oil Drilling Swap for Alternative Energy Cars

The so-called "gang of 10" (5 democrats, 5 republicans) came up with an $84 billion plan that swaps more oil drilling for converting most vehicles to alternative energy within 20 years. Interesting. It would give the oil companies an opportunity to change their game plan. 

I'm still learning about this, so I don't have much more to say right now. Here is a good story to read. More of a gesture on Obama's part? 

The left and the Hillaries have already flipped out, starting the flip flop argument against Obama and John McCain has welcomed Obama to the dark side, chalking up a win for himself. At least we've gotten off the race card issue. I'd much rather see them squabble about these kinds of things. But I realized today, other than a minority of people talking politics on the Internet, the general public is not paying much attention.

Here's what Obama says:

CNN: 

"I made a general point about the fact that we need to provide the American people some relief and that there has been constructive conversations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on this issue," he said during a press conference in Cape Canaveral.

"What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems," Obama added.

"If we've got a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that America has to set and there are some things in there that I don't like, then obviously that's something that I would consider because that's the nature of how we govern in a democracy."

The senator from Illinois has spoken out against offshore drilling since Sen. John McCain in June proposed striking down the federal moratorium banning offshore oil and gas drilling to help alleviate high gas prices. "

The RNC is having troubles getting at Obama on oil because McCain shifted his position on drilling:

The Republican National Committee wants to portray Sen. Barack Obama as a flip flopper because he has shifted his position on off-shore oil drilling from being against it absolutely to now being willing to permit drilling so long as certain conditions are met, for instance, it comes as part of a comprehensive drilling plan.

There only seems to be one problem with the RNC tack. Sen. John McCain also changed his mind about off-shore drilling going from anti to pro.

But that doesn't stop the RNC from trying. What Obama has opposed is the idea that drilling offshore would lower gas prices--total bulldinky-- which according to the polls, is what many Americans believe. 

Here is what the RNC uses against Obama: 

Just A Few Days Ago, Obama Called Offshore Drilling A "Scheme." Obama: "Now the latest scheme is well, we're going to drill offshore. Now, I want to be absolutely clear to everybody about this. If I thought that I could provide you some immediate relief on gas prices by drilling off the shores of California and New Jersey, I understand how desperate folks are. I met a guy who couldn't go on a job search that lost his job, couldn't go on a job search because of the high price of gas. Just couldn't fill up his tank. I met a teacher in South Dakota who loved her job as a teacher on an Indian reservation, she had to quit because the drive was too far, it was taking up too much of her paycheck. I know how bad people are hurting. So If I thought that by drilling offshore, we could solve our problem, I'd do it." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Springfield, MO, 7/30/08)

Also, Obama will speak at the National Urban League today at 2 pm eastern time. It should be live streamed at cnn.com. I expect we will hear more on this.

Obama on Scribd

I never heard of this before but it's kind of cool. You can get all of Obama's plan documents, like this one on technology and innovation and post them on your blog like you're posting a video. You can also publish your own documents. 

Barack Obama on Technology & Innovation - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Barack Obama on Technology & Innovation

VoteBoth Ends Hillary for Veep Campaign

Now, they are signing up with Obama. Yay! I'm sad for them but happy they're not joining the PUMA pack.

VoteBoth: Because of your work, Senator Obama asked Hillary to be his keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention! We hope you are as pleased as we are that he has tapped Senator Clinton to deliver one of the most important messages of that crucial week—the very role that Barack Obama had four years ago.

Regretfully, this means that Senator Hillary Clinton is no longer under consideration as Senator Obama’s running mate.

While we all were working toward a different result, ultimately we and Barack Obama are working for the same eventual outcome—getting ready to take back the White House and bring our country the change Americans deserve and so desperately need. There is nothing more important than that.

Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate, we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party’s chances of winning in November.

We worked for Hillary for a combined ten years, so we know how many of you may be feeling. And to those who are hesitant to support Obama right now, we urge you to keep giving him the chance to earn your vote. We are confident he will.

Because, when it comes down to it, even the most ardent Hillary-supporter must ask himself or herself, “Do I want John McCain sending our soldiers off to more wars, giving Big Oil free rein to gouge us at the pump, and letting ideology overrule decisions that should be made on the basis of science and health?”

No. Never.

As Hillary said, “The way to continue our fight now - to accomplish the goals for which we stand - is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.”

McCain Proclaims Obama The One

John McCain can't stop talking about Obama, and about how many people admire and respect Obama, and in a new ad, McCain proclaims Obama The One.

Well, it's about time. Although the ad distorts some facts and twists Obama's words (what's a few lies when desperation sets in), McCain has it right. Obama is The One. He's The One who's going to be our next president.

McCain's just sorry he's Not The One.


In the past week, 200,000 people donated to the Obama campaign (including me), including 100,000 just yesterday (for a chance to go to Denver). People having been pouring into Obama campaign offices. McCain's low road tactics has inspired donations and action. 

Wal-Mart Warns Workers Don't Vote Obama

In the Wall Street Journal this morning (the WSJ is anti-Obama by the way), it has a story about Wal-Mart, which is warning its supervisors that if Obama wins, unions will be more powerful and "labor costs," or wages to you and I, would rise.

Seems to me that if companies were treating their employees well, then they wouldn't have to worry about a union. I guess the threat of losing the power that they've held during the Bush administration is kind of scary for these businesses, now in the economic dumps like the rest of us.

Anyway, it says: 

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.

Wal-Mart claims it's not telling people how to vote, but it warned of all the Bad things Obama would cause.  

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.

McCain's Smear Merchants

Look out cause the blowhards are coming to life. About 90 days left before the nomination and John McCain is a miserable candidate in dire need of a platform, and has nowhere to go but down. McCain is outdated. His new ad "The One" distorts and twists all in the name of fun, according to his campaign email. 

Salon: For many of the journalists who regard John McCain as an unusually honorable politician, listening to his increasingly dishonorable campaign rhetoric is a painful and puzzling experience. They are openly wondering what has driven him to denigrate and even smear Barack Obama in a style more reminiscent of McCain's old enemies in his own party than the straight-talking maverick. They want to believe that he has not really changed, and that somehow these lapses can be blamed on someone else. Like a spouse in a bad marriage, they have yet to face up to the fact that he actually changed years ago -- or to ask if he was ever the man they once thought he was.

Although several prominent pundits have denounced McCain for questioning Obama's patriotism, a lingering reluctance to confront reality still colors much commentary on the campaign. Writing gingerly in the Washington Post of the Arizona senator's "fuzzy" campaign persona, David Ignatius pleaded with McCain to return to the noble, tolerant and healing ways that no longer seem to govern his character.

Obama Handles Hecklers in St. Petersburg

Everybody wants a piece of Obama. Everybody. But Obama handles it with grace and wits and calm. St. Petersburg was riled up. If you're interested in what Obama had to say at the town hall, here is the transcript.


Obama gives the hecklers a chance to speak

Here is more video of the St. Petersburg town all today. Florida is in recession for the first time in 16 years. Wow.

Obama and McCain Together at Saddleback August 16

Update: Apparently tickets were given out to the church folks who could afford to pay up to $2,000 and no other tickets were available for the general public distribution. 

Update 8-16: Read more about Rick Warren, the man. 

Update 8-4: Limited # tickets will be available Aug. 13. No other details are posted yet.
Obama and McCain will appear together in a "civil forum" at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California on Aug. 16. 

The event will also be live streamed here. 

Pastor Rick Warren, perhaps best known as author of the book "The Purpose Driven Life," will be the moderator.

Here is the official release: 

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, respective
presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will end the primary season by making their first joint appearance of the 2008 campaign at Saddleback
Church on Saturday, Aug.16 at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of the 22,000-member Orange County,
Calif. mega church and moderator for the event, made the announcement today upon confirmation by both campaigns.

“We’re honored that the candidates chose The Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion for their first joint appearance, an unprecedented opportunity for America to hear both men back-to-back on the same platform,” Warren said. “This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both
candidates speak from the heart – without interruption – in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan ‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light.

“The primaries proved that Americans care deeply about the faith, values, character and leadership convictions of candidates as much as they do about the issues. While I know both men as friends and they recognize I will be frank, but fair, they also know I will be raising questions in these four areas beyond what political reporters typically ask. This includes pressing issues that are bridging divides in our nation, such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate and human rights.”

Warren confirmed that, at the candidates’ request, this two-hour event from 5-7 p.m. (PDT) will be held in a non-debate format and open to all media. Both candidates
also requested that questions be posed exclusively by Warren, instead of a panel or members of the audience. Each will converse separately with Warren for approximately one-hour, beginning with Sen. Obama as determined by a coin toss. This historic forum will be the only joint campaign event prior to each party’s national convention.

“While debates typically focus primarily on the candidates’ positions and only secondarily on how they’d lead and make decisions, this Saddleback Civil Forum will
reverse that ratio,” Warren continued. “Since the oath of the President is a commitment to protect the Constitution, it’s critical to know how each candidate interprets the nature of its principles. Leadership involves far more than promoting programs and making speeches, and since no one can predict what crises will happen over the next four years, it is vital to know the decision capacity and process of each man.”

Warren has known each candidate prior to their run for national office. Both men recorded video messages to attendees at Saddleback’s annual Global Summit on AIDS
and The Church last November. Along with other national and international leaders, each has also endorsed Warren’s vision of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, a 50-year strategy to mobilize
millions of local churches around the world to address five global problems: spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy. After four years of testing
prototypes of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan in 68 countries, the P.E.A.C.E. Coalition, involving business, church and government partnerships, was launched in April.

In conjunction with the Civil Forum event, Warren will convene an interfaith meeting at the church for approximately 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to
discuss cooperation in projects for the common good of all Americans. Members of the P.E.A.C.E. Coalition Leadership Council will also fly in for weekend events.

On Sunday, Aug. 17, Warren will deliver a special sermon entitled, “Making Up Your Mind: Questions to Consider before the Election,” which will be streamed live on
the church Web site, www.saddleback.com, and made available for use in small group discussions within churches across the country.

The Saddleback Civil Forum was established to promote civil discourse and the common good of all. The first forum, held during Passover week this year, featured five Jewish World War II Holocaust survivors sharing their stories. The next Saddleback Civil Forum in September will feature former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“In addition to my primary calling to proclaim the Gospel Truth of salvation in Jesus Christ, these Civil Forums further three other life goals: helping individuals accept responsibility, helping the Church regain credibility and encouraging our society to return to civility,” Warren added.

Saddleback Church has invited Faith in Public Life, which hosted a Compassion Forum at Messiah College in Pennsylvania last April, to co-sponsor this special
Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Approximately 6,500 tickets to the event will be allotted for seating in six different venues throughout the 120-acre Saddleback campus.

Media Tweets Begin Silly Season

I borrowed "tweets" from a Salon story, which wrote about how the media is following Karl Rove's cue. Rove called Obama arrogant and then all the press calls Obama arrogant. 

Tweet.

Now "journalists" like ABC's Jake Tapper, are saying Obama played the race card. The Wall Street Journal has an editorial on it today titled "Obama's bad turn."

Tweet. 
Sadly, the Wall Street Journal has been a mouthpiece for Rove.

The funny thing is, Obama has been saying those lines -- about how he doesn't look like presidents of the past and how republicans try to make him seem like an Other  --for a very long time. 

He has his schtick, so to speak. Sometimes he'll mention his big ears. I've been following his campaign for some time now and no one seemed to care until McCain launched his silly ads, the official launch of Silly Season. 

Now is when the media -- biased for and against Obama -- kick it into high gear. 

Also interesting is that not a single media outlet covered the fact that McCain, yet again, couldn't answer the Viagra-birth control question at his Wisconsin town hall yesterday. He gets away with some stupid stuff. 

They did cover how proud McCain was of his ad. 

Today, McCain says he's proud of the race card charge.

Democratic Convention Phone Bank

In Obama style, the democratic convention will be a large phone bank. Hillary Clinton will give a speech on the second night, marking the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Women senators are expected to join Hillary on stage. Meanwhile, Obama accepts the nomination, marking Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

The audience will also be urged to text their friends. They'll be given call sheets created by comparing registration lists with lists of potential voters.

Democrats plan to hand out 60,000 stadium tickets for Obama's speech to state party leaders, with instructions to distribute them in a way that helps drive up Obama's support. That might mean rewarding people volunteering to register voters, or perhaps independent or Republican voters open to Obama.

Battleground states and states within driving distance of Denver will get more tickets, with host Colorado getting the most.

Tuesday night is shaping up to be a big night as well. CNN and the Associated Press are reporting that Hillary Clinton (D-New York) will make her speech on the second night of the convention at the Pepsi Center.

August 26 is a historic date as it is the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the constitution which gave women the right to vote.

Obama in Rolla Missouri Video

Obama hears from a man who lost his job in Rolla because his company built a new plant in China.