This address drew some flack for the suggestion that Barack was somehow playing the "race card".  Look at it now in the context of the current race & wonder if anyone could have given a more accurate prediction of not just how this cycle would progress, but also why.

"Why isn't he farther ahead? Why can't he finish McCain off?"

These statements are what we will be hearing more of from Obama critics and pundits in the next few weeks. Pat Buchanan might as well tattoo any one of these on his forehead to save him some oxygen in thse upcoming weeks.

It's an argument that we heard often in the closing month of the primary by many pundits and opponents of Obama,when they didn't have many other cases to make. The argument essentially concedes that Obama is going to be the winning candidate while setting up a soft cushion to catch the critic or supporter of his opponent when the eventual loss of their candidate occurs. It's a natural response to the realization of a stinging defeat,and we see it in sports all the time. A close loss in anything is demoralizing,so you try to turn it into a positive in order to accept it easier.

It's getting worse. Even as America faces some of the greatest challenges in our history, McCain and Palin aren't addressing the issues at their rallies. Instead, they are leading gathering where their followers focus on fear, anger and hatred. We need to tell them: it is time to stop.

Each day, more stories are surfacing about what is really going on at these McCain rallies. Now even middle-of-the-road commentators like David Gergen are alarmed. As Gergen commented last night on Anderson Cooper's 360: "There is a free-floating sort of whipping-around anger that could really lead to some violence . . . And I think we're not far from that."

This shouldn't happen in America. With all of the tremendous challenges our nation is facing, we don't need more anger, division and hatred. We need hope and solutions. It needs to stop -- and only one person can stop it: John McCain. Tell him to stop it now, before it gets any worse. Progressive Future has an email tool that makes it easy to send John McCain this message. Please use it today.

I know we were all wondering about that ARG, poll but wonder no more Sarah Palin is going to West Virgina

 In what may be another signal that the troubled economy is forcing John McCain's campaign to play electoral map defense, Sarah Palin has scheduled a bus tour for Sunday through West Virginia, a state that's been leaning red throughout this presidential race.

Palin had already scheduled a bus tour of Pennsylvania on Saturday, but she will now repeat that act on Sunday by making various unannounced stops throughout West Virginia, culminating in a campaign event in southeast Ohio. It's a swing geographically reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's effort during the Democratic primary to court white working class voters in Appalachia. Clinton won the West Virginia primary over Barack Obama by a whopping 67-26 margin.

Surveys of West Virginia voters this year have consistently favored McCain, but state polls have closed in recent weeks as the global financial crisis has dominated the headlines. A CNN/Time poll conducted in late September showed McCain with a slight 50-46 lead over Obama, and an ARG poll released this week suggested Obama had rocketed to an eight-point over his Republican rival.

we may not win the state, but just even going there means they are paying for the travel and such, and thats all cash they aren't spending else where.

Most of the Senate seats we flipped two years ago, and most we can flip this year, were and are of the red to purple variety. Electing true blue Democrats just isn't easy. But we can do it, in Oregon. The most recent polls show Jeff Merkley pulling ahead.

Are you ready for another true blue U.S. Senator? Please donate to and/or volunteer for Jeff Merkley!

How great is Jeff Merkley?

Jeff Merkley opposed the boondoggle Wall Street Bailout.

As did Barack Obama, Jeff Merkley opposed the Iraq War before it started. He was also the first U.S. Senate candidate to sign on to "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq".

There have been some really encouraging posts about our ground game, and comments that the folks on the ground see nothing like this from the McCain side.

It's hard for me to judge, I live on Capitol Hill in Seattle, if McCain gets 10% of the vote up there, it's probably a good day for him on the 4th.  Not a lot of doorbelling going on, I would fall over dead if I saw a McCain sticker anywhere in my neighborhood.

But, I believe what I see here on the blogs, that we are just staging a virtual D-day assault and the other side seems to be on vacation, or all down at the local Palin hatefest,  Oh, I meant political rally.

I think there is a pretty reasonable explanation for that.

It is indisputable now that John McCain is running the most despicable, dishonorable campaign in history. I would have laughed it away as "desperation" if the subtext had not been so incendiary: "Obama is an uppity black man, a closet Muslim and maybe even a secret one man terrorist cell".

Don't believe me? Look at this:

Proudly Cross posted at C4O

Please, I don't know how else to ask.  But we must stop Gary's Republican Oppenent in Orange County (Gary Pritchard is the Democratic Candidate for State Senate).  Not only is she a "GOP Rising Star",  she's adamantly opposed to public education and marriage equality.  Just read what she had to say about California's Supreme Court striking down the ban on Gay marriage in our State.

"I pledge to fight the Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriage in California by working to ensure the passage of the California Marriage Protection Act this November," Walters concluded.

Yes, she doesn't just oppose Gay Marriage, Mimi Walters is doing all she can to see that Proposition Eight passes this November.  Her entire statement is behind the fold.