Two interesting articles in tomorrow's NY Times:

Facing Obama Fund-Raising Juggernaut, Clinton Seeks New Sources of Cash
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/politics/20donor.html
"her big-dollar fund-raising apparatus that was once the envy of the political world is encountering obstacles as many of those in its regular networks of donors have reached the maximum on their personal contributions or grown tired of the relentless press for donations."


For Clintons, a Time to Find Truest Friends
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/politics/20loyalty.html

“It was just heartbreaking,” said Mrs. Larson, a Democratic National Committee member from Minnesota and more to the point, a superdelegate who had initially pledged herself to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. This was last Saturday, after the former first daughter learned that Mrs. Larson would be shifting her allegiance to Senator Barack Obama.

“She is a delightful young woman who loves her mother very much,” Mrs. Larson said. “She was really pushing me. She kept asking me why I was doing this. She just kept asking, ‘Why? Why?’ ”

"More than 60 members of Congress, most from President Alvaro Uribe's conservative coalition, are being investigated for possible links to drug-running paramilitaries who have terrorized Colombia for years in the name of combating left-wing rebels."

I haven't seen this anywhere but Reuters yet. I'm no Colombia expert either, but considering Bush and his efforts to ram the Colombia Free Trade Agreement through our own scandal-ridden Congress, it does give one pause as to what's going on in Colombia.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-colombia-paramilitaries.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian government ministries and other state institutions are infiltrated by outlawed right-wing militias, a witness told judges in testimony on Friday that could further imperil a U.S. trade deal.

More than 60 members of Congress, most from President Alvaro Uribe's conservative coalition, are being investigated for possible links to drug-running paramilitaries who have terrorized Colombia for years in the name of combating left-wing rebels.

The probe's star witness, former intelligence official Rafael Garcia, now in jail for erasing the criminal histories of paramilitary leaders from a government database, told the Supreme Court the armed forces, government ministries and other institutions were also rife with "paras."

"Congress is not the only institution penetrated by the paramilitaries," he said while testifying against a senator caught in the scandal.

The allegation could increase resistance in Washington to a U.S.-Colombia free trade deal, blocked by House of Representatives Democrats concerned that Uribe is not doing enough to protect labor union members who are often targeted by the paramilitaries.

Trade Minister Luis Guillermo Plata, the Colombian official in charge of getting the deal passed, said Garcia lacked credibility and did not back up his statements with evidence.

Uribe's former intelligence chief, Jorge Noguera, is jailed and awaiting trial on charges he provided a death list of union officials and human rights workers to the illegal groups.

The president remains popular for cutting common crime and spurring the economy with his crackdown on Marxist rebels.

Since 2003, he has negotiated the demobilization of more than 30,000 paramilitary fighters who committed some of the worst atrocities of Colombia's four-decade-old guerrilla war.

The militias were formed in the 1980s to protect drug traffickers, cattle ranchers and other rich Colombians from the rebels, who are also funded by cocaine.

Authorities said earlier this week they were investigating an army colonel and six soldiers for colluding with violent paramilitary drug smugglers. Public corruption is widespread in Colombia, the world's biggest cocaine producer.

The country has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid to help bolster security. But cocaine exports remain above 600 tons a year, according to the United Nations.

(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Peter Cooney)

I just got back from the town hall meeting with Obama in Erie, Pennsylvania, held at the Penn-State Behrend Campus sports arena. Tickets were sold out early yesterday (they were free of course, but limited to the arena capacity).

I arrived around 9am and stood in line for about an hour before finally going through security and heading inside. It probably helped that it is a beautiful, warm and sunny day today, and about 75 degrees. People were in a great mood, the place was packed and the atmosphere was buzzing with energy.

Obama's campaign has put together a great selection of music that was played on the soundsystem outside the arena and inside as well: Ray Charles, U2, Bruce Springstein, The Staple Singers, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, REM, and some other R & B, soul and even country artists.

By 10:30, all of the seating was full and it was standing room only at the back. I'm guessing that there were around 3,000 people in attendance, but will have to wait until tonight to get the official figures.

Around 10:45 Senator Bob Casey came out to a standing ovation and spoke for a few minutes before introducing Obama. Obama came on stage to thunderous applause and people standing on their seats to get a good look. Once Obama started speaking, the crowd settled down and those that had them took to their seats.

I won't go into specifics of his speech, as he covered most of the topics from his usual stump speech. I will say that he was very well spoken and smooth in his delivery, and that there were numerous occasions of applause and standing ovations from the crowd.

After his speech, Obama switched to the Q & A town hall meeting format. There were a lot of interesting questions, ranging from national intelligence issues, health care, jobs and the economy, veterans issues, and disability benefits. Obama fielded all of these extremely well. No one asked about any of the media generated controversies at all, people really wanted to focus on real issues that had a direct effect on their lives.

You could tell by Obama's statements and answers that he has done a lot of listening as he has travelled through Pennsylvania, and he cited specific examples of businesses closing, such as the Corning plant in State College that shut down and shipped  it's equipment to China, or Steris in Erie, which recently shut down and shipped 350 jobs off to Mexico.

One man stood up and said, "We have lost a lot of jobs here in Erie, and it's quite all right with us if you tell people that we are bitter." That brought the whole crowd to their feet in applause once again, and Obama said, "That's the biggest response we've had all day!"

Eventually, Obama said it was time to wrap up the Q & A and took one more question. Things ended with a man who stood up with a cane when the microphone was brought to him. He started to say "I'm a disabled veteran and I served in ...," but the whole crowd stood up and applauded him so loudly that the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the noise. The applause went on for some time and then he waved for us to let him speak. It was a very poignant moment and you could see that he was very moved by the show of appreciation for his service, and had started to get choked up.  At that point Obama went up to him and shook his hand, and the man said "I just want to thank you for running for President. Thank you."

Following that Obama made a few closing remarks and the crowd was on its  feet again. All in all, it was a great experience, and a beautiful day. Erie, PA, really turned out for Obama today.

Who do you think "won" whatever that was?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/DemocraticDebate/popup?id=4668064

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/16/bush-to-pope-benedict-tha_n_96969.html

I do like the "only one post a day" rule at Daily Kos, but Holy Pontifs, Batman, did you see this photo?

The people of Mississippi must be very pround of that flag to leave that symbol of hate and racism on it.

Shame on you, Mississippi.

Did Michelle Obama look like such a hottie last night on Colbert or what? Sorry Barack, but I think your better half is showing you up a bit on the late night circuit now. She even got Colbert to sing to her. "L, is for the way you look at me..." Colbert looked smitten...don't be surprised to see a new pin-up poster on this penguin's wall come the Sunday comics!

This is too funny to not share. From Hillary's performance in Pittsburgh this morning. Along with union members yelling out "no" in response to her attemps to bring up the "bitter" comment, and her looking wonderfully hung-over wasted, Hillary slips up on "universal hair...uh, health care for eveyrone."  Priceless!
 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24109989#24109989

From the Talking Points Memo front page:

"Fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite militiamen left six dead in Baghdad last night, US soldiers were attacked by rocket propelled grenades, and a late-night roadside bomb attack on a U.S. vehicle set fire to a nearby market. Today, five people were killed by a car bomb."

Dear Senator Clinton,

You and John McCain and all of the other members of Congress who voted to go to war in Iraq rightly deserve all of the credit for this criminal misadventure. But none of you deserve a single vote to allow you any further opportunity to apply or perpetuate your complete lack of judgement in   regard to any matter that relates to how we need to extricate ourselves from this quagmire, and the need to make amends to the Iraqi people for these war crimes. It is past time for you to step aside and let others step up and attempt to clean up this horrible mess you have made.

Sincerely,

Mad as Hell and Not Taking It Anymore

I know that HufferPost verges on being overtly anti-Obama, put does the photo on the front page showing some guy pointing a rifle at Obama really seem to be an acceptable message for them to be putting out?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

The photo is in the lower right column of the front page. Sorry I can't post it here. In the realm of subliminal advertising, this ranks pretty high in the category of poor taste and judgement.

The photo links to Mayhill Fowler's latest hit piece, so I guess the symbolism is telling:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html