This is a great piece by Stanley Crouch (Whistleblower is Dems' best ammo in health care fight) on 20-year veteran of the health insurance industry Wendell Potter, who is not at all shy about laying out the innards of the industry for all to see:

"I am speaking out about how big for-profit insurers have hijacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street investors, and how the industry is using its massive wealth and influence to determine what is (and is not) included in the health care reform legislation members of Congress are now writing. I was in a unique position to see not only how Wall Street analysts and investors influence decisions insurance company executives make, but also how the industry has carried out behind-the-scenes PR and lobbying campaigns to kill or weaken any health care reform efforts that threatened insurers' profitability."

Good stuff.

Some humble suggestions for use as talking points (and perhaps campaign focus) going forward:

1. Lay out and repeat how Sen. Obama is the strongest candidate against Sen. McCain - don't just attack McCain's polices (although that too is good), but emphasize how Sen. Obama can redraw the traditional general election map, has brought new voters in and energized even more, the thirst for real change in the country, etc.
2. Put a little more populism into the speeches - I'm not saying go all the way to Al Gore circa 2000 campaign language (which I personally agree with, but which isn't the point), but I think more agressive discussions of how "change" means getting rid of the special interests representing big oil companies, coal companies, etc. who are making record profits while Americans (and Hoosiers and Tar Heels in particular) struggle to make ends meet; I guess the take-away point here: make it more personal
3. Take the initiative and challenge Sen. Clinton to another debate. I'm pretty sure voters don't care whether front-runners are supposed to typically decline debate invitations, this is about the future of the country, and voters want to see someone animated and passionate about the best policies to move the country forward.  If the moderators (assuming moderators are even necessary at this point... Lincoln v. Douglas anyone?) insist on random, asinine questions, be relentless in giving short answers to those questions and turning the focus onto an actual issue important to the country.  debate her once a week if necessary, whatever it takes to lay out the case...

In watching a bit of this weekend's tempest in a teapot ginned up by a Clinton campaign (and some far-sighted republicans) desperate for any thing they're throwing at the wall to stick, I realized something.

Despite the ambiguity surrounding his role (continuing or not) with the Clinton campaign, it would seem that this latest dust-up is not (at least not wholly) a creation of Mark Penn. 

While I also recognize that this (waning) stage of the Clinton campaign is almost duty-bound to try to seize upon any/all potential opportunities as though they will be the be-all-end-all turning point in the race, it is hard for me to come to any conclusion other than the fact that this type of intra-party fratricide campaigning that seemed to emanate from Mark Penn's association with the campaign may actually be the chosen and preferred strategy of the candidate herself.

That the Clinton campaign's overall message and feel has not changed since the exit of Mark Penn and that they continue to cling to this type of unabashed cynical opportunism reveals to me that Penn may have simply been following orders, and that perhaps the vilification of Penn and "his" strategy should be revisited and refocused elsewhere...

Independents and Obama-leaning Republicans have until March 24th to register as Democrats in order to participate in Pennsylvania's closed primary on April 22...
http://www.dos.state.pa.us/elections/lib/elections/030_important_dates/importantdatesupcoming.pdf