I guess my new nephew, Evan Matthew born early this morning in NC, shares a birthday with ita. Sweet! Happy birthday, ita!!! I hope this year is completely awesome for you!!!

I think I'm going to try to get through today without complaining once. I think I'm good so far. Of course I haven't really spoken to anyone out loud...except my dad and I didn't complain to him! which is quite an accomplishment for me!

I found out about Iowa this morning. That is to say, the primary results, not that the state exists. Anyhow, I've warmed up a bit to Obama so that's OK with me. I'm not much of a Huckabee fan, I'm planning to vote for McCain in the Missouri primary.

I think the Missouri primary matters a bit as part of a bigger block of states. At least it matters in the general election. If I lived in Kansas, I would just be a spectator in presidential elections.

On Fox News last night....

It was hilarious. They had no idea what to do. Rush Limbaugh was on and he was clearly annoyed that the Republicans did not vote the way that the establishment wanted. It was watching the machine Rove built begin to crumble. They didn't know what to do about Huckabee, they didn't know what to do about Paul, and they really didn't know what to do about the fact that they might not have Hillary to attack come November. It was beautiful.

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It was watching the machine Rove built begin to crumble.

I think it's more about watching their right-wing evangelical chickens come home to roost, so to speak. They energized and politicized this base for their own purposes, and suddenly the base is doing what the establishment has been pretending to do for years.

I do wish I'd thought to turn on Fox last night though.

What do people think of proportional representation in the States? I was thinking yesterday that if I only had an either/or choice I don't know what I'd do.

I think it's more about watching their right-wing evangelical chickens come home to roost, so to speak.

Yeah, a lot of bloggers (Sullivan in particular) have made that point. Sullivan is almost gleeful....

I'd be more gleeful if that energized base didn't want me relegated to second class citizen (or just done away with altogether). I don't think Huckabee has much chance of winning overall, but the people racing out of their prayer meetings to vote for him can do a lot of harm voting for local politicians and ordinances in general elections based on who gives the most lip service to the Old Testament.

I saw that Crooks & Liars pointing out that Paul is the Forgotten Candidate on Fox News -- he did a significant 4th in the GOP contest (better than Giulani), but didn't hardly get mentioned, most especially in the graphs that illustrated the percentages of the vote.

I find myself suddenly tilting towards Edwards as a viable candidate that I could support. But basically, I'll vote for ANY Democratic candidate who wins the nomination.

One thing that bugs me most about Huckabee is that a couple of times in an interview he has made some comment about how he is the one who gets all the religious questions as if he is being picked on because of his religion. I dunno, maybe you're getting the questions because you've made being more Christian (whatever that really means) that everybody else in the race a central theme of your campaign.

happy birthday Ita!