There are discussions going on TPM and other sites related to whether Obama voters will vote for Clinton in the GE, and whether Clinton voters will vote for Obama in the GE.  Of course, that may mean Nader or McCain pulls from these folks.  Just thought I'd get it started with a poll and see what comments others have on this topic.

Been a true Blue in a Red state for quite some time...so it made me proud to see, not the 12 people that showed up for the 2004 caucus, not the 8 people that showed up for the 2000 caucus, and not the 3 people that showed up for the 1996 caucus.  There were over 400 people in attendance in precinct 360.  End result, +/-57% Obama, +/-42% Clinton...More after the flip.

I know George Allen.  Not personally, but I know him.  I grew up with guys just like him.  I see them almost every day.  They call themselves "conservative", but that is merely code word for believing in the righteousness of white, christian males in America.  That strength is brute force and bullying.  That the world is not complicated if you eliminate the complications.  My personal story is one guy just like George Allen that I grew up with.  More after the flip.

Maybe it is being an Astros fan and watching a few leads go bye-bye with walk off homers, and going to a victory party believing the press that Gore was a certifiable winner in Florida and the president elect, and that Kerry in exit polls was the next president elect...but I'm beginning to believe we are going to be disappointed, particularly if we're hoping for the Niger forgeries to be at the center.  My reasons after the fold.

Bush appointed his own Homeland Security Advisor, Frances Townsend, to "investigate" the response to Katrina.  Again, in the announcement, sticking to message and talking points, Townsend will look into "what went right and what went wrong" in the investigation, according to spokesman Trent Duffy, story HERE.

Forgive me if I don't believe him.

This is from a very interesting article in the Austin American Statesman this morning, Link HERE.  It appears there is a substantial rise in the number of conscientious objector ("CO")requests in Iraq, as well as a rise in the number of rejections for such a status.  And they have another article discussing one such CO from Austin that has been traveling with Cindy Sheehan after his tour in Iraq.  

The CO Viges sums it up like this, when watching Christ suffer in the movie Passion of the Christ,

The links require registration, but are free.

More below the fold...

This news is breaking in Austin...Jeb Bush's son was arrested in Austin for public intoxication and resisting arrest.

See LINK HERE (Registration required...)

I'm thinking Jeb needs to retire to "spend a little more time with his family"...

I know there is the one diary a day maximum.  As someone that spent yesterday sorting for two truckloads of clothing, diapers, toiletries, food and water that went to Baton Rouge this morning, I have one suggestion and one donation request.

The donation request is for Austin Free Net, an organization providing computers, printers and networks for Katrina victims in the Austin area.  The suggestion and more about this organization after the fold.

Story HERE.

Interesting story, I think.  Quotes below the fold.

Here's my list of Cabinet officials I'd like to see under the new Kerry Administration...I have no inside knowledge, and I'll probably miss all of em...but it is nice to think about this group compared to the Anti-progressives and Neocons there now...Some may be controversial, but I'm thinking about gettin' em past the divided Senate...

Agriculture - Tom Vilsack
Interior - Pat Schroeder
Education - Ted Kennedy (now there's one...retire from Senate to be Education Sec'y)
Justice - Leon Panetta or Eliot Spitzer
Labor - Dick Gephardt
Defense - Sam Nunn
State - Joe Biden or Madeleine Albright (again)
Energy - Jon Breaux
Transportation - Norman Mineta (he's a democrat, remember)...(this one is a tough one, probably be a non recognized name)
HHS - Howard Dean
Treasury - Robert Rubin
Homeland Security - Wes Clark
HUD - Sheila Jackson Lee
VA - Edward Baca
Commerce - Olympia Snowe (or some other republican to give it a bipartisan feel)

This is my list...what's yours?

Now I have to say that I am NOT in a battleground state.  Texas is most certainly drinking the kool aid this year as they have in many years past.  In fact, I have cast a ballot every year since 1988 in presidential elections and I am YET in my LIFE to actually elect an elector.  But that's not why I'm writing this.

I'm wondering, and this would be a bigger issue in a battleground state, whether anyone is doing anything about the location and leanings inherent in some of the polling places?  I mean, I was looking at a few in Texas and I gotta say, there's gotta be a better way.

More after the fold...woosh...

I've been nervous, pre-convention, of attacking Bush on the Bin Laden deal because I always felt they scheduled the convention in NY because they knew where Bin Laden was.  Now I'm coming to the realization that it could be irrelevant if we make it so.  I think Kerry needs to go on the attack on Bin Laden and he needs to do it right after the convention.  Let's go for broke.

Here's the way I see it play...No bin laden found by election, it will cripple Bush going into the election as the guy who let bin laden slip away.  Repeat stories of Tora Bora, etc., until it kills them.  Dead or Alive becomes "Alive and, uh, We Ain't Got Em"...hit em where it hurts...Can't win a War on Terror if you don't get bin Laden.  We say that every day until the election.  Combine it with their "unwinnable" comment, it is a huge open door.

Some of you argue, well, if Bush finds bin Laden, we lose right?  Probably the case anyway.  But in the attack senario, Kerry can actually take credit for "re-focusing" Bush on the task at hand...take credit for forcing Bush to finally go get him after Bush's 1,000 lives lost war in Iraq over nothing..."Finally Bush took my advice and fought a real war on terror."

The way to do it is to pressure Bush on the troop count in Afghanistan directly, past and present...pressure him on the fact it has been THREE YEARS and they haven't found the guy...everything everyone else has been saying...put them on the defensive...make them EXPLAIN to the American people why it is we don't just send 150,000 troops into that region and kick the shit out of everyone that says we don't have a right to be there...Better yet, let him explain that to the families who have waited for justice and found nothing but "capturing one guy is not our priority" as an answer...

If Bush moves ONE more soldier to Afghanistan after Kerry calls for Bin Laden's capture, he will be reacting to Kerry's call to action...

I'm beginning to think we can control this story big time, and it is our only chance...This is THE way to win this election on the terror issue...and the beauty is, it DOESN'T MATTER if Bush gets him...if he does, we win because we made it the focus of the campaign (recall that bin laden was not mentioned day one at the convention)...if he doesn't, this is the way Kerry SHOWS he can do a more effective war on terror...can't be worse than Bush, Bush couldn't even get Bin Laden!

This stuff is rolling off my keyboard, guys...I'm convincing myself...