Got To Tackle The Debates

Barack Obama is not well suited to the 30 second format. So there are a few options.

(1) He will get around to it. He did just fine debating Alan Keyes in 2004. He comes across as authentic and inspirational when he speaks. He is well informed. He is the one challenging the conventional wisdom in Washington. All that will show.

(2) Prepare.

(3) How about having bull sessions with policy experts and putting it all out on Google Video? He could be shown exploring all the issues.











In The News

Obama Pledges To Clean Up Washington Guardian Unlimited
Obama won't budge Chicago Sun-Times some Republicans, and the conservative Wall Street Journal, have applauded the forceful recommendation. ..... "We're not going to fix our failed foreign policy if we can't talk straight about [it] during the campaign," he explained. ...... "I'm not afraid to lose a propaganda battle to a bunch of dictators," Obama said in response to the criticism, adding that, of course, he would "do the proper preparation" before meeting someone like Kim Jong Il of North Korea. ...... "No one had more experience in Washington than Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld."
Michelle Obama, all fired up MSNBC "Think! Listen!" she implored during an impassioned introduction of her husband today, "The game of politics is to make you afraid, so that you don't think!" ....... "We are in this war because for eight years; we were told to be afraid!" .... At the beginning of his Illinois run, she said, he ran against a "billionaire" and a "strong political family" believed to be unbeatable. ...... "the man I love, who I would rather have home with me ... but who I am willing to sacrifice, because we have this window of opportunity, a chance to make something real happen."
Clinton leaving Obama in the dust in latest state poll San Francisco Chronicle Clinton, bolstered by an aggressive campaign organization in California, has amassed a whopping 30-point lead .... enjoys more support among likely voters in the state Democratic primary than all of her Democratic presidential rivals combined ........ has seen his support drop by one-third since the previous Field Poll taken in March. ...... 49 percent support Clinton, followed by Obama at 19 percent ...... March, when Clinton held a 41-28 percent lead over Obama ..... "she seems to have strengthened herself across the board," and appears increasingly unstoppable here ..... a crushing 4-1 lead among Latino voters, a more than 2-1 lead among women and African American voters, and at least a 2-1 lead in every geographic region in the state ...... the overwhelming favorite in all age groups and ethnic groups and at every education level. ..... an extremely impressive feat. ...... Obama may be forced to consider shifting even more resources into a dramatic goal-line stand in Iowa ....... credited what he said was the decision to mount aggressive groundwork and intense grassroots organizing in California for the upward trend. ..... a field organization that will reach 4 million voters ...... Obama's campaign, by contrast, has been the focus of concern among some grassroots supporters and bloggers who have publicly questioned the lack of campaign offices and infrastructure in California. ........ Los Angeles public relations executive Mitchell Schwartz, who helped run Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign in New Hampshire, was named as Obama's state campaign manager. ...... a state campaign office will be opening soon ..... "It's early. To me, the key polls are the early states - New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, where the people (are) on the ground; those are more accurate snapshots of where we are right now"
Poll: Nearly half favoring Clinton in Calif. Democratic primary San Jose Mercury News The telephone survey of 418 likely Democratic primary voters
The Buzz: Obama touts openness in government Kansas City Star Karl Rove slammed Bush’s critics as “elite, effete snobs.” .. “This is one of the best-read people I’ve ever met. This is a Harvard MBA. A Yale undergraduate whose major was history and whose passion is history. … People on the Upper East Side who are putting their nose in the air about him can’t hold a candle to him.” ..... James Carville: “It’s almost hilarious that Karl Rove … talks about Hillary Clinton’s negatives when his boss’s negatives are like 65 percent. … This is America. And everybody is free to make a fool of themselves.” ...... According to Sen. John McCain, illegal immigration has angered people unlike no other issue, including the war in Iraq. He revealed that his position for a path to citizenship sparked unprecedented death threats against him. ..... The candidates continue to be weirdly amazed by Iowa. Rudy Giuliani: “I’ve never seen more corn in my life.”
Blair hires Clinton's agent to seek £8m memoir deal Independent
Nepal to allow fifth telecom operator Telecom Paper