Spin room

Two quick thoughts. Neither candidate wanted to draw too stark a contrast with the other and neither wanted a fight. They both think the polls are moving (or not moving) to their advantage.

Second, the main contrast was one about experience versus judgment. I think Obama comes away with a potential line of attack for the next few days while Clinton has to continue on the way she's been keeping on.

Debate! Debate! 5

What the fuck is with the cut off answers on this program?

Obama seems to be saying parents need to monitor their children, not the government. But he will work with Hollywood to clean things up.

What will Bill Clinton be like in the White House?

The Clinton cackle comes back, followed by her statement that it's her campaign, her name on the ballot.

Last question a dumb one. Clinton plugs her Town Hall meeting. Obama pulls out her chair. That's a damn smart move.

Who won? The American people.

Debate! Debate! 5

Iraq: Immediate withdrawal or something phased and uncertain?

Clinton wants to leave but says we have to stay to help people who sided with us - "as many as we can".

Obama: It is important for us to be as careful getting out as we were careful getting in. Uses the question to move around the world and talk about threats... I don't want to just end the war, I want to end the mindset that got us into the war in the first place.

Clinton comes back with some ruminations about other Middle Eastern countries and then invokes Bush.

Clearly, a status quo campaign is better for her. Acting friendly to Obama works for her.

Clinton kind of admits she screwed up in voting to give Bush authority to invade. She's desperately trying to transition from admitting a mistake into a statement of the lessons she learned.

Obama: Iraq wasn't just a problem of execution. It was a conceptually flawed mission from the start. He's making the case about judgment. He ought to hit that several more times.

Wolf Blitzer asks Clinton why she can't admit the vote was a mistake.

Clinton may be finding her rabbit hole. Trying to explain how she believes in coercive diplomacy. Not a slogan I'd want my candidate to use at this point in the campaign... "But if I'd been president this wouldn't have happened." Again, not a great argument, but she has to say something.

Wolf Blitzer: So you're saying you were naive about President Bush?

Clinton comes back with a "nice try, Wolf." But, really, isn't that what she said?

Obama she has the experience on Day One, but you have to be right on Day One. That's the theme he needs. But he looses it in a hazy conclusion. Learn to stop when you're ahead.

Debate! Debate! 4

We're back, but after Obama already started answering a question about whether he is prepared to be president on Day One. Quick shot of Gloria Molina and Gloria Romero looking googly eyed at the Senator from Illinois...

Obama goes to his biography, which is his strength. But he doesn't seem able to soar with the answer. Interesting.

Clinton walks us back 35 years to give her resume. She provides better accents. Unlike Obama, she's not afraid to gloat about every little thing.

Is America a great big business (like Romney says)?

Clinton: It is much more. It is not out to make a profit.
Obama: Romney didn't do a great job managing his campaign.

JFK-Kennedy endorsements

Clinton says they're both proud of their various endorsements but says it's about "your lives" and being ready to tackle all of those problems on Day One. Says voters should make a check list of criteria. Very much reflects how she thinks.

Obama talks about bringing in a new generation of voters and bringing out more voters overall.

Another Clinton after another Bush?

We are all judge on our own merits, says Clinton. "It did take a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush and I think it might take another one to clean up after the second Bush." Line of the night, even if it's meaningless.

Debate! Debate! 3

Clinton invokes a little longing for Bill Clinton by referring to the better economics of the 1990s.

This debate is about selling the Democratic platform.

A question for Obama about how blacks feel about Latinos "stealing" their jobs. Obama calls it scapegoating (Clinton smiles in appreciation of that answer).

Clinton returns to the question and says it "deserves an answer." Snap!

Clinton calls for "comprehensive immigration reform," a phrase that harkens back to an ugly debate in Congress. She then uses the "come out of the shadows" rhetoric that most attribute to Bush. I wonder how this goes over with Latinos? Sounds like she's reaching out to white males who might be looking for a candidate now that the white male candidate has departed.

Clinton finally finds a way to weave in the United Farm Workers endorsement.

This immigration question is tricky for both of them. It's a tough thing trying to pander to the Latino vote without upsetting whites in southern states - and vice versa.

Each of them is trying to co-opt the love for everyone and everybody. Interesting... Commercial break. Ugh. Time for TiVo.

Debate! Debate! 2

The first question is about policy differences. Clinton starts with universal health care and the 90-day moratorium on foreclosures (the moratorium might come late if she waits until after she's elected).

Obama starts getting into details about his health care proposal. Needs to be careful here. Rabbit holes are plentiful... Smart, redirect the criticism at Bush and his administration's lack of regulatory oversight.

Back to health care. Voluntary or mandate? Obama rambles a bit, trying to knock Clinton's mandate. He should avoid defending his plan by trying to define her plan. Clinton is now coming back with a promise to give people the "Congressional health plan". People want to hear that, even if it's not really true.

Clinton is sounding bold in her push for universal plan, Obama is sounding a bit tentative. He pivots to a transparency argument, saying health care reform needs to be negotiated publicly, an obvious swipe at Clinton for what she did in 1993.

Clinton sounds competent and, dare I say, experienced when talking about her health care plan.

Doyle throws a soft ball to Obama on the cost of health care reform. Obama starts into a rant about taxes and, without saying it, calls for a redistribution of wealth. I wonder if the youth vote that is so excited about his campaign understands he is talking to them.

Clinton responds by staging on the issue of health care and how new efficiencies and a lapse Bush tax cut will cover the bill.

Debate! Debate!

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton go to Hollywood.

Oooh, Hillary is already cackling. She should stop doing that.

Obama gets the first chance to speak and the first chance to suck up to John Edwards.

Notice, no white men on the stage (candidates, I mean).

Obama lies and says he's friends with Hillary Clinton... Obama defines the campaign again as past versus future. If he can stay on that note tonight, and not get flustered, he'll do himself a favor.

Oh, my, it's a love fest... Oh, wait, here comes the Clinton experience line to counter the Obama change line.

The key to this debate will be which of these two narratives dominate. Does the tone remain about inspiration or experience?

Minority report

It's noteworthy that the Democratic primary field has been winnowed to a battle between a woman and a black man. There will be no white man running for president on the Democratic ticket for the first time in the history of the United States.

The Republican field, meanwhile, is all white and all male.

Overshadowing Giuliani

John Edwards is a smart man. By choosing today to leave the Democratic primary, he steals the news cycle away from Rudy Giuliani (who's also dropping out today) and, by extension, from the triumphant McCain campaign and the rest of the Republican field.

And he will make his announcement in New Orleans to remind anyone who forgot the reason they should think twice about voting for another Republican president.

Now comes the hard part for John. Does he endorse Hillary Clinton and all but clinch her victory on Feb. 5? Or take the leap to endorse Barack Obama, the man South Carolina Democrats chose to be the next president? Perhaps he'll wait until after Super Tuesday to decide.

The news is a godsend to the Obama campaign, which badly needed a dynamic shift in the field to shake up "decided" voters and which might well benefit from white males who find Hillary uncool.

All is in flux, as God wants it to be.

Transformation

Barack Obama is in a fight to transform politics in America. But first he'll have to transform the Democratic Party. How successful he'll be remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, John McCain appears to have done it on the right. His win in Florida combined with the fading candidacy of Mike Huckabee and the total rejection of Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo appear to have broken the death grip held by evangelicals and anti-immigrant nuts. At least on the national level anyway. We'll see if it trickles down.

Update! Update!

NBC News confirms that Rudy Giuliani will leave the race and endorse John McCain tomorrow. And McCain, in his victory speech, promises to cut spending in Washington for things people don't need or want - except for spending on the Iraq war, which has pledged to see through to "victory".

It's over, Rudy (live blogging the end)*, **, ***, ****

Rudy Giuliani is in the process of exiting a race he never really entered. The question is whether he will endorse John McCain.

*Oh, wait, he's not leaving. Or is he? He "ran a campaign." That isn't present tense. Get to it! We've already had enough of waiting around for you.

**"Less lawsuits." Jesus. We have to suffer improper grammar along with this insufferable lecture? Make a decision already.

***"Finally..." Finally, indeed. Here it comes... ticktock, ticktock... Nope, not yet. Still telling us what America should be about. You had your chance, Mr. Giuliani, during the campaign you decided not to run.

****MSNBC has switched to someone relevant: Mitt Romney, who finished second in Florida. Freedom and opportunity were in the air when he was growing up, he tells us. This is the same man who told us his he saw his dad walk alongside MLK at a time when freedom and opportunity were a little more rare... We have new competition, he says, from "countries like Asia and India." He sounds like he's reading from a memo on how to sound conservative in 10 easy steps.

I declare this live blogging experiment a failure, as Giuliani seems intent on sticking around just long enough to negotiate a favorable exit and endorsement with the McCain camp.

The page hits have spoken

Are you ready for some football? The Houston Chronicle is... But not so ready for the presidential primaries.

The paper's blogger, Steve Jetton, provides a curious reader with a straightforward and completely unapologetic explanation for why the paper relies on wire for election coverage but still has staff bylines on NFL stories.

The Chronicle might also be the one paper in the nation not getting peppered by complaints from Ron Paul supporters.

Who, indeed?

Mitt Romney gets back to his black roots.

Speaking of outdated

The FCC wants to fine ABC $1.4 million for showing a woman's buttocks on a show I thought had long ago been canceled. The episode itself was broadcast in 2003.

Here's the scene on YouTube. Prepare to be shocked.

Bookends of history *

Ted Kennedy's endorsement today of Barack Obama interests me for the subtle irony that's involved in having a political animal of the 1960s endorse a man who says we must move beyond the 1960s if we are ever to see a revival of the generational shift in power that supposedly came about through the election of John F. Kennedy in, yes, 1960.

Here's the salient quote from TK: "As John Kennedy said, the world is changing. The old ways will not do."

Now, politics isn't always logical, and gaining the support of a baby boomer icon could provide an important bridge to the older white voters Obama desperately needs. But it also illuminates the ties that bind our future to our past, no matter how badly we wish to make a break with the old to ring in a new way of doing things.

At the same time, Obama has finally found an effective rhetorical strategy to box in Bill Clinton by establishing the former president as a guy who's tragically out of touch with what's hip today. In an age when we all want to be moving on (even while moving on means turning to styles past) this might be a winner even with the oldies.

*Updated with Ted Kennedy quote.

Political karate chop

As a child, I thought Chuck Norris was something special. I remember the legendary "fight" between him and Bruce Lee - I think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in the same movie, the name of which I've forgotten (and refuse to look up).

Now Norris (aka, Walker, Texas Ranger) stumps for a man who thinks he can be elected president by promising to abolish the IRS.

Well, here's some backlash for Norris.

Cutting words to create consumers

Lee Siegel laments the rise of anonymous thugs and the sharp sword of gossip on the Internet in a new book.

He also has something to say about the Internet and civic empowerment: You have a situation now where the audience is so exalted and catered to that at the end of a Broadway play you will have the actors applauding for the audience, and the audience will take a bow. That's the power of the Internet, where consumers are seen to have such powers that they must be heeded. What this masks is a crude commercial pitch. Getting people to participate is just a way of getting people to consume.

Barack won big, but...

Sen. Barack Obama won a decisive victory in South Carolina, largely because he turned out black voters. He's buoyed as the Democrats ready for Feb. 5.

I'd argue, however, that the Clinton attack strategy in South Carolina succeeded, precisely because his win was dependent on the turnout and support of black voters.

Consider this from today's New York Times: [Obama's] share of the white vote in South Carolina, 24 percent, was lower than what he drew in Iowa or New Hampshire, raising questions about whether race will divide Democrats even as the party shows tremendous enthusiasm for its candidates.

That's a terrible trend if you want to win a majority of states on Super Tuesday, since most of the 22 states have too few black voters to give Obama an edge. He should probably reach out to John Edwards, who has a few delegates he can throw Obama's way and who seems to have captured the vote of white male Democrats not keen on supporting a woman or a black.

The rest of the New York Times story is here.

Report on reporters

Ah, to be poor, idealistic and tired.

Bad in parallel

Students at Lewis & Clark in Oregon start a Facebook page to out a man they believe date raped a woman.

A reporter lionizes a cop at a funeral.

Both are forms of journalism. They are hyperlocal. They are informative. They have people talking. They have people reading. They involve a specific community speaking out for itself and people seem to be listening.

And they both completely fail to be good reporting for the same reason. Sure, the former is much more destructive to the target of the post. The latter seems altogether harmless by comparison, even if we sense that it's dangerous to turn people in power into saints (even when they die).

But they both lack accuracy. The authors both fail to meet a standard that serves as the basis of good journalism and instead find gratification in being what they expect others want them to be. They both give to people what the authors believe the people will respond to without accepting the weighty responsibility of doing the work of a reporter before completing that transaction.

And from what I can tell, they are both serve as warnings about the embrace of citizen journalism at a time when newsrooms abandon their standards.

Monkeys on typewriters

If one person can mismanage a stock portfolio to the tune of a $7.1 billion loss, then I contend no one on a trading floor really knows what the fuck they are doing.

A related thought: Is the stimulus package agreed to by the White House and Congress anything more than a back door way of redistributing tax revenues to the very creditors who are ailing because of their bad bets on subprime mortgages and credit cards?

Indeed, something seems fishy about a stimulus package premised on the idea that if you give more money to people who have already overspent you'll spur the economy forward by encouraging them to spend more.

But, then, I'm no economist.

Also, what's with the Fed's 3/4 percent rate cut? The solution to our credit crisis is to encourage more borrowing?

This is casino economics. Let the drunk who's down $500 at the craps table gamble the house's money and fleece him for another $700 as he tries to dig his way out of the hole he's in.

Breaking news

Picked up this factoid from LA Observed: The New York Times story about the death of Heath Ledger (the cause of which remains a mystery) carried 14 contribution lines in addition to the byline.

Yes, 15 reporters - more reporters than worked at my old paper, the Pasadena Star-News, which covered more than a dozen cities...

Oh, and the Daily Breeze in Torrance has a new publisher. Among his qualifications: A stint as general manager of the Pennysaver in Phoenix, Arizona. Hard hitting.

Assembly line to mediocrity

Before David Simon created the critically acclaimed television shows "The Wire" and "Homicide," he was a newspaper reporter at the Baltimore Sun. In this commentary, and in earlier interviews I've read, he makes many of the points I've tried to make - though he's often more eloquent - about the self-inflicted decline of the American newspaper.

Simon says: And which, exactly, is the proper epitaph for the generation that entered newspapering at the very moment when the big-city dailies -- the fat morning papers, those that survived the shakeout of afternoon tabloids and other weak sisters -- seemed impervious, essential and ascendant? Were we the last craftsmen prepared for a horse-and-buggy world soon to prostrate itself before the god of internal combustion? Or were we assembly-line victims of the inert monopolists of early 1970s Detroit, who thought that Pacers and Gremlins and Chevy Vegas were response enough to Japanese and European automaking superiority?

Take the time to read past the jump on this one.

Vindication!

Vindication of a sort, anyway, since no one had told me I was wrong.

Still, it is somewhat gratifying to read that Andrew Sullivan has decided to agree with my assessment of the recent race debate between the Clintons and Obama. Boiled down: Billary suckered Obama into defending MLK.

You can read what I said here.

Debate! Debate! 4

Is Obama running for Vice President right now? Redraw the map to build a working Democratic majority? That's important, but not something I'd want to focus on in a debate.

Edwards says he can win the south and in rural areas, but says it's not because he's white. (Except that it is.) Obama counters that he won rural areas in the primaries.

Obama is a proud Christian.

Clinton says she's a hawk and can beat the Republicans on national security.

Edwards tries to draw Clinton into a debate on corporate lobbyists.

Obama's turn: He calls Clinton a McCain-lite on foreign policy. Might have hit the point harder.

Why should MLK endorse you? (High school debate question)

Edwards takes the bait. Obama says MLK would hold us to account (better answer). Clinton tries a different way of saying political leaders make the difference, sorta walking back her Lyndon Johnson comments.

Debate! Debate! 3

Obama maneuvers past Charlie Rangel. Edwards puts anti-poverty at the top of his list of goals and folds black America into his cause. Clinton reminds people she has 35 years of experience (i.e., I'm a late-term baby boomer ladies!).

Clinton talking about poverty. Falling asleep...

Here comes Obama, talking about the kids he met working in the projects as a young man. Biography is his strength. He needs to draw from that well much more often in these debates. Don't tell me why something is important to understand, make me understand it.

Obama pivots to the unity message and then slyly marginalizes Edwards. May be a smart tactic, but it was a little passive-aggressive.

Obama answering whether Bill Clinton was the first black president is a weird moment in history. I'll have to think about it for a bit. I'm not sure Obama's self-deprecation is the best tactic.

Clinton knows how to pick a moment; Obama is now trying to pick his. He knows he's running in South Carolina. That's his audience. Clinton is still running a national campaign.

Edwards playing the white male liberal. Time to speak up John... There he goes and, well, an OK job, but he needs a soaring message, not just a smart one. What would happen if we bred Edwards and Obama?

Debate! Debate! 2

Clinton talks about health care. I'm falling asleep.

Obama running for those moderate voters in opposing a mandate for health insurance in his health plan. Edwards and Clinton include mandates in theirs.

Edwards is Obama's worst enemy in this debate. He's cutting sharply and Obama is talking broadly. Clinton then springboards off the Edwards' criticism, finding opportunities to jam home her talking points.

Obama needs to learn to be mean. He made reasonable points about his health care plan but fails to make the most salient one: universal, mandated health care will not pass.

Do you want to win the Iraq war or end it?

Clinton says she wants to bring our troops home and then takes credit for any hastening of government reform in Iraq by saying officials there know she's going to be the next president.

Edwards sets his timetable for withdrawal. Obama uses the question to make a point about the national economy (money spent there is money wasted here).

Debate! Debate!

John Edwards is talking about racism and the subprime mortgage crisis. Wants a national predatory lending law. Makes the point that low-income and blacks were preyed upon.

Hillary Clinton wants a freeze on rate increases. Barack Obama says banks and lending companies have dominated Washington. Brings up the bankruptcy bill, which makes it more difficult for people with credit card debt to file. Slams Clinton for supporting it.

An interesting dustup. Clinton getting booed for saying Obama never takes responsibility for any vote he made. She portrays him as having been treated with kid gloves. He smacks her back, says her attacks are "not factually accurate." That's code for "lie."

Edwards piling on top, hitting him for voting "present." Edwards is by far the best debator and knows Clinton will never pick Obama to be VP.

Obama brings up the war vote. Says he takes tough positions. He should have pressed that point harder. He's too easily flustered.

Cutting their way to greatness*

The new Los Angeles Times looks a good deal like the old one.

It was cut or be cut for Editor James O'Shea and he got cut. And there's still the matter of finding $4 million in savings and not much of a hide left to slice it from.

Journalism is so 20th century.

*LA Observed chronicles the ugliness.

Dog won't hunt

Duncan Hunter says goodbye, to no one's surprise.

Is this a fatal blow to the crazy right and their demand for electric fences along our southern border?

Hopefully. But crazy people sometimes miss the signs.

Old people still vote

McCain and Clinton rack up second wins today, providing both with real momentum at a time when voters are getting antsy for clarity.

I'd guess Edwards and Thompson will be shown the door. Romney will keep on fighting, having taken a win in Nevada. Giuliani looks like a long shot and Obama and Huckabee are on the ropes.

The AARP generation is asserting its will.

Romney on a roll

Mitt the Mormom outdoes his rivals in the great state of Nevada. He'd probably be doing a jig if he weren't barred from dancing.

More from the bridge

Watch Tom Cruise salute a picture of L. Ron Hubbard. Watch "COB" David Miscavige hint that he's a higher being than you. Hear Cruise speak about psychiatrists as if they were Jews in Nazi Germany.

It's all here, and more. Hip Hip, Hooray!

Why let reporters get in the way of good journalism?

Citizen journalism is all the rage with cost-cutting news outfits. After all, getting someone to spout off for free is highly efficient.

But those cynical skeptics at Mother Jones just can't keep their critical mouths shut about the potential downside.

Here's an excerpt:

The wave of journalistic outsourcing has some new-media advocates hailing the death of the "fortress newsroom" mentality and touting the beginning of an era where newspapers not only listen to their readers but invite them into the inner sanctum. "In fortress newsroom, readers are something of a necessary inconvenience. We need their business, but not their ideas," writes Steve Smith, editor of Spokane's Spokesman-Review. Smith and other citizen-journalism boosters are fond of repeating the mantra of Dan Gillmor, author of We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People and the director of the Center for Citizen Media: "Our readers know more than we do."

But if the elitist fortress-newsroom mentality held John Q. Public at arm's length, it also kept PR flacks and unqualified hacks out of the newsroom. By forcing their beleaguered staffs to depend on outsiders for content, then running the content without much editorial oversight, newspapers may be taken in by crackpots and sly marketers who make Jayson Blair look like a grade-school plagiarist.

Convergence: The Little Engine that I could give a shit about

“I don’t want to hire single platform journalists anymore.”

That bold statement came from Paul Horrocks, editor of the Manchester Evening News in the UK.

Anyone inspired by a comment like that belongs in accounting, not in journalism. Still, convergence will probably work for the same reason that traffic accidents draw rubberneckers. The new journalism is about reaping the grazers, bored people in their homes or offices who just want a little distraction in their day.

Having reporters put lots of soundbites, photos and and quick links together with a short story will sell for the same reason that McDonald's hamburgers sell. And the content will usually be as healthy for the mind as that fast food is for the body.

Real hard times*

Forget stocks dropping on Wall Street and poor Citibank writing down billions in debt. Here's a story about a real American economy that a one-time stimulus packages will do nothing to help.

After reading the story, I have three initial questions.

First, how recent is this terrible transformation from working class to working poor in the Midwest?

Second, is our health care "crisis" really about rising medical costs or a result of our stagnant and often falling wages?

Third, how in the world can a Republican beat a Democrat in Ohio this year? Mitt Romney's Democratic-lite turn in Michigan notwithstanding, no one making $8 or $9 an hour at McDonald's is going to respond to calls for more tax cuts as a way to dig out of this hole.

*Also, I hope any print journalists wondering why they're still in the business will read this and be inspired.

Fred says walk, don't run

Something withered this way comes... His name is Fred Thompson and his campaign for president seems to be missing a few gears.

Wild and woolly

After watching this video, I now know Tom Cruise will stop and help me if I ever get into a car accident.

Other than that, I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. But it's sure funny to watch.

2 + 2 = freaky

This is your brain on string theory.

Nevada as bellwether

Anyone expecting Nevada to provide clarity in the Democratic primary should remember that in 1992 Jerry Brown, former California governor and current California attorney general, beat Bill Clinton there.

Our gods kick ass, take names

I'm surprised it took so long after 9/11 for our action stars to re-emerge, but here they come.

Now consider why actors without much talent can portray heroes but portraying real human beings require actors with much more ability.

The Great Generational Divide

I've long maintained that the best reason to support a Barack Obama candidacy is to promote a shift in power in this country, out of the hands of the old, wealthy, AARP, greatest generation-ers and into the hands of the generations coming up. Too many in their ranks have had to borrow their way into the middle class.

I'm not sure Barack will actually promote a redistribution of wealth platform, but his victory would be a symbolic first step toward changing our social and economic landscape.

That being said, the Sacramento Bee has a story today touching on the potential of the youth vote in California.

Jesus is my co-Pilot

Evangelist Pat Robertson wants to buy The Virginian-Pilot.

Race in America

Something cynical this way comes.

The Clintons appear to be employing a strategy designed to remind voters of Barack Obama's "otherness" as the Democratic primary goes national.

The strategy could cost Hillary votes black enclaves in a state like South Carolina, but she never expected to win there and it is likely to go red in the general election.

A series of comments trickling out of the calculating mouths of Bill and Hillary have caught the media's attention and angered activists within the black community. The immediate response is to ask why these two skilled and liberal politicians would let themselves look so foolish to a prime constituency.

But then ask yourself what affect it has on the Obama image to have the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton speaking out in his defense.

I believe the Clintons have launched a subtle campaign meant to isolate Obama as part of a fringe for the sake of his color - a nice little nugget of prejudice for voters to carry into the voting booth.

Hillary Clinton, of course, is an "other," too, but half the country shares her trait while only 12.5 percent share Obama's.

Am I wrong about this?

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza sheds a little more light on things here. Make sure to read to the end, where he talks about Hillary's Latino fire wall.

(Photo from Politico.com)

Oh, the horror

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune had a faulty headline in today's paper. Very faulty.

Here it is.

It's not as bad as the San Bernardino Sun running a caption that read "Horsing Around" under a photo of a riderless horse in a cop's funeral procession. But close.

This should remind us all of the value of a good copy editor.

Speaking of which, I hear the copy editors have returned to the Tribune after being exiled to San Bernardino as part of a nutty cost-savings scheme... None too soon, it seems. Let's hope the failed experiment makes its way to the ears of the Singleton big wigs.

Verge of tears

Hillary Clinton's welling up won her affection and galvanized her loyalists. It probably won her New Hampshire as well.

But will it work on Kim Jong-Il?

Two states down... and how many to go?

We've already had two state primaries and we still don't know who the nominees are? Jesus. I mean, seriously, what the fuck!?

Somehow a protracted (meaning more than one week) campaign has everyone all twitchy. Be thankful. Easy choices are usually bad ones. Let's give it an American Idol lifespan.

That being said, I think we can write off Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson on the right. Fred Thompson makes the Crypt Keeper look young, and Huckabee's embrace of a flat tax proves his politics are more on the fringe than I'd suspected.

John Edwards is probably finished, too; but he has some things to prove yet before he goes away. Too bad, I'd like for him to have made a bigger impact.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Dems then, and Mitt "the Mormon" Romney and John "I can't believe I'm still alive" McCain for the Reps. I'm taking odds, but only a fool would bet big at this point.

The Dem bench is deeper and more attractive, I believe. Republicans I've talked to would be willing to vote for Obama, but no one voting for Obama is going to seriously consider voting for a Republican.

Clinton might be hated, but I still think she's more viable than McCain.

And I guess there's still a Rudy Giuliani bid out there. Like a vampire, he's waiting for the right time to strike. I think his strategy is as crazy as he is.

I'll try to post more regularly but I work for a living now.

Saturday's real story

The debates are interesting and important, but here's the story of the day:

WASHINGTON — President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Silver-colored jumpsuits, jet packs and ubiquitous blogs

I get that the Internet has wrought, and will continue to wrought, changes in our lives that are substantial and meaningful. This includes the lives of journalists.

But I'm tired of writers who characterize the habits of anyone who doesn't want to embrace the latest pop trend as old fashioned or tired.

Funnily enough, most of the people I see saying this are usually graying men (Jeff Jarvis, Steve Outing) who seem to feel they only have a short time left to embrace the future.

So little time, in fact, that they can't waste it understanding history.

For some reason, it makes me wish Philip K. Dick were still alive and writing.

Romney wins!!!

Any presidential contest that has Duncan Hunter coming in second should probably be ignored.

No more headaches... or heartbeats

Dan Neill at the Los Angeles Times refuses a test drive for this 800 Words.

The indie label

John McCain and Barack Obama fight for the independent voters of New Hampshire. About 45 percent of the electorate is registered as neither Republican nor Democrat.

Whoever captures the center will have a huge advantage in the national election and will win the "electability" label much sought after by candidates. Until Iowa, Rudolph Giuliani and Hillary Clinton campaigned as if they had the best chance of winning next November. New Hampshire will redefine the field.

Can Obama triangulate? Can McCain shove Romney to the margins?

Also, NH will be a test of whether Obama can keep drawing the young to the polls. The youth vote is terribly unreliable - just ask George McGovern.

Quick links

Our economy sucks: Wage growth among rank-and-file workers, who make up more than 80 percent of the workforce, fell behind inflation in 2007, meaning that many employees saw the value of their income decrease last year.

The hitman is back: The Mercury News, with a circulation of over 230,000, was a top newspaper belonging to the Knight Ridder newspaper chain before it was sold to the McClatchy chain. (FYI: Dave Butler is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News)

Hating on Hillary: Hillary is the cold, frigid ex-girlfriend they all want to avoid.

Eight trends for the new year that are already old news: Like many Americans, newspapers are seeking to slim down this year, by consolidating their editorial and production operations in an effort to work more efficiently and save money.

What the Huckabee?!

No surprises except for the surprises.

Looks like passion beat out "electability" in Iowa tonight. Mike Huckabee, the bass playing, slack-jawed yokel, beat out Mitt "the Mormon" Romney in what could be Romney's death knell.

And over on the Democratic side, Barack Obama figured out how to whip up the turnout machine to beat Hillary Clinton and John Edwards (no funny nicknames for the Dems, unfortunately).

An Obama win probably means Edwards will be looking to become VP again. He's the new Al Gore.

The much-maligned DMR poll has been vindicated.

Gov to EPA: F U*

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will discuss his lawsuit against the EPA for failing to issue California a waiver to strengthen pollution restrictions on automobile emissions at 11 a.m. today.

*Oh, and crude oil prices hit a record high, topping $100 a barrel.

News is biased unless done by partisans

The demise of the newspaper could be a boon for conservatives, according to the National Legal and Policy Center. And it's not even satire.

Here's the nutgraf: If conservative nonprofit organizations significantly increase their use of investigative reporting, then the movement will be able to partly offset the liberal bias of the mainstream media. Despite their political agenda, newspapers and TV networks like scandals simply because they make great headlines. Experience shows that they will cover scandals exposed by conservatives.

Here's the kicker: A critical reason for the success of the conservative movement is its ability to counter the biases of the media establishment through talk radio and the internet. Conservatives can similarly revolutionize the media by filling the void in investigative reporting caused by the decline in newspaper circulation.

I suppose this counts as a form of citizen journalism.

The Times is a changin'

Kevin Roderick gives a rundown of the comings, goings and roilings at the Los Angeles Times in 2007.

I for Obama

The latest poll from the Des Moines Register gave Barack Obama an indisputable lead over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards - most every other poll has had them running neck and neck and neck. With other primaries so close on the heels of Iowa, I'm not sure how significant a win is here (unless the margin of victory is significant).

However, the Washington Post mined the data and found something much more interesting - Obama seems to be making headway with independent voters. Of course the proof is in the caucus, but if Obama can turn out a substantial enough base of young and independent voters, he might have found his recipe to win the nomination.

Kucinich likes 'em tall

Dennis Kucinich says if he doesn't make the 15% threshold in Iowa his supporters should caucus for Barack Obama.

That's a solid 1% surge, according to the latest DMR poll.

Enough really is enough

The Washington Post has Mike Huckabee taking the stage to play "Blue Suede Shoes" (although the accompanying video has him playing along to "Sweet Home Chicago").

Arkansas politicians are such goobers.

Rounds one & two: police

According to Pasadena Star-News reporter Todd Ruiz, a heavy police presence thwarted an attempt by protesters to disrupt the 119th Rose Parade. The Beijing Olympic float, a symbol to some of China's effort to flower over its terrible human rights' record, was the target.

Pasadena police, FBI agents and the Secret Service were reportedly lining the route to protect the sanctity of family fun.

Protesters have yet to give up, however. They sent out a press release earlier this morning stating their intent to sue the city for refusing to issue them a permit to hold a pre-parade protest rally.

Update: The Chinese float, named One World One Dream, won the Theme Award Trophy. The theme for this year's parade was the pithy Passport to the World's Celebrations.

The float from Taiwan also won an award.