For Dr. X: The Surge- of John McCain Old Jokes

First Sea Lord issues a Press Release this morning:

"While insulting John McCain is "Mission Accomplished," the actual goal of goading our Dr. X into writing again has proven to be a known that we do not know. We have sacrificed too many jokes not to see this through to the end. I vow that these old jokes will not have died in vain. Are we to cut and run? Surrender? The only rational response is a Surge, which will begin immediately."

1. John McCain is so old his chicken coop is filled with Tyrannosaurs.

2. John McCain is so old he remembers when the Republican party was the party of fiscal responsibility.

3. John McCain was certainly old enough to vote for Thomas Dewey, and of course, for Pericles of Athens.

4. John McCain is quite old, and his mother is a very lovely person, even if she has a leftover genetic tendency to hide in trees.

5. This isn't McCain's first political sex scandal; there was that whole thing with the Romans and Queen Boadecia.

6. McCain is his own grandpa.

7. McCain has been representing Arizona since they just had the Grand Ditch.

8. When McCain wants to see the family picture album, he has to visit the caves of Lascaux.

9. McCain's getting a few senior moments. When he leaves the house, he forgets his horse.

10. McCain remembers Barry Goldwater - it was John's first babysitting gig.

11. McCain and Bob Dole are good friends, ever since they got over fighting on opposite sides at Gettysburg.

12. John McCain's economic policy is a little rusty. He never got much beyond gathering wild berries and hunting giant, meat-eating sloths.

13. At least John is okay with the Declaration of Independence. I mean, his signature's right there.

14. Comparing Obama and McCain is pretty straightforward. Obama's the tall, thin African-American guy, while the John McCain-looking guy on his right is John McCain. *

15. Whenever McCain feels a little down, he just goes on Antiques Roadshow and someone prices him at $37,000.

16. To his credit, John McCain stood up to fear-mongering over Obama's full name. It's understandable, because McCain's full name is Yam-quzzu halamma, at least in the original Mesopotamian.

17. John McCain has long defended the rights of the unborn. But to him, "unborn" means anyone under 70.

18. John McCain is so old that to use his computer, you have to move the beads around.

19. Some people say it's not fair to make fun of John McCain's age. I say, he knew he was old when he went out this morning.*

20. The McCain campaign makes On Golden Pond look like High School Musical II.


*Ok, look. I found this funny, but I cannot begin to explain it. They're not bonded and insured, you know.

* Thank you to comedian George Wallace for the form of his excellent ugly people joke.

There should be a name for this sort of 'diplomacy'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US warship positioned off Lebanon

Alternate New York Times William F. Buckley Obituary Sentences

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. *

These are the second sentences:

1. He was noted for his foresight in writing his own obituary lede for the New York Times.

2. As the enormous crowd on the family estate pulled off their Coors Light hats in respect, his mangled body was pulled from the wreckage of his beloved, 2500 horsepower Monster Truck, "Privilege."

3. He was found slumped over his desk, where he had been drafting the 14th edition of his thesaurus of condescending euphemisms for poor people.

4. Thus, the whitest man in the world met the blackness of death.

5. Doctors attributed his death to his well known condition, chronic MFS, or Melting Face Syndrome.

6. His voice snapping with a sadistic sarcasm dressed in an elaborate leather vocabulary, Buckley was famous for opposing U.S. entry in WWII, demanding the firing of professors who did not share his values. He cheered apartheid and Joe McCarthy, painting a pseudo-intellectual glaze on the catastrophic rise of the American right-wing. The pages of National Review reverberated with the barking of his incessant demands for upper-class hegemony. William F. Buckley was, at 82, the consummate asshole.

A moment of silence for William F Buckley

One second thought, how about a moment of simple, loutish homophobia.

Mark Begich Running for Senate

From Politico:

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is expected to announce this afternoon that he'll be running against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), setting up a political battle between an iconic figure in Alaska politics against one of the rising Democratic stars statewide.

Begich has called a news conference for 2:30 p.m. EST to “announce his plans regarding the United States Senate seat held by Sen. Ted Stevens,” according to a campaign statement.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been recruiting Begich for the last several months, believing he has the best chance of unseating Stevens. Begich’s father, who was a congressman, died in a 1972 plane crash while campaigning in Alaska.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, anticipating Begich’s campaign, has recently set up a website titled begichbaggage.com, designed to alert voters about Begich’s political record. It is still under construction.

A December Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the liberal website Daily Kos, showed Begich defeating Stevens, 47 percent to 41 percent, in a head-to-head contest.

Well done, Mark. Now go out and kick that arrogant, corrupt geezer's ass.

And now, the John McCain old jokes (Also useful for Ted Stevens.):

1. John McCain tried to use an IPOD the other day; it was a little embarrassing because after he put on the headphones he started screaming for the little voices to get out of his head.

2. John McCain still feels confident driving. He invented the wheel.

3. McCain's a little old-fashioned, but it helps keep Cindy McCain in shape what with having to churn the butter all day.

4. John McCain believes in education, and he knows because Aristotle told him it was a good idea.
5. He can get a little angry. Vietnam was one thing, but the Spanish Inquisition really teed him off.

Remember: Only you can stop this, Dr. X!

Hillary Clinton...

...the candidate of choice for knife-wielding Republicans!

Frank Rich's Summary of the Campaign, and some More McCain Old Jokes

Although they keep waving Dianetics and offering us a free personality test, Frank Rich is closing the door on the Clinton campaign.

And it boils down to issues of wisdom, priorities, and competence.

And now...

Only you can stop this, Dr. X. It's your choice. I have washed my hands. This must continue until you start writing again.

1. I don't want to say John McCain is old. Well, actually, I do want to say that.

2. Nader joined McCain in the race. It's interesting, because they grew up together in Atlantis.

3. It has nothing to do with corruption. John McCain believes in giving everyone with great tits a fair hearing.

4. John McCain believes in respecting his elders, although there aren't any.

5. It's a curious fact that he's even older than his mother. Some pollution of the Time Continuum thing.

6. John McCain knows he's old but looks ahead- in the same way he considers carefully before buying very green bananas.

7. John McCain remembers his first car. It was great when he found it again by the beach, compacted by geologic forces into a small, heavy rock with a dashboard that indicated the speed in miles per year.

8. It's silly to say McCain invented time. No one's that old. What he did was invent our sense of being late.

9. McCain can't use Viagra. The Feds rejected his Environmental Impact Statement.

10. McCain visited the hospital today - nothing too serious, but over the years his hip had become partially fossilized.

Set the wayback machine to 1969

and feel really, really uncomfortable.

Art, Nearly Finished

The camera is terrible, but this should give you an idea about some recent work. The one on top- currently untitled is oil, is about 5 feet by 6 feet. A more thorough discussion of it is located here.



(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Untitled, o/c 2007-08 60" by 74"


This one below, Julianna has finally gotten - awfully close - to being finished.


(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Julianna o/c 2005-08

This small piece below is a ferociously pursued collage, about two feet wide, made of about 125 images of classical landscape paintings. I was annoyed with the reality of a horizon line, and bent it around two "islands," one of earth, one of water.


(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Island of Earth, Island of Water Collage, 18" by 24" 2008

Obama - Kennedy comparisons must stop here

Is there any possible rational explanation for the stand down order on weapon checking during Obama's rally in Dallas?

For the love of Cod, it's friggin TEXAS!!!!

Set the wayback machine to 1969

and feed your head.

McCain's Choice: Woman- Or Airport?

This curious comment posted on the NYT's McCain article caught my eye:

In the late 80s, I was trying to develop a major airport in Surprise, Arizona. I and Nick Bacon, then the town manager and a Medal of Honor winner, went to Washington DC to ask McCain for help. We met with McCain and in the hallway outside his office we stopped to talk. A very attractive woman passed by and McCain and the woman smiled at each other. As I spoke to McCain in mid sentence McCain turned to follow the woman, caught up with her and then they had a friendly conversation displaying huge smiles. I told myself when I saw this, McCain was more interested in talking to a pretty woman than listening about building an airport.

-Jon Garrido from Phoenix, Arizona

In all fairness, I'm with McCain on this one.

John McCain Headlines The New York Times Didn't Use

1. McCain Shot Down Over Poon Tang*

2. In Shocker, A Republican is Caught in a Sex Scandal With a Woman

3. McCain Discovers Bimbonium

4. Scientists: Fossil Evidence Suggests John McCain Was in Sex Scandal

5. McCain Regrets Inserting Phrase "Sweater Muffins" Into Telecommunications Bill

6. McCain Finds Commonality With Bill Clinton

7. The Corpse of Mitt Romney Stirs from the Dead

8. At the New York Times, A Desperate Struggle for a Tasteful Headline Fails

9. The Straight Talk Express Yields to The Sweet Talk Panty Train

10. The Evidence: Was a Strange Old Man Attracted To a Young Blond Woman?


*Plagiarized from myself, below. Have I no shame?

Senator McCain, Shot Down Over Poon Tang

I'm very, very sorry about that headline.

But to the Schaudenfreude....

John "Hef" McCain was entangled with a 40-year old lobbyist, and although he's a Republican, she is actually female.

Last Minute Sale on Hatin' Bush

An ARG poll puts Bush's approval rate....wait for it...

At 19%.

One-Nine.

I haven't checked Stalin's approval's recently....


----
McCain OOJ:


John McCain longs for a Mammoth sandwich.

Cheese for Victory

Noted that this morning, the most likely outcome to the 2008 Presidential Election in the United States has become the election of one Sen. Barack Obama.*

Anything could happen of course. Obama could turn out to have a Nazi great-grandfather. Hillary Clinton could hire the mob to threaten superdelegates. John McCain could suddenly develop the ability to fly. But at the moment, the 47 year-old smart guy with the big ears is most likely to take the big enchilada.

There's always a moment when you know something has really changed. There was an NPR story last week in Rejected Credit Card, Virgina, and they interviewed some old goat who sounded like he was wearing a Lynryd Skynrd hat, who said he wasn't much for McCain, or Hillary, so he'd probably vote for "that black boy, Obama."

Wow. Obama's even pulling in the racists. (Kudos to the Laird for calling that possibility a while back.)

I just realized that the this may be the first time in my life that the most likely outcome in a Presidential contest is the guy I originally thought would be the overall best of the available candidates. Here he is, out-organizing, out-managing, out-campaigning - smacking down the Clintons. The Clintons! The Bill and Hillary Clintons. At politics!

And now for the John McCain O.O.J. (Original Old Jokes):

"McCain deserves a lot of credit for his heroism in tracking down John Wilkes Booth and bringing him to justice.

"A lot of historians have interesting insights into John McCain, but I think Herodotus nailed it."

"John McCain hasn't had such a tough race since he ran against that Triceratops."

"John McCain does believe in evolution. He watched it happen."

"Classic theoretical physics precludes the possibility that John McCain witnessed the creation of the universe. However, Hawking dissents."

* In the interest of avoiding any charges of plagiarism from the Clinton campaign, let me attribute this phrase to those who have been using it recently: People who write things about politics. Thank you for letting me use your phrase. Also, an an artist, I want to attribute my idea for using images of women in paintings to Jenny Saville, Richard Diebenkorn, Henri Matisse, Picasso, Manet, Monet, Man-Ray, Duchamp, Ingres, Titian, Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Giotto, Apollodorus of Athens, Kenemiodes of Minoa, and of course Omorgooo-gar, of Lascaux. Special thanks to the estate of Yves Klein for my use of a small dab of Klein blue in the upper right of my latest work.

U.S. Supreme Court: You Have No Standing to Challenge Fascism

The Supreme Court fails a fundamental test of liberty.

For many years, I've tried to sort out what are relatively minor losses to freedom versus major abandonment of constitutional principles of democracy and liberty.

This is a major failure, in effect permitting wholesale government monitoring of all the data in our lives. Because it's secret, the court says we have no standing, unless we do, in which case we can't challenge it because it would reveal state secrets.

It keeps a open path to any fascistic intent on the part of the government.

There has been some.

Other People's Word Things

"Words do matter, when they mean something. The Presidency, politics and the law, is very much about words: poetry with consequences. Take the Bible, Hamlet or the U.S. Constitution. They're full of words."

This is the phrase the Clinton campaign is raising as a some sort of plagiarism issue, from Congressman Deval Patrick. No, wait a minute. That was MY phrase, which I thought I made up myself. (Below, On With Obama.)

“Don’t tell me words don’t matter,” he said in his remarks. “ ‘I have a dream.’ Just words? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’ Just words? ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words? Just speeches?”

No wait a minute....

"'We have nothing to fear, but fear itself,' … just words. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' Just words. … 'I have a dream' … just words."

No, THAT was it.

This is idiotic. If I had to attribute every quote I've made echoing a two word phrase from my buddies at the Isengard crew, like or "I should get this looked at" or "look out for that bus!," or "how much is that in leather?," I'd have been run over by a bus by now.

In this case, the bus is the the Clinton campaign, but they're about 20 cents short of exact fare.


Ooops! Almost forgot. Today's John McCain old jokes:

1. I don't want to say McCain is old, but last time he wished him a happy birthday, Willard Scott seemed impressed.

2. John McCain's cross-country tour has being delayed weeks by the candidate's insistence on driving the Straight Talk Express bus at 40 mph in the fast lane.

3. McCain vowed to greatly increase civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized motion or standing of minors upon grass-covered areas adjacent to all privately-owned senior housing.

4. John McCain was delighted today at the resignation of Fidel Castro, who he lost a bitter mambo contest to in Havana in 1949.

5. McCain expressed relief today when the University of Michigan department of Archeology announced that while excavating the deepest layer of the ruins of Pompei, they found his watch.

It's on Dr. X! More John McCain Old Jokes Until You Start Posting!

(Left) In Maryland recently, John McCain chatted with his youngest grandson, Ezekiel, who related the story of his Liberty ship's sinking by the Bismark.

John McCain met my grandmother! On a date, in Paris, as a humiliated Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles.

John McCain recently touted the value of high technology research, such as pneumatic rubber tires, X-Ray treatments for bunions, and electrically-generated messages which can magically fly through the air.

He then asked a question of the crowd: "Where can I insure my steam car?"

John McCain can and should fix this country: by going back in time, training his younger self to get a medical degree, and making him give Bush '41 a vasectomy.

George Bush senior endorsed McCain today - they're old buddies from World War II, when Bush was a young pilot and McCain was the Admiral best known for conquering the Philippines.

He's so old, when God said let there be light, McCain hit the switch. (USED JOKE, $3.99)

John McCain loves black people. He plans to appoint John Henry the Secretary of Labor.

McCain was born on the Isthmus of Panama, where as a young boy he helped Balboa discover the Pacific. *


John McCain does believe in Global Warming, but in keeping with his traditional religious beliefs, he is mostly concerned that we have angered the Fire God, Vulcan.

John McCain grew up in many places - the McCain family followed the mammoth herds, and using simple stone tools, created an American flag from deerskin to ward off rival tribes. Of course then America was called "Poohakaa-maka, " was located on the Ural steppes, and the rival tribes were highly evolved Homo Erectus.

*(Special note: he still can be President?)

John McCain Old Jokes, In Advancing Order of Implied Age

I'm not saying John McCain is old to his face; I'm yelling it in his ear.

McCain ran for president and gave up a lot of opportunities, such as writing sarcastic letters to the editor.

John McCain keeps going to the right, but his signal is still blinking left.

Support John McCain, the last living aviator of World War I.

John McCain's had trouble raising money ever since he ran out of small canvas bags with dollar signs on them.

McCain launched a biting attack on Barack Obama yesterday, but keeps calling him by the name of McCain's last presidential opponent, William Jennings Bryan.

Who knows more about how to get America out of her troubles than the same old rich white guys that caused the troubles in the first place, and their common ancestor, John McCain?

McCain has had a few scandals. He is still embarrassed about the Savings and Loan debacle, the Tea Pot Dome Scandal, the Tulip Bubble of 1637, and that time he helped Henry the Eighth with his divorce and brought about that schism with Rome.

John McCain is a strong believer in Jesus Christ. John first met him when he was a carpenter and had some work done on the house.

John McCain is serious about Global Warming because he remembers what happened when the glaciers retreated from Arizona the first time.

Mark Penn: would it be possible for you to please go fuck yourself?

Clinton to fight for every delegate - msnbc.com: “Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn't won any of the significant states -- outside of Illinois?” Chief Strategist Mark Penn said. “That raises some serious questions about Sen. Obama.”

Oh dear. To me, this raises some serious 'why don't you all go and fuck yourselves' questions for the Clinton campaign.

John McCain: Old Jokes

1. John McCain's first job in the Navy was inflating the aircraft with hydrogen.

2. John McCain is so old that when he joined the Republican party, its symbol was the mammoth.

4. In all those years in battle, John McCain never left a man behind. Only Joan of Arc.

5. John McCain plans to remake America into the America he knows so well, by distributing pilgrim hats.

6. What did John McCain say the first time he met the enemy?

"This is Sparta!"

7. John McCain had an embarrassing moment the other day when he accidentally called the President of Pakistan by the name of another of his friends from the region, Pharaoh Ramses the II.

8. John McCain knows young people. They're the ones who cut his meat into easily digestible chunks.

9. McCain's health care plan is replacing fluoride in our water with Metamucil.

10. John McCain has been fighting for America ever since the continent originally broke off from Gondwanaland.


I didn't promise that the jokes themselves aren't old, or borrowed, or unfortunate.

"Somebody set up us the O-bomb."

CNN - Exit polls: Obama stealing Clinton’s base

Revival of the Shame Pole

A Cordova fisherman touches on Tlingit heritage to create a "shame pole" for the uncollected billions Exxon owes Alaska over the 1989 spill.

A classic version of the shame pole is the Three Frogs pole on Wrangell island, erected over inappropriate impregnation and debts incurred therein.

Bush years, Alan Greenspan, bad wars, environmental degradation, health care, etc, etc, etc, I expect a run on shame poles. Get your order in now.

Developments in The B-17 Sculpture Project

I'm excited by
some interesting developments in the B-17 Sculpture proposal, "Initial Point, " I've been developing conceptually over the last year or so.

It has a possible site at the UW School of Art, here at the sculpture courtyard of the Art (right) building on the main campus in Seattle. The courtyard is designed as a sculpture court, but is notoriously underused. It's just a request for a proposal and budget, but there has been a good reaction so far, and I'm optimistic about really putting this project together.

The initial proposal is to mount a large section of the model bomber formation from an open, tent-pole like tower structure that follows the lines of a six-part vaulted cathedral ceiling hanging over the courtyard, three stories up. Part of the appeal is to activate the courtyard space and revitalize interest in it's future possibilities.

There is much to do. It's in very early discussions and design ideas, but it is to the point where I need to begin to create a formal proposal, drawings, budgeting and models. I want to introduce the new site-specific concept here because I would very much welcome development ideas from the Isengard.Gov crew.

The following is from a bit of the correspondence:

I wanted to send along my sense from our conversation of the next steps for design, organization, and budgeting in order to create a formal proposal. Please add to these as you think fit:


Proposal Components

a) Drawings: Concept design, formal design, site design, examples of specific elements, structural and architectural design ideas.
b) Sources of Additional Expertise: Engineering, Historical accuracy, Metal casting, welding, cable rigging and woodwork
c) Selected Materials, Manufacturing and assembly methods.
d) Funding: Identifying and contacting possible sources, internal and external to UW.
e) Budgeting.

I'm also gathering ideas for Funding, Research, and Materials:

Boeing Company - Funds, Engineering support, donation of materials, publicity
Boeing Museum of Flight - Archival research, exhibition engineering
UW Public Art Program - Funding (?)
UW School of Art - Site, Supporting Workshops and Material-working expertise.

Sources for Volunteers, Expertise, Research, Construction, Fundraising Contacts

Email Contact List - Interested Artists, Funders, Organizations and Individuals. (I have about a dozen already.)
UW School of Art
UW Facilities
UW School of Engineering
Seattle Art Museum
Cascade Warbirds (WWII aircraft veterans and operators)
City of Seattle
Various Seattle and Aviation Historical Organizations


First on my priority list is beginning larger drawings and scale models to sort out design elements based on the use of the courtyard, and to make contacts for feedback and direct expert and possible fundraising support. The design will doubtless evolve based on available budgets, safety and building use limits, etc.

I can add to this that I am looking for information on metals, simple tower construction, computer design, anything that can contribute to sorting out a fairly complex design idea and simplifying both the form and construction.

An addition to the idea here, based on the site, is the construction of a small, spherical brick building in the courtyard, (evocative, I think, for many reasons) of a bomb shelter, an exposed medieval sub-basement, and a brick oven. Walking by it you would hear a slight hum. Going inside, you would hear the full-throated roar of four thousand radial engines, either wind driven or an out and out recording.

Other elements I'm considering adding are a reflecting pool, three caryatids in a central column support for the tower vault frame, full-size (even full color) women from the nose art of the bombers, tripled, backs to each other, but in attitudes of search and mourning. (Tacky? Strange? Heck, yeah.) An even more dramatic element would be sections of a full size B-17, (nose, wing tips, tail), made in resin-coated styrofoam and pasted on the building so that it appears to be flying through it and emerging, but in an attitude towards a crash in the courtyard.

I consider everything. Too much is never enough.

Feel that?

It's Obmama momentum. Swept three states (to of them better than 2-to-1) and a territory. With every primary and caucus, he has closed the gap. Next week looks good, too.

It's on.

It's go time.

Clinton: the old and busted.

Obama: the new hotness.

A Really Big Rally

A thunderous Obama rally today at Key Arena here in Seattle far outdrew the Clinton rally - there were 5000 people or so at the Clinton rally yesterday at the Pier. About that many sat outside the Key Arena listening to the speech, unable to get in because it was completely over capacity. When I got there about 11:15, when virtually all the seats were filled, there was a solid stream of people about a third of a mile long still moving toward the building.

It was simply the most amazing scene in American politics I've seen in person. The building was jammed with people under 25, JAMMED. Desperate for seats, dozens climbed up into the luxury boxes (a foreshadowing I think - watch out.) A dance-off broke out while we waited, one girl shaking it like Rose McGowan in Grindhouse, her long brown hair twirling a spell across the crowd.

The crowd: everyone. An impressive cross-section. It looked like America as it is, except that the Seniors had gone to the casino.

The Governor, Christine Gregoire, had just announced her endorsement. About 12:30, Barack Obama walked on. Rock star roar.

It was an impressive speech. I'm not easily moved by political speech...this was not straight-up Shakespearian thunder. It started light-hearted and conversational, remarkably relaxed and open.

One of his skills is to create a sincere rapport before the storm builds, and build it does, and it rolls through the applause with confidence and authority. In clips his lines can sometimes feel a little bombastic, but over the course of the actual speech he earns it with a personability and an openness of spirit. It's this later quality - the connecting of soaring rhetoric and easy bearing that makes Barack Obama a master of something that long seemed impossible: making perfectly reasonable American liberalism compelling, moving and driving.

"My only inheritance was love, education, and hope."

His commitment to the Constitution was in force as well - he got a roar at restoring Habeus Corpus (!) Let me say that again - he got a huge roar from the crowd over Habeus Corpus. I have no serious doubts that Barack Obama is a remarkable, transformational politician- a re-energizer of a wounded democracy.

I will be supporting him tomorrow at the Washington State Caucuses. (1PM - don't be late!)

Right now John McCain is in Seattle, speaking in the Westin Hotel in a largish room where they had to drape a cloth halfway so the room wouldn't look nearly so empty, to a crowd of maybe a thousand people so old, white and wrinkled you could mistake them for a pile of recycled newspaper.

No More Mittens

Oh, Romney quit.

Well, then. The neo-con toolbox is finally out of reliable tools.

Remember 40 below Zero? This was 30 degrees Colder

I find it reassuring, however falsely, that 70 below zero temperatures were just recorded in Tok, Alaska.

News Item: Obama in Seattle Friday Morning

Barack Obama will be in Seattle at the Seattle Sonics' Key Arena Friday (tomorrow) starting at 11 AM. I'm planning to be there myself.

You'll be able to pick Obama out easily. He'll be the only player at Key Arena likely to win things.

Pro-bama in Seattle

Suddenly, Washington State and it's 97 delegates are in the national spotlight as Barack Obama drew even with Hilary Clinton, and took slightly more delegates on Super Tuesday.

Just a quick read here: there has been little Washington State polling - the only one I saw, about a week ago, had Obama up by 15. But this state has gone back to caucuses, and these seem to be favoring the Obama campaign, with it's flexible, fast organization and fever-pitch enthusiasm, in particular among younger minority voters of all kinds. (I have yet to meet a Clinton supporter here who is not 1) receiving Social Security, or 2) a long-time Democratic Party official ).

Super Tuesday proved him as skilled a politician as Clinton, which is likely to erase lingering doubts among the value of their comparative experiences. Enthusiasm for participation is at fever pitch - every other conversation I hear is about this, and almost always Pro-bama, to coin a phrase.

My guess: he'll take Washington State by about 20-23 percent, and this is at something of a tipping point, with the nation leaving Super Tuesday in surprising balance. Because of the states involved, it may be weeks before Clinton gets another big win.

We're Giving 109%!

Chewing on a few ideas for work I could do to support Obama while I'm back in West Virginia, I thought some facts and figures would be useful. So, I looked up WV donations, voting history, etc. Then I came to this lovely graphic. I call your attention to Map #3 and this excerpt from the text: "Lincoln County had more registered voters than adults; the reason its for value of 109% voter registration is unknown."