Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain Exchange Letters on Ethics Reform

No doubt, this and this will be discussed in the next few weeks. A nice little slice of that famous McCain temper.

0.003g = 4 years

Apparently, Dubai isn't all indoor ski-slopes and man made islands:

A father-of-three who was found with a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck to the bottom of one of his shoes has been sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison. Keith Brown, a council youth development officer, was travelling through the United Arab Emirates on his way back to England when he was stopped as he walked through Dubai's main airport.

A search by customs officials uncovered a speck of cannabis weighing just 0.003g - so small it would be invisible to the naked eye and weighing less than a grain of sugar - on the tread of one of his shoes.

New Iraqi Law Requires Waiting Period For Suicide Vest Purchases

In The Know: New Iraqi Law Requires Waiting Period For Suicide Vest Purchases

Summing It Up

I am now officially a cliche. From a blogger over at The Washington Monthly:

When I wrote my Monday post about voting for Obama I got several jokey emails from friends lamenting that I'd finally joined the cult ("Now you'll have to buy a Mac and start blogging about The Wire....").

The Obama backlash is coming, folks. On a related note, I'm about to start catching up on Season Five of the Wire with HBO on Demand.

Angry Green Men

Courtesy of aaronrutkoff.wordpress.com:

Events That Have Made David Banner Become the Incredible Hulk

I seriously hope these are plot points from the 70s TV series and not Internet humor, but the list itself is too funny to verify. I particularly liked:

23. Being trampled by a crowd AND having the hot coffee spilled on his hand while trying to get to the sniper

24. Being tied up and fed soup by an elderly Japanese woman who doesn’t understand words like “You’ve GOT to cut me loose!”

25. Grabbing the pipe that is below freezing temperature

In other Hulk related news, Edward Norton is set to star in another big-screen adapation coming this summer.

In Brief

My brother, the Republican, with the line of the day: "The Democrats keep promising change. Well, if either Hillary or Obama is elected, you will earn a dollar, the government will take 60 cents, and you will keep the 40 cents leftover--there's your change."

Express Yourself

Keep Your Expectations In Check

There is a lot of excitement over Obama's recent surge and the shrinking gap with Hillary. Still, it's important that supporters keep their expectations in line with the reality of the situation. The Clintons still have an enormous advantage among voters and are still the favorites to win just about every state (save Illinois and Georgia). Winning California, despite the recent Zogby polls, would be a miracle. Keep New Hampshire in mind. As one prominent blogger stated: "Obama has been slowly building up, and has had to overcome huge advantages enjoyed by the Clintons. It's about the calendar, and how it plays to Obama's strengths later in the month. There's no need to bet everything on tomorrow. It's all about how well he loses. The narrower the loss, the bigger his actual victory."

Here's what Obama's staff said yesterday about the situation:

Our path to the nomination never factored in a big day for us on February 5. Rather, we always planned to stay close enough in the delegate count so that we could proceed to individually focus on the states in the next set of contests. We fully expect Senator Clinton to earn more delegates on February 5th and also to win more states.

If we were to be within 100 delegates on that day and win a number of states, we will have met our threshold for success and will be best positioned to win the nomination in the coming months.

Michelle, Maria, Caroline and Oprah on the Hustings in California

"Forty-eight hours before the closest thing America has ever had to a national primary, four extraordinary women put on the best campaign rally I’ve seen in 20 years of covering presidential politics." That quote is from today's New York Times, referring to Michelle Obama, Maria Shriver, Caroline Kennedy and Oprah Winfrey in Los Angeles.

Michelle Obama is one of the best public speaker's I've ever heard. Her words have an air of authenticity that only a non-politician can possess. Scroll down below to hear a sample.

The Closer

Obama v. McCain

Washington Post poll released this morning, February 3rd:

Q: If the election were held today and the candidates were ... who would you vote for?

John McCain 46%
Barack Obama 49%

John McCain 49%
Hillary Clinton 46%

Quick Facts

Two quick facts:

1. Barack Obama brought in more donations from members of the military than John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Hillary Clinton. The candidate with the highest number of military contributions? Ron Paul.

2. Hillary Clinton leads all presidental candidates in contributions from federal PAC lobbyists. Obama does not take any federal lobbyist money.