McCain Leads Obama In Latest Poll

For all the hype and "second coming of (fill in the blank)" accolades bestowed upon Barack Obama you wouldn't think he would be trailing the beleaguered GOP's candidate. But John McCain is beating Obama in the latest L.A. Times/ Bloomberg poll 44%-42%. (.pdf results)

It's not the only one showing this surprising result. The recent USA Today/Gallup poll had McCain up 48-47 among likely voters while Rasmussen Reports had it 46-43.

Of course, we also had the recent CBS/New York Times poll with Obama winning by 12 points and an Ipsos/AP poll (.pdf) giving him a 10-point edge. So go figure.

Music To Drive A Terrorist Insane

Mother Jones releases a list of songs allegedly used by the military to disorient detainees. Included are the themes from Barney, Sesame Street and the Meow Mix commercial. However, we suspect the inclusion of AC/DC and Metallica tunes are more for the enjoyment of the troops than anything else.

But why Prince's Raspberry Beret?

Nevada One Of The Worst For Job Hunters?

Another top ten the Silver State would like to avoid popped up recently as the unemployment rate in Nevada for December was the ninth highest in the country at 5.8%. Michigan was the worst at 7.6%. Idaho and South Dakota were the best at 3.0%.

Ralph Nader, Bob Beers, Budget-Busting Candidate Promises, Etc.

A smattering of political news and, completely unrelated, a poll for oddest book title of the year.

• Nader's back. But he doubts he'll be a spoiler, saying "If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up."
• Nevada State Senator Bob Beers jousts with CityLife's Steve Sebelius.
• Want to pay less taxes and have more government handouts, all the while whistling past the graveyard of an out-of-control budget deficit? Then there's a myriad of presidential campaign promises just for you.
• The time-honored argument of whether newspapers should endorse political candidates gets the once-over again. This time it's Time.
• Will this year's presidential nominees go with a governor for veep? Here are some possible candidates.
• If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs and I Was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen are currently in a tight battle for the Diagram Prize, given to the oddest book title of the year. Cheese Problems Solved is running third.

Coolest Online Catalog Page Ever

Granted it's not political, but considering "Find Chuck Norris" and the ever-popular Kara Tsuboi are our all-time best-selling favorites here, we figured what the heck.

With a hat tip to the guys at Woot (where, on a side note, we recently picked up a Sansa 1GB MP3 player for just $9.95), comes a link to perhaps the coolest catalog page ever. It's from the Netherlands and while we're not sure if it is an actual catalog page, it is a marvel of some kind of programming (Flash perhaps?). Wait a couple seconds for the animation to start.

Court Shuts Down Site, Other Primaries and The Long Tail of Online Politics

Since the headline pretty much covers it, here are the links.

• Wikileaks.org, a site dedicated to leaked information, was shuttered by a California judge after a Cayman Islands bank objected to posted documents that seemed to indicate it participates in tax evasion and money laundering.
• With all the interest in the Democratic and Republican nomination process, let's not forget there are some other parties out there doing the same thing. Former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, perhaps more famous for her scuffle with Capitol police, won last week's DC Green Party primary. She currently trails Ralph Nader in overall delegates, 117-92.
• Those familiar with "The Long Tail" theory might recognize it in Barack Obama's campaign. The Central Desk Blog takes an in-depth look.

Should Journalists Vote?

In the hopes of at least keeping the appearance of impartiality in media reporting, most organiztions have rules regarding open political activity by their reporters. But what about the actual act of voting?

The Politico's Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris state their cases in "Should journalists vote? Yes, no, sometimes."

How To Calculate Your Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate

Curious as to what, if any, your 2008 economic stimulus tax rebate check will be?

Thanks to ConsumerismCommentary.com there's now an actual calculator to help you out.



For more details on how the rebate will be determined, along with some examples, this San Francisco Chronicle article does a good job of explaining it.

Hillary's Finished, Says Media

It was just this past Sunday when all the rage was stories on how the Democratic presidential nomination was headed to a brokered convention or, even worse, those mysterious and undemocratic super delegates.

But 72 hours later, and a few more Barack Obama wins in the bag, and today's theme is Hillary Clinton is toast. And it's not just Dick Morris either.

• Hillary's Bleak Outlook - John Heilemann, Daily Intelligencer
• Why Hillary Will Lose - Dick Morris
• The End of BillaryLand Is On Its Way. Rejoice! - The New Republic
• "If she loses either Texas or Ohio, this thing is done." - James Carville
• The Tipping Point - Campaign Standard
• Why Is Clinton’s Back Against Wall? Nobody Prepared - New York Observer
• Clinton Plays Election Roulette - The Politico
• Losing, Hillary Style - The Politico

Another "Yes We Can" Version

Aimed directly at the real MySpace and Facebook crowd, though they probably won't get it since a) there are no celebrities, and b) there's no play button.

Are Young Bible Thumpers Turning Liberal?

So are the Dobsons and Robertsons of the Religious Right fading into the political sunset?

Reuters and ABC News see some signs a change is taking place.

Prediction Markets Now Bullish On Obama

Prediction market-maker Intrade has Barack Obama as a 70% favorite to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. Just a week ago, February 6, he was trading below 40 while Hillary Clinton was at 63. The next day she crashed and has now drifted down to 30.

Predicting Chaos At Democratic Convention

With Obama and Clinton knotted and the GOP race essentially finished, media pundits have started looking ahead for a new storyline to beat to death. And, apparently, they have found a winner (well, at least for this Sunday) -- the "Brokered Convention."

Convention Could Get Ugly - Hartford Courant
Nominating Process May Divide Democrats - San Diego Union-Tribune
Next Up for the Democrats: Civil War - Frank Rich, NYT
The Superdelegates: 796 Insiders May Hold Democrats' Key - Washington Post
Neck and Neck, Democrats Woo Superdelegates - New York Times

Maybe That's How Obama Raised All That Money

Man on Barack Obama email list laments the fact that of the last 50 mailings he has received only two dealt with issues and two-thirds of the remaining were strictly fundraising appeals.

He's lucky he wasn't on John Edwards' list.

Good Riddance

Religious right quack Dr. James Dobson vows to boycott election if John McCain wins GOP nomination.

Nevada Conservative Blogs Bite The Dust

Though they faded away many moons ago, two former Northern Nevada conservative blogs still find a home on blogrolls despite literally disappearing.

Launched in December 2005 with the goal of being Nevada's premiere conservative blog, BattleBornNews.com is now nothing but a parked domain with click-thru ads and the hopes of finding a buyer.

Joining Battle Born in the scrapheap of domains, is CobbGobbler.net. While the attack site hasn't been updated in ages, it now seems to be rerouting visitors to a spammy search page that apparently is considered spyware by many. A fitting ending some would say.

Latest Super Tuesday Presidential Polls

We were going to type out all of them but figured it would take forever and a day. So here's a quick summary of all the Super Tuesday polls that are available.

McCain States
Arizona
Connecticut
Illinois
Minnesota
New Jersey
New York
Oklahoma

Romney States
Colorado
Massachusetts
Utah

GOP Tossup States
Alabama - McCain and Huckabee
California - McCain and Romney
Georgia - McCain, Romney and Huckabee
Missouri - McCain, Romney and Huckabee
Tennessee - McCain, Huckabee and Romney

Clinton States
Massachusetts
Minnesota
New York
Oklahoma
Tennessee

Obama States
Georgia
Illinois

Dem Tossup States
Alabama - Leaning Clinton
Arizona - Leaning Clinton
California - Too Close
Colorado - Leaning Obama
Connecticut - Too Close
Missouri - Clinton by 11 in one poll, Obama by 5 in Zogby.
New Jersey - Clinton by 14, 11, 6 and 5, but Zogby has it tied.

Bush Clinton Political Dynasty as Explained by Rapping Pizza

Although the Rapping Pizza's math is suspect (it would be 28 years, not 32), his message is clear.

Warning: Chorus will stay in your head for the rest of the day.