Dems hit the halfway point

The Democratic convention hit the halfway mark on Tuesday, and so far the women are doing the heavy lifting.

Michelle Obama delivered a performance that took the edge off of earlier reports that took shots at her likability.

Hillary Clinton, while infusing much of her campaign into her speech, came out enthusiastically for Barack Obama. Hard to tell is the references to herself and her husband were laying the ground for 2012 (if Obama loses) or serving as a national political obituary. Stay tuned.

Equal opportunity bashing

While Obama and McCain are playing nice (for now), I've linked the Top 10 Most Awesomely Bad Moments of the Bush Presidency and a laundry list of Bill Clinton's issues.

Although this link is from 2006, you can check out the Top 10 Presidential Errors.


And if you're in need of a light moment, there's always Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Campaign Promises as told to David Letterman, plus links to Letterman's Top 10 lists concerning Bill Clinton.

Poll: Hillary out of veepstakes

In the Obama veepstakes, visitors to this blog said Barack Obama should not choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

Among those voting in an unscientific poll on this site, 45 percent said Obama should not choose Hillary. Of those, 27 percent said they lack the chemistry to work together, while 18 percent said her negatives would drag Obama down.

Hillary supporters wanted the former First Lady at a 36 percent clip. Of those, 27 percent said Obama would need her supporters in November, while 9 percent felt it would be like having two presidents.

Another 18 percent – perhaps sensing a McCain victory – said they would leave the country with Susan Sarandon. She might be 61, but she’s holding her age quite well. I wouldn’t leave the country with her, but maybe a weekend would be nice. (I don’t think my wife would agree to that).

Next up on the poll: Gas prices.

President and President 1A?

The Democratic race is over. Regardless of Hillary Clinton's claims of winning a.) the popular voting, b.) states that matter (which not be any state she lost), or c.) winning states with an even number of consonents in the second half of the alphabet, the simple fact is Barack Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee.

The $64,000 question (or maybe the $20 million question for Hillary) is who will be No. 2 on the ticket? And if it's Hillary, is the No. 2 slot really 1A?

The former first lady brings a ton of positives to the slate: Millions of people voted for her in the primaries. She's got great name recognition. Veep candidates typcially wallow in the mud a little more during the general election season, and nobody is more suited than transplanted Razorback Hillary C.

The negatives? Former President Bill Clinton - the once Democratic savior-turned-albatross - needs to be muzzled or at least sent to a strip club for the next five months. Republicans would open a double-barreled attack on both Obama and Hillary, slinging the mud that would have been reserved for her presidential run. And most pressing is Hillary's controlling nature. How hard will it be for her to tout Obama's position on health care, foreign policy, etc., when she (at least in her mind) believes her ideas are better?

Obama faces a tough choice. Weigh in on the poll at right or toss out your suggestions for Democratic VP choice.

Note: Given the title of this blog, it's worth noting that Obama is 46. A hearty congrats to a fellow 40s member!

Rules are rules (unless they are not)

Let me see if I've got this straight:

- All the major candidates running for the Democratic contest agree to the rules that Michigan and Florida will not be counted.

- One of the major candidates - after a disorganized campaign blew its built-in advantage of name recognition and a huge lead in the polls - decided that the voters (and, though not said out loud, the delegates) must be counted in those two states.

- Supporters of that major candidate cry foul when the DNC Rules Committee awards half delegates in the disputed states (as opposed to zero, which would have been the case).
According to the Clinton math, Hillary is leading in the popular vote, if you include the disputed states. She's also leading the delegate count in states that begin with letters in the second half of the alphabet and have even numbers of vowels, not to mention her overwhelming lead in the "important" states. If you're keeping track, the important states are those won by Hillary.

It's 3 a.m. The phone rings in the White House. Who's going to answer it? Hillary - because the only time Obama is going to let her within granade-throwing distance of the Oval Office is when he's not in there.

Hillary's not upset that Obama came in and "stole" the nomination. The Illinois senator likely swiped the big prize: The presidency. In her mind, the weak GOP choice - McCain - is very beatable, and an Obama win means she's out of the running for the presidency until 2016.

All of this is moot if Hillary takes her ball and goes home, sabotages the election for Obama, and re-emerges as the person to beat in 2012. Stranger things have happened...