Vote Richardson.
He has the guts, the experience, and a track record that isn’t bogged down in Senate procedural BS. Whereas Senator Obama said he opposed Mukasey’s confirmation he did not bother to go and Vote No to his confirmation. Neither did Senator’s Biden, Clinton, or Dodd.

I simply can not vote for someone who had the opportunity to vote in the U.S. Senate against the confirmation of an Attorney General who cannot utter the obvious truth that waterboarding is torture.

Sometimes one must act on the courage of one’s convictions regardless of the consequences to ones’s own ambitions. Biden, Clinton, Dodd, and Obama all took the path that minimized the consequences to themselves rather than the right one for their country. I can not vote for any of these. I don’t think anyone else should either. They all blew it.

Vote Richardson.
Or vote Edwards.

But don’t vote for opportunistic political-cowards.

for transparency and good government:

He created a web site to show what the government spends and the recipients of government contracts.

http://www.usaspending.gov

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..ues…

“He supports ethics and lobbying reform and is the only front-runner to walk the walk in not accepting lobbyist money and soft money.

http://obama.senate.gov/issues…

Obama stood up to the media in opposition to media consolidation

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…

An article from DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND a year ago:

“37 Bills That Barack Obama wrote and/or Co-Sponsored in 2 Years in the US Senate!”

(http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364×3132998)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So those posting Obama is not progressive now know differently. I really wish people would not take other’s comments at face value without doing research.

There is something special about Obama. He has a special quality and a phenomenal mind which make Obama uniquely qualified to be President.

Perhaps you will take another look. maybe you will see what I do… maybe, maybe not?

Vote for the candidate who moves you.

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The past 16 years Obama worked as a community organizer, a civil rights attorney, Constitutional rights professor, Illinois state Senator and a US Senator. He has been aggressive in trying to bring about social changes. Given lots of opportunities to work in lucrative jobs instead Obama remained a public servant advancing progressive ideas. Furthermore he is the least wealthy in the top tier and probably second tier candidates, too including most republicans. He and his wife are worth a little over $1 million. Individually Edwards and Clinton are worth much, much more.

Organizing poor neighbourhoods, taking on genocide in Darfur and opposing the war in Iraq demonstrate Obama is a man who acts on his convictions, who cares about people and who thinks deeply about the issues.

Disclosure: iam in no way affiliated with his campaign, but I support his bid for the presidency because his record shows he can accomplish what the others may not be able to.

I like Edwards a lot too. I just feel that Obama is representative of the change we need. He has shown he is a man who act on his convictions . He is forthcoming about his desire to move America forward in some semblance of Unity. America has been fractured for far too long under the Bush administration.

Obama says we need to change the mind-set that got us into war and the mess we’re in, in the first place (vital for success). He is very aware that is what we need to deal with before the nation can move forward. Change the thinking: we have options other than military, which is what Cheney & Bush have worked so hard at cementing into the public’s mind-set.

I think it finally dawned on the public that military aggression creates more problems with the ongoing increasing expansion of anti_americanism. America’s wake of death and destruction is the problem not the solution.

The public tired of the war, tired of the politics of fear, has an open window of opportunity and the timing is auspicious for putting the genie back in the bottle. It is the first step to correct the nightmare Bush and Cheney created when they opened Pandora’s box.

The nation’s choice: the politics of fear or the politics of hope — choose a different path or stay the course sure to last at the very least a generation.

For those willing to set aside your negative impressions and do some research, watch his body language, you will find he is consistent. (rare in politicians today). He walks his talk.
Perpetuating false narratives and false impressions are not what progressives stand for.

This is not about changing who you support or plan to vote for.

Iam suggesting there is much more to this man than he is given credit for IMHO. Obama has more on the ball than most. Obama has the desire and yearning to lead given the chance.

Vote for the candidate who moves you.

You say:

Caucus voting in Iowa isn’t a matter of punching a card in secret, it’s done in the open and everybody in the room knows how you’re voting. Add to that the fact that if your candidate doesn’t reach a 15% threshold, you get to cast a second vote — and people get to speak on behalf of their candidate. It’s actually a very anti-democratic process. There’s a lot of small community social pressure you have to factor in when trying to predict an outcome.

As I see it, the caucuses in Iowa are EXACTLY what democracy should be. A face to face communal activity. There major flaw seems to be that they only come around every four years (or do they have them more often?) By contrast, mass democracy as practiced today in most places, with anonymity and solitude, is in my view a step down from the town meeting and the local caucus. Life and politics should be local and communal. Anonymous elections of state senators and Presidents are barely democratic at all… it’s just a short step from anonymity and the loss of face to face culture to influence pedaling and our current fascistic system.

That is my dream ticket!

However, I’m preparing my tender progressive heart to be thrashed tomorrow when it comes that Obama will pull out ahead (I fear Edwards might even come in third!). This election is our chance to not only realign the country towards progressivism and we’re about to squander it. Simply having a “Democratic” president and majority just won’t do.

My guess for an Obama VP: a woman. I am all but certain. Likely a moderate (i.e. “post-partisan”).

Obama will never win the general election imo

No need to be humble about that assessment.

1. Economist Paul Krugman – not exactly partisan firebrand – questions why Obama has already thrown in towel, doing the Weak Democrat Bend Over, on health care PRE-EMPTIVELY, before winning a single primary.

2. Michael Moore’s letter today (no outright endorsement, just the facts, m’am)noted the same Obama squishiness. Barack thinks he’s going to good will smile policy into being; governance by kumbaya.

3. ‘Course everyone knows by now that Barack Obama chose Joe LIEberman as his Congressional mentor and – allegedly – was fronted by the fence-sitting, DLC, Centrist Weak-Knees for this race specifically to bleed off progressive support from Edwards. (Hillary’s entitlement.)

Go to MichaelMoore.com and read about Hillary’s refusal to be interviewed by Moore in Rolling Stone … to which both Obama and Edwards agreed, but HRC’s refusal sunk the whole tripartite interview. If you’ve seen “sicko” and have any idea how much $$$ the health insurer/Big Pharma lobbyists have coughed into Hillary’s coffers as Shut Up Money on Universal Health Care, you already KNOW why Hillary is afraid of a sit down with Mike Moore.

Don’t be humble about fearing Obama’s unprogressive, unelectability cuz he’s both. Double Ditto for my senator, H.R. Clinton, she of the astronomical negatives right out of the gate.

Thus, hazmaq in 156 seems to twist everything out of shape. Edwards has been a populist — The Two Americas is not the only label for it — for nearly 40 years as a trial attorney for citizen plaintiffs. (What hazmaq dismisses as “just another attorney” … which Edwards could fairly be called if he was a Corporate Clone. He isn’t.) One could say John Edwards has been aware of The Two Americas for his entire life; he comes from the working class. And never forgot it.

Check out Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Spin report today: V. reasonable analysis of how ALL corporations — but mass media conglomerates in particular — are scared crapless of Edwards. The example was from USA Today totally ignoring Edwards’ existence. John Edwards didn’t have to copy anybody’s ideas on his populist, fight-the-machine life’s work. Why do you think he’s being ignored by our P.U.-litzer Prize winning (stinko journalism awards) mass media? (h/t on the P.U. Prize to Jeff Greenwald at AlterNet)

In 2004 he plagiarized the entire works of Stan Greenberg’s book ‘The Two Americas’. Most people thought that was his idea.

He’s just another attorney, after all.