The CNN.com live feed has an empty podium ready for an Obama news conference in Aberdeen, SD.  

http://www.cnn.com/...

He will discuss his decision to leave his Chicago church. I imagine we will hear a response to the RBC meeting that just concluded.  Although it puts him further away from the nomination, in practical terms he has it locked it up.

Maybe we can follow it here as a live blog?

One of the best articles to show your friends about John McCain is about how his economic policy was shaped by lobbyist Phil Gramm:

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s national campaign general co-chair was being paid by a Swiss bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy, federal records show.

I guess McCain has to ask someone for help, since he admitted "I never really understood economics,"  but Gramm was reponsible for helping to kill the 2007 "Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act."

The Washington Post's Security Fix blog observes:

The secrecy surrounding the Bush administration's updated National Cyber Security Initiative -- designed to improve the government's digital defenses and put forth an offensive information warfare doctrine -- is endangering the deterrent value of the project and appears to be aimed chiefly at supporting spying operations abroad, a key U.S. Senate committee concludes in a new report.

This diary is cross-posted from Open Left. Since it attracted some attention there, I thought the Daily Kos community might be interested.  I hope to write similar diaries on other possible Vice Presidents.

Sherrod Brown was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 and  defeated Republican incumbent Mike DeWine to move up to the Senate in 2006.  Chris Bowers has suggested him as a possible Vice President.  

I thought I would look at youtube to get a sense of how Sherrod Brown would perform as a VP candidate.  Personally, I'm very impressed, but look for yourself...

Barack Obama is holding a rally in Eugene tonight.  

The local CBS station KVAL has promised a live stream at 7:45 their time.  So this is a live blog for the rally.  

I expect it will be more or less the usual stump speech, but sometimes he tries out new material.  I will add a direct link if I can figure out what it is.  Oregon is a crucial state since WV and KY will go for Clinton.

The direct link is here.

Everyone's noticed that Krugman dislikes Obama and attacks him at every turn, but he is plain dishonest in his latest column.

Probably you already saw the great youtube song Obama Everywhere by Earl Pickens and the Band Named Thunder.  It's nice to see Obama's campaign pays attention to the Internet, cause now there's an official spinoff...

Today's news must be devasting for Eliot Spitzer's wife and frankly very disappointing to those of us who saw Spitzer as a possible future President.  Still, I've seen some commentary on the much less important question of his superdelegate vote IF he should resign, so I thought I would post this.

This is a continuation of dmsilev's IL-14 special election liveblog.  As he says:

Remember, this is Dennis Hastert's old district, with Democrat Bill Foster running against all-around-jerk Jim Oberweis. Jim Oberweis is best noted as the person who was passed over in favor of Alan Keyes in the 2004 Senate race.

Gridlock in Washington DC means that we must -- for now -- turn to the states to advance progressive ideas. One of our best current opportunities is thanks to my own state senator Steve Sweeney (LD3).  His Paid Family Leave Bill (S786) would allow six weeks of paid leave to care for a sick family member or newborn baby. The costs are covered by a slight increase in the Unemployment Insurance fees paid by employees. The bill says it better than I can...

But before I tell you more about the bill and the critical vote on Monday, I'm warning that we need YOU to contact your New Jersey state senator...

Via Talking Points Memo:

U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today issued the following statement by Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker:

"It is a shame that the New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit and run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election.

"Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career."

You might think such a laughably false claim (McCain was one of the Keating 5) takes a special talent. Perhaps you then recognize Jill Hazelbaker's name? For those of you who don't, here's a story on the kind of integrity John McCain looks for in his staff...

I posted a nearly identical diary yesterday, but this is very important and we need calls

New Jersey is poised to become just the second state to enable all workers to get paid time off to care for a sick child or parent, or have a baby.  But the sad fact is that we are being outworked by the business lobby, which -- as always -- bitterly opposes any progressive legislation.  They have not just the Trenton lobbyists but numerous phone calls and e-mails coming in to the state legislators.   As you can see in the video below, Steve Sweeney's received a hundred e-mails OPPOSING the bill.  If you live in New Jersey, we need you to phone, e-mail or fax your state senator to support Steve Sweeney's bill.  Already the bill has been been cut back from 10 weeks at half-pay to just six weeks.  The bill is in committee and its fate will be decided TODAY.  We have lost at least one Democratic vote but Sweeney thinks we can get Republican ones.  

New Jersey is poised to become just the second state to enable all workers to get paid time off to care for a sick child or parent, or have a baby.  But the sad fact is that we are being outworked by the business lobby, which -- as always -- bitterly opposes any progressive legislation.  They have not just the Trenton lobbyists but numerous phone calls and e-mails coming in to the state legislators.   As you can see in the video below, Steve Sweeney's received a hundred e-mails OPPOSING the bill.  If you live in New Jersey, we need you to phone, e-mail or fax your state senator to support Steve Sweeney's bill.  Already the bill has been been cut back from 10 weeks at half-pay to just six weeks.  The bill is in committee and its fate will be decided on Monday.  We have lost at least one Democratic vote but Sweeney thinks we can get Republican ones.  

This is an urgent appeal to contact the committee and your state senator to save the bill.

Senator Obama is now just six points behind Hillary Clinton in New Hamshire, according to today's ABC/Washington Post poll. To be sure, we should not misjudge the challenge, we face, as they do note she is "scoring more committed and enthusiastic support, higher trust to handle pressing issues and broad margins on leadership, experience and electability."  In advocating for Clinton's continuing lead, I notice that they say "Clinton's lead in New Hampshire inches up in lower-turnout scenarios, suggesting her support is more reliable."

I'd conclude the opposite. I think voter enthusiasm is high, as Democrats and Independents realize the need for change.  I think there will huge turnout, and this poll suggests that favors Obama.  

As much as we all "enjoy" responding to Hillary Clinton's attacks on Barack Obama's character and discussing polls, there's much more important things at stake in this election.  Today, Obama reminded us of that, as he chose to address the problem of predatory credit card lenders.  The AP reports:

"Many credit card companies are tricking Americans into agreements they can't afford because that's how they make big profits," he said. "Well, no company's bottom line should come before what's right for the American people."

Obama doesn't stop there...

Tonight is the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner for the Iowa Democratic Party.  The Iowa Independent reports:

In addition to the Big Six - the batting order is Edwards, Richardson, Biden, Dodd, Clinton and Obama -- attendees will hear from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Iowans Senator Tom Harkin, Governor Chet Culver, Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge and Congressman Leonard Boswell.

This is the second live blog on this event, since sgary's first one is too large.  The event is available at C-SPAN.  Both Real Player and Windows Media streams are available at C-SPAN's website.

Great news in southern New Jersey, or South Jersey as we call it here. In the two major State Senate races, both Democratic challengers won against their Republican opponents.  Jeff Van Drew won in District 1-- dominated by conservative Cape May county -- and Jim Whelan won in District 2 -- you may have heard of Atlantic City.  Steve Sweeney and his Assembly running mates all easily won re-election in the District 3.  

Jeff Van Drew is a star who is expected to eventually  run for Congress.  30% of registered voters in District 1 are Republican, and only 16% are Democrats.  Jim Whelan is no sluch either, overcoming a 26-21 disadvatange.  Together these three districts form most of New Jersey Congressional District Two, represented by Republican Frank LoBiondo.

Follow me across the flip to see why you should care.

Do you remember the New York Times story The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age?  Only last July,  billionaires denounced any increase in taxes, and praised the deregulation they had gotten the Democrats and Republicans to approve.  The greatest of them all was Citigroup's Sanford Weill:

His achievement required political clout, and that, too, is on display. Soon after he formed Citigroup, Congress repealed a Depression-era law that prohibited goliaths like the one Mr. Weill had just put together anyway, combining commercial and investment banking, insurance and stock brokerage operations. A trophy from the victory — a pen that President Bill Clinton used to sign the repeal — hangs, framed, near the magazine covers.

"People can look at the last 25 years and say this is an incredibly unique period of time," Mr. Weill said. "We didn’t rely on somebody else to build what we built, and we shouldn’t rely on somebody else to provide all the services our society needs."

How it all turned out on the flip