by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by CarlsbadDem [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]


Wow! I get to play fangirl and get little taste of what it must be like to live in Iowa or New Hampshire today, as Howard Dean himself pays a visit to CA-50 to check up on things. A small group of volunteers was gathered at Nick Leibham's newly-opened campaign headquarters office in Encinitas. (Leibham is on the left, and of course Dean is on the right)

Apparently Dean was expecting an intimate meeting with just a few campaign staff, but indulged us with some photos, handshaking, and an impomptu speech. He talked about the successes--past, present and future--of the 50-state strategy, including the amazing gains that have been made in CA-50 and San Diego county generally. Dean is clearly very excited about--and invested in--turning this seat Blue. This race has been labeled a national top-40 race to watch by the DNC.  

by john nelson [courtesy of Blog for America]

As I am writing this, it is about 32 hours until the polls open in Wisconsin and a few more hours until they open in Hawaii. I believe that the next two days will prove to be THE most important days in determining who the nominee will be.

Obama supporters - we may never have this chance again. We had a chance to put the Clintons away before New Hampshire; but we came up short. We had a chance to put them away on Super Tuesday, had we won California, New Jersey and a couple other states. Again, we did well; but fell short of the knock out punch. In the next two days we have one more opportunity and if we fall short; we may never have this chance again.

For many reasons, I believe that what happens in Wisconsin and Hawaii, will have a domino effect for the rest of the campaign. If Obama wins Wisconsin and Hawaii, that momentum will carry over to Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island on March 4. We will raise more money, have more volunteers and much more energy. The Clintons will have more difficulty raising money and less energy in their campaign, and the in-fighting among campaign staff may continue. It may well lead to March 4 victories for Obama in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, that could be the knock out punch.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Senator Jeff Denham(R-SD12), who is facing a possible recall in his moderate district, is raising money. Lots of it. In fact, he found a loophole a mile wide. A loophole so wide as to make a recall attempt possibly a good thing.

According to Sen. Dehnham, there are no contribution limits to an anti-recall account. I've not verified this, but, I have no reason to doubt it. At any rate, I'm sure we can ask some of Gray Davis' old campaign staff. So, in today's Capitol Morning Report, we get this announcement for a fundraiser for Monday:

Jan. 28, Friends of Jeff Denham, Against the Recall (12th SD), reception, Sponsor $25,000, Patron $10,000, Individual $5000, "CA state law does not limit contributions to recall accounts." 5:30 p.m., Mikuni, 1530 J St. Contact: 916 498 9223.

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[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The hostage crisis at Senator Hillary Clinton's Rochester, N.H. campaign headquarters is over. Senator Clinton is headed to New Hampshire to thank law enforcement there for their efforts.
 
As someone who's spent way too many hours in campaign headquarters, I can tell you this must have been one freaky situation.
 
Hats off to New Hampshire law officials for handling this situation so that no one was hurt.

Clinton also issued this statement:

"I am very grateful that this difficult day has ended so well. All of my campaign staff and volunteers are safe. I want to thank them for their extraordinary courage and coolness under some very difficult pressures and dangerous situations. I also want to thank all of law enforcement. We were in touch from the moment this began with local, county, state, federal law enforcement. I am so grateful to them for their response which brought this hostage situation to such a good ending.

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[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Derek Cressman

On August 6, 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger stunned the world by declaring his candidacy to become California’s governor during a conversation with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. The announcement was surprising not only for its unusual setting, but because even Schwarzenegger’s closest political advisors expected Arnold to announce that night that he would not run.

Schwarzenegger further excited his audience by proclaiming that he, unlike Gray Davis, would be free from entanglements with Sacramento special interests: “As you know, I don’t need to take any money from anybody. I have plenty of money myself. I will make decisions for the people.”

Arnold’s campaign staff, who had not prepared him for this statement, quickly qualified the promise to mean that Schwarzenegger would in fact be raising money for his campaign, just not from special interests. One of Schwarzenegger’s most powerful campaign ads decried the current system of political fundraising: “Special interests have a stranglehold on Sacramento. … Here’s how it works. Money goes in—favors go out. The people lose. We need to send a message. Game over.”