by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I'm really just watching this in a big room on TV, so you're as equipped to deliver your thoughts as I am.  Although, The Nation's Mark Cooper and HuffPo's Max Follmer are sitting in front of me, and Todd from MyDD and John Amato of Crooks and Liars on either side, so it's a somewhat bigger living room than yours.  There are actually maybe 300 media folks in here.

Consider this an open thread and I'll check in where needed.  This won't be a full liveblog.

...We are getting a live feed of Wolf Blitzer warming up the audience.  He just said "I love politics."  I expected him to say "I don't understand it, but I love it..."

...Someone in the audience just asked Wolf "Where's Anderson." Har!

...the best part of this debate is going to be when the cast of "No Country For Old Men" storms the stage at the end.

by Sandra Verthein [courtesy of Blog for America]

On November 17, 2007, just two months ago today, Rahm Emanual's "Our Common Values" PAC made a $2,500 contribution to Congressman Dan Lipinski's reelection campaign.

• AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by national DFA
• AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by us, Northside DFA.
• AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by NARAL Pro-Choice America
• AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by pretty much the entire progresive netroots, including Daily Kos, Open Left, Swing State Project, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, and Down with Tyranny

In other words, when we were freezing our toenails off knocking on doors trying to get rid of Lipinski and elect Mark Pera, when we were asking people to scrounge for couch change to donate to Mark Pera on our Northside DFA Act Blue Page, Rahm was writing a check to help Lipinski's re-election campaign.

And what are the "common values" that inspired Rahm to support Congressman Lipinski?

From local blogger Archpundit:

by IE Wolf Wench [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

(Note: This was written last night by my husband, and will be cross-posted on DailyKos under his username after I post this.)

I'm sure that around here, Jerry Lewis of CA-41 fame needs no introduction. Well, a few Democrats have entered the race.

Tonight (writing this as of January 9th), I just met one of them, and Dr. Rita Ramirez-Dean strikes me very much as the real deal. Passionate, outspoken, dedicated and strong-willed, with a life story that has "true Democrat" stamped on it, Dr. Ramirez-Dean could very well help us replace a, well, Jerry Lewis with a real progressive. Crooks and Liars has a great if brief post about her.

by Kevin Shaw [courtesy of Blog for America]

Please visit   WexlerWantsHearings.com and sign the petition.

The following is a message from Representative Robert Wexler originally posted on Crooks and Liars: 

The tremendous response to my call for impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney confirms that the Bush Administration and Vice President Cheney must be held accountable. I have been overwhelmed by the netroots support for my call for impeachment hearings and for my website - WexlerWantsHearings.com. As of Monday afternoon - after only four days - over 80,000 people have signed up to show their support for impeachment hearings.

read more »

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by jsw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Today is the second day with a special SoCal wildfire blog roundup. In a little while, I'll post a blog roundup on other topics that will cover the last couple days.