[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sara S. Nichols

In the past few months, I have moved from generally worried that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee to full-on panicked that she will be. In this same period, I have moved from concerned that she might not win the White House if she were the nominee, to terrified that she will be President. [Note: Unlike most of the media, I do not assume that she will win the primaries. Stratified random samples of likely voters are not the same as real voters. I am still hopeful that the contrarian people of Iowa and New Hampshire will come to their senses.]

My spiritual and practical principles have kept me from ranting about this much in this blog. Why? Because I believe that wherever I put my attention and energy will bear fruit. So I should put my attention on what I want (peace, prosperity, sustainable development) not what I don't want (war, poverty, global climate change--aka Hillary for President--hey, I wonder if her handlers considered that as a slogan "Hillary for President--war, poverty, global climate change!").

I truly believe that one of the reasons that George Bush got (re-)elected President is the amount of energy that was focussed anti-Bush instead of pro-Kerry. The whole country was thinking Bush Bush Bush and so it happened.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Aw, who am I kiddin'?

For months, politicians in big states like California, Florida and Michigan have griped about their lack of influence in the 2008 presidential race, pushing up their primaries to try to diminish the sway of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Now, thanks to those efforts, Iowa and New Hampshire appear more important than ever.

It's mainly a process story about how candidates must score an early victory to be able to gather enough money to compete on February 5.  It was all so eminently predictable, and the relative absence of any Presidential candidates or buzz in this state with a little more than 3 months to go until the primary is further proof.  The only way to end the prospect of Iowa and New Hampshire picking the nominee is to... stop having them pick the nominee.