by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Edwin Hughes [courtesy of Blog for America]

Monouth for Democracy

Feb 6,2008, Racippio’s, Red Bank,Nj

After a discussion of Super-Tuesday and where we want to spend our energies in behalf of the Democratic contenders, a straw poll was taken and the majority is willing to take the following actions on behalf of Barack Obama. (NOTE: Some were still not ready to make a commitment, but we had a large majority (90%) in favor of Obama.)

(Click Read More for the rest of this post)

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The Daily Kos straw poll is the largest tracking online of Democratic activists.

Last Week (20,219 votes)

John Edwards - 42%

Barack Obama - 41%

Hillary Clinton - 9%

Today (with 5,077 votes so far)

Barack Obama - 77%

Hillary Clinton - 11%

by Denise [courtesy of Blog for America]

The watershed Iowa Caucuses are just days away. From recent polls, it appears the leading Democratic candidates are in a dead heat there. Recent polls in California also indicate the margins are narrowing here as well. The California Presidential Primary will be held on Tuesday, February 5. With a little over a month to go in California, and the excitement over Iowa mounting by the day, who are you leaning toward right now?

http://www.dfalink.com/poll.php?id=508

Inquiring minds want to know: which way are progressives in Riverside drifting? Let's find out! Cast your vote now in Democracy for Riverside's Presidential Primary Straw Poll:

http://www.dfalink.com/poll.php?id=508

by Kim Stevens [courtesy of Party Line]

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I'm on my way over to Salinas for the "First Presidential Primary in the Nation" (a local straw poll event), but I thought I'd share with you an op-ed I have in today's LA Times: "Why won't The Times talk tax hikes?"

Obviously you'll have to go to the link to read the whole thing, but the basic point is that the Times has, in its recent reporting, been framing the budget crisis as a problem on the spending side, while not being sufficiently attentive to structural revenue deficiencies. If we're really going to fix the state budget without using this crisis as an occasion to further gut badly needed public services, we need to understand the entirety of the problem, not just one dimension of it.

by Brandon Lovejoy [courtesy of Blog for America]

I must say I'm more than a little dismayed by the situation regarding the candidate straw poll. Do people really feel that simply because Gore can use his prominence as former VP to raise the alarm about global warming that he would be at all constructive, or not beholden to powerful interests while back in the whitehouse? Have people forgotten about his Occidental Oil ties? Or the fact that he presided over his own defeat in 2000?

Gore gets a little breathing room from elite influence, is reborn, and starts doing some good by raising awareness of global warming, and suddenly everyone who should know better gets amnesia and writes him into a really important poll? This is preposterous! The second he steps foot back into the whitehouse he'll be sitting on his hands like he did for 8 years before! Leave the man in peace to try and assuage his guilty conscience, don't write him in! He's actually doing something constructive as an almost ordinary citizen, don't take that away from him.