Kucinich Led Debate's Online Poll

How about that, Kucinich in the lead for something concerning the Presidential race. In all fairness, I heard him live at the Presidential forum during YearlyKos and he said a lot of the right things. His pro-life positions and then the abrupt change before entering the 2004 race last time makes me suspicious, but overall he knows what to say. Though actually being able to do anything, thats another matter.

Anyways, here is the online results on who won this week's forum:

John Edwards At YearlyKos

Out of the seven candidates that made it to the event, none was more impressive to me than John Edwards. Sure he went into his stump speech a couple of times, but he spoke from the heart. In this race and all that it means for our country, this is the most important attribute to me because it gives insight into how he approaches all the essential issues that we face.

Clinton Loves Her Some Lobbyists

The Presidential forum here is was a few hours ago, but there are still some reverberations coming out of it. Gravel, Richardson, Dodd, Edwards, Clinton, Obama and Kucinich were there, so it had plenty of sparks. Though Clinton shocked us more than even Gravel could imagine doing.

From The Huffington Post:

Senator Clinton silenced a room of approximately one thousand progressive bloggers and activists Friday (actually it was today, Saturday) at the YearlyKos convention when she said, "Yes I will" continue to accept money from lobbyists because, lobbyists "represent real Americans."

Senator Clinton's admission came during a raucous debate over lobbyist donations that started with Senator John Edwards' challenge to Democrats and Republicans to stop accepting money from lobbyists. Senator Edwards had shouted earlier amid loud applause, "Your money is no good here, and we're not going to take it anymore." The Edwards campaign issued a press release right after the challenge, emphasizing that the Senator is the only presidential candidate who has not taken money from federal lobbyists or political action committees.

Senator Clinton's rivals were quick to jump on her admission. Senator Obama, whose campaign has returned lobbyists' money and committed to not accepting additional donations, said, "I disagree that lobbyists don't have disproportionate influence." They are spending money because "they have an agenda."

Senator Edwards asked the audience members to raise their hands if they have a Washington lobbyist working for them. Only three hands were seen.

Hillary tried to backpedal after Edwards and Obama lambasted her, but the damage was done. She said that people should look at her history and see that lobbyists do not influence her. I call bullshit. After championing health care reform in 1993 and 1994, she has been eerily silent on the issue. I wonder if that has anything to do with her being the second highest recipient of health care industry money in Washington?

I'm going to believe the all mighty dollar over her word on this one.