Despite Gov. Sanford, South Carolina Wants Their Stimulus Money

Mayor Jackson of Allendale, SC would love to put some of his town's residents back to work with stimulus funds. However, Governor Sanford refuses to accept the federal money for political reasons. Apparently appeasing the rabid GOP base to boost his Presidential chances in 2012 is more important than the welfare of the people in his state.

Obama's Victory Speech: More Than Meets The Eye

It is a great speech no doubt, and far surpasses Hillary's non-concession/stump speech that followed it up in Tennessee. Notice how Obama makes Edwards' populist message his own and a funny thing about his signage. It doesn't mention his name, he is taking over the word "change" and does it very well. Last night Hillary's signs only had the name...you guessed it, Hillary on it. Obama is on a roll, but this of course is still far from over.

NV + SC = Huge Win For The Democratic Party

Oh sure, McCain won the Republican primary in South Carolina and Hillary/Barack won the vote/delegates in Nevada, but like Iowa and New Hampshire, the big victory was for the Democratic party. While Chris Matthews predicts McCain will call Nancy Reagan for her anointment powers this morning, the true story is that with the way this is going, Republicans do not stand a chance in the fall. This isn't just opinion, the numbers back us up with full faith and credit.

From Democrats.org:

In 2000 McCain took 237,888 votes in South Carolina. Tonight he has just over half those number of votes with 134,474 as I write this. Republican turnout will be well below where it was in 2000. More than 100,000 votes short. With five Republican primaries, Rudy Giuliani has half the number of votes of Ron Paul.

Face it, the enthusiasm for the Grand Old Elephant is going, going, gone. And while their operatives look for ways to divide Democrats (fear, racism, bigotry, etc) their own base has deep fissures when it comes to McCain. Word on the street is that he doesn't hate brown people enough and...gasp.....hates Jack Bauer and his freedom-loving torture. Maybe RedState or FreeRepublic will report that he is trying to keep the writers strike going so that "24" will have no new shows......ever!

So the Repubs can try whatever they want, but the voters will ultimately decide, and the way they are casting their ballots so far, even Reagan would be astonished at the turnout this come November.

Huckabee Preaches About Heaven, Taking Jesus With Him....God Help Us All!

Mike Huckabee can't (and won't) shed his Baptist Minister identity while he is running for President. The Evangelical already has one massive victory in Iowa under his belt and is gunning for South Carolina in a few short days from now. Instead of talking about policies, issues and for the most part, empty rhetoric, Huckabee forgot about GOP politicking and went straight for the rabidly religious' guts. He started preaching.

From the AP:

"The criteria to get into heaven is you have to be not good, but perfect. That's the real challenge in it," he said at First Baptist North Spartanburg, a megachurch with 6,000 members.

"On that day, when I pull up, I'll be asked, `Do you have what it takes to get in?'" Huckabee said. "And if I ask, `Well, what does it take to get in?' 'Gotta be perfect.'"

"Well, I'm afraid I don't have that, but you know what, I won't be there alone that day. Somebody is going to be with me. His name is Jesus, and he's promised that he would never leave me or forsake me," he said.

Huckabee didn't ask for votes or discuss the campaign, but senior pastor Michael S. Hamlet encouraged the congregation to vote according to how they try to live their lives, by the principles of Bible scripture.

"I'm going to tell you something, when you go vote, you ought to follow those principles," Hamlet said.

Welcome to Evangelical land, where the belief is that religion and government go hand in hand, and those silly founding fathers had no idea what they were talking about. For years Republican candidates placated these people, singing to their choir while they crossed their fingers and toes at the same time. Evangelical votes were great, but not enough to adhere to their every desire.

Now that Huckabee, one of their own is running, many bible belters see the promised land ahead and are coming out in droves for a very likeable guy. Now, what scares the shit out of a progressive like me is music to their ears. He is very open about turning our democracy into a Christian nation, and there are plenty of parishioners that are willing to follow along.

Obamaians Run S. Carolina "Favorite" Son Out Of S. Carolina

Once the Writers Guild comes back from striking (assuming that Big Media caves to their demands soon) Obama is going to find himself a mortal enemy in Stephen Colbert. It turns out that South Carolina Democrats turned down the popular Comedy Central "newscaster" in his bid to run for President in his homestate because of two well placed phone calls from Obama supporters.

Now the campaign denies that they had anything to do with this as one would expect a campaign to deny bad stories like these. Why would Barack Obama be afraid of little ol' Stephen Colbert anyways? It isn't like his poll numbers were any good or in double-digits.

Colbert only had a chance in the Democratic primary, where a spot on the ticket costs $2,500 as opposed to the Republican's $35,000 entrance fee. It's all about money on the "R" side, but even the "D"s have their egos.

Colbert Gets On The Stump, But Dems Kick Him Off

Stephen Colbert's candidacy came to a quick halt yesterday as the Democrats denied him from running on their ticket in South Carolina. His certification failed to pass the Democratic committee because he wasn't seen as a viable candidate, despite the fact that those that voted against him still love his show. So I guess we won't see too many of these public gatherings, as funny as this one is:

No Shame For Giuliani, Huckabee And Chertoff

Republicans pull off many dastardly deeds (Iraq, screwing our economy, committing hypocrisy over social issues) almost on a daily basis. We've practically gotten used to their crap, but what Michael Chertoff and Presidential candidates Giuliani and Huckabee did in South Carolina recently is beyond their typical callous disregard for human emotion.

From Campaign Follies:

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Nine caskets lined the front of a coliseum Friday as thousands of firefighters from across the nation, their hats in their hands, honored nine colleagues killed in a furniture store blaze.
Uniformed escorts walked the men's wives, siblings and children to their seats in a long procession of red carnations, tears and hugs.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said the men were heroes.

(snip)

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the gathering that the nine firefighters ''demonstrated the same bravery our nation witnessed on Sept. 11.''

''The tragedy of Monday reminds us that we live in a world in which danger is all around us,'' he said.

Two presidential candidates, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, were also among the mourners.

It was bad enough for Rudy and Mike to attend a funeral they had no business being at. The memorial for those nine firefighters was for their memory and for the families only, not for shameless political stunts. Chertoff truly stepped out of line by comparing this tragedy to September 11th.

For Bush's followers this type of act by his DHS Secretary is not wholly out of line, it happens all the time. Regardless, this shit can't stand, there needs to be apologies given by all three of the political perps. Rudy might have to do a littly more than apologize, the firefighters already have it in for him.

Another Giuliani-Connected Criminal

Rudy has certainly known his share of people of ill-repute over the years. Tying the political knot with Bernie Kerik despite his mob connections has to the be the worst example. However, Giuliani added another down south with his South Carolina Chairman Thomas Ravenel. The State Treasurer was indicted on cocaine charges with intent to distribute yesterday. He was immediately stripped of his duties by Governor Mark Sanford.

From WNBC:

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, a former real estate developer who became a rising political star after his election last year, was indicted Tuesday on federal cocaine charges.

The millionaire is accused of buying less than 500 grams of the drug to share with other people in late 2005, U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd said. Ravenel, 44, is charged with distribution of cocaine, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The investigation into Ravenel arose from a drug case last year in Charleston, Lloyd said. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said his agents were aware of the allegations before Ravenel was elected in November, but they didn't have enough information to pursue criminal charges. The case was turned over to the FBI in April.

Well Ravenel's career (and possibly his freedom) is finished with one fell swoop. According to investigators, this train crash was long in coming. So the question for Giuliani is why taint the campaign with a politician in serious criminal trouble?

If there were questions about Ravenel last year, couldn't Rudy have picked someone else? Feigning ignorance won't work here, Rudy has too many law enforcement connections not to have known about an impending investigation, especially when it comes to vetting your point man for the crucial southern state of South Carolina.

One Debate Down, Thirty-Nine To Go

So the first one is over and the winner is....who the hell knows. With so many to go, all the candidates are learning how to put on their own show to impress the Democratic primary voters. The 90 minute debate had a lot of questions hoisted onto the eight candidates, primarily focusing on Iraq. A few health care questions and moderator Brian Williams of NBC talked about 'contender' Kucinich's effort to impeach Dick Cheney.

The South Carolina event worked out to be more like a get-to-know-you type of debate, without any hardcore fighting. The only real jabs were thrown by the ones without a chance, like Kucinich and former Senator Mike Gravel. For them all the stops have to be pulled out early to have any chance of getting known. The only problem is that with it being April of 2007, who is really watching this cable news program so early in the campaign season? Political junkies aside, many voters are still burnt out from the last election cycle six months ago.

In a nutshell, the top tier contenders got to flex their muscles and prepare for the debates people will actually watch when it gets closer to primary season at the end of the year. I of course will be watching each one, but I hardly fit the norm when it comes to political appetites.

Round 1 For The Dems Tonight

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, get ready for the first rumble between the Democratic candidates tonight. They are all preparing for the challenge, on the long road to the White House and the first debate will be important to come out looking good and strong to the party faithful.

Of course all eyes will be on Hillary, Obama and Edwards, but the other guys aren't small potatoes. Richardson has an impressive foreign policy record under his belt. There are three (former/current) Senators in the crowd, Biden, Dodd and Mike Gravel. Last but not least, we also have Dennis Kucinich, you know that guy from Ohio who happens to have an impeachment proceeding getting under way for VP Dick Cheney.

The big question tonight is who is going to come out on top. Although many of them will essentially agree on a host of issues, each one will try to stand out amongst their fellows, vying for respectability, higher poll numbers and of course eventual voters. Hillary starts out on top with Obama right behind her in the national polls. Edwards is a few points distant of them. The rest are still in the figurative dust. The debate takes place in the crucial southern state of South Carolina. Expectations are high for the top tier, but only a real live encounter will prove who has the stuff tonight.