Another thing Bush and Obama have in common...

WASHINGTON (AP) — People would rather barbecue burgers with Barack than munch meats with McCain.

While many are still deciding which should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Barack Obama than John McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll released Wednesday.More...

Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.

Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain "would be more like a retirement party than something fun," said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, D.C.

Party label means a lot, with three-quarters of Democrats picking the Democrat Obama and the same number of Republicans picking McCain, a Republican. Independents are about evenly split.

"John and I would probably have a lot to talk about," said Republican Michael Mullen, 53, of Merrimac, Mass., like McCain a Navy veteran.

One in six people saying they'd vote for McCain prefer Obama as their barbecue guest; just one in 20 Obama backers would invite McCain.

The AP-Yahoo! News survey of 1,759 adults was conducted online by Knowledge Networks from June 13-23 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. The margin of sampling error for subgroups was larger.

— Polling site: http://news.yahoo.com/polls

*A MUST READ* The Big "D" Democrat

by: regency
Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 23:00:10 PM EDT

I have been a Democrat all my life. I admit that life is only 18 years old, but you have to admit these last two decades have been a couple for the record books. I've lived to see an illegitimate president run the country right into the ground as he cleared brush from his Texas ranch 154 days out of the year. I watched a decade of prosperity and peace crash down in unholy flames in the middle of New York when I was just 10 years old. I watched the fraudulent Commander-in-Chief trick the country into a war it didn't need against a people that didn't deserve it when I was 11. I watched that same huckster be told by the historic first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, that "impeachment [was] off the table" when I was 16. A man who had facilitated unprecedented war crimes had gotten off scot-free. And it had been my party that let it happen.More...

I lived in this country during the 1990s. I knew the Clintons. I grew up worshipping Bill Clinton, that Bubba from a place called Hope with an affinity for Big Macs and a little bit of "soul" in his soul. Always having been precocious, I knew what he had done-and I didn't like it. I didn't forgive him for it and I don't to this day, but that isn't my job and never has been. Bill Clinton never needed redemption from me; he got it from the only people who had any right to offer it to him. Chelsea and Hillary Rodham Clinton evidently did just that and I stand by 'em for it. If I had any reason at all to be upset, he was absolved by the good work he had done throughout his years in Office. Millions of new jobs created throughout this country. Millions raised from poverty to hallowed middle-class status. Even with the battles he couldn't win-like the Defense of Marriage Act, which he abhorred but that prevented the passage of a Federal Gay-Marriage Ban; like Don't Ask, Don't Tell that as best it could prevented an outright ban of gays and lesbians in the military-things were a little better, positive steps in positive directions had been taken. In that decade, it was good to be alive in America. And it was my party that had made it so.

I don't know where that Party is today. I can't find the path to the Third Way anymore. I remember that Way. It was innovative and new, and compassionate. It made sense in a time very different from when the last Democrat reigned. "The Third Way works to build inclusive, multiethnic societies based on common allegiance to democratic values." It made sense, doing great things the democratically. I don't just remember the Way, I remember the man who led it.
I remember the man who cried as those around him struggled and deigned to share their struggles with him. I remember the President who apologized for the Tuskegee Experiment and asked that those still standing in its wake found it in their battered hearts to forgive a nation whose morality once stood so terribly bigoted. I remember the man who helped to re-enact the March on Selma because it meant so much to him. I remember a President who walked into Office on day one ready to lead, only to be stabbed in the back by the very people that brought him-but he soldiered on. That was the Way I was a part of, the Way that "embraces 'tolerant traditionalism,' honoring traditional moral and family values while resisting attempts to impose them on others." There was no battle too small to undertake, no cause unworthy of effort or tears, nobody left behind. Anybody who "worked hard and played by the rules" got ahead, because no way was William Jefferson Clinton going to leave them in the dust. There it goes again, my party. Don't know where that is now.

I think I was born a Democrat. I was brought up wrinkling my nose and gagging at the word "Republican," so I know I wasn't one of those. I didn't really understand what an Independent was so chances are good I wasn't that either. All that was left in my head was Democrat. Bill Clinton was a Democrat and I liked him, so I picked that. When it came time for me to vote, I still picked that. What I didn't know when I came up to bat was how far from the ideal the rest of the body had fallen. I'd been spoiled for eight years-and tormented for another seven. I was blind to it until I started to listen; then I found that my President filled with soul wasn't the rule but the exception to the rule. My life, which was so bettered by his presence in the White House, didn't really matter at all. My vote, which moved to send him back there at the behest of his frankly brilliant and wonkish wife, didn't really matter either. What I wanted-what I needed, the Third Way, was really just a movement of a few devoted people who desired to change the world. I hadn't known that the letter D they carried after their names signified an organization of men and women devoted to doing the very opposite-not changing a thing. And to accomplish their mission, they would destroy my ideal; they would destroy my hero. Can you believe it? That was my party.

They did the impossible. They sapped the "soul" out of the man from Hope. They quieted his raucous laugh. They besmirched his empathetic tears. They made a fool out of the Third Way-and, by extension, a fool of me. I had never been called a fool before of all the insults that have been leveled at me in life. I had never been belittled for my gender as much as the color my skin. I had never been called stupid for having the audacity to believe. I've been called cynical and racist for doing what anyone with a third of the self-awareness could do: I voted! My life's philosophy and love of people has been referred to as Republican chicanery. I have lived here all along and yet suddenly, in my own party, I am the intruder; I am the interloper. I'm the one who doesn't belong.

It didn't take an insult to lose me. It hurt, don't misunderstand, but such is life. Sticks and stones can cut me, but words can only make me cry. I could only cry for so long before the hurt became fury. I wanted answers, I wanted accountability. I got a lie for question and laughter for my effort. I couldn't live in a place like that. That was the Democratic Party, suddenly, a place where those who'd given their hard-earned dollars and their time were of no consequence. It should've been obvious. If the only two-term Democratic President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was fair game to be scorned, I should've battened down the hatches at first dawn. I hadn't learned the right lesson yet. I get it now.

Hope is merchandise to be sold, not a place, or a man to be believed in. Hope is the not the look in the eyes of a woman with the answers. It's the speech on a teleprompter of a man without them. Change was not the peaceful transition from the last Democratic decade of the 20th century to the first Democratic decade of the 21st century. It's the silent strained pretend of a meeting on May 31st set to derail the course of history-and not for the good. Change isn't watching relief come in the form of a woman with roots everywhere she sets foot raising her right hand to accept the hardest job in the world. It's watching more of the same thing we've always had.

I've come to realize that being a Democrat nowadays means accepting these realities with no complaint. I can no longer do that and sleep at night. I can no longer spy echoes of the Third Way without a wistful sigh. I can no longer be quiet while we pretend that the best days gone by weren't the best at all. I haven't lived long, but I've lived smart. I still believe in the truth, a principle long since abandoned by progressives. What I want to see is the truth spoken out loud again and not treated like a scandal, even if it is scandalous. I want History to stop being a four-letter word. I want respect to be a necessity again, not a luxury. But most of all, I want the Third Way back.

Happiness, which the Democrats seem to have come into the business of supplying, is not a political platform. One can't govern for the sake of happiness. This isn't a "Brave New World." It can't be, not when so many people have reason to be afraid. They're at risk everyday of losing the things they love. They may lose their home, their car, their job, even their life. This is the world they live in, not the good old days when the Third Way ruled the roost. This is the reality the new Democratic Party chose; it wasn't brave at all.

I don't know who these men and women are, that masquerade about, pretending they are allies of working folks while selling their jobs over the farthest sea. I recognize the duplicity, but not the perpetrators. The Democrats cannot govern as simply another variation on corrupt. It's time to remember people like me who've worked their hearts out, people like me who always will. If they choose to forget us they will have become every bit the thing they purport to despise: Republicans.

They've lost sight of the path that led to prosperity for all, themselves included. They've forgotten that the ballots that decide their fates don't stand alone, but are connected and bound to people who are counting on them to sweat and bleed for a better day in America. They've chosen the glamorous path and eschewed compassion entirely. They threw the baby out with the bathwater; the future out with the past; and the "little people" out with the Big Dawg.

I don't know what's left huddling under the Big Tent that used to be my home. The political trail I've lived my life by doesn't lead there anymore. More and more, I find my old friends blazing the trail with me, but they're a little lost too. They still remember the Third Way paved with silver quickly turning to gold. They still remember a place called Hope, and they want to go back; if only they could remember how.

Who better to guide us than the man who hails from there himself? Somebody, somewhere unzip the tent and let the man out! He's got work to do in this country he lifted; we've fallen to all new lows since he's been gone. Time to clear the brush on the path less traveled by powerful men and take it again-with a woman this time. He'll be there to point out landmarks and relics left behind, sure; he'll kick the weeds from the overgrown roads with those size 13s, because it's easy and he can; then, he'll step aside for the new leader and it'll be her turn to lead the Way going forward. While she's in the White House reintroducing the country to prosperity, I hope, and easier days, Bill Clinton will be there on the sidelines to remind us that when we work hard and lift each other, the only way left to travel is up. Just like that, history stops being a four-letter word.

And it could be my party that does it.

MUST SEE Video on Hillary!

Here is the video where Hillary explains that it would help unify the party if her name was put into nomination - and that she wants her supporters and delegates to be recognized and heard: Hillary and the Ballot!

Also view the 300 Delegates and The Audacity Of Democracy videos while you're at it!

Presidential V.P. Choices - who has best record on Women's Issues?

The National Organization of Women reports that all of Obama's potential VP nominees (with the exception of Hillary--it's clear she's out) have bad track records with women's rights. McCain isn't better, but he isn't much worse (although he's a lot worse on GLBT issues). Sit out the presidential election. Make the parties recognize that you control your vote. Vote down-ticket, but don't give Obama your vote because you feel you have no choice. You do!

Now@now.org

Democrats anxious for Obama to widen lead

Many Democrats fear that time is running out for Mr Obama.... The numbers back up the concern. Although Mr Obama has a good shot at winning traditional Republican states such as Colorado, Virginia and even North Carolina, he cannot capture the White House if he loses more than one of Pennsylvania, Ohio or Michigan – the more traditional, blue-collar swing states, which Mrs Clinton won by huge margins in the primary contests. Polls suggest these states are too close to call.More...

By Edward Luce in Washington

Published: August 1 2008 20:08 | Last updated: August 1 2008 20:08

In 1980, Ronald Reagan asked voters whether they felt better off than four years earlier. He went on to defeat Jimmy Carter a few weeks later. On Friday Barack Obama raised the same question: “Do you think that you are better off now than you were four years ago or eight years ago?” he asked voters in Florida. “And if you don’t . . . do you think you can afford another four years of the same failed economic policies that we’ve had under George W. Bush?”

With unemployment on Friday jumping by 51,000 to take this year’s job losses to almost half a million, Mr Obama is mining a potentially rich seam. But a number of Democrats, including advisers to the Obama campaign, are worried that the Democratic party’s overall electoral advantage this year has not yet translated into comfortable leads for Mr Obama. On Friday Gallup showed Mr Obama just one point ahead of John McCain – a significant tightening in the past two weeks.

Mr McCain’s improving fortunes have coincided with a strikingly negative turn in his campaign’s tactics, with the launch last weekend of an advertisement criticising Mr Obama for failing to visit wounded soldiers when he was in Germany because the Pentagon refused to permit the media to accompany him. That allegation has since been debunked.

But the signs are that Mr McCain’s continuing attacks – most recently in a commercial that portrayed Mr Obama as a vapid celebrity against images of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears – may be striking a chord with the white working class voters who shunned Mr Obama so emphatically in many of his primary contests with Hillary Clinton.

With just one month to go before Labour Day – the traditional beginning of the general election – and only three weeks before the Democratic convention, many Democrats fear that time is running out for Mr Obama to overcome the suspicions of this key swing vote.

mccain v obama 01aug08“We have got to move away from these beautifully choreographed speeches which appeal to groups of voters who are unassailably in the Obama camp already,” said a non-staff adviser to Mr Obama. “What plays well with the educated liberal voter sometimes grates with the blue-collar folk, whom we need on our side if we are going to win.”

The numbers back up the concern. Although Mr Obama has a good shot at winning traditional Republican states such as Colorado, Virginia and even North Carolina, he cannot capture the White House if he loses more than one of Pennsylvania, Ohio or Michigan – the more traditional, blue-collar swing states, which Mrs Clinton won by huge margins in the primary contests. Polls suggest these states are too close to call.

At this stage in the 1988 presidential race, Michael Dukakis, the Democratic candidate, had a 17 percentage point lead over George H.W. Bush, who went on to win the election. John Kerry emerged from the 2004 Democratic convention with a strong lead over George W. Bush only to lose the election as well. In 2008, conventional wisdom says Mr McCain is running a much less effective campaign than either of the Bushes.

That only reinforces disquiet about Mr Obama’s inability so far to take a decisive lead. “Even on his worst day, Bill Clinton was able to signal that he understood voters’ concerns and that he felt their pain,” said Douglas Schoen, a Democratic consultant. “Obama has no trouble with the campaign stagecraft. But this isn’t Harvard, it’s the beer hall. He has to talk in language that people understand.”

Conventional wisdom also suggests Mr McCain’s campaign overstepped the mark by moving on to direct negative attacks on Mr Obama’s character. But Mr Obama has also kept up a stream of material for them to exploit. At a meeting with Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday, he said he represented the world’s hopes for America. “This is the moment the world is waiting for,” he said when asked about his overseas trip. “I have become a symbol of restoring America to its best traditions.”

The Obama campaign says the remarks were taken out of context. But reports such as this can still play badly in communities that pay little attention to foreign policy and are looking for empathy with their economic situation, say analysts. “Look, Obama has pulled off a good tour of Europe and it was probably necessary,” says a Democratic consultant who backed Mr Obama against Mrs Clinton. “What we need now is campaign events in hospital emergency rooms and in unemployment offices and small town diners. These people have a vote.”

Given the McCain campaign’s barely concealed contempt for Mr Obama and Mr Obama’s occasional tendency to present his candidacy in soaring, epochal terms, many believe the pattern of negative attacks is now here to stay.

“Obama obviously thinks very highly of himself,” says Juleanna Glover, an adviser to Mr McCain.

“Not everybody shares that view.”

So What are the democrats doing wrong?

Saturday, August 02, 2008

During July, the number of Americans who consider themselves to be Democrats fell two percentage points to 39.2%. That's the first time since January that the number of Democrats has fallen below 41%. Could these be predominantly Hillary Clinton supporters that have left the party?

Click here for the history since 2004.More...

During July, the number of Americans who consider themselves to be Democrats fell two percentage points to 39.2%. That’s the first time since January that the number of Democrats has fallen below 41% (see history from January 2004 to present).

While the number of Democrats declined, there was virtually no change in the number of Republicans. In July, 31.6% said they were Republicans, the fourth straight month that number has been below 31.4% and 31.6%.

The Democrats now have a 7.6 percentage point advantage over the Republicans, down from a 9.5 percentage point advantage in June and 10.1 percentage points in May.

Rasmussen Reports tracks this information based upon telephone interviews with approximately 15,000 adults per month and has been doing so since November 2002.

Among men, 34% are Democrats, 33% Republican. Forty-four percent (44%) of women are Democrats, and just 30% claim the GOP as their party.

Forty-one percent (41%) of government employees are Democrats while 31% are Republicans. Among entrepreneurs, 36% are Republican, 34% Democrat. Those who work for someone else in the private sector lean Democratic by a 38% to 31% margin.

In January and February, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were in the early stages of the battle for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, the number of Americans who considered themselves to be Democrats surged to record highs.

In 2004, the Democrats began the year with a 2.3 percentage point edge over the GOP. That grew to 4.0 points by March before moving in the Republican direction for the rest of the year. By Election Day in 2004, the edge for Democrats was a mere 1.6 percentage points.

In 2006, the Democrats began the year with just a 1.6 percentage point advantage. That grew to 6.1 percentage points by November.

These results are based upon tracking surveys of 15,000 adults per month. The margin of sampling error for the sample is less than one percentage point, with a 95% level of confidence. Please keep in mind that figures reported in this article are for all adults, not Likely Voters.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows Barack Obama with a modest advantage in the race for the White House. The same is true when you look at the Electoral College. Democrats continue to have a significant advantage on ten key issues tracked by Rasmussen Reports and lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.