The Blue State

More on the hostage standoff

By the way, this is all good news for Hillary Clinton.  After all, according to the graph on Pollster.com, Hillary is trending downwards while Obama is heading up.  This news story will be all over the New Hampshire news, and will give the former First Lady all the positive attention her campaign has been asking for over the last month.

Lastly, the suspect believes the government implanted a chip in his head.

Hostage standoff at Hillary's NH office

We are continuing to follow this as it happens.  Thankfully, some hostages have been released:

A deranged man wearing what appeared to be a bomb strapped to his chest walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday, took several hostages and demanded to speak tothe candidate during a nearly four-hour standoff, authorities said.

The man released the last of the hostages as the afternoon wore on,but he remained in the office and was not immediately taken intocustody.

Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, and extra securityprecautions were taken to protect the former first lady, who still hasa Secret Service detail, said a law-enforcement official, who spoke toThe Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was notauthorized to discuss the situation.

The man entered the simple storefront office along the town's mainstreet around 1 p.m., ordered people onto the floor and then let amother and her baby leave, said State Police Maj. Michael Hambrook.

Now it turns out the man used road flares -- reminiscent of the movie Tommy Boy.

The search for the right candidate

Anyone who has been visiting this web site since at least October knows that we are torn between two candidates: Barack Obama and John Edwards.  Each has their positives and their drawbacks:

Barack Obama:

• Correctly emphasizes why judgment should trump experience.
• Correctly opposed the Iraq war even when it was unpopular to do so.  Neither Clinton nor Edwards can say that.
• Refused lobbyist money during this campaign.
• Correctly isn't for Hillary's idea of forcing every American to have private health insurance.
• Lived abroad for sometime, and would help combat the ideological disease of ethnocentrism.
• Was humbled after college while working as a community organizer in Chicago.  As we have come to realize, especially after these last six years, humility is something that no president should lack.
• Is not really an effective debater.  Comes across during debates as unsure of himself.  He stutters at times.  He even has a tendency to lose his temper when challenged by an alternative point of view.

John Edwards:

• Correctly opposes the Iraq war at the moment, even though he voted for it back in 2002.
• Unlike Hillary, he does not support future combat missions in Iraq.
• Is a definite populist on economic issues.
• Has not taken lobbyist money during this campaign.
• Opposes forcing all Americans to have private health insurance.
• Unfortunately, would spend more even at the expense of the national debt.
• The best debater of all Democrats.
• Brings out the emotional side of what Democrats stand for.
• Comes across to some people as phony.

Extended leave

Work is really taking a physical toll on me, and I will need until Friday morning to rest, as I work this morning at 6 AM.  I am off on Friday and Saturday.  So on Friday, I will formally announce how The Blue State will officially endorse an '08 candidate.  We will turn our '08 election coverage up a notch as we enter the stretch run.  I apologize in advance to anyone and everyone that does not agree with who we endorse.  Keep in mind though that our coverage will remain as objective as possible, and we won't shy away from even criticizing the candidate we endorse.

See you all then.  In the meantime, if you are interested in posting on this site, contact me.

The Non-Debate

In case you weren't aware, the Republican Party trotted out their wannabe hero, their great grandfathers, their fence builder fanatics, etc tonight for a CNN/YouTube Debate that promises to break rating records everywhere.  Not really though.

They started the debate with a lengthy song about each candidate (seriously, this happened), then moved on the most critical issue facing the United States today: Iraq, our incomprehensible dependence on foreign oil, global warming, the unaffordable health care system, the unending war in Afghanistan.  I'm sorry, the Republicans solved all those problems during the six years in which they held majorities in both houses of Congress during the Bush Administration, and were able to focus the first fifth of the debate on what to do about undocumented workers and whether New York was a "sanctuary city" ten years ago.

I admit that I didn't watch the whole thing. But, since even the Bush Administration would consider that torture, I don't feel too bad about it.  I did watch long enough to enjoy what must have been the line of the night, provided by my fifth favorite fear monger, Tom Tancredo:

They are all trying to out-Tancredo, Tancredo. I love it!

No more posts until tomorrow

Just not enough time for me to write posts today.  Though, we will have about 5 or 6 tomorrow.

Blue Nightowl Clips

As we post in the middle of each night, here are some of the political clips making their rounds on the blogs at this hour:

1. Karl Rove's attempt to rewrite history.
2. John Edwards counts down 37 days until the New Hampshire primary.
3. Obama town hall in Iowa.
4. Photo OOPS!

More clips later tomorrow.

Why Huckabee will win Iowa

It's not just the Mormon issue that is hurting Mitt Romney.  The former Massachusetts Governor is running into the same problem in Iowa as Hillary Clinton.  It's experience versus judgment.  You can cite all the experience you want.  In the end, voters in both parties want a candidate that stands by what they believe.  A track record of good judgment, as far as Iowa is concerned, always beats a track record of good experience.  Huckabee has consistently been a cultural conservative, Mitt Romney has not.

It's ads like this one, which was released just this week, that only help Huckabee's cause:

Afternoon Blue Radar

Better late than never.  Here we go with the latest political headlines of the day:

• MILITARY The US Army will spend $10 million to fix a $2.6 billion chopper.
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL Today on the presidential campaign trail.
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL The CNN-Youtube Republican debate is Wednesday evening.
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani are turning up the heat on one another in New Hampshire.  That is a must-win state for Giuliani because he is already far behind in Iowa, and someone else might win South Carolina.
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL Newt Gingrich predicts that Barack Obama will win Iowa.  (That's not a good thing.)
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL A political action committee called EMILY's List is trying to intervene in the Iowa race to support Hillary Clinton.
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL Oprah is planning to campaign for Barack Obama in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, IA.
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL On the campaign trail in Iowa, Chris Dodd suggested that drug education needs to be given to children much earlier in their lives.  “Intervening early with this I think is critical,” he said.  “I wouldn’t havethought so a few years ago, but we’re kidding ourselves if we pretendthat children at an early age are not aware of more that’s going onthan we think.”
• 2008 ELECTION/PRESIDENTIAL Bill Richardson says that as president he will have a bipartisan cabinet.

If we left something out, it's because we either wrote about ityesterday or are scheduled to do so in an individual post later today. Otherwise, feel free to add any stories to the commentbox.

Blue Nightowl Clips

As we post in the middle of each night, here are some of the political clips making their rounds on the blogs at this hour:

1. General's dissent.
2. Chris Matthews takes cheap shot at Gore.
3. Trent Lott resignation press conference.  What a wonderful day!  Unfortunately, that seat will stay Republican.
4. New McCain ad.

More clips later tomorrow.