primary

Willard "Mitt" Romney is "suspending" his campaign. Although this leaves him with some control of his delegates, in effect it recognizes that John McCain is the nominee for the Republican Party. What the Republicans DON'T want you to realize is that in effect they have nominated George Bush all over again. Sure McCain has more brains than Little Bush, but the policies he advocates are nothing more but Bush's own already failed policies.

John McCain has vowed to continue the Iraq quagmire indefinitely...

John McCain has vowed to continue the economic policies that have given us TWO recessions!

John McCain has vowed to overturn Roe v. Wade and force women to carry the children of their rapists

But now here's my question for you. Which John McCain do YOU like best:

Mr. Tough and Serious (photo from Salon.com):

Or maybe the infamous man love between Bush and McCain: (photo from Huffington Post)

Or how about what did George and John do while New Orleans drowned: (photo from here):

A short time ago I predicted California will go for Hillary Clinton, though perhaps narrowly enough that the delegate split will be pretty close. Well, developments may prove me wrong. Obama has an increasing shot at California.

With California a statistical dead heat between Obama and Hillary, three endorsements could put Obama over to victory. The Los Angeles Times, La Opinion...and now Maria Shriver (the Governor's wife) all have endorsed Barak Obama. Shriver's endorsement comes unexpectedly when she showed up at a rally at UCLA.

I have been putting my money on Hillary even as I endorsed Obama. The recent wave of endorsements all over the nation means I consider it now even odds. There is no longer a front runner. Obama has caught up. Tuesday will tell whether Hillary's more traditional, and, I assure you, very effective ground game will pull it off or Obama's momentum and ever expanding coalition will win. Either way, this is what making history looks like.

I think I have decided. Yeah...I've been all over the place. Kucinich most closely matches my personal beliefs. Well, he never had a shot and he's out anyway. Richardson impressed me the most as an experienced statesman. But he could barely raise enthusiasm even with an almost awed Jon Stewart soft balling him on the Daily Show. Richardson perhaps was the BEST person to be President...but possibly the worst candidate.

John Edwards almost got me. I like his focus on poverty, his speech at Pace University on foreign policy, and I figured he fit the mold of people who win as Democrats: young, charismatic with a hint of sexuality about him. But he failed even to take his own birth state and I can't say I ever became ENTHUSIASTIC about him.

Now, one thing that I am pleased as punch about is the fact that it is almost certain that the Democratic primary will nominate either a woman or a black. The white guys couldn't get out of the starting gate with any momentum. The first states to caucus/primary aren't exactly the hot beds of progressivism, at least on the surface. Yet they each favored either the black guy or the woman...often the white guy came in third. As a phenomenon, and given that all three are competent, intelligent people who would be good Presidents, I think it is well worth feeling good about that. For most of my life that could NEVER have happened.