On recent political developments:

  • Much as I’m not a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, I’m pleased that the 2008 Democratic nomination is still a wide-open affair after the initial salvos in Iowa and New Hampshire. Seriously: two lily-white states with mostly rural populations should not be the primary vetting groups for a candidate who is supposed to lead all citizens of the United States. So here’s to the varied views of the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, who spread the delegate wealth around enough that the “Super-Mega-Extreme-Duper Tuesday” primaries will still have a lot of say (I harbor no fantasies that our DC primary will make any difference when it’s held on February 12, but who knows).
  • My primary beef with Hillary? As Markos Moulitsas says at his Daily Kos blog, it’s not her – it’s the people she chooses to surround her. And I shudder at the thought of Terry McAuliffe, James Carville, Donna Brazille, and Mark Penn having influence over the White House and the DNC once more. If there’s one really positive thing to come out of Howard Dean’s chairmanship of the DNC, it’s the “50 State Strategy,” which is building a true Democratic “farm team” and raising far more money than McAuliffe ever did with his “13 Key State Strategy.”
  • I went with a fellow DC for Dean alumnus to tonight’s DC for Obama meetup, just to get a feel for how their organization is run. Let’s just say that I now identify with the folks who showed up to our Dean meetups back in 2003 and 2004, who looked like they didn’t quite get what was going on with all of the unbridled energy and passion for the candidate surrounding (but not permeating) them. I’m still a bit wary of Obama, but it’s looking like he’s the most viable “non-Hillary” candidate in this race. And he’s got a better chance for a coattail effect than Clinton or Edwards, frankly speaking. (And yes, I’m going to try my hand at an Edwards meetup event, too – he’s still my first choice, even if he’s not really doing as well as hoped right now.)
  • I’m really pleased that the media pundits got a lot of egg in their faces with all of their pointless and off-the-mark bloviation last night. They totally jumped to conclusions, and were dumbfounded when Clinton held on to her lead throughout the night. One of the best moments? When Tom Brokaw smacked some sense into Chris “Tweety” Matthews, who kept trying to invent scenario after scenario that just wouldn’t come to fruition. Articles by Howard Kurtz (not just once, but twice), Lou Dobbs and Glenn Greenwald sum it up well, as did an analysis tonight by Keith Olbermann. The people – the voters – still have the power in this election, much as the “Fourth Estate” would like to say otherwise.