Sam Boyd

Clinton says her comments about elitists were about Obama’s remarks, not himself. It’s now 21 minutes into the debate and no actual issue-based questions. Good work ABC! Oh, and now a Jeremiah Wright question! Goody. Q is about the fact that Obama has said he wasn’t present for controversial sermons, but he asked not Wright […]

George Stephanolos: Do you think Obama can beat John McCain? Clinton totally dodges the question. Says we need to defeat John McCain. McCain has wrong ideas which “will be tested in the cauldron of this campaign.” Stephanopolodoplods follows up, Clinton does say she thinks Obama can win, but that she’d do better. Obama says he […]

Bitter gate is the next question, to Obama. He says he can understand why people are offended, talks about how hard things are for working people. Says that when people are beat down, they focus on the “things that are constant” like religion. Interesting that he’s addressing more than just the word “bitter.” Clinton starts […]

First question: references Mario Cuomo, asks if they’d both pledge to have the other as running mate if they lose. Obama: “I think very highly of Senator Clinton’s record, but I think it’s premature”… blah blah blah… but says he is sure the party will “come together” in Denver. Gets in a shot a McCain, […]

Trying hard to convince myself this isn’t an SNL sketch. A bunch of anonymous voters are sitting as a focus group in a room that looks like it come out of who wants to be a millionaire. Obama speaks first, he’s very low-key. Says he wants to help turn frustration into change. Clinton is also […]

I’ll be liveblogging tonight’s debate at 8 PM EST (7 central, 8 mountain and pacific) on ABC. Meanwhile, ABC is insisting on absurd rules that limit use of clips of the debate to 45 seconds. Other news organizations are expected to flout the rule citing the doctrine of fair use, and rightly so. This raises […]

John McCain cranks up what Kevin Drum calls the “computerized pander-matic machine” and proposes a ridiculously pointless federal gas tax holiday. Obama is willing to consider considering criminal charges for members of the Bush administration. I’d support that in an ideal world, but practically it seems like it would distract from actually getting progressive policies […]

Obama is refusing to pay local black leaders to turn out votes for him in Pennsylvania. He also mostly avoided such payments in South Carolina though there he was more unwilling to spend as much as Clinton than unwilling to spend at all. Ben Smith points out the who, in 1980, first proposed the DNC […]

The selection of pledged delegates is a somewhat mysterious process, but basically both campaigns have veto power on their own pledged delegates. These two stories highlighted by MSNBC’s First Read are one place to start understanding this process. Will McCain give up his Senate seat to run for president? McCain has a very strange aversion […]

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