Not a substantial diary here but I just wanted to give the none of the above voters in the poll by BarbinMD's poll a chance to vote.

Today - My eyes got back on the prize.

For a while now - I have been going back and forth with the VP Sweeps diary's - with Obama vacation pics feeling kinda good - but then........Slap - I had to prepare for our event to welcome Howard Dean - to the neighborhood.  And I realized - my eyes have wandered.  It is time to get back focused - eyes on the prize.

let's just mull this "your services are not needed" thing over:  (and, it might help you to know I was on staff for Clark04... the North Alabama Field Coordinator, and I led the "infiltration from the South" into Tennessee for one of the final 3 primary races the General actively sought.  I've known the Clarks since 1994, since I married into the First Cavalry while he was a BG and was Commanding General of the Division. And I was a highly placed staffer at the Florida headquarters of ClintonGore 96.)

I spent a lot of hours Saturday believing I was wrong because of what Wes Jr. has shared, my taking into consideration Steve Clemons' credibility, etc.....  But in many ways, me thinks we have an urban legend.

That can only be true if there is some sleight of hand occurring, and Wes. Jr. is manufacturing smokescreens.   I do now believe that the bulk of the diary text that follows came up on account of wishful thinking.  I am wrong, Wes really is not going to be given a role in Denver, therefore he will be pursuing one of his other interests that will have him somewhere else on Wednesday (Milano).

Howard Dean was on NPR friday and called the Republican party the "white" party oops. He immediately corrected the comment.
http://www.breitbart.tv/...

Freudian slip with a hint of truth maybe. But....could the Republican party be the "white party" by default?  Minorities do tend to vote Democrat.

I just got off the phone with DNC Chairman, Gov. Howard Dean, who I had a chance to interview one-on-one as his "Register for Change" bus tour comes rolling through northern Virginia tomorrow (Saturday).  I didn't record the interview, so here's a rough transcript of my questions and Gov. Dean's answers. (Note: thanks to Gov. Dean for taking some time to speak with RK, and I encourage everyone to help with Gov. Dean's voter registration drive!)

[Note: originally posted on RK.]

Welcome back for more speculation! Today concludes the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., and starts a new one ("final final"?).

The previous series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). Since Obama will pick soon, we'll see if we'll have time to complete another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gen. (Ret.) Wesley Clark (AR) defeated Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (KS) to win the previous series. Starting today we'll run the top 14 names I now consider most likely (I know I may be wrong). I was going to run Bayh against the winner of this series alone, but it was pointed out this would not be exactly fair, so since Bayh and Clark have now both made the cut for this series, I decided to skip that.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Howard Dean makes a statement on today's shooting at Arkansas Democratic Party:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement on the shooting today at the Democratic Party headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas: "This senseless tragedy comes as a shock to all of us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Chairman Gwatney and his family and we pray for his full and speedy recovery. While the investigation of this shooting continues, and our primary concern remains with Bill and his family, we commend the courageous and speedy action of law enforcement officials in apprehending the suspect."

Read more.

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., now down to the final two.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). If Obama doesn't pick soon, we'll have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Joe Biden (MBNA) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting. I am not saying that these are the most likely candidates: this is a poll of DKos preference among the 28 candidates we started with.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., now down to the final three.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). If Obama doesn't pick soon, we'll have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting. I am not saying that these are the most likely candidates: this is a poll of DKos preference among the 28 candidates we started with.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gov. Tim Kaine (VA) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Russ Feingold (WI) was eliminated in the previous round. Fmr. Sen. John Edwards (NC) also left the series. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

OPINION: By Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - August 8, 2008
Howard Dean and some so called "party leaders" are demanding that Hillary Clinton not have her name entered into nomination. News pundits have referred to the prospect of her being nominated as "unprecedented."  Others discuss how having her name in nomination will take the spot light off of Obama.

The voice of 18 million voters seems inconsequential to Howard Dean and those who are threatening Senator Clinton, trying to force her not to allow her voters to be represented democratically at the Democratic National Convention.

A look at historical data shows that the "presumed nominee" does not always win the nomination. In fact, the "underdog" sometimes goes straight to the White House.

Instead of splitting the party, entering her name into nomination and allowing her delegates to represent the preference of 18 million Democratic Voters will unify the party. Unless her name is entered into nomination, a signification number of her 18 million voters will either 1. sit the election out, 2. vote only for down ticket candidates, or 3. voter for a candidate of a different party.  

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll continue the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names, eliminated the bottom vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been the ones cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are not being rotated in, but only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick very soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Rep. Robert Wexler (FL) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are now listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.

Will McCain stand up for Ohio jobs?:

John McCain will visit Ohio today amid new revelations about his role in a deal that will cost Ohio more than 8,000 jobs. Yesterday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer revealed that while Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, McCain, and former DHL lobbyist and current campaign manager Rick Davis, played instrumental roles in helping DHL and its German parent company take over operations in Wilmington, Ohio in 2003, despite concerns about the local impact of the deal. Both companies hired Davis' firm to push the deal through Congress, with DHL-Airborne Express paying Davis and his business partner $185,000 in 2003 and $405,000 from the German company Deutsche Post for other work in 2004 and 2005. [Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/6/08]

Read more.

McCain has an ad/web video out using comments by Democrats that appear to praise him.

Howard Dean responds: "The John McCain of 2000 wouldn't even consider voting for the John McCain of 2008."

And John Kerry responds: "The real question is what happened to the John McCain we used to know and why he changed overnight into a George Bush nominee with a Karl Rove campaign."

Ben Smith

More, after the fold.  

By now we've all heard the reasons Democrats have lost elections for the past four decades.  Frames.  Memes.  Defined by opponents.  Attack ads.  Political capitulations.  Weak on defense.  And crime.  And the voters are stupid.  Oh, and the media are biased.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that all of the above are the politics of mass distraction.  The real reason Democrats lost elections for the past four decades?  Just three:

Racism.  Sexism.  Organization.

Please join me over the fold....

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll continue the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names, eliminated the bottom vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been the ones cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are not being rotated in, but only being eliminated. I'm hoping we'll have five or six candidates left when Obama picks and see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are now listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

The 5th Annual DemocracyFest will be held August 16th-17th in Dulles, VA (just outside Washington DC).

http://www.democracyfest.net

Speakers this year include:

Gov. Howard Dean (speech free and open to public)
Jeffrey Feldman
Jim Dean
Charlie Grapski
Nathan Gonzalez
Ellen Garneau
Jen Sorensen
Scott Goldstein
Rep. Marcia Moody
Bernadette Vadurro

Plus trainings by Democracy For America with trainers: Matt Blizek, Bryan Hageny, Dorrie Clark, and Maya Enista

And Entertainment by: Subway Serenade and Bobby Kendes

Additional speakers, trainers and entertainers are being confirmed almost daily now, so check our website regularly for additions.

http://www.democracyfest.net

Hope to see you there soon (only 10 days away!!!)