When you have multiple video cameras whirling you should be cautious about what you say...especially when you are the front-runner.

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I thought this was interesting.  Check out this piece by Sally Kohn on the Iowa caucuses over at the Movement Vision Lab (www.movementvisionlab.org):

A recent poll from the Des Moines Register found that many voters are still undecided as we approach the Iowa caucuses [this] evening. But on the issue of values, voters have already made up their minds. Community values are the top priority in this year's election.

Particularly among likely caucus goers who were registered Democrat (the majority of those polled by the Register), bread-and-butter issues that affect all of us such as the Iraq War, healthcare and the economy are more important to voters than divisive issues spread by fear-mongering. Issues like terrorism, immigration and religious values are really stand-ins for exclusion, isolation and discrimination. But the vast majority of voters --- and caucus goers --- reject the scapegoating politics of us-versus-them. The majority of voters know we're all in it together, that we all do better when we all do better, that when we work together to help everyone in our nation and our world, we all benefit. This is the message of this election.

Community values beat strong in the heartland of America. Family farmers know that corporate factory farms hurt local growers in Mexico and in Iowa. Factory workers know that free trade policies have only helped big business but hurt workers in China and in South Carolina. Parents know that the greed of HMOs and drug makers is limiting access to health care in Africa and in Arizona. Across the country and the world, we know that our problems are the same --- and so our solutions: to put people before profits and communities before corporations. These are the values Iowans will bring with them to the caucuses Thursday night.

Verne Tigges, a caucus goer from Carroll, Iowa, and a leader with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, summed it up best: "It's time to put the common good first." On Thursday, Verne Tigges will caucus for community values.

The Des Moines Register poll indicated that Independents will decide the outcome of the Iowa caucuses. These are the voters who have rejected the divisive mud slinging by political parties bought and sold by the corporate elite. These are the voters who have resisted the myth that the only values are discriminatory, hateful values. These are the voters who have refused to believe that the private sector can solve all our problems and government has no role to play. What do they stand for...

Read on here:  http://www.movementvisionlab.org/blog/no -matter-who-loses-iowa-community-values- win

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According to a new NPR poll, rural America is split almost 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans right now.  (PDF of detailed poll results.)

Rural voters in swing Senate states supported the GOP candidate by only a 47-43 margin in the poll (a statistical tie), and rural voters in swing House districts were split 45-45 between the two parties' candidates.  (In the poll questions, the two parties' candidates were identified by name in each state/district, rather than by generic party tag, which suggests that these results are pretty firm.)

The poll showed the three most important issues among rural voters to be Iraq, the economy, and the war on terror.  One dynamic that's apparently making a difference is that 73% of rural voters, according to the poll, have a family member, friend, or acquaintance who's served or is serving in Iraq. Whatever news the troops are sharing with their friends and family, it clearly isn't Administration happy talk.

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oh it's hard out here for a 'roo
with the server and the hosting payment due
but you never can know why and who
awol's administration's gonna screw
- three 6 koala

this piece is cross-posted at various other community blogs, as well as our own.

on the day after the evening during which hollywood celebrates itself even more so than the other 364 indulgent egotistical diva-navel gazing nights of its self-involved year, we (being marginally in show business ourselves) feel the need to defend our star-studded industry against the most recent hardly-ever-right wing meme currently making the media rounds.

that meme, of course, is how out of touch with america hollywood is. because after all, say the pundits who know everything, the movies up for awards this year have made so little money. and that proves that the people who toil in this town of lalaland are either stupid or have their own agendas. or both. or are godless. or both.

we discuss this after the jump:

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