Sen. Obama just announced that Markos Moulitstas is to be his running mate? Well, no. He didn't. But with an impending running mate announcement most likely coming tomorrow, this will be my last chance to use that as a faux diary headline. And no, it was not meant purely to boil puma blood, although any anguish suffered by the pumas does warm my heart.

The democrats are currently in the midst of a crisis of confidence, and no matter who Sen. Obama chooses for a running mate, whether it be Sen. Hillary Clinton or Hillary supporter "nemesis" Markos Moulitsas, the choice will be sure to please no one and disappoint everyone.

There's more...

I have to spend the next two days catching up on my holiday shopping. While I do not expect to blog much between now and December 28th, I will pop in from time to time. Here are some items that caught my eye this morning:

• Lieberman is bolting the Senate Centrist Coalition"in favor of creating his own bipartisan group with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)." I'm not kidding. Obvious suggestion for the name of his new group: Senators for Lieberman.
  
  
• Atrios has been placed in purgatory by blogger. Go visit his new temporary website in the interim.
  
  
• I'm heading up to Syracuse and Rochester for Christmas. There appears to be a very strong possibility of a green Christmas in the area for the first time that I can ever remember. Scary stuff, but I'm glad global warming isn't real.
  
  
• Mickey Kaus (emphasis in original):Maybe I'm an old-fashioned Joe Kleinish Clintonian self-hating Dem. But I'm not swooning until I hear Obama to tell Democrats something they maybe don't want to hear. Did I miss it? This is a perfect example of the problems Democrats have faced from their spokespeople in the media for many, many years now. In order for a Democrat to be praised by other prominent Democrats in the media, it is necessary for that Democrat to actively distance him or herself from the rest of the party. Mickey Kaus seems to make this his litmus test, for crying out loud. He doesn't want to support any Democrat who doesn't publicly state ways in which Democrats are bad. How is it ever possible to build up a party if that is the litmus test Democrats must meet to receive public praise form the"serious" pundits and experts out there? I have actually written at length about the ways that I feel Obama is falling into this trap, but apparently what Obama has done to distance himself from certain strawmen in the party isn't good enough. Maybe he needs to ratchet it up to Lieberman levels before Kaus likes him.
  
  
• FL-13: Christine Jennings has filed a formal appeal in the House for a revote:Democrat Christine Jennings filed a formal appeal with Congress on Wednesday, asking lawmakers to investigate voting problems in Florida's 13th Congressional District, an election she lost by fewer than 400 votes.
  
  Jennings said she hoped the complaint will compel Congress to force a revote in the disputed Sarasota-area race, which was won by Republican Vern Buchanan.
  
  The idea has gained little traction on Capitol Hill, but a congressional aide said incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is open-minded. I'm not exactly confident that Democrats will stand up for electoral justice on this one. CA Democrat has a good list of updates and information on this election.
  
  
• Blog Wars premiers on the Sundance channel on December 28th, 10:00 p.m. eastern. This will be my movie debut.
  
  
• The annual MLA national convention will once again be held in Philadelphia this year. Now that I have a modicum of success in my new profession, maybe I'll have the courage to stop by. In case you didn't know, I was formally an English literature academic.
  
  
• If anyone has a good, workable policy and oversight playbook for Democrats to prevent an escalation in Iraq, pleas say so in the comments. I would love to see us put up a fight against this, but right now I'm not sure how to do so.

This is Chris Bowers, signing off from regular blog duty until January 2nd. MyDD will stay open, but expect us to post at a reduced rate over the holidays. After that, I will be down in D.C. for the swearing in and the first 100 hours. Happy Holidays!

I'm putting this in the diaries so I don't bump anyone's post with something this off-the cuff, but seeing this before bed was too much for me to take:Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Intelligence Committee, said it was premature to call for censure. "Until you know what the issue is," she said, "I don't know how you can make any kind of decision at all." Remember that Feinstein proposed a censure resolution against President Clinton after the Senate trial against him was over.

(202) 224-3841 Call her office now and ask her why she wanted to censure a Democratic President with a 60% approval rating for lying about sex but does not want to censure a Republican President with a 33% approval rating for spying on Americans without a court order. Use that exact language if you want. I don't care what time it is--leave a message (85% of the people reading right now are probably in California anyway). Call until you get through. Stop calling any other Senators until you have called her. If she wants to censure a Democratic President but not a Republican one, I don't want her phone lines working for even one minute tomorrow.