This grew out of another thread on the NH primary polling results showing Clinton ahead and the issue of candidate experience.

Ranking the candidates by experience.

Clinton
8 years in the White House
8 years US Senator.

Obama
3 years community organizer
8 years Illinois legislator
4 years US Senate

Edwards
6 years US Senate

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One of Bush Jr's "poodles", Australian PM John Howard, attacked Obama on his Iraq withdrawal plan.

Howard's, a close ally of Bush Jr, was no doubt co-ordinating with the Bush Jr White House, since Obama is the leading Democratic critic of the Bush Jr's Iraq war among Democratic presidential candidates.

"I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory," Howard said on Nine Network television.

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I think Putin actually describes the situation accurately.

"Unilateral, illegitimate actions have not solved a single problem, they have become a hotbed of further conflicts," Putin said at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an annual forum attracting senior officials from around the world.

McCain says Putin's speech is "aggressive". Sounds right on to me, Iran would be crazy not to get nukes to protect itself from Bush Jr.

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Is Edwards a stalking horse for McCain?

In an attempt to blame others for Edward's vote on Iraq, Edwards now claims it was bad intelligence from Clinton administration that  lead to Iraq war.

That certainly sounds like the same line of attack that McCain will use. As you can see from the link, the Republicans are already using Edward's attacks on other Democrats.

Edwards: "[I] went back to former Clinton administration officials who gave me sort of independent information about what they believed about what was happening with Saddam's weapons programs. They were also wrong. And based on that, I made the wrong judgment." (Fmr. Sen. John Edwards, "Meet The Press," 2/4/07)

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Edwards' actual voting record during his six years in the Senate comes out to 75%.

This is less than Lieberman's 85% and much lower than Obama and Clinton's 96%+ ratings.

This from Media Matters research into Edwards voting record: "As Cohen wrote, "From 1999 to 2002, Edwards had ranked among the more conservative Democratic senators. In 2002, only 11 of the 50 Senate Democrats voted more conservatively."

So why do Edwards supporters claim he is "progressive"?

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Obama has introduced legislation that sets US withdrawal from Iraq by March 31, 2008.

This certainly makes Obama the leader in US Iraq policy among the Democratic candidtates.

1. The only candidate to get Iraq right.

2. The only candidate to set a firm timetable for US Iraq withdrawal.

"The days of our open-ended commitment must come to a close," Obama said in his speech. "It is time for us to fundamentally change our policy. It is time to give Iraqis their country back."

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In Matt's piece on Iowa nurses he made the following comaprision.

"The dynamic reminded me of the hostility that a lot of journalists feel towards bloggers, seeing us as competitors rather than as a resource that can improve their work."

Love the blogosphere but 99.9% of bloggers are not journalists by any stretch of the imagination.

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Watching the video of Clinton's Iowa town meeting.  You have to be impressed that she has addressed the issues of her being scripted and speaking in incomprehensible senatorese.

She was really good.  Very engaging. Good answers. She came across as a real person and she hasn't always succeeded at that.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the first debate between Clinton, Edwards and Obama.

I'm still thinking Obama will start separating from the pack during the debates but Clinton's demonstrating her ability to speak on her feet with no script makes me rethink her chances.

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Latest poll up on www.pollingreport.com has Obama as the candidate with closet margin on McCain. Clinton and Edwards are well known and likely not going to change the dynamics.

McCain 43% Obama 38%  McCain by 5%.
McCain 48% Clinton 39% McCain by 9%.
McCain 45% Edwards 35% McCain by 10%.

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Lanny Davis was on NPR proposing a Democrat/Republican ticket needed to end the Iraq War so it doesn't become the divise issue that Vietnam still is for the US.

A natural ticket would be Obama-Hagel. Not sure Nebraska's five electoral votes seal a win for Obama but it might bring in enough independents to pull in some border line red states.

Personally, I think Obama-Webb with Webb pulling in VA would be a stronger ticket.

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