Absolutely.  This is one of the dumbest policy proposals ever although it may have political legs unfortunately.  In addition to agreeing with your point about gas guzzling SUVs and public transportation, we need to develop alternative fuels to further wean ourselves off foreign oil.  I really wish we would stop with these sideshows on energy policy and deal with the root cause of the problem itself.

I think Paterson will be a good Gov.  He has a conciliatory personality but he is tough and not afraid of a fight.  For example, he took on the incumbent Min Ldr and won in 2002 because he felt the guy was too resigned to being in the minority.  He has a good relationship with Joe Bruno, the Repub Sen Maj Ldr, and that will serve him well trying to get legislation past.  However, I have no doubt he will work hard to win the 2 seats the Dems need to take the Majority.

I had high hopes for Spitzer and am extremely disappointed in how things turned out.  However, given the disaster Spitzer was in the last year I suspect the state will be better off with Paterson as Gov.  Only time will tell.

Yes.  If Spitzer resigns, David Patterson will become Governor and serve until the 2010 election.

I was a big fan of Spitzer when he got elected but I'd be surprised if he makes it to the next election.  My gut is he will be forced to resign.

I am few days behind but I finally read the Politico story on Michelle Obama's thesis and thought - so what?  What does someone's college thesis, written 23 yrs ago, have to do with anything?  It actually appeared she had tremendous insights for someone that young.  I certainly didn't at that age.  I was a goofy kid who got his work done but was just as interested in drinking and chasing girls as deep thinking.  

I watched an Unreasonable Man, the documentary on Nader, and he deserves a ton of credit for all the consumer stuff he did in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.  However, what has he done in the last decade other than pursue this ego trip run for the Presidency?  

He has every right to to run for the Presidency but what I still resent is the obvious lie in 2000 that there was no difference b/w Bush and Gore.  Can anyone believe that 8 yrs later?  Bush has led us into a needless war while Gore won the Nobel prize for his work on Climate Change.  No difference, Ralph?

Nader's rational for running has been built around the idea that corporate contributions are corrupting the system through influence buying.  If Obama is the nominee as seems likely, how does that fly considering the majority of his money is being raised in small, individual contributions on the Internet?

Nader really seems like a relic from another era to me.

I like Hillary but as someone who worked on the 1993-94 health care reforms, she, Bill and Ira Magaziner botched them pretty badly by having a closed process.  It setup the opposition and the Harry and Louise ads.  They all learned from the mistakes.  I do give them a ton of credit for trying to tackle the issue which very few politicians have tried to do but let's not pretend it wasn't a major black eye for the early Clinton Admin.

Actually I think McCain makes Bob Dole look exciting which isn't easy.

So do you think Axelrod should resign ala John Sasso 20 years ago?  I don't and I wouldn't if the shoe was on the other foot and this was Mark Penn.  I thought the Biden stuff in 1988 was ridiculous and I wasn't even supporting him.  My feelings aren't any different 20 yrs later.

For better or worse, campaigns take stuff from other campaigns all the time.  I saw an out take from John McCain earlier on CNN saying No New Taxes.  Is this plagarism from George HW Bush?  

Now is Obama a pol like every other one?  Of course he is and supporters who think overwise are silly.

Good to see you as well Howard.  The machines actually have a very good record but they are old, wearing out and parts are scarce.  One of the things the article didn't mention is that b/w 5-10% of the ballots cast in many Congressional Districts were on paper due to machine or voter registration problems.  This is a much higher than numbers in past elections. We need to move on to 21st Century technology and it is good to know optical scanners are good machines.  

You have a point but I just think the Clinton campaign needs a lot more than a good debate performance to turn things around.  Hillary clearly excells in this format but it is not as though Obama is horrible.  He generally does okay so I am not sure they gain a lot.  

Frankly, the reason she is behind is that the Obama campaign has completely out organized the Clinton campaign, which I still find surprising.
 

NYC has ancient, mechanical voting machines which were instituted in the early 1960s.  On the one hand they leave a record which is easy to trace and recount.  On the other hand, election night totals are dependant on making sure that the inspectors transcribing the results get it right.  There is huge room for human error which occurs fairly frequently.  The good news is all machines are recanvassed to confirm the results which is why they are still around.

NYC is supposed to replace its machines in time for the 2009 Mayoral elections.  There have been great concerns about moving to the new machines due to the problems in other states.

So let me get this straight - the Clinton campaign's main attack is to hit Obama on debates b/c it is not like we have already had 18 or so Dem debates?  Has anything original or new been said at any of the last few?  I am a political junky and I think they are god awful boring at this point.  I have come to the realization that 2 or 3 in the general election is more than enough.

I can't help but be surprised at how the Clinton campaign just seems to be flailing about for anything that might help them.  It is just amazing.  I never expected anything like this out of people with such a strong track record.

I think it is pretty amazing that Clinton is leaving WI considering she needs a win badly and isn't that far behind.  Following the TX and OH strategy and not seriously contesting WI could leave Clinton in a position of having won nothing since Super Tuesday.  People tend to leave candidates that start smelling like losers and I think this a huge risk for her.  Just ask Rudy and his Florida strategy.

I have to say this is the strangest Pres primary campaign I have seen in a while.  It is like they are running a strategy of capturing the nomination by winning the Kerry-Gore GE states.  Mark Penn clearly should have been fired when Patti Solis Doyle was.

The primaries should sort it out.  My guess is we will know after March 4 who the nominee is going to be.