Funny, the only people I know personally who are Hillary supporters are both female Republicans. Yes, they're sincere, and both were surprised that I'm not.

I understood Gingrich's tax-free overtime to apply to  income tax to the worker, rather than FICA and Workers' Comp to the employer, as the commenter understood it. The employee would supposedly be motivated for overtime, rather than the employer.

But it would still have a bad effect on unemployment rates, and it isn't something to be encouraged from the standpoint of, say, children or health.

We about had a riot in Pennsylvania when a regional WalMart distribution center was built in the Poconos last year, IIRC with state economic development financial assistance. Local out-of-work construction workers tried to apply for jobs at the site when they saw work starting, but they couldn't find anyone there who spoke English. They called ICE, which responded months later, when the construction was finished, and then the contractors and subcontractors pointed fingers at each other.

This is the kind of goings-on that has working people in the trades--who spent years in apprenticeship training--furious and frightened.

Are they in the lumber areas? Rendell's got some scheme to turn lumber industry trash (wood chips, etc.) into ethanol, which should bring jobs like the windmills have. And Clarion and Lock Haven state universities have small business development centers.

(Sorry. Long ago I led job search and career development workshops, and I can't resist giving advice when the topic comes up.)

I'm a full-time freelancer involved in freelancers' online lists, and nearly all of us are sole proprietors. You're right in that there's no one to strike against because we work for ourselves (although we do pass along tips about slow payers and other abusive clients), but there is an immense collective need for "employee" benefits, especially health insurance, that is often expressed. Many can't afford exorbitant individual policy rates for themselves and/or their families; others can't buy it at any price because of pre-existing conditions; a few have relocated to states like Pennsylvania where buying individual health insurance is feasible if not cheap.

My hobby is selling used books online, and some months I make enough to pay the utility bills. There are hundreds of thousands of online fixed-price sellers not affiliated with eBay. I'd guess most are part-time, and most have the same problems eBay sellers have, just with different venues.

Buchanan in 1856? Although wasn't somebody later, Woodrow Wilson maybe, married in the White House?

I've been making Dodd 1 or 2 in all the polls I've taken. Nobody else is making his points on civil liberties.

My local newspaper hosts local bloggers. To my surprise, the politically oriented blogs (not about cars, babycare, sports, etc.) are all liberal in this red area. And they're pretty good, too.

And in the article Powell didn't say he was open to a Cabinet post; he said he wouldn't rule it out.

That's my own stand on the 2009 Cabinet: I don't want a post, I'm not open to one, but I'm not ruling it out. (If I can telecommute, if I'm so broke I need the fat paycheck, etc.)

I often think back and regret Bob Graham's untimely heart disease that kept him from actively running for president, as he had intended. He seemed smart and knowledgeable and a decent human being who would have added a great deal of sense to the conversation.

I hope our upcoming Democratic president names him to a post where his talents can further serve our country.

And Powell's been around so much that he's worth talking to, even though he was the coward I hope I would not have been when his nation needed him.

So will we still see you on C-SPAN, Matt?

My newly acquired Southern relatives think of me as a Yankee. To me, that's a baseball team. (And to them, Kentucky is "up north," where it snows and the snow doesn't melt away by noon; one spent time there for a medical residency.)

So yes, "they" think about "us" a whole lot more than the reverse.

An interesting exercise is looking at the Drinking Liberally maps, which show a great many Southern groups.

I considered every Democrat I know and "nominated" a school board member I consider competent and a great campaigner. She declined, but I told her she is now obliged to name her choice, and in general I've tried to stir things up and get us moving.

So I didn't accomplish anything, but you inspired me to try.