This is an awesome diary. Thanks, Feral Cat.

I was totally distracted with very critical personal crap in the 90's and do not remember much of those years politically at all. This refresher is much needed.

Senator Clinton has been trying so hard to paint herself as the champion of the middle-class and that notion has always rung like a clanky tin bell to my ears. This gives me a hint as to why. Again, thanks for writing this.

of his party's bullshat. Here's hoping that's another D pickup. We are in desperate need of Dems who'll campaign on an Anti-Occupation platform and then actually vote that way when they get elected.

Ok, where'd all this man's good judgement go?

Crossing that border without an invite would seal the downfall of moderate West-friendly forces in Pakistan. We'd see an escalation of anti-American sentiment in nuclear Pakistan faster than you can say, "dumb war."

AMEN!!! He damn sure has been fighting them and beating them his whole life ... and they were always bigger and more powerful than he was ... always ...  even after he became successful. DAMN I am so glad he said that!!! w00T!!

I'm a single mom, median wage earner, and John Edwards does connect with me. I know he's on my side from experience. When he was my Senator the telecom company that laid my entire group off and moved our jobs to Canada fought our application for Trade Affected Worker status. They won. We appealed the decision but Senator Edwards was the guy who stepped in, took up our cause and won that status for us. We got extended benefits and retraining assistance. The man connects with this single mom VERY well.

John Edwards is from the middle/working-class. He went to public school and loaded UPS trucks to pay his way through college. After school he discovered a skill for litigation and became successful but he NEVER forgot where he came from. He has always stood for and fought for the little guy his entire career.

P.S. It's Hillary who gets the $1200 cuts. John's only cost $400, including airfare. :)

You and Vermonter are right. I should have said, "His campaign is too much about ...", not "He's too much about ...."

For clarity ... Edwards gets my vote in the primary, but I'll donate my last dollar and knock on doors until I drop and do WHATEVER is legally permissable under current election law to make sure the next President is NOT one of the Republican ten dwarves.

and a great of example of what bothers me about Obama. He's too much about games and tactics and subtle savvy calculation. That leaves me not disliking what I hear and see, but it leaves me not trusting any of it either.  

Yes, Obama has highest number of small donations (20.6%) where Edwards' small donors made up 12.1% of his total. I was thinking that a number of those small Obama donors may be one time rally attendees. Any ideas about how Obama intends to turn those rally attendees into regular small dollar givers? I'd think the only way to keep that up is for past rally attendees to look for future donation requests from the Obama campaign.

Hillary is in really tough shape. 73% of her donors are maxed out for the primary. Obama and Edwards are about even there: 49% maxed for Obama in the primary, and 47% maxed for Edwards in the primary.

$2,300: 1st Hillary Clinton- $19,173,040; 2nd Barack Obama- $12,628,038

This is going to be a blast. yay! Hope everyone can come over for a visit sometime Wednesday. The more the merrier!

that seven point summary of his healthcare plan sounds pretty darn good from my place in the cheap seats. Perhaps more importantly, it sounds like it'll fly in middle America.

maybe. ?? I got the email, too, and saw it as a "heads up, something's gonna happen soon" notice. But maybe I read it that way because of other hints picked up here and there. The email was, of necessity a little mysterious. I just never read the "Are You Ready?" question as a "Should I run?" question.

Guess I'd feel bad if that email faked me out, though, and maybe it could have been worded more clearly ... I'm just not sure it's totally Edwards' fault that some folks got faked out. :\  

No need to cry. We ain't sending Hayes to the pokey. He's just going home, for good, where he can't any more harm.

... although ... ;)

I grew up in Rutherford Co., NC and spent many a vacation and weekend in Western NC mountains. One of the most significant days in my life was walking through an old growth bottom area full of spearmint and blackberry undergrowth. We were a bunch of rowdy teenagers who had been yuking it up on a hike to go sleep in the woods, but when we crossed that short fallen-log bridge and entered that small but wonderfully magic stand of trees every one of us fell totally silent ... still walking ... mouths open ... but no talking. Something ... some little tiny thing inside all of us changed that day and none of us ever looked at the natural world the same again. We had all fallen in love with God's earth that day. And that memory is one of those I hold so very dear. Seeing these mountains torn down and the raincreek valleys filled in just breaks my heart.

I'm loving me some Mrs. Charles Taylor!! "Shut upChuck!" :o