HOWIEINSEATTLE

Saturday, January 19, 2008

"Democrats Divided 2008" (with video)

With the primary season underway, America is focused on whether the next president will be Democrat or Republican. Meanwhile, within the Democratic Party another struggle is unfolding. NOW on PBS reports on a rift between progressives who believe the party has sold out its liberal values and centrists eager to capture a broad swath of the more conservative voters. It's a struggle that is taking place at all levels of government.

In Maryland, six-term incumbent Al Wynn is facing a tough challenge from newcomer Donna Edwards. According to Edwards, Wynn has sold out to big business and the Bush agenda, including a vote for the war in Iraq and the 2005 energy bill. Wynn says his challenger is naïve and doesn't understand that there are choices in politics between compromise and doing nothing. Fueling candidates like Edwards are the foot soldiers of the progressive battle—bloggers and other political outsiders like Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com who are drumming up national support on the Internet. Maria Hinojosa speaks with the candidates and Matt Bai, author of The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle To Remake Democratic Politics.

Markos: "Obama wins Nevada"

Markos:

So check it out, Obama literally won more delegates in Nevada than Clinton:

A source with knowledge of the Nevada Democratic Party's projections told The Nation that under the arcane weighting system, Obama would win 13 national convention delegates and Clinton would win 12 delegates. The state party has not released an official count yet.

Barack Obama released an official statement celebrating a delegate victory. "We came from over twenty-five points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled," he said.

And the Obama campaign is milking it, throwing the Hillary campaign's own words against it:

Senator Obama was awarded 13 delegates to Senator Clinton's 12. As Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said, "This is a race for delegates…It is not a battle for individual states. As David knows, we are well past the time when any state will have a disproportionate influence on the nominating process."

Ha ha ha. As if this thing couldn't get any more absurd.

Update: Since I was obviously not clear enough and many didn't get it, the headline was ironic, the last sentence was supposed to give it away.

Yeah, Hillary won the state. But under her earlier rules, all that mattered was the delegate count. So everyone wins. Or no one wins. Or whatever. Like I said, absurd.

In practical and political terms, Hillary wins. She gets the little checkmark next to her name in the results. Losing the delegate count is inside-baseball. But the delegate thing -- assuming it holds up and confirmed -- is worth a psychological boost to Obama and his supporters.

Update II: The AP has updated its story and is confirming the delegate thing:

"I guess this is how the West was won," Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12.

Update III: The percentages reported for this race, by the way, aren't popular vote figures. Truly bizarre. They're based on the number of state delegates awarded. So while no one thinks Obama will win the popular vote, the percentages should be a lot tighter when the actual popular vote numbers are released.

Barack Obama

Leno: "Am I being Naive?" ( with video)

BarackObamaPresident, with video (03:08):

Chris Matthew's on Jay Leno talking about Barack Obama.

Howie P.S.: Not usually a big Tweety fan.

Barack Obama

"John Edwards Denounces Anti-Hillary Ad in Nevada" (video)

MySilverState, video (00:55):

John Edwards denouncing an anti-Clinton radio ad in Nevada by UNITE HERE, at an event in Reno, Nevada, January 18, 2008.

Barack Obama

"Clinton and Obama seek to break deadlock in Nevada"

Guardian (UK):

The Democrats' increasingly bitter and divisive race for the White House comes to a head in the Nevada caucuses today amid a welter of disputes about unions, management styles, and the legacy of Ronald Reagan.
After Barack Obama's win in Iowa, and Hillary Clinton's in New Hampshire, today's caucuses are seen as a potential tie breaker. A win today could provide crucial momentum before nearly two dozen states hold their primaries on February 5.

The vote is also seen as a test of the emerging influence of Nevada's Latino community, which makes up more than 20% of the population, as well as the organising ability of its unions.

An opinion poll published in yesterday's Las Vegas Review-Journal showed Clinton maintaining a comfortable lead over her rivals with 41% of the vote. Obama was on 32%, and John Edwards on 14%, undercutting his claims to be fighting a three-person race.

However, caucuses, which require attending a meeting at a specific location, are notoriously difficult to predict. That is especially the case in Nevada, which ordinarily allows voters to cast their ballots at a grocery store within a two-week period.

Obama may have gained an edge this week after a judge permitted Nevada to allow caucuses at nine casinos on Las Vegas gambling strip, which will make it easier for hotel and casino workers to participate. The workers' union has endorsed Obama.

The close contest - and the high stakes involved - have led to increasingly angry exchanges between Obama and Clinton and their supporters, barely four days after both candidates pronounced a formal truce.

In the latest episode, Obama has been under attack from Clinton and Edwards for seeming to praise Ronald Reagan. "I think it's fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time, the last 10 or 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom," Obama remarked.

In her final campaign rally before this morning's caucus in the nearby town of Henderson, Clinton reacted as if to a heresy. "One of my opponents said today that he thinks the Republican party is the party of ideas," she sneered. "Well I would agree with that to the extent that they are the party of bad ideas."

Obama was more relaxed in his last rally at a university campus in Las Vegas, offering a few jokes along with his now familiar stump speech. But he also tried to insulate himself from further damage after he admitted in a debate that his biggest weakness was his inability to keep track of paperwork. "I'm sorry, I thought when you said what's your biggest weakness you meant what's your biggest weakness. I didn't understand the question."

The two camps also traded accusations of dirty tricks. Earlier yesterday, Clinton suggested that the Culinary Workers, the main union supporting Obama, were putting pressure on their members to support him. Bill Clinton, who met with workers at the Bellagio casino, has also suggested that culinary union members are being told they must caucus for Obama.

The union has released a Spanish language radio ad accusing Clinton of trying to disenfranchise hotel workers. "Hillary Clinton does not respect our people," the ad says. "Hillary Clinton is shameless."

Today's caucuses could well provoke a showdown between the major components of the Democratic power base in Nevada: the unions, which support Obama, and the party's leadership, which has come out for Clinton.

Yesterday's opinion poll also suggests that Clinton has solid support from Latino voters who favoured her by 50% to 29% over Obama in the poll of likely caucus goers by the Mason-Dixon polling group. However, in what may be an augury for South Carolina's contest next week, Obama dominated among African American voters. He had 65% support compared to 18% for Clinton. However, the community is smaller presence in the state than Latinos.

Obama had a slimmer lead among union households over Clinton, just 7%, despite his support from the state's powerful culinary unions.

On the Republican side, the caucuses have been overshadowed by today's primary in South Carolina. Mitt Romney has been the only candidate to campaign here in the run-up to the vote. That effort and the sizeable Mormon population of Nevada should work in his favour. Romney had a 15 point lead over John McCain, his nearest challenger, in the Review Journal poll.

But even before the first votes were cast, the contest has already begun to move beyond Nevada. John Edwards will not even be in the state today - he left on Friday morning to campaign in Oklahoma. Clinton has a rally scheduled in Missouri while Obama heads south to Georgia.

Howie P.S.: Marc Cooper has posted "Nevada: Barack Bets On Record Turnout" on Huffington Post. Guardian (UK) also has "Obama's supporting act turns into star attraction," about Michelle Obama. RAW STORY posts "MSNBC: Is Obama being punished for telling it straight?" (with video). Greg Sargent (TPM Election Central) posts "Now Bill Himself Goes After Obama Over Reagan Interview." And the WaPo political blog, The Trail, has "Obama Camp Pushes Back On 'Rookie' Ad."

I wonder, will we ever see a debate between Bill, Michelle and Elizabeth?

Barack Obama

"impeachment res. 8016- olympia, wa" (video)

1petergray2, video (09:57):

res. 8016 introduced by eric oemig in washington legislative hearings- 17 jan. 08

Howie P.S.: Pam Roach accuses the proponents of "partisanship" and displays a photograph of her son who is serving in the U.S. military. She says "what you are doing is a disgrace" and promises to file an ethics complaint against Sen. Oemig. Sen. Oemig responds and explains why he supports the legislation.

Friday, January 18, 2008

"Experience: Obama vs. Hillary" (video)

CNN, video (04:55):

Democratic hopeful Barack Obama highlights the differences between him and campaign rival Hillary Clinton.

Barack Obama

"Clinton, Obama rally crowds in Elko"

Reno Gazette-Journal:

A combined 2,700 people turned out to see Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Elko Friday afternoon, including many still trying to make up their minds on whom to caucus for Saturday.
There are about 5,000 Elko County Democrats. So, why are the two candidates pushing so hard?

Flora Boyer, Elko Democratic Central Committee treasurer, said she believes the contest between the two for a first-place showing in Nevada will be so close that votes in Elko could make the difference.

“It’s that close,” she said. ”We are going to have a say in the state. We have been knocking them dead in registering more Democrats than Republicans.”

About 1,000 people squeezed into the Elko Indian Colony gymnasium to see Clinton. For many, it was their first look at Clinton in person, as she made her first visit to the city.

About 1,700 people turned out for Obama’s speech. Several hundred people left Clinton’s speech early, dozens of cars formed a caravan to drive over to the Elko High School gymnasium to hear Obama.

It was Obama’s second visit to Elko and he let the crowd know it.

Mary Ray, a Great Basin College professor, and her husband Michael, another professor, said the two candidates hold similar views on the economy, health care, the war and education.

But they’re Obama supporters. “Barack is more inspirational,” Michael Ray said.

”He’ll get a higher number of votes from Republicans,” Mary Ray said. “We need every vote.”

Jill List, a registered nurse and an independent voter, said she likes them both. “We just came from Hillary. She’s pretty dynamic when you sit and listen to her. I want to hear what Obama has to say and then hopefully I’ll make up my mind.”

"Clinton claims union intimidation by Obama backers"

Newsday:

ELKO, Nev.--Hillary Rodham Clinton spent her final day of campaigning in Nevada launching blistering attacks on Barack Obama, culminating in a charge that his most powerful union backer is intimidating members who support her.
Speaking to supporters in this mile-high mining town, Clinton accused Obama's organizers from the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union Local 226 of seeking to keep those in the union who support her from participating in Saturday's caucuses.

"We know there are some unions in the South who are telling people who to caucus for and if they're not going to caucus for who they choose, don't come at all," said Clinton, who offered no direct evidence. She cited press accounts, a phone-in caller to a local radio show, blogs and "anecdotes" from her campaign workers.

"I'm afraid some people may feel that they can't come or can't support the candidate of their choice," said Clinton, who challenged Obama and John Edwards to pledge their union supporters wouldn't intimidate members. "I don't think that's right, I don't think that's the American way."

"There's absolutely no evidence," said union spokesman Chris Bohner, citing a Las Vegas Sun newspaper investigation that found no proof of coercion. "This is a tactic that many anti-union companies use against unions to baselessly accuse them of intimidation."

Clinton also intensified her criticism of the caucus process itself, claiming that nine union-stronghold caucus sites in casinos on the Las Vegas strip are unfairly weighted to give Obama an advantage.

The union, which endorsed Obama hours after Clinton won the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary, is a major asset for Obama because it can flood casino-based polling sites with his supporters.

Clinton's surrogates sued unsuccessfully to halt balloting, charging the "at-large" casino sites violated the one-person, one-vote rule by apportioning too many delegates to union strongholds.

For his part, Obama has accused Clinton of distorting his Social Security proposals in a flier to Nevada Democrats.

As Clinton and Obama traded accusations, their operatives intensified efforts to mobilize supporters, particularly Hispanics, to attend the caucuses. Both sides admit it's impossible to predict a winner.

"Caucuses are notoriously hard to predict and turnout is the big unknown, the biggest wild card," said Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson.

No caucus has ever been quite as unpredictable as Nevada's: In 2004, only 9,000 Democrats participated. Estimates this year range from 20,000 to 120,000.

Nevada is a vital, if not essential, prize for both candidates. An Obama win would blunt Clinton's upset victory in New Hampshire and help erode her leads in big Feb. 5 states, especially neighboring California.

A Clinton victory would salve the pain of a possible loss next week in South Carolina, where Obama enjoys a double-digit lead buoyed by overwhelming support among black voters.

Both campaigns are fighting hard in Nevada, though neither has invested the tens of millions poured into the first two contests, say sources in both camps.

Clinton leads Obama, 41 percent to 32 percent, according to a poll this week of likely caucusgoers by the Las Vegas Review Journal. She has an advantage over Obama among Hispanics, women and older Nevadans.

That advantage might be erased by union muscle. Clinton strategist Mark Penn said the culinary workers' endorsement gives Obama a 5-point bump not captured by polling.

Howie P.S.: This article in the Rolling Stone explores the charges by the Clinton campaign.

"John Edwards Campaigns in LA"

Mona Gable (Huffington Post):

Anyone who thinks John Edwards is a loser and should take his marbles and go back to North Carolina apparently was not at the Edwards' rally in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday.
Is this why the campaign played "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" during the pre-rally warm-up?

It seems a lot of voters here have the impression, however misguided and dumb, that the guy's a serious candidate for president. Who knew? And that the race for the Democratic nomination isn't over. Who are these starry-eyed dreamers anyway? Haven't they been following the news, with its all-Hillary, all-Barack coverage all the time?

But back to the rally, which took place downtown at the Southern California Public Service Workers' headquarters. In a parking lot. Yes, it couldn't have been less glamorous, but that was the point. As Jason Gomez, a Latino sanitation worker and former Teamsters member in his 30s said of Edwards, "So many of the candidates don't seem like they're representing the people. He's the people's guy. He's the man for me."

"What I like about John Edwards is he has a union background from the womb to the tomb," Clara Brisco, a middle-aged African-American woman and longterm care worker told me. Brisco was waving an "Edwards for President" sign. And she'd driven all the way from her home in Long Beach to hear him speak. "He's all over my house," she laughed of his campaign signs.

More than 1000 supporters stood in the warm noonday sun waiting for Edwards, who arrived from a campaign event in Nevada nearly 40 minutes late. When he did breeze in, smiling his million-dollar smile, stopping to shake hands as he pushed toward the stage, they applauded and cheered. It was truly an Edwards kind of crowd: home health care workers, carpenters and electricians, working families and elderly people. Many came in jeans and T-shirts. About the only people in suits were LA City Councilman Richard Alarcon and LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

For Edwards it was the perfect stage in which to deliver his hard-driving populist message. A parking lot in the shadow of some of the city's biggest corporations.

Like his audience, Edwards dressed down for the occasion in dark blue shirt and jeans. If you watched the Nevada debate, he emphasized much of what he said there. His humble beginnings as the son of a mill worker. The sacrifices of his father so he could attend college. Corporate greed. The subprime mortgage crisis. The 47 million Americans without health insurance. His vow to pull the troops out of Iraq his first year as president. The little girl named Natalie who needed a liver transplant but died because her father's insurance company wouldn't cover it.

And, of course, his credentials as the "change" candidate.

Hmm. I guess we're going to be hearing that word a lot before Super Tuesday.

"There's only one candidate who's never taken a dime from a special interest lobbyist or a PAC," said Edwards to big applause.

And, really, they did seem wild about him. Even Shelli Sloan, who got so fed up with the Democrats eight years ago that she became an Independent. "He has so much more energy than Obama or Clinton," gushed the 46-year-old café owner.

So. Why, I kept thinking the whole time I was listening to Edwards, is he not winning more labor endorsements? If he's fighting for the middle-class, why aren't they fighting for him? This seems the fundamental paradox of his candidacy. He didn't get the Culinary Workers in Nevada. Then this week in Los Angeles he lost another prized endorsement: the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, a group that represents more than 800,000 workers. They also went for Obama, even though Edwards pitched in during their hotel strike a few years ago.

What gives? Is it that key labor organizations have given up on him? That they want a sure thing? That they prefer Obama's message of unity to Edwards' message of taking no prisoners? That they just really want to elect the nation's first black president?

As for Hillary, even as Edwards was speaking, she was just across the freeway. Trying to rack up another major endorsement: the Los Angeles Times.

But Edwards isn't giving up. "I am an underdog campaign, but this is where you come in," he said in closing, his voice rising. "You can help us here in California, help a grassroots movement that spreads across this state, that spreads across this country. When that tidal wave of change is finished, we will be able to look our children in eye and say, 'We did for our you what our parents did for us.'"

And with that it was over, and Edwards began signing autographs and people crowded the stage, snapping photos of him on their cell phones.

"You're going to win, John!" a man shouted out.

"Hillary Opens Up To Tyra About Adultery" (with video)

Huffington Post, with video (02:04):

Excerpts of Hillary Clinton's taped interview with Tyra Banks were released earlier this week, but the interview airs today on Tyra's show. In the interview, Hillary discusses, among other things, adultery. She tells Tyra that she had to "dig down hard" to get over the Monica Lewinsky affair of ten years ago, but that she "never doubted Bill's love" or her "faith and commitment" to Chelsea and their extended family.

Other takeaways: she admits to being embarrassed by the scandal but says, "I was just praying so hard and thinking so hard about what's right to do that I couldn't get anything else interfere with that. The momentary feelings — you know, you're mad, you're really upset, you're disappointed, all of that goes through your mind — but I have found you really shouldn't make decisions in the heat of those moments."

And though scorned women come up to her everywhere asking for advice "all the time," she counsels: "no one story is the same as any other story...what I can tell you is that you must be true to yourself."

Watch:

"MARK PENN STARTS SPINNING A CLINTON LOSS IN NEVADA"

Ari Melber (The Nation):

Clinton Campaign strategist Mark Penn has begun spinning Hillary Clinton's potential loss in this weekend's Nevada's caucus, contending that an Obama victory would be essentially illegitimate.

In an unusual memo sent to reporters on Friday evening, Penn bemoans Obama's local labor support and emphasizes that two recent polls show Clinton ahead, so the "easy explanation" for an Obama victory would be his union support. This analysis of Obama's (potentially) winning coalition is presented as some sort of indictment, picking up on Bill Clinton's complaints that local party rules allow wide participation in the caucus.

Yet even given Penn's stormy history with labor and the low "standards" of campaign spin, this attack is particularly desperate. Democratic candidates are supposed to win over labor voters. In fact, if Obama -- or any candidate -- wins Nevada on the strength of union voters, it would validate his appeals to the huge labor electorate on Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, Nevada's tiny caucus universe cannot be reliably surveyed, (as I've explained before), so these polls are unlikely to reflect Saturday's turnout. Of course, Mark Penn knows that. "Turnout is uncertain since the last election saw only 9,000 voters come out," he notes in the memo. And that's exactly why he's already spinning a loss, even as he emphasizes that Clinton is "ahead 9 points."

Most political reporters erred by treating the New Hampshire primary as a story about polls, not people. Mark Penn is betting they'll repeat the same mistake when interpreting the Nevada results.

Barack Obama

"Obama’s Closing Argument to Nevada Voters"

The Caucus, NY Times political blog:

RENO, Nev. – Senator Barack Obama sharply criticized Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on the eve of the Nevada caucuses, declaring: “The American people don’t want a president whose plans change with the politics of the moment.”

At a rally on the campus of the University of Nevada here, Mr. Obama questioned whether his leading rival was being straightforward with voters. He raised an example of her economic stimulus plan, saying she had followed his lead by adding a tax rebate to jumpstart the economy.

“Senator Clinton has said she is ready to lead from Day 1,” Mr. Obama said. “But it’s important on Day 1 to get it right, whether you’re talking about war or you’re talking about economic proposals.”

As he made his closing argument to Nevada voters, Mr. Obama spent an unusual amount of time dwelling on Mrs. Clinton. He repeatedly invoked her by name, reflecting a sense by some Democrats here – and worry among his own advisers – that she holds an advantage going into the caucuses on Saturday.

“Part of my job in this race is to restore people’s sense that you say what you mean and you mean what you say,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s why I’m running.”

A poll in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday showed that Mrs. Clinton was leading Mr. Obama 41 percent to 32 percent. The poll had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

“I haven’t been thrown off the island yet,” Mr. Obama said.

Barack Obama

"Edwards Appeals for Labor Support"

The Caucus, NY Times political blog:

LAS VEGAS – Standing in the bed of a white pickup truck parked in a strip mall, John Edwards on Friday asked for support from Nevada union members in Saturday’s caucuses.

Even if their unions have endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama.

“If you hear the sound of my voice, and if you are a union member in the state of Nevada, I am asking you to caucus for me,” Mr. Edwards said, adding, “no matter whatever your political leadership is telling you to do.”

He has been endorsed by the steelworkers, carpenters, communication workers and transport workers in the state, who have dominated the attendance at his campaign events in Nevada this week. But he failed to pick up the key endorsement of the influential culinary workers union and the Service Employees International Union in Nevada, who have supported Mr. Obama.

Mr. Edwards was introduced by James Denton, whose character on “Desperate Housewives” works as a plumber. He’s been appearing with Mr. Edwards on the campaign trail for weeks. With his show stalled by the writers’ strike in Hollywood, Mr. Denton today described himself as “a union member who’s out of work.”

After campaigning in Nevada for the last few days, Mr. Edwards is leaving Friday afternoon and flying to Oklahoma and Missouri, two states whose primary contests are held on Feb. 5. On Saturday, he travels to South Carolina, where he will campaign heavily until the Democratic primary on Jan. 26.

"Waxman To Hold Hearing On Missing White House E-Mails"

BarbinMD, front-paged on Kos:

Rep. Henry Waxman has announced that he is scheduling a hearing on February 15th in light of:

A White House chart indicates no e-mail was archived on 473 days for various units of the Executive Office of the President, a House committee chairman says. [...]

There are 16 days of no archived e-mails from Sept. 12, 2003, to May 23, 2005, for the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, according to Waxman's letter announcing the hearing. There are a dozen days of no archived e-mails for the White House Office inside the EOP, starting Dec. 17, 2003, and ending on Feb. 8, 2004, Waxman's letter added. It seems that Rep. Waxman would like an explanation for the remarks made yesterday by White House spokesman Tony Fratto:

MR. FRATTO: I think our review of this...I think to the best of what all the analysis we've been able to do, we have absolutely no reason to believe that any emails are missing...we have no reason to believe that any email at all are missing.

Q So where are they?

MR. FRATTO: Where are what?

And just a suggestion here, but instead of months of sternly worded letters, how about Waxman just cuts to chase and issues the subpoenas now...and then enforces them.

NEVADA UPDATE III

"Obama ratchets up pressure over Clinton's senate record" (Guardian UK).

"Clinton plays gaming card against Obama" (LA Times).

"Endorsement: Obama embodies party’s vision" (Reno Gazette-Journal).

"Election 2008: Previewing the Nevada Caucuses" (WaPo).

"Democrats toughen up" (Las Vegas Sun).

"The Nevada expectations game" (First Read-MSNBC).

"Edwards message: Louder this time" (Las Vegas Sun).

Barack Obama

"Washington starts up online voter registration"

Seattle P-I:

Would-be voters in the state now can seek to enter their names on the voter rolls over the Internet, with Washington last week joining Arizona as the only states to offer online voter registration.

"This is a dramatic step forward," Secretary of State Sam Reed said.
Reed, the state's chief elections officer, pushed the Legislature to approve a bill allowing online registration, and the measure was approved in the 2007 session.

"People do so much business now online that this is kind of a normal way many people want to transact their business, including with government and voter registration -- and this is particularly true with young people," Reed said.

"And that is our big challenge: to get this younger generation registered.

"So I think this is going to be very, very helpful in making it possible to get more people in the system by getting them registered."

In its first three days, the system recorded 1,634 online applications, Reed said.

Reed's initial attempt to win legislative approval of online registration failed in 2006. Support from lobbyists representing the state's college students helped push the bill through last year, he said.

The system does not allow prospective voters to actually register; instead it enables them to apply to be registered. But if the applications satisfy the county officials who will review them, the voters will be registered.

Online voter registration is restricted to applicants who hold either a Washington driver's license or a state-issued identification card.

Computer images of the signatures on those documents are stored electronically in state databases, and those images will be used to validate signatures on mail ballots, the voting method used by the overwhelming majority of Washington voters.

Initially, the state will print out the completed applications and mail them to county elections officials for processing. Once the necessary technology is in place, the applications will be transmitted electronically to the counties.

The penalties for providing false information on a voter registration application will apply to electronic registration: up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Ironically, Washington rolled out online registration the same week that Arizona experienced its first notable problem with the service since its debut in 2002, Arizona officials said. The system sputtered Jan. 7, delaying and possibly preventing some voters from registering on the last day to sign up to participate in Arizona's Feb. 5 presidential primary.

The registration system in Arizona is linked to the state's database of driver's licenses, which in turn is connected to a nationwide driver's-license information network -- and it was problems with that network that fouled up the voter-registration software, Arizona Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne said.

Nonetheless, 16,573 Arizonans filled out online registrations Jan. 7, a single-day total eclipsed only by the more than 20,000 who signed up on the final day to register for the 2004 presidential election, Tyne said. Overall, more than six of 10 new registrations are filed online, he said.

"It's a hugely popular way for citizens to be able to register and participate in elections," he said.
The Washington online registration system is not tied into the nationwide network of driver's-license records, a Reed aide said.

Still, Reed said, "Any time you are relying on technology, there's a risk of something going down."

NEVADA UPDATE II

"Clinton holds narrow Nevada lead on Obama: poll" (Reuters).

"Michelle Obama and John Kerry in Vegas" (video).

"Obama debuts new act in Vegas" (AP).

"Edwards sharpens criticism of Clinton, Obama" (Nevada Appeal).

"The Lose-Lose Race Debate"

Marie Cocco (Truthdig):

A truce has been called in the racial feud between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but not before it stained both with the residue of their own follies. The peril for the Democratic Party is not as obvious as media simpletons say.
It is not only true that Clinton, if she is the eventual nominee, could suffer from lingering bitterness among African-American voters, who must turn out strongly if any Democrat is to be elected president. And it’s not that Obama will lose white women and men who have supported him in Iowa and New Hampshire, and who already support him in significant numbers in polls conducted throughout the country. These voters probably made up their minds about the two candidates some time ago.

The greater danger is that white, working and middle-class voters may turn away because the racial shouting match did not—and will not, if it resumes—speak to them at all.

The deepest division in the Democratic primary campaign until now has not been between blacks and whites, though we are likely to see stark evidence of that in the upcoming South Carolina primary. A fault line already is visible between upper-income, educated whites and those with lower incomes and less education. The upscale voters have gone with Obama, the downscale with Clinton.

The divide was hinted at as early as Iowa but went mostly unremarked in the euphoria over Obama’s win. Nonetheless, Iowa caucusgoers began to shape a profile in which Obama fares worse among those with lower incomes and among union members, for example, than he does with more affluent voters. These contours took clear form in New Hampshire.

There, Clinton beat Obama by a full 15 percentage points among those with family incomes of $50,000 or less, according to exit polls. Obama beat Clinton among those who make $50,000 or more. Clinton won easily among less-educated voters, and among union members. In short, she ran strongly among traditional Democratic groups that have been a bulwark of the party since the New Deal. Obama’s New Hampshire vote tracked closely with the slice of votes won by other Democratic candidates who ran insurgencies against the establishment—Howard Dean, Bill Bradley and Gary Hart are the most obvious examples.

Is this working-class resistance to Obama because of racism? Some of it may well be. But it certainly cannot be argued that racism caused these voters to reject white candidates such as Dean, Bradley and Hart.

Obama’s soaring rhetoric and appeal for “hope” mean a lot less to them than solid campaign proposals that address their day-to-day concerns. Bill Clinton faced media ridicule for his numbingly detailed plans. But voters didn’t get the joke. They saw practical solutions they liked. This is a big reason Hillary Clinton now mimics the approach.

Another risk for Obama is his campaign’s preoccupation with college students. In truth, less than a third of those 18 to 25 are currently enrolled in college, according to the University of Maryland’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, which studies the youth vote. That includes part-time students and those attending community colleges. Clinton, sensing an opening after Iowa, targeted young people in New Hampshire who hadn’t gone to college.

There is nothing wrong, and a lot that’s right, about engaging college students in politics. But here’s the trouble: Working-class voters don’t get excited about the size of rallies the campaigns can mount by filling them up with college kids. They agonize over not being able to afford college at all.

Here lies part of a painful Democratic Party legacy that has recently been buried, but could easily be unearthed.

In the 1970s and ’80s, many working- and middle-class white Democrats voted for Republicans, in part because of racial politics but also because they resented their own party’s drift toward what they perceived as domination by a white elite. To put it crudely, the beer drinkers distrusted the wine drinkers as people who, at best, didn’t understand their everyday concerns or, at worst, looked down on them as racist. Clinton’s presidency for a time seemed to heal the rift. Yet even after President Bush had lost favor among many middle- and working-class voters, Republicans were able to tap this vein with attacks on 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry as a windsurfer who “looks French.”

If the fissure opens wide now, Democrats seriously diminish their chances for winning in the fall. And the roots of defeat will lie partly in the rancor that Clinton and Obama stirred up themselves.