North Carolina Democratic voter registrations: Wow!

The increase in Democratic voter registration across the country during this primary season has been a great side effect of the competitive race. I have looked in depth at North Carolina's registration activity since January, and if the experience there is at all representative of other states, then Congress is going to be turning much bluer and some "red" states will be ripe for Obama to take.

Some highlights, made possible by the timely posting of voter reg stats by the NC State Board of Elections:

+ Between Jan 5, 2008 and April 28, 2008, Democratic registrations have increased by 4.0% and Republican registrations have increased by 0.7%.

+ During the same period, registrations among blacks increased by more than twice the rate of whites (5.4% to 2.3%). Hispanic registrations increased by 15.9%, although the number of registrations are relatively few (7,938 new registrations)

+ Of the 2,616,995 registered NC Democrats, one of every 200 of them registered between April 19 to 26. Stated another way, in the latest one week period, the Democratic party in NC grew by 0.5%.

Good Long Term News for Democrats

Young people are identifying as Democrats a lot more, and as Republicans a lot less, than before.

Cenk Uygur Impersonation of a Pissy Joe Scarborough

Seeing Rachel Maddow put Scarborough in his place was treat enough. Scarborough actually ran away. But then to have Cenk Uygur cover this on his show and impersonate a whiny Joe Scarborough complaining about how hard his life has become since liberals were allowed on MSNBC is icing on the cake.

I particularly loved these Scarborough thought-bubbles:

Anybody who's been in politics knows that you define your opponents if they are Democrats and we don't let you define your opponent if they are a Republican.

Well you don't understand: I'm the only one who used to be on this network and now we have liberals on the network and I don't know how to debate them. And since I don't know how to debate them, I'm going to walk off the air.

Here's the video from The Young Turks with the clip from the MSNBC show and Uygur's commentary:

Lifestyles of Rich and Famous: John McCain edition

Courtesy of a great new website called McCain Source :

Billions for Halliburton and KBR - Bupkus for Our Servicemen

Republican ideology means that money for weapons systems and mercenaries is A-OK, but spending a fraction of that money on our servicemen after they return from warzones is not OK.

Example 2,143,237:

What it's all about

This piece by Kagro X at Daily Kos covers two issues in this one post better than I've seen anybody manage to. First, about what blogging is, and what it isn't.

Here's my rule -- and you can take it or leave it -- on referring to "the bloggers." You must keep in mind that blogs are communications tools, and that the people who use them aren't some new species from outer space. People who use blogs to communicate about politics are saying exactly the same things that they used to say, and that other people still say, to each other over the telephone, at the office water cooler, and over long lunches. This is just the first time that politicians and media types have ever had access to those conversations, because the tool we use puts them out there for them to see. (Yes, we are granting the media access to the minds of the voters. Where's the gratitude and groveling that politicians get when they grant access?)

So the bottom line is this: bloggers are just people who leave "paper" trails of their thoughts. If you have something to say about "the bloggers," try this simple exercise first to see if you might be talking out your ass: Substitute the word "telephone" for "blog." If your sentence still makes sense, you're onto something. If not, you're talking shit.

"The telephoners want us to get rid of him."

I really wish Jane Harman's office would figure this one out. As I've mentioned here before, I am no longer able to have anyone speak to me from her office because I have committed the crime of communicating over the web. Heavens to Betsy! Not joking here, I've been tagged as one who has a blog (I volunteered this information) - and since then have been given the shaft worse than any normal constituent who call their representative.

Second issue: how Democrats have ceded all power to the executive and as a result must get the presidency back and cannot brook anyone who prevents us from doing that. Except, of course, for Joe Lieberman who's actually endorsed and campaigned for Republican John McCain.

Does Harry Reid think this is some sort of quant game? I cannot figure this guy out.

The Obama Organizing Fellows

This is the kind of effort that needs to be done to make real progressive change -- building the grassroots expertise amongst active young people. It's a win for Obama, because this will means lots of people working for his campaign. But it's also a win for progressive causes everywhere, because there will be tons of organizers who have the expertise to make a much bigger impact fighting against corporate interests that are often embraced by even our own party establishment. It's essential that we support this effort.

Here's Barack with the scoop:


The deadline for applying to the program is Monday, May 5th at 12 midnight Eastern Time.

If you're interested, apply.

Other ways to help:

* Invite others to apply.
* Host a fellow.
* Donate to the Fellow program. (This is specifically to the program, not the campaign generally)

And last, but definitely not least:

* Promote the campaign at college campuses. You can do this by putting up fliers [note: PDF files](full page) ,(4 to a page). (These print-ready fliers are on the FAQ page - just go down to the bottom of the page.)

I suspect there's been a lot of people on campuses are talking about it, but it could really help to get the word out there if we can.

*****

Just to close on the importance of this effort - Obama actually did an unpaid organizing training effort last year that paid massive dividends because these people who traveled to Chicago went back home and started up pretty impressive unofficial Obama campaigns in their states. I venture to guess that without the training efforts and Obama's recognition of the importance of grassroots activists, that his campaign would not have been able to get up to full speed in the early states in time to win.