Random election campaign notes

My yard work plans having been frustrated by the weather, I have a little time this morning. I’ll be posting some notes. I think it’s probably over, but Clinton appears to be hitting back. But Hendrick Hertzberg of the New Yorker notes:

“Going negative” has been a bust. It could never be anything but a bust, because there is no audience for it in the Democratic Party… Barack Obama is a phenomenon that comes along once in a lifetime. Unfortunately for Hillary, it’s her lifetime; fortunately for the rest of us, it’s ours.

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More as I find it.

Update: There’s a break in the rain. I’m going for it! Be back later.

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Addendum: Whether it’s Clinton, McCain, or the media in general – somebody is desperately looking for something negative to stick to Obama. The memes so far have been his Muslim connections, Rezko, inexperience, and plagiarism. Now they’re pushing the unpatriotic theme. It turns out that he failed to put his hand on his heart for the National Anthem one time, he didn’t wear a flag button, and his wife wasn’t proud of America until recently. Oh, and Bill Ayers, former Weathermen, donated 200 dollars to his campaign.

I guess the question is whether he can withstand the heat. Clinton’s argument is that she has taken the worst the right wing noise machine has to offer and is still standing. Obama’s untested.

But the paper said that, in a statement, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, William Burton, said, “Sen. Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence … But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost 40 years ago is ridiculous.”

And by the way, he also strongly condemns the sinking of the Maine and the kidnapping of the Lindberg baby.

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For what it’s worth, the polls have Obama surging to a statistical tie in Texas. She still clinging to a moderate lead in Ohio. In the other two states deciding a week from Tuesday, Obama is well out in front in Vermont and behind in Rhode Island.

The William Jennings Bryan of the activist left runs again

It’s official.

Actually it’s a bad analogy. Some people actually voted for Bryan.

Addendum: Nader has this blogger thinking about Max Weber.