Lookin' Out My Front Door

Lookin' Out My Front Door
Originally uploaded by Sky Bluesky

It's rainbow weather tonight - the sun is streaming through our windows, and it's pouring down a cold steady rain.

The only good thing is that the rainbows are spectacular, when you can find them. I found one, right outside my door.

Soulja Boy Hated It, Too.

I didn't see the debate, but the aftermath is not to be believed. The ABC debate has been widely panned by television critics, political pundits, and underground rappers alike.

(Note: I wouldn't recognize Soulja Boy if he stepped on my tennis shoes on the street, so I don't know if this is a parody or not.)

In Memoriam--George Stephanopoulos: Political Hack

Saying farewell to a political career.

Watch the Count

I've added a new element to the blog. Note the fancy superdelegate counter in the top right corner. (Thanks to the Superdelegate Transparency Project for the nifty widget!)

The clearest indicator of the Democratic primary's outcome is this: if Obama gets more than half of the superdelegates in his pocket, it's over.

There are 794 supes, and half of that would be 397. Obama currently has 221 superdelegates in his pocket. So all he has to do is convince another 176 superdelegates to commit to him, and that's the ball game.

Clearly Clinton can't catch up in pledged delegates in any realistic way, and so she's staking her dwindling hopes on superdelegates. (Well, all right, she also seems to think that pledged delegates are going to flop over to her side, but I don't see that happening in the real world.) So the way to end it is to get commitments from enough remaining superdelegates to clinch the nomination.

Obama appears to have gained nine superdelegates in April alone, after picking up around 2 dozen in March. The supes are going to start declaring with more speed as the voting draws to a close, and this thing will wrap itself up neatly.

Eventually, I feel certain the conclusion of the primary race will become apparent to all participants.

Mark Penn Has Not Been Fired

This just in: Mark Penn has not been fired.

The news is all over the story that Mark Penn, after embarrassing himself by going to Columbia to promote a "free-trade" agreement that Hillary Clinton opposes, has been fired as Hillary's chief strategist. Fired. Right?

Nope. Look closely, chilluns. Mark Penn is still with the campaign.

The New York Times has the scoop on Penn's actual status. Sort of. And they ... bury it.

The headline trumpets" Top Clinton Aide Leaving His Post Under Pressure." And then, way down in the fourth paragraph, they explain what's going on:

Mr. Penn’s shift — he will continue to do some polling — is the latest upheaval in a campaign that has seen its manager replaced, faced critical money shortages and has often lagged behind Senator Barack Obama of Illinois in a cohesive message and ground strategy.

So it's a shift in position - not a firing. (Josh Marshall speculates here about what's actually going on.)

Let's be clear about what "firing" really means. Usually in politics, firing means asking for a resignation. So Samantha Power was fired. (From a volunteer position, no less.) Amanda Marcotte was fired as John Edwards' blogger (which I still think was a mistake). Mark Penn has not been resigned, and he has not been fired.

Even Maggie Williams never said that Penn was terminated:

"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign."

So he was the chief pollster and chief strategist, and now he's only "providing polling and advice"?!?! Give me a fucking break. This is a shell game. Nothing has changed except for Penn's title. Hillary Clinton is perfectly happy to have an top advisor who is directly working against her interests. Not just someone with philosophical differences - someone who is getting paid to undermine her. (Not to mention someone whose brilliant strategy decisions - most notably the Super Tuesday knockout punch that wasn't - have been a case study in how to lose a campaign.)

Mark Penn deserves to be fired. But it hasn't happened yet, and it probably won't actually happen until Clinton's campaign comes to a grinding halt sometime in the next few months.

Our Little Punster

Oliver was eating strawberry shortcake earlier, and taking an eternity to eat. As usual.

I mentioned to Mrs. B what a gift he had for stretching out a meal.

Oliver looked up, and then did the strangest thing. He took a strawberry in each hand and held them out as far as his arms could stretch, in opposite directions.

"What are you doing, Oliver?" we asked.

"Stretching out my meal."

The laughter could be heard for miles. I think my little boy just made his first pun.

Those pesky 3 AM phone calls.

So who's really likely to be calling Hillary in the middle of the night? The Jed Report has an idea.