As we all await with bated breath the results of the NC and IN primaries, it seems a good time to remind everyone that the next president will be able to accomplish very little of their agenda without the strong backing of a Congress dedicated to progressive Democratic principles.  (And if John McCain somehow wins, we'll need as many Democrats as possible to blockade four more years of Bush policies.)  As the FISA fight reminds us, many of the promises made by Hillary and Obama will be for naught without increased majorities to work with in Congress.

We need more and better Democrats in Congress to achieve this goal--and few races to take Republican House seats in the fall are as promising and exciting as Democrat Anne Barth's bid to unseat Shelley Moore Capito in WV-02.  That's why clammyc and I will be talking directly with Ms. Barth in an exclusive  interview today at Heading Left, starting at 1:30pmPST/4:30pmEST!

This will be a short diary, but I felt it was worth more than just a comment in DHinMI's frontpage piece today.

DHinMI references the fact that some in the chattering class and in the Clinton camp are attempting to leverage a popular vote argument by discounting the states that do not compile statewide tallies of the actual vote.

But if the pundits and Clinton backers interested in keeping this race alive truly want to make their arguments based on the popular vote, perhaps they should pressure their backers in the states in question to release the tallies they do possess.

The fight to ensure that our Democratic Congress continues to hold its ground and refuses to take Jay Rockefeller's unwise advice to roll over for the Bush Administration on telecom amnesty has been of central importance for many of us in the progressive community.  Kossacks mcjoan and Kagro X have both done an outstanding job keeping this and the intimately related FISA issues front and center in the netroots, and groups like the Courage Campaign have done well in making sure that progressive activists continue to lobby decision-makers to do the right thing.

Those of you who follow California politics closely know that CA-24 is one of the under-the-radar races to watch this year.  Though it's not getting a lot of attention in the national media, this district is one that could end up surprising a lot of people who aren't watching the trends on the ground.

The race features Mary Pallant, the progressive Democrat, going up against Elton Gallegly, a do-nothing rubberstamp Republican, in an already purple district that is turning increasingly blue and is filled with abnormally large numbers of independent voters.  Pallant is also being challenged in the primary by Jill Martinez; however, given that Martinez is still over $93,000 in debt from her previous campaign, it is unclear how vigorous a challenge she will be able to mount to either Pallant or Gallegly.  
Full disclosure: I serve as the volunteer Netroots Coordinator for the Mary Pallant campaign

They just don't get it.  The increasingly hilarious arguments being made by the Clinton camp about Barack Obama's supposed lack of electability in November have been shown to be bunk time and time and time again.  Barack Obama can easily defeat John McCain in November (probably even more easily than she can), and everyone knows it.  Heck, Hillary even said so herself in front of millions of viewers.

But there's a big problem with the whole "electability" argument, anyway.  Let's give the mendacious Clinton camp the benefit of the doubt and say that Hillary is a sure thing, while Obama would likely lose.  Wrong, but let's grant that idea.

I.  Wouldn't.  Care.  Anyway.  And neither should you.

As most of us progressives sit on pins and needles helplessly watchful on the eve of the eagerly awaited Pennsylvania primary, I want to ask you for your help.  I have often written in support of Barack Obama, but tonight there is little I or other Obama supporters can do to help Obama.

What we can do, however, is support Democrats looking to fulfill Obama's vision: expand the map, compete everywhere against the Republicans, stand unabashedly for Democratic values, and win in races that we should win, but that no one thought possible before.

Here in Ventura where I live, we have just such a Democrat, and her name is Mary Pallant.

One of the most frequent arguments made by the Clinton camp against the candidacy of Barack Obama is the notion that Obama isn't adequately vetted.  While I've made my case before about what I believe the Clintons really mean by that notion, let us assume for the sake of argument that the Clintons are being honest about their conviction that Barack Obama is a glass-jawed candidate with tepid, momentary support, and potential skeletons in his closet--and that Hillary is simply trying desperately to save the Democratic Party from itself by preventing Obama's nomination.  (Isn't  trying to save people from themselves the very definition of "condescending elitist", by the way?)

While we're all distracted by the Clinton-McCain tag team on Obama and therefore on Democratic chances in November, the Bush Administration is quietly attempting to strangle privacy rights and move one step closer to the inescapable Big Brother society.  Not content with torturing whomever they want to obtain usually inaccurate information (including by crushing the testicles of children) and listening in on any phone call or email they please without even a warrant from a rubberstamp court, they are now attempting to requisition military satellites for use on domestic targets in potential violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

Attention!  While Clinton's desperate attempts to prolong the presidential primary may be interesting, you may remember that there are all these other races that will determine whom our nominee will be working with in the Congress.

And if you stretch your mind back to 2006, you will remember that one of our biggest targets was Chris Shays in CT-04.  Shays is the last of a dying breed: the New England Republican.  In fact, he's the only one left in the House.  In 2006, he beat our Democratic candidate Diane Ferrell in an incredibly tight race.  This year, Jim Himes will be the Democrat to give Shays and New England Republicans the knockout punch.  Best of all, you can listen to me and clammyc interview Jim live at 3pmPST/6pmEST today on BlogTalkRadio!

Remember Clinton impeachment activist, wingnut and former Republican House member Bob Barr?  Well,  those who have been paying close attention know that Barr has been anything but a Republican hero over the last few years, mostly because his libertarian tendencies have been at odds with the increasingly hyper-authoritarian nature of the Cheney-led Republican Party.  Mr. Barr has been an opponent of renewing the Patriot Act, opponent of Bush's warrantless wiretapping, and a close ally of the ACLU.

Ah, to be a superdelegate.  What to do?

Every Hillary/Obama partisan (myself included) has their own arguments about why their own candidate is the only one who can beat the Republicans in November, and the other candidate will fail.  Some say that Clinton cannot win if she exercises a coup by superdelegate (I happen to agree); others say that the Wright controversy makes Obama unelectable (after the extraordinary speech he just gave, I strongly beg to differ).  Personally, I believe the race for the nomination is basically already over and it's time for the healing with the Hillary supporters to begin--but that's another story.

Many of us are also deeply concerned about John McCain in the general election; partisans in the two corners each point to their own polls showing how McCain fares better/worse against their own favored candidate.

Yesterday I wrote a diary about the importance of wrapping up the presidential nomination in order to pay more attention to all-important House and Senate races.  One of the races I mentioned was the one in CA-42, where our own fellow Kossack and all-around great guy Ron Shepston is working to defeat the über-corrupt Gary Miller.  Full disclosure: I have served and still serve as an unpaid advisor and strategist for the campaign.

Sure, she's wasting campaign money.  And Democratic opportunities to attack John McCain.  And attempting to create divisions in the Party.

But of all the many reasons that Hillary Clinton should graciously concede the Democratic nomination to the clear winner of the contest, none has been more overlooked than the impact on downballot races.

No, I'm not talking about Obama's major coattails, though that is certainly important.  I'm talking about the oxygen that this continued farce of a campaign is taking away from the deserving and overlooked women and men running for Senate and Congress.

Wolfson:

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, taking the campaign a bit meta on a conference call today, attacked Obama for attacking Clinton, and compared him to a notorious Clinton foe.

"When Sen. Obama was confronted with questions over whether he was ready to be commander in chief and steward of the economy, he chose not to address those questions, but to attack Sen. Clinton," Wolfson said. "I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president."

Quick note to all Obama supporters and progressive activists wringing our hands after the latest election: we are still ahead by every single measure in this race (with the exception of superdelegates who are quickly moving in the right direction.)

Think the Bush Administration is done trying open new fronts in using scare tactics in the service of war profiteering?  Think again.

In yet another display of mindboggling display of fearmongering coupled with greed, the Bush Administration is now now telling Europe that it needs to buy American missile defense systems--or else.  From the Los Angeles Times:

Among the memes this election cycle that are so patently stupid that they makee me want to beat my head against a wall is the idea put forth by the Clinton campaign that "Obama isn't vetted."  Here's just one example of Hillary Clinton herself pushing this idea:

"I’ve been tested. I’ve been vetted. I have been in the political arena in our country very intensely for 16 years. There are no surprises. There’s not going to be anybody saying, ‘Well why didn’t we think of that?’ or ‘What, my goodness, what does that mean?’" she said. "I am going to be able to go up against any Republican who they nominate."