Political Wire reader David Manes, a 21-year old junior political science major at Harding University, is one of three finalists in the political blogging scholarship we noted earlier this month. The $2000 scholarship will help pay for books, tuition, or other living costs.
Please give him your vote!
Less than a week after saying he would make another independent bid for president, Ralph Nader “just announced that former San Francisco Supervisor and Board President Matt Gonzalez will be his running mate in the November elections,” according to USA Today.
Royale Somali blogs about Somali elders supporting Obama in Ohio: “I heard that a lot of Somali elders in Ohio who are also American citizens would be going to caucus for Obama , dressed like that notorious photo. Ohio has a large Somali community around 20 Thousand.”
Pak Tea House takes a closer look at Jinnah and history - to serve as a lesson for contemporary parliamentarians in Pakistan.
“I think I’ll just go into the Oval Office and sit at the desk and say, ‘Wow, this is really cool!’”
– Sen. Barack Obama, in an upcoming interview with Ellen DeGeneres imagining his first day as president.
In a cover story, Time makes a good observation: “Presidential experience means a familiarity with the levers and dials of government, knowing how to cajole the Congress … [But] if knowing the system is so useful, then second-term presidencies should be more successful than first-term. Instead, many Presidents lose effectiveness as they go along.”
“With less than a week until Ohio holds its Democratic primary contest, Sen. Hillary Clinton is traveling to the poorest parts of the state in an effort to highlight her poverty agenda and draw in low-income voters,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The candidate who best connects with the poor could have an edge in the Ohio contest on Tuesday. Parts of the state have poverty rates as high as 27%, according to the 2000 Census. The state is poorer than the national average, and Cleveland is the nation’s poorest large city, with nearly half its children living in poverty.”
It’s also likely an attempt to attract an endorsement from John Edwards, who made fighting poverty the centerpiece of his campaign.
Sen. Hillary Clinton “may be unable to match” Sen. Barack Obama “in the party’s delegate race even if she pulls off wins in the Texas and Ohio primaries next week,” according to Bloomberg.
“While the math says she can still catch him, the odds are daunting because the Democratic Party doesn’t have winner-take- all contests. Clinton instead may need to rely on chemistry, a chain-reaction set off by big wins in the March 4 races and in Pennsylvania in April that will persuade wavering delegates that she’s the stronger candidate to face the Republican nominee in November.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times notes Harold Ickes may be Clinton’s “last hope for winning the Democratic presidential nomination” as he works the superdelegates.
The online video posted by the Century Foundation regarding the relations between Israel and Iran and the geopolitical forces that are behind this situation has several bloggers discussing their ideas on who is really pulling the strings.
Following the decision by Kofi Annan to suspend peace talks in Kenya, Kenyan blogger, wheremadnessresides decided to write a letter to him: “Dear Kofi Annan: There’s a rumour that you’re thinking of leaving Kenya. That you’re fed up with our leaders and their madness. That you’re up to here and beyond with all this nonsense. I can certainly understand why you would be sorely tempted. But please please please don’t. Leave Kenya that is. You can’t anyway. You promised, remember?”
