Sorry for the radio silence, but it’s tough here in real estate land, and a man’s gotta somethin’ for a livin’ these days….then again, “Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ boy”!  But enough of Josey Wales; on with the Blog!
 
First up, political commentary from Neil Cavuto Republicans would do well to heed….but undoubtedly will ignore!

I think Republicans are focusing on the wrong race.  The White House is important.  But losing, and likely losing big, in the House and Congress, well, right now, that's more important.

Some telling signs of late.  A Mississippi congressional seat that was assumed a Republican lock was un-locked yesterday.  Democrat Travis Childers trouncing Republican Greg Davis, by 54 to 46 percent.  This, in a district that voted for President Bush by a 25 point margin.  And Real Clear Politics' Reid Wilson reports this conservative Democrat won, get this in many rural counties once considered Republican strong-holds.  No more.  And no longer unusual.  Keep in mind, Republicans have already lost two other special elections in Illinois and Louisiana.

Now three House seats do not a general election make, but they do make for trends.  And disturbing trends at that for a Republican Party hell-bent on keeping the White House, but forgetting even a victory there is meaningless if the other guys can stop you every step of the way in their house... Congress.  After all, Democrats are a mere handful of votes away from locking in a veto-proof and filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate.  And that, again, on top of very real gains, ahead of the election, in the House.

I know the presidency gets all the press.  But it's Congress that passes all the laws.  Republicans would be wise to remember that.  Democrats, clearly, haven't forgotten that.

Folks,

As you can probably see, we've made a few changes to the site and of course we have many more on the way. Here are the specific changes so far:

1. You can now post videos, hyperlinks, and pictures onto your blog. You can also do text-rich editing within the posts.

2. What used to be the "My Blog" tab is now called "Blog."  Within this tab you can now see other users blog entries and comment on them easier than before.

3. We've fixed the time module on the upper right hand side of the site so it corresponds to your profile settings.

4. We've slightly changed the sign-up process for users. You can click on Create Account on the log-in page to see it first hand.

We appreciate your patience moving forward as this site continues to take form and develop. As always, if you have questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to email us at Info@mypoliticalworld.com.

- MPW Team

We are currently working on creating a page dedicated to Job listings on the Hill and in the private sector. In the meantime you can find job openings by going to the forum tab and scrolling down to the jobs area. Job openings will be updated as soon as the MPW team receives information. If you have a job listing please email info@mypoliticalworld.com

MPW Team

Nothing has changed or will change the fact that Hillary Clinton is not going to be president. Either she loses to Obama (or mercifully concedes since by any reasonable outlook she has already lost) or she causes the Democratic Party to implode in advance of a McCain landslide.

That being said, it's interesting to see consequential endorsements still coming her way. North Carolina Governor Mike Easley gave her a huge boost Tuesday with his backing (and superdelegate vote). While polls are noticeably tightening, realistically, nothing is going to win her North Carolina at this stage.

If she does win, however, the race is radically changed- specifically in the sense that it would become an actual race- and Mike Easley will be getting slobbered with national attention. He only needs to look to Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida to see how you can become a heavyweight overnight with the right endorsement at the right time.

Make no mistake that the Clintons promised him something big. Evan Bayh is supposed to be handing her Indiana on the same day and has been auditioning as her number two since he himself dropped out, so vice president is probably out of the question. A cabinet position? Maybe. It doesn't matter. In the unlikely event she wins, he is going to be cited as a major force. He will probably never see a better opportunity to inflate his political profile.

If on the other hand he backs Obama, Obama simply continues coasting to what was a preordained victory and Easley can grab a ticket to wait behind all the other blue governors in red states on Obama's radar (Sebelius in Kansas, Kaine in Virginia, Napolitano in Arizona). He gains no political capital from Obama.

Between the resurgence of the dreaded -Gate suffix (Bittergate? Seriously?) and all the plays on Reverend Jeremiah Wright's name, I thought it was worth throwing an entry into the increasingly competitive "worst headline" race.

The two controversies have been reinforcing each other, so, hopefully, Obama's denunciation of his former pastor will lead to the emergence of a new set of bad puns to perfectly encapsulate political news for us.

The reviews have been good so far, but I don't see how this ever goes away entirely for Obama. Wright is actively working to sabotage Obama's campaign. He will continue saying crazy things, and the media will continue broadcasting and "analyzing" them ("so does this mean Obama hates America or just white people?").

Whatever the timing or root cause, Wright has become a full blown lunatic . On some level, this helps Obama by giving him a constant foil to play off of in his endless quest to prove he is not an America-hating socialist.

How can undecided voters not have serious questions about Obama's judgment though? The new friend of Louis Farrakhan and proponent of the AIDS-as-government-weapon myth is irrevocably tied to Obama in the pages of his books and the photos of his wedding. As Wright discredits himself, it becomes potentially more disconcerting that Obama affiliated himself with such an unstable man the first place.

Noam Scheiber at the New Republic proposes a solution the Obama campaign no doubt is pushing: absolution from former Trinity Church member, shaper of free will, and erstwhile Obama savior, Oprah. http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/04/29/where-s-opra...

First up on the Wednesday Blog, insightful analysis of the U.S. defense budget and future defense priorities from the AEI:

There remains a critical problem in policymakers' approach to defense planning: confusion about the definition of "defense spending" and what makes up the defense budget. There is a crucial distinction between the baseline defense budget--the costs of raising, training, equipping, and otherwise readying U.S. military forces--and wartime costs--the additional expenses that come with employing the forces, including the costs of resetting them to original readiness levels. Indeed, the constant debates about the unanticipated and escalating (though still relatively low, as discussed below) costs of operations in Iraq and elsewhere have obscured and delayed a much-needed evaluation of the requirements for and costs of the force needed now and for the future. (continue reading...)

Barack Obama is in serious, serious trouble. His ill-advised comments at a fundraiser in, of all places, San Francisco were the final, decisive bullet point needed for the GOP to assemble an effective, negative caricature of him to promote for the next six months (continue reading...)