I have to confess that I have not read Kos’ book. I actually went to buy it once but it was not in stock. All of this may be in his book but I  have no idea. What I am going to write about is the effect of the 50 state strategy not on the electoral prospects of the Democratic Party but on the effect on the American Democracy as a whole. When politicos talk about electoral strategy and where to commit resources they take into consideration where they can make the best use of them to get their candidates and future candidates elected. What people do not seem to realize is that the expansion of the electoral map in a presidential campaign makes for a better democracy.

Every one should be following the story of the US-Iraqi SOFA. This agreement has major implications for the future of the US in Iraq and has some constitutional implications in both countries. As the self-imposed deadline over the completion of the agreement nears several important question are being asked. The most interesting of these is, "Will the Iraqi’s kick us out?"

In the pundit links presented on the DKos front page there was an article on theorizing on the effects of a McCain win for the GOP. I read that article and have to say it was not all that good. The biggest issue I had with it is that it rested on some very poor assumptions. It required assumptions like McCain would not govern as a conservative and that the Obama loss would not hurt Dems so bad. As I read the piece, I could not help but think, "Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong." A McCain win would be a disaster for everyone so if it is worse for the GOP (which i contend it is not) it is only worse in the way losing your health, house and your job is worse than losing your house and your job.

Three counties in California will not be performing ceremonies for Gay couples who wish to marry. A previous diary on Kos detailed that Kern County Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Ann Barnett has stopped performing ceremonies for couples who want to marry with a civil service. Not reported was that the symbolic gesture appeared to be spreading as Merced, Butte and King counties also said they will cease performing ceremonies. However, an in depth look at the situation reveals the possibility that at this point only Kern and Kings appear to be refusing out of anti-gay sentiment.

Simmering below the surface of American politics for the last few decades has been the topic of Illegal immigration. After the attempt at comprehensive reform fell apart the issue seems to have dropped off the table. However I doubt that this will be the case for the entire duration of the election season. I predict illegal immigration will be making a return as a major electoral issue.

I am sure this has happened to you. You see something somewhere out there on the vast internets or experience something and think, "hey, that would make a good diary!" Inspired you set yourself to work. You run google searches on your topic to do some research and to educate your self. You read articles on your topic by the NYT, WaPo, and Newsweek. Maybe you come up with an outline for your diary. You set to work writing down your analysis interspersed with facts and evidence to demonstrate your point. You use quotes from the subject of your piece to highlight exactly what you are talking about and you link to articles on the web that do the same. Maybe it takes and hour or two to get everything together, after all you don’t want to be the jackass with two sentences a poll and a link. No, you want to make sure that no one can ever question the availability of substance on Daily Kos. So finally, you have your diary proofed, tagged, titled, and ready to go. Hit that publish button post your tip jar and...nothing happens.

My last entry was on the McCain campaign strategy video and how it was mostly wishful thinking and fantasy. The entire thing was defensive. It seems that no one is giving John McCain a real chance in this election... or that is how the McCain camp must be feeling. All any one seems to do now is downplay expectations for McCain. I think McCain is getting somewhat defensive of this. You can see an excellent summation of John McCain’s defensiveness and delusions in his interview with Newsweek entitled "How to Beat a Rockstar".

I heard about the McCain campaigns strategy video that they put online. I have to say that the presentation was the first thing I have been impressed with done by the McCain campaign. It is a clean and fairly well narrated video. It has many string visuals and some nice power point bullets thrown in. It does address many of the important aspects of the campaign and does outline a general strategy against Sen. Obama. However, I think many of their arguments will not hold up and many are already specious. In the end, the presentation felt more like an exercise in positive thought and wishful thinking than a road map to victory.

I saw that the entire Kos crew was going to be doing the Clinton campaign post postmortem tomorrow and thought I would do one too. My general perception gleaned from comments spread around the sight is that most people focus on her Iraq war vote. I do not feel that is the biggest reason for her loss. I believe that there are two things that combined to cause the Clinton campaign defeat. The first is the hiring of Mark Penn as Chief Strategist and Pollster and the second is Hillary Clinton’s choice of loyalty over results.

The name of this little covered and mostly ignored war is Afghanistan. It is not that you have not heard of it, but do really know what is going on there? I certainly did not until recently.  Did you know that last month was the deadliest in the war? It appears that not only is the scant media coverage devoted to our wars being drained by the war in Iraq but resources of all kinds are being diverted to Iraq to the detriment of Afghanistan. While Senator Obama has periodically used Afghanistan to illustrate the folly of the war in Iraq, the war remains sadly under-covered. As a result of this inattention the war effort and the possibility of a successful effort are becoming dangerously fragile.

Many people watched the speech that John McCain gave from the general vicinity of New Orleans. It was not good. That is rather understated actually. It was awful. The saddest thing from the McCain point of view is that it is not an aberration. McCain has given several high profile speeches that display not even a basic understanding of visual presentation. His speech the night he clinched the nomination after the Potomac primaries and his previous speech in New Orleans were similarly lacking in proper visual framing. Not only are his speeches done incredibly poorly, but his general campaign seems inept. Compare this to Barack Obama and you are left wondering exactly how McCain plans to compete. What has caused the incredible difference in the quality of the campaigns and candidates? I think the Democratic Primary can be credited for a great deal of this difference.  

Having seen Guam, Puerto Rico, and the USVI get to vote in the primary is it not time we gave voting rights for the presidency to our other territory, Iraq? Now you might think such an idea is absurd but consider exactly what we are doing in Iraq and the kind of prolonged security agreement that we are trying to contract with Iraq. If we want to stay in Iraq permanently with the type of relationship sought by Bush it makes sense to give the Iraqi people a vote in the primary just like the other "possessions"  that get votes.

If you visit John McCain’s website the fist image you see is a petition. This petition is designed to goad Barack Obama into taking a trip to Iraq, preferably with McCain so McCain looks like he is showing Obama around. The McCain campaign calls these trips "fact finding" missions. I call them propaganda circuses. I had thought that Obama was going to avoid making this trip because it would give McCain a small victory by legitimizing his argument that going to Iraq and walking around with a full combat brigade on guard duty is worth doing. Obama may be wavering in his resistance to this trip.

July 13 1973 is a landmark date in presidential transparency. On this illustrious day Donald Sanders, the Deputy Minority Counsel, asked Alexander Butterfield in discovery for United States Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities regarding the Watergate break in if there were any type of recording systems in the White House. Thus came to light the Nixon Tapes. These tapes offered the best possible record of what actually occurred behind the doors of the White House. However, after the realization of just what consequences might occur if everyone actually found out what went on behind the scenes the recording system was subsequently deactivated and then removed. This began the new precedent of secrecy that has grown until it has reached its height under George W. Bush.

One of the impressive things that has occurred in the early part of this general election is how fast and how hard Obama is hitting McCain. I read his comments slamming McCain over Iraq and it is truly impressive. That is exactly how we need our candidates to act. Obama has the benefit of the truth on his side and if he maintains the early performance I believe he will do all that can be asked of a candidate. Unfortunately, even with the help of the internet and the various roots, grass and net, he needs the TM outlets to do a credible job reporting on the facts.

When American’s think about humanitarian aid missions the image that comes to mind is that of people handing out food or medicine. We envision rescue workers at disaster sites or blue helmeted U.N troops keeping the peace. We see the potential of these people in the Peace Corp or the Red Cross to change the lives of the destitute or needy for the positive. Unfortunately, a seedy and horrific underside accompanies these missions.  This side was illuminated in a report by Save the Children UK. This report details the allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. Peacekeepers.

The conservatives are looking for a way to rally their base for a candidate many of them do not like. To this end, they are floating out the trial balloon of many different possible wedge issues. The GOP is hitting all the old standbys with flag pins and patriotism as well as a brief flirtation with using the second amendment. None of these has really taken off in the way they had hoped. Now they are recycling some previous issues that went nowhere. On March 29, Barack Obama uttered the phrase "punished with a baby" in reference to a hypothetical about either of his daughters having a teenaged pregnancy.

This is a fairly broad ranged diary but I think all of the parts will tie together well. In 17 conflicts spanning the globe there are children who are more than simple victims of war. These children are forced to be active participants in war. They are forced to fight and forced to kill.  These children are taken from their homes and their families to fight in these horrific conflicts. Sometimes they are pressed into service after the worst of disasters. I choose to highlight this now because the use of child soldiers has political relevance in this primary and because it is illustrative of the difference between Barack Obama and John McCain. This topic is something that needs to be addressed as a human rights issue and only one candidate for president has a record that stands out on this topic.  The issue of child soldiers also highlight the dangers of disaster capitalism in a rather horrid way.