Obama Nabs NV Culinary Workers Union Endorsement

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/01/obama-endorsed.html

Cannot underestimate this, as this 60,000 strong union trumps the 40,000 people that are expected to participate in the caucuses.

I think the key for Obama (obviously) is to put a stop to Hillary's momentum as soon as possible and change the headlines on the web from "Hillary is the Biggest Hero Since Lincoln" to "Obamamentum Part II". This endorsement, combined with strong 4th quarter fundraising numbers to be released this afternoon should provide a positive start for him.

'08 - The Iraq Factor

Heading into the 2008 election season Democrats predicted that the dire situation in Iraq could do nothing but work to their benefit. An errant war engineered by Republicans was claiming both military and Iraqi civilian lives at a shattering pace; public opinion against the Iraq war was at an all time high. In walks General David Petraeus with a new strategy to quell violence a.k.a. "the surge". The Republican spin of course hails this as the best thing since sliced bread, or to make the metaphor more current, the best thing since an iPod touch with wifi internet that synchs up to Starbucks song selections while you sip your soy non-fat latte. Breaking out a knife, or perhaps and axe, to cut through the Republican spin, it is evident that the surge is in some sense of the word "working". Of course this depends on what your definition of "is working" is...or what the definition of "is" is (Bill could help with that one), but the violence has markedly decreased. With the camera set to high zoom, the surge has markedly decreased violence from its peak. As the lens zooms out though, what has this "extremely sucessful" surge produced in reality? The violence has decreased to its 2004 levels; as Barack Obama stated in the debate immediately following Iowa, "we have come full circle". Though that is the big picture reality of the situation, it does not lend its self to being boxed with a bow in a nice campaign sound byte. Thirty second attack ads cannot capture the nuances of the surge and its illusory success. Though this can be stressed in debates in the fall, pessimism perhaps influenced by recent history tells us that the section of Joe American's brain that processes election year politics thinks in snippets and soundbytes of 30 seconds or less. Cynicism possibly, but it appears that what was potentially the Democrats leading issue in the general election has now vanished or at the least been neutralized. The Republican spin doctors are salivating at the prospect of attacking the defeatist Democratic candidate who dared question Petraeus and his vision for freedom and liberty in Iraq. While of course in reality the position is just slightly more nuanced than that, it is much easier to mass produce and package that story line into a 30 second box, than it is the reality of the situation.

Discuss a Democratic strategy to combat this. Three top strategies will be selected, and put to a vote.