When I first came to Dailykos about a year and a half ago I was searching. I was looking for a home for my personal ideology. I had considered myself a moderate, not a liberal and certainly not a conservative. So at first I looked around for a blog site that was focused on what I believed at the time was moderate ideology.

As the price of oil and consequently gasoline has risen precipitously I have watched with glee from the sidelines. Not that I am pleasured by seeing the suffering of the majority of my countrymen as they must dig ever deeper into their pockets, but I must admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude every time I see a big SUV pull up to a gas pump.

I've been driving economical vehicles for years and every time I see one of those gas guzzling behemoths I can only think of how selfish the owner must be. How little they are concerned about the damage they do to the environment, how they are reinforcing our dependence on foreign oil, and how that dependence forces us into policies which engender hatred and disdain around the world.

So when I see them now whine as they shell out $125-150 every time they pull up to the gas pump, I can't help but let out a little chuckle, if only to myself as I pull up to the same pump and only pay a relative pittance of maybe $30 to fill my humble Geo's tiny fuel tank for a whole week's worth of commuting.

I can't help but get the feeling that something wonderful has been lost. An opportunity to make scenes like this one obsolete. We had a chance 30 years ago to avoid this, but it looks now like we may be getting a second bite at the apple.

With the ink nearly dry on the presidential nominating process, the time has come to begin focusing on the general election. To that end, for several months now I have been periodically checking on the election pools over at Intrade.com.

I put together an analysis of the presidential race as seen through the eyes of the Intrade investment community. It is quite revealing and includes a few surprises in it's scope. If this proves of interest here (by way of recommendations) I'll update this weekly or so as we run through the process.

For those who are not familiar, Intrade is an investment organization that specializes in trading on the outcomes of various political events. These primarily take the form of "investing" (or betting if you like) on elective races.

Short and sweet today. Barely even a diary but I just could not resist this. By now we've probably all heard about Obama's walk over into the House chambers to chat with the congresscritters there.

It really turned up quite a stir. Even Nancy Pelosi cut short her press conference to see him. Now that does not happen every day.

This in from HuffPo, the Clinton campaign is openly declaring their intent to steal the democratic nomination through arcane parliamentary procedures.

Many of us knew they were not above it, but the audacity to publicly proclaim it is enough to send shivers down one's spine. If even more evidence were needed to confirm that the Clintons will do anything to obtain/retain power, it has now arrived.

OK, I know there are no big contests left with a significant Hispanic vote unless it get's all the way to Puerto Rico (personally I think it's over by then), but this was just too good to pass up.

Disclaimer
This is anecdotal and the very small poll was certainly not scientific nor professionally conducted, but the results are surprising and fascinating nonetheless.

<Check it out below the fold>

While the rest of the blogosphere seems alight with the gang beating of Senator Obama in last night's debate, the rest of the political world did not stop turning.

CNNis reporting that Karl Rove has been asked by congress to testify on his invlovlement in the Governor Siegelman affair. Many of us (myself included) instinctively react to this as if it's a good thing, and it is. However, it occurs to me that perhaps now is not the time.

After the jump I'll explain why.

This one is my Father, a lifelong democrat from NYC aged 76 now living in Florida. Yeah I know, New York's southernmost county.

I don't get to see my Dad much. He lives in Florida, I live in Colorado. So I can only make it down there a couple times a year.

Like many Floridian retirees my Dad lives on a fixed (and pretty small) income. He's not in very good health suffering from a variety of problems from Ashtma, to macular degeneration, to heart disease and more. He struggles to come up with the "donut hole" money being extorted from him by an insufficient medicare drug benefit so that big Pharma CEOs can continue to line their pockets with the lifeblood of our most vulnerable citizens.

He's a die hard New Yorker from Queens and until a couple weeks ago was a die hard Clintonista. I'd call him pretty typical of Clinton's Florida democratic base, at least among the over 65 crowd, which as we all know is a sizeable one in that state.

<more below the fold>

Late last night, out of the blue, a customer of my small business sent me (and at least a hundred other contacts) what I can only describe as a disgusting and offensive, completely falacious and bigoted attack on Barack Obama and on those of islamic faith.

Little did she know that as luck would have it, I happen to be a proud supporter, Obama delegate, and precinct captain. And that I happen to be a member of an Islamic family (abeit a non-practicing member).

The practicing members of my family are pretty moderate, dare I say, even liberal as muslims go, and have intermarried with Christians and Jews for two generations.

I could have made a point by point refutation of her horrible article but the passion of the moment got the better of me.

When one is first elected as a county or state delegate, it is easy to fall into the belief that as delegates, we don’t really amount to much. That we have all the influence of a single drop of water in a whole pail of water. Many would consider the role of a county delegate just about the lowest rung on the hierarchy of political office imaginable.

While parents often dream that their kids might some day aspire to being the president, or a senator or governor, I’ve yet to hear anyone say about a newborn, maybe he’ll be a county delegate some day.

It’s not a glamorous role, and not very powerful, but it does have it’s influence and it extends beyond simply casting one’s vote for a presidential nominee. This weekend, I got to find out in a very personal way how important this role really is.

So far it's just NPR but it's a start. The are finally admitting what was evident late Tuesday night. With 41% of the Texas caucus vote in, Obama's 12 point lead (56/44) is insurmountable.

NPR is reporting a net 3 delegate lead for Obama once all is said and done.

In watching, hearing, and reading the MSM coverage of Tuesday's voting, one get's the distinct impression that there was a resounding victory for Hillary Clinton.

The MSM meme that Clinton won 3 of 4 states is particularly troubling as it may in fact be absolutely false. Yes she won Rhode Island and Ohio. But Texas is not so clear. Texas had both a primary and a caucus. She narrowly won the primary but in the so far incomplete counting it appears that she suffered a resounding defeat in the caucus.

As it stands now, it appears that the final delegate tally from that state is likely to end up with more delegates in Obama's Column than in Clinton's.

And there is more below the fold.

Once in a while you hear a story that is so eggergious you just have to scream to the world about it. This is such a story.

This is not a story about an uneducated unsavvy borrower who did not understand the difference between a fixed mortgage and an arm. No, this is the story of a college educated successful middle class professional who himself worked in the mortgage industry.

As you read, please keep in mind, if this can happen to someone like him, it could also have happened to you or almost any one of us.

Follow below the fold for a look into the sordid practices of unregulated lenders in 21st century America.

Like many here, I was deeply distressed to learn of Senator Webb's vote to allow President Bush and the Telecoms retroactive immunity for FISA.

Feeling strongly about it as I did, I wrote the following letter to Senator Webb. I urge all Kossacks who feel as strongly about this as I do, to do the same.

Reading InsideScoop's excellent diary on the subject I was moved to action.

If you would like to write your own letter to Senator Webb here is the contact link.

Follow below the fold for the text of this letter

I wrote the following letter to my father describing the scene from the Colorado caucus floor. He's never been to a caucus and I had never been to one either. I found it to be both a hectic and an exhilirating process.

If you've never been to a caucus before you might want to follow below the fold for a glimpse into this amazing process.

I've not seen this diaried and it's a critically important story that needs to be told. This will be short and sweet, I strongly recommend clicking through to the NPR article for all the details. It is deeply concerning.

The Bush administration is seeking... no has found and is working on a defacto treaty with Iraq that would obligate a large US military presence for decades to come. This so called "Declaration of Principals" would be binding on future US presidents so that they could not orchestrate a pullout or significant reduction of our troops. It would include a permanent and massive US military presence including permanent Military bases

This diary is a very difficult one for me to write. As a recent convert to the Obama camp from the Edwards camp, a
decision I made out of practicality not out of an actual preference, I am particularly troubled by what I see as a weak and poorly defined healthcare plan.

It was not my desire to write a hit diary, especially for the only remaining candidate who I believe has a real
opportunity to bring a progressive agenda to the Whitehouse. However, my personal top issue is healthcare, so, for me,
no examination of the available candidates can leave that particular stone unturned.

Now that I have upturned that stone and begun examining in detail what scurries away, I feel it's my duty to report my
findings to the Dkos community below the jump.

While we reel from the shock of the Clinton victory in New Hampshire there will be a lot of hand wringing over what this may mean going forward.

We already have ToqueDeville's diary proclaiming it's time to jump on the Obama bandwagon (something yours truly did right after Iowa) and of course numerous comments by the same deadenders wishing for a miracle who villified those of us who last week saw the handwriting on the wall and made the same pragmatic decision that Toque is suggesting now.

However there is a differnt perspective that I would like to present below the fold.