The nation's oldest, continuously-producing mint farm is auctioned off as part of foreclosure proceedings, in a country where the government will pay millions to support CAFOS, and farms that produce high fructose corn syrup....

I live in Illinois, but my father has a summer home in western Michigan about 20 miles north of Muskegon.  Before I got up there, I was interested in helping out the Obama campaign up there.  I was talking with my sister, who was up there as well, and she said that she wanted to help too when I got there.  This was surprising since my sister has never been very interested in politics and certainly not interested about a presidential candidate as long as I remember.  BTW, I'm 43 years old so my memory goes back to at least Nixon-McGovern in 1972.  Needless to say, I was happy to hear about her interest, so I contacted the campaign at their local office in Muskegon Heights to see what we could do.

I'm used to canvassing door-to-door, so I was up for doing that and again I was surprised when my sister said she was willing to do that too.  For someone who has not been involved in politics to not only volunteer, but also have the nerve to go door-to-door, was truly astonishing and obviously a testament to Barack Obama and his campaign that inspired her to do this.

Obama in Kailua, Hawaii after playing golf

A most disheartening but hopeful conversation took place early Saturday afternoon on the streets of Benton Harbor.  A few Obama campaign volunteers from Chicago spent a couple hours in this economically stressed city to register voters.  When approached two African American men who were 20 at first refused to register saying they were not interested in exercising their right to vote.  One of them, Milo, was finally convinced to fill out the registration form.  His 12 year old brother came up to Milo on the street and asked Milo what he was doing.  Milo answered "I am signing up to vote so you can have a better life.  It is too late for me."  

With the Olympics begun, the focus of the world is on sports rather than politics.  Now it is time for the candidates for Congress to raise money and get ready for a brutal two months of fall to capture their seat in the House of Representatives.  The Democrats have the majority in the House and are likely to keep it.  However, with so many freshman Democrats, the Republicans are aiming to get back some of what they lost in 2006.  Still, the Republicans are the ones who likely will lose seats.  The NRCC has already told GOP candidates they won’t get as much support as they did in 2006.  Many GOP candidates have retired or resigned, while far fewer Democratic seats are open.  The GOP already lost 3 seats so far this year alone.  In fact, if you account for the three seats Republicans already lost, the Democratic list would be 21 instead of 24.
Below is an overview of all the critical seats of contention in 2008.  The Democrats have 24 seats that may be vulnerable, with 16 seats that are clearly vulnerable (including the three seats they picked up in 2008), while the Republicans appear to have 47 seats that may be vulnerable, with 30 that are clearly vulnerable.  
Below the flip is a list of key races in 2008.

Last week I had a huge influx of readers interested in my piece on Eric Cantor. Seems I'm not the only one thinking McCain might just pick Cantor. I think it's a longshot, but possible.

Things are getting very hectic personally. This may be the last newsletter for a few weeks or more. We will be on vacation in California for a couple of weeks and I will have Grand Jury duty after that. Plus work is exploding for me and Joy's dissertation is overdue. Even politically, I will need to put some extra effort into my friend, Devin Cohen's primary election September 9th. But this newsletter I cover some pretty critical stuff.

You would think that a Congressman who signs his letters "I work for you" would be happy that constituents were interested in sharing their perspective about an issue, especially one he was grandstanding about. But sadly, Thaddeus McCotter was indignant that MoveOn.org organized citizens to deliver a petition to his office about energy policy.

Before anyone even arrived he sent out an official email, using your tax dollars by the way.

When you read between the lines, he wanted a counter-protest. Someone also called the police while we were assembling in the parking lot. Yes, that's right. Livonia's finest just happened to show up at 11:58 and follow us to his office.

Come with me to see what these "extremists," who weren't protesting anything by the way, but merely delivering a petition, looked like and get the details.

Yeah, I know I was unopposed.  But getting 99.31% of the vote feels good.:)

There were 10 write-in votes that kept me from getting 100%.  I’ve already dispatched Wizardkitten to find them and help them "get their minds right" as my former Drill Sergeant liked to say.:)

There’s some good news you can use, though.  When I entered the race, I was told that the strong Democrats (the people that will vote for me just for being on the ballot) was around 1,000 voters.  I received 1,437 votes, and the total number of Democratic primary voters was 1,882, which means my job is about 882 votes easier.:)

We’re going to be hitting doors very soon, so please volunteer and donate whatever you can.

The Senate race in Georgia, once left for dead, just got a lot more interesting, as former state Rep. Jim Martin has won the Democratic primary runoff against DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones.

DSCC Chairman Chuck Schumer on Martin's victory:

“Georgians chose an impressive candidate today who has the experience and vision to change the direction of our nation. As a public servant under both a Democratic and a Republican Governor, Jim has a proven record of working across party lines, and he will be an effective and independent voice for Georgia families. This is a winnable race.”

With 97% of districts reporting, Martin leads 60% to 40%. That's a commanding victory which should inspire confidence in Martin's candidacy for the general election, in which he faces a tough but viable battle against incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss. Martin is a candidate we can be proud of as progressives and Democrats, and he will be a serious and legitimate challenger to the senior Senator.

In Missouri:  The Republican nomination for Governor of Missouri has gone to U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, who will face off against the favorite, Missouri's Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon, in the general election.

Meanwhile, in Hulshof's old district, Blaine Luetkemeyer haswon the Republican nomination for MO-09, edging out state Rep. Bob Onder.

If you're curious, Brock Olivo finished a distant fourth, with 10% of the vote.

On the Democratic side, the AP has not called the race, but with 90% of the vote in, state Rep. Judy Baker has a 9-point lead over former Missouri House Speaker Steve Gaw, 42% to 33%. It will be extremely difficult for Gaw to win this race. If Baker is the candidate, it should prove to be an exciting and high-profile race between herself and Luetkemeyer.

In Kansas, the big news is that Phill Kline has lost his race:

Steve Howe defeated incumbent Phill Kline Tuesday night for the Republican nomination for district attorney in Johnson County, Kansas.

Howe collected 60 percent of the vote to Kline's 40 percent, according to complete but unofficial returns. He'll face Democrat Rick Guinn in November.

About 22.5 percent of registered voters turned out in Johnson County, the election office reported.

Kline made his reputation seeking to prosecute abortion providers in Kansas as the state's attorney general. He lost his bid for re-election in 2006 after the Kansas Supreme Court overturned his subpoenas for abortion records.

In the U.S. House race in the Second District, where former Rep Jim Ryun faces off against State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins for the right to do battle with Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda, the race is too close to call. Jenkins leads by 2% with 93% of precincts reporting, but the AP has yet to call the race.

Finally, in Michigan, more of the same in Michigan's 13th District. Rep Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick faced the toughest challenge of her life, and leads state Rep. Mary Waters by just over a hundred votes at this juncture. It should remain too close to call until the morning.

Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick's "Y'allz Boy" boy speech defending the scandalous mayoralty of her son, Kwame should have been the end of her career.  But as of 11:34 EST , the race seems extremely tight.

Events have now justified the argument that seating Florida and Michigan in full back in May would have had no material effect on the outcome and could have been done then.

I read earlier today a proposal to use the rights of way that currently
(pun intended) carry transmission lines to be used for solar projects.  Which reminded me of the many times I've wondered why we have so much negatively used space in our highway medians.  

I'll explain more after the jump.

In my last job before I moved from Michigan to California, I was a grant writer and capital budget analyst for a major transit agency in the Detroit area, and it was a difficult period for us. The bottom fell out of the national and state economy and funding was sometimes difficult to come by. Demand for transportation, on the other hand, did not decrease and we constantly felt the pinch of these two pressures.

Fair warning - I like to cuss.

The current block of News headlines at Yahoo's homepage sums up everything for me. Right below the hurricane watch headline sits this one:

Poll: McCain's attack strategy paying dividends

And then right below that one sit this one:

Obama wants Fla. and Mich. delegates to have full voting rights

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

That's the breaking news in the NY Times--Senator Barack Obama wants Michigan and Florida delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

I was working at an Obama field office in my city.  We had just finished a voter registration drive, where we registered 14 new voters, identified four potential volunteers and many other supporters who were going to stop in the office and get yard signs.  I thought that was pretty good since we were only out for 2 hours and we were in a republican area with good turnout usually.  We were all sitting around eating lunch, planning the Birthday Party we are having for Barack, when this wierdo walked in.

Almost two months after the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee voted to restore the voting rights of Florida and Michigan, but with a 50% reduction in voting strength, Barack Obama has urged the Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee to fully restore the delegations from Florida and Michigan at 100%.

Below is the text of the letter sent by Barack Obama to the chairs of the credentials committee:

    DKOS readers are now familiar with the Obama inevitability argument. If Obama carries the Kerry states plus Iowa and New Mexico, then he only needs one more battleground state to top 270. That can either be Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, or Florida. Therefore, Obama can't lose. Yada, yada, yada.

    The problem with this line of thought is that it treats the election as a machine running by statistical dynamics. What are the compounded odds of Obama losing all those independent contests? Pretty damned slim.

    But the election is not a machine, it's a chess game. Each side employs strategy, and that strategy includes elements of psychological warfare and tactical surprise. McCain is not going to just stand still while all the applesauce falls around him, if you can imagine that. No, he's going to make his moves, and he's already pulled dead even in the national tracking polls. So what is McCain's winning move?