Much has been made of Clinton's recent comment that Barak Obama was a part-time State Senator.

I did some research to see how often the Illinois State Senate was in session during the period of 1996-2000.

I found my data from the following site:

http://www.ilga.gov/previousga.asp?GA=89

David Yepsen is again talking about the problems associated with trying to use out-of-state residents as Iowa caucus voters. Taking a look at residency requirements for Iowa this is their position:
http://www.dot.state.ia.us/mvd/ods/newre sidents.htm

"Resident does not include a person who is attending a college or university in this state if the person has a domicile in another state and has a valid driver's license issued by the state of domicile. Resident also does not include members of the armed forces that are stationed in Iowa, providing that their vehicles are properly registered in their state of residency."

Obama was on Nightline last night. I missed it, but here's some of what he said:

"But they also, surprisingly enough, even in rural Iowa, recognize the opportunity to send a signal to the world that, you know, we are not as ingrown, as parochial as you may perceive. ... .." -

You might think this was just a one time pattern of thought popping out of Obama's head but it's not.

I am not enjoying the negative tone of the campaign right now. Particularly the negative tone directly from Hillary. She is much better when she talks in a positive way about her plans to fix things as president.

She needs to go back to leaving the negative comments - and I guess even that is a MSM meme - to others. More accurately others in her campaign need to be the ones pointing out the unpleasant inconsistencies and inaccuracies of Obama's and Edwards statements.

By speaking directly to Obama she has elevated him in a way that he couldn't do by himself. It's time he gets put down by the surrogates.

Take a look at this web site:

http://www.chipublib.org/001hwlc/hwac/il lstatesen.html

It talks about Harold Washington's Illinois State Senate records.
He was a Senator from 1976-1980.

The records are divided into eight series:

* Legislative containing reports, correspondence, and copies of Senate bills.
    * Committee and Caucus including materials on the Black Caucus and Senatorial Committees.
    * Constituent containing case files, correspondence, resumes and reports from Chicago constituents.
    * Campaign containing materials of campaigns described above.
    * Press and Publicity containing news clippings, newsletters and two scrapbooks of clippings.
    * Biographical and Personal containing invitations to various events and biographical information.
    * Administrative containing materials used in his office for day-to-day activities.
    * Artifacts.

Looks like the all Edwards all the time show is playing here at MYDD. That's OK I guess. After all, this site is driven mostly by the readers.

What I find intersting is that this site bears no resemblance to the reality of the Dem presidential race. Edwards is a distant third in 100% of the polls. You wouldn't know that looking at this site.

I finding myself expanding my universe when it comes to blogs. I am liking Marc Ambinder, The Caucus, The Plank, and others. They all provide a broader range of diarys, covering more of the candidates.

The latest Rutgers poll re: the presidential race in New Jersey has Hillary Clinton beating Giuliani handily. The same can't be said for Obama.

Here's the numbers:

NJ-Pres
Oct 26 Rutgers      Clinton (D) 49%, Giuliani (R) 39%

NJ-Pres
Oct 26 Rutgers      Giuliani (R) 44%, Obama (D) 41%

Rutgers Poll

Hillary Clinton will support the filibuster of FISA, backing Chris Dodd. To me this is smart politics and smart legislating and the right thing to do.

ABC News' Eloise Harper: Speaking to reporters in Denver, CO Senator Clinton (D-NY) said that she would back a filibuster for the controversial FISA bill.  "As matters stand now I could not support it and I would support a filibuster absent additional information coming forth that would convince me differently."

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