I got the following this morning from my district chair:

Attendance at last night's caucus...was about 3,000 people, with 2,958 presidential votes cast.  I am told the previous record attendance was about 650. ...the presidential ballot: 65% Obama, 33% Clinton.

What was it like?  Well....

I owe Sara Robinson for this diary. The overall theme and many turns of phrase are hers. But for those who don't have the time to search out a 5-part series in a political blog, here's my interpretation in 3 pages.

(Any actual candidate analysis is my own.)

What do we need and how do we get it?....after the fold...

My son works from home as a mortgage originator while sharing childcare with his wife who is a full time nurse.  They have three children under three; the babies will be one year in early December.

It turns out that H.R. 3915 "The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007" could kill him financially.

He sent me the following:

I was reading Al Gore's The Assault on Reason this morning. Near the end, brings up Bowlby's attachment theory.

We're all pretty aware that safety needs come first. But how badly we feel the need of those safety needs harks back to our infancy and early childhood.

Ever wonder what Joe/Jo Average can do about the super-rich CEOs that rip off everybody?

Kathy Kristof recently made some practical suggestions. I thought her ideas were interesting enough to bring to Kos, under the theory that even those of us who don't own stock probably have family members who do--and who might be interested in taking some action.

Interestingly, the article I found in the print edition of the Star Tribune was not online, and when I looked at the online LATimes, I found the article there had been heavily edited.

Flip for a link and the missing text.

Coleen Rowley has a new article/memo up at Consortium News.

Working with a group called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), she has crafted an assessment of America's current safety that is devastating.

For example--Bush announced that he would create a Dept of Homeland Security after all within hours of Rowley's June 6, 2002 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Commission.

The announcement seemed timed to relegate to the "in-other-news" category the disturbing things reported to the Senate earlier that day about the mistakes made during the weeks prior to 9/11.

more...

This diary is a collection jar for stories about the personal side of election day.

To start off here are two from Minnesota. My husband and I were election judges at two different precincts.

Minnesota allows for drive-by voting, when the voter is disabled and cannot come in. In this case, two judges working with my husband went out to the car, waited for the voter to vote, and then brought the ballot back inside and fed it to the AccuVote. The voter was driven away, still in his hospital gown!

More....

Coleen Rowley has been running a really cool ad on cable TV, lately. I think it's a big part of her surge in the recent poll. Please, take a look, and if you like it, send her a buck or three to keep it running! ...and if someone wants to offer instructions on a) how to post a photo and b) link it directly to the video, I'd love to learn how and I'll update this diary.

While the news media and the blogosphere have been busy discussing the senate actions on the Geneva Convention and torture, Congressional Republicans have quietly gutted provisions of the Help America Vote Act and thrown up major roadblocks to voting and voter registration under the guise of "preventing voter fraud".  THIS is the "October Surprise"!! Unless the Senate votes it down, we can expect major chaos during next month's elections.

The 'Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006' requires proof of citizenship when registering (or re-registering) to vote, and a photo ID at the voting booth. And, it is to take effect this November!

In case you wonder how this will affect you.... Does your driver's license state that you are a US citizen?  If you have recently moved, or if your name has been struck from the voter rolls by mistake, you will need to re-register. If your wallet was stolen last week, and you only have a printed receipt for a replacement license--you will be barred from voting. (more below)

Constitution Day Rally
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9433
Rosemount, MN 55068

With Congressman John Murtha, Congressman Jim Oberstar, and Candidate Coleen Rowley

Story below the fold....

I'm sifting through PAC contributors to John Kline, just seeing what is there.

One path I take when I draw an initial google-blank is to check the contributor link, get the name of the PAC treasurer and see what else turns up. (Or I search on the address. & ZIP)

In this case, I was mining for Reform PAC's treasurer Christopher J. Ward, and hit a motherlode! (below)

Coleen Rowley is beginning to show a sense of humor along with the spunk as she drops some political akido on John Kline.

Kline's last attack included the following scurrilous charge: "One of her donors even listed their occupation as "Hollywood Liberal." Early this morning, Coleen blogged her answer.

"Breaking: The Busby/Bilbray Cong[ressional] Race Decided In DC, not in San Diego!!" DU

"Congressional Election Nullified - Nobody Noticed" scoop

Those are the headlines.

The Repuglican "legal arguments" supporting their illegal behaviors--whether wiretaps, or torture, or stealing elections is getting stranger and stranger.  And a good lawyer for the angels can tug their logic in just the right spot and leave them dangling, strung up by their own convoluted illogic.

Follow me below the fold for some of the most peculiar legalese you've never imagined...

I've been playing with Excel and photoshop since Sunday, and the info is ready to roll. Keep an eye on bradblog for new graphics and more!

In addition, Paul has put together a blogger/activist FAQ, based in part on your comments to my diary Sunday.

Folks, Please set your informational distribution systems like email forwards, listservs, press releases, phone calls, and networking to the setting equivalent in your system to "CodeRedWhiteBlue/CodePaul Revere/Spam the Universe" Distribution Setting!  Thank you!

(Continued below the fold....)

Calling all bloggers, campaign volunteers with access, and anyone else who might be able to run with this story... (Candidates for Secretary of State in particular!) The official story will be out on Tuesday, but in the meantime, here's a 'heads up' for activists.  Let's coordinate as much publicity for this as we can--please remind your candidates that a press release won't cost any campaign funds!  

Fully 92% of every single demographic group in American favors the public's right to observe vote counting and to obtain any information regarding vote counting, according an August 12-15 Zogby telephone poll of approximately 1200 likely voters nationwide.

Updated: Contributions for the poll may be sent to: Paul Lehto, Attorney at Law PO Box 254 Everett, WA 98206 (Any excess funds over costs will be donated to CA 50 --www.nosleepovers.org ) If you need to donate via Pay Pal, go straight to the CA 50 website and note "Zogby" (if not possible to note, add .02)

Just got this press release in my inbox.  Hope it gets good coverage!

Coleen Rowley for Congress

For Immediate Release
Contact: Terry Rogers
Phone: 507-664-3850
August 18, 2006

Rowley Responds to Kline Attack Ad #2,
David Bailey to Remain with Campaign

Tod posted the first diary about this here,with link to the pdf here, and a thumbnail summary that is entirely accurate.

And 8ackgr0und N015e snarked it here,

But neither one of them seems to have realized that
1) it's a playbook for Armageddon

The biggest issue facing our country and our children's future is a war. Not, as so many describe it, the War on Terror. Not the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the world war, which at its heart is just like the previous three global struggles." from p. 18

and
2) Kossaks can do a LOT with a stolen playbook....

My apologies if this isn't a "proper" diary.  But I did think it deserves its own thread.

Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat documents both contain "metadata"--which includes a great deal of information on earlier versions of the document. Often, users don't realize this, and fail to remove the metadata before publishing.

I'm hoping that some -muckrakers- kossaks will get some very -subversive- interesting ideas from the rest of this diary....