Practicing What We Preach?

It's not often that we wax philosophical here at My Rural America. Mostly, we're about facts and how the facts affect our rural families, so we're not about to start preaching now while Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) and John Ensign (R-NV) make the news as they join the ranks of other elected officials who have shamed their families.

However, there are several new studies out that focus on numbers of divorces, teenage pregnancies and pornography readers. Until now, we hadn't connected the dots to how states vote and where families are strongest -- moderate and liberal voting states, but see below for some serious detail to help you get started thinking:

• USA TODAY 2008 Poll: 54% of Americans say they know someone who has been unfaithful.
• Guttmacher Institute 2006 Data: Pornography more prevalent in states where "more people agree that 'I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage.'"
• US Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract: States that voted for conservative Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in November 2008 had the highest divorce rates in 2006.

For more details about how conservatives are struggling with the matters they preach about the most, "The Prurient Trap" by NY Times Op Ed writer Charles M. Blow brings a spotlight to the families, and also a really good chart so that you can see where your state falls in the statistical research.

What's most interesting to us is how these conservative states -- states with the highest divorce rates, highest number of teenage pregnancies and the most people sitting around reading pornography -- also have the most elected officials who continually vote to make things more difficult for families.

For 2008, this meant these officials were most likely to votes against State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and most likely to vote to kill the New GI Bill. For 2009, these same officials are more likely now to be dragging their feet on health care for all. Why? Let us know your comments.

Find Out Who Really Supports Our Troops

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) has a 2008 Veterans Report Card on line -- interesting because it clearly details this year's votes on issues affecting our veterans, and when you read carefully, it also offers clear documentation about who repeatedly tried to stop support for our veterans and then worked to hide their original votes, i.e., voted against it before they voted for it.

2008 Veterans Report Card

For example, click into your Representative's votes on Senator Jim Webb's New GI Bill, that received strong support in the Senate on the first try, but in the US House took three votes to get it right.

We don't have space to detail every single Member of Congress here on our web page, but you'll find them by clicking Report Card. Then look carefully at the votes because the "grade" that IAVA gives them is sometimes deceiving. For example, we looked at Representative Steve King (R-IA5). King gets a CHECKMARK for voting to support a New GI Bill -- and voting for the New GI Bill is good. However, look more carefully, and you'll see that the documentation actually says:

• A New GI Bill (2nd Vote) YEA 6/19/08 ... (good vote) ... but below it are two more votes
• A Second Rate GI Bill YEA 5/23/08 ... (bad vote) ... and continuing
• A New GI Bill (1st Vote) NEA 5/15/08 ... (bad vote).
  

So yup!! Caught in the act! What King did was try to stop (5/15) the good bill, i.e., the bill supported by IAVA and then he voted (5/23) to support a bill that had much weaker benefits for our vets. Finally, he faced the reality that the Senate had voted consistently to support the New GI Bill so he voted yes when the bill was going to pass in spite of his effort.

In contrast to King's opposition and later "pile on", Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) was consistent in his position, voting twice to support the New GI Bill and also acting as a co-sponsor.

A few notes of caution: Steve King stood with some pretty strong company since he supported both President Bush and Senator John McCain as they opposed the New GI Bill, and both Bush and McCain did all they could to make it a party line vote. However, a quick look at the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania show that some Members and also Senator Barack Obama really did put our soldiers first as they reached across party lines. See below for examples:

VIRGINIA
Voting Consistently YES! Senator John W. Warner (R-VA) and Senator James H. Webb (D-VA) ... each with four consistent votes for Webb's New GI Bill ... were joined by Virginia's three Democratic House members: Robert C. Scott (VA-3); Jim Moran (VA-8) and Rick Boucher (VA-9).

Hiding their vote as they voted NO and NO and finally along-for-the-ride yes! Robert Wittman (VA-1); Thelma Drake (VA-2); J. Randy Forbes (VA-4); Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (VA-5); Bob Goodlatte (VA-6); Eric Cantor (VA-7); Frank R. Wolf (VA-10), and; Tom Davis (VA-11).

PENNSYLVANIA
Votiing consistently YES! Senator's Arlen Specter (R) and Robert P. Casey (D) stood together for our veterans, too, and in the House, the IAVA website gives two Republican House members credit for doing what right, with Phil English (PA-3) and Jim Gerlach (PA-6) getting"A" ratings for their commitment to veterans. And Democrats Robert A. Brady (PA1), Jason Altmire (PA4), Joe Sestak (PA-7), Patrick J. Murphy (PA 8); Christopher P. Carney (PA-10), Allyson Y Schwartz (PA-13), and Tim Holden (PA-17) got it right, each receiving "A+" ratings from IAVA.

Hiding their vote as they voted NO and NO and finally along-for-the-ride yes! All other PA members split with their Senators and opposed the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans' much needed New GI Bill.

See for yourself (all states) at IAVA Report Card.

What Farm Leaders Are Saying ...

Jerry Hagstrom, National Journal Ag Reporter, has reported that John McCain's strong opposition to the Farm Bill is still impacting how farm leaders think of McCain.

We're not surprised since we still remember that McCain went to Iowa to proudly urge the President to veto the Farm Bill, and more recently chose Independence, MO to wave the flag of opposition against ethanol and this country's path to energy independence.

Here's what some of the farm leaders are saying:

• Senator Kent Conrad: "... (McCain) has opposed the economic interests of those of us living in rural America."
• House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson, "He (McCain) lacks any clear knowledge or understanding about how agriculture in this country works."
• Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin, "The majority of this farm income safety net has nothing to do with holding up the price of farm commodities and thus the price consumers pay for food."

Meanwhile, House AG Committee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte refused to comment, and Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss has promised to teach Senator McCain all about agriculture later, i.e., next year.

We think "next year" is going to be a little late.

The "Wall Street Journal" Calls McCain Actions "Mystifying"

"Mystifying" ... reckless ... irresponsible ... undependable ... so many adjectives ... so little time! In our book, any of these words will do to describe John's McCain's diversionary tactic. The Wall Street Journal's 9/25/08 coverage said this:

"Last we checked, the President of the United States was still George W. Bush, the Secretary of the Treasury was still Henry Paulson, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve was still Ben Bernanke, and Congress still had 533 members not running for President who are at least nominally competent to debate and pass legislation.

"So count us as mystified by Senator John McCain's decision yesterday to suspend his campaign and call for a postponement in Friday's first Presidential debate so that he and Barack Obama can work out a consensus bill to stabilize the financial system. This is supposed to be evidence of leadership?"

Just like The Wall Street Journal, we checked too ... and surprise ... surprise (evidently to Mr. McCain), George W. Bush is still President, Nancy Pelosi is still speaker ... all the leadership remains the same. Committee's haven't changed and although not happy about having to fix the problem, our Congressional leadership, i.e., our governing system, was working just like it is supposed to, with leaders both diligently and responsibly working together to fix the Wall Street "melt-down" that bears the risk of drying up credit for everyone.

In short and very simple because space and time is limited here, Secretary of the Treasury Paulson's original plan was three pages ... very simple. It basically said Treasury needs cash to shore up big bank/big investment companies who are failing. $700 Billion, more than the Iraq War & occupation together has cost to date has cost, was the ask.

• Paulson was clear and straightforward about the need and Congress realized it had to act.
• What was missing from the Paulson proposal was protections for the taxpayers.
• Barack Obama called for protections as did Democrats ... pay back to the taxpayers once the companies get stabilized; offer specific assistance to help home owners get their mortgages under control; eliminate the huge golden parachutes Wall Street "big boys" were going to get as their companies went down, and; lock in oversight to make sure all this money is used carefully and legally.
  
• The Congress -- it's leadership and key committee members -- acted. Democrats lead the way to make sure that the money wouldn't be used lightly to line the wrong people's pockets and Republicans were carefully agreeing.

At this point, according to McCain's own statements, he didn't know as as much about the economy as he should, but he thought the economy was strong, later explaining what he meant by strong, i.e., "fundamentals" but not jobs (????) which made no sense at all. Two days ago he admitted that he had not even read the Paulson proposal, and yesterday, there he was mucking things up in Washington.

Readers will remember the farm credit crisis of the 1980's, a crisis that no one in Washington acted responsibly on and for those of us who come from, or remain in, production agriculture, many of us still bear the scars from plunging land values, creditors working to call loans on all too often people that still had equity but were struggling to pay ... and people losing their land.

I think we can agree that our leadership -- Bush is still president and the leaders in Congress really are working diligently to make sure can't let that our country doesn't fail -- either in farm country or worse yet, all across this land -- again.

So what's really going on? The Wall Street Journal also said this,

"... We also understand Mr. McCain's desire to further dress his campaign in "Country First" gilding, as if patriotism and consensus are one and the same, or that getting something done is more important than getting it right."

All this "dancing around" of McCain's is more proof that McCain's judgement is less than solid ... scary, actually.

1. McCain picks Sarah Palin as VP when he barely knows her and even Laura Bush has called her without experience in foreign policy ... no foreign policy experience, can barely pronounce the names of international allies and enemies .. when we are in two wars, and the odds say that McCain himself with his four cancers and his aging issues will likely die in office.
2. McCain admits he doesn't understand the economy ... plays a whole series of political tricks at this very risky time for our whole country.
3. ?????? too many to name here, but skipping the debate surely makes the list.
   

?? This week's nomination for "mystifying" for #3 ... he's afraid to debate Obama and doing all this play-acting about being in charge to avoid having to debate international policy and how these policies are affecting our national economy.

Hello??? McCain is NOT "in charge" ... and NOT "elected" ... and may never be. We the American people deserve to hear what both Barack Obama and John McCain have to say in detail about this mess.

"AG Leaders Pan GOP Ethanol Stance"

Months ago in Iowa, it was John McCain who said NO to the Farm Bill, adding his voice to Bush's Farm Bill VETO. Their's was a big NO to the hope that our country could become energy independent.

Now the Republican Platform has confirmed McCain's big NO to ethanol. This platform rejection is a really BIG NO since once again it confirms McCain's opposition to our country's hopes of becoming energy independent.

Then, to add insult to injury, McCain anointed Sarah Palin, new Governor of Alaska, as his VP choice, and Sarah immediately proclaimed herself expert on energy policy, but this self-proclaimed expertise can only be considered true if "energy" is defined as "oil and gas" ... and even then, there's little evidence that her expertise is actually backed by legitimate science. Forget ethanol. Forget solar. Forget wind. Forget polar bears. Forget global warming. Just plain forget, since essentially everything we know must be forgotten except for VP Dick Cheney's early-in-the-Bush-Administration secret meeting with the oil industry. I'm not sure we know yet the names of all the oil and gas industry folks who planned and plotted, but we certainly know the results, i.e., oil industry profits were the name of the game, with the result that every time we fill up our car's gas tank or get the bill for home heating, we pay more ... and more ... and more.

Of course, Sarah has proclaimed herself a budget expert, too ... since Alaska is about the only state whose budget has gotten stronger in these days of escalating energy prices.

Jerry Hagstrom, DTN's political correspondent has written a very thoughtful piece about how even the most dedicated farm leaders who have been traditionally Republican are taking the news that once again, the conservative back door has slammed shut on the hopes of Americans who previously were still loyal to the conservatives. See Hagstrom's story at "Leaders Weigh Changes in Republican Ethanol Platform".

Health Benefits Inspire a Rush to the Altar, or to Divorce Court

Let's just say this very clearly: Access to basic health services should NOT be based upon whether you're married or divorced.

The divorce rate for American marriages is over 50 percent these days, and the problem of how difficult it is for people to access affordable health care is making things worse. Kevin Sack wrote the story "Health Benefits Inspire a Rush to the Altar, or to Divorce Court" for the New York Times. Read it here.

Overall, it's a pretty sad state of affairs that getting good health care depends on whether you've got a spouse that has it, or for that matter, that you have to divorce your spouse in order to be poor enough to get assistance with your medical bills. This said, it brings us to some key differences regarding what the two leading presidential candidates (presumptive nominees) have to say about health care. We credit National Journal -- not the campaigns, for these differences, noting that National Journal frames the key difference as "over the scope of government involvement in America's health care system."

To put this another way, Senator McCain's plan depends primarily on tax incentives to individuals, while Senator Obama's plan pays for his proposed program by allowing President Bush's tax breaks to expire for people who earn over $250,000.

There are differences in their voting records, including:

• State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
  
• McCain voted NO; Obama voted YES .. for reauthorization and expansion in 2007
  
• Stem Cell Research
• Obama SPONSORED 2006-07 legislation -- VETOED by President Bush & OPPOSED by McCain -- that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research
  

National Journal lists SEIU, the American Hospital Association, Families USA and America's Health Insurance Plan as key supporters of Obama. National Journal does not list any organizations as advocates for McCain.

SEIU made its endorsement of Obama based upon his work in support of universal coverage, with employers, individuals and government sharing the financial burdon.

"That's Not Too Important", says McCain

It started on Wednesday, June 10th' on NBC's "Today" show and continues to be the talk of Washington.

John McCain was asked about the timetable for bringing our troops home from Iraq. As reported by Jonathan Weisman in the Washington Post, McCain's response was:

"The issue erupted after Sen. McCain (R-AZ) said in an interview with NBC's 'Today" show that the timetable for U.S. forces to come home from Iraq is not of great concern as long as U. S. casualties in the Middle East fall to levels comparable to those in allied countries where U.S. forces have been stationed for decades without incident.

"That's not too important," McCain said, when asked byhost Matt Lauer if he could better estimate when U.S. Forces would come home. "What's important is the casualties in Iraq," he said. "Americans are in South Korea, Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That's all fine."

We don't agree. We also urge you to read the whole story here.

"The Traveling Taps Bridgade"

Memorial Day. Remember how we used to call it "Decoration Day"? It was a time of true remembrance and honor for our nation.

But times change. Now, the Department of Defense (DOD) policy calls for keeping the deaths of our soldiers, lost in the Afghan War and the Iraq Occupation, a secret. No pictures are allowed at Dover, DE's airbase, the place that our fallen sons and daughters first touch soil in their caskets.

It's a very sad thing, certainly because of the loss each family and our country faces when we lose an individual soldier and also a loss for our democracy as a whole, i.e., it's also a sort of "catch 22", i.e., our sons and daughters are sent to war, or volunteer to go to war, to defend democracy.

But DOD's secrets, as required by President Bush and supported by John McCain, actually result in a weakening of our democracy, since voters ... in order to make wise decisions at the polls ... must arm themselves with all kinds of information about how our nation is doing, including why the wars began, why they continue and more. Without accurate information or at a minimum the ability to access both the good and the bad, it means that voters have a tougher time making the wise decisions necessary to protect our great democracy.

One person who has felt the call to make the news public and to honor our almost 4000 lost soldiers is Joe Baldo of Maryland:

"At the age of 71 ... retired and in the twilight of his life, he shuttles from cemetary to cemetary across Maryland. And
everywhere he goes, he takes three pairs of white gloves, his meticulously pressed Air Force uniform and, in the back seat of his car, his 1933 Bach Stradivarius trumpet. For 27 years, Mr. Baldo devoted his trumpet to his country ... day after day sounding taps at Arlington Memorial Cemetary for soldiers funerals. "

Now, every day -- all across Maryland, he spends his days driving from funeral to funeral, playing his trumpet for our nation's fallen soldiers. Read more of the Washington Post's story here.

We each need to do our part, too. One way to do it is to make your own personal pledge to learn more about the decisions that paved the way to more than five years of war for our nation and the undue burden our rural sons and daughters are carrying in the war, so today -- Memorial Day 2008, in honor of our rural soldiers, we share the following "extra" reading.

• "Rural Death Rate Higher Among Soldiers from Rural Areas" -- by the Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire. Also available in podcast from the Center for Rural Strategies.
• George Bush's Deep Reasons for War in Iraq: Oil, Petrodollars and the OPEC Euro Question
• Reasons Not to Invade Iraq by George Bush, Sr.
• US Military to Probe Propaganda Effort
• Honoring OurVeterans on Memorial Day by the Center for American Progress

This last story is a critical read. It tells the story by the numbers -- who our veterans are, how many new veterans we have, and more about how they live with disabilities and how our nation meets their challenges on mental health and homelessnews.

Poll: Rural Voters Not Reliably Republican in 2008

The Center for Rural Strategies, a Kentucky-based rural think tank lead by Dee Davis, has partnered with Greenberg-Quinlan Research and Greener-Hook Research to poll rural voters on how the presidential candidates are doing. The result showed Clinton and McCain tied, with each getting 46% in the poll. Obama did less well, running nine points behind McCain.

However, Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, says "This poll is more good news than bad news for Obama, because he's only losing rural voters by nine points. ... He's pretty well-positioned to do very well in these swing states."

NPR reports that the survey took place the week of May 13-15 with 682 phone call to citizens in non-metropolitan counties in 13 "battleground" states (New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada).

54% of those surveyed agreed with the statement: John McCain has served his country honorably but he does not seem to understand my economic problems.

Pragmatic Politics -- Rural Voters to Play Key Role in November

The Republicans long ago wrapped up their decision making as to who would be their nominee, so of course, by now we all know that John McCain -- U.S. Senator, war veteran, age 73, from Arizona -- will get the nod.

Now, Democrats are very close to confirming their nominee, too. Today's NY Times which previously endorsed Hillary Clinton, gave front page, above the fold coverage to Barack Obama -- U.S. Senator, raised by a single parent, President of Harvard Law Review, community organizer, age 47, from Illinois -- who has all but wrapped up the nomination. Read the story at The Long Run: Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side.

The New York Times also identified key electoral battleground states as follows:

• McCain targets – Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• Obama targets – Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin and Virginia.
• Hispanic voters key to both – Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico
• Other states recognized as competitive – Oregon
• (and not mentioned by the NY TIMES, but states still possible to be competitive races – Arizona, Missouri and North Carolina)

NOTE HERE -- Rural voters will play a key roll in 12 out of 16 of these states (see underline), all of which have significant rural populations – average 28.7 percent. These states have a total 107 electoral votes in which rural votes can be expected to significantly impact each statewide victory. Readers can expect this blog over the next month to take a serious look at both candidates' records, comparing how McCain and Obama policies would impact rural citizens in their every day life.

McCain in Iowa: I'd Veto the Farm Bill

Could we make this up? I don't think so ... Apparently John McCain is proud of wanting to veto the Farm Bill since he picked Iowa ... a major part of the food basket of our nation ... to make his announcement. To veto the Farm Bill is to veto conservation, nutrition, crop insurance, school lunch, food stamps, food safety -- yes, even all the inspections necessary to make sure our meat packing plants and other food processing systems remain safe and clean so that contaminated food doesn't enter our supply system. It's also to veto research -- research about new kinds of biofuels and how to make our country energy independent.

Read the story by Thomas Beaumont, Des Moines Register staff writer here.

"Immigration Issues End a Grower's Season"

Today's New York Times features a story about the difficulties of finding workers who can pick 10,000 tomatoes a day. For Pennsylvania farmer Keith Eckel, these challenges have put him out of business. He handled it for 35 years -- proper documents, migrant worker forms, Labor Department forms, and agricultural visa privilege forms, but this year all the right recruitment efforts and the proper forms have failed. Eckel's labor contractor has explained that workers are scared and afraid to travel. Even in the case of people with all the right forms, some are concerned that America and its ever-increasing documentation requirements are simply too difficult, too unwelcoming. For journalist Paul Vitello's full story, click here. Mr. Eckel has not made the decision as to whether he will plant next year.

All three presidential candidates -- Clinton, Obama & McCain, favor a path to legalization for illegal immigrants that includes learning English and paying fines. Both Obama and Clinton would also toughen penalties for illegal immigrants. All three have voted for measures which would secure U.S. borders.

The Match Up -- Obama & Hillary vs. McCain

SurveyUSA: Hillary And Obama Win Electoral College In Distinct Ways

By Eric Kleefeld - March 6, 2008, 1:48PM

SurveyUSA has a new set of polls out, testing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in all 50 states. The bottom line: Both candidates would narrowly win the Electoral College, but in very different ways.

Obama vs. McCain - Obama Would Win 280 to 258

Clinton vs. McCain: Clinton Would Win 278 to 260

Be sure to click the new set of polls to see the maps, too.

Clinton, Obama, McCain

Tuesday's results made a clear path for Senator McCain to be nominated as the Republican candidate for President. Meanwhile, Governor Huckabee closed the door on his campaign, saying that he didn't think he would be asked to join McCain on the ticket.

What's more interesting to us is the race between Senators Clinton and Obama for the Democratic nomination. Obama's winning streak -- 14 states in a row, ended last night with Hillary claimed victory for three states against Obama's singular win. Certainly, the news media, with Hillary almost gleeful, made much of her wins in Ohio, Rhode Island and yes ... even the very narrow win in Texas. What was more interesting to us was what happened in the delegate count since the victories for both candidates were actually very tight.

Overall, the Wall Street Journal reports that before Tuesday, Obama lead with 1,386-1,276 lead over Clinton, or a 110 delegate advantage, according to the Associated Press. With all but nine of the 370 delegates at stake Tuesday awarded by mid-afternoon today, Obama still led 1,562-1,461 — with a 101-delegate advantage. The full story is available at "Obama Maintains His Delegate Lead."

The more serious question about the contest between Obama and Hillary was asked today by Newsweek: "A Game of Survivor ... Hillary takes Texas and Ohio, setting back Obama and staying alive. But with McCain securing the Republican nomination, will the continuing battle between the two Democrats cost them the White House?"

That question -- will the continuing battle cost Democrats the White House? -- is definitely one that could keep us up nights. For 2008, Democrats losing would mean a McCain victory. His commitment for the U.S. to stay in Iraq for "100 years", his commitment to privatize Social Security, and last but not least, his commitment to make the tax cuts permanent for the richest people in this country is a prescription for disaster.

Countdown: Less than Five Days Until TX/OH Showdown

Texas and Ohio are the two most important primaries coming up on Tuesday, and at this point it is pretty clear that the Republicans have settled on the fact that their nominee will be John McCain ... like it or lump it. It also appears that Democrats are starting to settle in with Barack Obama ... but Hillary is still working hard to claim the nomination so it's not over til it's over.

Meanwhile, see below for what some national pundants ... not they alway know ... are saying about the last debate:

• Boston Globe: Clinton Attacks on All Fronts. Obama Hits Back on Health, Trade, War and Campaign Tactics.
• New York Times: A Complicated Challenge on One Side; A Single Task on the Other.
• The New York Observer: Panetta's Lament: They Had No Plan.
  

Please Join Us as We Watch the Debate Tonight

Check your local times, but be sure to watch. The debate takes place in Austin, TX, and will be one of the last debates before the Democratic decision as to who the nominee will be is made. That candidate -- Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will likely face John McCain in November.

For background purposes, we present some of the recent coverage for each candidate.

• "Beginning of the End for Clinton?" LA TIMES, 2/20/08
• "Obama Takes Hawaii and Wisconsin in Decisive Fashion McCain Easily Defeats Huckabee in Wisconsin" Washington Post, 2/20/08

Obama has won 11 caucuses and primaries in a row now, so it's up to Hillary to turn things around or she will not be the nominee. Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, McCain has been busy today answering question about an alleged inappropriate relationship with a New York lobbyist. See story at "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risks," New York Times, 2/21/08.

Obama Slams Home Three Big Victories; McCain Wins Narrowly

This morning we're sharing some of our favorite stories about the Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia primaries, but first -- CONGRATULATIONS VOTERS! No matter who you voted for, you turned out in record breaking number on an icky, rainy, icy day and night and over all, our democracy was the winner.

In the Democratic race, Barack Obama won every single demographic group of voters, including the majority of white men and women, Hispanics and African-Americans. The only exception to this winning streak was one tiny demographic group found in Maryland -- the over $200,000 income voters, a group that generally doesn't vote for Democrats only. Walter Shapiro writes in detail in Salon about the broad scope of the Obama win: "Obama's Surge Extends Down the Potomac."

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is nothing if not determined, and Potomac's election night found her in El Paso with a cheering crowd and a reshuffled campaign. Last night's results, which gave Hillary her eighth straight loss, and reduced her delegate count so much that it made Hillary in to the "running second" category, was not to be seen in El Paso. Peter Canellos writes today in the Boston Globe that the "Race Tests Moralle, Traditional Wisdom."

And poor John McCain. He barely squeaked by Governor Huckabee, but his narrow win was enough to move him forward as the inevitable Republican nominee. We pause here to reflect ... isn't it at least a little bit amazing that both Governor Romnee and Mayor Guiliani have taken themselves out of the race? Who would have thought? Dana Milbank gives an overview in his Washington Post story, "The Decisive Winner, By a Nose." There is also a Gallery of campaign pictures to the right of the story, too -- very fun to look at!

Meanwhile, there is much more coverage. These stories begin with Obama buying doughnuts for his very cold election volunteers, continue with coverage of his "thank you" speech in Wisconsin, the next stop in the few remaining primaries left before we learn who the winning nominees are. Also included is coverage of the remaining challenges faced by the few candidates still fighting to be the Democratic and Republican nominees.

Barack Obama:

• Obama Inspires Crowd at Packed Kohl Center Rally, Wisconsin State Journal
• Obama Rides Momentum into Wisconsin, USATODAY
• Halperin's Take: Sixteen Underappreciated Obama Advantages, TIME Magazine
• Obama's Friends in Unlikely Places, Stateline.org
  

Hillary Clinton:

• Clinton Kicks Off Texas Efforts, NBC News
• Clinton Plays Election Roulette, The Politico
• Inside the Clinton Shake-Up -- how Hillary's Campaign Got Itself into a Ditch, and how it might get itself out, The Atlantic Monthly

John McCain andMike Huckabee:

• McCain Gets Wins, Not Mandate, Washington Times
• Assessing the GOP's Chances, Wall Street Journal
• Huckabee Again Shows Strength on the Right, Washington Post