On the Democratic side: Hillary Clinton took Tennessee with 54% of the vote, followed by Barack Obama with 41%. Even though he had already dropped out, John Edwards still took 4%.

On the Republican side: Mike Huckabee won with 34% of the vote, followed by John McCain with 32%. Mitt Romney garnered 24%, and Ron Paul, who has a vocal group of local followers, took 6%.

From my cozy corner in a computer lab, far from radio and completely without television’s frenetic coverage, I watched the Iowa caucus results unfold on the web: a few surprises, a lot of predictability. Today I keep checking in on the New Hampshire vote.

One of the more interesting quirks in snow-bound New England is the midnight in two of New Hampshire’s smallest communities, Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location.

Notch voters turned up at the midnight hour to toss seven votes to Barrack Obama, three for Hillary Clinton and one for John Edwards. On the Republican side, Dixville gave John McCain six votes, Romney two and Rudy Giulliani one.

Hart’s Location voters put nine votes on Obama’s tally sheet, three for Clinton and one for Edwards. As for the Republicans in Hart’s location, John McCarn took six votes over Mike Huckabee’s five, with Ron Paul taking 4 and Mitt Romney matching Edward’s single vote. Reportedly, voters are turning out in significant numbers, and a spate of winter thaw and 50 degree temperatures won’t hurt that turnout one bit.

We will be watching as the vote unfolds in the Granite State, though the BBC reported today that a poor showing in New Hampshire may see Clinton pulling out of the race. I’m not sure she’ll cave that easily, but she will have to rethink her strategy. McCain wasn’t a factor in Iowa but a strong push from voters in his favor could have the same effect on the future campaigns of candidates like Romney and Huckabee.

As for the election so far, there’s been little question in my mind that Republican Mike Huckabee’s bid for the state of Iowa was a given; his “cross” ad, his bible-based political views and staunch conservative positions would serve that Midwest Christian base well. Mitt Romney, well, Romney didn’t have a prayer. Not that he’s out of the running. There’s still the rest of the country, and that’s where Huckabee may not play as well.

Giulliani continues to work other key primary states but lags behind in most polls. Fred Thompson’s flagging war chest is placing limits on his visibility and viability.

Barrack Obama’s strong Democratic showing over the Hillary Clinton (3rd in Iowa) and John Edwards (2nd in Iowa) challenge was a bit of surprise; I thought Obama would do well, and he certainly did, but he took even my expectations a bit further. Interesting surprise, and one which — in this conservative Midwestern state — puts the focus on one key word: “Change!”

Obama’s hefty margin has forced his competitors to rethink strategy and intensify their campaigning as they carry this contest to New Hampshire. Hilary Clinton’s base of over-60 women couldn’t compete with Obama’s energized 25-59 age bracket appeal. With Clinton now a lagging third in this trio, the battle for the Democratic nomination hurls forward.

Romney’s not out of the game; McCain’s the new NH player

Romney (right) has a much better shot at good numbers in New Hampshire, but John McCain has been making strong inroads there. At 71, McCain admits he might be a one-term President and that could be a concern to the political powers-that-be of his party, but New Hampshire voters seem to like him. Romney’s riding on issues such as the state-mandated health insurance program he implemented in Massachusetts, a program for which the success quotient has not yet been tabulated.

As a sideline to that issue, my conversations with Massachusetts residents while On the Road in America suggest that for “Joe average,” the cost of the mandatory Massachusetts premiums is a burden, and the cost and bureaucracy of enforcing non-compliance will become increasingly challenging. One health care “consumer” I spoke with said the $300 a month premium on his “second from the lowest” medical plan is eating a hole in his monthly income, and with a higher deductible and larger co-pays on top of soaring energy and fuel costs, he’s hoping that even with insurance, he doesn’t get sick. He’s not planning on wellness care either.

While the religious base seems to be anchoring point for the Huckabee in Middle America, it may play less well in the less Christian-centric and more open-minded New Hampshire. Tennessee’s own Fred Thompson is not even campaigning there.

Though shunted aside in the bulk of media coverage (perhaps he’s too normal and too non-controversial for modern media’s papparazzi-like coverage), Edwards may be the steadiest and most consistent of the candidates: not at the top, but not at the bottom, simply accruing a steady base and a slow surge of support. He lacks the controversy of Clinton and the flash and rhetoric of Obama, but he plots a steady and fairly unwavering course that may ultimately be the winner in the race for the Democratic nomination. The consistency may be the stability factor American Democrats are looking for.

It’s still a horse race. On both sides. I’ll be keeping an eye on New Hampshire on Tuesday night.

No kidding. It’s obvious that whoever is elected to succeed Bush is being handed a mess, a quagmire that some members of the administration say could require U.S. presence in Iraq for ten years or more. It’s not an idea drawing popular support.

~~ 5,700 troops home for Christmas ~~

In his speech to the nation tonight, President Bush said he will continue to stay the course without actually saying the words “stay the course.” Despite the fact that he has pledged to return 5,700 troops stateside by Christmas, that still leaves approximately 155,000 troops in Iraq, including 25,000 of the “surge” troops. These troops were already scheduled to return home. The only difference is that they will not be replaced. Do the math.

Augmenting troops by 30,000 may have made a difference in some areas, but the country remains a powder keg with matches allegedly being put the fuse by neighboring countries Iran and Syria. On Monday and Tuesday, before Congressional hearings, General David Petraeus said he wanted to bring home 30,000 troops by July of next year. That’s still just the “surge troops,” not a meaningful decrease in the base number of 130,000.

Bush had slightly different numbers on the table: he expected to bring 23,000 troops home by next summer, leaving 137,000 still in Iraq, 7,000 more than before the “surge.”

“The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is ‘return on success’. The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home…I will ensure that our commanders on the ground have the troops and flexibility they need to defeat the enemy.” – President Bush

With presidential popularity at a meager 36%, not much different from the January ‘07 numbers, Bush cited successes in Iraq as the reason these troops can come home. But is it enough, even “for now?” What about 2008?

Addressing a public increasingly disenchanted with the war and questioning its cost in dollars and dying, Bush said Iraq “is fighting for its survival,” and noted that the “surge” of US troops has quelled violence by 50% in Iraq and 80% in Baghdad. The “surge” is the 30,000 additional troops the President last January said were required to make a difference in the level of sectarian violence across the country. Bush said:

“In Iraq, an ally of the United States is fighting for its survival. Terrorists and extremists who are at war with us around the world are seeking to topple Iraq’s government, dominate the region, and attack us here at home.”

Bush cited Iraqi gains in job creation and recruitment of Iraqi for police and military forces, but had to concede that the Iraqi government has fallen substantially short of its goals. Bush Continued:

“Americans want our country to be safe, and our troops to begin coming home from Iraq. Yet those of us who believe that success in Iraq is essential to our security, and those who believe we should bring our troops home, have been at odds. Now, because of the measure of success we are seeing in Iraq, we can seeing our troops come home.”

Bush said he has made it clear to Iraq’s leaders that they must step up to the plate and meet the highly-touted legislative benchmarks.

“The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is “return on success”. The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home. And in all we do, I will ensure that our commanders on the ground have the troops and flexibility they need to defeat the enemy.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In responding to the Presidential address, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said:

“You can’t continue to feed troops into Iraq, break our Army, break our Marines, undermine our influence in the Middle East, and especially in Iraq, and think that you are somehow going to come out at the other end with a so-called victory.”

Armed Services Committee member Jack Reed, Democrat, responded by saying the President failed to provide a plan for successfully ending the war and “failed to provide a rationale” for continuing it.

On Tuesday, Gen. Petraeus told Senators on Capitol Hill that if the situation in Iraq did not see significant improvement, particularly in terms of the Iraqi government taking control, he would be hard pressed to see victory in Iraq and would have to review whether or not it would be advisable or justifiable to continue. Even as he went down that path, those supporting the ongoing effort in Iraq were prodding for possible tie-ins to Iranian backing of the Iraq insurgency, feeding into the growing suspicion that Iran could be the next target of the Bush administration, with weapons as the justification.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Senator and presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton said the President’s announcement of the return of 5,700 troops to the U.S. within three months is “too little too late, and unacceptable to this Congress.”

Earlier today, Ohio Senator Barack Obama, another presidential candidate, announced his own strategic plan to return all troops from Iraq by Spring, 2008.

The President’s speech was his eighth prime time address since the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When Democrats from five Tennessee counties gather at the Charles Hand farm, Ben Johnson is sure to be there with his campaign buttons, lapel pins, and bumper stickers. Johnson, who lives in Lebanon, Tennessee, was quick to point out that he makes his wares “for democrats only,” and will use only Union vendors to print his products.

In fact, the theme of the day was a strong support of Unions throughout the area. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which represents Trane workers locally, was a major sponsor of today’s event.  The strong Union presence was in honor of the Labor Day event.

According to the Department of Labor, Labor Day was first celebrated in New York City on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. By 1894, the US Congress had passed its recognition of Labor Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the first Monday of September of every year.

The Ballistic Pintos of Old Hickory, TN performs at the Charles Hand Farm. Photo by David W. Shelton

The strong Union presence was matched by a sincere excitement of area Democrats who had a single mission in mind for next November’s election, as voiced by Kim McMillan, senior advisor to Governor Phil Bredesen: “Tennessee is and will be a blue state.” This was a message that was voiced by nearly everyone who spoke at the event.

Speakers were quick to point out that their mission wasn’t to put an end to the Bush regime, but rather send home those who they say “empowered” him. One target is the US Senate seat currently occupied by former governor Lamar Alexander. McMillan introduced Mike McWhorter, the son of another former governor—Ned McWhorter—as a possible candidate. His mission, McMillan said, would be to “send Lamar and that plaid shirt back home.”

McWhorter has not officially announced his candidacy, but said that he was seriously considering the option. He pointed out several issues that he would address, including the war in Iraq, which came up often throughout the night. Republican policies in Iraq, he said, “are wrong.” He also said that the current administration is “mortgaging our country’s future” with an “out-of-control” national debt.

Tennessee’s Democratic party president Gray Sasser addressed a general excitement for the future for the party in the state, and said that the party’s primary goal is “to make darn sure that no red pickup truck will ever get anywhere near the White House next November.” The reference was to the popular “red pickup truck” senatorial campaign led by former Republican US Senator Fred Thompson, who announced his candidacy for the Presidency this week.

Other speakers for the event were 5th District Congressman Jim Cooper, TN AFL/CIO president Jerry Lee, and the keynote address was provided by the R. Thomas Buffenbarger, International President of the IAM union. Buffenbarger has served as president of that union since 1997.

The day wasn’t all speeches and rhetoric, though. Music was provided by the Ballistic Pintos, a country group out of Old Hickory, Tennessee. The group featured drummer Richie Albright who often played with Waylon Jennings, and vocals by Bobby Keel.

State Senator Rosalind Kurita talks with attendees at the Labor Day Celebration. Photo by David W. Shelton

There was a dart competition between unions, for which a trophy was awarded to the United Auto Workers, who apparently “played only slightly less badly that everyone else.”

Attendees had an opportunity to vote for their nominee for the President of the United States of America. In an informal (and unofficial) straw poll, Hillary Clinton was the clear favorite, with John Edwards coming in second.

The day wasn’t without its lighter moments, which featured “the world’s smallest horse,” as described by his owner, local attorney Kevin Kennedy. He said that the miniature dwarf horse, “Twinkie the Wonder Horse,” is only 46 pounds and 16 1/2” tall. The equine miniature was a star attraction, drawing children from all over to pet a horse that was far smaller than they were.

Clarksville electrician Bill Edmonson provided democratic spirit by donning a donkey mask, which he kept on throughout the speeches. Edmonson offered plenty of applause and “thumbs ups” for the speakers.

John Edwards has strong positions on issues of public importance. His positions have merit and should be discussed and debated in a reasonable society. The political establishment and corporate media would have none of it. Well John Edwards has had enough, and taken steps which should finally put an end to it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a John Edwards the corporate media, the other candidates, and the political establishment would prefer you never ever saw.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out his position on Health care…

Click here to view the embedded video.

There’s much more like this out there take a look at his YouTube video site.

The 1960’s Musical and 1979 film Hair was a counterculture classic. It became one of the anthems of the peace movement. I own copies of both the Broadway soundtrack and the film version on DVD. Since it’s release as a musical it has generated a wealth of controversy. It’s made it’s way into popular culture, including the most recent a parody during the finale of the Movie the 40 year old Virgin. John Edwards use of it is probably the best I have seen.

So that you understand the references in the first video above take a look at these clips and the plot summary for the movie Hair. It really helps you to appreciate just how hard he stomped on those who want to tease him about his own hair.

He’s right though, it’s all about what really matters, a hair cut, or the real world. You choose.

Plot Summary for the movie Hair

Claude meets The Tribe; Ball; Jail scenes

Click here to view the embedded video.

The movie begins in a small town in Oklahoma. Claude Bukowski (John Savage) boards a bus for New York City, where he is to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he arrives in New York, he encounters a tribe of hippies in Central Park (”The Tribe”), including George Berger (Treat Williams), the leader; Jeannie, a young pregnant girl who doesn’t know or care who the father is; Lafayette “Hud” Johnson (Dorsey Wright), a black militant man with a large afro; and Woof (Don Dacus), who has long blond hair. The four befriend Claude and share some marijuana with him. He spends the night with them and some other neighborhood hippies. The next morning, as he is ready to leave, Berger shows Claude a newspaper photo of Sheila Franklin (Beverly D’Angelo), a beautiful young woman that The Tribe had seen the previous day riding a horse with her friends. Sheila’s delightful parents are having a debutante ball for her, so Berger asks Claude if he wants to crash the party with The Tribe in order to meet her. Claude is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The five show up uninvited during some elegant and festive lawn activities. Sheila and her friends secretly get high in her room before dinner. At the dinner, Berger bluntly makes a toast to Claude, telling everyone that Claude’s in love with Sheila and wants to look at her for a few minutes to have a clear picture of her in his mind when he goes off to fight in Vietnam. Berger ends up dancing on the dinner table singing “I Got Life” and breaks several dishes before Sheila’s doting father has him and his friends arrested. The judge sentences the five of them to 30 days or pay a $50 fine. Only Claude has $50, so at first he decides to pay, but Berger finally persuades him to wait for him to get the money to get them all out. Berger first tries to get Sheila persuade her father to bail them out, but she refuses. Finally Berger asks his parents for the money and his mother agrees to pay him, followed by a rendition of the title song “Hair” involving a prison riot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The hippie demonstration in Central Park

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once out of prison, the five go back to Central Park and meet up with thousands of protesting hippies. Sheila also shows up there and apologizes for her younger brother, who’d behaved rudely to Berger. Also, Berger and Claude join a group of hippies in line to get high on LSD. Claude gets the last sample, and Berger misses out. Claude then experiences some weird hallucinations involving him dancing with Sheila, going to church with her and marrying her, getting her pregnant with a single kiss, and watching her fly around the inside of the church. The hallucination ends with her and the wedding party falling into a fire and the church doors closing him inside, along with the fire.

By nightfall, after the demonstration has finished, Berger and The Tribe looks for Claude, finally finding him alone, still high from LSD. They then decide to go swimming naked in the reservoir in Central Park. Claude wants to take Sheila home, but she gets nervous, so she decides to go home by herself. Insulted, Claude decides to join The Tribe in the water. Once Sheila sees him dive in naked, she decides to do the same and they flirt as they swim. Meanwhile, The Tribe, except for Jeanie, who was sitting by the lake, take their clothes and sneak away behind the bushes. Once Sheila discovers that everyone is gone and their clothes are missing, she gets angry. She runs out and hails a cab, who is all too eager to pick her up. Then The Tribe shows up from behind the bushes with her and Claude’s clothes. Claude is furious at them for pulling this prank and insists that they return her clothes, though they want Claude to do so himself. They also become upset at Claude once he makes it clear that he still intends to go to the Army the next morning to begin his boot camp training.

Boot camp; shipping out

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hesitantly, Claude goes to the induction center the next morning and is sent to a base in Nevada for his boot camp training. Once there, he writes a letter to Sheila, which she shows to The Tribe. Sheila suggests that they all write him back, but Berger decides that they should all go visit him in Nevada. Sheila doesn’t think the pacifist Tribe leader is serious, wondering how he will make the trip without a car. Meanwhile, Hud’s ex-fiancee, along with her young son, Lafayette, Jr. finds Hud with his friends and interrogates him about Jeannie, who is pregnant, asking him if she’s carrying his child. He says he doesn’t know whether the child is his or Woof’s. He tries to insist that she go home, but she doesn’t want to. She sings movingly of his care for “people”, but not for her and his child (”Easy to be Hard”). Hud agrees to take her along with the rest of the gang to Nevada. To get there, they end up stealing Mr. Franklin’s Lincoln town car from her brother. They take a 5-day road trip to Nevada.

Once they arrive at the gate, the guard won’t let them in. Sheila seduces a soldier, and The Tribe take his uniform and his car. Berger cuts his luxurious hair, and he puts on the uniform and drives the soldier’s car through the gate, passing as a soldier. Berger goes to Claude’s barracks and orders him to report outside for duty. Once outside, he shows Claude who he really is. Claude is delighted to see him. Berger tries to get Claude to sneak into the trunk, but Claude refuses, realizing that he must show up for duty. Berger tells him that Sheila and the whole gang are there and want to see him. Once Claude shows his curiosity, Berger decides to take Claude’s place in boot camp. He tells Claude to take off his uniform and they exchange uniforms. Berger then goes into the barracks in Claude’s place, while Claude drives off to meet the rest of The Tribe.

Claude spends an hour or so with Sheila and The Tribe. While Claude is gone, his unit, including Berger, receives orders for shipment to Vietnam. By the time Claude returns to his unit, they have shipped out with Berger. Claude tries to catch up with them, but they have boarded a plane. Berger dies in Vietnam, as established by the final scene of the movie, when The Tribe (with Claude) gathers around their leader’s grave in Arlington Cemetery near Washington D.C. Then a huge group of hippies gather around demonstrating and singing the final song, “Let the Sunshine In”.

The above plot summary is courtesy of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I hope you all got a chance to watch last night’s debate. These conversations are all about giving the American people the power to make an informed choice about the future of our country. That’s why I take my responsibility so seriously to provide specific, honest and complete answers about my beliefs and my plans.

There were a lot of good questions tonight and I was glad that I got to address many important areas of policy and character. But there was one critical question I wasn’t asked – one that’s extremely relevant right now as President Bush and Congress are set to face off in Washington. I’d like to answer that for you here:

What should we be doing — right now — to end the war in Iraq?

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you’ve heard, the Senate has followed the House and passed a bill to fund our troops with a timeline to bring them home and end the conflict. Both houses of Congress have now passed funding bills that reflect the will of the American people that we must end the war in Iraq.

The president has said he will veto this legislation, which will defy the American people and deny our troops the funding they need. When that happens, the president will be the one blocking support for our troops, not Congress.

With so much at stake, Congress must stand firm.

If Bush vetoes the funding for our troops, Congress must send the same bill back to the president — and they should do this again and again–as many times as it takes for Bush to understand that the American people are right and the war must be brought to an end.

In the next few days, the will of Congress will be severely tested. Bush will be doing everything in his considerable power to convince the nation that Congress is responsible for his reckless decision not to fund the troops. Plenty of people in Washington will say the political risks are just too great and Democrats in Congress should just back down.

If there ever was a time to replace political calculation with political courage, that time is now. If Congress shows courage, they can end this war.

But where will they find that courage in the face of Karl Rove’s media machine? They’ll find it if all of us speak up as loudly as we can in the next few crucial days and demand that our representatives do what is right. Political courage has always been found in the voice of the people – and our voice is needed today.

Thanks for tuning in to tonight’s debate and for caring enough about your country to get involved when your country needs you most. I look forward to continuing our work together in the months and years to come.

The author of this Article is John Edwards.  He is running for president in 2008 because he wants to build an America that lives up to its promise — one where we all share in prosperity at home and one that shows real moral leadership around the world.

I recently received electronic mail from a friend of mine encouraging people to write to the companies responsible for bringing Coulter’s venomous rhetoric into the public and encourage those companies to end their relationship with Coulter. The suggestion is actually a great idea. The media operates in a free market (or at least, in name) meaning that as long as Coulter attracts significant attention and makes them money she will continue to be featured by various media. The best method of getting rid of Coulter, and coincidentally all the other two-bit venomous commentators of America, is to convince the people that air their rhetoric that it would be in their economic best interests to sever their ties with them. Of course, a necessary corollary to this plan is to stop paying attention to the likes of Coulter, or to make a joke on Coulter’s own words, let her encourage us to conserve energy when we see her on TV by cutting it off and ignoring her.

Each person out there knows what must be done. If you have read  the posts on this site since June, you know why. Tommorow sets the path this country takes for 2 more years. Do we the voters swing it back from the edge of the cliff, or do we stay the course until our nation is driven right over the edge. The choice is up to you.

Click here to view the embedded video.