I find incredibly fitting that forty years later before another critical California primary the last of the brothers Ted Kennedy and JFK’s daughter Caroline would endorse Obama. If you haven’t yet had the chance to watch Caroline Kennedy’s ad please do so, it should make any democrat proud.

And this time, it is not just a dream. This hope is real, young are turning out and voting in numbers never before seen. In Iowa voters 29 and under made up 22% of caucus goers the same percentage as those over 65 and 4 points higher than those 30-44. Young people were among the most likely to vote. So far as I know this has never happened before in any election at any level anywhere in my lifetime.

It’s not just young people either, Independents and more than a few moderate republicans are turning out in droves and changing their registration so they can support Obama. That is a winning recipe for November and for the chance to actually govern. Consistently I hear from independents, greens, republicans, and people who have never voted that Barack Obama is the one politician they like or the one democrat they could support.

Recently I was in Reno canvassing for the Nevada caucuses. I was in charge of making sure people in a 6 block by 6 block neighborhood went and spent 2 hours in a local library for Obama. I went and knocked on doors in the snow, talked to people in the street and left door hangers in the dark. There were 316 registered democrats in the precinct and they expected 40 to show up. 181 people caucuses there, more than half of them under 25. For many of them it was the first time the voted in their lives and a quarter were independents and republicans who changed their registration to caucus for Obama. The caucuses started 20 minutes late because so many of them (more than half) needed to register.

This is how we win in November, Obama has shown an incredible ability to win among voters and in areas democrats do not normally compete in. He can build up the party and the country instead of tearing down the other side. He uniquely understands this moment in America and the lessons of the our past. I hope all of you will join me in voting for him this Tuesday

Yesterday I wrote about a shift among democrats towards Obama on Electability. However, this is not merely a perception I believe Obama is in fact the most electable. This is because he has a unique ability not seen in my lifetime to win over independents and cross over republicans and to turn out new voters and young people. I am certain that he can expand and strengthen the democratic party in a way not seen since JFK.

Every two years I hear people talk about how young voters are going to turn out. When I first came to Berkeley I worked on the Dean campaign and then the Kerry campaign, both touted their strength among young people. We had meetups and house parties, and “vote or die”. Yet at the end of the day young people choose death and turn out was only high only by comparison to previous elections.

It’s not that young people never turn out; President Kennedy created an entire generation of dedicated new democrats committed to progressive ideals and public service. He inspired a young man named John Kerry to serve his country in Vietnam and then fight to end his generation’s unjust war. There’s another famous story about a brief handshake with Kennedy inspired the young William Jefferson Clinton to a lifetime of public service. Many of us here remember fondly the Clinton years of our childhood, his 92′ race was the last time young voters turned out in respectable numbers. I still remember watching the 92′ debates with my parents; I was only 6 but even then I was inspired.

The best analogy I think though is not John Kennedy but his brother Robert. Forty years ago he ran an improbable and inspirational bid for the presidency to end an unjust war, heal a divided nation, provide universal health-care, protect the environment and fight for social justice. He brought together a broad coalition of Americans of all incomes, races, and ideologies who believed the country and our politics needed a fundamental change. First and foremost though, it was a campaign of young people, the volunteered and the voted for him in numbers never before seen and the propelled him to a shocking win in the critical California primary and set him on track to become president. If any of the sounds familiar, no it is not a coincidence. Like so many other of my heroes RFK’s promise was ended by a gunman but I have always dreamed about what could have been had he lived and wished for the chance to see another like him in my lifetime. Barack Obama is that chance.

Hello Cal Dems, Eric here (or if you prefer President Pro Tempore). I decided it’s about time I started posting before I graduate. I was just thumbing through the SC exit polls and I discovered something incredible, for the first time Obama won convincingly on electability and his supporters almost universally believed he was the most electable.

more »

A few days ago the President announced his intention to veto legislation which would expand health insurance coverage for children. By increasing federal funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), this bill—hailed before as “popular” and “bipartisan”—would cover an additional 4 million children who are currently uninsured.

Today we learned that, inexplicably, over 150 Republicans in the House of Representatives went on the record against protecting the health of poor kids. Poor American kids. more »

Have you ever wondered what our 2008 presidential candidates are actually thinking?? This is a cool article at TIME.com that has an expert facial coder describe what the candidates’ expressions and facial features give away about their inner most thoughts and tendencies.

Because we can all use a bit of laughter after this week…

• Colbert on the Pottery Barn Rule: “Do you know what happens if you break a lamp at Pottery Barn and leave? Genocide!”
• Colbert:
  

  According to the Washington Post, the President is seeking candidates for a brand-new position they’re calling the war czar. The czar would coordinate between State and Defense Departments; oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; and, one assumes, keep an eye on Rasputin….If only the Constitution provided for some kind of—chief commander, or commanderish chief, who could command chiefly these wars!

• Glad our Attorney General was able to articulate a clear explanation of how his department operates.

• Abstinence-only education doesn’t work.
• Interracial marriages are on the rise. It’s been 40 years since the Supreme Court invalidated miscegenation laws in the landmark decision of Loving v. Virginia, calling the freedom to marry “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.”
• DailyKos links to this interview:
  

  Q: You began in the Justice Department during the Watergate years. How would you rank Alberto Gonzales in terms of politicization of the department in comparison to the other AGs you have worked for?

  A: …[I worked in the Department for over 30 years under] more than a dozen attorneys general, including Ed Meese as well as John Mitchell, and I used to think that they had politicized the department more than anyone could or should. But nothing compares to the past two years under Alberto Gonzales.

A recent poll finds increasing approval of Congress, in contrast with still-abysmal ratings for President Bush and discontent with Iraq.

Jon Stewart:

As…members of Gonzales’s own party are questioning his credibility, it’s once again left to the White House to defend Gonzales with a sentence that appears to actually be eating itself:

“He doesn’t recall having recollections about having deliberative discussions.” (Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino)

That was a sentence so tortured, even the man who declared the Geneva Convention quaint wouldn’t allow it to be used on prisoners.

Also, you may recall jupi’s post about the New York City ban of the n-word. The recent Daily Show investigative report on this issue (by Larry Wilmore and John Oliver) is priceless.