Black Congresswoman Diane Watson To Exit, Leaving House of Reps Seat Up For Grabs

Rep. Diane Watson, a prominent African American woman in Los Angeles and national politics for three decadecs, announced today she will retire from Congress at the end of the year.

Now, the race is on as to which black democratic candidate is best positioned to replace the increasingly Latino populated area.

State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass is obviously the front runner will commander the safely Democratic seat, which has been held by a minority as far back as most can remember. Bass is the first black woman to hold the speaker's post in Sacramento, and she is leaving the Assembly at the end of 2010. Perfect timing!

Diane Edith Watson, 76, who started on the local level before going on to become a California state senator and a Micronesia US ambassador under President Bill Clinton, said she was stepping down to spend more time with her 100-year-old mother, who recently broke her hip.

Watson's claim to fame came in 1975 when she was elected the first black woman to serve on the Los Angeles Unified School District board. Her entry into the political arena came at a time of racial friction over mandatory school busing.

Many recall the bruising campaign she waged against her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister, former Congresswoman and County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, that fractured the black middle class and saw various political camps stem from Burke's ultimate victory. Burke herself was on the losing end of a campaign to become the first woman and African American to serve as Attorney General of California.

Ironically, now San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris is striving to accomplish that same goal this year.

Assemblywoman Bass issued a statement calling Watson a mentor and praising her for fighting for better schools and health care in the district, which covers a swath of Los Angeles County running from Culver City to the Hollywood section in Los Angeles.

Photos courtesy of Leroy Hamilton

SHOCKING!!! Black Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones Dies Just Days Before The Dem's National Convention

Tragic news that has stunned the nation. Hillary Clinton's staunchest political supporter Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was pronounced dead on Wednesday after having a brain hemmorage.

A Cleveland Clinic official says Tubbs Jones died at 6:12 p.m. Wednesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst and left her with limited brain function.

The first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress and a strong critic of the Iraq war, Tubbs Jones suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in her east side district Tuesday evening.

Tubbs Jones, a African-American Democrat who has represented Ohio’s 11th District since 1999 is the chairwoman of the House’s ethics committee, suffered the aneurysm Tuesday night while driving near her hometown of Cleveland. Her current condition is being listed as "critical."

Obviously looking forward to celebrating her 59th birthday on Sept. 10, Tubbs Jones is still scheduled to attend the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver as a superdelegate.

“Tuesday’s condition followed a full day of activity, including planning for an upcoming forum on electoral reform, scheduled for September 4, 2008 at Cleveland State University,” according to a statement released earlier Wednesday from her office. She was admitted to Huron Hospital.

Tubbs Jones was among the five black members who claimed committee chairmanships when the Democrats ascended to the majority in 2007.

We here at 3BAAS Media Group extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones.

Source

As A Black Republican, It's Not Hard To See The Symbolism Of Barack Obama

The New Face of Black Fatherhood

Maybe It's All Staged. A Publicity Stunt!

Sure Is Compelling Though!

The Kid Is Not My... Are You Sure John Edwards?

Breckgirl Loses His Mojo

While his wife Elizabeth Edwards was battling cancer, turns out former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards was getting busy with 42-year-old Reille Hunter. After being hounded by the National Enquirer, Edwards finally admitted to doing the nasty, although he steadfastly denied fathering the woman's daughter.

Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about the affair with a 42-year-old woman but said that he didn't love her. He said he has not taken a paternity test but knows he isn't the father because of the timing of the affair and the birth.

So why was he photographed in the hospital holding the child. Is was that actually him in the pics? And if he's not the father, what's the point of admitting to tapping that?

ABC said a former Edwards campaign staffer claims he is the father, not Edwards.

So now in addition to being a homewrecker, Hunter will also be stuck with the label of being a straight up ho!

Edwards was a top contender for the Democratic nomination for president, pursuing his party's nod even after announcing that his wife, Elizabeth, had a deadly form of cancer.

He placed second in the Iowa caucuses last January but dropped out of the race a few weeks later. He has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential choice for Barack Obama. The former North Carolina senator was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004.

In 2006, Edwards' political action committee paid $100,000 in a four-month span to a newly formed firm run by Rielle Hunter, who directed the production of just four Web videos, one a mere 2 1/2 minutes long.

Hunter's daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, was born on Feb. 27, 2008, and no father's name is given on the birth certificate filed in California.

The payments from Edwards' One America Committee to Midline Groove Productions LLC started on July 5, 2006, five days after Hunter incorporated the firm in Delaware.

HMMMMM! Sounds like a jump-off payment if you ask us!

Midline provided "Website/Internet services," according to reports that Edwards' PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Midline's work product consists of four YouTube videos showing Edwards in informal settings as he prepares to make speeches in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Pittsburgh, Pa., prepares for an appearance on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and travels in Uganda in 2006.

Edwards' PAC paid Midline $100,000 in a four-month span in 2006, and followed that up with two smaller payments totaling $14,461, the last on April 1, 2007.

Source

Dennis Kucinich Brings Articles of Impeachment As Dems Duck Embarrassment And The GOP Duck The Law

Okay, not one of the major news bureaus is covering this story but we at 3BAAS will use any excuse to put a hot honey on our site. Case-in-point Dennis Kucinich and his babe-a-licious wife Elizabeth.

Here's the short of it. Monday Democrat Dennis J. Kucinich brought articles of impeachment against President Bush for getting us into the Iraq war, his handling of the war and blatant abuse of power. Both Republicans and Democrats don't think the resolution is going anywhere. Republicans trying to show how Democrats waste time requested he read all the articles out loud for four hours.

Democrats motioned for it to happen at the end of the day. But Republicans are really trying to avoid a revisit to the same articles of impeachment against Dick Chaney. With gas prices going through the roof the American public should be demanding to know what Dick Chaney discussed with US oil and energy leaders in that "closed door session".

Obama Makes History While Hillary Makes A Fool Out Of Herself!

Say It Hillary. SAY IT!!!!

The word is UNCLE! After gaining more than two dozen last-minute endorsements from uncommitted superdelegates, including two local congressmen, and winning enough votes in Tuesday's Montana and South Dakota primaries, Obama finally nailed down the magic number of delegates needed for victory. But your girl Hillary ain't having it. And it's ticking us off.

The finale was perfectly consistent with the seesaw race. Montana voters chose Obama; those in South Dakota went with Clinton. In his speech, Obama, who will be the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party, never mentioned his race. He opened his remarks by saying the night's victory was for his grandmother, a white woman who lives in Hawaii.

"Millions of voices have been heard," Obama told nearly 20,000 cheering supporters in the same Minnesota convention center where Republicans will hold their convention this summer.

"And because of what you said - because you decided that change must come to Washington, because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest, because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another."

While Obama declared that he will be the nominee, one ready to unify the party and take on the Republican nominee John McCain, Clinton, in New York City, gave a very different speech, out of the pages of the movie "Sunset Boulevard".

With her clearly high on drugs campaign chairman Terry McAuliff introducing Hill as "The next president of the United States."

"This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight," Clinton announced, as her supporters chanted "Denver, Denver," the site of the party's late August convention. Then she asked her supporters to write her and give her advice on what she might do.

Earlier in the day, Clinton also told New York lawmakers, "I deserve some time to get this right."

NO MA'AM, TIME IS UP!

"She's emotionally not ready to concede, but it's only a matter of time when she does," said Steve Westly, former California controller and co-chair of Obama's state campaign.

Obama has previously said Clinton would make "anybody's short list," for vice president, but Tuesday night, his campaign manager, David Axelrod, said, "It's way too early to talk about that."

Three previously uncommitted Northern California superdelegates announced Tuesday that they would back Obama, helping him gain enough delegates to claim the nomination. Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, who is in a tough re-election campaign in November, declared his support for Obama. So did party activist and author Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

Obama's historic moment was noted by many Americans, including Tony Alexander, a San Jose African-American union organizer who is an Obama delegate. "I'm super-charged," Alexander said. "It's a wonderful thing. People will look at the face of the United States as multicultural. We always brag we are part of the free world, but we've had some of our own hurdles we've had to overcome." Source

Why Black People Need Black Republicans #1 - The Democratic National Committee Plays The Race Card

Since the Democratic National Committee announced its state blogger corps two weeks ago, critics have been charging that the selection process is flawed. The group of 55 bloggers, they contend, is overly white. While the DNC denies it, the Washington Post reports that some aren't satisfied.

L.N. Rock, a Silver Spring-based information technology professional and founder of the African American Political Pundit blog, likens this "black shut-out" in the State Corps to an "I'm sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired" Fannie Lou Hamer moment. The civil rights activist and Mississippian challenged her state's all-white delegation at the 1964 Democratic convention.

"This is all very puzzling to me -- and to a lot of black bloggers," says Rock, who didn't apply for the State Corps because he blogs about national issues. "The Democratic National Committee says it wants to be inclusive. It wants to have a big tent. And then this? Source

Don't tell me you're actually surprised. I heard the exact same thing four years ago about John Kerry's presidential campaign. In fact, this was during the same period when I decided that it was time for something new. I've been a Republican ever since and haven't looked back.

Oh, I'm rolling with Obama. But trust, everyone else on the line-up will only get my vote if they are blazing that elephant symbol.

You down with GOP? Yeah, you know me!!!

If Barack Doesn't Survive, Will Black Folks Return To Hill & Bubba's Party?

GOP: There's No Place Like Home?

It started in the 1960 campaign, when Martin was jailed for protesting segregation and Jack Kennedy picked up the phone and reached out to Coretta.

Martin Luther King, Sr., a lifelong Republican (as many African Americans were at the time) was so touched by the Kennedys involvement that he threw his support to Kennedy. African Americans were also touched, and noticed the disrespect shown by the Republican, Richard Nixon. Historians largely credit that with moving enough African American votes to the Democratic column to propel Kennedy to a razor-thin victory in 1960. And, since then, African Americans have largely not returned to the GOP.

It's a story I recalled this morning when I saw Sunday's Rasmussen Poll that showed Hillary Clinton getting just 59 percent of the African American vote if she is the nominee in November. (By the way, McCain beats Clinton and Barack Obama equally among white voters, in the poll)

For a few days now, I've been examining the growing "African American problem" that the Clintons have, and what it could mean in November. It's somewhat uncomfortable, as a white guy, but no one else seemed to be doing it. The long and short of it is not surprising -- if African Americans don't turn out for Clinton, or vote against her, to any degree less than the last few presidential contests, she will lose.

Almost every swing state depends on urban areas as bastions of Democratic turnout, if it's to turn blue. And, those urban areas are predominantly African American. So, it's pretty near impossible to win Michigan if Detroit doesn't turn out, or Ohio if Cleveland doesn't turn out, and so on.

When you listen to African American leaders like Rep. James Clyburn, the plummeting support for Senator Clinton in the African American community isn't surprising. Nor is it surprising when you read the absolute anger towards the Clintons growing every day on websites that focus on African American interests, like Jack and Jill Politics or TheRoot.com.

The longer this race continues, the more attitudes will begin to solidify, on all sides. And, should Senator Clinton secure the nomination as the result of a floor fight at the convention (which her campaign admits is her only path to the nomination), that will only further promote the perception that this nomination is being stolen from America's first African American candidate with a real shot. If it goes that far, to the convention, there is only two months to repair the breach. A daunting task, indeed.

Everyone I've discussed this with who is white basically says the same thing -- wounds will heal, African Americans will come back.

When Senator Ted Kennedy spoke at Coretta Scott King's funeral, he recalled 1960. The Los Angeles Times reported:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) drew roars of approval when he invoked the 1960 phone call placed by his brother, then-presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, to Coretta King to pledge his help in freeing her husband from jail. Kennedy also mentioned the call placed by another brother, Robert F. Kennedy, JFK's campaign manager, to a local judge to inquire why Martin Luther King Jr. could not post bond. He was freed the next morning.

The sanctuary burst into applause when Sen. Kennedy said: "Robert called the judge."

Forty-five years and one Southern-Strategy later, an entire generation of African Americans has not forgotten which candidate of which party took the time to make a couple of phone calls, to the point where just recounting it caused two of the largest applause lines at a Memorial Service.

And, yet, the white pundits I've talked to maintain that in just months, African Americans will come back to the Clintons after the frontrunner, Barack Obama, was bloodied up by their "Bubba Strategy," pitting white working-class voters against African Americans?

Don't wait by the phone.

By Eric Schmeltzer of Huffington Post

FLORIDA: "GIVE US ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY ELECTION OR WE ALL LOSE"

These are the words of Florida's Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman. She goes on to say, "There is no question that we must move quickly to deal with the dispute over Florida's Democratic presidential primary. Fingers have been pointed in every direction, but how we arrived at this breaking point is irrelevant. The stark reality is that all Democrats lose if this is not resolved immediately,"

The idea would be to mail ballots to all registered Democrats and set up 50 regional offices to help "disadvantaged communities" participate in an election ending June 3, state party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said in a memo to the campaigns and state and national party leaders. But opposing her are Florida's nine Democratic congressmen who voted Tuesday night to oppose a mail-in vote. Thurman urged them to reconsider.

What Hillary Clinton REALLY Has To Say About Barack Obama

What You Didn't Hear At The New Hampshire Debate Tonight

"Obama is so ugly, with his big ears and purple lips, he is so superficial, he does not inspire anyone. He is the Republicans greatest hope, that he will be running against them and they will win. What a bunch of cry babies the Obama supporters are, now they whine about Obama being criticized, well welcome to politics... why can't we criticize him?"

Okay, so, Hillary Clinton didn't say those words exactly. This was actually submitted by some idiot name prairiedawg at 8:36 PM PST, Jan 5, 2008 on the LA Times website (BTW: in a sign of desperation, the LA Times papers is now being offered for the bargain price of $1.35 a week. It's not helping their circulation numbers, however, as more folks go green and move online for news and other mindless info)

What she did say was that Obama was a flip-flopper who couldn't be trusted to deliver the so-called change he promises. In other words, the brotha ain't all that and we need to kick his ass to the curb. There we go again embellishing. How about we just let you read it for yourself.

Black Folks Love Barack Obama: The Democratic Party, Not So Much

Should African Americans Start Voting Republican?

Barack, you know you're doing your thing when even Newt Gingrich is predicting an Iowa win for you in a few weeks. Nevermind the latest poll showing that Hillary is doing better among African Americans, South Carolina will speak to that little discrepancy in due time. The bigger issue is that the Democratic candidates overall -- with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans' Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign -- have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country. The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention. No urban agenda is given priority. When thousands of African Americans marched in protest in Jena, La., not one candidate showed up.

Keep reading>>>

Barack Has Crazy Love For Iowa And Their Response Is "Back At Cha Baby. Let's All Do The Obama Shuffle!"

Obama Takes The Reigns In Iowa And Now, Hillary's Folks Are In A Tizzy

I'm a Republican, straight out. That said, I've decided that I am voting for Barack Obama not because he's Black, but because I feel inspired by this brother. Regardless of whether it's simply me being okay with the illusion of change, I know in my gut that we need to shake things up a little bit, and Hillary Clinton, or the other Republicans for that matter, are not going to do it.

Apparently I'm not the only one doing the "Obama Shuffle". Judging by the latest polls, a growing focus on fresh ideas coupled with lingering doubts about Hillary's honesty and forthrightness are keeping the Democratic presidential contest close in Iowa. As a result, Barack Obama in particular is mounting an even strong race against the national front-runner. Most Democratic likely voters in Iowa, 55 percent, say they're more interested in a "new direction and new ideas" than in strength and experience, compared with 49 percent in July -- a help to Obama, who holds a substantial lead among "new direction" voters.
Related Stories

While Clinton still leads on more personal attributes than any of her competitors, just half of Iowa Democrats in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll believe she's willing to say what she really thinks -- far fewer than say so of either Obama or John Edwards. Obama beats her by 2-1 as the most honest and trustworthy candidate. Hillary's advantage on experience, while substantial, has softened since summer. She has notably less support in Iowa than nationally in trust to handle a variety of specific issues -- on Iraq, for example, Obama now runs evenly with her. And she's third in Iowa among men. [ABC News]

Barack Obama Keeps Getting Within Striking Distance Of Being The Top Dem In The Race For The White House

Message To Hillary: Watch Your Back Girlfriend!

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are essentially tied for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the first time that the New York senator hasn't clearly led the field.

According to those we surveyed here at Three Brothers, these results are consistent with our own findings.

When asked whether Barack Obama can win, 38% indicated that he would get their vote regardless of if he won or not. An additional 11% said he will definitely win the Democratic nomination. The news, however, was not all good. 33% of those polled felt the best the Illinois bi-racial senator could hope for would be joining the ticket as Clinton's running mate, with 16% percent indicating that he doesn't have a chance in hell to pull this historic feat off.

No other major national poll has shown the Democratic race so close. An ABC News/Washington Post poll taken last Tuesday through Friday gave Clinton a 12-point lead. Mark Penn, Clinton's chief strategist, calls the USA TODAY poll "an outlier" that is "completely out of sync" with other surveys. He says it is "seriously flawed" for including so many independents unlikely to vote in Democratic primaries.

The freshman lawmaker bests Clinton by a single percentage point, 30%-29%, if the contest includes former vice president Al Gore. Clinton bests Obama by a single point, 37%-36%, if it doesn't include Gore.The survey of 310 Democrats and 160 independents who "lean" Democratic, taken Friday through Sunday, has a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points. The Illinois senator bests Clinton by a single percentage point, 30%-29%, if the contest includes former vice president Al Gore. Clinton bests Obama by a single point, 37%-36%, if it doesn't include Gore.The survey of 310 Democrats and 160 independents who "lean" Democratic, taken Friday through Sunday, has a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.

Among Democrats alone, Clinton leads Obama by 5 points, 34%-29%. That's a significant narrowing from the USA TODAY poll taken in mid-May, when she led by 17 points. Among independents, Obama leads by 9 points, 31%-22%.

(USA Today)/Web Editor: Michael King

HILLARY, BARACK & RUDY: SINCE WHEN DID PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS BECOME SO SEXY???

Black Congressman John Lewis Endorses Hillary Over Barack

Republican 2nd Tier Candidate McCain Is Playa Hatin On Gore

John Edwards Denies Ever Having Sex With "That" Woman

Former GOP Candidate Tommy Thompson Gets Behind Rudy

Motorist Who Hits Michelle Obama's Vehicle Gets Their Due

Mitt Romney Calls Weed "Gateway Drug", A Plague On America

Jimmy Carter Disses Bush, Accuses Him Of Torturing

Two GOP White Boys Will Drop Out If Iowa Doesn't Work Out

Hispanic Dem Bill Richardson Is Deperate For Attention

Senator Predicts Obama Win In Iowa, Then Presidency

I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD: AL GORE GETS NOBEL PRIZE NOD!

Is Taking Down Hillary On The Former Vice President's Things To Do List??

Comeback kid Al Gore and the U.N.'s climate change panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for spreading awareness of man-made climate change and laying the foundations for counteracting it.

Two Gore advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to share his thinking, said the award will not make it any more likely that he will seek the presidency in 2008.

Gore, whose film on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Academy Award earlier this year, had been widely tipped to win Friday's prize, which expanded the Norwegian committee's expanded interpretation of peacemaking and disarmament efforts that have traditionally been the award's foundations.

Rather than deciding to go for the White House with Barack Obama as his running mate, If anything, the Peace Prize makes the rough-and-tumble of a presidential race less appealing to Gore. Folks close to him say it's because now he has a huge, international platform to fight global warming and may not want to do anything to diminish it. "We face a true planetary emergency," Gore said. "The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Gore plans to donate his half of the $1.5 million prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan nonprofit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion worldwide about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

The last American to win the prize, or share it, was former President Carter, who won it 2002, who's been slamming the Bush administration in general and Vice President Dick Cheney in particular. The Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, asserted that the prize was not aimed at the Bush administration, which rejected Kyoto and was widely criticized outside the U.S. for not taking global warming seriously enough.

Source

Former Black Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney Goes West For Gold, And Maybe Some Green

Cynthia McKinney, a former Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia, was in California last weekend to test the waters for a potential bid for the Green Party’s 2008 Presidential Nomination. Last month, she left the Democratic Party in the wake of its failure to end the War in Iraq and the many and sundry defeats it has sustained since taking back power on Capitol Hill this past January. McKinney, defeated for re-election last fall by a Black Democratic moderate who Blogger Skeptical Brotha labels a handkerchief head uncle tom, has been courted steadily since then to take up the Green banner and continue her progressive fight against the imperialistic Bush war machine.

Skeptical Brotha

Do Your Thing Barack: Obama's Total Take For The Year? Nearly $80 Million And Counting

Illinois Senator Scores Big Time in Third-Quarter Money Hunt As He Waves Bye-Bye To John Edwards

Barack Obama appears to be the big winner so far this third quarter, meeting expectations and raking in an impressive $19 million for the democratic presidential primary elections.

The summer total includes donations from 93,000 new contributors, aides said. Obama also raised money for the general election, making his overall contributions more than $20 million for the quarter.The third-quarter contributions were less than Obama raised in each of the first two quarters, but is very good for the slow summer months. The total keeps him near the top of the fundraising pack. His closest fundraising rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, had not released her totals Monday, though her campaign tried to downplay expectations last week, positioning her third quarter as less successful than his.

Overall, the Obama campaign has received contributions from 352,000 donors so far this year. Contributors are limited to a maximum of $2,300 each.The campaign did not say how much money it had in the bank, an important figure as the presidential contest heads into one of the heaviest spending periods of the season. Obama has been spending heavily, especially in Iowa, where the first presidential caucus is scheduled for January.

Obama, like other major candidates, has also been raising money for the general election, but the bulk of his contributions are for the primaries. Since the beginning of the year, he has received nearly $75 million for the primaries and about $4 million for the general election.
Also on the Democratic side, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is reporting $7 million raised in the last quarter for a total of $30 million for the year. That's half what he raised in the first quarter of the year, though he still has $12 million on hand. Edwards has said the funding puts him on track to meet his goal of $40 million by the time the first presidential contests begin in January, but he's also been talking about going to public financing, which would limit his spending to $50 million for the primary season.

Associated Press, via Fox news

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: TURNING JOHN EDWARDS FROM A WHITE BOY INTO A BLACK WOMAN

When Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says it's "impossible to turn my husband Black!" Is she crying reverse discrimination or is this a secret desire?

She also said, "John can't become a woman either!" Well, that's not entirely true. And, such a maneuver would definitely spice up the campaign debates a whole lot wouldn't you agree?

Elizabeth points to this as the reason why her husband may receive less attention from the media – and campaign cash — than the two leading Democratic candidates. She made these particular comments, referring to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, during an interview with Ziff Davis Media about the Internet’s role in the 2008 presidential election. “Those things get you a certain amount of fundraising dollars.”

Considered a top tier presidential candidate, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards lags significantly behind Clinton and Obama in fundraising and in national polls.

During the interview, Elizabeth Edwards attributed the Internet as a way to bypass the “sieve of mainstream media” and reach voters despite receiving less publicity than her husband’s chief rivals. “The idea that you have people standing between you and the voter is diminished, and the capacity to speak directly empowers candidates to trust their own voices,” she said.

“Now it’s nice to get on the news, but not the be all and end all,” Edwards added.

Eric Schultz, a spokesman for Edwards’ campaign, told CNN Tuesday that Elizabeth Edwards was “noting what countless reporters and pundits have said for months, that Senators Clinton and Obama get a lot of media attention, and deservedly so, because of the potential ‘firsts’ of their candidacies.”

“But the reality is, with so many candidates in this race, we just have to work a little harder to get our message out and inform the people about John Edwards’ bold vision for America,” he added.

Now the next question is, are these the comments of Elizabeth doing the "stand by your man" act after after receiving all the millage they could from the "my wife is battling cancer" chapter?

It's politics folks. And the comments did get them some needed attention.

SHOULD A BLACK MAN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT BE PARANOID? DAMN STRAIGHT!

Young White Male With Knife Arrested Outside Obama's Hotel

POLITICO is reporting that local authorities arrested a 24 year-old man outside an Ottuwa, Iowa hotel where Barack Obama spent Tuesday night after the man was confronted by Obama's Secret Service detail.

With the top tier 2008 Democratic presidential candidate raising major cash and holding his own without Bill Clinton on the stump, unfortunately, this probably won't be the last story like this we'll be covering.

Ottumwa Police Lieutenant Tom McAndrew said Davit Zakaryan, of Cincinnati, Oh., was charged with illegally possessing a concealed knife more than 8 inches long after he was arrested for failing to produce a drivers license Wednesday morning.

"We have no reason to think he was a threat at all," Lt. McAndrew said.

Zakaryan, in a white undershirt, was pacing outside his small, black car with Ohio license plates when Obama's security detail confronted near Obama's motorcade in the parking lot of the Fairfield Inn in Ottumwa.

He is currently being held in Wapello County Jail on $6,825 bond.

A person familiar with the encounter said that Zakarya, who appeared to have been born outside the country, had given contradictory answers to an agent about his presence outside the hotel.

The biracial senator from Illinois was assigned a Secret Service detail earlier this year in response to unspecified threats.

We really don't have to think hard about what those threats sound like, do we family?

BARACK IS NOT GIVING HILLARY A 'GHETTO' PASS

Who Is Getting The Black Female Vote?

Despite Maya Angelou's Endoresment, Hillary Clinton is ticking people off. They've even started booing her!

It happened again this morning at the Take Back America conference, sponsored by the lefty activist group Campaign for America's Future here in Washington.

At this same conference last year, The New York Senator was booed for her position on the war in Iraq.

This morning, Clinton was enthusiastically received as she bashed the Bush administration — "a stunning record of secrecy and corruption" — but the crowd became less friendly when, at the end of her speech, she turned to Iraq.

But not before she tried to do a Soprano-like spoof promoting her candicacy:

Ok Barack, now that your Hooter girl with the crush has you all over YouTube, whacha gonna do bad boy?