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Morrison .51 Cloutier .49
Vaughn .48 Feroce .47 Allsopp .05
Walker .54 Cathcart .46
Biden .53 Wharton .47
Carper .54 Ting .41 Peterson .04 O’Donnell .01
Castle .49 Spivack .48 Berg .02 Nagel .01 (…sniff. wipes away a tear.)
Sokola .52 Ramone .48
Manolokos .50 Korn .50 [followed by a six-year multimillion dollar court battle]
Kowalko .51 Ulbrich .49
Kleimo .54 Blakey .46
Nixon .41 McDowell .39 Chambers .18

Bonus Pick:
Markell .57 Carney .43

MOT Newbie wants your predictions. [Tommywonk tells me he is going to want you REAL predictions - not your spin-miester predictions.]

Drew Volturo at the Delaware State News rips off Paul Smith's idea.

Since when does jamming a bunch of quotes together count as journalism?

The clip is 6 minutes long. Watch the whole thing.

If I'm the crazed William Holden from the movie Network yelling, "I'm mad as hell at Republicanism and I'm not going to take it anymore"

...then Tom Noyes is Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.

I get the feeling that he reasonably and slowly building up a case that will shame the jury out of its moral sloth with it's undeniable humanity and logical clarity.

I could flip a coin and decide who I am going to vote for AG, or I could base my vote on something more meaningful.

I think I've found that meaningful thing. The protest vote. I'm protesting Gerry "left ass cheek" Fulcher and Steve "right ass cheek" Jensen, and the non-stop, wall to wall, six month long, advertisement for Ferris Wharton they call a radio show.

While I try to avoid the inane abortion that is the "Lies & Yokels" radio show, I heard them praising Ferris while I was in the car again and the arrogant stupidity was overwhelming. Not only that, it was the exact same arrogant stupidity (even, I'd say, down to the wording) that I heard months ago. I could only imagine that they have been polluting the airwaves with their unhinged Ferris sycophancy and Biden hatred steadily for months.

Checked with some people who manage to listen to that crap confirmed my assumption. (Ferris must owe WDEL over $500,000 for free advertising.) So, as a lover of democracy and a sworn enemy of MSM control of civil debate, I'm voting to piss off Fulcher and Jensen. Go Biden!
...................................
NOTE: To wrap this up I wanted to provide a link to someone at WDEL or Delmarva Broadcasting company in the event that anyone wanted to alert management to the sickeningly over the top partisanship of Fulchsen.

All I could turn up was a little information about a shadowy figure known as Julian H "Pete" Booker. Booker appears to be the President of Delmarva Broadcasting and the President of the Wilmington Rotary. He is a RNC contributor and other than that he has a very low web profile. If anyone knows anything about Mr. Booker, I'd be interested in hearing about it. I'll keep looking at if it appears that Booker is a Wharton contributor - maybe the Department of elections should know about all the free advertising he is giving to the Wharton campaign.

This must be one of those Republican loopholes they use to protect members of the General Assembly from embarrassment.

[Let me preface all of this with the acknowledgment that I still think Spivack has a chance. Given the very high distrust people have for Bush and republican rubber stampers like Michael Castle, the polls may not tell the whole story. If this turns out to be a low turnout election that leaves the middle-of-the-roaders standing on the sidelines, Spivack could win.] Having said that...

...no matter what happens on November 7th Castle's cowardly stint as congressman is nearly over.

Based on how fragile and out of it Michael Castle looked at the rotary debate, and given the fact that he is ducking these last debates, the conventional wisdom is that Castle's health is a very significant issue.

Most people I've spoken too are looking at an "open seat" race either 24 months from now or sooner. If Castle wins on the 7th it is now seems very likely that there will be a special election sometime in the next year to replace him. So the field is wide open and both Republicans and Democrats have people jockeying for position.

On the R side the word is that Rhode Island interloper John Feroce is making some people uncomfortable with his hypothetical musing. The fact that his entire campaign seemed to be directed to a statewide audience rather that the senate district that he claims to want to represent tends to support this line of thought.

Unless some backroom deal is cut, the Democrats will have a crowded field. With such a weak Republican bench many regard it as a given that whoever wins the Democratic primary for the special election will go on to Washington.

I'll have to check with Celia to see if having every statewide office (other than auditor) in Democratic hands violates some unwritten rule of Delaware poltics. Even if it does, recent events prove that unwritten rules were meant to be broken.

James Webb's Navy Cross

The Virginian-Pilot
© October 27, 2006

Editor's note: The Navy Cross is the nation's second-highest award for bravery in facing an enemy. James Webb has refused to use it in his campaign. We are publishing it with our endorsement of him because we believe it testifies to his character.

The Navy Cross is presented to James H. Webb, Jr., First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as a Platoon Commander with Company D, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam.

On 10 July 1969, while participating in a company-sized search and destroy operation deep in hostile territory, First Lieutenant Webb's platoon discovered a well-camouflaged bunker complex which appeared to be unoccupied. Deploying his men into defensive positions, First Lieutenant Webb was advancing to the first bunker when three enemy soldiers armed with hand grenades jumped out.

Reacting instantly, he grabbed the closest man and, brandishing his .45 caliber pistol at the others, apprehended all three of the soldiers.

Accompanied by one of his men, he then approached the second bunker and called for the enemy to surrender. When the hostile soldiers failed to answer him and threw a grenade which detonated dangerously close to him, First Lieutenant Webb detonated a claymore mine in the bunker aperture, accounting for two enemy casualties and disclosing the entrance to a tunnel.

Despite the smoke and debris from the explosion and the possibility of enemy soldiers hiding in the tunnel, he then conducted a thorough search which yielded several items of equipment and numerous documents containing valuable intelligence data. Continuing the assault, he approached a third bunker and was preparing to fire into it when the enemy threw another grenade.

Observing the grenade land dangerously close to his companion, First Lieutenant Webb simultaneously fired his weapon at the enemy, pushed the Marine away from the grenade, and shielded him from the explosion with his own body.

Although sustaining painful fragmentation wounds from the explosion, he managed to throw a grenade into the aperture and completely destroy the remaining bunker.

By his courage, aggressive leadership, and selfless devotion to duty, First Lieutenant Webb upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.
..................................

What was George Allen doing? Why does Ryan hate our men and women in uniform so much?

Dana has really pushed this open government issue forward consitently. I don't think that it is an overstatement to say that Dana Garrett has changed how poltics are done in Delaware.

Only hours old, the Delaware Republican Caucus said they would meet in the "bathroom" if the five point plan is enacted in it's full Democratic version propsed by Karen Peterson.

The fact that they are already trying to open loopholes in the plan speaks volumes about John Still's seriousness in forwarding this plan 10 days prior to an election.

I believe it was Liane M. Sorenson of Hockessin who proposed the "bathroom strategy" for thwarting the FOIA requirements if passed. I'm working on getting the audio. More on this as it develops.

UPDATE: To her credit, Sorenson was a sponsor of Peterson's bill which was not so much a full plan, but full in it's simplicity.

SYNOPSIS
This Bill would include the General Assembly as a “public body” covered by the Freedom of Information Act.

Author: Senator Peterson

With only a couple of weeks until Election Day, we know there will be a Democratic wave on Nov. 7. And we can be fairly certain that by historical standards it will be high - possibly very high. But we still don't know how many Republicans once considered safe will be swept out of office.

The national political environment currently is worse than it was in 1994, when the Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats and 10 governorships, and when Republicans won GOP control of the House for the first time in decades.

You heard me right: It's worse this year than it was in 1994, when voters were dissatisfied with the first two years of the Bill Clinton presidency.

Phew...I needed that. Say it with me Hap and Steamy, "Speaker Pelosi!"

UPDATE: I think I just heard someone saying that the Republicans will caucus in the bathroon if this FOIA thing takes effect. So the five point plan is only an hour old and they are already looking for loopholes. Great.

The DE GOP is high fiving itself right now, but even as they bask in the glow of putting on some good theater, Nancy Willing reports that: "Karen Peterson is on the radio right now to get (Still & Feroce), on record to whether or not they will support a bill not just sign a petition and take it out of committee. [Cloutier worked to kill the bill by not petitioning it out of committee.]

She is making the point that she has repeatedly brought up the same issues and that these people were no where at all in support unitl now just up to election.

For the Record:

As a member of a fiesty upstart group called Progressive Democrats for Delaware I have to say it is nice to see our proposals for improving our state government being picked up and discussed by a wider audience. Here is a portion of our cadidate endorsement survey:

Please respond to the appropriate sections of this survey by circling the number that corresponds to your position. The 5-point scale is:

1 – strongly agree
2 – agree
3 – neutral
4 – disagree
5 – strongly disagree
Space is provided for comments at the end.
(snip)

SECTION THREE – to be answered by candidates for STATE OFFICES only – General Assembly, Attorney General, Treasurer, and Auditor:

1. The State should re-regulate electric and gas utilities.
(1)..(2)..(3)..(4)..(5)

2. The Freedom of Information Act should apply to the General Assembly.
(1)..(2)..(3)..(4)..(5)
.......................
If the DE GOP wants other documents from the PDD to turn into party platform planks - I'd be happy to provide them.

This press release does not pull punches.

CASTLE’S WITHDRAWAL FROM DEBATES UNDERSCORES INABILITY TO SERVE DELAWAREANS IN CONGRESS

Spivack’s strong performance in debates this week prompts Castle to quit again

NEWARK, Del. – Dennis Spivack, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, today chided Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., for again retreating from the campaign because of poor performances in two debates this week.

“So on Wednesday he’s fine, and on Thursday he’s too weak to sit in a chair and talk for a half-hour?” Spivack said. “Mike doesn’t want Delaware voters to know that doesn’t have a good answer for why he continues to support George Bush. It’s insulting to Delawareans, myself included, that he thinks he can cruise through this campaign on his name alone. People deserve to hold their elected officials accountable for their votes.”

Spivack called on Castle to return to the campaign once and for all, and tell Delawareans where he really stands on important issues. Spivack pointed out that he has offered to accept any modifications to the format of the debates to accommodate Castle’s failing health.

“If he isn’t physically capable of participating in a couple of low-key debates a week on his own territory and on his own terms, how is he possibly going to serve us in Congress? The whole job of a congressman is to debate tough issues, hash out agreements, and negotiate high-pressure situations,” Spivack said. “We only send one. Let’s send one who can fight for what Delawareans really need and deserve – not one who thinks George Bush is doing a good job.”

....................

Castle sucked in the Rotary debate. I'm not at all surprised that he does not want anyone to see him side by side with Spivack.

Being an inconsistent and empty headed contrarian is fun. Just look at Dana.

Now Dana not only supports John Feroce(fine Vaughn sucks), but he also supports Mike Ramone in favor of Dave Sokola. Not only that but he is also withholding support for Pat Morrison, in favor of noted DIP(Delaware Incumpbent Party) candidate Cathy Coultier. [Backstory: Dana's ass-kissing buddy Gerry Fulcher has a nut for Cloutier so Dana does not play the DIP card in her case.] Dana either does not get the big picture (and I don't think he is that dumb) or is just getting off on being the state's biggest contrarian. I know, it is mind boggling.

By supporting these low-lifes for the State Senate he is in effect supporting the king low-life,John Still. If Ramone, Feroce and Clouiter win Still will stand a very good chance of being the State Senate majorty leader that will be a dark day for Delaware. Tyler Nixon even said of Still, "Mr. Still has permanently earned from me, in all his pursuits, whatever the opposite of aid and comfort are." For Dana to even suggest that he is a liberal while working for this outcome is laughable. It is the very definition of farce.

UPDATE: I'm not the opnly one who is onto Dana's Bullshit. From DW comments:

"Let's see if we can get the Republi-Green Noise Machine to acknowledge that SB 94, which forces the General Assembly to become open and accountable to the FOIA was sponsored by Karen Peterson and co-sponsored by Dave Sokola, and is only held up by the execrable Vaughan."

"Stop faking it!"

"This guy is acting."

Shorter Doug Williams:

The rest of the country is going to do our work for us and elect Democrats to congress who will provide some oversight for this out of control moron of a President - so vote for Castle.

Even Shorter Doug Willams:

I am an idiot and a Castle shill.

"This (the war in Iraq) is a mistake, Mike. Take a position. Tell the president this is wrong. Stand up. Do something," Spivack said.

Castle admits the handling of the war's aftermath has not been good, but he's still against cutting and running. (snip) Castle's team hasn't committed to future debates yet, but at least two are pending: the first will be Friday at 7PM on PBS's WHYY and the the other next Wednesday on WDEL. - WMDT

Patrick Jackson at the News Journal asks Wenk about why Castle pulled out of the WHYY debate: “We’ve said all along that debate scheduling is a day-to-day matter,” Wenk said.”Congressman Castle has done two debates in two days and we’re still trying to keep him on a limited schedule and give him some downtime.”

Translation: Standing up and not really answering questions for an hour is hard work. We are having our ass handed to us and need a break.

Here is the flash news - updates to follow

1) Spivack stared out kind of slow, but warmed up well and did a great job. His best line was regarding our health insurance crisis: "What good is stem cell research when so many American can't afford the benefits that stem cell research offers?"

2) Castle was surprisingly bad. I honestly excpected Castle to kill Spivack. Castle has been doing these for 30 years - so I felt like I was probably going to Spivack's funeral. Castle had one attempted zinger that fell flat (see #3) and other than that is was the emptiest of empty political rhetoic. Castle's repsponse to a question about our national debt was typical. After bloviating for what seemed like three minutes he finally said the debt was, "a significant problem. Something has to be done about it."

3) The most reported sound bite might be be this attempted zinger that fell flat. Castle fished around in a notebook and picked up a piece of papaer, all happy like a two year old fishing a penny out of a dirty diaper and asks Spivak, "Dennis, you say that you opposed the war from day one and yet I have this check for $100 from you dated the day after the Iraq war vote - how does that square with you opposing the war from day one?"

Spivack totally stomped on the zinger by simply replying "Of course I contributed money to you, like probably everyone in this room I voted for you and what choice did I have? I gave you money and right after that saw you at an event and said What are you doing? Why are you voting for this war? And I saw Joe Biden at an event and I said, "Joe everyone can see this war is bogus - why did you vote for it."

5) I ran up to Castle after the debate and asked, "Congressman, after your stem cell bill was vetoed - did you regret supporting George Bush in the election?" And then a miracle happened. After eight months of asking that question, I got a direct answer. "No." he said. I was a little shocked but recovered to ask, "Do you think Bush should fire Rumsfeld?" Castle looked flustered and said something like "I'm not commenting on that." So I asked, "Do you think Preisdent Bush's failure to fire Rumsfeld in spite of his abject failure makes Bush seem weak?" At that he started to walk away.

Later I was aking Dennis questions and I was pretty wired so I asked, "Mr. Castle does not think Bush should fire Rumsfeld, what do you..." At that Castle poked his ogre head into the little semi-circle of journailsts talking to Spivack and yelped, "I did not say that I said 'No Comment'" So I rolled my eyes and said, "Mr Castle has no comment about whether Bush should fire Rumsfeld and if Bush not firing Rumsfeld makes Bush look weak. What do you think?" The WBOC camera was right there and I hope they got Spivack's answer because it was great. [The funny part about all of this is that Castle was real proud of himself for corrcting the record. That's right. He is proud of the fact that he has "no comment" on the question of whether Rumsfeld should be fired. That tells the whole story.]

4) Elizabeth Wenk hates my guts. After the debate I asked Elizabeth if she got my email and she said, "No." I said, "really" and she said "No. I'm busy. I get a lot of emails." All bitchy and crazy. So I said that I'd try again and I said, "So after the election are you taking a vacation? A little lobbyist paid junket or something?" At that she did an about face and started walking away. So I was not doing anything so I followed for a few steps asking "Aruba..? Jamaca...? No? I'll take that as a no comment." At another lul I was standing next to one of Castle's peep named Matt and I asked him the same question. He said "No". Then I said, "Elizabeth says no comment to that question - do you think I should take that as a yes?"

Matt did not say anything to that and I said, kind of in passing "I don't know how you guys can sleep at night." And that pissed him off a bit so he shot back "You have a problem with me?" To which I replied, "I have a problem with the way this country is being run and I wonder why you don't."

The third *Delaware* Drinking Liberally group will meet Thursday, October 26, 8:00pm at Iron HIll - Riverfront upstairs bar

It seems this is going to be a fairly well attended event (maybe we'll have enough codgers to form a codger caucus). Anyway, hopefully a few beers will make November 7th hurry up and get here.

Check out this list of typical AG powers:

Typical powers of the Attorneys General include the authority to:

* institute civil suits;

* represent state agencies and defend and/or challenge the constitutionality of legislative or administrative actions;

* enforce open meetings and records laws;

* revoke corporate charters;

* enforce antitrust prohibitions against monopolistic enterprises;

* enforce air, water pollution, and hazardous waste laws in a majority of states;

* handle criminal appeals and serious statewide criminal prosecutions;

* intervene in public utility rate cases; and

* enforce the provisions of charitable trusts.

Now ask yourself - why is the race not dealing with ANY of these issues?

This latest development [200 jobs being cut] comes as Delaware's banking sector, long considered a pillar of the state's economy, has been losing jobs. Most notably, Bank of America shed hundreds of jobs this year following its acquisition of Wilmington-based credit card giant MBNA Corp. The banking sector suffered a net loss of 700 jobs over the past year, dropping to 26,800 from 27,500, according to September data, the latest available, said Edward L. Simon, director of labor market information at the Delaware Department of Labor.

Pssst....all you free traders. Your jobs can be done in India at 1/30th the cost.

The much spoken of Sokola mailer that lays out the facts.{The image will be up soon) The facts are plain spoken about what a lazy used car salesman Ramone is, but put the lawsuits in context of this race.

1) He kicked off his campaign with a dirty tricks robo-call straight out of the Rove handbook.

2) He is trying to pass himself off as this great businessman (making his business acumen a public issue) and when he is called on the fact that his business man skills are not what they are cracked up to be - he pretends that it is Sokola who is running a dirty campaign.

Even Celia Cohen calls Ramone out here:

(Sokola's flier) painted Ramone as being on the wrong side of the Court of Chancery, the state's revered business forum, by quoting from an opinion written earlier this year by Vice Chancellor Leo E. Strine Jr., calling Ramone's business practices "leisurely and erratic" and "lackadaisical."

Believe it or not, Strine's words come from a case that Ramone won. Ramone went to court when a gentleman's agreement he had to run a swimming program in Newark unraveled, and he argued it would be unfair if the pool were leased to his principal competitor. Strine sided with Ramone but only after noting his laid-back approach contributed to the deal's collapse.

The Bottom Line: Ramone has a "do as I say, not as I MOAN" approach to business and politics. He moans about frivolous lawsuits but that does not keep him from FILING THEM. He jumps in the gutter to attack Sokola and then moans about "attack ads".

There is a debate today and Michael Castle is going to try to make himself out to be a big hero because he got a stem cell bill vetoed by George Bush. (That is Castle's great success, a vetoed bill. Hurray!)

The stem cell issue, and every other issue in this race is subservient to the fact that Michael Castle voted for Bush's "plan" for Iraq. Although that "plan" was never released or discussed, Kos has pieced it together from the events of the past five years.

The Bush PLAN for Iraq

1) Bomb the daylights out of Iraq, 2000 pound JDAMS and cruise missiles, day and night, into heavily populated areas, utterly destroy the government at every level and eliminate key infrastructure, literally burn it to the underground bunkers.

2) Rumble north from Kuwait in multiple armored columns ten miles long tearing up the highways with tank treads micromanaged by Donald Rumsfeld while, 2a) spraying entire towns with heavy caliber depleted uranium rounds left and right along the way, and 2b) strafing anything that moves from the air.

3) Upon arrival in a now devastated Baghdad, suffering from power blackout and reeking to high heaven thanks to no water or sewer services -- not to mention homes, gutters, and waterways full of rotting bloated corpses -- detain or snuff every policemen and military member dumb enough to still be wearing a uniform, shoot the city full of gaping holes, crater the roadways. Drag terrified civilians, men, women, kids, out of their homes or cars at gunpoint, shackle them, and strip search them in broad daylight. Pack them off to Saddam's old prisons marked for further torture and depraved sexual humiliation.

4) Passively watch the city looted of what little of value remains by criminal elements without lifting a trigger-finger.

5) Start loading US oil tankers with Iraqi crude.

6) Send in college kids whose qualifications for rebuilding an entire nation bombed into the stone-age consists of phone banking for the GOP and opposing reproductive rights for women.

7) Here's where the real neocon genius kicks in ... The Iraqis are going to swoon with pro US gratitude. See? The lucky survivors will be so smitten with the American occupiers after this experience that they'll forget decades of dictatorship and propaganda, put aside centuries of ethnic and tribal conflict, and a millennium of hostility and resentment for the west ... and they'll spontaneously rise up, self organize, and peacefully model their government and culture after our own. See?

Voting for this plan was bad enough - but Castle continues to endorse this plan. He has no business representing Delaware in the US Congress.

AMY GOODMAN [Democracy Now]: So why are you running for Congress?

MICHAEL BERG: Well, I can't do anything about my son's death at this point. Nothing will ever bring him back. But I am running for Congress in the same way that a parent who loses a child in a bicycle accident when they didn'’t have a helmet on, you know, and then they go out on a crusade to try to get everyone to put helmets on their children when they ride their bicycles. It'’s the same thing with me.

This war, this stupid war that was based on lies to begin with, that is going on just for George Bush to save face -- which is backfiring anyhow -- is killing people at the rate of one every three minutes. Someone is having the experience that I had every three minutes. Someone is losing a son, someone is losing a father, someone is losing a loved one every three minutes in Iraq, and I’m running for Congress to stop it.

Michael Berg has a bearing and dignity that cuts through the BS and overheated hyperbole that surounds him. While Karen Hartly Nagel is running to satisfy her vanity - I believe that Berg clearly has the public interest at heart. As I've written previously, I sincerely wish he decided to take a tact that helped undermine the Bush cabal rather than support Bush by fragmenting the opposition.

From down below.

If Ferris loses it falls squarely on Crossan's desk and on Strine's manicured Pennsylvania lawn. Crossan took on the mission of not just being GOP director but also Wharton head campaign hack. A Wharton loss without Strine and Crossan's immediate ouster will be proof positive that the GOP is finished in Delaware and will never get it."

I care too much about the future of our state and country to hope for that Crossan somhow escapes the blame and continues to screw up the Republican party.

HELD: Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married
heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds
that under the equal protection guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, committed samesex
couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the
civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to samesex
couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.

Of course the fact that this is perfectly reasonable will not prevent the right-winger from going insane and using this finding to their fullest GOTV advantage. In fact I bet Crossan is probably ringing up some churches right now.

Castle's blind faith in Halliburton to manage your money was established here:

"Rep. Castle voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton even after the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable."

Now Donviti contributes the fact that KBR (a Halliburton subsidiary) charged 55% of their contracts to "overhead".

I don't know about you but I think a "for profit" company charging 55% to overhead is a bit much. But, someone like Michael Castle might say, "What's the big deal? Companies are supposed to make money. So what if we had to borrow from future tax revenue - we are safer now than we were two years ago?"

To people like Castle I would say, "Read tommywonk and get back to me" "

"Unless you somehow believe, despite the evidence, that deficits don't matter, you cannot avoid the fiscal failure of our federal government."

NOTE:Down below a reader asks, "are the debates on Thursday between Spivak and McCastle for the public?" I don't know. I'll try to get some info. If anyone knows please put something in the comments section.

This afternoon (3-4pm) I will be on WILM (AM 1450) with Dave Burris of First State Poltics. This week we are hadicapping the races and looking at where things stand from the blogs-eye view.

If you are outside of the listening area try the stream and let me know if it is working.

Bush's Family Profits from 'No Child' Act
by Walter F. Roche Jr.

A company headed by President Bush's brother and partly owned by his parents is benefiting from Republican connections and federal dollars targeted for economically disadvantaged students under the No Child Left Behind Act.

With investments from his parents, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and other backers, Neil Bush's company, Ignite! Learning, has placed its products in 40 U.S. school districts and now plans to market internationally.

At least 13 U.S. school districts have used federal funds available through the president's signature education reform, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, to buy Ignite's portable learning centers at $3,800 apiece.

10:21 - Done and done.

10:09 - Change the batteries in your smoke detector. Al, gives me an over the air heads-up.

10:00 - Now I'm on hold. I have to call Al out on the non sequitor.

9:54 - Carper ad. (Puke!)

9:46 - (I missed the beginning of this) All the coverage is like sports radio. No substance. It is like talking about the Eagles.' The psivack race is not covered at all. We have a 67 year old man who had a stroke - and nobody is talking about it. His health is off the table. [Al sticks up for Castle] It is only a two year job. I don’t think he should have year convalescence. [I'm loving this guy] Al compares Castle to Strom Thurman. Awesome job Al. This election is a referendum on the Bush presidency. Bush has said so. If the republicans get in. AL - STICKS UP FOR CASTLE AGAIN. aL'S DEFENSE WAS A TOTAL NO-SEQUITOR.

9:43 - Vision 2015 commercial. What is that? I've ignored it. Anyone care to give me three sentences?

9:35 - I've only been doing this for 10 minutes and jeez is it boring. I quit. Oh Al is back. Tort reform. Paul Smith is a talking point machine. Must be all that time in mass repeating the things the Catholics are supposed to repeat on cue.

9:30 - Paul claims lawsuits are driving people out of medical school. News Break. (Melanie Armstrong says Ting hammered Carper in the debate. - clip from Ting hating on the borders. Carper supports line item veto. ZZZzzz...

Iraq timetable and troops speaking out on the war. It is a start. Someone at the beach called Russia.

9:28 - Paul's call. Al's not talking about unions. Al says that the Repubkicans have won over the rank and file. Who is he talking to? All the union guys I know hate Bush and Castle.

9:26 AM - Back to back Wharton/Biden ads. I wonder how much the station makes in extra revenue during election season?

I'm on record saying that I don't think the AG should be elected, so I've steered clear of the Biden/Wharton battle royal for the most most part.

However, three items this morning signal the end of Ferris as a politician.

1) The WDEL news sound clip of Biden saying "You're a real gentleman Mr. Wharton...I'm glad your true colors are coming out."

2) The Biden radio ad which end with ..."we are going to fight your mud slinging with a political strategy that you might find shocking...THE TRUTH"

3)Ron Williams' obituary for Wharton's campaign. "We've been lectured by Wharton to the point of nausea..."

It is a devastating combination that must have little cartoon birds circling Wharton's head about now.

The Bottom Line:When Ferris recovers from his foray into politics and takes stock of his career, I'm utterly certain that he will view getting involved with Dave Crossan as the single worst mistake he ever made.

Major props to KarmicJay who is already signed up for phone banking. eveyone else read this:

The other day I watched TV in horror as Dear Leader and Turd Blossom strolled across the White House lawn, smirking, and declaring that they had no worries about the upcoming election. The Republican were going to win again.

Being a Democrat, and therefore justifiably paranoid, I wondered what October surprise they had in store for us.

Today I've been watching the political marathon on MSNBC and I figured it out. Mary Matalin was on explaining why the Republicans were going to win again. She kept saying "you don't understand, we've got the ground game." Repeatedly she defended R candidates by saying "I've seen his ground game plan and he's going to be reelected. Nothing can beat the GOP ground game."

They are planning to beat our brains out again with their GOTV machine. There is only one defense and that's to build our own GOTV machine. Please volunteer. Email Kristin Dwyer to volunteer for election day GOTV activities. Join your District Committee and work with them to Get Out The Vote! There's 13 days left and we can do this in every district. A few hours of your time can make a difference. If you can walk, walk. If you can talk, talk.
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I happen to think that all that "confidence" that Bush is showing is just him with his head up his ass again. I'm confident but not cocky. We still have a lot of work to do, but this time the wind is at our backs. Let's close the deal.

The DE GOP has become the party of "it is not my fault".

I’ve missed some meetings this fall because my wife is recuperating from surgery and was in bed for a while. Many nights have been spent helping my four kids with home work during some of the civic association meetings that Coluntouno attended. - Wayne Smith on not debating Carl Coluntouno

"Cloutier said she voted for the (energy) deregulation bill after just a few weeks in office in 1999." - The News Journal on why Cathy Cloutier voted FOR energy deregulation.

"I'm leaning toward the surgery...Im not up to a full campaign schedule yet." - Michael Castle explaining why he can't debate Dennis Spivack

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Put other recent instances of Republican excuse making in the comments.
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They need to read this:

UPDATE:This Thursday at the Wilmington Rotary club (Hotel DuPont) U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., will emerge from his post-stroke recuperation Thursday to take part in his first debate of the campaign season, it was announced today. - Patrick Jackson The News Journal

...so I'm not saying nothing.

Just check out Blue State Rising on the latests Ramone attack mailer.

I had to make two corrections today and I made them. Unlike George Bush or Michael Castle I can admit when I'm wrong. Thanks to FTP for pointing out the first and Mike M for the second.

If number and frequency of my corrections ever equals the News Journal's (on a per story basis)I promise to stop blogging.

I like crab cakes and I like world records (who could ever forget those fat twins on the motor cycles..), but there is something sickening about this.

Handy International, a Salisbury, Md., seafood firm, also tried to set a Guinness World Record that day by cooking a 235-pound crab cake. The cake, baked in a rotisserie-style pan over a charcoal fire pit, took about six hours to cook.

Paperwork is being submitted today by Dover Downs Hotel & Casino to the Guinness World Records headquarters in London. The casino should receive word in about four to six weeks if a record was set. - PATRICIA TALORICO, The News Journal

Note: This is just filler while I work on my post about the rather sureal Cristine O'Donnell press event.

Will Abramoff Take Another Lawmaker Down -- Soon?
U.S. News and World Report whispers:

The FBI and Justice Department appear to be expanding their probe into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in hopes of nabbing another member of Congress and aides, according to sources involved in the case. . . .

"We thought it was wrapping up, but they've indicated that it is really about to expand," said one source involved in the case. "It's not ending anytime soon or even when he goes to jail."

Based on my research Castle's travel appears to be on the level. However, his staff clearly abused house rules and went on lobbyist paid junkets on a regular basis.

If this US News report points to Castle's staff it helps explain why they have decided to hunkered down in the air raid shelter for these past few weeks. If there is anything connecting Abramoff to Castle's staff expect some sudden "I want to spend more time with my family" resignations right after the election.

If Pat Morrison beats Couliter at the polls (5th Senate District) as badly as she beats her in this NJ profile it will be the most one sided upset in the history of Delaware.

Morrison: "Society runs smoother when families run well...Poltics is part of that. It is really inseparable what happens between laws ands policies, decision about education, health care. Raising the next generation is poltical."

Cloutier: "I'm able to get things done and work on both sides of the ailse."

Get what things done?

"Cloutier said she voted for the (energy) deregulation bill after just a few weeks in office in 1999." Ooopsie!

"Morrison said the recent dregulation of energy prices hit middle class families especially hard."

Bottom Line: Cloutier inherited her seat and has done nothing to earn it. She seems to be phoning in this campaign in the same way she is phoning it in for her district in Dover. Pat Morrison is going to make a great addition to the state senate.