Jan 27, 29 Gallup Poll: "Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day average, and interviewing conducted Tuesday night shows the gap between the two candidates is within a few points. Obama's position has been strengthening on a day-by-day basis."

While I don't have any plans to give up my day job, I find myself thinking more and more about strategies for the Republican campaigns. It seems to me that if McCain wins the nomination, Huckabee is an obvious choice as a VP. I don't pretend to be the first to make this prediction. I imagine there will be more buzz surrounding this in the next few days, given the two candidate race for the Rs. McCain needs to appeal more to the evangelical base that so strongly supported Bush in 2000 and 2004. Even with his recent momentum, he still needs the support of the Republican critics who contend he's not a "real republican." And then, there's the Senator thing. With a governor on board, McCain can rebut the attacks (which he unwittingly helped perpetuate) that he's weak on economics "the issue of economics is not something I've understodd as well as I should. I've got Greenspan's book", by pointing to his VP's experience in somewhat successfully running a state (and improving the roads so significantly that even Trucker Magazine took note!- that was an admitted cheap shot), McCain can deflect some of the criticism of his lack of economic prowess.

Okay, okay. You asked for it. This is why I am supporting Hillary Clinton (in no particular order):

There is no other candidate that is berated or singled out like Mrs. Clinton; this woman gets it from the Republicans and Democrats alike, and in many cases for no legitimate reason. *Please note, I am not saying that she has not or will not respond to attacks made by other candidates. She is attacked for being too sensitive and too aggressive. She has been criticized for staying with Bill, but would have caught as much heat for leaving him. She is constantly questioned about her motives, experience, relationships, personal life, and abilities. I imagine this is terribly trying, and she faces these challenges with grace. My sense is that she wouldn't be the focus of such attacks if she wasn't considered a threat, which leads me to my next point...

Hillary can win this primary election, and she can win the general. Period. Although her unfavorable ratings are higher than one would like, she already has name recognition with voters-- so naturally, some people are going to have an unfavorable opinion of her: but at least they have an opinion of her. "Joe Biden, who's that? Bill Richardson, never heard of him." Here, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know to many voters. And the things that turn people off about Hillary are personal characteristics, not policy issues.

Don't forget that she went up against an especially tough Senate campaign in 2000, but won over the state of New York; in her re-election campaign she became even more popular picking up 1 million votes and 40 counties. Her highest favorability rate in NY was 74% (1/2 Republicans).

The horserace game that the media plays will only increase Hillary's popularity, too. "Real voters" don't know what a delegate is, nor why they are important. Independent and undecided voters will choose Senator Clinton over gamble candidates when it comes down to the wire because it appears that she is winning and can carry the election. Most importantly, I think her popularity, personality, and policy will resonate well with voters of all ages, races, and walks of life

I believe that Hillary has what it takes to reach across the aisle and pull bipartisan support for new, innovative legislation. Her platform is often far too moderate for my taste, but her record shows that she is willing to reach out to conservative and moderate colleagues and voters. An example of this was when she was speaking out about abortions in 2005 calling the procedure "sad, even tragic" and encouraged pro-choicers to frame the issue to appeal to conservative voters.

This isn't the forum to talk about all of Hill's great ideas, but I'll mention a few. In higher education, she is proposing to double the HOPE tax credit, raising the maximum benefits from $1,650 to $3,500. She has also proposed to eliminate the FAFSA bureaucracy headache and allow students to apply for financial aid by simply checking a box on their income tax return. Working in higher ed, I can't tell you how important it is to me that post secondary training and/or college is accessible and affordable for deserving students. In the K-12 arena, she is supporting the elimination of unfair, unfunded mandates like NCLB and instead placing emphasis on trained, accountable teachers and supplemental programs like Headstart or Latchkey. I also respect Mrs. Clinton's stance on healthcare reform, immigration, government waste, and veterans' affairs, among others.

I am not supporting Hillary simply because she is a woman, though the possibility of having a female president makes me squirm with pride thinking about what that could mean for future generations; I feel the same way about the possibility of an African-American president, or any other traditionally underrepresented group that throws their hat in the political ring. I am also not favoring Billary because I enjoyed the previous Clinton administration; I did, but it is irrelevant here. I believe she is her own person, and will take the President's advice when warranted-- just as he did with her input during his time in office.

In the end, I could write about why I am supporting Senator Clinton over other candidates all day, but it really is a combination of these factors. I'm also not pro-Hillary because I dislike or disapprove of the other candidates. In fact, I was very much in favor of John Edwards in 2004 (though I didn't vote for him) and believed Senator Obama to be very inspiring when he first came into the federal scene (and have since been underwhelmed). I have also made a personal pact that while supporting Hillary Clinton in the primary, I refuse to blatantly bash another. As you can see, it is ripping us apart. This is a Democratic year, and I support Democratic candidates.

Mainstream media darling and maverick Senator John McCain won Florida's primary last night. I have posted my second favorite McCain skit from Saturday Night Live. I couldn't find the one where McCain played Ashcroft. If I was a conservative, I'd be pretty disappointed. But, I'm a Democrat and I like our chances against McCain because he is going to divide the Republican Party. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Republican infighting that is about to ensue in the coming week leading up to super Tuesday. Tune in to Rush today at noon to get a sense of how conservatives are reacting.

I was contacted last week by an Editor from PBS to ask if they could use one of my Flickr photos of John Green for an interview they have up on their site. I was all like "the PBS? Heck yeah!"

*** A list of voter registration locations follow in the comments section***

The Ted Kennedy endorsement of Obama could not have come at a better time. And the speech Kennedy gave was terrific. Further, those of you saying this isn't a big deal, I remember and am hearing others in the media remind us that Kennedy's endorsement and subsequent campaigning was a top reason John Kerry took the party's nomination in 2004.

Isn't it telling that almost all of the Senators are endorsing Obama? They have worked with both of them, and they obviously have better feelings for Obama.

Obama comes to Phoenix tomorrow. The past two times he has been here, I was out of town, so this time I will finally get to go to a rally. Hopefully I can get a handshake, but it may be hard with an expected 10,000 people. Hillary had 2,000 at a rally hear last week.

The Super Bowl is also in town this week in Phoenix/Glendale. Not as exciting as I thought it may be, so far.....just seems P Diddy is holding events every night

Back to the Kennedy endorsement: that sort of ends the "experience" argument Hillary claims. When the most experienced of all politicians says you are ready, you are ready. And nobody can compete with Caroline Kennedy basically saying, Obama = my dad.

One of the reasons Kennedy did endorse Barack, he said, was Obama's work on last year's attempt at immigration reform. Obama did not shy away from an issue he knew would be a politically tough issue. Meanwhile, Hillary, the robot sat that tough issue on the sidelines. Another difference and another example of Hillary being no more than a spineless politician.

Speaking of spineless, I did not watch last night's SOTU, but did read an interesting excerpt about a telling moment: "When Bush warned the Iranian government that 'America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf' Obama jumped up to applaud. Clinton leaned across Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), seated to her left, to look in Obama's direction before slowly standing." She had to see if it was politically okay to stand! Now that is leadership!