Would it be too much to hope that in the future you'll keep your acrimonious musings to yourself? The latest footage CNN has of Senator Kennedy is of him endorsing Obama or being out on the stump for Obama. If they had footage of him with Hillary that was readily available, I'm sure they'd include that as well. In fact, I just turned CNN on and she was on in Kentucky linking her healthcare spiel with Ted Kennedy's situation. There really is no secret plot to deny her coverage, you're being paranoid.

Did it occur to you that you are the one who is using Ted Kennedy's situation to push your own agenda? Kennedy has been campaigning on behalf of Obama, so it stands to reason that the most recent footage CNN has is of Kennedy at Obama events.

Hillary is on CNN right now as I type this.

All three candidates have issued nice statements:

Barack Obama: "I know a lot of you are interested in the situation with Senator Kennedy. I have been in contact with the family. Obviously they are in our thoughts and prayers – they I am sure will be releasing some sort of statement when they have a better assessment of what the situation is. You know, as I have said many times before, Ted Kennedy is a giant in American political history – he has done more for the health care of others than just about anybody in history and so we are going to be rooting for him and I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out."

Hillary Clinton: "My thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery."

John McCain: "I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated. He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki, and the Kennedy family."

You are way more invested in your candidate than you should. Ted Kennedy has a lot more legacy in our politics.

Here's the audio:

http://www.taylormarsh.com/audio.php?audio=http://www.taylormarsh.com/podcast/mp3/stream.2008-05-16.134204.mp3

One point mentioned in the conference call is Sen> Clinton complaining that her campaign's traveling press club is not reporting on her events, the reason why she now has to rely on bloggers that support her.

What went wrong with the Clinton campaign, as told by a group of insiders.

Excerpts:

"There was financial mismanagement bordering on fraud. A candidate who raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars over the years had to pump in millions more of her own money to stave off bankruptcy."

"If you have no cash because you totally mismanaged the budget, you have no money to go up on TV; you're getting crushed on TV and in direct mail because Obama has so much more money--that is a huge problem. Who was looking at the money? The financial situation was a disaster. That's the reason [Howard] Paster had to come in and clean shit up."

"Even among Clinton spokespeople long known for their heavy-handed ways, Phil Singer stood out for his all-too-common and accepted profanity-laced tirades and abusive behavior--both at colleagues and the media, who were all too happy to direct his comeuppance toward Hillary at a time she needed them most."

Counting votes? Did you know that fourteen states have chosen to represent their will in the elections by the use of caucuses? The party has long chosen it's nominee by delegates because all states have to be represented and that's the fairest way we've found so far. Mrs. Clinton says it would be more fair to her if only a handful of big population states got to choose the president and the other forty something states should just accept that. Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote in Nevada, but got less delegates for a reason. The state party divides the delegates up by districts in an effort to make things fair. The big cities gave her the edge. But the districts where rural, white voters lived gave him the edge. And we have this old fashioned concept that those people count too. In Texas, Rush Limbaugh messed with the primaries, but the caucuses balanced things back out--at least that's what the Texans say. They've found that their Texas two step works well for them. And they get to choose how to represent their own state. It was that way when Bill ran and no one complained. The rules are agreed on by all fifty states before the game begins. Even Mrs. Clinton wouldn't have agreed to her new rules before the game began. The Clinton campaign seems to think that if they just say something long enough and loud enough that everyone will just go along even though no one got to vote on her new rules. We really do care that every one gets to be represented. It's just that we allow the states to have autonomy in deciding how best to choose their own delegates to represent their wishes. Mrs. Clinton seems to long for the power of a dictator when it comes to deciding this election. America is pretty tired of that benevolent dictator mentality. We've had a belly full with Dubya. It may be that attitude, more than anything, that finally scared so many away from her.