About three weeks ago, McCain had tumbled in the polls (he continues to) and Rudy Giulani's position as clear front runner in the '08 GOP race seemed fairly stable. Now his campaign frantically struggles to plug up the leaks that are springing up everywhere as the dam which held him in first place crumbles before them. Here are Giuliani's top 4 problems at the moment:

1. Fred Thompson
The inevitable entry of politician-turned-actor-turned-presidential-candidate Fred Thompson into 2008 race hurts every Republican candidate's chances, but espicially Giuliani because of his front runner status. The latest Rasmussen poll shows Thomson gaining a one point lead (28% to 27%) over Giuliani in a statistical dead heat. Thomson will announce his candidacy on July 4th.

2. Iraq Study Group
Apparently Giuliani was an original member of the Iraq Study Group, but quit after only 2 months, having failed to attend a single meeting (too busy giving million dollar speeches). The story has gotten considerable play in the MSM this past week, and Giuliani has now had to apologize for ever joining in the first place.

3. Staffer Indicted on Cocaine Charges
Last Tuesday, Giuliani's South Carolina campaign chairman, millionaire Thomas Ravenel, stepped down after being indicted on federal cocaine distribution charges. He is accused of buying less than 500 grams of cocaine to share of sell to friends in late 2005. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

4. Loyalty to Priest Accused of Molestation
Monsignor Alan Placa remains a paid consultant of Giuliani Partners, the law firm founded by the presidential candidate, despite being accused by a grand jury of sexually abusing children and coving up sexual abuse by priests. Placa has been a friend of Giuliani's since childhood, and continues to to be employed by him as a consultant.

When Joe Green arrived at the Obama event, I immediately recognized him as the co-founder of Project Agape. I'd first read about Green in a SF Chronicle article discussing the Facebook application Causes, which was created by Project Agape. Shortly after Obama arrived, Barak and I tracked down Joe and had a pretty interesting conversation about his projects and the potential on online youth fundraising.



Barak and I introduced ourselves as bloggers, and Joe mentioned the recent MyDD interview he did (which apparently they posted more of than he expected). I went on to tell him how excited I am about the things he's doing with Project Agape. He asked us what we thought of Causes, and I told him that besides a few minor glitches on Facebook it seemed to working very well so far. He said that they're working hard to iron out the bugs and that they'll be expanding Causes to include political candidates sometime in the next few weeks. In retrospect, I should have asked him about the controversy regarding the Obama camp creating their own Facebook app so suspiciously soon.

During the Obama fundraiser, which Ian and I recently attended, Obama gave a short but powerful speech. He covered a lot of issues including universal health care, education, and the war in Iraq. His underlying theme throughout the speech was the American people are more united then the media portrays us. And that with good leadership and common sense policies, America will be able to restore its former greatness. Here are some excerpts from his speech that stood out:

"We are not as divided as the pundits and the cable chatter fests would have us believe. The lines that have been drawn in many ways are artificial. They are a product of our politics as much as they are reflective of real divisions in this country."

"We cant have a politics that is small and timid and based on who's up and who's down, and who's in power and who's not. Because that approach to our politics, that very narrow self interested approach to politics, is not sufficient to meet the challenges that are big and longstanding "

"If we increased fuel efficiency on cars to 40-45 mpg we would have to import zero oil from the middle east. None."

"There is a sense that whats happened in this country has not simply been bad policy but that we have betrayed our truer selves"

Overall the speech gave me hope. (which seems to be one of Obama's main pilers in his campaign.) It also helped cement my belief that Barack would most likely make a good president. However, it did not convince me that he is our best candidate. What Obama has been missing lately is the fiery passion and ability to transcend politics that he exhibited during the democratic convention and earlier speeches. More on Obama to come...

This past Tuesday, Barak and I drove up to San Francisco for an invitation only $2,300 per person Barack Obama fundraiser in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city. Of course, we couldn't afford the entry fee, but I happened to know the event host, Doug Hickey (whose home the event was at), who had invited us to come volunteer. For the first hour, I stood at the entrance and direct people towards the sign-in table, until I was relieved of volunteer duty and free to roam.



The event was incredible: brilliant view of the Golden Gate Bridge (as seen bellow), excellent catered food (which we took our fair share of), and many famous guests; including, Steve Westly, Craig from Craig's List, and Joe Green.



Obama himself arrived at around 6:30 surrounded by Secret Service. When he entered, Barak and I were some of the first people to get to shake his hand, because all of the volunteers had been positioned right by the door. After a few brief words with each of us, Obama proceeded to move around shaking the hand nearly every guest (probably around 200).





I'll be posting more on the event later, including our discussion with Joe Green, co-creator of the Facebook application Causes.

MoveOn.org is hosting another online forum with 2008 presidential candidates. Their first Virtual Town Hall Meeting (which I blogged about here and here) was on Iraq, and this one will be all about the climate crisis. During the first forum, they took some questions submitted by MoveOn members who recorded audio segments online. This time around they've taken it to a new level by accepting video submissions. Here's mine:

I just felt inspired when I read this on a U.S. State Department history page:

In response to the excesses of 19th-century capitalism and political corruption, a reform movement arose called "progressivism," which gave American politics and thought its special character from approximately 1890 until the American entry into World War I in 1917. The Progressives had diverse objectives. In general, however, they saw themselves as engaged in a democratic crusade against the abuses of urban political bosses and the corrupt "robber barons" of big business. Their goals were greater democracy and social justice, honest government, more effective regulation of business, and a revived commitment to public service. They believed that expanding the scope of government would ensure the progress of U.S. society and the welfare of its citizens.

Those reformers of the early 1900s were about a hundred years ahead of us, but they were advocating many of the same vital principles that our country so desperately needs right now. After multiple decades of Democrats struggling to find our identity as a party (and paying a hard price for it in the process), it's time that we start talking about values. Progressive values. In many ways America is still living in the 1980s "Reagan Revolution." Our tax structure, spending patterns, and irresponsible governance has continued on the same dark path which began in the late 70s. I've been reading Crashing the Gate, in which Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and Jerome Armstrong do an excellent job of laying out how exactly the Republican ascendancy to dominance began.

I honestly believe that we have an incredible opportunity to change the political atmosphere of the country in the next few years. We have the chance to elect a strong progressive majority in this next cycle. The political climate in 2006 looks like it may very well transfer over into 2008, if/when the bad news from Iraq continues. Let's use this chance to shift the attitude of the country and restore the progressive values which were defined by idealism more than a century ago.

While watching the debate yesterday I was surprised that there were no answer limit clocks (with the standard green, yellow, red lights), and also curious about how much time the candidates were being given in comparison with each other. Fortunately, the good folks at the Dodd online team created a "Time Clock" for just that purpose.

Looking at these stats gives me a mixed reaction. On one hand, I'm not surprised that the 3 front runners got the most time, while Gravel (and his fringe attacks on the other Dems) got the least. But, it's a little unsettling to see the time disparity so strongly reflecting current national polls. Debates like these are supposed to be the one setting in which all candidates are given an equal chance to get their message across, yet that basic principle seems to have been violated last night. I hope the Dodd camp continues to track the time in future debates. I'm sure the blogosphere will be watching.

Net Neutrality means that internet bandwidth can't be regulated by corporations. It's what allows blogs like this to exist. The giant telecommunication companies are fighting to gain regulatory powers. Don't let them! If you believe that the internet should remain the most accessible avenue of free speech in history, then visit SaveTheInternet.com and see what you can do.