The LA Times reports that Sen. Barack Obama is "shifting towards the center" and adopting views Republicans would be comfortable with. Examples:

A handgun ban. The death penalty. U.S. wiretaps. Iran and Israel. Trade. On all of those issues, he has recently staked more moderate ground.

Barack Obama, as he introduces himself to the broader voting public, is emphasizing centrist -- even conservative -- positions on hot-button issues.

[More...]

The unity train took off today with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's joint appearance in New Hampshire.

Some Hillary supporters are on board. Others are not.

Your thoughts? Mine are simply this: I wasn't impressed by the joint appearance, but I'm voting for the Democratic nominee and since that's Barack Obama, I'm voting for him.

What sense can we make of the national polls? Newsweek says Obama by 15. LATimes says Obama by 12. Gallup tracker says it is tied. Ras says Obama by 4. And today, the Time poll says Obama by 4. What can we believe?

Let me assure you of one thing we can believe, Obama will not win this election by double digits. Period. But let's see if we can makes some sense of the numbers. Setting aside voter screens and other polling anomalies, let's look at the ranges each candidate scores in these polls. Obama ranges from a low of 42 to a high of 51. Much of the divergence is likely due to the inclusion or exclusion of leaners. RCP's average has Obama at 47 which seems about right.

More . . .

Politico writes:

Barack Obama has crafted an image as an unconventional candidate, a change agent and a post-partisan politician who represents a dramatic break from the status quo. But since securing the Democratic presidential nomination, when confronted with a series of thorny issues the Illinois senator has pursued a conspicuously conventional path, one that falls far short of his soaring rhetoric. Faced with tough choices on fronts ranging from public financing and town hall meetings to warrantless surveillance and the Second Amendment, Obama passed up opportunities to take bold stands and make striking departures from customary politics. Instead, he has followed a familiar tack, straddling controversial issues and choosing politically advantageous routes that will ensure his campaign a cash edge and minimize damaging blowback on several highly sensitive issues.

Pols are pols and do what they do. That's why as citizens and activists we must act for issues, not pols:

A few state polls to analyze. First SUSA's Missouri poll that has McCain up 7. the demos are whites (86% of the electorate) for McCain 55-37 and African Americans (12% of the electorate) for Obama 89-8. In 2004, Missouri went for Bush by 7, with Bush winning whites (77% of the vote) 58-41 and Kerry winning African Americans (11% of the vote) 88-11 (Latinos were said to be 8% of the vote in Missouri in 2004, a figure I find impossible to believe frankly, and Kerry won them 53-44.)

Here's my thinking, African Americans will be more than 12% of the electorate in Missouri and Obama will carry 95% of them, making this a closer race than 7. But still, this is a lean McCain state. More

Where is Sen. Barack Obama on the death penalty? With Justices Alito, Scalia and Thomas. Here is what Sen. Obama had to say about today's excellent Supreme Court ruling striking down a state statute allowing the death penalty to be imposed for crimes where no death occurs:

When asked about Supreme Court ruling against the use of the death penalty in instances of child rape today at a news conference in Chicago, Obama answered, “I disagree with the decision. I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for most egregious of crimes. I think that the rape of a small child, six or eight years old is a heinous crime, and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances, the death penalty is at least potentially applicable. That does not violate our constitution.”

He continued, “Had the Supreme Court said, ‘We want to constrain ability of states to do this to make sure that it's done in a careful and appropriate way,’ that would've been one thing, but it basically had a blanket prohibition and I disagree with that decision.”

He sounds just like John McCain: [More...]

Maureen Dowd:

Conservatives love playing this little game, acting as if the “elite” Democratic candidates are not in touch with people like themselves, even though the guys doing the attacking — like Rove, Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Hannity — are wealthy and cosseted. ... Everyone who ever became president was in the elite one way or another, including Andrew Jackson. ...

Rove’s mythmaking about Obama won’t fly. If he means that Obama has brains, what’s wrong with that? If he means that Obama is successful, what’s wrong with that? If he means that Obama has education and intellectual sophistication, what’s wrong with that?

The election isn't about who you'd want to have a beer with. It's about who will best govern.

Via The Swamp at the Chicago Tribune:

A Democratic source with knowledge of the situation said Obama instructed members of his national finance committee during a conference call today to help Clinton with some of the $10 million she owes to vendors.

The former first lady, who exited the Democratic contest on June 7, ended May with $22.5 million in debt, more than half of it from personal loans to her campaign.

I wonder if he used the word "some" as a limiter and if so, why? Why not just ask them to help her with the $10 million she owes to vendors?

It seems to me she will be raising more than that amount for him during the general election campaign from her donors who maxed out to her. Why wouldn't he ask the same of his big donors?

Again, this is only about the amount she owes to third parties. Hillary is not asking anyone to reimburse her for the $10 million she loaned her campaign which she has said she views as her personal investment.

Listen to this:

“I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology."

Is this a rational observer commenting upon Rev. James Dobson? No, it is Rev. Dr. Dobson commenting upon Barack Obama.

Just days after Senator Barack Obama met quietly with religious leaders, including the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, another of the evangelical movement’s most prominent names, James C. Dobson, has sharply attacked Mr. Obama, accusing him of having “a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution” and twisting the meaning of both the Old and New Testaments.

This is surely not the first time that Rev. Dobson and "fruitcake" have appeared in the same sentence. [more ...]

Hillary Clinton returned to the Senate today. She's back to her day job, promising to roll up her sleeves, get to work, and yes, help Barack Obama become President.

Two hundred journalists, interns and others awaited her arrival at the carriage entrance outside the Senate chamber yesterday. A Senate official tried to keep order among the cameras, boom microphones and shotgun-wielding cops: "I need media credentials out! I need a space for her!"

...."Heads up!" somebody called out. The interns erupted in a cheer as soon as the leg of Clinton's turquoise pantsuit appeared though the doorway of her Lincoln Town Car.

The cheers continued at a private Senate luncheon. [More...]

The Denver National Convention Committee (DNCC) announced today that the August convention in Denver will be simulcast in Spanish:

In keeping with its commitment to make the 2008 Democratic National Convention the most accessible and technologically-savvy event of its kind, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) announced today that Comcast Corporation will produce simultaneous, online streaming coverage of the Convention in Spanish at DemConvention.com and make available a broad range of Convention content through its signature On Demand service.

...From the Comcast Media Center, based in the Denver metro area, Comcast will provide live, gavel-to-gavel Spanish-language interpretation of all Convention activities from the Pepsi Center to be streamed online at DemConvention.com from August 25-28. This marks the first time a national political Convention has been completely simulcast in Spanish and made available to a worldwide audience.

Spanish is the primary language of 35 million Americans. World-wide, there are more than 300 million people who speak Spanish.

This speaks for itself:

Charlie Black, a top adviser to Republican John McCain, apologized this afternoon for suggesting that another terrorist attack on US soil would help McCain's prospects. In an interview with Fortune magazine, Black declared, "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him."

Gosh, if only that would happen. Meanwhile, this headline proclaims the shocking news that John McCain hit his head on a low-hanging roof, while the article says it was a low-hanging door. Which was it, sir? A roof or a door? The world demands to know!