Politics and other nightmares

ABC's Jake Tapper is mad because he feels lied to by the Barack Obama campaign. He thought he smelled smoke on the candidate at a time when Obama had supposedly quit cigarettes. Tapper asked the campaign if Obama had fallen off the nicotine wagon and was assured that was not the case. But then the candidate later admitted to Chris Matthews that he had slipped a time or two:

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OK, I've seen Jim Schellinger's and Jill Long Thomson's ads, and they are both too folksy and charming for words. I am heartened to learn that both candidates come from such "humble" beginnings. Jill grew up on the family farm and was the first in her family to go to college. Jim "worked nights" to put himself through college.

"But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land."

Let's hear it for the values of the Heartland, where we watch out for our hard-earned dollars instead of just throwing them away like those profligate wastrels on the coasts:

The husband of Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told police he paid a prostitute $150 for sex in February.

This is just stupid:

Indiana's Democratic chairman said his party is ready to challenge the votes of any lifelong Republicans who attempt to vote as Democrats in the May 6 primary.

Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said he is concerned Republicans may try to cast crossover votes to skew results in the close presidential primary between U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The "pursuit of happiness" might be part of Americans' birthright, but John MCain sure doesn't seem to think much of it:

Good lord. Here's someone who doesn't have a single clue about what this country was built on or how the real world works, and she is paid (I presume) good money to write a column for a major American newspaper:

Now, I'm really worried that Barack Obama is just not ready to be president. He went bowling, and got a . . . 37. A 37! Man, that' s a lot of gutter balls. My cats could beat that:

Hillary Clinton is going to have a Fort Wayne office in the 2000 block of Fairfield. The second place we lived when my parents moved us here was in the 2200 block of Fairfield, so I know the area well. It is gritty, blue-collar -- well, you get the idea. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has his Fort Wayne headquarters on Columbia Street, which is like yuppie urban-revival heaven.

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, on John McCain:

"While we honor McCain's military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant opportunist who doesn't understand the economy and is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years."

Yeah, a blatant opportunist. What cunning calculation to let himself be taken prisoner in Vietnam just to add to his presidential potential.