Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak writes in his Sunday column that "Republican strategists are privately conceding that the GOP could lose Georgia's 15 presidential electors for the first time since 1992 because of Bob Barr's ballot position as the Libertarian Party presidential candidate."  [Source:  Chicago Sun-Times, "Obama quietly meets with business execs", July 20, 2008]

Novak's column came two days after Atlanta Journal Constitution associate editorial page editor Jim Wooten wrote "that a gap exists between political hype and reality."

But, stripped of the hype, it seems even less likely that Georgia could be in play for Barack Obama or that this will be anything other than the usual strongly contested presidential election. Those who are most excited about the Obama candidacy -- the young -- are historically no-shows at the polls.

 [Source:  Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Despite hype, Obama won't carry Georgia", July 18, 2008]

Both Novak and Wooten are conservatives.

Politico.com is out with an article today that details an incident that occurred during Barack Obama's visit to Atlanta last week when Vietnam veteran and former U.S. Senator Max Cleland was disinvited from appearing with Obama at a fundraising event due to his alleged lobbying activities.

...Cleland -- despite his iconic status -- was abruptly disinvited from appearing with Obama in Atlanta July 8, three sources familiar with the incident said.

Cleland has told associates he was asked to appear at an Obama event in Atlanta on July 8, only to be told at the last minute that he wouldn't be welcome, apparently because of the campaign's blanket policy of barring lobbyists from giving money or appearing with the candidate.  [Source:  Politico.com, "Obama disinvited 'lobbyist' Cleland", July 18, 2008]

Yesterday, I was asked to give my take on the New Yorker cover featuring a caricature of Barack Obama in full Osama bin Laden-like, radical Muslim terrorist regalia with his wife, Michelle, sporting an afro and holding what appears to be an AK-47 over her shoulders.

It's obvious to me and to anyone who doesn't take themselves too seriously that the New Yorker magazine cover is a parody; a satire of what some folks, incorrectly, think about the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois and his wife.

However, if the Obama campaign's reaction to the New Yorker magazine cover is any guide, we know now that they take themselves way too seriously and don't know how to receive a joke that is meant to poke fun at their detractors, not them.    

When the New Yorker magazine, with the now "infamous" Obama bin Laden cover, first graced the world stage (and yes, the world is talking about this, which I'll point out later on), Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton released a statement that said, "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. "But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."  [Source:  Associated Press, "Magazine's 'satirical' cover stirs controversy", July 14, 2008]

The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) announced the launch of a national online video contest with YouTube asking Americans to answer the question, "Why are you a Democrat in 2008?"

The winner of the 2008 Convention Video Program with YouTube will attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August and see his or her winning video played before thousands of delegates, elected officials and other Convention guests. YouTube will also send the winner on the campaign trail for a day, where as a member of the traveling press pool, the winner will record a video documenting the daily activities of the Democratic nominee.

Individuals can submit video responses at youtube.com/demconvention, the Democratic National Convention's YouTube channel, until August 1. Based on the most creative and compelling submissions, the DNCC will narrow the field of entries to five and, starting August 7, the YouTube community will have the chance to vote for their favorites. The video receiving the highest number of votes will win the contest and be announced on August 14.

The winner will receive paid travel and hotel accommodations to attend the Democratic National Convention, to be held August 25-28 in Denver.

...As MSM scales back convention coverage.

With the reports that media outlets such as CBS News are seriously contemplating reducing their coverage of the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention  [Source:  Politico.com, Networks may limit convention coverage", July 9, 2008], more Americans will be turning towards the more than one hundred bloggers credentialed by the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) for their daily convention updates.

However, the blog, DemConWatch, discovered today that over half of the bloggers attending the Democratic National Convention may not be getting the unprecedented access they were expecting.

• General Bloggers who received credentials will get "Hall" credentials rather than the more restrictive "Arena" credentials. This allows them to access a general press area, the blogger lounge, the concourses and a portion of the the upper seating area;


• A first-come-first-serve section of seats will be reserved within the Hall for bloggers;


• The previously mentioned general press area is in the Denver Nuggets practice court; and


• The blogger lounge is in the Nuggets work-out room.

Source:  DemConWatch.com, "Media Walk-Through...Take 2", July 9, 2008

Throughout the four days of the convention, bloggers credentialed as part of the General Blogger Pool (including Georgia Politics Unfiltered, the blog of this diary's author) may end up camping out on the steps of the Pepsi Center in hopes of gaining access to the limited "general blogger" seats on the convention floor.  This has prominent bloggers such as Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, renewing their criticisms of a blogger credentialing process that many consider to be flawed.

It's clear that my original complaints were correct -- that the best state-level bloggers, cut out by pernicious party hacks and/or the incompetence of convention organizers -- will not have easy access to their delegations on the floor of the convention. And all the tone-deaf responses by Aaron Myers have now proven inoperative.

This was fixable. It's unconscionable that it wasn't.

Source:  Daily Kos.com, "Shocker, I was right about DNCC blogger passes", July 9, 2008

The DNCC credentialed 124 bloggers for the Democratic National Convention including just over fifty state bloggers who will be seated with their respective state delegations on the convention floor.  The remainder of the credentialed blogs will compete for the limited number floor passes allocated to the general blogger pool.

One of the most important tasks a delegate to the Democratic National Convention completes is the approval of the national platform for the Democratic Party.  Every four years, a committee gets together and drafts a document that accurately reflects what it is the Democratic Party stands for along with the vision the party offers for America.

In keeping with its efforts to have the most open and inclusive convention in recent memory, the Democratic National Committee announced today that voters in all 50 states will have the opportunity to take part in Platform Meetings to help shape the Democratic Platform.

"From the beginning, we said we were going bring down the traditional walls of the Democratic Convention and make this event more accessible and include as many people as possible," said Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean. "This process will empower Americans in all 50 states to make their voices heard as they help write the document that embodies our Party's values and vision for the future. Barack Obama will bring real change to Washington, and as we write the Democratic Platform, there will be a clear choice between more of the same failed policies of the Bush Administration with John McCain or real change with Barack Obama who will make the American people, not the special interests, the priority again."

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and its affiliate, the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) Wednesday voted "present" in the highly unusual balloting among AFL-CIO union leaders to endorse a candidate for President of the United States.

"Blue-collar Democrats are born skeptics," said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. "Their skepticism grew during this campaign. And to turn skeptics into supporters takes more than a perfunctory knock on the door of the House of Labor."

TCU President Bob Scardelletti and Buffenbarger agreed that now is not the right time for an endorsement.

"We look forward to a productive conversation with Senator Obama about policies that can resonate with blue-collar Democrats," reiterated Buffenbarger. "As they demonstrated in state after state, blue-collar Democrats respond overwhelmingly to a candidate who will fight to improve their lives. And they are just not there yet. Nor are we."

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. The DNCC also announced that Comcast has been named the Convention's Official Cable Television and Video-On-Demand (VOD) provider.

"We set out to 'bring down the walls' of the Pepsi Center and make this year's historic Convention as inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible," said Leah D. Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC. "Comcast is helping us bring the Convention to a growing number of computer screens and televisions throughout the country and around the world."

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. In addition, Comcast will place highlights, including key speeches and Spanish-language content from each night of the Convention, on its national VOD platform, available to over 16 million Comcast Digital Cable subscribers in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Comcast will also make this VOD Convention content available for distribution on other cable systems throughout the nation.

Comcast will also edit, manage and archive Convention coverage for distribution online, on cable television and via global satellite uplink.