Saturday Morning Quick Hits

It isn't just Julie Nixon Eisenhower crossing the ticket with her checkbook. McClatchy is in the middle of doing a comparison of campaign finance reports and has found hundreds of examples of people who gave at least $200 to the bu$h campaign in 2004 who have given to the Obama campaign this cycle. Ya know, that isn't so easy to dismiss. People aren't faking it when they express support with dollars. There are a lot of pissed-off economic conservatives, mostly moderate republicans and Independents who feel like the republican party has lost it's collective marbles and they are going overboard in droves. Fine by me, especially since they are writing checks at a terrific clip.

Sweet! With the final primary contests taking place Tuesday, and the DNC Rules Committee sequestered this weekend to find a way to draw this to an end, the general gets underway on Tuesday night, de facto even if not de jure and I really like Barack Obama's choice of location for the kick-off. On Tuesday he is holding a huge rally at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul - the very building in which the republicans will hold their convention. Sly, subtle, but totally in-your-face-with-a-smile-on-mine. My summer is going to be enjoyable if this is any indication of the political knife-fighting skills Obama learned on the streets of Chicago's south side. I will smile every time the suave guy slyly slips a knife between the ribs of the hotheaded Pinto, Gremlin, Pacer, Vega Maverick (I knew I would remember eventually which one of the much-maligned 70's econoboxes he self-identifies with.)

This is some pretty damned strong support Fifty four former state Attorneys General have filed an Amicus Brief in support of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman who was imprisoned because Karl Rove couldn't beat him in elections and bullies cheat when they can't win, because they are, deep-down, losers and punks. And no one knows that truth about Karl Rove more acutely than Karl Rove.

That's it for the mornings roundup - but there is plenty more out there, so there might be an afternoon version today - but I have to go to the city market before the last strawberry disappears to Johnson County.

--BG