As much as the media narrative screams "close race" and tries to make us believe that there is some sort of rallying of the republican faithful taking place around Grandpa John -- it's all bullshit, and they know it.

I am a long beaten down Democrat, living in a deeply red district in Washington State, seriously disheartened by the disasters of two Bush terms, and 16 years with Doc Hastings as my representative, and I am telling you right now, Obama is going to win in a landslide.  It won't even be close. He'll win at least 300 electoral votes, probably more.

The difference will be turnout.  No opinion poll can tell me what a likely voter will look like in November, just as they couldn't have predicted the record shattering showing Democrats had in the primary race.  In 2004 we had 125 people show up at the county wide convention for John Kerry.  This year we had almost 700. This in a Bush +10 congressional district.  College campuses have become incubators for the largest turnout among the youth in history - probably even eclipsing that of 1972 when 18 year olds could first vote.  And, think of this -- the 50 state voter registration drive the campaign is planning hasn't even started yet.

Hello All,
    I am going to be in Denver the weekend before the Democratic National Convention.  I am going back home on Monday night.  I would LOVE to participate in something convention related while there.  My problem is, I cannot find any schedule of events for the convention.  Yes, I have been to the website. (http://demconvention.com/events/)  Can someone help me out?

Just read this on Huffington Post.

I have been on Kos for a few years and I had to miss Las Vegas and Chicago.  I was very much looking forward to the gathering in Austin.  I think the convention made a very wise choice.  

Unfortunately, my vacation is here this week and my family and I are going to drive to Yellowstone and Spokane to visit family.

So here is a welcome to y'all to Austin, and my humble suggestions for places to spend money and places to have fun.

So have a good time, and I'll come to Net Roots next year.

Love all of you.

Recently I wrote a diary about how some Clinton supporters are agitating to have Clinton's name placed in nomination at the convention.

Some of them are doing this because they claim this will show Clinton more respect.  Others actually think that Clinton could end up getting the nomination.

Now this same story has been picked up by the Huffington Post which has it as its headline when you go to the page.

So I thought I'd throw this question out there -- Should there be a roll call with both Obama and Clinton as nominated candidates?

Now the Denver Group has joined PUMA in opposition to Senator Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee. The Denver Group intends a hijacking at the convention.  You have to ask yourself, however, what's their real goal?

Right now there is a strong movement to give Hillary Clinton a fighting chance at the presidential nomination.  It's led by a blog group called "The Denver Group". This may be part of the reason for Hillary's lengthly explanation of her FISA vote. Some HRC supporters are comparing Hillary's "no" vote to Barack's "yes" vote and McCain's not having voted on the bill in numerous blogs. The FISA vote is clearly being used to draw support for Hillary.

This is my very first diary ever - I'm sort of new to the whole 'netroots' thing.  As a matter of fact, I only just recently understood what that word meant.  Something to do with plants, right??

Anyway, I decided that today would be the day that I write a diary, because something amazing just happened.

I'm going to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, but I'm not a Delegate . . .

t just proves the point the most impressive and useful ideas are often the simplest and have always been sitting out in clear view until someone notices them. And that can take a long time. Compliments to whoever on the Obama staff realized keeping the Convention inside the convention hall makes NO sense specifically NOT on the final night of the Convention. The night that really counts !!

From Politico:

Obama to accept before 75,000+
By MIKE ALLEN | 7/7/08 9:20 AM EST  Text Size:    

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will leave the hall of the Democratic National Convention in Denver and deliver a rock-star-style acceptance speech at nearby Invesco Field at Mile High, quadrupling his live audience, the party announced Monday.

The speech, in the stadium that is home of the Denver Broncos, will be on the fourth and final night of the convention, Aug. 28.

Adding to the historic resonance of the first nomination of an African-American for president, that date is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream Speech."

The move means additional expense for the television networks, where executives are having a conference call Monday to discuss the logistics of moving their cameras and anchors to the new location after months of planning for a finale in the smaller Pepsi Center, where the rest of the convention will be held.

The convention hall has a capacity of 19,000, compared to more than 76,000 at Invesco.

How cool is this?  

At the Democratic National Convention next month, Barack will deliver his acceptance speech in front of 75,000 people at a free, open event in Denver, Colorado.

Make a donation of $5 or more between now and midnight on July 31st, and you could be one of 10 supporters chosen to meet Barack backstage and watch his acceptance speech in person.

Each of the 10 selected supporters can bring a guest, and will be flown to Denver to spend two days at the convention, culminating in Barack's speech on Thursday, August 28th.

Make a donation now and you could have a front row seat to history:

After days of speculations, it will be made official tomorrow:

Obama will give his acceptance speech at Invesco Fiels, the Broncos' arena with capacity of 76,000.

I figure that Obama's VP pick is a much bigger deal than March Madness.

So, I figure that the rows will be the potential VP picks, and the columns will be the dates.

Obviously, the further before the convention, the more time will be covered by each time slot.

Let's be clear, this is not online gambling.  That would be wrong.  It is a complex financial instrument, like the Iowa presidential election futures market.

Obviously, the "house" gets a cut of the action, just like on Wall Street.

So here are the questions:

• Should this just be a VP pick, or should less restrictive betting pool futures market be set up.
• What criteria are used to select potential candidates?
• How should the time be divided for the matrix?

and finally:

• If Sam Nunn is selected, who is the approved vendor for pitch forks and torches?

This may not be the appropriate place to post this but I'm desparate.  Does anyone here have any leads on housing available in Denver?

Robert Novak is concerned about a "therapeutic electoral bloodbath".
His fears spring from a number of different factors. The Republican Brand is badly damaged and he knows it. He is also aware of the unpopular status of the current occupant of the White House.

In the land of "Minnesota Nice"  the sad state of the Republican party has landed them 4,000 volunteers short of their goal of 10,000.

By comparison

The Denver Host Committee, which says it has gotten 21,000 volunteers for the Democratic convention, Aug. 25-28, shut off the application process three months ago.

Party pooper, party pooper.

My respect for Granny Doc is boundless but on this point I think she's wrong.

Follow me to find out why.

Wisconsin democrats voted yesterday to strip Debra Bartoshevich's status as a delegate to the national convention late Friday evening.  DNC and state party rules state that delegates that oppose the party's nominee will not be permitted to attend party convention as a delegate.