"the great Barack Obama landslide"

See. Obama is simply destructive and dangerous. Even the democrats admit it.

Ha ha ha. Very funny. *Sigh*

Politics is a gamble. What appears to be a certainty can often turn out to be the opposite. One only needs to remember the 2000 election to know how things change. Granted, it took the Supreme Court to determine the election, but there are sinister forces at work to grab the gold ring from the grasp of the people's choice.

Already the smear campaign is shifting into high gear. Warnings of an end to the world if the opposition candidate is elected are these folk's rallying cry. Character assasination is their specialty in the tradition of David Segretti, Lee Atwater, and Karl Rove. The Nixon Southern Strategy is their guiding light. Pursuit of "Evil," however they present it, is how they manipulate the electorate and maintain power.

Whenever someone makes comments that a candidate is "destructive and dangerous," it is an red flag and the is probably engaged in a smear. It's the Swift Boat Veterans again spreading their untruths in order to frighten voters to ignore real issues for the false security offered by by their brand of nonsense.

Fear is their selling card and it works very well with an uninformed electorate. They're always calling "Wolf!"

This should be an exceptionally good year for the Democrats nationwide, not so much in Utah though. Keeping McCain under 60% would be a near miracle.

an obama landslide is the burial of the US
as a free nation

Dare we hope for a Democratic landslide in November? Nahhhhhh....not in Utah. Sheep continue to flock with ditto marks of each other---even when a wolf in sheep's clothing is picking off personal rights one by one.

The trends clearly show Democrats will do well nationally. But, that does not necessarily translate to Utah. Here, Republicans will most likely retain seats - but merely at a lower percentage of the votes. And, like with Cannon, if Republicans are replaced it will likely be with other Republicans.

Beyond our state borders what remains problematic for Utah Republicans is their lessened positions in D.C. For, they are already the minority party. If a Democrat takes the presidency, that minority status will become much more apparent.

The upshot of all the above is that Matheson will likely become our political powerhouse in D.C.

I can’t wait for the great Obama why if he is anything like his parties congress we will enjoy mass poverty, joblessness, hunger, want and disease. He will unite us all as one, standing in the soup line.

Democrats have a real chance of picking up the 3rd Congressional in Utah. The Republican candidate has some major skeletons in his closet that will be released come October, much like October surprises of the past. When they do even the die-hard right wing will be hard pressed to vote for him.

It is a pretty similar scenario to that which elected Bill Orton in 1990.

I am one Republican who can in no way vote for the Republican nominee. To know his character when no one is watching is to not trust him in Washington.

In any case, George Bush and his neo-con, arrogant buddies have destroyed the Republican Party. And in so doing have given us Barak Obama. He will destroy the rest.

hey michaelh,

"I can’t wait for the great Obama .....we will enjoy mass poverty, joblessness, hunger, want and disease. He will unite us all as one, standing in the soup line."

Funny it sounds just like what's been happening in the U.S. for the past several years under Bush! Oh but you forgot to mention unending war for unending profit.

Nationally, it's looking like 1932. But in 1932 even Utah went Democratic. That's not likely this time. But overall, Republicans, get ready to be smashed.

Gus Talwynd:
There you go, smearing the Swift Boat Vets. Whenever more than 240 people in a military unit challenge the record of a former member, there's something there. Kerry failed to counter their arguments with the truth, and some of what he claimed was demonstratably false. He has yet to release his full military record. I do not know of any Swift Boat claim that was disproven. T. Boone Pickens offered $1 million to anyone who could prove anything the Swift Boat Vets claimed was false. No one has come forth to collect. If you can, why don't you try? If not, please desist from smearing the vets.

The funny thing is that the difference between Repub. and Dem. is so miniscule that it doesn't really matter.

Democrats may sweep everything nation-wide, but I doubt it. Most predictions of a sweep turn out to be more bravado insipired hype than reality and end up inspiring the opposition instead of the party/team that predicted the sweep.

Keep beating your chests Democrats and telling everyone how you are going to "Crush" them... That will probably bring more voters to your side (NOT;-)

SSMD:

When presented with the evidence disproving the Swift Boat claim, T. Boone Pickens chickened out and refused to award the $1 M.

Swift Boat was a smear campaign that was completely manufactured garbage. A similar ploy was used against John McCain in 2000.

If Barack Obama is elected president, and if the Democrats win more seats in congress, my hope is they won't make the same mistake Bill Clinton and the Democrats made in 1992.

Aside from the entire health care fiasco, the Democrats refused to consult with any conservatives when passing gun control legislation, family leave and tax increases. They seemed to just assume that no matter what bills they passed, the American voters would still re-elect them.

Attention Democrats - You may win back the White House in November. You may win more seats in the House, the Senate and the Governorships in November. But DON'T underestimate the Republican party or the American voters. If you want to hold onto that power, you must be more enclusive in your legislation and bill negotiations. Otherwise, 2010 will become "Contract with America II."

Maybe the Pubs have a Swiftboat mess of their own!
I hear that Mcbush tells the tale of turning down an advancemet to Admiral when in the Navy because he says " I would better serve by country by running for Congress." Problem is that this can't be verified yea or nay because McBush won't release his military records. A stroke of the pen solves the problem John! Embellisment is not restricted to one party!

Utah brains are too buried under lacquered beehive hair to emerge into the future. Obama will win everywhere, turning Utah into an island of hair-sprayed paralysis.

Unfortunately for the repugs, McCain makes Bob Dole look like a teenager.

"President Obama...." hmmmm, it does have a nice ring to it.

Hey, let Obama win, give the Congress to the demos, give Utah to the demos.

How much fun it will be to watch them flounder and fail. Taking over this government and this country's leadership is akin to having Captain Smith hand the wheel over to a first class passenger AFTER the Titanic hit the iceberg.

Good luck. This country and this state, are going under, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Nothing.

"Good luck. This country and this state, are going under, and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

You're welcome to go down with the ship. I guess you're a glass-half-empty kind of guy.

I, however, and a great many others, are going to try to survive and undo the damage done by Bushco. It'll be tough, but because I believe in America I'm willing to give it my all.

Much can be speculated - we won't know until after November. There are some things we are fairly certain of.

Democrats like taxes - Obama is a democrat and will have plenty of help to raise taxes.

Democrats love recessions when Republicans are in office. Therefore they love our present economic situation.

Higher taxes mess up economies. Fragile economies they really mess up. Therefore the economy will be worse under a democratic administration.

We went through this all under Carter. Therefore we will likely have another triple double under a president Obama. What's a triple double? Double digit inflation, unemployment and interest rates.

Rather than argue what will happen lets just put our predictions in a hermitically sealed jar on the porch of Funk & Wagnels (can't spell I went to public schools) and open them up in 4 years.

Utah HATES McCain. Utah loves Bush because they, like he have trouble with admitting mistakes. Unless McCain takes Mitt as his co-pilot, he will win here by only 10% rather than the 40% he would otherwise garner. Obama will win nationally and unless Mitt comes back from the dead by changing his mind on being Mormon like he did on every other issue he "rethought" to try to win votes, Utah will become a backwater politically as the rest of Repubs move to the center to try to regain national credibility.

America likes symbols.
After 9/11, when people were frightened out of their minds, people looked towards a tough-guy Rambo wanabee. Karl Rove and his attack on liberals
got what they wanted.
Today, it's a brand new ballgame.
America is shifting to wanting to be a kinder, gentler nation. Not one that tortures people and shock-and-awes women and children from sovereign nations.
If America's venture into the land of preemptive war and jingoism isn't completely dead - its most certainly dying. (except in reddest of states Utah that is)

McCain means more war, more oil addiction, more health care crisis, more alienation from the rest of the globe. I'm going for Obama. Intelligence, youth, new ideas. It's time to move forward.

"Hey, let Obama win, give the Congress to the demos, give Utah to the demos.
How much fun it will be to watch them flounder and fail"

Why would that be fun? Are you really so partisan that you'd root for our country to fail, merely to see the other party fail with it?

We really need a dose of common sense in this state. It is better to see your opposing party thrive, and make this a better place, than to root for the other party to ruin the country just to get some partisan gloating from it

In Utah, I'm turning it over to the dems. Not sure yet federally but it won't be Chaffetz. If we're going back to a rookie Congressman, I'd like to try a D over an R and see if we get someone like Matheson.

Too bad Matheson got gerrymandered out of my district by the lousy Utah GOP plan.

Interestingly, the two highprofile Utah demos are Peter Corroon and Jim Matheson who seem to represent Utah and seem to be conservative. (Who was it that built that RSL stadium? The GOP! Check out the picture of the ground breaking)

I am suprised at the vitrol spewed out about how Obama will take away freedoms and ruin the economy. sounds like a transferrence of anger about the situation we are already in. I'll bet conservatives and liberals alike know exactly who I am talking about. I don't even need to say his name. at least we can see eye to eye on one thing, even if you don't agree that who I am talking about is to blame you still know who I am referring to.

I for one find it ironic that so many repubs rant about what they are afraid Obama will do when most of thier fears have already manifested into reality during the last 8 years.

Why is it that the dems love it when things go bad? Why is it that they only thrive in adversity? Don't they like prosperity? Oh I forgot, prosperity is something that the dems have never known....

BTW, BO only stands for Body Odor, nothing more, nothing less (Obama included). he is nothing more than an empty shell that stinks, nothing more, nothing less.

Oscar:
If your info on Pickens is correct, I stand corrected on that point.
I disagree on the assertion that the Swift boat campaign was manufactured. As a Navy vet familiar with Vietnam riverine ops, I found credibility in 240 of Kerry's peers (including one of his own crew) convincing. The swell did not begin in 2004; fellow offcier John O'Neil challenged Kerry back in the 1970s on a television talk show. Even if there is less there than asserted, Kerry torpedoed his own candidacy by the simmering memories of his slanderous testimony before Congress in 1971. The chickens came home to roost 33 years later.

no chance of changing any minds here, won't even try. But I will say to Gus Talwynd that Rove and his buddies are complete amateurs in character assassination when compared to James Carville.

Conservatives have a difficult and agonizing time admitting situations may not be going quite as planned. They love to say things such as: "Stay the course," and "don't ever flip-flop."

This is why they are in such deep, deep trouble politically today.

They have spent far too much energy on trying to convice themselves, "right is right."

Meanwhile, those on the left are making a very steady and methodical move to insure the country is left of center once again where it functions best.

You know the neocons are in deep doo-doo when they have to re-hash John Kerry stories.
Next it'll be Ted Kennedy.
Then on to the Clintons.
The closer we get to November the clearer the political scenario and outcome seems to get.
Keep up the usual far-right nastiness, neocons.
You're making it easier and easier for the voters
(those outside of Utah, that is).

The Washington Post reported a few minutes ago that Sen. John McCain has once again shaken up his campaign staff, "reducing the role of Campaign Manager Rick Davis and vesting political adviser Steve Schmidt with "full operational control" of the entire campaign."

What's up with this?This is leadership? this is experience? I would hope someone with as much "experience as McCain says he has knows how to 1) run a campaign and 2) knows how to staff that campaign.

Brings to mind the song "The man can't run his own life, I'll be _____ if he'll run mine!"

In listening to Obama's speeches, I have yet to hear anything of substance. The only thing I have heard is that he wants to raise taxes for more social programs.

In reading all the Obama supporters on here many of you have indicated that you are voting for him because he wants change. Yet, in your posts, just like his speeches, there are no details of what changes or why or how they will be paid for and whom benefits.

The lack of substance is deafening.

As for the consistent poster who keeps saying the country is moving left of center and that's where it functions best and that takes us back to the good ol' days, you provide no details or examples of your exaggerated claim. So if you are going to pontificate each day on these pages with the same cut and paste job, you might want to include some details. Or are you just as shallow as Chris Matthews who gets a chill up his leg when he listens to Obama talk?

to 12:43...you are the only one each day who brings the nastiness and you never contribute an idea, just hatred. Nice work!

to 1:05pm

Wow, that's some deep thinking going on there.

We all know Michelle runs Barak's life. We know that Obama hangs with an American hating minister for 20 years and then tries to distance himself. We know that he hangs with a self-proclaimed unibomber and enjoys that association.

We know that Obama used drugs and did the "hang out" thing in Chicago. We know that Obama has never had any practical experience running anything in his life.

All of these facts are made known to us because the Clinton's brought them all forward.

I'm definitely no fan of McCain as he is my senator. Trust me, he has an uphill battle to win his own state.

But if you want to rest the fate of the country on someone like Obama because you don't like the way McCain is running his campaign, then you are pretty shallow in your assessments and arguments. But unfortunately, you seem to have many friends who enamored with Obama....why? I have no idea because there are no details to anything he says....

Re: the Swift Boat Vets' "untruths" -- You mean John Kerry really *did* spend Christmas of 1968 in Cambodia?

Charles is another deluded neocon who instead of admitting they backed the wrong horse (Bush/Cheney debacle) likes to go into attack mode against a black guy named Obama whom they believe is a reincarnation of Stalin.

Conservatives war on:
Iraq & Afghanistan
Roe v Wade
Stem-cell research
Gay Marriage
Prayer in school
Social Security and Medicare
Liberal individualism in civil rights
Liberal internationalism
habeus corpus

Have all failed and failed miserably.
Americans recently kicked out the dead weight conservatives from both houses making this once great country one step closer to what it used to be.

At least put some substance into your opinions. All these overly simplistic (and not true) statements like, "McCain means more war" and "Obama means more taxes" bring nothing new to the table.

Cyril H. Noble believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. At least that's what this letter tells me.

It's all they (the neocons) have left in their arsenal of hate.
Get used to more of their usual BS from now until November.
What they hadn't noticed is that it is now cool to be liberal (Like Jesus Christ was).
So keep the liberal-hatred going neocons. You're making it easier and easier for the middle of the road voters.

Usually the candidate who runs the best campaign wins in November. One good indicator of whether you can run the country is how well you run your own campaign.

Look at George W. Bush in 2000 and certainly 2004 both run by Carl Rove. A master campaigner they'll still be talking about in 100 years.

Bill Clinton in 1992 run by Carvel and Begala. Unsurpassed on the D side of the isle.

George H. W. Bush in 1988 run by Atwater. Rewrote the book on campaigns. Many have made the observation that Bush would have not have lost to Clinton had Lee Atwater not died of brain cancer in 1990.

McCain comes up short thus far in managing his own campaign. Not only can't he pick the right people but he doesn't seem to have a consistent strategy or message. Obama on the other had has been with one team from the beginning. He's running a better campaign than McCain.

Another factor to consider.

If Truth in Advertising were applied to politics, the Democrats wouldn't have a chance. Rhetoric is wonderful, but when the actual plans are revealed, showing exactly how the funds will be obtained, during a deep recession, everybody is going to be hit with a huge tax increase.

Taxes come from profits. When profits evaporate, due to high gas prices and inflationary caused by a Democrat controlled House and Senate who will not pay the bills of Government, guess who gets to pay the bill? The "fat cats" who have no profits, or the ordinary wage earners who do have profits? Look in the mirror. You're the official bill payer for the Liberal spenders in Congress.

That little secret is not something that Mr. Obama wants anyone to even think about, much less evaluate as they consider candidates.

Programs cost money - your money. If you think that taxes are high now, just vote for Mr. Obama and see how little is left in your wallet when he funds his "promises".

Anon, you keep referring to "what [America] used to be." What decade, precisely, are you identifying as the golden age before everything went wrong?

glad to see the left has not abandoned their cry of Neocons! whenever they can't think of anything else. They decry neocon hate, but use the term in a hateful way themselves. Hate is not relegated solely to the neocons, lots of SPs openly express it when they talk of neocons. I guess since they don't try to hide their hatred, they consider themselves better because they are open about it.

Mike Richards,

You need to get out of your little shell and recognize if the Truth in Advertising were applied to political races neither party would stand a chance.

Remember the first casualty of War is TRUTH. A political campaign is a war for the hearts and minds of voters. Its a one day sale. To the victor goes the spoil and of course all's fair in love and war.

Tell me though why you are supporting McCain. I don't want to know why you are NOT supporting Obama. Can you make a convincing case for McCain?

Thomas want to know what went wrong in America?
Conservatives went wrong with America.
Now we have:
First ever preemptive war.
Shock and aweing of women and children of sovereign nations.
Wire-tapping.
Torture.
An economy going down the toilet.
The closest this country has ever been to fascism.
And all supported by the twisted minds of conservatives.

The good citizens of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, and Hamburg might take exception to Anon's notion that women and children ever got "shock and awed" before the Iraq campaign.

Bobby Kennedy thought nothing of wiretapping American citizens, with far fewer protections than the present administration imposed on itself.

The economy was far worse multiple times in Anon's 1970s golden age than it's doing now.

John Kerry accused American soldiers of doing a lot worse than "waterboarding" during Vietnam, under a Democratic administration.

The truth, Anon, is that you have absolutely no grasp of history. America under George W. Bush is well to the left of where America was under FDR< Truman, JFK, LBJ, or Carter. And only a complete fool would think any of this is at all close to "fascism."

Thomas tells us its perfectly okay to nuke civilians for political reasons. Interesting that next to the current president, Truman's approval rating was the lowest of any modern president.
He no doubt supports the shock and aweing of women and children of Iraq prior to the invasion.
He says today's economy is just ducky and for good measure takes a couple of shots at John Kerry and Bobby Kennedy.
I knew things were tough for our conservative brothers and sisters but it appears poor Thomas might be in dire need of a long and restful vacation.

Anon 5:10...isn't it amazing that you didn't refute anything that Thomas said. You just attacked Thomas for what he said. Typical liberal. Can't compete with ideas, thoughts, facts so they resort to become like Anonymous...venomous, vile, vitriolic, rapid, name-callers....

If and when you ever put up any fact, there will be a tremendous earthquake to let the world know that Anon has grown up....