Hillary Clinton Campaign in Big Trouble

Obama now has the outright lead:

Sen. Barack Obama took the lead in the race for Democratic delegates for the first time Tuesday, moving ahead of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

[...]Obama won at least 65 delegates in Tuesday's primaries, with 70 still to be awarded. Clinton won at least 33.

Obama won 52 of Washington state's 78 delegates, according to caucus results released by the state party Tuesday night. Clinton won 26.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama had 1,223, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,198.

It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

He is cutting into her base. She has no more excuses:

Hillary Rodham Clinton has set up Texas and Ohio as her firewall, but the results from Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama's most recent victories give her plenty of reason to worry whether it will hold up.

Obama won sweeping victories in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, cutting into her lead among her most reliable base voters and adding to a glut of bad news for Clinton. Combine the shake-up of her senior campaign staff, the candidate's $5 million loan to keep her campaign afloat, her eight straight losses in the past week and there's not much that makes Clinton look like a winning candidate. That's counting the prospect of more losses next week in Obama's native Hawaii and in Wisconsin, next door to the Illinois senator's adopted state.

[...]her strategy is reminiscent of another New Yorker who once was a front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination. Republican Rudy Giuliani also argued he could survive a month of losses and then come back in Florida, but by the time that vote came all the momentum had shifted away from him.

Clinton has been confident about her chances in Texas and Ohio next month because they fit her pattern of victory — they are primary states where she has the support of leading elected officials. Many of the voters in those states are from her base — older or lower income or white or Hispanic or, of course, women.

But exit surveys conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks during Obama's overwhelming victories Tuesday showed she can't rely on those groups any more.

Clinton's campaign can't explain Obama's win as a black thing, since most of the voters in the two states are white. The two split the white vote in Virginia evenly, while Clinton won with that group in Maryland by 10 percentage points. Before Tuesday, Clinton had clearly defeated Obama among whites in all but three states with Democratic primaries, and had a 14 percentage point advantage with white voters in those prior contests combined.

She can't object to the process being a caucus instead of a more representative primary. All three contests were primaries, and he won all three by more than 20 percentage points.

He's even winning older voters. That's really bad news for Billary:

Older voters had been solidly in Hillary Clinton's camp in nearly every primary contest to date.

But according to exit polls out of both Virginia and Maryland, the New York senator lost those voters to Barack Obama in Tuesday’s primaries.

Among voters over 60, Obama beat Clinton by 8 points in Virginia and 4 points in Maryland.

And she is a sore loser:

For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.

On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.

On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).

The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.

Obama Victory Speech Transcript 2-12-08

If you didn't hear Obama's spectacular speech last night, you missed something really special. At least you can read the transcript:

This is the new American majority. This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up. And in this election, your voices will be heard.

Because at a time when so many people are struggling to keep up with soaring costs in a sluggish economy, we know that the status quo in Washington just won't do. Not this time. Not this year. We can't keep playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result – because it's a game that ordinary Americans are losing.

It's a game where lobbyists write check after check and Exxon turns record profits, while you pay the price at the pump, and our planet is put at risk. That's what happens when lobbyists set the agenda, and that's why they won't drown out your voices anymore when I am President of the United States of America

It's a game where trade deals like NAFTA ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart. That's what happens when the American worker doesn't have a voice at the negotiating table, when leaders change their positions on trade with the politics of the moment, and that's why we need a President who will listen to Main Street – not just Wall Street; a President who will stand with workers not just when it's easy, but when it's hard.

It's a game where Democrats and Republicans fail to come together year after year after year, while another mother goes without health care for her sick child. That's why we have to put an end to the division and distraction in Washington, so that we can unite this nation around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

McCain Turns Down FEC Matching Funds

This from Mr.Campaign Reform. The "maverick" is just turning out to be a another establishment politician:

John McCain will turn down government matching funds for his primary campaign, a move that frees the Arizona senator and campaign finance reform advocate from spending caps.

In a letter to the Federal Elections Commission Monday, the presumptive Republican nominee wrote he will "make no requests for matching payments, and will not accept matching-fund payments, including the initial amounts and other amounts certified by the Federal Election Commission in connection with previous submissions."

McCain had asked to participate in the system, in a last ditch effort to keep his cash-poor campaign alive. In December, the FEC said he was eligible for $5.8 million. But had he accepted that money, McCain would have only been allowed to spend about $54 million total on his primary campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Clinton not Ready to Release Tax Returns

You think she has something to hide:

Resisting calls from Barack Obama to release her income tax returns, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would only do so if she secures the Democratic presidential nomination and contended her rival had been less than candid about his relationship with major campaign contributors.

[...]After the former first lady acknowledged she had lent her campaign $5 million in personal funds, Sen. Obama suggested she release her tax records as he has done to give voters a better accounting of where her money comes from.

The Clintons have become wealthy since leaving the White House in 2001, largely through Bill Clinton's consulting and speaking fees and the couple's lucrative book deals.

The Reason for the Sub Prime Housing Crises

If you wonder how we got to the point with a housing crisis caused by the Sub Prime collapse? Look no further than the powerful National Association of Realtors. This from OpenSecrets.org:

The National Association of Realtors represents the nation’s real estate industry. While the bulk of its issues tend to deal with property management and control, the group also lobbies members of Congress and the administration on virtually every issue facing business, including health care reform, bankruptcy legislation and tax cuts. One of its biggest issues in recent years has been a move toward deregulating the financial services industry. For years, real estate agents have successfully warded off attempts by banking interests to delve into the sale and management of property. One of the keys to the group’s success: It supports Democrats and Republicans almost equally.

They are the 3rd largest political donors. That is why.

60 Minutes Easy on Hillary Clinton, Tougher on Obama

It was a shameful piece of journalism. Katie Couric totally rolled for Hillary Clinton, allowing her to hit pitch after pitch out of the ball park [read the entire transcript]:

• Now she finds herself locked in a fierce battle with her opponent Barrack Obama. But she's already won several big states and she's got her eye on two important primaries in early March, Texas and Ohio.
  
  With the Democratic nomination in the balance, she remains focused, energized and anything but defeatist.
• "Even in your deepest darkest moments, when you're exhausted, you don't think 'Oh my gosh, I'm going through this, I'm spending so much money, I'm so tired and this could be all for naught?' What if that happens?" Couric asked. "You have to, once in a while, think that. No?"
  
  "No, Katie," Clinton said. "You can't think like that. You have to believe you're going to win."
• "How do you do it? I mean, the satellite interviews, the speeches, the travel, the debates, the schmoozing, the picture taking, 24/7," Couric asked. [Couric did interrupt to challenge her canned answer]
• Asked if she pops vitamins or drinks a lot of coffee, Clinton said, "I take vitamins. I drink tea, not coffee anymore. I have really stopped drinking diet drinks. Because I found that they gave you a jolt, but they weren't good over the long run. I used to drink a lot of them. I drink tons of water. Just as much water as I can possibly drink."
• "Not one scintilla of bad blood between you now?" Couric asked.
  
  "Not from my side, no," Clinton said. "I was sitting on that stage in Los Angeles and I was thinking to myself, 'This is what I have dreamed of my entire life,' you know." [Couric should've challenged this statement and pointed out her race-baiting during the South Carolina primary]
• Asked if the media has treated her the same way as they've treated Obama, Clinton told Couric, "I think the media has certainly been very, shall we say, tough on me."
  
  "Tougher on you than Senator Obama?" Couric asked.
  
  "Or nearly anybody else, the best I can tell. But that's okay," Clinton said.
  
  "You've said, 'I've been through the Republican attacks. And I've been vetted.' And cynics suggest that you're insinuating there's some deep, dark secret that is in Barack Obama's past that will be somehow unveiled by a GOP attack machine," Couric said.
  

Coversely, Obama's interview tonight was more like a real interview [read the transcript here]:

• "I know you'd like to consider yourself the underdog. But by the time we're finished with the next round, it's possible, maybe even likely, that you'll have more delegates than Senator Clinton. Or that you will have won more states. And that you will have raised more money. And have more money on hand. So explain to me how you're an underdog," Kroft asked.
• "I mean, one of the problems that you have, still, is the question of experience. And you've done a lot of remarkable things in your life. But when you sit down and you look at the résumé - there's no executive experience. And, in fact, correct if I'm wrong, the only thing that you've actually run was the Harvard Law Review," Kroft pointed out.
• "You talk about big ideas and often with a lack of specificity. And it’s been one of the complaints about your campaign," Kroft remarked.
• To some people he can come across as being cocky and a bit aloof; others see it as confidence.

Bush FOXNews Transcript: McCain a "True Conservative"

If you say so, George. What you didn't say is that he is much a Conservative as you are (read the entire transcript):

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Absolutely. I know him well. I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him and no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative. Now I do want to make sure that you don't rope me into getting into this primary before it ends because we have another conservative candidate in Mike Huckabee still running.

Did he ask for your help?:

BUSH: I think that if John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee ...

But he voted against your tax cuts:

WALLACE: Let's talk about some of the issues that give conservatives heartburn with McCain and quite frankly issues where he broke with you. He was one of only two Republicans — I don't have to remind you — who voted against your tax cuts. The first time, he said because he said they tilted too far towards the rich.

BUSH: He is for making the tax cuts permanent.

WALLACE: And what he did in 2001 and 2003 doesn't bother you?

BUSH: No. He absolutely has said that and he's the kind of fellow who says something, he'll do it and he said, these tax cuts ought to be made permanent. See, you're trying to get me in the trap again of getting involved in this primary and it's not even over yet.

Questions over Hillary Clinton's Family Wealth

The Clintons can't seem to do anything without it being dishonest or crooked:

Hillary Clinton is coming under growing pressure to be more open about the sources of her family’s wealth after she revealed that she had been forced to loan her cash-strapped campaign $5 million.

Critics are claiming that her husband Bill Clinton’s lucrative financial dealings since leaving the White House may expose her campaign to conflicts of interest, and are calling for her to publish the full details of her earnings and assets.

Sen Clinton has made more than $9 million from her 2003 memoirs.

But the biggest earner in the family is the former president, who is finalising an estimated $20 million pay-out from a six-year stint as an investment fund advisor, and has raked in many millions more from consultancy deals, speeches and his writings.

The couple left the White House with $2 million in legal debts in 2001 but are now worth between $10 million and $50 million, according to her latest Senate financial disclosure filings, which allow candidates to list their assets in broad ranges.

Mrs Clinton can put half the funds held jointly with her husband towards her presidential bid under campaign finance laws.

By contrast, her rival Barack Obama emphasised last week that he released his annual tax returns, which break down earnings and assets in detail.

“I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from,” he said pointedly.

Obama Clean Sweeps Hillary

Today's vote outcome reaffirms the momentum Obama has demonstrated since before Super Tuesday. Hillary needs to worry. Even before today's outcomes a poll showed the Illinois Senator with the lead nationally. Does she have any dirty tricks left? Hillary has even had the temerity of calling Obama the establishment candidate. Why else is she trying to steal the delegates from the boycotted Florida and Michigan contests?

Obama's victory was broad, as it was decisive. He won among men (52%), women (54%), lower and upper income voters, and was almost evenly split among those who voted who would best be the commander-in-chief:

Sen. Barack Obama will win the Louisiana Democratic primary, CNN projects.

[...] With 50 percent of Democratic precincts reporting, Obama led Hillary Clinton 53-39 percent. Huckabee led McCain 48-39 percent, with 49 percent of Republican precincts reporting.

Obama and Huckabee both claimed victory in Saturday's earlier contests.

Obama was projected to take Washington state and Nebraska by a substantial margin, and Huckabee scored a resounding win in Kansas.

Huckabee won all 36 of the Kansas delegates at stake.

Obama and Huckabee have done well in caucus states like Iowa, where grass-roots efforts are more likely to have greater influence.

Obama catching up on the delegate count:

In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests.

In initial allocations, Obama had won 31, Clinton nine.

In overall totals in The Associated Press count, Clinton had 1,064 delegates to 1,029 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver.

Its no wonder she is in a state of panic:

Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart her rival Barack Obama's ambitions.

The Clinton camp is braced for Mr Obama to win a series of primary elections over the next three weeks, which they fear could hand the Illinois senator unstoppable momentum in the race for the White House.

Mr Obama has begun calling those "super delegates" - 795 congressmen and senior party officials who could break a dead heat - who are committed to Mrs Clinton, asking them to change their minds and help him wrap up the nomination.

As of tonight, the two candidates were neck and neck but Mr Obama appeared to be gaining momentum.

War Strains U.S. Military in Tackling new Crises

Forget about taking on Iran. It is criminal that our government (i.e.,Bush) has put our nation in this position. I guess we'll realize it when a new military crisis arises. For now the problem is ignored. Including by the Presidential candidates:

A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite security gains in Iraq, the military was not able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.

Glenn Beck: McCain will Destroy the Conservative Movement

John McCain has made many enemies among the Conservatives. One in particular, CNN host, Glenn Beck, had some really harsh things to say about the likely Republican nominee. Watch the video to get a real feel for the level of hostility that exists against McCain:

Retail Sales in January Worst in Almost 40 Years

This is disastrous news. Something needs to be done now before it's too late:

Consumer spending slowed to a crawl in January, with retail sales at major chains rising just 0.5% in what was by one measure the month's worst performance in nearly 40 years, according to reports released Thursday.

Evidence of consumer caution came from both ends of the marketplace.

Discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said shoppers held on tight to the gift cards they received over the holidays or used them to buy milk and bread rather than toys or iPods. High-end Saks Inc. said customers shifted more of their spending to "promotional events" -- making purchases when items were specially priced.

Wal-Mart's sales were higher this January than last, though just barely, while Saks saw a 4.1% increase. Sales at Macy's Inc. stores fell so much more than expected -- by 7.1% -- that the company slashed its quarterly profit forecast and also said that as part of a restructuring plan it would eliminate 2,300 jobs. Costco Wholesale Corp., on the other hand, recorded a 7% hike.

There were widely divergent numbers for individual chains but disappointment for the industry as a whole.

The International Council of Shopping Centers, which tallied 43 retail chains, said sales at stores open for at least one year were the worst since it started keeping track in 1969.

The reason for the terrible retail sales is consumer confidence:

People's confidence in the economy sank even lower amid heightened fears about shrinking job opportunities and the possibility the country is falling into recession.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence dropped to a mark of 48.5 in early February, from 56.3 last month. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002 and surpassed the previous low reached in January.

The continued erosion in confidence comes despite the fact that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has gotten much more forceful in cutting interest rates to induce people to buy more and bolster the economy. The Fed slashed interest rates twice over the span of just eight days in January—its most aggressive rate reductions in two decades.

[...] Still, an increasing number of economists worry that the rescue efforts by the Fed and the politicians may not be enough to avert the first nationwide recession since 2001. Some economists believe the economy has already toppled into a recession.

Clinton Campaign Staffers Not Going Without Pay

It's another Clinton ruse:

So it turns out the Clinton campaign may not be so cash-strapped after all — at least not at this very moment.

After offering on Wednesday to go without paychecks to help save precious campaign resources, senior staff members on Hillary Clinton's campaign are in fact not going without pay during the month of February, ABC News has learned.

"It's not happening," said a source familiar with the situation.

Clinton's campaign has been shouting from the rooftops all day about its online fundraising efforts since Super Tuesday.

The campaign announced today that it raised more than four million dollars online in the 24 hours after polls closed on Tuesday — the biggest single haul in one day ever for the campaign.

[...]"We are gratified for this tremendous outpouring of support," said Clinton Campaign Internet Director Peter Daou.

That outpouring is the reason that a handful of senior staff who had offered to go without pay on Wednesday have been told today that they will not need to skip paychecks.

One longtime Democratic consultant not affiliated with any campaign wondered if perhaps the whole thing wasn't a big stunt to garner media attention and look like an "underdog."

"I'd take this revelation as a sign that they planned this whole thing," the consultant said.

Bush, Congress Hit Bottom in AP Poll

How low can they go:

It's almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Congress' approval fell to just 22 percent, equaling its poorest grade in the survey. Both marks dropped by 4 percentage points since early January.

The dour public mood seems to chiefly reflect distress over the doddering economy, which has seen job cuts, financial market slides and real estate losses stoke recession fears. Bush's approval for handling the economy dove to 29 percent, a slide of 4 percentage points in a month and matching his low on that issue, with noticeable slumps among middle-income people, Southerners and city residents.

[...] Yet Bush's acceptance by his own party is at bottom in the AP-Ipsos poll. Just 61 percent of Republicans gave Bush positive reviews; his previous low was 65 percent last month. Only 28 percent of them expressed strong approval.

Bush's Failure: Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S.

It must be an election year if the White House starts talking about the rising threat from al Qaeda. But what does this say about Bush's presidency, which has largely been focused on defeating the Jihadists? It means he failed at his principle responsibility. It also discredits the Iraq War which we have been told is being fought to keep al Qaeda from following us home:

Al Qaeda is gaining in strength from its refuge in Pakistan and is steadily improving its ability to recruit, train and position operatives capable of carrying out attacks inside the United States, the director of national intelligence told a Senate panel on Tuesday.

The director, Mike McConnell, told lawmakers that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, remained in control of the terrorist group and had promoted a new generation of lieutenants. He said Al Qaeda was also improving what he called “the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S.” — producing militants, including new Western recruits, capable of blending into American society and attacking domestic targets.

A senior intelligence official said Tuesday evening that the testimony was based in part on new evidence that Qaeda operatives in Pakistan were training Westerners, most likely including American citizens, to carry out attacks. The official said there was no indication as yet that Al Qaeda had succeeded in getting operatives into the United States.

The testimony, in an annual assessment of the threats facing the United States, was the latest indication that Al Qaeda appears to have significantly rebuilt a network battered by the American invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks.

It follows a National Intelligence Estimate last summer that described a resurgent Al Qaeda, and could add fuel to criticisms from Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates that the White House focus on Iraq since 2002 has diverted attention and resources from the battle against the Qaeda organization’s core.

Do We Have a Government at the Steering Wheel?

The economy is facing a crisis and the Congress can't seem to agree on what to do about it:

The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.

GOP senators banded together Wednesday to thwart the $205 billion plan, leaving Democrats with a difficult choice either to quickly accept a House bill they have said is inadequate or risk being blamed for delaying a measure designed as a swift shot in the arm for the lagging economy.

The tally was 58-41 to end debate on the Senate measure, just short of the 60 votes Democrats would have needed to scale procedural hurdles and move the bill to a final vote. In a suspenseful showdown vote that capped days of partisan infighting and procedural jockeying, eight Republicans—four of them up for re-election this year—joined Democrats to back the plan, bucking GOP leaders and President Bush, who objected to the costly add-ons.

Democrats choreographed the vote for maximum political advantage, presenting their aid proposal as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for Republicans and calling back their presidential candidates to make a show of party unity behind their stimulus plan. They calculated that Republicans would pay a steep price for opposing rebates for older Americans and disabled veterans, as well as heating aid for the poor, unemployment benefits and a much larger collection of business tax breaks than the House approved.

Then there is the collapsing war in Afghanistan:

NATO's top official rejected on Thursday U.S. concern that some member countries were not pulling their weight in the fighting in Afghanistan.

On a visit to troops in Afghanistan with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kept up the pressure on reluctant allies to share the combat burden against the Taliban.

The government in Afghanistan is worried that they might be abandoned:

The Afghan government warned Thursday of "catastrophe" if NATO abandoned its mission as US Secretarary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart flew into the heart of the Taliban insurgency.

"The consequences of not finishing the job here, and we have seen them first-hand in the events of September 11, will be catastrophic for the region and the world," President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told AFP.

There has been rising debate among NATO allies about the fight against radical Taliban insurgents, with calls for more help from those in the thick of the fight in the volatile south and some threats to pull out.

McCain Wins Big, Hillary and Obama Still in Tight Race

Despite the manufactured debate, McCain won big last night. He won 9 states, including California and New York. He now has a massive delegate advantage 615 to the nearest rival Romney, 243. Huckabee and Romney split the vote conservatives guaranteeing victory for McCain.

It's not so decisive among the Democrats. Although, Obama won more states and delegates last night Clinton, with the help of her victory in California, has an overall delegate advantage of 825 to 732. The Illinois Senator has narrowed the gap and has made this race very competitive when Hillary Clinton had a large lead just days ago. The Democratic race has a long way to go:

Senator Hillary Clinton won the biggest of the Super Tuesday primaries while Senator Barack Obama won more states, extending their struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination into next month and beyond.

Clinton, 60, won California, the largest prize in yesterday's voting. She scored victories in her own region, winning her home state of New York as well as New Jersey and Massachusetts, on the biggest day of voting in the nomination race. She also took Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Tennessee.

Still, Obama, 46, prevailed in Connecticut, next door to Clinton's home base. He also won his own state of Illinois as well as Georgia, Delaware, Alabama, Kansas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, Idaho, Alaska, Utah and Missouri. The only race still undecided was New Mexico, where Obama held a 518-vote lead over Clinton with 92 percent of voting precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press. Thousands of provisional ballots remained to be counted.

[...]Hispanics gave about 60 percent of their votes to Clinton, he said. These voters were especially important in California, where they made up about 30 percent of the total Democratic electorate, Kohut said.

Most white Democrats favored Clinton, though Obama fared somewhat better among those voters than in earlier primaries, Kohut said. Blacks heavily favored Obama.

MSNBC reported that the exit polls found white voters split 51 percent to 44 percent for Clinton while blacks favored Obama by 80 percent to 17 percent. Women favored Clinton by 51 percent to 46 percent while men backed Obama 53 percent to 42 percent. Clinton's performance was slightly better than predicted by exit polls.

UN Survey: Afghan Opium High in 2008

Just part of Bush's legacy. It won't be long before Americans are dying from Heroin grown in U.S. occupied Afghanistan. So not only can't King George find Bin Laden but he is also funding al Qaeda:

Opium growth in Afghanistan's unstable south and southwest continues at an alarming rate, and is a windfall for anti-government forces who tax farmers, a U.N. report said Wednesday.

The report also predicted a further rise in cannabis cultivation this year.

"Europe, Russia and the countries along the Afghan heroin routes should brace themselves again for major health and security consequences," said Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Overall cultivation of opium the main ingredient in heroin is likely in 2008 to be similar to or slightly lower than it was in 2007, according to UNODC's latest Afghanistan Opium Winter Rapid Assessment Survey.

"Opium cultivation in Afghanistan may have peaked, but the 2008 amount will be shockingly high," Costa said in a statement.

At least the Bushies admit failure:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan is "bumpy," and the international aid effort needs firmer coordination among the many nations participating.

[...]The United States is also seeking to bridge a rift among NATO allies participating in unequal measure in Afghanistan.

"It's bumpy and it's a lot of maturing that the alliance is having to do to do this," Rice told reporters.

Some major European allies failed to send significant number of troops to the southern front lines, leaving troops from the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands to bear the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region. Canada has threatened to pull out unless other allies do more of the hard work.

"It's true and we've made no secret about it that there are certain allies that are in more dangerous parts of the country and we believe very strongly that there ought to be a sharing of that burden throughout the alliance," Rice told reporters. "That said, I think we ought not to also dismiss the contributions that are being made by all alliance members."

Asian Stocks Sink after Dow Plunges

This is very dangerous. While the attention is on the primaries, we are seeing a crisis in the markets. We need to worry:

Asian markets plunged Wednesday after a steep drop on Wall Street overnight fanned investors' fears the U.S. economy was sliding into a recession that would sap demand for Asian exports.

n Hong Kong, the benchmark index plunged more than 6 percent in morning trading, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank more than 4 percent.

"It's unbridled pessimism," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "Everyone is concentrating on U.S. recession, but Europe is also looking bad. ... We are in for a bear market now."

Economic data Tuesday showing the U.S. service sector shrank last month for the first time since March 2003 wiped out nascent optimism about the American economy that had lifted global markets last week.

The news sent the Dow Jones industrial average plunging 370 points, or 2.93 percent, its largest one-day percentage drop since Feb. 27, 2007.

Asian markets have dropped sharply from the beginning of the year amid worries about a U.S. — and global — slowdown. Many stocks rebounded some over the last two weeks after the U.S. Federal Reserve made two big interest rate cuts to shore up the weakening American economy.

But pessimism returned after the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday that its index of activity in the U.S. service sector, which accounts for about two-thirds of the economy there, dropped below 50, indicating contraction. It was the first time the service sector reading has contracted since March 2003.

Clinton Gets Most Lobbyist Money, McCain Most Help

Obama just alluded to Hillary's ties to the lobbyists. She and John McCain are the champions of what is wrong with America:

Democrat Hillary Clinton has raised more money from lobbyists than any other presidential candidate while Republican John McCain has more of them assisting his campaign.

Clinton took in $823,087 from registered lobbyists and members of their firms in 2007 and the second-biggest recipient was McCain, who took in $416,321, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group which tracks political giving. Barack Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, doesn't take money from registered lobbyists, although he received $86,282 from employees of firms that lobby, according to the center.

McCain has 26 registered lobbyists as campaign advisers or fundraisers compared with 11 for Clinton and none for Obama, according to review of records compiled by Public Citizen, a Washington-based group that favors stronger disclosure laws for lobbyists.