goes to show that CHANGE is the message that will resonate in 2008... America is tired of the same old, same old... I wonder what this means for Leslie Byrne, the "Poor man's Hillary Clinton" (in the words of Chap Petersen)

Their fates certainly seem to be intertwined - Leslie, like Hillary, is the establishment candidate with all the endorsements and labor backing in the world... like Hillary, Leslie will be rejected forcefully, because in 2008, young people will be voting, and they will be voting for change

Leslie is not the establishment candidate.

The establishment candidate just announced an exploratory committee.  He's the "public servant"  who likes sprawl because it fills his campaign coffers.

I work for a large national union, and for once we smartly declined to back any of the candidates and realize that any of the Dems are miles better than any of the Reps.

On a personal note, absolutely none of my friends in the labor movement are supporting Clinton (her kind brought us NAFTA, the rise of Wal-Mart, cruel welfare reform, etc.).  Most of us who are true to the calling like Edwards, but will gladly "settle" for Obama.

It was a great speech from an exceptional candidate.  He is a really bright guy who is not late.  He is on time.

What a way to start 2008!

He has my support from now on.  He's the most likely candidate to defeat Hillary, which is my major concern.

He has my support from now on.  He's the most likely candidate to defeat Hillary, which is my major concern.

Nice speeches aside, this is your major concern? In that case, get ready for President Huckabee.    

The polls?  From what I have seen Obama does about as well as Clinton.  You must also remember that people like Clinton and McCain have been around forever.  Obama has not yet begun a national campaign.  I think we get a better idea about how Obama will do on the national stage by looking at how he is doing in states where he has actively campaigned and the voters know him.  Right now we really only have Iowa and New Hampshire.  According to SurveyUSA, Obama beats all the Republican contenders and by larger margins than Clinton in the state of Iowa.  Although the state is not representative of the nation in terms of demographics, I do think we learn a lot about how each candidate will do by looking here.  Iowa is a bellwether state that has a tendency of going with the winner.  I haven't found anything on New Hampshire but will keep looking.

In polls taken before Iowa, Clinton was ahead of Obama by double digits nationally. Obama has one month to change that. And all the Big Three beat all the GOP candidates, so Obama doing slightly better head-to-head doesn't mean much.

but he isn't just doing slightly better, he is doing better by a decent margin in some cases in Iowa.  Like I said, they have all been campaigning vigorously in this state so the voters there pretty much know all the candidates on both sides fairly well in contrast to the nation as a whole.  When you combine that with Iowa's bellwether status, I think you can make some broader conclusions.  See here for the poll that I am talking about: http://www.surveyusa.com/clien...

Iowa has not proven to be a test for Obama.  He has been treated very kindly by the media thus far.  He has not been subjected to any attack ads.  He has not gone up against the full might of the Republican machine.  

He will probably do well with this victory in Iowa.  Because it will take more than 4 days for the media to end their love affair and start to dig a little deeper.  And maybe Hillary will take the kid gloves off and start playing with the skill she must surely have learned from Bill's War Room.  

Savor this moment for now folks, but there are months to go before November.  And we have not heard the last of Clinton, Edwards, and the dreaded Republicans.

This is the great America that can be redeemed after the sickness and terror that we've endured under in this sad era of failed politics.

This is the future that transcends division and brings real leadership to the world.

When I think that the very young may grow up and have this man, and these politics define their world view, my soul soars.

He will be able to change nothing in Washington and will be an even bigger foreign policy disaster than Dubya.  He's playing by the rules of truth and justice in a world that doesn't have any rules except winning by any means necessary.  God help us if he gets elected.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but that's the way one of us cynical, old, 50-somethings reads it.  I've been here before.  I won't vote for "Carter" again.  Or Clinton.

You don't play politics in Chicago without learning to be tough. Obama isn't some hick peanut farmer.  Obama knows how to be Presidential, and rise above the muck.  Look at how he demolished his opponents in Illinios.  Two guys go down when the nastiest personal details of their lives are in the papers, and Obama's hands are clean.

With all due respect, I can't accept that Obama won his Senate seat through tough political manuvering.  The facts are that Jack Ryan, the imminently popular Republican, self-destructed when his estranged wife ratted him out in a sex scandal.  The Republicans responded by replacing him with an even bigger carpet-bagger than Hillary Clinton, Alan Keyes.  Obama then slid into the vacant Senate seat.  BTW, don't forget that this is the same electorate that sent Carol Mosley-Braun to the US Senate.

Claiming that Obama shewdly engineered his Senate victory is like claiming that Jim Webb's campaign strategy was to wait for Allen's Macca Moment.

A Democrat can't take credit for getting elected when a Republican inevitably becomes mired in a sex scandal.  That's like trying to take credit for the effects of the wind or the rain; these things are just a force of nature.  They occur so frequently that they are bound to become public sooner or later.  Since his election, however, Obama has more than proven himself, particularly in his courageous stance on Iraq.

I don't think it was a great speech, it was just ok.  I did like what he said about reforming the tax code, universal health care, energy policy, and Iraq.  The stuff in the speech that suggested that his victory was something unprecedented in history, to me seemed nonsensical.  Jesse Jackson won 11 primaries in 1988, for instance.  I guess I just don't get that part of his campaign.

Anyway, for comparison purposes, here's Jesse Jackson giving a speech in the 1984 election:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...    

If you carefully watch each candidate's speech, you will notice the sincerity and compassion in Obama.  He starts off by turning, almost a 360, and applauding his audience, pausing to recognize the efforts of the people gathered in the room.  

During his speech, he uses words like "YOU" and "WE".  He warmly thanks his family and the efforts of all of the volunteers and campaign organizers that made this happen and of course, the voters.

Obama knows that the road to taking back America is bigger than himself - it is all of us caring enough about America to rise up, stand up, and take action for future generations.

Compare this to Hillary, whose favorite word is "I" and who does not thank even her husband, who has been tirelessly campaigning for her.  

Don't get me wrong, I like and respect Hillary and would be happy with any of the Democratic candidates, but we cannot discount the impact of effective communication and the power to inspire movement and action of the masses.

Obama is the ONLY Dem that Rs are seriously considering. I continue to talk to many Rs and Is and they are certainly interested in Obama, where they are SURE they won't consider Hillary, and there seems to be no mention of Edwards.

This is very telling and the Iowa results back it up.  We went to bed last night after hearing Obama's speech, finally feeling hope again for our country.

I urge every reader to seriously consider the trends here.  Already in NH, Obama leads by 5-6% with Dems, and about 16% with Independents and Republicans.

It seems that Obama has the best chance of winning over any R candidate in November.

-- Teri Meyer