So says a report covered here by the Center for Media Research. A new BYU/Harris Poll of 2,602 U.S. adults surveyed in May by Harris Interactive shows that small individual contributions which may limit the “corrupting” influence of large contributions, especially from PACs and lobbyists, could have a lasting impact with the voters. This latest study looks at candidates who raise most of their money from small donors ($200 or less) versus large donors ($2000 or more). Ultimately, Americans...

From the New York Times: Jeff Strabone of Brooklyn now signs credit card receipts with his newly assumed middle name, while Dan O’Maley of Washington, D.C., jiggered his e-mail account so his name would appear as “D. Hussein O’Maley.” Alex Enderle made the switch online along with several other Obama volunteers from Columbus, Ohio, and now friends greet him that way in person, too. … “I am sick of Republicans pronouncing Barack Obama’s name like it was some sort of cuss word,”...

Grand Central Political published this column by Jennifer Nedeau of New Media Strategies and Human Folly, “Could A Little “Sex” Help Female Political Candidates?” Here’s a tease: Since Barack Obama took the Democratic Presidential Nomination, I have come to wonder: if Hillary had harnessed some of the powerful imagery of SATC, could she have done better among women like me who think she just wasn’t female enough to earn the title of “First Female President?” … In...

Fascinating analysis by Shmuel Rosner in Ha’aretz, “Will next U.S. Congress top current record number of Jewish lawmakers?” What we’ve got now: The class of 2006 gave us a record number of Jewish legislators on Capitol Hill. The numbers: 30 Jewish members of the House (29 Democrats), 13 Jewish senators (9 Democrats, 2 independents who caucus with the Democrats and 2 Republicans). This is the highest number ever. Rosner reviews the Cook Political Report and here are the...

Just in case people can’t come up with enough reasons on their own why John McCain is not the choice for women, ABC News reports on how one Texas oilman, Clayton Williams, who is a McCain supporter slipped up: ABC’s Rick Klein reports: Sen. John McCain on Friday abruptly cancelled a Monday fundraiser that had been scheduled at the home of a Texas oilman, after ABC News contacted the campaign inquiring about a verbal blunder the Texan made during an unsuccessful 1990 campaign for governor. Clayton...

Information from the National Conference of State Legislatures indicates that the states’ approaches to linguistic diversity often straightjacket the subject into immigration. However, linguistic diversity enriches and enables individuals and society in many more positive ways than many of these legislative efforts would have us believe. In my state, Ohio, the House passed HB 477 earlier this year in an effort to make English the state’s official language, but it appears to be at a standstill...

With Harold Ickes of Hillary Clinton’s campaign getting all in red and uppercase letters at TIME: AIDES DENY AP REPORT ON END OF CLINTON CAMPAIGN Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 Justin Sullivan/Getty CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIR MCAULIFFE CALLS CABLE NETWORKS TO SHOOT DOWN WIRE REPORT THAT CLINTON PLANNED TO ALL BUT CONCEDE IN TUESDAY NIGHT’S SPEECH Top adviser Ickes also tells MSNBC the report is inaccurate. No doubt – more to come. So – who do you believe? Why or why not? The AP? TIME magazine?...

Update: From Terry McAuliffe at TPM too. I’m telling you again like I did last night: tomorrow morning, AIPAC, Clinton, Obama, Pelosi, Reid – facing down John McCain and the group of supporters he thinks he can wrap around his fingers. From My Way news: WASHINGTON (AP) – Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female...

I could be dreadfully wrong, both in the prediction that they will show unity in anyway related to the who will be the presidential nominee for the Democratic party, and in other ways, but hey, weirder things have happened. Read about the conference here. Read about GOP presidential candidate and US Senator John McCain’s speech here. View it here or listen or get the transcript here. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are set to speak on Wednesday as well as part of the plenary: June 04, 2008 ...

Maybe they should have invited supporters from the Clinton and Obama campaigns and the DNC: At my kids’ school (preschool through fifth grade) today, they’re participating in Unity Day. Here’s the description for this year from a note I received: This year’s games are based on the television show “Survivor.” Embrace the theme, be creative, and most of all, have fun with it! When explaining the games to the students, please emphasize teamwork and sportsmanship. I’ll...

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland announced this morning that Ohio State University Moritz Law School Dean Nancy Rogers will serve as the state’s attorney general. She will not run in November 2008 for the unfinished term of former Attorney General Marc Dann who resigned after being engulfed in scandal related to a hostile work environment and improprieties in the office.

From MediaPost’s Online Media Daily: The interactive survey, which ran on TouchTunes jukeboxes in bars nationwide from April 28 through May 11, asked bar patrons about the presidential candidate and current social issues. It also allowed people to enter their email address to receive a voter registration form from Rock the Vote, which resulted in nearly 10,000 registrations. … In response to the question, “Which candidate would you most like to have a beer with?”, a full...

Much has been made about the secrecy involved regarding Barack Obama and his process for looking into vice president choices. From Thursday’s New York Times: With the Democratic National Convention only three months away, Senator Barack Obama has asked a tight circle of advisers to begin conducting a confidential search for prospective running mates. Mr. Obama, who intends to wait until the final primaries end on June 3 before declaring victory in the presidential nominating fight with Senator...

Types like she laughs: I never thought about it this way before, but John Ettorre just left a very interesting and unique (because I’d yet to see the argument made nor had it ever occurred to me before now) comment on this thread with Ellen Bravo’s ten reasons why women should vote for Obama if he is the candidate. Writes John: And reason #11: he’s a metrosexual, with all the effeminate qualities that entails. They’re off-putting to many males (me included), and I predict it will...

From the blog of author Ellen Bravo of Taking on the Big Boys: Should Sen. Barack Obama emerge as the Democratic candidate, women have compelling reasons to support his candidacy. Here are my top ten: 10. Nearly half of women voting in the Democratic primaries already support Sen. Obama’s candidacy. CNN compiled exit polling data from all the states that held primaries before West Virginia. Averaging the percentage that each candidate received from women voters in these states, the two Democratic...

From Riverdaughter (warning: if you don’t like the pocket guide, you will really not like this): Hattip to Women’s Voices for Change.

Earlier today, someone asked me “How is someone supposed to convince [Hillary Clinton] voters to side with him [Obama] when they vote for his opponent knowing she will not win and claim they will not support him once he wins the nomination as they are predicting?” Here’s my response: You can’t convince the Clinton Supporters Count Too kind of voter to “side with” Obama. That’s not going to happen. So what can you do? 1. You let them vent. 2. You try to discern the common...

The University of Akron’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics director, John C. Green, is a wonderfully affable, wise and intelligent person whom others seek out for analysis constantly. Not to mention a Senior Fellow in Religion and American Politics at the Pew Forum. I’m no exception. And so, as I struggle to find a way into the pragmatic side I hope all voters possess once they consider what they really want to achieve for the next four years via a new president, I thought, a-ha!...

Congrats to BlogHer‘s persistance and class in pursuing the presidential candidates for in-person interviews. And thank you to Senator Obama for taking and making the time to grant the interview. You can read more here about the interview and reactions to it at BlogHer.

Okay – can we just get this out of the way? Watch for yourself: Now, look – I chastise my father whenever he calls me anything remotely close to sweetie, and he’s used a whole bunch of those terms (let me be brutally honest since my mother reads this blog but my father doesn’t: I hate it when my father uses alleged terms of endearment like “doll” “babe” or “baby” – but I don’t like it when anyone calls me those things either...

As a swing state and vital win for whomever wants to be president in January 2009, Ohio took a strong step today in making sure it’s ducks are in a row for the Democratic nominee with the resignation of Attorney General and Democrat, Marc Dann at approximate 4pm. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, one of the most frequently mentioned VP possibilities for the Democratic presidential ticket, gave a more than thirty minute press conference (some of which I live-blogged here) in which he announced...

Update (Deal or No Deal): From numerous local sources but also reported in TPM Muckraker, Ohio AG Marc Dann tried to negotiate his resignation in exchange for the Ohio House not launching another investigation. So far no deal. Here’s the news from OPENERS at the Plain Dealer: Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is expected to announce his resignation later today, The Plain Dealer has learned. He planned to break the news to his senior staff this afternoon. The decision came as Dann faced intense...

Consider this report as a guide to how not to have to say, “woulda coulda shoulda” (here’s a summary; both are pdfs). My state of Ohio is considered to have a “critical lack of funding [that] is compromising the safety of Ohioans.” I’ve written about what the Ohio legislature is doing here. How’s your state doing? Do you know of any horror stories related to the inability for a person with a cellphone to reach 911 or procure 911 services? This resource...

There are books about motherless daughters and motherless mothers. I’m the daughter of a motherless mother, but I only came to glimpse even the tiniest look at what it must be like for my mother, and millions of others, a few years ago. Mother and mothering is a concept that doesn’t restrict itself to women with children, or perhaps even women period. But the need to have a relationship that is like that which we have with a person we call mother – that, I believe, is indispensible. Nobody...

I ask this because frankly, what’s happening there is scaring the crap out of me. There are some incredibly knowledgeable folks who blog here who know far more about the current state of global politics than I do. What are we thinking? What do we do? What can we do? I do a lot of shlepping and have just good old analog FM in my car, so I’m mostly listening to NPR. Some of you may know that Diane Rehm is Lebanese. She sounded downright frightened and kind of desperate today –...