The Connecticut Democratic primary also known as the Liebernan-Lamond brawl is in full swing.The Connecticut Senate race is one of the most contentious in the country and it's between Democrats. The most recent Quinnipiac poll shows Lieberman has closed the gap, now only trailing by 6%, 51 to 46. In most polls, figuring in the margin of error, Lieberman could pull this out.

The wonderful lady at Majikthise is blogging events as they happen over at Lamont's campaign HQ.

Lamont's campaign has been built around opposing the war in Iraq, something Lieberman didn't do. Much of Lamont's support has been from progressive bloggers who resented Lieberman for his hawkish stance. If Lamont wins, upsetting a 3-term incumbant U.S. senator, the blogger movement will pick up incredible power, especially those affilliated with groups like DailyKos.

Stephen Elliott of The Progressive had a good article in this month's issue discussing the YealyKos convention. He also discusses this election and what will happen if Lamont wins:

Still, they are making a difference and they are growing exponentially and they are here to stay. The biggest test case is forthcoming when Joe Lieberman faces off against Ned Lamont in the Connecticut primary. The Netroots community is vehemently anti-Lieberman. The bloggers call him Bush’s favorite Democrat. Markos, in his keynote speech on opening night, promised that Ned Lamont would win the primary. If he does, it will fundamentally change everything. If the Netroots can unseat a sitting Democratic Senator, they will assume control of the party. And control of the party will forever change the Netroots.

So... what happens when the "NetRoots" becomes the group in power in the party. Will they become the same as the others in power. As much as some would like to believe that would be the case, very few survive gaining those levels of power with their integrity intact. I would submit that this will be the same thing. But that's another post.

Technorati Tags: Lamont, Lieberman, Connecticut, Democrat, primary, Senate, DailyKos, MajikThise

posted by Stithmeister @ 3:11 PM
 

It looks like oil prices are in the tank after BP announced yesterday they would be shutting down oil production in the Alaskan North Slope region. The resulting production loss accounts for about 400,000 barrels a day or roughly 8% of the total U.S. output. It will also account for about 2.5% of BP's total worldwide production. Considering oil prices were already high, this will force them to rally even further.

As of this posting, prices were hanging around $77.05 a barrel and climbing on the Nymex and gas prices were around $2.26.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

The average U.S. retail price of a gallon of unleaded, regular gasoline was $3.036 on Monday -- near its all-time high of $3.057, reached Sept. 5 after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. "I suspect that record will fall in the next 48 hours,'' said Tom Kloza, an analyst at Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J., noting that pump prices around the country are likely to rise 5 to 10 cents a gallon.

BP new this area was having problems though as these pipelines were corroding and they had huge problems about 6 mos. ago Again from the WSJ:

In March, a BP transit line in the North Slope spilled 267,000 gallons of oil. It was a month before BP was able to install a bypass on that line to resume operations. BP is currently under criminal investigation for that spill. "It makes you wonder, if this time the pipeline will be shut down longer than it was in March because inspection will be more stringent,'' said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.

This is in addition to all the other "normal" things that kick fuel prices up like war in the Middle East, hurricanes, people driving the cars, etc.

This is just one more reason these folks need to kick up our fuel prices. I'd say oil will probably hit $80 a barrel before the week's out and gas maybe $3.30 a gallon fore unleaded. I'd hate to be an incumbant right now.

I will say the Energy Dept. is prepared to dump some oil onto the market but this announcement doesn't seem to have calmed the market much. There's no timetable on how long fixing this problem might take either.

Technorati Tags: BP, oil prices, Alaska, oil shortage

posted by Stithmeister @ 2:49 PM
 

It looks like Senator Clinton (D-NY) took the time to ream the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld over his handling of the Iraq offensive. She claimed the whole thing was an incompetent mess and called for Rummy to resign.

I agree wholeheartedly. With thousands of American soldiers dead over a bogus war. Then we figure in the rough average quoted last week by Tim Russert on the Today show of roughly 100 Iraqis a day. Doing the math on this doesn't take brilliance. It would seem, based on the numbers, we've got our own little genocide going, with the U.S. being responsible directly or indirectly for the deaths of well over 36,000 people per year. This is 3 years AFTER the the major combat is over. How is this better than what Saddam Hussein did?

All this goes on while our troops are sorely needed elsewhere. We're creating our own war for the future.

I'm beginning to think Bush and Rumsfeld should go on trial for war crimes.

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton, Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq War, genocide

posted by Stithmeister @ 10:35 PM
 

Unfortunately, it's been a while since I've posted. I've a number of personal issues going on and those needed to be resolved, to some extent. While they're not solved completely, I plan on getting back to the posting every day stuff I was doing before. The political world is hotter than ever, with a corrupt White House and a corrupt governor in the Frankfort. It seems like there's plenty to be done and lots to talk about.

One thing I will mention is WLAP 630's new morning talk show host, Ferrell Wellman. Dave Baker quit and Wellman took over. I'd say he's probably as good as it gets for this kind of thing. He's got nearly 2 decades as reporter in Frankfort and while his show may have conservative leanings, I'd say he'll give a fair shake to whatever comes down the pike. I also like him because he was one of my professors in college. He was certainly one of the best.

I'll see you tomorrow.

posted by Stithmeister @ 10:33 PM