ERECTION 2008, OOPS ELECTION 2008: TODAY, MISSISSIPPI VOTES

POLL: AP: Most supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton would like to see a “dream ticket” of her and Barack Obama, while the majority of Obama supporters opposed the idea, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 6-9.

OBAMA—NO TO HILL’S VEEP OFFER

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Democrat Barack Obama ridiculed the idea of being Hillary Rodham Clinton’s running mate Monday, saying voters must choose between the two for the top spot on the fall ticket.

The Illinois senator used his first public appearance of the week to knock down the notion that he might accept the party’s vice presidential nomination. He noted that he has won more states, votes and delegates than Clinton so far.

“I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place,” Obama said, drawing cheers and a long standing ovation from about 1,700 people in Columbus, Miss.

As one of the volunteers who organized for the Freedom Vote in Mississippi in 1964, a protest vote for the right to vote for all, I’d have to say Obama’s race was unimaginable then. Maybe now too.

WHAT HAPPENED IN ILLINOIS?

Don Rose, a long time political consultant ion Illinois explains;

Bill Foster’s decisive, six-point win over Jim Oberweis in Saturday’s special congressional election in Illinois is both a combination of a perfect storm and a harbinger of bluing to come. The latter point has national and local Republicans really singing the blues: they may be losing another three congressional seats here.

SENATE TO INVESTIGATE “VOTER FRAUD”

“Myth” of Voter Fraud Focus of Senate Hearing; Iglesias Set to Testify

By Jason Leopold

Last year, during the height of the Congressional investigation into the firings of US attorneys, David Iglesias and John McKay, two of the nine federal prosecutors who were ousted, revealed that they were pressured by Republicans to bring charges of vote fraud against people who intended to voter for Democrats in separate elections in New Mexico and Washington state several years ago.

Iglesias and McKay said they investigated the allegations but did not find evidence to support charges of voter fraud leveled by Republicans. Both men believe their refusal to convene a federal criminal grand jury to pursue the allegations led to their ouster.

There is no concrete evidence of systemic voter fraud in the United States. Many election integrity experts believe voter fraud is a ploy by Republicans to suppress minorities and poor people from voting. Historically, those groups tend to vote for Democratic candidates. Raising red flags about the integrity of the ballots, experts believe, is an attempt by GOP operatives to swing elections to their candidates as well as an attempt to use the fear of criminal prosecution to discourage individuals from voting in future races.

POLITICS: I am quoted in a piece carried by IPS:

SURPRISE, SURPRISE: NO SADDAM, OSAMA LINK. NONE! SHOCKING!

WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein’s regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida terrorist network.

LONDON CALLING: PROTESTERS AIM TO SURROUND BRITISH PARLIAMENT

Next Saturday15 March, the fifth anniversary of the Iraq
invasion, will see a day of global WORLD AGAINST WAR
protests, giving voice to the majority view across the world
which has consistently opposed George Bush’s “war on
terror”. There will be demonstrations from Norway to Japan,
from Cuba to Poland, and not least in the two countries
which have been the key warmongers - the US and Britain.

The London WORLD AGAINST WAR demonstration — called by Stop
the War, CND and the British Muslim Initiative - comes just
as the government is about to announce that the cost of its
war policies in Iraq and Afghanistan will soar in 2008 to
3.3 billion pounds, double the cost in 2007, proof if it was
needed that a change of prime minister has made no
difference to the level of warmongering.

The London demonstration will assemble at 12 noon in
Trafalgar Square and march down Whitehall on a route which
will surround Parliament. The rally in Trafalgar Square will
highlight the disasters of five years and more of war.
Speakers will include Tony Benn, ex-SAS trooper Ben Griffin,
representatives from Palestine, Green Party MEP Caroline
Lucas, Lindsey German from Stop the War Coalition and film
director Nick Broomfield. Joining us on the stage will be
Omar Deghayes, recently released from the Guantanamo torture
centre, where he was held for five years.

Studies: Iraq costs US $12B per month
By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

The flow of blood may be ebbing, (IS IT?, DS) but the flood ofmoney into the Iraq war is steadily rising, ne analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple th “burn” rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.