The site was attacked yesterday and we were down for 6 hours.
And I was in an airplane much of that time and didn't know until
I got to my hotel. None of the other people working on the project
were in a position to work on the problem for certain reasons. We're
going to spend the next couple of days trying to make things a bit
more challenging for future attackers. I'm not going to
say "Bring 'em on" like some people have foolishly said, but we're working
to improve security a bit. As mentioned yesterday, because I am traveling
this week and next, updates may be a bit erratic but in principle
the most recent page should always be available, even if it is outdated.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Is Barack Obama a liberal? The National Journal said so based on one
metric and the Republicans have been using this in their talking points
every since. But there are many ways to measure a senators's voting record.
Our measurements,
based on what liberal groups like ACLU and NARAL think of him, rank him as 42nd.
And what do conservative groups think of him? They don't like him, but there
are 30 senators who are
even worse,
that is, who vote the "wrong way" even more often than Obama.
How a senator comes out in the ratings depends on lot of who is doing the
rating and what their hobby horses are. Our ratings are based on a wide
spectrum of issues so if senator is pro-life that does not necessarily mean
he isn't liberal. He might be fantastic on labor issues, gay rights, etc.
Ditto for conservatives. A senator who is pro-choice could also be a fanatic
tax cutter and fan of small government. Take a look at our ratings but also
check out CQ Politics'
story
on ratings today.
If the election were held today, Obama would beat McCain 48% to 39%--that is,
Michelle Obama would beat Cindy McCain. While Sen. Obama's wife has been the
subject of vicious attacks about her patriotism, her racism, etc., it hasn't
hurt her much according to an
ABC News/Washington Post
poll. Michelle has a huge (65%) lead among black women but also a small (4%)
lead among white women. Cindy McCain hasn't been in the news much but she
could be in the future. Cindy, who inherited something like
$100 million from her beer-distributor father, was
addicted
to prescription drugs which she later stole. She also had a
business relationship
with Charles Keating, the crooked banker who swindled thousands of people
out of their life savings and went to federal prison for it. Almost nobody
knows this but if the Republicans go after Michelle, Democratic 527 groups
have plenty of material to work with concerning Cindy.
Here are today's polls. The most notable ones are for Florida.
Two pollsters have Obama slightly ahead here although within the margin of
error, which is normally 3-4% for state polls. Many observers from both
parties have been assuming McCain will win Florida. If he loses it,
he's finished. There is no way he can get to 270 electoral votes
without Florida. In this light, his new energy plan could be hugely damaging
here. He wants to drill for more oil, among other places, off the coast
of Florida, something that is very unpopular with Floridians who
don't want to see their beautiful beaches (and tourist industry)
destroyed by an oil spill. These polls were taken before he announced
his energy plan so it could get worse. These results have to be worrisome.
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