A quick shout out to the one of our own, the blogger "Jump to the Left" at Les Enrages, who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at UCLA this week.

"Yep, that's one more hyper-smart well-educated woman that you'll never get a date with, Glenn." "Back at you, Sean."

Open Thread below....

Yesterday one of Chicago's most respected members of Congress, Luis Gutierrez, made history by withdrawing an endorsement he had given to a corrupt and reactionary incumbent... from his own party! What a place Chicago is! Ryan Adams, a North Carolinian who lives in NYC and became famous for his "NY, NY" song, sure got it right with his hauntingly beautiful "Dear Chicago."

Josh Marshall noted this morning,” I was wondering when this would come up. As a lot of us remember, John McCain was very close to leaving the Republican party in 2001 and becoming either a Democrat or, much more likely, an independent a la Jim Jeffords who would caucus with the Democrats. The Hill gives the story another shake and talks to folks like Daschle and others who were in on the negotiations.”

The funny thing is, The Hill hasn’t really given the story another shake; it’s just that the story from last March has suddenly been re-discovered by political observers. Mitt Romney began emphasizing this over the last week, and slowly but surely, it’s apparently gaining traction.

To be sure, it seems like the kind of story that could undermine McCain’s bid quite a bit.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.

In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.

Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain’s case, they said, it was McCain’s top strategist who came to them. (emphasis added)

According to the story in The Hill, Weaver asked Daschle and Downey in March 2001 why Democrats hadn’t reached out to McCain to switch parties. “Well, if the right people asked him,” Weaver said, according to Downey, adding that he responded, “The calls will be made. Who do you want?”

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Media Bistro: Last night's Democratic debate on CNN drew 8,324,000 million total viewers, making it the most-watched primary debate in cable news history, and the second-most watched on TV this election cycle (ABC's Democratic debate on Jan. 5 drew 9,360,000)
The debate gives CNN the top five highest rated cable debates this cycle in total viewers.

> Update: In the A25-54 demo, the debate finished with 3,257,000 viewers, the #1 take in cable news history as well.

h/t to the excellently named blog Nailing Jello to the Wall...

ABC News’ Jake Tapper has caused quite a stir with an item about a speech Bill Clinton delivered in Denver.

In a long, and interesting speech, he characterized what the U.S. and other industrialized nations need to do to combat global warming this way: “We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions ’cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren.”

At a time that the nation is worried about a recession is that really the characterization his wife would want him making? “Slow down our economy”?

I don’t really think there’s much debate that, at least initially, a full commitment to reduce greenhouse gases would slow down the economy….So was this a moment of candor?

Actually, no, it’s a moment taken out of context in such a way as to change the meaning of the sentence.

Clinton said the opposite.

We may finally be at a point in which we can stop talking about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his subtle-but-not-really interest in launching an independent presidential campaign.

There have been several reports of late indicating that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) had been one of the high-profile figures urging Bloomberg to consider a third-party campaign. Of course, the encouragement looks a little hollow now that Schwarzenegger has given his enthusiastic support to John McCain.

Worse, the Unity08 gang folded their tent to create a Draft Bloomberg campaign, which has an online petition that is yet to generate 5,000 signatures — weeks after its launch. Adding insult to injury, Joe Lieberman, an active Bloomberg supporter during the mayor’s re-election campaign, has said publicly that the mayor no longer has a reason to launch a campaign.

When the New York Observer talked to Bloomberg organizer Karin Gallet about the future, he said:

“He’s not running. He’s convinced me. I’m returning to more obtainable goals like passing my business law class and supporting moderate Republicans! […]

“We have not mustered up any kind of significant groundswell support. I think Bloomberg is just too good for this country.”

Misplaced sycophancy aside, even the mayor seems to realize this isn’t going to happen. Sorry, David Broder.

Arianna made the analogy first, but Brave New Films grabbed it and ran with it.

Does this mean Schwarzenegger is Ambassador de Sadesky?

Meanwhile, Joe Conason at Salon asks when the press will stop giving McCain a pass and ask him some hard questions on his soft money.

And Will Bunch likens new McCain supporter Rudy Giuliani to another movie character. Max Bialystock.

Their members have voted and MoveOn has come out in support of Barack Obama:

With hundreds of thousands of ballots cast across the country, for the first time in MoveOn's history, we've voted together to endorse a presidential candidate in the primary. That candidate is Barack Obama.

We know how to roll up our sleeves and win elections, and if we all pitch in together between now and Tuesday, we can help Sen. Obama win the biggest primary day in American history.

To be clear, we won't always agree with all of Obama's positions. And MoveOn members said overwhelmingly that, regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination, we'll work hard to win the White House in 2008. Whatever happens in the primary, we'll push the Democratic nominee to campaign progressively and then we'll push them to fulfill their promises after they win...read on