Sorry guys the MSM controls all access to information for most of the populace.  Sure we read a lot and get information from lots of sources but most americans don't.  Most americans go by what's on TV and a few, the newspapers.  A very small percentage of the populace relies on much else to shape their opinions.  We're different as an example one need only look at nationwide surveys.

Hillary consistently polls at about 5% in the blogosphere but somewhere between 30 and 40% in nationwides "polls".. Sure these people may not turn out in Iowa in 5 degree weather to vote for her but still.  Sure this may only be name recognition at this point but free media access and framing matter.

Okay this is not necessarily YET another Hillary is running diary, but more analyzing her web release.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/...

(FYI - Edwards launched first on youtube, than Obama, and now Hillary.)    Hillary's 811 word release had one mention of "Iraq" and talked endlessly about "chat", "conversation" and "Talk", however she left out one key word - "Listen".   In her 811 word release her A-team advisors should have probably included the word "listen" or "hear" or something to show she gives a hoot about what the chatters and talkers actually think.

Politically, her timing was absolutely necessary to bump the free ride media gushing over Obama who, with the media's help is severely piercing her inevitability.  So her timing politically is A+ because Obama forced her hand on this.  The sunday morning talk shows will now talk about her and not just gush over Obama.  Also, the release was well produced and will get a ton of free air time.  All in all a great release for those Hillary people (in the comments) who can't take a compliment

Okay. I know this has been diaried before but this story in the Washington Post would be really funny if there weren't things of imporance going on in the world.

Edwards apparently bought a house in the formerly "hot" DC market, held onto it for over four years, selling it in late 2006 for less than the asking price.  And get this an 8% annualized return.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

the scandalous title is
 Identity of Edwards Home's Buyers Veiled
Assisted-Living Magnates in SEC Probe Paid Candidate $5.2 Million

these guys deserve all the credit By John Solomon and Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 19, 2007; Page A01

If the Rasmussen poll Kos has frontpaged is any indication.  Hillary's front runner status is 1- MSM coronation and 2- Name recognition.

If this poll is as bad as it seems on first blush (48% disaproval for Hillary) the question is not if but when Hillary goes negative.

She has already attacked Edwards by name about her self identification as a "silent betrayer" and way over-reacted.  The question is will she go after Obama - who in many ways on paper is easier to attack and may actually share a larger voter pool with her than Edwards?  Attack a person of color has been taboo in democratic primaries generally (not always).

Will Obama run the bipartisan messaging campaign that the MSM is interpreting it to be?

Just a couple of interesting bits to pass on.
First, a youtube of Edwards on Leslie's show on CNN - many difficult questions. No waffling - says Clinton is "too sensitive" if she thought she resembled MLK's "Silence is betrayal".  Goes into his thoughts on Obama running. And whether it is easier for him to speak out against funding the escalation compared to Hillary Obama.

http://blog.johnedwards.com/...

it's worth a watch only 5 minutes...

To those of you who followed Lamont vs. Lieberman, you may remember that any statement made by Lamont was termed a "negative attack" by team joementum.  Well, apparently Edwards gave a great speech in a church in NY City that irked team Hillary.  Despite NEVER mentioning HIllary or even "senator", Team Hillary went Lieberman on Edwards.

http://www.nypost.com/...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night ripped into 2008 White House contender John Edwards - her first direct assault on any of her potential Democratic presidential rivals.
Clinton's surprising broadside came just hours after Edwards, in Harlem, delivered a sharp condemnation - clearly aimed at Clinton, although he didn't mention her by name - against those who fail to "speak out" against the war in Iraq.

Realizing The Dream - MLK Sunday - Jan. 14

Realizing the Dream Inc. is an organization founded by M.L.K. III to empower people and communities to take charge of their lives; they have been traveling throughout America this past year visiting distressed communities. Lessons have been learned and programs are being fashioned to respond to the needs of the people they have met along the way.

http://www.theriversidechurchny.org

http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/

Realizing The Dream - MLK Sunday - Jan. 14
Former U.S. Senator, John Edwards, recently held a press conference in New Orleans, where the Katrina disaster, last year, clearly confirmed that Dr. King's dream had not been realized. Like King, he says he wants to end poverty in America. As keynote, Senator Edwards joins hands with the "Realizing the Dream" organizers, in this special service. The worship service starts at 4 p.m. in the nave and will be streamed live.
 John Edwards Keynotes Second Annual Service

One thing that shows up time and again is that unfortunately, both McCain and Guiliani have very high name recognition, high favorability and low negative ratings.  Edwards seems to come closest to these two in these types of surveys.

http://www.pollster.com/...
"The cluster of Giuliani, McCain and Edwards represents a group with about a 2-1 favorable-unfavorable ratio, suggesting pretty broad appeal. But even among this group around 40% of voters are unable to express an evaluation."

It has been pointed out that we need to do something about this to have a chance in 08.  Edwards must have been reading the blogosphere and also may start connecting everything Bush does to McCain I suspect.

http://starbulletin.com/...

Inouye believes Obama’s too early

Clinton is in the best position to run for the White House, the Hawaii leader says

Hawaii's senior senator, Daniel Inouye, says it is too soon for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to run for president.

Inouye, 82, who has served in the Senate since 1963, is the third most senior member of the Senate and is considered a national leader of the Democratic Party.

Asked in an interview last week about Obama, Inouye said that while the 46-year-old former state senator is smart and hard working, he does not have the experience for a presidential campaign.

Inouye said the Democrats have several current and former members of the Senate who would be good candidates, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former Sen. John Edwards. "They also say Barack Obama, but he should wait."

at the bottom of this diary - if you have followed the HuffPost
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

there is a better answer to who did the web redirect.

anyway the original Diary was on this Poll with very good news for Edwards re: Hillobama.

McCain, Giuliani Fare Well Vs. Top Dems, While Edwards Might Be Toughest Rival

http://www.investors.com/...
Posted 1/5/2007

A new IBD/TIPP poll gives Republican front-runners Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani an edge over top Democratic contenders and shows that John Edwards might be their toughest opponent.
In a potential presidential matchup, McCain led the former one-term senator from North Carolina and 2004 vice presidential nominee by 44% to 43% but had a more comfortable margin over the two Democratic heavyweights expected to run. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton trailed McCain 48% to 41% while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was down 48% to 36%.

We all read about John Edwards promoting the "McCain Doctrine" on the national stage, beyond the blogs, pegging escalation in Iraq to John McCain.  Doing himself and the Democratic field a big favor for 2008.  Particularly when if Iraq continues to go bad.  
http://www.tpmcafe.com/...

However, Edwards is also doing something else that helps future democrats and the Party too.  Namely, he is using ActBlue for all his credit card and online donations.  ActBlue allows every donor to leave a "tip" to ActBlue to continue to have such a simple and easy method of helping democratic candidates in the future and also allows individuals to set up their own fundraising pages.  Of course Dr. Dean started this whole internet democratizing politics thingy, but Edwards is continuing to further it.

In 2006, the Kerry-Feingold-Boxer-Leahy amendment failed, but would have called for immediate troop reduction with a one-year time table for complete withdrawl from Iraq.

It appears Feingold cannot be stopped and will try again.  Hopefully, this time more senators will support him - particularly interesting will be whether the sitting senators running in 08 who voted against it last year will vote for it this year.

http://feingold.senate.gov/...

From the little I've gleaned this blog tends to lean a lot more toward Giuliani than the GOP as a whole so i don't know if it makes them more sane or not.  However, there is some interesting analysis some of which the lefty blogosphere agrees with I think....

http://race42008.com/...

End of Year Prediction: Edwards will be Democratic Nominee
With just hours to go until 2007 is ushered in here in the east, I am prepared to put my credibility on the line as a political seer and make the following prediction more than a year out from the Iowa caucuses.  I hereby predict that, at the end of the day, former North Carolina senator and former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008.

Having followed the Lamont/Lieberman campaign and doing my part to contribute online, my pressbot-radar just went off being an Edwards supporter as well.  The meme of Edwards is a millionaire is being revived - no not from his first campaign, but from the Lamont is a multimillionaire meme.

Edwards, after all did pretty well in the last democratic primary and was the VP candidate, so I thought the fact that he was one of the most successful trial attorneys EVER and was also "rich" was not news.  Particularly because his wealth hasn't changed much while he was in the senate.  If Edwards wanted to make more money he could have just remained one of the most successful trial attorneys with the largest award in NC ever.

I saw this image of pressbot Noron, claiming Edwards was rich.

Jesus H. Christ is running in the democratic primary for 2008 as the democratic nominee and here is why he simply can't win.

1.  His name is very eccentric.  In some places it's pronounced "hey-zeus".  It sounds foreign.  Plus no one knows what the "H" in his middle name stands for.  American's simply won't vote for a weird name.  Who knows the "H" could even stand for some moslem sounding name like "Hussein".

2.  He is very polarizing.  Lot's of people love him, but billions hate him and think he is leading the infidels.  Billions of others really just don't care about him - many thinking he doesn't really matter anymore.

3.  He is not a fresh face.  The media love's fresh faces, like that cult around the corner that started last year.  Jesus has been around for a long time already.  Give the MSM something new. The media is looking for the new Jesus Christ.

4.  One of his platform issues is poverty and helping those less fortunate than him.  Come on, what an unexciting platform.  The poor don't vote and the poor can't make campaign contributions.  Poverty is simply not a winning issue.  The multinationals will not support Jesus.

A few interesting tidbits from today's John Edwards events.

1.  he is taking on McCain already.  Equating increasing troops in Iraq as the McCain doctrine.  Very nice - as Borat would say.  Someone in his campaign must read the blogs.

Midway in this video
http://www.youtube.com/...
"We need to reject this McCain Doctrine of surging troops and escalating war in Iraq" - John Edwards

Other interesting lines: "America used to be known for things besides Guantanamo and Abu Gharib".

2.  apparently there is some big blogger type (I know nothing about him - Robert Scoble) who is covering Edwards now.

http://politicalinsider.com/...

He has some pseudo-live blogging going on of the Edwards Campaign tour
http://scobleizer.com/

There has been a lot of discussion on who voted for what and when.  Who was on what committee and how they voted.  As this is going to be a very important issue for the 2008 Presidential primaries it is worth a look.  Assuming Wikipedia and those tubes on the internets are accurate lets see who voted for what?

http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://intelligence.senate.gov/...