Nice to see Blue Oregon acknowledging that there is a presidential race going on. I tried to post a guest column a few weeks ago and it didn't stick.

Anywho, Barack not only dominated the critical Jefferson Jackson dinner with his speech, but with his organizational show of force. 6,000+ supporters turned out for the pre-dinner rally, and 3,000+ rowdy supporters attended the dinner on his behalf shouting, "Fired Up, Ready to Go" to the shagrin of the other candidates. If we can turn out this many folks for a dinner, chances are we have the organization in place to have a solid turnout on caucus night.

Per ABCNews.com

November 19, 2007

"Obama 30, Clinton 26, Edwards 22 -- that's where things stand in Iowa among likely caucus-goers according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll."

"Since ABC's July poll of Iowa Democrats, Hillary Clinton's support has remained unchanged while John Edwards has moved -4 and Barack Obama has moved +3 (both within sampling tolerances)."

"A growing focus on fresh ideas coupled with lingering doubts about Hillary Clinton's honesty and forthrightness are keeping the Democratic presidential contest close in Iowa," writes ABC Polling Director Gary Langer. Among those who say they're "absolutely certain" to attend a caucus, Obama has 28 percent with Clinton at 26 percent and Edwards at 23 percent."

"According to Langer's analysis, Clinton has "a particular problem in Iowa with men" -- just 19 percent support versus her 31 percent support among women. (Obama and Edwards both lead her among men, and Richardson is within sampling error)."

"Also problematic for Clinton: 55 percent of likely Democratic voters in Iowa say they're more interested in a "new direction and new ideas" than in strength and experience, compared with 49 percent in July -- a help to Obama, who holds a substantial lead among "new direction" voters."

I'm done with Obama, since the McClurkin incident.

I understand that he has a good record on LGBT issues by other accounts, but it's the pandering to homophobes in that case that has caused me to give up all possibility of supporting him.

I'm glad to see that Obama is moving up in Iowa. So many people have invested so much money and hope in him, and I would like to see him make it a race. Unless Edwards can come back in Iowa, it seems like Obama is the only viable alternative to Hillary at this point.

As far as his crowd goes, I wonder what % of Obama's supporters were from IL? I heard that Joe Biden (who is probably my favorite at this point) said "Hello, Iowa and Hello Chicago!" to the crowd at the JJ dinner.

I thought this was a little too good not to share

President Bush today stated that while HRC understands the pressures of the White House, she will win the nomination but lose the general election.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton's response:

“I can’t tell if he’s endorsing her, hoping she’s the nominee, or thanking her for her votes on Iraq and Iran.”

Grant, in response to your question, except for a few staffers, all of the attendees at the dinner event (3,000+) were from Iowa, including most of Obama's precent captains.

Both the Edwards and Obama campaigns entered a pledge before the event that they would not stuff the event with non-Iowans. Hillary, however, actively recruited attendees from other states.

<h2>Now I should point out though that Obama had a fair number of out of staters at the pre dinner rally and the massive procession leading up to the dinner. I've heard that there were many thousand more people in this which looked like a parade with Barack and Michelle dancing out front with the marching band. You can find the videos on youtube or barackobama.com. Pretty amazing show of support.</h2>