Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) isn't really on Obama's short-list, is he?

I know very little about Chet Edwards...except that Pelosi recommends him for VP. Is CB implying that this would be a bad pick? If so, why?

9/11 shouldn't be a pander pageant. I would be happy if neither of them appeared anywhere, even better that both remained silent and respectful..

"Who wants their pathos understated, anybody?"

On Sept. 11, both McCain and Obama will pull their television ads and appear separately at a forum hosted by a coalition called ServiceNation.

Quick! Where can I place a bet on a pro-McCantCount 527 running an ad on that day?

But wait! There's more!

“As Newsweek reported last month, the McCains didn’t pay their tax bill on the property for four years – even with the ridiculously low perks under California's Proposition 13. Only after a reporter brought it to their attention did they quietly pay the bill – but the treasurer in San Diego still says they have underpaid the county $1,742. Ironically, McCain has cautioned against assistance for foreclosing homeowners because “any assistance must not reward those who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t.”

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/McCain_Owes_Back_Taxes_on_One_of_His_Seven_Homes__6002.html

Steve, I'm really happy for your new gig here at Washington Monthly, but is there any way at all you could get the site admins to make the user interface as useful as Carpetbagger was? There are currently two notable shortcomings that make this site less easy to keep up on than Carpetbagger was.

First, the RSS feed doesn't provide full articles, so it is hardly worth even following with RSS anymore. When you post a half dozen times a day but only a synopsis goes out, RSS is adding very little value over just checking the site once every couple of hours.

The other problem is that even on the site there is no easy way to maneuver from one full article to the next, at least not in an obvious way. When not reading via RSS at Carpetbagger, I could go to one article and then use the Next link (via the title of the next article) to move forward, until I eventually reached the end and could park on that page til coming back a few hours later, reloading to find it then had a link to a new post added, then continue forward through it again. At this site you *always* have to click a Read More link from the shorter parts on the main page. It is not a good user experience.

The inconvenience is enough so that if things stay with the current interface, I'll likely stop reading. Not that I'm the kind of dork who threatens retarded things like we've heard out of so many partisans swear on the campaign trail ("If Hilary doesn't get the nomination, I'm voting McCain!") and I'm sure you really woudn't miss me at all as a reader. Just observing that this is the kind of thing that does cost some readership.

Have I ever told you how much I like the daily campaign roundup?

Well, Chet Edwards would be amusing if for no other reason then he represents Craford, TX. But he's not going to deliver Texas.

But I can see the ads now: McCain may embrace Bush and his policies, but even Craford, TX rejects the Bush way.

I'm doubtful, and I approve this message.

Is this the replacement for pictures of Kevin's morbidly obesed cats? If so, I really approve it!

Just curious - what's so bad about Sam Nunn, anyway?

Yay! Campaign roundups live! This one of the features that drew me to CBR in the first place.

Romney as VP? Giuliani at the Convention? That's like Christmas in a year I was extra good and dad's company paid bonuses!

Just curious - what's so bad about Sam Nunn, anyway? -Neil B

That's a question we don't ask or tell. ;)

This new website seems to advertise for McCain and aginst Obama. That kinda sucks.

By the way- right wing media has got a hold of the half-siblings in Africa story.

There's a lot of right wing advertising at this blog. Boo.

Right wing radio is now running with the half-siblings in Africa story. I overheard them talking about the youngest brother today.

Orange.

In general you should try to avoid below the fold posts. They're annoying and should be used only when there is a long subject of limited interest (like when you have charts that only a few people may be interested in).

I just got my letter postmarked 7/11 that I am not going to be Obama's pick for VP. I understand that some here have received phone calls. I'm pretty despondent that I was only afforded a letter (and a form letter no less!). Also, it looks like the Obama camp eliminated me over a month ago (sigh).

I'm starting to think his pick will be Brian Schweitzer, since he will be in Montana before heading to Denver.

Can Steve-o ban me from this blog too because I lean right and call him ou when he spins???

[You can disagree, but trolling is deleted without apology. If you are obnoxious enough, you certainly will be banned -Mod]

Steve, one of the things I look for in the dozen blogs I select to read daily from the gazillion available is an easy interface. That's one of the reasons I read the Carpetbagger Report far more often than the Political Animal.

Congratulations on your new gig.

"In general you should try to avoid below the fold posts. They're annoying..."-None at 12:47

You're annoying. Don't ask Steve to dumb it down. Below the fold posts are fine. Keep doing what you do CB.

Orange.

Oh JRS Jr

You are such a rebel. What does lean right mean to you? Supporting deficits, torture, illegal war, the evisceration of civil liberties? I know that leaning right in a Bushie way certainly isn't REAL conservatism.

"In general you should try to avoid below the fold posts."

This is a good consideration, but if the choice is between abbreviating the weekday noon-time Campaign Roundups (or, for that matter, any of CB's posts) or continuing below the fold, I'll take the latter every time.

Can Steve-o ban me from this blog too because I lean right and call him ou when he spins???

No, but he can ban you for being a lousy troll trying to earn McMav-rickety points. Try not to go too crazy with the copy/paste functions...I hear you can go blind.

You have to admit, the headline "Obama Picks Edwards as Veep" would confuse a lot of people after the last couple of weeks.

JRS Jr. I always felt that with Steve's pos-a-comment-question "what color is an orange was created to make it easy for you republican trolls to post your drivel.

I'm starting to think his pick will be Brian Schweitzer, since he will be in Montana before heading to Denver.

Schweitzer would be AWESOME!!!

I predicted him on June 10

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15826.html

Orange.

Add me to your "round-up" fans! I'm so glad you're continuing them here.

And to David's point, above, this is one reason I'm a die-hard Opera user. It has a little feature called a "follower tab" that makes moving between the main site and the "read more" page a snap. When you open a page, you can choose to create a separate page where the links you click on open. (This "follower" page is re-used each time you click on a link in the main page, so you don't end up with dozens of tabs.) When you're done reading, just go back to the first tabe and continue reading the main page. I used this feature on carpetbagger report all the time.

I'd add, though, Kevin didn't use the "read more" here as much as you do, and I liked that about this place. I could read the whole page, and get the comments in a separate window only if I wanted to read them. Something for you to consider, although I hasten to add, it's your place, I'll keep reading no matter which way you go.

"Rasmussen shows Obama leading McCain in Pennsylvania by five, 45% to 40%."

Good, good, good, good, good news.

"Just curious - what's so bad about Sam Nunn, anyway?" - Neil B

I think the Democratic Party left him behind a few decades ago. Besides, if there is ever a poster child for pork barrel spending for McC*nt to target, it is Sam Nunn.

Maybe Romney could do a quick fire sale on his many homes. Sort of like how Gov Crist got married in a pinch.

Here's to the GOP.

Keep the 'below the fold' posts, in fact, do more of them, simply because this way we get the comments on the same page -- until that gets fixed. Other than that, yes, the format needs major fixing, including replacing the list of old articles from the magazine with a clickable list of recent posts, a 'next' button, and -- the one thing that TCBR was lacking -- a recent comments list. And please, a better, larger and more readable typeface. WM can afford it more than you could, but you gave it to us.

And start posting cat pictures!!!!

No comments on today's campaign round-up, except that I'm glad it is still here.

btw, orange

Well, one comment after all, but I am still hoping for Sebelius as VP. She's still the best possible choice. And will somebody please tell me what is so good about Schweitzer? People keep mentioning him, but never say why.

Below the fold posts are fine. cat pictures not so much. Glad to see alot of the gang here. orange

Multi-Mansion Mac and Multiple-Choice Mitt?

Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please. All those "M" sounds make me go MMMMMM, and to jangle a large bunch of house keys.

Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please. Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please. Oh! Please!

Ed

Are we really, really positively sure that Sam Nunn is going to be out of the country over the weekend?

Prup, as one who has long been a fan of Schweitzer being on the VP short list, my thinking is that he is a D.C. outsider who is consistent with the "change" theme, has a proven ability to pull votes in red states, appeals to the Mountain West, which I think is a huge opening for Dems in building a new electoral coalition, tends to be a bright outside-the-box thinker, Governor rather than Senator, and is very very strong on energy policy which is timely, and would be very hard for the right to "feminize."

This is the clearest comparison of the two candidates tax plans that I have ever seen!

Chart of McCain V. Obama tax plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

I know very little about Chet Edwards...except that Pelosi recommends him for VP. Is CB implying that this would be a bad pick? If so, why?

Posted by: CJ

That Nancy 'impeachment is off the table''screw the constitution and the laws for some perceived political advantage' Pelosi recommends him is sufficient for me to oppose him!

SadOldVet

I'll ditto that. Spineless Pelosi is unlikely to recommend anyone witha spine.

"Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) isn't really on Obama's short-list, is he?"

If Obama wants to pick a Congressman from Texas, it should be Lloyd Doggett, from Austin. Best Congressman I ever had.

If Obama wants to pick a Congressman from Texas, it should be Lloyd Doggett, from Austin. Best Congressman I ever had.

At Netroots Nation, the crowd went nuts for Doggett - we went nuts at Pelosi.

What zeitgeist said.

Steve, congrats on the new job! I will hold my judgement for now, but like many others have already said, the format at carpetbaggerreport was better. Perhaps it wil grow on me. As we all know, people are generally uncomfortable with change and that probably colors our judgement about your new home. Could you at least change the font here at the Political Animal...please?

Now...back to the regularly scheduled commentary ;-)

I find it interesting that after all the hand wrininging this week or Obama's supposedly softening support that several polls show that he continues to lead. Sure, things have tightened in a few states, but in several places he has settled into significant leads...and in a few places like Nevada he appears to be slightly in the lead.

I also took a look at electoral-vote.com's historical maps for today and yesterday's dates in 2004 and Obama's map is stronger than Kerry's.

"Continue reading" is annoying way to run a blog. Just post the whole darn thing and I'll start scrolling when I'm tired of reading. Don't make me click on a link to keep reading.

Prup @ 1:13 pm and the rest of ya... the geek side of me is coming out.

Now - if there is a post without the "read more" added by the excellent Steve, you can still devise an url that has it. This "Campaign round-up post" seems to a have an individual id of 2008_08/014372...

...I made a leap and assumed that the next post would be ..014373. With that in mind, this url would provide you both with the postings and the comments on the same page...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_08/014373.php#more

Orange.

PS - you would think that knowing this, I would have been able to figure out how to post smiley emoticons on the CarpetBaggerreport site - but no.

Me be a dork!!!

independent thinker @ 3:00pm:

It really isn't a matter of being uncomfortable with change; I handle change just fine on a regular basis. There are basic issues that make user interfaces either more usable or less usable, however, and even a consulting industry built around it, though I won't plug any site in particular.

Next links in a consistent place: usable. Editing URLs to manually increment a serial number, or needing to write your own program to do it for you: not so much. Needing to click through from an RSS feed to read stories at a frequently updated site: totally missing the point.

please, at least if we need to follow a link to finish reading an article, take us back to where we were after we finish reading, not to the very top of the page! otherwise, things look pretty good.

Good job, Steve, and I second others in delight at seeing a) daily roundup, b) regular CB followers here.

Good job, Steve, and I second others in delight at seeing a) daily roundup, b) regular CB followers here.

* After Obama appears with his yet-to-be-named running mate tomorrow in Springfield, Ill., the two will make campaign stops in Eau Claire on Sunday, the Quad Cities area on Monday, Kansas City on Tuesday, and Billings on Wednesday.

This radically changes my thinking about the VP selection.

I was expecting Obama to get all the finalists up on the stage with him in Springfield and, in a tear-filled moment, bestow a single red rose on his chosen running mate.

Now I think he'll do it "Survivor" style--load them all in a bus and head north and west, voting one contestant off at each whistle-stop until the last candidate standing will take the stage in Denver.

Awesome.

Hey, I never minded that you had a below-the-fold portion on most posts, but that was because actually going below the fold brought you right to the unread portion of the post. This site doesn't do that.

Then, when I finished reading the whole post, somehow you made it so that I could return to exactly the point were I was before I left to read the below-the-fold stuff. It was nifty.

I'll agree that I don't like change, but I think these are not simply just changes that I'll get used to, but usability issues that are going to annoy the heck outta me until one day I may decide it's not worth the hassle.

However, WHATEVER you do, PLEEEEEASE don't make me scroll through looooong articles, like the way they do it at DKos. I stopped going there because of that. My old bones cannot take it. Use the below-the-fold feature...uh...liberally.

(And for all those who complain that Kevin didn't used to do the below-the-fold thing, note that his posts were generally short. Not as short as Atrios' posts, but usually only a paragraph or two or three, AND he used a very small print. It didn't take much effort to read through them, or to scroll past them. Not that I'm advocating that Steve change his writing style. NO, not at all. I enjoyed both blogs very much. I'm just saying that both Kevin and Steve have different ways of saying things, and different styles that suited each one the best. Indeed, vive la difference.)

I'm wondering why on God's green Earth he's announcing his VP on a freaking Saturday??

www.washingtonmonthly.com to GoogleReader!
Have a nice day
Jinny

Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post.

Hi there,
Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!

Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!
Thank you

Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Bodyc

Amazing! Not clear for me, how offen you updating your www.washingtonmonthly.com.
Dirnov