The following piece was produced through the Huffington Post's OffTheBus. Edited by Denise Wheeler. Reported by Kirsten Anderson, River Curtis-Stanley, Jodi Lampert, Julie Pierce, Richard Riehl, and Debbi Plummer.
Who gets the big seat in the back?: Hillary Clinton has named her bus tour through Iowa, "The Middle-Class Express." The Middle Class Express? Is anyone else picturing your typical Greyhound bus, with Hillary squeezed into a window seat with a reporter from the Des Moines Register snoring on her shoulder?
Could Obama be the future leader of the red planet too?: Looks like Obama is the next Great Red Hope for the members of the Mars Society. They lined up at the gate for his stump speech in Concord, NH, which unfortunately didn't include planting our boots on Martian soil. Still, his usual message of hope and change seemed promising enough for the red planet members, who returned to their space docks, certain that Mars could be the symbolic achievement of Obama's administration. Who would've thunk?
Here's something the debate coverage missed: When Fred Thompson was asked why two-thirds of the nation believes that we are either in a recession or headed toward one, the prolific presidential hopeful dismissed Americans' perceptions all together and described the economy as "rosy." Hmm... wonder if he meant the rosy collapse of the mortgage market?
Is the presidency too big for Brownback?: In an op-ed for Real Clear Politics, Brownback claims the issue of Iraq is not only too big for politics but bigger than any party or upcoming election. "After all, right or left, we are ALL Americans," Brownback said. Sounds like real clear politics to us, Sam.
A pitch you can't resist: Two terrific seats to Game 6 of the ALCS at Fenway, plus $600 towards airfare and a hotel room in Boston. And all you have to do is make a minimum contribution of $20.04 (the last time the Red Sox won the World Series, 2004) to the Dodd campaign. The lucky winner will be picked at random, live and online next Thursday. And for those who don't get picked, don't throw your bats, because the contribution will still go to the campaign. So at least Dodd will win, even if the Red Sox don't.
What's the opposite of maverick?: The McCain blog posts a clip from the CNBC debate post-mortem where the Senator is applauded for having, amongst other things, "stood up for fair trade, Ronald Reagan...cutting taxes and being tough on spending." Wow! He must have really stood out from all those other anti-trade, anti-Reagan, tax-raisin' spendthrift Republicans!
If nothing else, he can stand: The Thompson live blog of the debate sums up Fred's performance by saying, "Fred Thompson shared a stage with the other candidates, but he stood above them." Indeed he did--he's 6' 6". Once again, Fred Thompson excels....at least in height.
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