Andy Olmsted  —  Andrew Olmsted, who also posted here as G'Kar, was killed yesterday in Iraq.  Andy gave me a post to publish in the event of his death; the last revisions to it were made in July.  —  Andy was a wonderful person: decent, honorable, generous, principled, courageous, sweet, and very funny.

Bill Clinton takes a swipe at media  —  Bill Clinton voiced his abiding anger at the media's coverage of him and his wife in Durham, N.H., today, and suggested that media bias will force Clinton to go negative on Barack Obama.  —  He also expressed his frustration that his wife is perceived …

Trust Me  —  In all my dealings with Obama people, as well as the man himself, there's always been this sense that they're constantly telling people, “Trust us.  We've thought this through.  We know what we're doing.  It'll work.  Yes we understand that you're uncomfortable with this …

Exit Polls: Democrats Crush Republicans Across the Board  —  Is Iowa still a swing state?  After the big Democratic wave there in 2006, I had my doubts.  After looking into the exit polls, and adjusting for turnout numbers on both sides (239,000 in the Democratic caucus, 122,500 in the Republican caucus) …

Admit it  —  Let's say last night really did indicate that Hillary's negatives will keep her off the ticket.  (Or keep her from winning if she's on it.)  You know what?  Deep in my psyche, in the place that kind of misses the toothache I've been prodding at with my tongue, I am having a tiny little pang of missing Hillary.

Worthless chatter  —  I love when this happens.  It's a reminder that the political prattle that spews forth from group-think media stars without end and which consumes our political dialogue for a full year is based on absolutely nothing.  Also, most predictive “analysis” …

Feel the Love  —  Remember those heady days after the 2004 presidential elections when liberals were chided as coastal elites who were being punished by the electorate for mocking the heartland and its treasured traditional values?  Remember when those folksy Christian Midwesterners …

Economists React: ‘Looking for a Bunker to Hide in’  —  Economists and others weigh in on the weaker-than-expected gain in payrolls and the rise in the unemployment rate.  —  The sharp jump in the unemployment rate — from 4.7% to 5.0% — may be the most alarming feature of this report.

Pride and Palpitations  —  Obama Iowa Victory photo via CBS News  —  (Special thanks to Hubris Sonic for his stellar blow-by-blow coverage last night)  —  Oh, let's see.  —  It was around eleven p.m. last night when we did “the TV switch” here at “Stately LM Manor".

Obama Makes a Clinton-Campaign Joke  —  Inside an old airplane hangar at what used to be Pease Airforce Base in Portsmouth, Barack Obama made his first New Hampshire appearance since his Iowa victory.  —  He recited his standard stump speech, but there was a confident, almost giddy …

Data Bomb  —  Three weeks before the 2006 midterm elections gave Democrats control of Congress, a shocking study reported on the number of Iraqis who had died in the ongoing war.  It bolstered criticism of President Bush and heightened the waves of dread — here and around the world — about the U.S. occupation of Iraq.