If In Doubt, Plagiarize

Clinton is now running a campaign on the same basic message as Obama. She’s been following him from, er, Day One:

To chants of "Yes, she can!," a variation on her chief rival’s campaign slogan, Hillary Clinton rallied thousands of supporters and a smattering of Hollywood celebrities at Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday … At one point, she asked the crowd, "Are you ready for change?" According to press accounts, Obama asked the same question in a Saturday afternoon speech in Minneapolis.

"Yes, we can" vs. "Yes, she can." There you have the key difference between the two campaigns.

Closer and Closer

California dreamin‘:

The Field Poll, a prominent California poll, yesterday had Sen. Clinton, who formerly had a huge lead, in a 36%-to-34% statistical dead heat with Sen. Obama. Sen. McCain has an eight-point edge over his next closest competitor, Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Significantly, the poll has Sen. McCain statistically tied with Sen. Clinton in a hypothetical matchup, suggesting Democrats’ lock on the state and its 55 electoral votes — critical to their hopes for the White House — could be picked. Sen. Obama bests Sen. McCain in a hypothetical face-off by seven percentage points.

Wehner On Obama

He likes the man, as many conservatives do. But then:

Whether we’re talking about the Iraq war, monitoring terrorist communications, health care, taxes, education, abortion and the courts, the size of government, or almost anything else, Obama embodies the views of the special-interest groups on the left.

I’m unaware that special interest groups have a position on Iraq. Or is Wehner referring to Halliburton and Blackwater? But let’s review. If a Democrat ran for office today pledging a massive increase in entitlement spending, a decades-long multi-trillion dollar nation-building project in the Middle East, the biggest increase in discretionary spending since LBJ, a huge increase in the power of the executive branch, a doubling of the federal education budget, a de facto amnesty program for 12 million illegal immigrants, and a cool additional $32 trillion to the country’s unfunded liabilities … would Wehner be saying he is out of bounds for conservatives because he is a special interest group liberal?

Nothing in Obama’s policy book comes even close to the massive lurch to the left that Pete Wehner engineered and supported and celebrated when it was done by a Republican president.   

A Shift In HIV Education

The Swiss government issues an official judgment that says what few AIDS groups in the US dare admit:

During effective ART [anti-retroviral therapy], free virus is absent from blood and genital secretions. Epidemiologic and biologic data indicate that during such treatment, there is no relevant risk of transmission. Residual risk cannot be scientifically excluded, but is, in the judgment of the commission, negligibly small.

More here. They support responsible, careful negotiated sero-sorting as a means of HIV-prevention. Gay men have figured that out already, of course. It’s just AIDS Inc that hasn’t.

Voting Your Genes

Jim Giles takes a look at the genetic basis for voting preference:

Twin studies suggest that opinions on a long list of issues, from religion in schools to nuclear power and gay rights, have a substantial genetic component. The decision to vote rather than stay at home on election day may also be linked to genes. Neuroscientists have also got in on the act, showing that liberals and conservatives have different patterns of brain activity.

(Hat tip: Julia Whitty.)

Blogging For Power?

I never saw the point of it myself. I blog for the hell of it, to express myself, and to figure out the world as I go along, the best I can. The idea of blogging to tilt elections seems ridiculously quixotic to me. If the argument makes sense, people will respond to it eventually. Eventually. Not in time for a primary.

Oh, and they pay me now.