News Roundup, 5/15/08: The Edwards Endorsement

Senator John Edwards endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the presidency yesterday.

At a campaign appearance in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sen. Obama introduced Sen. Edwards to massive applause, to give a rousing speech that touched on Clinton's strength and character and the need for Democrats to come together, on the One America theme that he pushed as a presidential candidate, and on a potential Obama presidency. (And all this without having yet gotten his jet ski.)

I think Sen. Obama said it all.

You know, I haven't been seeing John as much. So I forgot how good he is. What a wonderful speech.

Check out the video here.

The inspiring speech matches the spirit of Democrats across the nation, as they come out in force against the misled politics of the past eight years and bring new Democratic blood to regions that haven't seen such a thing in a very, very long time. Patrick McLeod takes a look yesterday at how the recent congressional special election victories of Travis Childers in Mississippi, Don Cazayoux in Louisiana, and Bill Foster in Illinois reflect on the national mood and on Republican chances in November.

Of course, the current sitting president isn't helping Republicans much either. The disappointment and anger of Americans was palpable as reactions started flying to a Bush interview he gave online yesterday with Politico and Yahoo! News where he explained his recent lack of golfing appearances which we saw so much more of in his first term. He's not playing golf because he "owe[s] it to the families" who have lost sons in Iraq. They lose a kid, he gives up golf. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

It is not hard to believe, then, that Republicans are still struggling on the fundraising front. It may raise some eyebrows, however, to hear that even in Texas, Sen. McCain is raising nowhere near the funds that his Democratic competitors have. Evan Smith over at Texas Monthly has had a series of blog posts recently regarding John McCain's fundraising woes in the state.

Finally yesterday, Houston's got a problem which has grabbed the state, and now national, media corps: an ant invasion that's taken over the city and is terrorizing their electronics. No, I'm not kidding. The ants seem to have a penchant for circuits. At least they do seem to be fighting the fire ants which are so common in the area, and successfully — though I doubt that's much of a palliative for Houston homes and businesses.