On Thursday, Democratic platform committee members were provided a draft of the Democratic National Committee’s 2008 platform. Titled “Renewing America’s Promise” and broken out into four distinct sections, “Renewing the American Dream,” “Renewing American Leadership,” “Renewing the American Community,” and “Renewing American Democracy,” the platform is a strong counter to the current Bush administration policies [...]

Some surprising data here, but what’s not surprising is that the economy is at the very top of the priority list. And that has to be good news for Obama since he has such a wide lead.
Energy, Gas Prices - extremely important to 51%
Obama - 47%
McCain - 28%
Economy - extremely important to 49%
Obama - 48%
McCain [...]

Obama - 49%
McCain - 42%
Obama gains a point and McCain loses another, and now McCain has dipped below 43, which hasn’t happened yet in June.
The 5 day:
06/22/2008: McCain - 42%, Obama - 49%
06/21/2008: McCain - 43%, Obama - 48%
06/20/2008: McCain - 44%, Obama - 48%
06/19/2008: McCain - 45%, Obama - 48%
06/18/2008: McCain - 45%, Obama [...]

In recent days, McCain has started talking up comprehensive immigration reform again, and that’s the straw that broke the elephant’s back for at least one prominent right wing blogger.
See, McCain had pledged during the primaries that he was going to abandon that stance, and many conservatives feel he never would have won the nomination had [...]

Public Policy Polling has the numbers (pdf file)…
After a week in which both candidates spent a lot of time in North Carolina Barack Obama has retained a large lead in the state, according to the newest survey from Public Policy Polling.
Obama leads Clinton 54-36. His lead is particularly strong among likely voters who do not [...]

[Re-published from 2008Central.net. We will update this post on Donklephant periodically, but for the latest check out the live blog at 2008Central.net]
We’ll be live blogging the event.
2:07: Only 3 topics will be discussed during the debate: (1) Iran and the lessons of Iraq, (2) relations with China and how they affect us here and [...]

[Re-published from 2008Central.net. This liveblog on Donklephant will be updated periodically. For the latest please visit the active liveblog at 2008Central.net]
7:02: And we are ready. 1 hour to go until tonight’s CNN/YouTube Republican Debate. The participants will be: Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, Mike Huckabee, Tom [...]

2008Central.net’s Co-Managing Editors submitted three questions for tomorrow evening’s CNN/YouTube Republican Debate.
1) Question to any candidate regarding immigration reform and leadership.
2) Question to Rudy Giuliani regarding why he has not visited Iraq yet.
3) Question to Mitt Romney regarding the information gap in the U.S. regarding the distinction between Sunni and Shia Islam.
Take a look, we’d [...]

And I’m listening…
On terrorism:“What is the greatest threat facing us now? People will say it’s terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. [...]

No surprise here. The GOP sees an approval rating in the low 20s for Bush and is running away from any type of reform he’s proposing. And his “amnesty” slip wasn’t really a slip. This is amnesty, as well it should be. And that makes Republican lawmakers even more ill at ease.
In any event, Politico [...]

The numbers have been pretty consistent on this issue, but it certainly bears repeating when majorities from both parties keep saying they favor some form of legislation to grant illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship:
From LA Times:
WASHINGTON � A strong majority of Americans � including nearly two-thirds of Republicans � favor allowing illegal immigrants to [...]

It doesn’t get any clearer than this…
The last Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll found that just 23% of Americans supported the legislation. When a bill has less popular support than the War in Iraq, it deserves to be defeated.
And scene.

From the NY Times:
WASHINGTON, June 7 �The sweeping immigration overhaul endorsed by President Bush crumbled in the Senate on Thursday night, leaving the future of one of the administration’s chief domestic priorities in serious doubt.
After a day of tension and fruitless maneuvering, senators rejected a Democratic call to move toward a final vote on the [...]

If the guest worker program is only allowed to go on for 5 years, there’s really no point in passing this legislation.
From Washington Post:
The plan to overhaul the nation’s immigration system survived its most serious challenges yesterday, when the Senate defeated amendments to disqualify hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from legalization and to extend [...]

On immigration, Bill O’Reilly asks John McCain…”But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you’re a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure [...]

A majority of Americans support the key provisions in the bill. Is there a disconnect here?
From NY Times:
Taking a pragmatic view on a divisive issue, a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status and to create a new guest worker program to meet future [...]

I’ve yet to comment on the recent immigration debate, though I have previously shared my thoughts on the topic at Thought Theater. Having recently spent some time ruminating on the relevant issues, along with today’s reading of George Will’s latest commentary, I’m ready to take another swipe at the subject.
There seems to be a [...]

This doesn’t seem like it’s going to pass, and it’s because of objections on both sides.

There will be no true reform until we can confidently secure our borders. Whether that’s a fence or thousands more officers stationed along the border, all of this legislation may not matter a lick until we stem the flow of illegals.
And yet, this is a bipartisan reform bill that Bush will most likely sign.
From the [...]

They’ve always offered political asylum, so this is an interesting twist on that notion.