Balta1701

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 01:45 PM) I noticed that - where are the questions on energy policy, the environment and climate change? For democratic voters, particularly in California, that is a HUGE topic. Very disappointing. Notice that it WAS asked about, at the GOP debate. Which, I believe, was not sponsored by the coal industry. At least they got something of value for their money.

BTW, last night's debate was the 4th debate of this campaign sponsored by a group representing the coal industry. There have been zero questions on climate change at them.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 12:45 PM) I've heard other metrics that have ranked him good-to-middle, my eyes tell me one thing and the basic common sense that if he were the second coming of young Andruw Jones he'd play everyday as so many other no-glove defensive masters have done over the years, from Mazeroski to Smith to Jones (last season). There are some other extenuating circumstances which seem to have prevented that from happening.l

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 12:05 PM) How great would it be for Barack to make a campaign appearence right outside of Bill Clinton's office in the Bronx? That'd probably kill his campaign.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 11:06 AM) If he can work it in, I'd think a stop into Harlem or the Bronx might give Obama a further boost in NY. Now it's all a question of time utilization. Yes, that could give him a boost. But as much of a boost as 2 events in L.A. or 1 event somewhere else?

Link

There's a rumor going around the blog world that La Opinion, the spanish language Los Angeles area daily newspaper, may make a primary endorsement tomorrow, something it usually does not do.

QUOTE(chwhtsox @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 10:01 AM) I said he was good, I just don't agree with the assessment that he was as good as Jones in his prime. I would have to see BA do that consistantly for more than the 1 year evaluation I have of him. You guys may have seen him more or know something I don't, it's just my opinion and there's a reason I don't get paid for it... Well clearly if your requirement is that he has to perform at that level for several years, there's no real discussion here. But can we all just settle on the fact that defensively BA was excellent out there, and without a bigger sample set it's hard to figure out exactly where he fits historically. He hasn't had a chance to really work on a number of big league level skills out there, like accuracy on his throws or any sort of Torii Hunter climbing the wall catches, so there's room for improvement with time, but when he was out there, he was very, very, very good.

MN Senate Poll: Franken 43% Coleman 40%.

No idea how big of a boost it could be, but at this point, in a Dem primary, it sure doesn't hurt. That's a lot of infrastructure working for you, even if it's only a few days.

About 3 months too late, Senator Specter is starting to sniff around and ask why the NFL rapidly destroyed all of the tapes and evidence as to exactly what the Pats were up to with the spying on the Jets.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 08:19 PM) One of the panelists on Chicago Tribune Live said that Santana's agent told the Twins if there was no deal by Tuesday night, they would not allow any trade (Santana has a no-trade clause). Also, that Santana demanded to go to a team that has ST in Florida. FWIW... What a s***ty position for the Twins. Well, as far as I can tell, that doesn't make any sense at all, because from what I'm reading the window for the Mets to negotiate an extension with him ends at 5:00 ET tomorrow. So I have no idea where Tuesday night fits in to this.

QUOTE(rockren @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 07:56 PM) Well what are the Mets suppose to say? Johan will get what he wants and the Mets will give it. They knew what Johan wanted going in. It'll get done. They're just going to try to turn the last year into a vesting option. Makes sense for the Mets to push that as it cuts their risk slightly if he gets hurt. They'll probably offer him up another carrot in exchange, maybe a little more money earlier, maybe a 2nd option year, something like that.

QUOTE(MurcieOne @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 06:49 PM) Obama and Hillary taking turns giving each other fellatio... I wonder what happened behind the scenes to create all this good will? They were at each others throats up days ago... now fighting for the same mission? Please, I don't buy it. Maybe an agreement to run as ticket? The race is so close that neither one of them wants to risk being the negative one.

I get the sense out there from the liveblogging I'm reading that a lot of people seem to feel Hillary struggled somewhat on the foreign policy/Iraq issue part. Blitzer attempted a big smackdown by asking if she was saying she was naive with her AUMF vote.

QUOTE(bmags @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 05:07 PM) I don't know, I don't feel like juries follow that 'beyond a reasonable doubt' thing anymore. Does Aruba even follow that rule?

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 06:05 PM) Is it just me or is Hillary spending 20 minutes to respond to each question? Previous responses to her debates and focus groups have suggested that is actually one of her strengths...when she gives a lot of policy details it seems to help her.

You're just trying to get to 10k posts here, aren't you?

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 03:05 PM) A part of me would actually rather just see the Bulls basically suck the rest of the way and lose as many games as possible with the strength of this years draft. For the 10 minutes a game that our next #1 pick actually plays, if he's lucky, I'm sure he'll help.

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 08:11 PM) Obama just took a MASSIVE leap in massachcets... Obama moves to within 6 points. CLinton 43, Obama 37 RealClearPolitics Previous Polls... SurveyUSA.... 01/22 - 01/23....586 L....59-Clinton.... 22-Obama.... 11-Edwards.... Clinton +37.0 Closed the gap by 31 POINTS in less than week. Survey USA, the one you're using for the comparison there, just re-polled Mass, and found Hillary holding a 24 point lead still.

The United Healthcare workers, one of the SEIU groups, may be trying to get on the Obama bandwagon as well.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 01:52 PM) If McCain pulls off big wins on super Tuesday, he won't need to spend much more money. You're totally underestimating how much time and expense there is in 6 months of a campaign. Running a campaign for 6 months on $10 million means basically shutting down for that 6 months. You can't go on the air with anything, i.e. if some "Hanois POW's for truth" comes along and starts running ads and writing a book saying that you were a wuss and betrayed your country. You're limited on travel, and especially on which states you can travel to (because the spending limits are also drawn along state lines). Most importantly, you're essentially prevented from spending money to build infrastructure for a campaign, opening offices, building up phone lists, prepping for the final push, etc.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 12:33 PM) Because Obama can still spend the Primary money up to the convention. McCain can't spend money he doesn't have prior to the conventions. He would have to go dark. As of January 1, his campaign was in debt 5 million. And more importantly...he's spent somewhere around $40 million according to most estimates. The pre-convention limit is around $50 million. Which would mean that from here until the GOP convention, he'd have about $10 million to spend. He doesn't have to worry about debt now that he has the nomination, he has to worry about the spending limits.

Here's a lotta interesting stuff on McCain's position in relation to having accepted public financing for his campaign and whether or not he can get out of /get around that pledge. Perhaps the most interesting part, McCain pledged to accept public financing for the period after the conventions last year as long as his opponent did. Only 1 Democrat made a similar pledge. Obama. In other words, for fundraising reasons...an Obama candidacy may well hamstring a McCain candidacy a lot more than a Clinton one could.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 12:11 PM) I'm still convinced Owens is going to win the CF/Leadoff job in spring training (quite the accomplishment) which is going to suck. So if I had a choice between Owens in CF and leading off or Crisp in CF and hitting 8th/9th I'm going with Crisp. Do you really think there's any chance that if this team acquired that particular bowl of cereal he would do anything other than lead off?