In the New York Times today, we find that another promise by the Democrats, to revamp the nation's voting system, is not going to take place until 2012 at the earliest, not 2008 as previously indicated.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are slowing their drive to revamp the nation's voting systems, aides said yesterday. Under pressure from state and local officials, as well as from lobbyists for the disabled, House leaders now advocate putting off the most sweeping changes until 2012, four years later than planned.

Actually, this development is not surprising, since the framework for overhauling the election process hasn't even been agreed to yet. It's another example of Democrats promising the electorate something that they knew they couldn't accomplish. The NYT tries to spin this as Democrats being compassionate to the local governments and the disabled (huh?), but the Dems were never willing to deal with the real issues underlying election reform. If they had lost in 2006 they would be screaming about this now, but they won so they feel they can wait.

Out of fifty, only seven governors have so far made endorsements. This is not surprising considering how early in the process this all is. I was surprised to learn that Richardson is the only sitting governor so far. Huckabee and Romney are former governors.

According to this article:

• McCain: Mitch Daniels of Indiana, John Huntsman of Utah, and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.
• Romney: Matt Blunt of Missouri
• Huckabee: Mike Rounds of South Dakota
• Obama: Rod Blagojevich of Illinois and Tim Kaine of Virginia

Looks likes the Edwards Campaign may be on the verge of firing their two most recent blogger hires, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen. The problem is that these two bloggers have long histories of saying what they mean on Catholicism. They don't like it and the Catholic League is calling the Edwards campaign on it:

The Catholic League, a conservative religious group, is demanding that Mr. Edwards dismiss the two, Amanda Marcotte of the Pandagon blog site and Melissa McEwan, who writes on her blog, Shakespeare's Sister, for expressing anti-Catholic opinions.

What did they do?

...Ms. Marcotte wrote in December that the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to the use of contraception forced women "to bear more tithing Catholics." In another posting last year, she used vulgar language to describe the church doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.

...Ms. McEwan referred in her blog to President Bush's "wingnut Christofascist base" and repeatedly used profanity in demanding that religious conservatives stop meddling with women's reproductive and sexual rights. Multiple postings use explicit and inflammatory language on a variety of issues.

The problem is not the profanity or the content. The Edwards campaign has the right to hire who they want to. And the bloggers in question have the right to say what they want in the manner that they want.

Martha has the story. Obama is announcing an exploratory committee.

This is not good for Obama or the Democrats. let's list what Obama brings to the table. He's black so he has that minority thing going for him. He can speak very, very well. And that's pretty much about it.

So, no I don't get it. Having both Obama and Edwards jump in early has to be a sign that the Democratic field of candidates is very, very, very weak. So the Democrats who are rallying around Obama are signalling a couple of things early on. A: Anyone but Hillary B: Everyone else sucks more.

For Obama this is not good, because in time he could be a very good national candidate and Democratic party leader. But this is way too soon. it's like putting your high drafting rookie quarterback in the 1st quarter of the second game. Don't forget that Maureen has already christened him Obambi. Not a good sign. Obama will likely fail either at the primary or national level and he will not be Obama: Rising Star, but Obama:Yet Another Dem Loser.

That's my look at Obama when I put my "dispassionate observer" hat on. As a conservative, sure whatever, let's go Barak!

It's Cattle Call time for the Democrats again. Round 'em up. Things have changed a bit since the last cattle call -- Dennis Kucinich announced his campaign, Bayh pulled the plug on his nascent bid, and word leaked of Edwards' potential run. Here's where things stand now.

1. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- Things will still have to change significantly before Clinton loses her pole position. For now, she's still got the money, the team, the name, and she holds the press attention. The good news for Clinton is that all of the media is fascinated with her. The bad news is that they are all obsessed with whether she can beat back Barack Obama. Still, Obama has his own questions to face before he moves into first.

2. Barack Obama -- The most fascinating thing about the Internet is how meta travels faster than the original story. Even as Obama's fawning media coverage only really begins to penetrate most of the non-politically obsessed universe, bloggers are already declaring the honeymoon over. The evidence? People are starting to hear that Obama used heavy drugs (Obama admits as much in his first book, so this has been public knowledge for a decade or so). Make no mistake -- if Bush could handle questions of his past drug use, Obama will be fine. The bigger questions for Obama will be simply whether questions of sufficient experience dog him and whether he can hold folks together -- as well as to what end Clinton will be able to end his campaign.

3. John Edwards -- Edwards is a smart man. He knows he will have to be bold to overcome both Clinton and Obama. He's leaked word that he'll announce his run for President from New Orleans -- a move that is nothing if not bold. Edwards emerges as the risky safe choice. He is risky in that he has demonstrated a willingness to take on poverty, embrace unions, speak highly of potential opponents (including popular ones like Obama), and announce his run from New Orleans. He is the safe choice because Dem primary voters know him. Left thinking Clinton cannot win and not sold on Obama, Edwards is a natural place for Dems to turn. Still, Edwards simply is nowhere near Clinton and Obama when it comes to piquing the interest of every reporter in Washington.

I'm going to give Nancy Pelosi some early credit, for at least appearing to care about earmarks, which is far better than the congressional GOP ever did.

Republican leaders left behind just enough spending authority to keep the government operating through mid-February, less than halfway through the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Democrats have signaled that when they take control of Congress in January, they will extend that funding authority for the remainder of the year based largely on the previous year's spending levels, which will result in many cuts in programs.

The Democrats also will do something certain to anger many lawmakers but cheer critics of excessive government spending: they will wipe out thousands of lawmakers' pet projects, or earmarks, that have been a source of great controversy on Capitol Hill.

What are the consequences?

Same game different players. You thought you were voting for change when you fired the Republicans? Suprise! You get Jack Murtha, pork afficionado. Don't believe me? Just ask Kos:

But let's not pretend that Murtha isn't damaged, if not legally, then by the perception of corruption during the ABSCAM mess. And Murtha is an epic pork king, giving the likes of Bob Byrd and Ted Stevens a run for their money. Which is why I've sat this race out.

Pelosi is sticking by her man Murtha and she is going to play hardball politics. This leaves the Democrat rank-and-file with an unpleasant choice. Go on with Murtha and signal business-as-usual and we-didn't-really-mean-all-that-corruption-talk. Or oppose Murtha and trigger civil war with Nancy Pelosi.

Pass the popcorn! Best result for the country: Hoyer wins and we get some sanity on Iraq, Pelosi gets her sails trimmed, and Democrats and Republicans can pass some real reforms.

Best result for the GOP: Murtha wins and hands the GOP a campaign issue for the next two years. Two campaign issues! A faltering policy and a bribe-taking congressperson (although he faltered at that).

More on Murtha and abscam here.