And I'd join the movement If there was one I could believe in Yeah I'd break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in U2, "Acrobat" The eternal question everyone always finds themselves asking whenever they listen to a politician on TV is this; are you for real? As in, are you for real or only telling me what you feel I want to hear? In a way, states like Iowa and New Hampshire, the earliest states to vote in the primary calendar season in the U.S., to select the candidates who will be torch carriers for the Democrats and the Republicans are extremely lucky. Not only do they get absolutely carpet bombed with the candidates for months while the rest of us in the U.S. barely pay attention, most of them get to meet the candidates in person at some point. In swing districts in the states in question, they often get to meet the candidates multiple times. Of course, an argument can, and oft-times is, made by the people of this states that this blessing can be a curse in disguise. They get subjected to an astonishing number of phone calls, TV commercials, etc. during an election year. It can be a terrible burden they argue. Of course this terrible burden always carries with it a huge economic benefit for the states involved so they always fight tooth and nail any suggestion that they should yield their positions as the first states in the U.S. to pick between the candidates fighting for the major party tickets. Well, this year's election is shaping up to be slightly different for both Republicans and Democrats. Not only have many states moved their primaries/caucuses forward in the calendar year so they can have more of a say on who the people who win their respective party nominations are, but this year's lack of clear front-runners on either party ticket have created a dynamic not seen in many years. Certainly both parties started off with front runners. Hillary Clinton and "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani were both front-runners for their party's ticket. Now though, Rudy Giuliani has dropped out of the race after spending approximately $50 million dollars to win one, yes that isn't a misprint, one electoral delegate vote. Similarly, Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side has also stumbled. Once considered to be completely inevitable, an audacious challenge by a young up and coming black Senator named Barack Obama has her in, and I've always wanted a chance to say this, in a "battle for her political life". A couple of people may have wondered why this blog space was so very silent over the last several weeks. Normally, I am a fairly prolific blogger, both in posting my own blogs and placing comments on the blogs of people I track. As xboxrulze IM'd me, I have been much more silent lately. This is because I have a confession to make, I have been an unpaid volunteer for Barack Obama in the state of Idaho for the last couple of months.

This was a huge shock for me. I've never voted in a primary before, let alone tried to get other people to come out and do so. However, when the Democratic party chose a "skinny kid with a funny name" as Obama refers to himself, to give the opening speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, I stood up and took notice. This was a guy who hadn't served a single term in the Senate to date, but the party was selecting him to be their standard bearer for one of the most important speeches every four years? Some people may recall a little known southern governor named Bill Clinton making a similar speech before deciding to run for president. Well, when I listened to the man speak I understood. The man has a gift. He has such a gift for public speaking and rhetoric that a man whose full name is "Barack Hussein Obama" is now a hair's breath away from being the first non-white person of either major political party in the U.S. to be chosen to represent them in the general election. Think about it, a man who Republicans have repeatedly "mistakenly" called Barack Osama is in a virtual dead heat in national polls. That accomplishment is almost entirely tied to his extraordinary gift in public speaking. It doesn't show up in short commercials or sound bites or in brief debate answers, but when this man gives a speech all sides of the political spectrum in the U.S. get chills. Here are some examples. Do yourself a favour and don't just listen for a couple of minutes. I mean really listen to the whole speeches. If nothing else, it will likely make you better writers if you do so.



The man, who if news reports are to be believed, writes his own speeches, has an amazing gift for rhetoric.

The really great speeches in the world have a common theme: they start small and build. Go read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Marc Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral. He starts small, saying nice things about Brutus and Cassius, but by the time the speech is over he's managed to incite a crowd full of Romans to a fever pitch desire to sink their teeth into the necks of both men. Iowa Caucus win South Carolina win Faith issues Iraq War But I'm a cynic. Speeches are all well and good, but I'm a grown up and I know one immutable, historical fact: politicians lie to get elected. They say what they think you want to hear. How was I to know that Senator Obama wasn't just saying what he thought we wanted to hear a heck of a lot better than anyone else was saying it? That's why I was looking forward so much to the Senator's visit to my hometown of Boise, Idaho - a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat in the general election since 1964 when Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Republican party decided to start pursuing its "Southern Strategy" of appealing to fear of black people to get low income whites to vote against their own best interest. Well, with doors opening at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning, the Taco Bell Arena that seats 12,400 people was not only filled to capacity, but roughly 3000-4000 people stayed outside in freezing temperatures to listen anyway. This is for a Democrat in Idaho. Idaho gave Bush its largest margin of victory out of any state in the United States in 2004 except Utah. It is one of the reddest of red states. I wanted to watch Mr. Obama in person and judge for myself if he was for real. I wanted to use my BS detector and decide if he really meant what he said. I wanted to know if he was a truly gifted demagogue or the rarest of quantities in politics: a man who is truly inspired. Well, I got my answer. Senator Obama is for real. He believes what he says. I know coverage of U.S. primaries is not extensive outside of the United States, but if Democrats are smart enough to put this man on the ticket in the general election in 2008, then we're going to have a landslide. It isn't a given. Not only are Hillary and Bill Clinton resilient enough that it will probably require a wooden stake through their hearts to finally bury them for good, but Democrats have a well documented and frustrating history of doing the stupidest possible thing at the worst possible time politically. The only Democrat left in the race who could unify the currently fractured Republican party is Senator Hillary Clinton, admittedly a good and impressive woman but hated like no others by those in red states. Feb 5th, the majority of the states in the U.S. vote in their primaries. To my U.S. readers I urge you to find out where and when your primaries are at if you do not already know, and vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Jim, Jim's Mother, and ChiliDragon in a photo with Senator Obama