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As you can probably see from the February header banner, we've given the exceeding irrelevant Webb endorsement to Senator Hillary Clinton.

It's quite a swing for me personally, because I was adamant that she wasn't electable. I've tried really hard to pick Senator Obama as my candidate as I have find him to be an extremely likable, intelligent and inspiring man. However, I've yet to hear any specifics on how he plans to achieve his wonderful goals and ideals.

I also gel more with Senator Clinton's policy on Universal Health Care as well as an Iraq exit strategy.

Don't get me wrong...I would firmly support Barack Obama for President of the United States should he get the nomination, but my choice between the two is Clinton.

That said...I am starting to think that a Clinton/Obama ticket would be very strong and I hope to see that come to fruition.

In closing...I did find the single coolest picture of President Clinton and Hillary from their younger days and I feel compelled to share it with everyone.

From today's San Francisco Chronicle:

Sen. Clinton: Today, gay couples cannot grow old together, share life decisions, jointly own property, and take care of one another within a legal framework that provides them the peace of mind knowing that what they've worked for and built together cannot be taken away.

Civil unions give gay and lesbian couples the stability and security they need without interfering in any way with the tradition of marriage. I support full equality of benefits, rights, and responsibilities for individuals in loving, stable, same sex relationships, and believe that civil unions are the way to achieve that goal. I do not think that civil unions should be less than marriage - there needs to be equality of benefits.

I also think we have to be vigilant in protecting the rights of all Americans - and in extending equal opportunity and equal justice to all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. No one should be barred from getting a job, from renting a home, from contributing to our society and making the most of their talents simply because of their sexual orientation. We also must strengthen law enforcement and prosecution against discriminatory acts of violence against gays, lesbians and transgender Americans. Hate crimes undermine the fundamental principal of our country - that all men and women are created equal - and I will fight to pass federal hate crimes legislation to ensure that for the LGBT community.

Chronicle readers question the candidates: Sen. Hillary Clinton

Even though Texas isn't a Super Tuesday state - I'm still feeling like I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew!

Get out and vote!

What I SAID was, and I NEVER said that.

And how can you say no to JACK?

The Obama movement is clearly running with the momentum and we're entering into a stretch of states that should, at the very least, even up the delegates.

Anji and I struggled quite a bit on this decision and I do feel that Barack is likely the more electable candidate. However, we felt that we gelled a little more with the differing views between the candidates on health care and Iraq and didn't want to base our vote on two fantastic candidates solely on who is more electable. If Obama gets the nomination, we'll support him strongly. However, we're sticking with Senator Clinton until she is no longer in the race.

Isn't it great to have 2 extremely strong democrats to choose from that you feel great about in either scenario?

Stay tuned!

America is ready for change, and Hillary Clinton is ready to lead. She's a doer. She's traveled to every corner of the planet, into the most war-torn regions where few other leaders (especially the current President) have gone, and she knows in her bones that the world is crumbling...and so is America.

And when all is said and done, this woman leads already. I will vote for Hillary, because she's tough as nails and willing to lead us. I love the fact that I can vote for a woman for president who's ready to walk through the fires of hell for me.

I am ready for change
I am ready to see the end of this Iraq War
I am ready for Universal Healthcare
I am ready to improve our schools
I am ready for our country to be energy independent
I am ready for a strong women in the White House
I am ready for a leader
I am ready for Hillary Clinton

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Okay - Anji and I have been having this conversation the past couple of days and I figure I should bring it up here on the blog.

She is still completely attached to supporting Hillary Clinton. Unphased, if you will, by the recent results, though we both still feel that Obama will get the nomination. We've felt that all along.

My support for Hillary has been wavering a bit though for a couple of reasons. I think she's been running a poor campaign since Super Tuesday. I know she's made some changes, but to essentially concede the Potomac primaries and even Wisconsin next week for the big prizes of Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania seems ill advised. All you have to do is look to Florida to see how well it worked Rudy Guiliani.

However, that isn't the big issue that has me wavering. I still think she'll likely end up taking Texas at the very least which will keep her close enough assuming all the projected super delegate's stay where they are - and that's starting to look like a big assumption.

I still maintain that I think Hillary Clinton is more prepared to step into the White House and lead from day one. I also tend to lean toward Clinton on the very slight differences in their views. However, it isn't a huge sticking point and it was essentially a point of distinction.

Now...I look at Obama's supporters and they are so excited. It's almost like a movement. My generation has never had anyone like John F. Kennedy. No one like Martin Luther King. No one like Robert Kennedy. Barack Obama inspires me. I still think that he's a bit of an idealist. I think he's running a brilliant campaign and as I said when I first posted on this blog that I was supporting Clinton - I really want to pick Obama as my candidate.

I ask all of you - how much is being inspired a factor for you guys? Initially I was worried that I was being flip floppy and then it occurred to me that the difference in their views and plans are so minuscule that it seems okay to make the decision based on something so frivolous. Am I right about that? I'm starting to feel more and more that Obama isn't style over substance, he's style with substance and I really want to be excited about my candidate.

Furthermore there are all the polls that say Obama is far more likely to defeat McCain in the general election then Clinton would be. Again - how big of a factor should elect-ability be during the primary process? I wouldn't want to pick someone simply because they aren't the most electable candidate - but again, when it's so close and there are two strong candidates like we have - shouldn't that become an issue?

Obviously, as Obama gains momentum and the "movement" gets louder I look around at people I know - most of whom are Obama supporters and I see hope in their eyes and excitement on their faces. I watch an Obama speech and I feel inspired, yet - I am still hesitant to make "the switch."

I thought I had it all wrapped up in my head, but for the first time in a while I'm wavering...

What say you?

I posted yesterday's blog on several message board communities that I participate in and got some really great responses. I figure I'll post the links to those threads and if you would like to read them you can - if not, I won't bore you. ;)

RotoJunkie.com
Broadwayworld.com
TheScoreboards.com

and even...

My MySpace blog

There is definitely a strong shift towards Obama going on across the country and in at least half of the Webb household. Anji and I are having long discussions about it and it's entirely possible that we'll make that shift. I know a lot of you think it's that we're being wishy washy - but it's more that we take this decision very seriously. For the first time in either of our lives we are actually making a vote that specifically matters. You always knew California was going to go Dem. You know that Texas will go to the GOP in November, but it very well could declare the nominee in March. It's a huge responsibility and one that we take extremely seriously.

On a much lighter note...Anji and I both cracked up during this speech from Senator Obama on Tuesday night in Madison, Wisconsin. We loved the "I'm a Republican but I'm voting for you." "Thank You" line. That unfortunately wasn't included in this video. Maybe we're just dorks...but check it out.

...until then, enjoy these two videos.

...when I'm able to articulate my thoughts and issue a meaningless press release. ;)

Until then...I've never been a huge Indiana Jones fan, but I have to admit that the new trailer actually looks amusing:

As you all know we had original decided to support Clinton for the choice for the Democratic nominee for POTUS.

The fact remains that we like and respect Hillary Clinton very much and believe she would be a good President. However, after posting the question that I posted earlier this week regarding Obama, I've become inspired and excited. I believe that the has the potential to be a great President. To steal and paraphrase a quote from someone on Rotojunkie..."he has the ability to be carve a 5th head in Mt. Rushmore good."

Hyperbole aside - one of the problems that we've had with the current administration was that the partisan stubbornness prevented anything to be accomplished. I do have some concerns about whether we'd be looking at 4-8 years of the same thing under a Clinton administration. We came to the conclusion that liking her simply wasn't enough. There is such vitriol for Hillary Clinton in Washington that it would prevent the country from making the kind of progress that we need to make. We need to move forward as a country and I believe that Barack Obama is the man that can lead us there.

There has been a Clinton or a Bush in the White House everyday since 1984. While I think Bill Clinton was a phenomenal President it is time for change.

I've also disagreed with the way Hillary has started sniping again after they had both reportedly agreed to stop that. I realize that he has gained momentum, but I'd prefer to save the venom for the GOP.

I spent far too long trying to like Barack Obama. I criticized him for being an idealist with no real plan for accomplishing these goals. I believe now that he has the skills necessary to get a strong team in place to work toward the goals. I realized that I was confusing rhetoric with inspiration. Hope if you will. Fortunately, I had enough time to re-evaluate and both Anji and I are very excited about supporting Senator Obama.

Below I've included some interesting videos from BarackObama.com regarding his stance on some of the key issues.

...We had dual rainbows outside the house today. Check it out.

I finally took Todd up on his offer to go to the gym this morning.

It wasn't too bad actually. There were a few moments where I felt a little nauseous, but I powered through and did okay. I'm in horrible shape and it'll be a while before I can really do a decent work out, but it was enjoyable.

I look forward to going back.

Great speech last night!

Yesterday was an eventful day.

I spent the first half of the day working on some projections for the Fix. At the exact moment that I couldn't deal with looking at another statistic there was a knock on my door. Brooke had come over with Kona and asked if I wanted to go with them to Dog Park.

It was my first trip to a Dog Park, but it was a lot of fun.

A ton of crazy dogs just running around, sniffing each others butts and barking. I feel the need to restate that it was a lot of fun.

Later in the evening Todd, Brooke, Anji and myself went to see NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I'm still determined to at least see the Best Picture Nominees. It was pretty good. Per usual with Coen Brother films I didn't love it, but it was one of the better ones that I have seen. Javier Bardem was very good and all the hype/praise for his performance is deserved.

I rented MICHAEL CLAYTON this morning from one of those handy Red Box machines and I'm planning on going to see THERE WILL BE BLOOD on Saturday after an Obama supporters rally in Dallas.

Which brings me to my next point...

Tomorrow in Dallas, Senator Obama will be speaking at a Town Hall meeting which I am volunteering at. I'm going this evening to a training session and will essentially spend all day tomorrow volunteering for the event before heading to the Stars game tomorrow night. Yee haw! I'm also volunteering as a Precinct Captain for the Obama campaign where I make phone calls and help recruit supporters in my area. I've created a Bedford, TX for Obama group on BarackObama.com and will link to that as soon as it's available.

Since I'm blogging this right now, I think it's probably pretty apparent that I didn't attend today's rally.

I did go to the training last night and I got a little freaked out that I'd be stuck there all day and might get ill. I'm working on getting in shape, but I'm still on the very early stages of that so it just seemed like a better bet in not having a freak out to not actually go this morning

That said - I am going to the Stars game tonight and at least one rally this weekend. I may also try and head to a campaign office to volunteer a bit.

Baby steps back into society after a 10 year hiatus...baby steps. ;)

For years, I've eagerly watched the mail for my W2s to arrive.... bought tax filing software as soon as it hit shelves in November.... smiled smugly whenever someone groaned about the horrors of filing taxes.... and loudly proclaimed how much I LOVE preparing and filing taxes- probably making everyone around me want to impale me with any object handy.

Well folks, karma's a bee-atch and it just bit me on the behind. I was looking forward to a new challenge this year... filing taxes with all those relocation expenses factored in. The federal side of things didn't go so badly, especially once I went back and had my employer correct a few entries on my W2. No, it's California and its Franchise Tax board that kills me.

I'm a pretty conscientious taxpayer. At the close of each quarter, I go and do a reality check to ensure my withholding is appropriate, and adjust accordingly if necessary. California was fine- a little over-withheld, truth be told, but I'd rather have that be the case than end up having to deal with sending money in. So what happened?

California- oh, that great state of California, you jerks. The way California calculates taxes is to look at the total amount I earned in CA, add in the total amount I earned in Texas, and use the total of both CA and TX earnings to determine my tax bracket- essentially penalizing me retroactively for earning more money in TX after I moved than I did in CA*. I can almost stretch to say it makes sense to use my total income for the year to place me in a tax bracket- almost- but then they did something that takes the cake.

What did they do? What is so heinous? They are charging me a PENALTY for not paying estimated taxes each quarter of 2007, despite the fact that I (not being psychic) didn't know that I would be earning enough in the last part of 2007 to be pushed into that tax bracket. So, I owe a penalty for March 2007 (still in CA at the time, and at the time over-paid on taxes), June 2007 (again, still in CA and still over-paid on taxes), and September 2007 (not in CA, but paid even on taxes). It blows my mind that a penalty can be assessed for a period in which I didn't owe anything.

And yeah, I know- if this is my biggest problem, I'm pretty darned lucky. But it still makes me all GRRRRR.

* Why is this essentially a penalty for being in TX? Because if TX had state income tax, I could use those payments to offset what CA thinks I owe, but since there is no state tax in TX, CA and their greedy little grubby hands are reaching for what they think I should have paid in tax to a state. If I had paid the amount to TX, they wouldn't be entitled to it, but just because I USED to live there they seem to think they have a right to it.

What? Is this not what you had in mind when I mentioned a cake for an Oscar party?

Thank God for the Onion. ;)