Jeff Merkley is a new Senator for me, although I was proud to be a supporter-from-afar when he ran for the Senate from Oregon in 2008. I like his taking-questions-from-constituents YouTubes and was happy to see Atrios featured one of them on today’s Eschaton front page.

A while ago, while perusing the election results, I happened upon South Dakota. South Dakota is one of those states which everybody writes off as inevitably Republican. Yet nobody has a really good explanation for why Democrats can’t win it; it’s kind of like Indiana that way. Few people know this, but Bill Clinton twice came within four percent in the state.

Barack Obama lost South Dakota by 8.41%, a substantial but not overwhelming margin (I bet he could win it).

There is an extremely strong correlation between Indian reservations and Obama’s share of the vote in South Dakota.

Check it out:

Signs indicate that President Barack Obama is rewriting his resume to drop one of the favorite descriptors of him in the 2008 campaign.

It may seem hard to believe, but not much more than a year ago, we were awash in dreams of hope and change. On Novemebr 4, 2008, at 10:00 pm EST, all the major networks made this declaration.

Palin clearly wants to be President and her book is an attempt to throw blame on McCain and his team for the 2008 loss. Here’s an analysis of the real reasons for McCain’s loss and why Palin’s book wars matter.

How progressive is Barack Obama? It’s a question pundits, bloggers, and journalists have trouble grappling with. But one individual goes beyond the Obama phenomenon and investigates who Obama is and what he’s all about. In Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, author Paul Street cuts to the chase and takes a closer look at the man who became the 44th president of the United States. What Street uncovers is a man crafted by campaign consultants with political beliefs consistent with elite party interests.

As part of the firedoglake preparation for the author’s appearance at fdl’s Book Salon on Sunday, here’s an update on what Eric’s subjects of Chapter Thirteen, Saradise Lost, have been up to since early November, 2008:

The Rick Warren invocation is a strategic gamble.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the most polarizing figure in recent American politics, will be at a Sunday evening fundraiser, and four big Monday rallies for the closing day of Saxby Chamliss’ narrowing U.S. Senate race. Is she there to throw red meat to “morans,” or is she there to muck things up?

An emerging consensus wants January 20, 2009 to come faster so that the New President can begin tackling the nation’s immense problems. But we still have 60 days left with President Bush and this Congress. We should demand they do their jobs and not pass the buck.