Caroline Kennedy Endorses Obama: 'A President Like My Father'

The 51-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy has written a poignant Op-Ed endorsement of Barack Obama appearing in Sunday's The New York Times that is certain to resonate with voters of a certain generation for whom JFK is an icon, as well, perhaps, with voters not born for decades after he was murdered.


OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals. ...

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960. ...

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

Sneak Peek at TCF Bank Stadium Virtual Tour

Virtual Locker Room Tour

From Gophersports.com:

February 6 will be an exciting day for Golden Gopher football fans. In addition to the Signing Day 'Sota Social to introduce the 2008 recruiting class, fans will get an in-depth look at the new home of Golden Gopher Football - TCF Bank Stadium - with a comprehensive virtual tour. In anticipation of that day, Gophersports.com is offering a sneak peek of the virtual tour. Check out the new Golden Gopher Football Locker Room!

The virtual tour of TCF Bank Stadium will give Golden Gopher fans a birds' eye view of the entire exterior/interior of the stadium, in addition to the suites, the DQ Club room, the indoor club seating and the new home of the marching band.

The Signing Day 'Sota Social will be held in the Gibson-Nagurski football complex and will begin at 5 p.m.

ESPN's Coverage of the Gopher Football Recruiting Class

This is from the ESPN analysis of all the Big Ten recruiting classes.

Minnesota

Signing Day Storylines: Signing day is a big day for Gopher fans. After a miserable 1-11 first season, head coach Tim Brewster gets to unveil his first real class. Lauded for his recruiting abilities, he has worked hard to not disappoint, planting roots in Minnesota and going nationwide looking for talent. Minnesota has landed at least one verbal from prep prospects in 11 states outside of Minnesota, spanning from California to Florida. Brewster and his staff have shown a work-hard attitude recruiting the nation as they try to right the Gopher ship.

While strides were made to assemble a good class, Minnesota did miss out on some of the top in-state prep prospects, and this will be an area that needs to improve moving forward. The Gophers did land five in-state verbal commitments in their current class of 21. A possible addition is Under Armour All-American Keanon Cooper (Dallas/Skyline), an athletic defender who could help a poor Gopher defense.

With a strong stable of young quarterbacks, MarQueis Gray should have time to adapt to the college game.

Top Prospect: For the second straight year it looks like Minnesota's No. 1 prospect will be a quarterback. Last year it was Brewster's son Clint, the No. 8 rated quarterback, and this year it is MarQueis Gray (Indianapolis/Ben Davis), the No. 13 rated signal caller. With freshman Adam Weber taking snaps in 2007, Minnesota must be applying the thought that competition is good and you have never have enough talented quarterbacks.

Gray will make for interesting quarterback battles as he has good tools and size. He is a good athlete but is a pocket passer first. He has solid arm strength and flashes good touch. He is also athletic enough to tuck and run and create when plays break down. He still needs to develop his game and improve his mechanics but has good upside. With Weber and Brewster on campus, Minnesota can likely bring Gray along.

Class Highlights: This will be a big class currently with the 21 prep commits and seven JUCO additions in addition to Notre Dame transfer offensive guard Matt Carufel. Four junior college prospects already signed may be able to help right away, especially on defense.

On the prep front, Jewhan Edwards (Philadelphia/Roman Catholic) heads a pair of defensive tackle pledges ready to help a run defense that ranked 114th. Edwards, a big and explosive interior defender, could be a steal if he can take care of the little things on and off the field. The defense also has a verbal from No. 22-ranked inside linebacker Sam Maresh (Champion Park, Minn.), an in-state product. Maresh physically looks ready to play and could also help a porous run defense.

Two outside linebackers -- Spencer Reeves (Dallas/Skyline), a high school teammate of Gopher target Keanon Cooper and Florida native Gary Tinsley (Jacksonville, Fla./First Coast) -- should help. Tinsley could also be used as a rush end and help the Gophers get pressure on the quarterback after ranking 116th nationally in sacks. Minnesota's defensive woes also spread to coverage as they ranked 115th in pass defense and 116th in pass efficiency defense. With that in mind, it has have targeted secondary help. Another Dallas Skyline addition is the athletic Troy Stoudermire, who could play wide receiver or corner, but his talents may be better used on defense. Another solid corner pick-up is Jonathan Dandridge (Detroit/Highland Park).

On offense, WR Brandon Green (Chicago/Paul Robeson) is a speedy, reliable target with good athleticism.

Could See the Field in 2008: Any of the JUCO additions (especially those already on campus), WR Green, DT Edwards, LB Maresh and several others as there are holes to fill, especially on defense.

The Tolerance and Love of A Christian Mother

What do I Believe?

I find this guy so damn entertaining!

Former Republican operative Allen Raymond on how he helped suppress votes on election day.

First steel for TCF Bank Stadium to be installed Monday

A press release from the U of M on the TCF Bank Stadium. We get 'er goin' next week!!

TCF Bank Stadium is about to get a big delivery.

Over the next six months, the future home of the Golden Gophers will receive 8,800 tons of steel in daily shipments for the stadium's frame. The shipments will be put to use starting next week, when the first steel installation occurs at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 28 at the stadium site, 23rd Ave. S.E. between 6th Street and University Avenue.

Media are welcome at the event but, due to the hazardous nature of the work being performed, must wear site-appropriate clothing such as long pants and boots. Check in will be at the 23rd Ave. S.E. gate between 7 and 7:15 a.m. Access to the site will end at 8 a.m.

In total, the stadium will receive the steel in 10-15 daily shipments between now and late July. It will be used to shape the upper bowl, suites and press box structures in addition to supporting the scoreboard. Three cranes will hoist the steel beams, which will then be connected to anchor bolts in the pile caps, connected to pipe piles that run down to bedrock.

Minnesota-based LeJeune Company, along with American Structural Metals, is the steel fabricator and Amerect, also based in Minnesota, will erect the steel. More than 85 percent of the construction projects for the stadium have been awarded to Minnesota-based firms.

With 598 days to go before the first kickoff, the future home of Gopher football is on schedule and on budget. Fundraising is currently underway for the $288.5 million structure and so far nearly $75 million has been raised towards the goal of $86 million in donations and sponsorships. When it opens in September of 2009, TCF Bank Stadium will be the first on-campus football stadium for the University of Minnesota in more than two decades.

Tender Moment Brought To You By Mitt Romney

This is from the online radio program (formerly on Air America) The Young Turks.

The Latest Polls: Still Pointing to McCain vs. Hillary

Florida may or may not count for the Dems (the state party moved the primary up without the approval of the DNC), but New York and California are looking like they'll put Hillary and McCain over the top for their respective parties nomination. Do'h!

California
Field Poll

Clinton - 39
Obama - 27
Edwards - 10

Florida
ARG

Clinton - 59
Obama - 21
Edwards - 14

McCain - 29
Romney - 22
Huckabee - 17
Giuliani - 16

New York
Quinnipiac U.

Clinton - 51
Obama - 25
Edwards - 11

McCain - 30
Giuliani - 30
Romney - 9
Huckabee - 8

Giants Triumph by Kicking an Oblong Ball through a Big 'H'

"Change"

3-star RB Deleon Eskridge commits to Gophers

3-star RB Deleon Eskridge from California officially committed to the Gopher Football program yesterday. According to rivals.com he had given coach Brewster his commitment over the holiday break, but held off on his official commit until his official campus visit yesterday. In the mean time he received an offer from Nebraska, but stayed with his commitment to Minnesota.

The Gophers really needed to sign a RB in this class, and they finally did with Eskridge. He seems like a decent 3-star recruit, but not the game changing back I was hoping for and the Gophers needed. I expect Eskridge to step in right away and get carries behind Duane Bennett.

I guess I shouldn't be too upset about any 3-star recruit!

Obama maintains lead in South Carolina

1/21, 580 LVs, MoE 4.1, 1/12 numbers in parenthesis
Obama: 44% (44%)
Clinton: 28% (31%)
Edwards: 15% (16%)
Unsure: 12% (8%)

It looks like Obama is going to win easily in South Carolina. The Hillary campaign has done a great job of managing expectations in the state though. Hillary isn't even campaigning in South Carolina, and has left that entirely to Bill. Hillary has managed to paint an Obama win as inevitable.....and therefore, unfortunately, almost meaningless to the media. Hillary is happy with wins in NH and NV and wants to get to Super Tuesday. I think Obama will win by 5-7 points, but it won't be seen as a huge victory and the attention will quickly shift to super Tuesday.

Amtrak's Empire Builder

Because I am such a geek, and am now geeking out on the model train front, I thought I'd post this sweet picture that only I will enjoy. It's Amtrak's Empire Builder heading out of St. Paul, MN. Gorgeous eh!?

Obama campaign cites Nevada vote irregularities

I already suspected this, but it's nice to see to Obama campaign bringing it up.

US Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign on Sunday said that it had received reports of voting irregularities in Nevada's nominating caucuses, which were won by rival Hillary Clinton.

Spokesmen for Obama's campaign told reporters that a Clinton party handout urged registration lines for the caucuses Saturday to close at 11:30 am, whereas state party rules said anyone in line until 12:00 pm was to be allowed to participate.

"Despite clear rules and timelines laid out by the Nevada Democratic Party that caucus doors should remain open and voter registration should continue until noon, the Clinton campaign encouraged their operatives to close the caucus doors at 11:30 am, a half hour before that deadline," said spokesman Bill Burton.

"This caused confusion and led to people leaving the caucuses before having the chance to participate."

Clinton won the state's nominating contest with 51 percent of the vote, while Obama received 45 percent. The victory increased the former first lady's lead over Obama, after she also won the New Hampshire primary on January 8.

Obama won the Democrats' first nominating caucuses in Iowa at the beginning of the month. His campaign called for a full review of the Nevada vote but insisted it was not calling into question the results.

"We found an unusually high number of reports that the Clinton campaign was insisting that 11:30 was the deadline," said general counsel Bob Bauer, adding that at least 300 complaints had come in.

"We are not calling the results into question at all. We want to make sure this doesn't happen again," Bauer said.

"We are going to notify the Nevada Democratic party that we want a full review of this, and make sure we have in front of us a full picture to make sure this behavior is highlighted and discouraged in the future."

Asked by reporters why an early close would have particularly affected Obama supporters, Bauer said "a campaign that departs from the rules and disenfranchises voters has to be held accountable for that."

He added: "We care about all the voters who would have been affected by this rule."

According to the Nevada Democratic Party rules: "Caucus registration will remain open until viability is determined by 12:00 pm."

Burton sent reporters an email containing what he described as the contents of the Clinton campaign precinct captain handbook, which said 11:30 am was the "deadline for registering (or standing in line to register) to participate in the caucus."

It also said 11:30 am was the time when the "caucus chair closes doors and announces attendance."