Over the Christmas Holiday, I watched Mark Halperin - ABC News' political director - on C-SPAN giving a Politics and Eggs speech in New Hampshire, and something he said stuck in my brain.  Halperin, founder and editor of THE NOTE and co-author of a book on Presidential campaigns, said the best test of the winner of the primaries would be who could survive the "freakshow."  I think we're getting more examples every day of how Barack Obama will transcend the freakshow and truly bring in a new way of doing politics.

My interpretation of the freakshow is that it's the same sort of drive that turns our media's attention to nonstop coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death and the fallout of her would-be heirs, or that of how Britney Spears shaved her head and went into rehab.  As a human being who generally cares about people, I find both stories quite sad and I pray for them and their families.  But here's what I think deserves much more ink in the papers and minutes on cable news: the Iraq war continues, the healthcare crisis remains unresolved, the globe is getting warmer, students still need to learn...  anyway... I suspect that if you are reading this you probably agree with me - birds of a feather, after all.

So I read this AP article yesterday about Senator Obama's reaction to Fox News's Roger Ailes strange comments perpetuating the name-game on Obama and Osama, and yet I just find more examples that Barack Obama will transcend the typical.  "I didn't take great offense to the joke, I have been called worse," Obama says.

I know incumbent Senator Dan Akaka's primary challenger, Ed Case, supports President Bush and his war in Iraq.  He's one of only three remaining Democrats-in-name-only to back Joe Lieberman's I-bid for Senate in CT.  But this time, in light of Republican criticism of Bush's suggestions to break the Geneva convention, Case's statements go too far.  He says the Guantanamo prison camp is run well.  He goes further than key Republicans are willing to go!

Ed Case needs to come clean.  He needs to clarify his stand on torture and the Geneva Convention, in light of the recent Supreme Court decision.  Will he support the President's torture policies?  Or, will he do the right thing and stand by the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?  After all, isn't that what separates us from what's humane treatment and what's barbaric?

Did you support Ned Lamont against Lieberman?
It's a reverse of that primary, as Akaka needs your help to STAY in office.  In this primary (on Sat., Sept 23), it's the incumbent, Dan Akaka, who voted against Bush's failed war in Iraq, who spoke out against Rumsfeld's failed leadership, and stands up for veterans.  He's the ranking member of the Venterans Committee, by the way.  All those Vets in Hawaii should want him to stick around.

Like Lieberman, Ed Case supports Bush's war and likes Rumsfeld.  After his trip to Guantanamo, he didn't seem to understand what the fuss was all about.  Oh, and he is supporting Lieberman in his General Election.  You could call Ed Case the Doppelganger for Joe Lieberman, except Ed Case's more conservative.  Part of his strategy is to appeal to Republicans, his real base, because Hawaii's primary is an open one.  That means Republicans can ask for the Democratic primary ballot on Saturday and vote for their friend Ed Case.  That scares me.  I don't think CT voters could do that, right?

Saturday over at dailykos.com I raised the then-new Rasmussen poll showing this primary race as a statistical dead heat - Akaka 47%/Case 45%.  That poll still freaks me out.  I do not mind all the love shown for Lamont, I just think it would be a shame if Ned Lamont were elected to serve as Connecticut's junior senator just to have his votes cancelled out by Hawaii's conservative DINO-DLC-Joementum-stealer, Ed Case.

My diary inadvertently caused a flame war because I was frustrated at the heaps of attention given to Connecticut's primary compared to the almost zippo amount of attention everyone seems to give to the Hawaii primary.  I know!  Many of you will think that every other race outside of that CT-SEN primary is saying that, but in this case the comparisons are all too relevant: it's a Senate primary where a Democrat is challenging a Democratic incumbent, and the ideological contrasts between these candidates are even more sharp.  

While most of the progressive blogosphere is watching Lieberman and Lamont's every move ahead of the August 8 Connecticut Democratic Primary, Akaka is fighting hard to fend off Democrat-In-Name-Only (DINO) Ed Case's primary election challenge.  Here is a quick update on some of the more important developments in the race for the September 23 Hawaii Democratic Primary.

Case Going For His Base... Republicans   This is a must read article from the Honolulu Advertiser about DINO Case's strategy to get out his base of Republican voters.  Hawaii has an open primary, after all, where voters can choose whichever primary ballot they wish, regardless of party registration.

The Air War  Senator Dan Inouye appears in TV ad for Akaka.  It's my understanding that this isn't the sort of thing Inouye usually does.  He's never been in a primary ad for any Democratic candidate in Hawai'i, but he's supported Akaka since Ed Case announced.  You can see the ad here.  Also check out the TV ad featuring Akaka's eloquent call for peace and an end Bush's failed war in Iraq.

My former boyfriend is down at Ft. Bragg, courtesy of the U.S. Army. He told me he'd be able to shake the hand of the President today, serving as one of his political props for the photo-ops he has with the troops. I've yet to hear back about how it turned out, but he's made it clear to me prior to Bush's trip that he and his Army cohorts are no fans of Bush or his prolonged war in Iraq.   He proudly wears his Kerry shirt around base and hears cheers, not jeers.

How aweful it must be for him to hear first hand Bush say that the best way to honor dead soldiers is to keep the fighting going in Iraq so more soldiers can die. And how even more aweful it must be to feel so much pressure to have to clap for that crap.

My friend brought me a copy of the Express, a free publication from the Washington Post, when I was sick this week.  This publication usually gets a quick flip-through, then a swift toss into the recycle bin.  This one is different - the one from June 21.  It has the pictures of Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca on the front.  Their bodies were found on Tuesday.  They were brutally executed - "barbaric killing" the paper says.  But they are so young and handsome and innocent in these pictures, and it rips my heart out.  I have kept these pictures face up on the table, and every time I pass it, I stare at them and am deeply sad.

I go through this with every new milestone the media announces -  or every time NPR airs a profile on a dead soldier or any time I see one of those "soldiers who died today" lists on the news - I I am gripped in grief for a stranger.  They are there fighting for us, so I do take it personally, even though I don't know these men and women.   But I don't want them there for Bush's lie, and I get just as angry as I did the morning I woke up and saw Bush was elected President in 2004.

The public wants the war to end, but only 13 Senators voted for a firm timetable to withdraw our troops.  Of the 13 includes my new cause: raising awareness that Senator Akaka is facing a primary challenge from a pro-war D-in-name-only.  I am going to find a way to express my gratitude to him - probably send a small donation.