The New York Times reports that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a "founding father" of the Afghani Taliban and the number two in command behind the blind cleric Mullah Mohammed Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban, has been captured in a joint US-Pakistani operation in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and commercial capital. According to US government officials, the capture of Mullah Barader occurred "several days" ago and remains in Pakistani custody, with both US and Pakistani intelligence officials taking part in interrogations.

In addition to running the Taliban’s military operations, Mullah Baradar runs the group’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura so called because the Taliban's leaders for years have been thought to be hiding in or near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, the restive province in southwestern Pakistan. Here some more background on Mullah Adul Ghani Baradar from a Newsweek profile in July 2009:

In more than two dozen interviews for this profile, past and present members of the Afghan insurgency portrayed Baradar as no mere stand-in for the reclusive Omar. They say Baradar appoints and fires the Taliban's commanders and governors; presides over its top military council and central ruling Shura in Quetta, the city in southwestern Pakistan where most of the group's senior leaders are based; and issues the group's most important policy statements in his own name. It is key that he controls the Taliban's treasury—hundreds of millions of dollars in -narcotics protection money, ransom payments, highway tolls, and "charitable donations," largely from the Gulf. "He commands all military, political, religious, and financial power," says Mullah Shah Wali Akhund, a guerrilla subcommander from Helmand province who met Baradar this March in Quetta for the fourth time. "Baradar has the makings of a brilliant commander," says Prof. Thomas Johnson, a longtime expert on Afghanistan and an adviser to Coalition forces. "He's able, charismatic, and knows the land and the people so much better than we can hope to do. He could prove a formidable foe."

No one among the Taliban—least of all Baradar himself—will say he's taken Omar's place. On the contrary, Baradar portrays himself as a loyal lieutenant carrying out the orders of his absent boss. "We are acting on [Omar's] instructions," he told NEWSWEEK via e-mail in a recent exclusive interview. He didn't reveal how or when he gets those instructions, saying only that "continuous contacts are not risk-free because of the situation."

Yet while Taliban fighters are reluctant to be seen criticizing Omar in any way, they clearly imply that his deputy has a more modern, efficient style of command. Baradar is consistently described as more open, more consultative, more consensus-oriented, and more patient than Omar. Taliban operatives say he's less mercurial and more willing to hear different views rather than act on hearsay, emotion, or strict ideology. "Baradar doesn't issue orders without understanding and investigating the problem," says a commander from Zabul province who met with him in March and asked not to be named so he could speak freely. "He is patient and listens to you until the end. He doesn't get angry or lose his temper."

That's raised another question: whether the Americans and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai might ultimately be able to strike a deal with Baradar. His influence among the insurgents—and with Mullah Omar—is unmatched, and he's not as close-minded as many of the leaders in Quetta are. Back in 2004, according to Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, a former Taliban cabinet minister who now lives in Kabul, Baradar authorized a Taliban delegation that approached Karzai with a peace offer, even paying their travel expenses to Kabul. That outreach fizzled, but earlier this year another two senior Taliban operatives sent out separate peace feelers to Qayyum Karzai, the Afghan president's older brother, apparently with Baradar's approval, according to three ranking Taliban sources. They say the initiatives were quickly rescinded. Still, when NEWSWEEK spoke to the elder Karzai last week and asked him about the story, he did not deny that such contacts had taken place, saying only, "This is a very sensitive time, and a lot of things are going on." Publicly, Baradar, who belongs to the same Pashtun tribe as Karzai, has scoffed at peace efforts, denouncing them as a ploy to split the insurgency. But that may simply reflect his feeling that the insurgents currently have the momentum.

Baradar can take much of the credit for rebuilding the Taliban into an effective fighting force.

There are a number of takeaways to the capture of Mullah Baradar. First it took place in Karachi, a teeming city of over 14 million people, suggesting that much of the Taliban's leadership has migrated away from the border areas. Mullah Barader may have been forced to flee from the increasingly less secure hiding places alongside the Afghan-Pakistani frontier as a result of the increased number and ever more effective strikes by unmanned predator drones.

There's more...

Yes, for Evan Bayh, its always about the Presidential calculation. He's running for re-elect in 2010, and then running as an incumbent Senator, and defending his votes between now and 2016?  He doesn't like the way that looks. Much better to be out of DC, position from the outside agitator for the 'change' vacuum, and why he's the one to fix the broken system in DC.

Uniter not Divider

We're All In This Together

"I don't want to spend the next year or the next four years re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s. I don't want to pit Red America against Blue America, I want to be the president of the United States of America."

Now, as an aside, those fights were some of the few times that we've actually gotten some progressive change around these parts in the past few decades, but that's another entry.

The notion that Evan Bayh, who was #2 on Obama's short-list for VP, could challenge Obama in 2012? 

Let it never be forgotten that Bayh is a perennial Democratic golden boy, the keynote speaker at the party’s 1996 convention, scion of a political dynasty, proven vote-getter in a red state and, in his own mind, prime presidential timber. For him, then, the question was: even if I win, who needs six more years of dealing with these people, after which I might be 60 years old and trying to pick up the pieces of a damaged political party brand?

And don’t get him started on the Republicans! I think we have to take Bayh at his word when he quite justifiably expressed disgust not only with the jobs bill fiasco, but also when he lashed out at the Senate Republicans who opportunistically voted down a bipartisan budget-balancing commission they had previously endorsed.

Quitting the Senate was a no-lose move for the presidentially ambitious Bayh, since he can now crawl away from the political wreckage for a couple of years, plausibly alleging that he tried to steer the party in a different direction -- and then be perfectly positioned to mount a centrist primary challenge to Obama in 2012, depending on circumstances.

The idea that Bayh could run a primary challenge to Obama from the center must strike the fear of John Glenn into Barack.

No, this is about Evan Bayh jumping out of the gate, a short three years from now, running for the '16 nomination outside of DC. He's read the conservo-populist tea leaves and will have a new jingle for us by then too.

That said, I don't advise it be out of mind that Bayh would be open to a great centrist uprising that nominates his self to take ahold of the Presidency through a nonpartisan National Unity party draft. You've heard about them, right? He would.

Chase Whiteside (interviews) and Erick Stoll (camera) of New Left Media have released a new short video entitled Scenes From An American Disaster. They interview various attendees to the recent National Tea Party Convention exposing the paranoid, delusional and conspiratorial assertions that run rampant in this crowd: Obama isn't a natural born citizen, he's a socialist, he hasn't released his college transcripts. It curious that so many complain about the expansion of government now and yet were silent during the Bush years when the Republicans not only expanded the size of government with irresponsible spending on unnecessary wars but also pushed for a more intrusive government that curtailed our civil liberties.

In this piece, I was most struck by the claims of Orly Taitz, the Queen of the Birthers who has filed numerous frivolous lawsuits, that she is "Facebook Friends" with 16 members of Congress. Given that one chooses one's friends on Facebook, it is bizarre that any member of Congress would associate with her on any level. So driven by curiosity, I looked into it.

She claimed 16, I found six - all Republicans. They are Mary Bono Mack of California, John Fleming of Louisiana, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and somewhat surprisingly Ron Paul of Texas (who by the way only has 110 other friends beside Orly Taitz). It is frankly reprehensible that any member of Congress associates with such a stark raving mad lunatic as Orly Taitz on any level.

Here's Chase and Erick's introduction to their film:

Last week, the group Tea Party Nation organized the first Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn., a for-profit event. Some 600 people paid $550 to attend, and Sarah Palin was reportedly paid $115,000 to the be the keynote speaker. After criticism of the convention’s cost, for-profit status, and payment to Palin, multiple national Tea Party organizations withdrew their participation. But the event went on.

And so did the paranoid, conspiratorial assertions–that President Obama was born in another country, that he has covered up his college transcripts, that he is pushing a communist/socialist agenda, that he is protecting terrorists and endangering our country, etc.

The organizers of the convention made great efforts to limit access to the press, and even held “new-media training” sessions to help the Tea Partiers sound and look better on camera–the more people see inside this movement, the less like it. But we got ourselves into the event, where the right-wing, fringe sentiments were on plain display.

That said, these Tea Partiers–able to pay the cost of attendance–are more affluent than those at the 9.12 DC March, and more self-conscious of [the way] they are portrayed in the media. There were fewer signs and homemade t-shirts here, but the attitudes, if more subtle in delivery, were the same.

Both Chase and Erick attend Wright State in Ohio. If you can spare a few bucks, please consider throwing a few dollars their way. Their films are really some of the best short documentaries on the radical right being produced today.

The Indianapolis Star reports that Senator Evan Bayh has decided not to run for re-election this year. (hat tip Josh Marshall)

In prepared remarks, Bayh, 54, cited excessive partisanship that makes progress on public policy difficult to achieve as the motivation for his decision.

“After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so in Congress has waned,” he said.

“My decision was not motivated by political concern,” he added. “Even in the current challenging environment, I am confident in my prospects for re-election.”

There goes another Democratic-held Senate seat. Not that Bayh did much for us, but losing his seat puts the Senate in reach for Republicans in a wave election.

UPDATE: Bayh has screwed us over even worse than I realized. The filing deadline in Indiana is just four days away. If any Democrat wants to run, he or she will need to collect 500 signatures from each of 9 congressional districts by then.

SECOND UPDATE: Apparently Democratic party leaders in Indiana will be able to choose a nominee by June 30. People are discussing the various options in this thread at Swing State Project. Possibilities include Representatives Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill as well as Tim Roemer, a former member of Congress from Indiana, and Evansville mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel.

Happy President’s Day! 

Here’s a Presidential trivia quiz, some easy, some rather obscure ones. Each President is the right answer only once.

1. Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln were each elected from Illinois but neither was born there. Name the only President born in Illinois. 
2. This President had the shortest retirement of any President dying just 103 days after his term had expired. He was also the only Speaker of the House ever elected President.
3. Name the only President with a PhD. He earned his degree in History at Johns Hopkins. 
4. At 5’4” he was the shortest President though he stands tall in our Constitutional history. 
5. This President was described by one of his political opponents as “a man who steps out of the shower to take a piss.” 
6. An accidental President, he was the last sitting President to run for the nomination of his party and not win the nomination. If it helps James Blaine would win the nod. 
7. The first President not to be born in one of the 13 original states. 
8. The last President to be a slaveholder. 
9. Though James Madison withdrew a nomination that likely would have been rejected by the Senate, this President was the first to have a nominated cabinet member formally rejected by the US Senate. The rejected nominee was Roger Taney who would later become a member of the Supreme Court.
10. A number of Presidents never held elected office before winning the presidency but who was the first president not previously elected to any other public office? He was also the last Southerner to win the White House in the 19th Century.
11. The only President whose mother tongue was not English. 
12. The only President to also serve on the Supreme Court. 
13. This President was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock and taunted with the slogan: “Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa?” When he won, the retort came back "Off to the White House, Ha Ha Ha."
14. This President once served as ambassador to Colombia. In fact, that post was his last government office before being elected President. 
15. This President coined the term “Founding Fathers” using it in his Inaugural Address. 
16. The first President born in Texas though he grew up elsewhere and was elected President from yet another state. 
17. At the time of this President's death, he was serving in the House of Representatives. After suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on the floor of the House, he would die in in the Speaker's Room inside the Capitol.
18. This President was administered the oath of office by his father. He is one of seven Presidents to have retake the oath of office.
19. At his Inauguration, this President insisted on having Barbados Rum served perhaps because that was the only country to which he had ever travelled. 
20. The only president to have held the office of President Pro Tempore of the Senate. 
21. The first President born west of the Mississippi. Though President Obama has claimed the title of the first Pacific President, this man arguably has a better claim having grown up in Oregon and gone to college in California. He was also the first President to be elected from California. And like Nixon, the second Californian to win the White House, a Quaker. 
22. While six Presidents served as Secretary of State before being elected President and while two served as Secretary of War only one held both posts.
23. The last President to have served in the Civil War. His campaign for the Presidency is generally considered the first modern campaign even though he never left his porch to campaign.
24. The first President to live in the White House who his second night in the White House penned this pray. "Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof." 
25. The first President to have a telephone installed at the White House. He was also one of four men to win the White House without winning the popular vote.
26. Washington refused to accept a salary but only one other President has refused to accept a salary as President donating it instead to charity.
27. The only President elected directly from the United States House of Representatives.
28. This President wrote in a letter to another President that he held that “a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing.” 
29. The last Whig to be President of the United States. 
30. Of the four US Presidents to win a Nobel Prize, the only one to win it after his term in office had expired. 
31. This President while in office wrote in a letter that "This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men." 
32. The only President to have been a Rhodes Scholar. 
33. His inauguration was the first to be televised nationally.
34. The first President to hail from Pennsylvania and the last to be born in the 18th century, he was the only bachelor President and is ranked by most historians as the worst ever. 
35. Shortly after being elected President, this President told a Pastor and a leader of a poverty abatement program that he “didn’t understand how poor people think.” He later described his wealthy backers as “the have mores” and his “base.” 
36. This President described being President as: “Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it.”  In the end, he chose to not run for re-election.
37. At 42 years, 10 months and 20 days, he was the youngest President. Of his Presidency, he later wrote "I did not usurp power but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."
38. One of two Quaker Presidents, he’s the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. And he's the only President to have resigned the office.
39. One of the shorter Presidents at 5’6”, this President hailed from Indiana. He is only one of four Presidents to win the Presidency despite losing the popular vote. He was also the grandson of a former President.
40. One of eight-left handed Presidents (six since the end of World War II) and one of seven Presidents who had to retaken the oath of office but this President is the only President to win a Grammy. 
41. The only President to hail from New Hampshire, he was attacked for being a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies). He’s also the only President to affirm rather than swear the oath of office. 
42. The only President born in Nebraska, he was a well-respected House Minority Leader whose goal in life was to become Speaker of the House. He never did, but instead took an unusual route to the White House. 
43. This President said of conservatives: “A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.” He also reminded his antagonists that “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” Words our current President might considering quoting. 

Dan Coats is so committed to Indiana that he has decided to rent a home in Indianapolis.

Dan Coats Rents Home For Indiana Senate Run

(Indianapolis) -- Recent Virginia resident Dan Coats now has a rented home in Indianapolis as he plans a run for the U.S. Senate in Indiana. Coats says he is now also registered to vote in Indiana as supporters work to get enough signatures for a GOP run.

Coats is also refuting claims brought up by a 2008 video showing him telling North Carolina Republicans that he planned to retire there.

Coats says he also plans to discuss his lobbying work for foreign governments and the Bank of America in the near future.

Coats is hoping to challenge Evan Bayh in November.

I can't decide who is off to the worst start to a Senatorial campaign, Harold "I have yet to file taxes in NY" Ford or Dan "The Renter" Coats. Whichever is the case, it is all rather enjoyable.

For the demented Republicans, working in a majority democracy proves difficult:

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kyl echoed a claim that congressional Republicans have made for the past week, that President Barack Obama and House and Senate Democrats intend the summit as a public display and not a genuine dialogue. He quoted a recent Wall Street Journal article that asserted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has “set the stage” for using reconciliation to pass the bill. That controversial legislative tactic could allow the bill to pass the Senate with 51 votes instead of 60 as usually required to break a filibuster.

“What that means is they’ve devised the process by which they can jam the bill through that the president has supported in the past, without Republican ideas in it,” Kyl told CNN host Candy Crowley.

We can't take Kyl at his word that this will be the case, but I sure hope it is. And have you seen the "What a Trap: The RNC in Hawaii!" video linked above? Just in case you need a reminder of what sort of worldview we are dealing with in opposition to the Republicans that are against public health insurance.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

With former Vice President Dick Cheney scheduled to appear on Sunday on ABC's This Week with guest anchor Jonathan Karl where the former Vice President is expected to repeat his long-standing criticism of the Obama Administration's national security policies, Vice President Joe Biden played pre-emptive offense in a taped segment with Dick Gregory of NBC's Meet the Press. NBC released this excerpt of the interview:

DAVID GREGORY: Let me ask you about some of the criticism that's been leveled at this Administration by former Vice President Dick Cheney. He has argued that this Administration has failed to treat the fight against terrorists as war. He cites the decision related to Khalid Sheik Muhammad to offer him a civilian trail as one example. Giving the Christmas Day Bomber the privileges of the American criminal justice system is another example. The decision to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison. What do you say?

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Let me choose my words carefully here. Dick Cheney's a fine fellow. He's entitled to his own opinion. He's not entitled to rewrite history. He's not entitled to his own facts. The Christmas Day Bomber was treated the exact way that he suggested that the Shoe Bomber was treated. Absolutely the same way. Under the Bush Administration there were three trials in military courts. Two of those people are now walking the streets. They are free.

There were 300 trials of so-called terrorists and those who engage in terror against the United States of America who are in federal prison and have not seen the light of day. Prosecuted under the last Administration. Dick Cheney's a fine fellow, but he is not entitled to rewrite history without it being challenged. I don't know where he has been. Where was he the last four years of the last Administration?

DAVID GREGORY: What about the general proposition that the President according to former Vice President Cheney doesn't consider America to be at war and is essentially soft on terrorism? What do you say about that?

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don't think the Vice-- the Former Vice President Dick Cheney listens. The President of the United States said in the State of the Union, "We're at war with Al Qaeda." He stated this-- and by the way, we're pursuing that war with a vigor like it's never been seen before. We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates. We are making, we've sent them underground. They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to-- to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?

DAVID GREGORY: You have often said, when I've asked you and others, that you never impugn a man's motives. But why do you think Dick Cheney is speaking out and being so critical of the President and the Administration so publicly?

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don't know. I-- I-- I'm not gonna guess about his motive. All I know is he's factually, substantively wrong. On the major criticisms he is asserting. Why he's insisting on that. He either is misinformed or he is misinforming. But the facts are that his assertions are not accurate.

DAVID GREGORY: You would not be this outspoken or critical when you're out of office. Is that fair to say?

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I-- I-- I would hope I-- look, it's one thing to be outspoken. It's another thing to be outspoken in a way that misrepresents the facts. And I-- I guess-- again, I-- it's almost like Dick is trying to rewrite history. I can understand where the-- why that would be-- you know, an impulse. And maybe he isn't-- literally, I'm not being facetious. Maybe he's not fully informed of what's going on. I mean, the progress we have made. There has never been as much emphasis and resources brought against Al Qaeda. The success rate exceeds anything that occurred in the last Administration. And they did their best. I'm not-- I'm not impugning their effort. It's simply not true that the President of the United States is not prosecuting the war against Al Qaeda with a vigor that's never been seen before. It's real. It's deep. It's successful.

The Vice President's candor and frank assessment is a welcomed development. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and much of the GOP has been attempting to "rewrite history" and they need to be called on it. Vice President Biden was too generous when he stated that Cheney was either "misinformed or he is misinforming." It has always been the latter with Dick Cheney.

With the somewhat surprising retirement of the eight-termed Rep. Patrick Kennedy in the First Rhode Island First Congressional District all but formally announced, the race to win the Democratic nomination is getting underway. First out of the gate is William Lynch, the state Democratic party chairman for the last 12 years, who simultaneously resigned his post and announced his candidacy. Some background from the Providence Journal:

Lynch has been the state Democratic party chief since August 1998, and a familiar figure on the Rhode Island political landscape for many years before that. He was a Pawtucket City Council member (1986-1992), a candidate for mayor of his home city against Robert E. Metivier and a one-time finalist for the job of U.S. Attorney.

He is also a member of a storied local political family: the Lynchs of Pawtucket. Lynch's grandfather owned a pub in Pawtucket in the 1920s. His father, the late Dennis Lynch, served as mayor of Pawtucket from 1973 to 1981. His younger brother Patrick C. Lynch is the state's attorney general and a candidate for governor.

In his statement, Bill Lynch said he is running for Congress "because we need to cut through the Washington gridlock and get Rhode Islanders back to work and our economy moving again.

"This campaign is about getting Washington working for America's families. Rhode Islanders can no longer afford the partisan bickering both the Republican and Democratic Parties provided last year and there is plenty of blame to go around," Lynch said.

Soon after his appointment as party chairman, Lynch famously told an eighth-grade class that it was easy to tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans: "The Democrats are the good guys and the Republicans are the bad guys and that's all you have to remember.''

But now that he is contemplating a new role, he said: "The partisan politics of Washington are no longer providing solutions for the taxpayers of Rhode Island. I share the sentiments of voters who are angry and upset with the divisive debate that has ground Washington to a halt.

"I want Rhode Island families to know I will not participate in the rhetoric that has left all of us discouraged and disillusioned these past few years," stated Lynch. "I believe the vast majority of Rhode Islanders want the Republicans and Democrats who represent them to move to the center.

"It is time to stop the bitter debate driven by the extreme left and right. We need to come together and govern from the middle in a manner that makes sense for working families here in Rhode Island," said Lynch.

Right behind Bill Lynch was current Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline who announced he would also be in November's Congress race, going before cameras and the media at a swine-flu vaccination clinic in Providence. Here's a profile from the Providence Journal:

Cicilline, 49, the state's first openly gay mayor, said he would not step down as Providence's mayor during his run for Congress. He has held the job for eight years.

The boyish-looking Cicilline, who grew up in the city, said his time on the job gives him the proper perspective on the struggles of middle-class Americans.

"Washington is really disconnected from the families in America," Cicilline, casually dressed in a open-neck dress shirt, sweater and slacks, told reporters gathered in a hallway at a school on Thurbers Avenue. "I see very directly what this economy has done" to families.

The mayor also said his role has taught him how to bring people together to solve problems, something he said national political leaders seem to forgo in favor of "posturing."

He cited educational improvements and the groundwork done on the city's "knowledge" district as two examples of issues he's helped address.

Cicilline was born in the South Side of Providence and then moved with his family to Narragansett. He graduated from Brown University magna cum laude and later earned a law degree from the Georgetown University. Cicilline now lives on the East Side, which is in the 1st Congressional District.

The city faced a $59-million deficit in 2002 when Cicilline first ran for mayor, pledging to restore public confidence in City Hall and to revitalize the city's neighborhoods. He took a four-way primary before winning the general election.

Eight years later, he sees the nation facing similar crisis in confidence.

"There is no question that there is no more urgent time," he said. "This is the moment."

These announcements kick off what may yet become a crowded field. Many other Ocean State Democrats – including Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis and former Congressman Robert Weygand – are believed to be interested in making a run for the seat. On the GOP side, State Representative John J. Loughlin II had announced his candidacy earlier this month.

Ned Lamont, who upset Joe Lieberman in the August 2006 Democratic primary before losing to Lieberman in the general election, will announce that he is a candidate for governor in the Nutmeg State according to the Hartford Courant.

Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont will officially announce Tuesday morning that he is running for governor.

The announcement will be made at the Old State House in downtown Hartford, which is the same site where Lamont launched his candidacy against U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.

Lamont will be joining a field in which three Democrats have already dropped out - Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, former House Speaker James Amann of Milford, and state Sen. Gary LeBeau of East Hartford. The race has become wide open since Gov. M. Jodi Rell's announcement last year that she was not seeking re-election.

Ned Lamont will enter the race as the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic nomination. In the most recent Quinnipiac University poll, Lamont polled 27 percent well ahead former Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy who had 11 percent. Three others - Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden - are also in the Democratic race but polling in the low single digits.

The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that the Tea Party of Nevada has qualified as a third party in Nevada and will field its own candidate in the Senate race for the seat currently held by Senator Harry Reid, the Majority Leader.

The party has filed a Certificate of Existence but needs to get 1 percent of the electorate to vote for its candidate in November to permanently qualify, according to the report.

[Las Vegas Sun columist Jon] Ralston reported that Jon Ashjian will be the Tea Party's U.S. Senate candidate on the November ballot. Ashjian still must declare his candidacy.

According to the party's constitution, the Tea Party of Nevada will "promote this nation's founding principles of freedom, liberty and a small representative government. We believe that our government under both Democrat and Republican control has led to massive national debt, crushing deficits, increased taxes; while establishing a large and powerful federal government in a direct refutation of the founding ideals of America."

The move is likely to marginally help the embattled Harry Reid who has been trailing in most polls by a wide margin against potential GOP challengers. There are currently three Republican challengers vying to win the GOP nod: former State Senator Sue Lowden, former UNLV basketball star Danny Tarkanian and former State Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.

In addition there are six other third-party candidates going through the verification process to appear on the ballot as US Senate candidates — one Reform Party hopeful and five as independents.

Enjoy.

• Daphne Eviatar - Human Rights 1st argues that Military Commissions Are a Terrorist's Best Bet.


• Climate Bullies and Bystanders.  (Heather Taylor-Miesle NRDC Action Fund)


• Ralphlopez: Why do Men Join the Taliban?


• Tune in to host a conversation, writes Restore Fairness in It's that time again to talk about racial profiling.


• U.S. Poised to Commit War Crimes in Marjah. (Robert Naiman)


• In Haiti, asks The Opportunity Agenda, What Can an Equitable Recovery Look Like?


• PAbrams offers a few reasons to Eliminate Filibuster Now: A "First 100 Days" of Year 2, Avoid Supreme Court Fight, Win 2010 Elections.


• Voter ID Debate Weathers Storm: Bill Passes in S.C., another Brews in Missouri.  (Project Vote)

The British chef and food educator Jamie Oliver, perhaps best known for his BBC show The Naked Chef won the annual TED Award for his work on fighting obesity in Huntington, West Virginia. He minces onions but not his words. The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, "One Wish to Change the World." Here's his TED wish:

"I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

The Plan:

Set up an organization to create a popular movement that will inspire people to change the way they eat. The movement will do this by establishing a network of community kitchens; launching a travelling food theater that will teach kids practical food and cooking skills in an entertaining way and provide basic training for parents and professionals; and bringing millions of people together through an online community to drive the fight against obesity. The grassroots movement must also challenge corporate America to support meaningful programs that will change the culture of junk food.

You can sign a petition and join Jamie's Food Revolution.

There's more...

Derek Sivers gave this presentation at the TED Conference this week and got a standing ovation. It's pretty brilliant in its takeaway.

Here's the transcript. The bold is mine.

If you've learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let's watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:

A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he's doing is so simple, it's almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!

Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it's not about the leader anymore - it's about them, plural. Notice he's calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.

The 2nd follower is a turning point: it's proof the first has done well. Now it's not a lone nut, and it's not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.

A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers - not the leader.

Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we've got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we've got a movement!

As more people jump in, it's no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there's no reason not to join now. They won't be ridiculed, they won't stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you'll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they'd be ridiculed for not joining.

And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made! Let's recap what we learned:

If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.

Be public. Be easy to follow!

But the biggest lesson here - did you catch it?

Leadership is over-glorified.

Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he'll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:

It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.

There is no movement without the first follower.

We're told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.

The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.

When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.

Be a follower, join a movement. That's how change happens.

When asked specifically whether he'll challenge Russ Feingold, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson has usually been Captain Indecisive.

And that's fine - he can enjoy the publicity that comes with his hedging. But something tells me this race isn't up Tommy's alley, given that our former governor doesn't exactly seem ready to re-immerse himself in state-specific issues:

 “This election… it’s going to be decided on things, you know, that really are not that particular to Wisconsin.”  

There's two possible takes on Tommy's comment. I mentioned the first above - that Tommy's not keen on returning to the sort of comprehensive policy work that running for statewide office requires.

But there's a second possible take.

One of Feingold's declared Republican opponents, millionaire developer Terrence Wall, launched his campaign with an off-key TV ad attacking Feingold on two fronts: for supporting health care reform, and for not "listening anymore," despite the fact that Feingold goes to great lengths to visit all 72 counties in Wisconsin every year.

And Tommy Thompson knows that...it's no secret that Feingold consistently wins support from statewide independents who, while they may not agree with the Feingold on everything, know Senator Feingold well and trust his consistency.

So in a cycle when every Republican in America is running against Washington, how much room is there for a former Republican Cabinet Secretary who actually supported one of the Senate's versions of health care reform?

Probably not much. And Tommy's no fool.

Some interesting numbers out of the latest New York Times/CBS News poll:

In order to reduce the federal budget deficit, would you be willing or not willing for the government to decrease spending in areas such as health care or eduction?

Willing: 30 percent
Not willing: 62 percent 

In order to reduce the federal budget deficit, would you be willing or not willing to decrease military spending?

Willing: 45 percent
Not willing: 51 percent 

As is apparent above, there isn't a broad consensus decreasing defense spending -- but relative to spending on social programs, Americans are significantly more open to such cuts to the military. Indeed, these numbers suggest that the theory that Americans want to address the federal deficit by slashing spending on just about anything except national defense may be not only incorrect but even completely backwards.

Representative Patrick Kennedy who represents the Rhode Island First Congressional District will announce this weekend that he will retire after eight terms in Congress according to the Associated Press.

A Democratic official says Rep. Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek re-election for his seat representing Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress.

The official spoke to The Associated Press only on the condition that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak ahead of the official announcement.

The decision by the eight-term congressman comes less than a month after a stunning Republican upset in the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat his late father, Edward Kennedy, held for almost half a century.

Patrick Kennedy has been in and out of treatment for substance abuse since crashing his car outside the U.S Capitol in 2006. Still, he has been comfortably re-elected twice since then, after making mental health care his signature issue in Washington.

Kennedy plans to air two-minute commercials about his decision to air on three Rhode Island TV stations on Sunday night.

In his recorded video, the son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy is quoted as saying that his life is "taking a new direction." The two minute ad, emotional at times but heartfelt throughout, will air Sunday night. 

Unless another scion of the Kennedy political dynasty chooses to run, Congress will be without a Kennedy for the first time since 1962, when the late Senator Kennedy was first elected.

Rep. Kennedy becomes the 14th Democrat to announce his retirement before this year's midterms. His Rhode Island district, however, is solidly Democratic giving Gore, Kerry and Obama well over 60 percent of the vote in the last three presidential elections. 18 Republicans have declared they will retire.

The Rhode Island First Congressional district covers the northern and eastern parts of the Ocean State. The district includes parts of Providence as well as most of Rhode Island's other major cities including Newport, Pawtucket and Woonsocket. While it's too early to tell who will jump in on the Democratic side, on the GOP side, John Loughlin, a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and current member of the Rhode Island House, had already announced.

The White House released a short statement from the President late on Thursday following action by the Senate to confirm — by unanimous consent — twenty-seven executive nominees before leaving for the President's Day recess.

Today, the United States Senate confirmed 27 of my high-level nominees, many of whom had been awaiting a vote for months.

At the beginning of the week, a staggering 63 nominees had been stalled in the Senate because one or more senators placed a hold on their nomination. In most cases, these holds have had nothing to do with the nominee’s qualifications or even political views, and these nominees have already received broad, bipartisan support in the committee process.

Instead, many holds were motivated by a desire to leverage projects for a Senator’s state or simply to frustrate progress. It is precisely these kinds of tactics that enrage the American people.

And so on Tuesday, I told Senator McConnell that if Republican senators did not release these holds, I would exercise my authority to fill critically-needed positions in the federal government temporarily through the use of recess appointments. This is a rare but not unprecedented step that many other presidents have taken. Since that meeting, I am gratified that Republican senators have responded by releasing many of these holds and allowing 29 nominees to receive a vote in the Senate.

While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who deserve a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess. If they do not act, I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future.

The 27 confirmed today form part of the over 60 executive nominations that had been placed on hold by one of more Senators. Earlier this week, Republicans blocked the confirmation of Craig Becker, a labor lawyer, to a seat on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has been operating with only two of its five members for a few years.

The White House statement seems to signal that the President will not use a recess appointment to appoint Craig Becker to the NLRB. The President did reserve his right to use his recess appointment authority in the future if the Senate does act on his nominees.

The list of the confirmed nominees is below the fold.

There's more...

During the Citizens United proceedings, when Justice Sotomayor breached the idea that perhaps this personhood application to corporations is what needs to be reviewed by the Court, I about started clapping while I was driving up the NJ Turnpike and listening to the proceedings. That's the real issue here, which is going to take at least another couple of Sotomayor's on the bench to reverse.

But that's a ways away, and in the meantime, Lawrence Lessig email that:

The Democratic leadership in Congress just announced its response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, the case that struck down limits on independent corporate campaign expenditures.

Here's how Lessig breaks down the offerings and his reactions:

There's more...

A statement, via email, from Douglas Band, Counselor to President Bill Clinton:

"Today President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest. Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries. President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts. In 2004, President Clinton underwent a successful quadruple bypass operation to free four blocked arteries."

More as we hear it...