By The Way...

Some political food for thought:

* Blogger Atrios presents a graphic from the New York Times that breaks down what percentage of presidential candidate contributions come from "big" contributors and what percentage come from smaller contributors. I do find it interesting that Dean, who I expect is the Democratic front runner, is superceded only by Kucinich in the percentage of "small" contributors. I do wonder how much that percentage will change now that Dean has decided to forgo public matching funds.

* AOL Journaler Hawnsmith takes a bat to the Democratic presidential candidates for being condescending to Southerners as a class, on the back of Dean's now-infamous "Confederate" comment. Reviewing what Dean said specifically, I think it's clear he's not saying all Southern white folks are Confederate pickup types, merely that some are, and he wants to represent them. But the resulting pile-on and media attention certainly muddied the water and didn't make any of the Democratic candidates look good.

* Wesley Clark is getting his blogroots (like "grassroots" for the 21st Century) all organized with a community network to keep online Clark supporters connected with each other. It's another example of just how completely the online element is changing the way this presidential election is being contested. Now the question is: Will it change the way people will eventually vote? That's what I want to know, personally. We're going to have to wait a year to find out. Man, I hate waiting.

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