This primary campaign needs a referee and occasional vacation days.

Unfortunately, he dropped out of the race last week. That's the role I saw of Bill Richardson in the New Hampshire debate. And he was effective in defusing an ugly situation on stage as Obama and Edwards were double-teaming Clinton, and Clinton was shooting back.

Yes, the campaign needs a referee. I totally agree. I also agree with the writers who say things will get worse once the republicans start tossing bombs at the democrat nominee. And to think that the election is still 10 months away!

You'll be missed, Tim. Your column is the first one I click on when I read Salon. Good luck in your new endeavor.

I just spent the weekend serving as devil's advocate in discussions between my husband (Clinton supporter) and our daughter and her husband (Obama supporters). Fortunately for my sanity, another daughter wasn't present. She's an Edwards supporter.

So, when I clicked on the Tom Tomorrow cartoon today, I mentally said "right on" and felt vindicated in my attempts to educate fellow Democrats on the pros and cons of each campaign and each candidate--cautioning them to look beyond the speeches and try to get the "back story" which might help explain why this primary has deteriorated into ugliness. In fact, the last missive I sent out to friends and family members was titled "Democrats eat their own." This seems to be a habit we can't overcome.

None of the candidates is perfect. All have flaws. There are questionable supporters and handlers. This is especially true with regard to the DLC and the DNC. If anyone thinks that ugly battle is behind us, they're kidding themselves. This race is for more than the presidency. It's about power on many levels.

And that's why I proudly declare myself to be UNDECIDED! On Super Tuesday, unfortunately I'll have to hold my nose and vote for one of them and hope they "come together" after the primary. Do I think that will happen? No way! This race has been too nasty (Note to the candidates: WE'RE SICK OF IT!) and the candidates/campaigns have fallen into the same cesspool Democrats usually do---cannibalizing their own instead of planning for a joint effort to win the highest office in the land and save us (if that's possible) from more of the Bush era insanity.

We women who have been in the feminist battle for years and year and years, and those who have been in the racial-equality battle for years and years and years (often the same women), have garnered enough experience to not see candidates as "a woman" or "an African-American." They have become PEOPLE--some qualified, some not, some in-between.

That's one advantage of age...and, of course, lots of experience in both causes.

So, Kate Michelman - like me and others - shouldn't be chastized, looked upon with scorn, called a traitor or anything else because of her choices, She's beyond the color or gender mark in decision-making.

Folks like Chris Matthews just don't get it.

I keep hearing how Barack Obama appeals to Latinos/Hispanics, proven by the fact that he overwhelmingly carried that group of voters in his Senate race.

OK, folks, it's time for a reality check.

Obama's Senate race was a cakewalk. More than a cakewalk...a shoo-in. Illinois Republicans put forth one and then another opponent, both of whom went down in flames of scandal and wrong-doings. The head of the Republican party, a moderate, held her nose as right-wingers recruited a carpetbagger nutcase (Alan Keyes) to run against Obama because no other sensible Republican would risk it. Keyes was given an apartment on Chicago's far south suburbs (just barely inside the state lines) so he could say he was a "resident." I doubt he ever actually slept there.

No sensible person could bring him/herself to vote for Keyes. Only the truly faithful of the IL GOP did, and those who should have checked themselves into the hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Keyes' so-called campaign was a joke, as are all of Keyes' efforts at getting elected to something...anything....whatever.

Everyone else either didn't vote, or voted for Obama. It didn't matter if they were Black, Latino, Asian, caucasian, Libertarian, Chicagoan, suburbanite, Democrat, Republican, independent, downstater, etc. So the strong support that Obama talks about was by default. The race was an easy one (although some of his previous races weren't) and someone (even some of us who might support the man) needs to set that record straight.

...as we, newcomers to the state, quickly found out. So it's not really a surprise to my husband and me that it took a long time to count those provisional ballots. Hey, we're a laid-back kinda people!

I counted 4 cellphone talkers, too. One man kept waving into the camera, blew a kiss to whomever he was talking and, when they panned out, stood up and waved. Tacky! If there were more cellphone talkers, I can't say because I left half-way through the speech and took a bath. Fortunately, the uninspiring speech in Houston was ended by the time I got out of the tub.

But then, I also remember a ditzy young gal playing with her hair, looking off to the side and behind herself, unenthusiastically holding up a little flag on cue (must have been on cue, because it was clear she wasn't paying attention)-- and then a small group of people fall backward off the risers behind Clinton during one of her speeches.

Perhaps both candidates need to rethink the idea of having people behind them as they give speeches. They're distracting and, as the examples above show, undisciplined.