My home state is a perfect example of why the Democrats should not write places off. West Virginia is still largely a Democratic state, and Obama did well in some parts of the state. Despite the fact that his campaign here was lousy.

Obama clearly ran a brilliant campaign elsewhere -- the campaign was almost invisible here, and Obama himself only visited once, in the primary. If the Obama campaign had put the same effort in the state as it did in, say, North Carolina, the state would have been just as competitive for him. I understand why he didn't -- our population is simply too small and there are too few electoral votes.

I used to live in North Carolina. I came back to WV because NC was too conservative. West Virginia is not Alabama or MIssissippi.

I don't care if the Republicans come back in power if, by then, a) the courts have been stablized with an open liberal majority b) we have some form of national health care and c) the war in Iraq is over and steps have been taken to restore American cooperation with other countries. Then let the Republicans have at it again to ruin all that.

I've long thought Shep Smith was the only good thing at Fox. I thought he was outstanding at Hurricane Katrina - his outrage was real. I hope he leaves Fox.

Excuse me. I don't want anyone, even little girls, who attended a Sarah Palin rally, to be in the White House some day. That's the nightmare!!!

like the National Council of Churches. Yeah, right.

One thing that concerns me is that a lot of names being mentioned for various posts are either senators or congress people. Who takes their place? Is it good for a future of Democratic majorities to have lots of unknown freshmen in congress?

Thanks for pointing this out. I feel absolutely terrible that my state, West Virginia, voted for McCain. But when you consider that we are the whitest state in the union, and look at the percentages, we actually did a little better than white people overall. Oh well, I'm looking for some kind of silver lining.

So we have been spared Palin in the Senate??? Thank God!

I hate Lieberman but I think this may be smart. Let's just get it over with and get on with marginalizing him and the other Repubs.

I'm old enough to well remember what the news media was like when the Fairness Doctrine was in place. I do wish the Dems would restore it. It would be a tremendous tool to open the airwaves to more than just the corporate media message they have shoved down our throats for the past 30 plus years. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine. It didn't censor anybody, it just added voices to the debate.

The Fairness Doctrine is not about censorship. Rush would be free to rant about whatever he wants. It's just that at the end of his rants, if someone wanted to, they could get on the air and rebut every stupid thing he said. That's not censorship. That's equal time.

Hey. I'm more liberal than Obama. But I'm 57 years old. This administration will be different from any in the last 28 years (perhaps since 1964, if you think about it). The nut-case Free Republic types are going crazy (I checked). That's change enough for me.

How inclusive of them to include a gay black guy.

I would like to point out that not only is the Episcopal Church led by a woman, but the Episcopal Church has a gay partnered bishop, a number of gay clergy, and was an outspoken opponent of Prop 8. I am very proud of the Episcopal Church and hope that it will point the way to the future of Christianity.

Why on earth are you quoting Don Surber? I live in Charleston, West Virginia, where Surber writes regularly for the conservative evening paper. He is a total idiot. Do you really take him seriously? The man is so dense he still thinks W is the greatest president in history. Of course he loves Sarah Palin. She's within his IQ range.

for God's sake! They were so low that they elected Chambliss the first time even though he trashed a Vietnam hero double amputee. Of course they re-elected the SOB. So glad I don't live there! I'd hate to have neighbors like that.

I shouldn't have rubbed it in. I'm in a red state too (West Virginia) though I think marginally so. I am embarrassed. But my town (Charleston) was strongly blue. I try to to feed on that. But hey, I was wrong to rub it in. I'm there too. I'm so frustrated is why.

So amusing but sad to see the lack of understanding about Christianity here. I suppose it's part of misunderstanding that fundamentalism is not Christianity. Lewis was an Anglican, a member of the Church of England. Very different from fundamentalism. The criticisms of Christianity here are not valid; only American fundamentalism is aptly critiqued.

I hope for the sake of us in West Virginia he will go after the coal industry. We are desperate to stop mountaintop removal and save our beautiful mountains.

I have no sympathy for Bush, and yes, he did deserve it. Since it's not my culture I don't understand the visceral insult of shoe throwing, but I did think it was funny as hell! And by the way, this was a nonviolent protest. And much more effective than the other kind.

My only concern with the shoe thrower is that he insulted dogs by calling Bush a dog. I'll take a good, decent upstanding dog any day.

Re dogs: Yes, this is also true in orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of NYC. Sad. Dogs are so incredible and they don't know what they are missing.