Clinton's real problem is not that she is a woman, her real problem is that she is Hillary Clinton.

What do I mean by that? She entered the race with incredibly high negatives among voters in general. Rightly or wrongly, they were there. That's just a fact. This effectively precluded her approaching it as anything other than a "50% + 1" proposition - there was, and is, a significant chunk of the population that would not vote for her under any imaginable circumstances. In fact, many of that number would put in an extra effort to vote for someone opposing her. (More below...)

Once things began to go in different ways than her campaign had intended, she became quite overtly negative towards a fellow Democratic candidate. "Not as far as I know...", "3 AM...", "the Commander-in-Chief threshold..." and more made it very difficult to bring in anyone not already behind her. In fact, to many Obama supporters, she seemed to be doing McCain's dirty work for him.

And there is the matter of that unaddressed Iraq AUMF vote.

What I'd always worried about with Clinton was her potential effect downticket. Bringing out legions of "anti-Clinton" voters in November could cost Democrats dearly in Congressional and state legislative elections - especially important when we consider that the 2010 off-year cycle will form the legislatures that will do the redistricting. Would it hurt to give more Dems at the state level the advantages of incumbency? Just this once? For something really important?

I say all of this as a Minnesotan represented by a woman in Congress and a woman in the Senate. I will gladly vote for them for as long as they seek office. Higher office? I'm there too...

Yes, "Iron my shirt!" was stupid and sexist. And Geraldine Ferraro's as-yet-unapologized-for comments were blatantly racist. Jerks and racists are not going to vote for most Democrats anyway, are they? Really?

Disliking a candidate because of the person they are, rather than the demographic they represent, is quite different. And last time I looked, still permitted.

Portugal is a small nation on the Atlantic edge of the Iberian peninsula, with a lot of coast relative to its national land area. The US, not so much. This is not even an apples-and-oranges comparison, more like apples and telescopes.

We're going to need to use everything we can manage in order to move past a combustion-based energy infrastructure. And it's time we get serious about that. Unless and until it's a national policy priority, none of the rest of our efforts will much matter. We will need wind, solar, the existing dam-based hydro, current and tidal hydro, geothermal where applicable, and probably some of the newer, more stable reactor designs. There is no one-size-fits-all for a nation of this size.

Does this mean we're going to see her brawling in a reflecting pool with Joan Collins any time soon?

Budweiser is swill. Without even thinking, I could name at least a dozen better beers, some imports, some regional specialties, that I'd prefer. Right now in my fridge is the last of a seasonal brew from a fine German brewer, and I recently discovered an outstanding local (I mean local, really small brewery) organic IPA I'll be making my default brew.

On the other hand, Belgium as a brewing nation does brew beers with actual flavor, so maybe there's some improvement to be found in this acquisition.

And Bud Light is just one example of a regrettable tradition - light beer in general is nasty stuff. Most of the few I've tried seem to have unpleasant, almost chemical aftertastes - kind of the Tab of beers.

This Celtics team is Kevin Garnett's team, no doubt. Paul Pierce got Finals MVP, true, still, the Celtics got to the Finals because of Garnett. And I couldn't be happier. I did meet KG a few times working sports gigs here and he's a true class act off the court. On it, no one is more intense. And with the win, no one celebrated with more sheer joy.

Glad to see it...

Let's review Insurance 101. Basically, insurance of any kind is a pool of money we pay into for someone else to spend.

In fact, insurance companies raise that pool of money to use as investment capital. When the market is bad, most premiums tend to rise, some rather dramatically.

Payment of claims is exactly what insurance companies are set up to avoid. At best, to them, it's an unavoidable cost of doing business.

And as such, mandatory coverage is a welfare program for the insurance industry. Let's agree to call it that, loudly and often.

Shows that you'd rarely if ever see in a commercial setting, shows that would likely run into the six-figure range if they were put on commercially. And some commercial shows that were in that range.

There's nothing quite like a good fireworks show. And it's not loud unless you can feel your clothing move.

Go find the best show you can in your area, and appreciate it for the artistry it contains.

Where to begin? How much time and page space do you have?

Pawlenty was elected twice. However, never by a majority; a plurality governor both times and the second time he won by less than 1% against a very unpopular Democrat... Let's face it, without the Independence Party, Pawlenty loses.

I wonder about the funding sources for the Independence Party - I'll bet it looks pretty Republican underneath all the "independence".

Unfortunately, Timmy Tantrum isn't going anywhere for a couple more years.