Here’s what it means for Wright to be running as a “citizen’s candidate”: Instead of the standard procedure for the selection of a congressional candidate, in which a self-centered politician gathers resources for the power to orchestrate a top-down campaign, Claudia Wright was democratically chosen by a group of committed citizens who had organized around a selfless purpose: The replacement of Jim Matheson as Democratic congressional candidate with a progressive candidate.

As a Blue Dog, working with Republicans to block Democratic legislation, Jim Matheson has gained the strong opposition of his district’s progressive candidates. In spite of his claims that he doesn’t need liberal help to win re-election, Matheson looks vulnerable this time, and his campaign is struggling to figure out a good way to deal with the rebellion on the Left. So far, they haven’t come up with a reasonable response.

Win or lose, 2010 may well be remembered as he year of Claudia Wright. Utahn Democrats are tired of the Blue Dog nonsense.

In the current election season, something similar is happening in Maine. With a declaration yesterday that “We can continue using duct tape, Bondo and baling wire to keep our economy limping down the road,” Republican Steve Abbot joined more than 20 other candidates who are running for the office of Governor of Maine. The Portland Press Herald refers to the race as “already crowded,” as if there isn’t enough room in Mainers’ heads to think of all their choices. Won’t an anointed candidate emerge to make the choice simple?

But who says life has to be simple? A “simple” choice between two alternatives often leaves most of the power in the hands of those who decide what the choices will be. Now that’s classy… as in upper-class control. We say let a thousand candidates bloviate, and let the people decide who moves forward.

In the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with a little humor directed at the situation. Share this message with fellow travelers on the roads and byways of the Pine Tree state: You’re running for Governor? Hey, me too!

Pain rhymes with McCain too. Is that an accident? Oh, no, I don’t think so.

It’s not McCain-Palin 2008. The Republicans are running McCain-Pain 2008.

In either case, the polite response to this request for a vote is No Thanks 2008.

Eight years of pain under the Republicans in the White House has been long enough for me.

Here is an Exxon-McCain 2008 bumper sticker to help spread the meme, using the style of the George W. Bush 2004 bumper sticker to help reinforce the idea that John McCain is just four more years of George W. Bush.

I’ll put this in another way: John McCain is history.

It isn’t just because John McCain is old. A person can be old and still remain relevant and be able to contribute meaningfully.

It has to do with John McCain’s place in time. John McCain has failed to update his ideas.

John McCain is a politician of the past. McCain embraces ideas and attitudes that are two generations out of date.

John McCain has no vision for the future of America. His agenda is one of defense, trying to delay progress, to fend off hope, to desperately cling to the old ways of thinking that he and his supporters are fond of.

John McCain is a relic of time gone by, of plans that didn’t work out, of limitations that most Americans have transcended.

The way of John McCain is the way of the failures of America’s past.

John McCain is history. Now is the time for America to do better than it has done. Now is the time for a candidate of the future. Now is the time for Barack Obama.

Now is the time for Democrats who have supported Hillary Clinton for President to reconcile themselves to the fact that their favorite candidate will not be the Democratic presidential nominee. Barack Obama will be.

Clinton supporters of good will can now help in the effort to ensure that John McCain does not become the next President of the United States. It’s time for a show of support for Barack Obama by people who have supported Hillary Clinton. Putting this Clinton Supporters for Obama in 2008 bumper sticker on your car can help.

You also might encourage the Clinton Supporters for Obama blog to continue its efforts.

Now, another Vice Presidential candidate has risen to the top, becoming the consensus frontrunner to join Barack Obama on the 2008 White House ticket: Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Governor Sebelius has gained attention for her strong defiance of right wing activists in Kansas who have tried to shove through legislation to build new dirty coal-fired power plants. Sebelius has vetoed every coal bill they have sent her way.

Barack Obama and Sebelius share Kansas roots, and the Midwestern votes that Sebelius would bring in could wrap up the Electoral College for the Democratic campaign. If Al Gore of John Kerry had just been a bit stronger in the Midwest, after all, George W. Bush would have spent years ruining businesses instead of ruining America.

Grab this oval Obama/Sebelius 2008 campaign bumper sticker to encourage Barack Obama to choose Kathleen Sebelius for his vice presidential running mate in 2008.

Then there’s the sense of exposure as the people at the right wing extremist publication Human Events seem to mean it in the title of their report, Barack Obama Exposed!. An over-marketed, out-of-date, superficial, dishonest examination of a skewed selection of Barack Obama’s record and associations, Barack Obama Exposed! manages to embarrass the people who cite it as a resource, and then unexpectedly are unable to sustain their rationale for hating Obama when exposed themselves to the information available in the world outside of the bizarre Human Events cult-like insularity.

Barack Obama Exposed!, it is promised, will be “the only way you’ll get all the ammunition you need to end Obama’s White House dreams once and for all.” Of course, the report has been out since early 2007, and has fallen into the hands of many gullible readers, but Barack Obama’s White House dreams have actually not been ended at all. What a mystery that is.

Let me suggest another kind of exposure for Barack Obama – exposure to fresh air and the interested gaze of all who pass you by on the road of life. Put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on your car, and you’ll give Barack Obama lots of exposure. You can even imitate the silly people at Human Events, saying to your friends, as you approach your car together, “Look! Barack Obama exposed!”

In order to create that view, bloggers need to look themselves. Bloggers are some of the most dedicated seekers of information there are. Bloggers look for a new angle, for a subject other people haven’t written about. Bloggers question. They challenge.

As they gain experience doing so, bloggers get a special kind of training in detecting weak arguments and bogus claims of truth. Bloggers are some of the best people at finding deception. They pierce the veil of lies that covers the federal government in Washington D.C. Whether anyone else cares to look through the veil with them, they show the way to see.

That’s why I’m proud to be a blogger. In a time when many Americans have surrendered to apathy, bloggers are vigilant. Watching defeat after defeat, they get back up every day and give it another try.

Bloggers oppose politicians who act like bullies and try to squelch small voices. Bloggers oppose politicians who try to keep government secrets shut away from public view. Bloggers oppose politicians who consistently deceive American voters, but claim to be on some kind of “straight talk express”.

Bloggers can see through the hype. Bloggers are against the campaign of John McCain for President.

The bumper sticker is for Miami Against McCain, and it just wouldn’t seem right for the bumper sticker, designed for McCain as it is, wouldn’t seem right if it were in plain old patriotic red white and blue, or in alarming black and yellow.

This cool, serene Miami combination of pink and green seems just right for Miami. It’s an important lesson for people who design activist gear: Politics is global in its impact, but local in its expression.

Of course, it’s also not like Miami to be merely against things. So, here’s a link to a local activist group for those who support the best alternative to John McCain: Generation Obama Miami: “an unconventional merging of young donors and young activists”.