Seriously, is Barack Obama the savior? We’ve been on his bandwagon for a long time now, and even we are starting to be overwhelmed by the hype.

But it’s pretty great.

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am, whose “Yes We Can” music video aimed at boosting the hopes of Democratic candidate Barack Obama became an Internet sensation ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries, has released an encore.

His recent effort is a monochromatic, multi-lingual, star-studded music video titled “We Are The Ones,” and is just as moving as the first.

Backed by the pulsating vocal refrain of “O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!,” celebrities such as Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, Kerry Washington, George Lopez and many others offer reasons why they support Barack Obama as the candidate speaks.

No matter which candidate(s) you support, this is worth checking out.

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for …”

In this era of polarized politics, Democrats are called a whole host of not-so-flattering things. At least lackadaisical won’t be on the list.

The hotly-contested, hugely-important Ohio primary is not until Tuesday and Democratic turnout is already smashing records.

In the 2000 presidential primary campaign, 10,371 absentee ballots were requested. In 2004, there were 9,600 requests.

This year? More than 40,000 - just in Cincinnati and vicinity.

The Ohio primary appears to be no exception in a year marked by sensational Democratic emergy and a somewhat lackluster Republican attitude.

Excluding caucuses, some 22 million Democratic votes have been cast in the primaries to date, compared to 14.1 million for the Republicans.

Hillary Clinton has received more than 10 million votes so far this year - and is not even ahead. Democrats have shattered turnout records in many states.

The GOP nomination being all but sewn up on Super Tuesday (February 5) is a big factor, but it could be a sign of a shifting, uneasy base as well.

GOP turnout has been down since Iowa, when the race was still a free-for-all, suggesting turmoil an in-fighting between factions of the party.

On the flip side, John McCain polls statistically even or ahead of both of the Democratic challengers who aspire to face him in November.

Early and absentee voting among Ohio Democrats is also due in part to aggressive pushes by both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Some Obama ads end with information about early voting. His Cincinnati HQ makes apparent his efforts to motivate voters to cast ballots early.

Will it be enough for him to overtake Hillary? It will be close. Most polls show Clinton still leading by single-digits in the Buckeye State, while Obama has edged slightly ahead in Texas, which is also likely to see record turnout Tuesday.

How things play out March 4 is anyone’s guess, but looking ahead to November, Democrats have to love passion their candidates have inspired.

With the economy sure to play an increasingly important role in the 2008 presidential campaign, here’s a perspective you probably haven’t heard.

The concept of the free market is treated with god-like reverence in the United States - but Harvard professor Stephen Marglin argues that the free market relationships we worship actually erode community values.

Generations ago, if a family’s barn burned down, their neighbors more than likely lent their time, money and energy to get them back on their feet. Now that family turns not to their fellow Americans, but to … their insurance company.

Insurance may be a more efficient way to organize resources, but social ties - the very essence of community - are weakened by a shift from human interaction and decency to this singular dependence on economic relations.

The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community is a book that reexamines the basic assumptions of economics and how they justify a world in which people are becoming increasingly isolated.

Isolated in the sense of their social connections, that is. More and more often, we Americans define ourselves in terms of how much we consume. Marglin theorizes how this ideology (and imbalance) came about and what to do about it.

It’s a timely, eloquent and much-needed critique of conventional wisdom, one that does not require an economics degree to follow.

Many people have lamented that the basic concepts of family and community are things of the past in the United States of America, but few have pointed a finger at business and the very market-based system that drives us all.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama sent an open letter to the gay community this week. The Obama campaign will also taking out full page ads in GLBT newspapers in Ohio and Texas beginning Friday.

Some may say this letter doesn’t go far enough, and maybe it doesn’t, but Barack proposes some bold initiatives. We aren’t holding our breath for an open letter from John McCain to the same group of Americans, let’s just leave it at that.

As the candidate offering our best chances for legitimate change, we’ve come to expect as much from Barack. The real challenge will be backing it up.

Here’s Obama’s letter to the LGBT community …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all - a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters.

It’s wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.

Equality is a moral imperative.

Throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans. In Illinois, I co-sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation.

Continue reading this article …

No matter what you think of his candidacy, you have to admit - watching Barack Obama makes one think running for president would be so much fun!

Crediting his previous appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last fall - in which he famously danced with the host - for his poll numbers shooting through the roof, Barack Obama did not showcase any moves yesterday afternoon.

But the Illinois senator and White House aspirant did talk with Ellen about how his wife, Michelle Obama, made him quit smoking, how he respects rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, what he will do on his first day in the Oval Office and much more.

See below for the first part of his interview, live from Duncanville, Texas …

Follow the jump for Part II …

Continue reading this article …

Civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis abandoned support for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential bid Wednesday in favor of Barack Obama.

The Democratic congressman from Atlanta had been the most prominent black leader in Clinton’s campaign - and is now its biggest loss.

It’s more than just a blow to Hillary’s morale. John Lewis and nearly 800 other superdelegates get a vote at this summer’s national convention.

Clinton enjoyed an edge in superdelegates support since the beginning of time. But slowly, even that is starting to erode in Obama’s favor.

Many are uncommitted. None want a brokered convention. To avoid mass hysteria, superdelegates are likely to back a clear favorite the instant there is one.

Victories in next Tuesday’s Ohio and Texas primaries could trigger a large-scale defection that paves Obama’s way to the Democratic nominations.

John Lewis said Obama “represents the beginning of a new movement in American political history” and he wants “to be on the side of the people.”

“After taking some time for serious reflection on this issue, I have decided that when I cast my vote as a superdelegate at the Democratic convention, it is my duty … to express the will of the people,” he said.

Appropriately, this photo captures U.S. Rep. John Lewis standing between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Lewis now supports the former.

As one of the prominent civil rights leaders of the ’60s, Lewis’ support had been a coveted prize among the Democratic candidates.

“John Lewis is an American hero and a giant of the civil rights movement, and I am deeply honored to have his support,” Barack Obama said in a statement.

Clinton frequently cited Lewis in trying to establish her credentials among minority voters, calling her campaign as a continuation of his work.

But Lewis felt pressure to get behind Obama after his district supported the Illinois senator roughly 3-to-1 in Georgia’s Super Tuesday primary.

Lewis’ change of heart follows a similar move by Georgia Rep. David Scott, a black Democrat who represents a neighboring district.

Also yesterday, another superdelegate, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, endorsed Obama, citing the presidential hopeful’s record on trade.

Earlier this week, former White House hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd backed him as well. Clinton is endorsed by 13 Senate colleagues, Obama 10.

In the clip below, Barack Obama responds to his GOP rival’s attacks on his Iraq war position. Yesterday was the first day of real sparring between these candidates.

John McCain is already trying to paint Obama as naive and unqualified, but this reply is an indication that Barack won’t be bullied or intimidated. Nor will he try to have it both ways (like John Kerry in 2004) and stay out of the fray.

As you can see, Barack Obama has come out fighting…

Saturday Night Live chief Lorne Michaels reportedly requested another skit featuring Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to open the program this week.

Not bad for veteran SNL writer Jim Downey, who was fired by NBC a decade ago for going after politicians in power on the show’s “Weekend Update.”

Not only did Downey’s opener last Saturday make SNL buzzed-about again, but Hillary Clinton cited the skit during this week’s Democratic debate.

“In the last several debates, I seem to get the first question all the time,” the New York Senator stated. “I don’t mind. I’ll be happy to field it. I just find it curious if anybody saw Saturday Night Live … maybe we should ask Barack if he’s comfortable and needs another pillow.”

Here’s the Saturday Night Live skit from last week’s show (which also contained a classic interview with the actual Mike Huckabee)…

The show’s most political and veteran writer, Downey was fired along with Norm MacDonald by then-NBC West Coast head Don Ohlmeyer in 1998.

Continue reading this article …

John McCain is already taking Barack Obama to task over their differences in Iraq war policy. That’s going to be a tough fight for the Arizona Republican, but at least the ideological and political differences are clearly defined on that front.

His fight with conservative radio personalities, on the other hand? Not so much. Here’s how McCain’s most recent battle with the right went down:

• Earlier this week, popular Cincinnati radio personality Bill Cunningham was asked to introduce McCain at a campaign event. In doing so, Cunningham referred to Barack Obama as Barack Hussein Obama numerous times.

• McCain took issue with Cunningham’s inflammatory tone and remarks, apologized to Obama, and promised to run a respectful campaign.

• Cunningham, who doesn’t care for McCain to begin with, flew off the handle and lambasted the GOP nominee for throwing him under the bus.

Here’s a highlight reel of the John McCain-Bill Cunningham feud…

Bill Cunningham says McCain’s people told him to get the crowd fired up - to throw them some red meat, as he put it - and is incensed that McCain - who he says is not a true Republican, would criticize conservatives like himself.

McCain says Cunningham is free to say whatever he wants on his show, but not at an official campaign rally. Regarding criticism from the lunatic fringe far right, the candidate says he conducts himself without thinking of political consequences.

So it goes. For John McCain and a Republican establishment so bitter about its “maverick” moderate-conservative nominee that it can’t contain its childish rage, this is a battle likely to continue all the way into November.

With a Republican who appeals to moderates and Democrats, and a Democratic frontrunner who has united so many different groups of voters behind him, the window of opportunity for a pragmatic, independent challenger closed.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who long toyed with a run for the White House as an independent, says he will not seek the presidency.

“I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not - and will not be - a candidate for president,” Bloomberg, 66 and officially an independent after bolting the GOP, wrote to the New York Times.

The billionaire and popular mayor certainly could have financed a run and gained traction quickly - against certain kinds of opponents.

But having to contend with John McCain and Barack Obama - two very popular candidates among independents, first-time voters and people in the middle of the political spectrum - quashed a Bloomberg bid before it began.

Michael Bloomberg will not seek the White House as an independent.

“The very appeal that Bloomberg would have brought to the race is the very appeal that [John] McCain and [Barack] Obama have for a lot of voters,” Time Magazine editor Mark Halperin said on CNN’s American Morning.

In his editorial, Michael Bloomberg pledged to “steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance.”

Some speculated that Bloomberg, a former Democrat and Republican, would team with Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel on an independent ticket.

Unlike that of Ralph Nader, a Bloomberg candidacy would have broad appeal and be taken very seriously, but also unlike Nader, Bloomberg is only interested in running if he can win - and he simply deemed that impossible.

Bloomberg could still play a role in the race if he makes an endorsement. He is good friends with McCain, but he also likes Obama.