Information Security & US & Life & Love & Fashion & Hacking & Passion

Democrats are using Rush Limbaugh to raise money. AP Photo by Ron Edmonds

A number of Democratic candidates and committees are using the controversial remarks made by conservative-talk radio host Rush Limbaugh about President Obama to raise money and recruit volunteers to their causes.

In an email sent to supporters late Thursday and entitled "Kowtow," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee executive director J.B Poersch writes, "when Rush says jump, congressional Republicans say how high?" and urges recipients to sign a petition condemning Limbaugh's behavior and calling on Senate GOPers to "declare their independence" from him.

A similar missive came out of the Democratic Governors Association as well. "Did you hear what Rush said?" writes DGA executive director Nathan Daschle, adding that Limbaugh and his acolytes will do everything they can to block the implementation of Obama's economic stimulus plan. The best way to stop Rush? Why, send money to the DGA of course.

And, the Democratic National Committee is raising money to sponsor a billboard in Limbaugh's hometown to "send him a message", according to an email sent by DNC executive director Jen O'Malley Dillon.

The appeals by the DNC, DSCC and DGA are the latest but far from the only evidence of how Democrats are seeking to use Limbaugh's comments as a cudgel against Republicans. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who is running for governor in Virginia, sent a letter to state Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the GOP nominee, calling on him to renounce Rush, and followed that up with an email petition drive aimed at pressuring McDonnell to "prove" his bipartisan credential by casting Limbaugh off the Republican island.

"Bob McDonnell says he knows how to work across party lines," said Mo Elleithee, a consultant to McAuliffe's campaign. "He can prove it by showing that he is willing to stand up to the de facto head of his party and repudiate his divisive rhetoric."

The appeal of these appeals is obvious for Democrats. As popular as Limbaugh is among the conservative base, he is equally reviled among liberal Democrats -- the very same group that is most likely to give money or donate their time to a candidate or committee.

While neither the DGA nor the DSCC would discuss what sort of response -- financial or otherwise -- their email petitions have received, one source familiar with the DSCC effort said it was on pace to rival a similar email sent out after then President George W. Bush commuted the sentence of former Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby, who was convicted of obstruction in the Valerie Plame leak investigation.

In the end, this may be the lasting impact of Limbaugh's raised profile in the national political debate. It's highly unlikely that any candidate will win or lose in 2010 as a direct result of Limbaugh but the indirect effect on Democratic fundraising, organizing and base-rallying could be sustained and significant.

Obama in Ohio: President Obama jets to Columbus, Ohio today to speak at a police officer graduation. The idea is to tout the economic stimulus plan as some of the money sent to the Buckeye State was used to retain these new graduates rather than let them go.

Friday Must-Reads: Scanning the world of news for the best and brightest.

1. After a one day respite on Wednesday, the Dow continues its plummet.
2. The White House launches a new website (www.healthreform.gov) and announces a series of town halls to sell the public on the need for healthcare reform.
3. The man who beat, and subsequently lost to, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) is mulling a run for governor in 2010.
4. Politico.com commander in chief John Harris steps down from on high to pen an interesting piece on the uncertain future of the Democratic Leadership Council.
5. The Obama Administration is no longer "Paging Dr. Gupta."

DCCC Weighs in on NY-20: Keep an eye on the Albany media market today and you just might catch the first ad paid for the by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's independent expenditure arm. With a little over three weeks remaining in the special election race between state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R) and businessman Scott Murphy (D), the DCCC will weigh in -- seeking to use their financial might to overcome the efforts of the National Republican Congressional Committee for Tedisco. GOP strategists have privately fretted about the DCCC's continuing financial edge and how they might bring it to bear in this race. No details on the extent of the ad buy yet but Democrats want to keep this Upstate seat in their column to keep up the momentum built last fall.

Twitter Drive: As of yesterday, we are nearing 7,750 followers. The goal is 10,000. Perhaps a giveaway of a few Fix T-shirts would do the trick? Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Sign up to follow "TheFix" and "TheHyperFix."

McCain Mafia Reunites: John McCain's presidential campaign is over but four men who were intimately involved in that effort have banded together to form The Trailblazer Group, a GOP consulting firm based in Alexandria, Va. The four founding partners are: Craig "Goldy" Goldman, who ran McCain's Straight Talk PAC and served as a regional campaign manager during a portion of the general election; Christian Ferry, deputy campaign manager for McCain; Doug Davenport, a regional campaign manager who stepped aside last May due to his lobbying ties; and Ryan Price, the deputy national political director of McCain's presidential bid. "We are pleased to be able to offer our clients a public affairs business model that allows us to work both inside the beltway and in all the 50 states to best represent their needs," said Goldman.

The Clown is Back: For all of those (like the Fix) who mourned the departure of Krusty Conservative from the Iowa blogosphere, the time to rejoice is now. Krusty along with a passel of other GOP bloggers has re-formed under the umbrella of The Iowa Republican. Bookmark it. You'll thank us when presidential caucus season rolls around.

More Charlie Pics!: For those of you who have wanted to see a few more shots of the latest addition to the Fix family (and who wouldn't?), check out this and this.

Say What?: "It really is an honor to have him here and I know for some of my staff, and for bragging rights to my children and my grandchildren, a real treat for me as well." -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) gushes, er, introduces actor Brad Pitt on Capitol Hill Thursday.

Sen. John McCain said Tuesday night that he was "looking forward to the election results."

"We had a great ride. We had a great experience. It's full of memories that we will always treasure," he said aboard his election plane.

He and Sen. Barack Obama were both expected to be watching the results come in from their home states.

The first polls closed at 6 p.m. ET in parts of Indiana and Kentucky.

CNN does not project a winner in any state until all polls have closed in that state.

At 7 p.m. ET, all polls will be closed in Georgia, Indiana and Virginia, three states where McCain and Obama are in a close race.

All polls close in Ohio and North Carolina close by 7:30 p.m.

No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio.

McCain has been campaigning hard in Pennsylvania, a state that voted for the Democratic candidate in the past two presidential elections.

Polls there will be closed by 8 p.m., as will polls in Florida, another key battleground.

The first exit polls out Tuesday reflect what voters have said all along: The economy is by far the top issue on their minds. Watch more on the top issues »

Sixty-two percent of voters said the economy was the most important issue. Iraq was the most important for 10 percent, and terrorism and health care were each the top issue for 9 percent of voters.

The economy has dominated the last leg of the campaign trail as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have tried to convince voters that they are the best candidate to handle the financial crisis.

Voters expressed excitement and pride in their country after casting their ballots Tuesday in what has proved to be a historic election.

When the ballots are counted, the United States will have elected either its first African-American president or its oldest first-term president and first female vice president.

Besides choosing between McCain and Obama -- or a third-party candidate -- voters were making choices in a number of key House and Senate races that could determine whether the Democrats strengthen their hold on Congress.

Poll workers reported high turnout across many parts of the country, and some voters waited hours to cast their ballots.

Reports of minor problems and delays in opening polls began surfacing early Tuesday, shortly after polls opened on the East Coast.

Among them: Palm Beach, Florida, reported minor sporadic voter machine failures, and wet voters in rainy Chesapeake, Virginia, were being asked to dry off before voting because they were getting their optical-scan ballots wet, according to election officials in those locales.

CNN is asking people to call its Voter Hotline at 1-877-GO-CNN-08 (1-877-462-6608) if they witness any problems or irregularities. Read about election problems

But many said the chance to vote was worth the wait.

"It feels great to be an American today. The best hour and a half of my life," exclaimed Jude Elliot, an eighth-grade social studies teacher in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Elliot, who has been voting in Orangeburg since 1998, said it usually takes him five minutes to vote, but on Tuesday it took about 90 -- and he arrived at 6:45 a.m.

"Polling station was packed: young, old, black, white, disabled, not," he said. "It was amazing."

Rick Garcia's motivation for voting was more personal. His brother was killed August 1 by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan while he served in the Army.

"It's the main reason why I came to vote: in his honor," said Garcia, of West Palm Beach, Florida. "He would have wanted everybody as American citizens to do it." Watch a voter explain how he's honoring his brother »

For many voters, Election Day began well before dawn.

Ronnie Senique, a math teacher from Landover, Maryland, said he got up early and was the first one at the polls when he arrived at 4:10 a.m., almost three hours before the polls opened.

By the time he left, "the lines were around the corner. They snaked around the school. They went into the street," Senique said.

Tuesday was Senique's first time to vote in a U.S. presidential race. Senique, who is from the Bahamas, became a U.S. citizen about three years ago.

High turnout was not necessarily a theme at every polling station around the country. iReport.com: Share your Election Day experience

"I was there at 10 in the morning, and I jokingly said the [entire] line was my wife -- and that's only because I let her through the door first ," said Nathan Grebowiec, a 27-year-old resident of Plainville, Kansas.

The presidential candidates both voted early in the day before heading out to the campaign trail one last time. Watch Obama family at polls »

iReporter Lindsey Miller, 23, votes at the same polling place as Obama. She said Secret Service agents were checking names off a list and using metal-detecting wands on some would-be voters as they entered the polling place. The line was around the block at 6 a.m., she said.

"A lot of people were in pajamas. I know I was; not the time you want to be on national TV," the University of Chicago graduate student said. Read what Obama is up to Tuesday

Tuesday also marked the end of the longest presidential campaign season in U.S. history -- 21 months -- and both candidates took the opportunity to make their final pitch to voters.

As McCain and Obama emerged from their parties' conventions, the race was essentially a toss-up, with McCain campaigning on his experience and Obama on the promise of change. But the race was altered by the financial crisis that hit Wall Street in September. Watch how this election is history in the making »

Obama began to pull away in the polls nationally as well as in key battleground states. A CNN poll of polls calculated Tuesday showed Obama leading McCain 52 percent to 44 percent, with 4 percent undecided.

Obama also opened a lead in the race for electoral votes. As of Monday, CNN estimated that Obama would win 291 electoral votes and McCain would win 157, with 90 electoral votes up for grabs. To win the presidency, 270 electoral votes are needed.

Although most of the attention has been focused on the presidential race, the outcome of congressional elections across the country will determine whether the Democrats increase their clout on Capitol Hill.

Few predict that the Democrats are in danger of losing their control of either the House or the Senate, but all eyes will be on nearly a dozen close Senate races that are key to whether the Democrats get 60 seats in the Senate.

With 60 votes, Democrats could end any Republican filibusters or other legislative moves to block legislation.

Many political observers also predict that the Democrats could expand their majority in the House.

Voters will also weigh in on a number of ballot initiatives across the country, many of them focused on social issues like abortion and affirmative action. Check out the hot-button issues on the ballot

Barack Obama and running mate Joseph R. Biden Jr. rally for votes at the University of Mary Washington


Barack Obama and the Democrats hold a commanding position two days before Tuesday's election, with the senator from Illinois leading in states whose electoral votes total nearly 300 and with his party counting on significantly expanded majorities in the House and Senate.

John McCain is running in one of the worst environments ever for a Republican presidential nominee. The senator from Arizona has not been in front in any of the 159 national polls conducted over the past six weeks. His slender hopes for winning the White House now depend on picking up a major Democratic stronghold or fighting off Obama's raids on most of the five states President Bush won four years ago that now lean toward the Democrat. He also must hold onto six other states that Bush won in 2004 but are considered too close to call.

Two factors cloud the final weekend projections. The first is how voters ultimately respond to the prospect of the first African American president in U.S. history, a force that could make the contest closer than it appears. The other, which pushes in the opposite direction, is whether Obama can expand the electorate to give him an additional cushion in battleground states.

Obama leads in every state that Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry won four years ago, which gives him a base of 252 electoral votes of the 270 needed to win. He also has leads of varying sizes in five states Bush won: Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada. Were he to win all of those on Tuesday, he would claim the presidency with 291 electoral votes.

The tossup states include traditional battlegrounds such as Ohio, Florida and Missouri, as well as North Carolina, Indiana and Montana, which have been firmly in the Republican column in the past. They account for 87 electoral votes, and if Obama were to win several of them, his electoral vote total could push well into the 300s.

In Senate races, Democrats, who control 51 votes, are closing in on a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority. Three GOP-held seats whose Republicans are retiring -- in Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia -- appear almost certain to go to Democrats. In five other states -- Alaska, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Oregon -- incumbent Republicans are seriously threatened. To get to 60, Democrats would have to win all those seats, plus one of three other competitive races: in Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi.

In the House, Democrats look to repeat their gains of two years ago, when they picked up 31 seats and took control of the chamber. On Tuesday, they could add 25 to 30 seats to that majority, which would bring them to their highest number since 1990, when they had 267 seats. Ten Republican-held seats lean toward Democrats, and two dozen are viewed as tossups. Five Democratic-held seats are considered up for grabs.

Of the 11 gubernatorial races, only three are competitive. Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon has the advantage over Rep. Kenny Hulshof in Missouri, where Republican Gov. Matt Blunt is not running for reelection. Two other races in states held by Democrats are considered tossups.

In Washington, Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, who won a controversial victory four years ago, faces a tough rematch against businessman Dino Rossi. In North Carolina, where Democratic Gov. Mike Easley is term-limited, Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, are in a race that is too close to call.

These projections are based on interviews by a team of Washington Post reporters with strategists in both parties, the presidential campaigns, state and local officials, and other analysts. The projections also include an analysis of a wealth of polling data on individual races and states.

In the Washington Post-ABC News daily tracking poll, Obama currently holds a nine-point national advantage, topping McCain 53 to 44 percent. The poll started after the last of the three presidential debates, and Obama's margin has held between seven and 11 points throughout.

More than half of all voters in the Post-ABC poll say the economy is their central voting issue, and Obama has been the main beneficiary of that focus. He has a double-digit edge on the question of which candidate is better able to handle the economy, and he has had even wider leads as the one who is more in touch with the financial problems people face.

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama on Monday blamed lobbyists, special interests and "an ethic of irresponsibility" in Washington for the financial crisis that has swept the country in recent weeks.

The senator from Illinois sided with congressional Democrats, who say a government bailout of the financial sector must include government oversight.

"We cannot give a blank check to Washington with no oversight and accountability, when no oversight and accountability is what got us into this mess in the first place," Obama said.

President Bush's top economic advisers this weekend presented a $700 billion plan to Congress to take control of "illiquid assets," including bad mortgages.

Bush urged Congress to pass the plan as is, but Democrats on the Hill already are circulating a counterproposal.

Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, said Monday that the government's proposal puts too much power into the hands of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

In a conference call Monday with reporters, McCain's top campaign officials refused to say how the senator from Arizona would vote on the plan because it is not yet clear what the final version will contain.

At a campaign event Monday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Obama laid out the reforms he would pursue as president to avoid another economic crisis. Watch Obama talk about the crisis on Wall Street »

First, Obama said that he would reform "our special interest-driven politics." He said members of his administration would not be able to use their position as a steppingstone for lobbyist careers. Watch what Obama says about McCain's role in the situation »

Obama said he would make the government "open and transparent" and put any bill that ends up on his desk online for five days before he signs it.

Secondly, Obama said he would "eliminate the waste and the fraud and abuse in our government." He pointed to fixing the health care system and ending the war in Iraq as ways to cut costs.

Obama also said that he and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, would crack down on excessive spending from both parties and close loopholes for big corporations.

Obama said he would pursue "updated, common-sense regulations" in the financial market.

Earlier Monday, McCain told voters he was "greatly concerned" about the government's proposed rescue plan.

"Never before in the history of our nation has so much power and money been concentrated in the hands of one person," McCain said at a town hall meeting in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The Republican candidate said that while he admires and respects Paulson, "this arrangement makes me deeply uncomfortable."

McCain said a high-level oversight board should be created to shepherd the government's proposed $700 billion bailout plan.

McCain criticized Obama for not putting up a plan to address the financial situation.

"At a time of crisis, when leadership is needed, Sen. Obama has simply not provided it," he said. Watch what McCain says about Obama's leadership »

Obama has said several times since the recent Wall Street crisis that, in meeting with top economists, he was encouraged to not roll out a specific plan for fear of overly politicizing the work of Congress on a government bailout of financial firms.

He has, however, offered ideas for the plan -- including limiting pay for executives of businesses that are bailed out by the government and making sure the effort includes a specific plan for the money to be repaid.

McCain on Monday proposed creating a bipartisan oversight board that would be able to "impose accountability and establish concrete criteria for who gets help and who doesn't."

The Republican presidential candidate said the board should be made up of "qualified citizens who have no agenda." He pointed to Warren Buffett, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as potential board members.

Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, supports Obama. Romney backs McCain, and Bloomberg is an independent.

McCain also called for "transparency and accountability" on Wall Street and urged Congress to act quickly.

The Bush administration's proposal to bail out the financial system is the centerpiece of what would be the most sweeping economic intervention by the government since the Great Depression.

The plan would allow the Treasury to buy up mortgage-related assets from American-based companies and foreign firms with a big exposure to these illiquid assets.

The aim is for the government to buy the securities at a discount, hold onto them and then sell them for a profit.

The government's rescue plan follows a week of roller-coaster activity in the financial markets. In the lead-up to Bush's proposal, the country saw the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, a Bank of America buyout of Merrill Lynch and a government bailout of insurer American International Group Inc