From Harold Meyerson's review of two books on Wal-Mart:

Ted Kennedy's letter to Obama:

May 12, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.

On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.

Progressive Change Committee Petition:

Petition text: "We worked so hard for real change. President Obama, please demand a strong public health insurance option in your speech to Congress. Letting the insurance companies win would not be change we can believe in."

Sign the petition here...

MoveOn Petition:

Frankly, since the GOP has run away from the negotiating table, it really doesn't matter what they think. Not. One. Bit. Health care reform is going to pass no matter how hysterical they become. They've relegated themselves to irrelevance.

Picture taken right at the start while the sun was still up.

Co-op = cop out

So the head of the RNC is going around bad-mouthing government. You got supporters running around with 'tree of liberty' tee-shirts and others talking about the perils of government access to online medical records.

It's hard then to explain their earlier confidence when government was detaining people without trial and bugging their phones without warrants. No problem there.

So my question is, what happened?

From the Press Release:

Daniel Biss on Thursday announced his candidacy for the 17th Legislative District of Illinois. Biss, a Democrat, ran a historic campaign for the seat in 2008 against entrenched six-term incumbent Elizabeth Coulson, a transformative candidacy that stunned insiders. Coulson has relinquished her seat to run for Congress.

More here...

We need someone to fill the open seat vacated by the death of Sen. Kennedy and we need someone quickly. And it looks like Massachusetts may come riding to the rescue.

Here's what I wrote in November:

I hope every adult in this country points their kids to Senator Kennedy as one of the most positive examples we have of one man's commitment to the public good.