If you are interested in contributions to political campaigns, check out Political Money Line.

Here's what the New York Times said about them in 1999:

...set up in 1996 by two former Federal Election Commission employees who formed a Washington research firm called Public Disclosure Inc.

Their site takes often-fragmented commission data and organizes the information into an accessible, logical and simple-to-use format. Whether it's following individual donations, looking at the Clinton legal defense fund, tracking the 2000 Federal candidates or exploring soft money donations, the site is a one-stop shopping center for campaign finance data.

The site is independent.

The New York Times reports that President Bush's popularity with older voters is slipping substantially.

Politicians in both parties consider older voters to be particularly important because they are much more likely to vote than younger people, and because they are heavily concentrated in states that are often presidential battlegrounds, like Florida and Pennsylvania.

An editorial in today's New York Observer asks, Wesley Clark: Is He The Man to Beat Bush?. It's answer: Quite possibly.

As a chorus line of Democratic candidates jostle for the job of taking on Mr. Bush next fall, there may be one who seems to have what it takes to actually win and save the country from four more years of Mr. Bush’s stunning ineptitude. We’re talking, of course, about Wesley Clark....As a candidate, he’s about as good as they get.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, George Bush has been hiding behind a false cloud of bravado and patriotism. If Wesley Clark becomes the Democratic nominee, he stands a good chance of calling Mr. Bush’s bluff and returning the country to a saner, wiser place.

[Thanks to Media Horse for the link]

The Clark campaign has released more than 200 pages of documents highlighting his military career, available here.

ABC News reports on a new ABC/Washington Post poll showing that support for Bush's re-election continues to decline.

Net result: If the 2004 presidential election were today, 46 percent of Americans say they would vote to re-elect Bush, while 47 percent would favor the Democratic candidate ” the president's weakest showing to date in this so-called generic horse race. (It's 44 percent to 49 percent among registered voters). Bush's lead in this test is down from 13 in April, 8 in August and 5 last month.

There's more:

Nearly six in 10 Americans — a new high — call U.S. casualties in Iraq "unacceptable," more than double its level when Baghdad fell last April.

On the CIA leak investigation:

More than eight in 10 continue to see the alleged White House leak of a CIA operative's identity as a "serious matter," and the number who think the administration is fully cooperating in the investigation has declined to 39 percent. About two-thirds still favor appointment of an outside special counsel to look into the matter.

By sex and gender:

As in 2000, he faces gender, racial and income gaps. Men favor him by 50 percent to 44 percent; women prefer the Democrat by 50 percent to 42 percent. Whites and higher-income people support Bush by double-digit margins, nonwhites favor the Democratic candidate by a huge 51 points, and lower-income people by 12 points.

The Washington Post rails today against the new Texas redistricting plan in The Soviet Republic of Texas . After explaining the details of the plan, and the unfairness of it, the Post asks:

Do Texans really want a polarized delegation of 22 conservative Republicans and 10 liberal Democrats, as the current plan envisions? Do they really want a state with a white party and a minority party? Republican politicians are engineering it that way, whatever voters may want. For redistricting -- quite the inverse of elections -- is a process in which politicians get to choose their voters. It is a process that a healthy democracy would seek to reform.

In the Two Years Too Late Department: Florida has ordered a review of Broward County's Election Office. Broward County has more voters than any other county in Florida.

Florida officials will investigate whether Broward County's elections department is up to handling upcoming elections, including the March presidential primary.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood ordered an assessment of supervisor Miriam Oliphant's office Tuesday in the wake of her firings of four key subordinates, including the deputy supervisor. Oliphant has also been accused of incompetence.

It seems the same problems that plagued the 2000 Presidential election surfaced again in the 2002 Gubernatorial election.

[Miriam Oliphant] was criticized after last year's gubernatorial primary in which voters received bad ballots and inaccurate registration information, some polls opened late and others closed early, and thousands of votes were not counted until a week after the election.

The problems received national attention because of similarities to the botched 2000 Florida presidential recount, which happened before Oliphant took office.

The probe also will review the state's election machinery.

Here's the latest on activist plans to mobilize for the GOP Convention next August.

Opponents of the Iraq war, welfare reform - even those angered by the selection of New York City - say they will seek protest permits and arrange travel for the four-day convention that begins Aug. 30, 2004.

Protests are an expected sideshow to any political convention, but Steve Ault, a veteran activist helping organize a massive anti-war demonstration, said the events taking shape for next year are unprecedented.

This looks big. There's a lot of advance planning going on, and the Internet and email campaigns will help spread the word.

One international group, Food Not Bombs, promises to cook and serve donated food to activists, delivering by bicycle if necessary.

Keith McHenry, who co-founded the group in 1980, said chapters from as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ireland are coming. "I've been doing this for 30 years and I can't believe how organized this is," he said.

Here are the latest CNN poll numbers on the Democratic candidates. Clark led the group with 21 to Dean's 16, however, last time around Clark was at 22% and Dean at 13%. So Dean went up a point while Clark went down a point. Here's the rest:

Clark was followed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean with 16 percent, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman had 13 percent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry with 13 percent and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt with 8 percent. The field was rounded out with activist Al Sharpton at 6 percent, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun with 4 percent, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards with 2 percent and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich with 2 percent.

The debate is not bad, we're watching now (probably a rerun.) We like Clark, Dean and Edwards the best. Kerry just doesn't move us and he harps on his Vietnam war service too much. Gephardt and Lieberman are too much like "your father's oldsmobile." Sharpton, Mosley Braun and Kucinich all add to the discourse, and we're glad they're there, but we just can't take their candidacies very seriously.

There was lots of ganging up on Clark. Moderator Judy Woodruff talked too much. Lieberman didn't do himself any favors by bashing Hollywood.

The Washington Post debate analysis is here.

The New York Times details the importance of Maria Shriver to Arnold's victory, calling her the No Longer 'Secret' Weapon. Our prior thoughts on Maria's importance to the campaign are here.

We've had our say in the final update of the post below this one. Your turn. Here's an open thread on Arnold. No profanity or namecalling--otherwise, speak your mind.

[Comments now closed, thanks for your thoughts.]

At 8:01 (PT), Fox News projects that Gray Davis has lost the recall by a landslide and Arnold Schwarzenegger has been elected Governor. Also, the network projects that Proposition 54, the Racial Privacy initiative, has been defeated. CNN projects the same.

These projections are based on exit polls. CNN says women voted for Arnold 42% over 37% for Bustamante. In other words, the last minute sex smears didn't work.

Early news reports confirming Arnold's win: ABC News. The Arizona Republic runs with the headline Calif. voters revolt against Davis.

Jay Leno will be introducing Arnold when he comes out to make his victory speech.

Update: Former Clinton advisor Eli Segel has been named Clark's new campaign manager.

****************
Donnnie Fowler, manager of Wesley Clark's presidential campaign, quit today, reportedly over differences in the direction the campaign should take.

Donnie Fowler told associates he was leaving over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign advisers. Fowler also complained that the campaign's message and methods are focused too much on Washington, not key states, said two associates who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fowler has been at odds with communications adviser Mark Fabiani of California and policy adviser Ron Klain of Washington. All three are veterans of Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, part of a large group of Clinton-Gore activists hired by Clark as he entered the race Sept. 17.

From the start, there has been tension between the campaign's political professionals and the draft-Clark supporters, many of whom consider computer-savvy Fowler their ally.

To get look at the internet supporters, visit ClarkSphere and DraftClark.com and the WesleyClark Weblog. To see the direction the Washington campaign staff has moved, check out the official Wesley Clark weblog which launched this week.

Here's Daily Kos on the Fowler resignation:

Clark is a potentially exciting candidate, with the ability to grow our base and neutralize GOP advantages on military and national security issues. But he aligned himself with the wrong crowd. Period.

As a former member of the draft movement, I have many friends within the movement who were tossed aside by the Fabiani team like rag dolls.

And more importantly, I believe strongly in the concept of netroots participatory democracy. Dean is Exhibit A of how technology can be used to let people take control of the political process. The Draft Movement was Exhibit B. Was.