Today in Raleigh, North Carolina, Obama launches his “Change that Works for You” Tour with a speech on the economy at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. Doors open at 11:00 AM EDT. Watch for prepared remarks later on this morning.

After the speech, the campaign will host a conference call with our top economic advisors to discuss the tour and take questions.

The Republicans are already hitting Obama on experience, judgment, and foreign policy/national security/national defense.  So this is what he should do, not later than the convention:  pre-announce his key cabinet posts, especially in those areas.  He needs to fight McCain on those issues not by himself nor even as a duo with his VP.  He (and they) should sally forth as the complete team, and the people of the country will want to know what the team looks like before they decide to vote for him or not.  My vote for him will be much more comfortable if I know who the key people around him will be.

There were roughly 1,400 Democrats (delegates, alternates, and active party volunteers) at the Boulder County Democratic Party Convention in Longmont, Colorado on March 15, 2008.

Wellington Webb, the popular former Mayor of Denver, was there in great form to speak for Hillary. By coin toss, I think, Mayor Webb was scheduled to go first.

Note: This morning (Sunday) I've made several additions to the section dealing with the Obama event in Laramie. There are also some more links to follow, including some videos. Finally, I've also added a completely new report at the end of this diary dealing with the Albany County caucus. Albany County is definitely the strongest Obama territory in the State, but those Hillary supporters in Albany County pulled off a terrific turnout with marvelous consequences.

Gordon Suber posed a serious question over at ms in la's diary which got me to thinking of the political cycles we go through repeatedly in the USA. There seems to be a generation cycle, and there's also a momentum cycle that is strategically very important. I touched on both of these in the answer I gave to Gordon.

This is outrageous! Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Methodist Minister, has told NPR a story that everyone considering voting for Obama should hear. This is the exact opposite of "the politics of hope". Listen to the interview at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19096400

In the interest of providing a summary and some commentary, here is the text of the email a friend sent me that alerted me to this story:

Don't spill anything on the sofa. Have some popcorn and talk about whatever relating to the debate on MTV.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5530#more-5530BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 1/8/2008 8:49PM  NH Primary: Pre-Election Polls Wildly Different Than Results Announced for Clinton/ObamaOther Pre-Election Numbers, For Republicans and Rest of Dems, Nearly Dead on the Money...

[UPDATED several times at end of article, and still developing w

Here's the link, but I forward it more or less without editorial comment. I think it's an excellent and unbiased piece.

I've been watching

Tavis Smiley’s - “State of Black America”

which has been on C-Span all day today, both prior to, and after Obama’s speech. I was struck before Obama's speech, and have always been impressed with the enormous number of great orators the Black community have. They speak without written speeches, just off the cuff, and Obama pales in comparison to the majority of them.

I'm not dissing Obama, just rather bemused at the fuss over him.