First debate will be here
Well, unless something changes in the next few weeks, the first presidential debates of the 2008 cycle will be held in New Hampshire after all: ["President hopefuls to debate in NH 1st"]. I wonder if that headline should have been "Presidential hopefuls ..." not President. It sounds odd to me. Another strange headline in the UL this morning is this one: "NH Guardsmen on duty along U.S.-Mexican border to curtain illegal crossings" ... I wonder if that should have been "curtail" or "contain." I've never heard anyone call it "curtain illegal crossings" before.

There are a couple of folks on the Web who are keeping track of those people who've been banned from the Daily Kos. The latest is Alan Smithee here: ["Blogroll of the Banned"]. I find it strange that there is this whole anti-Kos cult building on the Web. At least once a day, someone visits Politizine after Googling "Banned from Daily Kos ..."

Bisson Barcelona, a Seacoast PR firm, is holding a monthly author seminar series for those people interested in writing books or getting past the stage of thinking about writing books. The details are here: ["Author Seminar Series"]. The BB folks are good people, as the saying goes. This program should be an exciting one for all involved.

2008 quickies
John Edwards will be in Harlem today to celebrate MLK Day early: ["The Riverside Church"]. There is supposed to be a Webcast from the church too. Yet in this very early poll, 61 percent of his home state voters would pick another Democratic candidate: ["N.C. Dems prefer Edwards to Clinton, Obama"]. Did you catch that spin? The headline reads that Edwards beats Clinton and Obama. But add the numbers the opposite way: 40 percent would pick another Dem other than those three. Edwards only gets 29 points which means that 61 would go another way. The glass is half full OR half empty.

Rep. Tom Tancredo is still looking at running in 2008: ["Tancredo for President?"]. When I interviewed him in 2005, he stated that if no one would pick up the border security issue and run with it, he would jump in. I countered with, 'Sen. Hillary Clinton is raising the issue. Would you support her if a wall along the border was a major plank of her candidacy?' Not surprisingly, he said No. Frankly, politics needs to stay interesting and relevant and not wussy and wimpy. So the more firebrands the better.

Obama is reportedly lining up support: ["Obama, Running"]. Since this is 'just a blog entry,' it probably shouldn't be taken that seriously. However, Novak also has it: ["EXPLORER OBAMA"]. Since Novak is just a blogger with more cred because he was a columnist before becoming a blogger and columnists are essentially glorified bloggers anyway, it is probably a legit post.

Speaking of firebrands, here is one to keep a watchful eye on, no pun intended: ["TX 14: The First Open '08 House Seat?"]. On issues of liberty and freedom, Rep. Ron Paul is one of the strongest protectors of the Constitution. I don't agree with everything, but given the choice between him and some of the other Republicans, I would take him in a heartbeat. He knows in his core what freedom means.

Sen. Dodd stumps in Iowa, dismissing the 'long-shot' factor: ["Dodd Presses Presidential Bid in Iowa"] while Giuliani goes to Delaware: ["Giuliani test Del. primary waters"].

Lastly, here is an overview from a Michigan business paper about Right-to-Work laws: ["Presidential candidates and right-to-work laws"].

Off the subject of presidential politics for a moment, here in New Hampshire, Sen. John Sununu gets his first challenger: ["Marchand says he'll run for Senate"]. While it is early, there is nothing in the article which talks about why Marchand is running or what he plans on elevating for issues in a race against Sununu.

Update: The Monitor's Capital Beat column has more on other candidates potentially facing off against Sununu: ["Race to take on Sununu getting off to a fast start"].