Energy Crisis!

Some tidbits from a New York Times article:

Gas Prices Soar, Posing a Threat to Family Budget
“For ordinary Americans like Phyllis Berry, a 31-year-old factory worker for General Motors in Cleveland, gasoline costs are starting to hurt.

“‘I used to fill it up pretty regularly, but now I drive it until the tank is almost empty, looking for the cheapest place to buy gas,’ said Ms. Berry, who drives a beat-up Dodge Caravan.

“She said that she used to take her four children to the movies four or five times a month. But with the cost of gas, tickets, popcorn and soda adding up to $70, they now go only once a month.”

Glad I don’t have kids. I can’t imagine what they would do to me if I couldn’t afford to go to the movies FOUR OR FIVE FRACKING TIMES A MONTH. These are tough times, ladies and gents. Tough, tough times…

Still Extremely Close

I think the way that CNN is tracking the primary delegate count is probably the easiest to digest.

I think the race for the Republican nomination really came into focus last night– John McCain is looking like the front-runner, with the others remaining (Romney and Huckabee) splitting up a portion of the leftovers.

I haven’t tried to hide the fact in this space that I’m a lot more focused on the Democratic race up to this point. Hillary is hanging on to her lead, but it continues to be pretty slim. Obama is still racking up more ‘pledged’ delegates (the ones that are decided in these primaries), and he continues to pick up more and more financial support (and from people like me, if you can believe that).

I have some friends in Minnesota and California who I know went out and voted for Obama yesterday, and now I’ve got a chance to do the same thing in two weeks. When the primary season started, I didn’t think Wisconsin would matter much, coming after this ‘Super Tuesday’– now it’s clear that the campaign is going to go down to the wire, and if we want a change, a fresh perspective, and a person in the White House who can bring people together, we have to get out there and make it happen.

Take a look at this, too, and make sure you get the polls on the 19th, or whenever you have the opportunity to vote.