Originally the final debate was scheduled to take place right before Super Tuesday. Many months ago, when that was arranged, almost no political observers, let alone the candidates themselves, believed that there could still be a hotly contested Democratic race going on after Super Tuesday. Guess what? Everyone was wrong. There are still important decisions to be made.

When push comes to shove. I strongly suspect that the Republicans do NOT want to run against a woman for President - at least not one who can't easily be painted as too weak to protect America. Though some may take issue with how she's done it, Hillary Clinton long ago laid to rest any concerns that, as a women, she isn't strong enough to lead America. "Softness" is the first line of defense Republicans use against Democratic women running for Federal office. It dovetails with their effort to paint Democrats as the "Mommy Party ", used as a put down implying weakness.

Hillary Clinton is now officially my presidential candidate. Though she falls short of my ideal candidate for President, frankly it is rare that “my ideal candidate” even runs for any office, let alone wins it. I thought long and hard about the Democratic choices still available for me to support for 2008, and after doing so I choose Hillary over any of them. I was greatly disappointed when Wes Clark did not run, I was greatly disappointed when Al Gore did not run, and I was disappointed that Russ Feingold didn’t run either.

Over the last four years I have come to appreciate that Wes Clark seems to have a sure sense as to where attacks on the chances for a Democratic Party victory are most likely to come from, and how he carefully pre-positions himself to protect whatever flank of our Party is most exposed and vulnerable to an attack that might deny us an important victory.

General Clark went well beyond the mainstream Democratic Party in preemptively positioning himself, and those who stand with him, to confront a growing threat to peace, and also to our Party. For those who picked up on Clark’s stance early the lag between him sounding an alarm and more people hearing it has been hard to accept, but as hard as it’s been for the netroots to take that danger in, compared to the institutional Democratic Party they have been relatively quick to respond.

Summer is rolling on and Labor Day is approaching. George Bush and Dick Cheney are now almost certainly the least popular President and Vice President team in American History. John McCain, the G.O.P. pretender to the throne who once was feared as the only man with sufficient stature and integrity to convince the American public to renew the Republican lease on the White House, has departed center stage after a war vote malfunction stripped bare his passion for the Iraq surge, exposing him as unelectable in the Super Bowl of politics.

The neocons have selected the designated next enemy of the United States, and they are hard at work convincing Americans to fear Iran. The public comments we just heard Joe Lieberman utter about the need to bomb Iran are just the tip of the iceberg. They position populist right wing pitch man Glen Beck on the air nightly at CNN Headline News, ranting about Iran. They pepper Jewish media with polemics about Iran, playing up fears for Israel’s security where few non Jews will notice their efforts.

General, being the astute observer of political and social phenomena that I know you to be, I am sure that you have noticed how a number of us are still attempting to encourage you to run for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. And being the slightly less astute but still observant followers of all things political that we are, we in turn have noticed that you have not ruled out running for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. We have been at this stalemate now for quite a while.

In trying to find new ways to spread the message of StopIranWar.com, I came upon this one; An Iranian Peace Tree. After posting it here for review for awhile, and following a few minor copy edits, I am satisfied with including the text written below in my emails to friends and family. I think having this available will make it easier for them to pass on the StopIranWar.com appeal to others, in addition to signing the petition themselves. Please feel free to use "An Iranian Peace Tree" also if you find it helpful. Here is the basic text:

An Iranian Peace Tree.

It’s been over 40 years since LBJ refused to choose between Guns and Butter, and we all came out losers because of it. Had he chosen only Guns, fewer Americans would have paid an economic price, and had he settled on Butter alone, its likely America would not have sacrificed at all. But LBJ couldn’t make that choice; instead he told America you can have this war and eat butter too.