Having recently discovered podcasts as a great way to learn about things while commuting to work, I naturally went in search of podcasts relating to politics.

I came across a real gem I wish to share.  It is podcasts of an intro to American Politics course taught at UCLA during the fall of 2005 by Professor John R Zaller.

I only know Zaller from listening to this course, but I found him a great lecturer, and even as podcasts the lessons come through (Also the recordings are generally quite clear - though student questions don't come through, I almost always found Zaller easy to follow.  Even when he's using visual aids, his descriptions are adequate to keep up without the original handouts the students were given.

cross posted at DailyKos

Karl Rove has defended his record in this election with the claim that

A shift of 77,611 votes would have given Republicans control of the House, according to Bush's political team. And a shift of 2,847 votes in Montana, or 7,217 votes in Virginia, or 41,537 votes in Missouri would have given a Republicans control of the Senate

Yeah Karl, and 70 698 more votes for Democrats would have given the Democrats an additional 18 seats, more than enough to take the house with less votes than you claim you would have needed to keep it.

Just saw on Breaking blue that Melissa Hart (R-PA) is in a tightening race.

She is also a member of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, aka the Ethics Committee.

This diary speculates on what that could mean for the Foleygate investigation underway by the committee.

For a move apparently hatched last night, and obviously requiring secrecy, the Democrats showed some good coordination in getting the word out after Reid invoked 21.

Even as it was happening, I noticed several official democratic sites already having postings and even front page updates about it.

Democrats.org
DSCC
From the Roots
Give 'em Hell

(note the time stamp on Harry's post to his own blog - I'm pretty sure he was actually in the Senate at that time hehe)