Tonight my son made the poignant observation: “Daddy has too many meetings for the Democrats.” I was at the Delaware County Democratic nominating convention last night. There was a local meeting last week also, so I guess it does seem like a lot.

Not too much to report of general interest from the convention. No floor fights. Bob Brady was there. He spoke for about three minutes. Joe Sestak was there spoke for–er–longer. We heard from Auditor General Jack Wagner. I’ll be darned if he doesn’t have an eye on the Governor’s mansion a few years out.

It doesn’t hold any real significance, but there was a straw poll on the presidential race. I believe the tally reported was Clinton 92, Obama 85, Edwards 12 (despite his pullout earlier in the day). These are your party stalwarts, and there’s not a consensus. (If anybody was there and has corrected/updated numbers, please feel free to chime in.)

A former Democratic president, and the ostensible leader of the party, should never, never, never resort to this form of dog whistle politics, no matter how stupid the question was. It’s interesting to note that President Clinton didn’t say “John Edwards won South Carolina in 2004 by 15 points, but did not win the nomination.”

Not unlike the general election, where a candidate can win the general election and still lose on electoral college votes, it’s really odd to crow Clinton’s victory tonight. Clinton and Obama actually split the open delegates evenly, 9-9. Obama had three superdelegates lined up to Clinton’s two. So the final delegate tally for New Hampshire is:

Obama- 12
Clinton- 11
Edwards- 4

So, who actually won New Hampshire?

A really interesting question is how long does John Edwards hold out, and is it possible that the primaries are all going to be close enough, even through Super Duper Tuesday, February 5th, that he gains leverage as kingmaker?

So while you political junkies are sitting there waiting for the early returns out of New Hampshire, here’s our kindergartner’s sense of the Democratic primary.

Who’s that guy I like? Oh yeah, John Edwards. I like him. But I like all of them, so I don’t really care who wins.

Obama has been having a little email chat with David Brody of Pat Robertson’s CBN. It’s nothing new that the he is talking about the intersection between faith and politics. He’s very skilled at talking about the role of his faith in his public life. Mark Kleiman (Reality-Based Community) is especially in awe of Obama’s tone as he confidently fields Brody’s questions.

It does raise an eye that Obama would take the chance of giving CBN an opportunity to use the moment to take a knock at him. What’s in it for him?

Based on his experience with the Rick Warren/Saddleback controversy in December, he clearly knows that his outreach will not sway many people in the fundamentalist community. If this conversation has any cynical electoral implications, perhaps it will help him in Southern and Midwestern primaries.

Certainly, his words sound to me like they would resonate with main line protestants that I grew up with. But they’re a rapidly declining population. I couldn’t guess how Obama’s words are perceived in the ears and hearts of evengelical moderates. I do have a few hunches about possible outcomes of these conversations with prominent evangelicals:

1. The Christian right are not going to be terribly cheerful about any of their options from the Republican side.
2. Some spokespersons from the Christian right will not swing as hard at candidate Obama as they will at the other Democratic candidates, largely because he gives them access and is deft at talking about issues within their own rhetorical framework.
3. If he is elected President, these conversations might enable him to govern with a broader national consensus. I think there are plenty of people who won’t vote for him, but who will grudgingly concede that he seems like a very decent man.

I stopped the channel for a few minutes when I saw the Democratic candidates lined up on MSNBC for a debate. Surprisingly, our son asked if he could watch along for a little while.  Oh, you sweet, perfect little freak, you.

Here are a few of his remarks:

Are they going to talk about Iraq? I want to know who will stop the  fighting and bring the soldiers back safe.

I’m trying to decide between that one guy and Hillary Clinton.

I think I like that one man…the man…who..with the darker skin. He seems pretty good.

I’m kinda rooting for all of them. I might decide later who I want to pick.

Okay, I’m done now. Can we watch something else? Like the Phillies?

Ze applez, ze fall not so far from ze tree, no?

Taking note of the date: February 15, 2007.

Barak Obama’s campaign just became the first to request a donation from me for the 2008 elections.

While I have a very high opinion of Senator Obama, and may decide to endorse him, I am not going to make my final decision to support any presidential candidate, financially or otherwise until after November 2007. In November 2007, we will have an election for township commissioners, district justices, county council, and other important offices.

My recommendation to fellow Dems is to not buy in to the prez-o-centric view of the world. Instead of making a donation of time or money to a presidential candidate this year, why not see what you can do for a good candidate or organization in your community?

UPDATE (2/16): Heeding my clarion call, Philadelphians donated upwards of $200,000 to the Obama campaign at a fundraiser last night.