Maybe the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy didn’t hurt Barack Obama at all.

While Critical Conversations will host a discussion on a recent Obama speech at the Missouri History Museum later today, it seems his most recent speech on race in America may have helped soften the blow of some pulpit politics.

Agence France-Presse is reporting Obama’s positive ratings only slipped a little despite the fervor over Wright’s incendiary words, while Clinton’s plunged to a seven-year low. Clinton got a weak 37 percent positive rating, her bleakest since March 2001 when she first became a New York senator, so says the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

Obama was only down two points from 51 percent to 49 percent now. The poll was taken a week after Obama’s speech on race in America.

The Wall Street Journal quotes Democratic pollster Peter Hart saying the 3.7 percent margin of error is a “myth-buster” demonstrating that the fracas was “not the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign.”

The discussion on Obama’s speech will take place at the History Museum at Lindell and DaBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis. The event will take place 6-8pm, Thursday. For more information call 314.746.4599 or check out www.mohistory.org.

They’re China bound!

Gov. Matt Blunt, along with U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill, are going on a bipartisan trade mission to China this week. The politicians will work on “creating new economic development opportunities between China and Missouri.” They will be heading to the People’s Republic of China with high-level members of government, business and civic leaders from the St. Louis area.

“Missouri businesses have shattered export records every year since I took office in 2005,” Gov. Blunt said in a press release Monday. “This bipartisan trade mission to China, one of our most important trading partners, will help strengthen business relations and help continue Missouri’s outstanding job growth.”

A who’s who of state and St. Louis politics are making the trip including: U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, former Gov. Bob Holden who serves as the vice chairman of the Midwest U.S.-China Association.

Business leaders making the trek include Richard C. D. Fleming, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA); David L. Steward, chairman and CEO of World Wide Technology; and executives with Pfizer, Peabody Energy, Unigroup, McEagle Properties, the World Trade Center St. Louis, and Lambert St. Louis International Airport.

The Fashion of Kacie Starr Triplett from PubDef.net on Vimeo.

Sixth Ward Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett, 27, is six feet of civil servant style.

She’s only been in office for one year, but her style of dress is classic, hearkening back to the days of Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and her grandmother, a seamstress who still makes outfits for Triplett today.

Pictured here in a mint green coat dress from The Time Boutique at 922 Washington Avenue and peak-a-boo black heels by Nine West, Triplett dresses for success with her shoulders back and head held high.

Triplett comes from political lineage. Her grandfather, John Bass, deceased, was a state senator, city comptroller and alderman.

“It’s in the blood,” she said. “Doctors breed doctors. Lawyers breed lawyers … I guess politicians make politicians.”

The same goes for her sense of style. Her grandmother has made Triplett clothes since she was an infant.

“She made all my prom dresses and special event suits,” Triplett said. “It’s been a blessing because she was able to do all that for stuff for free.”

It was also helpful to Triplett’s height. Being so tall, she can’t buy pants off the rack. When she was younger she was nervous about her height and slouched a lot, but now she holds herself with confidence and pride.

“It took a while, but I’m not shrinking so I might as well embrace it,” she said.

Despite her love of clothes, Triplett’s not a big fan of shopping and her public servant paycheck isn’t generous enough to blow the bank of designer duds, but she makes it work by focusing on the best quality garment, investing in clothing that is stylish and will last.

Triplett shops the downtown boutiques as well as Macy’s and Nordstrom. And while she cares about her clothes, she cares about the city and her constituents more.

“I want to make a difference,” Triplett said. “I love this city with a passion. I tell people all the time I will fall on the sword for the city of St. Louis.”

Photos by Antonio D. French

See more pictures from our photo shoot with Kacie Starr Triplett at our Flickr photo set.

You’ve got to give it to Ron Paul supporters - they never back down.

Despite the Texas Representative’s poor showing in the primaries, his supporters, determined to keep Paul’s agenda in the forefront, bum rushed the Republican county caucuses last weekend. The Kansas City Star is reporting that Paul supporters elected hundreds of delegates for congressional district and state conventions. And The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said pro-Paul Republicans may have finagled about a third of the 2,137 state Republican delegates.

These Paulites along with other Missouri delegates will set the state GOP agenda this spring and pick the presidential delegates to attend the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in September.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called the Paul rush a “political guerrilla attack.” Paul supporters swamped the St. Peters City Hall caucus and hijacked caucuses in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Springfield.

The Paulies caused a ruckus, sparking shouting matches and walk outs by frustrated caucus goers unable to deal with the zeal of the pro-Paul supporters.

Paul came in fourth place with only 5 percent of the GOP vote in the Missouri primary and state party leaders said the caucus results shouldn’t change the votes at the Republican National Convention. They are still likely to go John McCain.

Despite this there is still some cause for concern.

According to the Kansas City Star:

(T)hey’re a complication for McCain, the presumptive nominee, and an embarrassment for party regulars across Missouri. There are Internet rumors that Paul supporters have or will attempt similar actions in other states, though national GOP leaders say it does not appear to be an issue nationally.

Here, one Republican — the chairman of the Jackson County Republican committee — was so upset at the behavior of some Paul sympathizers that he led a walkout from his party’s caucus Saturday.

Independence attorney Bunk Farrington said he was angry that Paul supporters reneged on an agreement to divide the county’s 187 caucus delegates between those sympathetic to the Texas congressman and supporters of other candidates.

“We had a compromise,” Farrington said. “They broke the deal.”

The group is now pushing for a repeal of the Missouri Republican Party requirement that all of the states GOP presidential delegates, 58 in total, must back McCain. But Paul supporters say their en masse attack wasn’t about some quixotic bid for the White House.

According to the Post-Dispatch:

Carlson and other Paul supporters say their aim is to force the Missouri Republican Party to embrace Paul’s principles.

“We’re not holding out an illusion that Ron is going to win the nomination,” said Debbie Hopper, Paul’s national field director. “This is about calling the Republican Party back to its roots.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill said it’s unfair to hold presidential candidates accountable for “dumb things” their supporters say.

McCaskill, a vocal supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama, was responding to the reaction in the media to what some deemed as anti-American statements by Obama’s former pastor and adviser Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

“People need to give all the candidates a break, because people who support them say dumb things sometimes,” McCaskill said. “I think some of the things this pastor said were pretty dumb.”

McCaskill talked to reporters today after an event at a south St. Louis senior center promoting awareness among senior citizens about the $600 stimulus checks coming soon to taxpayers. She said both Obama and his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, had supporters say things that both candidates later repudiated.

McCaskill said the anger seen in Wright’s sermon spoke directly to an anger that exists in the black community over racism and feeling they are not full citizens. She said an Obama presidency would help heal those old wounds and rid some black churches of some of the more divisive rhetoric.

The Obama campaign has been on defense since comments made by Wright after Sept. 11, 2001, as well as some more recent sermons, surfaced on the Internet. Wright stepped down last week from an honorary position on the Obama campaign’s African-American Religious Leadership Committee.

CBS 2 in New York City is reporting that disgraced New York state Gov. Eliot Spitzer is to resign Wednesday morning at an 11:30 a.m. ET from his office.

His resignation will mean Lt. Gov. David Patterson will succeed him as the state’s 55th governor and it’s first black and legally blind governor.

Spitzer has been embroiled in a sex scandal involving moving large amounts of money through different shell companies to pay for a high-end escort service that was part of an FBI probe into Spitzer’s suspicious money movements. They initially suspected bribery but instead found a prostitution ring where Spitzer paid $4,300 to a prostitute from the service for two hours at a hotel in Washington, D.C.

Patterson, 53, is a well-liked figure in New York and is a native who was born in Queens. According to the Agence Frace-Presse he was elected as a state senator from Harlem in 1985 and moved up to become the minority leader in 2002. He introduced legislation on stem cell research, alternative energy and domestic violence.

He lives in Harlem with his wife and two children.

UPDATE [7:29 PM]: CNN has projected Sen. Barack Obama as the winner of the Mississippi primary. This was considered an easy win for Obama due to high turnout among African Americans who, according to CNN, make up as much as 60 percent of the Democratic vote in the state and were trending in favor of the candidate.

How the vote falls will determine how many of Mississippi’s 33 delegates Obama will receive.

ORIGINAL STORY: Depending on who you ask this is a meaningful fight for delegates or a mere formality in Mississippi today where the latest primary in a season of primary fever for the Democratic nomination for president.

Despite wet conditions in part of the state, Miss. election officials report that the turnout is good at the polls where Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are vying for delegates in Dixie - the cotton rich state of Mississippi.

The Associated Press is reporting that Obama is the favorite to win Mississippi which has a large black Democratic electorate. Obama has been successful in pulling more than 80 percent of the black votes in most states.

This is the latest dust-up leading to a decisive battle in Pennsylvania April 22nd. The AP said that Clinton popped up in Pennsylvania yesterday with Clinton not expecting to win Mississippi. Obama was also on his way to Pennsylvania as he made on last stop in Greenville, Miss., speaking on the economic strife in the Mississippi delta. The day before Obama was in Columbus and Jackson, the state capitol.

Thirty-three delegates are in play.

Obama used his appearances in Mississippi to shoot down Clinton’s veep talk, poo-poo any such arrangement when he’s leading in delegates and states won. He was especially direct in his criticism of Clinton’s statements pointing at the bipolar nature of Clinton’s campaign who has attack Obama as being unprepared and too inexperienced to be president while tossing the joint ticket bait around liberally.

“I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place,” Obama said, drawing cheers and a lengthy standing ovation from about 1,700 people. He added: “I am not running for vice president. “I am running for president of the United States of America.”

Later, at a rally in Jackson with 9,000 people, Obama painted Clinton as part of the Washington establishment whose time has come and gone.

The nation does not need “the same old folks doing the same old things, talking the same old stuff,” he said, essentially lumping Clinton with President Bush and Republican candidate John McCain.

In other election news:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was in St. Louis yesterday raking in some much needed cash for his national campaign. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that McCain made an appearance at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac hotel for a $1,000-per-person event.

The party was hosted by some of the toniest families in the region, including the Busches of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the Taylors of Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the Foxes of Harbour Group.

Today McCain is having a town hall meeting with the employees of Savvis Inc., a West County based company. At the event he’s supposed to pump up his campaign message, covering the War on Terror to improving the economy.

Clinton dodged questions in Scranton, Penn. regarding New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal that has rocked the state. Spitzer was a Clinton supporter who is a super delegate and has been a fund raiser for her campaign.

“I don’t have any comment on that,” she said when asked about reports that Spitzer allegedly paid for sex with a high-priced call girl at a Washington hotel. “Obviously, I am sending my best wishes and thoughts to the governor and to his family,” Clinton said.

UPDATE [11:47 PM]: MSNBC has called the Texas Primary for Hillary with 73 percent of the precincts reporting. Not-quite-final score: 51-48. CNN does as well and has the caucus at 56 Obama, 44 Clinton so far. Tim Russert, voice hoarse and going out, argues that this will be a psychological victory for Clinton, changing the narrative and helping her with donors. He also says this will add more fuel to the Clinton camp’s argument that Obama can only win caucuses and struggles in primaries.

Chris Matthews, on the other hand, is balking at the amount of cash that is going to go into the incinerator if the fight lives on.

C’est la vie.

UPDATE [11:13 PM]: Barack Obama gave speech declaring that his campaign is in a “tight race.” Right now Obama Campaign Strategist David Axelrod is talking to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews about whether the Ohio loss is reflective of the perception that Obama can when over the Starbucks crowd but not the Dunkin’ Donuts (my words, not Chris’s, but he could have gotten to the point faster if he’d used my way). Axelrod argued that his team could run the tables, go the distance and whatever other sports analogy you can think of. Once again, I don’t think he actually quoted a sports catchphrase, but it would have been faster than the jibber-jawing.

Texas is still too close to call. Everyone is repeating that we could be up all night. Obama even said during his speech that we may not know the winner until tomorrow. But as Hillary said earlier, “As Ohio goes, so goes this nation,” and apparently Ohio is going to Pennsylvania irregardless of who wins Texas.

Maybe Tina Fey really did save her campaign after all. I know one bespecled minx who’s getting a pretty nice pantsuit for her birthday!

UPDATE [10:21 PM]: Clinton is giving her victory speech in Ohio. In a move, I’m sure someone will froth at the mouth over tomorrow, the crowd at Clinton Headquarters started chanting “Yes, she will! Yes, she will” as if Hillary will rise up and smash will.i.am to pieces.

She calls for more states to have “their voices heard” and gives a pitch for her campaign to go on. So far tonight Clinton has won Ohio and Rhode Island, but the Texas Prima-Caucus is still up in the air.

UPDATE [9:55 PM]: CNN has called Ohio for Hillary Clinton, a big win out of the two major wins her husband, former President Clinton, said she needed to stay in the race. CNN Reporter Candy Crowley and Wolf Blitzer are speculating that because of this win the campaign will likely continue on after tonight.

UPDATE [9:30 PM]: The race keeps getting tighter and tighter in Texas and Clinton’s lead in Ohio may be a paper tiger until more precients report in. CNN has things tied up at 49-49 in Texas with 20 percent reporting. When breaking into the exit polls they found that the African American vote was stagnant, even slightly less than 2004, but that the number of Mexican-American voters were up. Until major metro areas like Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio report in it will be awhile before this fight is settled.

UPDATE [8:33 PM]: While watching Miracle Mike’s concession speech it occurred to me that Huckabee is Rocky Balboa from the first Rocky film and John McCain is Apollo Creed. Huck fought with honor, but did not win.

He went the distance.

Now I understand why John McCain sometimes played “Eye of the Tiger” at the end of his stump speeches. Although “Hold On to the Vision,” the theme song from the 1986 Jean-Claude Van Dame film “No Retreat, No Surrender” might have been more apropos for the “maverick.”

UPDATE [8:03 PM]: The case of the Ohio crazies has officially broken out (as if the forces of nature and bomb threats weren’t enough). A federal judge in Ohio has ruled for some polls in northern Ohio to remain open and in some cases, reopen due to the weather, so sez the AP’s Frankenstory:

Heavy rain, sleet and ice forced at least 10 precincts to request permission to move, and a few polling spots were running on generators because of power outages.

An ice storm struck Cleveland during rush hour, prompting non-profit groups to stop roving election monitors. ”It is treacherous out there now. It’s just too dangerous for them to drive around,” said Candice Hoke, director of Cleveland State University’s Center for Election Integrity.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner asked a judge to hold open the polls in Sandusky County until 9 p.m., to allow voters more time to get to the polls under freezing rain. Ballots ran out earlier in the day, forcing election workers to turn away 300 to 400 people. And a reprinting glitch delayed delivery of new ballots.

On the Republican side, John McCain has officially locked up the Republican nomination by winning Texas. Miracle Mike, the Underdog of Arkansas, hasn’t conceded yet and there is some speculation on the cable news networks that he may be planning some collusion with the once and future king of the RNC. Power sharing options? VP picks? Act of God causing McCain to get up on that stage in Texas and give the nomination to Huckabee because he had a political conversion?

So miracle then, right? Maybe?

CNN’s Dana Bash is reporting that McCain will likely be receiving the endorsement of President Bush tomorrow. A fascinating bit of turnaround since it was originally then Texas Governor Bush who thwarted McCain’s 2000 bid for the nomination leaving pools of bad blood between them. McCain would later sop up that blood, chop down the bile and learn to love the man who once broke his heart.

Rainbows, hearts and happy endings for everyone! Weeee!

UPDATE [7:03 PM]: MSNBC and CNN are projecting that Obama and McCain have won Vermont and McCain has also netted Ohio. Wolf Blitzer is also regailing us with tales of a resolution to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney if they show up in the town of Brattleboro.

From Scoop Independent News:

The second American Revolution may begin in Brattleboro, Vermont should it becomes the first city in the United States to formally indict George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for “crimes against the Constitution.” The town votes on the following resolution Tuesday, March 4, 2008:

“Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities? And shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them.”

Wolfie said the resolution just passed so I imagine they’ll be putting up the “Wanted: Impeached or Alive” posters in the windows of Brattleboro’s tchotchkes shops and fine haberdasheries.

But where will the Vice President go in the fall to watch the colorful foliage and purchase bottles of maple syrup? Damn you, Brattleboro! A pox on all your crazy Liberal houses!

UPDATE [6:01 PM]: MSNBC is projecting that Obama has won Vermont. Matthews is giddy with “no sweep for Hillary” but only a dollop of “Obama won Vermont.” Classy.

UPDATE [5:07 PM]: The Associated Press is reporting that voting is running smoothly, even in election-addled Ohio!

They think. Well, actually despite the positive first sentence of this the article, everything else rapidly devolved into a weather plagued, election quagmire that we may never be freed from. In a day stacked with rainy/icy Acts of God, power outages and moody, bomb-threatin’ middle schoolers, the AP’s chirpy, “Save for a few sputters in troublesome Ohio, voting appeared to run smoothly in four state primaries that could decide whether Hillary Rodham Clinton abandons her quest to be the first female president,” lede seemed a little hollow.

A bomb threat stopped voting at a middle school in one northeast Ohio precinct for about 90 minutes. After trained dogs found nothing, the polls were reopened. Heavy rain, sleet and ice forced at least 10 precincts to request permission to move, and a few polling spots were running on generators because of power outages.

But election advocates worry that final counts from primaries held Tuesday — also in Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island — could be delayed for hours or days, especially in Ohio, where tallying delays have become all too common, as have waits to cast ballots themselves.

I’ll give the AP a break. This is a Frankenstory where they’ve updated it throughout the day with the help of likely more than one reporter. So take it in with a grain of salt. The same story could lede with “Armageddon is nigh! Ohio’s electronic voting machines have come to life and begun the IT apocalypse envisioned by St. James of Cameron.”

ORIGINAL POST: [3:55 PM]

He’s 11-0 and she’s not.

It’s Super Tuesday Redux (or “Critical Tuesday” CNN is calling it as if the candidates are having open bypass surgery). The Obama and Clinton campaigns are still vying for the Democratic nomination that everyone thought would be over with a month ago. Four states are up to bat, including Vermont and Rhode Island. But only two matter, delegate rich Texas and must win Ohio.

Barack Obama is looking for a coup de gras, a definitive win that will render his opponent a head with no body. Hillary Clinton is looking for any glimmer of hope to keep her in the game.

She doesn’t really need that much.

The Clinton camp has pushed back the goal posts and declared that Obama “must win” to prove his dominance. But for Clinton it’s a can’t lose.

She launched a charm offensive last weekend that included an appearance on Saturday Night Live, her new no. one weapon o’ choice to counter media “unfairness,” and finished it off with a visit to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. While the SNL stint was somewhat humorous and to some TV pundits, endearing, it’s arguable how effective it or the terrible Daily Show visit via satellite was, as the delay ruined any comic timing.

Obama has deployed his troops of volunteers and dispatched a cash armada to flood Texas and Ohio’s airwaves. He has a ground game. He has a TV game. At any moment he could rent some B-2’s and start dropping payloads on Clinton campaigning sites across the Lone Star State.

But CNN and Politico are reporting on some stagnation in Obama’s momentum. Obama has been besieged by drama and rumor in the last few days surrounding one of his economic advisers whispering sweet nothings of NAFTA in Canada’s ear and the trial of a former campaign donor Tony Rezko.

And then there’s the insulting, “Is he a Muslim?’ xenophobic drama. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews made a lot of hay Monday off a brief statement by Clinton on “60 Minutes” where she told reporter Steve Kroft that “as far as (she) knew” Obama was not a Muslim.” Camille Paglia also took umbrage to over it in Us Magazine. Either as a result of that or “the softer side of Hillary” or something else, the polls have started to move narrowly for Clinton, with CNN giving her a one percent lead in Texas.

Controversies and parsed words aside, there is a lot at stake in today’s vote. Bad weather may hamper turnout in Ohio and in Texas tens-of-thousands have already cast their ballots through early voting. And they’re still expecting huge crowds for both the voting and the caucuses. A total of 370 delegates are up for grabs with the majority in Texas (191) and Ohio (143).

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee is hoping to live another quixotic day to continue to swat at John McCain’s windmills. Hardly any TV press is giving much thought to the other primary going on, but every now and then someone mentions that McCain is still, technically, running against someone despite his lead in the polls and that he can’t afford to be embarrassed again by Huckabee who bested him in a few latter primaries after Feb. 5th.

So hold on to your laptops and your CNN (or your FOX, or you MSNBC, Headline News etc.) With Ohio and its legendary voting woes and now weather trouble, this might be a thrilling, bumpy night.