Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

• Ron Paul's phenomenal day

Ron Paul's supporters (supposedly independently from the campaign) organized a massive fund-raising push yesterday to... "remember, remember the fifth of November" and Guy Fawkes Night, the foiling of the bombing of the English Parliament in 1605. Calling it a "money bomb," these Paul supporters managed to spread the word online to "blast away" the campaign in a single day.

And the results are astounding. It is past midnight, and the campaign has reported that it raised over $3.8 million dollars in one single day. A prodigious amount for any candidate, yet alone for Ron Paul. The single-day record stands at $5.7 million and was established by John Kerry in 2004... and Ron Paul is certainly not that far off.

With this kind of support, imagine how much of a factor Ron Paul could be if he waged a third-party campaign in 2008...

• When Edwards and Obama are accused of double-talk...
  

As the Democratic field is stepping up its attacks on Hillary Clinton's double-talk, some are charging that Obama and Edwards have problems of their own.

John Edwards was the first to attack Clinton at the Philadelphia debate after her equivocating answer on illegal immigration. Yet, it is now Edwards who is coming under fire for his own response to the question when he was asked by ABC's Stephanopoulos whether he supports granting undocumented workers drivers licenses. Edwards, who had blasted Clinton for responding to yes or no questions with yes and no answers, offered the following answer:

Here’s what I believe. I believe that, first of all, we have to have comprehensive immigration reform. And for anybody in this country who is making an effort and on the path to obtaining American citizenship, yes, they should have a driver’s license. If they’re not making any effort to become an American citizen, and we have a system for doing that, my own personal view is, no, I would not give them a driver’s license.

This is certainly not a straight answer, and does not tell us whether Edwards supports giving undocumented workers driver licenses or not. Edwards did say he opposed the Spitzer plan, but did embrace a proposal that would allow some sort of licenses to be granted. That equivocal position, in addition to his relating this to the need for "comprehensive immigration reform," make his answer very similar to the one Clinton gave last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a new CNN report about missed votes by presidential candidates points out that Obama has been the most absent in recent months, missing 80% of votes since Congress reconvened in September. This is not that much higher than Clinton's 67%, but the votes that Obama has missed have been more high-profile and controversial, including an important one on SCHIP and his avoiding the Iran Revolutionary Guard and the sensitive vote condemning MoveOn.org (Obama was in Congress that same morning). CNN adds this damning sentence, undermining Obama's argument that he did not vote on the Iran bill because he was not aware it had been scheduled: "Two senior Democratic Senate aides said senators were advised the night before that the vote would occur the next day."