It’s the handiwork of Florida businessman Mike Meehan, and he’s paid to have three of them raised around Orlando. According to Meehan, who says it’s important for voters to remember to focus on the war, he is a proud Republican and “a man of God.” What God thinks about using the deaths of thousands of people for political gain, nobody knows.

[Source]

During the two days when I relish getting a break from topics such as these, my inbox was flooded with news alerts, I received excited/dejected/disappointed texts from politically-minded friends, and I found myself scouring the internet for news during hours I usually try to spend out of doors and away from the laptop. In other words, it was a big weekend in political news.

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SORRY, HRC The DNC’s lawyers today advised the DNC rules committee that they can seat half but not all of Michigan and Florida’s delegates, based on the party’s rules. The committee meets Saturday to decide what to do about the mess (that everyone knew about and agreed to) they got themselves in. [NYT]

JUST SUPER Barack Obama told a group of undeclared superdelegates from Florida yesterday that he was committed to seating the state’s delegates at the national convention, although they have been stripped of their relevance by the DNC after the state violated the party’s rules. It’s the first time Obama has made a clear promise to do this. In a letter to Obama yesterday, Hillary Clinton wrote, “It is not enough to simply seat their representatives at the convention in Denver. The people of these great states, like the people who have voted and are to vote in other states, must have a voice in selecting our party’s nominee.”

It’s been a long road, y’all. A long hard road filled with combativeness, divisiveness, lies, “misspeaking,” media-manufactured scandals, race cards, sex cards, pandering, and foot-in-mouth moments, but after last night, it’s finally over. Barack Obama won North Carolina by 16 points, and he lost Indiana, where he was expected to lose by 5-7 points, by fewer than two points. Seeing that there was no way for her to win the nomination by any means that will sit well with a majority of her party, Hillary Clinton has announced that she has gracefully bowed out of the race and will commence supporting Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy immediately.

Oh, wait. That was just a dream I had last night. Clinton’s still in (it’s probably better for Obama that she is such a fighter) and is getting revved up about West Virginia, a shoo-in state for her. Commentators will continue to ask, “Why can’t Barack Obama win those white, blue-collar voters? How will that play out in the general election?” They will continue to not ask (or to not ask as much), “Why can Hillary Clinton barely pull 10 percent of the black vote? How will that play out in the general election, especially if she wins the nomination using tactics that, perceived or otherwise, stole the nomination from Barack Obama?”

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Florida is terribly sorry for that unfortunate slavery issue in America’s past. Legislators there said so themselves. The Sunshine State is the fifth state — North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey beat it to the punch — to formally apologize for slavery. It was a trend two states ago. Now it’s a movement.

Florida’s history with slavery is unusual. Its roots stretch back to the settlement of St. Augustine in 1565, and slaves here took part in a wide array of industries, including cattle ranching in central Florida and sugar cane harvests in Tampa… Some of this history was recounted before the Legislature, and was included in the resolution. It was enough to draw clear sobs from Senator Arthenia L. Joyner, Democrat of Tampa. The governor said such emotions were understandable.

So Florida’s sorry. Does that heal race relations any? Not really. But as long as the legislature feels good…

Next up, Florida should apologize for screwing their residents out of a primary vote. [NYT]

In Central Florida, 36 percent of the black population is obese, compared with 21 percent of whites and 20 percent of Hispanics. It’s such a frightening statistic that schools have started sending home notes to parents of overweight children asking them to enroll themselves and their kids into free fitness programs. Contrary to what you’d expect, parent’s are not offended. “When I got the notice, I thought this was an answered prayer,” said one recipient. “We want to be healthy.” Amazing! Who knew all those ignorant rednecks were wrong when they said that “welfare queens” enjoy their lifestyle?

• Bill Clinton calls the idea that he was being racist when he referred to Barack Obama as a fairy tale a myth. Wait, he’s allowed to speak again? [CNN]

• Yep! He also said last night on Fox that black voters are naturally drawn to Obama, and it’s not racist to point that out. [FOX]

• Florida’s not doing a re-vote. Now it’s up to the DNC to decide whether the vote they already did will count, either in full or partially. [AFP]

• Dire straits for Scott Storch. [HHE]

• Florida gets its first black female chief justice. [CBS4]

The Michigan and Florida problem. You know what it is. Michigan and Florida decided to hold their primaries before Super Tuesday, the DNC stripped the states of their delegates, the states had the primaries anyway, Hillary “won” both of them, and now after all is said and done Floridians, Michiganers (?), Hill, and Julian Bond are pissed that the votes won’t be counted. Everyone is scrambling to find a solution, and Michigan might have come up with one. A committee of state democrats (including the Kwame Kilpatrick’s mama) has proposed a primary paid for with private funds. The proposal has to be approved by the state legislature, and since the primary cut-off is June 10th, there’s a bit of a rush.

In Florida, the idea is to have a joint mail-in and in-person vote. But no one there seems really happy with it, including Obama’s camp, and it might not happen. But as upset as their constituents are about not having their votes counted, members of the legislature — who knew this was going to happen — seem less than willing to compromise or come up with ideas. [MSNBC]

As I mentioned briefly earlier today, Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, sent a letter to the DNC calling on officials to solve the problem of Michigan and Florida’s delegates, which won’t have a seat at the convention because Florida and Michigan election officials defied DNC rules by holding their primaries before Super Tuesday.

In a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed “great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted.” Refusing to seat the states’ delegations could remind voters of the “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries,” he said.

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An all-white jury in Florida found seven former juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse not guilty in the death of a 14-year-old black inmate Friday. The trial took three weeks. It took the jury 90 minutes to decide to acquit.

A 30 minute video, which shows the guards beating the boy, who had collapsed after running laps, while a nurse looked on, wasn’t enough for the jury. Medical examiners for each side told different stories — the defense said the boy died from a pre-existing medical condition and the prosecution said the boy did not die of natural causes. Not long after the verdict was announced Friday, federal prosecutors announced they would investigate the case further.

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