Yep, the company formerly chaired by Dick Cheney, the company getting probably the most bang for the buck out of the Iraq war, the company so infamous that there's an entire website devoted to its shameful practices, that company, Halliburton Energy Services, has contributed $1,000 to Heller for Congress on August 1. And Heller gladly excepted it.

Five years later he is the nominee for President of the Democratic Party.

What this shows is that there clearly is talent all over the United States (while I'm not saying there is an Obama in every state). The question simply is if they can make it out of the political wilderness into the limelight.

What I'm wondering is who comes after Obama? Who is the future of the Democratic Party? Now, this is not necessarily about who might become a future president but rather who has the ability to work hard and inspire people and make it into a leadership position in the future. Whether that is as governor, in the U.S. Senate or any other leadership position.

So, here's my question to you: who is the future of the Democratic Party? Which young person (younger than Obama who was born in 1961), male or female, white, African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic, straight or gay, inspires you? Now, that person may have already made it to Congress, or have been elected to statewide office. But it's just as likely that person is in the state legislature, the state cabinet or an elected official at the local level (mayor or county commissioner) or currently running for an office. And please provide year of birth and a bio link to that person if you can.

Which young Democrat in your state inspires you and whom do you wish/hope to rise and aim higher? And please provide year of birth and a bio link to that person if you can.

Cross posted from My Silver State.

Remember 2004? When the incumbent Senate Democratic Leader was beaten when he was running for reelection in South Dakota? The first time the Republican  Senate Leader Bill Frist broke one of those so called DC "gentlemen's agreeements" of not actively campaigning against the leader of the other party?

You want that to happen again in 2010?

No? Then follow me below the fold to see what you can do NOW to stop the Republicans from beating Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010!

Watch (and, yes, it's very graphic):

The turnout at this school was astonishing. There were long lines and quite a few people got registered on location. I was told that precinct 5022 had about 20 people come out in 2004 and State Assemblyman David Bobzien (who co-chaired Edwards Northern Nevada campaign) told me they expected about 100 people to turn out in this district. In the end 179 people were in the room.

Eric Herzik, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, agreed, saying Dodd would be no more able than Reid to end the war.

Liberal disenchantment could even be a good thing for Reid in Nevada, where polls have shown his popularity and job approval ratings have dipped to around 30 percent, Herzik said.

"Harry Reid's numbers have dropped in part because he is perceived as more liberal and out of touch," Herzik said. "The way to fix that is to be attacked by the left."

Yeah, liberal means out of touch, that's the old Republican mantra, and Herzik is a Republican, which the LVRJ continuously fails to mention.

But that's really besides the point, as apparently, us bitching about Senator Reid will lift his overall approval numbers. 'Tis the season, so I suppose I can try and do old Harry a little favor. Here it goes:

Update: Title changed, original title: "Hillary Has 3849 Word Plan to Fight AIDS - Doesn't Mention Condoms Once". More updates at the bottom of this diary.

The Hillary Clinton campaign sent out a press release today feat. their "plan to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad." If I'm not mistaken, they are the first Democratic presidential campaign to be doing this. Kudos for that. HIV/AIDS deserves more attention and a renewed focus.

That said, writing a plan consisting of 3849 words (according to my MS Word counter) and not once mentioning the one thing that best prevents one from being infected, condoms, may be politically safe when one doesn't want to be attacked by Republicans. But in the reality based world fighting AIDS without ever mentioning condoms is just whack.

This sounds even crazier when you consider that she supports federal funding for needle-exchange programs, which I applaud, but which leaves me to ponder: why is it politically feasible to mention your support of needle exchange but not of condoms?

They all want to be President of the United States. And while they are out there in Iowa (they sure as hell ain't around much in Nevada), the four United States Senators running for President are not doing their current job.

Yesterday, there were two votes in the Senate. Doesn't sound like much, but they were important votes. The first vote was to override Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, the second vote was the confirmation of Michael Mukasey to be the next Attorney General of the United States.

Senators Biden, Clinton, Dodd and Obama were AWOL for both votes.

Yesterday,  I wrote about the latest U.S. soldier to die in Iraq. Today, we learn that 19-year-old Army Spc. Travis M. Virgadamo of Las Vegas took his own life:

The death of a 19-year-old Las Vegas Army infantryman by his own hand last week inspired words of sorrow and comfort Tuesday from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who reiterated his call to end the Iraq war.

"We have heard countless examples of our troops receiving inadequate mental health care being sent back into battle like this young man, Pfc. Travis Virgadamo," Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor.

"My heart goes out to his family," said Reid, whose father committed suicide. "That's what they said when he was trying to stay here, not go back. They suffered so much. We owe them a change of course. Many of my Republican friends have long held September is the month for policy change in Iraq."

Nevada's liberal and progressive blogging community is bigger and more diverse than one might think. The blog roll on the right (which includes non-partisan blogs) is prove enough. My Silver State is not intended to replace any of these blogs, nor is this supposed to be just another blog.

My Silver State is a place for you. It's a place for every liberal and progressive, every Democrat in Nevada. My Silver State is a community blog where you can not only comment on what others have written but where you can actually contribute yourself by writing diaries.

My Silver State is decidedly partisan, meaning that this site supports Democrats and will work to advance progressive and liberal issues. Although this site is not associated with the Nevada State Democratic Party or any candidate for office, any party member and candidate is welcome to register and contribute to this community.