$150 Million in September…

From DailyKos…

$150 Million
by georgia10
Sun Oct 19, 2008 at 08:00:03 AM PDT
“The Obama campaign has raised a stunning $150 million in September.

Some astonishing statistics from David Plouffe:

632,000 new donors last month alone.
3.1 million donors thus far.
Average contribution for the month is still under $100 (for the year, the average is $86).
Retirees and students are the two groups which have given the most contributions.”

Colin Powell Endorses…

By now everyone is likely aware that Former JCS and 5-star Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama (and slammed John McCain and the GOP) this morning. 

Regretfully, it was Colin Powell’s personal assurance that the evidence of WMD in Saddam’s Iraq was sound that persuaded a reluctant nation to back the war.  At the moment of his greatest influence, then-Secretary of State Powell failed himself and his country.  Nonetheless, his stature remains significant and his opinion counts.  You can view his entire appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” here, but one excerpt from his remarks made outside after his appearance were particularly noteworthy…

“And now I guess the message this week is we’re going to call [Obama] a socialist. Mr. Obama is now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have. Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there’s nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more or who should be paying less, and for us to say that makes you a socialist is an unfortunate characterization that isn’t accurate.” [Courtesy of The Washington Monthly]

It’s nice to hear a Republican, any Republican, acknowledge that taxes are necessary for the common good, and we, all of us, benefit from them.  Would that they express the unheard of notion that we might pay for our wars as well…

100,000 turn out in red-state Missouri…

Damon Winter/The New York Times
About 100,000 people turned out Saturday for an appearance by Senator Barack Obama in St. Louis.

If you only read one endorsement this cycle…

...read this one:

The New Yorker