OPINION

Before we rename Industrial Blvd after an actual person, we should think hard about what kind of associations the passage of time and the ructions of commerce might cause to accrue to the person so honored. Surely poor Harry Hines, who was Texas Highway Commissioner over 70 years ago, would rather his name hadn't become a byword in Dallas for hookerville.

I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but apparently, Mike Hashimoto is not a man of his word. Between our dialogue about oil futures and our tete-a-tete about the theory of subsidiarity, Hash and I had a high-level discussion in the parking lot that went something like this:

MH: "Dude, that's sick! Get out of here. That [phenomenon] does not happen."

RD: "Oh, believe me, it does. Google 'male lactation' and see what you get. If it's on the Internet, it must be true."

MH: "That does not happen. Look, I'm going to make you a bet. If that [phenomenon] is real, I'll blog about it. But if it's not --"

I forget what he said then. But it's not important, because the awful truth is here. I know it. Mike Hashimoto knows it. The American people know it.

If you like to follow the DallasMorningViews blog by RSS, you may need to reset your feed.

We had some technical trouble recently, and it seems that some folks' RSS feeds have gone dead. (This includes mine!)

Have no idea what I'm talking about? Please carry on.

Well, now, isn't this counterintuitive!Turns out that Wall Street financiers, CEOs and other business elites are heavily donating to the Democrats this year, according to data from the Federal Election Commission:

Through May 1, the Democratic presidential field has suctioned up a cool $5.7 million from the more than 4,000 donors who list their occupation as "CEO." The Republicans' take was only $2.3 million. Chief financial officers, general counsels, directors, and chief information officers also break the Democrats' way by more than two-to-one margins. The Democrats' advantage among "presidents" is a less dramatic but still significant $7.2 million to $6.1 million. And this isn't new: In 2004 all but one of these categories of top corporate officers broke just as dramatically for the Democrats, the "presidents" being the exception.

Republicans do somewhat better further down the corporate food chain, but still lose the competition for contributions from executive vice presidents, vice presidents, and managers.

Wall Street firms, long a symbol of American elite accomplishment, also tilt decisively toward the Democrats. Employees in storied Wall Street institutions such as Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley have all favored the Democratic field by a large margin. Even both sides of the recent Bear Stearns/JP Morgan Chase deal choose Democratic candidates over Republicans by two-to-one margins.

Democrats also enjoy enormous fundraising advantages among well-educated professionals -- lawyers, teachers, accountants, journalists and writers. They carry practitioners of the hard sciences, winning solidly among physicians ($8 million to $4 million), biologists, chemists, physicists, and plain old scientists. Republicans must settle for a slender advantage among rocket scientists.

Turns out that the Republican presidential candidates outraised Dems "nearly three-to-one edge among janitors, custodians, cleaners, sanitation workers, factory workers, truckers, bus drivers, barbers, security guards, and secretaries. While Democrats command the financial loyalty of architects, Republicans successfully woo contributions from the skilled craftsmen who turn their blueprints into reality -- specifically, contractors, hardhats, plumbers, stonemasons, electricians, carpenters mechanics, and roofers. This trend extends to the saloons, where the Democrats carry the bartenders and the Republicans the waitresses. The GOP field even secures more financial support from teamsters, steelworkers, bricklayers, and autoworkers."

Problem for the GOP is, those aren't the people donating much, or with a lot to donate. Still, it's interesting to contemplate those numbers, especially for those who think the culture wars are a thing of the past.

The editorial board talked on and off for two weeks about what kind of editorial we should write for Mothers Day. This is always a challenge: How do strike the right balance between capturing the spirit of the holiday and yet writing something we haven't written before?

We tossed around ideas involving pro athlete mothers and Fundamentalist LDS mothers. But in the end, nothing struck our collective fancy.

It's probably too late to change our lineup for Sunday. But I'm curious: What would you have us write for Mother's Day?

Hillary Clinton and her supporters have stirred up a world of trouble by arguing this week in the most blunt terms yet that she's got the better chance in the fall match-up with McCain because Hispanics and working-class white people won't vote for a black guy.

It's a pretty desperate tack to take, because what she's saying is, "You'd better vote for me, because there are too many racists in our party to take a chance on Obama."

But what if it's an inconvenient truth? It's not like she's making up the demographic divide. Should she say such a thing in public?

In principle, I've got no problem with it, though the risks of saying this sort of thing out loud are obvious. Me, I think if she was going to make this argument this strongly, she should have done it weeks ago. To make it now, when she and her coterie are the only people left in the country who don't know that she's lost, is foolish and pointlessly destructive of the Dems' chances this fall.

I'm in the Texas Senate chamber for Sen. Rodney Ellis' summit of legal experts and law enforcement officials on wrongful convictions. Right now we're hearing from nine men who spent time in Texas prisons for crimes they didn't commit. It's an emotional moment as they share their feelings about being railroaded and locked away for years.

"DNA came a little too late for me," said exoneree James Giles, who did 10 years behind bars.

"I would cry myself to sleep," said Billy James Smith, who spent 19 years of a life sentence. "At least once or twice a year I considered commiting suicide."

"It was just a nightmare," said Thomas McGowan, who was picked out of a photo lineup. "It could happen to your kids, it could happen to you."

You can watch this live at this address (click Roundtable for Prevention of Wrongful Convictions):

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/bin/live.php

A new website dedicated to combating the doom and gloom in the newspaper industry with the power of prayer. Hey, why not? Probably works as well as anything else us newspaper people are trying.

I'm a big fan (and friend) of former DMN religion writer Christine Wicker, who is creating a buzz with her new book that questions just how much clout the evangelical voters give the GOP. Most recently, Mother Jones has deemed the book worthy of a glowing review promo'ed from its current issue cover. The magazine summarizes the point of the book nicely: "The Myth of the Moral Majority ... Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open the doors and--hey, where did all the evangelicals go?"

Former religion editor Bruce Tomaso summarizes Christine's latest book well on the DMN religion blog.

Stay tuned to read more from Christine on our op/ed pages.

So says a certain wise-a** Monty Python mimic on his blog.

When my friends explain why they don't vote, their reasons generally are rooted in stuff like this.

For those without time to click on the link, today's "Exhibit A" is the lead DMN story that notes "three years after the state passed a law to crack down on uninsured motorists, the number of drivers caught without insurance coverage under the 2005 statute is exactly -- ZERO."

Let's trot out the usual excuses: hiring delays, database problems, inter-departmental snags, blah, blah blah.

For those of us who have come into contact (literally) with an uninsured motorist, we don't need to hear this statement: one in five Texans drives without insurance, costing insured motorists an extra $1 billion a year for protection against uninsured drivers."

And this astute word from one of the sponsors of the bill: "I thought it would be in effect by now. We may need to light a fire under the agencies responsible to get something done."

And we wonder why regular citizens have no faith in our government?

Another reason why Clinton shouldn't/won't quit. West Virginia and Nebraska are next week followed by Kentucky and Oregon on the 20th and South Dakota and Montana on June 3. I'm no polling expert, but I can see a scenario that won't be good for the party.

As far as I know, these primaries will be held, that there is no provision to cancel a primary because there is only candidate. Chances are Clinton will win W.Va. and probably a couple of the others. Therefore, imagine this ugly headline if Clinton pulls out before the next round.
Candidate out of race beats Obama.
At this point, it is probably best that the process run its course through June 3 and for Clinton to use the time between now and then to tone down the criticism of Obama and redirect it toward McCain. That's part of the internal healing process for the Democrats, which will also include some face saving deal on the Florida and Michigan results.

For weeks now, political pundits have urged Hillary Clinton to drop out now. Interestingly, that's not the opinion of the average American. This is the difference between the Beltway mindset and what Middle America wants.

USA Today/Gallup Poll. May 1-3, 2008. Adults nationwide.

"In your view, what should happen now in the Democratic presidential nomination campaign? Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race and concede the nomination to Barack Obama. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should continue to campaign. OR, Barack Obama should drop out of the race and concede the nomination to Hillary Clinton."
Clinton should drop out 23 percent
Both shold continue 60 percent
Obama should drop out 15 percent.
Unsure 2 percent

Similar question about the superdelegates

As you may know, a large number of Democratic superdelegates have yet to decide who they will support for the Democratic presidential nomination. When do you think these uncommitted superdelegates should make their decision: after the North Carolina and Indiana primaries next week, right after all the state primaries and caucuses are completed in early June, or at the Democratic convention in late August?"
Affer N.C./Ind. 24 percent
June 25 percent
August 26 percent
Unsure 5 percent

I haven't found a post-North Carolina/Indiana poll, but saw an informal WGN TV (Chicago) text mesage poll last night. Most favored Clinton staying in the race.

So when pundits say Hillary is out of touch with reality, couldn't the same be said about pundits with the American people?

Because we are writing an editorial based on today's story about Becky Miller's hazy past, we asked the Carrollton mayor for a response to the story. She had a brief e-mail response to the story for fellow council members, but here's what she sent us, in its entirety, unedited:

MAYOR BECKY MILLER

I want to speak about the truth. It is unfortunate that my opponent would rather play dirty politics in Carrollton with his last minute personal attacks. His actions make the differences between my opponent and I very clear -- while he would rather misrepresent my life experience, I would rather talk about issues, like the ways to keep our taxes low, reduce traffic, protect families and stop illegal immigration.

I have a sterling reputation as a civic leader. My successes making Carrollton one of the safest cities to live, forcing DART to honor their commitments to our community, encouraging diversity, and finalizing a plan that will allow our law enforcement to deport illegal aliens who commit a crime in our city.

Look, if the city is going to spend taxpayer dollars on building a convention center and hotel for downtown, shouldn't somebody be asking what kind of effect the skyrocketing price of oil is going to have long-term on convention business? Unless oil prices decline sharply, which nobody foresees, there's not going to be nearly as much convention business, period, because companies and individuals are not going to be able to afford air travel as readily.
This reality should be part of the planning and decision-making.

The idiot of the day has got to be Alvin Davis, the father of the girlfriend of Greg Amphy. Amphy was arrested today in the wake of an undercover drug bust, when police found his two little children -- aged two and five -- living in an abandoned house, amid piles of trash, a foul toilet, with razor blades and a pistol nearby. This reaction, from Davis, has got to be the stupidest thing I've heard all week:

"Greg, he tries to be a father no matter what he does, whether it's illegal or not," Mr. Davis said.

Shoot me now. Just shoot me now.

I, too, concede that Hillary is losing her justification for continuing on. But, like Hash, I don't think she's dropping out. Remember Bill and New Hampshire in '92? Or how the Clintons fought Newt and the Lewinsky scandal? These are not quitters.

Actually, I've been surprised how much I've come to respect her stubbornness. Sure, it has a lot to do with her ego -- and that of her husband's. But she has shown me a lot in this race. She's taken some hard shots and keeps on fighting. Leaders need that quality. They can't whine or fold tent the first time things turn against them.

I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so. I've called for the City of Dallas to consider an automatic "dangerous dog" designation for pit bulls. Maybe we should consider banning them altogether. They attack kids, they maim people, they ruin your day.

Well, they can also take up residence in your car engine. And once they do it, believe me, it's hard to get them out. Really, really hard. See this photo to see what I mean.

We must deal with this pit-bull engine problem now!

The main reason it's time for her to accept reality and bow out gracefully is that her strategy of the past six weeks or so is a proven failure at this point. The whole thrust of her campaign has been that she will gain enough momentum in the popular vote (which she can't win) and the pledged delegate count (which she can't win) to persuade even more superdelegates to back her. But here's the thing. Her lead among superdelegates has dropped steadily all spring. Actually, just this week, it has dropped from 21 to 13, the thinnest margin this year so far.

Check out the history. It's a ship taking on water, and yesterday's disappointment can't help but speed up the process.

She needs a superdelegate margin of victory of 169 to tie Obama in total delegates. She hasn't had a lead over 97 this year. Indeed, since her high point (2/10), she has seen her superdelegate lead shrink in 10 out of 12 weeks since then. (One week, it was unchanged.)

To use Mike's hockey analogy, her strategy has been to downplay full-strneght goals and get everyone to focus on power-play goals. Only thing is, she's losing there, too. I guess now she'll try to convince us that we really should score the game on hits, not goals.

On Fresh Air last night, Al Gore made it clear that he doesn't consider himself a "party elder" who will step in and broker a Clinton pullout. But George McGovern is eager to take on the role. Here's the report from AP:

Former Sen. George McGovern, who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton, is urging her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race. McGovern said Wednesday he has decided to endorse Barack Obama.

After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern says it's virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination.

McGovern says he is calling former President Clinton to tell him of the decision and adds that he remains close friends with the Clintons.

This is the first high-profile Clinton supporter calling on her to drop out. The question is whether he has any clout to cause others to join him. I think not.

Meanwhile, have to love the comments on Ben Smith's politico.com blog ... including this one: "Hillary jumped out of airplane. Her chute didn't open. But she ain't dead yet because she won't hit the ground for another 3 seconds. So keep sending her all your money."

Tomorrow's Community Opinions page in our western zone includes a letter about the verdict in the case of the Mansfield woman who killed her child. The jury found that she was insane. Here's the last line of a letter from a reader in FLower Mound:

Until we start making all adults responsible for their actions when it comes to our children, the killing will continue. Our kids deserve better than this.

Since we all should be hockey fans right now, try on this analogy:

Hillary Clinton's hockey team had fought hard but trailed by two goals after Super Tuesday. Her opponent blew defensive coverage a couple of times, leading to her scoring a critical goal in Pennsylvania, but that still left her down by one. Tick, tick, tick.

Nearing the final minute - the North Carolina and Indiana primaries - she had built some momentum, controlling the puck in her opponent's end, but could not get it past Barack Obama. Resorting to the traditional desperation move, she pulled her goaltender for a sixth skater, a ploy that works occasionally to force overtime but usually doesn't.

(In real life, her pull-the-goaltender move was transforming her campaign into a populist, gas-tax-cutting, religion-respecting, gun-protecting, Iran-obliterating, shot-and-a-beer everyman persona. As appealing as some of that might have been, it lacked the ring of truth.)

In this case, it didn't work. She needed a decisive win in Indiana and a win or at least a close defeat in North Carolina. If both happened, she could claim credibly to superdelegates that her momentum trumped his delegate math. But instead of breaking through with the tying goal, her team lost the puck, and the Obama team scored into her empty net, effectively ending the contest.

The final seconds will tick off the clock in West Virginia and Kentucky, but a hockey team that gives up an empty-netter almost always puts the goalie back in and waits for the final horn.

The winning team moves along to the Stanley Cup Finals.

It finally dawned on me. Maybe I'm slow. But last night, when listening to an ABC radio interview of two super delegates, I realized what's keeping them from announcing their choice for the nominee. Notice I said "announcing their choice." It's complete and utter hogwash to perpetuate the myth that anyone has not made up their mind about who should be the nominee.

But I got two major clues in that interview. Clue No. 1: The woman from Washington said that she has enjoyed this process because she has heard from enthusiastic people from all over the country. Yeah, enthusiastic people telling her to get off her behind and make an announcement. But that's beside the point. She's gathering contact information, mostly e-mail addresses. For anyone with political ambition, these e-mail addresses are like hard currency. You now have hundreds of thousands of e-mail addresses of people engaged enough in the politicial process to yell at you about the nomination process. You can use that in any number of ways.

Clue No. 2 is more obvious. When the interview was wrapping up, the host said he'd be glad to have the two "undecided" super delegates back on some time, hopefully to make an announcement. Oh, we'd be glad to come back on anytime, they assured him. I'm sure they would. Many of these state-level politicians are chomping at the bit to get an interview on CNN, ABC, NBC, etc. I saw the same "undecided" joker from North Carolina on three networks in the past 12 hours, saying the same thing each time. Well, shucks, I'm just waiting to see who can address the economy best. Gee, maybe this thing will go to the convention. He's clearly a closet Hillary supporter trying to perpetuate the idea that this thing is up in the air.

So don't hold your breath on these opportunistic political hacks to offer some closure anytime soon. They're as useless to this process at this point as us bloggers.

Hillary's disappointing performance in Indiana, coupled with her resounding defeat in North Carolina, has all the pundits predicting that this is the beginning of the end. A graceful candidate who has the best interests of her party in mind would cede defeat at this point and throw her full support to the Democratic victor.

But Hillary isn't going to do that. She is now going to make a full-court press to include the results from Michigan and Florida in the final delegate count. We thought we'd heard her best argument for this weeks ago, but now it's going to come with mantra-like consistency. We will be sick of it by the time she's done. And the scary part of it is that Howard Dean stated last week that the Florida and Michigan delegations will be seated at the Denver convention. The party is still negotiating a way to allow their votes to be represented.

So we haven't heard the last of this. It ain't anywhere close to being over, I'm afraid.