Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have, of late, been inserting Populist themes into their speeches, in an effort to (depending on who you listen to) win votes in Ohio and Pennsylvania, or court John Edwards' endorsement. Since this may be the last time I will address talking points to both campaigns, I thought I'd run through a few handy Neo-Populist positions for either Hillary or Barack to insert into their speeches.

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For those of you who have been reading this column long enough, you may remember a fun set of columns (Part 1 and Part 2) I wrote last year, giving my picks for the annual tongue-in-cheek awards handed out by the McLaughlin Group television show.

Because I had so much fun doing it last year, I present for your amusement, agreement, and/or rage my selections for this year's awards. This is a two-week event, so check back here next Friday for Part 2.

As always when this column hands out awards, our eminent jury consists of me, my wife, and our cat (who breaks ties with her vote). So I wouldn't take it too seriously.

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Back in the old Soviet Union, official groups both large and small always had at least one "political officer" in them, to guarantee that whatever the group did was in step with current Party ideology. The Bush White House, taking its cue from this Soviet-era practice, decided that this was a good idea, earlier this year (after the Democratic takeover of Congress in last year's elections).

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This is monstrously unfair to the middle class, or working class, who are subsidizing the rich by having to pay more taxes than they do. There is absolutely no reason not to tax capital gains at exactly the same rate as all other income is taxed, other than "Wah! We're rich, and we don't want to pay taxes!" (which I don't consider a valid reason). Income is income, no matter how you make it. I would be willing to bet that most Americans would agree with that statement.

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More…The basic facts: California experimented with an early primary by moving from their traditional June date up to March. Californians voted in March for three election cycles (including the last presidential election), and then the gnomes in Sacramento decided to change it back to June. They unanimously (Republicans and Democrats) voted to do so last year, with virtually no public debate and very little media attention. They are now facing the consequences of this decision: California will be completely irrelevant in the 2008 presidential primary. So they're tinkering with it again. The new idea is to keep the primary for statewide offices in June (which leaves a shorter campaign season for Sacramento politicians, the original reason why it was moved back to June), and have a separate presidential primary in early February every four years. Since this means two primaries, it would cost millions of extra taxpayer dollars.

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(6) There are quite a few Democratic leaders who need to make a public act of contrition to Howard Dean. He was right. His "50 state" strategy worked. He has been utterly and totally vindicated. Democrats picked up seats in the red-state bastions of Kansas, Montana, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, and Indiana. The "battleground states only" strategy should have a stake driven through its heart for good. Dean was right. Admit it and get over it. Then work towards building upon the foundation Dean has laid, in preparation for 2008.

(7) Put down the crack pipe and back away from "impeachment." This is not going to make me friends on the hard left, but everyone should just calm down and review their basic American Civics lessons.

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Senate

Close races:

Democrats win:
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington.

Republicans win:
Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee.

Total:

Democrats — 51

Republicans — 49

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