..And in other shocking news, the sky is blue! The Pope is Catholic! Economists are myopic!

The Washington Post has a great article today about how many national political figures who live in DC, and are "representing" DC at the DNC next week, are clueless about DC itself:

Harold Ickes is the prototypical insider, a career political operative who knows as much about how Washington works as anyone. Just don't ask the former Clinton White House official and Democratic superdelegate what ward he lives in.

"Oh boy," Ickes said recently by phone. "It's either 2 or 7. I live in Georgetown."

Or who represents him on the D.C. Council.

"Don't know."

Or the name of the public schools chancellor.

"I don't know the name, an Asian woman."

If Ickes isn't plugged into the local political scene -- correct answers: Ward 2, Jack Evans and Michelle A. Rhee -- that's because there have long been two separate and distinct Washingtons. One is federal, the other local, and rarely do those in these two worlds think of one another.

Though that last sentence isn't really correct. I know the writer was going for a semblance of "balance," but the fact is that local-DC politicians are acutely aware of what's happening on Capitol Hill. Congress has veto power over DC, and not vice-versa. Reminds me of the roving racists in Youth for Western Civilization, hosting Tom Tancredo speeches in diverse communities.

Perhaps it's best described by stealing a line from Stephen Colbert's epic win of a Correspondents Dinner performance: "DC is a chocolate city too, with a marshmallow center."

The DNC is coming 'round, and with it comes all sorts of lucrative opportunities for large corporations to throw influence around!

Rocky Mountain News:

Everything is for sale, and this summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver is no exception.

More than four dozen national corporations have signed up as sponsors of the convention - everyone from Allstate to Xerox. And almost all of them have the same thing in common: They either have business with the federal government or they lobby on pending issues.

[...]

They include companies like 3M, Allstate, AstraZeneca, AT&T, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co., Ford, Merck, Qwest, the Service Employees International Union, US Bank, Visa and Xcel Energy.

"Welcome to the American political system," Barnes-Gelt said of the companies ponying up money on both sides of the aisle.

Chris Lopez of the Democratic National Convention Host Committee acknowledged that sponsors get "opportunities" that depend on the level of their support. Those opportunities can include tickets to events surrounding the convention and even access to the Pepsi Center itself, where the convention will be held.

The host committee does not have to file documents outlining the level of sponsorships until after the convention. But Lopez said the access goes up as the contributions do.

Further evidence that if progressive activists want to seriously challenge corporate hegemony, they'll have to look outside party politics.And of course the right is doing the same, with groups like the creepily-named Youth for Western Civilization.

After a lot of debate and controversy about Florida and Michigan’s delegates, the DNC decided to reinstate the delegates to the party convention, but at half-vote as penalty for moving their primaries. Here’s the breakdown:

→ Clinton receives 105 pledged delegates from Florida and 69 pledged delegates from Michigan, giving her 87 votes. 

→ Obama receives 67 pledged delegates from Florida and 59 pledged delegates from Michigan, giving him 63. This lessens his lead over Clinton from 202 to 174.