Wednesday: Moving Forward

There is one last common ground for these candidates: They are both uncommonly smart, thoughtful and very well-versed in the issues. They care about people and they care about the workings of government. They are prepared. (P-G, Edit Board)

Drumroll please...

On Iraq, for those inclined to remember, Sen. Clinton carries more baggage, for she voted to approve the war in the first place. For those inclined to forgive, she would seek to repair relations with allies strained by the Iraq misadventure, as Sen. Obama also would.

Yes please let's think about that...

Nor is [Obama] any sort of elitist. As he said yesterday in effectively refuting this ridiculous charge in a meeting with Post-Gazette editors, "my life's work has been to get everybody a fair shake."

GIGGITYGIGGITYGIGGITYGIGGITY......

Sen. Obama has captured much of the nation's imagination for a reason. He offers real change, a vision of an America that can move past not only racial tensions but also the political partisanship that has so bedeviled it.



Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.

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"You shouldn't count on one-time revenues to fill your budget hole every year. That's just not good financial planning," he said. (P-G, Mark Belko)

That's not the kind of story Dan Onorato wants to see coming out of Pittsburgh!

Authority officials wouldn't say how much the bid for the new Gateway Center Station shell exceeded engineering estimates, but the number is well beyond the $25 million to $30 million range discussed two months ago. (P-G, Joe Grata)

GAAH!

"Voters can't just vote on a theme," Flaherty said. "That would be nice to do. I think they want to see concrete, hard facts in terms of financially what's going to happen as well as structurally what's going to happen." (Trib, F.A. Krift)

Flaherty. Flaherty! How could the Comet have been covering Pittsburgh politics for so long, yet never once mention a Flaherty? We are well past due for some Flaherty!

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"This is in direct relationship to the pledges we signed in February" in which council and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl agreed to work together on a joint agenda that includes fuller pension funding, said Councilman Patrick Dowd, who wrote the legislation. (P-G, Team Effort)

See? Everything's hunky dory.