Due to a little thing called the Oscars, John and Stephen are in rerun mode tonight.  I think its one of the ones we're not supposed to watch, so...  I guess i have to find some alternate entertainment before you start pricking your fingers just to see a little color.

How did i get roped into this again?  I miss Tia.

Random entertainment ideas below the fold:

Its getting wicked late, but I don't care.

I'm bored.

Theres nothing coming out of the recent diary factory but endless repetitive candidate diaries, and I'm not stupid enough to wade in there.

So, lets have an entirely candidate free diary to take our mind off things for a few moments.

Wheres Tia?

I dunno...

Its a new one, right?

I dont' have any jokes, I'm sorry.

Am I at 300 characters yet?  Lets see................................................................................................. ...............................................................

I'm there now, right?

One more day... ONE MORE DAY!!!

I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself.  Last week I posted a Harry Potter discussion thread, and we had so much fun with it I thought I’d do one more before we all actually got our greedy little hands on it.

A word of warning, before we begin:

HARRY POTTER 7 SPOILERS MAY BE TROLL RATED

TROLL RATED TO AZKABAN!!!

(At least the ones before 12:01 am saturday..)

There have been a lot of leaks floating around the internet as the release of the final Harry Potter novel comes closer... not here please.  There are many, many devoted fans who have been waiting years for this novel to come out.  Be courteous to everyone on this site... even those of us who don’t get a chance to read it for a couple weeks... and don’t post HP Spoilers.

That said, join me below for an evening of the best Harry Potter theories on the Internet.

I couldn’t resist.

I showed up at the movie theatre a full three hours early for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix on Wednesday night , and after the hour long debate about weather or not Harry will die in Book 7... Harry potter is on my mind.

And I simply MUST KNOW what my Kossack Friends are thinking as they delve into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in eight days time.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t yet finished books 1-6 (I’m looking at YOU, Stormey) you may not want to proceed further.  Oh, and you may want to brush up on your horcruxes.

Some significant developments happened today in the race for John Sununu’s Senate seat, one of the best pickup opportunities the Democrats have next year.

Firstly, former astronaut and Dartmouth Medical School professor Jay Buckey has officially joined the race:

"I've gotten a lot of encouragement from people. I think there is a sense that people are looking for new leadership," said Buckey, a Hanover resident who turned 51 yesterday and has been considering a run since February.

Buckey is opening a campaign office in downtown Lebanon and has hired Lebanon City Councilor Karen Liot Hill, political director of Democracy for New Hampshire, to be his campaign manager.

[...]

"We're not political insiders ... Jay and I both come from the grassroots. We know the only way to win is by talking to people where they are, and really hitting the pavement," said Liot Hill, who is stepping down from her job as program coordinator at Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center to run the campaign.

Buckey enters a field with two other declared candidates, and the prospect of a forth on the horizon.  Or, that’s what some are now working for.

Draft Shaheen over the jump....

Greetings!

Tonight the Daily Show’s guest will be... erm...

Well, actually, there won’t be a show.  You see, they’re on vacation this week.

I hate it when they go on vacation.

That shouldn’t stop us, however, from enjoying each other’s company!

Alternate programming below the fold...

He may be a third tier candidate, but Chris Dodd's campaign team has some good ideas for netroots outreach.  Tonight, Blue Hampshire will be your host for a peek into Chris Dodd's camapign war room.

Just wanted to give a heads up on something the Dodd campaign is doing during the debate.  Being a New Hampshire blog, we'd especially love your participation.

We are going to be doing a real time live-stream from inside the debate war room.  You would be able to embed the stream on your blog ... just like a youtube clip.

The Deputy Campaign Manager and Policy Director (and other staffers) are going to field questions submitted throughout the debate, answering them as they come in in real-time.

We finally know who put that ‘secret’ hold on Russ Feingold’s Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, and I couldn’t be more appalled to say that it was my Senator, Judd Gregg.

The Secret is out, Judd Gregg!  You see, it was a simple matter of hundreds of concerned citizens, led by the Sunlight Foundation calling every Senator and asking them if they put a hold on the bill.  Callers to every other office eventually heard ‘NO’.  Callers to your office, like myself, heard "I’m not sure where the Senator stands on that, I’ll get back to you".

Death is a natural part of life, but it is still shocking, and unsettling  when it creeps up on you.

A student at my school died recently.  

He was walking home late one night when he apparently was attacked by four guys.  He was in critical condition, and stayed in the hospital for several days.  He died last night.

I didn't know him.  Not even by face.

That’s the diary I should have been able to write today.

Instead, we’ve got this:

A civil unions bill moving quickly through the State House hit a jam yesterday, and some are questioning whether Gov. John Lynch, who has been silent on the issue, is behind it.
A Senate spokeswoman announced yesterday a vote on civil unions expected Wednesday had been put off, and she didn't know when it would be scheduled.

Kossacks, we really need your help.

This is a call to action diary.  Follow me over the jump.

Moments ago, the New Hampshire House passed a bill that would create Civil Unions in New Hampshire.  This puts the state well on its way to becoming the second state to legislate Civil Unions without a court order.

The vote was 243-129.

I’m very proud to be a New Hampshireite today.

More on this bill below the fold.

How did a blogger, with the help of the NH Legislature, help put pressure on an endangered Republican Senator and end the Iraq War with a single comment on a local blog?

The New Hampshire house, moments ago, voted 214-151 on HR 10, opposing President Bush’s Iraq Policy.  New Hampshire is one of more than twenty states with similar measures pending, but I doubt any of the other resolutions has a back story quite as interesting as this one.

Really.

Elections have consequences, and this is one of them.  Last week HB-437, a bill to create ‘Spousal Unions’ in New Hampshire passed the House Judiciary committee with broad bipartisan support, 15-5.  The bill would allow same-gendered couples to have all of the same "rights, obligations, and responsibilities" currently granted to heterosexual couples.

And it will most likely pass.  More.

Many people in the netroots have been saying that they don't think Wes Clark will be running in '08, but his top notch Facebook operation indicates otherwise.  Yesterday he, or more likely the staffer who runs his Facebook campaign, wished me a happy birthday.

If you're familiar with the Facebook you would know how easily this could happen.  Users on Facebook get a feed of what's happening with all of their friends.  Who's joining what groups, people's relationship status, and birthdays.  A staffer likely checks up on this every day, and sends out a short happy birthday message.  Simple, extremely effective, and free.

More.

I may be too young for Watergate, but I know that this can’t be good.

CONCORD – Police are investigating a weekend break-in at the state Democratic headquarters on Beacon Street.
Party chair Kathy Sullivan last night said she had not yet seen the office and had not been briefed on the extent of the burglary or if there was any vandalism involved.

You make peace not with your friends, but with you enemies.
-Bill Richardson

I had the great pleasure of meeting and listening to Governor Bill Richardson this evening at a house party in Holderness, NH.  He talked about a huge variety of issues ranging from healthcare, to the deficit, to climate change and energy issues.   The issues he was strongest on, however, were national security issues.

More.

Cross Posted, with some modification, on Blue Hampshire.

I’ve been struck recently at the speed with which the NH Primary is moving.  Candidates are moving very quickly to secure key New Hampshire Democratic Activists, and skilled campaign workers.  Any candidate who doesn’t have skilled people on the ground already in NH is way behind.

In the race for talent, Hillary Clinton seems to be doing well:

Sen. Hillary Clinton has chosen NH Dem Party exec. dir Nick Clemons as her state director, capping off an intensive search-and-interview process by snagging the most in-demand operative in the state.

More: