Tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. EST tune in to C-SPAN (either online or on the T.V.) to see Barack Obama’s announcement speech. It will apparently also be available at the official Obama site (but those big online events almost always get overloaded — I’d stick with C-SPAN).
But you can go on this lower traffic day for a preview from Obama himself. And note his comments about what to expect from the new site that will launch tomorrow. Seems to be a very positive sign that the Obama campaign will indeed make excellent use of the possibilities of online organizing.
Obama about to bring out the big gun: his wife
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Michelle and Barack Obama at a Los Angeles awards ceremony for African-Americans in the entertainment industry in 2005. HER admirers say Barack Obama’s wife …
Obama: Full of hope on a tough road
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - St. Louis,MO,USA Barack Obama will embark on a grueling, nationwide quest that will test the depth and endurance of his instant celebrity. …
And today I wrote to the Chicago Sun-Times to complain about an opinion piece, entitled Obama campaign dares to make most of parallels that was the featured story in their online news section today.
After a back and forth with the writer, Jennifer Hunter, she suggested I contact Don Hayner, the managing editor. So I did…
Mr. Hayner,
I wanted to bring to your attention the fact that Jennifer Hunter’s opinion piece “Obama campaign dares to make the most of parallels” from today’s online edition is not correctly labeled as opinion. In fact, it is quite prominently featured in the news section.
I submitted a comment about this issue through the online feedback form and to Ms. Hunter, herself. After realizing that I was correct about this oversight, she suggested that I bring this to your attention.
I know in the grand scheme of things this is perhaps a small matter. But, I hope that you will take steps to make sure that it is corrected.
Respectfully,
Neil Jensen
Vermonter for Obama
http://vermontersforobama.org
Here is my original email to Ms. Hunter…
___________________________________________________
Hello,
I wanted to briefly object to your piece, entitled “Obama campaign dares to make most of parallels” from February 9th, 2007.
While much of the information provided here is of interest to readers, the underlying tone (and particularly the final sentence) is inappropriate in a “news” context. This piece should be correctly labeled as “opinion.”
To accuse Obama’s campaign strategists of “hubris” is way over the line and should have no place in a supposedly objective journalism piece.
Thank you,
Neil Jensen
Vermonters for Obama
http://vermontersforobama.org
(A modified version of this has been sent to “news editors and reporters” via the online feedback form).
I am somewhat pleased to report that some of the changes necessary to ensure that this opinion piece is correctly identified have been made. Though, at the time of this writing, it is still the top story of the news section.
The year is 2032, and Thanksgiving’s at your house this year: family’s flown in from all over the country, turkey’s browning, guys in tight stretch pants are killing each other over a small leather object on the TV.
Then someone switches the coverage to CNN, and they’re breaking a story that gives everyone the warm fuzzies: Barack Obama has won a second Pulitzer, this time for his long-awaited memoir, a two-volume set covering both Presidential terms.
And everyone begins to tell their Obama stories: someone shook the guy’s hand once in Jersey, your niece the lawyer tells a story about working in the Obama Justice Department when they busted Google and Microsoft for full-scale collusion in creating a global, predatory monopoly.
Your grand-daughter comes up and takes your hand. The room is suddenly quiet, and her little tinkerbell voice suddenly loud: “Where were you when Obama announced, Grampa?”
And you feel, frankly, half the man you might have been, if things had been different all those years ago.
Because there was a moment, in 2007, Saturday, February 10, 10:45 am, at the Euro Cafe on Main Street in Burlington, Vermont, when you had the chance to jump on that train just as it was looking to head out of the station.
It was the third meeting of Vermonters for Obama, and this one was scheduled to coincide with Obama’s now legendary speech, broadcast from the Old Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois. You knew people who were going; you felt a little tug yourself.
But then, at the last minute, you went to Denny’s instead, and porked down a Grand Slam and a chocolate milk shake.
And it has made all the difference. And your grand-daughter knows it, as the silence stretches out. So does everyone else. But no one says anything, of course, because they’re family. No one wants to spoil the turkey with the bitter sauce of eternal regret.
Obama: So those are all procedural forms that could make a difference. Now ultimately, though, elected officials and candidates themselves need to break down some of these barriers. I think the internet has been an invaluable tool to help connect candidates to potential supporters.
But I think there is still a hesitancy on the part of a lot of campaigns because they want to control the process themselves. I’m leaving George Mason University where a group called Students for Barack Obama just organized a 3,000-person rally. We had nothing to do with it. There’s no way we could have given the time constraints we were under to organize something that good. But if candidates are willing to loosen the reins a little bit then that encourages people - especially young people - who will have other opportunities for public service to get involved.
And then the final aspect of it is message. I don’t care how open your process is. If politics are timid, people aren’t going to be excited, they’re not going to get involved.
From the Simon interview that provides the basis for the "Off and Running" article above…
Q: But can we expect boldness to be a hallmark of your campaign?
Obama: I hope so. Some of it by necessity. If I am running for president against some very capable, well-organized individuals who have had years to set up an infrastructure, then we are going to have to do things differently to be successful. I can’t just paint by the numbers. And I think part of that difference has to be is allowing our campaign to be a vehicle to be a participation to a lot of people who have been turned off by the process or haven’t been fully engaged.
A great example was after the DNC winter meeting I went over to George Mason University. These college kids had organized a rally without any involvement by our staff. We figured there would be a couple of hundred people there, and there were 3,500 people. They had just organized it through Facebook on the Internet.
That kind of grass-roots efforts can be scary, in that I think it is hard for any campaign to give up any kind of control and there is a tendency to try to do things top down. I think we are in a moment where there is a possibility, not a certainty, but a possibility, of bottom-up activism that I think could reshape the political landscape.
And I think technology and the Internet have facilitated that. You started seeing that in obviously the Dean campaign in the last election cycle. But I think that is going to continue to grow and it will be important for us to channel that energy in a creative way.
Axelrod said he learned from the Edwards campaign not to sign on with a candidate he does not know well, and his friend Maslin quipped that the consultant’s 2004 experience is not likely to repeat itself this year.
Axelrod has known Obama since 1992, and he worked for his 2004 Senate campaign. Now Obama, like Axelrod’s former client Paul Simon 20 years ago, is making his bid for the presidency. But this is no quirky long-shot.
"He has qualities that I think this country needs right now. He has the greatest ability to move an agenda of change and progress," Axelrod said.
And as the conversation turned back from the candidate to the guru, he professed a bit of unease at the attention.
"There have been some pieces written and there are others being written and I’m trying to tamp that down because I don’t really believe the consultant should be the focus of interest, but I understand that there’s a need to have those characters in the play," Axelrod said. "This is such a screwy business. Bob Shrum’s a really bright guy, Karl Rove’s a really bright guy, and if Al Gore had gotten 200 more votes in Florida, Bob would have been lionized as a genius and Karl would have been back doing direct mail in Texas. All of us get far too much credit and, along with the credit, we get too much blame," he said.
Obama drawing worldwide attention
The Register-Mail - Galesburg,IL,USA Barack Obama. At least, that’s the word from European reporters on their way to Springfield this weekend to cover the Illinois Democrat’s formal entrance …
Indonesian school still smarts from Obama link
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA
The school that US presidential candidate Barack Obama attended in a posh, leafy district of Jakarta was founded by Indonesia’s former colonial rulers as a …
Obama Shows Leadership on Ending the Iraq War
Bay Area Indymedia, CA - Feb 7, 2007
Senator Barack Obama, along with House members Mike Thompson and Patrick Murphy, has introduced the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007. …
Wounded numbers obscured
Bangor Daily News - Bangor,ME,USA
Olympia Snowe and Barack Obama and veterans groups say government officials are obscuring the actual number of wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by …
The Obama boomlet in Mass.
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA … friend and supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, rocked the local political boat when he signed on to help Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. …
Local Leaders Give Views On Obama’s Run
Southwest News-Herald - Chicago,IL,USA Barack Obama, poised to officially announce that he is running for president on Saturday, Feb. 10, appears to have the solid support of local politicians, …
Punahou left lasting impression on Obama
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu,HI,USA
Long before he became Barack Obama — junior senator from Illinois and presidential candidate — he was just Barry, the good-natured, unassuming kid. …
Following comparisons to Nixon’s famous inability to understand the new medium of television in 1960, he writes…
Today, of course, all candidates and campaign managers know they must understand television, and media consultants sit within the inner-most circle informing and overseeing every single decision—even down to what shirt to wear for debate night.
For the Internet in politics, it’s 1960 again. And I can’t tell you how painful it is, as someone who knows the power of this medium, to watch a candidate with as much potential as Obama just blowing it—just like Nixon did with TV in his first run.
Obama and his senior aides aren’t doing the deep thinking they need to do on their own about this medium. They, like most of their competitors, have delegated “the Internet thing” to staffers who are far outside of the inner circle (”senior staff” is not the inner circle), and have refused to take personal responsibility for understanding the potentials of the medium on their own. In Obama’s case, it’s inexcusable because the Internet is just dying to make him president.
The result is that he is making major campaign decisions without regard to potentials for base building on the Internet—most important among them: how to launch the campaign. I know that they would say, “We ARE taking it seriously!” I’ve heard this from campaigns a thousand times. And they think they mean it. But the “Internet strategy” is still something separate, and still not something for which the inner-circle takes full personal responsibility. They need to think about the Internet with the same intensity, curiosity and rigor that they apply to television, polling, speech writing/making and debate performance. This is the cycle when it is just complete idiocy to treat base-building through the Internet with one iota less seriousness than those other critical areas.
Again, this is premature, but I hope the Obama campaign, and Obama himself, recognize the wisdom of a lot of Exley’s recommendations that follow this passage. Read the whole thing.
By now you must have heard of the NASA Shuttle astronaut apprehended in an alleged plot to kidnap, kill and dispose of another astronaut she perceived as a romantic rival.
According to authorities, Lisa Nowak drove over 1000 miles to confront her potential rival for the affections of astronaut Bill Oefelein — wearing maximum-absorbency diapers the entire way to avoid bathroom breaks.
Now that’s devotion.
But the truth is that you won’t need anything even remotely resembling that level of devotion to enjoy this Saturday’s Obama Meet-Up.
You don’t even need to be committed to Obama’s candidacy as of yet. All you have to be willing to do is wish the guy well as he throws his hat into the ring.
Because this is a very special meeting: it’s scheduled to coincide in real-time with the official announcement of Obama’s candidacy coming out of Illinois. And the cafe’s state-of-the-art projection television system will make you feel just like you’re jammed into the Old State Capitol in Springfield when the deal goes down.
The details: Saturday, February 10th, 10:45 am (that’s in the morning, people), Euro Gourmet, 61 Main Street, beautiful downtown Burlington.
Ask yourself this question: Do I believe, deep down, that Obama’s campaign is likely to make history?
Then ask yourself: Do I want to be there when history begins to be made?
Then finally ask yourself the kicker: Would I still make the scene even if I had to wear a maximum-absorbency garment of some sort?
Fortunately, the answer to that last will remain forever between you and your political conscience.
Two Longtime Chicago Journalists On The Rise of Sen. Barack Obama:
Democracy Now - New York,NY,USA
Of the ten candidates now in the Democratic presidential field, none have attracted more recent controversy than Senator Barack Obama. … (contains link to 18 min. video interview with Lynn Sweet and Salim Muwakkil)
This is one more reason for the attractiveness of Barack Obama’s candidacy. Here’s the pre-war soundbyte they can roll on him, from a speech he made in October 2002:
I know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors… I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
How’s that for clear and unambiguous? And prescient.
You gotta love Edwards’ explanation for why Obama was right and he was wrong: It’s because Obama, not yet in the U.S. Senate, wasn’t "burdened" with the bad intel Edwards and his fellow Senators were getting. This has to be the first time in history the "I was too much in-the-know" excuse has been used in a presidential race. On the upside, this line of reasoning gives lie to the commonly-heard criticism of Obama for his lack of "seasoning."
And if you want more proof that "seasoning" is overrated, look no further than the lengthy resumes of Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. When it comes to matters of war and peace, I’ll take insight, judgment, and wisdom over that kind of years-on-the-job training any day of the week.
Barack Obama says American Alcohoilism is the Cause of Iraq War
Melbourne Indymedia - Melbourne,Australia
According to Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, American Alcohoilism is the root cause of the Iraq War, soon to be the Iran War. …
Obama Had Multiethnic Existence in Hawaii
Washington Post - Washington,DC,USA
This 1976 photo provided by The Oahuan, the yearbook of Punahou School, shows Barack Obama, in front row, fourth from right, poses with his 9th grade class …
"He wasn’t afraid to challenge authority," Lum said. "Sometimes I couldn’t believe he would say it, but I would be thinking the same thing. I remember him being honest and courageous. I respected him for that."
Off the court, Obama brought books to read on road trips, served on the school literary magazine’s editorial board and sang in choir as a freshman and sophomore.
He also spent time with his grandfather, sometimes playing checkers with the locals at Alii Park, spear fishing in Kailua Bay or listening to Stevie Wonder and Billie Holiday records.
Russell Cunningham, a close friend who often went body surfing with Obama, remembered his friend Barry for introducing him to new music and for giving him sound advice.
"He introduced us to jazz and George Benson when we were all listening to rock ‘n’ roll," said Cunningham, now an attorney in Sacramento, Calif. "He also told me to stick to my studies because they’ll take me where I want to go. And I did, and I got to where I wanted to be."
Obama attacks Bush budget plan
WQAD - Moline,IL,USA
WASHINGTON Senator Barack Obama blasted President Bush’s latest spending plan today, branding it as not only unbalanced, but also unworthy of the challenges …
Obama’s Facebook Campaign
CBS News - New York City,NY,USA
But for the most part, planners of the "Yes We Can" rally, Students For Barack Obama, cannot drink legally, and if they didn’t vote in 2004, it was likely …
As you may have heard, it’s been confirmed that Barack Obama’s announcement speech will be on February 10th in Springfield, Illinois…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s office announced Wednesday that his Feb. 10 presidential campaign announcement in Springfield will be conducted at the Old State Capitol, the building where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech.
The Illinois Democrat last month set up an exploratory committee and said he would announce in February whether he will run for president. He had revealed the date and city of the announcement but didn’t confirm before now that the event would be conducted at the limestone Greek Revival building that served as Illinois’ state Capitol between 1837 and 1888.
Obama’s office on Wednesday e-mailed a notice to reporters outlining details of the event at the domed downtown Springfield building, which now is a tourist site and home to some state offices.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. (central) Feb. 10 at the building at South Sixth and East Adams streets. It will be free and open to the public.
Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech in the building in 1858, warning that “this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free.”
At the last Vermonters for Obama meeting on January 18th, we decided that it would be great to have a viewing party to watch the event. And, that’s exactly what we’re going to do!
Anita at the Euro Gourmet — apparently now our official meeting place — is really looking forward to it. And they have a video projector, so there won’t be a bad seat in the house.
Here are the details:
Euro Gourmet
61 Main Street
Burlington, VT
Saturday, February 10th
Doors open at 10 a.m.
Now, it’s rumored that the speech will actually happen at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, but it could be earlier, so don’t hesitate to get there as close to 10 as possible. And, one additional perk is that February 10th is also the day of the Burlington Winter Festival, just down the street from the Euro Gourmet, with the Penguin Plunge beginning at 11.
…There was something quietly stunning about Obama’s appearance that distinguished him from the others–it was morally serious, principled and without the usual red-meat lines. "This is not a game," he said. The enemy wasn’t each other, or Republicans, but "cynicism." Cynicism, it seems, was located out in the press corps–the purveyors of showbiz, gaffe-obsessed political coverage. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a politician take on the trivial tone of political journalism so directly, especially at the beginning of a campaign. It was a profoundly presidential speech…
…This guy is a spectacularly talented politician. His impact on the crowd was deeper than the other candidates; there was an intense silence as he spoke. I can’t wait to see how this evolves…
The Man Who Might Make Obama President
AlterNet - San Francisco,CA,USA
David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s closest political adviser, is applying the lessons he learned from Chicago’s ugly racialized politics. …
Rethinking Obama
Minnesota Daily - Minneapolis,MN,USA
I suggested that Barack Obama needed to exercise more leadership on the issues of the day (especially Iraq) before I would start considering him …
Obama Confronts ‘Outsider’ Dilemma
Washington Post - Washington,DC,USA Barack Obama (D-Ill.) made his unofficial debut as a presidential candidate, his senior advisers have been holed up in a temporary office on Connecticut …
America hybrid nation, Obama fit leader
Aberdeen American News - Aberdeen,SD,USA Barack Obama that he is exploring a run for the presidency has been challenged with the question "Is America ready for a black president? …
Obama’s family bothered by media attention
Standard - Nairobi,Kenya
The family of US Senator Barack Obama wants the international media to stop using his ancestral home in Siaya to sabotage his race for White House. …
News bulletin: Barack Obama is a black man
Baltimore Sun - Baltimore,MD,USA Barack Obama is black. I’m driven to this realization by the response to a recent column in which I referred to the senator as African-American. …
The Obama revolution
Guardian Unlimited - UK Barack Obama had no placards. His campaign desk was sparse, undecorated and banner-free. He walked on to the stage with no music at all. …
Barack Obama
ScienceBlogs - USA
Will Barack Obama be the next President? Maybe. Not only could we do worse, we already have. He has the rare ability to do the right thing in the right way, …
But after 6 years of Bush’s all-hat-no-cattle leadership, the American public seems ready to abandon the John Wayne fantasy. The question is: to be replaced by what? A Jimmy Stewart-style Everyman? An honest-as-the-day-is-long Gary Cooper type? A Gregory Peck-does-Atticus Finch moralist? With his moral sense of social responsibility and his "audacity of hope" optimism, Obama may help the country leave behind John Wayne and embrace Atticus Finch. The man and moment may be made for each other.
During the 2004 election season, a campaign by MoveOn.org, Arianna Huffington, and Joe Trippi implored John Kerry to "go big."
The kick-off email began…
Dear MoveOn member,
As George Bush’s poll numbers drop, John Kerry is facing an important choice — perhaps the most important choice he’ll make in his campaign. He has to decide whether, as some consultants will urge, he should be cautious, or whether he should present a bold agenda for change and rally all Americans around a common vision for our future.
Throughout his life, John Kerry has made a practice of standing up for bold initiatives to provide health care, protect the environment, and guarantee truth-telling in government. Together, we need to let him know that we want him to be his best, boldest self — to go big, ask more from us, and power his campaign on the politics of hope and progress.
MoveOn asked you to sign on to a letter to John Kerry from Huffington and Trippi that included…
You should own September 12th - the spirit of generosity and community that poured forth in the aftermath of the attacks - and the politics of hope.
Offer voters a bold moral vision of what America can be. A vision that is bigger than the things that divide us. A vision that brings hope and soul back to our politics and appeals to more than voters’ narrow self-interests. A vision that makes America once again a respected force for good in the world.
Don’t be tempted to adopt the familiar - and failed - Republican-lite swing voter strategy. You can reach out to and inspire the fifty percent of eligible voters who have given up on voting. If you do, you will win not in a toss-up but a landslide.
Senator Kerry, I’m ready to vote my hopes and not my fears. So please: Go Big, Ask More!
The fact that Trippi was a part of this "go big" push is not surprising. The early Dean campaign embraced a similar calling for something bigger, and evoked the idealism of our nation’s greatest leaders… In Trippi’s (and Pat Cadell’s) famous "Definitional Moment" memo, Trippi challenged Dean to be a transformational leader.
On June 11th, less than two weeks before Dean’s ambitious "Great American Restoration" announcement speech (read it) — delivered, on a beautiful sunny day, to a massive crowd packing every inch of Church St. in Burlington, the memo read…
The campaign has gotten to a place no one ever thought it could get to.
A confluence of your passion, events of the country, the mood of the voters, and the conjunction of history have produced yet another moment that is with precedence in American history - the transformation of American politics.
It began with Andrew Jackson who transformed America into a Democratic Republic, then to Lincoln who saved it, and to the populist/progressive movement of Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson and then to Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.
This is another one of those moments - the place where the future happens.
You have felt this - you know that something bigger is happening here beyond conventional politics. It is what happens every time you tell people that the future of our country rests in their hands - and not in yours. The room goes silent and you feel the hunger in them and the frustration within yourself to explain something that you have yet to find the words to express.
It is the need to throw out all that is transactional and embrace the hunger to transform our country.
If the country wanted a transactional leader i.e. somebody to negotiate deals with various groups and interests, and grease the wheels of inside Washington and make things as they are run better, there would be no rationale for your candidacy - nor would thousands be joining your cause. In fact if the people wanted a transactional leader there are far more obvious choices among this field of candidates than you.
Yet young people are streaming into your campaign everyday, your supporters are energized, travel hundreds of miles, and wait for hours to cheer briefly as you go into an event that they are not even allowed to attend.
This is the thing you must recognize - the thing above all others you must understand. This campaign is not about you - it may have started out that way but you have touched something more powerful than any other force in our nation’s history. It is bigger than you, bigger than any single issue, and you can not turn away from it or your responsibility to move from a transactional leader who has a health care plan - to a transformational leader that rises to the historical moment, and leads a movement to save and restore America’s ideals - and invite - no demand that every American rise to the challenge.
You have touched a nerve of unvanquished hunger, and almost limitless need to transform our country.
With later references to Tom Paine’s "Common Sense" — amidst all the seemingly necessary appeals to the base — the Dean campaign hit upon this intoxicating "go big" invitation to participate in something bigger, something better.
Barack Obama struck the same vibe in his speech today at the DNC’s winter meeting, where, in 2003, Dean made his own splash.
And while the content of Obama’s speech today was certainly inspiring, similar to the highpoints of Dean’s rhetoric, the one striking detail to me is what Obama, quite intentionally, didn’t do [my emphasis] …
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama struck an understated tone. Unlike other candidates, he had no entry or exit music when he spoke. His campaign’s table offered no stickers, buttons or other trinkets— merely a sign-up sheet for volunteers.
In fact, one had to look pretty hard to find the table at all. Its sole identification was three tattered pieces of plain, white paper with "Obama’s Exploratory Committee Table" printed on them.
All of this was purely intentional, according to an Obama campaign official. He said it would be hypocritical to say, as Obama has, that you’re running a different kind of campaign while using traditional tactics.
Of course, a candidate like Obama, the current sensation of the Democratic Party, may not need to put on a big show. Even in his speech — interrupted by applause several times — he made little mention of himself, his story or his abilities. Instead, he asked the crowd to transcend partisan politics and embrace hope.
If the recent moves — the bold Iraq De-escalation Act, the support for universal health care, the voting fraud bill — seem to be signaling a bold agenda for Obama’s candidacy, this symbolic spurning of traditional political trappings only adds to the promise.
The themes of civic responsibility and personal humility, of course, are not new for Barack Obama. His Harvard Law years’ writings hit many of the same notes. But that one blind quote highlighted above really sparked my imagination. Maybe, just maybe, the Obama campaign can pull off what the Dean campaign could not sustain.
If Obama and his staff can avoid the internal battles that watered down Dean’s transformational message — apparently as early as the "September to Remember" — they will, in the words of Huffington and Trippi, "win not in a toss-up but a landslide."
UPDATE: Video of excerpts of Obama’s 2007 DNC Winter Meeting speech (thanks again Obamarama) …
UPDATE: Obama’s February 2nd George Mason Speech - 29 min. (courtesy of PoliticsTV)…
Then someone switches the coverage to CNN, and they’re breaking a story that gives everyone the warm fuzzies: Barack Obama has won a second Pulitzer, this time for his long-awaited memoir, a two-volume set covering both Presidential terms.
According to authorities, Lisa Nowak drove over 1000 miles to confront her potential rival for the affections of astronaut Bill Oefelein — wearing maximum-absorbency diapers the entire way to avoid bathroom breaks.
