http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport The Sweeny Report takes you into the murky world of local, state and national politics. Political Editor Chuck Sweeny will try to de-mystify things for you -- once he figures it out himself, that is. Fri, 16 May 2008 15:55:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en On the day when the price of oil hit a record $127 a barrel, President George W. Bush went to Saudi Arabia for the second time this year to beg King Abdullah to ratchet up oil production in that terrorist-producing absolute dictatorship. And for the second time this year, the King ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/16/king-abdullah-to-bush-no-more-oil-for-you/ The posting I did about who might run for mayor of Rockford got me to thinking.  Yes, I got some sarcastic comments,  which is fine. I enjoy coming up with halfway funny responses. But what if we go in another direction? What if we use this post as a forum to ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/15/ok-lets-hear-your-ideas-about-how-to-improve-rockford/ don't know about you, but what's the media obsession with Hillary still being in the presidential race? Seems she's got almost as many delegates as  Obama, won big in West Virgina on Tuesday, so she's hardly a Demo version of Mike Huckabee, who hung around the GOP race long after ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/15/cable-gabbers-should-get-out-of-the-presidential-race/ Alright, it's less than 11 months until Rockford's mayoral election, but when I ask around about who might challenge independent Larry Morissey for mayor (I'm assuming he's running for a second term) I don't get much but shrugs for answers. Let's get the ball rolling. Here are some people who ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/13/the-race-for-mayor-is-on-all-we-need-are-some-candidates/ How will the Republicans help John McCain win in November? Here's what might happen. I don't raise this to the level of prediction. Right now it's just a hunch. Democrats, especially if they nominate Obama, will be painted as the appeasement party, not to be trusted with the role of commander ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/08/waging-a-new-military-campaign-to-elect-mccain/ MSNBC's Chris Matthews after interviewing Clinton campaign manager Howard Wolfson: "he's like one of those Japanese soldiers still fighting in 1953." http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/08/banzai/ As for my predictions Monday on NC and Indy, I wasn't far off. I said  Obama would win NC, 57 to 43 percent; he actually won 56 to 42. I said Clinton would win Indiana, 52 to 48 percent; she actually won 50.9 percent to 41.1 percent. http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/07/my-predictions-on-nc-indy-were-on-target/ As votes begin to be counted in Lake County, Indiana, Barack Obama is closing the gap  between him and Hillary Clinton. At the moment, it's a 51-49 contest, with 25 percent of the vote counted in Lake County. In that corner of northwest Indiana, which is really part of Chicagoland, ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/06/obama-closing-the-gap-in-indiana-but-is-it-enough/ Barack Obama did better than I expected in North Carolina, winning a decisive victory on the strength of a coalition of blacks, young voters and college-educated voters. In Indiana, all counties have been counted save one -- Lake County in northwest Indiana, where Obama is supposed to be strong. Whether ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/06/obama-takes-nc-clinton-wins-indiana-lake-county-vote-still-out/ U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, went to the Oval Office in the White House today, May 6 to observe President Bush sign a House-Senate resolution awarding a congressional gold medal to Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyiay 6, 2008, in the Oval Office. The democracy crusader is being held ... http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2008/05/06/manzullo-in-oval-office-ceremony-to-award-gold-medal-to-burma-democracy-activist/