“OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS Tuesday April 08-2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO “OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS

Tuesday April 08-2008


"The Happiest Day of My Life" A 4 y.o. meets Barack!

Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more) to graciously participate
by posting news and announcements about the Obama campaign on this thread. You can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. :think:

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU,
providing a link to the original thread :applause:

3. Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page :thumbsup:

4. Clinton supporters or “anti Obama posters please start your own
“Clinton Daily News Thread”.

Get your DU-o-matic codificator (to format your posts) here
Read the Daily News Archives here

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. NC: Obama issues voter registration challenge

Obama issues voter registration challenge

Fayetteville Observer Monday, April 07, 2008
A staff report

Want to meet Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama?

If you know unregistered voters, you could get the chance.

Obama’s North Carolina presidential campaign is holding the “Carolina Change Challenge.” The top 10 volunteers who register the most voters by Friday’s deadline, as well as the top five high school students who register the most high school students, will meet with Obama.

To register for the challenge go to one of the campaign field offices. The Fayetteville office is at 214 Hay St. The phone number is 323-0957.

Actress and singer Tatyana Ali will campaign for Obama on college campuses across the state, headlining voter registration drive rallies Wednesday and Thursday at Fayetteville State University, UNC Pembroke, St. Augustine’s College, N.C. Central University, Bennett College, North Carolina A&T University, UNC Charlotte and UNC Wilmington. Details on her appearances have not been released.

[goclark]

25. This deserves a big Kick! nt

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. registration surging for primaries

Voter registration surging for primaries

UPI April 7, 2008

WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- Officials in six of the eight U.S. states scheduled to hold Democratic presidential primaries say they are experiencing a surge in voter registration.

The contest between senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York could result in record-breaking voter turnout in those states, USA Today reported Monday.

The late-voting states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon have all seen an increase in registration, the newspaper said.

...In North Carolina, 165,449 new voters have registered for the state's May 6 primary since the beginning of the year.

Kentucky officials report some 21,000 new voters signed up in the first two months of this year.

USA Today says in Pennsylvania officials report 106,000 voters have switched their registration to Democrat while nearly 66,000 new Democrats have registered for the April 22 primary.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. Raleigh NC: Obama office sets up shop

Obama office sets up shop

By: Jake Ratliff, Staff WriterIssue date: 4/7/08 Section: State & National

Organizers prepare to register voters and volunteers at the opening of the Raleigh office
of the Barack Obama campaign Saturday morning.

"North Carolina is going to put Barack Obama where he is destined to be."

Other Obama supporters stressed the importance of North Carolina to the senator's campaign.

Karen Richardson, Obama's policy director for North Carolina, said the state is critical because of the number of delegates it will deliver in its May 6 primary.

...Obama's Raleigh office will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, said J.B. Blot, a volunteer who works in the office. There will be phone banking from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for anyone who wants to volunteer.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. NYT's: Obama's deft handling of Wright is sealing the deal!!!

NYT's: Obama's deft handling of Wright is sealing the deal!!!

by PLS Mon Apr 07, 2008 at DKOS

Ok, so the actual story was about the dismal superdelegate math, which has turned against Hillary too. Sure, she still leads by 32, but that ain't much of a cushion when 2 or 3 supers seem to be breaking his way per week. The latest is Margaret Campell, a Native American state legislator in Montana, according to the Times. Campell was the 69th superdelegate Obama has picked up since "super" Tuesday, while Clinton has lost a total of 2.

PLS's diary :: ::
What I found more interesting,however, was the reasons the supers are going for Obama, chief among them being the tough campaign;

Aides said time was actually in Obama's favor. The longer he demonstrates he can withstand the heat of a national campaign, they say, the more willing party leaders seem to be to embrace him.

And in specific, the real tipping point seems to be the matter of Reverend Wright, and how Obama handled it. His deputy campaign manager stated;

most people think he passed the test.

The Times points out that while the Clinton's have been trying to scare the supers away from Obama with Wright fright, they haven't been successful;

....more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. Schakowsky(D-IL): More Supers Assembling for Obama

Schakowsky: More Supers Assembling for Obama

April 7th, 2008 by Al Giordano The Field

US Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) today:

…look, some people have reasons locally that they’re not endorsing for their own races, everybody’s up in the House of Representatives. But I do know, I would say, at least eight of my colleagues who will vote for Barack Obama at the convention. It’s just a question of whether or not — or when — they come out and say it.

(Hat tip to Ben Smith, who adds, “There’s still no question about the direction superdelegates are moving.”)

Field Note: My educated guess is that a lot of these folks will wait until after Pennsylvania given that they expect Clinton to win that state and they don’t want their endorsements to be blunted by that, thinking that they can have more of an impact on the May 6 contests. These are political pros, after all, so they’re strategizing the timing of their announcements for maximum impact.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Obama Didn't Want My Money - Updated w/link to letter

Obama Didn't Want My Money - Updated w/link to letter

by Borell DKOS Mon Apr 07, 2008

I just had the strangest experience. A presidential candidate gave me back my donation, told me would not accept it because of what I do for a living, and it left me more committeed to the candidate and conviced that he is the person that must be the next president.

I went to the mailbox and found a letter from the Obama Campaign. Enclosed was a check for $100, the return of my contribution from earlier this month along with a letter explaining why it would not be accepted.

Borell's diary :: ::
You see, I am a registered lobbyist for a non-profit organziation. We are a non-partisan, non-political membership organziation, we do not have a political action committee and strictly observe a policy of non-particpation in any event that even remotely appears political. I serve as their legislative rep, trying to ensure that expertise of our membership is heard by public officials on issues related to their area of expertise (public safety).

I guess given the fact that I was not a corporate/industry lobbyist, I never really considered that Obama's no-lobbyist money ban would apply to me, but it did! The letter thanked me for my interest in the campaign, but stated flately that my donation was not acceptable.

It's not often you get told that you are persona non grata and end up praising the person who exiled you. But that what I am doing. Obama actions are living up to his words. Through the actions of his campaign he is demonstrating that his values are real and his commitment is certain.

Another aspect that is quite impressive to me is that the Obama campaign has a mechnism set up to check each donation, even one as small as mine, against the lobbyist database, and then return it.

If I ever doubted the sincerity of the Obama Campaign, this action removed any questions.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. McCain Told Me 100 Years (the questioner at Town Hall Mtg)

McCain Told Me 100 Years

Dave Tiffany, 04.07.2008

I was the questioner at the January 3 Town Hall Meeting in Derry, NH, who McCain called Ernest Hemingway and who asked him what he hoped to accomplish in Iraq and how long it would take. When I pressed him for a time frame and cited George Bush's figure of fifty years, Senator McCain shocked me by saying "Maybe a hundred".

Since that time his remark has been repeated thousands of times in the press, on political talk shows, by columnists, commentators, and by the Democratic candidates. There are music videos commemorating his words, and you can buy T-Shirts displaying the quote.

Needless to say, Democrats have had a field day with that sound bite. I'm wondering, where's my cut?

Now, three months later, McCain partisans are regretting the candor of their candidate, and in a full-court press, are claiming that McCain's opponents have mischaracterized his remarks.
...
McCain's words left little room for interpretation. By saying that he was fine with staying in Iraq for 100 years, he made clear his commitment to staying the course and, further, to remaining in Iraq for years after the country is pacified, assuming that's ever possible.

Everyone who was there that night got it: we weren't getting out anytime soon.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. Flashback: February 2005: Clinton and McCain, BFFs in Iraq

February 2005: Clinton and McCain, BFFs in Iraq

The Jed Report. Mon Apr 7

This is the kind of thing you can easily forget in the middle of a campaign:


Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, and Sen. John McCain were part of a five-member
congressional delegation visiting Iraq. Faleh Kheiber, AP

Clinton says insurgency is failing

BAGHDAD (AP) — As 55 people died in Iraq on Saturday, the holiest day on the Shiite Muslim religious calendar, Sen. Hillary Clinton said that much of Iraq was "functioning quite well" and that the rash of suicide attacks was a sign that the insurgency was failing.

Clinton, a New York Democrat, said insurgents intent on destabilizing the country had failed to disrupt Iraq's landmark Jan. 30 elections.

"The concerted effort to disrupt the elections was an abject failure. Not one polling place was shut down or overrun," Clinton told reporters inside the U.S.-protected Green Zone, a sprawling complex of sandbagged buildings surrounded by blast walls and tanks. The zone is home to the Iraqi government and the U.S. Embassy.

When they returned from Iraq, Clinton and McCain made a joint appearance on Meet the Press.
I've included the Iraq-related questions put to Clinton after the jump. (Sorry, no video!)

all at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. Penn Still Mightier?

Penn Still Mightier?

Christopher Orr The New Republic 07.04.2008

Ambinder:

Demoted Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn may no longer have the coveted title of chief strategist, but he remains a key member of the campaign's senior staff. Mr. Penn took part on the campaign's morning message call this morning, as usual. This afternoon, he is also scheduled to be on a call with Clinton and other aides to begin to prepare for Saturday's presidential debate in Philadelphia. Mr. Penn "is still going to be very much involved," a senior campaign official said.

Indeed, it is not clear precisely what Mr. Penn's title-change entails, other than a public rebuke, although the official said that "there is a difference between being in charge and being one of many voices."
Perhaps the campaign fears that if he was let go altogether, he'd make them pay him the millions in fees he's still owed...

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. The Clintons are responsible for their own campaign -- not Mark Penn

The Clintons are responsible for their own campaign -- not Mark Penn

The Dred Report Mon Apr 7, 2008

Marc Ambinder makes essential points in back-to-back posts:

The most important failure of the Clintons' campaign is theirs and theirs alone.
Mark Penn was not fired. In fact, he was on the campaign's regular messaging call today.

What you're really seeing here is thoroughly desperate campaign spinning out of control in its final weeks -- soon to be days.

Also, credit where credit is due: Yesterday, The Nation's Ari Melber, kossack dawnt, and Politico's Ben Smith all saw through the Penn smokescreen.

Update: Ben notes that Clinton folks are still saying that the "central point here is that he's out, not that he's in." Color me skeptical.

[Cha]

22. And this is all the stuff we know about..the under dealings

of the clintons and mark penn..can you imagine what's going on that hasn't been exposed yet?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. WTF!?! Forget Colombia! Mark Penn's lobbying shop is headed by John McCain's top adviser!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5419444&mesg_id=5419444

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. HRC Colombia ties don't stop with Penn

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5420608

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. The Democratic Party's Fascinating Squalor

"In short, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, is systematically delegitimizing the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. I have never seen anything like it -- and it is genuinely fascinating in all its paradoxical squalor." Monday, April 7, 2008

The Democratic Party's Fascinating Squalor

- 5:32am. P.M. Carpenter pmcarpenter on Mon, 04/07/2008 at Buzzflash

The more presumptive Barack Obama's nomination becomes -- which should serve to unify and strengthen the party -- the more presumptuous Hillary Clinton's campaign becomes -- which serves only to divide and weaken the party. But whether you find that bilateral paradox frustrating or fatiguing, you have to admit the Clinton camp's singular presumptuousness is also quite fascinating. In itself it has become our political "Show of Shows," pretty much the only thing readers care to read, or viewers view.

I give you, case in point, Clinton camp-follower Gov. Ed Rendell, who appeared yesterday on "Meet the Press" only to utter some of the most manifestly absurd, politically presumptuous rhetoric ever to hit the airwaves. And that's saying a lot. Even the normally unflappable Tim Russert was ... flapped?

The fun began when host Russert asked surrogate Rendell what the former foolishly framed as a "simple question" -- that being if superdelegates might still reject every known model of democratic leverage and hand the nomination to the loser, Hillary. Rendell was positively perky in his provisional deception: "Sure," Tim. "It depends on what trends are happening. And number one, Hillary Clinton's ahead in electoral votes, states carried with the most electoral votes, number one. Number two, popular vote, I think the popular vote will narrow decidedly in the next seven or eight contests. And if you count Florida and Michigan, in truth, Hillary Clinton would've won the popular vote."

At that, Russert went as ballistic as NBC's legal department permits. It was, as they say, a hoot: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," bleated Russert. "Stop there. Stop there, Governor, because Senator Clinton tried that yesterday, in terms of the goalposts. This is what she said in Oregon about Florida and Michigan." And this, indeed, is what she said:

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. No Really, You Should Go

No Really, You Should Go

Wretched rationalizations for Hillary Clinton's kamikaze campaign. by Jonathan Chait. TNR. Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Last week, Senator Pat Leahy suggested that Hillary Clinton ought to quit the presidential race. How insensitive! How boorish! Pundits gasped, Clinton took umbrage, and even Barack Obama was forced to concede that Clinton has the right to run for as long as she desires.

The persistent weakness of American liberalism is its fixation with rights and procedures at any cost to efficiency and common sense. Democrats' reluctance to push Clinton out of the race is the perfect expression of that delicate sensibility.

There is some point at which a candidate's chance of winning becomes so low that her right to continue is outweighed by the party's interest in preparing for the general election. Does Clinton have a chance to become president? Sure. So does Ralph Nader. Clinton's chances are far closer to Nader's than to either Obama's or John McCain's.

Almost nobody contends that Clinton has a chance to overcome Obama's lead in pledged delegates. The spin now is that Obama's delegate lead is "small but almost insurmountable" (USA Today) and that, since neither can clinch the nomination with pledged delegates alone, "the nomination is expected to be in the superdelegates' hands" (Los Angeles Times). These beliefs reflect the mathematical illiteracy that has allowed the press corps to be routinely duped by economic flim-flammery. A lead that's insurmountable is, by definition, not small. The very primary rules that make it impossible for Clinton to catch up--proportionate distribution of delegates that award tiny net sums to the winner--are exactly what made Obama's lead so impressive.

…more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. If My Grandmother Had Wheels, Clinton Would be Winning

If My Grandmother Had Wheels, Clinton Would be Winning

Jonathan Chait. The New Republic 07.04.2008

Sean Wilentz argues in Salon that if the Democratic primary operated on a winner-take-all basis -- "one of the central principles of American electoral politics" -- Hillary Clinton would be ahead. "In a popular-vote winner-take-all system, Clinton would now have 1,743 pledged delegates to Obama's 1,257," he concludes. Instead, Obama has a lead that is "reliant on certain eccentricities in the current Democratic nominating process."

This is a bizarre proposition. It's true that the Democratic delegate-apportioning process is eccentric. But since when is winner-take-all considered a more democratic process than proportional allotment? Indeed, in this case, winner-take-all would have made the Democratic primary less democratic. Obama is winning the popular vote. He's even winning if you count the vote in Florida, where neither candidate campaigned or organized their voters. (A restriction that benefitted Clinton enormously, as greater familiarity has boosted Obama's standing virtually everywhere -- witness the withering away of Clinton's once-massive lead in Pennsylvania.)

Why, then, would Clinton be leading under a winner-take-all system? Because a winner-take-all system renders a one-vote win in a state just as valuable as a blowout win. One flaw of a winner-take-all state-based process is that a candidate who has more votes can lose if he has lots of "wasted" votes in blowout wins and his opponent has many close victories. And indeed, this is precisely what's happened in the Democratic primary -- Obama has far more blowout wins. As Third Way's Jim Kessler has pointed out, "Twenty-four of his 29 wins have been by 16 points or more, while four of Clinton's 15 victories have been of the blowout variety." Clinton would win by the winner-take-all metric only because it's a system that can mask the popular will.

So Wilentz is arguing that if the Democrats used a different, less democratic process, Clinton would be winning despite Obama's greater appeal to the electorate. But even that claim is shaky. It's not just an accident that Obama won a lot of delegates from blowout wins in small states. It's a deliberate strategy. In the days leading up to Super Tuesday, he abandoned big states like California to hold rallies in places like Boise, Idaho and Wilmington, Delaware. Obama did this because there were lots of delegates to be gained by increasing his margin in small states.
If the rules were different, he would have deployed his resources differently.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

16. THIS THING IS OVER (Newsweek/Kos)

Hillary Clinton has proved during the past few months that she is a fighter, that she is tenacious, and that she is in the race to win. There's just one problem. She's already lost.
No matter how you define victory, Barack Obama holds an insurmountable lead in the race to earn the Democratic nomination.

kpete Mon Apr-07-08
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5415313&mesg_id=5415313

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. Chill out!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. Hillary threshold test

[John Q. Citizen]

19. Montana celebrating grand opening of 5 Obama offices next Saturday. Then hitting the doors!

Last Saturday, Barack held a rally in Missoula and attended the annual Metcalf-Mansfield Dinner in Butte. He spoke to thousands of Montanans about the kind of change this movement is working to bring about.

This Saturday, April 12th, we're building on our momentum by opening brand new local offices in Helena, Missoula, Great Falls, Billings and Bozeman. After the celebration, we'll hit the streets and go door-to-door registering voters for Barack.

Check out a video of Barack's trip to Montana -- then find the office opening near you and sign up to join us:



http://mt.barackobama.com/MToffices

Getting organized is crucial in here in Montana, and with Primary Day approaching, now's the time to turn your enthusiasm for Barack into action.

Come get a tour of an office, meet the campaign staff, and learn how to get involved and help Barack in your local community.

Sign up today to attend the office opening near you:

http://mt.barackobama.com/MToffices

Hope you can make it!

Gabe

Gabe Cohen
Montana State Director
Obama for America

P.S. -- You must be registered as a Democrat to participate in the Montana primary on June 3rd. Make sure your vote is counted -- register today:

http://mt.barackobama.com/MTvote

If you're already registered, you don't have to wait until Primary Day to make your voice heard. Registered Montana voters can request an absentee ballot and vote right now. Learn more and vote early by absentee today:

http://mt.barackobama.com/morevoicesMT

We will also have voter registration and early vote forms available at the office openings on Saturday, so be sure to drop by.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. Yay Montana! voter registration is a big part of his campaign

often politicians don't want turnout, but his success is based on people going out to vote.

[John Q. Citizen]

24. Politicians always want turnout for them, and none for their adversary. But knocking on doors and

talking to your neighbors is kind of an American thing. It's beautiful. It's informative. You get to meet a lot of people. Really!

Back in the early 90's I traveled to see some old friends/ex roommates from Watsonville who had moved back to their hometown of Coalcalco Mexico, in the valley of Mexico, but outside of the city.

I had been professional field canvassing for the previous three years and I told them about it. i asked them if anybody canvassed in Mexico, and they said, no way, you would get killed if you tried to do political canvassing in Mexico. Like it would be totally against the rules.

Anyway, i get the impression the campaign has been knocking on a lot of doors. And that gives me confidence. Because when you go and talk to people in their living room, you are just like Dan Rather, Will George, Cokie Roberts, any of the TV people who regularly go into peoples living rooms, except you are much more powerful than the talking heads. You are there in the flesh. And you are actually doing something. And you are asking someone else to join you to do something for the common good. It's powerful.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. Late-Night Political Jokes

Late-Night Political Jokes

Updated Daily April 3, 2008

"We have the Italian Stallion on the show tonight -- Hillary Clinton, ladies and gentleman. As you know, in Philadelphia the other day, Senator Clinton said she is a lot like Rocky Balboa from the movie 'Rocky.' Is that a good idea? Don't we already have a president like Rocky? I mean, isn't eight years of a guy who talks like he's been hit in the head too many times enough?" --Jay Leno

"Did you know Hillary Clinton is in the new Martin Scorsese documentary on the Rolling Stones? Turns out, she's a huge Rolling Stones fan. See, I think that's great. I mean, any time a politician can take time out from their busy day to help the elderly. ... She is working to get them all Rascal scooters." --Jay Leno

"Although some people have called for her to pull out of the race, Hillary says she will not pull out 'cause she wants everyone's vote to count. Unless you're voting for Obama, then you can ignore them." --Jay Leno

"Today, Barack Obama announced the first thing he would do as president -- shut down all the bowling alleys." --Jay Leno

"John McCain said he's putting together a list of possible vice presidential candidates. In fact, yesterday, McCain said he had 20 names on his vice presidential list. And today, he had to cut it back to 18 when he found out Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson are already dead." --Jay Leno

"Actually, learning more and more about John and Cindy McCain. He's on this big biography tour, so you can learn about him. I guess his wife Cindy is worth over $100 million because the family made money selling Budwesier beer. Budweiser beer distributor, $100 million. So he has a wife 20 years younger than him, free beer, unlimited money -- I think I speak for all guys when I go, why is he running for president?" --Jay Leno

"Hillary here lately has been comparing herself to Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. Yep, she calls herself Rocky. And today, she was wearing an Everlast pantsuit." --David Letterman

"Are you familiar with the Hillary Clinton 3 a.m. phone call commercials that she's been running during her campaign? The idea is, the phone rings at 3 am, oh my God, who do you want to be the president. Well, she's got another one of those. The phone rings and it's 3 am. Hillary answers the phone. She picks it up and she says, 'Stop bothering me, President Obama.'" --David Letterman

"John McCain, by God, has one of those 3 am phone calls. In this one, it's 3 am and he just gets up to go to the bathroom." --David Letterman

"I like John McCain. He looks like a guy who spends a lot of time on the lawn with a hose." --David Letterman

"A brewery announced its coming out with a beer named in honor of Barack Obama. They're also honoring Hillary Clinton by coming out with crushed beer nuts." --Conan O'Brien

"John McCain has been campaigning all over the country this week. Yesterday, McCain gave a speech in Florida. He was in Florida. The Florida speech was at 2:30 in the afternoon 'cause McCain was the after-dinner speaker." --Conan O'Brien

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

23. sign seen at PA rally - note to Bill and Hill:

[goclark]

27. Is that photoshopped or are they really at the Rally

and Bill didn't see them!

:rofl: and :rofl:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

33. I should have credited the DUer who posted it, see link

posted by American Stranger at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5424123#5424137

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. Hillary Clinton speaks Truth against the Paper Worshipers

Ultimately, the real truth is that we have a disfunctional
health care system.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5424177

[grantcart]

28. A nice thread about Obama's grandmother - by a Clinton supporter

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5422331&mesg_id=5422331

[grantcart]

29. Obama’s Young Backers Twist Parents’ Arms

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/us/politics/08kids.html?_r=1&ei=5088&en=acdabf6d62f2b710&ex=1365393600&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1207638827-KcK849exjYZyEg1ibT0qiQ


Obama’s Young Backers Twist Parents’ Arms

But even politicians are mentioning the persuasiveness of their children, either in earnest or as political cover, as a factor in their Obama endorsements.

That list of Democrats includes Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

While politicians inevitably invoke children and the future, rarely have the political preferences of children themselves carried much weight with their elders. On the contrary: when baby boomer parents were the age their children are now, the ideological and social gap between generations was more pronounced. Parents were, by definition, authoritarian. Their children were, by definition, anti-.

But the sharp distinctions between generations have eroded. Parents now are exponentially more entwined with their offspring, inclined to place their children’s emotional well-being ahead of their own. Even when students live away at college, many parents call them and send text messages every day.

The Obama campaign was well positioned to capitalize on this veritable seamlessness. From the outset, Mr. Obama eagerly sought out young voters with his Internet operation and a widespread, efficient campus network. Those efforts are paying off: in all Democratic primaries to date (excluding Florida and Michigan), about 6 in 10 voters under age 30 have supported him, according to exit polls conducted by Edison/Mitofsky.

For some waffling primary voters, the relentless push by their children was good enough reason to capitulate. Eager to encourage their offspring’s latest enthusiasm, they have been willing to toss up their hands and vote for Mr. Obama, if only to impress their children.

[grantcart]

30. Obama at the Helm Washington Post

Of the three candidates still in the 2008 race, Obama has run the best campaign by far. McCain's was a top-heavy, slow-moving, money-hemorrhaging Hindenburg that eventually exploded, leaving the Arizona senator to resurrect his bankrupt candidacy through sheer force of will. Clinton's campaign has been marked by vicious infighting and organizational weakness, as manifested by her terrible performance in caucus states.

Obama's, by contrast, has been an organizational wonder, the political equivalent of crossing a Lamborghini with a Hummer. From the beginning, the Obama campaign has run circles around its foes on the Internet, using MySpace, Facebook and other Web tools to develop a virtual army of more than 1 million donors. The result has been fundraising numbers that have left opponents slack-jawed (last month Obama raised $40 million, compared with Clinton's $20 million).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040702196.html



But the Web is the political equivalent of gunpowder: It can mow down your opponents, but it can also blow up in your face. In 2004, Howard Dean's campaign also raised vast sums online, but it spent the money just as fast. By embracing the anarchic ethos of the liberal blogosphere, Dean generated enormous excitement, but he couldn't harness it. Within his decentralized, bottom-up campaign, a thousand flowers bloomed, but not at the right time and in the right place. "You cannot manage an insurgency," said Dean's Web guru, Joe Trippi. "You just have to ride it."

The Obama campaign has proved that adage wrong. It has married Web energy with professional control. It has used the Web masterfully but, unlike Dean in 2004, sees it as a tool, not a philosophy of life.

At the top, in fact, the campaign is quite hierarchical. There's no question who's in charge: David Axelrod, a grizzled Chicago street-fighter whom Obama has known since he was 30. Axelrod and his subordinates believe their guy represents a new kind of politics, but they're not above using old-school, hard-ball tactics -- even against his own supporters -- to help him win. Last spring, for example, when the Obama campaign realized it couldn't control a popular Obama page on MySpace, it persuaded the company to shut the page down.

It is this remarkable hybrid campaign, far more than Obama's thin legislative résumé, that should reassure voters that he can run the government. As president, he'll need to keep his supporters mobilized: It will take a grass-roots movement, breathing down Congress's neck, to pass universal health care. But in dealing with those very supporters, he'll also have to be ruthless so as not to get caught up in the kind of side skirmishes, such as gays in the military, that weakened Bill Clinton early on. Obama's experience whipping up support on MySpace while simultaneously tamping it down is exactly the kind he'll need in the Oval Office.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

31. The RBC Update: It's over (Chapter Eleventeen)

(((((((((((( The RBC Update: It's over (Chapter Eleventeen) ))))))))))))

2008.04.07 20:53:20


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ed Rendell, a Hillary backer, says she'll win Pennsylvania by
5-10 points. That sounds like a fair guess (though Obama might
do better). But it amounts to a concession that Obama is going
to end the primary/caucus season 125 pledged delegates ahead.

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http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/04/its_over_chapter_eleventeen.php

[grantcart]

36. During Meet the Press this Sunday

Ed Rendell started his session at 5-9% as the threshold Clinton needed.

By the end of the session he had already moved to 4-8%

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. The RBC Update: Full audio of Jeremiah Wright's Jeremiad ...

((((( The RBC Update: Full audio of Jeremiah Wright's Jeremiad ... )))))

2008.04.07 22:51:32


------------------------------------------------------------------------

... available on line. Magnificent! If you want to know "how
Barack Obama could listen to those sermons for 20 years,"
listen for yourself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/religion_and_politics_/2008/04/full_audio_of_jeremiah_wrights_jeremiad_.php

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

34. NC Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue goes public for Obama, includes in her campaign mailers

He's got some real coat tails here in NC. Bev Perdue, one of the gubenatorial
candidates is even featuring Obama in her campaign mailers. Both democratic gubenatorial
candidates have endorsed Obama. The other endorsee is State Treasurer Richard Moore.

Perdue goes public for Obama

Apr 08, 2008

Ryan Teague Beckwith and Rob Christensen, Staff Writers

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama is a little more public.
After a fairly low-key announcement in March, Perdue began making automated calls and sending out mailers on behalf of Obama this month.

Perdue's primary opponent, State Treasurer Richard Moore, has also endorsed Obama.

The mailer features a photo of Perdue and Obama together.

..."Having a candidate like Senator Obama at the top of the ticket -- who has proven that he can bring new people into the process and change the equation for the Democratic Party -- is something that the people in North Carolina recognize," he said.

...Union backing

The N.C. Teamsters union, which represents 14,000 workers in North Carolina, has endorsed Perdue.

...Over the weekend, all 20 Obama field offices sent out more than 1,000 volunteers to register "thousands and thousands" of new voters, according to Deputy National Campaign Manager Steve Hildebrand.

more at the link http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1028963.html

[grantcart]

35. Clinton loses Super Delegate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5426299

[Scurrilous]

37. Kick

:thumbsup:

[FedoraLV]

38. National LBGT newsmagazine interviews Obama

Advocate to run Obama Interview

Michelle Garcia, an editorial assistant for The Advocate, told Dallas Voice on Tuesday that the interview will be posted on the magazine’s Web site Thursday.

link:

-FedoraLV

[JimGinPA]

39. K&R