Barack Obama!

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

1. "No Hillary , the waltz goes 1 - 2 - 3, 1 - 2- 3
... "Sorry Barack - I keep imagining I have to duck imaginary bullets here .. "

2. "Hey Hillary - wanna consumate this alliance - I've got some great Cuban cigars at home"

3. "And what about that idiot Murdoch on Fox News - saying he'd go back to Australia if the Democrats win"

4. "What's that perfume Hillary? - lemme guess, lynx with a dash of hydrochloric acid ?"

etc

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/28/2202284.htm

 

[metric]

Re: Barack 2008!

Jesse Ventura Warns Of Obama Assassination Attempt
Former Minnesota Governor says government will target any independent who gets close to White House


Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
|

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura caused shockwaves during a national radio interview today when he warned Barack Obama to be wary of a potential assassination attempt, saying that the government would target any independent politician who got close to the White House.

The last chapter of Ventura's new book, Don't Start The Revolution Without Me, is a fictional tale about an assassination attempt on his life following a run for President.

The context of Ventura's warning was a discussion about new evidence concerning the assassination of Robert Kennedy, after it emerged that there were additional shooters to accused assassin Sirhan Sirhan.

to continue... http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2008/040208_ventura_warns.htm

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

good luck in Philadelphia Barack

PS I think I've come to the conclusion that the other two contestants for the Whitehouse don't know what the truth means

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Last night, Senator Clinton used up her last, best chance to cut appreciably into Barack Obama's elected delegate lead.

She came up short.

In fact, she barely made a dent. At most, she picked up a net gain of 12 delegates -- less than our gain, for example, in Colorado (where we gained 17) or Kansas (where we gained 14). Her gain in Pennsylvania was less than half of our gain in Virginia, where we added to our lead by 25 delegates.

But there is one measure by which her campaign's gains are real.

The Clinton campaign claims they've raised $3.5 million dollars since the polls closed yesterday.

We can't afford to let that go unanswered.


Here's how it breaks out:

After Pennsylvania, we have a lead of at least 159 elected delegates earned through all of the primaries and caucuses so far. We have a total of at least 1493 pledged delegates.

Meanwhile, we've been rapidly gaining ground among the so-called superdelegates (elected leaders and party officials who get a vote to choose our nominee), cutting Senator Clinton's lead from more than 100 early this year to less than 25. We have a total of 238 publicly committed superdelegates.

The total number of delegates needed to secure the nomination is 2,024. That means we are only 293 delegates away from securing the nomination.


Talking Points on the Pennsylvania Results

Last night, Hillary Clinton used up her last, best chance to make significant inroads in our pledged delegate lead of 171 delegates--and she barely made a dent.

Pennsylvania was considered a state tailor-made for Hillary Clinton, and all along she was expected to win. She has family roots in the state, which borders her own; she had the support of the Democratic establishment--including Governor Rendell's extensive network--and former President Clinton remains very popular there. And Independent voters--the group that will decide the general election and a group Obama is particularly strong with--were not able to vote in the primary. Not surprisingly, Senator Clinton led by as much as 25 points in the weeks leading up to the election.

How did Barack Obama substantially reduce that lead and gain support among key voters in the face of long odds and unrelenting negativity from Senator Clinton? By talking about his plans to stand up to the special interests and bring people together so that we can change Washington to turn our economy around, make sure that every American has quality health care, and bring this misguided war to an end.

As he has done in every state, Barack Obama campaigned hard to pick up as much support and as many delegates as possible.

You'll be hearing a lot from the Clinton campaign about "big states" and their bearing on the general election. The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama has won more key battlegrounds--states like Missouri, Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

The bottom line is that the Pennsylvania outcome does not change dynamic of this lengthy primary. While there were 158 delegates at stake there, there are more--187 delegates--up for grabs in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries on May 6.

Senator Obama will continue to gain strength with Democratic superdelegates. He will maintain his position as the best candidate to take on John McCain. And he will be ready to unite the American people and begin a new chapter in our history.

We are already organizing vigorously in the remaining contests, opening local offices, canvassing, and engaging voters in this unprecedented campaign. We will have the financial resources we need to compete and win.

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America


Interesting to see that most of the states Obama has won did not vote for McCain:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-sr...ewsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

 

[petervan]

Re: Barack 2008!

Watched a live speech yesterday from Barack for the first time and was very impressed with his speaking skills and his message.Big money from oil, tobacco and other lobby groups in Whasington would be very concerned with a grassroots upsurge like this talking of shutting out the lobby groups.Always like to see the underdog get up but feel the rifles will be bought out if he gets too close to winning.Politics is universal that way in protecting power.

 

[wildkactus]

Re: Barack 2008!

I wounder with this fight draging on so long, is it effecting the main game, the november poll.
Also will the dems that back the lossing candidate be willing to show up and vote for the wining candidate?

The other thing is that the longer this goes on the less time they have to pick on McCain, at the moment the dems are doing him a big favour as he can just go about his campaigning with little to no opposition.

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

I wounder with this fight draging on so long, is it effecting the main game, the november poll.
Also will the dems that back the lossing candidate be willing to show up and vote for the wining candidate?

The other thing is that the longer this goes on the less time they have to pick on McCain, at the moment the dems are doing him a big favour as he can just go about his campaigning with little to no opposition.

That's a real worry for the Dumbocrats. Seems like a faulted system where the surviving candidate has been publicly trashed by many of those on their own side, handing fistfuls of mud to the opposition in the process.

I just don't get that.

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

I wounder with this fight draging on so long, is it effecting the main game, the november poll.
Also will the dems that back the lossing candidate be willing to show up and vote for the wining candidate?

The other thing is that the longer this goes on the less time they have to pick on McCain, at the moment the dems are doing him a big favour as he can just go about his campaigning with little to no opposition.

Obama has been instrumental in making history in 'getting out the vote'. Independents have made decisions to become involved. GOP supporters have been swayed to change camps. Basic policy is similar thus I believe the magnetism towards Barack and his party will project to people who have voted for Hillary to turn out in November and see the Democrats win.

Barack continues to hold a substantial lead over Clinton in the Democratic delegate count, despite her net gain of 12 delegates from Pennsylvania. He hopes on May 6 to make up for the delegates and popular votes he lost Tuesday by winning big in North Carolina and by scratching out a victory in what is expected to be a highly competitive race in Indiana.

Indiana's balloting could prove pivotal. A win here would leave Clinton with virtually no chance to catch him in the delegate count.

He says: "You can decide whether we're going to travel the same worn path, or whether we chart a new course that offers real hope for the future."

She says: "I'm going to be here for the next two weeks, doing everything I can to help Hoosiers understand that I will be there for you and you can count on me."

It's no wonder the educated have turned to Barack and the working class go for Hillary. The mentality represents those where some will help make things happen whilst others want someone to do it for them!

Obama's funds continue to gather from 'grassroots' individuals whilst Hillary's continue from lobbyists. She plays up the fact that he has outspent her but the bare facts are it is his supporters' money! It reflects his support! Her lack of money has reflected her lack of 'put your money where your mouth is' voter support.

As time has progressed, Hillary has convinced many that she is dishonest, untrustworthy and bitter. I'm so sick of her continual contention that votes cast in Michigan, where her name was on the ballot but Obama's was not, should be counted. She also includes votes cast in Florida, where neither campaigned. Before the voting began in either state, the Democratic National Committee had announced that the results would not count because the states had moved their primaries up in violation of party rules. These of course were in the days before voters really knew Obama. So 'the rules' rule in his favour so the DNC cannot count them and if they do decide to give these states another go (to enable the 2024 target) then people would not vote now as they would have then.

Obama is campaigning against McCain (and Hillary) now.
McCain seems to be campaigning only against Obama... and we know the general public only read the headlines, so it will be tough.

I can only hope that the economic pain voters are feeling will result in their voting for change.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

That's a real worry for the Dumbocrats. Seems like a faulted system where the surviving candidate has been publicly trashed by many of those on their own side, handing fistfuls of mud to the opposition in the process.

I just don't get that.

1. Maybe they surfaced perceivable weaknesses so that any related mud that McCain slings will be 'been there... done that...' thus not worth noting?

2. If you can't win an argument in your 'own home' then you are not likely to win one 'on the streets'... (preview of actions and reactions)


For sure, Barack has to keep his demeanor in his responses, to both Hillary and McCain, to retain his persona as a conversationalist strategist.


Some entertaining writing by Walter Shapiro:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/04/25/campaigns/

Whose fault is the Clinton-Obama stalemate?

Hillary's missteps are legion, but both candidates are flesh and blood, and their squandered opportunities have prolonged the race.


... In truth, the Barack Bombers, like their counterparts in Hillaryland, may be closer to mere mortals than political demigods.

... No one can deny the potency of Obama's perpetual motion $1-million-a-day fundraising machine, nor his star-power capacity to fill the Grand Canyon, if necessary, with rapturous supporters. And, in case you have somehow failed to notice, Obama can also deliver a credible speech.

... The problem that Obama has had with expanding his base in every primary since Wisconsin (Feb. 19) may boil down to the simple equation that either you get it (the young, the affluent and African-Americans) or you are tone-deaf (older voters, blue-collar Democrats, middle-class women and Hispanics). Trapped by the true-believer enthusiasm that the fledging Illinois senator arouses, the Obama campaign has become something of a Cool Kids Club. Either you are a full-fledged member (with the secret handshake and the decoder ring) or else you find yourself voting for a well-known, albeit flawed, alternative called Hillary Clinton.

... Listing the mistakes of the Clinton team should have been one of those tasks reserved for Hercules after he finished cleaning out the Augean stables. From the ever-changing slogans (a personal favorite: "Turn Up the Heat," which was briefly, very briefly, unveiled in Iowa) to its fiscal mismanagement and its failure to effectively organize in the February caucus states, the Clinton campaign has offered a Ph.D. program in "Missed Chances." In fact, with a minimum of competence, it is easy to envision how Clinton could have been running close to even in the delegate fight right now.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/04/25/campaigns/

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Watched a live speech yesterday from Barack for the first time and was very impressed with his speaking skills and his message.Big money from oil, tobacco and other lobby groups in Whasington would be very concerned with a grassroots upsurge like this talking of shutting out the lobby groups.Always like to see the underdog get up but feel the rifles will be bought out if he gets too close to winning.Politics is universal that way in protecting power.

http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/

Obama sits on 1724
Clinton has 1589

He has 233 superdelegates to 256 for Hillary and they can change their minds any time. About 300 supers are yet to take sides.

He now has 300 to go to win the nomination.
Hillary needs 435 to win.

Financial reports for April will be filed this Wednesday at midnight US time. The media pundits and Washington insiders will be watching the results and judging the strength of their campaigns by the money they raise. The grassroots upsurge will be evaluated.

Next Wednesday (our time) will be the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. Not enough delegates at stake to get the nod but enough to see how the trend is shaping.

 

[Djayness]

Re: Barack 2008!

http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/

Obama sits on 1724
Clinton has 1589

He has 233 superdelegates to 256 for Hillary and they can change their minds any time. About 300 supers are yet to take sides.

He now has 300 to go to win the nomination.
Hillary needs 435 to win.

Financial reports for April will be filed this Wednesday at midnight US time. The media pundits and Washington insiders will be watching the results and judging the strength of their campaigns by the money they raise. The grassroots upsurge will be evaluated.

Next Wednesday (our time) will be the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. Not enough delegates at stake to get the nod but enough to see how the trend is shaping.

Unfortunately most of the votes in the US are cast because you support that party, not because you really care whos running...

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Unfortunately most of the votes in the US are cast because you support that party, not because you really care whos running...

Aah... but that was the past DJ...
People now care:

Democrats Registering In Record Numbers
1 Million New Voters For Last 7 Primaries

By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 28, 2008; Page A01

RALEIGH, N.C. -- They lined up shoulder to shoulder inside the gray high-rise downtown, their politics as diverse as their backgrounds. An ex-felon who needs health insurance, followed by a high school student seeking empowerment, followed by a Marine Corps veteran who wants to prevent his country from crumbling.

Like hundreds of others, their quests led them to the Wake County voter services office this month to register as Democrats for the first time. The line of newcomers that snaked across the checkered tile floor was emblematic of those that have formed across the country this year: black voters, young voters, lifelong Republicans switching parties -- all registering in record numbers, and all aligning as Democrats.

Elections Director Cherie Poucher waited for them behind a counter with a jar of pens and a 10-inch stack of registration forms. She had hired 10 people from a temp agency to help handle the rush on this final day of North Carolina voter registration. Now, as she watched four more people file through the door, Poucher wished she had hired more.

"In 20 years," she said, "I've never seen anything quite like it."

The past seven states to hold primaries registered more than 1 million new Democratic voters; Republican numbers mainly ebbed or stagnated. North Carolina and Indiana, which will hold their presidential primaries on May 6, are reporting a swell of new Democrats that triples the surge in registrations before the 2004 primary.

The contest between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has engaged enough new voters to change the political makeup of the country, experts say. The next several months -- and the general election in November -- will reveal the extent of the shift. Is it a temporary increase in interest resulting from a close election between historic candidates? Or is it a seismic swing in party realignment that foretells the end of the red-blue stalemate?

"We are likely to set an all-time record for primary turnout," said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. "Whether this makes a major historical impact depends on who these voters are and whether or not they get what they want."

Read on to find who they are and why they are signing up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...ewsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

 

[Knobby22]

Re: Barack 2008!

The US surely needs a change in direction. The government does not look after its people.

The power of the establishment has yet to attack. Rupert Murdoch has shown just how powerful he can be and the court system is hopelessly politically compromised. I agree with Venturi that if Barack somehow overcomes these difficulties that then assasination is a real possibility.

I really hope he gets through and the good thing is that it appears from this distance that the US people are becoming aware of how their country is being damaged by the present policies.

The US has really fallen from its glory days of two decades ago. If Barack fails then I fear for them.

 

[numbercruncher]

Re: Barack 2008!

Baracks Pastor speaks .....

Barack Obama's quest to become the first US African American president has suffered another blow from his pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who on Monday launched an all-out defence of his controversial views from the pulpit - and in the process repeated many of them.

These included: that the US Government was responsible for the AIDS epidemic among African Americans; that Zionism was racism; that Louis Farrakan, head of the National of Islam, was an inspiration to many in the black community; and that "You cannot do terrorism on other people and not expect it to come back on you."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/29/1209234801321.html

Hope he wasnt too brainwashed by this fella ...

As for the most famous member of his congregation, Mr Wright appeared to imply that Senator Obama's public rejection of his views might not be his real views.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Baracks Pastor speaks .....


http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/29/1209234801321.html

Hope he wasnt too brainwashed by this fella ...

Well I have to ask the obvious...

Does the world en masse reject most of the pastor's comments?


Obama Links Broad Ideas to Economic Specifics

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...ewsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

ANDERSON, Ind. -- Sen. Barack Obama came this past weekend to this factory town, where the loss of hundreds of jobs at the Delphi auto parts plant was only the latest blow, and told 2,000 voters that the way to fix things was not just to vote for him -- but to join a bottom-up mass movement to change the way government works.

He didn't put it that way exactly. But in a noteworthy shift, the Illinois senator is trying to reach working-class and middle-class voters by arguing more explicitly that the reform ideas driving his campaign can address the economic troubles that threaten their way of life. Supplanting lobbyist influence with citizen activism, uniting the country beyond petty partisan gamesmanship and bringing more candor to government, he argues, are not just abstract goals, but concrete steps that can level the playing field and lead to a more equitable distribution of the nation's wealth.

"When the American people work together, we cannot be stopped," he said in Marion. "When people are unified, ordinary folks -- black, white, Hispanic -- when they come together and decide that change needs to come, then change will happen."

He gave as an example his plan to broadcast on C-SPAN the meetings he would hold with industry representatives and congressional leaders to push health-care reform. "If you see a member of Congress who's carrying water for the drug companies instead of carrying your water, you'll be able to hold them accountable," he said in Anderson.

Obama uses this call for a permanent grass-roots mobilization to distinguish himself from Clinton, who he says is too invested in the existing system. "You know I will be fighting for you because I will be accountable to you," he said in Marion. "You funded my campaign, you created the political organization that got me here today, you brought me to this dance, and I dance with the one that brung me."

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

They are worried about the May 6 primaries.

A free 'limited edition car magnet' to donors of $15 or more and a DVD of 'The Speech' for $30 or more to increase the tally by Thursday our time!

Donations will reflect support over this last month and be jumped on by the media and thus influence the superdelegates' impressions and votes.

He had been challenged to fight back about Hillary's comments to show he had the tenacity to stand up to her and to McCain and lead the nation but negativity ensued.

Obama did not denigrate his ex-pastor in his reaction-speech so why is Wright now trying to destroy his campaign?!

Hopefully his comments below will help tidy up those repercussions and the current Wright mess.

Just out:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/28/obama_on_wright_he_does_not_sp.html


WILSON, N.C.
-- Sen. Barack Obama wants everyone to know that he is not the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the talkative Rev. Wright does not speak for him.

On a day when his longtime pastor at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ seemed to pop up every five minutes in the mainstream media and the blogosphere, Obama emphasized the distance between them.

"I have said before and I will repeat again that some of the comments that Rev. Wright have made offend me and I understand why they've offended the American people," Obama said in a brief airport tarmac press conference in Wilmington, N.C.

"He does not speak for me," Obama said. "He does not speak for the campaign. He may make statements in the future that don't reflect my values or concerns."

Obama was asked if he felt betrayed by Wright, who played a significant role in Obama's spiritual life for 20 years, performed his wedding and inspired the title of Obama's most recent book, "The Audacity of Hope."

"I just want to emphasize that this is my former pastor," Obama said. "Any of the statements that he's made both to trigger this controversy and that he's made over the last several days are not statements that I've heard him make previously. They don't represent my views. And they don't represent what this campaign's about."

Obama did not mention Wright at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where he spoke and took questions for about 80 minutes. In response to a question about his faith Obama spoke at length, but did not use it as an opening to say yet more about Wright.

No one in the enthusiastic 5,000-person crowd asked him about the controversy, nor did anyone tonight among 1,900 people packed into a high school gym in Wilson. Obama is due to lead a rally later in Chapel Hill inside the Dean Smith Center, better known as the Dean Dome, during his third and final event of the day.

Focusing on the crucial days before the May 6 primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, Obama seemed determined to wrench his campaign back to the basic messages that propelled him to a strong lead in pledged delegates. He spoke of moving away from "distortions and distractions."

And he got a standing ovation after telling the crowd that he was determined to move beyond a rough stretch of the campaign that he described as overly negative, not to mention injurious to the health of his candidacy.

"Having politicians bickering back and forth doesn't help you," Obama said. "Having them worrying about superdelegates doesn't help you. This election is not about me. It's not about Senator Clinton. It's not about John McCain. It's about you. It's about your struggles, your hopes and dreams."

The crowd roared.

Obama said that his campaign in recent weeks got "sucked into this whole negative thing. People throw elbows at you. You start feeling like, 'Oh, I got to throw an elbow back,'" Obama said. "I told this to my team, that we are starting to sound like other folks. We're starting to run the same negative stuff and it shows that none of us are immune from this kind of politics."

He added, "For the next nine days, between now and May 6, and the next nine months between now and November, and the next nine years" -- and here he was interrupted by cheers -- "I am going to spend all my time talking about you."

On the tarmac in Wilmington, Obama was asked how he intends to move beyond Wright, with all the attention Wright is getting from the media, as well as from Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

"What I think is interesting is none of the voters I talk to ask about it," Obama said. "Now, there may be people who are troubled about it and are being polite in not asking me about it. But that's not what I hear from the voters. What I'm hearing is concerns about gas prices. I'm hearing from people concerned about their jobs being shifted overseas."

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Latest delegate count:
http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/

Obama: 1734 (up 10) ... 290 to go!
Clinton: 1597 (up 8) ... 427 to go!

Next Wednesday our time may be the cruncher.

Clinton May Be Hopeful, but Obama Rolls On

Mr. Obama continues to pick up the support of superdelegates — elected Democrats and party leaders — at a quicker pace than Mrs. Clinton.

On Thursday, he got a boost from a high-profile defection: Joe Andrew, a former Democratic national chairman appointed by former President Bill Clinton, said he had changed his mind and would back Mr. Obama. Even after Mrs. Clinton’s victory in Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama has held on to a solid lead in pledged delegates, those selected by the voting in primaries and caucuses.

By and large, the group that matters most at this point — the uncommitted superdelegates, who are likely to hold the balance of power — still seem to view their decision the way the Obama campaign would like them to see it. They suggest that they are more sympathetic to the argument that they should follow the will of the voters as expressed by the delegates amassed by the candidates when the primary season is done rather than following Mrs. Clinton’s admonitions to select the candidate they think would best be able to defeat Senator John McCain and the Republicans in November.

“It’s about the numbers, and the numbers are the numbers,” said Chris Redfern, the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party and an uncommitted superdelegate. “It’s not about hand-wringing. And Senator Obama has the lead.”

None of this is to say that Mrs. Clinton has run out of string. She has waged a spirited and focused campaign in the past month, a period in which Mr. Obama has at times seemed to lose energy.

David Plouffe, the manager of Mr. Obama’s campaign, said that if Mrs. Clinton won 55 percent of the remaining pledged delegates — an assumption he called “overly generous” — she would still need about two-thirds of the remaining uncommitted superdelegates to reach the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers did not dispute Mr. Plouffe’s calculation, in effect acknowledging the enormousness of their task.

Many superdelegates said they were queasy about Mr. Obama and his former pastor, and fearful of how the issue might be used in the fall. Still, they said they were not convinced that that made him a weaker general-election candidate than Mrs. Clinton, or at least not convinced enough to cast a vote that could be portrayed as overturning the will of Democratic primary voters and blocking the effort by Mr. Obama to become the nation’s first African-American president.

Mr. Andrew, the former national party chairman, said in an interview that Mr. Obama’s response to his problems with Mr. Wright convinced him that Mr. Obama was the better choice.

“What’s happened here is how he has handled each one of these crises — because you know there are going to be crises — has made him an even stronger candidate,” Mr. Andrew said.

Mr. Obama has also picked up superdelegate support from Democratic members of Congress in relatively conservative districts — despite efforts by Republicans to make Mr. Obama a liability for Democrats running in competitive districts, including campaigns for two open seats in the South that are under way.

Representative Baron P. Hill of Indiana and Representative Ben Chandler of Kentucky endorsed Mr. Obama, for example, and both face the likelihood of stiff Republican challenges in the fall.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/u...bl&ex=1209873600&en=943d4ecaa8fbba3b&ei=5087

...

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk formally pledged his superdelegate vote to Barack Obama today, the second former party leader to back the Illinois senator in two days.

Obama "has and will continue to expand the electorate beyond the traditional Democratic Party base and bring young and new and independent voters to the Democratic banner in November,'' Kirk, a party superdelegate from Massachusetts, said in a statement released by Obama's campaign.

Kirk previously expressed support for Obama, though he hadn't publicly pledged to cast his vote for him at the party's national convention when the nominee will be chosen.

He and former party leader Joe Andrew, who switched his support from Hillary Clinton to Obama yesterday, are among the 795 superdelegates who will have decisive votes at the nominating convention. The endorsements come just days before the May 6 Democratic primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.

Clinton's campaign released a statement saying Kirk has been an Obama backer since at least February and the announcement was intended "to divert attention from their recent troubles.''

 

[noirua]

Re: Barack 2008!

Analysis: The Wright effect on presidential race:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/5/03/analysis-the-wright-effect-on-presidential-race/

Questions the electability of Barack Obama as Hillary Clinton sees an opportunity.

Latest CNN Poll shows a 6% drop in support for Barrack Obama, but no increase in support for Hillary Clinton as the undecided numbers increase.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

New Batch of Superdelegates to Choose a Candidate

76 New Delegates: Not All Have Decided Who to Support


By DAVID WRIGHT, VIJA UDENANS and STEPHANIE DAHLE
May 3, 2008

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4780121&page=1

Based on the ABC News Delegate Estimate, it now seems like the Democratic nomination rests in the hands of 218 uncommitted superdelegates.

[ Obama has 1,742.5 delegates
- Clinton has 1,607.5 delegates]

If the whole thing weren't complicated enough, there's a new wrinkle. 76 so-called "add-on superdelegates" are now thrown into the mix.

"We came up with this idea late, literally in the middle of the night," Democratic strategist Tad Devine said. "This might satisfy both sides."

The idea was to give each state a few extra superdelegates, late in the game, who would be chosen by local officials to better reflect the results of a long nomination fight.

In Illinois, it's no surprise that all three add-ons — including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley — favor Obama, the favorite son.

Likewise, in New York, all four add-ons — including state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — are for Clinton.

Clinton is not expected to win North Carolina, but a Clinton defeat in Indiana would put new pressure on her to bow out of the race.

Joe Andrew, a superdelegate and former Democratic National Committee chairman, who backs Obama, said neither candidate can win the nomination through primary votes now, and it will come down to the party's so-called superdelegates.

"Millions of people are inspired by Barack Obama, just like millions of people were inspired by Bill Clinton back in 1992, when he was a candidate of hope, not fear," Andrew said today on "GMA."


http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/wireStory?id=4778851

The Guam caucuses added two pledged delegates apiece for Clinton and Obama.

Votes in Guam for party chairman and vice chairman also added a superdelegate for Obama and subtracted one for Clinton because the outgoing vice chair had endorsed the New York senator.

Obama had a total of 1,742.5 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials who will serve as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,607.5 delegates, according to The Associated Press tally. It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention this summer in Denver.

In the delegate competition, Obama picked up one each in Maryland, South Carolina and New Mexico.
Clinton countered with one from Maryland.


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_delegate_count.html

Upcoming States & RealClearPolitics Averages:

State ......... Date .. Delegates Obama Clinton
North Carolina 05/06 ... 115 ... 48.8 41.8
Indiana ...... 05/06 . . . 72 . . . 41.5 ...47.5