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Democratic Delegate Count Pledged Delegates Sen. Barack Obama 1589 Sen. Hillary Clinton 1424 Super Delegates Sen. Hillary Clinton 272 Sen. Barack Obama 265 Source: Real Clear Politics
Barack Obama:"A More Perfect Union" Click here to view the video.
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Women in the Running Thursday 08 May 2008 America has pretty much agreed that, whether or not Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she will have made history. However, no matter the outcome of the primary season, the struggle for women's voices to be heard in the political sphere will be far from over. Despite all the focus on Clinton's gender over the course of her campaign, there's been surprisingly little discussion of the gender makeup of the political system as a whole. Like the rest of the world, the US has been moving forward in terms of women in politics, but it's doing so in spurts and slower than many of its neighbors. Ten years ago, this country ranked 37th in terms of women's political representation. It now sits in 71st place, according to a recent Interparliamentary Union study. Twenty-eight of the 50 states have not yet elected a female governor. And women make up only 16 percent of both the US House and the Senate. Michigan Democrats Plan for Delegate Seating Wednesday 07 May 2008 Lansing, Michigan - Michigan Democratic leaders on Wednesday settled on a plan to give presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton 69 delegates and Barack Obama 59 as a way to get the state's delegates seated at the national convention. Clinton won the Jan. 15 Michigan primary and was to get 73 pledged delegates under state party rules, while Obama was to get 55. The state also has 29 superdelegates. The state party's executive committee voted Wednesday to ask the national party's Rules and Bylaws Committee to approve the 69-59 delegate split when it meets May 31. The plan would allow the state's 157 delegates and superdelegates to be seated at the convention. Obama's Got a Confident New Strategy Thursday 08 May 2008 Aides say that with a solid lead and a big win in North Carolina, he's ready to act like the de facto nominee. Chicago - Barack Obama hasn't managed after months of political combat to force Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the presidential race, so he's about to try another approach: ignoring her. Confident that he has built a near-impregnable lead, his campaign aides said Wednesday that Obama would begin shifting his focus toward the general election. Obama still plans to campaign in states that remain on the primary calendar - he is to appear in Oregon over the weekend - but he may also start showing up in states that are considered important in the November contest: Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. (All three have held their Democratic primaries.) A Party and Country United Wednesday 07 May 2008 After winning a sizable victory Tuesday night in the crucial state of North Carolina and losing by a small margin in Indiana, Senator Barack Obama addressed an enthusiastic crowd of supporters, laying out his vision for the party, and for the country. Senator Obama won by 56 percent to 42 percent in North Carolina, while Senator Clinton prevailed by 51 percent to 49 percent in Indiana. While CNN and other news networks focused heavily last night on exit polls showing demographic divides and a statistic in North Carolina that only 45 percent of Clinton supporters would back Obama if he is nominated, the senator from Illinois sought to allay concerns about the state of the party with a more conciliatory tone. Obama Wins North Carolina Decisively; Clinton Takes Indiana by Slim Margin Wednesday 07 May 2008 Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday and lost narrowly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, an outcome that injected a boost of momentum to Mr. Obama's candidacy as the Democratic nominating contest entered its final month. The results from the two primaries, the largest remaining Democratic ones, assured that Mr. Obama would widen his lead in pledged delegates over Mrs. Clinton, providing him with new ammunition as he seeks to persuade Democratic leaders to coalesce around his campaign. He also increased his lead in the popular vote in winning North Carolina by more than 200,000 votes. "Don't ever forget that we have a choice in this country," Mr. Obama said in an address in Raleigh, N.C., that carried the unity themes of a convention speech. "We can choose not to be divided; that we can choose not to be afraid; that we can still choose this moment to finally come together and solve the problems we've talked about all those other years in all those other elections." Clinton Defeats Obama in Pennsylvania Primary
Tuesday 22 April 2008 Hillary Rodham Clinton gained a gritty victory in the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday night over a better-funded Barack Obama, staving off elimination in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The former first lady was winning 54 percent of the vote to 46 percent for her rival with 35 percent of the vote counted, and she hoped for significant inroads into Obama's overall lead in the competition for delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Clinton scored her victory by winning the votes of blue-collar workers, women and white men in an election where the economy was the dominant concern. He was favored by blacks, the affluent and voters who recently switched to the Democratic Party, a group that comprised about one in ten Pennsylvania voters, according to the surveys conducted by The Associated Press and the TV networks. Pennsylvania Democratic Primary Results Candidate Votes Percent of Votes
Tuesday 22 April 2008 | 99% reporting Pennsylvania Republican Primary Results Candidate Votes Percent of Votes
Tuesday 22 April 2008 | 99% reporting Clinton Takes Pennsylvania
Clinton has won in Pennsylvania. According to The New York Times, with about 50 percent of the vote reporting, Clinton has captured 54 percent of the vote, leaving Obama 46 percent. Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's campaign chairman, responded to questions of the significance of Clinton's margin of victory. He stressed on CNN tonight Clinton's "big state strategy." He noted "People had written her off. A win is a win. This is a big state ... like Texas, like Ohio." Up to this point, Senator Obama has won 29 states, while Senator Clinton has taken 18. Waiting for Guam
Pennsylvania's sun has set, but the real excitement will come during the next election, on Saturday, when the Guam caucus decides which way its eight pledged delegates (each with half a vote) will swing. While the Obama campaign established an office in Guam's capital, Hagatna, last week, Clinton's campaign has skipped the island. Networks Calling Pennsylvania for Clinton
With roughly five percent of the votes in, the networks have called Clinton the winner. However, the critical margin of victory remains unknowable until all the votes are counted. More Voting Difficulties May Surface
According to The Brad Blog, today's Pennsylvania elections may have seen more voting problems than the mainstream media has reported: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5918. The Math
According to The Associated Press, Senator Obama currently leads Senator Clinton by about 164 pledged delegates (1415-1251), which would mean that given the 566 pledged delegates remaining, Clinton would have to win almost 80 percent of the delegates from the upcoming primary contests. Regarding potential victory margins, Senator Clinton stated to a group of reporters: "I think a win is a win." Campaign Faithful Feud Outside Clinton Headquarters
Obama and Hillary supports are gathered outside the location of the Hillary Clinton headquarters in Philadelphia. They are shouting campaign slogans and waving signs at each other. Inside, people are milling around waiting for the results to come in. Women Turnout a Boost to Clinton
According to exit polls turnout among women was 16 points higher than among men. This has apparently given Clinton an edge, with 56 percent of women voting in her favor. Men favored Obama, breaking 53 percent in his favor. Pennsylvania Voters Have Fun at Polls
Even if the Pennsylvania primary doesn't decide the elections, at least Pennsylvania voters had a good time today. According to a philly.com poll, about two-thirds of readers felt the primary was "as exciting as [they] heard it would be." Around 17 percent called it a "big letdown," and the same number didn't much care, responding, "Primary? What primary?" Voters Face Few Obstacles at the Polls
Polling functioned smoothly, for the most part, in Pennsylvania today. However, a few hitches slipped through. By this afternoon, more than 500 voters had reported problems to the Philadelphia voter's rights group Committee of Seventy. Equipment malfunctions accounted for about 30 percent of the problems, with scattered reports of fake ballots and obstacles for people with disabilities. Several reports of electioneering - campaigning inside of polling places - also surfaced. Exit Polls Show a Tight Race
With polls closing, the networks are reporting that the results are "too close to call" based on exit polling. This result is not unexpected given the highly competitive nature of the contest in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, Hillary Camp Lowers Bar for Success
Philadelphia - Congressman Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania spoke to reporters at Hillary Clinton's headquarters in Philadelphia and said that he felt a five- to six-point win by Senator Clinton would be a big victory. When I pressed him on the number and asked what would change in a five- to six-point win as far as the delegate count, the Congressman said that after being outspent two-to-one in the state a six-point win would be a huge success. I pressed him further, repeating that it would not give her any significant gain in the popular vote or the delegate count. Sestak's answer was loftier to the follow-up. He was almost poetic in his response. "After all that Senator Clinton has been through, if she feels that there is a glimmer of hope, she should stay in the race. This race has allowed us for the first time to become the majority party in several Pennsylvania counties that have historically been Republican. People were calling for her to drop out before Texas, and Ohio, and look what happened. Now, a win here will show that she is overcoming the odds." Another reporter then pressed him on that answer by asking how she can be overcoming the odds when a few months ago she was the presumptive nominee. Congressman Sestak, a former Admiral who served in the White House during the Clinton Administration, responded by saying that he doesn't want to see Obama drop out either, drawing restrained laughter from the press gathered around him. Clinton Needs Record Margins, Turnout to Catch Obama
Monday 21 April 2008 To overtake Barack Obama in the nationwide popular vote, Hillary Clinton needs a bigger win in tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary than she has had in any major contest so far. And that's just for starters. After more than 40 Democratic primaries and caucuses, Obama, the Illinois senator, leads Clinton by more than 800,000 votes. Even if the New York senator wins by more than 20 percentage points tomorrow - a landslide few experts expect - she would still have a hard time catching him. Clinton needs "blowout numbers," says Peter Fenn, a Democratic consultant who isn't affiliated with either campaign. "The wheels would have to come off the Obama bus, and the engine would have to blow." Baiting Obama
Monday 21 April 2008 Bill Ayers is one of the more interesting people I've known, and I would love to discuss how, in the heat of the Vietnam War, he went from running a Summerhill school in Ann Arbor to bombing government buildings as a leader of the Weather Underground. I could even explain why I thought then - and still think - that Bill was wrong to do so. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a provocative theologian, whose heated rhetoric bears a striking similarity to some of the later speeches of another black preacher, the Rev. Martin Luther King. We could all learn from studying King's words, and those of the Reverend Wright, and decide for ourselves where we agree and disagree. White workers in the rust belt, whether bitter or offended, could similarly teach us a great deal, especially when political scoundrels such as Dick Cheney sing the praises of "Guns, Guts and Glory" as they send a disproportionate number of those hard-pressed workers, their sons and their daughters to fight and die for the freedom of Big Oil in Iraq. Candidates Hitting Hard in Final Push Monday 21 April 2008 State College, Pa. - Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama raced across Pennsylvania yesterday, sweet-talking voters even as they threw elbows, scrambling for any advantage two days before the state's Democratic primary. In some of the most pointed attacks of the campaign, the rivals unleashed TV ads accusing each other of being enthralled to the special interests they say they oppose. At a rally in Johnstown, Clinton jumped on a comment that Obama made earlier in Reading that Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain would be better than President Bush. Battle for PA: Bitter Voters, Republican Converts and Huge Turnouts for Both Campaigns Monday 21 April 2008 For a state that hasn't had a competitive presidential primary in decades, there is enormous voter interest in the Dem candidates. As Pennsylvania's Primary ended its final weekend of campaigning, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) refined his message of change by saying he was the only candidate who would end Washington's way of doing business, while Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) emphasized that she was better prepared to implement a Democratic agenda as president. The contrasting leadership styles played out against backdrop of intense public interest in an increasingly blue state that has not seen a competitive presidential primary in decades. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Sunday that there are 325,000 newly registered Democratic voters across the state - a figure equal to Pittsburgh's population - with 15 percent telling pollsters they are undecided. Both candidates brought thousands of people to each of their many events. List of McCain Fund-Raisers Includes Prominent Lobbyists Monday 21 April 2008 Senator John McCain has campaigned on curbing the influence of money in politics. But an examination by The New York Times of a list of 106 elite fund-raisers who have brought in more than $100,000 each for Mr. McCain found that about a sixth of them were lobbyists. The list of "bundlers" was released on Friday by the McCain campaign. The sizable number of lobbyists, who are outnumbered on the list only by those working in the financial services industry, offers another example of the balancing act that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is having to strike as he campaigns for the presidency and seeks to maintain his reputation as a reformer. The McCain campaign's disclosure on Friday of its top bundlers of contributions was part of its efforts to furnish a sense of financial transparency to the public, in keeping with Mr. McCain's past focus on overhauling campaign finance and his criticism of the influence of special interests in Washington. An Open Letter to Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos
Thursday 17 April 2008 Dear Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, It's hard to know where to begin with this, less than an hour after you signed off from your Democratic presidential debate here in my hometown of Philadelphia, a televised train wreck that my friend and colleague Greg Mitchell has already called, quite accurately, "a shameful night for the U.S. media." It's hard because - like many other Americans - I am still angry at what I just witnesses, so angry that it's hard to even type accurately because my hands are shaking. Look, I know that "media criticism" - especially when it's one journalist speaking to another - tends to be a genteel, colleagial thing, but there's no genteel way to say this. With your performance tonight - your focus on issues that were at best trivial wastes of valuable airtime and at worst restatements of right-wing falsehoods, punctuated by inane "issue" questions that in no way resembled the real world concerns of American voters - you disgraced my profession of journalism, and, by association, me and a lot of hard-working colleagues who do still try to ferret out the truth, rather than worry about who can give us the best deal on our capital gains taxes. But it's even worse than that. By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an important election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself. Indeed, if I were a citizen of one of those nations where America is seeking to "export democracy," and I had watched the debate, I probably would have said, "no thank you." Because that was no way to promote democracy. You implied throughout the broadcast that you wanted to reflect the concerns of voters in Pennsylvania. Well, I'm a Pennsylvanian voter, and so are my neighbors and most of my friends and co-workers. You asked virtually nothing that reflected our everyday issues - trying to fill our gas tanks and save for college at the same time, our crumbling bridges and inadequate mass transit, or the root causes of crime here in Philadelphia. In fact, there almost isn't enough space - and this is cyberspace, where room is unlimited - to list all the things you could have asked about but did not, from health care to climate change to alternative energy to our policy toward China to the deterioration of Afghanistan to veterans' benefits to improving education. You ignored virtually everything that just happened in what most historians agree is one of the worst presidencies in American history, including the condoning of torture and the trashing of the Constitution, although to be fair you also ignored the policy concerns of people on the right, like immigration issues. A Gotcha Debate ...
Wednesday 16 April 2008 We're into the 21st debate. We've been through fifteen months of this primary calendar or, as ABC's Charles Gibson put it in introducing what may well be the last....we're into "round 15." These boys love their sports metaphors. But tonight it's not those sports metaphors that have me throwing my Subway sandwich at the TV. It's the relentless stream of "gotcha" questions that ABC's top news commentators pose that have me angry, frustrated and, yes, bitter. Whether it's George Stephanopolous pushing Obama and Clinton to make a "No New Taxes" pledge .... (George-please reconnect with your inner self: the intelligent, humane guy who did good battle with Alan Greenspan and Bob Rubin in trying to stop them from putting profits before people) ... Or Gibson making the leap of equating electability with Obama's decision not to wear a flag pin? (Patriotism, as Obama explained, slowly, carefully, means ensuring that we take care of veterans who've served their country and done real patriotic duty.) These kinds of questions foreclose room for a full, real and honest debate about this country's future, and its politics and policies at home and abroad. Barack Obama put it well when he spoke of how the two anchors of this evening's debate (and so much of our elitist media and punditocracy) seem interested mainly in "manufactured issues" - Jeremiah Wright, dodging bullets in Tuzla, flag lapel pins and Bill Ayers - a major reason so many decent and generous Americans tune out this media. Obama Would Ask His AG to "Immediately Review" Potential of Crimes in Bush White House
Monday 14 April 2008 Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race - and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House. Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted - but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law." The question was inspired by a recent report by ABC News, confirmed by the Associated Press, that high-level officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and former Cabinet secretaries Colin Powell, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld, among others, met in the White House and discussed the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on terrorism suspects. Barack Obama Takes Aim at John McCain on Iraq
Monday 31 March 2008 Manheim, Pennsylvania - Democrat Barack Obama took aim on Monday at potential White House opponent John McCain on Iraq, saying the Republican senator could not offer a clear definition of success in the conflict and might leave, U.S. combat troops there for decades. Obama looked past Democratic rival Hillary Clinton before their showdown in Pennsylvania on April 22 and trained his fire on McCain, who has clinched the Republican nomination and will face the Democratic winner in November's election. Obama accused McCain of "clinging to the policies of the past." He said the Arizona senator shared a vision of Iraq with President George W. Bush and had not spelled out how the United States would be able to end its military involvement there. Dean Says Attacks Getting Too Personal
Friday 28 March 2008 Washington - Democratic Party chief Howard Dean says Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and their supporters should beware of tearing each other down, demoralizing the base and damaging the party's chances of winning the White House in November. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dean also said he hopes the Democratic nominee will be determined shortly after the voting ends in early June and that he will encourage the superdelegates who will play a role to make up their minds before the August convention in Denver. Dean said the charges and countercharges between Clinton and Obama have gotten too personal at times. He declined to say how they have crossed the line, but he said he's made it clear privately when it has happened. Clinton, Obama Supporters Wrangle Over Delegates Sunday 30 March 2008 The acrimony is evident at district conventions in Texas this weekend, with each side accusing the other of underhandedness. Houston - Less than a month ago, Texas Democrats turned out in huge numbers for the presidential nominating contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, confident that, no matter who won, the party would have a popular, well-financed candidate. But that exuberance is gone now. Across the state this weekend, tense confrontations - even shoving matches - erupted as partisans for Clinton and Obama battled over how to interpret the March 4 election results and how to choose delegates to the Texas Democratic convention. Kerry Urges Superdelegates to Pick Before July Sunday 30 March 2008 Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the last Democratic presidential candidate and a strong supporter of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), on Sunday urged his party's superdelegates to make their choice so that the winner of the primary can focus on beating presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the fall. Kerry expressed a strong belief that the battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) will "resolve itself," but he noted that time is a factor. "I think that the superdelegates ought to decide early. I would even say earlier than July," Kerry said on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. "As a former nominee, I will tell you, this time right now is critical to us." Clinton's Iraq Plan Makeover?
Tuesday 25 March 2008 With a revamped withdrawal proposal, Clinton is pressing Obama on military contractors and redeployment strategy. Yet the candidates' plans still hardly differ, and neither candidate would completely withdraw troops from Iraq. In a much-hyped speech at George Washington University last week, Sen. Hillary Clinton laid out her revised plan to "end the war in Iraq." However, aside from a vague commitment to halt the use of armed military contractors, her plan differs only slightly from Sen. Barack Obama's and from her previous proposals. Both candidates' plans would leave a substantial number of US troops in Iraq without a timetable for complete withdrawal. "I will ... work to remove armed private military contractors who are conducting combat-oriented and security functions in Iraq," Clinton said. "For five years their behavior and lack of supervision and accountability have often eroded our credibility, endangered US and Iraqi lives and undermined our mission.... I've already cosponsored the Stop Security Outsourcing Act requiring that security services for personnel at any US diplomatic or consular mission be provided only by federal government personnel." Mr. Obama's Profile in Courage Wednesday 19 March 2008 There are moments - increasingly rare in risk-abhorrent modern campaigns - when politicians are called upon to bare their fundamental beliefs. In the best of these moments, the speaker does not just salve the current political wound, but also illuminates larger, troubling issues that the nation is wrestling with. Inaugural addresses by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt come to mind, as does John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech on religion, with its enduring vision of the separation between church and state. Senator Barack Obama, who has not faced such tests of character this year, faced one on Tuesday. It is hard to imagine how he could have handled it better. Mr. Obama had to address race and religion, the two most toxic subjects in politics. He was as powerful and frank as Mitt Romney was weak and calculating earlier this year in his attempt to persuade the religious right that his Mormonism is Christian enough for them. "A More Perfect Union" Tuesday 18 March 2008 As prepared for delivery. "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. Ohio's Voting Machines Are Now an Official Crime Scene Monday 17 March 2008 At least 15 touch-screen voting machines that produced improbable numbers in Ohio's 2006 statewide election are now under double-lock in an official crime scene. And the phony "Homeland Security Alert" used by Republicans to build up George W. Bush's 2004 vote count in a key southwestern Ohio county has come under new scrutiny. The touch-screen machines were locked up after Ohio's new Democratic Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, tried to vote last fall. On November 6, she spotted a gray bar with the words "candidate withdrawn" in a slot where the name of Democrat Jay Perez should have appeared. Her husband, voting nearby, told her Perez's name did appear, as it was supposed to, on his machine. Perez had been a candidate in the race for Franklin County Municipal Judge. He withdrew his name after the county had finalized its ballots. But it now appears the ES&S machines left his name on some machines but not on others. Perez, a Democrat, wanted to avoid playing a spoiler in the race. But the appearance of his name on some machines may have helped Republican David Tyack win. Florida Democrats Won't Vote Again, Official Says Tuesday 18 March 2008 Washington - Florida's Democratic Party chairwoman on Monday officially buried the possibility of redoing the state's disputed January presidential primary, saying there was no practical or affordable way to conduct a new election. The chairwoman, Karen L. Thurman, essentially threw up her hands after failing to secure approval for a new election from state officials or the campaigns of Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. She said in a statement late Monday that party officials in Florida had proposed such a plan last week. It was unceremoniously shot down, she said. Many Voting for Clinton to Boost GOP Monday 17 March 2008 For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show. A sudden change of heart? Hardly. Since Senator John McCain effectively sewed up the GOP nomination last month, Republicans have begun participating in Democratic primaries specifically to vote for Clinton, a tactic that some voters and local Republican activists think will help their party in November. With every delegate important in the tight Democratic race, this trend could help shape the outcome if it continues in the remaining Democratic primaries open to all voters. Obama Wins Mississippi Primary Tuesday 11 March 2008 Senator Barack Obama beat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday in Mississippi's Democratic primary, the final contest before what promises to be a crucial showdown in Pennsylvania in six weeks. This would be Mr. Obama's second straight victory - he won the Wyoming caucuses over the weekend - enabling him to rebound from a trio of popular vote losses to Mrs. Clinton in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island. Mr. Obama's lead in Mississippi was built on a wave of support among blacks, who made up half those who turned out to vote Tuesday, according to surveys conducted by the television networks and The Associated Press of voters leaving polling places. The surveys found that roughly 90 percent of black voters supported Mr. Obama, but only a third of white voters supported him, suggesting a racially polarized electorate in the state. Democrats in Florida Are Near Plan for New Vote Wednesday 12 March 2008 Tallahassee, Fla. - Democratic Party officials here are close to completing a draft plan for a new mail-in primary that would take place by early June, a proposal that seeks to give Florida delegates a role in the party's presidential contest, several people involved in the discussions said Tuesday. A spokesman for Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat who has been pushing for a mail-in contest, said Mr. Nelson expected the Florida Democratic Party to finalize details of the complex plan as soon as Wednesday. The state party would most likely submit the proposal to Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, by week's end, said the spokesman, Dan McLaughlin. Mr. Nelson is a supporter of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. "Unless Howard Dean changes his mind and seats the Florida delegation as apportioned by the January primary," Mr. McLaughlin said, "this is the most fair and inclusive way to allow Floridians to have their voices heard." Obama: Ferraro's Comments "Divisive," Out of Place Tuesday 11 March 2008 Fairless Hills, Pa. - Sen. Barack Obama said today that any notion that his race has helped him in his campaign for president is "patently absurd." The Democratic candidate's comments follow remarks that Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1984, made in a recent interview published by a California newspaper. Ferraro, the first woman nominated to a presidential ticket by a major political party, suggested that the senator from Illinois wouldn't be where he is in his campaign today if Obama were a white man or a woman of any color. She told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: "He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro Defends Controversial Comments on Barack Obama Tuesday 11 March 2008 Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro today defended a remark she made to the Daily Breeze last week, in which she suggested that Sen. Barack Obama would not be where he is if he were white. In an interview with the Breeze, Ferraro said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." The comment was picked up by political blogs and cable news shows across the country. The Obama campaign held a conference call today to denounce the remark, and Obama surrogates urged Sen. Hillary Clinton to repudiate it. Obama Will Win Mississippi
Based on exit polls we are projecting that Barack Obama will win the Mississippi primary. 91 percent of African-Americans voted for Obama and they made up close to 70 percent of the vote. Clinton won 72 percent of the white vote. Exit Polls Showing Divided Party In past exit polls most Democrats said they would be happy with either Senators Obama or Clinton as the parties nominee. That is not the case in Mississippi. Only 16 percent of Clinton supporters said they would be satisfied if Obama won the nomination, while 42 percent of Obama's supporters would be satisfied with Clinton. This is not good news for the Democrats. In past polls over 80 percent would have been satisfied with either. Polls Closing In Mississippi
Between 125,000 and 150,000 voters were expected to cast ballots Tuesday, according to Pamela Weaver of the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office. While the number would represent a 25 to 50 percent increase in turnout from the 2004 primaries, Weaver still described the voting rate as light to moderate. 33 of the states 40 delegates are up for grabs. The state has a larger proportion of African-Americans (36 percent, according to the 2000 census) than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats. Those numbers appear to benefit Obama, who's overwhelmingly won the African-American vote so far this primary season. Democrats haven't won here in the general election since 1976. Results should be coming in shortly. Clinton or Obama? Mississippi's Time to Decide Tuesday 11 March 2008 Despite election fervor, moderate turnout expected. A close race between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama will draw more voters to the polls today than the last presidential primary, state officials predict. But voter turnout is still expected to be light to moderate in an election that also includes two open congressional seats and a U.S. Senate contest. Between 125,000 to 150,000 voters will cast ballots, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann predicted. He said 100,000 headed to the polls in the 2004 presidential primary that featured eight contenders for the Democratic nomination, including ultimate nominee Sen. John Kerry. Mississippi has 1.78 million registered voters. McCain Budget Numbers Don't Add Up, Experts Say Monday 10 March 2008 Washington - John McCain's reputation for "straight talk" has helped him clinch the U.S. Republican presidential nomination but budget experts say his numbers do not add up. McCain's promises to reduce wasteful spending if elected president in November would not begin to cover the costs of his proposed tax cuts, analysts say. He also has not yet explained how he would rein in the health-care and retirement costs expected to swamp the federal budget as some 77 million people retire from the U.S. work force in the coming decades. The Democrats' Problem With Democracy Monday 10 March 2008 If the Democrats fail to elect their presidential candidate and allow the "Super delegates" to select him/her in the smoke-filled back rooms at the convention in Denver, the Democrats could create a long-term problem with their base. This, along with the decision to disenfranchise the Democratic voters in Florida and Michigan, could prove to be the Democrats' problem with democracy. In order to understand why the super delegate issue could be a problem, it is important to understand why the rules were created in the first place. For that, you have to go back to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. 1968 was a very tumultuous year in American history and politics. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April and Sen. Robert Kennedy (D-New York) was assassinated in June. Protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War were at their height. These issues and others carried over into the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, resulting in violent protests as students and others struggled to have their voices heard by the Democratic Party leadership. As a result of these clashes, the Democratic Party modified its rules for future elections to make the committed delegate selection process of their presidential nominee more inclusive and Democratic. The process would reflect the votes and interests of women and minorities, and not necessarily the wishes of the party leadership. Well, democracy is not an exact science, and in 1972, following the new rules, the Democrats nominated Sen. George McGovern as their presidential candidate. As an anti-Vietnam war advocate and liberal, Senator McGovern was soundly beaten by incumbent President Richard Nixon. In 1976, the Democrats nominated Jimmy Carter and the country elected the relatively unknown governor, even though Carter was not the favorite of party leadership. Clinton Attacks on Obama May Boost McCain Monday 10 March 2008 Fresh from her victories in three out of four states last week and surging back in the national polls, Hillary Clinton has crafted a new strategy for winning the Democratic nomination that she believes will legitimise her claim to be president. Clinton thinks she can win a majority of the popular vote in primaries and caucuses, even if she cannot overtake Barack Obama, her rival, in the number of "pledged" delegates who will vote to choose the candidate at the Democratic national convention in August. The New York senator has unnerved Obama, who has been left reeling by a series of errors from senior policy advisers. The two opponents face an ugly six-week battle in the run-up to a potentially pivotal primary in Pennsylvania next month. Sniping by Her Aides Hurt Clinton's Image as Manager Monday 10 March 2008 Washington - The morning after Senator Barack Obama shook the Clinton campaign by winning five contests in one weekend, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's new campaign manager - Maggie Williams, who had taken over in a shake-up the night before - assembled the curious if demoralized staff. "You may not like the person next to you," Ms. Williams told dozens of aides who ringed the conference room at the campaign's Virginia headquarters last month, according to participants. "But you're going to respect them. And we're going to work together." Ms. Williams's demand was dismissed as wishful thinking by some in her weary audience. But in the view of many Clinton supporters, it accurately reflected the urgent need to overhaul a campaign that at that point had set itself apart for its level of disorder and dysfunction. 16,000 Republicans in Cuyahoga Crossed Over and Voted Democratic in Primary Sunday 09 March 2008 A staggering 16,000-plus Republicans in Cuyahoga County switched parties when they voted in last week's primary. That includes 931 in Rocky River, 1,027 in Westlake and 1,142 in Strongsville. More than a third of the Republicans in Solon and Bay Village switched. Pepper Pike had the most dramatic change: just under half its Republicans became Democrats. And some of those who changed - it's difficult to say how many - could be in trouble with the law. At least one member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections wants to investigate some Republicans who may have crossed party lines only to influence which Democrat would face presumed Republican nominee John McCain in November. Two Clinton Backers Offer a Way to Stage New Primaries Monday 10 March 2008 Two of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's biggest supporters, who are also two of the Democratic Party's most successful fund-raisers, have offered to help raise millions of dollars to stage new primaries in Florida and Michigan. Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey and Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania said Sunday that they would be willing to raise half the $30 million it would take to run new contests in those two states. Mr. Corzine and Mr. Rendell submitted their proposal to The Washington Post. The two governors argue that the Democratic National Committee, and not taxpayers in Florida and Michigan, should pay for a re-election in those states. Democrats Kick Around Mail Revote for Florida, Michigan Monday 10 March 2008 That's one option leaders are floating to resolve the dilemma over delegates the national party disqualified for breaking scheduling rules. Washington - Do-over Democratic primaries in Florida and Michigan drew new interest Sunday as party officials struggled to find a solution to a crisis that has taken on greater significance in the tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination. "This is a big - bigger issue than Florida and Michigan," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said on ABC's "This Week, with George Stephanopoulos" warning that a solution is needed to unite the party behind the Democratic presidential nominee - whether it's Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York or Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois - against the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. "The only thing that can beat us is that we're divided." To punish Florida and Michigan for violating party rules by moving their primary dates to January, ahead of the party's set schedule, the Democratic National Committee stripped the two states of their delegates to the party's nominating convention in August. But as the race between Clinton and Obama has tightened, Democrats from both states have stepped up efforts to ensure that the voters of Florida and Michigan - key states if Democrats hope to win the White House - get a role in choosing the Democratic nominee. Obama Will Win Wyoming
Saturday 08 March 2008 With 78 percent of the vote counted, Sen. Barack Obama holds a 59 percent to 40 percent lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton. Truthout is prepared to call the state for Barack Obama. The statewide results don't include the largest caucus in the state. 1,532 voters attended a caucus in Cheyenne. Obama got 944 votes to Clinton's 588. The results were just called in. Those results in addition to the statewide numbers are enough for us to project that Obama will win the state. Stay tuned to Truthout's Election '08 page for updated results. Obama Wins Big in Cheyenne
In the largest caucus in the State of Wyoming, 1,532 voters attended a caucus in Cheyenne. Obama received 944 votes to Clinton's 588. The results were just called in. Statewide, with 78 percent reporting, Obama leads 59 percent to 40 percent. No one has declared a winner, but it looks like Obama will win Wyoming by a large margin. Obama Has Big Lead in Wyoming
With 48 percent of the precincts reporting, Sen.Barack Obama leads Sen. Hillary Clinton 61 percent to 38 percent. Election officials in Wyoming are reporting record turnouts. One site in Cheyenne had to bring people into the room in shifts, and is now taking a lunch break while the votes are counted. There are only 12 delegates at stake, but more important than delegates will be momentum. Obama was expected to win, and is also expected to win in Mississippi on Tuesday. Confronting the Kitchen Sink Saturday 08 March 2008 The high anxiety in the Obama circles has thrown the campaign off its game. Samantha Power, one of Senator Barack Obama's senior foreign policy advisers, had to quit Friday after she lost her cool in an interview with a Scottish newspaper and called Senator Hillary Clinton a "monster." The campaign apologized for the flap. But Mr. Obama himself seems unsure of how to respond to the trash-and-thrash tactics that helped Senator Clinton defeat him in Ohio and Texas this week. Angry Boeing Supporters Target McCain Saturday 08 March 2008 Angry Boeing supporters are vowing revenge against Republican presidential candidate John McCain over Chicago-based Boeing's loss of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract to the parent company of European plane maker Airbus. There are other targets for their ire - the Air Force, the defense secretary and even the entire Bush administration. But Boeing supporters in Congress are directing their wrath at McCain, the Arizona senator and nominee in waiting, for scuttling an earlier deal that would have let Boeing build the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers. Boeing now will miss out on a deal that it says would have supported 44,000 new and existing jobs at the company and suppliers in 40 states. In Two Battlegrounds, Voters Say, Not Yet Wednesday 05 March 2008 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's victories in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday night not only shook off the vapors of impending defeat, but also showed that - in spite of his delegate lead - Senator Barack Obama was still losing to her in the big states. Those two states were the battlegrounds where Mr. Obama was going to bury the last opponent to his history-making nomination, finally delivering on his message of hope while dashing the hopes of a Clinton presidential dynasty. Yet then the excited, divided American electorate weighed in once more, throwing Mrs. Clinton the sort of political lifeline that New Hampshire did in early January after her third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. Clinton Defeats Obama in Ohio Primary; McCain Clinches Race as Foe Concedes Wednesday 05 March 2008 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in the Ohio and Texas primaries on Tuesday, ending a string of defeats and allowing her to soldier on in a Democratic presidential nomination race that now seems unlikely to end any time soon. Mrs. Clinton also won Rhode Island, while Mr. Obama won in Vermont. But the results mean that Mrs. Clinton won the two states she most needed to keep her candidacy alive. Her victory in Texas was razor thin and came early Wednesday morning after most Americans had gone to bed. But by winning decisively in Ohio earlier in the night, Mrs. Clinton was able to deliver a televised victory speech in time for the late-night news. And the result there allowed her to cast Tuesday as the beginning of a comeback even though she stood a good chance of gaining no ground against Mr. Obama in the hunt for delegates. "No candidate in recent history - Democratic or Republican - has won the White House without winning the Ohio primary," Mrs. Clinton, of New York, said at a rally in Columbus, Ohio. "We all know that if we want a Democratic president, we need a Democratic nominee who can win Democratic states just like Ohio." McCain Clinches GOP Presidential Nomination Wednesday 05 March 2008 Huckabee drops out as Senator wins four primaries. Sen. John McCain clinched the Republican presidential nomination last night, and immediately castigated his potential Democratic rivals as liberals who lack the experience and wisdom to lead a country facing economic distress at home and engaged in war abroad. The senator from Arizona easily won primaries in Texas and three other states, becoming the new face of the Republican Party and, at last, capturing the prize that had eluded him for a decade. The victories ended one of the great tests of political endurance for a man whose personal mettle was forged by five years in a North Vietnamese prison. His political ambitions were dashed in 2000 by George W. Bush and again seemed to end last summer amid staff infighting and financial chaos. But McCain soldiered on, emerging last night as the far-from-universal choice of a fractured Republican Party. His remaining rival, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, captured about a third of the vote in Texas, signaling the frustrations that conservatives still feel about McCain. Sour Notes on Social Security Tuesday 04 March 2008 Like an "American Idol" reject, John McCain keeps warbling George W. Bush's greatest flops. The latest is Social Security privatization, a proposal so roundly rejected by the American people when Bush tried to foist it on the nation in 2005 that even a solidly Republican and sycophant Congress couldn't swallow it. But the Arizona Republican senator can't let it go. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week, McCain said that he would, if president, seek to implement "private savings accounts ... along the lines that President Bush proposed." Ballot Shortages Plague Ohio Election Amid Unusually Heavy Primary Turnout Wednesday 05 March 2008 A federal judge in Ohio granted a request late Tuesday from Senator Barack Obama's campaign to extend the voting hours in 21 precincts in Cleveland by an extra 90 minutes because of a lack of paper ballots. But because the order arrived after the polls had already closed, election officials were only able to reopen 10 polling stations, according to the Ohio secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner. That resulted in five additional votes being cast, Ms. Brunner said. After a recent state review of touch-screen machines that raised concern about them, paper ballots were made available at all precincts for those voters who wanted to use them. Many more voters took advantage of the option than officials had predicted. The shortages of ballots were also caused by an unusually heavy turnout, officials said. Big Night for Clinton
San Antonio, Texas - MSNBC is projecting that Hillary Clinton will win Texas. This is third big victory of the night for Clinton. The results will send the campaign for the Democratic nomination on to Pennsylvania in seven weeks. While she won the popular vote tonight, it is still unclear who will win the most delegates. The complicated Texas system favors Obama, he may come out of tonight with a bigger delegate lead than when the night began. Early returns in the caucus portion of the Texas two-step are favoring Obama. The next contest is Wyoming on Saturday, followed by Mississippi next Tuesday. With only 12 contests left, Obama can't get the 2,025 delegates needed to win, but Senator Clinton can not catch Obama in pledged delegates. It is looking more and more like a solution on what to do with Florida and Michigan must be worked out, or the race will be decided by the super delegates. Texas: What to Watch
San Antonio, Texas - In Texas, the counties where Houston, Dallas, Austin and El Paso are located still need to report. Interesting exit poll numbers show nearly 33 percent of the vote in Texas came from Independents and Republicans. Obama did win these groups, but by much less than he did in other states. I spoke to several voters who reported that Republicans were crossing over to vote for Hillary Clinton to help John McCain, as Rush Limbaugh suggested yesterday. Karen, from Dripping Springs, Texas, told me she was very excited to see a long line on the Democratic side and almost nobody on the Republican side. Karen said she was talking to her friend about how excited she was to see so many Democrats in her heavily Republican district. Many people in the lined turned to her and told her that they were not Democrats, but Republicans voting for "Hillary" to help John McCain. There is no way to know if this has had an effect. Obama is speaking right now. We will not know the results for several hours. We will update in the morning with results from Texas. Senator Clinton Projected the Winner in Ohio
San Antonio, Texas - MSNBC has projected that Hillary Clinton will win in Ohio. With 55 percent of the precincts reporting, Clinton had a 58 percent to 40 percent lead. This is a substantial win for Senator Clinton, who is expected to take the stage in Columbus any moment. The margin of victory is substantial, but the question remains: If she doesn't win in Texas will she go on to Pennsylvania? Clinton Projected Winner in Rhode Island
San Antonio, Texas - MSNBC has projected that Sen. Hillary Clinton will win Rhode Island. With 14 percent reporting, Senator Clinton leads 56 percent to 42 percent. This was not a surprise, although the current margin is higher than recent polls showed. Ohio and Texas are too close to call. Clinton holds a 20 percent lead in Ohio, with 18 percent reporting. Texas is much closer, with only 6 percent reporting Obama leads 51 percent to 47 percent. Huckabee Drops Out of Presidential Race
San Antonio, Texas - Mike Huckabee dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination tonight after John McCain swept all four of today's contests. Huckabee's speech was conciliatory, and he congratulated McCain and pledged to support him in November. McCain will also receive the endorsement of President Bush tomorrow in a ceremony in the Rose Garden. Bush called McCain "the future of the Republican Party" in a statement to the press. Clinton Campaign Alleging Voter Intimidation in Texas
San Antonio, Texas - The Clinton campaign is alleging that Clinton supporters are being locked out of caucuses. A heated debate took place between an Obama campaign lawyer, Bob Bauer, who called in to a Clinton campaign conference call. Bauer is alleging that this is just another case of the Clinton campaign complaining about the caucus process. Attorneys for the Clinton campaign are alleging that Obama's supporters took control of precinct packets before the caucuses began. The packets were not supposed to be disseminated until there was a vote on who should chair the meeting. They say that it happened in Houston at two precincts. In Harris County, they allege doors were locked early at five caucus locations. They would not commit to filing a lawsuit or challenging tonight's results. Howard Wolfson made the allegations, he is the communications director for the Clinton campaign. John McCain Projected Winner in Ohio
San Antonio, Texas - Based on exit polls, MSNBC has projected Sen. John McCain the winner on the Republican side in Ohio. Based on the exit polls also, they are the calling the Democratic race too close to call. Exit polls in Ohio are not sending any signals as to how the state will go. 90 percent think Clinton is the most experienced and ready to become president, but 75 percent think Obama is better equipped to bring change. 52 percent of the voters in both Texas and Ohio felt that Senator Clinton's attacks on Obama were unfair. The Secretary of State in Ohio has ordered the polls in Sandusky County to stay open until 9 pm eastern. Obama and McCain Projected Winners in Vermont
San Antonio, Texas - MSNBC has projected that Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have won the Vermont primary. No surprise here, remember that on the Democratic side 64 percent is the magic number. This is 12 wins in a row for Obama. Polls close in Ohio at 7:30 pm Eastern. What to Watch for Tonight
San Antonio, Texas - The polls close in Vermont at 7 pm eastern. The magic number is 64 percent. Vermont is not going to be close, even the Clinton campaign acknowledges that Obama will win Vermont. If he gets 64 percent of the vote he will get a 10-5 split in delegates. Polls close in Ohio at 7:30 pm. As the results come in, keep an eye on Cleveland and Cincinnati for Obama, Southern Ohio and Youngstown for Clinton. Columbus, Toledo and Dayton are the swing areas. If Clinton does well in Cleveland and Cincinnati, it will be a long night for Obama. If Obama does well in Southern Ohio and Youngstown, it will be a long night for Clinton. Rhode Island and Texas close at 9 pm eastern, I'll preview those races later on tonight. Blame in Canada Monday 03 March 2008 Ottawa - It's not at all unusual for Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, and the members of his cabinet to be grilled by the opposition parties in Parliament. It isn't common, however for the partisan bickering here to be focused on the Democratic primary in the United States. On Monday, the fighting over a report that a senior campaign official to Barack Obama had provided back-channel reassurances to the Canadian government on the North American Free Trade Agreement, erupted in Parliament as Mr. Harper fended off allegations that he was interfering in the U.S. elections and trying to undermine Mr. Obama's campaign. The mix of the two countries' politics was prompted by the leak of a memo from Canada's consulate general in Chicago to the Associated Press. Diplomats there had met with Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who is Mr. Obama's senior economic policy adviser. NAFTA, which is as contentious among some Canadians as it with some Americans, was on the agenda. Canada Defends Obama Over NAFTA Flap Monday 03 March 2008 Ottawa - Canada defended Democratic front-runner Barack Obama Monday over accusations from rival Hillary Clinton that he is secretly at ease with a hemispheric trade accord which he publicly blames for losing U.S. jobs. Clinton's criticism, on the eve of make-or-break presidential nomination contests for her in Ohio and Texas, stemmed from a report by Canadian television station CTV that an Obama economic adviser told Canadian officials the candidate was not seriously considering disrupting the trade accord. But the Canadian Embassy in Washington released a statement essentially backing up the Obama camp's version of the meeting between adviser Austan Goolsbee and officials at the Canadian consulate in Chicago. Record Turnout Expected in Ohio Primary Tuesday 04 March 2008 Despite bad weather, early voting suggests numbers will be at general election levels. Turnout in Ohio's 2008 primary on Tuesday, March 4, is almost certain to set a record and could approach what is normally seen in a fall general election, according to a spokesman for the Franklin County Board of Elections. By early evening Monday, the number of early voters in Franklin County, Ohio, where Columbus, the state capital, is located, included 80,000 absentee ballots and nearly 5,000 people who came to the board of election office in Columbus to cast ballots, said Ben Piscatelli, spokesman for the Franklin County BOE. In the November 2006 election, the county had 93,000 absentee ballots. Lobbyist to Run McCain's Hill Effort Tuesday 04 March 2008 Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has engaged a leading GOP lobbyist to coordinate his message and travel schedule with congressional Republicans - the most concrete sign yet that the biggest battleground in the 2008 presidential race may not be Pennsylvania or Ohio or Florida's I-4 corridor but rather the floor of the United States Senate. John Green, a founding partner of what is now Ogilvy Government Relations, will soon take a leave of absence from that firm to work as a full-time liaison between McCain's presidential campaign and Republicans in the House and the Senate, according to GOP aides on Capitol Hill and McCain surrogates downtown. Green, a Mississippi native, has strong ties in the Senate after his years of work for former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), a vocal McCain supporter who left Congress late last year to set up his own lobbying shop. Green is part of a small cadre of lobbyists who have met regularly to help build support for McCain on Capitol Hill. The group, which includes fellow Ogilvy partner Wayne Berman, has been helping the senator secure congressional endorsements in recent weeks to ensure he solidifies his status as the GOP front-runner. Democrats Expect No Knockouts Tuesday 04 March 2008 Austin - The monthlong political fight in Texas and Ohio concludes in today's primaries, but the campaigns of U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama signaled Monday that neither expects a knockout punch for the Democratic presidential nomination. The expectations were lowered because the polls in Texas and Ohio showed the race was too close to call. Plus, the complex system of Texas delegates being chosen by both popular vote and through caucuses makes it possible for the popular vote winner to come up short in delegates. Democratic Rivals Clash Before Pivotal Primaries Tuesday 04 March 2008 Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama battled over national security and trade in a frantic burst of last-minute campaigning on Monday as Mrs. Clinton accused Mr. Obama of deception and new evidence of discord surfaced within her own camp. With less than 24 hours to go before voting in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island, Mrs. Clinton's campaign released a television advertisement accusing Mr. Obama of being AWOL from his chairmanship of a Senate oversight committee on the forces fighting in Afghanistan. "He was too busy running for president to hold even one hearing," it said. Mr. Obama's campaign, counterpunching, said Mrs. Clinton had herself missed important hearings on Afghanistan before the Senate Armed Services Committee last month. Obama Adviser Denies Trade Remarks Monday 03 March 2008 San Antonio, Texas - Barack Obama's senior economic policy adviser said Sunday that Canadian government officials wrote an inaccurate portrayal of his private discussion on the campaign's trade policy in a memo obtained by The Associated Press. The memo is the first documentation to emerge publicly out of the meeting between the adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago, but Goolsbee said it misinterprets what he told them. The memo was written by Joseph DeMora, who works for the consulate and attended the meeting. Goolsbee disputed a section that read: "Noting anxiety among many U.S. domestic audiences about the U.S. economic outlook, Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign. He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans." Clinton Campaign: Obama Must Win All States on March 4 Monday 03 March 2008 Austin, Texas - Huh? That's what they are saying, talk about lowering expectations. For almost a month the Clinton Campaign has been pointing to March 4th as their "firewall". They pretty much wrote off their chances of winning any of the last 11 contests, citing built in advantages for Obama. As March 4th nears we are starting to hear the same excuses from the Clinton Campaign. In a memo sent to the media the Clinton Campaign said the same thing they have been saying for a month, "we were out spent two to one". Someone needs to tell Mark Penn, and Howard Wolfson that excuses only works a couple of times, not 15 times in a row. The being outspent and doing better than expected argument is best for a candidate who isn't well heeled. Three Months ago Senator Clinton was the "inevitable" nominee and had the best funding. So to be outspent is a sign of weakness for her. In Ohio, Tense Race Hinges on Grass-Roots Organizers Monday 03 March 2008 Cleveland - The callers, volunteers at a Clinton campaign field office here, had some exciting news last week for the randomly dialed Democrats on the other end of the line. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was appearing at a high school in Toledo the next day, and there was still plenty of room for cheering spectators. But after 30 minutes of cold-calling, the volunteers, a mix of soft-spoken professionals and grizzled unionists, were beginning to wilt from the rejections. "Oh really?" one woman at the phone bank was overheard saying again and again. "Even though he's only been in the Senate three years? Well I'm sorry you feel that way." In a Crucial State, a Contentious Debate Wednesday 27 February 2008 Clinton and Obama clash over tactics in Ohio showdown. Cleveland - In their final debate before critical primaries in Ohio and Texas, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton clashed sharply on familiar ground, arguing Tuesday night over who has the better health-care plan, who has been right about Iraq and who would move most aggressively to rethink trade policy as president. In contrast to their debate five days ago in Texas, Clinton and Obama butted heads from the opening moments, starting with a clash over whether the senator from Illinois had mischaracterized her plan for universal health care in his campaign mailings, and continuing throughout the 90-minute session. "We should have a good debate that uses accurate information, not false, misleading and discredited information, especially on something as important as whether or not we will achieve quality, affordable health care for everyone," said Clinton (N.Y.). Pieces of Texas Turn Primary Into a Puzzle Tuesday 26 February 2008 Crawford, Texas - When Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton issued her gunslinger's invitation to Senator Barack Obama recently, challenging him to "meet me in Texas," the question many people here asked was, Which one? The frontier-conservative Texas of Amarillo, in the Panhandle, where former President Bill Clinton stumped for his wife this month, sharing the civic center with the annual gun show? The vast, immigrant-heavy Texas of Houston, where more than 100 languages are spoken in the city's schools? Maybe the one of East Texas, with its Deep South ethos, a region one Democratic consultant described as being more like Mississippi than Texas? Or the profoundly unpredictable one found here, in the central part of the state, among the most heavily Republican areas in the country (and home to President Bush's ranch), yet represented in Congress by Chet Edwards, a well-liked Democrat who recently endorsed Mr. Obama? McCain Says He Could Lose Over War Issue Monday 25 February 2008 Rocky River, Ohio - John McCain said Monday that to win the White House he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can't, "then I lose. I lose," the Republican said. He quickly backed off that remark. "Let me not put it that stark," the likely GOP nominee told reporters on his campaign bus. "Let me just put it this way: Americans will judge my candidacy first and foremost on how they believe I can lead the country both from our economy and for national security. Obviously, Iraq will play a role in their judgment of my ability to handle national security." McCain Retracts Comment He Could Lose on Iraq Monday 25 February 2008 Republican presidential front-runner John McCain on Monday retracted his earlier statement he would lose the November election if he did not convince Americans they were winning the war in Iraq. "I don't mean that I'll, quote, lose," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus. "I mean that it's an important issue in the judgment of the American voters." "It's not often I retract a comment," said the likely Republican nominee. Is That Your Final Question? Tuesday 26 February 2008 Tonight, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will debate in Ohio. It will be the 20th debate, and possibly the last, of the Democratic presidential campaign. Is there anything left to ask? The Op-Ed page asked five experts to pose the questions that they feel have not been answered over the course of more than a year of campaigning. Here's what they would ask the candidates if they were moderating tonight's debate.
Obama's Line on Lobbyists Is Misleading Friday 15 February 2008 Obama claims that he doesn't take money from lobbyists. The truth is, he is as beholden to special interest groups as all of the other candidates. Saturday night at a Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Richmond, Virginia, Barack Obama did it again. He said he hadn't taken money from lobbyists. The election, he said, was boiling down to "a choice between debating John McCain about lobbying reform with a nominee who's taken more money from lobbyists than he has, [presumably Hillary Clinton] or doing it with a campaign that hasn't taken a dime of their money because we've been funded by you the American people." That he does not take money from lobbyists or from political action committees (PACs) is a point Obama often makes on the campaign trail, and his no-dirty-money rhetoric has positioned him as the candidate brave enough to shun business as usual in Washington. In November in Iowa, he said corporate lobbyists "have not funded my campaign." And in December he said in a New Hampshire Public Radio program, "I intend to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over, that they had not funded my campaigns ... " His message of financial purity is catching on. For just one recent example, a student writing in The Daily Evergreen, the student newspaper at Washington State University, told his readers last week that Obama has been careful not to compromise himself, "rejecting campaign support from Political Action Committees and lobbyists." The word "lobbyist" seems to have a particular meaning in Obama's campaign vocabulary. His stump speeches imply that he is not taking money from people who want things from the government and push for them. The reality is that he has. To explain: Opensecrets.org, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, is the most authoritative source on campaign finances. Basing its reports on data from the Federal Election Commission, the Center shows that Obama indeed doesn't take much money from a sector the Center calls "lobbyists." Through the end of December, Clinton received more than $800,000 and McCain around $400,000 from this group, which the Center says includes people who work for lobbying firms at the local, state, and federal level and their relatives who are not otherwise employed, as well as those who are officially registered as Washington lobbyists. Obama received contributions of about just $86,000 from this group. Obama's Web site says he doesn't take money from Washington lobbyists or political action committees, and the Center says that if his campaign finds that the money came from registered Washington lobbyists, it does get returned. Ohio Back in the Spotlight Monday 25 February 2008 In 2004, Kenneth Blackwell, long lines and accusations of problems with voting machines dominated the headlines. Ohio and Florida were the battleground states everyone pointed to as the bellwethers in the race between Kerry and Bush. In 2008, both states are back in the spotlight. Florida would rather not be; they broke the rules and had their delegates stripped, but Ohio is in the position every state wants. They are in a position to decide if the race for the Democratic Party nomination should continue, or if it's time to crown the nominee. If Ohio and Texas give Sen. Hillary Clinton wins by substantial margins, the race goes on, but if the margins are close or Sen. Barack Obama wins one of the states, he will be the Democratic Party nominee. Obama Hits Clinton on NAFTA Support Sunday 24 February 2008 Barack Obama accused Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday of trying to walk away from a long record of support for NAFTA, the free trade agreement that he said has cost 50,000 jobs in Ohio, site of next week's primary. At the same time, he said attempts to repeal the trade deal "would probably result in more job losses than job gains in the United States." One day after Clinton angrily accused him of distorting her record on the North American Free Trade Agreement in mass mailings, the Illinois senator was eager to rekindle the long-distance debate, using passages from the former first lady's book as well as her own words. Obama Slams Smear Photo Monday 25 February 2008 Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the Clinton campaign Monday of "shameful offensive fear-mongering" by circulating a photo as an attempted smear. Plouffe was reacting to a banner headline on the Drudge Report saying that aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) had e-mailed a photo calling attention to the African roots of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat front-runner dressed as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya," the Drudge Report said. The photo created huge buzz in political circles and immediately became known as "the 'dressed' photo," reflecting the Drudge terminology. Edwards Joins Obama Supporters in New Antiwar Effort Monday 25 February 2008 Former presidential candidate John Edwards (D-N.C.), whose endorsement is sought by Democratic presidential rivals Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), will join several groups that have endorsed Obama in a new effort to end the Iraq war. Edwards will appear on a Monday morning conference call with officials from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and MoveOn.org, which have both endorsed Obama. Edwards has yet to make an endorsement since he left the presidential race in January after placing third in several early primaries. Edwards, his wife, Elizabeth, and other members of the effort will announce a "multimillion dollar" effort called the Iraq/Recession Campaign that aims to highlight the ongoing cost of the Iraq war, according to a press release. The group is attempting to tie the Iraq war to fears that the U.S. is entering a recession. For Hispanics in South Texas, the Choice Is Tough Monday 25 February 2008 San Antonio - As recently as two weeks ago, Rudy Davila III, a pharmacist, was part of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's political firewall, the bloc of Hispanic voters from here to the border with Mexico whom she counted on to keep her presidential campaign from collapse. But the firewall is showing signs of cracking. The Davila family has been doing business in this overwhelmingly Mexican-American city for more than 100 years, beginning with a corner grocery that in four generations has become a $16 million medical supply company. The same neighborhoods that propelled the Davilas' business gave rise to powerful Mexican-American civil rights organizations, whose leaders built a following that has largely remained loyal to the Democratic Party. It was loyalty to Mrs. Clinton that initially motivated Mr. Davila to support her candidacy. He said that not only had his family's business prospered during Bill Clinton's time in the White House, but that he also saw improvements across the city's impoverished West side. They're Republican Red, and True Blue to Obama Monday 25 February 2008 GOP renegades seeking a candidate capable of ending the Washington partisanship are surfacing in the senator's campaign in surprising numbers. "Obamicans," he calls them. Delaware, Ohio - Chatter bounces off the bare walls and checkered linoleum floor as Josh Pedaline and other Barack Obama supporters burn through their call sheets. A map of Delaware County splays across a tabletop. Another table is laden with cookies, pretzels and other snacks. Volunteers sit elbow to elbow, pecking at cellphones and pitching the Illinois Democrat in advance of Ohio's March 4 primary. The scene is a typical campaign boiler room. Except that four of the 13 dialing away are lifelong Republicans, including Pedaline, 28, who reveres Ronald Reagan and twice voted for President Bush. Wisconsin and Hawaii Hand Victories to Obama Wednesday 20 February 2008 Senator Barack Obama decisively beat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary and the Hawaii caucuses on Tuesday night, accelerating his momentum ahead of crucial primaries in Ohio and Texas and cutting into Mrs. Clinton's support among women and union members. With the two rivals now battling state by state over margins of victory and allotment of delegates, surveys of voters leaving the Wisconsin polls showed Mr. Obama, of Illinois, making new inroads with those two groups as well as middle-age voters and continuing to win support from white men and younger voters - a performance that yielded grim tidings for Mrs. Clinton, of New York. On the Republican side, Senator John McCain of Arizona won a commanding victory over Mike Huckabee in the Wisconsin contest and led by a wide margin in Washington State. All but assured of his party's nomination, Mr. McCain immediately went after Mr. Obama during a rally in Ohio, deriding "eloquent but empty" calls for change. Wisconsin Democratic Primary Results Candidate Votes Percent of Votes Barack Obama 263,973 58.1
Tuesday 19 February 2008 | 99% reporting | Updated 10:40 PM EST Wisconsin Republican Primary Results Candidate Votes Percent of Votes John McCain 99,836 54.0
Tuesday 19 February 2008 | 48% reporting | Updated 10:40 PM EST Wisconsin Governor Addresses Supporters
Madison, Wisconsin - As Barack Obama spoke in Houston, Texas, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle spoke to a packed house at the Great Dane Brewery in Madison. Doyle said that Obama swept the board in the state, winning almost every demographic group. The Wisconsin governor, and endorser of Senator Obama, challenged the crowd to get ready to roll up their sleeves and work to get Obama elected in November. He said that Wisconsin will be a battleground state and that they need to get in gear quickly to deliver the state for Obama. The caucuses begin in 45 minutes in Hawaii, the state where Obama grew up. It is expected to be his 10th consecutive victory. NBC and CNN Project Obama Will Win Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin - Based on exit polls, NBC and CNN are projecting that Obama will win the Wisconsin Primary. A loud roar came up at the Great Dane Brewing Company in Madison. Hundreds of Obama supporters are gathered here in what they are billing as a result watch party. Senator Obama is in Texas and should speak from there within the hour. The exit polls showed a big night for Obama. Voters who decided in the last week went to Obama. The exit polls showed that he won among voters who thought the economy was the most important issue. He also won big on questions of electability and who would best unite the country. The fact that the late deciders went his way is an indication that the voters of Wisconsin were not affected by allegations that Obama plagiarized a portion of one of his speeches, and refused to debate Clinton in Wisconsin. CNN Projects McCain Winner in Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin - Right after the polls closed, CNN projected Sen. John McCain the winner in Wisconsin. They said that conservatives split 50-50 in the race. On the Democratic side, CNN is not willing to call the race yet, but said that their exit polls show Barack Obama in the lead. High Voter Turnout Expected In Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin - The polls will be closing in Wisconsin in about 15 minutes and voter turnout is expected to be very high. At one polling place in Downtown Madison, poll workers estimated that 80 percent of the voters were voting for the first time at their precinct. In a very unscientific poll, I asked 50 voters over a one hour period who they voted for and when they made up their mind. Most of the voters at this precinct were college students and they went heavily for Senator Obama. Very few voters made up their mind in the last few days. Obama won among women 60 percent to 40 percent, and took 90 percent of the male vote. There were no African-Americans or Latinos at this location. The race has tightened here over the past week - it may be a while before a winner can be called. Voters in Hawaii will begin their caucuses at 11 PM Eastern. The Grand Old White Party Confronts Obama Sunday 17 February 2008 The curse continues. Regardless of party, it's hara-kiri for a politician to step into the shadow of even a mediocre speech by Barack Obama. Senator Obama's televised victory oration celebrating his Chesapeake primary trifecta on Tuesday night was a mechanical rehash. No matter. When the networks cut from the 17,000-plus Obama fans cheering at a Wisconsin arena to John McCain's victory tableau before a few hundred spectators in the Old Town district of Alexandria, Va., it was a rerun of what happened to Hillary Clinton the night she lost Iowa. Senator McCain, backed by a collection of sallow-faced old Beltway pols, played the past to Mr. Obama's here and now. Mr. McCain looked like a loser even though he, unlike Senator Clinton, had actually won. But he has it even worse than Mrs. Clinton. What distinguished his posse from Mr. Obama's throng was not just its age but its demographic monotony: all white and nearly all male. Such has been the inescapable Republican brand throughout this campaign, ever since David Letterman memorably pegged its lineup of presidential contenders last spring as "guys waiting to tee off at a restricted country club." New Hampshire Redux? Tuesday 19 February 2008 Madison, Wisconsin - On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, a Hillary Clinton rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, was diverse in age with many young supporters. Events in Iowa and South Carolina lacked young voters who flocked to Obama. On the eve of the Wisconsin primary, the crowd filling the Monona Terrace in Madison was diverse in age with lots of vocal young Clinton supporters. They were not just there to see a celebrity, they were there to support Hillary Clinton. Once again, the polls and pundits expect Obama to win, but Obama's lead in the polls has vanished and one poll now has Clinton in the lead. Both sides spent time in Wisconsin today. They actually shadowed each other. Chelsea went to Beloit College in the afternoon, while Michelle Obama was in Madison. Barack Obama spent the night at Beloit College, while Hillary Clinton was in Madison. Democrats Make Populist Appeals Before Contests Tuesday 19 February 2008 Wausau, Wis. - Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama intensified their populist appeals on Monday, responding to widespread economic anxiety and pushing the Democratic Party further from the business-friendly posture once championed by Bill Clinton. Mrs. Clinton, speaking on the eve of the Wisconsin primary but looking forward to primaries in Ohio and Texas on March 4, issued a 12-page compendium of her economic policies that emphasizes programs aiding families stressed by high oil prices, home foreclosures, costly student loans and soaring health care premiums. In public appearances here and in her economic booklet, she took aim at hedge fund managers, oil company profits, drug company subsidies and trade agreements that she says encourage companies to export jobs. McCain Picks Up Elder Bush Support Monday 18 February 2008 Houston - John McCain picked up former President George H.W. Bush's support on Monday, a critical blessing by a pillar of the Republican establishment whose members aren't completely sold on the party's next standard-bearer. "Few men walking among us have sacrificed so much in the cause of human freedom. And I'm happy to help this remarkable patriot carry our party banner forward," Bush said, standing alongside the GOP's nominee-in-waiting in an airport hangar. In endorsing McCain, the patriarch of the Republican political dynasty sent a strong message to a party base wary of the Arizona senator because of his reputa |
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