Friday, May 16, 2008

An Ohio-based group of Democratic Hillary Clinton supporters say they’ll work actively against Sen. Barack Obama if he becomes the nominee, arguing that Clinton has been the subject of “intense sexism” by party leaders and the media.

Organizers Cynthia Ruccia, 55, and Jamie Dixey, 57, both from the Columbus area, say they’re coordinating women, men, minorities, union members and others in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan – all important swing states next November – to impress upon Democratic party leaders what they think has been outright discrimination – and not of the racial kind.

According to Ms. Ruccia:

“We have been vigilant against expressions of racism, and we are thrilled that the society has advanced that way” in accepting Obama as a serious candidate. But it’s been open season on women, and we feel we need to stand up and make a statement about that, because it’s wrong. We’re being told to sit down, shut up, and get with the program.”

If Ms. Ruccia would stop feeling for a moment and begin thinking, she might be able to grasp a simple concept about all political races: there’s a winner and there’s a loser. Obama is the winner and Clinton is the loser. With supporters like this, is it any wonder Hillary Clinton finds herself in second place?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The California State Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that gay and lesbian couples have a right to marry and furthermore, stated the ban passed by California voters in 2000 was unconstitutional.

In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the “fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship.” The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.

“The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples,” Chief Justice Ronald George wrote in the majority opinion.

Allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry “will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage,” George said.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama collected the support of four of John Edwards‘ Democratic National Convention delegates on Thursday, then gained the backing of four superdelegates and a large labor union as he marched steadily toward the party’s presidential nomination.

Obama’s overall delegate total has climbed to 1,895 compared to 1,718 for his rival Hillary Clinton. It takes 2,025 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.

Edwards, who bestowed his long-sought endorsement on Obama on Wednesday, won 19 delegates before departing the presidential race in January.

Within hours, Obama picked up the backing of three of them from South Carolina and one in New Hampshire. In addition, three superdelegates — Reps. James McDermott of Washington, and Henry Waxman and Howard Berman of California endorsed Obama.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

It looks like the GOP really hates John McCain.

In fact, some of the comments coming from his GOP colleagues suggest they’re as worried about a McCain presidency as the rest of us. Take this assessment of McCain’s character from Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS):

“The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

Ouch.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama for president tonight at 6:30p.m. at a rally in Michigan.

Could we also be seeing the launch of Obama’s choice for vice president? This would be a genuine Dream Ticket for millions of Democrats and an end to the nonsense speculation of Hillary Clinton joining Obama.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Barack Obama has won the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice America, a leading abortion rights advocacy organization.

The organization announced the endorsement today:

“Today, we are proud to put our organization’s grass-roots and political support behind the pro-choice candidate whom we believe will secure the Democratic nomination and advance to the general election. That candidate is Senator Obama.”

In February, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was busted for sponsoring robo-calls that erroneously claimed Barack Obama did not support a woman’s right of choice.

NARAL said the board decided to back Obama over Clinton because he is overwhelmingly favored to win the nomination and to heal what the organization viewed as a growing rift between black voters and white female activists that the protracted Clinton-Obama contest may have caused.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

In this revealing Washington Post article, a disturbing pattern of racism is shown to still inform the views of many American voters. Sadly, these are the “hard working white people” who make up Hillary Clinton’s base of support.

From the Washington Post:

The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert Kennedy, said she, too, came across “a lot of racism” when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: “White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people.”

A Clinton volunteer said, “He’s a half-breed and he’s a Muslim. How can you trust that?”

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

“Tornadoes, typhoons and earthquakes batter the globe, while the U.S. is teetering into recession and paralyzed by a stupid war it can neither win nor quit. But somehow we are locked at the hip to Hillary Clinton, who won’t stop her manic tarantella until her party whirls into ruins, like the run-amuck carousel in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.”" - author Camille Paglia, from her Salon piece titled, ” She won’t go easy“

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

If anyone cares at this late juncture, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary in West Virginia.

Clinton won 65% of the vote and took 16 delegates compared to rival Barack Obama, who 28% of the vote and took 6 delegates.

The delegate totals look like this:

2,025 Delegates needed to Secure the Nomination
OBAMA	1,877
CLINTON	1,706
EDWARDS	18

After the West Virginia primary, Obama now leads Clinton by an insurmountable 171 delegates.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

At a campaign stop in rural West Virginia, Hillary Clinton today uttered what can only be described as a Freudian slip while speaking to a group of Appalachian supporters. Clinton let it slip that the next president will be a “he” and not a “she.”

“All the kitchen table issues that everybody talks to me about are ones that the next president can actually do something about, if he actually cares about it.”

Quickly realizing her faux pas, she added: “More likely if she cares about it!”

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Rachel Maddow, who’s been a splendid, intelligent presence on MSNBC throughout the primary season, tells the folks at NPR’s “On the Media” that she’s hoping to get her own cable show.

Maddow, who already hosts the best radio show on Air America, has been critical of her fellow pundits discussing issues she doesn’t see as important–like Rev. Wright–over and over.

She tells host Bob Garfield:

“The real issue is story selection, is editorial control. I can only control what it is that I get asked to speak about in a very blunt way. That said, the way that I handle that is that I, I am gunning to get my own show. I would really like to be hosting a show on cable television, rather than guesting because I would like to exert more control over what gets discussed, over what counts as important.”

I hope MSNBC is listening. If they gave Joe “Pig Eyes” Scarborough his own program, Rachel Maddow certainly deserves one.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Monday, May 12, 2008

With Barack Obama’s nomination nearly a fait accompli, an anarchist group has vowed to disrupt the Democratic convention scheduled for the last week in August in Denver, Colorado.

Calling itself Recreate68, a reference to the violent 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, the group was founded by former New York activist Glenn Spagnuolo. Folding itself into Denver’s antiwar community and Native American rights communities, the goals of the group are anything but noble.

Speaking to the Denver Post, Spagnuolo issued this dire warning about the Democratic convention:

“When things blow up because the police have to enforce a permit that the Democrats got, don’t blame us for that.”

While some well meaning activists have a tendency to romanticize the 1960s, there are certain events no one wants to revisit: Vietnam, political assassinations and Abbie Hoffman. Unless, of course, you’re a member of Recreate68.

The group claims to be claims to be anti-war, anti-racism, and anti-homophobia, but their implicit threat of carrying out violence at an event where the Democratic party will nominate the first African-American for president should prove to all concerned people that their misplaced anarchism is nothing less than insanity.

Let’s hope Recreate68 follows the law, protests in designated areas and peacefully. Barack Obama, who opposed George Bush and Hillary Clinton’s Iraq war from the beginning and who has a proven 20 year record on LGBT rights, deserves nothing less.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Rep. John Conyers said Saturday he is “very worried” that Hillary Clinton’s continued campaign will make it more difficult to unify the Democratic Party this fall, but told fellow supporters of Barack Obama that the best way to end the nomination race is with kindness.

Speaking to 100 or more Obama supporters:

“Here’s how we close this thing down early. We are going to be real nice to anybody who did not support Sen. Obama. Real nice. Super nice. It’s the most difficult thing one can do in the political system: Beat the crap out of your opponent, and then be nice and friendly after you do it.”

Asked if he is worried that Clinton’s continued campaign could damage the party in its efforts to seize the White House this November, Conyers said: “Very worried. But I worry about a lot of things.”

Monday, May 12, 2008

With her campaign racking up red ink faster than the United States Treasury under George Bush, Hillary Clinton vows to soldier on and remain in the race.

Senior adviser Howard Wolfson confirmed on FOX Noise on Sunday that the Clinton campaign is in debt to the tune of $20 million dollars but said, “There is no reason for her not to continue this process.”

Since her campaign is costing $1 million a day to operate and Mark Penn is still owed $4 million, we should expect to see Clinton busy herself in the remaining days of her failed campaign attending fundraisers and asking the increasingly small crowds of devotees to write her a check.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

As if the news for Hillary Clinton couldn’t get worse, comes this revelation.

California voters would change their February primary vote for Hillary Clinton to a vote for Barack Obama if the vote were held again, according to an exclusive poll commissioned by CBS 5 News.

While voters in the California Democratic Presidential Primary backed Clinton by a 10-point margin, a new SurveyUSA poll shows that if given the chance to vote again, Californians would choose Barack Obama by a 6-point margin, 49%-43%.

Call it: a bad case of Golden State buyers remorse.

To download the full poll results, please click here.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Republican John McCain is many things but, having sound judgment isn’t one of them.

The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement:

“Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign.”

Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story posted online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar’s junta.

Cyclone Nargis left more than 60,000 Burmese dead or missing, and the U.N. estimates that at least 1.5 million people have been severely affected. Human rights organizations and dissident groups have bitterly accused the junta of neglecting disaster victims and blocking foreign donations of relief supplies.

Maybe McCain can next explain why he sought the endorsement of religious nutcase John Hagee who said in a fiery sermon that New Orleans was destroyed because the city had a gay pride parade each year?

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Now that Barack Obama has locked up the delegates needed to become the Democratic nominee, all eyes are on who will might ask to be his vice presidential running mate. One thing is sure: it isn’t going to be rival Hillary Clinton.

Real Clear Politics reports:

Close-in supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign are convinced he never will offer the vice presidential nomination to Sen. Hillary Clinton for one overriding reason: Michelle Obama.

The Democratic front-runner’s wife did not comment on other rival candidates for the party’s nomination, but she has been sniping at Clinton since last summer. According to Obama sources, those public utterances do not reveal the extent of her hostility.

Support is growing in Democratic ranks for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland as vice president. He would bring to the ticket maturity (66 years old), experience (six terms in Congress) and moderation (rated “A” by the National Rifle Association). He is very popular in Ohio, a state Republicans must carry to elect a president.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta weighed in on what his former boss’s wife — Hillary Clinton, should do now.

“It’s pretty clear unless there’s a bolt of lightning, Barack Obama is likely to win the Democratic nomination. She’s put up a good fight and put up a good race, but I think there’s a time now where she needs to concede and unify the party.”

Behind in the popular vote, behind in the delegate count and facing a $25 million dollar campaign debt and no new donors to come to her rescue, Clinton continues to soldier on, apparently unable or unwilling to accept the reality that her bid to become the Democratic nominee is over.

Panetta offered this insightful take of what Clinton should do next:

“Come early June, if things continue and superdelegates continue to move towards Barack Obama, then I think she needs to be a gracious loser and be able to concede this race with honor.”

Friday, May 9, 2008

National polling firm Rasmussen Reports announced on Friday that it will stop polling people about the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton because her opponent, Barack Obama, will win the Democratic nomination.

The company’s vice president of finance and operations, Michael Boniello, distributed an e-mail stating:

However, while Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.

With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has surged ahead of rival Hillary Clinton in superdelegates and erased her once commanding lead.

The NYT’s reports:

Obama racked up seven new endorsements in the last 24 hours from superdelegates.

The tally shows Barack Obama with 266 superdelegates against 263 for Hillary Clinton, based on telephone polls conducted with CBS News as well as public endorsements.

Obama picked up the support of New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne, Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio, Ed Espinoza, a California member of the Democratic party’s national committee, John Gage, president of the largest union of Federal employees, and Wilber Lee Jeffcoat, a Democratic party official from South Carolina.

Friday, May 9, 2008

As of today, Friday, May 9, 2008, there are 179 days until the presidential election. The 2008 election will take place on November 4, 2008.  Hang in there!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Who’s the “elitist” now?

Looks like Cindy McCain has more in common with Hillary Clinton than anatomical features. Hillary Clinton, as you might recall, initially refused to release her tax returns too.

Only on-going pressure by the Obama campaign forced her to disclose her earnings but not until the 20th Democratic presidential debate. Cindy McCain has some ’splainin’ to do.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Wednesday to continue her quest for the Democratic nomination, arguing she would be the stronger nominee because she appeals to whites who won’t support Barack Obama for president.

From USAToday:

“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on. Sen. Barack Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

Clinton rejected any idea that her emphasis on white voters could be interpreted as racially divisive.

“These are the people you have to win if you’re a Democrat in sufficient numbers to actually win the election. Everybody knows that.”

Clinton can take comfort in the knowledge she enjoys the support of the Ku Klux Klan.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Hillary Clinton is behind in the popular vote, behind in the delegate count, out of money and out of political momentum. But none of this matters.

Today she told a crowd of fawning loyalists in West Virginia that she isn’t going anywhere.

From the Politico:

At a Q&A in Shepherdstown, WV, Hillary Clinton continues to make the case that her base, working class whites, women, and Hispanics are the key swing voters.

“The base I’ve put together in this primary is a stronger place to start from,” she says. She’ll run, she says, “until there’s a nominee.”

ALSO: In an email to supporters, she writes to express “my personal determination to keep forging forward in this campaign.”

After our come-from-behind victory in Indiana, there are just 28 days of voting left. But we’ve never campaigned with the stakes as high or the time as short as they will be over the next four weeks.
As we enter the final 28 days of voting, I know you’ll give it everything you’ve got. And you know I will do the same.

The time has come for party elders and superdelegates; Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to step-up and put an end to Hillary’s madness.