http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1083138/The-key-White-House-How-Michelle-Obama-clincher-Baracks-campaign.html#
By David GardnerLast updated at 4:29 AM on 05th November 2008
Commentators say Michelle Obama was key to her husband's triumph
She initially didn’t want her husband to run for president. But today Michelle Obama was being hailed as a key player in Barack Obama's historic White House triumph.Michelle Obama was so crucial to clinching victory that campaign aides nicknamed her The Closer.Now she is making history all of her own by becoming America’s first ever black First Lady.And her admirers are labelling her as a 21st Century Jackie Kennedy who will bring glamour back to the White House.The 44-year-old emerged from the shadows to attract a spotlight all of her own during her husband’s exhausting 22-month campaign.When Mr Obama had to break off from electioneering just days before the election to visit his dying grandmother in Hawaii, it was Michelle he called on to step in for him at events he had to miss.Far from being angry at the Democrat candidate’s no-show, huge crowds happily cheered on his wife.It was just the latest example of the growing influence the striking 5 ft 11 ins Ivy League-educated lawyer had on her 47-year-old husband’s quest to become America’s first black president.She admits she was initially worried about the effect the gruelling campaign would have on her young family and still spends as much time as possible with the couple’s daughters Malia, ten, and Sasha, seven.
Then she was hesitant at moving to the forefront as ‘the love of my life’ went from Democrat outsider to become runaway favourite to capture the keys to the West Wing.
Guilt by association?
I confess, I am an associate of Barack Obama's. Barack Obama and I have been associates for nearly two years now. We've both been in attendance at the same political rallies at the same time and contributed monies to some of the same causes. I admit he even called me at home once in the early days (I still have the recording on my answering machine to prove it!) to discuss his campaign's strategy and thank me for what I'd done to help support his campaign. I am not ashamed to tell you that he's invited me to join him a time or two on conference calls about women's issues and canvassing over the past two years.
Anyone else here not feeling any guilt for associating with Barack Obama? Stand up, shout it out, and be counted! I AM AN ASSOCIATE OF BARACK OBAMA'S AND PROUD OF IT!
Please take note of the parts I bolded below in the AP story that all the other articles point to as their source.
There is now evidence and an admission that the Bush administration has known for over a year that there was a serious problem in our financial system, serious enough that it warranted FBI investigations during the past year, and they did absolutely nothing to stop the continuation of it while investigations were underway. This wasn't a set of unexpected circumstances that no one foresaw, it was an effort at covering up the problem before it got out of hand and developed into a crisis. The FBI is now looking for a scapegoat to hang the whole thing upon.
While the FBI is investigating the corporations, the Congress needs to do their own investigation. What did the Bush Administration know and when did they know about it and who gave the orders to not act upon what they knew?
This is the same thing that occured in relation to the warnings the Bush Administration ignored about emenent terrorist attacks on our country before 9/11. They made no effort to protect American citizens from that.
This is the same thing they did relevant to the studies and warnings about the potential for catastrophic damage to New Orleans levies from a hurricane years before Katrina. They made no effort to protect American citizens from that.
This is the same thing they did relevant to ignoring the recommendations of the 911 commission about shoring up homeland security. They still have made no effort to protect American citizens with these recommendations.
This is the same thing they did for the last five years relevant to the warnings from local and state governments of a mortgate/foreclosure crisis in their states.
The only thing they've done to protect American citizens was to protect us from weapons of mass destruction and they even got that wrong and are now ignoring all the warning signs pointing to a build up of terrorists camps elsewhere.
We can not afford another four years of an administration that ignores all the warning signs leading up to a crisis in hopes that it will just go away.
This isn't trickle down economics, this is a clogged up pipeline that needs to be run through with a middle class worker's plumber's snake to remove all the accumulated gunk inside it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/financial_meltdown_investigationFBI investigating companies at heart of meltdown
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 20 minutes ago
The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned.
Two law enforcement officials said Tuesday the FBI is looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurer American International Group Inc. Additionally, a senior law enforcement official said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also is under investigation.
The inquiries will focus on the financial institutions and the individuals that ran them, the senior law enforcement official said.
The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing and are in the very early stages.
Officials said the new inquiries bring to 26 the number of corporate lenders under investigation over the past year.
Spokesmen for AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday evening. A Lehman spokesman did not have an immediate comment.
Just last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller put the number of large financial firms under investigation at 24. He did not name any of the companies under investigation but said the FBI also was looking at whether any of them have misrepresented their assets.
Over the past year as the housing market cratered, the FBI has opened a wide-ranging probe of companies across the financial services industry, from mortgage lenders to investment banks that bundle home loans into securities sold to investors. Mueller has previously said the FBI's hunt for culprits in the nation's subprime mortgage crisis focused on accounting fraud, insider trading, and failure to disclose the value of mortgage-related securities and other investments.
The investigations revealed Tuesday come as lawmakers began considering whether to approve emergency legislation that would give the government broad power to buy up devalued assets from troubled financial firms.
The bailout proposed by the Bush administration is aimed at helping unlock credit and stabilize badly shaken markets in the United States and around the globe.
In the past two weeks, the government has taken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country's two biggest mortgage companies, with a bailout plan that could require the Treasury Department to put up as much as $100 billion for each of them over time if needed to keep them afloat as mortgage losses mount.
Last week, the Federal Reserve provided an emergency $85 billion loan to AIG, which teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Lehman Brothers was forced to file for bankruptcy after attempts to engineer a private rescue fell apart. All the companies were laid low from bad bets on complex mortgage-related securities.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made the joint decision last week that the only way to stop the carnage was to deal with the root cause of all the troubles, billions of dollars of bad mortgage debt sitting on the books of major financial companies. This debt has triggered the worst credit crisis in decades, causing credit markets to essentially freeze up despite the fact that the Fed joined with major central banks around the world to pump billions of dollars of reserves into the financial system.
Additionally, the FBI is investigating failed bank IndyMac Bancorp Inc. for possible fraud. Countrywide Financial Corp., formerly the nation's largest mortgage lender and now owned by Bank of America Corp., is also under scrutiny.
Dear Michelle,
Way back on February 9th, the night before your husband made the formal announcement of his candidacy, I signed up on the barackobama.com website, joined the local Sacramento group, and started a newsletter for our group that eventually went nationwide. On February 11th, I created my own group, the Michelle Obama for First Lady Group.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/MichelleObamaforFirstLady
I did not know much about you, had only seen a couple of interviews, the last one the one you did with Oprah, and immediately knew you would make a terrific First Lady. I did not want you left out of the effort so I started the group as my way of also campaigning for you. I was shocked but very pleased when Joe Rospars featured the group on the campaign blog and thousands of people joined it. I did not know where I would head with it but knew we had a role to play. That same day when pundants were saying Barack was not enough of this or that, I created the ENOUGH logo using the Obama O and made my own ad about him being Enough and of having had enough of Bush. I made talking points that spelled out his name and answered all the questions about him being enough and having had enough of the Republicans. I was surprised and very pleased to hear that word and theme carried through to the convention this week. Here's a link to that old post on mybarackobama.com
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/Enough/CLhW
Michelle, you have confirmed my first impressions and expectations, especially when you started the Women for Obama movement and I got my invitation from Betsy Myers to join with you. In fact, you have surpassed expectations to the point that my 79-year-old mother, a die-hard feminist and Clinton supporter eventually switched sides and started making comments such as "Michelle should run for president after her husband's term." You drew her over to the Obama campaign and even inspired her to sign up to volunteer at the local campaign office in Albuquerque, NM.
Thank you Michelle. I know this has not been an easy experience for you. During your husband's acceptance speech last night I could see the range of emotions run across your face - from immense pride and love of your husband to intense nervousness and worry and back again to genuine joy.
Do not allow the campaign handlers to change you too much, Michelle. We like you just the way you are, a real genuine woman who gets it and gets us. You, Michelle Obama, will make a terrific First Lady, First Mother, and First Wife. Congratulations!
This article highlights some talking points for your town hall meeting on the economy, Senator Obama.
Corporate Welfare The Street on Welfare By E. J. Dionne Jr. Tuesday, March 18, 2008; Page A19 Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries and how government should keep its hands off the private economy. The Wall Street titans have turned into a bunch of welfare clients. They are desperate to be bailed out by government from their own incompetence, and from the deregulatory regime for which they lobbied so hard. They have lost "confidence" in each other, you see, because none of these oh-so-wise captains of the universe have any idea what kinds of devalued securities sit in one another's portfolios. So they have stopped investing. The biggest, most respected investment firms threaten to come crashing down. You can't have that. It's just fine to make it harder for the average Joe to file for bankruptcy, as did that wretched bankruptcy bill passed by Congress in 2005 at the request of the credit card industry. But the big guys are "too big to fail," because they could bring us all down with them. Enter the federal government, the institution to which the wealthy are not supposed to pay capital gains or inheritance taxes. Good God, you don't expect these people to trade in their BMWs for Saturns, do you? In a deal that the New York Times described as "shocking," J.P. Morgan Chase agreed over the weekend to pay $2 a share to buy all of Bear Stearns, one of the brand names of finance capitalism. The Federal Reserve approved a $30 billion -- that's with a "b" -- line of credit to make the deal work. I don't fault Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, for being so interventionist in trying to save the economy. On the contrary, Bernanke deserves credit for ignoring all the extreme free-market bloviation. He doesn't want the economy to collapse on his watch, so he is willing to violate all the conservatives' shibboleths about the dangers of government intervention. As a voter once told the legendary political journalist Richard Rovere: "Sometimes you have to forget your principles to do what's right." But if this near meltdown of capitalism doesn't encourage a lot of people to question the principles they have carried in their heads for the past three decades or so, nothing will. We had already learned the hard way -- in the crash of 1929 and the Depression that followed -- that capitalism is quite capable of running off the rails. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was a response to the failure of the geniuses of finance (and their defenders in the economics profession) to realize what was happening or to fix it in time. As the economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted of the era leading up to the Depression, "The threat to men of great dignity, privilege and pretense is not from the radicals they revile; it is from accepting their own myth. Exposure to reality remains the nemesis of the great -- a little understood thing." But in the enthusiasm for deregulation that took root in the late 1970s, flowered in the Reagan era and reached its apogee in the second Bush years, we forgot the lesson that government needs to keep a careful watch on what capitalists do. Of course, some deregulation can be salutary, and the market system is, on balance, a wondrous instrument -- when it works. But the free market is just that: an instrument, not a principle. In 1996, back when he was a Republican senator from Maine, William Cohen told me: "We have been saying for so long that government is the enemy. Government is the enemy until you need a friend." So now the bailouts begin, and Wall Street usefully might feel a bit of gratitude, perhaps by being willing to have the wealthy foot some of the bill or to acknowledge that while its denizens were getting rich, a lot of Americans were losing jobs and health insurance. I'm waiting.
The economy is continuing to head down. Increasingly, I'm reading voices in the financial world who are speaking of something that could be reminiscent of the Great Depression. Here's Krugman on near term political realities. We can't let Clinton frame this for her benefit and we can't let McCain get away with parroting Bush by saying "it is all in our heads." The Obama campaign needs to continue seriously addressing the economic reality we face and the differences between Obama and the other candidate's priorities and their plans to lead us through it and on to recovery.
What if this initiative fails? I'm sure that Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues are frantically considering other actions that they can take, but there's only so much the Fed — whose resources are limited, and whose mandate doesn't extend to rescuing the whole financial system — can do when faced with what looks increasingly like one of history's great financial crises. The next steps will be up to the politicians. I used to think that the major issues facing the next president would be how to get out of Iraq and what to do about health care. At this point, however, I suspect that the biggest problem for the next administration will be figuring out which parts of the financial system to bail out, how to pay the cleanup bills and how to explain what it's doing to an angry public.
What if this initiative fails? I'm sure that Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues are frantically considering other actions that they can take, but there's only so much the Fed — whose resources are limited, and whose mandate doesn't extend to rescuing the whole financial system — can do when faced with what looks increasingly like one of history's great financial crises.
The next steps will be up to the politicians.
I used to think that the major issues facing the next president would be how to get out of Iraq and what to do about health care. At this point, however, I suspect that the biggest problem for the next administration will be figuring out which parts of the financial system to bail out, how to pay the cleanup bills and how to explain what it's doing to an angry public.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/opinion/14krugman.html?hp
Bush, the Republicans and their related interest groups which wish to retain political dominance will continue to deny or minimize the problem as long as they can, then switch to a strategy of blaming everyone but themselves. Even if all the blame perhaps can't be laid at their feet, they will accept none. They will demand more tax cuts to 'solve' the problem.
I think all of this is going to become, as Krugman suggests, a much larger component in the election than we expected. In the next months and then in the general election, Bush and the Republicans will suffer for it, along with much else.
The danger, from a Democratic political perspective, is that this situation could make the next president's first term even more of a nightmare. The propaganda will be ramped up to blame THAT president and his/her party (along with earlier presidents of the same party...so Clinton and even Carter will be mentioned - never Reagan, of course). Obama must not be made into the scapegoat for America's economic ills. He and his advisors need to talk about his plans for a worst case scenario so we can take a proactive rather than reactive stance when the blame game begins. They (and we) also need to begin talking about the important need for a Democratic majority in both houses so we aren't wasting precious time with partisan bickering while they work on the immediate economic needs of the country. This will be an especially important topic in Pennsylvania where they have a high population of seniors. It is also an important topic to all of us struggling through the bad economic times while we are entering into retirement age ourselves, supporting elderly parents and grandparents, or finding reliable ways to plan for our own future retirements.
As the Great Depression (along with huge income disparities, evidences of greed and selfish unconcern for others) were fundamental components in the rationale for and the popularity of New Deal policies, this could lead to a serious turn of mind in America towards progressivism once again and a more receptive citizenry to the needed changes to fix our economy and our government. Senator Obama, it is time you had a televised town hall meeting to discuss these topics with the nation.
Senate approves Obama's call for more transparency in sweeping product safety reforms to protect everyone.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-billmar07,0,3286147.story
Senate OKs sweeping product safety reformTRIBUNE UPDATE: Bill calls for public complaint database, overhaul of agencyBy Jim Tankersley and Patricia Callahan | TRIBUNE REPORTERS March 7, 2008
Excerpt:
In an attempt to make those recalls more transparent, an amendment inserted Thursday on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) requires recall notices to include the names and locations of factories where the flawed products were produced. The failure of recall notices to include such information has allowed overseas factories to continue selling tainted products to unwitting U.S. importers that don't know of the factories' troubled track record.
Hillary, how do you feel about your Super Delegate's connection to Farrakhan? Do you have similar vitirol for him? Shouldn't you denounce PA Governor Rendell for associating with Farrakhan when he was mayor of Philadelphia?
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DD173FF936A25757C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
April 15, 1997
Philadelphia Mayor Joins Farrakhan to Calm Ethnic Tensions
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
In a long church rally today, called to promote racial reconciliation after several recent high-profile crimes, Mayor Edward G. Rendell joined Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, in challenging residents of Philadelphia and the nation to put aside ethnic differences. Mr. Rendell became one of the few big-city mayors ever to share a podium with Mr. Farrakhan, a circumstance that was all the more unusual because Mr. Rendell is Jewish and Mr. Farrakhan is widely regarded as anti-Semitic. Representatives from the city's leading Jewish and Roman Catholic organizations were invited to participate in the rally, but all declined. As the keynote speaker before an enthusiastic audience of more than 3,000 at the Tindley Temple United Methodist Church, h Mr. Farrakhan praised Mayor Rendell, a popular Democrat, for ''his courage and strength to rise above emotion and differences that might be between us or our communities.'' Mr. Farrakhan added: ''I believe, Mayor Rendell, that history will applaud your efforts.'' Mr. Rendell, whose speech preceded Mr. Farrakhan's, commended the Nation of Islam for its emphasis on family values and self-sufficiency. He told the audience that many people had warned him against ''sharing a platform'' with a figure as controversial as Mr. Farrakhan. But, he said, the incidents that prompted the rally -- the attack on a black woman, her son and nephew by a group of white men in February, and the fatal shooting of a white teen-ager by two black men in a robbery in the same neighborhood a month later -- have taken a toll on the city. ''The real risk would be not to be willing to talk about our differences,'' he said.
In a long church rally today, called to promote racial reconciliation after several recent high-profile crimes, Mayor Edward G. Rendell joined Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, in challenging residents of Philadelphia and the nation to put aside ethnic differences. Mr. Rendell became one of the few big-city mayors ever to share a podium with Mr. Farrakhan, a circumstance that was all the more unusual because Mr. Rendell is Jewish and Mr. Farrakhan is widely regarded as anti-Semitic.
Representatives from the city's leading Jewish and Roman Catholic organizations were invited to participate in the rally, but all declined. As the keynote speaker before an enthusiastic audience of more than 3,000 at the Tindley Temple United Methodist Church, h Mr. Farrakhan praised Mayor Rendell, a popular Democrat, for ''his courage and strength to rise above emotion and differences that might be between us or our communities.'' Mr. Farrakhan added: ''I believe, Mayor Rendell, that history will applaud your efforts.'' Mr. Rendell, whose speech preceded Mr. Farrakhan's, commended the Nation of Islam for its emphasis on family values and self-sufficiency. He told the audience that many people had warned him against ''sharing a platform'' with a figure as controversial as Mr. Farrakhan. But, he said, the incidents that prompted the rally -- the attack on a black woman, her son and nephew by a group of white men in February, and the fatal shooting of a white teen-ager by two black men in a robbery in the same neighborhood a month later -- have taken a toll on the city. ''The real risk would be not to be willing to talk about our differences,'' he said.
I see this as a two-edged sword. It is a loss for the Obama campaign but it may also free Samatha to be able to speak out much more forcefully against Hillary without the need to protect the Obama positive campaign strategy. It is certainly very much needed. She may be the strong female voice we've been looking for to speak out assertively and aggressively for Obama and against Clinton.
Go Samantha! Go Obama! Comments needed on this article at the link. http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/power_resigns_over_hillaryismo.php Power Resigns Over Hillary-Is-Monster CommentBy Greg Sargent - March 7, 2008, 11:50AM
Here's her statement, just sent out by the campaign:
"With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an advisor the Obama campaign effective today. Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months."
In an interview with The Scotsman, Power called Hillary a "monster" and said other less-than-flattering things about her. Despite her prompt apology yesterday, the Hillary camp demanded her resignation this morning.
Less than two hours later, she's out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-smerconish/welcome-to-pennsylvania_b_90170.html
Welcome to Pennsylvania!Posted March 6, 2008 | 06:19 AM (EST)
Welcome, Candidates! It's been a long time since Pennsylvania mattered in a presidential contest and we are elated to host you. As your self-appointed advance man, I offer the following survival tips for your seven-week sojourn into the Keystone state: Pronunciation matters. When in Philadelphia, make certain that Olney is "ahl-uh-nee," Passyunk "pa-shunk" and the Schuylkill "skoo-kul." In central Pennsylvania, Juniata County is not akin to a Hispanic first name, but rather "joo-nee-atta." In Pittsburgh, it's spelled Monongahela, and pronounced the same way. Sports. Work in a mention of the Eagles (pronounced "Iggles") anytime traveling east of Harrisburg; reference JoePa whenever driving through or flying over central Pennsylvania, and describe the Immaculate Reception anytime subjected to a Q&A in Pittsburgh. "Big Five" means basketball, and not the number of superdelegates controlled by city Democratic chairman Bob Brady.Amish country: It's beautiful, but you may want to avoid Intercourse, Pa., for press avails. Ditto Blue Ball. Politicos call it the "T." That's anything outside of the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia media markets. If you don't know why, get out a map and some crayons and it will come to you. James Carville. Yeah, we know what he said about Alabama. Still, it's no reason to shout out "Free Bird" in central Pennsylvania. Better you reference Bon Jovi. If you want to establish some street cred with the locals, tell Tim Russert you can't appear on "Meet the Press" because of a time conflict with Sid Mark's "Sundays with Sinatra." The start of hunting season is a school holiday in much of the state. Consider Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" for a rally introduction. Philadelphia photo-ops. When you do the obligatory Reading Terminal stop, don't ask where the trains are. Similarly, no need to ask why 9th Street is called the Italian, and not the Asian, market. Quote from the Daily News, not the Inquirer, to show you are a people person, excepting only the "Currents" section on Sundays. Don't worry about rain on Election Day unless there is an antiquated map on Channel 6 with a puffy cloud over Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians love John Heinz and his family's ketchup. The jury is still out on Teresa. We already know we deserved the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no need for the reminder. (BTW, Philadelphia has a soft spot for classic rock, and we'd like to see Yes in that Hall of Fame.) Philadelphians are tired of a particular tourist question. The answer is: He ran up the steps of the Art Museum. Whatever the problem, a local man named David L. Cohen can solve it. Upstate, if you say "youse," it will get you an applause line; ditto for "younz" in western Pennsylvania. Anywhere but central PA, complain about not being able to buy a six-pack in a Wawa. Dietary. The Geno's vs. Pat's decision is more important than NAFTA. If you speak English, support the memory of Police Officer Danny Faulkner and want a fence built on the Mexican border, go to Geno's; otherwise it is Pat's. Either way, do not make the mistake that cost John Kerry the White House - never, ever, order a cheesesteak with Swiss cheese. Also, order scrapple for breakfast. Just don't ask what's in it. In Pittsburgh, if you are offered a sandwich stuffed with french fries, fried lunch meat and cole slaw, say "yes" and don't act surprised. City Hall. Ignore the white noise you may hear above the mayor's desk; it has to do with a previous tenant. Endorsements. If you are offered support from something called the Geator with the Heater, accept it. If you are asked whether you know anyone called "Sir Charles," tell them to put the call through. Also, try to have your picture taken with Pat Croce. Finally, see if Jimmy Rollins will say you are the candidate to beat. One more thing. If you are asked any question that calls for an answer with a list, be sure to include Sister Mary Scullion, as she makes every list.
Here's a list of remaining states yet to vote. The list includes the number of pledged delegates to be earned, whether it is an open, closed or modified closed primary or caucus, voter registration deadlines, and whether the state allows registration on voting day. March 8 Wyoming - Caucus - 12 Pledged Delegates - Open PrimaryWyoming Democrats allow any Wyoming resident who will be 18 on Election Day to participate in the March 8 caucuses.Wyoming allows qualified voters to register at the polls on Election Day. Bring an acceptable form of ID to the polls (for example: driver license, passport). March 11 Mississippi - Primary - 33 Pledged Delegates - Open PrimaryFebruary 10, 2008 is the last day to register for Mississippi's primary
April 22 Pennsylvania - Primary - 158 Pledged Delegates - Closed PrimaryIndividuals must be registered and enrolled in a political party to vote in that party's primary. ANYONE WHO WISHES TO VOTE IN THE CLOSED PRIMARY MUST APPLY FOR REGISTRATION AS A DEMOCRAT BEFORE MARCH 22. May 3 Guam - Caucus - 4 Pledged Delegates May 6 Indiana - Primary - 72 Pledged Delegates - Modified Closed PrimaryApril 7, 2008: Voter Registration Closes for the 2008 Election Democrats may only vote in the Democratic primary, while Republicans may only vote in the Republican primary. However, unlike in a Closed Primary or Caucus, Independents may choose to vote in either party's primary. North Carolina - Primary - 115 Pledged Delegates - Modified Closed PrimaryApril 11, 2008: Voter Registration Closes for the 2008 Election Democrats may only vote in the Democratic primary, while Republicans may only vote in the Republican primary. However, unlike in a Closed Primary or Caucus, Independents may choose to vote in either party's primary.
May 13 West Virginia - Primary - 28 Pledged Delegates - Modified Closed PrimaryApril 22, 2008 Voter Registration ClosesDemocrats may only vote in the Democratic primary, while Republicans may only vote in the Republican primary. However, unlike in a Closed Primary or Caucus, Independents may choose to vote in either party's primary. May 20
Kentucy - Primary - 51 Pledged Delegates - Closed PrimaryApril 22, 2008 Voter Registration Deadline
Oregon - Primary - 52 Pledged Delegates - Closed PrimaryApril 29, 2008 Voter Registration Deadline June 1 Puerto Rico - Caucus - 55 Pledged Delegates - Closed Caucus June 3 Montana - Primary - 16 Pledged Delegates - Open PrimaryMonday, May 5, 2008 – Regular Voter Registration Closes for Primary Election If you miss this deadline, you may still register under late registration procedures by showing up at the local election office up to and including on election day, filling out and submitting a voter registration card, and voting a ballot that you give to the election office staff. South Dakota - Primary - 15 Pledged Delegates - Closed PrimaryMay 19, 2008 Voter Registration Deadline
Lots of good info in this blog. Study it. Let's get our chins up off the ground and go to work on it. http://www.jedreport.com/2008/03/it-may-not-seem.html
Posted Thu Mar 6, 2008 at 6:18 AM |
It may not have seemed like it, but Barack Obama took a major step closer to the Democratic nomination on Tuesday
Now that we have emerged from the intensity of Tuesday's primaries, it's become clear that it's winning delegates that matters -- not winning states.
We knew this all along, but probably got a little greedy and hoped to land a knockout blow, ending the campaign prematurely. We didn't, and so the campaign continues.
But even though the campaign didn't end on Tuesday, Barack Obama got closer to winning the nomination -- and Hillary Clinton got further away.
The reason? The delegate math. On Tuesday, Barack Obama cut the number of delegates he needs to win a majority of pledged delegates from 425 to 272. Hillary Clinton just barely managed to get her number down to where Barack Obama started the night.
You can see the numbers on the chart below here.
It shows that we are in a much stronger position than Hillary Clinton because we are closer to the real magic number -- 1,627 -- than she is.
Once we hit 1,627 pledged delegates, Barack Obama will become the nominee -- unless the superdelegates step in and overturn the judgment of voters. And that's not going to happen.
(Click on the above link to view the chart)
(The source for the pledged delegate total is MSNBC. Barack Obama's official estimate puts him even further ahead, but I've tried to rely on independent media estimates rather than campaign estimates. That being said, Obama's estimates have proven to be fairly accurate in the past.)There are 611 delegates remaining to be selected, plus we have yet to learn the allocation of 48 delegates that have already been elected. Those delegates are mostly (if not entirely) from the Texas caucuses.
As you can see, we need to win 272 of these 659 delegates -- 41%.Hillary Clinton needs to win 414 of them -- 63%.
That will be a nearly impossible challenge.
Clinton is trying to focus the media's attention on Pennsylvania, but as you probably know there are two contests before Pennsylvania: Mississippi and Wyoming, and both favor Barack Obama. 45 delegates are stake in those contests.
In fact, although Pennsylvania is the biggest individual state left, just 26% of the delegates left to be selected are in Pennsylvania. It makes for good TV to focus on Pennsylvania, but the cold hard delegate math tells the smart person that Pennsylvania is just one of many remaining prizes. For example, shortly after Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Oregon hold their contests and between them, there are more delegates at stake (167) than in Pennsylvania (158).
The reality is that the media coverage (and even my own blog coverage!) has been very misleading. By focusing on who won which state on Tuesday, they conveyed a sense that Hillary Clinton had won a major victory.
In truth, she really didn't. She's celebrating a layup in a game that she trails by twenty points with just a couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Here's one way to measure that:
On Tuesday morning, Barack Obama needed to 43% of the remaining delegates to hit 1,627. Hillary Clinton needed to win just under 60%.
As of today, Barack Obama needs to win just 41%. Hillary Clinton must win 63%.
Every time that Barack Obama wins another delegate, Hillary Clinton's challenge gets harder. That's why even though she won a few more delegates than Obama on Tuesday, she really lost.
April 22 is the election day for Pennsylvania. However, March 22nd is our deadline for registering voters for the CLOSED election.
The true deadline for our grassroots efforts is not far away, it is very close. We have lots of work to do in only 15 days.
Don't let the deadline sneak up on us like it did in Ohio.
Individuals must be registered and enrolled in a political party to vote in that party's primary.
Pennsylvania law provides that the deadline to apply to register to vote is 30 days prior to each election.
ANYONE WHO WISHES TO VOTE IN THE CLOSED PRIMARY MUST APPLY FOR REGISTRATION AS A DEMOCRAT BEFORE MARCH 22.
NOTHING WE DO TO ATTRACT NEW VOTERS, INDEPENDENTS OR CROSSOVERS AFTER THAT DATE WILL HAVE ANY EFFECT.
Here's a link for the Penn. Secretary of State site:
http://www.dos.state.pa.us/voting/cwp/view.asp?a=1192&q=443159&votingNav
and the Penn. Democratic Party
http://www.padems.com/
Info for Blog writers and strategy thinkers. Use these statistics and rankings to customize info about Obama's plans and positions of importance for these states. Info is from NPR's Primary Map supplemental info. See the link for details on sources used to rank state info. See the section after the statistics for Party registration details and deadlines, below the fold. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/state.php?state=PA&page=&sort=relevance2 Pennsylvania Statistical Rankings Senior Population - Ranked #3 in states with 15.1% of the population 83.8% of the population is White
10.4% of the population is Black
3.8 % of the population is Hispanic Ranked #10 in states for per-student education expenditure spending $9,731 per student Ranked #3 in states with highest carbon dioxide emissions per capita 22.2 tons per person Sixth largest state in population with 12,440,621 people Tenth highest gas prices of $3.063 19% of their schools are not achieving No Child Left Behind Standards Ranks #32 in states with 1.6% unauthorized migrant population Ranks #45 in states with 10.2% uninsured population Ranks #25 and tied with 2 others in state unemployment at 4.7% Ranks #3 in states with most number of troops killed in Iraq at 179 people
Have you seen her latest TV ad where there is a phone ringing at 3am and we're to believe that we will be safe because Hillary had been around the block during her term as First Lady and got to know all the world leaders?
What they forgot to tell us in that ad is that many of the world leaders she met at that time are now dead. When she answers the phone in the next ad will she be saying "I see dead people?"
Looks like our doubts about Hillary, as the feminist crusader are well-placed. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/718538.aspx CLINTON DONATIONS FROM TROUBLED FIRM Posted: Friday, February 29, 2008 5:47 PM From NBC's Lisa Myers and Jim Popkin Sen. Hillary Clinton has declined to return $170,000 in campaign contributions from individuals at a company accused of widespread sexual harassment, and whose CEO is a disbarred lawyer with a criminal record, federal campaign records show. The federal government has accused the Illinois management consulting firm, International Profit Associates, or IPA, of a brazen pattern of sexual harassment including "sexual assaults," "degrading anti-female language" and "obscene suggestions." In a 2001 lawsuit full of lurid details, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that 103 women employees at IPA were victimized for years. The civil case is ongoing, and IPA vigorously denies the allegations. "This is by far, hands down, the worst case I've ever experienced," said Diane Smason, one of the EEOC lawyers handling the lawsuit. "Every woman there experienced sex harassment, they were part of a hostile work environment of sex harassment. And this occurred from the top down." Sen. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, told NBC News in a statement that the senator decided to keep the funds because the lawsuit is "ongoing" and because none of the sexual harassment allegations has been proven in court. "With regard to the pending harassment suit, as a general matter, the campaign assesses findings of fact in deciding whether to return contributions," Wolfson said.Also looks like another case of double-speak from Hillary. You'll note in the above article that her campaign spokesperson says Hillary decided not to return the donations because the case is still pending and none of the sexual harrassment charges have yet been proven in court. In case you need a refresher, reread the circumstances of her returning the funds to Norman Hsu here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20713395/ updated 5:28 p.m. PT, Mon., Sept. 10, 2007 WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign said Monday it will return $850,000 in donations raised by Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who is under federal investigation for allegedly violating election laws. “In light of recent events and allegations that Mr. Norman Hsu engaged in an illegal investment scheme, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to return the money he raised for our campaign,” Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement Monday night. “An estimated 260 donors this week will receive refunds totaling approximately $850,000 from the campaign.” Wolfson said the Clinton campaign also will vigorously review its fundraisers, including thorough criminal background checks, in the future. “In any instances where a source of a bundler’s income is in question, the campaign will take affirmative steps to verify its origin,” he said.
1. The Clinton campaign is saying Obama violated the pledge first with the airing of his national ad. Actually the skirmishes into Florida have been going on longer than that, by both campaigns, with Bill Clinton having the most frequent and most publicized presence there as far back as October, 2007, just two months after the sanctions were imposed. Read more on that here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-levitt/floridas-shadow-campaign_b_66537.html 2. Some Clinton supporters are blaming the early primary date on the Florida Republicans, saying the law as imposed on them and passed by the Republican majority. Well, that's not entirely correct. According to Wikipedia the original bills to move the primary date to January 29th passed the Florida House of Representatives unanimously and the Florida Senate nearly Unanimously (minus two votes) in a show of bipartisan support.
According to the Florida Democratic Party's website it was the amendments filed in an effort to change the January 29th date to forestall the DNC's sanctions that were turned down by the Florida Republicans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States)_presidential_primaries,_2008
The Florida legislature voted via House Bill 537 to move forward the date of their state's primary to January 29th, causing a chain reaction which moved many other states' primaries and caucuses to much earlier dates. The vote passed with bipartisan support 118 to 0 in the House, 37 to 2 in the Senate. In response, the Democratic National Committee has ruled that Florida's delegates will not be seated, or, if seated, will not be able to vote, at the National Convention. Furthermore, the DNC has also stated that it will forbid any candidate from receiving delegates should they campaign in the Florida primary.[24] The DNC Rules Committee met on August 25, 2007 and ruled that Florida would have 30 days to move its primary date at least 7 days later than the current date of January 29, or else lose all of its delegates in the Democratic primary.
