Hi All!
I was wondering if there were any fellow Texans around the DFW metro area to Waco/Austin area who were lucky enough to get tickets to the Inauguration. If so, please let me know if there are any groups or individuals who would be traveling to the Inauguration (driving, bus, train, etc.). I would like to see if there is still room available at all. As I'm on stand-by for flights out to DC & back & it's not looking to good. And of course, no hotels/motels are even available at this point. You can e-mail me with any info at: artriea@johnsoncountytx.org. Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated!!! I don't want to miss this lifetime opportunity.
Thanks!!!
A. Allen
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Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Meet The Press. Gen. Powell is a man to be admired and respected and I hope that all the undecided voters out there, will listen to what he had to say. And if Gen. Powell's endorsement isn't enough, then how about the whopping $150 million dollars Sen. Obama raised in September? I think that speak volumes!!! Here's the link to hear some of the interview with Gen. Powell about his enorsement.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27267504#27267504
CNN: Electoral map alert: Obama picks up two states Barack Obama may be inching closer to the magic number of 270 electoral votes necessary to win the White House, according to the most recent update to CNN’s electoral map. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/03/electoral-map-alert-obama-picks-up-two-states/
Just how would Gov. Sara Palin handle being President, should the need arise?
Here are a few scenarios to consider.
Scenario #1: It's 3 A.M. on a Monday morning and the phone rings. She answers, and it's the Pentagon wanting instructions on how to proceed since America has fell prey to a terrorist attack. I'm sure her response would be, "Well I can't disucss this with you now, because you woke the baby up. Now I'll need to change it's diaper and try to rock it back to sleep." I'm sure the Joint Chiefs of Staff and America would understand!
Scenario #2: It's 7:30 P.M. on a Saturday evening and the phone rings. She answers, and it's one of the Gulf Coast Governors needing her to come down to their state and survey damage to declare their state a disaster area due to a hurricane making landfall at a Category 3-5. Her response would probably be, "I'm sorry, I'll have to get back to you on that matter. I'm already packed and getting ready to leave for my big hunting & fishing trip in Alaska. I'll need to have my full concentration on how much fish/game I will be bringing home." Well so much for taking time out as President to help your country in their time of need!
Scenario #3: It's 4:15 P.M. on a Thursday afternoon. The House and Senate have been at odds on a final bill about healthcare and Social Security. They have finally prepared a final draft for her to consider and sign into law. They call her, she answers. Her response would probably be: "I'm baking cookies for the PTA meeting later this evening. The only decision I'm concerned with is how many chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies I will need to prepare." Well there goes helping with America's welfare and well being.
I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the picture. If John McCain were to become President and he either got a severe case of Alzheimer's or had a heart attack in office, would you want the next Vice-President behaving in this manner? Would you want the White House to become nothing more than a daycare or just a wonderful place to hold girl scout or camp fire meetings? I don't think that those type of meetings would qualify as war room discussions!
I think the choice is clear. Obama/Biden 2008!!!!!
Last night left me feeling breathless and amazed. This speech proved all the naysayers wrong. This speech was not some, canned, lackluster attempt to sugar coat and coddle America on the issues staring us in the face. This speech was the "glue" that will bond America back together. The "glue" has been chipped away from America for the past eight years and now I feel that with Barack Obama at the heart of this "glue", we can bond together even stronger. Barack Obama has shown us, that we cannot back down at what is ahead of us. Like Obama, we must approach the issues full steam ahead. I think this speech is just a preview of the great things that Barack Obama has in store for us when he takes that final victory lap to the White House and gives his Presidential acceptance speech! He left no stone unturned and he left no one behind. This man has shown great ability and strength time and time again. He is not afraid of a challenge nor a debate...BRING IT ON JOHN McCAIN!! He continues to prove himself over and over again, and now it is time for John McCain to recognize that no matter what he throws at Obama, it will not impede his march to the White House. I walked away from that speech feeling a sense of comfort, joy and most of all HOPE. These three things were always there, but now, they are even more rejuvenated than ever!!!
CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE.....we must keep that word at the forefront of our very thoughts and words as we go on this quest to make Barack Obama our next President. We must not sleep on this chance to make a difference not only for ourselves, but for our entire country. We must continue to stand together. Presenting a united front, no matter how hard or discouraged we may feel at times, but remember, the path we are walking on now, along side Obama, is half way over. At the end of the long path that we have trodded on, will be great things. When November 4th, gets here, we must make sure that the CHANGE made is the right choice for all of us. It is time for the changing of the guard at the White House. As Obama quoted last night, "eight is enough".
Let's not forget about the man in the no. 2 position, Joe Biden. Biden has also shown us he is just as fearless and steadfast as Obama. Biden and Obama are both clear cut examples of what makes America such a great place to live! They are both so down to earth and normal as you and I are. They understand how life is not fair all of the time. They understand how life can be cruel at times. They understand the plight that America has had to endure for the past eight years. They are tired of our country being left battered and bruised from the previous administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the bookends that will shape how the rest of the world will "read" America. They both have the blood of champions within them. They both have the great might in their hands, that can pull us up by the boot straps out of this distorted, quagmire that the last eight years has left upon us.
We are at the cusp of a new page in history. HOPE and CHANGE are the two most important pieces that will help develop this wonderful history that continues to unfold before our very eyes. No matter where you were on Aug. 28, 2008, you will remember, that on this day, a great man, who will be our next leader, took us with him on this wonderful, awe inspiring, journey to the White House. Barack Obama truly has what it takes to be President of the United States.
In order for us to keep that appointment on January 20th, 2009, we must remain steadfast and strong, as we march with Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the steps of the White House.
A sleeping giant has been stirred and awakened. Now it is time for the giant to come forth and not stop until HOPE and CHANGE have prevailed.
GOD BLESS, BARACK OBAMA. GOD BLESS, JOE BIDEN. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!
100% Obama/Biden all the way....and I approve this message!!!!!
I think you'll like this video. Shows what kind of person & character Barack Obama is made up of. In my book, anybody who will defend his wife & family to the fullest extent, will do the same for our country. YES WE CAN!!!! YES WE CAN!!!! YES WE CAN!!!! GO-BAMA Oregon & Kentucky!!!!!
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=7879522
-- Former Sen. John Edwards will endorse Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, Obama's campaign says.
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Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.
Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.
"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."
For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.
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.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. 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."
Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive.
The campaign released this statement in response to questions about encounters with racism: "After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest."
Campaign field work can be an exercise in confronting the fears, anxieties and prejudices of voters. Veterans of the civil rights movement know what this feels like, as do those who have been involved in battles over busing, immigration or abortion. But through the Obama campaign, some young people are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting cruel reaction.
On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.
Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face. But taunting teenagers on a busy commercial strip in broad daylight? "I was very shocked at first," Murrell said. "Then again, I wasn't, because we have a lot of racism here."
The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."
Ray McCormick was notified of the incident at about 2:45 a.m. A farmer and conservationist, McCormick had erected a giant billboard on a major highway on behalf of Farmers for Obama. He also was housing the Obama campaign worker manning the office. When McCormick arrived at the office, about two hours before he was due out of bed to plant corn, he grabbed his camera and wanted to alert the media. "I thought, this is a big deal." But he was told Obama campaign officials didn't want to make a big deal of the incident. McCormick took photos anyway and distributed some.
"The pictures represent what we are breaking through and overcoming," he said. As McCormick, who is white, sees it, Obama is succeeding despite these incidents. Later, there would be bomb threats to three Obama campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.
Obama has not spoken much about racism during this campaign. He has sought to emphasize connections among Americans rather than divisions. He shrugged off safety concerns that led to early Secret Service protection and has told black senior citizens who worry that racists will do him harm: Don't fret. Earlier in the campaign, a 68-year-old woman in Carson City, Nev., voiced concern that the country was not ready to elect an African American president.
"Will there be some folks who probably won't vote for me because I am black? Of course," Obama said, "just like there may be somebody who won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or wouldn't vote for John Edwards because they don't like his accent. But the question is, 'Can we get a majority of the American people to give us a fair hearing?' "
Obama has won 30 of 50 Democratic contests so far, the kind of nationwide electoral triumph no black candidate has ever realized. That he is on the brink of capturing the Democratic nomination, some say, is a testament to how far the country has progressed in overcoming racism and evidence of Obama's skill at bridging divides.
Obama has won five of 12 primaries in which black voters made up less than 10 percent of the electorate, and caucuses in states such as Idaho and Wyoming that are overwhelmingly white. But exit polls show he has struggled to attract white voters who didn't attend college and earn less than $50,000 a year. Today, he and Hillary Clinton square off in West Virginia, a state where she is favored and where the votes of working-class whites will again be closely watched.
For the most part, Obama campaign workers say, the 2008 election cycle has been exhilarating. On the ground, the Obama campaign is being driven by youngsters, many of whom are imbued with an optimism undeterred by racial intolerance. "We've grown up in a different world," says Danielle Ross. Field offices are staffed by 20-somethings who hold positions -- state director, regional field director, field organizer -- that are typically off limits to newcomers to presidential politics.
Gillian Bergeron, 23, was in charge of a five-county regional operation in northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest member of her team was 27. At Scranton's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade, some of the green Obama signs distributed by staffers were burned along the parade route. That was the first signal that this wasn't exactly Obama country. There would be others.
In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way: "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him.
"No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."
Obama's campaign workers have grown wearily accustomed to the lies about the candidate's supposed radical Muslim ties and lack of patriotism. But they are sometimes astonished when public officials such as Ball or others representing the campaign of their opponent traffic in these falsehoods.
Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. "I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"
* * *
Pollsters have found it difficult to accurately measure racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. But some are not. Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama. "I think if it was somebody other than him, I'd accept it," she said of a black candidate. "If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him."
The previous evening, Dondra Ewing was driving the neighborhoods of Kokomo, looking to turn around voters like Dzimian. Ewing, 47, is a chain-smoking middle school guidance counselor, a black single mother of two and one of the most fiercely vigilant Obama volunteers in Kokomo, which was once a Ku Klux Klan stronghold. On July 4, 1923, Kokomo hosted the largest Klan gathering in history -- an estimated 200,000 followers flocked to a local park. But these are not the 1920s, and Ewing believes she can persuade anybody to back Obama. Her mother, after all, was the first African American elected at-large to the school board in a community that is 10 percent black.
Kokomo, population 46,000, is another hard-hit Midwestern industrial town stung by layoffs. Longtimers wistfully remember the glory years of Continental Steel and speak mournfully about the jobs shipped overseas. Kokomo Sanitary Pottery, which made bathroom sinks and toilets, shut down a couple of months ago and took with it 150 jobs.
Aaron Roe, 23, was mowing lawns at a local cemetery recently, lamenting his $8-an-hour job with no benefits. He had earned a community college degree as an industrial electrician, but learned there was no electrical work to be found for someone with his experience, which is to say none. Politics wasn't on his mind; frustration was. If he were to vote, it would not be for Obama, he said. "I just got a funny feeling about him," Roe said, a feeling he couldn't specify, except to say race wasn't a part of it. "Race ain't nothing," said Roe, who is white. "It's how they're going to help the country."
The Aaron Roes are exactly who Dondra Ewing was after: people with funny feelings.
At the Bradford Run Apartments, she found Robert Cox, a retiree who spent 30 years working for an electronics manufacturer making computer chips. He was in his suspenders, grilling shish kebab, which he had never eaten. "Something new," Cox said, recommended by his son who was visiting from Colorado.
Ewing was selling him hard on Obama. "There are more than two families that can run the United States of America," she said, "and their names aren't Bush and Clinton."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Cox said, remaining noncommittal.
He opened the grill and peeked at the kebabs. "It's not his race, because I got real good friends and all that," Cox continued. "If anything would keep him from getting elected, it would be his name. It might turn off some older people."
Like him?
"No, older than me," said Cox, 66.
Ewing kept talking, until finally Cox said, "Probably Obama," when asked directly how he would vote.
As she walked away, Ewing said: "I think we got him."
But truthfully, she wasn't feeling so sure.
Staff writer Peter Slevin and polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
Here is the apportionment so far of presidential caucus delegates to the Texas Democratic state convention based on reports from Saturday's county and senate district conventions. A total of about 7,300 delegates were expected to be selected in this stage of the caucus process, according to the Texas Democratic Party.
These results are from 164 of about 280 conventions.
Clinton: 1,997 delegates, or 42 percent
Obama: 2,723 delegates, or 58 percent
___
March 31, 2008 - 7:32 p.m. CDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Barack Obama has won the overall delegate race in Texas thanks to a strong showing in Democratic county conventions this past weekend.
Obama picked up seven of nine outstanding delegates, giving him a total of 99 Texas delegates to the party's national convention this summer. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the other two, giving her a total of 94 Texas delegates, according to an analysis of returns by The Associated Press.
Texas Democrats held both a presidential primary and caucus. Clinton narrowly won the popular vote in the state's primary March 4, earning her 65 national convention delegates to Obama's 61.
Precinct caucuses began immediately after polls closed primary night and quickly devolved into chaos in many parts of the state because of an unprecedented turnout of more than 1 million Democrats. The state party was never able to provide complete results from the caucuses, which is why the AP withheld nine delegates.
The precinct caucuses elected delegates to about 280 county and state senate district conventions on Saturday. The AP awarded the remaining delegates based on results from Saturday's conventions, showing Obama with about 58 percent of vote, compared to 42 percent for Clinton.
Obama won 38 delegates through the caucus/convention system, and Clinton won 29.
The final delegate allocation will be decided at the party's state convention June 6-7, and the numbers could change if either campaign is unable to maintain the level of support they had over the weekend.
Obama leads the overall race for the Democratic nomination with 1,631 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,501, according to the latest AP tally.
Below is a statement by Texas Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie regarding the Delegate Selection Process:
The Texas Democratic Party and local Democratic Party organizations around our state are working to turn the enormous opportunity created by the record Democratic turnout experienced on March 4th into a positive outcome for Texas Democrats this fall and in 2010. We are proud of both our Presidential candidates who helped create that turnout. We ask now that the campaigns work with us rather than become an impediment to this extraordinary opportunity to build our party.
On March 4th, our Democratic precinct conventions experienced record turnout of roughly one million precinct convention attendees, a ten-fold increase from the previous high attendance mark. As expected in any record turnout involving hundreds of thousands of people, there were reports of problems caused by long lines and crowded facilities. These problems are not unique to Texas. Similar problems, in proportionately similar numbers, occurred in pure caucus states like Iowa and Nevada.
The overwhelming majority of problems reported in Texas do not affect the legitimacy of delegate allocation. It is important to remember that the precinct conventions are just the first of three steps where delegates and alternates are selected. "Final results" will not be determined until June 6-7 at the Texas Democratic State convention. And at each convention step, Texas Democratic Party rules provide a credentials process to address problems and provide an avenue to register complaints and make formal challenges
For that reason, the Texas Democratic Party will not do as suggested by one campaign and circumvent Party rules to set up an unnecessary, ad hoc "verification" process that could effectively disqualify delegates selected at their precinct conventions after the fact. The Party has never stated any intention to set up a verification process of this nature because Party rules already provide for "verification" through our credentials process. Candidates who wish to disqualify delegates must pursue formal challenges based on evidence filed appropriately in accordance with our party's rules.
The Texas Democratic Party plans to conduct our district and county conventions on March 29 and our June State Convention in accordance with procedures set forth in Texas law and party rules. Both campaigns have the opportunity and responsibility to do their jobs by documenting evidence, filing challenges if warranted, and turning out their delegates in a system that rewards such an effort when final delegate results are determined at the State Convention in June.
Well for the next 48 hrs let's put our minds in "caucus" mode!!! Let's not let the Clinton campaign nor their under-handed motives stop us from two-stepping & caucusing all the way to the White House!!! This is our chance Texas to show everyone who we think will be the best choice for our next President!!! Let's set the presidance & be the leaders that everyone will want to follow!!! Let's make this primary Hillary's last primary!!! Get out the word to any & everybody, how important it is to caucus tomorrow night. Remember, to be eligible to vote in the caucus, be sure you either early voted or have voted in the primary during the day tomorrow. Lastly, let's show up early before the polls close at 7 p.m. in order to be ready to participate in the caucus.
HOPE stands for: Here's Our President Elect...Barack Obama!!!! Join me in making HOPE a reality that will CHANGE our destinies forever, tomorrow March 4th!!!!!!
YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!! AND WE SURELY WILL!!!!!
Barack Obama---The People's President!!!!!!
