Arizona Obama

Is West Virginia Welcome in Your Democratic Party?

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:54:00 EDT

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

It will take more than hope for West Virginia. It will take hard work and understanding. It will take urban city liberals [edited because this hick didn't realize urban meant black, sorry!] getting off of their high horses and coming down to our level -- the level of ordinary folk who are ignorant, misinformed, maybe even, shall we say the word, bigoted. That's right I said our level. I'm an agnostic Democrat who votes on economic and social justice issues, but I'm still more like them than I am like you.

Over the last week or so, I've heard a lot of kossacks writing off West Virginia, making fun of West Virginia, and even saying West Virginia doesn't matter. Some have painted all of Appalachia as racist homophobes who will never change. Some even said that Obama is in mortal danger there. Some have suggested that we revert to Clinton-style "states that matter" campaigning, leaving West Virginia and Kentucky behind altogether.

Well, progress hasn't left us behind, and I hope that progressives won't either. If you think progress is impossible in my neck of the woods, follow me after the jump...

Fuzzy Phonebanking: DNC Calling for Clinton?

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:49:19 EDT

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

I had a phone call last night from Telefund. The caller said she was calling on behalf of the DNC to raise money for a DNC campaign (Caller ID says Telefund Inc. 805-897-1183). Telefund also happens to fundraise for the Clinton campaign.

First of all, they've been calling 4-6 times per day for several days, and I didn't answer because it looked like spam calls. When I finally answered tonight (they were very persistent), I was ready to hear them out when she said that they were calling about a DNC campaign. That is, right up until she mentioned current negative campaigning in the primary, and then the call turned into nothing more than a debate of the possible nomination of Hillary Clinton.

Follow me after the jump to hear about my debate about Clinton with a DNC fundraiser...

Obama's Website Hacked - Links Hijacked! (w/video) Links Redirected to Hillary's Website!

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:53:32 EDT

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

UPDATE: I think they are in the midst of fixing it. Now the links are not working and working intermittently are working. Also, before you say, "No problems here," read the original post at DailyKos to see comments that show others were DEFINITELY seeing the same thing. I am not just a single person saying this. As a matter of fact, it took me a while to verify that it was happening because I kept going to the wrong links after I heard several reports of the problem.

UPDATE II: The Associated Press has an article on this (a few days later).

Someone has hacked the MyBO website! There are several links that were redirecting to Hillary's website instead of going to the intended pages within MyBO (MyBO is my.barackobama.com for those unfamiliar).

The most notable link was from the MyBO Dashboard page (note, the Dashboard page itself was working fine throughout the entire ordeal):

http://my.barackobama.com/...

While the site was hijacked, if you went from the Dashboard (which, again, worked fine) to the "Community Blogs" section, you would have gotten redirected to Hillary's website from some of the links within the website. Also, if you had clicked on "My Blog" and then "View All Blogs," it would have taken you to Hillary's website.

NOTE: This was not a problem on the main blog that you reach through the links at the top of the page. Only the community blogs (like the one I'm currently typing in) were affected.

At this time, I believe all of the redirects have been fixed. Although, if anyone sees more, post them in the comments. Follow me after the jump for more...

Michelle Obama's College Roommate Wanted All-White Dorm

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:50:23 EDT

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

There has been much ado about Michelle Obama's college thesis in which she described feeling like an outsider at Princeton -- a black person first, a student second. I understand how she could have felt that way, especially twenty five years ago. After reading a poignant article about Michelle Obama's first college roommate, I have new insight into the environment that made her feel like a second class student during her college years.

More after the fold...

Clinton Is Losing Support Among Women in the Polls

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:40:07 EDT

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

One of Pennsylvania's dailies has released an article tonight that provides evidence that Clinton is losing support among women, and particularly among white women. They rely on several different polls to make what I think is a pretty good argument. Obama is chipping away at Clinton's base.

More below the fold...

Double-Dealing Delegates? Obama Scrubs California Delegate List to Prevent Poaching

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:10:30 EDT

Cross-posted at DailyKos (all updates will be posted at DailyKos).

Obama is taking Clinton at her word that pledged delegates are in play and taking strong measures to ensure pledged delegates are loyal. The Obama campaign cut 900 prospective delegates (a record number) from the running for this weekend's California Democratic Convention based on questions of allegiance and an overabundance of prospective delegates. Newspaper reports vary for the Clinton cuts, from 36 to 50.

The Obama campaign must be worried about pledged delegates if they are taking these kinds of measures to control who becomes a pledged delegate in California. I believe this is an indicator that Clinton is serious about her threat to disregard the will of the voters by stealing pledged delegates. By now, you've probably heard what Clinton has said about pledged delegates, but just in case you haven't, here is the infamous pledged delegate quote from Sen. Clinton:

Pledged delegates in most states are not pledged. You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody. They're just like superdelegates.

I guess that depends on your definition of the word pledged.

The State of Clinton Campaign Finances: A Comprehensive Evaluation

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:05:07 EDT

Also cross-posted on DailyKos (be sure to rec!)

As we all know, the Clinton campaign has had some financial difficulties. I did some reading today to get a better overall picture of the Clinton finances, and I am sharing my findings in this diary.

While I didn't uncover much new information, I did get a better overall picture of the Clinton campaign finances, and I came to the realization that the Clinton campaign's financial standing is worse than it appears. The Clinton campaign lost its edge in fundraising much earlier than it should have, mismanaged the funds on hand, and operated consistently in the red for all of 2008 and in part of 2007. This is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- when you look at each of the financial problems individually, it looks bad, but when considering all of the financial problems combined, the big picture is devastating.

Join me below the fold for a comprehensive review of Hillary's primary campaign finances...

Mark Penn NOT REALLY Stepping Down: Smoke & Mirrors

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:01:49 EDT

Also cross-posted at DailyKos.

Rumors of Mark Penn's demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am writing this diary to try to set the record straight.

Mark Penn did not resign. Mark Penn was not fired. In fact, this is just another bit of smoke and mirrors from the Clinton campaign. From TheNation:

CLINTON DROPS PENN, SORT OF... After months of criticism and allegations of conflicts of interest swirling around Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's "chief strategist," the Clinton Campaign announced on Sunday that Penn is losing his title.

More below the fold...

Clintons: Transparency to the Highest Bidder

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 17:37:04 EDT

Why won't the Clintons release the names of donors to the Clinton Foundation? They sold the names to InfoUSA:

ABCNews.com has learned that the Clinton Foundation sold portions of the list through a data company headed by a longtime friend and donor.

Is that the problem, we need buy transparency? Is transparency only for sale to the highest bidder?

InfoUSA has a terrible reputation regarding selling lists that target elderly people who can easily be defrauded. It has just been served with a delisting notice from NASDAQ.

General to HRC's Vet Supporters: Her Dishonor Is Your Dishonor

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:05:12 EDT

Major General (Retired) Walter L. Stewart, Jr. has written an open letter to Hillary Clinton in which he calls on military service persons and veterans to renounce their support for Hillary Clinton:

Valor theft degrades every service member and veteran, and, as a point of honor, I call on the former admirals, generals, and service veterans who are publicly in support of Senator Clinton to renounce that support. Continue it, and her dishonor is your dishonor.

Hillary Clinton's "misremembering" of sniper fire has made her a joke in many circles (e.g., hello Sinbad), but for the veterans I know (and I know lots of them), they're actually pretty pissed.

Bloomberg Introducing Obama at Tomorrow's Speech on the Economy

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:57:45 EDT

(Also cross posted at DailyKos)

Tomorrow in Manhattan, Obama will be giving a speech on the economy, and Bloomberg will be introducing him. The Obama campaign says it is not an endorsement but that Bloomberg will have some nice things to say about Obama.

Not too long ago, Bloomberg made some very nice public statements about Obama's economic plan. He has also been saying that his endorsement is up for grabs between all three candidates.

Also, just came across a tidbit in another story on this:

In 2001, when Bloomberg was a politically untested businessman attempting a long-shot bid for City Hall, McCain endorsed the then little-known Republican.

Postcards to Pennsylvania for Obama

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:41:24 EDT

Women for Obama are organizing a postcard campaign to help deliver Pennsylvania for Obama. So, we've organized a Postcard Party in East Mesa this Thursday at 7:30 PM!

We want women in Pennsylvania to know that they do not have to buy into the hype that women should vote for Hilary simply because she is a women. We want women in Pennsylvania to know that despite political pundits' yammerings, there a thousands of women across this nation who support Obama.

This Post Card Campaign is being strategically organized in conjunction with the local Obama GOTV campaign in Pennsylvania.

Just a note: Although focus will be sending postcards from women who support Obama to undecided women in Pennsylvania, guys can still participate -- they'll send your postcards to undecided voters too!

RSVP now!

Great Speech -- Now Back to What's Important

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:38:24 EDT

Obama's speech today was beautiful. Inspiring. But we can't allow ourselves to sit and bask in the glory of today. The Pennsylvania primary and the other primaries are fast approaching. The last day to register voters in Pennsylvania is almost upon us. There is so much work to do...

Hopefully Obama's speech has inspired all of us stop obsessing on Reverend Wright and get back to productive work for the Obama movement again. If you still want to enjoy the night, I understand. Maybe you could pick one small thing to do that will help the Obama movement. I'll commit to doing three things on this list tonight. How many will you do?

Chatting with the guy from Illinois with the funny name

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:55:30 EDT

Way back in 2004, I was working for a union. Part of my job was to create and manage a handful of websites. One of the websites was an online election center where we graded the policy positions of candidates running for state and national offices. We sent out probably 5,000 emails to candidates, and when they responded, I copy/pasted them into the database and gave them a grade. Usually some staffer sent us some boilerplate text that they didn't even bother to customize to our questions or our audience.

Once in a while, though, someone would call. Usually it was some crackpot who had no resources, no staff, no money, and no chance of winning whichever office he was running for (I say he only because I don't remember any of the crackpots being women).

One day, a guy in Illinois running for U.S. Senate called. Based on the fact that he picked up the phone to call me, I assumed he didn't have enough resources to hire any staff that could call me or send me an email. I assumed (like the fool I am) that he was a nobody on a fast train going nowhere. I was basing this assumption, of course, on the fact that everyone else who called was definitely on a fast train to nowhere.

Hillary is messing with Texas!

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:38:57 EDT

According to this Dallas Morning News article (and blogs across America), Hillary Clinton has lawyered up in Texas and is trying to subvert their state convention, which is currently scheduled for March 29. She wants all of the caucus signatures RE-verified. Now remember, not only is every caucus-goer verified before being allowed to caucus, they must also present proof that they voted in the primary earlier in the day (or through early voting). So they've already been verified twice!

Hillary wants the state convention postponed until all signatures can be re-verified. Nevermind that all of the delegates and alternates who plan to attend the convention have already made travel arrangements, work schedule changes, etc in order to attend the event. Nevermind that changing the event's date would be disenfranchising many delegates who made arrangements to attend on March 29th.

I would also like to point out that only 2,000 complaints were made regarding the caucus, and turnout was around 220,000. This means that approximately .009% (for those who have been out of math for a while, that's 1/100th of a percent, think about this, not even close to 1%!) of caucus-goers had a problem that they felt worthy of a complaint.

Hillary's new mandate: Seat the delegates or refund DNC donations

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:52:19 EDT

The Hillary campaign has now resorted to rounding up high dollar donors and cajoling them to participate in a truly shameless strategy. HRC donors are demanding that the DNC seat the Florida delegates, or else they want the DNC to return all of their donations. Some will accept a re-vote, others are demanding that the delegates be seated as-is.

This is not a small thing (well, the behavior is small, but the donations are not). We're talking about high dollar donors. And we're talking about donations to the DNC. Think about this for a second. The DNC is supposed to be an organization that represents all of the democrats, and these donations are supposed to support all Democrats -- not just HRC. Yet, they are demanding that the DNC break its own rules in favor of HRC, "or else" they want a refund.

Bring back hope.

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:43:02 EDT

What Geraldine Ferrero is doing is most certainly a calculated attempt to draw attention to Barack Obama's race and to marginalize him as "the black candidate" in Pennsylvania, a state where even the governor says race still matters. Obama supporters (and even some Clinton supporters) have seen Geraldine's tactic for what it is, and have spoken -- loudly -- and rightfully so.

But as an Obama supporter, I think we have a problem. There are a significant number of Americans who now have the perception that it is the Obama campaign who is injecting race into the election. For proof of this, just take a gander at any blog or website sympathetic to Clinton. Just as Olberman pointed out tonight that "true or not" many people now perceive the Hillary campaign has resorted to racism, I must point out that "true or not" there are some people who believe it the Obama campaign who is to blame.

There are many people who sincerely believe that affirmative action style policies have given minorities an advantage over them in education and the job market. True or not, the perception exists. What surprises most liberal democrats is that some of these people are moderate or conservative democrats.

Time to turn our attention to Pennsylvania...

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:49:15 EDT

We all know that Pennsylvania is a political machine state. The most important part of that political machine is the Steelworkers Union, which endorsed Edwards and then held off making a new endorsement. It is very important that we get their endorsement. I worked for them during the 2004 election season, and I cannot emphasize enough how important an endorsement from them will be in Pennsylvania. They put A LOT of resources into presidential elections after they make an endorsement, and they can have many, many boots on the ground in Pennsylvania.

Canadian Prime Minister asked to fire Chief of Staff for sabotaging Obama with false attacks

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:12:12 EST

The Leader of the Labor Party in the Canadian Parliament today stood on the Parliamentary floor and formally accused the Prime Minister's office of purposely sabotaging Obama with false accusations. Here is the exact quote from the Parliamentary record of the Canadian government:

"The Prime Minister's office has been interfering in the [U.S.] democratic primaries with false accusations, trying to silence Barack Obama who simply wants to amend the NAFTA. It is completely unacceptable for that kind of interference to be taking place. Will the Prime Minister fire the source of the interference, fire his Chief of Staff?"

A video clip of the speech that was made on the floor of Parliament is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLJJ88HTiX8

We need to spread this far and wide! The people of Ohio need to know just how far some people (HILLARY) are willing to go to keep Obama from getting into office!

A cynic's journey to hope

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:32:30 EST

I have to admit, I've been a cynic all along. I'm still a cynic. I keep expecting some scandal to be uncovered, and the sky will fall on this campaign. All of our hopes and dreams will vanish like evanescent vapor. Every time I see a new negative story, my heart sinks, and I think, "This is it. It's finally happened." And then I run off to conduct due diligence. Then I find there's nothing there. In fact, it is the scandals that vanish, one by one, like evanescent vapor. I am beginning to believe that maybe, just maybe, this guy is bona fide.

Change you can Xerox

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:53:52 EST

I love this! Hillary Clinton didn't give us a put-down, she gave us a slogan, "Barack Obama's Blueprint for Change. Print it. Read it. Copy it. Pass it on. Change you can Xerox."

Print your copy of this great flyer right now, and pass it on!

Barack as flavor of the month

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:39:26 EST

If you hadn't heard, Ben & Jerry (yes, of Ben & Jerry's ice cream) have officially endorsed Obama! Now, it's time for us to get an Obama flavor -- go to Ben & Jerry's website and suggest Hopemonger or Obamarama or your choice of Obama-related name for a new flavor:

http://www.benjerry.com/our_company/contact_us/forms/suggestion.cfm

What you pay monthly for Hillary's insurance mandate

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:34:09 EST

There is a reason that Hillary has not released detailed information and numbers related to her healthcare plan...

Someone from Massachusetts just sent me the rate card for their mandated insurance. This is the plan that Hillary is basing her health care insurance mandate proposal on. Remember folks, her plan does not provide healthcare, it mandates that you purchase an insurance policy -- and if you can't afford a policy, your wages get garnished. Many people will end up purchasing the cheapest policies that don't really cover much just to keep from paying these MONTHLY payments...

Red state delegates are 2nd class delegates

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:09:49 EST

This really makes me mad! Nobody in America is a second-class anything -- Hillary Clinton is going to eat her words when the voters hear about this!

"Superdelegates are not second-class delegates," says Joel Ferguson (co-chair of Hillary's campaign), who will be a superdelegate if Michigan is seated. "The real second-class delegates are the delegates that are picked in red-state caucuses that are never going to vote Democratic."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Secondclass_delegates.html

I guess this means she's skipping Texas???

Obama's success in the primary bodes well for the general election

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:32:08 EST

Delaware, Louisiana, and Missouri are all battleground states that ran primaries (not caucuses) that he won. In Missouri, the turnout for this year's democratic primary (1.4 mill) was 52% of the TOTAL turnout (dem+rep) for the 2004 general election (2.7 mill).

Look at the red states. Alabama was a primary state that Obama won, and the numbers there are amazing. The democratic primary this year had turnout numbers that reached 59% of the TOTAL (dem+rep) turnout for the 2004 general election. Georgia, another red state, ran a primary, and Obama won...

Obama on cover of The Economist

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:04:27 EST

Just got this week's copy of The Economist (magazine) in the mail. Obama is on the cover, and there are 3 articles about him.

The first Economist article says that he has "survived the Clintons' crude onslight with grace" and that "he has persuaded huge numbers of people around the world to reconsider politics in an optimistic way." They go on to say, "To many foreigners, he represents an idealistic version of America -- the hoe of a more benevolent superpower."

How to solve the Michigan-Florida debacle

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:29:32 EST

Let's not make any mistake about it, all parties -- the DNC and the state party officials of both states are to blame. But it is the voters who are disenfranchised. To let things stand is patently undemocratic. To seat the delegates would disenfranchise the voters in Florida and Michigan who did not vote because they were told their votes would not count. And if the delegates of Michigan and Florida were to decide the nomination, then seating those delegates would disenfranchise the voters of all 48 of the other states. To put it bluntly, allowing the bogus nonvoting elections of Michigan and Florida to decide the nomination would disenfranchise everyone -- even the people who voted in Michigan and Florida because even the people who pulled the lever might have made a different decision if they had thought their vote would count.

So what's the solution? There is one way to solve this without disenfranchising anyone...

Clinton advisor voted to strip delegates from MI/FL, now wants them seated

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:36:57 EST

I am beginning to wonder if the whole Michigan/Florida thing was a ruse from Hillary insiders. Harold Ickes was one of the DNC officials who advocated for (and voted for) stripping the delegates from Michigan and Florida. But now, as a Hillary campaign advisor, he is talking to the media and DNC officials and advocating for those delegates to be seated.

A lot of people already believe that Hillary knew the fix was in when she decided to leave her name on the Michigan ballot (nevermind the fact that she is on video saying that those delegates would not be counted), but now that it is coming out that one of her very own campaign advisors was behind stripping those delegates in the first place and now wants them seated after all... It definitely looks like a fix to me.

The American people are being robbed of their vote for president if Hillary gets her way. And so are all of the people in Michigan and Florida who did not have the opportunity to hear the campaigns of both candidates in their own state. And those who decided not to go to the polls because they were told their vote would not count.

Yes we can win red states!

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:34:22 EST

Yes we can win red states!

Here is a state-by-state breakdown of the numbers for the red states that we have shown a competitiveness in this year (Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia). Obama won all but two of these states! Check out the numbers...

Hillary's richest donors may use loopholes to fund more ads

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:20:48 EST

Several of Hillary's richest donors are considering dumping huge money into ad campaigns for her. There are articles all over the web about these donors who claim they are considering millions of dollars for her campaign. Although the law allows them to run independent campaigns that support Hillary, the spirit of campaign finance reform encourages the type of small, individual donor base that the Obama campaign has run.

There is an old saying in politics, "Those who show up win." Well, there should be another saying, "Those who are willing to pay win." For too many years, regular Americans like us have taken a back seat to politics. We've let special interests and the wealthy run the show. We can't break out of this unless we are willing to do what it takes, and it takes money.

AZ, we still have work to do

Dawn in Superstition Springs — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:42:29 EST

We fought hard here in Arizona for Obama, and we successfully narrowed the gap. They expected Clinton to lose big here, but we made it close.

Now it's time for us to put our enthusiasm back to work for Obama. Ohio and Texas are coming up fast, and it's going to take all of us, working together, across the country to win those states. Obama supporters across Arizona are coming together to support important upcoming primaries.

If you missed out on getting involved in the Arizona primary, it's not too late to do your part. If you worked hard during the Arizona primary, then we need to put that well-earned experience to work now.