American Catholics for Barack Obama

President Obama Meets Pope Benedict

EsquireUK — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:06:07 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

VATICAN CITY — The White House says it expects "frank" but constructive talks in President Barack Obama's meeting Friday with Pope Benedict XVI _ two men who share similar views on helping the poor and pushing for Middle East peace but disagree on abortion and stem cell research.

With some Catholic activists and American bishops outspoken in their criticism of Obama, even as polls have shown he received a majority of Catholic votes, the audience is much awaited.

Obama's election presented a challenge for the Vatican after eight years of common ground with President George W. Bush in opposing abortion, an issue that drew them together despite the Vatican's opposition to the war in Iraq.

But the Vatican has been openly interested in Obama's views and scheduled an unusual afternoon meeting to accommodate the American president at the end of his stay in Italy for a G-8 summit meeting in the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila and just before he leaves for Ghana.

In the tradition-conscious Vatican, most such meetings are held at midday. The Vatican has also arranged live TV coverage of the open session of the meeting after their private talks.

"I think there will be frank discussion," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier this week. "I think that there's a lot that they agree on that they'll get a chance to discuss."

"We know the pope has been keenly aware of the president's outreach to the Muslim world. The pope shares the president's view on reducing the number of nuclear weapons. So I think there's certainly a lot of common ground."

www.whitehouse.gov

President Obama Will Meet With Pope Benedict

EsquireUK — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:49:23 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

President Barack Obama will meet Pope Benedict for the first time on July 10 during a visit to Italy to attend a G8 heads of state meeting, a Vatican source said Wednesday.

Obama has angered many American Catholics with his support for abortion rights for women and his decision to lift restrictions on stem cell research.

The Vatican source said Obama would hold a brief audience with the Pope in the afternoon, after the conclusion of the July 8-10 summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

Faithful Citizenship

EsquireUK — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:11:21 EST

www.barackobama.com

Sunday, 2nd November 2008

Chicago, Illinois

www.barackobama.com

Poverty and the 2008 Elections

By John Carr

“Love of God and love of neighbor have become one: In the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God…. Love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind is as essential to her [the Church] as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel.” (Deus Caritas Est # 15, 21)

This priority for the poor also needs to be at the center of the national discussion in this election year. The facts about poverty in our land raise significant moral and policy issues.

Poverty is pervasive. One in eight Americans lives in poverty, which represents more than 37 million people.
The younger you are in America the more likely you are to be poor. One in six children, or 13 million children, lives in poverty.
Family factors contribute to poverty. A child born to unmarried parents who have not graduated from high school, without a worker in the family has an 80 percent chance of growing up poor. A child born to a family without these factors has an 8 percent chance.
Poverty is not distributed evenly. While most people who live in poverty are white, one out of four African-Americans, and one out of five Hispanics, lives in poverty. (See the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s Poverty USA website, www.povertyusa.org.povfacts_race.shtml).

Such statistics show the kind of nation we are becoming.

U.S. Catholics have a moral obligation to protect the lives and dignity of all God’s children, especially the poor and vulnerable. We can debate how best to pursue economic opportunity and justice, provide decent jobs for all who can work, and ensure adequate health care and housing. However, we cannot escape the moral duty to work actively to overcome the poverty and deprivation which diminishes the lives of so many children and families.

Unfortunately, debates about poverty often become polarized by ideological and partisan divisions. This political season, campaigns needs to move beyond false ideological choices that often paralyze national discussion. Catholic teaching and experience insist that reducing poverty will require personal responsibility and social responsibility, better choices and behaviors by individuals, and better policies and investments by government.

In their statement A Place at the Table, the U.S. bishops outline a four-part strategy to address poverty. It calls for:

Individuals to pursue education and work, to build strong families and to make sacrifices for children
Churches, faith-based and community organizations to support families, confront discrimination and injustice, strengthen neighborhoods and communities and stand with and help poor and vulnerable families
The market, businesses and unions to work to secure jobs at decent wages, health care and other benefits, a voice in the workplace, and efforts for growth and opportunity
Government to live up to its responsibility to protect the weak and vulnerable, promote human dignity and human rights, act effectively when other institutions fall short and promote greater economic opportunity and justice for all.

Sadly, some advocates embrace just one element rather than all. Some insist individual responsibility is the real answer, or that just faith-based institutions can make the difference, or that the market by itself can solve the problems or that government action is the only effective response. A comprehensive national commitment that addresses the complicated causes and diverse steps to overcome poverty is needed.

Isolated efforts cannot promote integral human development that is the foundation of effective efforts to overcome poverty, deprivation and despair (www.catholiccharitiesusa.org and www.usccb.org/sdwp/placeatthetable/index.shtml). In the upcoming elections, U.S. Catholics ought not to focus on individual economic interests, but rather seek to lift up "the least of these." In Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the U.S. bishops call for a new politics, focused more on:

moral principles than on the latest polls
needs of the weak than on benefits for the strong
pursuit of the common good than on the demands of narrow interests.

How we treat “the least among us" (Mt. 25:40) is a moral measure of our lives, as individuals and as a nation. In Scripture, this is the question on judgment day. It should be a central question on election day.

www.barackobama.com

- - -

John Carr is executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/media/article/carr

John Carr serves as Executive Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference. In this role, he assists the U.S. bishops in sharing Catholic social teaching, advocating on major issues of justice and peace and building the Catholic community’s capacity to act on its social mission. The Department he leads includes the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which is the Bishops’ anti-poverty program, and is guided by two Bishops’ Committees: Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace.

www.barackobama.com

an important message from Hillary Clinton...

This election is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win.

Remember what a presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the American people, your lives, and your children's futures.

I have been traveling across the country campaigning for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and other Democrats. People ask, "What can I do to help?" My answer is, "What's the most you can do?"

We all want to see Barack Obama stand before America as our President having led a powerful wave of Democratic victories up and down the ticket. That's why we've got to demand the most from ourselves over the final days of this campaign.

People are counting on us. Let's work together in these final days to give Democrats the boost they need to win. Please make a donation to the Democratic National Committee.

In so many ways, our families' futures and our children's aspirations are on the line in these elections. Getting Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the White House will mean getting relief and new hope to people bearing the brunt of the Bush administration's failures. And it will mean restoring America's reputation and standing in a risky world that's crying out for steady, principled leadership.

November 4th is about giving every child the chance to reach his or her God-given potential and that is why we cannot afford to let up now. With only 8 days to go, we cannot afford to be lulled into a false sense of security and we must do everything we can.

This election is about bringing jobs and opportunity to families who have been hit hard by the failed Bush economy. It's about securing retirement for people who've seen their nest egg shrink and about securing the American Dream for people who've seen their hopes of owning a home start to fade.

It's about providing people with a health care system they can depend on when they're sick and a Supreme Court they can count on when their rights are at risk.

Those are the things we're fighting for. That's why it's so important to do the most we can possibly do to secure victory in these final days.

People are counting on us. Let's work together in these final days to give Democrats across the country the boost they need to win. Please make a donation to the Democratic National Committee.

https://www.democrats.org/donatenow

Events are moving fast. Our opponents' strategies are shifting by the moment. Our candidates have to be prepared for anything. And you and I have to do all we can to win the Democratic victory our country needs.

Only you know what is the most you can do. But, all of us know this: Extraordinary commitment is what it's going to take to see our candidates through to victory and to see our country through to better days.

Thanks so much for all you are doing -- and for intensifying your efforts in the coming days we have left to win.

Sincerely,

Hillary Clinton

Presidential DebateWatch 2008

EsquireUK — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:55:39 EDT

Saturday, 30th August 2008

Cambridge, MA

Dear American Voters,

Vote it is your fundamental right....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amukRM9SSoo

The 2008 Presidential

Debates dates and sites are as follows:

First presidential debate:
Friday, September 26
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

Vice presidential debate:
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Second presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Here is a break down of what each debate will consist of:

1. First Presidential Debate: – Date: September 26 – Site: University of Mississippi – Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security – Moderator: Jim Lehrer – Staging: Podium debate – Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment

2. Vice Presidential Debate – Date: October 2nd – Site: Washington University (St. Louis) – Moderator: Gwen Ifill – Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties’ Vice Presidential nominees are selected.

3. Second Presidential Debate – Date: October 7 – Site: Belmont University – Moderator: Tom Brokaw – Staging: Town Hall debate – Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

4. Third Presidential Debate – Date: October 15 – Site: Hofstra University – Topic: Domestic and Economic policy – Moderator: Bob Schieffer – Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table – Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate – Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.

All four debates will begin at 9pm ET, and last for 90 minutes. Both campaigns also agreed to accept the CPD’s participation rules for third-party candidate participation.

The two backup sites are Centre College in Danville, KY and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.

The Commission also announced formats for the debates.

All debates will be ninety minutes in length and start at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Each debate will be administered by a single moderator.

The first presidential debate will focus on domestic policy; the third presidential debate will focus on foreign policy.

The second presidential (town meeting format) debate will include any issues raised by members of that audience, and the vice presidential debate will include domestic and foreign policy.

In each debate except the town meeting format, the candidates will be seated at a table with the moderator.

Kirk and Fahrenkopf introduced two format features different from CPD formats of the past. The first change will be incorporated in the first and third presidential debates as well as the vice-presidential debate.

Each of those debates will be divided into 8 ten-minute issue segments; the moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates, for the balance of that segment. Time will be reserved for closing statements by each of the candidates in each debate.

Kirk and Fahrenkopf noted that this change is aimed at increasing the educational value of the general election debates. "Our mission is to promote voter education. The public deserves to hear and see the candidates offer and defend their positions on the critical issues facing our country in the most thoughtful and in-depth manner that television time constraints will allow. Loosening the constraints within the ninety minutes debate will allow for more serious examination of complicated questions. This change will also open the possibility of the moderator inviting candidates to question each other. We want voters to benefit from as full an explanation of a topic as possible, and we feel certain that the candidates will welcome this change for the same reason."

The second departure from past CPD formats will be the introduction of internet access to the presidential town meeting debate. Questions solicited by Internet will be included with those from citizens on the stage with the candidates.

Kirk and Fahrenkopf said: "The Commission believes that by including questions from Internet participants, we will enhance and expand the effectiveness of the town meeting debate. This technique has been employed in different ways during many of the primary debates. We will continue to learn from its use in the primary season, and we intend to consult with experts in information technology who can help us integrate it into a general election town meeting in a manner consistent with our non-partisan charter."

The Commission also released the 2008 Candidate Selection Criteria which will be used to determine who is invited to participate in the general election debates. In addition to being constitutionally eligible, candidates must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote of the electoral college, and have 15% support in national polls before the debates.

The Gallup Organization will advise the CPD in the application of its criteria to polling data as it did in 2000 and 2004. View the 2008 Candidate Selection Criteria.

The co-chairmen noted that moderators for the four debates would be chosen in the summer of 2008.

The CPD was established in 1987 and sponsored all presidential and vice presidential debates in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004.

Moderators set for presidential, VP debates Tue Aug 5, 2008 8:16pm EDT

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CBS' Bob Schieffer, NBC's Tom Brokaw and PBS' Jim Lehrer will moderate three debates in the fall between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, the Commission on Presidential Debates said Tuesday.

The debates will be held in New York, Tennessee and Mississippi in September and October. PBS' Gwen Ifill will moderate the vice presidential debate, planned for October 2 in St. Louis.

The commission had previously said it wouldn't tap current network news anchors, leaving ABC's Charles Gibson, NBC's Brian Williams and CBS' Katie Couric out of the equation. Gibson and Williams moderated debates on their networks during the primary season; Couric's were canceled because of scheduling conflicts with the candidates.

"This year, more than ever, these debates are going to be important," Schieffer said Tuesday. "This campaign started on such a high plane and now we're down to the Britney Spears ads and stuff like that. I think it will be a good thing for the country to see these two men at the debates."

It will be Lehrer's 11th presidential debate, a record stretching back to 1988, when he moderated debates between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. He said the 90-minute time goes by quickly.

"It is not a TV show. It's not running a segment for the 'NewsHour,'" Lehrer said. "It is a very important event, a major event for our country. I'm always aware of that. It's scorching. I'm trying to make sure that things are fair, but that's only part of it. It's also got to be perceived as fair. It's tough work, but it's exhilarating as well."

Lehrer will moderate the first debate, on domestic policy, on September 26 at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Brokaw will moderate a town hall meeting-style debate October 7 at Belmont University in Nashville. Schieffer will moderate the final debate, on foreign-affairs issues, on October 15 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

There will be no podiums for the debates, with McCain and Obama instead sitting at a table with the moderator. Another major change is a loosening of the format: The moderator will introduce an issue in each of eight 10-minute segments, and instead of strict response times there will be discussions between the candidates.

"Before, there was no way for the moderators to go in there with a follow-up question," said Schieffer, who moderated a presidential debate in 2004. "It'll be my job to get them to ask the follow-up question themselves, and when they don't, I'll be able to."

Schieffer said he's looking forward it.

"It'll be a little more free-wheeling. We'll try to make it as much of a debate among the two of them rather than just asking and answering questions," he said.

Also on Tuesday, MySpace said it would partner with the commission on MyDebates.org, a Web site that will stream the debates and offer tracking of issues, playback and other tools. After each debate, the event will be bookmarked via issue to allow viewers to check what's important to the candidates and discuss them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN0536270520080806

DebateWatch is a voter education program of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). DebateWatch brings citizens like you together to watch the televised debates, talk about what you learned, and, if you choose to, share your reactions with the CPD.

The beauty of this program is its flexibility; anyone can participate including children, young adults, or retirees. DebateWatches can take place in high-profile televised venues with hundreds of people, or they can occur in people's living rooms with half a dozen neighbors.

http://www.debates.org/index.html

http://www.debates.org/pages/news_111907.html

Values

Scott Urbanowski — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:27:00 EDT

Why do you support Senator Obama?

What makes you vote for the Democratic ticket on Election Day? What made you decide that just voting for progressive Democrats is not enough - that you also need to volunteer for the Obama campaign or for other progressives running in your area?

Students For Barack Obama at WMU- Ready to GO!!

Nicole Vafadari — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:33:09 EDT

I haven't used this site in a while, so please excuse my absence. But now is such a vital time and WMU is ready to take the challenge of turning Kalamazoo into Obama country! The one thing that our university has that is so unique is the great community that surrounds us! With Obama as the candidate, we now have people from his staff as well here to give us all their wisdom and help us get the vote for Barack. So, WMU's chapter is ready to work in partnership with the community. WMU is nothing without Kalamazoo, and visa versa. As the Chapter Coordinator at WMU, I would love every chance to get our organization involved with community organizations. So if you have any ideas, information, or simply want to help with the campaign in Kalamazoo and on campus, please email me at nicole.p.vafadari@wmich.edu or wmnsfbo@gmail.com. Can't wait to bring the campus and the community even closer and unify behind this great man! Yes we will!

- Nicole Vafadari

Chapter Coordinator of Students for Barack Obama- WMU Chapter

Voter registration - Pasadena, California

Julia from Pasadena — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:08:55 EDT

There was a fantastic turn out to the voter registration drive (and BBQ) in Victory Park, Pasadena, California Today. Apparently the (grassroots) organizer thought there would be about 5-10 people interested, but 192 signed up for the event on Mybarackobama.com and there was quite a turn out. Everything was incredibly organized and groups of voter registers (some in fancy red shirts the organizers had made) went out to local areas and REGISTERED PEOPLE TO VOTE!!!!!

The volunteers today really reflect the wide diversity of Obama supporters, many different races, shapes, colors, ages. And many different Obama shirts!

These drives will be happening all over Pasadena (and other areas), and we are planning tabelling at all the local farmer's markets.

WE ARE STILL FIRED UP. AND READY TO GO.

(If anyone would like larger sized copies of any of these pictures, please drop me a note).

More pictures under the cut.

Congradulations To Barack On His Presidential Nomination

Kathy Caudle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:32:24 EDT

June 3, '08

My deepest and heart-felt congradulations to Barack and his wonderful wife Michelle who, when she came out to Salt Lake City earlier this year, brought the house down with her rally in Utah's capitol city. God speed to both of them because now, and I know they both know this, on we go to finish this march to the White House for Barack to be our next president!

Barack now is in the same league as George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan among others. His achievement in winning the presidential nomination is matched only by his congenial spirit to bring people together as a uniter because after all we ARE still the UNITED States of America.

This is absolutely historic. Nothing can stop us, now. And John McCain, as well as everybody else, also should know it's not even his time. It's Barack's time. History is on Barack's side which even as a woman, who's of only the third generation of voting women in my family, I understand. It's simply not womens' time, yet.

As a loyal follower of Thomas Jefferson I'm tellin' ya in my political soul I know he is looking down from heaven, where he is et al of our beloved fore-bearers are, with approval. And I think Dr. King also would be pleased.

Barack's presidential nomination is what President Kennedy talked about in the 1960s in his civil rights speeches, it's what President Lincoln intended a century earlier by issuing his Emancipation Proclamation, and it all proves Barack is right for America. On we go, to the finish line, to the White House!

Again I exclaim with deep pride, in this winning movement Barack now has going full speed and tears of joy in my eyes, Congradulations to Barack and his wife and family. God speed on his presidential nomination victory!

Sincerely,

Kathy Caudle

Salt Lake City, UT

It will be over soon...

EsquireUK — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:52:19 EDT

Campaigning in Indiana brings its complications - not least of which is keeping track of the time.

For historical reasons, the Hoosier State contains two time zones.

Parts of the north-west and south-west go by central - or "slow time", as the locals call it, while the rest of the state goes by eastern, or "fast time".

It was something that one of Hillary Clinton's secret service agents seemed unaware of, when we spoke outside one of her events in Indianapolis.

The candidate herself, however, was as focused and on-message as ever.

And the message she has been giving across Indiana has been an unashamedly populist one.

'Misguided strategy'

The New York senator has been laying out her plan to bring down gasoline prices; a mixture of new windfall taxes on big oil companies and no gas taxes - over summer, at least for consumers and business owners.

Barack Obama calls it a misguided, short-termist electoral strategy.

He has seized on the fact that the idea has the support of the Republican nominee, John McCain, and has labelled it a "Clinton-McCain plan".

So whose vision will convince the voters? And how important will a victory be in Indiana - a state which last held a significant primary 40 years ago?

Should Mr Obama win in Indiana... he will have stemmed the tide of recent defeats

The first is hard to judge.

Opinion polls place the two rivals neck-and-neck, but - as you travel around the state - you are repeatedly told how hard it is to give a single message to Indiana's voters or, indeed, to get a single message from them.

Not only are there two zones, but different regions of the state are influenced by the big cities in the neighbouring states.

Cincinnati, Ohio in the south-east, Louisville, Kentucky in the south and in the north-west, Chicago, Illinois.

It is a Mid-Western mosaic.

Shock victory?

That Chicago link could help Barack Obama.

The Illinois senator's ties to the city may act as a counterweight to the advantage which Hillary Clinton might be expected to enjoy with the region's blue-collar workers, who are still smarting from the loss of more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs in the state since 2000.

They have been the kind of voter she has courted to great effect in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.

And the significance of Indiana?

Hillary Clinton has been speaking about next Tuesday's two primaries - Indiana and North Carolina - as "game changers" and, in a sense, they could be.

If she wins in Indiana and pulls off a shock victory in North Carolina, where she trails in most polls, the sheen will have been removed from the Obama campaign.

A double win would confirm that the Clinton victories in Pennsylvania and Ohio did indeed mark a change of momentum.

A double loss for Senator Obama, on the other hand, at the end of a period marked by the re-emergence of his controversial former pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright, would re-ignite the debate over his electability.

Should he win in Indiana, however, he will have stemmed the tide of those recent defeats.

His front runner status, which he has earned by winning more states, votes and delegates than his rival, would regain its legitimacy.

To see how far the game has really changed, though, you will have to look to the super-delegates - those party officials who can support whichever candidate they choose at the National Convention in August and whose votes are likely to decide the contest.

Hillary Clinton's only plausible path to victory, at this point, involves convincing them that she is the best-placed candidate to defeat John McCain in November.

If those super-delegates, yet to reveal their hand, desert either candidate in large numbers, the game will not just be changed.

It will be over.

... and in North Carolina
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
May 6, 2008 06:02 AM EST

If Barack Obama's late decision to hold his election night rally in Raleigh is any indication (his campaign didn't settle on a location until Monday afternoon), the Illinois senator is feeling confident about his chances in North Carolina.

It’s a good thing, for an upset win by Hillary Clinton in North Carolina could shake up the presidential campaign if paired with a Clinton victory in Indiana.

For insight into how North Carolina will be won, here’s a guide to where and what to watch Tuesday:

Check the polls. Officially, the polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. But insiders here check the polls at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., after the early morning and lunch hour rushes, to gauge turnout.

Keep an eye on Raleigh-Durham area turnout. Before more than 350,000 ballots were cast during the early voting period, analysts were forecasting a turnout of about 800,000 voters in the presidential primary.

That number should now top one million, said Morgan Jackson, a North Carolina political consultant.

“The key will be the Raleigh-Durham market,” Jackson said. It usually makes up between a quarter and a third of the overall turnout vote. “If that is creeping up to 40 percent that spells good news for Obama,” he said

Big cities vs. small towns. North Carolina voters are concentrated around the I-40/I-85 corridor through the central region of the state, where Obama will look to drive his margins above 55 percent in the metropolitan areas of Charlotte, Winston-Salem (part of the Triad) and Raleigh-Durham (part of the Research Triangle).

North Carolina has 100 counties, and “usually the top 14 counties in the metropolitan areas cast more votes” than the rest combined, said Ferrel Guillory, a former political reporter who lectures at the University of North Carolina. “So Hillary is counting on those other counties to maximize her vote. She needs an extra margin out of those counties.”

Former President Bill Clinton has been busy working the less populated areas to the west of Charlotte and to the east of Raleigh. He made 14 stops on Sunday and Monday alone in towns that have never seen a former president.

All in all, the former president has made more than 40 campaign stops in small town North Carolina, where analysts say Hillary needs to pull in more than 60 percent of the vote.

Can she do it? Bill Clinton bragged to at least one North Carolina crowd that he boosted his wife in Pennsylvania, visiting 20 rural counties where she won at least 60 percent of the vote.

Hillary Clinton will also need to be competitive in the suburbs and exurbs of the major metropolitan areas because a pure rural strategy will not be enough, analysts said.

Follow the African-American vote. The higher the black turnout, the higher the Obama margin of victory.

African Americans have made up 40 percent of the early voting turnout and are expected to comprise anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of the vote today.

Most polls show Clinton picking up about 10 percent of the African American vote. If she can claw her way into the range of about 20 percent—which would be on the high side for her in a Southern state—she would get some breathing room.

Places to watch. Check out a medium-sized city such as Fayetteville where there is a mix of African Americans and rural white conservative Democrats. Clinton has made overtures to the military voters around Fort Bragg, but Obama could draw strength from historically black Fayetteville State University, said Doug Heye, a Republican political strategist and North Carolina native.

Durham, which is 44 percent African American, could provide a gauge on turnout among one of Obama’s most loyal constituencies. Charlotte, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, all at least one-third black, are also worth watching. Obama needs strong turnout in towns with black colleges and universities, such as Elizabeth City in the northeastern corner of the state, Heye said.

The counties around Raleigh and Durham could provide clues as to whether Obama can rebound with suburban white voters after turning in a lackluster performance in Philadelphia’s upper-income suburbs.
Asheville could be an island of Obama strength in rural western Carolina.

Avi Zenilman and Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.

Five things to look for in Indiana
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
May 6, 2008 02:45 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS – Before Barack Obama experienced a rough couple of weeks, his campaign was optimistic about his chances in this state.

But with a black population of less than 10 percent and swaths of blue collar towns and rural counties, Indiana is looking far more favorable to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has blanketed the state with visits from her, former President Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea.

Can she achieve a replay of Ohio and Pennsylvania, when the rural counties turned in huge margins for her? Or will Obama, with significant endorsements in southern Indiana, be able to cut into her support? And will Obama succeed in driving up his totals in Indianapolis and the northwestern corner of the state?

Here is what Indiana political strategists and experts will be looking for Tuesday:

Check the polls. “The mantra is that 10-2-4 routine,” said Brian Howey, editor of Howey Politics Indiana, referring to 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. checks to gauge turnout.

Follow the turnout. Analysts are expecting far bigger turnout this year than in 2004, when about 22 percent of voters cast ballots in the presidential primary, said Russell Hanson, a political science professor at Indiana University-Bloomington.

A much bigger turnout is good news for Obama because it means “those who haven’t been politically engaged in the past are coming out,” Hanson said. “If that is not happening, then that is working in Clinton’s favor because the traditional [party] machinery is working.

The new vote and the early vote. Analysts will be watching the preferences of the more than 200,000 new voters who were added to the registration rolls.

“How many are Obamacans versus Rush Limbaugh mischief makers?” Howey asked.
More than 160,000 voters cast their ballots early, with large numbers coming in from Obama strongholds in Lake (Gary), Marion (Indianapolis) and Monroe (Indiana University-Bloomington) counties.

The Obama campaign tried taking full advantage of this option at Purdue and Indiana University, where classes concluded last week, by shuttling students to the county election site. “The traffic was so heavy that the county clerk agreed they would bring the polling place to the center of campus for two days,” Hanson said.

Hoosier math. Obama needs to pile up large margins in Indianapolis in the middle of the state and in Gary’s Lake County in the northwest corner, which is part of the Chicago media market.

Both areas boast significant African American populations. Gary, a city of 100,000 residents, is 84 percent black. Indianapolis, population 780,000, is 25 percent black.

A good night for Obama would mean 10- to 20-point margins in both areas, analysts said.

Obama will also need 20-point margins in college towns such as Bloomington and West Lafayette, analysts said.

Clinton must rely on the Ohio River towns in southern Indiana along the Kentucky border. Obama drew 8,000 people to rally in Evansville, and picked up key endorsements in this area, such as Congressman Baron Hill and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a revered figure. But Clinton is nevertheless favored to win the region by double digits. She spent the final hours of the campaign Monday in New Albany, a city of 37,000 with 7 percent black population, and Evansville, a city of 117,000 that is 11 percent black.

Clinton also hopes to pad her lead in east central Indiana. Economically-distressed cities with union influence, such as Anderson, Muncie and Richmond, present favorable terrain for Clinton, but they also have African American populations of between eight and 15 percent, Howey said.

Places to watch. Kokomo’s Howard County is the bellwether to watch, Howey said. It is urban and rural, with a mix of African Americans and blue collar workers, some employed in the Chrysler plants. According to Howey, it tends to back the winner in gubernatorial, congressional and state legislative races.

The South Bend area drew significant focus from both campaigns. It is home to the University of Notre Dame, which bodes well for Obama, but there are also many Catholics and a “strong tradition of blue collar Reagan Democratic voters” that would favor Clinton, said Hanson.

The wealthy Republican suburbs north of Indianapolis also received attention from the campaigns, suggesting that both candidates are looking for crossover votes, Howey said. A poll conducted for the Howey Politics Indiana found that up to 20 percent of Tuesday’s turnout could be non-Democrats.

Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7381471.stm

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10112.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10111.html

Democracy Can Flourish...Freedom Is Held Out To Each Generation

EsquireUK — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:39:51 EDT

Monday, 21st April 2008

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporters!

In our role as American citizens, we are led to listen carefully and make wise choices for the future leadership of our great nation. This is an enormous responsibility with global impact. During this historic presidential election please come out and make history.

Vote to bring inspiring leadership to the White House. Vote for Barack Obama www.barackobama.com and let a new generation of Americans flourish in democracy and embrace the freedom of our Founding Fathers.

Pope Benedict XVI has concluded his extraordinary visit with the people of the United States of America. On the South Lawn of the White House he shared these remarks during a welcoming ceremony:

"From the dawn of the Republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the “self-evident truth” that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God. The course of American history demonstrates the difficulties, the struggles, and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society which faithfully embodied these noble principles. In that process, which forged the soul of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as for example in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement. In our time too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength in a commitment to this patrimony of shared ideals and aspirations.

Historically, not only Catholics, but all believers have found here the freedom to worship God in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, while at the same time being accepted as part of a commonwealth in which each individual and group can make its voice heard. As the nation faces the increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.

Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience – almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad." Pope Benedict XVI - 16th April, 2008 - Washington, D.C.

Barack Obama's presidential candidacy www.barackobama.com has captured the imagination of young Americans and has reached far across the partisan divide. He would represent to the world a new face of America. We can create a more perfect union. Come, make history...vote for Barack Obama. Remember, together we are one great nation!

Thank you very much,

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080416_welcome-washington_en.html

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/03/18/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_53.php

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/papal/

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Reaching The Hearts Of American Voters

EsquireUK — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:09:33 EDT

"We are in a defining moment in our history" ... "Our nation is at war. The planet is in peril. The dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it's slowly slipping away. And that is why the same old Washington textbook campaigns just won't do it. That's why telling the American people what we think they want to hear, instead of telling the American people what they need to hear, just won't do it." "America, our moment is now," ..."I don't want to spend the next year, or the same four years, refighting the same fights we had in the 1990s. I don't want to pit red America against blue America. I want to be the president of the United States of America."

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama www.barackobama.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=000iY6EbQc0

http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/barack-obama-judgment-to-lead-part-2/3834514/

Barack Obama is JFK heir, says Kennedy aide

By Toby Harnden in New York

Last Updated: 1:36am BST 15/10/2007

John F Kennedy's closest living aide has anointed Barack Obama www.barackobama.com as the heir to the assassinated president's legacy and predicted that Hillary Clinton would lose an election to a Republican.

Profile: Barack Obama

2008 US election: News and analysis

Toby Harnden: JFK's man anoints Obama

Ted Sorensen, 79, Mr Kennedy’s chief speechwriter, slipped into the present tense as he was transported back to 1960, when another youthful senator espousing hope and change was being written off by the Establishment.

Barack Obama greets supporters in Largo, Maryland. Mr Sorensen says his mannerisms echo those of John F Kennedy in 1960

“Both Kennedy and Obama have fantastically winning smiles and I might say both are very relaxed in front of an audience and on television," he said in an interview. "They don’t shout into a microphone, they talk.

"The principles, the values Obama and Kennedy are enunciating are not five-point plans for new health care programmes, which is more Hillary's style."

The Kennedy legacy and the aura of Camelot have been powerful but largely unspoken themes underpinning the campaign of Mr Obama, another charismatic Harvard alumnus heralding a new era in politics.

Mr Kennedy broke down the barrier of becoming the first Roman Catholic president while Mr Obama is vying to become the first black occupant of the Oval Office.

Just as the Massachusetts senator was dismissed by the party hierarchy because of his age and unconventional background, Mr Obama, too, is being branded an also-ran.

Mr Sorensen organised Mr Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign, especially efforts to counter anti-Catholic prejudice

Now, the endorsement of Mr Sorensen, who worked for Mr Kennedy for 11 years and wrote the 1961 inaugural speech in which he spoke of a torch having been "passed to a new generation", has made the linkage explicit and given it official sanction.

More pointedly, the Democratic veteran expressed what few senior party figures are prepared to do publicly — the conviction that Mrs Clinton will lose a general election and in practice is not much different from President George W Bush.

When asked about her similarities to Bill Clinton, Mr Sorensen said that her election would be "a continuation of the Clinton-Bush 20 years" and business as usual in Washington.

“She has the same tendency to triangulate, as he called it, she has the same ability to equivocate, to vacillate, to imitate what the Republicans are doing and saying.

He vehemently rejected the contention, driven home relentlessly by the Clinton campaign, that Mr Obama lacks the experience to be president.

"He has great judgment, which he has demonstrated in his position against the Iraq war even before it started.

"Judgment is the single most important criterion for selecting a president. At the time of the [1962] Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy's powers of judgment were tested as no president has ever been tested. Fortunately for all of us, he really came up with the right answers. He was 45. Obama's 46 so he's an old geezer."

Mr Sorensen's eyes are now failing him but when he is at an Obama rally the message, mannerisms and atmosphere make it seem like the 1960 campaign once again.

"I've heard a lot of high pitched shrieks of approval, which I assume were coming from young women," he said. "I'm told the phenomenon known as leapers has returned.

"In Kennedy's case, along the motorcade route young women would levitate themselves to be able to see over the heads of taller people as he was driven by.

"There was excitement and enthusiasm that went into that leap as well as his good looks. It's interesting they report leaper sightings when Obama appears."

But perhaps the thing that most makes Mr Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, "on track" to become the new Mr Kennedy is his determination to transform American politics.

"There's a sense in this country that Washington badly needs to be changed. The election of Obama will not only change the players in Washington, it'll change the game itself."

The Clintons, he said, were Washington insiders who wanted to maintain the status quo and who had not brought honour to the White House.

“I’m not accusing Clinton of being lawless. He was impeached for trivial reasons.

"But I don’t think that it was the noblest time for the White House when the Lincoln bedroom was rented out to donors and pardons were being issued to some truly dreadful people.”

Mr Clinton, moreover, had failed to deliver.

"Bill Clinton was a persuasive communicator. If he was here now he'd persuade us both that I'm wrong. But what was it used for? It was sad to see a president with such talent who was unable to get more done."

He argued that the former First Lady would be defeated in a presidential fight with a Republican candidate like Rudy Giuliani. "She's got everything going for her but a lot of people just don't like her.

"I'm tired of losing. We've had these candidates who give those five-point programmes, who sound like they are lecturing at MIT or trying to convince the New York Times board of editors.

"That doesn't reach the hearts of the voters. Mr Kennedy reached the hearts of voters. And so does Obama."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQNTYc4ZsyI

Caroline Kennedy Endorses Barack ObamaChicago, IL | January 26, 2008

Chicago, IL - In an op-ed published Sunday in The New York Times, Caroline Kennedy announced her support for Senator Barack Obama, citing his judgment in opposing the Iraq war from the start, his character in running a dignified campaign, and his ability to unite this entire nation around a common purpose.

Senator Obama said, "I am honored to have the support of Caroline Kennedy. Caroline has been a tireless advocate for providing every child with a quality education, most recently through her work with New York City's public schools. And through her role in selecting Profile in Courage awardees, she has shined a spotlight on leaders who have the courage to tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. It's also a special privilege to have this endorsement because I've always believed that Caroline's father was one of our greatest presidents. At a time of great challenge at home and abroad, President Kennedy led this nation with judgment and courage, pulling the world back from the brink of war, calling a generation to service, and inspiring this entire nation to reach for new frontiers."

Caroline Kennedy writes in her op-ed (LINK):

A President Like My Father
By CAROLINE KENNEDY
January 27, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor

"OVER the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn't that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country - just as we did in 1960.

Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates' goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people - known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics - to become engaged in the political process.

I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents' grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.

Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

Caroline Kennedy is the Vice Chair of the New York City Fund for Public Schools, a non-profit organization which seeks private sector support for public education. Since 2002, The Fund has raised more than $210 million in support of critical reform initiatives and enlisted record numbers of New Yorkers to volunteer in New York City schools. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, Kennedy is an attorney and the author/editor of seven best-selling books on civil rights, American history, politics, and poetry including In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action, and A Pariot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love. She writes a column for TIME on the Power of One about people who are making a difference in their communities. Caroline Kennedy also serves on the Commission on Presidential Debates and the Profile In Courage Award Committee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, have 3 children.

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/26/caroline_kennedy_endorses_bara.php

Rock Star Bruce Springsteen Endorses Barack Obama

EsquireUK — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:31:09 EDT

Rock star Springsteen endorses Obama

The Boss endorses Barack Obama! From Bruce's official website...

Dear Friends and Fans:
Like most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.
He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."
At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.
After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.
Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday April 16 2008. It was last updated at 15:55 on April 16 2008.

Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic senator Barack Obama www.barackobama.com for president today, saying "he speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years".

In a letter addressed to friends and fans posted on his website, Springsteen said he believes Obama is the best candidate to undo "the terrible damage done over the past eight years".

"He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next president," the letter said.

"He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '... nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone' ", he wrote, referring lines from the song Long Walk Home, featured on his 2007 album, Magic.

The singer is known for his lyrics about the struggles of working-class Americans, particularly in the economically ravaged factory towns of the north-east.

Springsteen and his E Street band were part of the Vote or Change tour, a coalition of musicians opposed to the re-election of President George Bush in 2004.

Springsteen did not directly mention Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, in his letter, but appeared to take issue with her recent criticisms of comments made by Obama about working-class voters in small towns in Pennsylvania and controversial statements by Obama's pastor.

"Critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships," Springsteen wrote.

"While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision ... often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/16/barackobama.uselections2008

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hxaeCXS17FI1FWdM-jzcHjVGP1FQD9030V601

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/16/bruce-springsteen-endorse_n_96933.html

Senator Obama Welcomes Pope Benedict XVI

D. Paul Monteiro -Deputy Director of Religious Affairs — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:18:35 EDT

On the eve of the historic papal visit to the United States, Senator Obama has released a statement welcoming him and speaking of the broader American values that people of faith share.

***

As committed Christians, we join millions of Americans – Catholics and members of all faith communities – in offering our prayers for the success of the Holy Father’s visit.

At a time when American families face rising costs at home and a range of worries abroad, the theme of Pope Benedict’s journey, 'Christ Our Hope,' offers comfort and grace as well as a challenge to all faith communities to put our faith into action for the common good. It will not only be Catholics who are listening to the Holy Father’s message of hope and peace; all Americans will be listening with open hearts and minds.

-Senator Barack Obama

The effective end of the Democratic Party.

ATW — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:14:06 EDT

Dear Superdelegate,

If Hillary somehow becomes the nominee while trailing in states/elections won, popular vote, and elected delegates, it would be the effective end of the Democratic Party. It would be Adams vs. Jackson all over again. I have spoke with several members of the NAACP and the concencous is clear, no African American in their right mind would vote for HRC after "stealing" the nomination from Obama. If HRC becomes the nominee, there will be a new party that will right overnight. Thanks for your consideration,

Tim

Ed Rendell.

ATW — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:48:22 EDT

Ed Rendell has been a force in PA politics for over 3 decades now. He is someone who is far more familiar with how systems and elections are processed in this state then our campaign and campaign lawyers.

If we are serious about winning PA we need to be aware that highly unethical and illegal tactics will be employed in trying to secure HRC a 4-9% win here in PA and Ed Rendell a shot at the VP.

We need to alert ALL agencies and departments that could potentially influence PAs primary, that they are being documented and watched extraordinarily closely.

Unfortunately workers in these offices and departments are extremely loyal to Rendell and his cause, being that they are employed by his Gov't.

We need to be beyond vigilant in terms of insuring a fair and equitable election in PA. It's NOT going to simply happen that way. PA was recently ranked 3rd most susceptible to election tampering (blackboxvoting.org).

Ed Rendell has the potential to be the Katherine Harris of PA, let’s do what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen. Thanks!

Ethics and transparency.

ATW — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:39:17 EDT

Attention Obama community,

After 2 weeks of consistant canvassing, I am pleased to report we are making signifigant inroads against the Clinton Machine here. A substantial block of voters have moved from favoring Clinton to undecided, many leaning Obama or strong Obama backers after I speak with them.

I have found a highly effective tactic for communicating with the undecided demographic. Here it is, both candidates are very similar on the issues. There is however one issue where there is clear seperation, ethics and transparency. Now more then ever we need a role model for America, someone who young people can look up to and respect. Hillary Clinton simply is not that person. Take the past couple of weeks as a microcosm of her charactor, Bosnia, etc. HRC, American children all over the Country want to know the difference between misspeaking, and flatly lying.

If we make ethics and transparency the focal point of the campaign down the homestreth I believe we can win the state outright, that's a fact.

I sincerely hope this message gets conveyed to the proper channels. Thanks!

New Christianity Today Poll

D. Paul Monteiro -Deputy Director of Religious Affairs — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:44:01 EDT

Check out these exciting results:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/features/poll.html

Show your support for Barack. Participate today!

PA4OBAMA: Voices for Change

ATW — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:03:58 EDT

In the true spirit of Barack Obama's grassroots candidacy for President, I am pleased to announce Voices for Change, as an official campaign event. Voices for Change is a concert and art show to raise awareness and funds for Obama's 2008 run for the White House. In light of the event being a formal fundraiser all FEC guidelines will be followed to the letter of the law. Please see the following link to RSVP and more importantly, be sure to select the "pledge online" option, not the "pledge onsite" option. Tickets are selling fast and wil likely be soldout soon, as there are only 350 available.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/fundraising/4r722

In addition to the music and art show, there will be a tent with Victory beer, a campaign information center, offiicial campaign merch, food, and limited edition event posters. As of now there are a couple of names being floated as MCs for the night, we will have this aspect solidifed by the end of the week. There will be auctioning off of services, including, a life coach, and a vacation. Please contact me if you'd like to donate services for the evening. We are still in need of "in kynd" contributions. Please contact Tim @ 6109090429 with interest.

Easter Prayer For Barack, His Family & All Creation

EsquireUK — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:32:25 EDT

An Easter Prayer For Barack Obama www.barackobama.com , His Family & All Creation

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Creation, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your divine providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of eternity; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Indeed, wishing you all a Happy & Joyful Easter,

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

Community Blogs Login | Register | Search Blogs

Post from MJ's Blog: The spirit of EasterBy Maxine from Montclair, NJ - Mar 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 am EDT Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content

During this easter season, I pray that christians will examine their hearts and understand the need for Americans to love each other as well as others outside this great country. Let us pray for Barack and his family that they will be able to stand Firm and to know that he is chosen for this moment in time. I am pround of this candidate, he speaks to the soul of man. Let us move past the crucifixtion and embrace the resurection of this man of faith who will be our next president.

Governor Richardson Endorsement Does Matter

EsquireUK — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:57:38 EDT

Richardson endorsement does matter
By: Gebe Martinez

March 21, 2008 05:56 PM EST

It is easy to see why New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation’s only Hispanic governor and recent presidential candidate, endorsed Barack Obama www.barackobama.com over Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Richardson, like Obama, knows what it means to be treated differently for looking different.

So when Obama delivered this week's blunt, personal assessment of the state of race relations in the United States — in which he noted, “We may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction” — Richardson decided it was time to go public with his choice for president.

Obama, Richardson said, “is something special that the country needs right now.”

But as Richardson put his arm around Obama at a rally in Oregon, the Clinton campaign dismissed the endorsement as one whose value had passed. After all, 95 percent of the Hispanic electorate already has voted in this year’s primaries, and most of them went for Clinton.

The Clinton campaign ignored the fact that they, too, had eagerly sought the backing of the governor: a former congressman, diplomat and member of President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet.

If Richardson is viewed only as a Hispanic leader, then the Clinton campaign is correct in assessing that the governor’s influence in most of the remaining primary states is limited, because the number of Latino voters in those states is smaller.

But this endorsement requires a much broader view to see why it matters now, as well as for the November election if Obama wins the Democratic nomination.

First, Richardson is a big name among superdelegates, who may have to decide the almost-tied nomination fight. He has given the Obama campaign a morale boost, especially during a time when the Illinois senator has been dogged by controversy over the racially charged sermons of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

To those Obama supporters who might have become skittish because Wright’s angry words undermined Obama’s optimistic message of “hope,” Richardson tried to offer reassurances about the candidate’s character. Obama could have given a “safe speech” but instead spoke directly to the issue, Richardson noted.

Second, by turning away from his friendship with former President Clinton, and against Sen. Clinton’s close victory in the New Mexico caucuses, Richardson signaled to other “superdelegates” that they can choose whomever they wish.

The Clinton campaign has been pressuring Obama’s “superdelegates” who come from areas won by the New York senator — such as House members from California and Texas — to follow the will of their voters.

Third, Richardson, who focused much of his campaign on national security issues, is telling voters that he is assured in how Obama will handle the presidency. Clinton won the Texas primary earlier this month partly by using a dark television ad that claimed she was the only one qualified to answer the national security “phone call” in the middle of the night.

During his own presidential bid, the governor argued his experience outweighed Clinton’s and that he could be the “change” agent that Obama was claiming. Now, Richardson says there were other overriding considerations.

“As a presidential candidate, I know full well Sen. Obama's unique ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation,” Richardson said.

The Clinton campaign argues that the Richardson endorsement would have been more valuable earlier in the primary season, before large numbers of Hispanics voted in Super Tuesday states such as New Mexico or in the Texas primary.

“The time when he could have been most effective has long since passed,” said Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn. “I don’t think it’s a significant endorsement at this point in time.”

Sergio Bendixen, the Florida pollster who has run Clinton’s campaign with Hispanic voters, added that while Puerto Rico has yet to vote — and there are small groups of Hispanic voters in the upcoming Pennsylvania, Oregon, Indiana and North Carolina primaries — Richardson is not well-known in those areas.

“His areas of influence have been in the Southwest,” Bendixen said. “I don’t think [Richardson’s] endorsement will have any impact.”

The Clinton campaign’s outreach to Hispanics has been so deep that in the year before the caucuses and primaries began, even Richardson had trouble winning support among Hispanics who were confused by his ethnicity because of his last name.

Obama, meanwhile, has been trounced by Clinton among Hispanic voters in major states. Obama barely won a majority of the Hispanic vote in his home state of Illinois, and he also won the Hispanic vote in Connecticut and Virginia.

Clearly, if Obama wins the nomination, Richardson’s bilingual and bicultural appeal will be most useful heading into the November election, when Hispanic voters are expected to be the deciding vote in major battleground states, including Richardson’s home territory of New Mexico. Richardson can tell Hispanics that Obama also understands what it is like to look different or come from somewhere else.

In the meantime, Richardson offers proof of one more point. The Hispanic vote matters, as Latinos will make up at least one out of every 10 people casting ballots in November. It could be even higher given the larger-than-expected Hispanic voter performance in the primary season.

Growing Up

Bill Richardson's early childhood was characterized by an atypical biculturalism, strong family bonds, and a consistent commitment to giving back to the community.

Bill Richardson was born on November 15, 1947 in Pasadena, California to William Richardson and Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada. William Richardson was a banker who had been working in Mexico City for decades and he settled his family there shortly after Bill's birth.

Growing up in Mexico City, Bill Richardson experienced a unique blend of American and Mexican cultures. His parents wanted to make sure their children were proud of both their countries and felt comfortable in both cultures and languages. Hamburgers and hotdogs were served on the Fourth of July, and parties were held on September 16th, Mexican Independence Day.

William and Maria expected great things from Bill and his younger sister Vesta. Governor Richardson attributes his work ethic and striving nature to the lessons his parents taught him. "My father made it very simple, he used to say, 'If you're going to do something, be the best at it, that usually means you have to work harder than everyone else.'"

Vesta and Bill also learned that giving something back to your community was part of what it meant to be successful. These lessons have driven Vesta's career as a successful pediatrician in Mexico, and have been a constant stream in Bill's life of public service as Congressman, Energy Secretary, UN Ambassador and Governor of New Mexico.

In 1961 a young Bill Richardson left his family in Mexico City to attend high school in Massachusetts. It was tough for teenage Bill to be the new different looking kid at his school; he was the only Hispanic student there. But with the help of a coveted slot on the Varsity baseball team, and a few good friends, he began to bridge the divide between these two worlds.

Barbara Flavin and her family lived across the street from the school, and they had heard about the new student from Mexico with a vicious breaking ball. One afternoon Barbara saw Bill walking out of town. She offered him a ride back to school. The next January, Bill left a sombrero and a love note on her porch. They were married in 1972.

Bill followed in his father's footsteps and entered Tufts University in Boston in 1966. His interest in politics was sparked while on a school trip to Washington, D.C. during which Senator Hubert Humphrey stopped to talk to Bill and his classmates about American values and the power of public service. Governor Richardson calls this a turning point in his political awareness: "Senator Humphrey was a proud Democrat and presented his convictions with such strength, that I began to realize how a progressive vision could change the world."

PA in play...

ATW — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:27:04 EST

Hi, my name is Tim. I am a regional canvass coordinator for PA. If you have any interest in getting involved here please email or call me. I will make sure you get placed and in touch with the right person. As for out of stater’s, you can make a positive impact by sending buttons and bumper stickers our way. Here’s a great site for order Obama merchandise...

http://www.buttonsonline.com/2008/obama.html

Tim

86 Kelmar Ave.

Frazer, PA 19355

6109090429

rideatw@hotmail.com

Demand Senator Obama in East Stroudsburg!

Jim Lyons — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:21:32 EST

Please click on the link if you have the time and try to get Senator Obama to appear in Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg area. Hopefully, after March 4th, his appearance will not be needed.

http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000195479-8/join

Thanks!

Call to renewal address

SiegristRocks — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:25:41 EST

For some time now, there has been plenty of talk among pundits and pollsters that the political divide in this country has fallen sharply along religious lines. Indeed, the single biggest "gap" in party affiliation among white Americans today is not between men and women, or those who reside in so-called Red States and those who reside in Blue, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don't.

Conservative leaders have been all too happy to exploit this gap, consistently reminding evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their Church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design.

Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that - regardless of our personal beliefs - constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, there are some liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one's political opponents, not people of faith.

I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in people's lives -- in the lives of the American people -- and I think it's time that we join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy.

And if we're going to do that then we first need to understand that Americans are a religious people. 90 percent of us believe in God, 70 percent affiliate themselves with an organized religion, 38 percent call themselves committed Christians, and substantially more people in America believe in angels than they do in evolution.

This religious tendency is not simply the result of successful marketing by skilled preachers or the draw of popular mega-churches. In fact, it speaks to a hunger that's deeper than that - a hunger that goes beyond any particular issue or cause.

Each day, it seems, thousands of Americans are going about their daily rounds - dropping off the kids at school, driving to the office, flying to a business meeting, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets - and they're coming to the realization that something is missing. They are deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough.

They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. They're looking to relieve a chronic loneliness, a feeling supported by a recent study that shows Americans have fewer close friends and confidants than ever before. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long highway towards nothingness.

And I speak with some experience on this matter. I was not raised in a particularly religious household, as undoubtedly many in the audience were. My father, who returned to Kenya when I was just two, was born Muslim but as an adult became an atheist. My mother, whose parents were non-practicing Baptists and Methodists, was probably one of the most spiritual and kindest people I've ever known, but grew up with a healthy skepticism of organized religion herself. As a consequence, so did I.

It wasn't until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma.

I was working with churches, and the Christians who I worked with recognized themselves in me. They saw that I knew their Book and that I shared their values and sang their songs. But they sensed that a part of me that remained removed, detached, that I was an observer in their midst.

And in time, I came to realize that something was missing as well -- that without a vessel for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart, and alone.

And if it weren't for the particular attributes of the historically black church, I may have accepted this fate. But as the months passed in Chicago, I found myself drawn - not just to work with the church, but to be in the church.

For one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change, a power made real by some of the leaders here today. Because of its past, the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and cloth the naked and challenge powers and principalities. And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source of hope.

And perhaps it was out of this intimate knowledge of hardship -- the grounding of faith in struggle -- that the church offered me a second insight, one that I think is important to emphasize today.

Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts.

You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away - because you are human and need an ally in this difficult journey.

It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.

That's a path that has been shared by millions upon millions of Americans - evangelicals, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims alike; some since birth, others at certain turning points in their lives. It is not something they set apart from the rest of their beliefs and values. In fact, it is often what drives their beliefs and their values.

And that is why that, if we truly hope to speak to people where they're at - to communicate our hopes and values in a way that's relevant to their own - then as progressives, we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse.

Because when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome - others will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith, or those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.

In other words, if we don't reach out to evangelical Christians and other religious Americans and tell them what we stand for, then the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons and Alan Keyeses will continue to hold sway.

More fundamentally, the discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms. Some of the problem here is rhetorical - if we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice.

Imagine Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address without reference to "the judgments of the Lord." Or King's I Have a Dream speech without references to "all of God's children." Their summoning of a higher truth helped inspire what had seemed impossible, and move the nation to embrace a common destiny.

Our failure as progressives to tap into the moral underpinnings of the nation is not just rhetorical, though. Our fear of getting "preachy" may also lead us to discount the role that values and culture play in some of our most urgent social problems.

After all, the problems of poverty and racism, the uninsured and the unemployed, are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect ten point plan. They are rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man.

Solving these problems will require changes in government policy, but it will also require changes in hearts and a change in minds. I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers' lobby - but I also believe that when a gang-banger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we've got a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart - a hole that the government alone cannot fix.

I believe in vigorous enforcement of our non-discrimination laws. But I also believe that a transformation of conscience and a genuine commitment to diversity on the part of the nation's CEOs could bring about quicker results than a battalion of lawyers. They have more lawyers than us anyway.

I think that we should put more of our tax dollars into educating poor girls and boys. I think that the work that Marian Wright Edelman has done all her life is absolutely how we should prioritize our resources in the wealthiest nation on earth. I also think that we should give them the information about contraception that can prevent unwanted pregnancies, lower abortion rates, and help assure that that every child is loved and cherished.

But, you know, my Bible tells me that if we train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it. So I think faith and guidance can help fortify a young woman's sense of self, a young man's sense of responsibility, and a sense of reverence that all young people should have for the act of sexual intimacy.

I am not suggesting that every progressive suddenly latch on to religious terminology - that can be dangerous. Nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith. As Jim has mentioned, some politicians come and clap -- off rhythm -- to the choir. We don't need that.

In fact, because I do not believe that religious people have a monopoly on morality, I would rather have someone who is grounded in morality and ethics, and who is also secular, affirm their morality and ethics and values without pretending that they're something they're not. They don't need to do that. None of us need to do that.

But what I am suggesting is this - secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases, we might recognize some overlapping values that both religious and secular people share when it comes to the moral and material direction of our country. We might recognize that the call to sacrifice on behalf of the next generation, the need to think in terms of "thou" and not just "I," resonates in religious congregations all across the country. And we might realize that we have the ability to reach out to the evangelical community and engage millions of religious Americans in the larger project of American renewal.

Some of this is already beginning to happen. Pastors, friends of mine like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes are wielding their enormous influences to confront AIDS, Third World debt relief, and the genocide in Darfur. Religious thinkers and activists like our good friend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo are lifting up the Biblical injunction to help the poor as a means of mobilizing Christians against budget cuts to social programs and growing inequality.

And by the way, we need Christians on Capitol Hill, Jews on Capitol Hill and Muslims on Capitol Hill talking about the estate tax. When you've got an estate tax debate that proposes a trillion dollars being taken out of social programs to go to a handful of folks who don't need and weren't even asking for it, you know that we need an injection of morality in our political debate.

Across the country, individual churches like my own and your own are sponsoring day care programs, building senior centers, helping ex-offenders reclaim their lives, and rebuilding our gulf coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

So the question is, how do we build on these still-tentative partnerships between religious and secular people of good will? It's going to take more work, a lot more work than we've done so far. The tensions and the suspicions on each side of the religious divide will have to be squarely addressed. And each side will need to accept some ground rules for collaboration.

While I've already laid out some of the work that progressive leaders need to do, I want to talk a little bit about what conservative leaders need to do -- some truths they need to acknowledge.

For one, they need to understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practice. Folks tend to forget that during our founding, it wasn't the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the First Amendment. It was the persecuted minorities, it was Baptists like John Leland who didn't want the established churches to impose their views on folks who were getting happy out in the fields and teaching the scripture to slaves. It was the forbearers of the evangelicals who were the most adamant about not mingling government with religious, because they did not want state-sponsored religion hindering their ability to practice their faith as they understood it.

Moreover, given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our bibles. Folks haven't been reading their bibles.

This brings me to my second point. Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what's possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It's the art of the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing. And if you doubt that, let me give you an example.

We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son, and without argument, he takes Isaac to the mountaintop, binds him to an altar, and raises his knife, prepared to act as God has commanded.

Of course, in the end God sends down an angel to intercede at the very last minute, and Abraham passes God's test of devotion.

But it's fair to say that if any of us leaving this church saw Abraham on a roof of a building raising his knife, we would, at the very least, call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham. We would do so because we do not hear what Abraham hears, do not see what Abraham sees, true as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with those things that we all see, and that we all hear, be it common laws or basic reason.

Finally, any reconciliation between faith and democratic pluralism requires some sense of proportion.

This goes for both sides.

Even those who claim the Bible's inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, sensing that some passages - the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ's divinity - are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life.

The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a Constitutional amendment to ban it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their politics.

But a sense of proportion should also guide those who police the boundaries between church and state. Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation - context matters. It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase "under God." I didn't. Having voluntary student prayer groups use school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats. And one can envision certain faith-based programs - targeting ex-offenders or substance abusers - that offer a uniquely powerful way of solving problems.

So we all have some work to do here. But I am hopeful that we can bridge the gaps that exist and overcome the prejudices each of us bring to this debate. And I have faith that millions of believing Americans want that to happen. No matter how religious they may or may not be, people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack. They don't want faith used to belittle or to divide. They're tired of hearing folks deliver more screed than sermon. Because in the end, that's not how they think about faith in their own lives.

So let me end with just one other interaction I had during my campaign. A few days after I won the Democratic nomination in my U.S. Senate race, I received an email from a doctor at the University of Chicago Medical School that said the following:

"Congratulations on your overwhelming and inspiring primary win. I was happy to vote for you, and I will tell you that I am seriously considering voting for you in the general election. I write to express my concerns that may, in the end, prevent me from supporting you."

The doctor described himself as a Christian who understood his commitments to be "totalizing." His faith led him to a strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage, although he said that his faith also led him to question the idolatry of the free market and quick resort to militarism that seemed to characterize much of the Republican agenda.

But the reason the doctor was considering not voting for me was not simply my position on abortion. Rather, he had read an entry that my campaign had posted on my website, which suggested that I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose." The doctor went on to write:

"I sense that you have a strong sense of justice...and I also sense that you are a fair minded person with a high regard for reason...Whatever your convictions, if you truly believe that those who oppose abortion are all ideologues driven by perverse desires to inflict suffering on women, then you, in my judgment, are not fair-minded....You know that we enter times that are fraught with possibilities for good and for harm, times when we are struggling to make sense of a common polity in the context of plurality, when we are unsure of what grounds we have for making any claims that involve others...I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words."

Fair-minded words.

So I looked at my website and found the offending words. In fairness to them, my staff had written them using standard Democratic boilerplate language to summarize my pro-choice position during the Democratic primary, at a time when some of my opponents were questioning my commitment to protect Roe v. Wade.

Re-reading the doctor's letter, though, I felt a pang of shame. It is people like him who are looking for a deeper, fuller conversation about religion in this country. They may not change their positions, but they are willing to listen and learn from those who are willing to speak in fair-minded words. Those who know of the central and awesome place that God holds in the lives of so many, and who refuse to treat faith as simply another political issue with which to score points.

So I wrote back to the doctor, and I thanked him for his advice. The next day, I circulated the email to my staff and changed the language on my website to state in clear but simple terms my pro-choice position. And that night, before I went to bed, I said a prayer of my own - a prayer that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me.

And that night, before I went to bed I said a prayer of my own. It's a prayer I think I share with a lot of Americans. A hope that we can live with one another in a way that reconciles the beliefs of each with the good of all. It's a prayer worth praying, and a conversation worth having in this country in the months and years to come. Thank you.

Barack Obama Is Extending His Winning Run In Presidential Campaign

EsquireUK — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:18:20 EST

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporters!

American voters in Wisconsin and Hawaii from every party and walk of life embraced Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s www.barackobama.com call for real change that will bring universal health care, affordable college, a middle-class tax cut for struggling families, and an end to this war in Iraq. And like they did in Iowa and South Carolina, voters soundly rejected the negative turn taken by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign as she once again lost ground in the race for delegates.

After sweeping the past ten contests by large margins, it now appears that Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has an insurmountable lead in pledged delegates. Mrs. Clinton has never beaten Presidential Candidate Barack Obama in delegates on an election day during this primary season – never. In total, there have now been 36 elections and Obama has won 25, winning more than two out of every three contests, and nearly half the states in the country.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary by wiping out Mrs. Clinton’s lead with voters who were previously the cornerstone of her support. He won the support of voters of all education and income levels, white men, and union members. He also wiped out her formidable lead among women, splitting female voters with Mrs. Clinton. Her support is crumbling because voters are seeing that Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is the one candidate who can push back on the special interests, and bring Republicans and Democrats together to make a difference in the lives of ordinary Americans.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama continues to dominate among Independent voters. Continuing a trend, he won among Independents in Wisconsin 64-33%. His support among Independent voters is driving his lead over John McCain in general election polls. Mrs. Clinton’s weakness among Independents is her critical vulnerability versus Senator McCain in the general election.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has won overwhelming victories from Maine to Wisconsin to Hawaii. In Virginia, Kansas, and North Dakota, he won more votes than all the Republicans on the ballot combined, demonstrating the grassroots excitement of his candidacy and his ability to appeal to Republicans and Independents.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has won big states and small states, red states, blue states, and swing states. He has won 13 primaries, while Mrs. Clinton has won 9. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has won 12 caucuses to Mrs. Clinton’s 3.

By nearly 2-1, Wisconsin voters said Presidential Candidate Barack Obama gives Democrats the best chance to win in November. This resounding win confirmed what poll after poll has shown – Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is the candidate best suited to win Independents, play well in Red and Purple States, and beat John McCain this fall. In addition, a recent Rasmussen poll released in Pennsylvania showed Obama beating McCain by 7 points, while Mrs. Clinton loses to McCain by 2 points.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama www.barackobama.com is the strongest candidate running to become the next American president.. Let us prove this overwhelmingly in Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio. Yes, together we are one great nation.

Thank you very much,

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

Potential Doomsday Senario -- Hillary Prepared to go Nuclear.

ATW — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:03:54 EST

If Hillary continues her surruptitious pursuit of the Democratic nomination not only will it jepordize the general election, but it will cause a fissure so dramatic within the Democratic Party an entirely new party will be spawned. The tactics team Hillary have resorted to and indicated they are willing to resort to in this election process are completely undemocratic. If by some chance she ends up with the nomination, not only will I not be voting for her, but I will be recruiting and mobilizing a serious effort to establish a new party. With all the resources and networks I've established through this website, I'm confident thousands of other people feel similarly and will provide a vehicle for such an initutive. Please post to this blog with your suggestions, questions, and general thoughts.

Momentum Propels Obama To Front Of Democratic Presidential Race

EsquireUK — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:13:19 EST

Momentum propels Obama to front of Democratic race

By Andrew Ward in Washington

Published: February 14 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 14 2008 02:00

Barack Obama www.barackobama.com was getting used to the unfamiliar role of Democratic frontrunner yesterday, after a crushing victory over Hillary Clinton in the latest round of presidential primaries.

For the first time since the state-by-state contest for the party's presidential nomination began last month, Mr Obama has more nominating delegates to his name than Mrs Clinton after he won in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC on Tuesday.

He now leads by 1,223 delegates against 1,198 delegates for Mrs Clinton, who began the contest with a big lead among the non-elected "superdelegates", comprised of party insiders. To win the nomination, a candidate must secure 2,025 votes at the Democratic convention in August; superdelegates hold 796 of the votes.

Mrs Clinton, a New York senator, now faces a 20-day battle to put her faltering campaign back on track before next month's crucial primaries in the big states of Texas and Ohio.

Polling experts caution against writing her off, and say there is still a strong possibility of the race grinding on until the party convention - when the nominee will be officially chosen.

But there was evidence on Tuesday that momentum might be shifting decisively in Mr Obama's favour. "He seems to have broken through demographically into groups that Senator Clinton had dominated until now," said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas.

The Illinois senator dominated among almost all income and education levels in all three races, and sharply eroded Mrs Clinton's lead among white voters and particularly white women.

Exit polls showed that Mr Obama won the white vote in Virginia by 52 per cent to 47 per cent. In Maryland, Mrs Clinton won by only 10 per cent among whites - a narrower margin than in comparable states voting earlier.

Mr Obama's strong showing among white voters, and his dominance among African-Americans, combined to propel him to double-digit victories in both states.

Mrs Clinton won among white women - her strongest electoral group - in both Maryland and Virginia but, again, by a much slimmer margin than in earlier -contests.

She maintained pockets of strong support among lower-income white voters, elderly whites and the most partisan white Democrats. But Mr Obama benefited from a surge in the number of young voters - a group he won by a landslide. In Virginia, more than a third of participants in the Democratic primary were first-time voters. This indicates that Mr Obama's undoubted popularity among young people is translating into significant numbers of votes.

In 2004, 17 to 29-year-olds made up only 8 per cent of Maryland's and Virginia's Democratic primary electorates. On Tuesday, the proportion rose to 14 per cent and Mr Obama won three-quarters of their votes.

However, not everybody is convinced that Mr Obama's string of victories represents a breakthrough. Some analysts believe the demographics of the past week's contests were stacked in his favour and predict that Mrs Clinton will bounce back in Texas and Ohio, where there are more lower-income white voters and Hispanics.

According to this argument, Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC were unwinnable for Mrs Clinton because of their high concentration of black voters and affluent whites - two groups that Mr Obama dominates.

But, as Rudy Giuliani discovered in the Republican race, a series of heavy defeats can affect voters' perceptions in later contests.

Mr Obama hopes to increase the momentum behind his campaign with further victories in Wisconsin and his native Hawaii next week, with polls showing him ahead in both states. Another two triumphs would extend his winning run to 10 before the race reaches Texas and Ohio.

"[Mrs Clinton] not only needs to start winning but she needs to do so by a significant margin," said Kenneth Sherrill, a political scientist at Hunter College in New York. "Winning by 52 or 53 per cent in Ohio and Texas might not be enough."

Mr Obama's new status as frontrunner will expose him to heightened expectations and scrutiny, however. And even a narrower than expected defeat in Wisconsin next week could be enough for Mrs Clinton to slow his momentum.

Robert Stein, of Rice University in Texas, said that even if Mr Obama keeps on winning, the proportional representation system used by the Democrats to award delegates will keep the race close.

Obama Music Videos (Updated)

M1X — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:47:45 EST

For the folks who love music or music videos, there are enough Obama songs on YouTube to make a nice album compilation, music of all sorts of styles. I just wanted to post a couple for folks to enjoy and pass among friends. Given the recent publicity surrounding will.i.am's "Yes We Can" music video, I wanted to make people aware of the WEALTH of Obama music out there. Let's keep up the fight for the remaining states in this primary and enjoy some beautiful music while we're at it!! M1X

NEW! "Sing For Obama" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q9nTfXh1eQ

NEW! "Yes We Can Anthem": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST9LEktl2sA

NEW!! "It's Our Time Now" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3LWlUhESBM

"We Are The Ones Song" by will.i.am : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghSJsEVf0pU

(A MUST SEE!!) - "Viva Obama!!" by Amigos de Obama : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iCJY8bFUtU

"Si Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U

"Fired Up, Ready to Go" recorded recently in Seattle : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyJ72iZ3tW4

"Yes We Can" by Tony Small and Kids : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgAy4oggnM4

"Stem The Rising Tide" - a Barack Obama song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3G5JJl2PKs

"Ready to Believe": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWE_sWRwLtc

"Elect Obama" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVe0kMzqN0U

"Something About The Man" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJz6sU-zm0

"Open Letter to Barack Obama" by Jin : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqN6dNdqYHA

"Representin' Obama" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9IHM4XL_Ws

"Hey There Obama" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SnQOdEXbNQ

"Obama Song" by Brian Larkin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p23J58u9hxQ

"Yes We Can" by will.i.am: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk

"Barack the Magnificent" (by the world's calypso king -Mighty Sparrow!!) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSalB09uzM

"Como Se Dice...Como Se llama? OBAMA! OBAMA!"(reggaeton) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dMxqgS1-8

"I Just Heard A Man named Obama", a musical (comedy) :

solo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-YiHvl8Th0 ensemble - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zuRwUVT_lU

HONORABLE MENTIONS and GREAT PARODIES

"Baby Got Barack": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADrdg3Iu9U (parody song)

"Audacity of Hope" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idyVPOD3oeY

"You Rock Barack" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZInc-E1pSo4

Obama Song (Afro-Latin beat) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ex_OLA3fs

"Party Like Barack", by dem Obama Boyz : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHqg_g8lq10 (another great parody song)

And the Winner Is!

Jim Lyons — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:08:07 EST

The theme of this campaign season is that everyone has been wrong all the time, so now that everyone thinks the Democratic primary campaign will extend into March and possibly April and beyond, could everyone be wrong again? Is the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination already over?

Nicholas Beaudrot does the math at Cogitamus, the liberal group blog. “It’s over. I’m calling it,” he writes. “When all is said and done, Barack Obama will have a Florida-and-Michigan-proof lead among pledged delegates (68 or more) to convince enough superdelegates to earn the nomination.” Beaudrot explains:

Even if Clinton manages a narrow loss, tie, or narrow win in Virginia, Barack Obama should win Maryland and DC handily. Combined with a likely big win in one of his home states (Hawaii), he’ll have roughly a 100 delegate lead going into the Wisconsin primary. Let’s be pessimistic and assume Obama loses by 15 percent. With 75 pledged delegates, that means his lead will drop to the high 80s.
We’re now all the way to the Ohio and Texas primaries, with a total of 334 pledged delegates at stake. To claw back to a draw, Hillary Clinton will have to win a whopping 61 percent of them. There’s no way that can happen; the only state where Clinton has managed a margin that large is Oklahoma. And remember, this is the pessimistic scenario; if Obama wins Virginia by 15 percent as polls indicate, and can play two out of three between Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to virtual draws, he’ll have lead large enough that Clinton will have to pack it in.

One more thing working in Obama’s favor: Over at The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder points out that Texas may not be the favorable terrain for Hillary Clinton that everyone (who, again, is always wrong, right?) assumes it will be. “Suffice it to say: whatever you call Texas’s system — a hybrid, a primacaucus, whatever — do not assume that, because it’s a big state and the media calls it a primary, the math favors Hillary Clinton,” Ambinder writes. He lays out how this “primacaucus” works:

The delegate-rich districts are the most heavily liberal state senate districts. According to this calculation, they’re in Austin and in two of the most concentrated African American parts of the state. Advantage: Obama.
Clinton will get plenty of support from Latino voters, but they tend to be more spread out and thus will see their votes somewhat diluted in the 31 separate primaries. In order to “win” — both enough delegates and statewide, you need to organize what amounts to caucus-like campaigns in each of these districts.
The white vote in Texas will probably split, with Obama taking men and Clinton taking women. Though Latinos make up a slightly larger share of the electorate than African Americans, they tend to vote in lower proportions.
The process has two steps. First, folks vote. 126 delegates will be accorded proportionally via state senate district. Then, when polls close, they caucus in more than 1,000 precincts.
At the caucus, attendees chose the identity of the delegate and the presidential candidate that the delegate is supposed to represent. These delegates are sent to a “senatorial convention” a few weeks later, during which the final math is worked out and the actual delegate slate for the convention is chosen.
67 delegates will be chosen this way.

380 signatures! On the ballot in Pennsylvania!

Jim Lyons — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:57:51 EST

I just had my petitions notarized (yesterday) and they will be delivered to Harrisburg on Monday by another candidate pledged to Senator Obama.

We rented a table at a local mall, and coupled with other signature efforts, at bus stops, at the mail boxes in my community, got more than the minimum 250.

We hope to be on the ballot in the 11th CD in PA, and head to Denver to vote for Senator Barack Obama!

Important website. Please check it out and pass it along...

ATW — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:57:29 EST

http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/why-support-barack-obama-not-hillary-clinton-comparison-compare-records/

A couple of things have been troubling me of late. First, the concept of a split ticket involving HRC. Second, the notion coming out of the Hollywood debate, that the party has two exceptional candidates with very similar views and positions. Nothing could be further from the truth in my mind. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are Worlds apart on so many different levels. This website (link posted above and below) is a great tool for highlighting the case for Barack over Hillary. Please check it out and help get it some more exposure. Thanks!

http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/why-support-barack-obama-not-hillary-clinton-comparison-compare-records/

Letter to Obama

Steven Jackson — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:28:15 EST

My family is overwhelmingly right-wing. They do, however, ask what I think about Barack Obama and I tell them that he is compassionate, has foresight, and most importantly is presidential material. They, unfortunately, seem to not care about any of that. What I get in response is that 'the Muslims always said they would tear us down from within'. I have read "Dreams of My Father" and watched numerous speeches - one in which Obama publicly denounced the propaganda email circulating concerning his religious background. He announced that he is Christian (something a Muslim would not do), was married in the church, and had his children dedicated into the United Church of Christ. This ultimately does not sway the family who typically respond "Yeah, we heard he went to a Catholic school" (my wife and I are Catholic, they are Pentecostal and very much against Catholicism). All this said, I have tried to get them to understand -not necessarily vote, just stop spreading rumors- that Barack Obama is a Christian leader for America and that he encompasses values and integrity that have long been removed from the White House.

If they would like to compare Obama to the greatest Republican of their generation, the 'Great Communicator' rarely attended church, was divorced, and had signed into effect the "therapeutic" abortion bill as California governor (I am pro-life but I choose to not let polarizing issues sway me as they generally would not be changed or reversed - there are more important and pressing issues to tackle) whereas Obama attends church, is happily married, and takes says and does what he means and believes. I have voted Democrat, Libertarian, and Republican in the past. I will likely vote Republican again sometime in the future but right now Barack Obama is the individual who is best suited to represent America and lead us as a nation united through the next several years. I hope to get others to at least recognize even the smallest truth about Obama - that to me and other supporters he is the 'Great Uniter'.

Because of my family's (and others like them) unwavering stance I understand I cannot change their attitudes towards left and right politics but hopefully through these small, casual conversations I will be able to convince some to stop hitting the "Forward Email" button and spreading religious bigotry and harmful lies just to try to encourage those who get their political facts from unverified sources to vote against a candidate (shouldn't we be voting for someone?).

In conclusion I want to say that you have helped me find the America I knew was hidden somewhere. God bless you and thank you for bringing hope, integrity, and unity back to politics.

The COOLEST THING 've seen in a LONG TIME...

ATW — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:19:07 EST

Only 206 views let's do something about that!

Couldn't this clip be an actual ad for the campaign...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrSGBYSd1Jw

The COOLEST THING 've seen in a LONG TIME...

ATW — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:18:14 EST

Only 206 views let's do something about that!

Couldn't this clip be an actual ad for the campaign...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrSGBYSd1Jw

My basis for Barack..

ATW — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:52:06 EST

One person can make a difference, many people can change the World. Expose the truth, rally behind a cause, give a generation something they have never had, trust in Government.

Democracy is not Dynasty!

EM doing her part to bend the arc — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:02:06 EST

Democracy is not Dynasty

Wake up America! This is a fact:


George H. Bush -Vice President: 1981-1989

George H. Bush - President: 1989 - 1993

William J. Clinton - President: 1993 - 2001

George W. Bush - President: 2001-2009

Hillary R. Clinton - ?President: 2009 - 2017


*36 years of the same two families holding the executive office of the United States of America.

*28 years of the same two families serving as President of the United States of America.

*Many believe this is undemocratic and an attempt to circumvent our constitution's term limits.

*It is very troubling that our country is compelled to elect the same 2 families to govern us when there are 303,217,000 people who live in our great nation.*Approximately 72% of Americans have never been able to vote in an election that did not have a Clinton or Bush on the ballot.  One would have had to be 18 by 1976 to vote in such an election.  This calculation is based on the most recent census database population distribution.

*End the dynasty now. Vote in your primary or caucus to restore democracy! Please forward this to everyone you know to remind them to vote. They can check the date of their state election here : http://www.rockthevote.com/2008-presidential-primary-caucus-calendar.php

Reality Check? Warning this video is Graphic!

Hrikne — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:41:14 EST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ7_gu1uYvQ&feature=user

I am posting this video, 'The Nightmare is ending", by turnthepageobama08, to remind us all one of the main reasons we all want Obama as our next President.

He was against the war from the beginning, no matter how one tries to spin it.

This is a very graphic video showing some painful pictures that we would never have to see if we had a President with the Judgement, vision and character of Obama.

Obama says when he is our President there will be no discussion of what is and isn't torture, because he will say NO to torture.I don't remember his precise words from his speeches.

This video is truly a reality check.

We need to bring our troops home.

Wake up America. End this war. Too bad Bush couldn't take responsibility and bring our troops home now. Bush should start the process before he leaves office.

There is HOPE with Barack. He will end this war and he will bring our troops home. Obama has said this from day one.

He will restore America's good name all across the globe.

My view in response to endorsements on the Civil Rights blog this morning

Hrikne — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:16:42 EST

Listen she was the "INEVITABLE" candidate. There is a lot of history with her supporters. I am sure she drummed up all her support before The OBAMA PHENOMENOM!
I liked Bill and wished he could have ran for a 3rd term.
If Obama wasn't in the equation right now, perhaps I would be supporting her, but he is running and I believe in him and I chose to support him.
I looked at all the other candidates and gave JE a real close look and Biden and Dodd.
I chose OBAMA!
The support system she has built has come from her "35 years of experience". Her support has come from others allegiance to her husband. Her support comes from the 'ESTABLISHMENT' and through the 'OLD WAY' of politics. Her committed super delegates and others need to stay with her now. They can't jump ship. The NH vote was crucial for her because if OBAMA had clearly won, they would have started to cause a mutiny from her campaign.
If Obama chose not to run this year then she would have to have been the Democratic nominee because she would be the only one who could fight the Karl Rove style of attacks that will be coming during the general election.
Unfortunately, OBAMA did decide to run in December of 2006. His decision to run caused her to announce early in January. OBAMA was affecting her campaign before he announced himself.
Leaders of any communities that are supporting her now or remaining uncommitted are doing so as to remain loyal to years of political deals over the years.
This is all politics of old. Exactly what OBAMA wants to get us away from and the new direction he wants to take AMERICA.
Lots of people are afraid that if OBAMA is elected there will be a new way of carrying on the nation's business. It will be a government 'of the people, for the people and by the people'.
So when OBAMA wins Nevada and when OBAMA wins South Carolina her die-hard supporters are going to have to re-evaluate their choice.
They are all wishing they were on the 'OBAMA TRAIN' now.
His endorsments are coming from honest people. They are coming from people who have not been hogtied by 'THE "C" MACHINE'.
OBAMA's ebdorsements are coming from people who understand that OBAMA can affect CHANGE.
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN

We've Got Heart! and HOPE!

Hrikne — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:18:04 EST

Good Day!

Started off the morning listening to a video link from Strong Heart on the blog.

You Gotta have Heart, and Obama has a lot of that and has passed it along to us with a lot of HOPE!

Recount in NH officially begins this morning and I am including a link from WMUR-TV, Channel 9,Local Manchester station.

http://www.wmur.com/politics/15056906/detail.html

So it is official and will take some time and probably will not change delegate count but if any discrepancies we will be able to find out before it could happen somewhere else.

Great Debate, once they cut through all the ridiculous rehash of gossip in the beginning, which the MSM insist on making the story.

Another new day for Obama and all of us.

I couldn't listen to the MSM after the debate. It is great to catch up on sleep by tuning them out.

We need to keep spreading the truth and Obama's message of HOPE and envisioning him as our next President.

He has talked about change from the start of his campaign. His message has always been the same. He has consistentently talked of a campaign of inclusion and the lack of slash and burn politics.

If anything, last nights debate has gotten them all to state that they will end this divisiveness of the past weeks. I know, now I am beginning to believe in Fairy Tales!

We shall see how it goes in the next few days. The MSM should have to state the same thing the candidates did.

Obama has already affected change by getting all the other candidates to add it to their campaign speeches, Republican and Democrat alike.

He also has affected change in getting the other candidates to talk about Hope and using 'WE' in their campaign speeches.

He has already affected change by getting our top competitor to change her campaign to opening up and talking to the press and talking to voters and going door to door.

Obama has been doing this since he started campaigning.

We all know it but MSM is too lazy to learn about his campaign and report properly about it.

They say "Imitation is the best form of flattery", but still I get a little peeved how reporting is done about someone else but not Obama.

It's okay because his organizational skills will shine on and his message will come through and he will continue to inspire HOPE and bring in more voters of all persuasions to vote for him.

Good Day to all of you,

Helen

Obama's Church

Lisa G — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:24:58 EST

I was forwarded a disturbing email today that I consider to be an attack on Barack... some of you may have also recieved it.... this particular slam was against Obama and his church.... it included statements such as "you must be black to join that church" it was very Anti Obama.... well I wrote to the church to inform them of what was being said... and this is the response that they sent back to me.... they have obviously been lied about before.... and misrepresented.... I just want to post this to clear up and misconceptions about Barack Obama's church and you in turn could repost it to people attempting to slam him for his affiliation with his church..... maybe we need to start lookin into Hillary's church....lol I really cant believe it comes down to slamming someone's church..... anyhow... here's a copy of the letter they sent me: YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your interest in Trinity United Church of Christ and for
your consideration of our member, Sen. Barack Obama, in the Democratic
primary election. Due to the high volume of emails and inquiries, we
are unable to respond to each one personally. We were overwhelmed with
“hits” after Senator Obama’s historic victory in the Iowa
democratic caucus.
Barack Obama has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for
nearly two decades. As a young community organizer, new to Chicago,
Barack met with Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Trinity’s Senior Pastor,
seeking advice. He received good counsel about the complexities of life
in Chicago and the challenges faced by residents in poor communities
like South Chicago’s Altgeld Gardens.
The United Church of Christ (http://www.ucc.org), Trinity’s
denominational affiliation, is “a community of faith that seeks to respond to
the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed.” It was founded in
1957 through the union of several different Christian traditions. Not
only does Trinity not exclude anyone from membership or attendance based
on race or ethnicity, but:
The majority of UCC members are white; the conference minister of the
Illinois Conference of the UCC (Rev. Jane Fisler Hoffman) and her
husband (both white) are members of Trinity (You can watch a video of Rev.
Hoffman speaking at Trinity about her positive experiences there.);
Trinity has been instrumental in working with and lending financial and
staff support to the development of new UCC churches in Gary, IN (with
the Indiana-Kentucky Conference of the UCC, Milwaukee, WI (with the
Wisconsin Conference of the UCC), and Benton Harbor, MI (with the Michigan
Conference of the UCC). There is no anti-American sentiment in the
theology or the practice of Trinity United Church of Christ. To be sure,
there is prophetic preaching against oppression, racism and other evils
that would deny the American ideal. Trinity is “Unashamedly Black
and Unapologetically Christian.”
Trinity was founded in 1961 and had 87 families when Dr. Wright
started his tenure in 1972. Currently, as Dr. Wright anticipates a 2008
retirement, there are more than 8,000 members, 70 ministries, and three
Sunday worship services. You and your family can watch these services
online at 7:30am, 11:00am and 6:00pm CST.
If you require additional information, please do not hesitate to
contact Senator Obama's office:
Devorah Adler at dadler@barackobama.com Joshua DuBois at
jdubois@barackobama.com
Yours in Christ!

A NEW DAY!

Hrikne — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:04:50 EST

GOOD DAY,

Well, this is my first blog attempt of my own on this site. I am writing it while MSM babbles on in the background. I usually would turn the sound up so I wouldn't miss anything OBAMA.

After yesterday, I am determined to stop paying attention to MSM.

They are trying to frame the dialogue of the election and I am not falling prey to them today.

I will check out the OBAMA blog before I start my work day and HOPEFULLY everyone has listened to OBAMA"S plea for civility.

The OBAMA blog was so depressing yesterday that I actually stopped reading it around 9 p.m..

I couldn't take it anymore.

I awoke early this morning excited to find a message from OBAMA himself. I went to bed praying that he would give us a message to stop all this negativity. He did and I HOPE you remember his words today and keep your posts positive

I posted on the blog that if you are all tired of the MSM distorting eveything, tune out. If you are really tired of it then direct your frustration to the media outlets directly.

Email them and let them know you would like them to focus more on the issues of the campaign.

Boycott the stations, stop buying from their advertisers, do something like that so they know we will not stand for shoddy coverage of the elections.

Just keep it off our OBAMA blogs.

This campaign is one of inclusion.

If you have worries about election fraud then go to one of the million sites that has been fighting for voting changes since the 2000 election. Get involved there. Many of you keep posting about it here and what OBAMA should do about it.

Kucinich has alreay taken care of that fight. Go to his site and help him if you want.

Our focus needs to be OBAMA and HOPE and CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!

Do whatever you can today to help keep Obama the peoples' choice for a UNITED STATES of AMERICA.

Take an OATH to not post anything negative on OBAMA's blog, please.

We are not here to tear anyone down. We are here to build us all up!

Let's make OBAMA the #1 name on this blog today.

Thank You all for all of your hard work and dedication. Let's not resort to childish tactics. WE are bigger than that.

This is a MOVEMENT and we need to focus on keeping the OBAMA train moving in the right direction.

Let's not derail at this critical time.

KEEP HOPE ALIVE!

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Change Has Been The Cause Of My Life

EsquireUK — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:56:50 EST

Kerry backs Obama to shatter political mould

By Edward Luce in Charleston, South Carolina

Published: January 11 2008 02:00 | Last updated: January 11 2008 02:00

John Kerry yesterday strongly endorsed Barack Obama's www.barackobama.com candidacy and along the way gave a stinging slap both to Hillary Clinton and to John Edwards, his Democratic running mate in the 2004 presidential election.

Appearing alongside Mr Obama in Charleston, South Carolina, which holds the next Democratic primary on January 26 after the caucuses in Nevada next week, Mr Kerry said an Obama presidency would shatter the "mould of American politics into a million pieces".

In a speech that strongly echoed Mr Obama's criticism of textbook politics, the senator for Massachusetts disputed Mrs Clinton's claim to be the candidate with greater experience.

And he referred implicitly to Mrs Clinton's decision to vote in favour of the 2002 Senate resolution authorising George W. Bush to invade Iraq. Mr Obama, who in 2002 had not yet been elected to the US Senate, opposed the war.

"Experience is not defined by years spent in Washington but by instinct and judgment and wisdom," Mr Kerry told a crowd of about 2,000 at a college in Charleston, South Carolina. "Barack Obama, after all, was right about the war on Iraq from the beginning."

Analysts are sceptical about the value of big political endorsements - pointing to Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean in 2004, shortly before his candidacy disintegrated. But yesterday's choice of venue was significant.

Almost half of South Carolina's registered Democrats are African-American, many of whom worry about whether an Obama nomination would pass muster with a largely white electorate in the general election in November. In addition, Mrs Clinton, who is throwing a lot of resources into the South Carolina race, can draw upon a longstanding network of black and white Clinton loyalists in the state.

However, polls suggest Mr Obama has the edge over the former First Lady in South Carolina and Obama officials believe that Mr Kerry's endorsement will help allay lingering doubts about his electability following his win in the overwhelmingly white state of Iowa last week.

Yesterday Mr Obama and Mr Kerry attracted a crowd that was roughly half black and half white in what some locals pointed out was an unusual mixture for a state that suffers allegedly widespread institutional racism.

"People say that Barack Obama is different from politicians like Jesse Jackson because he attracts so much white support," said Kandy Lincoln, a local administrator and an African-American. "But he is only able to do this because Jesse came before him."

Mrs Lincoln says she plans to vote for Mr Obama in two weeks' time. "The fact that people like John Kerry are endorsing Barack instead of Hillary tells me that we are at a new moment in America and I hope also in South Carolina," she said.

Sharon Sinclair, a local "Leadership Consultant", who is white and also plans to support Mr Obama, pointed out that whites without college degrees may be more attracted to Mrs Clinton.

That was the case in New Hampshire, where Mrs Clinton owed much of her surprise victory on Tuesday to the support of households who earn less than $50,000 (£25,000) a year. Mr Obama attracted stronger support among wealthier Democrats and independents.

"I know a lot of white, educated people who support Obama," said Mrs Sinclair. "But he should also pitch his message more explicitly at the less well off, as Mrs Clinton has been doing."

Such concerns suggest that the debate between Mr Obama's message of "change" and Mrs Clinton's stress on having the "experience" to bring about change may take second place in South Carolina to more bread and butter issues - and also to the debates within the black and white communities about what a black candidacy portends.

But yesterday Mr Obama reminded the rally in Charleston that he has largely set the agenda in the Democratic race. "You know we've been talking about change since the start of this campaign," he said. "Now all of a sudden everybody's talking about change. But for me 'change' isn't campaign rhetoric. "It has been the cause of my life."

RE: Election integrity...

ATW — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:02:05 EST

Dennis Kuchinch should be appointed head of 'The Department of Ethics in Gov't'. Right now such a dept. does not exist, but argue that it should not, and who better to head such a dept?

If there is any truth to the inconsistancies in the machine vs. hand-counts we need to mobilize around this issue RIGHT NOW. Let's get out in front of this and avoid repeating the hell of 2000. If there is any truth to the inconsistancies, no doubt, IT'S A SUPREME COURT ISSUE, and should be treated as such. If it can happen in NH it can happen anywhere Diebold controls voting. Simply, credible, empirical evidence should be grounds to abolish their particepation in our process immediately. If that takes the Supreme Court to do so, so be it. If our primary process needs to be haulted and suspended, so be it. It's that important. Please argue that it is not. If you are with me, pass the following link to as many people and news organizations as possible...

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080110006236&newsLang=en

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Will Be A Strong General Election Candidate...Endorsements From Veteran Democrats

EsquireUK — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:53:23 EST

John Kerry Endorses Obama

Sen. Kerry and Sen. Obama confer during senate testimony. (The Washington Post).

By Shailagh Murray
Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee in 2004, will endorse Sen. Barack Obama this morning in Charleston, S.C.

The nod is a setback for John Edwards, Kerry's vice-presidential pick in 2004, who is trying to keep his campaign alive after two early losses. But relations between the two running mates have long been frosty, and Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Edwards have taken to publicly criticizing the 2004 campaign, in particular for ignoring Southern states.

For Obama, the Kerry endorsement provides a boost of establishment credibility after the Illinois senator's New Hampshire primary loss. It brings to the surface a sentiment that many veteran Democrats have held for some months, that Obama would be a stronger general election candidate than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, because of his appeal to independents and Republicans and his lack of political baggage. Other high-profile endorsements are expected in the coming days, including a key Western female governor, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, sources close to the Obama campaign said.

Also this morning, the campaign announced that it had picked up support from Rep. George Miller, a prominent California liberal Democrat and House chairman, who is one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest allies.

Posted at 10:59 AM ET on Jan 10, 2008

Rally/Newsweek.com/Me

Andrea — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:31:58 EST

One month ago at the Rally

http://www.newsweek.com/id/74581

Still Fired Up and Ready to Go

Three talking points to caucus with...

ATW — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:56:29 EST

Three talking points that should be included in swaying undecided caucus goers....

1. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton voted for the war and the financial debacle that followed. This alone should disqualify a candidate from potentially becoming the nominee. Youtube "Hillary WMD" and watch the clip, trust me she doesn't want you seeing that.

2. High negatives. Warrented or not Hillary Clinton is loathed a sizeable segment of our population. She does not attract moderates and independents, in fact she drives them away. What happens if McCain becomes the nominee, someone who appeals to those groups. What happens if Bloomsburg runs, does that put New York in play for a Republican? He's already stated he wouldn't compromise the potential for the first African American presidency, but would run against HRC.

3. Unethical outside spending down the stretch that Clinton and Edwards have both claimed to be against. I think this is huge, huge, huge. This should be harped, it's a great example of a politican being a politican and not a leader. John Edwards dropped the ball here big time.

In sum, Barack Obama is the most electable candidate, statistically, politically, and morally. I am confident when presented with the right information a majority of Iowans will feel similarly.

Fired up / ready to go!

Obama video for young voters

m_haro — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:28:02 EST

Please take a look at this video, foward it to any college students you know. I beleive this will apeal to them, in its first day it was seen by more than 100 people. Any students please post this on your friends myspace/facebook. The link is below. Go Obama 08, lets get ready for a dogfight this january!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FqZo0im0i0

Down the stretch...you should check this out.

ATW — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:00:47 EST

Issues that I would like to see raised...

1. The Iraq War, Iranian National Guard: Hillary's "blind hawkish" tendencies.

2. How long Barack has ACTUALLY been a senator. Watching Charlie Rose, and understanding the Clinton's position, they claim Barack to have started running for pres. after being a Senator for just one year. The record shows Obama has been a Senator since 1996. To make the claim he has only has one year experience as a Senator is misleading and catagorically untrue. Barack Obama achieved more in his 8 years as a state Senator then Hillary Clinton has achieved in her entire career.

3. An analysis outlining the negativity of HRCs campaign. How many staffers/workers have had to resign. How much in resources have been diverted from the process to propogate slander?

4. The % of funding HRC has derived from lobbiests, and PACs.

5. A collection of descriptive words describing the Clinton candidacy; smoke screen tactics, unclear, genaric, maniacal, ruthless, typical, contrived.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Super Tuesday 2008...A Decisive Date!

EsquireUK — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:27:35 EST

David McNew/Getty Images

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter!

This election season marks the first time since 1928 that neither an incumbent president nor vice president has run for their party's nomination.

The main issues dominating this winter's presidential debates have been the war in Iraq, abortion, immigration, healthcare, gay marriage and the environment. The debates and conversations with presidential candidates will continue throughout the 2008 campaign leading to the General Election.

A series of primary elections, state caucuses, and state conventions will result in each party choosing its presidential candidate.

5th February, 2008 dubbed "Super Tuesday" will be the decisive date, with over 20 states holding their primaries. By the end of this day it is likely that each party will have in essence chosen their candidate. Let us make this a day of great victory for our Presidential Candidate Barack Obama www.barackobama.com and our Countdown To Change movement.

On 4th November, 2008 all the states will elect the members of the electoral college, who will meet on December 15th and vote on the president and vice president.

The votes will be tallied before Congress on 6th January, 2009 and the new president will be inaugurated on 20th January, 2009. Super Tuesday 2008 will be a decisive date! Together we can make history.

Thank you very much!

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

"We are in a defining moment in our history" ... "Our nation is at war. The planet is in peril. The dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it's slowly slipping away. And that is why the same old Washington textbook campaigns just won't do it. That's why telling the American people what we think they want to hear, instead of telling the American people what they need to hear, just won't so it." "America, our moment is now," ..."I don't want to spend the next year, or the same four years, refighting the same fights we had in the 1990s. I don't want to pit red America against blue America. I want to be the president of the United States of America." Presidential Candidate Barack Obama

2008 Primary Election CalendarIn 2004 just nine states voted before Feb. 5. In 2008, at least 22 states will vote before or on Feb. 5, including delegate treasure troves like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey.

January3Iowa caucuses5Wyoming (GOP)8New Hampshire15Michigan19Nevada caucuses, South Carolina (GOP)26South Carolina (Dem.), Florida29FloridaFebruary2Maine caucus (GOP)5Alabama, Alaska caucuses, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado caucuses, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho caucus (Dem.), Illinois, Kansas (Dem.), Massachusetts, Minesota caucuses, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico caucus (Dem.), New York, North Dakota causcuses, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia (GOP)
9Kansas (GOP), Louisiana, Nebraska caucus (Dem.), Washington caucuses10Maine caucus (Dem.)12Maryland, Virginia19Hawaii caucus (Dem.), Washington, WisconsinMarch4Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont8 Wyoming caucus (Dem.)11MississippiApril22PennsylvaniaMay6Indiana, North Carolina13Nebraska, West Virginia20Kentucky, Oregon27IdahoTBDHawaii caucus (GOP)June3Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota

Happy Holidays to Everyone at MyBO!

Jim Lyons — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:15:32 EST

After seeing the warm holiday greeting video of Senator Obama with his family, I just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone here on MyBO!

For some nice Chrismas pictures to display on your computer, please go to my Flickr site.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92803449@N00/sets/72157603518694540/

Most are pictures of Christmas window displays at Macy's in NYC and the Lord and Taylor windows.

Peace on Earth, good will to all!

In Hope and in Peace,

Jim Lyons

New Hampshire Holds The Nation`s First Presidential Primary on 8th January, 2008!

EsquireUK — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:58:37 EST

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a campaign stop in Portsmouth, N.H., Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)

AP Interview: Obama Pans Campaign Tone

By PHILIP ELLIOTT – 7 hours ago

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama www.barackobama.com argued on Thursday that presidential rivals who resort to negative criticism based on personal claims rather than issues will turn off voters.

In recent weeks, Obama has been criticized by his chief rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as being too inexperienced to be elected president. One of her advisers resigned after suggesting Obama would be vulnerable to questions about his use of illegal drugs as a teenager. A Clinton surrogate raised Obama's Muslim heritage in what some viewed as an unflattering way.

"So far, I think, attempts to go negative in a way that's not policy-based have backfired on the people who have gone in that direction," Obama said during a brief interview with The Associated Press after a town hall-style meeting at an American Legion hall.

"If people are arguing about policy, that's part of politics and that's fair," said Obama, an Illinois senator.

Obama said campaign media focused on policy, such as his flier touting his health care plan, are fair game and he will be aggressive about making such comparisons with Clinton. While not pleasant tactics, he said he can't fault his rivals for them.

"I would distinguish between ads that I would say maybe mischaracterize my positions but had to do with policy, versus personal attacks or attempts to go at my character or those things. In which case, I will answer them swiftly and truthfully if they're false and trust in the voters," Obama said.

The back-and-forth between Obama and Clinton has not affected his family, Obama said. His daughters, Malia and Sasha, have appeared with their parents at some campaign events and were included in a holiday campaign commercial Obama released this week.

"Part of the reason that Michelle and I were comfortable doing this is our daughters are young enough. They're not watching the news," Obama said. "They're watching Nickelodeon. You know, they're 9 and 6. They're watching 'Hannah Montana.'"

Earlier this month, Bill Shaheen, a co-chair of Clinton's New Hampshire campaign and husband of the state's former governor, resigned after suggesting that Obama's admitted use of illegal drugs as a teenager could be used against him if he won the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton later denounced the comments, which she said were unauthorized, and personally apologized to Obama.

This week, former Sen. Bob Kerrey endorsed Clinton but praised Obama's Muslim roots in a way that raised eyebrows because that detail has been part of an Internet smear campaign that falsely suggests Obama is a Muslim who wants to bring jihad to the United States. Obama is a Christian. Kerrey later apologized for any unintentional insult he may have committed.

When his daughters have seen any negative coverage, Obama said the girls go straight to him or their mother, Michelle.

"We've got a great relationship with our girls where if something bothers them, they ask us. They ask us questions about that. We don't want to stoke their fears about this stuff, but we want to make sure anything that comes up, they come and they talk to us about it," he said.

He said the family has "been able to create a space for them where they are just living their normal lives like little girls."

The latest state poll showed Obama and Clinton tied, according to the USA Today/Gallup Poll survey released Friday.

New Hampshire holds the nation's first presidential primary on Jan. 8.

Nice post...

ATW — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:41:31 EST

Charisse, I am so with you. "Acting like it was owed to you...is over." Barack has positioned himself as candidate the right way. He went to school (Harvard), persued what was important to him (helping people), and through support and grassroots networking rapidly rose to the national stage. On the flip, the Clinton's went to Ivy league schools, took high paying jobs, and sought out power to gain more $$$s and prestiege. That family is driven strickly by ambition, and their daughter, Chelsa (hedgefund snob) is a prime example of that.

Mrs. Clinton`s Healthy Lead In Polls Has Been Reduced To Zero

EsquireUK — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:27:06 EST

Bill Clinton is a mixed blessing for wife Hillary
By Alex Spillius in Hampton, Iowa
Last Updated: 1:39am GMT 20/12/2007

Bill Clinton, describing himself as an 'old horse', is making a concerted attempt to carry his wife Hillary over the finishing line in first place in Iowa, where voting begins in two weeks to choose the nominees for next year's US presidential election.

Bill Clinton poses with school cheerleaders in Davenport, Iowa

Mrs Clinton's slump in the polls has prompted the 61-year-old former president to take to the road in a fashion unseen since his days in office. But he immediately showed what a mixed blessing he can be. During a visit to the Hy-Vee supermarket in Des Moines, he broke the security line to greet well-wishers, pulling a swarm of reporters behind him.

He gave unscripted interviews - considered a serious offence for others in his wife's campaign. He said that as president Mrs Clinton would deploy the first President Bush to mend the damage to America's reputation caused by his son - an off-the-cuff claim quickly denied by associates of the Bush family.

Renowned as an acute strategist, Mr Clinton has lately played a central role in planning his wife's approach in Iowa, where victory, or defeat, could determine the fate of the Democratic Party's selection to run for the White House, in what is one of the most closely contested races for years.

In four campaign stops this week - to be followed by four more tomorrow - he repeatedly stressed his wife's record as a "positive agent of change", a carefully chosen if clunky phrase designed to counter her young challenger Barack Obama.

The relatively inexperienced Illinois senator has increasingly cornered the market in that valuable political commodity, leaving the former First Lady looking too much of an establishment figure.

Mr Clinton said his wife had spent her life shaping laws and policies that improved lives, especially those of children. As a young lawyer, as wife of the governor in Arkansas, as First Lady and now as senator for New York, she had made reforms that had helped "millions of Americans" without them knowing it, he asserted.

"I don't think you will ever have a chance to vote for somebody who can say that anything they ever touched was better after they put it down than when they picked it up," he said at an agricultural hall in Hampton, northern Iowa.

"She has been like that all the 36 years I have known her. You will not get a better president."

The Democratic Party, he said, wheeled him out "like an old horse" every election "sort of to get around the track one more time". Although Mr Clinton remains popular and has forged a brilliant post-presidential career, even Clinton staffers wonder how useful he is. Some feel he can open the door to voters, but the candidate herself must clinch the deal.

A couple of months ago it looked as if his wife would have little further need of his services on the campaign trail. But thanks in part to a poor television debating performance and accusations of foul play against Mr Obama www.barackobama.com by some of her staffers, Mrs Clinton's healthy lead in the opinion polls has been reduced to zero in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/ObamaHQ/CVDV

Pick 10...

ATW — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:16:07 EST

With media desensitizing the public's perception, commonly people get fogged over, thus fail to understand issues that make a difference in their lives. It's lke a smoke screen that slants our cognition. Messages and strategies are crafted with the sole ambition of winning considered. What the Clinton's are in the middle of is high dollar PR, smoke screen tactics, and a general dilussion of the discourse at hand.

Right now is one of the 3 most vital stages of the campaign. They are this week, next week, and the week after that. Personally, what I would like to see is a guidebook, for emphasis and for reference. A detailed list of our Endorseers, some of our great stories, and more importantly, on top, a bulletpointed list of twenty priorities upon taking office. I will take these following moments and contribute some of my ideas. Please take a minute and write a sentence or 10 on what you believe to be our core beliefs, as a community, what we are all about. I'll go first...

Improve our perception overseas.

Balance our Education System, in favor of the currently statistically challenged,

Provide a specific timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.*

Outline and institute a Community Works Department.

Provide quick and easy access to the law. In database form delivery a free and service that concils you on the law.

*pg. 2

Charlie Rose

ATW — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 11:09:44 EST

Ok, first off this is a gret way to spend an hour. Bill Clinton is full of insight and that's not all. What a pompus, egotistical blowhard. While he has clearly had some nice initutives, Clinton reveals himself to be overshadowd by his ego. There is just something about the guy that ozzes Politician. He is so generic in that way. To me, that is the most accurate way to discribe the Clinton's, generic. HC is so much the conventional mainstream Washington pol, Watch, with the wind, Hillary's position, she stated just last month, drifts like a boy's runaway kite.

Thoughts, insights, clarity?

Oh and here's the link http://www.charlierose.com/guests/bill-clinton

Must see video: Bill Clinton "experience not as relivent as change" --1993

ATW — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:54:37 EST

Must see, please help circulate within our community. BC totally makes Barack's case for "the right kind of experience". This is great...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMlrSG1xb5k

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Leading In New Hampshire

EsquireUK — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:30:11 EST

Blow for Clinton as Obama takes lead in key state

· Rival ahead for first time in New Hampshire
· Campaign team planning to step up attacks on rival

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Thursday December 13, 2007
The Guardian

Barack Obama speaks during a campaign visit to Showbox SoDo, a Seattle nightclub. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP

Hillary Clinton's campaign for the White House suffered a serious setback yesterday when her main Democratic rival, Barack Obama www.barackobama.com , took a poll lead for the first time in New Hampshire, a key early state.

The latest ratings, part of a trend that has seen him narrow the gap over the last month, has rattled the Clinton team.

In a sign of its unease, Bill Shaheen, a co-chairman of her campaign, yesterday raised Obama's drug-taking as a teenager, even though he had admitted to it in his autobiography.

In an interview with the Washington Post website, Shaheen said the Republicans will target Obama's background. "It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?"' Shaheen said.

Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe said it was "an increasingly desperate effort to slow her slide in the poll".

The poll in New Hampshire marks a dramatic change in a state where Clinton has enjoyed leads of between 10 and 20 points in more than 50 polls carried out this year. That advantage has disappeared with less than four weeks left, in what is now shaping up as a tight, unpredictable race.

A Rasmussen poll yesterday put Obama on 31% to Clinton's 28%. Two weeks ago, Clinton had a 7% lead.

Her downward trend was reflected in two other polls published yesterday. A WMUR/CNN poll put Clinton on 31%, down five points since last month, and Obama on 30%, up eight points, while a poll by Suffolk University in Boston put her on 33%, down one point, to Obama's 26%, up four, since last month.

The WMUR/CNN polling was carried out between December 6 and 10, the period that included huge media exposure for Obama as a result of campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire alongside Oprah Winfrey. The poll put John Edwards on 16%. Edwards has concentrated on Iowa in the hope that a win there can help him close the gap in New Hampshire.

Advisers to Bill Clinton, who has been campaigning for his wife this week in Iowa, were expressing concern over the performance of the campaign team, in particular a failure to respond aggressively to attacks by Obama. Hillary Clinton's team is now planning to concentrate on Obama over the next week. It is a risky tactic - negative campaigning is often effective but can also turn off potential supporters.

The first caucus, in Iowa, is on January 3 with the first primary, in New Hampshire, on January 8. In past elections Iowa and New Hampshire have often proved decisive in determining the final outcome.

The Democratic candidates are to hold their last debate today before the Iowa caucus.

Guardian America

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter!

Last year, we as a nation asked and expressed our desire as voters to take America in a new direction. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama www.barackobama.com is leading and taking this challenge seriously every day to bring about that change. Together we can move forward. Together we can restore trust in our American values. Together we can reclaim that precious American dream of hope and opportunity for all. Together we can put Presidential Candidate Barack Obama on a firm path to victory in the 2008 Presidential General Election.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is committed to turning the page on textbook campaign politics, providing quality and affordable health care for 10 million American children - kids not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid and not lucky enough to have parents with health insurance - and passing a new national energy policy that lowers energy bills and begins to reverse global warming. And we are determined to end the war in Iraq responsibly. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama will use his power and leadership authority as our next president to help Americans live and prosper in a nation of bountiful hope and opportunity!

In a few weeks, the primaries will start across America and voters will again ask for a new direction. Let us offer with our ongoing support and dedication this nation and the world the new vision and hope which Presidential Candidate Barack Obama uniquely possess. We are all playing an important role in this historic Countdown To Change.

Wishing you best wishes this Holiday Season,

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

An open letter regarding our community and campaign...

ATW — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:58:31 EST

...This is an amazingly unique moment in American History. We, as members of this ever expanding community are experiencing something truely transformational. We, are in the midst of building a grassroots movement that will redefine America as it's been come to know. To me, it feels like the dawn the New-New Deal, or whatever Obama cleverly comes to coins it. Instead of our nation experiencing a Great economic Depression, today, and for too long there has been a great moral depression, purvadying throughout our society and standing in the world. Unethical patterns of pratice in Washington have reaching a boiling over point...the majority, or very close to a majority, of Americans are disillusioned by our political process, thus unable to effect change moving forward. With the catolog of inovative approaches Barack is proposing, those days will soon be behind us! It is so inspiring! We are all, witnesses of the breaking dawn of the revitaliztion of the American Promise. More importantly, we are each, agents securing others the opportunity to take the view in for themselves. Thank you for helping grow our community.

Humbly,

Tim

A Latino Moves Away from Clinton

Jim Lyons — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:26:48 EST

Hillary’s Gamble in Las Vegas (I)

I don’t usually worry much about party politics until the general election. The many debates and a good deal of the media attention try to reduce serious issues to controversies. The focus is on “the horse race” and not on the role of government.

But I had to react against Senator Hillary Clinton’s big gamble at the televised debate in Las Vegas in which she bet that Latinos and Latinas wouldn’t notice how she rolled the dice against us. Just a few days before, she had “stumbled” (word from the blogs) when asked if she supported the New York governor’s decision to issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. If you didn’t catch it, she first said she “supported the action,” then changed that to she only “understood the reason for the licenses,” than a third version that she hadn’t really taken a stand. The three statements were made within the period of two minutes, something her rivals, Senators Dodd, Edwards and Obama considered confusing – at the very least.

The next few days, according to those in the know, her staff worked furiously to get the governor to retract his initiative – which had been approved by Homeland Security and is already the law in several states including California, the largest in the nation, and in Illinois, the home state of Barack Obama. Days later, her derriere now covered with behind-the-scene maneuvers, Hillary answered the question about licenses for the undocumented in Las Vegas with an unequivocal, “No.”

I would not be alone in considering this change of position to be a reaction to the polls and a typical politician’s effort to say “whatever is necessary to get elected.” Frankly, I’m disappointed. I’m not sure if the error is big enough to get me to vote against the Senator should she face off against a Republican like Mitt Romney, but it certainly dampens my enthusiasm for her.

Despite a good record for the people of New York, support to end the bombing of Vieques, Puerto Rico and a generally progressive stance on social welfare initiatives, there is very little on the positive side that distinguishes Senator Clinton from any generic brand Democrat. Not so the issue of licenses. The Republicans give every sign of tripping over each other to be the most anti-Latino immigrant candidate for 2008. (Spreading hate for Latinos and Latinas, it would seem, is an easier path to power than supporting the war in Iraq and a national debt over 9 trillion dollars.) Moreover, the impetus to crackdown hard on “illegals” feeds its spawn of racist nationalism and fear-mongering.

Senator Clinton’s cowardice – grudgingly, that is what I would have to call it – sends a signal that we Latinos and Latinas are expendable in her pursuit of the presidency. While her position is virtually the same as that of Chris Dodd of Connecticut, at least he was clear and forthright on his reasons. (Not representing a border state is also part of the background for his stance). I will now seek to support another Democrat for president in 2008, although I was looking forward to see the gender ceiling broken. Defense of our Latino rights and our freedom is too precious to surrender to a merely symbolic victory for women.

Biographical note: Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo is Professor Emeritus of Puerto Rican & Latino Studies at Brooklyn College. Author and scholar, he serves as member of the Pennsylvania State Advisory Committee to the US Commission of Civil Rights in Washington.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: The Best Candidate For The 2008 General Election

EsquireUK — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:19:42 EST

From Times OnlineDecember 4, 2007
Hillary Clinton gets personal as Barack Obama inches aheadTim Reid in Washington

Hillary Clinton has been forced to take the biggest gamble of her presidential campaign by launching personal attacks on her main rival, Barack Obama www.barackobama.com , in Iowa - a state famous for its dislike of negative tactics

With less than a month before the crucial first nominating contest in Iowa, Mrs Clinton has dramatically changed course against a resurgent Mr Obama by questioning his character and honesty, a new strategy that rival campaigns believe could backfire.

A series of recent polls in Iowa show Mr Obama gaining momentum in the state and for the first time opening up a small lead over Mrs Clinton. He has also erased her once-clear advantage among women voters and blue-collar households and is exploiting lingering doubts that Mrs Clinton is too polarising a figure to win a general election.

Mrs Clinton's aura of invincibility received another blow today with a new Gallup poll indicating that her lead nationally had fallen by 11 points since November. For months, as she retained her status as formidable frontrunner, Mrs Clinton pledged not to criticise her Democratic rivals. But since yesterday she has begun a string of attacks on Mr Obama in Iowa.

It is a risky move in a state where negative campaigning has destroyed past candidacies, especially as she has taken the job on herself, rather than leaving it to aides, and is the candidate with the highest negatives in the race.

Mrs Clinton said that after being criticised for weeks by Mr Obama and John Edwards, the other strong challenger in Iowa, “you cannot just absorb it”. She added later: “We're into the last month and we're going to start drawing a contrast.” On the campaign trail in Iowa over the past 48 hours she has accused Mr Obama of offering “false hopes” and of not telling the truth about his health insurance plan.

Asked if she was raising questions about his character, she replied: “It's beginning to look a lot like that. It really is.” Tonight her campaign accused Mr Obama's staff of launching dirty tricks in Iowa by directing people to bogus locations for the January 3 caucuses. Bill Burton, Mr Obama's spokesman, said: “This flat-out falsehood is the latest attack in a silly season where our opponents have promised to stop at nothing in an effort to tarnish Barack Obama's character.”

Over the weekend Mrs Clinton's campaign sent reporters a memo implying that Mr Obama lied when he said that he only recently thought about running for president. It cited an essay he wrote in kindergarten entitled “I want to be President”. Mr Obama's aides derided the move and have since set up a website detailing every attack by Mrs Clinton.

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Labour Secretary and an old friend of the Clintons, wrote in a blog: “This series of slurs does not serve HRC well. It will turn off voters in Iowa, as in the rest of the country.”

Mr Edwards hopes he will be the main beneficiary of Mrs Clinton's move. After being her most strident critic for weeks, he has returned to positive campaigning. He remembers well the fight between Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt, the two front-runners in Iowa in 2004. Voters were turned off. Both men's campaigns collapsed.

Mrs Clinton is gambling that voters will regard her rhetoric as a justified fightback rather than unfair attacks.

A LONG TIME IN POLITICS . . .

Then

“We’re going to stay positive. We’re not going to attack our fellow Democrats.”

(Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, November 11)

Now

“How did running for president become a qualification for being president? Well, this is not a job you can learn about from a book.”

(Mrs Clinton on Barack Obama yesterday)

Increase the Cost of Negativity

The latest Iowa poll, from the Des Moines Register, shows Barack Obama has pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton and is now leading there. We even lead among women by five points.

The poll also showed that -- by a wide margin -- Iowans have found that Senator Clinton is running the most negative campaign of any candidate.

And sure enough, less than 12 hours after the poll results were released, the Clinton campaign launched multiple frantic, baseless attacks against Barack Obama.

As Senator Clinton's poll numbers slide, the campaign of "inevitability" becomes more desperate and negative by the day.

We need to respond by increasing the cost of these tactics for her campaign.

If 10,000 people donate in the next 48 hours in response, it will show our opponents that when they attack Barack Obama, it literally makes our campaign stronger.

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Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: When A Movement Gains Momentum

EsquireUK — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:36:55 EST

When A Movement Gains MomentumThe Iowa Jefferson Jackson Dinner is one of the pivotal moments in the contest for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, and Barack Obama gave what could be the most important speech of the campaign to more than 9,000 Iowa Democrats in Des Moines this weekend.

He sparked new momentum on the ground in Iowa, where the January 3rd caucuses will be the first true test of our campaign and Senator Clinton's.

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/11/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_33.php

See some of the overwhelming response to the performance and donate now so we can capitalize on this moment.

Des Moines Register (David Yepsen) "Yepsen: Obama's superb speech could catapult his bid":The six leading Democratic presidential candidates showed up for the Iowa Democratic Party's big Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Saturday night, and five of them gave very good speeches. Barack Obama's was excellent. It was one of the best of his campaign. The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucusgoers his way. His oratory was moving, and he successfully contrasted himself with the others — especially Clinton — without being snide or nasty about it.
Read more from the Des Moines Register

The Garance (Garance):Barack Obama, on the other hand, finally gave the speech his supporters have been waiting for him to give all year. If anyone comes out of this dinner with The Big Mo, it will be him. Obama’s supporters used their voices, not tools, to make noise. The moment House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced his name in her introduction, she was met with screams, whoops, ululations, whistles, shouts, and cries of wordless enthusiasm. When she said, "Please welcome the next president of the United States" — a line she’d used in earlier introductions — the crowd burst into what my notes could only capture as "TOTAL ROAR."
Read more from The Garance

Washington Post (Dan Balz and Shailagh Murray) "Obama stands out in night of speeches":...In the view of many watching, he [Obama] emerged as the oratorical winner at the biggest Democratic political event in Iowa before the state's January caucuses....Before the Saturday dinner, Barbara and Mike Donnelly hadn't been certain which candidate to support in the Democratic caucuses. They left with colorful glow necklaces, handed out by Obama's campaign. "We just think he's a very strong character," said Barbara Donnelly. Obama's speech "crystallized it for me," said Mike Donnelly.
Read more from The Washington Post

ABC News (David Chalian/Eloise Harper/Sunlen Miller/Raelyn Johnson) "Democrats Rally the Troops in Iowa":... The Obama troops clearly won the contest for loudest cheers in the hall as they offered some call and response with the "fired up, ready to go" chants that have become the standard finale to the senator's stump speech.... In what appeared to be the most rousing speech of the evening, Sen. Obama was sure to revisit his theme of calling for a change in the political climate and again offering a thinly veiled swipe toward his main opponent. "This party -- of Jefferson and Jackson, of Roosevelt and Kennedy -- has made the most difference in people's lives when we've led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction," Obama said to applause.
Read more from ABC News

MSNBC (Aswini Anburajan) "Obama Shows Off Organizational Strength":Nearly one in three people at last night’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner was an Obama supporter. The campaign brought 3,000 supporters to a dinner that had 9,000 attendees. They also made sure to have a representative from each of Iowa’s 99 counties in attendance. ... Obama’s speech was buoyed by his large crowd of supporters. They chanted, yelled and stood up and cheered as he evoked the civil rights movement to talk about how he could only stand on this stage because those who had come before him were not afraid to take the difficult positions that he is supposedly espousing now.
Read more from MSNBC First Read

Chicago Sun-Times (Jennifer Hunter) "Obama vows moral high ground for Dems, U.S.":About 9,000 activists turned up for the dinner... But Obama's followers were the most uproarious.
Read more from the Sun Times

Time (Anna Marie Cox):Obama: The excerpts give a flavor of what he delivered, but I have to say, given the low energy of the room, his performance was especially striking. Again, the applause at his introduction was thundering. He also drew the longest, loudest responses throughout his speech: hooting, hollering and he was the only candidate to draw an enthusiastic chant. He also was the only candidate that seemed, for lack of a better word, to be working it. He gave that speech as if he was trying to convince people, not just solidifying the support he already had.
Read more from Time.com

Barack Obama's Speech at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner

NBC Nightly News

ABC Nightly News

Tucker Carlson

Paid for by Obama for America

Mrs. Clinton, Please Allow Your Experience To Be Evaluated

EsquireUK — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:03:33 EST

Secrecy Issues Dog Giuliani, Clinton

Tuesday December 4, 2007 12:31 AM

By LIZ SIDOTI

Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton have secrecy issues dogging them.

The front-runners in national polls for their parties' nominations both are grappling with disclosure controversies as they seek to succeed President Bush, known as one of the most secretive chief executives in modern history.

For the Republican former New York mayor, the primary issue is Giuliani Partners, the consulting business he formed when he left City Hall. He still works for the firm but won't shed light on its business dealings or release a client list. He's not required to; the company is privately held.

``It isn't mysterious at all,'' Giuliani insists, arguing that the media has identified clients.

He's also battling - and dismissing - suggestions that security expenses for extramarital liaisons with current wife Judith Nathan were hidden in little-known city accounts. And, he is facing criticism for the handling of his mayoral records.

Clinton, the Democratic New York senator and former first lady, is taking heat over locked-away correspondence between President Clinton and her during their White House years. She often cites her experience in her campaign, and rivals argue she should expedite the opening of those records to allow her experience to be evaluated, particularly on health care policy.

She says the National Archives, which has custody of the records, ``is moving as rapidly as the Archives moves.'' Her husband said last week: ``I'm not trying to cover anything up.''

A direct comparison between the Giuliani and Clinton situations is difficult.

``There's a concern on the part of Giuliani about his behavior, a man known relatively little to the public except in flashes of post-9/11 take charge,'' said Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. ``There are real questions about his probity, his choice of associates and potential conflicts of interest given the extraordinary amount of business he's done since leaving office and that touches on government policies.''

``With Clinton, it's a bit of a muddle,'' Mann said. ``It's appropriate that presidential documents be released and made public as soon as possible. It's a reasonable question to be raised,'' he said. But, he added: ``It's not like there's necessarily some crucial information in there that's not being revealed.''

Still, both candidates face lack-of-disclosure questions in a campaign marked by public concern about honesty and ethics.

A recent national survey by The Associated Press and Yahoo News found that both Democrats and Republicans rated those two issues as very important or extremely important qualities in a presidential candidate more often than any other trait measured.

Neither Clinton nor Giuliani was seen as particularly honest or ethical. Just 38 percent viewed Clinton as honest, while just 40 percent called her ethical. Forty-two percent called Giuliani honest, 40 percent ethical.

Secrecy questions about them could give voters pause - particularly after seven years of Bush's behind-the-curtain approach that included covert CIA prisons, warrantless wiretapping and classified memos on interrogation techniques.

Generally, a president prone to secrecy can have long-term implications for a democracy.

``The effect is sort of an imperialistic presidency that's unchecked,'' said Anne Weismann, chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. With Bush, she said: ``We're pretty far down that road, but I don't think we're there yet.'' However, she added, given the outcry over Bush's actions, ``It's hard to imagine a president that will follow in that same course.''

Giuliani laughed, then grew agitated, when the AP asked recently whether he would ever outline his role with his firm or release a thorough client list. ``Everything I did at Giuliani Partners was totally legal, totally ethical,'' he said. ``There's nothing for me to explain about. We acted honorably, decently.''

The media have unearthed some client names that show his firm represents or has represented airlines, energy companies and communications businesses. One client, Purdue Pharma L.P., makes the controversial painkiller OxyContin.

Separately, Giuliani has called reports that he charged security expenses to obscure city offices as his affair began ``a typical political hit job with only half the story told.'' He also has dismissed criticism over the 2,000 boxes of his mayoral documents temporarily going to a private foundation his supporters ran and financed to be copied and archived.

Clinton, for her part, rejects charges that she's been secretive about her own documents. This month in Iowa, she said: ``My husband has not withheld a single document.''

But, like some of his predecessors, Bill Clinton had the power to limit what records the National Archives could immediately make public. In a 2002 letter, he asked that the archives consider withholding certain categories of information, including personal correspondence between himself and his wife.

``We're not trying to hold up anything,'' he told C-SPAN last week. ``We're getting this stuff out as soon as we can.''

^---

EDITOR'S NOTE - Liz Sidoti covers presidential politics for The Associated Press.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Has Found His Voice: Reclaiming The American Dream

EsquireUK — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:52:28 EST

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter!

The latest news from Iowa is exciting. The Des Moines Register shows that Presidential Candidate Barack Obama www.barackobama.com has pulled ahead of Mrs. Clinton and is now leading in Iowa. He is even leading among women by five points! This is superb!

The polls in Iowa show that Mrs. Clinton is running the most negative campaign of any presidential candidate. Today we need to respond to any attacks which Mrs. Clinton may direct at Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. We need to ensure that he has the resources to go from strength to strength. We need to put him firmly on a victorious path to the 2008 Presidential General Election!

We have an immediate challenge: In the next 48 hours, Presidential Candidate Barack Obama needs 10,000 people to donate.

https://donate.barackobama.com/costofnegativity

This response will show Mrs. Clinton and other opponents that our resolve to reclaim the American dream is real. The Countdown to Change movement is in full force. The momentum is starting to build.

Thank you very much,

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

Op-Ed Columnist

Who’s Afraid of Barack Obama? By FRANK RICHPublished: December 2, 2007

JUST 24 hours after Hillary Clinton mowed down a skeptical Katie Couric with her certitude that she would win the Democratic nomination — “It will be me!” — her husband showed exactly how she could lose it.

Skip to next paragraph Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Frank Rich

Go to Columnist Page » Enlarge This Image Barry Blitt

By telling an Iowa audience on Tuesday night that he had opposed the Iraq war “from the beginning,” Bill Clinton committed a double pratfall. Not only did he refocus attention on his wife’s most hazardous issue, Iraq, just as it was receding as the nation’s Topic A, but he also revived unhappy memories of the truth-dodging nadirs of the Clinton White House.

Whatever his caveats, Mr. Clinton did not explicitly oppose the Iraq war from the beginning. But Al Gore did unequivocally and loudly in a public speech before the beginning, as did an obscure Illinois state senator named Barack Obama www.barackobama.com . What if Mrs. Clinton had led an insurrection against the war authorization in the Senate? Might she have helped impede America’s rush into one of the greatest fiascos in our history?

That history cannot be rewritten in any case, by Bill Clinton or anyone else. But future history is yet to be made. In the year to come, it will be written by the candidates and the voters, not by those journalists who, as the old saw has it, lay down history’s first draft.

Election year isn’t even here yet, and already most of the first drafts penned by the political press have proved instantly disposable, from Fred Thompson’s irresistible Reaganesque star power to the Family Research Council’s ability to abort the rise of Rudy Giuliani. The biggest Beltway myth so far — that the Clinton campaign is “textbook perfect” and “tightly disciplined” — was surely buried for good by the undisciplined former president’s seemingly panic-driven blunder last week.

The Washington wisdom about Mr. Obama has often been just as wrong as that about Mrs. Clinton. We kept being told he was making rookie mistakes and offering voters wispy idealistic sentiments rather than the real beef of policy. But what the Beltway mistook for gaffes often was the policy.

Mr. Obama’s much-derided readiness to talk promptly and directly to the leaders of Iran and Syria, for instance, was a clear alternative, agree with it or not, to Mrs. Clinton’s same-old Foggy Bottom platitudes on the subject. His supposedly reckless pledge to chase down Osama bin Laden and his gang in Pakistan, without Pakistani permission if necessary, was a pointed rebuke of both Mrs. Clinton’s and President Bush’s misplaced fealty to our terrorist-enabling “ally,” Pervez Musharraf. Like Mr. Obama’s prescient Iraq speech of 2002, his open acknowledgment of the Pakistan president’s slipperiness turned out to be ahead of the curve.

Now that the Beltway establishment, jolted by the Iowa polls, is frantically revising its premature blueprints for a Clinton coronation and declaring, as Time’s inevitable cliché would have it, that Mr. Obama has “found his voice,” it’s worth looking at some campaign story lines that have been ignored so far. They tell us more than the hyped scenarios that have fallen apart. Indeed, they flip the standard narrative of Campaign 2008 on its head: Were Mr. Obama to best Mrs. Clinton for the Democratic nomination, he may prove harder for the Republicans to rally against and defeat than the all-powerful, battle-tested Clinton machine.

The unspoken truth is that the Clinton machine is not being battle-tested at all by the Democratic primary process. When Mrs. Clinton accused John Edwards of “throwing mud” and “personally” attacking her in a sharp policy exchange in one debate, the press didn’t challenge the absurd hyperbole of her claim. In reality, neither Mr. Edwards nor any other Democratic competitor will ever hit her with the real, personal mud being stockpiled by the right. But if she’s getting a bye now, she will not from the Republican standard-bearer, whoever he may be. Clinton-bashing is the last shared article of faith (and last area of indisputable G.O.P. competence) that could yet unite the fractured and dispirited conservative electorate.

The Republicans know this and are so psychologically invested in refighting the Clinton wars that they’re giddy. Karl Rove’s first column for Newsweek last week, “How to Beat Hillary (Next) November,” proceeded from the premise that her nomination was a done deal. In the G.O.P. debates through last Thursday, the candidates mentioned the Clintons some 65 times. Barack Obama’s name has not been said once.

But much like the Clinton campaign itself, the Republicans have fallen into a trap by continuing to cling to the Hillary-is-inevitable trope. They have not allowed themselves to think the unthinkable — that they might need a Plan B to go up against a candidate who is not she. It’s far from clear that they would remotely know how to construct a Plan B to counter Mr. Obama. The repeated attempts to fan “rumors” that he is a madrassa-indoctrinated Muslim — whether on Fox News or in The Washington Post, where they resurfaced scurrilously on the front page on Thursday — are too demonstrably false to survive endless reruns even in the Swift-boating era.

Part of the Republicans’ difficulty in countering Mr. Obama, should they have to, is their own cynical racial politics. For the most part, race has been the dog that hasn’t barked in this campaign despite the (largely) white press’s endless fretting about whether the Illinois senator is too white for black voters and too black for white voters. Most Americans aren’t racist, most Republicans included. (Those who are won’t vote for the Democratic presidential candidate even if it’s not Mr. Obama.) But the G.O.P., by its own doing, is nonetheless saddled with a history that most recently includes “macaca” and Katrina, Mr. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University in 2000 and the nonexistent black population of its Congressional delegation.

As the Republican leadership knows, this record is an albatross, driving away not just black voters but crucial white swing voters, too. Ken Mehlman, the former G.O.P. chairman, and Mr. Rove, as recently as in that Newsweek column, have implored their party to reach out to minorities. So have Newt Gingrich and Jack Kemp. But not even conservative leaders of this stature could persuade their party’s top 2008 presidential contenders to show up for a September debate moderated by Tavis Smiley for PBS at the historically black Morgan State University.

It’s not because those no-shows are racists; it’s because they are defensive and out of touch. With the notable exception of Mike Huckabee, most of the party’s candidates have barricaded themselves from African-Americans for so long that they don’t know how to speak to or about them. As sure-footed as these Republicans are in attacking the Clintons and Streisand — or in exchanging fire with Al Sharpton and hip-hop moguls — they are strangers to the mainstream multiracial and multicultural America exemplified by an Obama or an Oprah.

An Obama candidacy would force them to engage. Or try to. A matchup between Mr. Obama and Mr. Giuliani, who was forged in the racial crucible of New York’s police brutality nightmares of the 1990s, or between Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney, who was shaped by a religion that didn’t give blacks equal membership until 1978, would be less a clash of races than of centuries.

But there’s another, even more fascinating hidden story line in the 2008 campaign that speaks to the potential prowess of an Obama candidacy. Despite the thuggish name-calling of a few right-wing die-hards (e.g., Rush Limbaugh mocking “Barack Hussein Odumbo”), the dirty secret of a number of conservatives is that they are disarmed by Mr. Obama even though they know his record is more liberal than Mrs. Clinton’s.

The drumbeat of approval has been remarkably steady. Last year Mark McKinnon, a top adviser to both the 2000 and 2004 Bush campaigns, admiringly called Mr. Obama “a walking, talking hope machine” who “may reshape American politics.” Andrew Ferguson devoted pages in The Weekly Standard to raving about “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama’s memoir, before dismissing its political sequel, “The Audacity of Hope.” Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, keeps trying to write anti-Obama articles but they’re so mild that they never really contradict his judgment of a year ago that the senator from Illinois “is the only presidential candidate from either party about whom there is a palpable excitement.” Even Tom Tancredo, the most virulent immigration demagogue of the G.O.P. presidential field, has spoken warmly of Mr. Obama.

Perhaps most striking is the case of Shelby Steele, the archconservative scholar who shares Mr. Obama’s mixed-race heritage. Though he has just written an entire book, “A Bound Man,” to argue (unpersuasively, in my view) that Mr. Obama “can’t win,” he can’t stop himself from admiring the guy throughout. Peggy Noonan wasn’t being tongue-in-cheek when she wondered in The Wall Street Journal last month whether Mr. Obama “understands the kind of quiet cheering he is beginning to garner from some Republicans.” In her view “they see him as a Democrat who could cure the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton sickness.”

Or at least they do in the abstract. Should Mr. Obama upend the Beltway story line by taking Iowa, the Republicans will have every reason to be as fearful as the Clinton camp is now.

MUST SEE expose documenting the Clinton's shady past.

ATW — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:14:05 EST

Please watch this eye opening documentary into the Clinton's past. It's at sometimes tedious, but in the end is a great investment of time!!! It really starts to get good by the 3rd clip...

Part 1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=J1WHdViGycY&feature=related

Part 2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=N2vapAmVWR4&feature=related

Part 3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=CRHNyPa2gjo&feature=related

Part 4 http://youtube.com/watch?v=FOI-0hdoEsk&feature=related

Part 5 http://youtube.com/watch?v=1U6M0dIHMlI&feature=related

Part 6 http://youtube.com/watch?v=-G1T4153NUk&feature=related

Part 7 http://youtube.com/watch?v=c1r65Ok0SiE

Part 8 http://youtube.com/watch?v=bJsrUrW01pg&feature=related

Part 9 http://youtube.com/watch?v=EbxAD93TBDA&feature=related

Part 10 http://youtube.com/watch?v=ie5K9JE08ow&feature=related

Part 11 http://youtube.com/watch?v=iiTwpe-lZXk&feature=related

Part 12 http://youtube.com/watch?v=X2oTgaU4Gxg&feature=related

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: The Momentum Is Starting To Build

EsquireUK — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:19:50 EST

Community Blogs Login | Register | Search Blogs Post from Obama HQ: New Des Moines Register Poll: Obama leading in IowaBy Sam Graham-Felsen - Dec 1st, 2007 at 10:09 pm EST Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content Tags: Iowa Bad? Brilliant?
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Click here for details from the Des Moines Register.

World Aids Day: Breaking The Silence

EsquireUK — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:02:04 EST

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter!

More than 33 million people are living with HIV around the world today. World Aids Day was launched by the United Nations in 1988 to raise awareness of HIV/Aids, to urge leaders to help relieve suffering for those afflicted and to increase efforts to prevent HIV transmission.

On December 1, World Aids Day 2007 will highlight the importance of using open communication to break down the silence and stigma surrounding HIV and Aids and to get people talking to increase their understanding of the virus.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama www.barackobama.com has a genuine understanding of the urgent need to break down the silence and stigma surrounding HIV and Aids. We can count on him to support and promote a brighter future of real hope for the millions living with HIV in America and around the world.

Raphael Holoman-Franklin

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: A Healthy America For All

EsquireUK — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:44:52 EST

Quality Affordable Health Care for All
by the End of Barack Obama's First Term in OfficeObama's Plan for a Healthy America

David Cutler Describes Obama Health Plan

"I...believe that every American has the right to affordable health care. I believe that the millions of Americans who can't take their children to a doctor when they get sick have that right...We now face an opportunity - and an obligation - to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates. It's time to bring together businesses, the medical community, and members of both parties around a comprehensive solution to this crisis, and it's time to let the drug and insurance industries know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair."

-Barack Obama, Speech in Iowa City, IA, 5/27/07

THE PROBLEM

The U.S. spends $2 trillion on health care every year, and offers the best medical technology and scientific research in the world. Yet, the benefits of the American health care system come at a price that an increasing number of individuals and families, employers and employees, and public and private providers cannot afford.

Barack Obama discusses healthcare, and the personal story of one of his supporters in Iowa City on May 29, 2007.; Barack; Healthcare; Obama; iowa; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid960399001 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=353512430

47 million Americans - including nearly 9 million children - lack health insurance.

Health care costs are skyrocketing. Health insurance premiums have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years. Lack of affordable health care is compounded by serious flaws in our health care delivery system. About 100,000 Americans die from medical errors in hospitals every year.

Too little is spent on prevention and public health. The nation faces epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases as well as new threats of pandemic flu and bioterrorism. Yet, despite all of this, less than four cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health.

Barack Obama's Plan for a Healthy America: OverviewLowering health care costs and ensuring affordable, high-quality health care for all

Pauline Taylor, 55, a nurse who lives in Iowa City and is a member of SEIU Local 199, a health care workers' union, [said], "He touched on all the highlight"s...(Obama's plan) is wonderful." Taylor said she liked the emphasis on preventative care and getting more generic medications on the market. A nurse for 33 years, Taylor said she has seen what happens when medical conditions go unchecked for years. "People will not put off going to the doctor for so long," she said.

-Iowa City Press Citizen 5/30/07

Barack Obama believes we live in the greatest country in the world and that when it comes to health care, America can and must do better. The Obama plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on premiums by:

Providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American;
Modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and
Promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.

Quality, Affordable & Portable Health Coverage for All

Douglas Davis, an emergency room technician for the University of Iowa hospitals, said he believes Obama's plan gives hope to families. "I believe it's achievable but the most important thing I'm taking from the plan is the security for families," Davis said. "We can't idly sit by and let families take the burden when you have corporations making" billions of dollars.

-Des Moines Register (as reprinted on USAToday.com), 5/29/07

The Obama plan both builds upon and improves our current insurance system, upon which most Americans continue to rely, and leaves Medicare intact for older and disabled Americans.

1. Obama's Plan to Cover the Uninsured. Obama will create a new national health plan to allow individuals without access to affordable insurance coverage to buy coverage similar to that available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have the following features:

Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), and cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
Subsidies. Individuals who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
Simplifying paperwork and reining in health costs.
Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies will be required to collect and report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.

2. National Health Insurance Exchange. Obama will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase private insurance. The Exchange will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums. The Exchange will require benefits comparable to those offered in the new public plan. Insurers would be required to justify an above-average premium increase. The Exchange would evaluate plans and provide information about differences between them.

3. Employer Contribution. Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan. Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt.

4. Mandatory Coverage of Children. Obama will require that all children have health care coverage. Obama will expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage, including by allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans.

5. Expansion of Medicaid and SCHIP. Obama will expand eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Obama will expand eligibility for the medicaid and schip programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.

6. Flexibility for State Plans. Obama's plan allows states to continue innovating on health care reform. Due to federal inaction, some states have taken the lead in health care reform. The obama plan builds on these efforts and does not replace what states are doing. States can continue to experiment, provided they meet the minimum standards of the national plan.

Modernizing the U.S. Health Care System to Lower Costs and Improve Quality

Achieving universal coverage has long been a goal of Democratic presidential hopefuls. But Obama's emphasis on cost savings is bound to appeal to people who have insurance but still have seen their costs skyrocket... If Obama's plan helped a little it would mean a lot to her family and many others, Amy . . . said. "There are lots of factors that play into our success or failure, but in our case, the high cost of health insurance premiums is really dragging our family down," said [Amy]... "The month-to-month cost of the premiums is out of balance with the reality of our income. If we could have just a little help, if it could be reduced just a little, it would really help."

-Quad City Times, 5/29/07

On Tuesday in iowa city, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of illinois, a democrat, announced his [health care plan] . . . One aspect is particularly noteworthy: it includes limits on the profits of private-sector health-care businesses. He believes that's the right move for consumers, but it risks offending some powerful interests. He did it anyway. That tells voters something important about him.
- Editorial, Des Moines Register, 6/1/07

The Obama plan will lower costs and improve efficiency in the health care system by: (1) offering federal reinsurance to employers to help ensure that unexpected or catastrophic illnesses do not make health insurance unaffordable or out of reach for businesses and their employees; (2) ensuring that patients receive and providers deliver the best possible care; (3) adopting state-of-the-art health information technology systems; (4) reforming our market structure to ensure fairness and increase competition.

1. Reducing Costs of Catastrophic Illnesses for Employers and their Employees. Catastrophic health expenditures account for a high percentage of medical expenses for private insurers. The Obama plan would reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers' premiums.

2. Lowering Costs by Ensuring Patients Receive and Providers Deliver Quality Care.

Helping Patients

Support disease management programs. Seventy five percent of total health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Obama will require that providers that participate in the new public plan, Medicare or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) utilize proven disease management programs. This will improve quality of care, give doctors better information and lower costs.
Coordinate and integrate care. Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease and these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly. More than half of Americans with serious chronic conditions have 3 or more different physicians, leading to duplicate testing, conflicting treatment advice and prescription drugs that may be contraindicated. Obama will support implementation of programs and encourage team care that will improve coordination and integration of care of those with chronic conditions.
Require full transparency about quality and costs and promote patient safety. More than half of Americans with serious chronic conditions have 3 or more different physicians, leading to duplicate testing, conflicting treatment advice and prescription drugs that may be contraindicated. Obama will support implementation of programs and encourage team care that will improve coordination and integration of care of those with chronic conditions.

Align incentives for excellence. Both public and private insurers tend to pay providers based on the volume of services provided, rather than the quality or effectiveness of care. Providers who see patients enrolled in the new public plan, the National Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare and FEHBP will be rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on outcome measures.
Support comparative effectiveness research. The U.S. provides some of the best health care and most sophisticated medical technologies in the world, but at a cost that is making the effort to expand access to care ever more difficult. Obama will establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness, so that Americans and their doctors will have the accurate and objective information they need to make the best decisions for their health and well-being.
Tackle disparities in health care. Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing differences in access to health coverage and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a major role in addressing disparities. He will also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs, and diversification of the health workforce.
Reform medical malpractice. Obama will strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance, and will promote new models for addressing physician errors that improve patient safety, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and reduce the need for malpractice suits.

3. Lowering Costs through Investment in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems. Most medical records are still stored on paper, which makes it hard to coordinate care, measure quality, or reduce medical errors and which costs twice as much as electronic claims. Obama will invest $10 billion over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records and will phase in requirements for full implementation of health it. Obama will ensure that patients' privacy is protected.

4. Lowering Costs by Increasing Competition in the Insurance and Drug Markets.

Increasing competition. The insurance business today is dominated by a small group of large companies that has been gobbling up their rivals. There have been over 400 health care mergers in the last 10 years, and just two companies dominate a full third of the national market. These changes were supposed to make the industry more efficient, but instead premiums have skyrocketed, increasing over 87 percent. Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases. His plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration. His new national health insurance exchange will help increase competition by insurers.
Lowering prescription drug costs. The second-fastest growing type of health expenses is prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are selling the exact same drugs in Europe and Canada but charging Americans more than double the price. Obama will allow Americans to buy cheaper medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe. Obama will also repeal the ban that prevents the government from negotiating with drug companies for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which could result in savings as high as $30 billion. Finally, Obama will work to increase the use of generic drugs in federal benefits programs and prohibit drug companies from keeping generics out of markets.

Promoting Prevention and Strengthening Public Health

Obama's emphasis on reducing waste and inefficiencies and increasing spending on prevention appealed to Dr. George Weiner, director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at UI. The cost of providing health care to those without insurance often is more expensive than prevention would have been, he said. "I'm excited about his plan and others," Weiner said. "The time is right for universal health care."

-Cedar Rapids Gazette, 5/29/07

Obama believes that protecting and promoting health and wellness in this nation is a shared responsibility among individuals and families, school systems, employers, the medical and public health workforce, and federal and state and local governments. Each must do their part, as well as collaborate with one another, to create the conditions and opportunities that will allow and encourage Americans to adopt healthy lifestyles.

1. Employers. An increasing number of employers are offering worksite health promotion programs and many employers choose insurance plans that cover preventive services for their employees. Obama believes that worksite interventions hold tremendous potential to influence health and will expand and reward these efforts.

2. School Systems. Obama will work with schools to create more healthful environments for children. He will work to get junk food out of vending machines in schools and improve nutritional content of lunches through financial incentives, increase grant support for physical education, expand federal reimbursement for school-based health services, and provide grants for health educational programs for students.

3. Workforce. Obama will expand funding - including loan repayment, adequate reimbursement, grants for training curricula, and infrastructure support to improve working conditions - to ensure a strong workforce that will champion prevention and public health activities.

4. Individuals and Families. The way Americans live, eat, work, and play have real implications for their health and wellness. The Obama health plan will require coverage of essential clinical preventive services such as cancer screenings and smoking cessation programs in all federally supported health plans including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and the new public plan. In addition, Obama will increase funding to expand community based preventive interventions to help Americans make better choices that can help ward off chronic and preventable diseases and improve their health.

5. Federal, State and Local Governments. . The federal government and state and local governments play critical roles in disease prevention and health promotion activities. First, working together, governments at all levels should develop a national and regional strategy for public health that includes funding mechanisms for implementation. Second, the field of public health would benefit from greater research to optimize organization of the 3,000 health departments in this nation, collaborative arrangements between levels of government and its private partners, performance and accountability indicators, integrated and interoperable communication networks, and disaster preparedness and response. Third, the government must invest in workforce recruitment as well as modernizing our physical structures. And finally, the government must examine its own policies, including agricultural, educational, environmental and health policies, to assess and improve their effect on public health in this nation.

As president, Barack Obama will prioritize these activities to strengthen prevention and public health, as well as fight for the following initiatives:

Advance the Biomedical Research Field: As a result of biomedical research the prevention, early detection and treatment of diseases such as cancer and heart disease is better today than any other time in history. Barack Obama has consistently supported funding for the national institutes of health and the national science foundation. Obama strongly supports investments in biomedical research, as well as medical education and training in health-related fields, because it provides the foundation for new therapies and diagnostics. Obama has been a champion of research in cancer, mental health, health disparities, global health, women and children's health, and veterans' health. As president, Obama will strengthen funding for biomedical research, and better improve the efficiency of that research by improving coordination both within government and across government/private/non-profit partnerships. An Obama administration will ensure that we translate scientific progress into improved approaches to disease prevention, early detection and therapy that is available for all Americans.
Fight AIDS Worldwide. There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS. As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in the fight against AIDS. Obama believes in working across party lines to combat this epidemic and recently joined Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle.
Support Americans with Disabilities: As a former civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama knows firsthand the importance of strong protections for minority communities in our society. Obama is committed to strengthening and better enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) so that future generations of Americans with disabilities have equal rights and opportunities. Obama believes we must restore the original legislative intent of the ADA in the wake of court decisions that have restricted the interpretation of this landmark legislation.

Barack Obama is also committed to ensuring that disabled Americans receive Medicaid and Medicare benefits in a low-cost, effective and timely manner. Recognizing that many individuals with disabilities rely on Medicare, Obama worked with Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) to urge the department of health and human services to provide clear and reliable information on the Medicare prescription drug benefit and to ensure that the Medicare recipients were protected from fraudulent claims by marketers and drug plan agents.
Improve Mental Health Care. Mental illness affects approximately one in five American families. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that untreated mental illnesses cost the U.S. more than $100 billion per year. As president, Obama will support mental health parity so that coverage for serious mental illnesses are provided on the same terms and conditions as other illnesses and diseases.
Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning. More than 430,000 American children have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death. As president, Obama will protect children from lead poisoning by requiring that child care facilities be lead-safe within five years.
Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution. More than five million women of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood, and approximately 630,000 newborns are born at risk every year. Barack Obama has a plan to significantly reduce the amount of mercury that is deposited in oceans, lakes, and rivers, which in turn would reduce the amount of mercury in fish.
Support Americans with Autism. More than one million Americans have autism, a complex neurobiological condition that has a range of impacts on thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. As diagnostic criteria broaden and awareness increases, more cases of autism have been recognized across the country. Barack Obama believes that we can do more to help autistic Americans and their families understand and live with autism. He has been a strong supporter of more than $1 billion in federal funding for autism research on the root causes and treatments, and he believes that we should increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to truly ensure that no child is left behind.

More than anything, autism remains a profound mystery with a broad spectrum of effects on autistic individuals, their families, loved ones, the community, and education and health care systems. Obama believes that the government and our communities should work together to provide a helping hand to autistic individuals and their families.

Increase Transparency in the Health Care Industry

"if we really want a health care system that works for the American people, we need to make it more transparent by putting it back in the hands of the American people. . . . No decisions are more important than the ones we make about our health. And you should have all the information you need to ensure that the decisions you make are the right ones."

- Barack Obama, speech in Storm Lake, Iowa, 9/5/2007

Health care quality and costs vary tremendously among hospitals and providers, but patients have limited access to this information. American health care consumers are not armed with the cost and quality information they need to make good decisions about their care. Obama believes all Americans should have access to information that provides them with what works and what does not work in our health care system. As President, Obama will work to implement important proposals that empower individuals, including:

Providing easy-to-understand comparisons of the medicare prescription drug plans. Since the creation of the medicare prescription drug benefit, seniors have been deluged with massive amounts of information about the various plans, but have received little guidance about which plans actually suit their unique needs. As a result, a significant number of seniors are enrolled in plans that are actually more expensive for them than other available medicare prescription drug plans. Obama will ensure seniors are provided with information about the best prescription drug plans for them every year.
Requiring full transparency about quality and costs. Under Obama's health care plan, hospitals and providers will be required to collect and publicly report measures of health care costs and quality, including data on preventable medical errors, nurse-staffing ratios, infections acquired while patients are in a hospital, disparities in care, and costs. Health plans will also be required to disclose the percentage of premiums that actually goes to paying for patient care as opposed to administrative costs.
Promoting patient safety through full disclosure. Obama will require providers to report preventable medical errors, and support hospital and physician practice improvement to prevent future occurrences.
Figuring out what works. The United States provides some of the most sophisticated medical care in the world, but there is no good system in place to figure out which treatments and procedures work the best. As president, Obama will establish an independent institute dedicated to guiding research into what drugs, devices and procedures work the best. This will help patients and their doctors make the best decisions for their health and well-being.

Barack Obama Wants to Hear Your Ideas on Health Care

Share your voice on these issues by using our MyPolicy tools. With the help of your insight, Barack will further develop his health care plan to take into account our common experiences and build the political momentum to enact real reform.

This blog is devoted to fostering an open, meaningful discussion of health care policy issues and your health care stories. It is provided to help you collaborate with others across the nation to define and refine the best ideas for the future of health care policy. Your ideas will help shape the debate and our vision.

This discussion represents YOUR views and is not an expression of the positions of Barack Obama or the campaign. All are welcome to participate. We ask only that participants show consideration and respect for each other.

Across our country, everyday people like you have experiences and ideas that haven't previously been heard. This is your chance to speak your mind and help set the policies that will guide this campaign and change the country. Step 1: Present Your Ideas Submit your idea
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On: Foreign Policy The Iraq War Ethics Energy Veterans Education Healthcare Immigration Security Family Elections Faith Go Step 2: Collaborate & DebateIn the coming months we will be helping you collaborate with others across the nation to define and refine the best ideas and incorporate them into our vision for the future. We'll make it possible for other people to weigh your ideas and give their own thoughts on the issues. Paid for by Obama for America

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Change We Can Believe In

EsquireUK — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:31:28 EST

In Remarks at DNC Fall Meeting, Obama Pledges to Deliver Change We Can Believe InWashington, DC | November 30, 2007

Remarks As Prepared for Delivery Provided Below

Washington, DC -- In remarks at the Democratic National Committee's annual fall meeting, Barack Obama www.barackobama.com today pledged to bring an end to the bitter partisanship that has divided the country and unite Americans behind a sense of common purpose. Rather than re-fight the partisan battles of the 1990s, Obama said he would build a new majority focused not just on winning, but on governing, and deliver change that is more than just a slogan - change we can believe in.

As Prepared for Delivery:
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Democratic National Committee Fall Meeting
Friday, November 30th, 2007
Washington, DC

Less than a year from now, you will go into the voting booth and you will select the President of the United States of America.

Now, here's the good news - the name George W. Bush will not be on the ballot. The name of my cousin Dick Cheney will not be on the ballot. We've been trying to hide that for a long time. Everybody has a black sheep in the family. The era of Scooter Libby justice, and Brownie incompetence, and Karl Rove politics will finally be over.

But the question you're going to have to ask yourself when you vote this year and next is this:

"What's next for America?"

We are in a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. The planet is in peril. The dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it's slowly slipping away. We are working harder for less. We've never paid more for health care or for college. It's harder to save and it's harder to retire. And most of all we've lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about it.

We were promised compassionate conservatism and all we got was Katrina and wiretaps.

We were promised a uniter, and we got a President who could not even lead the half of the country that voted for him.

We were promised a more ethical and more efficient Washington, and instead we have a town that is more corrupt and more wasteful than it was before. And the only mission that was ever accomplished is to use fear and falsehood to take this country to a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged.

It is because of these failures that America is listening, intently, to what we say here today - not just Democrats, but Republicans and Independents who've lost trust in their government, but want to believe again.

And it is because of these failures that we not only have a moment of great challenge, but also a moment of great opportunity. We have a chance to bring the country together in a new majority - to finally tackle problems that George Bush made far worse, but that had festered long before George Bush ever took office - problems that we've talked about year after year after year.

And that is why the same old Washington textbook campaigns just won't do in this election. An electoral strategy that starts out leaving half the country behind just won't do. Telling the American people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the American people what they need to hear just won't do. Triangulating and poll-driven positions because we're worried about what Mitt or Rudy might say about us just won't do. If we are really serious about wining this election Democrats, we can't live in fear of losing it.

This party - the party of Jefferson and Jackson; of Roosevelt and Kennedy - has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose. And I run for the Presidency of the United States of America because that's the party America needs us to be right now. A party that doesn't just offer change as a slogan, but real, meaningful change - change that America can believe in.

That's why I'm in this race. I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists - and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am President.

I'm in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard working Americans who deserve it. And I won't raise the minimum wage every ten years -I will raise it to keep pace so that workers don't' fall behind.

That is why I am in it. I'm in this race because I want to stop talking about the outrage of 47 million Americans without health care and start actually doing something about it. I expanded health care in Illinois by bringing Democrats and Republicans together. By taking on the insurance industry. And I have put forth a universal health care plan that will do more to cut the cost of health care than any other proposal in this race. Here's the truth - if you can't afford health insurance right now, you will when I'm President. Anyone who tells you otherwise is more interested in scoring points than solving problems. And I'm in it because we've had enough of that.

I run for president to make sure that every American child has the best education that we have to offer- from the day they are born to the day they graduate from college. And I won't just talk about how great teachers are - as President I will reward them for their greatness - by raising salaries and giving them more support. That's why I'm in this race.

I am running for President because I am sick and tired of Democrats thinking that the only way to look tough on national security is by talking, and acting, and voting like George Bush Republicans.

When I am this party's nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq; or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; or that I supported Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don't like. And he will not be able to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok for America to torture - because it is never ok. That's why I am in it.

As President, I will end the war in Iraq. We will have our troops home in sixteen months. I will close Guantanamo. I will restore habeas corpus. I will finish the fight against Al Qaeda. And I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century - nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. And I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, "You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now."

America, our moment is now.

Our moment is now.

I don't want to spend 2008 re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s. That's exactly what Mitt and Rudy want. That's they're only hope of winning because they know that if this election is about health care, or ending this war, or making college affordable, then they will lose. They are counting on the same bitter partisanship and the same electoral map we've had for far too long.

I believe I can transform that map. In my Senate race I won some of the reddest, most Republican counties in Illinois. In 2006, when House and Senate candidates in states like Missouri, and Nebraska, and Tennessee, and Virginia, and Indiana needed someone to come campaign for them, I was the one they called. And I'm attracting more Independents and Republicans to our cause than anyone else in this campaign.

It's because I believe we can build that new majority - not just to win, but to govern - to actually get something done. I don't want to pit Red America against Blue America, I want to be President of the United States of America. And that won't just be a Democratic victory; that will be an American victory.

And that is a victory America needs right now.

I am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions or because I believe it's somehow owed to me. I never expected to be here, I always knew this journey was improbable. I've never been on a journey that wasn't.

I am running in this race because of what Dr. King called "the fierce urgency of now." Because I believe that there's such a thing as being too late. And that hour is almost upon us.

I don't want to wake up four years from now and find out that millions of Americans still lack health care because we couldn't take on the insurance industry.

I don't want to see that the oceans have risen a few more inches. The planet has reached a point of no return because we couldn't find a way to stop buying oil from dictators.

I don't want to see more American lives put at risk because no one had the judgment or the courage to stand up against a misguided war before we sent our troops into fight.

I don't want to see homeless veterans on the streets. I don't want to send another generation of American children to failing schools. I don't want that future for my daughters. I don't want that future for your sons. I do not want that future for America.

I'm in this race for the same reason that I fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of Chicago; for the same reason I fought for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason that I fought for Illinois families for over a decade.

Because I will never forget that the only reason that I'm standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.

That's why I'm running, Democrats - to give our children and grandchildren the same chances somebody gave me.

That's why I'm running - to keep the American Dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for equality.

That's why I'm asking you to stand with me, that's why I'm asking you to vote for me, that's why I am asking you to stop settling for what the cynics say we have to accept. In this election - in this moment - let us reach for what we know is possible. A nation healed. A world repaired. An America that believes again. Thank you very much everybody.

Oprah To Campaign For Presidential Candidate Barack Obama

EsquireUK — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:45:26 EST

Oprah to campaign for Obama Rate the Story SMS NDTV For latest headlines SMS NEWS to 56388 (in India) 6388 (in UAE), to 63880(in UK)
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ForumsUser NamePasswordNew User ? Sign In Sarah JacobThursday, November 29, 2007 (New York)When three years ago, Oprah Winfrey chose Tolstoy's Anna Karenina as the pick of the month in her book club, the epic shot to the top of America's bestseller list.

Now, presidential hopeful Barack Obama www.barackobama.com is hoping Oprah's magic touch will work for him too.

The Obama campaign has announced that the talk-show host and media icon will campaign with the presidential hopeful in the all important primary elections in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina next month.

But while increasing the sales of a book might be easy, the verdict is not out on whether Oprah's magic touch extends to politics. ''It is not going to affect my vote. I love Oprah but it is not going to affect my vote,'' says a resident of the Lower East Side in Manhattan. However, other New Yorkers disagree.

According to a resident of Queens ''A lot of people listen to Oprah and they listen to her opinions so it is very possibly that she could sway women voters away from Hillary''.

The media mogul has twice topped Forbes's annual most powerful celebrity list. The Oprah Winfrey Show reaches almost 9 million Americans everyday and is syndicated to 135 foreign countries. Then there's O, her magazine, her website and her philanthropy that has made her one of the few persons in America who is recogonised by just one name.

In September, Oprah hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Obama, which raised about $3 million for the White House hopeful.

According to a poll by the Pew research centre taken shortly after, 69 per cent of respondents said they would not be influenced by Winfrey's endorsement of a political candidate but 60 per cent believed her support would help Senator Obama.

Much of Oprah's influence is with women viewers. Women voters are especially crucial in this presidential election, which for the first time has a woman candidate in the race for the White House.

According to Michelle Materre, a professor of Film and Media Studies at the New School in New York ''The gender issue is a big issue for Hillary Clinton. Having Oprah support a male is not going to look favorable for Hillary. People connect to Oprah because she has the ability to talk to you as if there is no body else in the room and that connection is going to be the difference in what she can state from the gender aspect than what Hillary Clinton can.''

When Oprah endorses people listen. But whether she can do for Obama what she did for Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is still unclear. One thing is for certain that if one is running for President in America

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: The Road To The White House...Hope Still Holds Sway

EsquireUK — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:27:28 EST

Obama Finds His MomentThursday, Nov. 29, 2007 By KAREN TUMULTY Download | Subscribe at iTunesU.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting in Muscatine, Iowa.Callie Shell / Aurora for TIMEBarack Obama's Iowa head-quarters near the State Capitol in downtown Des Moines has the unmistakable décor of an insurgent operation: thinning, mildewed carpet; litter from sign-painting parties; recycling boxes full of canvassing tally sheets and empty Miller Lite cartons. But the deepening clutter hasn't covered up all the traces of what the building used to be: a hockey rink, which could hardly be a more fitting metaphor for a political contest that is suddenly getting a lot rougher. The old Dr Pepper scoreboard is still on the wall, but the largely twentysomething crew at Obama Central has another way of measuring the team's progress. Staffers ring a silver bellhop bell whenever an organizer signs up a new precinct captain who has agreed to stand up and argue the candidate's case before friends and neighbors at one of the 1,784 caucuses that will be held across Iowa on Jan. 3. Since Obama's speech at the Iowa Democratic Party's Nov. 10 Jefferson-Jackson dinner — his most acclaimed performance since the 2004 National Convention address that made him a celebrity — the bell has dinged more than 233 times. Related ArticlesQ
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As the contest for the Democratic nomination moves into the last weeks of exhibition season, it appears that Obama is turning this into a race. "This summer he seemed to still be finding himself," says John Norris, an Obama adviser who ran John Kerry's Iowa operation in 2004. "But he turned the corner and realized, 'This is going to work out if I make it work out.'"
For months — which can be several life-cycles on the campaign trail — it looked as if that turning point might not happen. Despite the record amounts of money he had raised, the organization he had built and the crowds he had drawn, the freshman Senator from Illinois with a message of conciliation and righteousness had seemed for most of the year to be unable — unwilling, actually — to put much of a dent in Hillary Clinton's trajectory of preordination and inevitability. He appeared destined for the same fate that had met a long line of Democratic insurgents — Gary Hart, Paul Tsongas, Bill Bradley and Howard Dean among them — whose promises of a new kind of politics had briefly enjoyed a vogue, only to be crushed into dust by a front runner who was using the standard playbook.
Some of the candidate's supporters and advisers found his genteel approach to campaigning admirable — and maddening. "There was a panic, particularly in the campaign fund-raising machinery, this summer," recalls Bill Daley, a top Obama adviser and presidential-campaign veteran who tried to tamp down the worriers. "They said, 'He's gotta punch harder; he's gotta engage.'"
The campaign had not lived up to the promise of Obama's February announcement on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., a black man standing in front of the building where Lincoln had delivered his famous "House Divided" speech against slavery in 1858 and decrying "the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics." Crowds turned out by the thousands to hear him almost everywhere he went, but they often left feeling oddly underwhelmed.
Like a concert audience that wants to hear only the greatest hits, they didn't know what to make of Obama's unfamiliar material as he honed his message and started spelling out his policies. The candidate was confused as well. "The expectations," he tells TIME, "are elevated to this odd level. Even when we do the spectacular, people discount it. If we have a crowd of 23,000 people in a red state in the spring, people sort of say, 'Ho hum.' We've raised more money from small donors than all the other Democratic candidates combined, and from a standing start, we are competing with the dominant political organization in American politics that was built over the course of two decades by a two-term ex-President. That's pretty good."
But it wasn't good enough. Nowhere had Obama, with his almost cantankerous disdain for sound bites, been so frustrated as in the unending series of candidate debates that have punctuated the campaign season. In the first outing, he stumbled over a question about how he would react to a terrorist attack, sounding more like a candidate to head the volunteer fire department as he focused on disaster preparedness. Clinton, seeing her opening, spoke as a Commander in Chief: "I think a President must move as swiftly as is prudent to retaliate."
On the rare occasions when Obama's campaign decided to engage the Clinton campaign, such as when it was caught leaking opposition research done against Hillary to the media, it was deftly outmaneuvered. Her spokespeople were quick to characterize any engagement as a violation of Obama's pledge to practice a new kind of politics. In a series of meetings in Des Moines over the course of two days in early October, Obama's dismayed fund raisers made another run at him and his strategists, begging Obama to come down off his mountaintop and take her on. That's the old kind of politics, he told them. "That's not who I am."
Daniel Nasaw in Des Moines, Iowa
Tuesday November 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Barack Obama hugs his wife, Michelle, before he speaks at a rally prior to the Jefferson Jackson dinner in Des Moines, Iowa. Photograph: Yana Paskova/Getty

According to the experts, Barack Obama's www.barackobama.com current resurgence in the polls is down to his recent willingness to attack Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

On cable television for example, an oft-repeated line from Obama's speech at last Saturday's Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Iowa is: "I am sick and tired of Democrats thinking that the only way to look tough on national security is by talking and acting and voting like George Bush Republicans."

Certainly, the Illinois senator has stepped up his criticisms of Clinton, and the Beltway audience has taken note. But interviews with more than 30 committed and undecided Iowa voters last week suggest that his criticisms are less important outside the Beltway than his uplifting rhetoric and personal magnetism. It is this, rather than his renewed aggression, that vaulted him to national prominence in 2004.

Indeed, some voters who were interviewed as Obama swung through the eastern portions of Iowa last week even said they were glad that he was not being as negative toward Clinton as John Edwards was.

"It's an advantage that he doesn't have the ferocious attack mentality," said Jay Mattsson, a Fairfield, Iowa casting director and Obama precinct captain. "Voters, especially in Iowa, don't care for that."

Viewed as a whole, the interviews suggested that while Obama's message of unity and freshness is often mocked in Washington as naive, it's still the central factor in his appeal to voters. Instead of longing for Obama to bare his knuckles and fight, Iowa voters last week spoke of an honesty they saw in him that they didn't see in other candidates.

That's a quality that Clinton's formidable campaign machine will be hard-pressed to counter. Her strategists can pillory what they say is the 46-year-old senator's naiveté and lack of experience, but they will find that argument plays better in Washington than around the country, where those who've seen Obama speak recognise his charisma and air of authenticity.

"He's one of the few that sounds like he's telling the truth," said Jack Cavenee, a 75-year-old former Fairfield, Iowa, fire chief, before a campaign rally on Thursday. "He seems sincere."

The rallies last week typically began with a campaign aide warming up the crowd, discussing Obama's biography or the complicated caucus process. The aides - fresh-faced, bouncy twenty and thirtysomethings - at times came across as patronising (a young woman in Chariton praised the audience's intelligence when they correctly answered trivia questions on Obama's background, for example).

When the meeting halls had filled to capacity, Obama would take the stage to often-raucous cheers. Dressed casually in dark slacks and an open shirt - never wearing a tie - Obama would grab the microphone and deliver a speech that included a blend of stand-up comedy, a plea for support and gentle jabs at Clinton. (Typically, he'll describe a "disagreement" with the New York senator, for example on her Senate vote for a nonbinding resolution calling for economic sanctions against Iran.)

Whether addressing elderly rural voters in a manure-scented barn in Fort Madison, Iowa, or a concert hall full of screaming college students in Des Moines, Obama's jokes hit the spot day after day, and his energy at the microphone never seems to languish.

Obama's stump message boils down to this: under the Bush administration, federal policy has come under the control of lobbyists, and pharmaceutical and energy companies, and the best presidential candidates can stand up to those interests for the little guy. With fewer than three years in Washington, Obama says he isn't beholden to the status quo.

"We have a special interest-driven Washington, not an American people-driven Washington," he declared in a typical refrain last week. "I am running for president of the United States to change that."

Obama pledges to undo Bush policies he says have damaged the nation's world standing, and rails against a Washington establishment that has long talked about energy independence and healthcare reform without making any changes.

He criticises administration "sabre rattling" on Iran, pledges to "restore habeas corpus" and says he'll close the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "We will not torture in an Obama administration," he says. Pleading guilty to the charge that he's a "hope-monger," Obama ridicules the criticism advanced by the Clinton campaign that he's inexperienced.

"They say, oh yeah, Obama, he can talk good, he's done some good things, but he hasn't been in Washington long enough. They want me to stew in Washington a little longer so they can boil the hope out of me," he says to laughter. "Then I'll be ready."

The stump speech typically lasted about 25 minutes, after which the senator would take 15 - 20 minutes of questions from the audience. Audience members generally asked about immigration and other issues he didn't touch on in the speech. (Obama favours extending citizenship to otherwise law-abiding illegal aliens who've learned English, paid a fine and gone to the back of the line.

Obama finishes by leading the audience in his signature cheer: "Fired Up! Ready to go!" He then spends several minutes shaking hands, posing for pictures and talking with voters on the way out of the hall. Within about an hour of his entrance, he's back on the campaign bus.

In staging the events, the campaign seems to have taken a page from the old Michael Deaver media playbook: on a chilly evening at the Port of Burlington, for instance, the campaign opened enormous garage doors behind the speaking platform so the Mississippi River would appear unobstructed behind Obama.

Later that night, in a barn at the rodeo fairgrounds in Fort Madison, Obama paced, microphone in hand, before artfully piled bales of hay and dry corn stalks. The rally-goers typically file out with serious expressions, but in interviews afterwards, they admit to being fired-up.

After the last event of a long day, where Obama addressed several hundred voters at a roller-skating rink in Knoxville, Iowa, Pat Bennett, a 62-year-old hospital worker from Pleasantville, said that Obama had impressed her at a July event, but she nevertheless entered the skating rink undecided.

"He just relates a lot to what I care about," Bennett said after the event. Pressed to explain, she contrasted him with Edwards, whom she said "just didn't have it like [Obama] does".

Voters generally weren't able to say what it was about Obama they find appealing. "It's one of those gut feelings that you have on a person," said Chad Hamilton, a 35-year-old Iowa national guardsman and Afghanistan veteran, after a rally in Chariton last week. "It just sounds, to me, like he's telling the truth."

Terri Jones, whose 23-year-old son Jason Cooper killed himself four months after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, said: "You can just tell he is genuinely caring about our soldiers and the care they need when they get home." But how, exactly, can she tell?"

"From the way I was raised," was the best the 43-year-old T-shirt printer from Russell, Iowa, could offer. "You can't really put your finger on it, but he's got it."

Leading up to the Democratic debate in Philadelphia on October 30, Washington conventional wisdom held that Obama had to go on the offensive against Clinton. NBC's Chris Matthews, for example, declared Obama foolish for refusing to "kneecap" her. The debate moderators that night offered Obama two quick opportunities, but he declined to strike hard, instead leaving Edwards to do so.

But in Iowa last week, many voters applauded Obama for refusing to engage in negative campaigning, saying that was part of his appeal. "He's not an attack dog, but he's bold," said Susan Conroy, a 60-year-old retired teacher from Sigourney, Iowa. "You want the fire in the belly. He puts it in mine."

It's unsurprising Obama's rhetorical skill and stage presence rouses supporters. That's what first brought him national attention in 2004, when he gave the keynote address to the Democratic national convention as a candidate for the US Senate in Illinois. Then a state senator, he called for a bridging of the gap between liberal and conservative America - a point he repeats now on the campaign trail.

But after a series of dreary debate performances over the summer, Obama had appeared to lose a lot of the momentum that drove the formal announcement of his candidacy in February. Many observers began to wonder if the magnetism that was on such ample display in that 2004 speech had evaporated.

"Having come onto the scene nationally in that convention, people maybe think that every time I speak I'm going to make them cry," he told reporters in Des Moines last week, deflecting suggestions he'd lost some of his early shine. "But that's not the nature of an ongoing campaign. We've got different forums. If I'm in a room with 20 people, I'm not going to be delivering some stem-winder."

It may be that Obama's brand of charisma doesn't come across well in the soundbite-friendly, 30-second ripostes that televised debates demand. In Iowa last week, in a hall packed with hundreds of friendly Democrats - and a few Republicans - he showed that he can rouse passion in person.

Eric Hanks, a 41-year-old chiropractor from Burlington, Iowa, summed up the appeal in a manner the Obama camp would love. After hearing Obama debate in his home town, Hanks said: "They say that in antiquity there were two kinds of speakers: one who when he spoke you clapped, the other when he spoke you were ready to march.

"When he speaks, I'm ready to march."

"With good judgment, little else matters. Without it, nothing else matters," write Warren Bennis and Noel Tichy, distinguished professors of business at the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan, in today's Wall Street Journal (subscribers only). Here are some excerpts from their article, "Judgment Trumps Experience":

...First, let us cite Ted Sorenson, one of John F. Kennedy's closest advisers and speechwriters. When asked about his former boss's judgment, Mr. Sorenson responded, "I cannot emphasize how important that elusive quality is; far more important than organization, structure, procedures and machinery. These are all important, yes, but nothing compared to judgment."
After a five-year study of leadership covering virtually all sectors of American life, we came to the inescapable conclusion that judgment regularly trumps experience. Our central finding is that judgment is the core, the nucleus of exemplary leadership. With good judgment, little else matters. Without it, nothing else matters.
...Leadership is, at its marrow, the chronicle of judgment calls. These will inevitably write the leader's legacy...
...Wisely processed experience, reflection, valid sources of timely information, an openness to the unbidden and character are critical components of judgment as well. As David McCullough reminds us over and over again, "Character counts in the presidency more than any other single quality."
...judgment, fed by solid character, should determine the choice of our next president.

Dear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter!

You should know that you are supporting the strongest U.S. Presidential General Election candidate. While the stakes are so clear, think about how important a Presidential Candidate Barack Obama victory in 2008 is to you, and help us get there. We'll make them feel the pain for this at the ballot box, but we have work to do.

While the Republican Party is coming apart, our Party is investing in infrastructure and grassroots development. We're not going to miss a single chance to cement a strong position and reach areas that Democrats ignored for decades.

I am confident that our Countdown To Change volunteers and grassroot supporters across America will give Presidential Candidate Barack Obama`s organizers on the ground the tools they need to target key areas and get out the vote on Election Day.

Come Election Day, we cannot leave anything out there on the field. Step up and do your part by donating $15, $25, $50 or more:

contribute today to: www.barackobama.com

We're building an amazing and effective movement, and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama needs your help. Countdown To Change is reaching more and more Americans who are ready to fight -- and vote -- for something better.

Please do what you can to help Presidential Candidate Barack Obama today. Remember, you are supporting the strongest U.S. Presidential General Election candidate www.barackobama.com

Thank you very much!

Raphael Holoman-Franklin
Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Supporter

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Mrs. Clinton Voted For The Iraq War

EsquireUK — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:17:03 EST

Bill's gaffe

Published: November 29 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 29 2007 02:00

Bill Clinton's gifts as a politician are hard to deny. He is a tireless campaigner who can deliver a rousing speech, and he is a master political manoeuvrer.

So it is strange to see him making a political blunder that could cause headaches for his wife, Hillary, who faces a tight contest in the forthcoming Iowa caucus, which marks the start of the 2008 US presidential nomination process.

Clinton, campaigning for his wife in Iowa on Tuesday, commented that he opposed the war in Iraq "from the beginning". There does not appear to be anything wrong with this factually. But the comment is sure to reopen discussions about Mrs Clinton's vote in 2002 to authorise military action on Iraq. Since then, Mrs Clinton has said that President George W. Bush lied in making the case for the war.

But her opponents are likely to seize on the comment as proof that the Clintons are trying to blur impressions of Mrs Clinton's Iraq vote. For evidence of how hard it can be to explain "I voted for the Iraq war before I opposed it", just ask John Kerry.

John Edwards, who is running hard against Mrs Clinton in Iowa as candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, may not be able to make too much out of this, since he voted to authorise the Iraq strikes too. (He later said the vote was a mistake.)

But Barack Obama www.barackobama.com should be able to take it and run. Obama has absorbed plenty of criticism from Mrs Clinton on his lack of foreign policy experience. Obama was not serving in the US Senate at the time of the Iraq vote, but he was vocal in his opposition to the war at the time.

Having Bill Clinton as a political adviser is certainly an asset. But with only five weeks to go until the Iowa caucus, he may need to shape up his game. He was known as "the Comeback Kid", but it is unlikely that his wife relishes the idea of having to run from behind.

observer@ft.com

Obama outlines diplomatic path

The Concord Monitor | November 28, 2007

By SHIRA SCHOENBERG

To prosper in a global community, the United States needs economic and diplomatic expertise, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told voters yesterday in Portsmouth.

In a three-hour forum on foreign policy, the Illinois senator and his top foreign policy advisers stressed diplomacy and economics, rather than military reliance, and criticized the Republican party for doing otherwise.

"We know what we're going to get from the Republican nominee - more Bush-Cheney foreign policy," Obama said. "More support for open-ended war in Iraq. More saber-rattling toward Iran. More refusing to talk to countries we don't like. More exceptions for torture."

Read the full article from The Concord Monitor

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: A Global Leader With New Diplomatic Approaches

EsquireUK — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:14:59 EST

Obama Touts New Diplomatic Approaches

Tuesday November 27, 2007 11:46 PM

By CHARLES BABINGTON

Associated Press Writer

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama www.barackobama.com , confronting claims that he's light on foreign policy, surrounded himself Tuesday with heavyweights who said his differences with rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and others are just what the country needs: A new leader willing to talk with America's enemies and become a better friend to struggling nations.

Obama, closing the three-hour policy forum, said a president should be unafraid to meet with tyrants, and must restore the nation's moral authority by ending torture, closing Guantanamo Bay's military prison and helping fight global poverty and AIDS.

``Our ability to lead has been set back by our bluster and our refusal to talk to nations we don't like,'' the Illinois senator said. ``Our security and standing have suffered because of the misguided war in Iraq that should have never been authorized.''

Obama, who was elected to the Senate in 2004, never mentioned Clinton, a New York senator and the Democratic front-runner in national polls. But Obama underscored some of his main criticisms of her, recalling how he opposed from the outset a war that she voted to authorize and repeatedly calling for greater openness in setting policy.

In perhaps another veiled reference to Clinton's claims of deep experience in Washington, Obama said of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: ``Their experience has not led to good judgment.''

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, another top Democratic contender, also voted in 2002 to authorize the Iraq war.

For months, Obama has portrayed himself as more willing than Clinton to veer sharply from Bush administration policies on many fronts. Foreign affairs may pose his biggest challenge, however, as the New York senator and former first lady has called him naive and irresponsible.

Obama has fired back, saying Clinton is too secretive and too wedded to existing or familiar ways of handling domestic and diplomatic matters. In this seaport town Tuesday, he was embraced by several foreign policy advisers, including three appointees from President Bill Clinton's administration: former national security adviser Tony Lake, former Navy secretary Richard Danzig and former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice.

``I cannot understand why he is attacked for a lack of experience,'' Lake told an audience of 150 before Obama arrived after touring a nearby Naval facility. Obama is older than Bill Clinton was when inaugurated, Lake said, and probably has more foreign policy experience than Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush had when they took office.

``His life experiences of living abroad when he was young, traveling by bus in Kenya,'' Lake said, ``have given him a real grasp of the troubles around the world.'' Obama opposed the Iraq war ``for the right reasons, early on,'' when many other Democrats supported it, Lake said.

Campaigning in Iowa for his wife on Tuesday, Bill Clinton cast her as an experienced foreign policy hand, saying she had traveled abroad 82 times as first lady and had made history with a women's rights speech in China.

Sen. Clinton has mocked Obama for citing his childhood stints in Indonesia and elsewhere as a key element of his foreign policy experience. She also criticized his willingness to meet with leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea during his first year in office, saying a president must avoid being ``used for propaganda purposes.''

Tuesday's event was the latest in a series of speeches and articles in which Obama has rolled out his foreign policy proposals. He said he would bring U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by March 2008, and he cited his Senate resolution warning the Bush administration that Congress has not sanctioned military action against Iran.

Obama said he would give Iran ``a clear choice: stop their disturbing behavior and there will be political and economic incentives; continue doing what they're doing, and we will ratchet up the pressure.'' Other nations will support the effort, he said, ``if we go the extra mile diplomatically.''

Obama said the United States must kill or capture ``hard-core jihadists,'' but it should approach the world in general with more hope than fear.

Americans' fate is intricately linked to that of people in Asia, Africa, Russia and elsewhere, he said. ``Increasingly, their security and well-being and prosperity will help shape our security and well-being and prosperity,'' he said.

Obama said the United States must limit greenhouse gases, reduce its dependence on oil and help nations such as India and China develop economically without doing excessive environmental damage.

Obama outlines diplomatic path

The Concord Monitor | November 28, 2007

By SHIRA SCHOENBERG

To prosper in a global community, the United States needs economic and diplomatic expertise, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told voters yesterday in Portsmouth.

Read the full article from The Concord Monitor

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Winning Iowa...Yes We Can!

EsquireUK — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:37:37 EST

Clinton and Obama switch roles in IowaPolitico | November 26, 2007

By Mike Allen and Carrie Budoff Brown

In a reversal of fortune, Sen. Barack Obama www.barackobama.com (D-Ill.) is barnstorming Iowa with a front-runner's swagger while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) scrambles like an underdog.

In ways big and small over the weekend, the two campaigns exuded a sense of switched identities - a dynamic driven by poll-driven perceptions that Clinton's sense of inevitability is slipping and Obama is riding a bit of a wave amid the Midwestern seas of grain.

Read the full article from Politico

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama...Winning Iowa...Winning U.S. Presidential Election

EsquireUK — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:15:47 EST

Obama the comeback kid learns to talk tough

Clinton now has a fight on her hands as her rival's gloves-off relaunch puts him ahead in Iowa

Paul Harris in New York
Sunday November 25, 2007
The Observer

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama www.barackobama.com once electrified America by preaching a 'politics of hope' that would eschew negative adverts and attract voters put off by the divisive rhetoric of the campaign trail.

Unfortunately Obama then found himself outsmarted and outfought by his chief rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, and languished in the polls. Now Obama has, in effect, relaunched his campaign, coming out fighting against Clinton and slamming her record on everything from Iraq and Iran to education and trade.

It is working. Obama's support in the key state of Iowa - which votes first in the Democratic presidential nomination race - has moved up strongly. Last week a poll for the Washington Post put Obama four points ahead of Clinton. The news rocked the political pundits who for months had assumed that Clinton's lead there was virtually unassailable.

America is waking up to the fact that Obama's shift in tactics, and some critical missteps by the Clinton campaign, have left the Democratic field open again. 'It is back to being Obama or Hillary. It has tightened up in the last few weeks,' said Professor Bruce Gronbeck, a political specialist at the University of Iowa.

The signs of Obama's new aggression were everywhere last week. He did not hesitate to attack Clinton and defended himself against criticism. In Austin, Texas, he slammed her for being too calculating and cynical to be President, echoing a feeling among many Democrats that the former First Lady has shifted her principles to secure the nomination. 'Triangulating and poll-testing positions ... just won't do,' he said, attacking Democrats '... who think and act and vote like George Bush Republicans'.

His aggressive new stance continued in Iowa and New Hampshire as he descended on those states for a bout of intensive campaigning to shore up his new poll lead. When Clinton criticised Obama for his perceived lack of foreign policy experience, he responded by pointing out Clinton's support for the Iraq invasion. 'I was wondering which world leader told her that we needed to invade Iraq, because that is the sort of conventional thinking that we're going to have to break,' he said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, which votes a few days after Iowa.

The outbreak of war in the Democratic race was kicked off by a bizarre newspaper column last weekend by conservative journalist Robert Novak. He alleged that Clinton's camp had gathered scandalous information on Obama but had decided not to use it. Obama responded furiously by comparing Clinton's tactics to the controversial 'Swift Boat' dirty tricks campaign that helped derail John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid by questioning his Vietnam record. 'She, of all people, having complained so often about the politics of personal destruction, should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics,' Obama said in a rare official statement that he personally signed. Clinton's camp quickly denied the allegations and accused Obama of naively falling for a Republican trick. He then unexpectedly spoke openly about his use of drugs as a teenager to a group of New Hampshire school pupils, admitting he had made some 'bad decisions'. Obama's hair-trigger response showed that his campaign is now trying to win the race by using naked aggression against rivals as much as simple persuasion of voters.

It has also revealed a deep unease within a previously confident Clinton camp. In recent weeks Clinton has boosted her staffing levels and opened new offices in Iowa, where previously she had looked a runaway winner. The Clinton campaign has also launched a new series of adverts explicitly addressing her rival Democrats' attacks. They have taken on the allegations that she is untrustworthy or unprincipled and portrayed her as the one candidate that the Republican party fears most.

One advert features a man whose child received medical care after Clinton personally intervened. The man says in the advert: 'Her opponents are saying that Hillary can't be trusted. I trusted this woman to save my son's life and she did.' Such tough tactics are now the norm in the race as voting looms six weeks away. However, they are potentially dangerous for Clinton, Obama and John Edwards, who has also adopted an aggressive approach in Iowa. Iowa's voters traditionally regard overly negative tactics as distasteful. In 2004 John Kerry's remarkable last-minute win against the then Democrat frontrunner, Howard Dean, was attributed in part to his refusal to be as negative as Dean. That means, some experts warn, that Obama's tactics may win him some short-term relief in the polls but could backfire when it comes down to casting ballots. 'Iowa is a civil state. Negative campaigning has never played that well here. But we are at a stage of the race where it is time to take some risks. Those risks are only going to get bigger as the election date gets nearer,' said Gronberg.

However, Obama unveiled a tactic last week that could prove just as effective against his rivals as any attack advert. Oprah Winfrey, the queen of US daytime television who is beloved by Americans of every political stripe, has agreed to go on the stump to support him. Her first campaign stop is scheduled to be Iowa.

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: Is JFK Heir...The Judgment To Lead

EsquireUK — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:40:28 EST