Chicanos/Latinos for Obama

VERY SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT ISSUE

Tony — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:53:38 EST

OK, THIS is week #2 and PAYPAL still has our money frozen after submitting more papers that the IRS asks, it appears they DO NOT want latinos to make or sell things when there is RAMPANT discrimination and racism on the job place, LOOK at me a Petroleum engineer graduated from #1 university in that area NEVER even recieved a call for an interview because like i said in one of those posts during campaign that RACISTS see latino names or blacks and send resume to garbage can, but nice to see that there is no more oil here but trash..I still remember the white american supervisor telling jokingly but seriously to my black venezuelan engineer coworker that they were not supposed to be engineers..look at that and that is decades ago, dI was there I never knew what discrimination was i had to look in the dictionaire I wish i could have known I would have never come to live is this scumbag country...

Now paypal even ABUSE the elderly and sick and disabled, the medicines I ordered saturday in walgreens I can not pay the $19...thanksgivings comes and I can not afford a turkey, my diabetes hope god controls it as i can not get the medicines that will be bought with my daughters accounts which is us as family, nobody, imagine a nigerian scammer now getting money from US elders through paypal and I know it as i see it on the net...this is PLAIN abuse to the Elderly, sick and disabled the freezing of just $239 by paypal while white gurus hold $1000s even tens of them and PAYPAL do not ask them anything sometimes they sell CRAP and when you ask your money paypal cancels the claim BECAUSE THE CRAP was delivered, they do not care if this happens, the selling of crap and my little guide ONLY 16 of them sold not even 1 refund asked..look at that.. isnt this mediocrity and inefficiency??..yeah the one observed in past scumbag government when big corporations run by trash scumbag republican CEOs collapsed...LOOK AT THAT..and ABUSE continues.....enough...

PAYPAL: America's Mediocrity, Abuse & Inefficiency At Its Best!

Tony — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:37:59 EST

PAYPAL ABUSE AND SUCKS

Well, I hope the team of president Obama sees this as they saw my good advice during campaign which was sometimes better than one provided by the paid managers who were paid millions, but this involves in some type of harrasment by this scumbag payment processor which has rules worst Russia's Kirilenko, they can freeze your money anytime with no regard for the liberties of the citizens of the USA..
But since today I saw Pres, Obama now talking abroad a lot about resolve..we as family want resolve with this dictatorship style internet company. It started with my account locked as i saw an unathorized charge by 189$ and i never buy online nothing more than $50, then a one-time VCC supposed to be charged one time only was charged twice, one VCCs charged $49.95 unauthorized and SCAMPAL never helped me, what I saw was them closing my internet account without my knowledge and permission, then my account went negative $148, there was my daughter with a paypal acconut to buy/sell on ebay and we used to use each others accounts for buying small things, then when she sold a laptop computer recently 1st time, PAYPAL wrote off my balance og -149$, without her approval and permission, this is abuse, harrasment and espionage to our family that started with the previous scumbag trash government, and they are still alive..THIS IS ESPIONAGE ILLEGAL on my family, they have been monitoring all the time, and still my account is not restored by the scumbag trashy managers, this is not CRAZY, why is the US Government quiet about me? they did not helped me when I called the US Embassy in Caracas upon returning to america, when family members were telling me to go to CUBA strangely instead of MIAMI, I did not tell this to the MARINE on 24/7 when i called the embassy fearing bad things, AND FOR HELP., but he refused to send a taxi to be paid by me and an embassy personel to make sure my plane left to MIAMI, 2 days later a high ranking transit police who is a lover of my cousin takes me strangely to restaurants, 1 day before i left for MIAMI, but I was ready checking everything until i saw a crystalline substance on the bottom of a beer after asking for an empty glass to check the beer as i ordered PIZZA for everybody thinking pizza is hard to put chemicals to all, this raised my pulse and blood pressure drinking only 2 small sips, i survived because I never said anything, I guess since I reported this on my blog here and they investigated in VENEZUELA and govermnent still are quiet that they may feel they have hurt somebody innocent bothering a poor family of venezuela, after that why can I not consider the US citizenship CRAP?, so after all this now PAYPAL is just targeting our household because we are latinos? I do not see other reason',...but some people know some scumbag trash ex-leader that has hurt innocent citizens also all over the world. Chavez put chemicals in food like Putin did to a now dead ex-KGB and I am a nobody i am no kgb an i survived look at that, not even knowing presidents know me, If I am a fight between those worlds, please leave me alone I am no polititian yet. But a personal physician has given me a prohibited dose of a medicine noticed by a hispanic pharmacy assistant, I want this bothering to stop or else, People notice when they know you and I have seen local policemen see me like they know me and I do not even know any of them, in past i used to see bad looks now they try to find conversations, i guess they know bad things happens when I get mad, and that is why I ask in this webiste as a very strong supporter of President OBAMA and I am sure he will agree..., and I do not want special treatment, I know millions helped the cause but millions are not put obstacles to try to make a living and prevent us from using our MONEY NOT SCAMPAL, let me explain, they said they saw risky transactions and I was using her account as mine was unfairly closed, and they have shown no responsibility to let me put claims to the unauthorized charges and I am gonna ask a lawyer about a litigation, as I was designing Internet marketing guides and sell them in popular Internet Marketing [IM] forums like Warrior Forum and Digital Point, Does it make sense to any body that selling for the 1st time... selling a guide that the highest agreed price was $17 and only I sold 16 of them NOT millions like some White gurus that sell millions and I can not even sell 16 guides like others... yet we are a target of paypal, what a pity I hope a lawyer sees this and contact me,.I can use her account is part of the family and we are not defrauding like nigerian mafia scammers that open paypal accounts just with a $5 VCC they buy in forums, and no bank account... but to US, us citizens we are asked even how do we dress, what kind of a country is this? The theory of racism and discrimination is there because our latino names and because unathorized things done by us happened on SCAMPAL, somebody should be fired....now i had a birthday a few days ago and could not even buy a bottle of wine or soda, and look at all they ask more than to any nigerian scammer or foreign national. look the pics and see the injustice and ABUSE...DEATH TO EBAY AND PAYPAL....

NOT EVEN AFTER PUTTING A NEW US BANK ACCOUNT!!

LOOK AT THE GARBAGE THEY ASK!

THIS IS OUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT IS NOT $2396.5.. NO; ONLY LESS THAN $240, WOW AND IM WHITE GURUS MAKING $1000s PER HOUR WHAT IS IT? A POOR LATINO FAMILY CAN NOT SELL 16 ITEMS IN A POPULAR IM FORUM LESS THAN $17 EACH..... GEEE WHAT IS THIS?? DOES THIS HAPPEN IN CUBA, RUSSIA OR CHINA, NORTH KOREA? JESUS, THIS COUNTRY APPEARS WORST FOR MINORITIES THAN THOSE COUNTRIES WITH COMPANIES LIKE PAYPAL?....AND THIS IS 1ST TIME, WHAT IS IT??.....WE CAN NOT MAKE A FEW HUNDREDS??.....AND THIS IS NOT THE WORST...LOOK BELOW, WE HAVE SERVICE CUT OFF FOR WATER AND ELECRICITY??
NO WONDER THERE ARE FORUMS LIKE PAYPALSUCKS.COM, PAYPALHORRORS.COM AND EBOOKS LIKE PAYPAL HELL

THIS IS OUR STANDARD BANK ACCOUNT "NEGATIVE"", NOTHING TO EAT AND PAYPAL MANAGERS EATING PROPERLY,.WISHING FOR THE DEATH OF PAYPAL!!

NOW SEE WE MIGHT GET WATER AND ELECTRICITY CUT OFF, THIS IS PLAIN ABUSE----TRUE PAYPAL SUCKS BIG!!
PLEASE STOP THIS ABUSE--ENOUGH FOR HARD TO FIND JOB FOR RAMPANT DISCRIMINATION EVEN REPORTED ON THE NEWS, HARDEST PEOPLE TO FIND JOBS ARE HISPANICS!!
WE DO NOT BOTHER DOGS OF OUR NEIGHBORS--PLEASE LEAVE US ALONE --STOP ABUSE! HELP US GET OUR MONEY AND TELL PAYPAL TO CLOSE ACCOUNT!!

NO PUBLIC OPTION = BILLION-DOLLAR TAXPAYER GIVEAWAY TO PRIVATE INSURERS

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:51:39 EDT

If we do not get a public option, we will pay billions of dollars in subsidies to private insurers only. 80% of people with no health insurance work, and rightfully, they will get subsidies.

Wrongfully, all that subsidy money paid with your taxes will go to private insurers, and pay for not only health care, but also for:

- Salaries of $20-$25 million for private insurance CEOs

- Perks like private jets, bonuses, and stock shares often worth over $100 million for those CEOs

No government employee gets millions of dollars a year, and perks and stock shares worth over $100 million.

. Your firefighter, police, highway patrol do not make $25 million a year.

. Your congressmen don’t make $25 million a year.

. Your President of the United States does not make $25 million/year.

. Your Medicare, VA and Medicaid bureaucrats do not make $25 million/year.

Mr, President, Please Listen or Do I speak chinese??

Tony — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:34:17 EDT

Well, I removed a prediction a few months ago, I complained about bothering and zoom 3 abnormal storms appear, THINGS could have been peaceful but I left it OPEN so like I said in other venue a week ago I CAN change things now at a moments time, I asked for TO LEAVE ME ALONE IN PEACE, in a blog using the famous Barry White song LET THE MUSIC PLAY, Im still not in peace so there are the 3 hurricanes, whatelse do I need to do that you sent a message saying it would be easy, let's summarize, I visited a police station almost 15 years ago and was almost ridiculed and sent to a mental clinic, then fearing CHAVEZ's persecution which is now true I visited LACKLAND AFB in san antonio TEXAS in April 2005, nothing no ACTION was ever done, now yesterday I call HERMANOS AL RESCATE-BROTHER TO THE RESCUE to get help in a Cuba;s persecution and they dropped the phone on me, Whatelse I need to do, This is a thing I WANT to do, to get recognizition and respect, please HELP me be an independent polititian with my own party ONE in venezuela that way I become part of the establishment and they will not hurt or try to kill me again as I am a contender nobodys hould fear and I may change the unwanted course there, is this an option??

please respond, mr. president, do not send abuse of power george that i will punch in in the nose!

VERY GOOD BEGGINING PRES. OBAMA

Tony — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:46:29 EDT

well, in a way terrorism in america and for decades, cuba sends whatever you wanna call them but i call them agents of evil worst than the axis of evil, they come to america never become citizens and never learn english cause they hate america, they bring chemicals from cuba or other infiltrated agents follow them to hurt us citizens, may be do a mass poison of people at restaurants since they work at them for low wages but sleeper agents in drug trade give 'em more money, some day as they love arabs becuase arabs has the symbol of the dreaded bear, someone calls the homeland security office and nothing is done, what are you waiting for?? mass poison in restaurant, that is strong theory..and they befriend people they will later hurt, gee, this kind of evilness I have never seen, and they get jobs, all services, food stamps, while citizens get none, where do we live?? and after all this still lifting embargo from cuba, you need to invade that island quickly for the sake of humanity..I know why i say it, at least I am leaving it in print here..nonsense!!..when are they gonna wake up??

Cannot wait until Judge Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in!

Robert Lynch — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:53:06 EDT

In spite of all the rants coming from extremists on the right, the same people who tried and failed to bring down President Obama last year with false accusations that he was a 'racist', Judge Sotomayor is going to be on the Supreme Court. There is nothing that Senate Republicans can do to stop her.

She is incredibly well qualified. She has both brilliance and common sense. Hearing her talk on C-Span last week helped me to see that she speaks with a quiet confidence that comes from knowing exactly what she is talking about at all times, just like President Obama.

I am extremely pleased with this pick, and forever grateful to the President for making this beautiful choice.

Established Dane Grassroots Network for Obama Group on MYBO

Marcia Riquelme — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:08:35 EDT

Announcing the creation of the Dane Grassroots Network for Obama Group on MYBO. PLEASE Join our group if you are interested in collaborating all across Dane County with the strong network in place due to the Obama campaign. We are a coalition of volunteers and leaders who want to keep the movement active and growing. We will provide citizen grassroots training so we can share the information we gather about issues we face, agenda of Obama, candidates worthy of support, and ways we can better serve our communities. We will collaborate with many other grassroots groups to support one another and expand the good efforts of all these groups across the county. We will also share our ideas with other groups across the nation so we can have national events and support each other in a new movement to create active and participatory citizenship habits that will make us all stronger. Join us. this is bringing citizens to life and very fulfilling!

Bilingual Support for Obama Weekly Videos launched

Michael Novak — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:11:45 EDT

Hello everyone,

This is to let you know that CaptionedMediaforObama.com has launched multilingual support for President Obama's weekly addresses! We worked with the Office of New Media during the transition and first few weeks of the administration, and will be providing expanded language support from here on for his weekly addresses.

Our first two spots are as follows:

YouTube: We've posted the April 4 address in our unique bilingual format, using both our karaoke English plus making use of YouTube's new subtitled and translation capability. Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/captionedforobama for this week's address. For bi-lingual support click on the triangle at the bottom right of the main video, and turn on closed captions. Once there you'll be able to select either a translated second language (CHINESE IS ONLINE!), or have YouTube provide its best efforts at an automatic translation for you into a second language. So you'll be able to see both the karaoke English plus your native language.
GSM Phones: We've also launched GSM phone support for newer phones with browsing capabilities and support for the timed text track. Go to http://www.captionedmediaforobama.com/3G/fv/ and see if your GSM phone can play the video. We'll be doing other phone formats as time allows, but this is our beginning format.

So, enjoy our unique karaoke captioning for President Obama's weekly addresses, through either YouTube or your GSM phone. More news to come.

Michael Novak

CaptionedMediaforObama.com

Prediction Removed

Tony — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:36:20 EDT

The prediction "Low to none hurricane activity this year" has been removed UNTIL further notice...Bothering continues to be seen....

obama tweet- how a new generation gets their information

maya escobar — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:59:42 EST

click on images to watch video on youtube or you can see it here on my website mayaescobar.com

Hillary's magnificent confirmation appearance

Robert Lynch — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:53:38 EST

Soon to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Tuesday and turned in a brilliant performance. She answered every question with skill and comprehensive logic, turned away the foolish attacks from Republicans by telling them she would absolutely not place different rules on the Clinton Global Inititative to pacify their insincere concerns, and thrilled every serious person listening with her discussion of 'soft power', and restoring the State Department to its mission of using diplomacy to bring peace to the world.

Thank you Hillary for performing this great service to your country, and Thank you President Obama for making the best possible choice you could for this crucial position. I feel truly blessed that both of these great individuals will be working together to make the world better for my children, and all the world's children.

Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis on Cesar Chavez

Robert Lynch — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:34:24 EST

Hilda Solis, who has been nominated by President Elect Obama to be U.S. Secretary of Labor, wrote this article on April 2nd, 2008.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday would have been Cesar Estrada Chavez's 81st birthday. This week we commemorate his life and legacy and pay tribute to Chavez, a man who dedicated his life to championing the rights of farm workers and all working families.

I recently returned from India where I visited the Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Like Gandhi, Chavez believed that non-violence is the most powerful tool to achieve change, including social and economic justice. Cesar Chavez believed that "non-violence is not inaction... (it) is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win."

Cesar Chavez changed the course of history for Latinos and farm workers. As a result of his actions, many have been empowered to fight for fair wages, health care coverage, pension benefits, housing improvements, pesticide and health regulations, and countless other protections for their health and well-being. These changes have meant considerable improvements for the life of the farm worker, three-fourths of which are Latino.

Cesar Chavez's work inspired me to find ways to help others and led me to civil service. I believe it's important to preserve his memory for future generations, which is why I introduced H.R. 359, the Cesar Estrada Chavez Study Act, which would authorize the Department of Interior to study lands important to the life of Chavez for possible inclusion in the National Park System. The stories of his struggles and triumphs need to be communicated and preserved for all Americans. I hope the Senate will swiftly pass this legislation.

Cesar Chavez's work to protect health, the environment and workers' rights paved the way for people like me to use my voice to fight for greater equality, to be courageous, and to bring justice to those who cannot achieve it themselves. We should be grateful for and never forget Cesar Chavez' efforts to improve civil rights and working conditions for Latinos and all Americans.

Obama Christmas and New Year message update - now in more languages!

Michael Novak — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:22:31 EST

Hello everyone,

Just an update. Mr. Obama's Christmas/New Year's address is now available in our bilingual format in Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, and Japanese at these addresses:

With Spanish and Tagalog subtitles at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPyi4mI80WU
- Just click on the "CC" button at the bottom right of the video panel to select which language you want.
In Japanese and Korean subtitles at www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXHdvgHM6fI
As a download in all 4 languages at www.captionedmediaforobama.com/prez/Obama_Christmas_iPhone_large.mov
- Download this file by waiting for the file to load, and then clicking on the "Download as Quicktime file" option on the right. Then just select the language you want
- This format is the largest that plays on the iPhone/iPod, and also includes chapter markers for each component of his speech

We're moving to providing one Quicktime file with all languages available as a subtitle. Then with an iPhone/iPod you can select the language appropriate to the situation. Or just two files on YouTube, where you select the language you want. Stay tuned for news on his inaugural address as well, now in your language, in his voice.

Best,

Michael Novak

Captionedmediaforobama.com

mnovak@tertia.us

En este Blog........?

NO A LA MARCHA EN CONTRA DE OBAMA — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:59:48 EST

Si en este Blog NATIONAL LATINOS FOR OBAMA, son casi 370 voluntarios inscritos, así como en otros blog hispanos.Que pasa?Es poco lo que escriben, es casi nada lo que publican, mejor dicho han hecho un STOP casi rotundo.Eso es algo que desde el principio yo critique el la organización de MyBO.Excelente las perspectivas desde el punto de vista de la campana pero después se ha desinflado como un castillo de naipes cuando el viento le sopla.Mi critica del MyBO, se basaba que ello podría ayudar muchísimo a la campana de Obama después de ver el éxito que John Edwards estaba teniendo en su interacción en internet; (yo siempre fui apoyando a Barack) pero resultaba al menos para mi muy focalizado en pequeños sectores geográficos y los usuarios raramente podían salir de este entorno de red. Pues el tiempo me ha dado la razón. Al final todo se ha parado y difícil será energizarlos y motivarlos para una actuación más fructífera de ayuda al gobierno por el cual tanto lucharon.Aunque MyBO como experiencia es casi una copia al carbón de PB; la diferencia la marca estas limitaciones que no debieron ser ejecutadas por el grupo IT del comando de campana de BO, también es bueno reconocer algunos efectos de interacción mas innovadores acá en MyBO, pero eso es, solo efectos visuales de complejas interacciones de bases de datos.Por ejemplo el archi-viejisimo uso de las Lista de Servicio de correo electrónico, casi han dejado de funcionar, y los que la siguen usando son muy pocos. Como en el ejemplo del grupo arriba mencionado, solo 3 o 4 responden o no, o solo 3 o 4 envían sus comentarios y ya casi ninguno publica directamente en el blog.Y casi ninguno se atreve a ir a una exposición de opinión más amplia a nivel nacional como en PB.En fin es algo que hay que pensar por la simple razón que después de estas elecciones todo ha cambiado y ahora finalmente la gente y los políticos entiendes de esta poderosa herramienta y como utilizarla.Antes al principio los usuarios se reían de esta realidad, pues el tiempo demostró que teníamos la razón, y ahí están los resultados.Tanto es esta una realidad tangible que los REPUBLICANOS ya empezaron su precampaña electoral para los siguientes comicios, imagínese Usted, ya empezaron, y lo hacen de una manera inteligente, estructurando sus bases en la internet.Aprendieron rápido la lección, ni siquiera se ha inaugurado la nueva administración y ya ellos empezaron a comunicar sus bases en el internet.Mi idea no debe pasar por alto de ninguna manera al equipo que dirige el grupo de IT del partido democrática. Nosotros los bloguero antiguas sabemos muy bien por experiencia que hoy puedes tener millones de hita y mañana menos de cien al mes. Hay que tener mucho cuidado en mantener el mínimo necesario que permita contrarrestar lo que el común adversario esta haciendo de cara al futuro.

Percy H Florez

A Few Weeks to Inauguration: Reflections Before Thanksgiving

Jose — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:05:27 EST

On election day, my wife Brigtte Davila and I were volunteering as a Voter Protection Team in a remote polling station near Reno, Nevada. It was a frigid snowy day but hopes were very high.

After a 12 hour day/evening at the polling station....we trudged with friends/volunteers back to the hotel to shower, rest and watch the elections results. By then....the die was cast. Barack was projected the winner and we watched Barack on tv giving his victory speech in Grant Park. We both watched the screen intently, held hands, hugged and cried more than a few tears.

After 2 years of volunteering and hoping....the impossible dream became the possible...which will become reality on Nov. 4th.

It is still hard to believe. I've supported many causes in my 58 years of life......many were lost causes but had to be fought. Now I was part of a winning cause and I didn't know how to react other than shed a tear.....maybe for all those lost causes.

Barack will be inaugurated in a few more weeks and he is putting together his team as I write this blog. I will watch his inauguration from afar. I won't be in DC but I will be there in spirit as he becomes our President on that day. I'm looking forward to it.

He will continue to need our support and I hope all of us will continue to support him as we settle back into out lives.

Since we all made the impossible possible....I guess we can never go back to the way it was before.

That may be our greatest gift to ourselves, our families and our country.

Something to be thankful for.....as we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday.

May you be with loved ones this coming Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays.

Take care and so long,

Jose & Brigitte

QUE HA HECHO USTED POR LOS SOLDADOS EN IRAQ, AFGANISTÁN

NO A LA MARCHA EN CONTRA DE OBAMA — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:14:23 EST

Esa es la pregunta de los quinientos mil reales.He revisado muchos de los blog hispanos especialmente este y no veo por ningún lado algo que me diga o indique lo que Ustedes como grupo han hecho por los soldados en estas dos guerras. La Ilegal guerra de Iraq de George W Bush, ya se ha llevado mas de 4190 soldados y la de Afganistán, cerca de 1000 El brillante comandante en jefe George W Bush aun sigue buscando a Osama Bin Laden en la dirección opuesta! Por que será que lo hace?Este señor mando al ejercito mas poderoso del mundo a buscar al criminal mas buscado de todos los tiempos en la dirección opuesta así como permitió que la familia de Osama Bin laden, abandonara el país el mismo 11 de septiembre. Por que será esto?Por supuesto que nos podemos equivocar pero equivocarse por mas de 4 anos consecutivos y aun seguir en la dirección incorrecta es sospechosos.? Pero eso será otro tema de discusión cuando escriba mas sobre el mas nefasto presidente en la historia de la nación. Mi pregunta para Ustedes, si para Ustedes, que han hecho por los soldados, como los están apoyando y que han hecho para que la ilegal guerra termine de una vez por todas, cual ha sido su contribución? La comunidad hispana ha contribuido con cientos de muertos, de hecho es la segunda comunidad en aportar en términos de soldados muertos gracias a la desacertada conducción y decisiones de George W Bush. Realmente me resulta un poco desalentador para mi observar que esto este pasando acá mismo en MyBO Es hora que Ustedes empiecen a integrase mas a la realidad y los problemas de la nación y no esperen que todo caiga por su propio peso, si no con su voluntad decidida de cambiar las cosas y su participación las cosas cambiaran. Entonces, Que van hacer por los soldados en la Ilegal guerra de Iraq y por los soldados en Afganistán.

Percy H Florez

Who are those traitors | WARNING

NO A LA MARCHA EN CONTRA DE OBAMA — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:02:41 EST

At least the are two guys who are trying to organize a rally against Obama on day ONE.

This two TRAITORS are manipulating the LATINO community with false pretenses about the delicate issue of immigration.

It seems to me very strange this innocents creatures are telling us the good news if LATINOS go for a rally in day ONE.

It's my opinion these two craps a re-pug infiltrated in this blog.

Percy H Florez

Congradulation President-Elect Barack Obama!!!!!

La Susa — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:12:04 EST

Congradulations President Elect-Barack Obama!

Congradulations To All Of Us, We Won!

It has been a long and hard race!

A Special Thanks To Everyone Here!

And with hope in our future, I am finnally at ease!

If there is one thing that I have learned throughout all of this, and that is, to expect more of myself, especially in the face of adversity. Thank you President-Elect Barack Obama!

Yes We Can :: From Barack Obama, President-Elect

Sarah Gallagher — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:20:11 EST

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

Our Time is Now: Vote Today

Sarah Gallagher — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:15:00 EST

Make sure you know your polling place and get out to vote today. Take a friend and cast your votes.

Change is within our reach. We're counting on you to get us there today.
www.voteforchange.com

Obama Supporters Rally for Change in California

Sarah Gallagher — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:01:52 EST

Obama supporters held rallies in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Sacramento today. Hundreds of Obama supporters and local elected officials came together to show their support for Obama and rally to get everyone fired up to vote.

After the rallies, the supporters hit area phone banks to make phone calls to swing state voters, encouraging them to get to their polling places and cast their ballots for Obama.

Find a polling place near you at Last Call for Change.

California Phone Bankers Don't Quit

Sarah Gallagher — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:47:43 EST

Californians made a record number of phone calls to Obama supporters across the country, encouraging them to get to the polls and cast their votes.
Joined by celebrities like Orlando Bloom and Eliza Dushku, volunteers overflowed offices across California, sitting on file cabinets, in garages, in alleyways, on yards so that they could call for change all day.Check out the slideshow for more, then join us at a phone bank near you to make history!

McCain VS Obama

La Susa — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:56:04 EST

Im not in favor of McCain because he wants to cheat workers, and give more money to the extreamly rich that make 250,000.00 or more! Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que el quire enganiar a los trabajadores y dar mas dinero a los ricototes, la cual que hacen 250,000.00 y mas!

Im not in favor of McCain because he is too old, 72 years old, and placed Palin as VP. Poor Palin dosn't know much about the world, much less about how to run Our Nation. Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que ya esta muy viejo, 72 anos, y puso a la Palin de VP. La pobre Palin no sabe mucho del mundo, menos como correr nuestro Nacion!

Im not in favor of McCain because he says he knows how to do everything, but really what has he done in, practicly nothing in 20 years. Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que el dice que el sabe como hacer de todo, pero a la deveras no ha hecho casi nada en 20 anos.

Im not in favor of McCain because he lies too much! There are so many lies I cannot place them all here, it is an embarrasment! Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que miente demaciado! Hay tantas mentiras que no los puedo ponerlos todos aqui, es una veruenza!

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants to help those workers who pay way too much in taxes. He wants the rich that make 250,000.00 or more to pay taxes as it was during the years of President Clinton. Yo Vote por Senador Obama por que el qiere ayudar a aquellos que trabajan y pagan demacido taxes. El quiere que los ricos que hacen 250,000.00 y mas que ellos pagan taxes como era en los anos del Presidente Clinton.

I voted for Senator Obama because he realized when his mom was ill that the insurance companies didn't want to pay the bills because her illness before she died being cancer was considered 'pre-existing'. And she sadly died with the worries of the bills. Yo Vote por Senador Obama por que el se dio cuenta que cuando su mama estaba enferma las companias de seguranza no querian pagar los cuentos por que querian decir la cual que la enfermedad que cancer que tenia su mama antes de murir que era 'pre-existing'. Y la pobre murio con penas de los cuentos!

I voted for Senator Obama because he knows what it is like to live in poverty, for when he was a child he and his mom were on foodstamps. And his manerism is one of humility. Yo Vote por Senador Obama por que el sabe como es vivir pobre, cuando el era nino, su mama y el estaban es las estampas. Y tiene un modo de ser que es humide.

I voted for Senator Obama because he knows what it is like to live without a dad. His dad left when he was only two years old. And he knows that there are many mothers with children who are alone and suffering with mounting bills. Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el sabe como es vivir sin un papa. El papa de el se fue, cuando el no mas tenia dos anos de edad. Y sabe que hay muchas madres con ninos que estan solas y sufiendo con biles demasiados.

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants to give many jobs to the people! Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el quiere a dar muchos trabajos a la gente!

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants all students to have the opportunities to go to collage, not just the rich! Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el quiere que todos estudiantes tengan la oportunidad a ir al colejio, no, no mas los ricos!

I voted for Obama because he knows we have to stop the war in Iraq, and look for that man Bin Ladden who killed nearly 4 thousand people here in the United States on September 11, 2001. Yo Vote al Obama por que el sabe que tenemos que parrar la guierra en Iraq y buscar al hombre ese Bin Ladden; que mato ha casi 4 mil personas aqui en Los Estados Unidos en Septiembre 11 del 2001.

I voted for Senator Obama because he dose not want American companies to leave to China, and he wants them to stay here in the Untited States. Yo Vote por el Senador Obama por que el no quiere que las companias Americanas se van para China, el quiere que se esten aqui en Los Estados Unidos.

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants to help companies make new inventions, so that we will not be dependant on other nations for oil. Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el quiere ayudar a las companias hacer invenciones nuevas, para no estemos dependidas en otros Naciones para el aceite.

The tax calculator: El calculador de taxes:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Acuerdencen! Remember!

La Susa — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:48:28 EST

Acuerdencen al los ancianos y gente debiles a llevar sillas para que se descansan cuando voten en el dia 4 de Noviembre, por que se me hace que va a ver mucha gente!

Remember to remind the elderly and weak to bring chairs so that they can rest, when they go vote on November 4, because I belive that there will be a lot of people!

VP Dick Cheney

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:20:07 EDT

VP Dick Cheney campaning in Wyoming today, praising McCain!

sourse CNN

ECONOMICS

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:28:21 EDT

EconomyObama's Stance on the Economy Barack Obama's Tax Savings Calculator:http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Barack Obama has offered a detailed plan to get America’s economy back on track, by creating new jobs and easing the burden on hardworking Americans by offering middle-class tax cuts three times the size of McCain’s.

Plan to Strengthen the EconomyThe Problem

Wages are Stagnant as Prices Rise: While wages remain flat, the costs of basic necessities are increasing. The cost of in-state college tuition has grown 35 percent over the past five years. Health care costs have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years. And the personal savings rate is now the lowest it's been since the Great Depression.

Tax Cuts for Wealthy Instead of Middle Class: The Bush tax cuts give those who earn over $1 million dollars a tax cut nearly 160 times greater than that received by middle-income Americans. At the same time, this administration has refused to tackle health care, education and housing in a manner that benefits the middle class.

Learn More

McCain's Stance on the Economy

John McCain’s economic policy is the same as George Bush’s. It ignores middle class Americans, giving $200 billion in tax cuts to corporations, including $4 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil, while leaving over 100 million middle-class Americans with no relief. Economists say McCain’s plan will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt.

McCain Lieing Again!!!!!!!!!

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:08:47 EDT

McCain says Obama wants to re-distribute the wealth!

Who has been burdened by taxes the last 8 years? The Middle Class, because the million and billionaires have enjoyed a tax break, that McCain wants to make permanent!!!!!!!

Obama wants to tax the million and billionaires, and belive me, those folks are not small businesses!!!!!!!!

McCain is using fearmongering to sway votes in his favor!

Who was with Bush on the 'Privatizing of Social Security'? McCain?

When Sen McCain claims to have been tested to be United States President; in 1962 when he sat in a plane cockpit, during the Cuban missle Crisis, why didn't McCain run for USA President way back then? It's only been 46 years ago.

McCain says he knows how to win wars, what wars has he won?

McCain says he knows how to fix corruption, what corruption has he fixed?

McCain says he knows how to fix Wallstreet, when has McCain ever fixed Wallstreet?

Yo, Arnold R-Gov of Calif.

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:29:09 EDT

We can take your 'skinny legs' insults, but we cannot take four more years of McCin-Bush economics!!!!!! Was it not you Arnold R-Gov of Calif. that asked for a bail out for the State of Calif. a few days after the AIG bail out? So you want the hard working middle class to bail out Calif., because you don't know how to balance a budget? And allow the billion and millionaires to get richer and richer?

Do the math!!!!!! See Barack's Tax Calculator!

http://www.my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Get Educated! Use the Brain Muscle! Look it up in the dictionary!!!!!!!

The insults and fear mongering has gotten way out of hand! Just because Sen Barack Obama wants to make healthcare affordable for everyone, dose not mean a socialistic government! Way too many of our working families are going bankrupt because of the sky rocketing costs of healthcare! And those who don't have healthcare, are often treated when it is too late, driving up the costs of healthcare for all of us!!!!!!! Of all develped countries in the world, the USA is lagging far behind, with high infant mortality rates etc. etc.! The past 8 years the middle class has payed above and beyond their fare share, while the rich get richer! Now the middle class are loosing jobs left and right, they need a break! And I don't think it's too much to ask the million and billionaires to pitch in their fare share! Our economy depends on the middle class! they are the buying power of America! Small buisnesses fall under the catagory of middle class people because they earn far less than 250,000.00 dollars a year!!!!!!!!

Socialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of ...
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

Democracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system. It is derived from the Greek ...
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

Capitalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are distributed to openly competing profit-seeking [1] private persons and where ...
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

Marxism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Any political practice or theory that is based on ...
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist

For Those Who Have Tax Questions

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:56:49 EDT

See the Tax Calculator

http://www.my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Change we NEED

Alexis — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:40:16 EDT

"If you're walking down the right path
and you're willing to keep walking,
eventually you'll make progress."
-Barack Obama

Exxon Record Profits!

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:09:49 EDT

Exxon Oct. 30, 08 Record Profits; 14.8 billion! Bush-McCain Economics!

Every Vote Counts!

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:18:02 EDT

Vote Early, take friends and relatives with you!

Before and on Nov. 4, if one can help to bring people to the polls! If one has folding chairs, mark with your name and phone number and offer to help our seniors, and those with disbilities sit down while waiting in expected long lines!

Remind folks to sign their names on paper ballots!

In some areas one cannot wear political T-Shirts or pins!

If one has no car, is disabled and cannot be out and about, still vote early, call all of your friends and relatives and encourage them to vote!

We cannot afford to believe the polls! Every Vote Counts!!!!!!

Joe the Plumber....

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:30:40 EDT

Joe the plumber said yesturday "I will vote for McCain the real American." 'The real American', wonder what he means by that? Or what is he implying by that statement? Unless one has Native American ancestry as dose Sen Barack Obama, I cannot see the connection to 'real American'. I personally find the comment offensive... Should Sen McCain win this election, what cabnet position will Joe the Plunger have, or did I hear wrong?

Poor Joe the Plumber, if he had studied small business (or at least googled it) he would know that overhead, payroll, utilities and a host of other expenses are deducted before talling up the total profit from business income on Schedule C of the Federal Tax Forms... It's sad to see gulable American people lied to, in such a decptive fashion! I wonder if Joe the Plumber is jumping for joy because EXON-MOBIL again anounce hudge profits! Will Joe the Plumber get any cash from EXON-MOBIL as McCain has implied that the rich will somehow benifit the poor and middles class?

McCain-Palin Small Business LIES, DECEPTION, MISLEADING!!!!!!!!!

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:05:12 EDT

McCain's Small-Business BunkJuly 14, 2008He claims 23 million small-business owners would pay higher tax rates under Obama. He's wrong. The vast majority would see no change, and many would get a cut.SummaryMcCain has repeatedly claimed that Obama would raise tax rates for 23 million small-business owners. It's a false and preposterously inflated figure.

We find that the overwhelming majority of those small-business owners would see no increase, because they earn too little to be affected. Obama's tax proposal would raise rates only on couples making more than $250,000 or singles earning more than $200,000.

McCain argues that Obama's proposed increase is a job-killer. He has a point. It's true that increasing taxes on those at the top would leave them less money for other purposes, including investment and hiring in the case of business owners. But the number of business owners who would see their rates go up would be only a small fraction of what McCain says. Many would see their taxes go down.
AnalysisSen. John McCain has been making this false claim over and over, starting with a July 7 speech announcing his "jobs for America" plan:

McCain, July 7: Senator Obama's tax increases will hurt the economy even more, and destroy jobs across this country. If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is going to raise your tax rates.

He repeated it in an address to the League of United Latin American Citizens the next day:

McCain, July 8: Keeping individual rates low isn't intended as a favor to wealthy Americans. 23 million small-business owners pay those rates, and taking more money from them deprives them of the capital they need to invest and grow and hire.

He said it again at a campaign event July 9:

McCain, July 9: If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is willing to raise your tax rates.

And he repeated it in the first of a planned series of radio addresses July 12:

McCain, July 12: If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners who files as an individual rate payer, watch out – because as your business grows, my opponent proposes to raise your taxes.

But repeating a falsehood doesn't make it true. McCain's 23 million claim is a bogus figure.

Outdated, Inflated, Inapplicable

To justify the 23 million figure, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers referred us to a press release by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which refers to "23 million small business owners" without citing a source. That is actually an outdated count of all the businesses in the United States, produced by the U.S. Census for 2002, when the Economic Census counted a total of 23,343,821 business firms of all sizes. Of those, 16,845 firms employed 500 persons or more, which still leaves just over 23.3 million classified as "small" by the widely accepted definition that we will use here.

That figure is six years out of date. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy estimates the total number of "small" firms with fewer than 500 workers reached 26.8 million in 2006. That's the most recent estimate. But it is also inflated. Since the total U.S. population was just under 300 million in 2006, it would mean that one in every 11 Americans – men, women and children – is a "small-business owner."

It turns out, SBA's estimate includes more than 20 million "nonemployer" firms, an unknown number of them sideline or hobby businesses run by persons who actually make their living some other way. Census and SBA count as a "small business" anyone who reported as little as $1,000 of business receipts. By that very broad definition, John McCain himself is a "small-business owner," because his tax return shows Schedule C income from book royalties. For that matter, Barack Obama would also be a small-business owner, by virtue of his book income. As would President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as we pointed out in 2004. Of the 26.8 million that SBA counts as "small businesses," fewer than 6 million are actually "employer firms" with any payroll.

From this, we must conclude that to arrive at his 23 million figure, McCain is counting mostly "business owners" with no workers, including those who simply report small amounts of income from sideline or freelance work. McCain is arguing that Obama's tax increase would "destroy jobs," but he's counting mostly firms that don't produce any.

That in itself is seriously misleading. If McCain wants to focus on the effects of Obama's plan on employment, he would do better to confine his count to employers – the just under 6 million firms that actually have workers. And even that figure wouldn't be applicable because Obama's tax increase wouldn't fall on all employers, only on those in the top two income tax brackets.

McCain Campaign's Statement

1. These small businesses are subject to Sen. Obama's pay or play health care plan: The tax will either be in the form of health insurance to
workers or cash to the government.

2. Further, even giving Obama the benefit of the doubt, if they make
over $250,000 and file as individuals or have capital gain or dividends, their taxes go up, as Obama has promised.

Note US Chamber cites 23 million figure: "The U.S. Chamber is proud to pay special tribute to some of its most valued constituents: America's
23 million small business owners"McCain's Non-explanation

McCain cannot justify his 23 million claim. We asked McCain spokesman Brian Rogers for substantiation and received the statement that we reprint here. We find it simply won't do.

Rogers starts by saying that Obama's health care proposal to provide coverage for uninsured workers would amount to a "tax," either in the form of higher costs for covering employees or "cash to the government." But McCain was talking about income tax rates, not higher business costs. That's not justifying McCain's claim; that's trying to change the subject.

Furthermore – as we've just seen – the vast majority of those that McCain is counting as small-business owners have no employees and wouldn't encounter any added costs for covering workers. Obama's plan wouldn't apply to every small employer, either. It says: "Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt." Also, after Rogers sent his message, Obama announced July 13 that he is proposing to grant $6 billion per year in tax credits for small businesses that provide health insurance plans, covering up to half the cost of premiums paid to cover employees.

As for actual income tax rates, which is what McCain keeps talking about, Rogers says "if they make over $250,000 and file as individuals ... their taxes go up." But this leaves out all but a very small fraction of those McCain counts as small-business owners. Rogers also says taxes will go up if small-business owners "have capital gains or dividends," but Obama's proposal would not increase rates on capital gains or dividends for couples making under $250,000, or singles making under about $200,000, regardless of whether they are classified as small-business owners or not.

How Many Would Actually Pay More?

McCain is right about one thing. Many small-business owners would indeed see their taxes go up if Obama is elected and raises the top income-tax rates. According to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Businesses, about eight out of 10 small-business owners responding to the poll report that they are organized legally in a way that would require them to pay taxes on their business income as individuals, rather than as a corporation. But since Obama's plan wouldn't affect those making less than $250,000 for couples, or about $200,000 for singles, we need to estimate how many would fall into those high-income categories.

Obama's plan, according to his economic policy director Jason Furman, would return the top two federal income-tax rates to what they were before Bush lowered them. In addition, Obama would adjust the income-tax brackets to ensure that no married couple making under $250,000 or single filer making under $200,000 would pay the top rates.

The actual number of business owners who would be affected turns out to be well under a million, and the number of employers would be even less. Based on the number of taxpayers who now report any sort of business income on their returns, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center projects that 663,608 taxpayers with business income, or business losses, will fall into the top two tax brackets in 2009, when any Obama tax changes would first take effect. Not all of those can properly be called "small-business owners," however. Some are farmers. Many are lawyers, accountants or other professionals who get some of their income in the form of partnership distributions. Others may be passive investors in real-estate partnerships or similar investment arrangements and not really persons who own and manage a business.

It is also not clear how many who report business income actually employ any workers. In 2004, the Tax Policy Center found that hundreds of thousands of individual taxpayers who had business income from partnerships or subchapter-S corporations (whose owners pay taxes as individuals) did not claim any tax deductions for employee expenses. For all these reasons we judge that the actual number of small-business employers who would face higher tax rates under Obama is probably far below 663,608, and certainly a far cry from McCain's ridiculously inflated 23 million figure.

Lower Taxes for Many

While Obama's plan would raise rates at the top, it also would grant what he calls a “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. Since this credit would not begin to phase down for couples making less than $150,000, we judge it likely that many, if not most of the 23 million that McCain counts as "small-business owners" would likely get tax reductions.

An Echo of Bush

McCain's claim struck us as wildly improbable the first time we heard it because we debunked a much less expansive claim that President Bush made about John Kerry in 2004. Bush ran a TV ad saying that Kerry's proposal to raise taxes on persons making more than $200,000 a year would affect 900,000 small-business owners. We found Bush's number to be far too high. We noted that Bush was counting as a "small-business owner" anyone who reported even $1 of business or partnership income, regardless of how the taxpayer made their living. At that time, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimated that a total of 471,000 small-business employers could be affected.

– by Brooks Jacksonhttp://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccains_small-business_bunk.html

Adrian Grenier Gets to Work at Barack TV

Sarah Gallagher — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:09:07 EDT

Adrian Grenier, from HBO's hit show Entourage, joined volunteers at California Obama HQ to work for change, making phone calls to battleground states.

Adrian made calls to swing state voters, encouraging them to get to the polls to cast their votes for Barack Obama.

The volunteers took a break to watch Barack's 30 minute address to America on TV, then were fired by a quick speech from Mary Jane Stevenson, our Field Director. Everyone then got back on the phones, the office was quickly buzzing again with the voices of volunteers working to Get Out the Vote! Join volunteers at a phone bank near you to help Barack Get Out the Vote in the final days of this election!: ca.barackobama.com/LastCallCA

McCain-Palin "Ethical?" Against Obama ARE FALSE, LIES!!!!!!!!

La Susa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:35:54 EDT

'Unethical?'October 27, 2008http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/unethical.htmlA McCain-Palin/RNC ad claims Obama 'rewards his friends with your tax dollars.' It's off the mark.SummaryAn ad released jointly by the McCain-Palin campaign and the RNC claims Obama "rewards his friends with your tax dollars" and calls his actions "unethical." Some of what the ad says is false or misleading. Here are the facts:

The ad claims that Obama supporter and Chicago real estate developer Allison Davis received $20 million in taxpayer money. That's false. Davis didn't get this money. Instead, the federal grant went to the Chicago Housing Authority, replacing money it had already put forward for a mixed-income housing project on which Davis was a developer. The grant didn't go to Davis, nor did it help him pocket any additional funds.

The ad says Obama gave Tony Rezko $14 million of taxpayer money. That's misleading. It's true the housing project Rezko was working on cost $14 million in taxpayer cash. Rezko and his partner netted $855,000 in fees.
Obama worked to get Kenny Smith a $100,000 grant to build a park, which Smith later failed to complete. Smith has since caught the attention of the state attorney general. But, according to reports, Obama isn't under investigation for helping Smith get the grant.

The RNC and McCain may consider Obama's actions to be "unethical"; that's a matter of opinion. But the fact is, as far as these three incidents are concerned, Obama has not been officially accused of any wrongdoing, and there's been no report that his actions are the subject of any official investigation.
AnalysisThe joint ad from the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee accuses Sen. Barack Obama of being "unethical," citing instances in which individuals connected to Obama received federal or state funds. Sen. John McCain's campaign and the RNC have spent $5.9 million so far airing the ad in 17 states, including Pennsylvania, where $1.2 million has been spent on the ad, and North Carolina, where it has aired a total of 1,629 times, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group of TNS Media Intelligence. The ad started airing on Oct. 14.

RNC/McCain-Palin Ad:
"Unethical"

Announcer: Obama rewards his friends with your tax dollars. Tony Rezko, fourteen million. Allison Davis, twenty million. Kenny Smith, one hundred thousand. That's unethical. Congressional liberals promise to raise your taxes to reward their friends with wasteful pork. Taxes for you. Pork for them. Who's gonna' stop 'em? Congressional liberals? Or him.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message. $20 Million? Try Zero

The ad claims that real estate developer Allison Davis received $20 million of taxpayer money thanks to Obama. But that's false. Davis didn't get any of this money. The ad cites a story from The Washington Times, but the article says that "city housing authorities confirmed" that the "grant money won't go to Mr. Davis or his company."

According to documentation provided by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), a letter was ghostwritten for Obama, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and others by the CHA in support of a project called Stateway Gardens – an urban revitalization effort to transition crime-ridden high-rises into mixed-income housing. The letter was sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in an effort to acquire a fiscal year 2008 grant of $20 million to support the project, of which Davis, a supporter of Obama, was one of the developers.

We spoke with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokeswoman Donna White, who told us that the money was not awarded to Davis, but to the Chicago Housing Authority:

Donna White, spokeswoman for HUD: The Chicago Housing Authority competed for [the Hope VI] grant. The housing authority applies for the funding, they select a developer. ... It's common for congressional members to submit letters of support when they know that a housing authority in their jurisdiction is competing for a grant.

We also spoke with William Little, executive vice president of development for CHA, who reiterated that the HUD grant was not awarded to Davis, but to the CHA, and that the grant allowed the CHA to reallocate funds it had already directed to the Stateway project. Davis did not see a profit as a result of the HUD grant, according to Little, nor did the budget for the Stateway project increase. When we asked Little about the charge in the ad that Obama "reward[ed]" Davis with $20 million, he told us:

William Little, CHA: That's totally false. HUD awarded CHA $20 million in a Hope VI grant, which allows CHA to reallocate funds it had previously earmarked for that particular project to other projects. The overall budget for the project did not increase. Allison Davis gets none of it.

A portion of the Stateway development is devoted to market-priced housing, and Davis stood to profit from the sales of those homes. But he did not pocket any of the HUD grant, which went to construction of low-income units.

Tony Rezko (Again)

The ad also claims that Tony Rezko got "fourteen million," because of Obama. But he didn't.

A 2007 report from The Chicago Sun-Times is the source, but the article goes over territory we've addressed before: that Obama wrote letters to state officials supporting a low-income senior housing complex Rezko was trying to have built. Both men say Rezko did not solicit the letters. The Sun-Times quoted Obama spokesman Bill Burton as saying Obama didn't write the letters as a favor but "in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project."

Regardless, the ad is wrong to imply Rezko pocketed millions. The project cost $14 million of taxpayer money. But, as we've reported, Rezko and his partner, who was Allison Davis, received $855,000 in fees. It's not peanuts, but it's not $14 million either.

Kenny Smith's $100,000 Garden

The ad then claims Kenny Smith received $100,000 in taxpayer money as a "reward" from Obama. This claim holds more water than the rest, but it's still a leaky vessel.

The ad cites a New York Post report that details how Obama, then a state senator in the midst of a race for a congressional seat, worked on Smith's behalf in 2000 in an effort to raise $1.1 million in state funding for the "Englewood Botanic Garden Project." Smith, head of the nonprofit Chicago Better Housing Association and a volunteer for Obama's congressional campaign, planned to rehabilitate a plot of land in a Chicago neighborhood. He was awarded a $100,000 state grant to do so, a far cry from the $1.1 million he had hoped to receive.

But Smith never built the park. And, according to a report from The Chicago Sun-Times, state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat who backs Obama, has started to look into whether or not taxpayer money was mishandled. While questions have been raised about how Smith spent the money, according to the Sun-Times, the paper notes that "neither Smith nor his wife are accused of any wrongdoing." The Post report cited by the ad said that "officials in Madigan's office said Obama's actions in giving out the member item aren't under investigation."

Democrats "Promise to Raise Your Taxes"

The ad swings away from the taxpayer hand-outs and claims: "Democrats promise to raise your taxes to reward their friends with wasteful pork." That linkage doesn't sound like a promise any sane politician would make.

The ad cites a Nov. 2007 article from The Washington Times, which chronicles a bill introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). The bill would have amended the tax code to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax and limit deductions that could be claimed by taxpayers making more than $250,000 a year, among other measures. But Rangel's bill, introduced a year ago, never cleared the Ways and Means Committee.

As for the "wasteful pork" claim, the fact is that securing earmarks is a popular practice among both Democrats and Republicans. Two oft-cited earmark recipients are longtime Sens. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Both were listed in Porkbusters.org's "Hall of Shame" in 2006 and have been singled out as "Porker of The Month" more than once over the last eight years by the organization Citizens Against Government Waste – proof that, promise or not, Democrats and Republicans send money home for projects whether taxes go up or down.

– by Emi Kolawole

from www.factcheck.org

a non-partisan watch dog group!!!!!!!!

"A License to Kill" Email and TV Adds FALSE! LIES!

La Susa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:00:24 EDT

A License to Kill

October 28, 2008

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_license_to_kill.html

A new anti-Obama group runs a bunk-filled ad implying he'd give a driver's license to Mohammed Atta. SummaryAn upstart group calling itself the "National Republican Trust PAC" mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.

The spot falsely claims Obama has a "plan" to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, "I am not proposing that that's what we do."
The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn't have needed one to carry out his attacks.

It claims that Obama's health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan "does not" cover illegal immigrants.

The ad falsely claims that Obama's plan "gives illegals Social Security benefits," which is also flatly untrue.

AnalysisDespite its name, the National Republican Trust has no formal connection to the Republican Party. It is an independent group with ties to the conservative Web site Newsmax. It sprang into being barely a month ago and has reported spending more than $900,000 to attack Obama through e-mail messages and, now, TV ads.

Its TV spot first showed up on the air in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 26, and it has also received considerable circulation on the Web. It attempts to link Sen. Barack Obama to the 9/11 hijackers. The link? A spurious claim that Obama plans to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. NRT PAC, which is headed by a former writer for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Insight magazine, says it plans to air the ad in other swing states.

Update, Oct. 29: Newsmax distributed a new NRT PAC fundraising e-mail today in which NRT boasts of having now raised "over $3 million." A postscript states that the group's ads are now running "in 5 battleground states."

National Republican Trust PAC Ad: "Social Security for Illegals"

Announcer: Millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. Barack Obama’s plan gives a driver’s license to any illegal who wants one.

But that’s not all.

Obama’s plan gives illegals Social Security benefits and raises taxes for his health care plan to cover them. Who pays? You do.

Driver’s licenses and government benefits for illegals. Higher taxes for us. That’s Obama’s plan. Obama. Too radical. Too risky.

The National Republican Trust PAC is responsible for the content of this advertisement. Drive Like a Maniac

The ad begins with the ominous warning that "Barack Obama's plan gives a driver's license to any illegal who wants one." More alarmingly, the ad flashes a picture of a Florida driver's license featuring 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta. The ad then goes on to claim that Obama's "plan" provides illegal immigrants with Social Security and health care benefits and would raise taxes to pay for it.

Hardly a word in the ad is true.

Let's start with the incendiary implication that Obama's "plan" would somehow enable terrorists like Atta. That's ridiculous. It's true that Atta did use a Florida driver's license to board the plane he hijacked. It's also irrelevant. Atta entered the U.S. legally, using a tourist visa, so laws about licenses for illegal immigrants wouldn't have affected him anyway. What's more, Atta could just as easily have boarded the plane with his Egyptian passport. The Transportation Security Administration lists foreign government-issued passports as acceptable identification for boarding a U.S. flight. For that matter, The Cato Institute's Jim Harper, who advises the Department of Homeland Security on data privacy, describes NRT PAC's claim as "despicable" and says that it is "terror-pandering of the highest order."

Plan? What Plan?

Furthermore, NRT PAC's claim that Obama has a "plan" to give driver's licenses to "any illegal [immigrant] who wants one" is just false. Obama has no such plan. "Plan" implies a worked out, formal policy. But NRT rests its claim entirely on comments Obama made during two Democratic primary debates. All candidates were asked whether they supported then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Obama hedged, but when pressed, admitted that he agreed with states granting licenses, and requiring insurance. Here's part of the exchange:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer (Nov. 15, 2007): Barring, avoiding, assuming there isn't going to be comprehensive immigration reform, do you support or oppose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants?
Obama: I am not proposing that that's what we do. ... I have already said I support the notion that we have to deal with public safety and that driver's licenses at the state level can make that happen. But what I also know, Wolf, is that if we keep on getting distracted by this problem, then we are not solving it.

We take no position on the wisdom of Spitzer's proposal. But it's false to puff up Obama's comments into a "plan" when he quite specifically said, "I am not proposing that that's what we do." That sounds to us to be the opposite of a plan. The group would have been correct had it said Obama supported Spitzer's plan, but only in the absence of a federal effort to fix the immigration mess.

Health Care and Taxes. Again.

It is simply untrue that Obama plans to provide health care for illegal immigrants. To the contrary, in an exchange with CNN's Joe Johns during a January debate in South Carolina, Obama explicitly ruled out coverage for illegal immigrants:

Johns (Jan. 21, 2008): Senator Obama, we all know what universal health care is, as Senator Clinton just said, sort of the idea that everybody deserves health care. And I have not been able to sort of zero in on your position on this one question: Does your plan cover the estimated 12 million or so illegal immigrants in the country?
Obama: It does not.
Johns: Why not?
Obama: Well, because I think we've got limited resources. And it is important for us that, when we've got millions of U.S. citizens that aren't yet covered, it's important for us to make sure that they are provided coverage.

That sounds pretty clear to us. Furthermore, as we've said more times than we care to count now, Obama's plan raises taxes only on people making more than $200,000 ($250,000 for a couple). That's true for income taxes, capital gains taxes and payroll taxes.

Social Security Bunk That Won't Die

Just for good measure, the ad recycles some two-year-old bunk, too. The claim that Obama "plans" to grant Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants is nowhere to be found on his Web site. NRT PAC bases this claim on Obama's vote on an amendment to a 2006 immigration bill. But that amendment would not have granted Social Security benefits to any illegal immigrants, not unless they became U.S. citizens or legal immigrants first. We debunked this attack back in 2006 when it was a Republican favorite. The passing years haven't made it any truer.

Under current law, an illegal immigrant who later gets legal status can claim credit for any Social Security taxes he or she paid while still illegal. The 2006 amendment would have ended that practice. The bill failed 50 - 49, with Obama joining the majority to vote against it. Many illegal immigrants pay Social Security taxes even while working illegally. In 2006, for example, the Social Security Administration collected about $7 billion in taxes that couldn't be credited to specific workers.

Again, we take no position on the merits of the amendment. But it's a serious distortion to say that it would have granted Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.

End-Game Sleaze

The National Republican Trust PAC came into being Sept. 26, when it first registered with the Federal Election Commission. By Oct. 15 it had reported raising $463,000 for its anti-Obama campaign. (Update: In an e-mail to supporters on Oct. 29, the group said it had raised more than $3 million.) It has reported spending a total of $902,604 to attack Obama, according to the most recent report filed Oct. 26. It has reported spending substantial sums to the conservative Web site Newsmax and to other vendors for "email communication" opposing Obama's election, and to a Virginia company called Integram for "direct mail." It has also listed expenditures for "media production" and a "media buy."

Its Web site lists its executive director as Scott Wheeler, who also writes articles for Newsmax, which the NRT PAC pays to distribute anti-Obama e-mail messages, many of which are little more than fundraising pleas.

It's not uncommon for the final weeks of the presidential campaign to bring out some of the most deceptive ads of the cycle. We thought it would be tough to top the whoppers we've seen already, but it looks as if some of the third-party ads are out to prove us wrong. If this gem from the National Republican Trust PAC is any indication, we'd best brace for a blizzard of balderdash.

– by Joe Miller

Marxism, Socialism and What Spreading The Wealth?

La Susa — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:01:50 EDT

McCain and Palin can't seem to even understand "Marxism," " Socialism," nor the concept of "spreading the wealth!" Do they not understand that the Federal Income Tax payers of America have been the Middle Class for the last 8 years! And I guess somehow shifting the tax burden from the middle class to the wealthiest is what? Marxism? Socialism? Spreading the wealth? Oh yea I forgott, McCain and Palin want to make permanent Tax breaks for the most wealthy, what's that called?????

McCain and Palin are misleading the American public about small business income, implying that businesses that earn 250,000.00 will be liable to pay federal income taxes, not understanding that businesses have to subtract all of their expenses; payroll, insurance, cars, rents, etc. etc. before they can conclude their total earnings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See Link below and compare one's income tax savings it's amazing!!!!!!!http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Making a difference by bus, plane or phone: Palo Alto Rally Wrap Up from Giselle Schmitz

Sarah Gallagher — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:41:07 EDT

Sunday's Obama rally at Palo Alto City Hall energized the troops.

Red, white and blue balloons brightened the plaza and a vast array of Obama T-Shirts and buttons adorned rally goers.

State Senator Leland Yee delivered a stirring speech on the importance of electing Barack Obama for both the country and the world. State Senator Elaine Alquist also spoke. Obama for America Regional Field Director Giselle Schmitz urged everyone to either travel to a battleground state, or to reach out to voters non-stop until election day on the phone banks.

More than 200 callers showed up, with the top award for "Top Agent of Change" going to Stanford student Marisa Juárez with 162 calls. Congratulations Marissa! Phone bankers were divided up into teams, named "hope," "inspiration" and "change." Callers sat scattered throughout the plaza working their phone lists, enjoying the balmy late October weather. The excitement was palpable, in the air a sense of hope and expectation, and recognition of the work still to be done.

Los Angeles Early Vote and Phonebank Wrap Up

Sarah Gallagher — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:47:34 EDT

Over 500 people gathered at the LA County Registrar's office to cast their votes early for Barack Obama. They joined California Field Director Mary Jane Stevenson and Obama for America staffers, who were fired up to vote for Obama and then get back outside to make phone calls for change!

You can still vote early in California, go to VoteForChange.com to find the early vote location for your county.

Once you vote early, join us to get out the vote by making calls into swing states from now through election day, or sign up now to drive for change to a swing state and make a big difference in this election!

When Abortion Was Illegal...

La Susa — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:30:04 EDT

When abortion was illegal, some young girls decided to induce an abortion themselves by doings things that I cannot repeat on this public site, some girls survived, others lost their lives in the process. My point is, if we make abortion illegal again, Im sure there will be girls who will try by any means to induce an abortion and put themselves in danger as they did when abortion was illegal. I belive that Sen Barack Obama has the best ideas in education and prevention to reduce the amount of unwanted pregnancies and giving girls, women, incest survivors, rape survivors the right to choose.

Why I Voted For Sen Barack Obama

La Susa — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:58:40 EDT

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because I feel that I was misled about Weapons of Mass Destruction and our reason for going war in Iraq. And by going to war with Iraq, Bin Ladden was given a free pass to do as he pleases after killing nearly 4,000 civilians.

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he has an eye on the future of our Nation, and knows that unless our children excell in Math and Science we as a Nation will fall. For we have to be the inventors of the future, we have to have the opportunities to go to collage!

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he knows we have to independant of fossil fuels that are contaminating our entire planet! And he will promote Solar and Wind power that we so desparately need! We cannot be held hostage in the oil markets anymore!

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he knows what it is like to pay off a student loan, and knows first hand how difficult it is for the middle class to struggle with paying bills. And as a child he saw his mom struggle and survive on foodstamps, he knows what it is like to go without.

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he stands in opposition to giving permanent tax breaks to oil comanies i.e. the 5 per-cent of the wealthiest Americans, and instead would give a tax break for working Americans, who can bearly make it, as it is. And he will extend the unemployeement benifits knowing that our nation is currently in a financial crisis.

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he has good ideas on how to create new jobs for Americans by giving tax incentives to those companies who stay in America, and also tax incentives to companies who take the time to invent new alternatives to fosil fuel!

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he recognises how important and influencial the United States is globally, and that we need to preserve and improve our image abroad.

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because I know he knows where me and my family come from, and will be able to voice our concerns in US Government.

I voted for Sen Barack Obama because he has character, and dose not make rash decisions based on poll numbers. He thinks before making important decisions, and is able to maintain cool while being lied about and defend his position firmly.

I voted for Sen Barack Obama even though I don't agree with him on every issue, but I do know that he has the substance and moral character to make the nessasary changes we need in government like 'transperancy'. Furthermore as a former civil rights attorney he is well informed about my civil rights as an American citizen, and I know he will uphold The American Constitution!

Eric Garcetti, LA Council President, on Driving for Change

Sarah Gallagher — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:34:36 EDT

Last weekend, I traveled with 150 friends to the battleground state of Nevada, joining thousands of Californians in campaigning for Senator Barack Obama.

Over the weekend, our group knocked on over 5,000 doors. We spread out across Las Vegas, meeting people in their homes and talking to them about their hopes and concerns. What we heard is that Nevadans, like many of their fellow Americans, are worried. They are yearning for change and strong leadership to put our country back on track. Most were responsive to Senator Obama's economic plan of tax cuts for the middle class and smarter regulation of our financial sector.

I know that an Obama administration would bring renewed focus toward reviving our urban centers, and I will be working to bring that message to other voters between now and Election Day.

Join us on another Drive for Change for the final Get Out the Vote Weekend.

What if...

Roseville City School Board Member — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:53:51 EDT

HOW RACISM WORKS…..

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain was still married to the first woman he said "I do" to?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama was a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama was a member of the Keating-5?
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire?
With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.

Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?....

Final Count

Christina — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:16:01 EDT

Hello everyone,

After months of hosting events and calling friends and family members, we are proud to announce that we registered 152 people and raised $1005! This dollar amount is due to increase because a friend of ours will be giving us a check for $1000! He committed to matching our fundraising goal of $1000 and thanks to so many people who want CHANGE, we surpassed it by $5! :)

During many of our voter registration events, we encountered a lot of indifference which demoralized us, however, meeting people who share our passion immediately fired us up! We want to thank all the people who stepped up to the plate and inspired us to keep going. Such as the 93 year old man who became a US citizen and wanted to make sure that he could cast his vote for Senator Barack Obama! People like Josie and Mayra Juarez two young women from Los Angeles, CA who were first time volunteers and who became very excited to learn that we were sisters as well!

There are only a few weeks left and we are very much committed to phone banking. As Senator Barack Obama said, we should not get cocky and we need to continue to work hard to reach out to undecided voters.

Yes We Can! Si Se Puede!

In solidarity,

Christina Torres

Patricia Torres

Moorpark, CA

Phonebanking Old Hollywood Style: A Post from Nancy D in LA

Sarah Gallagher — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:07:02 EDT

This weekend, the Obama campaign held four ginormous super phonebanks in the Los Angeles area. Harnessing the amazing enthusiasm here in the final weeks of the Presidential campaign, these phonebanks are full of great energy, dedication, and cell phone waves (oh, and yummy snacks). In my neck of the woods, our Hollywood-Los Feliz-Silver Lake phonebanks joined forces at the fabled Sunset-Gower Studios, located at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Gower St. (This intersection was once known as "Gower Gulch" - silver-screen cowboys used to gather there looking for work as extras on western films.) Last weekend, this particular phonebank drew 200 volunteers who made 13,000 calls to battleground states and, in phonebanks throughout California, over 500,000 voters were called! This weekend our goal was higher - the campaign has challenged California volunteers to reach at least 625,000 voters - the Last Call For Change!

Former home of Columbia Pictures ("It Happened One Night", "Funny Girl" and "The Caine Mutiny") and current home to such TV shows as Dexter and Heroes, Sunset-Gower houses many independent film and television production companies. It was also the former home of one of my all-time personal favorites: Six Feet Under. (You can read more about the studio's history here.)

Last weekend, entering data from calls to Colorado, I was really heartened by the number of voters solidly in the Obama camp, versus the ones for McCain. The polls there are bearing this out. This weekend, we're over halfway toward beating last week's totals - 111 volunteers on Saturday, making nearly 9,000 calls! Sunday will surely rock.

Thanks to the incredible volunteer coordinators who are making this phonebank happen every weekend. Your dedication is inspiring. And of course, the roomful of volunteers who didn't want to leave.

Folks, if you haven't tried it yet, it's not too late - get thee to CA.BarackObama.com and find the nearest phonebank. You can make calls, enter data, sell swag, bring snacks - the possibilities are endless. You won't regret it!

Keep Our Eye on the Ball: Go to Florida, Go to Ohio

Randy Wells — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:19:58 EDT

"This is a 51/49 country, not a 60/40 country... If you want to elect Barack Obama, go to Florida, go to Ohio. Go to the battleground states."

Obama supporters are more confident now than at any time this year. (Who even remembers the depressing days right after Sen. McCain chose Gov. Palin?) The media echo chamber is largely reinforcing this confidence, just as they have in months past. The powerful endorsement by Colin Powell today on Meet the Press will likely dominate press coverage for a day or two, with only two weeks and two days left to election day. That is huge.

But we should keep our eye on the ball! Lets focus our attention on the battleground states, because if Obama wins only one of these, we likely win the whole ballgame: Florida, Colorado, Ohio. And the single thing that will tip the balance is a significant move by older voters, particularly in places like Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The Great Schlep

Sarah Silverman gives a funny take on our mission: go to your grandparents, your parents, your friends and family in these toss-up states, and make sure they are on board. It would be great to win North Carolina or Virginia, but it is essential that we will our share of toss-ups.

Fair warning: this humorous video does contain expletives.

http://www.thegreatschlep.com/

Conservatives sing the praises of Barack Obama

"I sense in this guy a first-class mind who might just do smart things." --Christopher Buckley

"Barack Obama is the sharpest knife in the [Democratic] drawer." --Rush Limbaugh

Colin Powell Strongly Endorses Barack Obama

Randy Wells — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:28:18 EDT

Colin Powell is now endorsing Barack Obama on Meet the Press.

"I have gone back and forth between someone I have the highest regard for, John McCain, and someone I have been getting to know, Barack Obama." Both candidates would be good presidents.

However, Barack Obama displays "intellectual vigor, intellectual curiosity", and he is surrounding himself with people that will give him the advice that he needs. "I think he is a transformational figure... I will be voting for him."

While Powell continues to love and admire John McCain, who he has known for more than 20 years, he is very concerned about the rightward direction of the Republican Party. "We must stop polarizing our country. John McCain is an non-polarizing as anyone I know, but there is a polarizing element in the Republican Party."

The effort by the McCain campaign to tie Obama to terrorism (via his relationship to Bill Ayers) is a "terrible stretch, its demogogary" and its further evidence that the McCain campaign has been "narrow, ... too narrow for America." Powell tells a compelling story about a young man who was 14 at the time of 9-11. This young man was born in New Jersey, and waited until he was of age to join the military and serve his country. That young man was killed in combat, and is buried in Arlington Cemetary. His gravestone has the star and crecent of his Muslim faith, just as others there have a cross or a Star of David. The McCain campaign effort to tar Obama as Muslim (despite the fact that it is not true) insults the memory of this young man, and the millions of American Muslims who should be able to aspire to serve this country, and yes to become President of the United States.

Barack Obama will electrify this country, and the world. He has established himself as the right candidate. At this point in history, we need a president who will be transformational, a generational change. That is Barack Obama.

Blog from Veterans for Obama Co-Chair Dee Dee Gilliam

Sarah Gallagher — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:54:01 EDT

It's been 4 months since I was asked to take a leadership role with Veterans for Obama. Being a non-combat veteran, I knew who I would be representing; I had served with many of them during my 15 years as an Army Reserve nurse. The folks I represent are the finest of American citizens. They are soldiers, sailors, and airmen representing all branches of the uniformed services. They are veterans from World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq x 2, Kuwait and Afghanistan, plus numerous other missions that would take too much space to name. They are the ones that I looked up to, every one of them, as heroes, and always wondered if I was made of the same mettle. Some of the best days of my life were when I was at drill. No matter how much I would moan and groan about going every month, I always came home happy, having spent time with some of the best friends I will ever make in my life.

I have not regretted a moment of the time I've spent doing this. I have met new friends, including many new heroes, and have learned more about the political process than I ever thought I would know. I have learned so much about veterans and military issues, and the various advocacy groups working these issues, that I know this is going to continue to be a part of my life long after Nov. 4. And I have learned so much about how much Barack Obama cares about veterans. I was a supporter before I took on this role, but what I have learned about this man, who has never served a day in uniform, but who, with his wife, goes out of his way to reach out not only to the person serving, but to the family members of that person, has not just reinforced my faith in his abilities as a leader, but as a human being who cares for his fellow man.

Barack Obama believes America has a sacred trust with our veterans. He is committed to creating a 21st Century Department of Veterans' Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation's veterans deserve. Obama will demand that the military and the VA coordinate to provide a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life, and improve mental health treatment at every stage of military service. He will require that they work to recruit more health professionals, improve screening processes, offer more support to families and make PTSD benefits claims fairer. We shouldn't have to hear stories about veterans losing their families and careers after they come home because they cannot deal with the emotional scars created by repeated deployments. There shouldn't be more stories of veterans committing suicide because they can't re-integrate into civilian life.

Letter from Mary Jane, California Field Director, to All California Activists

Sarah Gallagher — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:01:33 EDT

Bravo, California!

This weekend, we exceeded our 500,000 call goal! You made 543,000 calls to Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, crucial battleground states that will make the difference in this election. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication.

Catch your breath and then get ready - we are three weeks from Election Day. Our goals will grow. And we will continue to exceed them. Now is the time to recruit all your friends who have been saying 'What can I do?'.

Join us this weekend at another Last Call For Change phonebank.

I am proud to be in the company of so many amazing volunteers.

Yes We Can,
Mary Jane Stevenson
California Field Director

Debate #3: Los Angeles Wrap Up

Sarah Gallagher — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:06:24 EDT

Kit, a volunteer at Obama CA HQ, joined hundreds of supporters to cheer on Barack at the 3rd Debate Watch Party in Los Angeles

Tonight's debate watch party at the lovely Boulevard 3 was nothing short of exhilarating! Barack showed the steady leadership America needs from a president, and clearly outlined his plan for our country. Americans cannot doubt who would be best to lead our nation out of this economic crisis and regain our standing in the world.

The judgment and plans demonstrated by the Senator made a statement to the nation about the kind of President he will be - the President we need. We eagerly look forward to the final debate watch party. Come join fellow supporters next Wednesday 10/15, and make sure you sign up to donate one hour, one day, or one week of your time to elect Barack Obama!

Official Debate Watch Parties on Tuesday!

Sarah Gallagher — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:22:36 EDT

With John McCain's announcement that he would rather spend the last month of this election smearing Barack's character instead of talking about the top priority issue for voters, it's more important than ever that you show your support for Obama at an Official California Debate Watch Party in LA, SF, Sacramento or San Diego!

Sign up at my.barackobama.com/cadebatewatch!

The California Obama campaign is hosting debate watch parties across the state.

We'll cheer on Barack at the second presidential debate, hear from local elected officials, discuss the issues, and get to work organizing our communities for change. You'll be able to meet field staff and sign up to make a difference in this campaign. Join us and fellow supporters on Tuesday, October 7th.

Sign up at my.barackobama.com/cadebatewatch!

VP Debate Watch Party - Los Angeles

Sarah Gallagher — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:22:46 EDT

Kit, a volunteer at our California HQ, was fired up at last night's VP Debate Watch Party at Hollywood Social in LA.

The VP Debate Watch Party at Social Hollywood drew an even larger crowd than the first Presidential debate for what was one of the most highly anticipated events of the campaign. As the two candidates approached their podiums, the excitement in the room reached fever pitch, and everyone was thrilled to see Joe Biden deliver! The statesman from Scranton clearly outlined how the Obama-Biden administration would bring the change the country so desperately needs to the White House. The hundreds of spectators in LA cheered loudly as Senator Biden advocated for the middle class and showed how we could restore America's leadership in the world. While Governor Palin defended the policies of the last eight years, Joe Biden showed the vision and judgement the country an expect from an Obama-Biden administration. And the crowd last night couldn't have been more proud!

Californians on Change: Tom Mullens, CA Veterans for Obama

Sarah Gallagher — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:55:54 EDT

Tom Mullens is the Co-Chair of California Veterans for Obama

"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"- Admiral David Farragut

It's only in the last couple of years that I learned how long my family has been part of this country. I found out that I have ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War and nearly every conflict where the country called. I also found that, according to U.S. Census data, up to the beginning of the 20th Century many of them could not read and write.

My dad, as a Navy veteran of the Korean War, was able to take advantage of the G.I. Bill. He became the first member of his family, after more than 250 years in America, to attend college. Unfortunately, he didn't get a degree. Feeding four hungry kids and keeping a roof over our heads eventually took precedence.

I served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and enrolled in college within weeks of my separation from active duty. The G.I. Bill allowed me to attend school full-time while I worked part-time. Four years later, I was the first member of my father's family to graduate from college. Almost as important, I had no student loans hanging over my head so I could afford to choose a career in education. Unfortunately, after Vietnam veterans' education benefits diminished sharply, what had been a major engine of upward advancement for working and middle-class Americans became an afterthought. But last year things changed.

Recap: Californians Drive for Change

Sarah Gallagher — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:08:13 EDT

Elizabeth Kim is a volunteer in Nevada.

This weekend Californians drove across state lines to canvass for Barack Obama alongside their Nevadan neighbors. The day started off with training sessions across the state. One group of Golden Staters got a quick tutorial on Nevada issues from NW Las Vegas Regional Field Director Evan Sutton.

Why is Nevada so important? Al Gore lost Nevada by 2% in 2000. If Nevada had turned, Gore would have won the election. The good news is that in previous cycles Democrats had a net negative of 8,000 registered voters in Nevada compared to Republicans. We now have a positive advantage of 75,000 registered Democrats over Republicans thanks to the hard work of our volunteers.

Click here to continue reading…

Barack is moving ahead with plans for Friday's debate - Join Us at a California Debate Watch Party

Sarah Gallagher — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:41:26 EDT

The election is less than 40 days away, and the American people deserve to hear directly from the candidates about how they intend to lead our country. We want to thank you for your support of this campaign so far and invite you to join Obama for America at one of the four Debate Watch Parties we're hosting across the state.

http://my.barackobama.com/cadebatewatch

We'll cheer for Barack Obama at the Presidential Debate, hear from local elected officials, discuss the issues and get to work organizing in our communities for change! Join us and your fellow supporters this Friday, September 26th.

We're hosting parties in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego, but if you're in another town, you can also use our zip code locator to find a Debate Watch house party near you.

Join us tomorrow!

Yes we can,
Mary Jane Stevenson
Field Director
Obama for America, California

Californians on Change: A Message on the Economic Crisis

Sarah Gallagher — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:06:54 EDT

A message from Ted Lieu, Chair of the Assembly Rules Committee and former Chair of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee.

If only we had listened to Senator Obama earlier, this entire crisis on Wall Street could have been avoided. Since the beginning of this year, Senator Obama repeatedly called for stemming the foreclosure crisis by providing relief to homeowners and hard-working Americans. No one up to speed on these issues seriously disputes that the root cause of this crisis is the massive and continuing wave of foreclosures caused by predatory and unsuitable loans sold during the mortgage frenzy.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, a former industry CEO on Wall Street, should have seen this foreclosure crisis coming. Before the crisis hit, Senator Obama made repeated calls for foreclosure relief, and Secretary Paulson ignored all of it. Instead, he put out his feeble industry-driven Hope Now plan at the beginning of this year, which I and many others criticized as doing virtually nothing to stem the rising tide of foreclosures.

Senator Obama was right on this issue, and the Bush Administration was wrong. More fundamentally, we need effective mortgage reform so a crisis of this magnitude never happens again. It was the Bush/McCain deregulation policies of the last eight years that directly resulted in the financial implosions occurring on Wall Street. The trickle-down, industry-driven economic policies of the Bush/McCain years have caused immense harm to our citizens.

Before giving away the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of the free world, getting an apology from President Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson, and Senator John McCain would be nice.

Join Obama for America - California at a Debate Watch Party this Friday

Sarah Gallagher — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:18:18 EDT

Join us in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego as we bring people together, watch the debate, talk about the issues, and build this movement for change.

Find a California Debate Watch Party Near You

In another city? Debate Watch House Parties are happening all over the state - meet up with your friends and neighbors!

Obama Nos Llama! Join the California Latino Vote Program

Sarah Gallagher — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 08:50:57 EDT

The Obama for America, California team is proud to continue to create opportunities for our Latino community to get involved in this election.
On Sept 26th the Obama Nos Llama! - Caravana a Nevada will gather a large group of California Latinos working specifically to register Latinos in Nevada to vote. Latinos make up 24% of Nevada's population but only 12% of the electorate. This needs to increase significantly & immediately. Let's be clear: Latinos can win this election.

Sign up to join us for the Obama Nos Llama - Caravana a Nevada.

We are happy to announce our 100 Latino Leaders Initiative: Los/Las Cien. In addition to our general sign up, the CA Latino Vote Program invites you to be one of our statewide 100 Latino Leaders for the Obama Nos Llama! Caravana. Each member will confirm 9 people who are willing to go participate on the Sept. 26th-28th caravan, our last chance to register Nevadans to vote. The 100 people who confirm 9 volunteers each will together make "Mil Voces," a monumental and proud accomplishment for all of us California Latinos for Obama.

Its looks like another Third World Economic Model to Validate the Corruption of the Establishments….!

NO A LA MARCHA EN CONTRA DE OBAMA — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:37:26 EDT

The worst government ever had this country is the Government of Mr. George W Bush.
This government isn't happy with the mess of the illegal war in Iraq and all the escalation of the economy, now they INSTITUTIONALIZE the CORRUPTION at all levels in the public administration.

What happens with the banks and his tumultuous disorders is something conceivable only under regimes of absolute anarchism in other parts of the word.

Under the scrutinize eye of the Federal Reserve all this mess happen and no body --------> YES, no body ------> is going to tell the real true. Why? Simple --------> the political consequences has no limits!

Now the government to justify his action is scaring the public opinion about the weakness of the economy and so on.

They choose his model for his business, they grow up and get million of million of dollars in profit, they take his own risk, they doesn't ask about the consequences of this risk to the TAXPAYER, they owed an explanation to his share holders, so why this administration are going to help this entrepreneurs with BILLIONS OX THE TAXPAYER DOLLARS.

This administration is playing THIS game: "TOO LITTLE TOO POOR" and with these are created a new kind of citizen:

A. - Those who deserved to be exonerate of his failures and are economically to BIG to failure even if they disrespect any common sense of managements.

And

B. - Those citizens who are the victims of the Katrina and others catastrophes who do not deserve borrow any direct loan from the government with special interest to rebuild his homes because they are "TOO LITTLE TOO POOR". And not make mistake, probably this TAXPAYER are also victims of the INSURANCE COMPANIES who are trying with subterfuges avoid and made honor his owns INSURANCE POLICIES.

As an example FREDDIE MAC & FANNIE MAE is maybe one of the most ominous case of corruption in the entirely world and of course in the history of this country and as a today the only victims of this disgrace are the TAXPAYERS -----------> YES ---------------> the TAXPAYERS who are going to pay every single dollar this PRIVATE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION lose under the most perverse administration they has being mismanaged.

No the political establishment, no the media, no one is talking deeper about it, because they can't be clear in any prudent and honestly investigation.

The TAXPAYER probably is going to pay only for this two institution BILLION OF DOLLARS ---------------> without any compensation. Where is the justice on this charitable action of the George W Bush administration? ---> NO WHERE!

According to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mr. Bernake and the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who has the constitutional mandate of take care and avoid this debacle, they never said anything about it and now they issue a warning advice about the consequences of this failures. They said if these institutions aren't salvage by the government the crises could be worst. But worst or not, no one wants to assume the RESPONSIBILITIES of this CRISIS.

Hundred of millions of dollars these two companies invest in advertising, for not other reason than consolidate his influence in the mass media.

Hundred of millions of dollars they send to FOUNDATIONS and made unaccounted donations around the country, for only one purpose, keep and consolidate his influence in the political establishments.

And no government authority said anything!

Them you have another crisis with a very well know PRIVATE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, like, Lehman Brother Holding Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., American International Group Inc.(AIG), and others.

These companies take an unnecessary risk in his business, and them the same history ------------> THE TAX PAYER ARE GOING TO PAY for all the mess they did and the administration of George W Bush come up quickly and suddenly to help this bad administrative and dishonest practice with the TAXPAYER MONEY -------> of course they use this MANTRA --------->to scare to public opinion---------> if they don't do it them this situation can compromise the HEALTHY of the Market and the country economy.

It seems to me they use the same scaring strategies to go on to THE ILLEGAL WAR!

Moreover, they decide who is good and who's bad! But in any case THE MONEY OF THE TAXPAYER ARE GOING to PAY FOR ALL THIS DISHONESTY ADMINISTRATIVE BEHAVIOR OF THE CHAIRMAN AND CEOS OF THESE PRIVATE COMPANIES!

At this time no one is indicted, no further investigation and probably no one are going to pay for all this ECONOMIC THIRD WORLD MODEL of this pseudo businessman STRONG FULLY supported by George W Bush with the TAXPAYER MONEY.

On March 27, 2008 I published this short post (IT'S LOOKS LIKE THE TITANIC'S HISTORY) about the economy in this country and this was my remarks on it:

"Only few are going to save his live, the other are going to died"

In the mean time NO matter how much the government LOADED THIS CORRUPTION with money of THE TAXPAYERS in this THIRD WORLD ECONOMIC MODEL ---------> THE ECONOMY of this country is going to sink deep and the big majority of the TAXPAYERS would be the only victims of this mess because they are: TOO LITTLE AND TOO POOR!

Percy H Florez

USMC Sgt. Rafael Peralta

NO A LA MARCHA EN CONTRA DE OBAMA — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:19:14 EDT

When you read this kind of news you don't have any other option to ask yourself what the heck is going on.

It is really a disgrace what happen with this decision and happens to some one who can't repost or said anything about it, because he already pay the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

The Mexican-American, United Stated Marine Corps, Sergeant Rafael Peralta didn't realize this injustice could happen to him when he enrolled the United Stated Marine Corps, he just enrolled and defend his country with honor and heroism. He deserve the medal Of Honor, because his action in the line of duty on November 15, 2004.

Here is the history of his heroic action:

1.- Marines exchange fire with Iraqi insurgents inside a Fallujah house, Peralta is struck in the head by a ricochet, likely fired by another Marine. He falls to the floor.
2.- As the insurgents flee, one of them lobs a grenade toward the Marines.
3.- The grenade lands next to Peralta as Marines take cover or run from the room.
4.- Five Marines see Peralta scoop the grenade under his body, where it explodes.
If this is not and act of heroism what it is?

Peralta's family was notified of the decision Wednesday by Lt Gen. Richard Natonski, a top Marine Corps commander Col. David Lapan, a Marine spokesman said he was unaware of any recent award nomination that was denied in this way.

This information was posted today September 18, 2008 by the USA Today newspaper in his page 4A with this fancy title Some upset Marine sergeant won't receive Medal of Honor.

His family paid respect of his heroic action and public a memorial for him on Internet, here is the the web page of this brave Hispanic-American soldier: Rafael Peralta - Home Page

God Bless US Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael Peralta

God Bless his proudly family.

Percy H Florez

Obama Over McCain In a Heartbeat

Roseville City School Board Member — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:13:52 EDT

You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling

health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population,

skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.,

this is an unusually critical election year.

Let's look at the educational background of your two options:

Obama:

Occidental College - Two years.

Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.

Harvard - Jurist Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

& Biden:

University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.

Syracuse University College of Law - Jurist Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:

United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899

& Palin:

Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester

North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study

University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism

Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester

University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

New Obama videos available in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Captioned

Michael Novak — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:06:28 EDT

Hi everyone,

We just posted two videos that you might want to use. They are available both on our website at www.captionedmediaforobama.com, and also on Youtube Channel captionedforobama.

Dave Stewart's An American Prayer video is now available captioned, and with bilingual subtitles in Spanish, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. It's a great song by Dave. His main site for the song is at www.myamericanprayer.com
Barack's acceptance speech in Denver is now available with complete captioning. No translation yet, but just the captioning makes it much easier to understand for a lot of people.

If anyone wants to help with translation, we would love to have you contribute. I went to the opening of the San francisco offices for his campaign, and the level of energy was off the charts! So let's do what we can so that all voters can be reached by his message and leadership. All the best, Michael NovakCaptionedmediaforobama

IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN ISSUE RECOMMENDATION

Tony — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:49:47 EDT

Sen. Obama I was gonna write this sunday but my internet was down and thanks that I waited to help the democrats fight the so called offshore dfrilling flip flop which is not. This is the issue I was holding and I know this for many years but thought it was best to bring it in the final strecht of the campaign. I just saw the Mr. Independent Lou Dobbs lambasting the democrats for now agreeing to offshore drilling. and it looks like there are no experts in the oil industry, even Mr. Pickesn doesn't sounds like one and now I think he is a geologist as he mentioned something about giving credit to engineers, well, Mr. Pickens I am a petroelum enginneer with a Texas Professional License (very few with this) and I graduated in the top 10 of the best petroleum engineering school in the world, the University of Texas at Austin you can call then and they will see who I am. I know I know more than you and all experts about this energy crisis and no expert has come forward, not even a CEO who get a 15$ million bonus from exxon-mobil, ladies and gentleman the real solution is a diversified energy policy, someone who tells you offshore drilling is the solution is ignorant and it aint nothing but a hoax. As an expert from the bottom up, as i was in the oil fields day and nite while you were in the corporate offices I am knowledegable of the oil industry and all american I have seen LOVE drilling which I call RUKU RUKU for the boring sounding noise when drilling was less than 5 feet per hour, I used to go to the nearest town in western venezuela for a beer and come back and RUKU RUKU was still there. I liked the action, the casing runs, the cementing, the perforation and completion of wells, yes, US driling engineers never complete wells, the leats test it with a drilling rigs something never done by an american company, but venezuela did it cause of lack of deep workover/completion rigs so that is why my ample knowledge. Mr. Pickens knows and a production engineering authority from the UT-Texas that out of 100 engineers they hire ony 1 or 2 productions engineers, also and I was in charge of 7000 beam pumped wells when Venezuela had 300000+ wells and saudi arabia had only 2000 and you know they dont use production string and they produce from the casing and most wells are shallows. my wells were from 9000-15000 feet., so YES it's not just DRILL DRILL BABY DRILL OR RUKU RUKU productions is not assigned the same resources as drilling and Dr. Augusto Podio can tell you, so the solution is not just drilling, but production and reservoir engineering. There are secondary recovery, tertiary recovery and my own invented QUATERNARY RECOVERY, where you can get 15-20% of what is left, and many other things like coal bed methane exploitation, so Sen Obama and Sen Biden my recommendation is recommend that an American Oil Company be formed, never in history has this been applied because Mr. Pickens knows they never let washington do it, Big Oil never will like this by you can form a American or washington energy company to tackle of phases of oil industry not just drilling and you will see the results sooner that later, why cant a domestic oil company can be formed when the US used to be a major producer of oil and this can be done with the windfall profits tax and the oil will be sold of put on strategic reserve and this company will compete with big oil with no problem and they will hire the best people not the friends of oil men and bypass people with great minds and ideas.

Raised by Community Organizers

Christian — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:23:26 EDT

I wouldn't be sending this had I not been insulted last night. You see I was raised by community organizers. Community organizers sacrifice too much to be mocked in front of a national audience. This country will need everyone one of its community organizers to overcome all the challenges before it. The G.O.P. claims it wants individuals to be more responsible. Last night, however, it ridiculed those who are personally responsible and responsible to entire neighborhoods. If you want leadership, rather than juvenile bullying and mockery, please donate again to the Obama/Biden campaign.

Sarah Palin, Welcome to The Terrordome

sofia — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:47:26 EDT

After tonight's pointless and vitriolic speech I hope Sarah Palin is ready for open season. If thinks she can belittle and make smug elitist comments about Obama's background then I hope we can expect the niceties to be squarely put away and Obama and Biden to treat her like a real candidate and not someone who needs to be handeled with kid-gloves. If she is a "put bull in lipstick", I think she should be treated as one.

It was abundantly clear tonight that Palin is doing the smear job Mccain can't or won't do himself because he is afraid of the backlash oh- and there WILL be backlash. One can't expect to insult half a nation, treat us to a pissing on of the Constitution by trying to ban books, side with the NRA, and try to deny women their reproductive rights and not think it will go unnoticed because she is a loud and shrill speaker. These atrocities against Democracy will (I hope) not continue to be unnoticed.

Alright, Pit-bull Palin...You've gotten our attention. And we are not people you want to make enemies of.

Pictures from DNC in Denver, CO

JP — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:28:18 EDT

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=19c027oy.xmzh4l2&x=0&y=-mh0ixq&localeid=en_US

Obamanos!

Roseville City School Board Member — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:11:29 EDT

OBAMANOS! A Man With the Courage of Robert Kennedy

Steven-Ybarra.jpg By Steven J. Ybarra, JD

Finally, after eight years there is a budget and a plan for the Latino voter! It must really gall a bunch of folks within the Democratic National Committee (DNC) (who have bought off on the Dean theory of kumbaya and let us do a fifty state plan) to see that Obama gets it. You have to win Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.

The twenty million dollars is going to be a real squeaker. Lets face it 20 million is not really enough. I knew that if I said 40 million the east coasters would go crazy or think I was. Now there is barely enough time to get the real job done - this all needed to get started four years ago. But you go to war with the army you have, right?

So what is the question of the day? It seems that we Latinos need to step up to the plate and get ready to raise money for this earmarked effort. Not since Bobby Kennedy have we seen a real commitment from a presidential candidate to our voters and issues. Obama, in fact, looks like one guy who wants to go the distance.

I have seen courageous men and women in my lifetime. They are people who despite being afraid continue to do the job. There are certainly three people in this election year who by those standards are courageous.

One without a doubt is McCain. [Not for what he is doing in this race because he has surrendered his courage to the Republifacists who must now maintain their so-called honor. Even Sun Tzu in the art of War a thousand years ago knew that this was a weakness. No man of honor has to really maintain his honor, either he has it, or he doesn't.] The second person in the race with real courage is Michelle Obama.

Finally the person with all the courage is Obama, who is under constant attack now that he is the nominee.

Senator Obama has challenged us as Americans to believe that we can do what America has the capability of doing. Obama has challenged us as Americans to get back hope. Obama has challenged us as Americans to look into the better nature of ourselves and see the possibility and for all these things, he is being attacked. He looks at all of us and says let us get going or in Spanish vámonos.

He is being attacked for challenging America the way it was challenged in the Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II. Is this any reason for him to be attacked? I listen to the right wing nuts say that he is pictured as the messiah. I just want a president who cares about the people in this country and this hemisphere.

I am going out to help raise the money that Obama says he wants to commit to our vote. I know he has the money already, I just want to prove the point that loyalty is a two way street. The answer to each of the questions of the day is and has always been when someone stands with you - stand with them. We may lose this election but it will not be for lack of my trying.

My old friend Cesar Chavez used to say Sí se puede! He would go through the whole conjugation of the verb until he got to the statement no tengo poder. This means I have no power. When we as a nation admit we cannot do something, it means we are powerless as a people. I know, as did Cesar, that admitting that one is powerless means that others will control their existence.

No one controls my existence. I am responsible for my country and myself. I know we can as a nation do better, be better, and have hope again about our future for our children yet unborn.

Until today, I signed off all my DNC correspondence with the term Siempre Adelante, which means always forward. From today until my term in office ends, I will sign it off - OBAMANOS!

p.s. If you would like to contribute to the effort to get Mexican American and other Latino voters to vote in this election for Obama go to www.Obamanos.us for information on how to do that and for the links to many site already up and running.

Thanks Barak soy en su lado!

©Steven Ybarra Jis a retired civil rights attorney who operates a consultant company in California. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee and a long time political activist. Contact Steven at: sjybarra@aol.com. This article is copyright by Steven J. Ybarra JD, originally published in www.Hispanicvista.com and Obsnews.com but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this entire credit paragraph is attached.

Important Fact....from a 08/09/2008 Post down...

Tony — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:08:50 EDT

Look At the end of the post, a day before Russia's Invasion calling them "Unfriendly", it's here down 3 posts, like this:

".....I place a prediction that Chavez is losing this referendum battle at present by 51% No, 49% Yes, and this may deteriorate even more if oil prices keep going lower as the military apparatus is big, secret numbers and ineficient officials with low intelligence that I can call them donkeys as all they do is buy weapons from unfriendly russia and none of them even invent a rifle, a bunch of low life worthless people in uniform which I believe will never stand a fierce battle".

..yes, I lost the prediction however there were rumors that some kind of fraud was committed and this technique is used even from the past right governments, they use a list of dead people and register them but there is a limit to it and it's rumored also this was used in venezuela in the last vote where the NO won by small margin so that is why the confidential internal polls of gov done before this november election where several governors posts are at stake and it shows them with a lesser than 50% approval so the NO vote even won by a wider margin, and this technique they tell each other cronies to use it, but a heavy opposition turn out can offset this unethical maneuver.

Dem Convention Themes Hit Unity, Security, Change - See You There!

Roseville City School Board Member — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:32:45 EDT

Dem convention themes hit unity, security, change

Associated Press - August 11, 2008 10:54 AM ET

DENVER (AP) - Democrats announced the nightly themes for their Denver convention today, stressing unity, security and change.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, co-chair of the convention, said the theme for the August 25th opening night will be "One Nation," with a speech by Michelle Obama.

The August 26th theme is "Renewing America's Promise" with a speech by Sen. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama's chief rival for the presidential nomination.

On August 27th, the theme is "Securing America's Future" with an acceptance speech by Obama's still-unannounced vice presidential candidate.

The theme for August 28th, the night Obama formally accepts the nomination at the Denver Broncos' football stadium, is "Change You Can Believe In."

Party officials also said elected leaders, policy experts and convention speakers will respond to voter questions during an "America's Town Hall" segment on each of the convention's first three nights.

Text and video questions can be submitted online at http://www.DemConvention.com/townhall through August 27th.

Residents of Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio, Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, and Tampa, Florida, will be able to record questions or individual stories during "open call" sessions. Times and locations for the recording sessions have not been announced.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Breaking News: Bush & Republicans Foreign Policy Nightmare, Bush weeks ago: "Russia is a friend" !!

Tony — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:12:16 EDT

Well, let's start by telling Sen Obama to see how and what kind of nasty people the republicans are, Sen McCain was given Full coverage like acting like presidential by making him talk about the Russian invasion and NOBODY complained as of today, but look at recent past and see the way how they complained with their dirty money at YOU Sen Obama when you went to Europe and millions complained about you being made look presidential, see the kind of worthless people they are and they call us "mindless fans", well Sen Obama I bring YOU quality intelligence information that McCain ,who is in washington and support all Bush says including the 'Russia is a friend" phrase, and the rest of the mostly WASP worthless intelligence agents don't know, and this blog shows us how out of touch with reality they are when I am gonna show a blogger who in July 23, 2008 many weeks before Russia's Invasion is asking and putting to doubt that "Russia is a Friend" phrase, and this blog post from an independent blog (as criticism of America's racism is present there) also tells and ask why is Russia selling weapons to a criminal named Hugo Chavez who unknown to the intelligence community has tried to kill an innocent US Citizen in February 2004 when visiting relatives and when traveling to the Capital to return to US, if the US Embassy in Caracas has good telephone records THEY can see the distress call made at 6am to the US Marine who is 24/7 in that post and the Marine tells this person to call after 8am NOT helping him, then after telling the Marine that he appeared to be in danger and ONLY needed a taxi sent to go to the airport 1 hour away, because the Embassy phones sounded busy all the time after 8am and we now know that Hugo Chavez had been wiretapping all communications from overseas and to Embassies and the phone number from this house was cut off by the government and then the order to kill was sent even to these relatives who once one of them was mentioning to the US Citizen to go to Habana instead of Miami without no explanation and to the citizen's surprise, it is worth mentioning that this neighborghood was infested with so called cuban doctors and workers, and NOW you can see HOW McCAIN WANTS to get all credit for this Georgian crisis when he is all behind Bush failed policies and know nothing about what is happening, he is taking advantage of the situation to make him look good in National Security when they represent NONE and this blog is super evidence of this, additional I am gonna mention that Russia will be defiant as there is a president that has caused damage control to this country by invading Iraq and what comes from the mouth of the Communist Leaders is " American military is a paper tiger now when they could not put up with 30K insurgents in Iraq with 160K soldiers" and now you see the kind of National INSECURITY that has been exposed that is not reported by the worthless media and that is repeated by the America Haters and this blog is and will become heated from now on less than 60 days before election, because what YOU need to do Sen Obama is bring and rest those troops at home and then make them the majority in plainclothes and use intelligence as future wars will be won with intelligence and NOT soldiers in uniform and this is where McCain fails and NEVER will win any war as he doesn't have this idea/strategy and do not let him steal it and say this 1st as they call us "mindless fans" when YOU Sen Obama has super Intelligent people as supporters and I hope You see them, as all McCain thinks is use a plane to bomb civilian targets as the way to win wars and he will be dead wrong..so here is the blog it is in spanish but use Google to translate it or find a spanish-speaking person as I do not have time to translate now....

Here It is:

http://Politico-Digital.blogspot.com

PS: Plz, Don't Forget To Digg it..for heavy traffic...

Sen Obama Appears To Be Dormant

Tony — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:18:26 EDT

Well, even though I think these 1000-people polls are manipulated to reflect a tight race when the country has been brought ruin by the republicans and these facts alone are enough to cause a landslide democratic victory as McCain is no Reagan who won in the past plus the country is in the worst shape in modern history with millions losing homes and jobs and benefits and now having a low quality life thanks to the Republicans and this election is a referendum on the Republicans and they might be in jeopardy on losing many elections in a row in the future due to the precarious situation of this country at this level and McCain doesnt represent NO NEW thing and NO NEW REPUBLICAN, so he will be the same thing and even worst as if you analyze history republican administrations all had wars recently so Sen Mccain will have one and this will be WWIII when he attacks Iran or tell Israel to attack it which is the same BS., and this WWII will be the total ruin of america, so Sen obama why are you dormant? why don't you choose Hillary as VP and you will see the polls getting wide open when this is announced, Can't you see that you will have 18 miilion strong supporters who are now debating if giving you their vote,? instead act properly and show you want all their support by honoring their wishes and lider as I beleive that the toughest battle you won was that against Hillary and I know there are many good candidates outhere for VP, but analyze what Hillary will bring without mentioning Bill another strong assett, you appear to be infiltrated with nasty republican spies as they know that ticket combination they will fear it, Hillary acted better than many republican candidates and even McCain, so do not feel too confident, ...and start acting on behalf of the democratic party that is to make sure to recover the white house for the well being of america because I am sure McCain will be worst than Bush as he is a military man and look at history and name me a good military man who has been a good leader and you will find NONE as they do not know the economy and all they know is wage wars like McCain says it in his political ads that he knows how to win wars..I would like to ask Sen McCain if he won the Vietnam War...enough said...

Prediction: 1st Leftist Government to Fall

Tony — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:56:47 EDT

With no polls of any kind but a lot of unrest by the opposition party in Bolivia, Evo morales I predict will lose the Referendum that will tell him NO...I hope all countries including the US include referendums like this on their constitution so mediocre government like Evo and Bush can be kicked out and show real democracy when a leader is a big liar to the people. These socialists are deemed to destroy themselves as they are all a bunch of people who betray between themselves..and next in line next year when Sen Obama will be in the presidency the one up for referendum is Chavez and I have confidential information that internal polls they have done shows an approval of less than 50% and they are worried a bunch low inteligence polititians who abuse power and laugh at their own people. Due to this, the mediocre Chavez government is planning a massive voter registration but the variation here is they are gonna do like Peru's Garcia who bought the vote from poor people by taking them a bag of groceries or other needed things while they visit to register people as venezuelans grow inept at seeing their country with record oil income but lack of good jobs and inflation make them miserable while at the same time seeing government corruption at record high numbers. I place a prediction that Chavez is losing this referendum battle at present by 51% No, 49% Yes, and this may deteriorate even more if oil prices keep going lower as the military apparatus is big, secret numbers and inneficient officials with low intelligence that I can call them donkeys as all they do is buy weapons from unfriendly russia and none of them even invent a rifle, a bunch of low life worthless people in uniform which I believe will never stand a fierce battle.

Mexican Migration into U.S. Lesson

Roseville City School Board Member — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:30:11 EDT

Time for historical lesson on Mexican migration into U.S.
By Arturo Villarreal and Charley Trujillo
Published in San Jose, CA Mercury News Newspapeer

Immigration is driven by historical and economic necessity on both sides of the border. There are times when the United States needs Mexican labor, such as during World War I and World War II, that migration is encouraged. During economic downturns, migration is discouraged. Repression is directed toward this population, such as during the Great Depression, the economic recession of the 1950s and the present downturn.

Perhaps by analyzing and understanding history, we can change our perspective on the issue - not by building a fence across the border but by building a bridge between two countries that share a long history. It is difficult to comprehend that a physical barrier across the border will fence in history.

Most discussions of Mexican migration into the United States lack a historical perspective that lead to characterize it as a spontaneous and recent phenomenon. However, people of Mexican origin are descendants of one of the six original world civilizations and whose ancestors help lay the foundation for the development of the present-day Southwest and other regions.

The melting pot theory of assimilation and its assumptions are most often used by journalists, politicians and citizens who don't believe Mexican immigrants, legal or not, are productive members of society. At best, this theory is applicable to ethnic immigrants of European heritage. Unlike European immigrants who had to traverse an ocean, this theory does not apply to Native Americans or Mexicans who are indigenous to America.

The first significant contact between whites and Chicanos led to the Texas revolt of 1834-36 when the symbolic battle of the Alamo occurred. Many of the whites in the Alamo were undocumented because Mexico barred further white immigration into Texas in 1830. Armed with a strong military and the ideological doctrine of manifest destiny that deemed the United States as people chosen by God to rule from sea to shining sea, the United States invaded Mexico in 1846.

Mexico lost the war and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Mexico ceded California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and parts of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming for $15 million. Under the treaty, remaining Mexicans became U.S. citizens with all rights of property, language and religion. However, the provisions were ignored; or, in the case of property, it was taken by legal and extralegal means.

Violence against Chicanos by vigilantes and law enforcement officials was so severe that scores left for Mexico. Violence faced by those remaining was comparable to what blacks faced in the South. By the early 1900s, cheap Mexican labor was needed for work in the mines, railroads, agriculture and other industries. During this period, Mexicans also migrated to the Midwest and Northwest. The Mexican Revolution and World War I also contributed to push and pull factors that brought migration of Mexicans into the United States. It is estimated one-eighth of Mexico's population legally moved into the United States during this period.

Mexican labor has been instrumental in the development of infrastructure and capital accumulation in the United States. However, with the economic depression of the 1930s, Mexican labor was no longer necessary. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans were deported. This deportation included U.S. citizens, a practice that continues.

Racial categorization in the United States is the confusion of race, nationality and ethnicity, whereby people of Mexican origin are always suspect of being foreign, regardless of legal status. To the dominant society, however, they are all indistinguishable. Unlike European immigrant groups who are removed geographically from home countries, Chicano culture and language are reinforced by new arrivals from Mexico. Unlike immigrants from other countries who can forge a new place for themselves, migrants from Mexico have a ready-made niche for them because of historical circumstances. Historical perceptions and stereotypes of Mexicans precede them as they venture into other parts of the United States. Hopefully, by understanding our shared history, we can refrain from stereotyping and scapegoating Mexicans.

ARTURO VILLARREAL is a professor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. CHARLEY TRUJILLO is a writer and publisher in San Jose. They wrote this article for the Mercury News.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_10112627

The Real True Sen McCain

Tony — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:00:56 EDT

I was planning a post on the issue raised today by the News Media, not to forget the hillarious show by Sen. McCain as Obama was in Europe. Well, Sen "Flip Flop" you are doing BERRY Good, you showed your real short-temper and keep doing it that you will lose by a landslide, I know Sen Obama should continue to laugh at the manipulated 1000 people poll, wait for the Nov. one, on another note I had discussed with friends the real threat that McCain represent for working families, definitely the McCain household bringing $100s of millions per month shows he doesn't represent the working people who are hurting today, he has never mentioned the word Poverty as he only says low income americans, he is like Bush who says this word weak and you can also see and let the minority population know that in Bush 2nd term Never had been mentioned the word of Affirmative action or the ackward republican law called americans with disabilities act. and rampant racism and discrimination is happening even more today in america as CNN reports that blacks find twice as hard to find jobs as whites do, imagine latinos who according to this unfair society are at the bottom after whites, blacks, asians and others, they probably be 4 or 5 times as hard for us to find exploitation jobs, and I am gonna spew the secret that this election will be decided by the latino vote after the recent steady attack of Mccain that increased the support of blacks for obama from 89% to 98% and Mccain if he gets 1% of the black vote it will be too much, so you all latino OJO PELAO this time, McCain mentioned today that he doesn't supports the quotas and I know what that is, put them as quota but never promote them leaving whites as the majority of managers selected only for the color of the skin and not intelligence or ability, then you ask yourself why is this country is in such a shape as CNN reported that most Bush appointees were just selected due to friendship rather than intelligence and ability, you can see why no wonder the credibility of this country keeps sinking like the Titanic and nobody can find oil in the mainland as CNN says that corporate america is almost all WASP People, and take a test online and visit a few oil companies and see the directorship whiter than white paint, then you ask yourself no wonder they can't find oil in mainland america as they are a bunch of worthless CEOs and I am not gonna say where there is oil these days, ask them who make millions and get $15 million bonuses, they should at least demonstrate if they deserve these outrageous high salaries and compare to productivity, I say this because I am a petroleum enginnering expert from the bottom up as I once was in charge of 7000 wells in western Venezuela when Saudi Arabia had 2000 wells and I kept seeing the so called wasp experts learning along side me as there were more problems and complexities than in the middle east, they could not understand why the geology used to change on an hours drive and yes they used to make 15 times what I used to make in salary, but nobody knows this but when you apply they throw your resume on the trash can when your name is latino or black by the so called racist minority of this country as a white woman said in another blog, if it's a minority it is real a huge one, and then you can see why nobody can find oil in this country in the mainland that is easier than offshore, although as a former Petroleum Engineer graduated from the TOP Petroleum Eng School (UT-Austin) in the world, I do beleive offshore drilling should be a part of the new energy strategy but applying Environmental Technology where the US is a leader but with a limited drilling plan like you recommend, but offshore drilling alone will not solve this problem in the short term while the economy keeps deteriorating due to high oil prices, there are for example Oil techniques underdeveloped in this country and without receiving any millionaire bonus I am gonna give a hint about one, that is Coal Bed Methane that wells are so easy and fast to drill and here Gas production increases with time contrary to standard gas wells, the areas now exploited are underdeveloped and new areas have never been tried to find as I believe there are more to be found even worldwide, developing a whole coal bed methane gas field is the equivalent to drilling just one offshore O&G well in costs and you get a clean energy source faster than offshore drilling and in ample supply fast to tackle the country's energy consumption, so hope the highly paid energy experts give a reading to this post and speak better, I am very surprised no experts and think tank has never analyzed this alternative, and I have for you Sen Obama a plan/strategy that I will recommend that makes sense and I know nobody has thought about that, and you can do it easily by taxing big oil and oil will be produced without waiting for scared investors and w/o telling big oil to drill more as it's true easy oil is depleting, what is left is hard oil which has more risks so that is the reluctance to start new drilling projects, I have meant to post it even before the lift to offshore drilling, however it's better to give you this alternative close to election day or before convention so you see if it sounds good to you, you announce it there, so be on the lookout...

Statewide Platform Meeting to be held at Worcester Library

Marianne Bergenholtz Delegate — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:07:28 EDT

A Platform Meeting open statewide to the general public is scheduled for Tuesday, July 22, 5 -8PM at the Worcester Public Library. Several National Platform Delegates and pledged Obama delegates will be at the meeting to assist members of the public in writing their recommendations for the 2008 Democratic Platform to be voted on at the National Convention in August. There will be opportunities for discussion on the topics of interest. Hosted by Marianne Brady Bergenholtz, 3rd MA District, Obama Pledged Delegate

Maximum 140 people. Cookies, Lemonade and Iced Tea will be available.

Make history on Tuesday. Participate in our democracy!

Event posted at http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gwyl

Reservations recommended, but not required.

Sacramentans, Placer, Yolo and El Dorado Strongly Support Obama

Roseville City School Board Member — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:15:17 EDT

Sacramentans strongly support Obama in election
July 11, 2008

A majority of Sacramentans have stated they will vote for Senator Barack Obama for president of the United States, according to a recently-released Sacramento State survey. While 52 percent would vote for Senator Obama, 35 percent stated they would vote for Senator John McCain and 12 percent did not yet know for whom they would cast their vote.

The survey, conducted by Sacramento State professor Amy Liu and her students through the Institute for Social Research, was taken in late February and early March. Area residents were asked for whom they would vote if Obama and McCain receive the nod from their respective parties.

In addition, residents were asked about the issues they will take into account when they head to the polls this November. The economy (22 percent) and the war in Iraq (20 percent) are the two most important issues. However, Republicans are more concerned about national security and terrorism (12 percent) than health care (5 percent), while Democrats feel health care (15 percent) is a more important issue than security and terrorism (2 percent).

Obama is favored by area residents who find the economy (61 percent vs. 26 percent) and affordable health care (63 percent vs. 25 percent) to be big problems and who believe the war is not worth it (70 percent vs. 18 percent). McCain draws a great deal of support from those who are deeply concerned about national security and terrorism (79 percent vs. 12 percent), border control and immigration (54 percent vs. 31 percent) and who think the war is worthwhile (71 percent vs. 17 percent).

Other findings include:
• While 52 percent of residents support Obama, he is favored to a greater extent by Hispanics (64 percent) and other non-white residents (66 percent), those age 40 or younger (61 percent), those with college degrees(58 percent) and women (56 percent).
• Fully 80 percent of Democrats say they would favor Obama, while 68 percent of Republicans favor McCain.
• Area residents who believe the U.S. should set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq are more likely to vote for Obama (73 percent) than McCain (18 percent). On the other hand, McCain draws a great deal of support from those who believe we should keep our troops in Iraq until we have achieved our goal there (66 percent for McCain vs. 20 percent for Obama).
• More Republicans would vote for Obama (22 percent) than Democrats would vote for McCain (11 percent). Independents and those with other party affiliations would choose Obama (50 percent) over McCain (34 percent).

The survey was a computer-assisted telephone survey of 1,200 randomly selected adults from Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties. It has a margin of error of 3 percent

San Joaquin County for Obama opens office in Stockton!

Sara of Stockton,CA — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:41:39 EDT

We attended a "Unite For Change" gathering in Stockton in late June to be an active part of local efforts to support Sen. Obama's Presidential campaign. It was wonderful to meet a diverse group commited to get things done locally. July 1st the "Obama Office" for our San Joaquin County efforts opened. It is located in Stockton at 4505 Precissi Lane (at Rosemarie Lane just west of Pacific Ave & March Lane. The phone number is (209) 478-5550. The office is staffed Wed and Sat from 1-4pm but will increase as our work increases.

San Joaquin County for Obama is doing a VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE this Saturday, July 12th! We are part of a team that will hit the Delta College flea market in hopes of registering new voters and get local folks jazzed about Obama for President!

Remember Si se Puede!!!

Consequences of the Iran Missile Test

Tony — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:25:38 EDT

Well, I have been postponing this prediction, but now is more than ever, due to this test Oil Prices will reach and surpass $150 per barrel before the end of summer..

I need to add something as Sen Obama seems to have new wrong advicers of nasty republicans spies are close to him to succumb to the pressure to give the telecoms, the rich few with no voting power, inmunitty, now the other half truth of the McClelland book will never be known as if the telecoms feared something it means there is dirtiness in there. I hope you reverse this when you get to be President..

Also, about the Iran test, something is wrong on the world, everybody provokes iranians and nobody says anything, now they test and they get threatened. Israel the most war loving country does whatever they do and nobody says NADA, something is wrong in this world , definitely the wrong leaders and McCain represents a high risk of WWIII with short-temperness bigger than Bush.....

Obama, McCain Make Strong Bid for Latino Votes

Roseville City School Board Member — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:17:33 EDT

Obama, McCain make strong bid for Latino votes

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

Thursday, June 26, 2008

(06-25) 18:35 PDT -- There are dramatic signs that the fabled "sleeping giant" of the American electorate, the Latino vote, has awoken for the 2008 presidential race - putting Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama in heated competition for what could be a game-changing prize.

And the candidates' reaction to that awakening explains this week's flurry of activity: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., will address the nation's largest association of Latino officials today in Washington, D.C., the day before her much-ballyhooed joint appearance with Obama in New Hampshire. Both the candidates plan to cross paths before the same group, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, this weekend.

In California next month, their head-to-head competition is expected to continue: Both candidates have been invited to appear before the National Council of La Raza at its national convention in San Diego. McCain has even invited Obama to hold a "town hall" debate before the influential Latino advocacy group - Obama hasn't yet accepted.

With just weeks until the major party nominating conventions, both McCain and Obama have their eyes on the support of Latinos, America's largest minority group with about 9 percent of the national electorate - that's up from 5.5 percent in the 2000 election - according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Obama's big-name backers

Obama's campaign appears eager to seize the moment: It is marshaling Latino leaders such as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to stump for the candidate.

McCain's campaign, which has launched early Spanish-language ads and a Spanish Web site called "Estamos Unidos Con McCain," also has made aggressive efforts to reach Spanish-language media through such elected officials as Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.

Pollster Mark Baldassare, executive director of the Public Policy Institute of California, said the most recent PPIC study of the California Latino vote, which was conducted last month, presented a challenging picture for the GOP candidate: Obama beat McCain by more than 3-1, or 69 to 20 percent, among Latinos.

That's particularly good news for Obama "because Hillary was running so strongly with Latinos, and there was a question on how much it would carry over," Baldassare said.

And with less than one-quarter of Latinos registered as Republican in California, Baldassare said they are still divided "largely along party lines."

Obama supporter and Democratic Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Latino voters want someone who can address the "kitchen table" issues once considered strong GOP turf. "They're saying, educate my kids, keep them safe and prepare them for the workplace when they graduate from school," Delgadillo said Wednesday.

In his city - where upward of 70 percent of the public school students are Latino - Delgadillo cited an example of the kind of political action that resonates with today's Latino voters. An experimental school safety program his office instituted at Markham Middle School in Watts, a territory controlled by four different gangs, included such improvements as parent and child identification cards and school uniforms, along with better police cooperation. The result: dramatically lower violence and gang crime - and increased parental participation in the school.

"Sen. Obama understands these urban issues," said Delgadillo, who is a member of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council. "Chicago has one of the largest Latino populations in the country ... and these are front-and-center strike points." Obama is from Chicago.

McCain's strengths touted

However, Republicans argue that McCain has also shown strengths with Latino voters as a Westerner who has enjoyed strong Hispanic support in his home state of Arizona.

"In California, McCain is the best-positioned Republican of anyone we've had as a nominee since Reagan" to win the Latino vote, said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, former spokesman for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

"Because of what McCain has tried to do in seeking a sensible immigration reform, Latinos will be more open-minded to him," he said. "He has not committed the sin that so many Republicans have, which is to demagogue on the issue, and it's one of the great advantages of having him as a nominee."

But at Washington's New Democrat Network, President Simon Rosenberg argues that that there's increasing evidence McCain will never be able to match George W. Bush's ability to win 40 percent of the Latino voter bloc. He insists McCain will be viewed as a flip-flopper who "threw Latinos over the side" and abandoned them when he sponsored - and then walked away from - his own immigration reform bill.

Hector Barajas, spokesman for the California Republican Party and son of Mexican immigrants, says Latinos appreciate McCain's work on that issue and have taken notice of McCain's commitment to their values and concerns.

"We have a candidate that has a long record of talking about the issues important to Latinos, who has reached across the aisle in doing things in the best interest of America, as opposed to doing things in the best interest of his political career," said Barajas. In addition to immigration reform, he said, McCain has won Latino backing by talking about his pro-life record and "the importance of military service - all things important to Latinos."

GOP strategist and blogger Patrick Dorinson adds, "If the Democrats are just going to count them because they 'lean' Democratic, they're making a mistake. Both parties are going to have to address the economic anxiety that is out there."

Pollster Baldassare agrees, saying that "the top priorities right now for California voters - and it applies to Latinos - is the economy, gas prices, health care reform, Iraq and immigration, in that order. And those are the issues that Latino voters will look to the candidates for in order to make their decision."

Latino voters in California

-- About 1 in 3 Californians is Latino.

-- Latinos make up 31 percent of the state's adult population but only 14 percent of those voters most likely to turn out in elections.

-- 55 percent of likely Latino voters are younger than 45.

-- 35 percent of likely Latino voters have a college education, compared with 67 percent of Asians, 58 percent of whites and 44 percent of African Americans.

-- Two-thirds of likely Latino voters live in Southern California.

-- 61 percent of likely Latino voters are Democrats, 20 percent are Republicans and 19 percent are registered as independent.

-- 36 percent of likely Latino voters identify themselves as conservative, 31 percent as liberal and 33 percent as moderate.

Source: Public Policy Institute of California

E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/26/MN2R11EUAU.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Latinos Waiting To BE Included in Obama's Campaign

Roseville City School Board Member — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:50:31 EDT

The clock is ticking -- Latinos wait to be included in Obama's campaign

There has been (g)rumbling throughout the Latino blogosphere as to what is taking the Obama campaign so long to reach out to the rest of the Latino electorate that aren't yet completely sold on his candidacy -- and to those who are.

(Source: boston.com)

With news that McCain held a Town Hall meeting with some Latinos who were bussed into Chicago last night -- though the meeting was held behind closed doors and with carefully screened participants -- it seems even McCain is getting a headstart in reaching out to Latinos.

So, where is Obama?

News that some Latina leadership was "displeased" with Obama surfaced after he had been declared the official Democratic nominee and still had not made an effort to contact those Latina congresswomen who had supported Clinton but were ready to meet with Obama.

To these congresswomen waiting for a call that never came was pretty much like being stood up for a date -- and one thing no one does is stand up a Latina!

Unfortunately, Obama is learning this the hard way.

Yesterday, it was reported that Obama finally got together with some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Only one of the six Latina Congresswomen attended the gathering.

Though Obama's office called the other Congresswomen to invite them to the gathering, sigh, Latina grudges don't easily go away, especially with just a phone call.

It probably also didn't help that this week the Obama campaign announced they had hired Clinton's former campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, as Chief of Staff for the VP candidate. Since Clinton and Solis Doyle haven't even spoken to one another since Solis Doyle was fired from the campaign, it sends (maybe) the unintentional message that Clinton isn't in the running for the VP spot which is bound to be a sore point among the Latina leadership waiting for personal outreach from Obama.

On top of his problem outreaching to some Latina congressional leaders, the campaign has been strangely silent with the Latino blogosphere.

Sure, we all get the daily mass emails but by this time in the Clinton campaign, designated staff was reaching out to us bloggers and keeping us updated on Clinton's agenda. So far, nada from Obama.

Now, of course, the usual critical response would be that we're all a bunch of whiney babies who want our hands held and our noses wiped by the Obama campaign.

And I admit that on the surface, it certainly looks like that but there's a difference between having your hand held and being cool enough to be in the "in-group."

For too long, including Latinos on campaigns or putting us in-the-know just never happened because we were never "cool enough."

Clinton's campaign knew how to make us feel cool, and once you experience what everyone else has always had, you don't want to go back not being appreciated nor unacknowledged.

Obama's campaign hasn't done nearly the kind of outreach to the Latino electorate as it needs to secure a win over McCain.

They need to:

1. Make a personal visit to those Latina congresswomen who were ready to get behind him but made to feel like their support didn't matter.

2. Reach out to the Latino blogosphere and understand that our patience too at being ignored is growing thin. A simple email acknowledging the fact that you know we're here would be great. As it stands now, we don't even know if the Obama campaign wants Latino bloggers' support.

3. Understand that as childish or tiresome our behavior must seem, it's where Hispanic culture and our mutual upbringing kicks in: Personal contact is a must-have, not a we'll-see kind of thing. It's how we interact with one another and regardless of whether or not we're Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, Cuban-American, etc., it's that handshake or kiss on the cheek or hug that serves as an integral part of our communication with one another.

It's what makes our relationships more solid, as well as, our support.

Obama Meets with Hispanic Democrats to Court Latino Vote

Roseville City School Board Member — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:41:58 EDT

Barack Obama meets with Hispanic Democrats to court Latino vote
By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau of the Press Enterprise

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama met Tuesday evening with Inland Rep. Joe Baca and other Hispanic Democrats in Congress to begin work on a strategy for capturing the Latino vote, a clear weakness in the Illinois senator's bid for the presidency.

Baca, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and roughly two dozen of the group's members gathered behind closed doors with the presumed Democratic presidential nominee for just under an hour. Also at the meeting was Cuauhtémoc "Temo" Figueroa, who grew up in Riverside County and was recently picked to be Obama's Latino Vote Director.

Obama's campaign said the meeting was the first in a series of strategy sessions with the caucus, which is expected to play a major role in getting out the Latino vote.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, with Sen. Barack Obama after their meeting in Washington, said that Obama "realizes the importance of reaching out to the Hispanic community."

Many of the caucus members, including Baca, D-Rialto, were previously staunch supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Baca and Obama emerged from the meeting together, each describing the conversation as productive.

"What I emphasized was how important it's going to be for me to be able to mobilize the Hispanic vote," Obama said. "I'm looking forward to (the caucus members') counsel and advice, and I think we're going to be unified going forward."

Obama called Baca's office in the first days after Clinton dropped out of the race.

"He realizes the importance of reaching out to the Hispanic community. He's reaching out to a lot of us," Baca said after the meeting concluded at Democratic National Headquarters on Capitol Hill.

Obama lost the Hispanic vote to Clinton in virtually every state. In California, the former first lady took 70 percent of that demographic as she cruised to an easy victory.

Obama's Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, remains popular with Latinos.

Baca said the discussion touched on immigration, the economy and importance of Clinton's role in the campaign.

Obama declined to take questions from reporters.

Reach Ben Goad at 202-661-8422 or bgoad@PE.com

Clinton's Ex Chief of Staff for VP now is Obama's in Patti Solis

Roseville City School Board Member — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:10:32 EDT

The Obama campaign announced today what had long been suspected: Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was going to work for the Illinois Democrat. What came as a surprise was Solis Doyle's title, "chief of staff to the vice presidential candidate."

The move was seen as shrewd but potentially controversial. Solis Doyle was let go by Clinton because of what was widely regarded as poor campaign and financial management. But she still is a prominent Hispanic figure with ties to the former first lady -- attributes that could endear Obama to a sought-after political constituency.

One thing the move does suggest, insiders believe, is that Hillary Clinton's chances of being tapped for the vice presidency are now slim to nil.

"This alone means that Hillary won't be the V.P. choice," wrote one.

According to two close Clinton confidantes, the Senator and Solis Doyle have not spoken since her firing months ago. And there is a sense that bad blood lingers between the two. Some officials in Clinton's orbit were disappointed, if not angered, by the fact that Solis Doyle had been in touch with the Obama campaign about possibly coming on board. Solis Doyle, meanwhile, is rumored to have felt particularly scapegoated by her firing.

Said one individual with knowledge of the Clinton campaign's political leanings: "It would be pretty awkward if Hillary Clinton were picked as vice president and Patti was there to be her chief of staff."

Indeed, while on the surface it may seem that hiring Solis Doyle would provide a soft landing for Clinton to be brought in as V.P., others see her hiring as simply a logical political move.

"Patti knows that world certainly and knows the kinds of things the vice president would do because she saw it so much in the White House," said a source. "She is from Chicago and she knows all those folks. I knew she had visited with them and she wants to get on with her life too."

But time does heal wounds and in politics a shared objective like, say, the White House, could compel Obama to reunite Clinton and her former campaign manager.

Update: Jason Horowitz over at the New York Observer reports the following: "A former bundler to Hillary Clinton just called in to tell me that Barack Obama's selection of Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff to the campaign's eventual vice presidential nominee is the "biggest fuck you I have ever seen in politics."

"Either one of two things happen," said the bundler. "Hillary is selected as vice president and they fire Patti, or Hillary is not going to be the vice president."

Later Update: A source with knowledge (though not direct) of Sollis Doyle and Clinton's relationship writes in to dispute the idea that they haven't spoken since her firing. Though, he adds, the move by Obama seems likely to shut the door on the idea of Clinton as VP.

....From B. Obama's Home Town

JCC — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:07:17 EDT

A City Council Member from Obama's Home town of Honolulu, HI makes racial slurs against Hispanics while conducting an Official meeting at city hall.
No one in the Hawaii State Democratic party has a problem with slur.

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=8485386

Democrats want Latino votes but they don't respect Latinos!

Nanci Allen of Capitola investing her stimulus package

Letygee — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:30:11 EDT

Nanci Allen of Capitola has decided to invest her stimules check on CHANGE,,,here ia her story

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/letters/ci_9548877

Help Me In My FundRaising Goal

Tony — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:06:51 EDT

Barack Obama and I are committed to changing the political process by building a campaign built on a broad base of support from ordinary Americans.

I've set my own personal fundraising goal for the campaign, which you can see in the thermometer to the right.

Will you make a donation to help me reach my goal?

Remember the future of your family and America are at stake, Sen McCain is a war-loving military hawk which none of the US enemies will ever talk to him. This is poised to present a very inflexible and dangerous foreign policy which has a high probability of starting a war with Iran which will be the beginning of War World III as Iran will respond by attacking Israel and the rest you already know what will be. WWIII will be the ruin for America and we and you do not want that and They are already starting with an obsession with Iran and even Bush administration figures like Condoleza Rice mentioned recently the word of WMD (imagine that) and just read the book of McClelland where he says half the truth of the selling of the Iraq War, 1000 lies were spewed to fool the US people to Invade Iraq and now you know the disastrous result...would you like another one like this?, well it's your time to bring a change and you can help and be part of this grassroot peaceful movement by donating whatever you can and be part of history and help me reach my goal to help Sen Barack Obama reach the white house. God Bless you.,<br>

Click Here To Donate, Thanks

Someone is matching my fundraising goal! Donate today!

Christina — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:39:29 EDT

Hello friends,

I have created a personal fundraising page for Senator Barack Obama. Thus far, $590 have been donated by family and friends. If you'd like to make a donation, please click on the link below or check out my profile.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/BarackGrl08

If you cannot access the link, please copy and paste it onto your web browser. Please help me reach my goal.

In solidarity,

Christina

We did it!

Christina — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:50:24 EDT

I am overcome with so much joy and happiness! To think that this journey began 15 months ago and that we can now rejoice in our triumph is overwhelming! I am so proud of the thousands of young people who have become involved in this historical movement. We need to prepares ourselves for what is up ahead; it will be a tough fight, but if we all commit ourselves to this campaign, we can and will win in November!

Yes We can!

Fire it up!

With much love,

Christina

Super Delegate Explanation

Roseville City School Board Member — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:57:14 EDT

Super Delegates Explanation
2008 Democratic Presidential Race

The Democratic Party has three types of delegates; two types are elected at the state level. The third is less well publicized or understood: the super-delegate.

What Are Political Party Delegates?
Delegates are people who attend a political party national convention and who elect the party nominee. Some states select delegates during a Presidential primary and others during caucuses; some states also have a state convention where national convention delegates are selected. Some delegates represent state congressional districts; some are "at large" and represent the entire state. The Democratic party also has a third type: super-delegates. A super-delegate is a leader in the National Democratic Party who has a vote at the national convention; they not selected by state party members.

A candidate needs 2,026 delegates to cinch the nomination. Pledged (with pledged super delegates as of May 27, 2008) delegate estimate:
Obama - 1,661 Delegates with 307 Super Delegates = 1,978 (needs 48 more)
Clinton - 1,500 Delegates with 283 Super Delegates = 1,783 (needs 243 more)

Who Are Super-Delegates?
Super-delegates (approximately 850 in 2008) include the following:

* Elected members of the Democratic National Committee (~450)
* Democratic Governors
* Democratic US Senators and US Representatives (including non-voting delegates)
* Distinguished party leaders (current and former Presidents and Vice Presidents; former Democratic leaders of the Senate and House; former DNC chairmen)
* Unpledged "add-on's" chosen by the DNC

Source: Green Papers

Rationale For Super-Delegates
The Democratic Party established this system in part in response to the nomination of George McGovern in 1972. McGovern took only one state and had only 37.5 percent of the popular vote. Then in 1976, Jimmy Carter was a dark-horse candidate with little national experience.

The purpose of the super-delegate system is to act as a check on ideologically extreme or inexperienced candidates. It also gives power to people who have a vested interested in party policies: elected leaders. Because the primary and caucus voters do not have to be active members of the party (in New Hampshire they can sign up and sign out going-and-coming at the polls), the super-delegate system has been called a safety-value.

Importance of Super-Delegates

The Democratic Party allocates delegates based on a state's Presidential vote in the prior three elections and the number of electors. In addition, states that hold their primaries or caucuses later in the cycle receive bonus delegates.

It has been 30 years since the Democratic Party had a cliffhanger going into the Convention. If there is no clear winner after state primaries and caucuses, then the super-delegates -- who are bound only by their consciences -- will decide the nominee.

Source: uspolitics.about.com

Obama getting 'super' in CA

Roseville City School Board Member — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:39:18 EDT

Obama getting 'super' in CA

Sen. Barack Obama picked up the support of two more California superdelegates this morning, Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa.

Cardoza, a moderate Central Valley Democrat, had previously been a superdelegate for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Costa had been undecided.

"This is the most important election of my lifetime," Cardoza said in a statement. "While I continue to greatly respect and admire Senator Clinton and feel she has made history with her campaign, I believe that Senator Obama will inevitably be our party's nominee for president."

The Obama campaign estimates the Illinois senator is 59 delegates away from clinching the Democratic nomination for President.

Obama influences Ceasefire in Niger May 8 2008

Marcia Riquelme — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:18:25 EDT

Meanwhile, in his spare time...

...Obama seems to have brought peace to the Niger Delta. No joke.Reuters:Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

"The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem," the militant group said in an e-mailed statement. By Ben Smith 12:04 AM

Latino Turnout Could Hold Key to White House

Roseville City School Board Member — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:23:42 EDT

Latino turnout could hold key to White House
Tyche Hendricks, SF Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 (SF Chronicle)

The Democrats' best strategy to win the presidency this year could lie in an energetic campaign to turn out Latino voters in key swing states, according to Democratic political strategists who cite Latinos' surging voter participation and intensifying preference for Democrats.
"Hispanics happen to fall in these very consequential battleground states and may determine who the next president is," said Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a Washington political strategy group formerly known as the New Democrat Network. "This is adding a whole new dynamic in this election that didn't exist in 2004 and may change this election."
Although President Bush successfully attracted a record 40 percent of Latino votes in 2004, Latinos have been much more inclined to favor Democrats over the past couple of years, said Rosenberg. So far this year, Latinos have been three times as likely to vote in Democratic primaries as Republican ones.
On top of that, Latinos have voted in growing numbers in recent years. The 7.6 million Latinos who cast votes in 2004 represented a 27 percent increase over 2000 and comprised 6 percent of the entire U.S. turnout. And high-powered voter registration drives this year are expected to increase Latino turnout in the November election to anywhere from 8.5 million to 10.5 million voters.
"Starting in the fall of 2005, the Republican brand was severely degraded" in the eyes of Latinos, Rosenberg said, as a result of harsh rhetoric surrounding Wisconsin Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner's immigration enforcement bill that would have made felons of illegal immigrants and people who help them.
"That caused a huge swing toward the Democrats," he said. "We also had an enormous increase in voter registration, citizenship applications and all measures of civic participation. ... Spanish-language media is spending an enormous amount of time on voter participation in a way that was not done in 2004."
Those factors combined could position Latinos to swing several key states to the Democratic nominee come November, said Rosenberg. He is fixing his sights on New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Florida, where the traditionally Republican Cuban exile population is giving way to
second-generation Cubans and other Latinos who identify as Democrats or independents.
But other analysts say Democratic victories in those states are not a slam-dunk, even with a growing Latino Democratic electorate.
"They could potentially make a difference for a Democratic candidate," said UC Irvine political science Professor Louis DeSipio, but that will depend on how much energy Democrats put into actually getting Latino voters to the polls.
"Turnout only happens when resources are invested to turn people out," he said. "That's why that decision about how to allocate resources becomes very important."
DeSipio pulled Arizona off the list of battleground states because it is home to likely Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. He called New Mexico and Florida the most likely states to swing Democratic. "Latinos will be part of both strategies," he said.
Maria Echaveste, former deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, warned Democrats that if Sen. Barack Obama is the party's nominee, he'll have to focus more on Latino voters than Sen. John Kerry did in 2004.
"Kerry did not close the deal; he spent very little money on advertising in the Latino community until the very last," said Echaveste, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Obama cannot make that mistake. He's got to go to all those places that are already being primed to vote Democratic and persuade Latinos to vote for him over McCain because the Democratic agenda is much better for Latino families."
The Democratic strategy will have to be multifaceted, she said, reaching Latinos through old-fashioned field organizing as well as media in English and Spanish, Echaveste said.
"There's absolutely a sense of possibility, but it's not going to happen without work," she said, warning that Democrats must not write off McCain's appeal to Latinos.
McCain must walk a tightrope between reaching out to Latino voters with support for comprehensive immigration reform and maintaining support from a more conservative Republican base that wants a tougher line on immigration, said California Republican political strategist Arnold Steinberg.
"The party's principal position on immigration has not been marketed well, so the party has been caricatured as anti-immigrant," he said. "McCain can only do so much with the Latino vote, but he needs to strike the right chord that keeps his base and reaches out to the Latino vote. That balance is secure borders first and then a path to citizenship (for illegal immigrants already in the country). You can't deviate much from that position either way."

E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle

Latino Turnout Could Hold Key to White House

Roseville City School Board Member — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:23:14 EDT

Barack Has More Character Than McCain But Not According to Ruben Navarrette

Roseville City School Board Member — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:55:57 EDT

Ruben Navarrette: Character will help McCain earn Hispanic votes
By Ruben Navarrette syndicated columnist
Article Created: 05/14/2008 11:37:16 AM PDT

FOR MANY CONSERVATIVES, Sen. John McCain is not their favorite Republican. They think he's built a career at their expense, painting them as fools and bigots. They resent his holier-than-thou attitude. And they're not inclined to trust anyone who has been so fawned over by the national media.

Curiously, a lot of liberal Democrats feel the same way about McCain. He isn't their favorite Republican either -- but it's because they know he'll be tough to beat in November. They would have preferred to run against someone more extreme and easier to demonize. That's not John McCain.

I first met McCain 10 years ago when I was a working at the Arizona Republic. What I remember is that, in a political climate where so many elected officials -- Republican and Democrat alike -- were wearing themselves out pandering to racists who demanded action on illegal immigration, McCain was one of the few who didn't play that game.

In 1998, while Texas Gov. George W. Bush made headlines for earning an impressive 49 percent of the Hispanic vote in his re-election, McCain walked off with an unheard-of 65 percent in his Senate re-election bid. Six years later, he did even better, earning around 70 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Most political observers don't expect McCain to match those numbers in a national election, but half of that -- 35 percent -- is a definite possibility. With that kind of support among
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Hispanics, McCain could win the White House.

And so Democrats are doing everything they can to distort McCain's record. Some are actually accusing McCain of not doing enough for immigration reform. In fact, they might even try to compare McCain to nativists such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who competed with the Arizona senator for the GOP nomination.

Good luck. The two men seem to detest one another. They even tangled last summer when McCain dismissed Tancredo's views on what makes someone an American as "beyond my realm of thinking."

Hispanics in Arizona who have known McCain for years weren't surprised by that exchange. When I ask them to explain what draws Hispanics to McCain, I hear the same things: his independence, his convictions, his courage and his moderate stance on issues. Then, of course, there is his military service and his heroic suffering as a prisoner of war.

"If you look at Latino families, we've all got someone who has been in the military," said Ruben Alvarez, a McCain supporter and principal at the Molera Alvarez Group, a public affairs firm in Phoenix. "The fact that McCain is so patriotic is a draw for many Latinos."

Another Hispanic Republican called McCain the original compassionate conservative, someone who wore that label before there ever was a label. And, she said, as someone who has faced his share of challenges in life, McCain's compassion bleeds over to anyone picked on or preyed upon. At the moment, Hispanics are under fire thanks to an immigration debate that doesn't bother to distinguish between recent immigrants and U.S. citizens -- as long as they have Spanish surnames.

But there's another factor that helps explain McCain's appeal to Hispanics -- he's spent 20 years quietly recruiting them into his campaigns and building up personal relationships in that Arizona community.

Bettina Nava met McCain more than 15 years ago, and served as state director for his Senate office in Arizona for three years. Now based at a consulting firm in Phoenix, Nava was recently named one of 11 campaign managers for McCain. She's in charge of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

"What initially drew me to McCain was that I have never met anyone who loved his country more," Nava told me. "He honors his commitments. For Latinos, I don't know that we've always viewed government that way. There is always a lot of lip service. But at least with this guy, we get a straight shooter."

McCain marked Cinco de Mayo by launching his Hispanic outreach effort, which includes a Spanish-language Web site. Those gimmicks don't hurt. But what is really going to help McCain win Hispanic support in November is the same thing that has earned him so much of it up to now.

It's called character, and Hispanics -- like many other Americans -- may not always be able to define it. But they know it when they see it.

Please read! Dem Pollster's Stategy Reality for the National Election 2008

Marcia Riquelme — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:46:53 EDT

Sharing a valuable analysis of the 'NEXT PHASE' and what we supporters of Barack need to keep in mind as we phone potential voters and support Barack. Please copy this, save it, and reread it as the election process goes on. It is a helpful guide to how best to flex our political muscles and go to work to help Barack. Sorry it is so long, but we really must read this and think how we will do the rest of our volunteer work, how much there is to do, and get going on calling, and making whatever sacrifices each of us can possibly make to ensure Barack's success:

Salon.com BLOG ARTICLE May 16, 2008 RE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES NEEDED IN 17 SWING STATES How will Barack Obama get to 270? This November, a Democratic victory will probably hinge on the Electoral College votes of a handful of swing states. Howard Dean's pollster examines 17 fall battlegrounds, one by one. By Paul Maslin Pages

| Thanks to John Adams and James Madison, an American presidential election really does begin and end with the Electoral College. Didn't 2000 tell us that? (Well, it ended with Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor, but you get the drift.) Critics scoff and call it an antiquated and unfair system (it is). Many Democrats -- notably, this year, Obama backers -- would like their party to stop thinking in terms of three yards and a cloud of purple-state dust and instead embrace the beauty of a 50-state strategy. Somehow, they say, 2008 can and must be different. OK, I'm listening. Different how? In that the Democrats win? Certain cold realities haven't changed. A candidate must still reach 270 electoral votes to gain the White House. Unless there is a popular-vote landslide in November, the presidential election is still best seen as a collection of 50 statewide contests. Should this fall's election be as close as the last two in 2000 and 2004, no more than one-third of those 50 states will be in serious contention. In fact, only about half of that number will ultimately decide the outcome, since the vast majority of the other "close" states actually lean pretty strongly to one side or the other and are unlikely to shift their preference. Once again we're all going to be spending a lot of the next six months, at least psychically, in the Rust Belt. To figure out how Obama can assemble the magic 270, then, let's look at the 17 states where this fall's outcome is not a mortal lock. I am a Democratic pollster -- this presidential election cycle I worked for Bill Richardson, and last time I worked for Howard Dean. But my collection of swing states is not based on current match-up polling between Obama and McCain. I mostly ignored the polls -- come on, it's May. Instead, I looked at long-term voting trends and demographics. 1) The number of competitive states has been contracting over the past two cycles. In 2000, 21 states fell into a competitive classification, meaning the winning candidate performed 5 points, or less, better than his national showing. It was 19 in 2004. The closest states, 2.5 points or less away from the national level, numbered 14 in 2000 and only 9 in 2004. 2) The number of states that shift markedly from one election to the next has also been contracting. In 2000 16 states moved more than 4 points away from the previous election's national performance level; in 2004 only 6 states did the same. If both of these first two trends continue, that means fewer, not more, states in play in 2008. (Note: This may be an incumbency phenomenon, since there was a similar effect in Bill Clinton's two wins. Once the winner establishes his level, it's hard for there to be much shift the next time he's on the ballot.) 3) In a non-incumbent year with two candidates from regions that have been unrepresented at this level for a long time -- the Rust Belt and the Southwest -- stronger regional variations could occur. Carter in 1976 (the South) is the archetype of this factor, but Clinton improved Democratic performance throughout the South in 1992, and Bob Dole bucked the national trend in several Plains states in 1996. 4) Every successful GOP candidate since 1968 has hailed from California or Texas. Their last two candidates from small to medium-size states lost badly. On the other hand, the last two successful Democrats came from the South, a region that had underperformed in previous elections. This year the two surviving Democrats live in two of the most reliably blue states. Obama does live in the largest state for a Democratic challenger since, well, Adlai Stevenson in 1956. 5) The choice of a vice-president has had a pretty spotty geographic impact in the past five elections. Bush father and son ignored it when picking a running mate (must run in the family). For the Democrats the impact has been nonexistent (Bentsen), negligible (Edwards), small (Lieberman) and shared (Gore and Clinton were both Southerners). I. Swing states Obama absolutely, positively has to win A reasonable projection of the Electoral College results for 2008 would award the Democrats 157 safe votes in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Of the 17 swing states where Obama has no guarantee but a good shot, six are really "must-wins" for him. Defeat in any -- particularly the two biggest -- either signals grave problems elsewhere or puts inordinate pressure on him to run the rest of the table.

Michigan -- 17 votes If there is a worse state in which Democrats could've botched the primary this electoral season, I'm hard-pressed to think of it. But the primary was well and truly botched; there has still been no decision on how Michigan's delegates will be allotted, if at all. The saving grace could be that Michigan has always run ahead of Ohio for the Democrats, and better than Pennsylvania the past three elections. But Obama's failure to campaign here -- which he is finally correcting -- makes this state worrisome.

Three interesting questions: 1) Will there be a "Lake Effect"? Meaning, can the geographic influence travel the 60 miles or so across Lake Michigan and produce better than normal Democratic performance, particularly in Western Michigan?

2) Does McCain's break from Bush on climate change make it difficult if not impossible for him to exploit Obama's embrace of tougher CAFE standards and greenhouse emission standards in this auto-dependent state?

3) Is it "Only a Northern Song"? For many years now, trends in the rural/small-town white vote have been linked to latitude. The closer to Canada one gets, the more white voting patterns diverge from those near or below the Mason-Dixon Line. Lately that has meant stronger Democratic performance in presidential elections in the most northern states and regions. Obama has clearly done better in this wintry tier. Compare his performance in Green Bay to that in Youngstown or Altoona. Will that hold in November, or be enhanced, making states such as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin more secure? Or will race override this pattern, making the Northern Tier states more vulnerable for the Democrats?

Minnesota -- 10 votes It's not Walter Mondale's Minnesota anymore. Democrats have been increasingly squeaking by in this state -- it ranked 6th bluest as recently as 1988 in terms of overall Democratic performance, then 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th the next four presidential elections. Plenty of Republicans have succeeded at the state level in recent years, with Tim Pawlenty and Norm Coleman the two latest examples. Is Pawlenty the kind of tactical vice-presidential choice -- in concert with a presumably successful GOP convention in St. Paul -- that McCain could make to steal 10 votes from the Democrats? Or will he eschew state considerations and go with a bolder choice? The Northern Effect reference above does favor Obama, but the volatility that may help McCain is in the suburbs. Small-town Minnesota tends to follow established voting patterns, but the burgeoning Twin Cities metropolitan area produces a lot more variation.

New Jersey -- 15 votes The Garden State makes the list by virtue of some slippage between 2000 and 2004. Terrorism and proximity to New York City undoubtedly played a role in that. But Obama losing the state of Tony Soprano and Bruce Springsteen and still winning the election? Fuhgeddaboutit. Jersey's Philly and New York suburbs have been slowly and surely turning Democratic for two decades now. It's hard to imagine them swinging back this time. It's also an incredibly expensive proposition for the Republicans to try to make it happen. The GOP will buy ads in the Philadelphia market because of Pennsylvania, but New York airtime is three or four times more expensive and too many of the people who'd be watching the commercials live in the safe blue states of New York and Connecticut. Next page: Will Obama be able to pick off military voters in Virginia when he is running against a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war? Oregon -- 7 votes The land of Nike has hovered between true tossup and strongly Democratic for the past 25 years. But the nadir was Clinton 1996, when it ranked only 28th in Democratic performance. Since then it has moved up to 21st and then 16th. The state's blue-collar, timber industry roots are fading, leaving a fairly suburban and nearly all-white voting base. This is, for the most part, a fight over the educated and affluent, and unless the roof is caving in, one would suspect that Obama has a distinct edge over McCain. It is much harder for McCain to play the patriotic/values card here than in, say, Missouri or even New Mexico. And Portland and its environs is a decidedly different "West" than Phoenix, and for more reasons than just the weather.

Pennsylvania -- 21 votes As when two American armies slugged it out at Gettysburg over three hot July days nearly 150 years ago, so too will this fall's Pennsylvania battle be an epic. The stakes are high for both sides. McCain must try to break Obama's back in working-class America, and what better place to attempt it than the Keystone State? Pennsylvania's recent track record has been narrow Democratic wins -- since 1996, better than Ohio but worse than Michigan. Democrats have balanced their losses due to abortion (Northeastern Pennsylvania), guns (the whole state) and values (ditto) with a shockingly improved showing in the four suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia. Shocking, at least, to this writer, who grew up in those suburbs at a time when in most of them the only election of any note was the Republican primary. Pennsylvania's rural voters are not as "Southern" as those in neighboring Ohio, but they are old and white and their dominance of the so-called T -- the area between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and along the New York border -- gives the GOP enough votes to have an outside shot here. Notably, Pennsylvania's Democratic primary was Carter's coronation in 1976 and also provided easy margins for Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore and Kerry. Obama, not so much. Can McCain play both sides of the coin -- winning back some of the lost suburban votes (where, it should be noted, Obama slipped versus Clinton in last month's primary) while at the same time picking off blue-collar Democrats in "Deer Hunter" territory? The answer to that question might answer the ultimate one as well. Washington -- 11 votes Two words. Starbucks. Microsoft. If the Democrats are in trouble here, then it's lights out nationally. Yes, Boeing is still a major influence. Yes, the African-American presence is negligible, Jimi Hendrix notwithstanding. But in a state dominated by the ethnically diverse and culturally tolerant media market of Seattle, it is hard to imagine Barack Obama falling short.

II. Expanding the universe -- the tough ones, Southern division Obama's total, if he wins all six of the "must-win" states above, would be 238. (Eighty-one votes plus the safe blue 157 equals 238.)

The next 32 votes are a harder slog, however. Four states produced Bush victory margins between 5 and 10 points above his national edge in 2004, meaning that they would theoretically be within reach for a Democratic candidate this fall. Theory bumps up against reality in two of them, however. Arizona has now become a safe GOP victory because it has a native son in the race. In Arkansas, Democratic prospects would seem to be firmly linked to the presence or absence of a Clinton on the ticket. And even in the unlikely event that happens, given that it would be Hillary Clinton -- who now represents New York in the Senate -- one should feel a bit dubious about Democratic prospects. The other two states in this quartet are North Carolina and Virginia, and therein lies a different tale.

North Carolina -- 15 votes The Tarheel State's best Democratic ranking in the past five elections was 2004 -- but it was still only the 31st most Democratic state with the Kerry-Edwards ticket winning 43.6 percent of the vote. Where would another 6.5 percent come from? Well, some of it could arrive courtesy of African-Americans. While Democrats have traditionally enjoyed a huge advantage among the party's most loyal constituency, the prospect of an African-American president will assuredly take that contribution to a maximum level. What might that mean? I would think at least one-tenth of a percentage point for every 2 percentage points of a given state's electorate that is black -- and perhaps higher. The logic runs as follows: Democrats, in the past two presidential elections, have won the African-American vote by about 80 percentage points. Nine out of 10 black voters chose Gore in 2000, 88 out of 100 chose Kerry in 2004. Couldn't the margin easily be 84 points or even higher this time? And won't the turnout be demonstrably higher, as it has been in the primaries? What if, in North Carolina, where African-Americans are about 20 percent of the electorate, they rise to 21 percent this year and Obama wins them 93-7. That adds a point to the state's Democratic total from 2004. So now Obama is at 44.6 percent. Could he possibly gain the additional 5 percent or so from new voters and the type of moderate whites in the Charlotte suburbs or the Research Triangle where he performed so well in the primary? Doubtful, but it is worth the effort, if for no other reason than to pin some of McCain's time and money down in at least one Southern state. And here is one area where a 50-state strategy really comes into play. Obama will have more money than John Kerry. He will be able to spend it in a longer list of states.

Virginia -- 13 votes Democrats have come further in Virginia than in its neighbor to the south for one simple reason: the mighty and growing influence of the Washington, D.C., suburbs. With each year that passes the Northern Virginia suburbs increase in political importance. Kerry ran 2 points better in the Commonwealth than in North Carolina, though the African-American vote is nearly identical in size. Applying the Carolina logic above, all other things being equal, Obama should improve on Kerry's total by at least a point, meaning he might be at around 46 or 46.5 percent before four more years of Northern Virginia population growth is factored in. But in Virginia, fortune both smiles and frowns on the Democrats. There is more good news in the fact that Obama could select one of two Virginia officeholders as his running mate. Either Gov. Tim Kaine or Sen. Jim Webb could push him over the top, which is already tantalizingly close. Webb in particular offers a military background that might help appeal to working-class Democrats and independents. But that same military component works against Obama as well. Will he be able to pick off military voters in the Tidewater region, home of the world's largest naval base, when he is running against a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war? Despite Obama's impressive primary victory in Virginia, there is also the possibility that race might rear its head in the former headquarters of the Confederacy. But then one remembers that 19 years ago, Virginia's Doug Wilder won the laurels that had eluded Tom Bradley in California, becoming the nation's first elected black governor. Was Wilder the John the Baptist heralding an even greater victory in the land of Washington and Jefferson? In the unlikely event that Obama wins both states, he'll be at 266 votes, four votes short of victory. But the event is unlikely.

Time to call in reinforcements from the West. Next page:

The other reason why Obama could pull Colorado into the blue column is the nature of the Front Range III.

Expanding the universe -- the tough ones west of the Mississippi I suspect that one side or the other will look back at these next states rather wistfully after November, with regret over the fact that their opportunity ran smack into a clear strength for the other guy. It is simply too early to determine whose luck is rotten. Start with the three Western states.

Colorado -- 9 votes It is axiomatic that the Northern Effect -- whites voting more Democratic the closer one gets to the Canadian border -- has a cousin: the Homogeneity Syndrome. Minority candidates will win a higher proportion of the white vote the lower the African-American population in that state or city. The logic is pretty simple. With exceptions, where white voters, be they in Chicago, Philadelphia or Alabama, feel threatened by a large black population, they bind together against the embodiment of that threat -- i.e, a minority candidate. Where the minority population is few and far between the perceived threat dissipates and so does much of the motivation for an anti-minority vote. Barack Obama will need to win nearly half of the white vote in most Western states in order to carry them this fall -- and yet he is heavily favored in Oregon and Washington, and has a good chance in Colorado and Nevada. Colorado just elected someone who is not a white male to the Senate, but of course Ken Salazar is far more conservative than his Illinois counterpart. He is also Hispanic, wherein lies another conundrum. Latino Democrats have so far preferred Hillary Clinton by wide margins, and there is clearly at least some black-brown tension. Will the recent Democratic gains among Hispanics, fueled by Republican obsession with the immigration issue, survive 2008? I would suspect that the answer is a qualified yes. Hispanics, after all, are an ascendant force, and if there is a backlash quotient it is more likely to be the other way around. And is there enough tension in critical geographic areas to make a difference? Denver, for example, has had a recent African-American mayor but seems to be free of most black-brown rivalry. The other reason why Obama could pull Colorado -- where John Kerry won 47 percent of the vote, a 3 point gain from Al Gore's 2000 total -- into the blue column is the nature of the Front Range, meaning the urban sprawl of greater Denver. This is an environmentally conscious, socially tolerant population that is culturally very in tune with Obama's change message. But it is the West, and John McCain of Arizona will attempt to appeal to voters throughout his home region with his own version of the distrust Washington/federal government/pioneer spirit/individualist regional message. I suspect Colorado, while not deaf to that message, will be less susceptible to it than the two states that follow. Nevada -- 5 votes I suppose the Silver State should not be compared to anything, so unique is its economy and social structure. Democrats have done relatively well here the last four elections, winning narrowly in 1992 and 1996 and falling just short in 2004. Obama has a wellspring of younger, unaffiliated voters to draw upon, but McCain does enjoy a closer proximity and shared desert identity. This one should go down to the wire.

New Mexico -- 5 votes And this one always goes down to the wire, which usually means waiting for the latest vote-count snafus in Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) to be cleared up a day or two later. New Mexico has deviated a grand total of 1 percentage point from the winner's share of the vote in the last three elections combined, by far the closest collective finish of any state. That may not be a good sign for the Democrats. For while the Hispanic population is large at nearly 30 percent of the vote, it has always been counterbalanced by suburban voters around Albuquerque and also "Little Texas," the conservative ranching communities to the east. Will Hispanics turn out in larger numbers for an African-American nominee? Or will John McCain's Southwestern roots improve Republican hopes among Anglos enough to stem any Democratic turnout tide? Would adding Bill Richardson to the Democratic ticket make the difference -- assuming America is ready for a black-brown combination? Assuming no defection from our list of Democratic states, the safe ones and the must-wins, the ticket would have amassed 238 electoral votes before reckoning with the seven tough and semi-tough states in the South and Southwest listed above. A Southwestern sweep would put Obama at 257, tantalizingly close to victory. Winning the two small states and not Colorado makes it 248; the reverse outcome (just as likely) would make it 247. A McCain sweep might require Obama to counterbalance that regional domination with his own in the Midwest.

Iowa -- 7 votes The best shot for a Democratic pickup in the Midwest would be Iowa. Gore won the state narrowly, and Kerry lost it narrowly. It has vacillated between solidly Democratic and barely Democratic for 20 years. This would appear to be a year where solid is more likely. After all, Obama became the front-runner with a surprising caucus victory, while McCain has essentially ignored the state both times he has run for president. The Illinois influence is large in Eastern Iowa and the state is lousy with both Cubs and Bears fans. The only drawbacks are age and demography. Iowa has one of the nation's oldest populations (like Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania and Arkansas) and lacks the type of large suburban population that contributes to Obama's popularity in the Northeast.

Missouri -- 11 votes Obama also has a chance, albeit slimmer, to win the Show Me State. If the Western states feature a collision between New Age tolerance and desert ruggedness, Missouri is a showdown between Limbaugh and Chicago. It was no accident that Obama visited Cape Girardeau this week, the conservative radio commentator's Mississippi River hometown south of St. Louis. Can Obama ride an enhanced African-American vote out of St. Louis and Kansas City together with suburban support from those same markets, on top of the comfort level voters in Eastern Missouri must feel with him, since they have been watching his political ads since 2004? Can hip-hop top country, or will Branson and the Ozarks help create a strong conservative force that spills over to those same suburbs and uses the natural rivalry with Chicago that exists in Eastern Missouri against the Democrat? Recall also that Kansas and Missouri fought a border war in the 1850s, and the enmity is not forgotten. Kerry gave up here and still won 46 percent of the vote. Obama won this primary, albeit by a whisker, his only success in any border state. Can a Chicago resident whose mother grew up in Kansas possibly carry Missouri? Next page: Could choosing Ohio's popular Democratic governor as his running mate be Obama’s answer? IV. Déjà vu

Florida -- 27 votes It would be nice for Democrats to right the wrong of 2000, to see political justice finally prevail, to gain vengeance and the White House in one fell swoop. And certainly it is improbable at best to envision a scenario where a Republican defeat in the Sunshine State could be overcome, no matter how large their blue-collar opportunity in the industrial belt might be. But to quote George H.W. Bush -- or at least Dana Carvey -- "nah gonna happen." To begin with, Democrats have been slipping here since 1996. Florida voted Democratic exactly at the national average in 1996, a tad (or is it a "chad") worse for Gore in 2000, and more than a point worse for Kerry. Hardly earth-shattering, but still a trend. Then there is the demographic problem. The state is not as old as people think but it's more elderly than most. Clearly Obama's worst primary difficulties have come among seniors. Then there is the Jewish problem -- and while it is still too early to proclaim a major hurdle for Obama to clear, obviously the GOP thinks they can exploit his background among Jews. Then there is the Hispanic problem -- a lot of them are Cubans and they still vote Republican. All in all, it's a swing state where Hillary Clinton could well have performed better than Obama. And if all that were not enough, then there is whatever detritus has been left by the primary snafu. Perhaps a compromise will be reached, and feelings smoothed over, once Obama has secured enough delegates to win the nomination. Lingering problems in Appalachia and elsewhere among working-class white voters may force Obama and Co. back into Florida in a major way this fall, but it appears to be a tougher coconut to crack than, say, Pennsylvania or Michigan.

Ohio -- 20 votes The Republican Holy Grail since Nixon's day. The supreme focus of John Kerry's campaign. The crucial general election victory for Jimmy Carter. After slipping in 2000, Democrats revived their chances in 2004, only to suffer a narrow, and fatal, loss. Surely with this economy, Bush's growing unpopularity and Obama's Midwest credentials and generational appeal Democrats can make up the missing 2 points? Perhaps, but it will be a war equal to that waged in Pennsylvania. The two states are quite similar, yet different in subtle but perhaps critical ways. The counties that adjoin the Ohio River are more Southern culturally than any similar area of Pennsylvania. They border, and resemble, West Virginia, where Obama was just crushed by Clinton. Cincinnati and Columbus are far more conservative cities than Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. The Cleveland suburbs -- while in some ways more gritty than their Philly counterparts -- are also a bit less sophisticated and perhaps less taken with the latte-ish phenomenon of Obama. Could choosing Ohio's popular Democratic governor as his running mate be Obama's answer? (Ted Strickland, conveniently, hails from Ohio's Appalachian southeast.) It may be the only way to prevail here in a close race.

V. Two final quirks These last two states will appear on everyone's targeted list. They each featured razor-thin margins in both 2000 and 2004. Yet it wouldn't surprise me to see either or both veer off and be decided by a more substantial margin this time.

New Hampshire -- 4 votes The Democratic trend line has been decidedly up here. The state ranked near last in Democratic performance in 1988, 33rd in 1992, but then roughly 20th ever since. Increasingly suburban, full of Boston transplants, it's got plenty of bedroom voters and a boatload of independents. It is also a Northern state with almost no African-American population, thus making Obama's job of winning the white vote much easier. And yet it is in many ways John McCain's second home. New Hampshire propelled his campaign forward in 2000 and rescued him from near-oblivion this time. He is the GOP nominee because of New Hampshire. If there is to be any Northeastern defection from a solid blue front, it will happen here.

Wisconsin -- 10 votes How did it happen? Why was this state the one place where Barack broke through with everybody? Sure he won the campuses, and the Madison liberals, and African-Americans in Milwaukee. But he also won -- and often by stunning margins -- in blue-collar locales such as Green Bay, Sheboygan, Appleton and Oshkosh. Was it just one bad week for Hillary? She came into the state late; she went negative with arguments (asking for a debate, alleging plagiarism) that backfired. Or was it the Chicago effect? We (I live in Madison) may root against the Bears and Cubs, but we're kind of struck by the notion that such a nearby neighbor could become president. Whatever the cause of his primary blowout, I do believe Obama has a chance to vault Wisconsin out of the partisan cage that two heart-rending, battle royale outcomes (Gore and Kerry each won by fewer than 11,000 votes) have built. Dukakis won here, after all. The only caveat is a stark one. Of all the major metropolitan areas from St. Louis to New York, essentially the entire northeast quadrant of the country, the only place where Democrats have failed to make major gains at the presidential level over the past 20 years is Milwaukee. Those suburbs, particularly to the north and west, remain overwhelmingly Republican. If Obama can crack them to any degree he probably wins the state by several points.

VI. Victory by the numbers

So which of these 17 states do I think Obama really is going to win? How does he reach 270? Taking all these demographics and long-term trends into account, and then whipping out the dartboard, yields the following assessment: States that strongly favor Obama ("strongly" in the context of close states, that is): Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington. That's 43 electoral votes. Add that to the safe blue 157 votes in 11 states and D.C. and Obama is at 200. States that slightly favor Obama: Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Another 55 votes. He's now at 255 States that strongly favor McCain: Florida, North Carolina. Their 42 electoral votes are probably going to the Republicans. States that slightly favor McCain: Colorado, 9 votes; Missouri, 11 votes; and Virginia, 13 votes. Obama's chances are better here. Pure toss-ups: Nevada, 5 votes; New Hampshire, 4 votes; New Mexico, 5 votes; and Ohio, 20 votes.

Clearly, and I'm being cautious, I think it's going to be a close race. If Obama wins the 255 votes in the states where he's favored, then to get to 270 he needs to choose from the following menu: 1) Win Ohio, which takes him to 275; 2) win in the West -- Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, for 274; 3) win the three N's (Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire) for 269, plus one other state; or 4) win two of the three N's and either Colorado or Virginia. The bottom line is that 270 is achievable, provided the Democratic ticket keeps all of these 17 states in play as long as possible. And it looks like it can.

Obama has the money to fight in the truly purple states and force his opponent to defend some of the redder ones. For the moment, McCain doesn't have the money to respond in kind. Obama can stretch McCain's scarcer resources. He can also improve the Democratic Party's odds of breaking through and winning its first Electoral College majority in a dozen years. Related Stories Breaking the Democratic deadlock If Obama wants to secure the nomination next week, he'll need to recapture the working-class voters who helped him rout Clinton in Wisconsin. By Mike Madden Obama can't close the deal Clinton notches another do-or-die big-state win in Pennsylvania. Which is more troubling for Democrats -- her scorched-earth tactics or Obama's failure to build on his base? ---------- Hugh Downs Reports

National Council of La Raza in San Diego July 12-15 - Has Obama Accepted An Invite?

Roseville City School Board Member — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:25:34 EDT

McCain accepts questionable invitation

Hi Barack Obama Bloggers,
I go to the National Council of La Raza Conference every year and they are an awesome organization and Al Garza (read on) has it totally wrong. I suggest that our next President of the U.S.- Barack Obama should also accept his invitation to the all important NCLR Conference in San Diego, Ca this year from July 12-15, 2008. All three candidates are also attending the National Association of Latino Elected Officials in Washington D.C. from June 25-28, 2008. As an Chicano elected official I support Barack Obama and the Barack Obama website should have a endorsement list of Latino elected officals as John Kerry did fours years ago. We need more Latino elected officials to be visible during this campaign as they are the grass root organizers of the community! Again read this article I found on the blogante site:

"John McCain is generating outrage among a border watch organization for accepting an invitation to a controversial Hispanic group.

Al Garza, national executive director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, is expressing outrage over Senator McCain's (R-Arizona) planned attendance to the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza. Garza claims the group espouses the re-conquering of the southwestern United States for assimilation back into Mexico.

"They have one thing in mind, and that is the re-conquering of the United States," he maintains. "Although they are attempting to dupe the United States American citizen to believe that this is in fact an American movement of Hispanic descent to educate and inspire Hispanics," Garza notes.

Garza says in fact the issue has nothing to do with Hispanic Americans at all. "If you notice very carefully, they are catering not to the Hispanic per se, although they're using the term Hispanic," he continues. "They're in fact catering to illegal immigrants who want open borders."

He believes McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is not serving the best interests of American citizens by accepting an invitation from La Raza."

from Rene Aguilera, Roseville City School District Board Member

Obama Needs to be cautious with Latinos

Roseville City School Board Member — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:57:23 EDT

Obama needs to be cautious with Latinos

Gebe MartinezWed May 14, 5:44 AM ET

When Barack Obama strolled over to the "barrio" last week, he took a calculated risk.

There, in the left corner of the House chamber where Hispanic Democrats gather during floor votes, the presidential candidate walked into territory dominated by fierce loyalists of his Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Protocol demanded that Obama not be too pushy, not too ready to act as the "presumptive nominee," especially on a day when Clinton had vowed to stay in the presidential race despite Obama's growing tally of votes for the party nomination.

But he is going to need the Latino leaders -- really need them -- if he heads the Democratic ticket this year. And the Congressional Hispanic Caucus knows it.

Never before has the Hispanic vote been in such high demand in a presidential race, nor has the Hispanic Caucus been so poised to play a significant role.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain -- going against the grain of his party's conservatives -- used Cinco de Mayo to reach out to Latinos and unveil a new Spanish-language website.

Clinton got more popular votes than Obama in Arizona, California and Texas, and she won the Nevada caucus because of her huge margin of support among Latinos.

So Obama's delicate courtship of the Hispanic lawmakers -- who favor Clinton by a 4-1 ratio -- underscored how vital Latinos will be in picking the next president. When Obama comes calling again, Hispanics will demand that Latino faces and issues be at the forefront of the Democrats' fall campaign.

Compared with Clinton, Obama will have to work at winning Latino support "probably twice as hard to have significant success," said Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and key Clinton ally.

Menendez emphasized that Clinton's Hispanic supporters in Congress are "not ready" to switch to Obama. (Democratic Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, the last uncommitted House Hispanic superdelegate, just declared for Clinton, who won his southwest Texas district in the March primary.)

"Should Sen. Obama be the nominee, McCain will only be competitive if there's a lack of a [Democratic campaign] plan, vision, a message and a campaign that understands Latino voters," Menendez added.
In other words, Hispanics expect money to be spent on Latino staffers, consultants and major media buys in Latino-vote-rich areas to address the disproportionate challenges facing them.

Like other voters, Hispanics want affordable health care. But first, they need an economic stimulus for neighborhood businesses and others who are underemployed so they can have access to health care, said Democratic Rep. Hilda L. Solis, another Clinton supporter from California.

"Obama needs to embrace us more closely and really celebrate our heritage," Solis said, acknowledging that an Obama nomination would be a "big switcheroo" for Clinton's Latino loyalists. "We have always been taken for granted [by Democratic nominees]. Now is the opportunity to change that cycle."

Obama ally Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) has already broached the subject with the Obama campaign.

"As soon as the smoke clears" from the Obama-Clinton battle, Grijalva expects the Illinois senator to spend "some quality time" with the Hispanic Caucus to start building a mutually beneficial relationship.

"It's a great opportunity, not only for the Obama campaign but for the Democratic Party, to solidify that base," Grijalva said. "We are poised to become bigger players in the political arena. Our party has to make that investment" in the Hispanic communities so that down-ballot Democrats also benefit.

Already this year, Latinos have proved their increased political clout.

In 2000, the Hispanic share of the vote was 5.4 percent. This year, Latinos make up about 9 percent of eligible voters. The record-breaking turnout in Democratic primaries and caucuses has included unprecedented numbers of Latino voters.

"McCain took Florida because of the Hispanic vote," a win that set him on the path toward the GOP nomination, said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund. Clinton "is still in the race because of the Hispanic vote. We have defined the race."

NALEO, the National Council of La Raza, Univision Communications and other groups are behind the national "Ya es Hora" ("It's Time") campaign, which last year mobilized more than 1 million legal permanent residents to apply for U.S. citizenship. Its voter turnout program for the general election will be focused in California, New York, Texas, Florida, Colorado and Arizona.

Latinos' large presence in states that were competitive in the 2004 election -- such as Florida, New Mexico and Nevada -- has Democrats and Republicans agreeing that Hispanics could be "the swing vote" in tightly contested states.

"This year, we have a new generation of Latinos who are turning 18, who are doing so when they know it matters," Vargas said.

And McCain knows they matter. The Republican must take at least 40 percent of the Hispanic vote to win the White House.

The Arizona senator used to be admired in the Latino community for sponsoring broad immigration reforms that would enforce the borders and offer earned legalization for illegal immigrants. But he raised the ire of Hispanics last year when he backed away from his own bill in order to appease party conservatives.

Now, with immigration having failed as a wedge issue in recent special elections, McCain is inching back to the positions he held before this campaign.

On Cinco de Mayo, the Republican candidate called for a "humane and compassionate" approach to securing the borders. He recognized "the important friendship" between the U.S. and Mexico and the contributions Mexican-Americans have made "to our society, culture, security and economy." The presumptive GOP nominee also said he will attend in July the convention of the National Council of La Raza, the civil rights group that is demonized by immigration hard-liners.

The Democrats' focus "needs to be on who our opponent is going to be, and that's McCain. He's a Trojan horse. He looks like he's bearing gifts, but there's nothing in the horse," Solis said.

Menendez said a ticket with both Democratic candidates (no order specified) would "guarantee overwhelming turnout and support of the Latino community."

Obama, meanwhile, needs to earn Latinos' trust.

"I don't think there's any question Barack Obama is going to reach out to the Hispanic community," said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), who backs Obama. "I know that he's going to reach out and hold the support that Sen. Clinton has had and say, 'I need you.'"

Gebe Martinez is a longtime journalist in Washington and a frequent lecturer and commentator on the policy and politics of Capitol Hill.

Word for thought

Dave — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:35:17 EDT

15 So man will be brought low
and mankind humbled,
the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

16 But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice,
and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.

Isaiah 5:15-16

Clinton Clinging to a margin in PA doesn't mean every white guy will vote for McCain

Tom Hayes, working for change — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:51:31 EDT

One of the enduring mysteries of life in the U.S.A. is that children are taught, routinely, that this is a melting pot country, that we are enriched by the overlapping cultures and traditions, that here anybody can grow up to be anything - yet "like-me-ism" persists as a decision mechanism for so many. I got thinking about this again while reading "Pennsylvania Primary Provides New Litmus Test for Racism" by Marisa Treviño (on her Latina Lista blog.) In fact, you'll find a very similar comment there, beneath her thoughts weaving together threads seen from events in Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, and the plight(s) of the children of the FLDS in Texas. We lament the blindness of others Why is there so much tension between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland? They're Caucasian Christians who eat the same foods and speak the same language, yet they perpetrate acts of hatred and terrorism upon their neighbors... Well, thankfully that situation does seem to be moderating, but it's a perfect reminder on how small the differences that lead to strife can be. Neighbors in Iraq who have adopted different versions of Islam have taunted, shunned, and vilified each other in much the same patterns as those Christians in Northern Ireland. Am I more like an Iraqi or a Honduran? Reading my words you don't know. My skin may be darker or paler than yours; I was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the U.S., so am I more like the Protestant from a large family in Northern Ireland or the kid born in Hawaii and raised by a single mom who moved to Chicago after law school to organize destitute communities ravaged by unemployment - and is now running for President? Like-me-ism is easy to understand. Like-me-ism doesn't ask us to get out of our comfort zones. In fact, it is only relatively recently that we developed many alternatives to being just like our parents were, and their parents before them. If my ancestors were slavers, or crusaders, is there any comfort in that? If my ancestors lived in Moscow, Berlin, Bangkok, or Rome, would I not find a lot more people like me by going back there? No, I would not, because my grandfather's grandfather raised his family here, and while I am visually similar to those ancestors, I am culturally quite different. I am a product of my roots, but I am defined by my experiences, not my ancestors. I like Thai food, but I like Mexican food and Margaritas, too. I like Fettucini Alfredo with Australian wine, and the Ethiopian food at the Blue Nile in Minneapolis. I suppose that the place my grandfather's grandfather was born may even feature "American" restaurants now, but I would not be at home there. No, I am at home here, in the great melting pot, where vestiges of like-me-ism will linger long after I have passed. I am a bit more comfortable around people with similar views and tastes, but I am energized and enlivened by the myriad of choices and differences I encounter when stepping outside my own little world. Diversity is opportunity, and I hope to help those who distrust it discover how much there is to taste in life. The time is now: we must lead by example. Are you like me?

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THANK YOU, PA WAS GREAT!

JP — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:21:28 EDT

HELLO!

Although we lost PA the trip was UNFORGETTABLE! I has a wonderful time and my fellow Obama volunteers were AWESOME! THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED ME GET THERE!

LOVE AND PEACE,

WE WILL PREVAIL! OBAMA YES WE CAN!