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As the week slowly draws to a close, Barack Obama stands ready to claim his hotly contested place as the Democratic presidential candidate.  In fact, a casual glance at his campaign shows him basically ignoring the Clinton’s and focusing on his real enemy, John McCain.

In what has been the most expensive primary election in the history of the United States, both Obama and the Clinton’s have spent vast sums of money.  The biggest difference being that Obama hasn’t spent very much (if any) of his own.  Hillary on the other hand, has already loaned her campaign 11 million dollars and could be required to add to that sum should things not go as planned in West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon.  Ouch!

Obama ready to try on Democratic crown
8 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — With the Democratic presidential nomination tantalizingly within his grasp, Barack Obama has begun to burnish his image as his party’s standard-bearer in the quest to wrest the White House back from the Republicans.

Fresh from a big win over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s North Carolina primary, and after nearly tying in Indiana, the Illinois senator who could become the first black president of the United States, was the center of attention as he made a triumphant return to Congress on Thursday.

He has also begun to train his sights on the November 4 general election, exchanging fire with likely Republican nominee John McCain while appearing on the cover of leading magazines and giving national media interviews.

Obama hopes he can finally wrap up the longest and most expensive nomination contest in US history on May 20, when primaries in Kentucky and Oregon may give him a majority of elected delegates.

His campaign is now moving faster toward a transition to the general election campaign as Obama plans stops in the coming weeks in states considered battlegrounds in the November vote, The Washington Post reported.

But with six nominating contests to go until June 3, Clinton has refused to throw in the towel and the feisty former first lady is pressing on with her campaign, focusing on the next primary fight on Tuesday in West Virginia, where she is favored to win.

"I can understand why he’s eager to claim victory and get on with the general election, but I don’t think that it’s over quite yet," said James Gimpel, a government professor at University of Maryland.

"If I were part of his team, I would want to certainly foster the impression or the image that he has overhwelming momentum and that she’s been defeated," Gimpel told AFP.

"They’re trying to make it look like the door’s completely shut. And it’s mostly shut, but I don’t think that it’s entirely shut."

US media have all but bestowed the crown on Obama: The New York Post said Clinton was "Toast" following Tuesday’s primaries, while Time magazine put Obama on its cover with the headline "And the winner is…"

But the magazine’s title also had an asterisk leading to a caption saying, "Really, we’re pretty sure this time."

While Obama may win the majority of elected delegates on May 20, Clinton continued to vow no surrender and could very well refuse to concede and press her case to the Democratic Party’s "superdelegates," nearly 800 party officials who can vote for whomever they want at the August convention, that she is better placed to beat McCain.

She is also pressing the Democratic Party to reinstate the delegates from the Florida and Michigan primaries, which she won but were voided because the states violated party rules by holding their votes too early.

But Obama has beaten back Clinton’s efforts to undermine his "electability" and is slowly chipping away at her superdelegate lead, picking up at least nine new supporters from this elite group this week.

"Superdelegates are not going to contravene the verdict of the pledged delegates. That would tear the party to pieces," said American University political history professor Allan Lichtman.

"There seems to be no inclination to do that. If anything Obama is picking up, not losing, superdelegates, so clearly everyone sees the handwriting on the wall," he said.

Obama leads Clinton 1,854-1,696 in total delegates, while she leads him by only seven superdelegates, 272-265, according to independent website RealClearPolitics.com. To win the nomination, a candidate needs 2,025 total delegates.

Democratic Party officials are worried that the protracted nomination fight could split the party and hurt its chances at taking back the White House after eight years of President George W. Bush.

But both Obama and Clinton have vowed to support the winner of the nomination, whoever that may be.

In the meantime, Obama has begun to focus on his battle against McCain while ignoring Clinton.

At a meeting with technology workers while campaigning in Beaverton, Oregon, on Friday, Obama noticeably did not mention Clinton while assailing McCain’s plans for the economy and the war in Iraq.

"Senator McCain is running for president to double down on George Bush’s failed economic policies," Obama said.

"I am running to change them. And that’s what will be a fundamental difference in this election when I am the Democratic nominee for president."

[Thanks, AP]

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Slowly but surely, the tide is turning away from the racist and divisive Clinton campaign and flowing into Obama’s camp.  Continuing to nibble away at the only ‘demographic’ where the Clinton’s continue to beat Barack, the Superdelegate count see-saws with the fortunes of the candidates.

Obama has gained 6 or 7 superdelegates just this week and one of them was a confirmed Clinton supporter until her public transition to the winning team.  Virginia state House member Jennifer McClellan, who switched to Obama, is one of at least nine superdelegates who have switched from Clinton to Obama since the Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5.

The desire for peace and real change is growing.  Vote for Obama and Incite Hope.

Obama picks up superdelegates; undecideds moving his way

By NEDRA PICKLER – 20 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama’s march toward the Democratic presidential nomination picked up support from four more superdelegates Wednesday, pushing him ever closer to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton — even as their primary marathon staggered on.

She added two superdelegates herself in what has become the last big contest as their race winds toward a finish.

There are just 217 delegates to be chosen in the final six primaries, and neither candidate can win enough of them to claim final victory. Meanwhile, 265 additional delegates — the party elders and other "superdelegates" — have yet to be claimed, and their support will be the deciding factor.

Though Obama padded his delegate lead in Tuesday’s primaries, most uncommitted superdelegates still want to remain on the sidelines. The Associated Press interviewed more than 70 undeclared superdelegates or their representatives Wednesday, and many said they don’t want to get involved until the voting ends on June 3.

However, the comments of some of the uncommitteds were anything but encouraging for Clinton.

"I’m just wondering about the viability of Clinton’s campaign at this point," said Laurie Weahkee, an add-on delegate from New Mexico. "I really want to hear from her more about if she wants to stay in the race — if the reason remains very concrete."

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle said Clinton’s pitch to superdelegates has been that she can win the popular vote, but that was undercut when Obama netted more than 200,000 popular votes in the Tuesday contests.

"The math just got very tough for her after last night," Doyle said. "I think most of us out of respect for her are content to wait a little longer. … The absolute best way for this to end is for the candidates to end it, not the superdelegates. That’s the ending we all dream about every night."

She picked up two in the wake of Tuesday’s loss in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana. North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler had said he would support the winner of his district, and she won it handily. A spokeswoman for Texas labor leader Robert Martinez told the AP he is committed to Clinton, but it wasn’t clear when he made the decision.

But she lost another supporter, Virginia state House member Jennifer McClellan, who switched to Obama. McClellan is one of at least nine superdelegates who have switched from Clinton to Obama since the Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5. There have been no public switches in the other direction.

"I think the time has come to support Senator Obama as the likely nominee," McClellan said in a conference call with reporters. "Given what happened last night, it’s very unlikely we will have a different result, and it is time to come together as a party and prepare for victory against John McCain in November."

Obama also got the support of North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council and California DNC member Inola Henry.

Clinton met with undecided superdelegates at Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday. She said, "We talked a lot about Florida and Michigan," two states that she won but don’t have any delegates to count toward her total because their early primaries violated party rules. "I continue to emphasize and stress that we cannot disenfranchise those voters."

Obama was to make his pitch to the congressional fence sitters in meetings Thursday. He also planned to start traveling to swing states to signal that the general election has begun.

Superdelegates who are supporting Obama recently have given a number of reasons. They recognize he is the front-runner and want to end a divisive party fight. They were impressed with his handling of a crisis that confronted his campaign in the comments of his former pastor. They don’t want to risk alienating black voters who are excited about Obama’s chance to become the first black president. They simply think Obama would be a more attractive choice at the top of the ticket.

"I think that Sen. Obama is going to be a tremendous boost for down-ballot races in North Carolina," Meek told the AP. "He’s going to turn out segments of the electorate — particularly young people and African-Americans — who have historically low turnout levels. That will help candidates up and down the ballot."

Nancy Worley, Alabama’s former secretary of state and the state Democratic Party’s first vice chair, said she got calls Wednesday morning from Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine — both Obama supporters.

"It appears that the Obama supporters, just from my perspective, are working a little harder at getting commitments," she said. Clinton’s campaign has mainly used letters and e-mails, with occasional calls from staffers, she said, while Obama has used more of a "personal touch" with direct phone calls.

Nonetheless, she said she still hasn’t been convinced one way or another even though she said she would be reluctant to vote against the pledged delegate leader. That is almost certain to be Obama.

Arizona Democratic Chairman Don Bivens also appeared closer to backing Obama after receiving e-mails from both camps Wednesday trying to win him over.

"The Obama one was more fulsome and sort of laid out the mathematical facts," Bivens said. He said the Clinton e-mails were from multiple individuals sharing why they thought she was the best choice.

"I’m still uncommitted, but I do believe that yesterday’s results put me at a decisional plateau." He said the rest of the contests’ outcomes are more predictable. "I think that we’re at a point where the track got shorter and you can see the finish line."

Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher, Ann Sanner, Ben Evans and Kim Hefling in Washington, Matt Mygatt in Albuquerque, N.M., Mike Baker in Raleigh, N.C., and Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.

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As we draw ever closer to the end of the Primary season we have to wonder just how many independent voters have been forced into the McCain camp by the bickering and divisiveness shown by the Clinton’s.  With her campaign churning out one attack campaign closely following on the heels of the other, the voters haven’t had a respite from the ‘politics of fear’ since long before ‘Super Tuesday’.

With Barack continuing to gather support not only in the popular vote, but among superdelegates, the end for the Clinton’s must come soon.  And even then, it’ll be too late for many.

Hillary is broke again, having loaned her campaign an additional 6 million dollars now that the donors are drying up; she is behind in any measure vote-wise, and yet she continues to delude herself that she has a chance.  Sad really.

Support for Clinton Wanes as Obama Sees Finish Line

By PATRICK HEALY and JEFF ZELENY
Published: May 8, 2008

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton struck a publicly defiant posture on Wednesday about continuing her presidential bid despite waning support from Democratic officials and donors. Some of her advisers acknowledged privately that they remained unsure about the future of her candidacy.

With the political world trained on Mrs. Clinton’s financial and electoral viability, Senator Barack Obama moved closer to becoming the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party. Mr. Obama spent the day at home in Chicago, after increasing his delegate lead in Tuesday’s primaries — a result that led David Plouffe, a top Obama aide, to say on Wednesday, “We can see the finish line here.”

After a decisive loss in North Carolina and a disappointingly narrow victory in Indiana on Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton told advisers that she wanted to start campaigning for next Tuesday’s primary in West Virginia, advisers said. At 3 a.m. Wednesday, aides added a noon event there. She was also eager to get away from Beltway buzzards circling her candidacy and feeding off fresh tidbits like the revelation that she had lent her campaign $6 million to keep it afloat, aides said.

In West Virginia on Wednesday afternoon, Mrs. Clinton said that it was “still early” — even though 50 of 56 nominating contests have concluded — and that the “dynamic electoral environment” could still swing the nomination her way.

“I’m staying in this race until there is a nominee, and obviously I’m going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee,” Mrs. Clinton said after an event in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

As adamant as Mrs. Clinton appeared on Wednesday, several advisers said that how long she would stay in the race was an open question. Some top Clinton fund-raisers said that the campaign was all but over and suggested that she was simply buying time on Wednesday to determine if she could raise enough money and still win over superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who could essentially hand Mr. Obama the nomination.

Highlighting the financial woes of Mrs. Clinton’s expensive battle against Mr. Obama, campaign officials disclosed that the $6 million in loans she made to her campaign had come in three installments since April 11, with the last two since May 1. Mrs. Clinton and her husband made a separate $5 million loan to the campaign after the Feb. 5 contests.

[Thanks, NY Times]

Continue reading ‘Will Hillary Acknowledge the Writing on the Wall?’

Jay Leno:   “President Bush’s daughter Jenna is getting married this weekend. There’ll be 200 guests at wedding, which according the latest polls, means that 140 of those people at the wedding disapprove of the job President Bush is doing.

Jay Leno:   “Indiana and North Carolina held their primaries today. But the Democrats are now saying that Hillary and Barack could be battling for the nomination well into June. Now, aren’t they acting more and more like Republicans? Neither one of them has an exit strategy, you know?”

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In a decisive 14 percentage point lead, Barack Obama clearly took the day in North Carolina.  Barack, with 1735 pledged delegates has widened his lead over the Clinton’s with 1602 pledged delegates. 

Garnering the larger percentage of the remaining free delegates Barack seems unstoppable at this point.  While the Clinton’s are clinging to the extremely narrow victory in Indiana and calling for further cash support from her followers, the margin of victory that Barack now enjoys makes it virtually impossible for her to catch him in pledged delegates.

Unless of course there is chicanery involving the illegally obtained votes from Florida and Michigan.  Only time will tell about that.  I’m just hoping that Howard Dean does the right thing and if they allow delegates, that they only allow them to evenly split the vote between the two candidates.

Obama Wins North Carolina Decisively; Clinton Takes Indiana by Slim Margin

By JEFF ZELENY

Published: May 7, 2008

Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday and lost narrowly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, an outcome that injected a boost of momentum to Mr. Obama’s candidacy as the Democratic nominating contest entered its final month.

The results from the two primaries, the largest remaining Democratic ones, assured that Mr. Obama would widen his lead in pledged delegates over Mrs. Clinton, providing him with new ammunition as he seeks to persuade Democratic leaders to coalesce around his campaign. He also increased his lead in the popular vote in winning North Carolina by more than 200,000 votes.

“Don’t ever forget that we have a choice in this country,” Mr. Obama said in an address in Raleigh, N.C., that carried the unity themes of a convention speech. “We can choose not to be divided; that we can choose not to be afraid; that we can still choose this moment to finally come together and solve the problems we’ve talked about all those other years in all those other elections.”

In winning North Carolina by 14 percentage points, Mr. Obama — whose campaign had been embattled by controversy over the incendiary remarks of his former pastor — recorded his first primary victory in nearly two months. His campaign was preparing to open a new front in his battle with Mrs. Clinton, intensifying the argument to uncommitted Democratic superdelegates that he weathered a storm and that the time was dawning for the party to concentrate on the general election.

[Thanks, NY Times]

Continue reading ‘Obama Widens Lead Between Himself and the Clinton’s’

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Today is the last big push for both Democratic candidates in this long and protracted push for delegates.  With 187 delegates on the table Obama must gain a clear majority if he wants the Clinton’s to pack up and go home.  But survey numbers put the two candidates within single digits of each other.

Obama leads North Carolina by a slim 8 points in CNN’s Poll of Polls while the Clinton’s are ahead by an even slimmer 4 points in Indiana.  With neither candidate likely to show a commanding lead in either the popular vote or pledged delegates at the close of business today, there is little hope that this primary race will be considered resolved before the last primaries on June 3.

The troubling part is that Howard Dean recently stated that they were going to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan at the democratic National convention in Denver later this summer.  This becomes quite problematic for Obama who followed the rules and didn’t campaign in Florida and even removed his name from the ballots in Michigan.

Will we see a third election in a row stolen from the American people?  I wouldn’t put it past the Clinton’s, who I see as Republicans in Democratic clothing.

Indiana and North Carolina — the final round?

From Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director

(CNN) — It’s another Tuesday, and two more states are holding primaries, but the outcome this time could truly be crucial to the Democratic presidential nomination battle between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

In all, 187 delegates are at stake in Indiana and North Carolina. Clinton, the junior senator from New York, knows that the results in these two states could shake up the race.

"This primary election on Tuesday is a game changer," Clinton said. "This is going to make a huge difference in what happens going forward. The entire country, probably even a lot of the world, is looking."

Judging by the numbers, Obama is the front-runner. The Illinois senator leads in pledged delegates and in states won, and is also ahead in the popular vote, if Florida and Michigan are not factored into the equation. Those states are being penalized for moving their primaries up in violation of party rules.

With Obama ahead in all these categories, Clinton has a lot on the line in Indiana and North Carolina.

"It would be a game changer if Clinton wins both North Carolina and Indiana by double-digit margins," said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political correspondent. "That would signal to the superdelegates that Democratic voters are having serious doubts about Obama. She needs big victories because it’s so late in the game."

In all, only 404 pledged delegates remain to be chosen, and Tuesday’s total of 187 makes it the biggest single primary day left. Clinton would need to win 70 percent of the remaining pledged delegates to catch up with Obama.

"That’s very unlikely," Schneider said. "She stands a better chance of catching up in the total popular vote."

With neither candidate expected to win the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination by June 3, the end of the primary season, the final decision will most likely fall to the 796 so-called superdelegates: Democratic governors, members of Congress and party officials.

The race in Indiana is close. The CNN Poll of Polls released Monday suggests Clinton has a four-point lead. The poll, which averages the latest surveys in the state, had been tied for the last week.

Obama acknowledged to supporters Monday that Indiana’s up for grabs.

"This is gonna be a tight election here in Indiana," he said in Evansville. "Every poll shows it is a dead heat. We need every single vote. So, you guys are pretty persuasive. I need you to tell your members that this is something worth fighting for and that they need to come out and vote, and vote for me."

In North Carolina, the CNN Poll of Polls released Monday indicates that Obama is up by eight points, down from a double-digit lead last week.

"If Obama wins both North Carolina and Indiana, that would be a game changer, but not the one Clinton is talking about," Schneider said. "The superdelegates would take that as a signal that the voters are ready to close the deal up with Obama."

Both candidates have spent the past two weeks shuttling between Indiana and North Carolina, each arguing to crucial working-class voters that their rival is out of touch when it comes to the pocketbook issues that are dominating the campaign.

Clinton is touting her plan to repeal the federal gas tax (about 18 cents a gallon for regular unleaded) to give Americans who are facing $4-per-gallon gas prices some relief this summer.

"I think you should have some immediate relief," she said Monday. "In fact, I think it’s a false choice, as my opponent and others have been trying to say: ‘Oh we can’t do anything in the short run to help people, we can only worry about what we do in the long run.’

"People live in the short run. People get up every day and have to go fill up their tanks, they have to go the grocery store, so let’s have immediate relief and long-term relief."

Clinton is also touting her populist message in a new commercial: "Hillary is the one who gets it. Hillary Clinton is the candidate who is going to fight for working people."

Obama calls the Clinton plan, and a similar proposal by presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, a sham and pure pandering for votes.

"We can’t afford to settle for a Washington where politicians only focus on how to win instead of why we should; where they check the polls before they check their gut; where they only tell us whatever we want to hear whenever we want to hear it," Obama said Monday. "That kind of politics may get them where they need to go, but it doesn’t get America where we need to go. And it won’t change anything."

His campaign slams the plan in a television commercial.

"Clinton aides admit it won’t do much for you, but would help her politically," the narrator says. "So here’s the choice: Clinton gimmicks that help big oil or Barack Obama, a real energy plan and a $1,000 middle-class tax cut to help families truly pay the bills."

This new disagreement over whether to repeal the federal gas tax is the latest clash in a long feud between the two rivals.

"The price of gas is same song, different verse of a year-long battle in which differences are few and matters of character loom large," said Candy Crowley, CNN senior political analyst. "Fueled by strong and steady support from blue-collar workers, Clinton has to position herself as the working-class champion, and tacitly — and sometimes openly — she is framing Obama as out of touch with ordinary people."

"The son of a single mother who once went on the food-stamp program, Obama finds it ironic that he has been painted as an elitist," Crowley added. "Though most economists agree with him, arguing against a gas tax holiday is tricky politically."

[Thanks, CNN]

Barack has fired a salvo across the bow of the Clinton’s foreign policy platform by publicly accusing Hillary of emulating George W. Bush by threatening to obliterate Iran if they used nukes against Israel.  Wow, someone else sees just how she appears to be a war-mongering Republican.

I think that since George W. has instilled all of the false fears into the common man with his lies and fabrications regarding Iran, the Clinton’s want to ride that bus for a little while and play off of those fears.  They are really no better than the two jackholes we have in office now.

Obama targets Clinton’s Cold War mentality

JOHN IBBITSON
From Monday’s Globe and Mail
May 4, 2008 at 9:50 PM EDT

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama is accusing Hillary Clinton of emulating George W. Bush with her proposal to launch a new Cold War – this time in the Middle East, with Iran playing the role of the former Soviet Union.

Mr. Obama characterized Ms. Clinton’s threat to obliterate Iran if it used nuclear weapons against Israel as “reflective of George Bush.”

“It is important that we use language that sends a signal to the world community that we’re shifting from the sort of cowboy diplomacy, or lack of diplomacy, that we’ve seen out of George Bush,” he said yesterday in a one-hour interview with NBC’s Tim Russert. “And that kind of language is not helpful.”

Far from backing down, however, Ms. Clinton repeated her pledge to visit “massive destruction” on Iran if it launched nuclear weapons against Israel.

Her warning “sends a very clear message that their leaders need to be very careful about any kind of decisions that they might contemplate,” she told George Stephanopoulos in a one-hour forum that he hosted yesterday.

And she offered to extend the United States’s nuclear umbrella over friendly Arab states as well, with a proposal that resembled a Middle Eastern version of NATO.

Ms. Clinton’s hawkish approach to confronting Iran is just one of many controversies and issues surrounding the two candidates, as they campaign furiously in Indiana and North Carolina on the eve of tomorrow’s primaries. The latest polls show Mr. Obama holding on to a nine-point lead in North Carolina.

The polls in Indiana conflict, but most show Ms. Clinton ahead. Since late-deciding voters in previous primaries in industrial Midwestern states tended to favour Ms. Clinton, she is favoured to win Indiana.

And indeed, Ms. Clinton’s campaign headquarters announced yesterday that she would spend primary night in Indianapolis – a sure sign that her campaign is expecting a victory party there.

The ramifications of Ms. Clinton’s Iranian containment policy may be lost in all the hoopla surrounding this week’s primaries, and the pressure on the undeclared superdelegates to commit one way or another. Yet her proposal truly is extraordinary. It comes in two parts. The first part would bring Israel, for all intents and purposes, into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, at least where nuclear weapons are involved.

The members of NATO pledge that an attack against one is an attack against all. During the Cold War, all sides understood that the NATO guarantee was really a threat directed at the former Soviet Union: if it invaded Western Europe, it would also be going to war with the United States. Ms. Clinton has effectively made the same threat to Iran, should it contemplate launching a nuclear strike against Israel.

The second part of Ms. Clinton’s proposal aims to actually recreate aspects of NATO, only this time the participants would be the United States and willing Arab states. A nuclear attack against any of those countries would be deemed a nuclear attack against the United States, which would respond in kind.

The purpose of such a collective-security agreement, she said, would be to prevent other Muslim states in the region from acquiring nuclear weapons of their own, should Iran succeed in developing a bomb.

“What we want is to work toward some kind of security agreement to prevent that proliferation,” she said. “And we’re talking about the potential deter-able effect of being able to say: ‘Don’t even think about it, Iran.’ ”

Mr. Stephanopoulos questioned whether it was strategically appropriate to equate Riyadh with Indianapolis, and that is one of many questions surrounding Ms. Clinton’s proposals. Others might include:

Would the collective security guarantee also extend to a conventional attack against Israel or the proposed Arab NATO? If not, why not?

- How might these guarantees be interpreted if terrorists set off an atomic device, which they might or might not have acquired with the connivance of a nuclear state – say, Pakistan?

- Would the other members of NATO, including Canada, be invited to join this new NATO for the Middle East?

- Would the new and still unperfected U.S. missile defence shield be extended into the region?

- NATO’s European members feared that if the Soviet Union attacked them, the United States might renege on its commitment, rather than risk a nuclear holocaust. Wouldn’t Arab leaders have even greater reason for concern, especially if Iran and Russia become more closely allied?

Mr. Obama criticized the timing of Ms. Clinton’s proposal, as much as its substance.

“I’m troubled by the idea that as a throwaway at a debate you start expanding the U.S. nuclear umbrella potentially to a whole host of other countries, without any clear idea of what those criteria are or who might be involved and so forth,” he said.

While he agreed that the United States should review its strategic posture in the region, in light of the threat of Iran becoming a nuclear power, any agreements should be approached “prudently, cautiously, and in consultation with Congress.”

But Ms. Clinton insisted the United States government needs to get through to the Iranian population the enormous risks their leadership is taking with their lives.

“We want to create some upward pressure that sends a very clear signal” to the Iranian leadership “that going forward on nuclear weapons is not a free choice for Iran,” she declared.

Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton did, however, agree that the current priority must be to deter Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon, through a combination of sanctions backed by international agreement, and direct bilateral negotiations that would offer the regime economic incentives for abandoning its program.

It is a telling commentary on the nature of politics and journalism that Mr. Russert devoted all of four minutes of his hour-long interview with Mr. Obama to Ms. Clinton’s Mideast proposals, while spending 14 minutes rehashing the musings of Mr. Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

[Thanks, Globe and Mail]

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During a speech in Munster, Indiana on Friday, Obama responded to the criticism aimed at him for not following along with the other Republican candidates in calling for a suspension of the national gas tax. 

Both the Clinton’s and McCain propose to eliminate the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gas tax as a short term measure.  Supposedly, the tax gap would be made up by assessing a ‘windfall’ profits tax on the oil companies.

But really, do you see these companies paying for your summer vacation travel?  That’s really the issue in Obama’s mind, the whole thing is a just a stunt to get votes rather than address the real issues.

Obama calls suspension of gas tax a political stunt
May 3, 2008

Barack Obama yesterday dismissed a proposed summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax as a political stunt that could cost thousands of construction jobs, including 6,000 in Indiana.

"It’s a shell game. Literally," Obama said to laughter from his audience in Munster, Ind.

He also accused Clinton and Republican John McCain of "reading from the same political playbook" by endorsing the idea. "This is a plan that would save you pennies a day for the summer months. That is unless gas prices are raised to fill in the gap," Obama said.

And he launched a new TV ad in Indiana replying to what his campaign calls "another negative ad" from Clinton that accuses him of ignoring the pain at the gas pump.

The ad calls the idea "an election year gimmick," then highlights Obama’s long-range plan to deal with record-high gas prices, which in broad strokes is similar to Clinton’s.

As a short-term fix, Clinton is proposing a summer gas tax holiday that would suspend the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal levy, to be paid for by imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies. The proposal is a rarity in the marathon battle for the Democratic nomination - a clear-cut policy difference between Obama and Clinton, and it is playing out in the final days before Tuesday’s primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

Clinton yesterday reiterated her support for the gas tax suspension, and called for a vote in the Democratic-controlled Congress.

"All I hear about is gas prices. Gas and diesel, everywhere," she said at a John Deere tractor dealership in Kinston, N.C. "Some people say we don’t need to get a gas tax holiday at all, it’s a gimmick. . . . I want the Congress to stand up and vote. Are they for the oil companies, or are they for you?"

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thanks, Boston.com]

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Here is an interesting Blog post from the Houston Chronicle.  The author discusses the law of supply and demand and how the Clinton’s gas tax scheme is flawed in that it would only INCREASE the demand for an already limited commodity.

My thoughts do tend to run along these lines as well, but I’m also concerned with the deficit we will experience in our national road tax fund.  Those dollars go to repair the roads, tunnels and bridges that make up out interstate highway system.  We need to increase the funding for these, not decrease it.

Hillary’s Wrong-Headed Gas Tax Scheme

Posted 5/3/2008 7:23 AM CDT

The Clinton campaign has put pencil to paper and arrived at what it costs to buy a vote in North Carolina and Indiana—approximately 18.4 cents per gallon. That is the amount by which Hillary would reduce the price of gasoline in her proposed legislation to suspend the federal gasoline tax for the summer months.

This ridiculous idea is wrong on 2 fronts, politically and economically. Politically, it has no chance of passing. Even if, by some miracle, it was approved by the Senate, it would never pass the House, where Speaker Pelosi is firmly against it. But suppose lightning struck and it passed the House, President Bush would surely veto it. Politically, it is a non-starter.

Economically it’s a bad idea, which will do nothing to solve the problem of dependence on foreign oil. In fact, most economists agree it will make things worse instead of better. On top of that, Hillary proposes to pay for this wrong-headed plan with another one, the windfall profits tax on "big oil."

Even Sen. McCain, the self-proclaimed deficit hawk, has agreed with Mrs.Clinton on the gas tax suspension, which is strange because it would increase that deficit. Barack Obama, to his credit, is opposed to this obvious vote-buying scam.

I’m no economist, but I’ll play one here for a minute. I recall from Economics 101 that there is something called the law of supply and demand. As the demand for a product increases, the supply must increase or else the price of that product will rise accordingly.

What we have is a supply problem. It just seems strange to me that the people who scream the loudest about our dependence on foreign oil, Sen. Clinton and Speaker Pelosi among them, are the very ones who do everything they can to suppress production from domestic sources with repressive restrictions on offshore drilling and the building of new refineries.

I’m just a simple man with a simple mind (no jokes please) who sees a simple solution, we need more oil. Renewables are a good idea, but any major reliance on them is at least 20 years in the future. Schemes like pandering to voters with a temporary reduction in gasoline taxes do nothing to solve this problem. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a leader for a change, someone with the vision to see the future, instead of politicians who can see no further than the next election?

[Thanks, Houston Chronicle]

Yesterday it was Joe Andrew, a former DNC Chair, who withdrew his support from the Clinton’s and endorsed Obama.

Today it’s nothing as exciting as becoming a turncoat, but it’s still a leg up for the Obama camp.  Paul Kirk, another former DNC Chair has declared his support and endorsement for Sen. Obama.

If we have to win the delegates one-by-one from now till June, that’ll be fine by me.  As long as we get the Nomination and kick McCain’s ass.

Paul Kirk, Ex-DNC Chair And Superdelegate, To Endorse Obama

ABC’s the note says Obama will roll out the endorsement of another DNC ex-chair today.

Speaking of math — the Obama campaign rolls out another former DNC chairman’s endorsement on Friday: Paul Kirk, a superdelegate who led the party from 1985-1989, is coming out for Obama — a day after Andrew’s switch, an Obama campaign official tells The Note. (And don’t count on that being it for the day, as the dribble continues.)

If Clinton, D-N.Y., can make this is a race yet, we’re about to find out just how patient Democrats can be with a race that’s showing signs of shredding the party. Notwithstanding moves by Andrew, Kirk, and the like, Clinton needs superdelegates to wait for her case to play out — and then she needs an utter and total rejection of the Democratic frontrunner.

Yesterday Joe Andrew, former DNC Chair under Bill Clinton, withdrew his support from Sen Clinton and endorsed Obama. Read why Joe decided to switch to an Obama endorsement.

Political Wire notes that Obama after the last two days, Obama has pulled ahead in endorsements from former DNC chairs:

For those keeping score, The Hotline notes that of the 11 living Democratic National Committee chairs between 1981 and 2005, six have endorsed Sen. Barack Obama and four have backed Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Only former Colorado Gov. Gov. Roy Romer has remained neutral.

[Thanks, Huffington Post]

We all know that the Department of Justice is a little shorthanded.  After the celebrated faux pas of firing 7 U.S. Attorneys for political reasons (rather than performance issues), the DoJ has had some problems not only filling those positions, but retaining other top performers.

Case in point is the chief of the DoJ’s criminal division, Alice S Fisher.  She tendered her resignation yesterday for a May 23rd departure.

In the sunset of any presidency you can expect some departures, but the exodus from all corners of the Bush administration started early and have gathered an incredible momentum.  The rats are fleeing the sinking ship that is the Bush/Cheney bloody dictatorship.

Top-Level Departures Continue
Justice Official Who Oversees Cases On Corruption, Fraud Is Quitting

Thursday, May 1, 2008; Page A17

Alice S. Fisher, chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said yesterday that she will leave government service at the end of the month after nearly three years overseeing major public corruption and corporate fraud cases.

Her departure leaves the Justice Department even more short-staffed. Fisher is one of only four remaining division chiefs who have navigated the Senate confirmation process.

Among the ongoing investigations Fisher has been overseeing are cases involving members of Congress and executives at mortgage companies caught up in the credit debacle. Her deputy, Barry M. Sabin, a former federal prosecutor in Miami, is serving in an acting capacity, and her chief of staff left for private practice earlier this year.

Justice Department officials said they are not ready to announce who will replace Fisher, who previously worked for several years at the law firm Latham & Watkins.

Fisher’s signature initiatives include a crackdown on corporate bribes and a new strategy to attack international organized crime. She developed a reputation as a tough-minded leader who marshaled resources and helped reenergize units that prosecute white-collar malfeasance and public-integrity offenses.

"She will leave a void that will be tough to fill," said Andrew C. Lourie, a former top aide to Fisher who is a defense lawyer in Washington.

– Carrie Johnson

[Thanks, Washington Post]

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Joe Andrew, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, held a news conference Thursday in Indianapolis to announce his support of Obama and to urge other superdelegates to unite behind Obama in order to "heal the rift in our party."  What’s odd about this?  Last year Joe has endorsed the Clinton’s for president!

That’s one, how many are to follow?

Clinton Ally Switches to Obama, Expects ‘Attack Dogs’

Influential Indiana Superdelegate Calls Obama the ‘Bill Clinton of 2008′

By JAKE TAPPER
May 1, 2008

A former leader of the Democratic Party who last year endorsed Hillary Clinton with lavish praise has switched to Barack Obama — and now predicts that the Clinton "attack dogs" will be after him.

Joe Andrew, who was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1999 with Bill Clinton’s blessing, held a news conference Thursday in Indianapolis to announce his support of Obama and to urge other superdelegates to unite behind Obama in order to "heal the rift in our party."

"I have been inspired," Andrew said in a lengthy letter to superdelegates and Indiana voters who will go to the polls next week in a primary that could largely seal the nomination for Obama or give Clinton vital momentum.

"Don’t settle for the tried and true and simplistic slogans, but listen to your heart and dare to be inspired," he wrote.

[Thanks, ABC News]

Continue reading ‘Clinton’s Superdelegate Turns Traitor, Heads to Obama Camp’