Obama Picks Up Another Superdelegate

April 26, 2008, 9:07 pm |By Jeff Zeleny

INDIANAPOLIS — While much of the political establishment is attending the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner tonight in Washington, the superdelegate operation is still churning.

Senator Barack Obama, who spent the day campaigning In Indiana in advance of the state’s May 6 primary, collected the endorsement of an Arizona superdelegate today.

Charlene Fernandez, the newly-elected first vice chairwoman of the Arizona Democratic Party, announced her support tonight for Mr. Obama

“Senator Barack Obama is strengthening the Democratic Party by bringing in new voters, young and old, into the process,” Ms. Fernandez said in a statement released by the Obama campaign. ” I believe Senator Obama has the best ability to win the White House in November and lead this country forward.”

Ms. Fernandez was Mr. Obama’ s 241st superdelegate endorsement.

Local resident Bernard Smith introduced Barack at today's Town Hall Meeting in Marion, Indiana...

...Bernard shared his own emotional story about dismanting the factory that his father had helped build thirty eight years before.

Obama Speaks on Economics in Kokomo, Indiana

Hillary: 35 Years Have Prepared Her for This Kind of (In)Competence

No Laughing Matter

Andrew Romano | Newsweek


Hillary Clinton loves to repeat that she'd be "ready on Day One"--to repair the economy, to lead the military, to reinstall her favorite credenza in the White House master bedroom. Good thing Day One is still 270 days away.

Just ask the Kiwis. On the eve of Pennsylvania's primary, my NEWSWEEK colleague Karen Breslau boldly--or foolishly--prodded the former First Lady for a favorite joke. Clinton's response? "Here's a good one," she said. "Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand: her opponents have observed that in the event of a nuclear war, the two things that will emerge from the rubble are the cockroaches and Helen Clark." While only barely qualifying as a joke--usually these are funny--Clinton's quip did pass muster as something slightly less mirthful: a diplomatic gaffe. It wasn't so much comparing a former prime minister to an indestructible arthropod that sent the New Zealand press into a tizzy after Karen's interview appeared in this week's mag. It was the fact that Helen Clark is still, you know, the prime minister of New Zealand. LOL.

It's not the first time Clinton's stand-up has bombed on the international stage. At an event in Hampton, N.H. on Jan. 7, she mocked George W. Bush's famous line about "looking into [Vladimir] Putin's" soul with a sparkling zinger of her own: "He was a KGB agent. By definition he doesn't have a soul." (Insert rimshot here.) Unfortunately, Putin wasn't pleased. "At a minimum," he later said, "a head of state should have a head." So much for our Russian relations! To make matters worse, Clinton was just getting over gravely offending another key leader: Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, whom she twice suggested may have ordered Benazir Bhutto's assassination. "We... expect that responsible leaders and public figures in the US would refrain from making statements that are likely to be distorted and misused and could further upset the people, who are still in a state of shock," said Pakistan's Foreign Ministry at the time; the New York senator quickly followed up with an elementary error about Pakistani politics. Since then, she's stumbled when asked the name of Putin's successor, Demetri Medvedev ("Meh, um, Me-ned-vadah. Whatever."); embarrassed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown by wrongly praising him for boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics; and, um, threatened to "obliterate" Iran. As Politico's Ben Smith puts it, "Clinton, despite her image as a steady hand on foreign policy, leads the field on actual foreign policy blunders this cycle." Paging "Who's Line Is It Anyway?"

Of course, Clinton hasn't suffered much damage for her slips because they contradict (rather than reinforce) the media's preferred narrative; such a list probably would've sunk Barack Obama, who's still struggling to overcome perceptions of inexperience. That said, something tells me the international community will have concerns other than bowling scores and arugula come next January. Like, say, diplomacy.

Fortunately for Clinton, Day One won't arrive for another nine months. That's plenty of time to get ready. And if the White House thing doesn't work out, remember: the Catskills are only 90 miles from Chappaqua.

Andrew Romano was named Associate Editor and Political Blogger in December 2007. He travels with the 2008 presidential candidates covering the daily roadshow for his blog, Stumper, and reports on politics for the National Affairs section of the magazine.

Democratic Party Woes

One More Reason to Keep Hillary and Bill Out of the White House

Settling Scores

If Hillary Clinton finds a way to win, she'll have a long list of grudges and grievances.

Eleanor Clift | Newsweek Web Exclusive | Apr 25, 2008

I'm beginning to think Hillary Clinton might pull this off and wrestle the nomination away from Barack Obama. If she does, a lot of folks—including a huge chunk of the media—will join Bill Richardson (a.k.a. Judas) in the Deep Freeze. If the Clintons get back into the White House, it will be retribution time, like the Corleone family consolidating power in "The Godfather," where the watchword is, "It's business, not personal."

Not that anyone will be sleeping with the fishes with Hillary in the White House, but with the Clintons it's business and it's personal. Just think of all the scores to settle, the grievances to indulge. Bill Clinton provided a preview this week, blaming the Obama campaign for playing the race card against him. Tricky maneuver, but perhaps the only way the former president can come to grips with his loss of standing in the African-American community, once his strongest constituency. (South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, an undeclared superdelegate who is African-American, told the New York Times this week that the black community had supported Clinton during his impeachment and that "I think black folks feel strongly that this is a strange way [for him] to show his appreciation.")

There's never been any love lost between the Clintons and official Washington. The Georgetown dinner parties they rarely attended during the Bill years might as well be in Outer Mongolia for all President Hillary will care. Notables who abandoned her for Obama will get the Big Chill. "He's dead to us," a Clinton aide was quoted saying of John Kerry, who along with Ted Kennedy was turned off by the perception of race baiting that led up to the South Carolina primary. A major donor, conflicted between the two candidates and apologetic over his backing of Obama, found Hillary less than sympathetic. "Too bad for you, because I'm going to win," she snapped.

Big Hillary Rodham Clinton Fundraiser Defects to Obama

From NBC's Chuck Todd

One of the things that both Dem campaigns are always nervous about is defectors. In particular, Clinton is more vulnerable to this problem since she's the candidate that is trailing. Well, NBC News has learned that a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, former Amb. to Chile Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon is leaving the campaign to join up Barack Obama's campaign.

Officially dubbed a "Hillraiser," Guerra-Mondragon raised nearly $500,000 for Clinton's campaign, according to some estimates. He has been informing people inside Clintonworld this week in what's been described as some tough conversations. A formal announcement of a role for Guerra-Mondragon on Obama's national finance committee will be made next week. Guerra-Mondragon was appointed Amb. to Chile by Pres. Clinton in '94 and served until '98.

Among the reasons for Guerra-Mondragon to defect, according to one informed source, was he was uneasy with the tone of the Clinton campaign and was beginning to worry about what this would mean for the general election.

It's unclear if this defection will lead to others; the Clinton camp has been particularly effective at getting folks to keep their powder dry. For Obama, this comes at a time when his campaign is trying to re-convince insiders that the math indicates he has the nomination virtually wrapped up. In addition, Guerra-Mondragon's defection could serve as a tipping point with some key Hispanic Democratic leaders that Obama is ready to start making a bigger effort to court Hispanics.

Barack Obama Talks About Gas Prices and Energy in Indiana

ON DEADLINE: Bill Clinton is no brother

By SONYA ROSS | Associated Press Writer

Imagine, for just a minute, the pain of America's first black president.

Not Barack Obama - Bill Clinton.

That's about the only explanation for Clinton's lack of brotherly behavior lately: He's in pain.

He is a figurative black man watching an actual black man soak in all the love that black voters used to save for him.

Suddenly, he looks oh so white.

The former president's love affair with black America hasn't soured to the point that he'll be chased out of his office in Harlem. But black people might revoke Clinton's honorary brother card if, out of his pain, he keeps hating on Obama. He's treating the Illinois senator like an unworthy heir to his racial legacy.

At first, Clinton's slips of the lip about black voting habits and the like could be chalked up to election-year politics. Why wouldn't an ex-president try to cajole his party's most loyal voters into supporting his candidate of choice? Especially when that candidate is his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The problem is, nobody bothered to tell Clinton that honorary blackness is also temporary. No matter how much he's done on the subject of race, his brother privileges are always up for renewal.

Clinton learned this the hard way - by watching black people throw support to Obama en masse while kicking aside Hillary Clinton's complaints about the man. If anybody knows what Obama is doing to seduce black voters, it is Bill Clinton. After all, Clinton pushed the very same buttons to claim the black vote for himself when he first ran for the presidency 16 years ago.

"I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the (Obama) campaign, that they planned it all along," Clinton groused to the aptly named radio station WHYY on the day before the Pennsylvania primary.

He did not produce the memos or any evidence that they exist, and the Obama campaign denies the accusation.

Still, Clinton accused the Illinois senator of putting an unfair spin on his comparison of Obama's South Carolina primary victory to Jesse Jackson's caucus wins there two decades earlier. Black leaders, black voters and most impartial observers in the media saw Clinton's remarks for what they were - a brazen attempt to marginalize Obama as a "black candidate."

What gets to Clinton, more than anything, is the fact that even black voters who question the Illinois senator's "blackness" still shield Obama against a slap from somebody outside the family - in this case, Clinton himself.

In a game of race cards, Obama wins.

"These were words that came out of his mouth," Obama said of Clinton, "not words that came out of mine."

Situations like this give blacks a firm impression that the Clintons "are committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to the point that he could never win," Rep. JimClyburn, D-S.C., told The New York Times.

"When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar," Clyburn said. "I think black folks feel strongly that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation."

Just days before the Pennsylvania primary, Obama dipped into the Clinton racial playbook of old when he blunted Hillary Clinton's attacks with a simple brush of his hand on his shoulder, mimicking rapper Jay-Z in his music video, "Dirt Off Your Shoulder." The gesture - clearly deliberate because Obama did it twice then grinned all big - spoke to black voters just like Clinton did in 1992 by playing a saxophone on "The Arsenio Hall Show" from behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

The message then, and now, was, "I'm the one to vote for, black people, because I'm cool like that."

Clinton remembers a time when he could do no wrong in black people's eyes. Up until the day he left office seven years ago, most blacks agreed with author Toni Morrison's observation that Clinton was the nation's first black president because it would be hard to find anybody who could be blacker than Clinton and occupy the White House at the same time.

Along came Obama - who, ironically, is of mixed race - and immediately, Clinton lost his black street cred.

Even Morrison thought so. She clarified the first-black-president title she'd bestowed on Clinton, and embraced Obama.

While Clinton bellyaches about Obama's good fortunes with black people, Obama basks in the support of powerful blacks like billionaire Oprah Winfrey, who dared anybody to suggest her choice of candidates was purely a black thing.

"Don't play me small," she said.

It's Clinton who looks small. He continues to whine about the trouble he's caused himself.

"You got to really go some to play the race card with me," Clinton spewed on WHYY. "My office is in Harlem. And Harlem voted for Hillary, by the way."

Off mike, Clinton asked: "I don't think I have to take any (expletive) from anybody on that. Do you?"

Actually, sir, you do. But black people feel your pain.

---

EDITOR'S NOTE - Sonya Ross, a news editor in the AP's Washington bureau, was one of the few black White House reporters during the Clinton years.

No Matter How You Shake It: "The Strongest Candidate to Face John McCain"

Who's the strongest candidate to take on John McCain?

After 45 contests, Senator Obama has won more delegates, twice as many states and territories, and more of the popular vote. He's won in every part of the country, and has scored victories among every segment of electorate. He's inspired Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, building an unprecedented coalition of more than 1.4 million contributors. And when it comes to head-to-head match-ups versus John McCain, Obama performs better than Clinton in key states and shows the potential to put new states in play for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Polling data from across the country, from large states and small, reflects the advantage Senator Obama would bring in a race this fall. His ability to expand the Democratic base, and his ability to capture the crucial Independent vote, make him a stronger candidate than Senator Clinton, who would enter the fall campaign with the highest unfavorable ratings of any nominee in half a century.

Big States:

• California: Obama beats McCain by 27, Clinton beats him by 23. (SurveyUSA, 2/23)
• New York: A February poll of Clinton's home state shows her beating McCain by 11, while Obama beats McCain by 10. (Quinnipiac, 3/18)
• New Jersey: Obama and Clinton both beat McCain by 5. (Farleigh Dickinson, 3/30)
• Illinois: Obama beats McCain by 29 in his home state, while Clinton wins by 9. (SurveyUSA, 2/28)

Traditional Battlegrounds:

• Iowa: Obama up 7, Clinton down 6. (SurveyUSA, 4/17),
  
  • Among Independents: Obama up 9, Clinton down 31. (Rasmussen, 3/31)
• North Carolina: Clinton trails McCain by 11, Obama ties him. (Rasmussen, 4/10)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 8, Clinton down 16. (Rasmussen, 4/10)
• Oregon: Obama up 9, Clinton up only 1 (SurveyUSA, 4/17) A march poll showed Obama up 6 and Clinton down 6 (Rasmussen, 3/26)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 11, Clinton up 4. (Rasmussen, 3/26)
• Wisconsin: Obama up 5 while Clinton ties. (SurveyUSA, 4/17) A March poll showed Obama up 4 and Clinton down 4. (WPR, 3/26)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 17, Clinton up 2. (Rasmussen, 3/26)
• Michigan: Obama trailing by 1, Clinton trailing by 3. (Rasmussen, 3/25) A February poll showed Obama up 8 and Clinton tied. (Rasmussen, 2/17)
• New Mexico: Obama up by 3, Clinton down by 3. (Rasmussen, 4/8)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 8, Clinton down 5. (Rasmussen, 4/8)
• Nevada: Obama leads by 4, Clinton leads by 1. (Rasmussen 3/19)
• Minnesota: Obama up 14, Clinton up 5. (Rasmussen, 4/22)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 9, Clinton down 14. (Rasmussen 3/19)
• Pennsylvania: Clinton up 9, Obama up 8 (Rasmussen, 4/9)
  • Among Independents: Obama down 1, Clinton down 19. (Rasmussen, 4/9)

Making New States Competitive:

• Colorado: Obama up 3, Clinton down 14. (Rasmussen, 4/19) A February poll showed up Obama up 9 and Clinton down 6. (SurveyUSA, 2/28)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 9, Clinton down 13. (Rasmussen, 3/17)
• North Dakota: Obama up 4, Clinton down 19. (SurveyUSA, 2/28)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 9, Clinton down 29. (Survey USA, 2/28)
• Virginia: Obama down 8, Clinton down 16. (SurveyUSA, 4/17)
  • Among Independents: Obama up 10, Clinton down 8. (SurveyUSA, 3/16)
• Montana: Obama down 5, Clinton down 18 (Rasmussen, 4/6)
  • Among Independents: Obama down 2, Clinton down 12 (Rasmussen, 4/6)
• Texas: Obama down only 1, Clinton down 7 (SurveyUSA, 2/28)

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn Says Blacks Think Clintons "Hell-Bound" to Irreparably Damage Obama

April 25, 2008 9:52 AM

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-SC, the highest-ranking African-American in the Congress, has some tough assessments of la famille Clinton today.

To Reuters, Clyburn -- who is officially neutral in the Democratic presidential race -- repeated the speculation that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, is looking to destroy Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, so that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wins the White House in November and Clinton can make another run in 2012.

"I heard something, the first time yesterday (in South Carolina), and I heard it on the (House) floor today, which is telling me there are African Americans who have reached the decision that the Clintons know that she can’t win this," Clyburn said. "But they're hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win."

Clyburn did not call for Clinton to bow out, just to take the rhetoric down a notch.

"There's a difference between dropping out and raising all this extraneous scurrilous stuff about the guy (Obama). Just run your campaign … you don’t have to drop out to be respectful of other people."

Clyburn also took aim at the Clinton campaign's sudden voting-rights fever for Florida and Michigan to count, even though those states disobeyed party rules and held contests in which no candidate competed and where, in the case of Michigan, Obama wasn't even on the ballot.

"I think it's so disingenuous … (adviser James) Carville and Sen. Clinton were all on TV. I've seen them two or three times this week, talking about counting Florida and Michigan."

Obama did not campaign in those states because the Democratic Party said Florida and Michigan wouldn’t be included in the formal tally for the nomination. "Her name was the only one on the ticket in Michigan and still 42, 43 percent of the vote was against her," Clyburn said.

To the New York Times Clyburn said there was a near "unanimous" view among blacks that the Clintons are "committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win."

Clyburn also said of the many comments former President Bill Clinton has made about race -- most recently his curious complaint that the Obama camp played the race card against him, then his denial that he'd said that -- that "black people are incensed over all of this."

"When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar," Clyburn said. "I think black folks feel strongly that that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation."

- jpt

Hillary/Goldwater Connection

In 1964 Republican Barry Goldwater made it clear that he was willing to use nuclear weapons against North Vietnam.

Hillary worked for him.

The response of the American people gave Lyndon Johnson a landslide victory in the November presidential election.

Hillary now threatens to 'obliterate' the people of Iran.

The American people's response is to yawn, roll over, and go back to sleep. Wake up America!

zjm

Say No to Nuclear Obliteration: ALL the Children of the World Must be Protected

The Clintons Learned Their Lessons Well

A most important perspective -

zjm

Robert Scheer | Thursday April, 24, 2008


How proud the Clintonists must be. They have learned how to out-slime what Hillary once termed the "vast right-wing conspiracy" in the effort to destroy a viable Democratic leader who dares to stand in the way of their ambitions.

The tactics used to kneecap Barack Obama are the same as had been previously turned on Bill Clinton, from radical-baiting an opponent's associates to challenging his resolve in protecting the nation from foreign enemies. Her eminently sensible and centrist — to a fault — opponent is now viewed as weak and even vaguely unpatriotic because he is thoughtful. Neither Karl Rove nor Dick Morris could have done a better job.

On Election Day, even with polls showing her well ahead in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton went lower in her grab for votes. Seizing upon a question of how she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran, which doesn't have nuclear weapons, on Israel, which does, Clinton mocked reasoned discourse by promising to "totally obliterate them," in an apparent reference to the population of Iran. That is not a word gaffe — it is an assertion of the right of our nation to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale.

As the potential leader of a nation that used nuclear bombs to obliterate hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese, shouldn't any potential American leader employ extreme caution in making such a threat? Neither the Japanese then, nor the Iranian people now, were in a position to hold their leaders accountable, and to approve such collective punishment of innocents is to endorse terrorism. This from a candidate who attacked her opponent for suggesting targeted strikes against militants in Pakistan and derided his openness to negotiations with other national leaders as an irresponsible commitment on the part of a contender for the presidency.

Clearly the heat of a campaign is not the proper setting for consideration of a response to a threat from a nation that is a long way from developing nuclear weapons. Obviously, the danger of Iran developing such weapons can be met with a range of alternatives, from the diplomatic to the military, that do not involve genocide and at any rate must be considered in moral and not solely political terms. Or is it base political ambition that would guide Clinton when she receives that middle-of-the-night phone call?

If so, it cannot be assumed that Hillary Clinton as president would be less irrationally hawkish and more restrained in the unleashing of military force than John McCain. The latter, at least, has personal experience with the true, on-the-ground costs of militarism gone wild. Yes, I know that McCain still holds out the hope of winning the Iraq war that both he and Clinton originally endorsed, but for Clinton to raise the rhetoric against Iran in the midst of a campaign is hardly the path to Mideast peace, whether it concerns Israel or Iraq. It is bizarre that a politician who bought into the phony threat about Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction arsenal now plays political games with the alleged threat posed by Iran.

The war that both Clinton and McCain voted to authorize has accomplished only one major change in the configuration of Mideast power: the uncontested supremacy of Iran as the region's key player. Whatever chance there is for stability in Iraq now depends on the blessings of the ayatollahs of Iran, whose surrogates were put in power in Baghdad as a consequence of the American invasion. It is totally hypocritical for Clinton, or McCain, to now talk about getting tough with Iran over the nuclear weapons issue, when they both contributed so mightily to squandering U.S. leverage over Tehran.

To meet that potential nuclear weapons threat from Iran requires a serious non-rhetorical multinational response that makes clear that no nation has the right to obliterate the population of another, and that nations, even our own, who claim that right should be challenged as unacceptably barbaric.

Instead, Clinton played into the thoughts of fanatics throughout the world who believe that might makes right and who take the United States, which spends more on the military than the rest of the world combined (including many billions on new sophisticated and "useable" nuclear weapons), as both their enemy and an example to emulate.

What better argument do the ayatollahs need to justify their obtaining a nuclear "deterrent" than that the putative leader of the first nation to develop nuclear weapons, and the only one to ever use them to kill people, now threatens the people of Iran with obliteration?

Acclaimed journalist Robert Scheer is Editor in Chief of Truth Dig

Youth Vote Growing, Supporting Obama

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama may have lost Pennsylvania, but Harvard's Institute of Politics had some encouraging news today: young voters overwhelmingly prefer him to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The institute, which has been conducting extensive surveys of the youth vote for eight years, found that 70 percent of Democrats ages 18 to 24 favor Obama, compared to 30 percent for Clinton. The margins were similar regardless of whether or not the voters attended four-year colleges.

Obama's strength on university campuses is evident on the campaign trail and has contributed to his wins in many states. In Iowa, for example, the under-30 vote tripled, and that support helped him to an upset win in the caucuses.

"The youth vote has been central to [determining] who's going to be the next president of the United States, and who's going to be the nominee,'' said Jim Leach, director of the IOP and a former Republican congressman from Iowa.

"We may be in the midst of a civic re-awakening of a new generation,'' he said, citing statistics showing steady, dramatic growth in turnout among young voters since 2000.

Both Democratic contenders come out ahead in head-to head matches against Arizona Senator John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, among voters 18 to 24, but Obama does better than Clinton.

The IOP poll showed that among young voters, Obama would best McCain by a 50 percent to 29 percent margin, with four percent going for independent Ralph Nader and 17 percent undecided. If Clinton were the nominee, she would beat McCain by a 41 percent to 34 percent margin, with seven percent supporting Nader and 18 percent undecided.

A big turnout among young voters could be critical for either Democrat, especially in states where McCain can attract older, conservative Democrats and conservative--leaning Independent voters. But John Della Volpe, director of the poll, said there was no indication from the survey that young Obama or Clinton supporters would stay home if their choice were not the nominee.

And while Obama has inspired many young people to register and vote in the primaries this year, the upward trend in youth participation in politics has been building since 2000, he said. "This is a lot bigger'' than Obama, he said.

43 North Carolina Mayors Endorse Senator Obama

In a sign of Senator Obama’s broad, statewide organization, the Obama campaign today announced the endorsement of 43 North Carolina mayors, mayors pro tem, and former mayors, representing cities large and small, from Raleigh to Roper. To encourage North Carolinians to vote early, more than a dozen of these mayors will be voting early today at 1 p.m. at their local One Stop Early Voting locations.

"As a mayor, I’m on the front lines of local economic development," said Mayor Bill Bell of Durham. "We need a president who will work with us to solve the problems we face, help working Americans succeed, and usher in a new era of prosperity."

“I’m honored to have the support of so many mayors from across North Carolina who are committed to working hard to change America,” said Senator Obama. “These mayors understand what leadership is, and how important it is to bring people of diverse backgrounds together to make change happen for our working families and our communities. Their support is incredibly important to this campaign – and I look forward to working with them to build a stronger economy where Main Street thrives, not just Wall Street.”

FULL LIST OF MAYORS ENDORSING SENATOR OBAMA

Terry Bellamy, Mayor, Asheville
Leni Sinick, Former Mayor, Asheville
Linda Blackburn, Mayor, Ahoskie
Frank Wilson, Mayor, Bolton
Loretta Clawson, Mayor, Boone
Kevin Foy, Mayor, Chapel Hill
Mark Chilton, Mayor, Carrboro
Harold Weinbrecht, Mayor, Cary
Harvey Gantt, Former Mayor, Charlotte
Linda Ingram, Mayor, Conetoe
Darryl Moss, Mayor, Creedmoor
Malcolm Johnson, Mayor, Dover
N. Carnell Robinson, Mayor Pro Tem, Dunn
William Bell, Mayor, Durham
Cora McFadden, Mayor Pro Tem, Durham
Perry Blanks, Mayor, East Arcadia
Warnie Bishop, Mayor, Enfield
Roy Bell, Mayor, Garysburg
Yvonne Johnson, Mayor, Greensboro
Keith Holiday, Former Mayor, Greensboro
Mildred Council, Mayor Pro Tem, Greenville
Horace Reid, Mayor Pro Tem, Hertford
Matthew Block, Mayor, Laurinburg
Phil Bazemore, Mayor Pro Tem, Monroe
Eulis Willis, Mayor, Navassa
Lewis Brown, Former Mayor, Navassa
Jerry Merrick, Mayor Pro Tem, Navassa
James Knox, Mayor, Northwest
Randolph Voller, Mayor, Pittsboro
Charles Meeker, Mayor, Raleigh
James West, former Mayor Pro Tem, Raleigh
Estelle Sanders, Mayor, Roper
Perry Dixon, Mayor, Sandyfield
James Mill Sr., Mayor, Scotland Neck
Melvin Broadnax, Mayor, Seabord
Howard Morgan, Mayor, Sedalia
Wilbert Harrison, Mayor, Speed
Ethel Clark, Mayor, Spring Lake
Donald Davis, Mayor, Snow Hill
Betty Gholston, Mayor, Wagram
George Draper Jr., Mayor, Weldon
Robert Spivey, Mayor, Windsor
Vivian Burke, Mayor Pro Tem, Winston-Salem
Carl Lee Sr., Mayor, Lewiston Woodville

Another Oregon Superdelegate for Obama

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Rep. David Wu, one of Oregon's 12 Democratic superdelegates, announced Thursday that he'd back Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, citing Obama's stand against the Iraq war "from the very beginning."

Wu joins Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer in backing Obama. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Rep. Darlene Hooley are supporting New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The rest of Oregon's superdelegates have not yet announced their choice.

"We need new policies both at home and abroad," Wu said in a statement. "Like Americans, the international community wants to see real change in America and I believe that Senator Obama embodies that change."

The endorsement is an important win for Obama in one of the few states still to vote. Oregon's primary ballots are counted on May 20.

Polls suggest the state is tilting toward Obama, but political analysts have suggested that Clinton could be competitive, particularly if she can make inroads in the populous Portland suburbs.

But Wu represents much of that territory and is a popular incumbent there, and so could be a powerful force in the region for Obama.

The endorsement is Obama's third from a superdelegate since he lost the Pennsylvania primary to Clinton on Tuesday. Clinton picked up one superdelegate on Wednesday.

"This endorsement is a sign of the growing support for Senator Obama here in Oregon," said Nick Shapiro, the communications director for the Obama campaign in Oregon.

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers’ Endorses Obama

WASHINGTON, DC – The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers’ (IFPTE), an AFL-CIO affiliated labor union whose public, private and federal sector membership includes engineers, scientists and technicians at the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Energy (DOE), NASA and Boeing, has given their backing to Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. The IFPTE Executive Council voted without opposition late yesterday to endorse the Illinois Senator.

In response to yesterday’s action, IFPTE President Gregory Junemann issued the following statement.

"While IFPTE applauds both Democratic candidates, our union’s internal polling results, coupled with Senator Obama’s unblemished record of support for the critical issues facing IFPTE, prompted our action to endorse Senator Obama.

"IFPTE’s Executive Council agreed that Senator Obama is the candidate best suited to address the major concerns of America’s working men and women, particularly those issues that directly impact IFPTE’s diverse membership. The Senator believes we need to reform the H-1B program; he will immediately reverse the last eight years of the union busting promulgated on our nation’s Civil Servants; will stand against free trade agreements like NAFTA that fail to protect American workers; will address our nation’s dangerous health care crisis; will work to oppose irresponsible privatization schemes in the public and federal sectors; will work to protect the pensions and retirement security of working Americans; and will not only support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), but will actively use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to work with Congress in ensuring that this all important labor law reform legislation becomes the

"IFPTE is pleased to join the millions of Senator Obama supporters and look forward to working with him over the next seven months as we move toward victory in November.

Senator Obama released the following statement after learning of IFPTE’s endorsement:

"I want to thank President Junemann and the membership of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers for their endorsement of our campaign. They’re working to make sure that Washington is working for working Americans, and they’ll have a partner in the White House when I’m President. I’ll fight for organized labor by protecting the right to organize. I’ll support vigorous reinvestment in our federal research and development agencies, including NASA, to maintain America’s leadership in Science and Technology and to foster economic competitiveness. And I’ll stand up to the special interests and unite this country so we can bring about real change in the lives of American families -- from passing universal health care, to putting money back in the pockets of middle-class families and making sure every one of our children has the world-class education they deserve."

IFPTE is an AFL-CIO affiliated labor union representing upwards of 85,000 workers in professional, technical, administrative and associated occupations in the federal, public and private sectors.

"Most Popular Mayor in Indiana" Endorses Obama

By THOMAS B. LANGHORNE | Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel threw his support behind Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday.

Weinzapfel's written endorsement, issued hours before Obama was scheduled to take the stage at a rally at Roberts Stadium, called the Illinois senator a "special leader."

"I feel Sen. Obama brings integrity, a fresh perspective, good judgment, a wealth of experience and determined leadership to deal with the challenges our country faces," the Democratic mayor's statement said.

Weinzapfel said Obama understands the needs of working families and has the ability to inspire people and unite the nation "in a way that transcends the typical partisan politics of the past, and allows us to focus on our shared hopes and dreams for the future."

Mark Owen, chairman of the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party, said Weinzapfel's endorsement feverishly was sought by both Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

"He's the most popular mayor in Indiana," Owen said. "He won (in 2007) by record margins and is considered the rising star in Indiana politics.

"I would add that Southern Indiana is very important for the outcome of (Indiana's May 6 Democratic presidential primary), and (Weinzapfel's) support for one candidate or another could make the difference in Southern Indiana."

Weinzapfel joins several other Southern Indiana Democratic politicians who have endorsed Obama.

That list includes Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco; Reps. Dennis Avery and Phil Hoy of Evansville; House Majority Leader Rep. Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville; Reps. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, and Dave Crooks, D-Washington; and State Sens. Bob Deig, D-Mount Vernon, and Lindel Hume, D-Princeton.

Voice of Reason from Ohio: Hillary Should Embrace the Will of Millions of Democratic Voters...

This is a very good 'call to reason' that may be flawed in its assumption that Hillary WANTS the democrats to win this fall. Hillary knows she has lost the nomination to Obama, leaving her with one singular and maniacal goal: "Deliver the 08 election to McCain so I can run against him in 2012." zjm

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Hillary's Choice

MESSY. That's one way of describing the unending presidential primary battle between Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But the current standoff also accurately reflects the state of mind of Democratic voters, who are divided but not yet fractured, and any solution to the current impasse must reflect the will of those voters.

Mrs. Clinton's victory in Pennsylvania - solid but not overwhelming - left her standing to fight another day. To use a baseball analogy, her team is down three games to none in the best of seven Championship Series. The prospects are bleak, almost insurmountable. But then, we are reminded that in 2004 the Boston Red Sox were in that exact position and went on to win eight straight games and capture their first World Series in 86 years.
Mrs. Clinton cannot overtake Mr. Obama in pledged delegates, and it will be virtually impossible for her to eat significantly into his lead of more than 500,000 in the cumulative popular vote. What she needs to win outright would be a stunning collapse by Mr. Obama, some gaffe or revelation so damaging he could not defeat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the fall.
As the 2004 World Series made clear, anything is possible. But the question is not whether Mrs. Clinton can close the gap in the remaining primaries but whether she should.
Our feeling is that she should not.

Barring an unlikely en masse declaration by the approximately 250 so-far-uncommmitted super delegates, the nominee will not be known until the Democratic National Convention meets in Denver in August. Mrs. Clinton's only real hope is to convince the party leaders who make up the bulk of super delegates that because she won the big states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, California, and the like), she's a better choice to go head-to-head with Mr. McCain.
If she were successful, the party leaders and insiders who make up the super delegates would effectively be rejecting the will of millions of Democratic voters and relying, instead, on their individual judgment of what is best for the party.
That would make Mrs. Clinton and party elders little better than the Republicans, who used the courts to set aside the will of the electorate in 2000 to make George W. Bush president. We all know how that worked out.
Additionally, the longer Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama battle, the more damage they will inflict on each other and the more likely they are - through fatigue or overreaching - to damage themselves. We've seen the beginning of this process in recent weeks with Mrs. Clinton's fabrication of a harrowing tale of coming under sniper fire in Bosnia, as well as the revelations about Mr. Obama's pastor and the Illinois senator's connections to Weather Underground founding member William Ayres and Tony Rezko, a politically connected developer on trial on corruption charges.
If the primary battle continues in ugly style, the only winners will be those masters of the "politics of personal destruction," Republican strategists.
If Mrs. Clinton really wants to see a Democrat in the White House in 2009, it's time for her to reject both the political maneuvering of smoke-filled backrooms and the temptation to wage such a bitter battle that no matter which candidate emerges, he or she will be bloodied beyond hope of recovery.
Instead, she should embrace the will of millions of Democratic voters before she hands victory to Senator McCain, dooming the United States to four more years of failed Bush policies on Iraq, the economy, and a host of other critical issues.