OBAMA DAILY NEWS Saturday March-15-2008

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WELCOME TO THE OBAMA DAILY NEWS THREAD

Saturday March-15-2008


U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), seen here on Illinois Street,
arrives to meet with the Tribune editorial board Friday at the
Chicago Tribune Tower. (Tribune photo by Bonnie Trafelet / March 14, 2008)

Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more) to graciously participate
by posting news and announcements about the Obama campaign on this thread. You can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.


2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU,
providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster,too.


3. Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page


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1. Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church

Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church

Posted March 14, 2008

The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He's drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents.

As I have written about in my books, I first joined Trinity United Church of Christ nearly twenty years ago. I knew Rev. Wright as someone who served this nation with honor as a United States Marine, as a respected biblical scholar, and as someone who taught or lectured at seminaries across the country, from Union Theological Seminary to the University of Chicago. He also led a diverse congregation that was and still is a pillar of the South Side and the entire city of Chicago. It's a congregation that does not merely preach social justice but acts it out each day, through ministries ranging from housing the homeless to reaching out to those with HIV/AIDS.

Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he's been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.

...The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

more at the link

[grantcart]

15. delete

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. Richard Miniter: In Defense of Obama's Pastor

In Defense of Obama's Pastor

Richard Miniter March 14, 2008 8:18 PM

Obama has banged out a statement for the Huffington Post, announcing that his controversial pastor, Rev. Wright, is due to retire shortly.

Here’s the money quote: “The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He’s drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents. Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy.”

Apparently no one in Obama’s campaign wanted to take the risk of the good reverend announcing his own retirement. Reporters and bloggers might have questions and he might feel moved by the spirit to answer.

The one bright side of the controversy is that it ends any speculation that Obama is some kind of crypto-Muslim. (The MSM is so unfamiliar with the cadences of evangelical sermons, black or white, that it failed to see the deeply Christian rythmns in Obama’s oratory. Another diversity failure among the MSM: failing to hire people with different beliefs and experiences, rather than people of different colors and sexes but the same world view, but I digress.)

Indeed, it is a lack of understanding of the black church that contributes to the blogosphere’s and MSM’s mistaking Rev. Wright for a hate-monger. The time has come for some balance.

The video that Fox News Channel and Powerline have been featuring, which shows Rev. Wright sermonizing, doesn’t seem that shocking to me. Rev. Wright is a black Christian minister who sees Jesus a black man persecuted by white Roman society. It sounds like a clever way to get his flock to come to church, not an anti-white hatefest. It seems like a tool to get his followers to identify with Jesus. You are suffering and the Savior has suffered just like you, but he followed the word of God and he triumphed and you can too. I have heard similar sermons in white and black evangelical churches.

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. Sorry, Hillary: You've Crossed the Line

Sorry, Hillary: You've Crossed the Line

Charles Pluckhahn, Seattle Times

Hillary Clinton, you sure don't make it easy.

Since 2005, I've written $7,100 worth of checks to the person I considered most qualified to be the junior senator from New York and, later, president of the United States. In February, I was elected a Clinton delegate in the neighborhood-level caucuses, and looked forward to trying to be appointed a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Sen. Clinton, I can no longer count myself in your ranks. I've decided that, barring some stunning revelation, Barack Obama has earned the Democratic nomination, fair and square. More importantly, I've decided that your campaign's tactics have crossed a line that should never be crossed. I no longer want to be associated with your effort to become the Democratic nominee.

One of your surrogates, Geraldine Ferraro, has said that Obama wouldn't be where he is in the Democratic contest if he were white. When combined with your rejection of Obama's qualifications to be commander in chief, and your husband's disrespect for Obama's effort, I see an ugly undercurrent.

...Woe betide the politician, and especially the Democratic politician, who makes a racist appeal, no matter how artfully they think they've constructed it. When George Bush's campaign did it to Michael Dukakis in 1988, I expected it. That's what Republicans do.

When your campaign race-baits and disrespects Barack Obama in 2008, you can count me out. Democrats don't do that. We are better.

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. Hillary's New Conservative Friends

Hillary's New Conservative Friends

by Steve Kornacki | March 14, 2008

...“Friends,” Buchanan continued, “this is radical feminism. The agenda Clinton and Clinton would impose on America—abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat—is change…but it’s not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God’s country.”

...Take Buchanan, who has taken to promoting her on an almost nightly basis on MSNBC as the salvation for working class, culturally conservative “Reagan Democrats,” an electable antidote to Barack Obama, whom Buchanan now skewers as the same kind of nutty leftist he once branded Hillary.

On a recent broadcast, Buchanan emphatically sang Clinton’s praises for the appeal she has shown in states with heavy populations of working-class white ethnic voters—precisely the people at whom his 1992 convention speech was aimed. Then he spouted the Clinton campaign’s spin that, even though their candidate trails in popular votes and delegates and fares markedly worse against John McCain in numerous swing states, Hillary is nonetheless the superior fall candidate because only she can carry the white ethnic vote in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

“If he loses Pennsylvania by anything like the margin he lost Ohio,” Buchanan said of Obama, “Democratic superdelegates and Democrats everywhere are going to say, ‘Look, Reagan Democrats looked at him…They are recoiling and moving away. This guy can lose it all for us when we’ve got it won.’”

more at the link

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5. Clinton Take on Pennsylvania Is Increasingly Detached From Reality

Clinton Take on Pennsylvania Is Increasingly Detached From Reality

by Steve Kornacki | March 13, 2008

The Clinton campaign released a memo yesterday whose first line read: “The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can't win there, how will he win the general election?”

...Obama, in the likely event he does lose Pennsylvania in April, can win it in the fall, just as he can win every other swing state that Clinton has carried. Even though he lost Ohio, for instance, he fares no worse than Clinton there against McCain. And in both New Mexico and Nevada, smaller but still potentially important swing states, Obama runs 16 points better against McCain than Clinton—even though Clinton beat Obama in both during the primary season. It can not be said enough: There is no correlation between winning a state’s primary and winning it in the general election.

But the most historically ignorant claim in the memo came later on: “No Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania since 1948. And no candidate has won the Democratic nomination without winning Pennsylvania since 1972.”

The second part is demonstrably false. Ted Kennedy beat Jimmy Carter in the 1980 Pennsylvania primary, but it was Carter who won the nomination. (Carter did win a few more delegates in the state than Kennedy—but, as they told us after Nevada and Texas, this is not the criteria that the Clinton campaign favors in declaring who wins or loses a state.)

more at the link

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6. Hillary-Backer Bill Nelson Floats Compromise To Florida Voting Crisis

Hillary-Backer Bill Nelson Floats Compromise To Florida Voting Crisis

By Eric Kleefeld - March 14, 2008

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is floating a new compromise idea for seating delegates from Florida: That the result of the January rogue primary be accepted as is, but that the overall delegate allotment be cut in half, as the Republican National Committee originally did to their unauthorized primaries.

If such an idea were accepted — a big "if" — then Hillary Clinton's hypothetical delegate margin from Florida would be reduced from +38 to +19. In exchange, the candidates wouldn't have to go to the trouble of running in a whole new primary contest or being in the position of throwing out Florida entirely.

link

[grantcart]

14. The reason for the change is in my link below - they are giving up on delegate count

and are going to argue that the popular vote should be the only indicator - they absolutely need to get Florida's popular vote in inorder to make the argument.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. Obama's Michigan Co-Chair Suggests Agreement On Redo Of Primary Is Likely

Obama's Michigan Co-Chair Suggests Agreement On Redo Of Primary Is Likely

By Greg Sargent - March 14, 2008

The Obama campaign's Michigan co-chair says that all the momentum right now in private negotiations between Michigan Dems is behind the option of having a redo primary in the state, suggesting that an agreement on a redo is likely.

"There's a lot of momentum behind the redo option," the Obama official, State Senator Tupac Hunter, told me by phone a few minutes ago, adding that he'd been in discussions with Michigan Democratic Party officials as late as last night. The redo option is "taking up the lion's share of the discussions," Hunter says.

Hunter also said that the mail-in vote option, which the Obama camp had expressed concerns about, is "pretty much dead."

Separately, the Associated Press, citing anonymous officials, reports that Michigan Democrats are close to an agreement on the redo option. Hunter's comments represent on-the-record confirmation of this.

The word in political circles today is that an announcement of a deal on a redo could come today, but I haven't yet been able to confirm that this is the case.

Read more »

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8. Bob Graham: Iraq War Vote Was Commander In Chief Test

Bob Graham: Iraq War Vote Was Commander In Chief Test

HuffingtonPost.com | Sam Stein | March 14, 2008

Former Sen. Bob Graham is staying neutral in the Democratic presidential race. But when it comes to defining the qualities that make a good commander-in-chief, he's espousing talking points that sound eerily similar to Barack Obama's.

..."I don't believe there is a school you can go to, to train to be commander-in-chief," Graham said in an interview with the Huffington Post. "I think the qualities you are looking for would include, judgment, the willingness to surround yourself with strong people, listening to a diversity of ideas and then forming a conclusion. I think curiosity is important.

"If there had been a little more curiosity in the fall 2002 -- if the questions had been asked -- would have raised a lot of suspicions," he said, referencing the Iraq war authorization vote. "I think you have to look to see whether those qualities exist. And if they do, you have reason to believe that the person who has those qualities would become an effective commander-in-chief."

Graham, who headed the Senate Intelligence Committee in the run up to Iraq, famously declared his war opposition after reading the National Intelligence Estimate, a document he thought did not make the case (and one that Sen. Hillary Clinton has acknowledged not reading). That aside, Graham noted that "experience" in and of itself was not a prerequisite for becoming leader of America's armed forces.

more at the link

[slinkerwink]

9. Obama Pushes Back on Youtube Against Rev. Wright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7piGy0u43c

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. Bob Graham on Solution for Florida Primary

Bob Graham on Solution for Florida Primary

March 14, 2008 10:13 AM

On Florida's decision to move up its primary and the DNC's retaliation of stripping the state of its delegates:

"This was like a bank robbery. The Republicans were in the vault, putting their money in the bags. The Democrats were in the car out on the street, ready to drive the bank robbers away after the heist. The bank robbers in the vault got a light tap on the wrist and we got a chainsaw that took off our right arm."

On what to do to get those delegates counted at the convention:

"Our options are not many and none of them are very good. There has been a lot of interest in maybe a mail-in ballot because it is not inexpensive. But apparently there are a lot of legal problems with doing a mail-in ballot ... The other two options are to try and run a full scale primary, which will be very expensive and difficult because many counties use this period in the spring and summer to switch out machinery and a number of counties say they can't physically put on an election... The third is to have a caucus, but that has never been our tradition, and it doesn't seem to have gotten much lift."

So what should be done?

"We are in a real mess. If Michigan and Florida are sufficiently teed off as a result of it, then it changes enough votes to put them in the Republican column. That represents about 45 or so electoral votes, which would be more than the margin of victory in most recent presidential elections. So it is a very bad place for Democrats. We are waiting for the Huffington Post to give us a creative option."

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. Hsu's Legal Process Continues As Rezko's Heats Up

Hsu's Legal Process Continues As Rezko's Heats Up

Sam Stein March 14, 2008

As the trial of embattled Illinois political insider Tony Rezko creates headaches for Sen. Barack Obama, the legal fate of Sen. Hillary Clinton's famously disgraced campaign financier is playing out as well.

Norman Hsu, who on Feb. 28 pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he cheated investors out of $20 million, appeared in the Southern District of New York on Friday. There was no trial. Rather, the former Clinton backer and his lawyers were there to structure the process for upcoming legal proceedings. The meeting lasted only 10 or so minutes.

Hsu raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democratic officials during his brief, illustrious, and possibly criminal career. One of the chief beneficiaries of his largess was Clinton, who returned nearly a million dollars in donations tied to the disgraced businessman.

That controversy occurred early on in the campaign and has really not emerged as an issue since. Rezko, by contrast, has dominated much of the recent campaign coverage. The Chicago-based political fundraiser and businessman is accused of shaking down companies seeking state business. He also helped Obama purchase his home by buying an adjoining lot (the house could only sell if that lot, too, was purchased).

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. Dem Race May Come Down To North Carolina

Dem Race May Come Down To North Carolina

Posted by Kevin Hechtkopf| March 6, 2008, 11:49 AM

(AP (file))CBS News political consultant Joe Trippi weighs in on the future of the Democratic race following Hillary Clinton's wins in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island:

The night of Super Tuesday it became clear that if you looked over the horizon Obama was going to be in the driver's seat for 10 or 11 contests, and that the first night Clinton would have a clear shot at victory would be March 4th in Ohio and Texas. It also became apparent that if Obama could target Texas and win it he might be able to break Clinton's back and stop any real chance at a Clinton nomination.

...Watch North Carolina

Just as I pointed to Texas as the place that I thought Obama would try to break Clinton's back, North Carolina now becomes the pivotal contest. It's the place where I expect the Clinton Campaign will try to break Obama's back.

Barack Obama has performed terribly among white southern Baptists and the state with the second highest percentage of white southern Baptists is North Carolina. Clinton won Tennessee by 13 points 54 percent to 41 percent and North Carolina is much more like Tennessee demographically than states Obama has done well in like Virginia or South Carolina.

I know it breaks with conventional wisdom that Pennsylvania is the most important state. But realistically if Clinton can't win Pennsylvania she won't be the nominee. The way Clinton puts Obama away is to win Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania and then roll into North Carolina and break his back there.

more at the link

[grantcart]

13. Its moving time again - get those goal posts over there - tell the delegates to go home

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5090087&mesg_id=5090087

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

16. 1,117 Reasons Florida Can't Be Trusted With a Mail In Primary

Oh, and by the way, Florida is getting ready to have another primary.Uh huh, they could have
obeyed the rules and still have a primary much earlier than many states (like mine)

1,117 absentee ballots for House race are lost

By Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer Published Saturday, March 15, 2008

CLEARWATER — Just nine days before the primary election, the U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 1,100 absentee ballots for the state House District 55 race.

Pinellas elections officials said they delivered the 1,117 ballots to the Clearwater Bulk Mail Unit on Monday.

Postal officials confirmed the ballots were received but say they have no record of what happened to them after that.

The mishap has alarmed local political leaders.

"My concern is, if there is something nefarious going on how are we going to fix it?" said Toni Molinaro, chairwoman of the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee. "The worst case scenario is that someone took them and is going to do something fraudulent with them."

Elections officials say there is no need to worry. The ballots, originally sent to voters who requested them, were resent to the same voters on Friday by priority mail.

The Democrats in the race are attorney Darryl Rouson, St. Petersburg City Council member Earnest Williams and educator Charles McKenzie. The primary is March 25.

No Republicans entered the race.

more at the link

According to some locals in Florida,
Darryl Rouson is a party switcher, in other words, he was a republican but switched, he is DINO.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. That Scary 3 AM Call

[LTR]

32. ROTF!!!

That's hilarious!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. Monstrous behavior

Monstrous behavior

By Andy Borowitz Syndicated Columnist

A Barack Obama campaign aide's remarks in which she called Sen. Hillary Clinton a "monster" have ignited a firestorm of controversy among monsters across the U.S., prominent monsters confirmed today.

Calling Hillary Clinton a monster is "odious and offensive to monsters everywhere," said Tracy Klujian, the executive director of the Monster Anti-Defamation League, a group that monitors unflattering portrayals of monsters and miscreants in the media.

"As monsters, we are subject to defamation and stereotyping on a daily basis," Klujian said. "But being lumped together with Hillary Clinton is really a low blow."

Klujian said that he was pleased that the Obama aide had resigned over the "monster" remark but said that "more work will need to be done" if the Illinois senator is to mend fences with the monster community.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. FL:Those complaining got us in this mess by wanting an early primary

"The Constitution makes no mention of political parties, but they have a unique and protected stature in our constitutional system. The First Amendment right to freedom of association extends to parties and protects their internal affairs from undue government interference. Thus a political party ordinarily may decide for itself how delegates to its national convention will be chosen, and the party ordinarily need not comply with state laws purporting to restrict its options. . ." Federal District Judge Robert Hinkle

Those complaining got us in this mess by wanting an early primary

March 12, 2008 By Talbot D'Alemberte

As we approach the end of this extended season of political activity, we hear a great deal about the Florida and Michigan delegates to the Democratic convention, including arguments that the Democratic Party should be punished for its unwillingness to seat delegates. I recently heard a respected Democrat, a state senator, tell an audience that, if the Florida delegates are not seated, he may not support the Democratic nominee.

...In 2004, the national Democratic Party created a commission to look at scheduling, and it recommended that the earliest date remain the first Tuesday in February, with exceptions for Iowa and New Hampshire and perhaps others.

In August 2006, the DNC adopted scheduling rules along the lines proposed by the commission. No one from Florida dissented or spoke against the proposal. These rules spelled out the sanctions for states that did not adhere to the rules unless they could show that, in good faith, they took all steps to bring the state into compliance.

Even before the Republican-led Legislature voted to change the date of the Florida primary, the DNC, anticipating that the earlier date would be adopted, offered a way out. There was discussion about a vote-by-mail process and a party-run caucus system. The DNC offered to pay the entire cost of the caucus system, an offer without precedent. The Florida party pushed ahead.

In March and April 2007, in the face of warnings from the DNC, the Florida Legislature voted overwhelmingly to move the primary date to Jan. 29 and the Democrats supported this legislation.

.. more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. Obama Challenges Clinton on Earmarks

Obama Challenges Clinton on Earmarks

By Sarah Wheaton March 13, 2008

Senator Barack Obama announced today that, contrary to a position he has taken in the past, he is releasing all of his earmark requests, and he is challenging Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to do the same.

Both Democrats have said they support a one-year moratorium on the spending allocations, a temporary ban that has been championed by Senator John McCain, a long-time foe of earmarks and the presumptive Republican nominee. The amendment is up for debate in the Senate, though it is seen as unlikely to pass.

“Bringing real change requires changing the way we do business in Washington,” said Robert Gibbs, the Obama campaign’s communications director, in a release. “If Senator Clinton will not agree to join Senator Obama in releasing her earmark requests, voters should ask why she doesn’t believe they have the right to know she wants to spend their tax dollars.”

...The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment and did not release its earmarks requests.

... more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. Obama works to convert in Pennsylvania

Obama works to convert in Pennsylvania

Carrie Budoff Brown Politico Mar 14, 2008 04:35

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. — Nearly a month before voters go to the polls, Sen. Barack Obama will get an early clue about his chances against Pennsylvania’s prohibitive favorite, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the days after the March 24 voter registration deadline, state election officials will release figures that measure the almost singular focus of Obama’s field operation until then: political conversions.

Obama is attempting to crack open Pennsylvania’s closed party primary, initiating a program to flip the registrations of independent and Republican voters to Democrat.

The Pennsylvania strategy is aimed at giving Obama a head start by expanding the rolls by tens of thousands of voters ahead of the April 22 election. The final tabulations from the Department of State could offer the first tangible indications of whether Obama can catch Clinton in a state where she holds the advantage.

...The number of party change applications in February showed a 250 percent jump from a year earlier, according to a spreadsheet provided Wednesday by the Department of State. In January, there was a 65 percent increase.

...more at the link

[rodeodance]

22. Breaking News32 minutes ago: Obama says Rezko played a bigger fundraising role..

Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Breaking News32 minutes ago: Obama says Rezko played a bigger fundraising role..
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5088775#5088775
5088775, Breaking News32 minutes ago: Obama says Rezko played a bigger fundraising role..
Posted by ElsewheresDaughter on Fri Mar-14-08 11:40 PM

Senator says friend raised more money than previously known

Source: Chicago Tribune

Indicted Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko was a more significant fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama's earlier political campaigns than previously known. Rezko raised as much as $250,000 for the first three offices Obama sought, the senator told the Tribune on Friday.

Obama also said for the first time that his private real estate transactions with Rezko involved repeated lapses of judgment. The mistake, Obama said, was not simply that Rezko was under grand jury investigation at the time of their 2005 and 2006 dealings. "The mistake was he had been a contributor and somebody involved in politics," he said.

In an extensive interview that he hoped would quell the lingering controversy over his relationship with Rezko, Obama said that voters concerned about his judgment should view it as "a mistake in not seeing the potential conflicts of interest."

But he added that voters should also "see somebody who is not engaged in any wrongdoing . . . and who they can trust."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-obama-rezkomar15,0,2968927.story




Trying to put his past with Antoin "Tony" Rezko behind him, presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday said he never thought the now-indicted Chicago businessman would try to take advantage of him because his old friend had never asked for a political favor.

But in a 90-minute interview with Tribune reporters and editors, Obama disclosed that Rezko had raised more for Obama's earlier political campaigns than previously known, gathering as much as $250,000 for the first three offices he sought.

Obama also elaborated on previous statements about his private real estate transactions with Rezko, saying they were not simply mistakes of judgment because Rezko was under grand jury investigation at the time of their 2005 and 2006 dealings. "The mistake, by the way, was not just engaging in a transaction with Tony because he was having legal problems. The mistake was because he was a contributor and somebody who was involved in politics."

The Illinois senator made his most extensive comments about Rezko to date in an effort to quell the lingering controversy over his relationship with the politically influential developer and over the personal financial deals first revealed by the Tribune in November 2006.

Faced with intensifying scrutiny as the Democratic primary season grinds on, Obama said voters should view his Rezko dealings as "a mistake in not seeing the potential conflicts of interest." But he added that voters should also "see somebody who is not engaged in any wrongdoing . . . and who they can trust."

After news reports of Rezko's questionable political dealings first emerged in 2005, Obama said he asked his friend about them. Rezko assured him there was nothing wrong. "My instinct was to believe him," he said.

Asked if he ever thought Rezko would expect something from their relationship, Obama was emphatic: "No. Precisely because I had known him for years and he hadn't asked me for something."

The friendship between the Obamas and Rezkos included occasional dinners and the Obamas once spending a day at the Rezkos' Lake Geneva retreat. It began in about 1991, when Obama became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review and Rezko offered him a job building affordable homes with his Rezmar Corp. Though Obama declined, a friendship and political alliance began.


more...

When Obama launched his bid for the Illinois Senate in 1995, Rezko was his first substantial contributor. Obama said it was his "best guesstimate" that Rezko raised $10,000 to $15,000 of Obama's roughly $100,000 collected for that race. Obama said he didn't have more certainty because he didn't then have the staff to maintain better campaign finance records.

Rezko helped bankroll all of Obama's subsequent campaigns except his presidential bid. Rezko was on Obama's campaign committee in his failed run against U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and gathered between $50,000 and $75,000 of the estimated $600,000 raised in that race, Obama said.

[catgirl]

25. Obama discloses info he discovers to the news

That's a good thing. Now if Hillary will release her tax returns, we can see
where her money came from. This being especially important since she has
lent her campaign 5 million dollars. BTW, thanks for the post, even though
it was meant to be negative.

I don't see you posting any neg. Hillary news items....hmm.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

23. Burned All Your Bridges Yet, Hillary?

"I think that ticket either way is impossible," she said. "I think that the Clinton administration has fairly ruled that out by proclaiming that Senator McCain would be a better commander-in-Chief than Obama."

Pelosi again rules out joint ticket

Political Ticker CNN March 13, 2008

Pelosi again said a joint ticket with Obama and Clinton won't happen.
(CNN) – The Democratic presidential ticket will be a "Dream Team," Nancy Pelosi said Thursday, it just won’t have both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's name on it.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, the House Speaker reiterated comments she made earlier in the week that the two presidential candidates will not end up sharing a ticket.

"I do think we will have a dream team, it just won't be those two names," She said. "Whoever our nominee is and whoever he or she is and whoever he or she chooses, will be a dream team as the Democrats go forward.”

When pressed further about the possibility of a joint ticket, Pelosi stated flatly, "Take it from me, that won't be the ticket."

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

24. The Real Dream Team!

The Real Dream Team!

True Blue LIberal Thursday, March 13, 2008

... if you love their war and the Iraq-War Recession, you'll love the next four years with these two in power . . .

Check out the The John McCain for President, Hillary Clinton for Vice President War Party Fusion Ticket over at BuzzFlash.com for more details.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_9vQvHineOJE/R9mc09GqEaI/AAAAAAAAAWo/-rmHgMe9kDs/s320/Iraq+Dream+Team+McCain+Clinton+2008.JPG

The main point, other than their shared support of the Iraq War, is this recent quote from Ms Clinton about the experience of the presumptive Republican nominee (to the detriment of the presumptive Democratic nominee):

"I think that since we now know Sen. McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.
“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.
read more here

It's time for John Edwards and anyone else with a constituency in the Democratic Party to make a formal endorsement of Barack Obama. Now. They can no longer afford to wait the five and a half weeks until her next "firewall" in Pennsylvania on April 22. The divisive racial politics of her surrogates, and her direct questioning of Barack Obama's credentials, has gone beyond the pale (it's not Barack's fault that he didn't have the "experience" of being married to a President for eight years, privy to all the President's secrets).

article linked here

[niceypoo]

26. I have yet to see "Obama news" that actually talks about Obamas positions on issues...

More Hillary links, as usual, though today there are a lot of Write links too.

Apparently stories attacking the Clinton family = 'Obama news.'

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

28. WELL THE KLINTON KLAN NEEDS TO START THEIR OWN "NEWS"

Every now and then one of the Klinton Klan spams this news because they don't have the initiative
to start their own. Just like a Klinton to glom on someone else's work.

[grantcart]

27. Iowa county convention updates

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5094080

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

29. Should Dems Pick a Nominee Dems Consider Nasty and Dishonest?

Should Dems Pick a Nominee Dems Consider Nasty and Dishonest?

By David Corn | March 12, 2008

During a conference call on Wednesday morning, David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Barack Obama, pointed to what he called a "warning sign" for Democrats: the exit polls from Mississippi, where Obama on Tuesday beat Hillary Clinton 61 to 37 percent. Plouffe noted that when Democratic voters who participated in this primary were asked "which candidate do you think is honest and trustworthy," 50 percent said Clinton was not. Seventy percent of the Democrats polled said Obama was honest and trustworthy. That's a 20-point integrity gap--and its among Democrats. Certainly, many Democrats elsewhere--such as in states where Clinton won big--do not share this distrust of Clinton. But Plouffe is right: numbers like these ought to give Democrats, be they voters or super-delegates, pause.

Another interesting factoid from the exit polls: who's the more vicious candidate. The exit pollsters asked Democrats in Mississippi if either Obama or Clinton has attacked "the other unfairly." Sixty-one percent said that Clinton has; 39 percent said that Obama has. So in addition to the integrity gap, there was a 22-point nasty gap. Again, Democratic voters in states that went for Clinton may not see this the same way. And given that the Mississippi Democratic electorate included many African Americans, this number may reflect a sentiment held more by black Democrats than white Democrats. (Remember South Carolina?) Nevertheless, all this is food for thought for Democrats: do they want a presidential candidate that many voters within their own ranks consider unfair and not honest?

For more of a breakdown of the Mississippi vote--particularly the racial component (short answer: Clinton won whites; Obama won blacks)--see my colleague Jonathan Stein's posting at MotherJones.com.

article linked here

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30. Barack, Hillary 'Agree' To Be Nicer

no, not gonna happen

Barack, Hillary 'Agree' To Be Nicer

by Wonkette, the DC Gossip:

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were campaigning in a strange place yesterday --
the United States Senate. It's like when you have a job for a few years, and then stop showing up at that
job to do something else, and then go back to see your old pals who never ask,
"Why have you not been at work for 14 months?" Karl Rove invented this concept.
But if you think that "campaigning in the Senate" is simply another mediocre joke, it is that,
but also something else: the two candidates agreed to play nicer in a secret conversation yesterday --
on the floor of the Senate, surrounded by reporters.

No one could hear them, but they could see them, and that confirms that a conversation did actually happen:

Advisers to the Democratic candidates shed some light Friday on the private chat the two candidates
had Thursday on the Senate floor. The talk lasted three or four minutes in full view of reporters watching
on the balcony above who could see them talking, but not hear what they said.

"They approached one another and spoke about how supporters for both campaigns have said things they reject,"
said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. "They agreed that the contrasts between their respective records,
qualifications and issues should be what drives this campaign, and nothing else."

Oh and then they voted on something, for old time's sake. Crowd loved it.

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31. Plouffe Says If Obama the Nominee, Dems Will Be Competitive in General Election

FixCam: Choose Your Own (North Carolina) Adventure

Chris Cillizza WaPo 03/14/2008
Will North Carolina Be Competitive in the General Election?

The Fix grew up a HUGE fan of "choose your own adventure" books.

So, when David Plouffe, campaign manager for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, promised on a Wednesday conference call that North Carolina would be a "central battleground" in the general election if the Illinois Senator winds up as the Democratic nominee, we were intrigued. (Plouffe's comments were made in response to a statement by Harold Ickes, a senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, to the New York Times that the "Carolinas" would NOT be competitive in the general election.)

Hearkening back to The Fix childhood, we offer our readers two separate adventures:

1) Plouffe is right. Democrats have controlled the North Carolina governor's office for the last sixteen years and currently control the House and Senate. Party registration favors Democrats; at the end of 2007, 45 percent of North Carolina voters were registered Democrats while just 34 percent were registered Republicans. The Tarheel State also has a considerable black population -- 20 percent of the state, according to the 2000 Census -- and Obama has shown an ability to win that key voting bloc by massive margins. All of those numbers add up to one thing: a competitive race in November.

2) Plouffe is dreaming. Democrats may be able to point to wins on the state level but they have had next to no luck on the federal level in recent years. Republicans won open Senate seat contests in 2002 and 2004; President Bush carried the state by double digits in 2000 and 2004 despite the fact that then North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was the vice presidential nominee. While party registration numbers favor Democrats, the average voter in the Tarheel State tends to be conservative minded -- especially on issues like abortion and gun control. While these wedge issues are often not part of the debate in a state race, they are a central part of the decidedly partisan presidential process. Could Obama do better than then Vice President Al Gore (43 percent) or Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (44 percent)? Sure. Can he get to 50 percent plus one? No.

Which North Carolina adventure did you follow? And why?

link

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33. Clinton won't show earmarks, tax returns or records of her time in WH

Obama challenges Clinton campaign on transparency and earmarks:

Saying she supported a moratorium but not agreeing to one and suggesting Clinton is for transparency but providing none,leaves this issue as just one more part of a pattern of Hillary Clinton saying one thing, but doing another.
Clinton has refused to put out her tax returns, she will not release records of her time in the White House
and her unwillingness to give even the most basic information about the special funding she has requested as a
United States senator leaves many Americans wondering what it is she has to hide. On earmarks,
is she hiding information about donors she requested earmarks for?
The role lobbyists and corporations played in her office as she requested more than a billion dollars
for their pet projects? Favors she’s now embarrassed to be associated with?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

34. Clinton's "scortched earth" strategy

Gallup: Obama Leads Clinton 50% - 44%

One Million Strong 14 Mar 2008

I would like to point out that since Super Tuesday II HRC has instituted a "kitchen sink" strategy in her campaign.

Part of that strategy has been to pull a Lieberman,
to praise the Republican candidate,
to allow one of her surrogates (Ferraro) to insult every person of color on the planet,
and to generally piss off and to make a whole lot of voters and some in the MSM extremely uncomfortable.

Interestingly, one former Clinton supporter says it quite well . . .

"Sen. Clinton, you still have time to salvage your dignity and your reputation.
Geraldine Ferraro's resignation from her fundraising role is a start, but it's only a start.
You should fully apologize to Sen. Obama for the stream of insults that has come from your campaign,
and then you should step aside. If you do that, then I'll know my money and my time were well spent."

Watch the numbers. Look at the numbers. Notice the trend.

Now tell me . . . is her "scortched earth" strategy working?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

35. "Hillary's Mission Unaccomplished" compared to Rove Playbook, Iraq War

"More damning is the similarity between the Clinton campaign and the current disaster in Iraq."

Hillary's Mission Unaccomplished

by Matt Jocks OpEdNews March 15, 2008

When the Clintons first reacted so badly to Barack Obama’s emergence as the Democratic front-runner, I had a theory. This looked like the 1992 general election, only this time the role of the dazzling newcomer belonged to someone else. In this play, the Clintons were stuck with the much less appetizing part of George H.W. Bush.

Now, I realize that it’s actually much worse.
The Clintons aren’t just Daddy Bush. They have become a bizarre hybrid of both Bushes. Worse, they have become a melding of both Bush teams, complete with Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. Depending upon on how Florida turns out, we might have to throw Jeb in there as well.

Look at the past three months.

From the Atwater playbook, there was the 1-2 punch of race and patriotism. A subtler touch is required in 2008 than it was 20 years ago, but you can put the photo of Willie Horton next to the photo of Obama during his visit to Kenya and the political lines of ancestry are clear. In 1988, the Bushes ran on the flag and pledge of allegiance and in 1992, it was Clinton’s trip to Moscow. Now, the flag and the pledge are back, and instead of a Soviet connection, it’s a Muslim connection.

Rove’s contribution? Fear. And shamelessness. Hillary refers to terrorists “testing” new British prime minister Gordon Brown in the opening days of his administration. Bill uses 9/11 and Hillary’s status as a New York senator as justification for her vote to authorize force against Iraq. If it were a movie, I would have looked for Rove’s name in the credits.

...more at the link

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36. Mississippi: 'Limbaugh Effect' Softens Blow For Hillary Clinton

Mississippi: 'Limbaugh Effect' Softens Blow For Hillary Clinton

John K Wilson Posted March 12, 2008

...Approximately 25% of Clinton's voters in Mississippi were Republicans voting for a candidate they hate in order to try to undermine Barack Obama. Obama's 61-37 margin of victory in Mississippi would have been around 70-30 without Clinton's Republican voters, and Obama would have easily expanded his delegate win there from 19-14 to 24-9.

...The exit polls in Mississippi proved that these "HillPublicans" are not sudden converts to the Clinton campaign. As this diary noted, 70% of those who have a strongly favorable opinion of McCain picked Clinton. In addition, 6% of the voters in the primary voted for Clinton and said they would be dissatisified if she won the nomination; only 1% of the primary voters went for Obama and said they would be dissatisfied if he won.

According to a Pew Research Poll in February, substantially more Republicans would support Obama (8%) rather than Clinton (5%) against McCain, so we know this voting is tactical.

more at the link

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37. Chicago Tribune indicates that it's satisfied with Obama's account of Rezko

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5094774

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38. Bribing the Referee

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5095420

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39. Boston Globe: Kennedy and Waxman say Clinton exaggerating role in SCHIP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5093961

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

40. Article: PLEASE read this article to understand why some of feel so strongly about Hillary

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5074922&mesg_id=5074922

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

41. In every FL, MI scenario, Obama maintains pledge delegate lead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5075575&mesg_id=5075575

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

42. David Gergen on Obama's pastor story....A voice of reason...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5091981&mesg_id=5091981

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43. Obama camp adds 65,000 registered Dems to Pennsylvania

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5096042

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44. ABRAMOFF FIRM INDICTED OVER MARIANAS, CLINTON CAMPAIGN REFUSES TO RETURN TAINTED WILLIE TAN $$ !

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5081507&mesg_id=5081507

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45. Clinton Nostalgia, the 1993 DNC Annual Report & How Things Have (Sorta) Changed...

Clinton Nostalgia, the 1993 DNC Annual Report
And How Things Have (Sorta) Changed...

Greg Dewar. March 15, 2008

Today's nostalgia trip is the "DNC Annual Report," of which I've scanned in two pages.
The first is the cover with President Bill and Vice President Al, and everyone was aglow over the
fact that Old Man Bush had been sent packing, and new Members of Congress,
like Sens. Boxer & Feinstein and many more, were now in office.
"Change" it seems, was in the air.
National Health Care was on the way, thanks to Co-President Hillary, and Democrats,
it seemed would be in the drivers seat for some time.





Well we all know how that worked out. 1994 anyone? Speaker Newt? Majority Leader Dole. Senator Santorum?!?

But today I would like to focus on one piece of the "DNC Annual Report" -
the section that talks about the DNC "grassroots campaign" to support the "Health Care Plan"
for Presidents Clinton and Clinton. If you don't remember any of this, don't worry -
that's because in the pre-Internet, pre-blog, political world, efforts like this cost a fortune and
didn't really do so great, no matter how hard people tried.

When the cost of disseminating information and organizing people nationally is high and is
led from the "top" down, the chances of igniting a movement to change something as big a
s the health care system is really difficult. Entrenched interests fought back with those
f*cking "Harry and Louise" ads, and well, the rest is history (often revised, Soviet-style on
the campaign trail, it seems).

more at the link

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46. No longer for sale - Clinton supporting fatcat DNC donors can take a walk

(((((((((((((((((( The RBC Update: No longer for sale ))))))))))))))))))

2008.03.14 22:19:52


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

Clinton-supporting fat cat DNC donors are threatening to ask
for their money back if the Florida delegation chosen contrary
to party rules isn't seated anyway. They're welcome to take a
walk. Obama's on-line fundraising has made them obsolete.

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

http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/no_longer_for_sale.php

[grantcart]

47. Obama forces have made major gains in Iowa - gains 7 more delegates

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5100160


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5094080

[grantcart]

48. OBAMA MAKES MAJOR DELEGATE GAINS IN IOWA

Multiple Media sources have all agreed that Obama will net atleast 7 more delegates in Iowa

Clinton may be up or down one delegate

From DemcomWatch

7:00 EDT: NBC has Obama up 7 to 23, Clinton up 1 to 16, Edwards down 8 to 6.

8:20 EDT: The AP has Obama up 7 to 23, Clinton down 1 to 14, Edwards down 7 to 7, with 1 delegate to be decided.

Update: 9:50 EDT: - Some of the confusion is due to the requirement that a candidate receive 15% in a Congressional District to receive a delegate from that district. Currently, Edwards is projected to be viable in 4 of the 5 CDs, giving him 4 delegates at the CD level, plus 3 at the national level. But he's on the edge of 15% in a couple of CDs, and with some counties still out. If he drops below 15%, he loses the delegate, and it goes to either Clinton or Obama, depending on how the math plays out.

Note: We'll update all our trackers when the AP updates their official delegate count.

By DemcomWatch numbers Obama's magic number will drop to 419

As a point of comparison Clinton's Huge win was +9 delegates - If Clinton ends up losing a delegate in Iowa that will mean that her huge win in Ohio has been wiped out by what happened today in Iowa.

I am out of threads but if someone wants to post a thread on it please feel free.

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/states/OH.html

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/


Boy all of that scandal on Rev. Wright sure had a disastorous effect on Obama.

[grantcart]

51. Personal reaction from our own DU at Iowa convention

TwoSparkles (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-15-08 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #15
33. Please stop lying...You are spreading disinformation...
Edited on Sat Mar-15-08 05:46 PM by TwoSparkles
I was a delegate at the Iowa County Convention today.

You have absolutely NO PROOF that Obama "poached" Hillary's delegates, as you stated.

Please stop lying. Please stop posting information for which you have no facts to
support your assertions.

There were many Hillary supporters who were very open about their "switching." Furthermore,
Obama garnered additional delegates from some of the Edwards supporters who threw their
support to Obama, when Edwards wasn't viable at many of today's conventions.

As an Obama supporter, it was actually refreshing to sit and talk with Hillary supporters
today and discuss about the issues. I met 4 people in the Obama caucus area who told
me that they caucused for Hillary, were elected Hillary delegates but changed their minds
and decided to stand for Obama today. Three were middle-aged women who said they were troubled
by Hillary's attacks and her "endorsement of McCain" over Obama.

I also ended up sitting with a ton of Hillary supporters toward the end. They were all firmly
in Hillary's camp. Some switched. Some didn't.

Enough of the lies from the Hillary supporters who insist on inventing cynical realities when
they don't get the results they want.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5100160&mesg_id=5100937

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

49. It is good the race has gone on so long. We are seeing true colors.

Posted by madfloridian in General Discussion: Primaries
Sat Mar 15th 2008,

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1908

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

50. Obama 90 minute interview with Chicago Tribune, video and transcripts

Obama 90 minute interview with Chicago Tribune, video and transcripts

Obama: I trusted Rezko

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

52. Why do White People Think Wright Scarier than Hagee? (Rezko Turettes Syndrome)

Why do White People Think Wright Scarier than Hagee?
By - March 15, 2008, 5:26PM

Fox News appears to have put the “Worst of Wright” tape onto a continuous loop. Right now, they have two pretty white sorority girls clucking their tongues and oh so unctiously sympathizing with the political problem it's created for Obama. The other news organizations appear to have moved on.

So now we know what the next round of emails is going to be about and what the wingnuts will be ranting about for the next five months. Unfortunately, the contradiction between their old programming re Obama being a Muslim and their new programming informing them he is a member of some dangerous heretical Christian sect full of scary black men, won't even cross cause a blip for most of them.

And, of course, Hillary's more robotic supporters now have an extra syllable to add to their Rezko Tourette's syndrome. Most of her online supporters have, for months now, been fervently wishing for, and ominously predicting, some bolt from the blue that would salvage Hillary's candidacy and elevate her to that which she is due. But then, these people have greeted every bad news cycle for Obama as the beginning of the end since the day after Super Tuesday. The fact that they've now reached the point of saying, “hey, this Hannity guy is making sense” shows they are beyond the reach of reason, though one hopes it is a temporary affliction.

In the meantime, here's the question a lot of white people who still have some measure of control over their mental faculties ought to be pondering.

Why is it that when a black preacher who supports a black presidential candidate is discovered to have made some crazy-ass, angry, over-the-top comments from the left over the course of a 40 year career, white people of all political persuasions, go absolutely batshit insane,

more here at
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/why-do-white-people-think-wrig.php

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

53. why didn't media "vet" Huckabee sermons?

The Wright Stuff
by Scout Finch
Sat Mar 15, 2008 at 08:43:11 AM PDT
Without weighing in on whether or not the content of Reverend Jeremiah Wright's sermons should be denounced by Barack Obama, I do find one aspect of this story quite troubling. We have now seen more sermons from Barack Obama's minister in 48 hours than we ever did of Mike Huckabee ---- and Mike Huckabee was a presidential candidate for 14 long months. Why is it acceptable to scour every last sermon given by Wright, but only weeks ago we weren't allowed to see or read Mike Huckabee's sermons? In fact, not only was it totally ignored by the traditional media, but the few times the question of Huckabee's sermons was raised, it was brushed aside as inappropriate.

Why the hypocrisy? After all, Mike Huckabee was an evangelical Southern Baptist minister who's entire campaign was based on the fact that he was the Christian candidate. Are we to believe that he didn't rail against the US government over abortion in previous sermons? Or homosexuality? We know what he had to say about AIDS victims. I don't imagine one gets to be the be president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention without passionate fire and brimstone sermons as part of his repertoire.

So, I find it curious that the traditional media now has its white hot focus on Barack Obama's religion and a few select words by Reverend Jeremiah Wright. After all, Huckabee made his career as an actual preacher. Why the change of heart in the last few weeks? Why does Obama have to be held responsible for every word spoken during Wright's passionate sermons - while Huckabee is allowed a free ride and never questioned about his own words? From his own mouth?


more here

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/15/114311/053/117/476858

[grantcart]

54. Pelosi's Delegate Stance Boosts Obama

Pelosi's Delegate Stance Boosts Obama
By DAVID ESPO – 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it would be damaging to the Democratic party for its leaders to buck the will of national convention delegates picked in primaries and caucuses, a declaration that gives a boost to Sen. Barack Obama."If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party," Pelosi said in an interview taped Friday for broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The California Democrat did not mention either Obama or his rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, by name. But her remarks seemed to suggest she was prepared to cast her ballot at the convention in favor of the candidate who emerges from the primary season with the most pledged delegates.Obama leads Clinton by 142 pledged delegates — those delegates picked in nomination contests to date, in The Associated Press' count.

Barring an unlikely string of landslide victories by the former first lady in the remaining states, he will end the primary season with a delegate lead, but short of the 2025 needed to win the nomination.That gives the balance of power to the so-called superdelegates, prominent Democrats who are automatically entitled to attend the convention because of their status as members of Congress or other leaders. Clinton leads Obama for their support in the AP count, 249-213.

Pelosi's comments could influence other House Democrats who are neutral in the presidential race and will attend the convention as superdelegates.In her interview, Pelosi also said that even if one candidate winds up with a larger share of the popular vote than the delegate leader, the candidate who has more delegates should prevail.

"It's a delegate race," she said. "The way the system works is that the delegates choose the nominee."