“OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS Friday March-28-2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO “OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS

Friday March-28-2008


“Bloombamba”

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. :think:

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU,
providing a link to the original thread :applause:

3. Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page :thumbsup:

4. Clinton supporters or “anti Obama posters please start your own
“Clinton Daily News Thread”.

Get your DU-o-matic codificator (to format your posts) here
Read the Daily News Archives here

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. Readers, if you have any daily news or links to post, please do

I'm a bit under the weather this evening.

Your posts don't have to be fancy.

DU rules allow for 4 paragraphs of a news story so as not to
infringe on copyright issues.

Don't worry about being fancy.


ORRRRR:

post titles and links to DU posts in the GDP that you think
others shouldn't miss!

Thank you for your patience, I am going to post a few things and then sign off for the
night.

:yourock:

[goclark]

7. You Rock! This is a winner and so well done

:yourock: and feel better

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. Hillary's Excellent Bosnia Sniper Story - in Chronological Order

TPMtv: Summa Bosniatica

The Clinton-Bosnia-Sniper story seems to be peaking.
And there have been a lot of snippets of video swirling around YouTube with this or that part of the story. But most of them are incomplete or rapid-fire-cut or edited to make Sen. Clinton look as foolish as possible. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld used to say. We do those kinds of videos too.

But since you've probably seen a lot of those, we wanted to go back and put together all the key moments in roughly chronological order -- what Sen. Clinton said on different occasions, the key video from the trip, what other eyewitnesses say, what her spokespersons and aides say, etc.
With the exception of Howard Wolfson, Sen. Clinton's Communications Director,
we've tried only to include material from the senator, the trip and people who
were actually there and witnesses to anything -- so no random ex-military folks or
campaign spinners or Fox goons just there to trash her.

So if you want to see the whole story, from start to finish and make up your own mind (or just relive the trainwreck) behold ...

go to the link to view the video put together by TPM cafe

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. Hillary and Bill's New Best Friends? Limbaugh, McCain, Scaife, Fox News??

Hillary and Bill's New Best Friends? Limbaugh, McCain, Scaife, Fox News??

Laura Roslin, TPM Cafe, Election Central March 27, 2008

Did the sky open up, and the angels sang? (Sarcasm)

An odd thing has been happening regarding the right wing and the Clintons. I've been meaning to write about this for awhile. Hillary and Bill Clinton have some New Best Friends (NBF), and they are part of what the Clintons coined as "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy".

Excerpt:

3/4/08 Bill Clinton was on Rush Limbaugh's show the day of the Texas primary.
3/7/08 Hillary Clinton Pulls A Zell Miller - Endorsed McCain. Must Lose Super Delegate Status (Invoked when you endorse a republican)
3/25/08 Hillary even visited the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review a paper owned by Richard Mellon Scaife (part of the "vast right wing conspiracy").
3/26/08 Rush Limbaugh Taking "Operation Chaos" to North Carolina and Pennsylvania
3/26/08 Hillary did a sit-down interview with FOX News' Greta Van Susteren, which aired Wednesday night.
No Date. Video of a Bill Clinton interview with Barbara Walters posted on John McCain's 2008 Campaign website.

[Rocky2007]

29. Clinton's, the conservatives AND "The Fellowship"

This is an interesting comment and makes me wonder about the glue that binds these gray happenings.

I read with great interest these past few days about the "Fellowship" as it relates to Hillary. Some very interesting material! Mostly conservatives belong to this fellowship group --- including one Joe Lieberman. I don't claim to know the inter workings of the 'cult' of Fellowship after only a few hours on the internet. One thing I noticed was the 'togetherness' of it's members. Jesus guides them to a better life through prayer and service to God.

(interesting background follows with these sites)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5269556
http://thecurrent.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/clinton-fellowship.php
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-4.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-ehrenreich/hillarys-nasty-pastorate_b_92361.html
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1220/p01s02-uspo.html?page=1

This group goes back to 1930's or so -- Hitler was a member!

Hands across the aisle suddenly has new meanings and brings back memories of the 'King Makers' of past years. These past 24 odd years of bush - clinton - bush - clinton (hopeful). Hillary sure can act like a Republican sometimes, and why has Hillary had briefings on Iraq from Bush. Is she going to continue Bushes thinking on Iraq -- McCain surely will follow, including Iran. Remember - bomb bom bom bomb Iran

Hillary is thinking that she is due the presidency and has in fact said so - as in maybe God is calling her? and maybe McCain and maybe Lieberman and lets not forget Bush or Gonzo and so many other failed members of this administration.

Have the past 20 some years been guided by the 'Fellowship'. China has been rising, NAFTA, jobs lost, America in a tail spin, Hillary giving McCain the nod over Obama?

I find all of this disturbing!

Does it lead to anything? I'm not sure. But I'm not liking where this could lead.

Added with edit to include more info to "The Followship // The Family"------------------------------

Ivanwald, which sits at the end of Twenty-fourth Street North in Arlington, Virginia, is known only to its residents and to the members and friends of the organization that sponsors it, a group of believers who refer to themselves as “the Family.” The Family is, in its own words, an “invisible” association, though its membership has always consisted mostly of public men. Senators Don Nickles (R., Okla.), Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Pete Domenici (R., N.Mex.), John Ensign (R., Nev.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), and Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) are referred to as “members,” as are Representatives Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), Frank Wolf (R., Va.), Joseph Pitts (R., Pa.), Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.), and Bart Stupak (D., Mich.). Regular prayer groups have met in the Pentagon and at the Department of Defense, and the Family has traditionally fostered strong ties with businessmen in the oil and aerospace industries. The Family maintains a closely guarded database of its associates, but it issues no cards, collects no official dues. Members are asked not to speak about the group or its activities.

[Rocky2007]

30. Clinton's, the conservatives AND "The Fellowship" Addition

The organization has operated under many guises, some active, some defunct: National Committee for Christian Leadership, International Christian Leadership, the National Leadership Council, Fellowship House, the Fellowship Foundation, the National Fellowship Council, the International Foundation. These groups are intended to draw attention away from the Family, and to prevent it from becoming, in the words of one of the Family's leaders, “a target for misunderstanding.” 11. The Los Angeles Times reported in September that the Fellowship Foundation alone has an annual budget of $10 million, but that represents only a fraction of the Family's finances. Each of the Family's organizations raises funds independently. Ivanwald, for example, is financed at least in part by an entity called the Wilberforce Foundation. Other projects are financed by individual “friends”: wealthy businessmen, foreign governments, church congregations, or mainstream foundations that may be unaware of the scope of the Family's activities. At Ivanwald, when I asked to what organization a donation check might be made, I was told there was none; money was raised on a “man-to-man” basis. Major Family donors named by the Times include Michael Timmis, a Detroit lawyer and Republican fund-raiser; Paul Temple, a private investor from Maryland; and Jerome A. Lewis, former CEO of the Petro-Lewis Corporation. The Family's only publicized gathering is the National Prayer Breakfast, which it established in 1953 and which, with congressional sponsorship, it continues to organize every February in Washington, D.C. Each year 3,000 dignitaries, representing scores of nations, pay $425 each to attend. Steadfastly ecumenical, too bland most years to merit much press, the breakfast is regarded by the Family as merely a tool in a larger purpose: to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they can “meet Jesus man to man.”

In the process of introducing powerful men to Jesus, the Family has managed to effect a number of behind-the-scenes acts of diplomacy. In 1978 it secretly helped the Carter Administration organize a worldwide call to prayer with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, and more recently, in 2001, it brought together the warring leaders of Congo and Rwanda for a clandestine meeting, leading to the two sides' eventual peace accord last July. Such benign acts appear to be the exception to the rule. During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand “Communists” killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise. “We work with power where we can,” the Family's leader, Doug Coe, says, “build new power where we can't.”

At the 1990 National Prayer Breakfast, George H.W. Bush praised Doug Coe for what he described as “quiet diplomacy, I wouldn't say secret diplomacy,” as an “ambassador of faith.” Coe has visited nearly every world capital, often with congressmen at his side, “making friends” and inviting them back to the Family's unofficial headquarters, a mansion (just down the road from Ivanwald) that the Family bought in 1978 with $1.5 million donated by, among others, Tom Phillips, then the C.E.O. of arms manufacturer Raytheon, and Ken Olsen, the founder and president of Digital Equipment Corporation. A waterfall has been carved into the mansion's broad lawn, from which a bronze bald eagle watches over the Potomac River. The mansion is white and pillared and surrounded by magnolias, and by red trees that do not so much tower above it as whisper. The mansion is named for these trees; it is called The Cedars, and Family members speak of it as a person. “The Cedars has a heart for the poor,” they like to say. By “poor” they mean not the thousands of literal poor living barely a mile away but rather the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom: the senators, generals, and prime ministers who coast to the end of Twenty-fourth Street in Arlington in black limousines and town cars and hulking S.U.V.'s to meet one another, to meet Jesus, to pay homage to the god of The Cedars.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. Clinton to Visit North Carolina each week up to the primary

Obama, Clinton in NC this week

News & Observer March 24, 2008

The dueling Democratic candidates for president, along with their supporters, are all about North Carolina this week.
The attention ramped up last week with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's visit to Fayetteville and former President Bill Clinton's address in Cary to promote the bid of his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, to head the ticket. Bill Clinton said he expects Hillary to campaign in the state every week until the election.

North Carolina's May 6 balloting is one of main events left as candidates count down days and delegates to the August Democratic convention.

Taking developments day by day:

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. A disturbing conversation with a Clinton supporter

I read this, I hope you will too.

A disturbing conversation with a Clinton supporter

by discocarp DKos Thu Mar 27, 2008

I just had what I consider to be a disturbing conversation with a Clinton supporter. I don't care to get too far into her details, but she's white, 50s, originally from the northeast, and a lifelong Democrat. I would consider us friends - not close - but friends. We talk politics often, although we haven't seen much of each other during the last few months. I like her a lot on a personal level. She's really a great woman. She's accomplished and kind. She's more conservative than I am, but firmly in Democratic party territory as far as her ideals are concerned.

discocarp's diary :: ::
I asked her about the primary. She got an incredibly serious look on her face. We talked a little, avoiding the real meat of the primary. I told her I think the primary is over. I told her I think its just a matter of counting the votes at this point. She tepidly agreed. The pain in her face crushed me. She's hurt. I mean really, really hurt by this primary.

"I don't know," she says. "If its Obama, I think I'll go with McCain." I was stunned. This woman can't stand Bush. "If it has to be a republican, at least its McCain."

I don't need to get too far into her reasons. You've heard them. Obama has no experience. McCain's not so bad. Concern about Rev. Wright. Nothing that hasn't been debunked a thousand times here. I don't think any of these reasons are the real problem. I think the real problem is the nasty primary. She's crushed by the outcome, and its starting to sink in.

more at the link

[kittykitty]

5. Obama to be on "The View" for the whole show Friday.ABC 11 AM DST

Should be interesting. . . . .

[Noirceuil]

8. I hope Hasselbeck...

shows some spine and asks him some tough questions. God knows Whoopi and Joy won't do it!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online

Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online

By Matthew Mosk Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 28, 2008; Page A06

When Christen Braun decided it was time to learn more about the presidential candidates, the 28-year-old high school teacher from suburban Pittsburgh turned to Google -- right where Sen. Barack Obama's campaign was waiting for her.

Her search triggered an ad for Obama's Web site, which prompted Braun, a Republican, to sign up for the Democratic senator's e-mail list -- and then to make her first political contribution, for $25.

Such transactions help illustrate how Obama has shattered fundraising records and challenged ideas about the way presidential bids are financed. While past campaigns have relied largely on support from small circles of wealthy and well-connected patrons, Obama has received contributions from more than 1 million donors. He raised $91 million in the first two months of 2008 alone, most of it in small amounts over the Internet.

Obama's unprecedented online fundraising success is often depicted as a spontaneous reaction to a charismatic candidate, particularly by young, Internet-savvy supporters. But it is the result of an elaborate marketing effort that has left Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, and Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, struggling to catch up

more at the link

[goclark]

9. I am so honored to be a part of his campaign

Every aspect of the communications has been outstanding.

His staff sends emails that are so welcoming that I continue to hit that donate button. :)

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage

By Eugene Robinson Friday, March 28, 2008; Page A19

....What's not unambiguously explained in the polls is why Clinton, basically a bystander, took a bigger hit in popularity than the guy who had the pastor problem.

The NBC-Journal survey was taken before Clinton's claim of having braved sniper fire upon landing in Bosnia in 1996 was admitted to be untrue, so that can't have been the reason her negative ratings jumped and her positive ratings fell. And when the poll was being taken, Clinton hadn't even said anything about Obama's relationship with Wright.

Subsequently, she did have something to say: that if she had been Wright's parishioner, she would have left the church. I can't fault her for answering a direct question, especially one offering a chance to take a shot at her opponent. That's considered fair in politics. I do find it odd, though, that she would answer any kind of question from the editorial board of a Pittsburgh area newspaper, the Tribune-Review, that promoted the vile and untrue allegation that she had something to do with the death of Vince Foster, the deputy White House counsel in her husband's administration who committed suicide. The Tribune-Review is owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, who is considered by Clintonistas to have been puppet master and chief financier of the "vast, right-wing conspiracy" that Hillary Clinton famously perceived.

Here's a hypothesis: The fact that Clinton's poll numbers suffered more than Obama's might have something to do with the way her campaign gives the impression of being willing to do anything it takes -- anything -- to win the nomination.

Obama drew a line in his speech about race, repudiating Wright in the strongest terms but refusing to "disown" a man who has been an important spiritual influence. Many commentators saw this stance as a mistake that ultimately will cost Obama support among working-class white voters -- and those commentators may be proved right. It's possible that he drew the line in the wrong place. But he did draw it.

...more at the link

[grantcart]

11. The BIG BIG Lie - Clinton was against disenfranchising Florida and Michigan

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5290035

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. Please sign it: Move-On's Petition Regarding Those Who Threatened Pelosi

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5284858&mesg_id=5284858

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. Siegelman to Be Released (I know this has nothing to do with GDP, but we should celebrate)

Siegelman to Be Released

The former Alabama Gov. will be released from prison, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that he could remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction, the lead prosecutor in the case said. Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin says he's disappointed but that the court "has the discretion to do that and I respect that."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/siegelman_released_from_prison.php

All who played a part in getting him put in prison in the first place should
be made to go to prison for real. And for a long time.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. Clinton Donor Shakedown Officially Backfires

Clinton Donor Shakedown Officially Backfires

by turneresq Thu Mar 27, 2008

Lots of new information about the forming backlash from the shakedown attempt from Clinton supporters. Read about it below the jump. As you no doubt know, a bunch of Clinton big wigs wrote a letter threatening Pelosi about her comments about Superdelegates not going against the will of the people. Clinton (see above link) isn't even disavowing it, and now we've got an official backlash.

turneresq's diary :: ::

Earlier in the day, we learned that some Superdelgates are NOT happy with this letter:

ABC News' Political Director David Chalian reports that a Democratic operative unaffiliated with either campaign and familiar with the reaction to the letter among Members of Congress says, "Members of Congress - who are superdelegates - make up the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee" or DCCC from which the donors seemed to be threatening to withhold funds.

"Threatening the DCCC is equal to threatening the superdelegates Sen. Hillary Clinton's trying to court. The Clinton donor letter will just push undeclared superdelegates in Congress leaning toward Obama to endorse him sooner. It also reinforces the narrative that she'll destroy the party to win."

Then, we've got an Obama supporter donating the max to the DCCC.

A Democratic source in Washington provides the following letter from a major Democratic donor as evidence that yesterday's "shakedown" letter to Speaker Pelosi is having an effect antithetical to its intention.

Leslie Walker Burlock of San Francisco writes yesterday to Nancy Pelosi pledging the max $28,000 to the DCCC. The Dem source says Ms. Burlock wrote after learning of the letter from the group of heavy hitters, a move that Burlock disagreed with.

I spoke with Ms. Burlock by phone. She says that yes, she agrees with Nancy Pelosi's stance on superdelegates, and that yes, she is an Obama supporter. But she demurred when asked several different ways whether or not her pledge comes as a rebuttal to the letter from the others. She didn't deny it, however.

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

16. Wright-Aid

Wright-Aid

By Elisabeth Baumann - March 27, 2008

I’m an agnostic.

there, without sampling what the tight, comfy little slot right next door to me is feeling?
....So that’s why I’m agnostic.
That being said, this whole religion thing in the 2008 race to the election is truly ridiculous to me.

Why? Here’s why:

- John McCain is endorsed by Hagee, and that’s okay.
- Hillary Clinton belongs to an elitist religious group called “Fellowship Foundation” that is so secret no one knows about it, and that’s okay too.
- Fox, CNN, and MSNBC show clips of sermons from Obama’s former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and all hell breaks loose.

more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. Outfoxing Hillary

Outfoxing Hillary

by Bango Shank - March 27, 2008

Anyone who pays attention to network news can identify the
significance of Hillary Clinton's interview on Fox News last night.
After Anderson Cooper and Larry King announced to their audiences that
Hillary Clinton had an open invitation to appear on their shows, she
choose instead to appear on the network on which Karl Rove is a popular
pundit. To her credit, the interview was short, seemingly focused on
only the things Clinton wanted to talk about, but this isn't the first
time in this campaign that Clinton has chosen to ally herself with the
media of the right.

After just enough time for the media to start to give up with the Rev. Wright scandal,
Hillary made a statement that pushed it back into the spot light. She felt that she needed
the American people to know that Rev. Wright "...would not have been my pastor."
Much has been made of her declaration, and much too has been made about the publication
she made it to: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a paper so far right that it tried to accuse the Clintons of murder.

Why is Clinton reaching out to the same media that feeds off of liberal blood? When looking for
an answer to that question, it may help to look at it from the perspective of the right.
Fox News couldn't be happier to have Clinton, and help her campaign, because simply,
the longer this infighting goes on the better for McCain. Just as Rush Limbaugh with his "Operation Chaos,"
the media of the right has a vested interest in dragging out the nomination.
Hillary seems to want the same thing, and proves it by flirting with the enemy.

[FrenchieCat]

18. Obama's plan to change the economy

Obama's plan to change the economy

3/27/08

So for liberal critics of capitalism as currently practiced in the United States, there was much to admire and appreciate in Barack Obama's speech Thursday morning at Cooper Union in New York. The address provided yet another example of what the senator from Illinois does best: It was an eloquent, nuanced, smart defense of the pressing need to roll back decades of government irresponsibility and ensure that the interests of, as he put it, "Main Street and Wall Street" are better aligned.

"Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it," said Obama. He reached all the way back to the first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, in his effort to argue from first principles that government has the right and responsibility to intervene in the economy to ensure that the few do not benefit at the expense of the many. He referenced the 1999 repeal of the provision in the Glass-Steagall Act that previously separated commercial and investment banking. He even declared that it was "time to realign incentives and compensation packages, so that both high level executives and employees better serve the interests of shareholders" -- a broadside unlikely to win him a lot of votes in downtown Manhattan (or at the fundraiser at the investment bank Credit-Suisse that Obama headed to after his speech, as was helpfully pointed out by the Clinton campaign).

The comparison with Sen. John McCain's speech on Tuesday could not be more stark. Obama's jibe -- that McCain's "plan ... amounts to little more than watching this crisis happen," is not off the mark. McCain took great pains to stress his intent to intervene in the workings of Wall Street as minimally as possible. For those deluded souls who might still think there is no significant difference between the two major parties in the United States, a review of McCain's and Obama's speeches this week is in order. They are like bookends at opposite ends of the economics shelf. Obama snuggles up to John Maynard Keynes, while McCain seeks the warm embrace of Milton Friedman. Obama sounded like he understood what he was talking about. McCain sounded like he was reading a speech designed to make him look like he understood what was going on.
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/03/27/obama_s_economic_plan/index.html

[papau]

20. Obama went to the Wall Street lions den and in the lions den said nothing to disturb the lions

Hillary's five-year mortgage interest freeze or a moratorium on foreclosures is indeed a bit more conservative than FDR's Home Loan Corporation direct purchase and renegotiation of mort age approach in the 30's - but Hillary is a great deal more liberal, progressive, effective, workable than Obama's minimalist approach to change

Krugman appears to understand situation and the past approaches to this type of problem - Obama doesn't.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

24. papau, this is an Obama supporters news thread

you and I got along great in the Election Reform forum.

I am hoping that you will set up your own separate thread for Hillary Supporters
Daily News, and I promise that I won't disrupt it.

[anigbrowl]

31. Krugman doesn't understand squat

for an economist to argue in favor of a forced 5 year interest rate freeze is idiotic. But somehow I doubt you read much in the way of finance or economics, or you'd know that price controls are the first refuge of economic illiterates.

[FrenchieCat]

19. "Eye To Eye" on CBS - Harry Smith in-Studio Interview with Barack Obama

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x111316

[Hope And Change]

21. Barack Obama Will Be In Pennsylvania Today!

The Political Schedule


*all times Eastern

Friday, March 28

11:00 am
Barack Obama holds a community event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


5:30 pm
Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting in Greensburg, Pennsylvania


http://thepage.time.com/

[catgirl]

22. AP: Pennsylvania senator to endorse Obama (Bob Casey)

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK - Barack Obama will be endorsed by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the endorsement will come as Obama begins a six-day campaign swing through the Keystone State.

Pennsylvania is the next big prize in the tough primary contest between the Illinois senator and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Clinton holds a double-digit lead in recent polls of Pennsylvania voters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_on_el_pr/obama_endorsement



Kick it here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3246235

[grantcart]

23. Three Super Delegates endorse Obama

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5292888

[jefferson_dem]

25. Obama Campaign Memo: Voters and Superdelegates Rejecting Clinton’s Tactics

Dayum! Go Team!!!

Obama Campaign Memo

TO: Interested Parties

FR: Obama Campaign

RE: Voters and Superdelegates Rejecting Clinton’s Tactics

DA: March 28, 2008

Weeks ago, as Senator Obama began to build momentum in the race for the Democratic nomination, the Clinton campaign put into motion their “kitchen sink” strategy—what one Democratic official called the “Tonya Harding” strategy : say and do anything to make Barack Obama an unacceptable candidate and win over the remaining superdelegates. But as new polling and news reports show, voters and superdelegates are soundly rejecting the Clintons’ tactics.

The Clintons have made no secret of the fact that they relish negative campaigning. Just before the first votes were cast in this race, Senator Clinton called attacking Senator Obama “the fun part.” Earlier this week, during a campaign stop in West Virginia, Bill Clinton signaled that the attacks won’t be letting up anytime soon:

“If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office. If a football player doesn’t want to get tackled or want the risk of an occasional clip he shouldn’t put the pads on.”

There’s just one problem: the only candidate paying a price for Senator Clinton’s desperate attacks is Senator Clinton herself.

How are the voters responding to Clinton’s tactics?

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday night shows the extent of the damage that Senator Clinton has suffered in the eyes of voters. As the Wall Street Journal writes, “The negativity of the Obama-Clinton contest seems to be hurting Sen. Clinton more, the poll shows.”

After her latest round of attacks on Barack Obama, Clinton’s overall favorability rating is her lowest of the campaign, showing a significant drop from just two weeks ago. Clinton’s supporters give Obama a net-positive rating, while Obama’s supporters give Clinton a net-negative rating. NBC notes that “Taken together, this appears to be evidence that Obama, intially, should have the easier time uniting the party than Clinton.” In addition, Obama is “still much more competitive with independent voters when matched up against John McCain than Hillary Clinton is.”

Key findings:

Ø Overall Favorability:

Clinton: 37% positive, 48% negative

Obama: 49% positive, 32% negative

Ø Favorability Rating Among Opponent’s Supporters:

Clinton: 35% positive, 43% negative

Obama: 50% positive, 29% negative

Ø Can Unite the Country:

Clinton: 46%

Obama: 60%

Ø Shares Your Values:

Clinton: 43% yes, 57% no

Obama: 50% yes, 39% no

But it’s about the superdelegates now, right?

Given Barack Obama’s lead in pledged delegates and the popular vote, Senator Clinton’s only path to the nomination is to somehow convince uncommitted superdelegates to overturn the will of the voters—and her attacks on Senator Obama in recent weeks appear designed to do just that.

But there is mounting evidence that superdelegates are rejecting the Clinton tactics even more resoundingly than rank-and-file Democratic voters. A new report from NBC shows increasing concern among superdelegates that Clinton’s desperate attacks “are hurting the party and its chances in November, and also say it is showing a calculated, desperate-to-win side of Clinton that they dislike.” One uncommitted superdelegate put it this way:

“A full and fair debate about issues and differences and even fights is good. Mud slinging, personal attacks and lying is never good for any political fight or party. And I see a lot of that coming from one side more than the other.”

Even Paul Begala, one of Senator Clinton’s most public supporters, is critical of the depths to which Clinton has sunk. As he told CNN on Wednesday:

“I criticize Hillary, too. She shouldn’t be saying not qualified to be commander in chief. Of course he is.”

The stakes

After nearly eight years of one of the most disastrous administrations in history, Democrats are adamant about taking back the White House. With the race for the nomination drawing to a close, the Clinton campaign’s scorched-earth tactics only make that goal harder to reach.

http://thepage.time.com/obama-campaign-memo/

[Scurrilous]

26. Kick

:kick:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

27. email from Nancy Pelosi

While I won't donate to any group that has James Carville's picture or name in it, I will donate
to a group represented by someone I trust:

Here's what you and I can't let happen. We can't allow the tension and pressures of a spirited Presidential contest to spill over and harm hard-working Democratic candidates running to strengthen our Democratic majority in the House.

I will do whatever it takes to protect our candidates and make sure their campaigns to drive change forward don't skip a beat. I need you to do the same. Please support our candidates now with a donation to the DCCC before the critical March 31st deadline hits by going to www.dccc.org/deadline.

Throughout the Presidential nominating process, I have been so proud to watch Democrats turn out in record numbers and demonstrate enormous grassroots energy. And soon we will have an exciting presidential nominee who will make our entire party proud.

She or he will lead our energized and united Democratic Party in the larger fight against John McCain, and his plan for 100 more years of war in Iraq. Now is the time to capitalize on the excitement that is sweeping the nation to ensure that our next President has a strong Democratic majority in the House to work with as we undo the damage from President Bush's failed economic policies.

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Sent Wirelessly Via Blackberry

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

28. letter from Howard Dean

I only gave a small amount, it was all I could spare, but I wanted to show my support
for Chairman Dean. You know the DLC is trying to push Dean out, smear him, challenge him,
blame him for MI and FL.

#

John McCain is raising money and campaigning across the country -- he's looking at the White House.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are also raising money and campaigning across the country -- but they're still looking at the nomination.

Hillary and Barack can't build an organization to take on John McCain directly yet, but we can. And we have to -- it's our responsibility as Democrats to make sure we're prepared.

I need you to make a contribution now so we can make sure John McCain doesn't get a free ride -- Americans everywhere need to know the truth, and we're going to make sure they get it.

http://www.democrats.org/NoFreeRides

Over the past three years, you've invested heavily in our 50-State Strategy. We put resources in all 50 states, committing to make sure each state has the resources and infrastructure to compete at every level.

We saw the results from this strategy in 2005, 2006, and 2007. And, with your help, it will help us take back the White House in 2008.

Why? The Republican Party is in trouble. Just read what the Web site Politico reported...

At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance.

In some of the largest, smallest, reddest and bluest states in the nation, many state Republican organizations are still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating 2006 election cycle, raising questions about how much grassroots help the state parties will be able to deliver to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.

We've worn them down, but we can't be complacent -- we've seen what they will do to win. We can't let up -- every day that goes by where we don't answer John McCain's attacks means another opportunity missed, and it erases the work we've done so far.

Make a donation today and support our efforts to help elect Hillary or Barack. We're fighting John McCain so he doesn't get ahead.

http://www.democrats.org/NoFreeRides

We can't allow John McCain to crisscross the country, fooling the American people with his "more of the same" agenda.

Your donation today helps us take him head-on everywhere.

Thank you,

Howard Dean