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In Historic Vote, Obama Officially Claims Democratic Nomination Washington Post
With the weight of history hanging over them, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Democratic Party formally chose Sen. Barack Obama as the nominee for the White House, elevating the first African American to that exalted post and putting a black man a step from the presidency.
With a theatrical flourish, the roll call vote was rushed to allow Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to suspend the vote and "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory," declare Obama the nominee by aclaimation.
"Let's declare with one voice that Barack Obama is our candidate," Clinton said to thunderous applause.
This is big news. The local AFSCME union in Oregon decided to break ranks with their national leaders and endorse Obama. In a landslide vote, Obama won 59 out of 64 votes from the Oregen AFSCME excuective board.
The Oregon primary is May 20, and this major union endorsement will provide momentum and also help Obama grow his already strong grassroots operation.
Oregon AFSCME has endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. The union's executive board made the endorsement today (March 15) in Portland.
"The union took action prior to the upcoming Oregon primary because Obama has a history of standing up and fighting for working people," said Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Ken Allen. "In Illinois, Sen. Obama fought alongside AFSCME to keep vital public services open, including mental hospitals and prisons. He also worked to help organize thousands of workers at Resurrection Hospital, and supported card check recognition for other workers seeking to unionize in their workplace.
"He is a candidate organized labor can proudly stand behind and support."
Oregon AFSCME defies Int'l, backs Obama The Oregonian
Oregon AFSCME has rebelled from its international union and decided to endorse Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary race.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has been an important backer of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. The union has poured more than $2.3 million into advertising boosting Clinton and attacking Obama. Gerald McEntee, AFSCME international president, is close to the Clintons and gave Bill Clinton a critical early endorsement in his 1992 presidential campaign.
But AFSCME's top-down decision to endorse Hillary Clinton last fall is beginning to meet some grassroots resistance. Ken Allen, president of Oregon AFSCME, said his executive board voted overwhelmingly Saturday to endorse Obama, with only four or five no votes out of the approximately 64 people in the room.
Obama spoke to a sold-out crowd of Hoosiers yesterday. Even though Sen. Bayh endorsed Clinton and Indiana is considered Clinton country, Obama will make this state competitive on May 6 by bringing new people into the process and focusing on the grassroots.
News round-up: * Obama brings his grass-roots message to Hoosier voters - Indianapolis Star * Obama's 'vibe' inspires across generations - Indianapolis Star * With Race Likely to Continue After Pennsylvania, Democrats Court Other States - New York Times * Obama lays out his plan for America - Indianapolis Star * Crowd draws inspiration from Obama's speech - NBC WTHR 13 * Obama Gets Positive Reaction From Indiana Crowd - WRTV 6 * Obama thrills Plainfield crowd at town hall meeting - Associated Press * Obama's grassroots strength demonstrated in Plainfield - CBS WISH TV 8
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Friday that it would be "harmful" to Democrats if superdelegates were to give the party's presidential nomination to a candidate who is trailing in the delegates awarded in primaries and caucuses.
"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections," said Pelosi, "it would be harmful to the Democratic Party."
Although Pelosi offered her assessment without directly referencing Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., her comments lend considerable support to the Illinois Democrat.
Obama Cuts Into Clinton's Delegate Lead Among Elected Officials Bloomberg
Barack Obama has pulled almost even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials and has cut into her lead among the other superdelegates she's relying on to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
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Underlying the movement to Obama, 46, is some politicians' calculation that he'll be the strongest candidate to face Republican Senator John McCain in November.
"All along he has been the one person McCain does not want to run against and that is still true," said Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who endorsed Obama last month.
Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska said Obama, unlike Clinton, stands a chance of winning at least part of his state, which has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964 and is one of two states that award some presidential electoral votes by congressional district rather than winner-take-all.
"Obama has coattails in Nebraska," said Nelson, who endorsed his Senate colleague two months ago. "Our internal polls show he can win one, possibly two, congressional districts."
Thanks to all our volunteers who made calls to Mississippi voters.
Not only did we win Mississippi tonight, but CNN officially called the Texas caucuses for Obama. The mainstream media is finally reporting what really happened in Texas.
Sen. Barack Obama will win Mississippi's Democratic primary, CNN projects.
Obama will also finish first in the Texas Democratic caucuses, which were held last week.
He will get more delegates out of the state than rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won the state's primary.
Under the Texas Democratic Party's complex delegate selection plan, Texas voters participated in both a primary and caucuses last week.
Two-thirds of the state's 193 delegates were at stake at the primary, while the remaining third were decided by the caucuses.
As has been the case in many primary states, Obama won overwhelming support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton 91-9 percent.
The state has a larger proportion African-Americans (36 percent, according to the 2000 census) than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats.
The Iraq war is not only costing lives, but it's also hurting our economy. Working families in America are suffering, and yet we're spending our taxpayer money on a war that should have never been authorized. George Bush and all the DC politicians who supported the Iraq war should be ashamed of themselves. Their bad judgment has led to the worst foreign policy disaster in a generation. We need change in Washington, and we need it now.
The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.
Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion - or more - by 2017.
Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars, with Iraq generally accounting for three-quarters of the costs.
Variations in such estimates stem from the sliding scales of assumptions, scenarios and budget items that are counted. But whatever the estimate, the cost will be huge, the auditors of the Government Accountability Office say.
Mississippians go to the polls March 11 to give preferences for the Democratic and Republican nominations for president. In the tight Democratic primary, Mississippi voters will have an important role this election.
With U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama so close in the delegate hunt, Mississippi's 40 Democratic delegates are highly coveted.
Both top contenders offer sharp differences from the GOP and nuanced differences from each other in promoting health care for average Americans, withdrawing troops from the Iraq war and encouraging U.S. jobs.
Sen. Obama is the best choice. He provides a broad vision that motivates not only minorities, but old and new Democrats of all stripes. He also is popular with independents and young, unaffiliated voters - giving Democrats their best shot for the White House.
Clinton is highly qualified and has a solid record. But America needs a president who can motivate and inspire a nation which now is divided and demoralized by a sagging economy and foundering foreign policy.
Hillary Clinton argues that she is the more "electable" Democratic nominee, and yet, Rush Limbaugh waged a massive campaign to get Republicans to vote for her in our Texas primary precisely because Limbaugh believes that Clinton is the least electable Democratic nominee.
Similarly, the Democrats also successfully implemented this reverse-strategy earlier this year. In Michigan, our Democratic primary didn't matter because Edwards and Obama weren't on the ballot, so Michigan Democrats crossed over and voted for Mitt Romney because he was widely believed to be a weaker Republican nominee than John McCain. The strategy worked, Romney won Michigan and lived to fight another day.
If Rush Limbaugh is openly advocating for Hillary Clinton in Texas, then Democratic voters in the upcoming states should think long and hard about who our strongest general election nominee would be.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh led a campaign to have his Republican followers in Texas cross party lines and vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state's open primary last Tuesday. Why? Because Limbaugh thinks Republicans can defeat Clinton in a general election. Plus, watching Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama bloody each other in a nomination fight is pure sport for Limbaugh conservatives.
According to exit polls, Clinton won a notably higher number of Republican voters than she has in past open primary contests. Of the 9% of voters who identified themselves as Republicans in the Democratic Primary, Obama still edged Clinton 53%-46%. However, that margin is significantly slimmer than earlier contests. In Wisconsin's open primary, for instance, Republicans broke 72%-28% for Obama. Similarly, in Virginia's open primary, Obama was favored 72%-23%.
Hillary Rodham Clinton won the popular vote in Texas' Democratic primary, but Barack Obama is poised to walk away from the state's "primacaucus" with more delegates, if his current lead holds through June.
Based on her victory in the presidential primary, Clinton took 65 delegates to Obama's 61. But based on early precinct convention returns, he could walk away with a 98-95 victory in overall delegates.
On Meet the Press today, Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania tried to argue that Clinton was the better general election candidate because she's won the "big states".
It's strange that the Clinton campaign continues to insult the smaller states, especially considering that DNC Chairman Dean has implemented a successful 50-state strategy that helped Democrats win in a landslide in 2006. But for the sake of argument, let's examine whether or not Clinton is indeed the better general election candidate. Below the fold is a summary of the latest polls in the general-election swing states that have 7 or more electoral votes.
One important thing to keep in mind is that voters already have developed an opinion on Hillary Clinton, but Sen. Obama is still introducing himself to voters. In Texas, Obama was down 20 points just a few weeks ago, but after he spent some time in Texas, he closed the gap and actually won more delegates in Clinton's "firewall" state. In the general election, Obama actually fairs better than Clinton in Texas.
Here's the latest numbers after our landslide Wyoming victory.
It's becoming increasingly clear that even if Clinton wins Pennsylvania and a few other remaining states, she won't earn enough delegates to win the nomination. Obama has a solid 100+ delegate lead, and Clinton will need to win the remaining states by over 60% in to catch up. Maybe that's why she keeps floating the VP idea...because she knows Obama will win the nomination and being his VP is her only chance to get back to the White House.
Obama appears to have won Wyoming and expanded his overall delegate lead over Clinton. Thank you to all the grassroots volunteers in Wyoming for getting the job done!
Sen. Barack Obama appears to have beaten Sen. Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, in a state no one thought would matter.
With 12 of 23 Wyoming counties reporting, including Laramie, the most populous, Obama is ahead with 56.6% of the vote.
Clinton's resurgence in the race this week -- thanks to her victories in Ohio and Texas -- means the fight for every delegate has become intense.
Wyoming, with only 12 delegates at stake, became a player for the first time in years. Both candidates campaigned here, which put a spotlight on the state's Democrats, who are unaccustomed to that sort of attention. Wyoming, where more than two-thirds of voters are Republican, is often an afterthought in the Democratic presidential campaign.
Although there is no official turnout number yet, anecdotal reports indicate that Democrats turned out in record numbers.
News round-up: * With 19 of 23 counties done, Obama has big lead in Wyoming - USA Today * Wyoming, land of firsts for women, tough on Clinton - Reuters * Wyoming at Last Is a Democratic Player - Associated Press * With Race Unfinished, Attention Turns to Wyoming - New York Times * Wyoming Democrats bask in relevance - San Jose Mercury News * A Pre-Caucus Tour of Wyoming - NPR * Oft-ignored Wyoming has its moment - Denver Post * Yee hah, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hit Wyoming - LA Times * Party leaders expect big caucus crowds today - Jackson Hole Star Tribune * Clinton rallies support in Cheyenne, Obama stumps in Casper - Associated Press * Clinton and Obama on Radio in Wyoming - New York Times * Nation's eyes turn to Wyo - Jackson Hole Star Tribune
Our campaign projections show Obama winning the total delegates out of Texas by 5-7 delegates. The Statesman suggest a 3 delegate victory for Obama. Regardless of the margin (we may not know until the county conventions), Obama clearly won Texas.
We strategically focused our resources on building a massive grassroots operation that would win the caucuses overwhelmingly, and our gamble apparently has paid off. The current projections show us winning the caucuses 55%-45%.
Hopefully other media outlets will finally start reporting what really happened in Texas.
With all the back-and-forth over the delegates gained by Obama and Clinton in yesterday's Texas primary, this word is just in from state Democratic officials.
Obama could pick up a net gain of three delegates, after all the dust settles.
Here's how Dem officials say that's possible:
Clinton won the popular vote, and could pick up as many as four delegates from that.
Obama appears to be winning the caucus voting on delegates, and could pick up as many as seven delegates there.
If that holds true, Obama would end up with three more Texas delegates than Clinton.
Now the Clinton campaign is whining to the media and acting like sore losers. Even though Clinton operatives designed the original caucus rules and the Clintons have been campaigning in Texas since 1972, they're now claiming the caucus rules are "unfair". This is just further proof the Clinton machine will say/do whatever it takes to win, regardless of the rules.
Regardless of whether you supported Clinton or Obama, you gotta be happy that Texas Democrats are voting in record numbers in 2008. With some hard work, we can shock the world and turn Texas blue in November.
With 99% of the votes in, it looks as though the number of votes in the Texas Democratic primary will match-or slightly exceed-John Kerry's Texas vote total for the 2004 general election.
Kerry received 2,832,704 votes in Texas in (November) 2004. Clinton and Obama are at 2,807,811 between them so far (for the primary), splitting the counted vote 51% to 48%.
Hillary Clinton received more votes than all Republican candidates combined in Texas last night, Barack Obama received nearly as many. Clinton doubled the vote total of Republican nominee John McCain, Obama nearly did as well.
Remember, this is in Texas, home of George W. Bush, a state where we haven't won a Senate race since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, or a Governor's race since Ann Richards in 1990, where no Democrat has won the state's electoral votes since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Out of all the phenomenal turnout-related numbers we've seen thus far, these have shocked me the most. Texas is the largest Republican stronghold in the country, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are generating unheard-of levels of excitement there.
This is borne out not by anecdotal evidence, nor by polling numbers, but actual votes cast by actual people.
Frankly, I wouldn't put money on it (unless I got good odds), but I'm starting to think that Texas' 34 electoral votes might be in play in 2008.
At any rate, the GOP has got to be nervous as hell.
We may not know the final outcome of today's voting until morning, but the results so far make one thing clear.
When the dust settles from today's contests, we will maintain our substantial lead in delegates. And thanks to millions of people standing for change, we will keep adding delegates and capture the Democratic nomination.
We knew from the day we began this journey that the road would be long. And we knew what we were up against.
We knew that the closer we got to the change we seek, the more we'd see of the politics we're trying to end -- the attacks and distortions that try to distract us from the issues that matter to people's lives, the stunts and the tactics that ask us to fear instead of hope.
But this time -- this year -- it will not work. The challenges are too great. The stakes are too high.
Americans need real change.
In the coming weeks, we will begin a great debate about the future of this country with a man who has served it bravely and loves it dearly. And we will offer two very different visions of the America we see in the twenty-first century.
John McCain has already dismissed our call for change as eloquent but empty.
But he should know that it's a call that did not begin with my words. It's the resounding call from every corner of this country, from first-time voters and lifelong cynics, from Democrats and Republicans alike.
And together you and I are going to grow this movement to deliver that change in November.
These trends suggest that Texas may not be the safe "firewall" that the Clinton campaign had suggested. Our grassroots efforts will keep this election much closer than anyboyd thought possible just a few months ago.
EXIT POLL: 'Change' Tops 'Experience"... Again ABC News
The theme of change continues to resonate in Ohio and Texas, but not by as wide a margin as in most previous primaries. The ability to "bring needed change" beats "experience" as the most important quality in a candidate by about a 20-point margin in Ohio and by about 15 points in Texas, according to preliminary exit poll results.
The mainstream media has joined the Clinton campaign over the last 72 hours in bashing Obama, but we're still confident that, despite these negative attacks, we'll still be competitve in today's primaries.
Because Obama won landslide victories across the country in February, he has a nearly insurmountable pledged-delegate lead. Therefore, Clinton would need landslide victories today to close the delegate gap. Even though Texas is Clinton's "firewall", we're confident that our grassroots operation will prevent Clinton from taking the delegate lead.
Hillary's Math Problem Forget tonight. She could win 16 straight and still lose.
Newsweek
Hillary Clinton may be poised for a big night tonight, with wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Clinton aides say this will be the beginning of her comeback against Barack Obama. There's only one problem with this analysis: they can't count.
I'm no good at math either, but with the help of Slate's Delegate Calculator I've scoped out the rest of the primaries, and even if you assume huge Hillary wins from here on out, the numbers don't look good for Clinton.
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So no matter how you cut it, Obama will almost certainly end the primaries with a pledged-delegate lead, courtesy of all those landslides in February. Hillary would then have to convince the uncommitted superdelegates to reverse the will of the people. Even coming off a big Hillary winning streak, few if any superdelegates will be inclined to do so. For politicians to upend what the voters have decided might be a tad, well, suicidal.
For all of those who have been trashing me for saying this thing is over, please feel free to do your own math. Give Hillary 75 percent in Kentucky and Indiana. Give her a blowout in Oregon. You will still have a hard time getting her through the process with a pledged-delegate lead.
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