“OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS Tuesday April 22,2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO “OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS

Tuesday April 22,2008


Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., chats with his wife
Michelle Obama, left, at a rally at University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh,
Monday, April 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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. NC Debate Officially Cancelled. Here's why:

Good, as a North Carolinian, I don't feel that another debate will change anything. We've seen the 20+ debates already. The last debate was a sham and a travesty, why reward that? Another debate would just give Clinton pretext for staying in the race. Its time to quit giving her campaign any more oxygen.

N.C. Debate Officially Canceled

By Brian Stelter April 21, 2008

Will Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton debate again? Maybe — but not on April 27.

The North Carolina Democratic Party said Monday that the forum in that state, scheduled for next Sunday night, had been canceled. Mr. Obama had not committed to the date. The cancellation comes as a disappointment for CBS, which had offered the candidates prime air time after the newsmagazine “60 Minutes” for the debate. Katie Couric, the anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” would have moderated the debate.

The cancellation was because of political considerations by both candidates, said Paul Friedman, a senior vice president at CBS News.
Mr. Obama showed interest in an April 19 debate in North Carolina, which would have presented viewers with a second debate before the Pennsylvania primary. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign expressed concern that April 19 was the first day of Passover, and the organizers went back to the drawing board to propose alternative dates. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign subsequently agreed to the April 27 date, but Mr. Obama’s did not.

...
Asked whether 21 Democratic debates over the past year were enough, Mr. Friedman asked: “Was 20 enough? Apparently not, because the ratings for the 21st were enormous.”

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign issued a statement saying: “It is unfortunate that Senator Obama has chosen to brush off the people of North Carolina by flatly refusing to debate. But we are willing to move forward with another time and location for the debate so that he has no excuse for not participating.”

An Obama campaign spokesman, Bill Burton, replied: “It’s unfortunate that the Clinton campaign decided to play politics with this — especially considering that Senator Obama agreed to a North Carolina debate long before Senator Clinton did, and their campaign took three weeks to consider and ultimately reject that proposal.”
...
...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. Rendell Disses The Next Generation

Rendell Disses The Next Generation

Andrew Sullivan. 21 Apr 2008 05:27 pm

How he condescends.

Why is it okay to talk about the next generation as "Kool-Aid" drinkers, deluded fools, idiots, suckers ... but fatal to say anything actually sympathetic about the struggling white working classes? The contempt the Clinton campaign has for Obama voters is remarkable.

And offensive:

watch the video here

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. DU'ers, please post links, pictures, news here

we welcome your posts, and it makes things more interesting.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. Clinton on Iran Attack: 'Obliterate Them'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3277601

[Rosa Luxemburg]

34. This is shocking

:mad:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. Does Hillary propose killing every man, woman and child in Iran?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5612246&mesg_id=5612246

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Obama: "We already have a President who plays the politics of fear, and we don't need another."

57 recs • by WesDem
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5603279

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. Map of US showing states and delegates won so far

Map of US showing states and delegates won so far by Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama.

Barack Obama's camp accused Hillary Clinton Monday of trying to scare voters on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, as she rocked their White House race with a dark campaign ad featuring Osama bin Laden.
(AFP)

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. Media silent on Clinton under pressure: Inappropriate laughing and strange comments.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5610671&mesg_id=5610671

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. The Field: The Pennsylvania Primary: A Clinton Win, but Only +4 Delegates

The Pennsylvania Primary: A Clinton Win, but Only +4 Delegates
By Al Giordano



…more at the link http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=1095

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. A craven exploitation of 9/11

HIllary 911???

A craven exploitation of 9/11

Mon Apr 21

During last week's debate, George Stephanopolous asked his now-famous question tying Barack Obama to remarks made by William Ayers, a supposedly unrepentant terrorist. Those remarks, as Stephanopolous noted, were published in the New York Times on 9/11.

After Obama made the important point that William Ayers was not a confidant and that it was ridiculous to impute the views of people he knows to himself, Hillary Clinton went on the attack. Here's what she said:

I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.

And if I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11 and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more.

Notice the references to 9/11? How dare Mr. Ayers have said such horrible things after 9/11?

Except his remarks were actually made well before 9/11. That fact that they were published on 9/11 (really, 9/10, when the first editions are printed) was a purely coincidental.

By invoking 9/11, Hillary Clinton aimed to associate 9/11 with her guilt-by-association attack on Barack Obama. She was, in short, exploiting a national tragedy for her own political benefit.

....Making her cynical attack all the more craven, following the 9/11 attack Ayers himself expressed tremendous sorrow for those hurt and killed in the attacks -- in the pages of the New York Times...

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. Clinton Supporters: "She needs a miracle"

Clinton Supporters: "She needs a miracle"

Written By Bitter Jon - Posted 04/21/08

``I am a big believer that she needs either one, the popular or the delegate count,'' in order to make a case for why she should be the nominee, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a Clinton backer, said in an interview.

``Popular vote matters,'' says Steve Grossman, a marketing executive and one of Clinton's top fundraisers. ``If there is an opportunity for her to pick up enough popular votes, that is a powerful calling card to the superdelegates to say the will of the people is a split decision.''

``The analogy I would put out there is she has to have a near-perfect game in baseball,'' says Borick. ``If she squeaks out a couple-point win, the math goes from bad to awful.''

Clinton will be looking to make the ``momentum argument'' if she can pull off victories in most of the remaining primaries -- arguing that would prove that hers is the campaign that is now ``clicking on all cylinders.'' That argument, he adds, is ``a hard one to make if you don't have the popular vote and you don't have the delegate count.''

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. Second time today, Hillary implied that she'd nuke Iran - now she's backing off

Second time today, Hillary implied that she'd nuke Iran - now she's backing off

by John Aravosis (DC) • 4/21/2008

Nice. So in the space of 12 hours, Hillary has twice suggested that she'd nuke Iran, but now her staff is saying that she didn't mean to imply that she would. Maybe she's just 60 years old and tired, like her husband said she was when she repeatedly lied about Bosnia for four months. So long as foreign policy crises only happen when Hillary is well rested, and feeling honest, we should be fine.

I've thought some more about this. And jokes aside, this is serious. Hillary Clinton misspoke today, twice, when detailing the possible use ofUS nuclear weapons in the Middle East as it concerns Iran and the defense of Israel. This is an incredibly dangerous topic. And she made a mess of it, repeatedly, to the point where her staff had to get involved to try to make amends, so that now our enemies and our allies have no idea what Hillary's position is on war with Iran, the defense of Israel, and the possible use of US nuclear weapons. Even more disturbing is the possibility that Hillary made these comments, this apparent flip-flop on US nuclear policy, in order to curry favor with voters in Pennsylvania on the eve of that state's primary. (I've also heard speculation that Hillary's new nuclear policy is really about forcing Obama into some kind of bind, or something.) This isn't Bosnia any more, where you can send the First Lady in with a child, a singer and a comedian to read a poem. It's a possible nuclear war scenario, and Hillary, in an effort to act all tough, win a few votes, and take a jab at Obama, played politics with our national security and sent the wrong message to the world, the wrong message to our enemies. It's 3am, folks, and the phone just rang. And Hillary got it wrong.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. Clinton Vendors Have Something to be Bitter About

Clinton Vendors Have Something to be Bitter About

By Bitter Jon - Posted 04/21/08

With one day to go before Pennsylvania it appears the Clinton campaign is not only clinging to borrowed time, but borrowed money as well. The Clinton campaign has cornered itself with debt trying to keep up with the well funded and liquid Obama campaign. The buzz this morning is that Obama has been filling his coffers at a rate of 5 to 1, Clinton has not even been able to break even.

...Nearly half of Clinton's debt in March is money owed to the firm of her demoted former chief strategist, Mark Penn. The report shows that the campaign owes $4.6 million to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates. The campaign already has paid the firm $14 million, including $3 million in March for polling and direct mail.

There are other accusations circulating that staffers have been living high on the hog, maxing out expense accounts with top of the line accommodations and dining.

...more at the link

[grantcart]

14. Only front page worth showing

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. Elizabeth Edwards Responds To McCain’s “Cheap Shot”

Elizabeth Edwards Responds To McCain’s “Cheap Shot”

By: Nicole Belle



Think Progress:

John McCain accused me of taking a “cheap shot” on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday for noting that people with preexisting conditions, such as he and I have, would not be able to get health care under his plan –- and that he perhaps was not as sensitive to this problem as he should be since he has been in government health care his whole life.

Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity. That is true. But it has nothing to do with my point — which is that the problem with Sen. McCain’s health care plan is not how it affects us –- but how it affects the tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions who, unlike Sen. McCain and myself, do not have the resources to pay for quality health care.

That is not a cheap shot, it is a potentially life and death question for tens of million of Americans. And it is a question Sen. McCain must address.

McCain’s health care plan is centered around the idea that we’d be better off if more Americans bought health coverage on their own, rather than receiving it through a job or government program. But maybe since he has never purchased insurance in the individual market, he does not know the challenge it presents for Americans with preexisting conditions.

Read on…

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

16. McInsane: "I wanted them to think me still an honest man"

. (((( The RBC Update: "I wanted them to think me still an honest man" ))))

2008.04.20 16:37:35


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

... but he's not. Anna Quindlen has details on the sad moral
wreckage that is John McCain.

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

http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/04/i_wanted_them_to_think_me_still_an_honest_man.php

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. John McCain refuses to support Jim Webb's new GI Bill.

The RBC Update: "Enhanced educational opportunities could negatively affect
retention rates"

2008.04.20 17:02:52


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

John McCain refuses to support Jim Webb's new GI Bill.

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

http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/04/enhanced_educational_opportunities_could_negatively_affect_retention_rates.php

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. Why this Republican is Voting FOR Obama

Updated: Why this Republican is Voting FOR Obama

by recoveringrepub at DKOS Mon Apr 21, 2008

Why this republican is Voting FOR Obama

Let me first put my bona fides to the test, lest someone think I'm not serious about what I am about to say. I am an over 40 white male from Georgia who clings to guns and religion and served as {local chair} the College Republicans, even supporting Jack Kemp in '88. I successfully ran for office as city councilman in my small rural town. I've voted republican in every election since '84. I've contributed to the Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth and I am a Life member of the NRA (the horror). And I now call Enough is Enough to my party. What is my rationale? As they say - do the jump ...

• recoveringrepub's diary :: ::
•
Over the last few presidential election cycles I've grown weary of the constant republican push to vote AGAINST the lesser of two evils. I much prefer to vote FOR a cause or a person.
I want to make clear that my reason to renounce and reject republican tactics is it serves no purpose but to foment divisiveness. Race baiting, jingoistic attitudes and an absolute disdain for constitutional protections has left me scratching my head and becoming more and more pissed off!

What has moved me to Senator Obama? Not just one thing - but the entire package. Let me explain:

1. Republican jingoism is one major issue. Over the last several years as illegal immigration has reached a feverish crescendo in policy circles, republicans have gleefully pursued all people of dark melanin as a threat to U.S. security. Hogwash, I say! Republicans wish to round up not specific people, but an entire ethnic population while federalizing local law enforcement to do it.
…But my enmity for the republican party doesn't stop there:
2. President Bush's unconstitutional power grab and violation of citizen rights to privacy is a travesty. He ignores the constitutional safeguards that our founders put in place just for exigencies this nation faces now.
….3. Hypocritical moralizing decorated as family values. My party is obsessed with regulating personal proclivities, a woman's womb and prayer in schools.

…….Obama is a symbol to the world that the US is a good and decent place to live and work, to raise a family and to know that all are accepted into our society. Georgia has voted and I cast my lot with the Senator from Illinois. He deserves my vote in the fall for tackling the tough issues no one else wishes to touch. I embrace change and look forward to an Obama administration. (I have other reasons I'm moving to progressive politics, but I've already intruded on enough of the readers time)

… more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. How Hillary's ongoing temper tantrum is hurting the DNC's effort to go after McCain

How Hillary's ongoing temper tantrum is hurting the DNC's effort to go after McCain

by John Aravosis (DC) • 4/21/2008

From Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post:

Unlike the House and Senate campaign committees, the DNC trails the Republican National Committee in fundraising. At the end of March, the DNC had $5.3 million on hand compared to $31 million in the bank for the RNC.

With such a meager cash on hand total, it's hard to imagine the DNC keeping up a sustained paid advertising campaign for very long.

What that means -- barring a quicker-than-expected resolution to the ongoing Clinton-Obama scrap -- is that an outside organization must step into the void.

...The dearth of money coming into the DNC and the lack of real dollars being spent on outside groups' attempts to define McCain present a serious problem for Democrats if the race between Obama and Clinton goes all the way to June 3 or beyond.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. New Clinton Ad features Osama Bin Laden

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=122058&mesg_id=122058

[grantcart]

21. Gov. Jon Corzine Sen. Clinton needs a big win in Pennsylvania or its over

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5613475

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

22. Just Another Woman Who Doesn't Know Her Place

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5613478&mesg_id=5613478

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

23. what - no recommends? why not?

just wondering.....

:shrug:

[jordi_fanclub]

27. Ok, ok... K&R&post

How to SPOT a worldwide LEADER



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5600135

[ClayZ]

24. K and R .... THANK YOU!

[dana_b]

25. thanks again!!! n/t

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. Clinton Needs Record Margins, Turnout to Catch Obama

Clinton Needs Record Margins, Turnout to Catch Obama

By Catherine Dodge and Kristin Jensen

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- To overtake Barack Obama in the nationwide popular vote, Hillary Clinton needs a bigger win in tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary than she has had in any major contest so far. And that's just for starters.

After more than 40 Democratic primaries and caucuses, Obama, the Illinois senator, leads Clinton by more than 800,000 votes. Even if the New York senator wins by more than 20 percentage points tomorrow -- a landslide few experts expect -- she would still have a hard time catching him.

Clinton needs ``blowout numbers,'' says Peter Fenn, a Democratic consultant who isn't affiliated with either campaign. ``The wheels would have to come off the Obama bus, and the engine would have to blow.''

....more http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2IYkr2D8ZGk

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

28. Obama's Touch of Class

Obama's Touch of Class

By THOMAS FRANK
April 21, 2008; Page A17

Allow me to introduce myself. According to the general clucking of the national punditry, my 2004 book – "What's the Matter With Kansas?" – is supposed to have persuaded Barack Obama to describe the yeomanry of Pennsylvania as "bitter" people who "cling to guns or religion or . . . anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Mr. Obama's offense is so grave that the custodians of our national consensus have elevated it to gatehood: "Bittergate."

...That as they return again to the culture war, what the soldiers on all sides are doing is talking about class without actually addressing the economic basis of the subject....

But suppose we read on, and we find the news item about the hedge fund managers who made $2 billion and $3 billion last year, or the story about the vaporizing of our home equity. Suppose we become a little . . . bitter about this. What do our pundits and politicians tell us then?

That there is no place for such sentiment in the Party of the People. That "bitterness" is an ugly and inadmissible emotion. That "divisiveness" is a thing to be shunned at all costs.

...Ah, but Hillary Clinton: Here's a woman who drinks shots of Crown Royal, a luxury brand that at least one confused pundit believes to be another name for Old Prole Rotgut Rye. And when the former first lady talks about her marksmanship as a youth, who cares about the cool hundred million she and her husband have mysteriously piled up since he left office? Or her years of loyal service to Sam Walton, that crusher of small towns and enemy of workers' organizations? And who really cares about Sam Walton's own sins, when these are our standards? Didn't he have a funky Southern accent of some kind? Surely such a mellifluous drawl cancels any possibility of elitism.

...If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself.

....more at the link

[Tatiana]

55. Wow I missed this article. Thanks for posting. n/t

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

29. In Clinton vs. Obama, Age Is One of the Greatest Predictors

In Clinton vs. Obama, Age Is One of the Greatest Predictors

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE Published: April 22, 2008

Germaine Donahue, 64, at right holding a program for a coming Democratic committee, is a Clinton supporter and the Democratic vice chairman in Sullivan County, Pa. “If I was in my 20s, maybe I’d support Obama,” Mrs. Donahue said. More Photos >

Jay Leno recently made fun of a commercial for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in which she referred to playing pinochle as a child at her grandfather’s lake house in Pennsylvania.

“Pinochle?” Mr. Leno said quizzically to his late-night audience. “Well, that’ll help with the young voters, huh? I mean, come on. What kids aren’t playing pinochle now?”

...In a campaign where demographics seem to be destiny, one of the most striking factors is the segregation of voters by age. In state after state, older voters have formed a core constituency for Mrs. Clinton, who is 60, while younger voters have coalesced around Mr. Obama, who is 46. Age has been one of the most consistent indicators of how someone might vote — more than sex, more than income, more than education. Only race is a stronger predictor of voting than age, and then only if a voter is black, not if he or she is white.

...Mr. De Jong, the demographer, said the state was older than most others because it had been losing a larger percentage of its young people for a longer time, largely because they were looking for jobs. That not only reduced the number of young people, it also lowered the birth rate.

....more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

30. Robert Reich is concerned about Hillary's Health Plan (me too)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5574890

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

31. Hillary's campaign is officially broke! (Details inside)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5598361&mesg_id=5598361

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. In Clinton’s Words, Bush Echoes

In Clinton’s Words, Bush Echoes

Oliver Willis April 21, 2008

I’m not saying that we would sit on our hands if Iran attacked Israel, but its amazing how easily Sen. Clinton accepts the premise that Iran is going to launch a nuclear attack on Israel. A few months ago she wouldn’t answer hypotheticals, now she’s launched nuclear war on Iran over a hypothetical.

Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on Good Morning America Tuesday, ABC News’ Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.

“I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president we will attack Iran,” Clinton said. “In the next ten years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

Of course, when Sen. Clinton was faced with the most important foreign policy decision of her life she chose incorrectly.

...more at the link

[Coexist]

33. ** Obama lead back up in Rasmussen today O 49 (+2) C 41 (-2) **

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_democratic_presidential_primary_tracking_polling_history

[Rosa Luxemburg]

35. GOOD!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

36. Hillary just OFFENDED the hell out of me on the TODAY SHOW re: discrimination against women

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5615495&mesg_id=5615495

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

37. That Darn Obama Is So Obsessed With… Doing What He’s Supposed To?

That Darn Obama Is So Obsessed With… Doing What He’s Supposed To?

Apr 21 Oliver Willis

There’s a pretty silly blog entry by Noam Scheiber of The New Republic asking if Sen. Obama is too obsessed with winning delegates as opposed to racking up popular vote totals and the like. But it is the Clinton campaign who, depending on the day of the week and the hour of the day, has tried (badly) to come up with alternative metrics for winning the party’s nomination.

Since time immemorial it has been about delegates. Win the delegates, win the nomination. That was the Obama plan from the get-go and they’ve executed it superbly. Sen. Clinton, on the other hand, has sought to disqualify caucuses, the votes of non-swing states, the votes of red states, as well as the votes of smaller states in order to spin her losing campaign into a winning one. They’ve also been pushing the popular vote line as well as the electoral vote whopper. Look, perhaps if they get to change the party rules those things will be modified and straightened out.

But here, in the 21st century, in the year 2008, the only number that truly matters is how many delegates you’ve won.

As we used to say when I was younger (aka five minutes ago): Scoreboard.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

38. PA: Dem voter surge could cut Clinton margin

Dem voter surge could cut Clinton margin

By JEANNE CUMMINGS | 4/21/08

An historic spike in Democratic voter registrations in Pennsylvania could help Barack Obama cut into Hillary Clinton’s vote in Tuesday’s primary, robbing her of the big victory margin she needs to justify continuing the primary fight.

The changing party demographics also are contributing to an overall bluing of the Keystone State that could dim Republican John McCain’s hopes of competing there in the fall.

A county-by-county analysis by Politico suggests that the hard-fought primary between Obama and Clinton has accelerated an ongoing partisan shift in Pennsylvania that could soon move it out of the battleground presidential states and ripple across congressional races this fall, as well.

...For instance, about 143,400 Democratic newcomers – including newly registered and party switchers — are in Philadelphia and its suburbs. Those numbers could help Obama rack up big margins in what is considered his strongest turf.

About 28,400 of them are in or around Pittsburgh, an urban area Clinton needs to counter Obama’s Philly support. Another 30,000 of them hail from the generally smaller, conservative counties in the state’s northwest and southwest, a region that Clinton is hoping to draw Reagan Democrats back to the party and to her cause.

....more at the link

[Coexist]

39. LA Times: Obama has new wave of SD to roll out after today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-pennsylvania22apr22,1,3852095.story

Obama strategists said Monday that they expected to announce a series of additional endorsements by uncommitted superdelegates shortly after Pennsylvania votes. A strong showing by Obama in Pennsylvania would give superdelegates more comfort in coming forward, but a bad loss might send them back to the assessment stage.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

40. Clinton campaign debt invites legal trouble

Clinton Campaign Facing Deepening Debt to Advisers

By Matthew Mosk Washington Post Tuesday, April 22, 2008; Page A06

The financial gap between Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton has grown increasingly pronounced during the presidential primary season, and the Clinton campaign is now shouldering sizable debts to several key consultants and advisers, campaign records show

Clinton entered April with about $9.3 million in cash on hand, but she also carried about $10.3 million in debt. In contrast, Obama had $42.5 million available to spend at the start of April and reported $663,000 in unpaid bills.

Clinton strategists confirmed yesterday that the disparity allowed Obama to overwhelm her with television ads in Pennsylvania, which will hold its primary today.

...While debt owed to the firm run by the campaign's recently deposed top strategist, Mark Penn, began to accumulate a year ago, with $277,147 reported last April, his tab grew to $4.6 million by the end of March. Adviser Mandy Grunwald's consulting firm began extending services to Clinton's campaign more than a year ago, and is now owed $528,480, the report shows. The campaign owes MSHC Partners, a mail and microtargeting firm, nearly $1 million. And for three months the campaign owed $240,000 to senior adviser Harold Ickes's database firm, Catalist.

Campaign finance experts said yesterday that large extended debts owed to professionals could create legal trouble for the campaign if they remain unaddressed.

..."Anybody who extends credit to a campaign runs the risk of either losing money or violating the law," said Jan Baran, a Republican election lawyer who defended a mail house for not collecting debt from a campaign

...more at the link

[Hope And Change]

41. Obama Statement on Equal Pay Day

Obama Statement on Equal Pay Day


By Sam Graham-Felsen - Apr 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am EDT

Chicago, IL -- Senator Obama today released the following statement on Equal Pay Day.

"Equal Pay Day is about the fundamental American principle that if you work hard and do a good job, you should be rewarded for your success, regardless of what you look like, where you come from, or what gender you are. And yet, many women today are still earning less than men for the same work – making it harder for single mothers to climb out of poverty, and for elderly women to retire with security.

"This pay gap is an ugly reflection of the discrimination that still exists in the workplace. And as the son of a single mother and the father of two young daughters, I believe we have a responsibility to close it. That’s why I’ve fought to ensure equal pay for equivalent work in Illinois and in the U.S. Senate, and proposed increasing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s funding and staffing, and making sure it is led by appointees with a strong commitment to ending discrimination. And that’s why tomorrow, I will vote for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to overturn an unfair Supreme Court decision and ensure that workers can seek a remedy for any paycheck that reflects pay discrimination, no matter when they received it.

"In the end, while closing the pay gap is essential, it is not sufficient to make sure that women and girls have an equal shot at the American dream. We need to update the social contract to reflect the realities that working women face each day by providing seven paid sick days each year, helping all fifty states adopt paid leave for their workers, doubling federal funding for quality after-school programs, and encouraging flexible work schedules to help parents balance work and family.

"On this Equal Pay Day, let’s remember that closing the pay gap is about more than just passing a law or implementing a policy. It’s about living up to our founding promise of equality for all."

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGCBkD">Link

[Hope And Change]

42. Pennsylvania Voters: Know Your Rights

Pennsylvania Voters: Know Your Rights


By Christopher Hass - Apr 22nd, 2008 at 11:48 am EDT

Voters across the state of Pennsylvania are heading to the polls right now, and we've already heard reports of high turnout in many areas. If you're in Pennsylvania, be sure that you know your rights:

Poll hours: The polls shall remain open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on primary day, April 22nd. Voters who are in line to vote at 8:00 p.m. shall be permitted to vote.

Type of ID Required: Only voters voting in an election district for the first time must show ID. Returning voters do not need to show any ID at all. ANY of the following is acceptable: A Photo ID (does not need to have an address): Pennsylvania driver's license; ID issued by any PA agency; ID issued by the U.S. Government; U.S. passport; U.S. Armed Forces ID; Student ID; Employee ID; OR a Non-Photo ID (needs an address that matches registration): Any non-photo ID issued by Pennsylvania (such as a voter ID); Non-photo ID issued by the U.S. government; firearm permit; current utility bill; current bank statement; current paycheck; government check.

Voters who have moved but who have not updated their registration can vote a regular ballot in their old precinct – i.e. the precinct where they are registered - after updating their registration with their new address.

Election Court: Every county holds Election Court on Election Day. Voters can go to this court to ask for relief if they have difficulty voting in their polling places.

If you encounter any problems at the polls, call 866-675-2008 and press 4 to speak with someone from our voter hotline, or you can report them via our http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/vpcreport">online Voter Protection form.

And if you've already cast your ballot today, let us know what it looks like on the ground in the comments below . . .

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGCBkl">Link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

43. Polygraph Buster - Sometimes Hillary Clinton just can't help herself.

Clinton in the Wilderness

By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, April 22, 2008; Page A19

It was nice of Hillary Clinton to issue, as all the candidates did, a statement about Passover, the Jewish holiday of the season. Clinton said she was "deeply moved" by its message of freedom and human dignity, but she should have plowed on past Exodus and into Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is there that she can find a lesson for herself -- how Moses, after all he had done, was not allowed to step foot in "the good land that is beyond the Jordan." For Moses, that was Israel. For Clinton, it's the White House.

The story of Moses is one of the most poignant in the Bible. It shows God at his most adamant and petulant, refusing to forgive Moses for his own anger and vanity when he disobeyed the Almighty. So at the age of 120, after 40 years in the wilderness, after the Red Sea and all of that, Moses died before reaching his goal -- and it was, never mind the literal truth, a lesson to us all. Even for a Moses, some actions are irrevocable.

....But she has gone too far -- too much disturbing stuff, some of it shocking in its coarseness. For instance, she added the coy "as far as I know" to her "60 Minutes" statement that Obama is not a Muslim. More important, she offered a weak and disingenuous defense of her Senate vote in support of going to war in Iraq. But more recently came her stunning Moses Moment, that polygraph buster about being under sniper fire in Bosnia. It was a defining time in her campaign, not because she exaggerated or lied -- call it what you want -- but because the statement was hurled into a gale of contrary evidence, including eyewitnesses and video: a serene welcoming ceremony, complete with the requisite young girl bestowing the requisite gift. No snipers. No avoiding the obvious, either: Sometimes Hillary Clinton just can't help herself.

The story was nuts -- and Clinton herself has been at a loss to explain it. But for many voters, it encapsulated their suspicion, their anxiety, their hesitation about Clinton: She lies. The consequences for her were ruinous. In a Post-ABC News poll, only 39 percent of voters said they consider Clinton honest and trustworthy. This is a damning indictment.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

44. Judgment Day looms for Hillary Clinton the wrecker

Judgment Day looms for Hillary Clinton the wrecker

Andrew Sullivan April 20, 2008

Even after all the hype, this Tuesday’s vote in Pennsylvania will be a watershed primary election. This isn’t because it could determine whether Hillary Clinton’s campaign continues on its brutal, nihilistic path towards the destruction of the most promising figure in the Democratic party since Kennedy.

It isn’t because it’s been an age since the last primary vote and every nasty toxin in American culture has been drawn to the surface by the Clinton poultice. It isn’t even because Pennsylvania is an indisputably important and large state that any Democrat needs to win in November.

It is because the Clintons have turned Pennsylvania into a microcosm of what they think the general election will be in November. And the Clintons are running as the Rove Republicans. If they fail to destroy Barack Obama as effectively as Karl Rove – Bush’s master of the dark arts – destroyed Al Gore and John Kerry in 2000 and 2004, with tactics just as brutal but even more personal, then they will have driven American politics to a critical point. They will have shown that the paradigm that has reigned in US politics for at least two decades has been shattered.

....Not since the Clintons ran radio ads in 1996, bragging that they had defended American values from homosexuals, had the adoption of pure Republican tactics been so obvious. And this time, it was against a Democrat.

...However, if Obama keeps her lead to single digits, if he goes on to win in North Carolina and Indiana, if the momentum of the race does not change, something else will be shown.

It will show that the crisis America is in now has made the kind of tactics of the past two decades moot. It will show that the issues of the Iraq occupation, the teetering economy, the unsustainable debt, the collapsing dollar, the constitutional disarray and the moral collapse of the torture programme are now more salient than cultural identity. It will show that the voters actually want to debate something more than lapel pins and who is or is not a secret Muslim or patriot. It will show we are in a new era.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

45. Andrea Mitchell asking tough questions about Clinton campaign

I am shocked out of my head.

MSNBC right now at 1:14 Eastern.

I figured she'd be in the tank for Clinton since Hillary complimented
Andrea's husband.

AM asked about finances, delegates, etc, real tough non bullshit questions.

Oh, its over.

Maybe there will be some more about it in transcripts.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

47. AM back on, asking about Bill's claim race card against HIM

what an ass Bill Clinton is, he's just pissing off good DEMS.

Its silly for Bill to cry racism and belittles people who are
true victims of racism.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

46. The day before PA Clinton supporters don't show up - Is there Clinton fatigue in PA

Newspaper front pages indicate Clinton doesn't draw a crowd

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5619316&mesg_id=5619316

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

48. Voting Problems Already Reported in PA: Here We Go Again

This is posted over at the Election Reform Forum, please see.
There is a shortage of working machines in the Philly area, in the
predominently African American precincts:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=500959&mesg_id=500959

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

49. South Philly: Machines malfunctioning

Machines malfunctioning

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Sam Wood reports:

Readers and Inquirer reporters attempting to cast ballots this morning found long lines across the region created by broken machines.

One of two machines was down at a busy Delaware County polling site. About 50 people already had voted by 9:15 a.m. at the Temple Israel on Spruce and Bywood Avenue in Upper Darby, which is heavily populated by immigrant and first time voters. Many of those freshly-minted voters had difficulties using the one machine that still functioned. "Hell of a day for one of the machines to be down," said one poll worker.

In South Philadelphia, both voting machines were broken at 4th and Ritner, smack dab in the middle of a John Dougherty strong hold. "The dirty tricks have begun," said Frank Keel, spokesman for the Dougherty campaign, who sees a conspiracy. "Democratic State Rep. candidate Christian DiCicco is the poll watcher," Keel said. "Coincidence? We don't think so."

One reader wrote: I got to my polling place before 7 a.m.; 2nd ward, 27th division: as the polls were opening, one of two machines for my division was malfunctioning: electrical problem. Hmmmm....isn't Dougherty an electrician?

In the city's Spring Garden section, home to State Sen. Vincent Fumo, both machines were down at St. Andrews Lithuananian Church at 19th and Wallace. Voters grumbled when they learned their provisional ballots would not be counted tonight.

[grantcart]

51. On MSNBC when they called and talked to an election supervisor

he was literally shouting at her that there were no problems


Something is happening and something has touched a nerve.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

50. Philly Voting Trouble? machines down in African American precincts

Philly Voting Trouble?

April 22, 2008

Barack Obama's campaign is hearing that there are problems with voting machines in Philly --
that machines are breaking down, and only one or two machines are working in some predominantly African-American precincts,
reports NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

52. Lehigh County: 3 voting machines malfunctioned

Above-average voter turnout reported in Lehigh County

The Morning Call April 22, 2008

...When judge of elections Craig Hynes swung open the doors, 15 people rushed in, including some that had been their since 6:40 a.m.

"It's normally a busy poll, but this already feels like a general ," Hynes said. "This is going to be a long day."

Moments later he realized how long it could be when one of his three voting machines malfunctioned. After four people had voted, he realized that it had only registered one voter. He had to reset machine.

"We lost three voters and there's no getting them back," explained Hynes, "and at this point we don't even know who they were."

After monitoring it, it functioned properly.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

53. Clinton Supporters: Your candidate just said she's prepared to murder millions of innocent people

Please give this a kick and a recommend if you want to stop Hillary
from giving Bush the GO signal

The Rude Pundit: To Hillary Clinton Supporters ...
Your Candidate Just Said She's Prepared to Murder Millions of Innocent People
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5617427

[Hope And Change]

54. Kick!

:kick:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

56. Exit Polls: Pennsylvania Dems think Obama will win

Exit Polls: Pennsylvania Dems think Obama will win
April 22, 2008

Posted: 06:10 PM ET

Obama addresses the crowd at the University of Pittsburgh.
(CNN) – Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination, a majority of Pennsylvania voters believe.

According to the exit polls, 54 percent of primary voters said Obama will be the party's nominee while 43 percent said Clinton will win.

In what could be a troubling sign, only 38 percent of voters said they'd be satisfied if either candidate was the nominee. Meanwhile 32 percent said they'd be satisfied only if Clinton wins, while 25 percent said they'd be satisfied only if Obama wins.

For the time being at least, the party is sharply divided between these two candidates.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/22/exit-polls-pennsylvania-dems-think-obama-will-win/

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

57. 29 North Carolina Legislators Endorse Barack Obama

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5622465

[Kurovski]

58. K&R. (nt)