I've changed my mind -- I want this thing to go on till June 3

[rhombus]

Yes, it's counterintuitive. But the prolonged Dem nomination process is indeed laying the foundation for increased Democratic participation in the general election. Activists on the Clinton and Obama sides are now hitting the streets in Indiana and North Carolina. This is essentially what we want with Dean's 50-state strategy -- an energized base. The GOP would kill to have something like this on their side particularly when you have an uninspiring McCain.

The campaign is going on to Montana and Puerto Rico.

Take a look at the PA polls now. Obama and Clinton are beating McCain as a result of this contest.
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/pennsylvania/election_2008_pennsylvania_presidential_election

[EmilyAnne]

1. Its also causing a lot of fatigue, both to voters and the activists who have been working so hard.

I'm not sure how that fatigue will affect voter and volunteer turnout come GE time, but it could be bad. Worse for Hillary, of course, if she ends up being the nominee.

[rhombus]

3. The fatigue ends on June 3

The benefits outweigh the costs. And I've to admit, Obama will be a much better general election candidate after this process ends on June 3. His campaign is getting sharper and smarter and I think they are picking some good lessons from the contest.

[EmilyAnne]

6. I suppose you are are right. I certainly want you to be right.

I've been running an Obama staging location in Pittsburgh for about a week now. I've been a volunteer at least 7 hours a day, every day, for a month. Yesterday, after all the planning and hard work, I saw first hand what "grassroots" really means. I have a lot of regrets right now about how a lot of things were handled. We didn't reach the poorer people who are more prone to have had changes in address since they last registered. We didn't reach people who lived in apartment buildings. We didn't use enough already standing community organizations to inform voters.

I'm not talking about informing people about issues or policies. I'm talking about informing millions of relatively apathetic people who are supporting Obama from a distance about where they need to vote. Its as simple as that. The 866 number provided by Barack Obama's campaign stopped working at about 8. My staging location had no internet access. I had no way to really direct the walkins with polling location questions. Etc. etc. Now, I plan to go to Indiana or NC to start up again and hopefully apply some of the things I learned over the last month, BUT I won't have the benefit of being a local like here in Pittsburgh.

And I feel so tired right now that I just can't imagine how some of the volunteers who have been at this for a year are feeling right now.

[rniel]

2. It is also

Going to make it hard for John McCain to define Obama negatively early enough. He will be in the news talked about for too long.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. Puerto Rico votes June 1st. SD and MT vote June 3rd. Obama will win MT. I'm

betting we put him over the 2024 mark (along with S.Dakota, but their polls close before ours because they are on Central time.

So MT has "last in the nation status."

[AllexxisF1]

5. Yea but...

I am really, really concerned about North Carolina and the extreme racism that is going to be brought up there. I have a feeling it's going to get really, really ugly. So much so that even Tweety last night hoped that would not be the case.

This needs to be over and soon because it will get more nasty from Hillary's camp.

[rhombus]

8. short-term pain, long-term gain

Obama's dirt and the attacks on him will all be aired. It will be old news.

Political junkies are sick of this contest, but in the real world, the average American is not as irritated over the nomination process as some of us think.

[uponit7771]

9. They are ballooning Wright!! That's all they have!! Let it go unanswered and lets see what happens.

...IMHO NC folk aren't going to take it.

[uponit7771]

7. Dude!! I was starting to think I was some alien or somethin!! 320,000 new dems in PA alone with most

...of the crossover vote going to Obama.

The RNC has LOST 25% of their voters in PA!!!

[hayu_lol]

10. Better extend that date of June 3rd...

Texas will not finish up its overly complex and confusing process until June 7th.

Texas is still in play on the 3rd.

[DerekJ]

11. Clinton LOST. But I never called for her to drop out. Partially because I’ve always believed in

you said, and partially because I have no right to do so.

[stillcool]

12. I would have no problem with it...

I think Hillary will recruit the Republican 527's to do her advertising for her, because she is so in the hole. Instead of a Democratic National Primary, we will have an extended Presidential Race by proxy. Hell, Hillary might stay in it all the way to Senator Obama's inauguration.