Pluralism

Mr. McCain: please look up "pluralism" in the dictionary. Please also check with an eminent Constitutional scholar about the origins of our nation. You could start with Mr. Obama, but there are certainly others around if you'd prefer.

Opening general election ad

From MSNBC.com:

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

Obama is going up with the first general election ad of this campaign -- airing in 18 states. It's an introductory ad, as he tries to get out front of defining himself. With soft guitar music strumming in the background, Obama speaks directly into the camera and emphasizes his "Kansas heartland" values (his mother grew up in Kansas.) And yes, he's wearing a flag pin.

The 60-second ad, "Country I love," will air go up tomorrow in Alaska (!!!), Colorado, Florida, Georgia (!!!), Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana (!!!), Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota (!!!), Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.

Baracknophobia!

a mom's memo to McCain

a personal note

Hi everyone...

I've got a challenge of my own to work on...I put on 10 pounds for Barack over the winter! All of the extra time outside of work which I'd normally have spent in the gym, I was furiously blogging away, phonebanking, and attending visibility events in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont. I kept up with a lot of cardio, but the weight training went out the window. Big problem!

So please keep checking in...the blog will be active, but a little less so, over the summer.

GYM RATS FOR BARACK!

Unite for Change

Learn more here.

"I'm voting Republican" 8^)

Thank you, Tim Russert

You probably forgot more about professionalism and journalistic standards, during your long an vital career, than most of your nominal colleaugues in TV news have ever learned.



NBC's Chuck Todd, another great journalist, checks in about Russert as well:

the numbers

From NBC's First Read:

Obama's Bump:

Days after becoming his party's presumptive nominee and receiving Clinton's endorsement, Obama has opened up a six-point advantage over McCain (47%-41%) in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, which is up three points from Obama's lead in April. Perhaps the most fascinating numbers are in the crosstabs, and some of the numbers will surprise folks who memorized every exit poll from the Democratic primaries. Obama leads McCain among African Americans (83-7), Hispanics (62-28), women (52-33), Catholics (47-40), independents (41-36) and even blue-collar workers (47-42). Obama is also ahead among those who said they voted for Clinton in the Democratic primaries (61-19). Meanwhile, McCain is up among evangelicals (69-21), white men (55-35), men (49-41), whites (47-41), and white suburban women (44-38). However, Obama has a seven-point edge (46-39) among all white women. How important is that lead? NBC/WSJ co-pollster Neil Newhouse (R) explains that Republican candidates always expect to win white men by a substantial margin, but it's white women that usually decide the race. "If a Republican wins among white women, we usually win that election," he says, noting that George Bush carried that group in 2000 and 2004. The poll was conducted of 1,000 registered voters from June 6-9 (Clinton endorsed Obama on June 7), and it has a +/- 3.1% margin of error.

the family values voters won't go for McCain...

The Daily Mail writes about McCain's first wife...not Cindy, in case you haven't heard!

An excerpt:

McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy (pictured), with whom he has four children.

But there is another Mrs. McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children.

Please DIGG!

McCain's Ohio Disconnect

From the LA Times:

Republican Party machinery in the state helped get President Bush into office, but it's not firing yet on McCain's behalf.
By Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

As the architect of Ohio's ballot measure against gay marriage, Phil Burress helped draw thousands of conservative voters to the polls in 2004, most of whom also cast ballots to reelect President Bush. So Burress was not surprised when two high-level staffers from John McCain's campaign dropped by his office, asking for his help this fall.

What surprised Burress was how badly the meeting went. He says he tried but failed to make the McCain team understand how much work remained to overcome the skepticism of social conservatives. Burress ended up cutting off the campaign officials as they spoke. "He doesn't want to associate with us," Burress now says of McCain, "and we don't want to associate with him."

Read more here.

AOL poll

Please vote in two polls by AOL. It takes only seconds!

the unhappy warrior

the "unity bounce"

An excerpt from The Swamp:

After Hillary Clinton's full-throated endorsement of Barack Obama Saturday afternoon, watch for a "unity bounce" in the Democratic nominee's campaign that some pollsters think could rival the post-convention bounce that campaigns traditionally experienced.

Democrats are now emerging from a hard-fought, protracted primary that exposed fault lines along such visceral elements of identity politics as race, gender and class. The ability of the party to overcome the ill feelings of the primary season and rally around its nominee will go a long way to determining its success during an election in which most signs point to a Democratic year.

So the strength and durability of a bounce for the Obama campaign in the coming weeks is likely to be an early indicator of the party's chances of success in the general election.

Barack talks to Chicago HQ staffers

This was filmed yesterday at Chicago HQ.

closing the circle...with grace

Thank you so very much, Sen. Clinton, for your kind and insightful words today!

She's gone all out: check out the new splash page on HRC.com.

Please send a note of thanks to Sen. Clinton via the Obama campaign site.

Sen. Clinton's speech:



And MSNBC's analysis:

What McCain meant to say on Tuesday Night

CNN quick vote

Will Clinton's speech tomorrow help to unify the Democratic party?

Please vote!

(scroll down a bit, on right)

downtime

From The LA Times Top of the Ticket:

Barack Obama to yield spotlight to Hillary Clinton ... one last time

After tending to one last bit of pressing business -- an unpublicized visit Thursday night with Hillary Clinton in Washington for a chat the entire political universe would have killed to overhear -- Barack Obama headed to his Chicago home for what his schedule listed as three days of downtime.

Cant' say the fellow didn't earn a long weekend. It was roughly 17 months ago that he began the quest that ended successfully this week for the Democratic presidential nomination; his schedule has been mostly non-stop over that period. And he routinely notes that the biggest negative about aspiring to become the leader of the free world has been the long stretches he's away from his two young daughters.

Still, his timing also happens to be politically perfect.

Clinton, after doing her best to pretend not to have noticed that Obama beat her to the delegate majority finish-line Tuesday night, carved out Saturday for a farewell bow as a presidential candidate (at least in '08). It's unorthodox -- most vanquished candidates don't linger in their also-ran status quite so long, nor finally pull the plug with quite so much grandeur.

But Clinton was no ordinary candidate and she ran no ordinary campaign (as she will no doubt point out -- frequently -- on Saturday).

So if you're Barack Obama -- and you need a break anyway -- why not stand down.

We don't imagine, though, that he'll stray too far from a television as Clinton prepares to take the stage.

Star Tribune: a DNC spring cleaning

an excerpt:

Barack Obama, trying to quickly unify his fractured party, made a series of symbolic but significant changes on Thursday aimed at showing him as an agent of change and in control of the Democratic machinery.

Less than 36 hours after claiming his party's presidential nomination, the Illinois senator said the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will stop accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists and political action committees, just as Obama's campaign has done.

AOL poll

Two questions on this one. Scroll down slightly.

Even notoriously pro-Clinton AOL seems to be gradually coming to the realization of what happened on Tuesday night...

Does Sen. Clinton even want the VP slot?

If not, then this could be a lot simpler than had been previously thought.

From MSNBC's First Read:

The New York Times' Nagourney is reporting that the Clinton campaign has released a statement publicly disavowing the campaign by some of her supporters to force Obama to choose her as his running mate.

“While Sen. Clinton has made clear throughout this process that she will do whatever she can to elect a Democrat to the White House, she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her,” communications director Howard Wolfson said in a statement to the Times. “The choice here is Sen. Obama’s and his alone.”

More from Nagourney's piece: "The apparent campaign to push Mrs. Clinton onto the ticket was, in its directness, unusual and several Democrats said arguably counterproductive. Aides to Mr. Obama said they were unhappy with the effort and some Democrats outside the campaign said that Mr. Obama could be portrayed to bowing to pressure should he choose Mrs. Clinton to run with him."

And from Time's The Page:

“She knows that the choice is his and his alone. If he offers it to her it will be his choice and if he doesn’t that will be solely his choice. Whatever he wants she will do….

She will do whatever she can and is asked to do to help elect him, but it would be be totally inappropriate for her to campaign for or seek the job. She is exhausted, she has been first lady for 8 years, she loves the Senate, and the choice is his.”

Check out "The View"

These ladies have changed their tune...they are definitely calling a spade a spade about the way Sen. Clinton seems to be flogging her supporters, rather than conceding defeat with grace and urging her supporters to make the shift to Obama.

Unfortunately, the video won't embed, so just click on the link.

Warm reception for Clinton supporters at Obama Rally

Excerpt from the MinnPost article:

The crowd kept pouring into the Xcel Energy Center. All ages. All races. All backgrounds. Young Somalis chanting "O-bama!" And older, white women, bedecked in sparkling red, white and blue and holding up a sign, "Women for Obama!''

But most noticeable was the arrival of such people as Buck Humphrey, who once had headed Hillary Rodham Clinton's Minnesota campaign. And Jackie Stevenson, a DFL activist, a feminist and a Clinton-supporting superdelegate, who at the last minute had changed her mind about attending the event. And St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, who was a Clinton supporter until sometime Monday. And Rick Stafford, another Clinton superdelegate.

Former Secretary of State Joan Growe was there. And Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson. And a couple of dozen other people who had invested so much energy into Clinton's campaign.

If at first you don't concede: The Daily Show

great images from yesterday

He's no Johnny one-note, at least

CNN quick vote

Scroll down on the right.

HRC for VP? No!

Even if she'd run an above-board campaign; even if Bill wouldn't butt in constantly; even if she hadn't shown herself to be of questionable ethical fiber at times...she doesn't provide any of the geographic, experiential, or policy variety that a VP is supposed to bring to a ticket.

JUST SAY NO.

How to run a convention on a record of failure

Just check out 2004, that's how!

Yep!

Time's "The Page" has plenty to think about

All kinds of interesting angles on tonight's developments.

less jobs, more wars

(MSNBC: that should be "fewer jobs").

AP: OBAMA CLINCHES NOMINATION

The Page with Mark Halperin has the story.

Lou Dobbs quick vote

Should HRC by BHO's VP? What is the ETA on your POV?

You can vote more than once! How scientific!

Goodnight, Bush!

Goodnight Bush is a send-up of the classic children's book Goodnight Moon. It's about the rapidly-approaching end of the Bush Administration.

Click on the link and look inside the book for a preview.

Enjoy

Keep your eyes on DemCon Watch (the mini version is in the right hand margin, but the main page is oh so much more fun!) and see the Supers endorse, one by one!

The next few hours and days will be very gratifying. ENJOY!

Advice from an '04 veteran

From the Daily Kos:

An excerpt:

Please, Clinton supporters, take a lesson from a guy who's been there.

As a perfect-stormer Deaniac who ultimately failed to fully support John Kerry, I deeply appreciate what you are going through.

We can go on and on about the differences between Dean '04 and Clinton '08. Ultimately, you and I both face the effective conclusion of our candidate's campaigns before he or she concedes, and certainly before the rules say we must stop.

The heart says go on. Believe me, I know the feeling.

And then, when we are forced to stop, the viciousness, anger, bitterness, and spite boil up.

What comes next? I can tell you.

Keepin' It Real

Please, Mr. Ickes...could you go on a vacation now?

Identical McCousins!

South Dakota

The latest projections are that the South Dakota vote might be close.

Let's finish the primary season up with a show of strength!

If you have even a half-hour free over the next 50 or so hours, please consider phonebanking. Even if you've never done it before! It's surprisingly easy; after the first few calls, you'll get a feel for it. Just follow the link and detailed scripts will pop up in your browser as you go through the call, depending on how the caller answers each question. All you need is a phone and an internet connection.