Poll: Obama Wipes Out Clinton Lead

By Jill Lawrence
USA Today
February 3, 2008

Barack Obama has surged to a statistical tie with Hillary Rodham Clinton in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, erasing a double-digit national lead she held just two weeks ago and turning the Democratic nomination race into a nail-biter.

The pair stood at Clinton 45%, Obama 44% in a snapshot of voter intent just two days before 22 states hold primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday.

On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain gained 11 percentage points for a decisive 42%-24% lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney...

...Obama gained 11 percentage points to erase Clinton's lead. The Illinois senator has been riding a wave of momentum since a landslide victoryin South Carolina's Jan. 26 primary. He's been collecting endorsements from Sen. Edward Kennedy and other prominent Democrats, and in January alone raised $32 million.

More...

That's a great endorsement right there.

Quote:

Damn. Another Obama rally I'm going to miss. Quote:

Quote:

Barack Obama couldn't have asked for a better endorsement.

Barack Obama Routs the Clintons in South Carolina

Obama runs away with SC primary

By DAVID ESPO and CHARLES BABINGTON
The Associated Press
January 26, 2008

Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was running third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago.

About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and Edwards split the rest.

The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history.

The South Carolina primary marked the end of the first phase of the campaign for the Democratic nomination, a series of single-state contests that winnowed the field, conferred co-front-runner status on Clinton and Obama but had relatively few delegates at stake.

That all changes in 10 days' time, when New York, Illinois and California are among the 15 states holding primaries in a virtual nationwide primary. Another seven states and American Samoa will hold Democratic caucuses on the same day.

"South Carolina voters rejected the politics of the past and they wanted something different," said Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama.

Howard Wolfson, a top aide to Clinton, issued a written statement that said, "This remains a delegate fight, with 1,681 delegates at stake on Feb. 5 ... we are ahead in that fight."

Early returns from the state's precincts showed Obama with 51 percent of the vote, Clinton gaining 30 percent and Edwards at 19 percent.

All three contenders campaigned in South Carolina on primary day, but only Obama and Edwards arranged to speak to supporters after the polls closed. Clinton decided to fly to Tennessee, one of the Feb. 5 states, leaving as the polls were closing.

After playing a muted role in the earlier contests, the issue of race dominated an incendiary week that included a shift in strategy for Obama, a remarkably bitter debate and fresh scrutiny of former President Clinton's role in his wife's campaign.

Each side accused the other of playing the race card, sparking a controversy that frequently involved Bill Clinton.

"They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender. That's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," the former president said at one stop as he campaigned for his wife, strongly suggesting that blacks would not support a white alternative to Obama.

Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.

Nearly six in 10 voters said the former president's efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady.

Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women.

The exit polls showed the economy was the most important issue in the race. About one quarter picked health care. And only one in five said it was the war in Iraq, underscoring the extent to which the once-dominant issue has faded in the face of financial concerns.

The exit poll was conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the networks.

Clinton and Obama swapped accusatory radio commercials earlier in the week.

The former first lady aired an ad saying Obama had once approved of Republican ideas. His camp responded quickly that Clinton "will say anything." First she, then he, pulled the commercials after a short run on the air.

Given the bickering, Edwards looked for an opening to reinvigorate a candidacy all but eclipsed by the historic campaign between Obama and Clinton. He went on the "Late Show with David Letterman" at midweek to say he wanted to represent the "grown-up wing of the Democratic party."

That was one night after a finger-wagging debate in which Obama told Clinton he was helping unemployed workers on the streets of Chicago when "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart."

Moments later, the former first lady said she was fighting against misguided Republican policies "when you were practicing law and representing your contributor ... in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."

___

Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy, Seanna Adcox and Mike Baker in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press.

Michelle Obama Defends Husband's Voting Record, Experience

By Ben Szobody
The Greenville News
January 24, 2008

Michelle Obama countered increasingly fierce criticism from Hillary Clinton?s campaign on Wednesday in an impassioned speech at a Greenville restaurant, defending Barack Obama?s votes in the Illinois Senate, his experience and his ability to stand tough to Republicans.

"The one thing that is clear is that when power is confronted with real change, they will say anything," she said.

She also told nearly 100 local women at The Lazy Goat that when it comes to the difficulties they face balancing work and family, her husband is "one of the few people who gets it," in part because of her own dilemmas as a "regular person."

Michelle Obama never mentioned the Clintons by name, and she told The Greenville News afterward that despite the involvement of former president Bill Clinton in his wife?s campaign, her role will remain "that of spouse," and that she?s "not a politician."

Referring to criticism -- renewed by Hillary Clinton this week -- of her husband?s more than 100 "present" votes in the Illinois Senate, Michelle Obama highlighted his work passing ethics reform, expanding child care, gaining tax credits for the working poor and dealing with racial profiling and the death penalty.

"So let me tell you, when people talk about Barack?s voting record in the state Senate, they will not talk to you about that because that would be too much information for you, wouldn?t it?" she said. "It?s much easier to focus on a few ?present? votes," instead of his work for "regular people" that "no other front-runner in this race can claim at all."

She described his decision after college to do community work instead of going to Wall Street to "make millions," then his decision after Harvard Law School to take on civil rights work and the state legislature. She said his books are the only reason they recently got out of debt.

"It would seem to me that before anyone would open their mouth to even claim to want to be president of the United States they would have to show that kind of commitment to regular folks," she said.

She said the candidates with Washington experience chose to support the Iraq war while her husband opposed it during a primary race he wasn?t supposed to win.

She also referred to detailed policy discussions in the presidential campaign, a trait Hillary Clinton casts as a strength.

"People always want to know the intricacies of candidates? policies," she said, "but the truth is a lot of this stuff isn?t rocket science. We know what we need to do with public education because there are thousands of excellent public schools all over this country. We know what they look like, we know what they cost. Our problem is that they only exist for the fortunate few."

To the question of whether Obama is "tough enough" to run against the Republican nominee, Michelle Obama said, "Do you know where we live? Chicago politics. Illinois politics. Mean, tough politics."

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/featu ... /09/16/tsurumi/index.html

The Dunce

His former Harvard Business School professor recalls George W. Bush not just as a terrible student but as spoiled, loutish and a pathological liar.

By Mary Jacoby
Salon
Sep 16, 2004

For 25 years, Yoshi Tsurumi, one of George W. Bush's professors at Harvard Business School, was content with his green-card status as a permanent legal resident of the United States. But Bush's ascension to the presidency in 2001 prompted the Japanese native to secure his American citizenship. The reason: to be able to speak out with the full authority of citizenship about why he believes Bush lacks the character and intellect to lead the world's oldest and most powerful democracy.

"I don't remember all the students in detail unless I'm prompted by something," Tsurumi said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "But I always remember two types of students. One is the very excellent student, the type as a professor you feel honored to be working with. Someone with strong social values, compassion and intellect -- the very rare person you never forget. And then you remember students like George Bush, those who are totally the opposite."

The future president was one of 85 first-year MBA students in Tsurumi's macroeconomic policies and international business class in the fall of 1973 and spring of 1974. Tsurumi was a visiting associate professor at Harvard Business School from January 1972 to August 1976; today, he is a professor of international business at Baruch College in New York.

Trading as usual on his father's connections, Bush entered Harvard in 1973 for a two-year program. He'd just come off what George H.W. Bush had once called his eldest son's "nomadic years" -- partying, drifting from job to job, working on political campaigns in Florida and Alabama and, most famously, apparently not showing up for duty in the Alabama National Guard.

Harvard Business School's rigorous teaching methods, in which the professor interacts aggressively with students, and students are encouraged to challenge each other sharply, offered important insights into Bush, Tsurumi said. In observing students' in-class performances, "you develop pretty good ideas about what are their weaknesses and strengths in terms of thinking, analysis, their prejudices, their backgrounds and other things that students reveal," he said.

One of Tsurumi's standout students was Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., now the seventh-ranking member of the House Republican leadership. "I typed him as a conservative Republican with a conscience," Tsurumi said. "He never confused his own ideology with economics, and he didn't try to hide his ignorance of a subject in mumbo jumbo. He was what I call a principled conservative." (Though clearly a partisan one. On Wednesday, Cox called for a congressional investigation of the validity of documents that CBS News obtained for a story questioning Bush's attendance at Guard duty in Alabama.)

Bush, by contrast, "was totally the opposite of Chris Cox," Tsurumi said. "He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him." When asked to explain a particular comment, said Tsurumi, Bush would respond, "Oh, I never said that." A White House spokeswoman did not return a phone call seeking comment.

In 1973, as the oil and energy crisis raged, Tsurumi led a discussion on whether government should assist retirees and other people on fixed incomes with heating costs. Bush, he recalled, "made this ridiculous statement and when I asked him to explain, he said, 'The government doesn't have to help poor people -- because they are lazy.' I said, 'Well, could you explain that assumption?' Not only could he not explain it, he started backtracking on it, saying, 'No, I didn't say that.'"

If Cox had been in the same class, Tsurumi said, "I could have asked him to challenge that and he would have demolished it. Not personally or emotionally, but intellectually."

Bush once sneered at Tsurumi for showing the film "The Grapes of Wrath," based on John Steinbeck's novel of the Depression. "We were in a discussion of the New Deal, and he called Franklin Roosevelt's policies 'socialism.' He denounced labor unions, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Medicare, Social Security, you name it. He denounced the civil rights movement as socialism. To him, socialism and communism were the same thing. And when challenged to explain his prejudice, he could not defend his argument, either ideologically, polemically or academically."

Students who challenged and embarrassed Bush in class would then become the subject of a whispering campaign by him, Tsurumi said. "In class, he couldn't challenge them. But after class, he sometimes came up to me in the hallway and started bad-mouthing those students who had challenged him. He would complain that someone was drinking too much. It was innuendo and lies. So that's how I knew, behind his smile and his smirk, that he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy."

Many of Tsurumi's students came from well-connected or wealthy families, but good manners prevented them from boasting about it, the professor said. But Bush seemed unabashed about the connections that had brought him to Harvard. "The other children of the rich and famous were at least well bred to the point of realizing universal values and standards of behavior," Tsurumi said. But Bush sometimes came late to class and often sat in the back row of the theater-like classroom, wearing a bomber jacket from the Texas Air National Guard and spitting chewing tobacco into a cup.

"At first, I wondered, 'Who is this George Bush?' It's a very common name and I didn't know his background. And he was such a bad student that I asked him once how he got in. He said, 'My dad has good friends.'" Bush scored in the lowest 10 percent of the class.

The Vietnam War was still roiling campuses and Harvard was no exception. Bush expressed strong support for the war but admitted to Tsurumi that he'd gotten a coveted spot in the Texas Air National Guard through his father's connections.

"I used to chat up a number of students when we were walking back to class," Tsurumi said. "Here was Bush, wearing a Texas Guard bomber jacket, and the draft was the No. 1 topic in those days. And I said, 'George, what did you do with the draft?' He said, 'Well, I got into the Texas Air National Guard.' And I said, 'Lucky you. I understand there is a long waiting list for it. How'd you get in?' When he told me, he didn't seem ashamed or embarrassed. He thought he was entitled to all kinds of privileges and special deals. He was not the only one trying to twist all their connections to avoid Vietnam. But then, he was fanatically for the war."

Tsurumi told Bush that someone who avoided a draft while supporting a war in which others were dying was a hypocrite. "He realized he was caught, showed his famous smirk and huffed off."

Tsurumi's conclusion: Bush is not as dumb as his detractors allege. "He was just badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion," he said.

In recent days, Tsurumi has told his story to various print and television outlets and appears in Kitty Kelley's expos? "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty." He said other professors and students at the business school from that time share his recollections but are afraid to come forward, fearing ostracism or retribution. And why is Tsurumi speaking up now? Because with the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq and Osama bin Laden still on the loose -- not to mention a federal deficit ballooning out of control -- the stakes are too high to remain silent. "Obviously, I don't think he is the best person" to be running the country, he said. "I wanted to explain why."

----------

Mary Jacoby is Salon's Washington correspondent.

I hope rajraj isn't a pre-med student from India. I would hate to have him operate on me.

No More Mr. Nice Guy: Obama Mocks Hillary In Stand Up Routine

By NEDRA PICKLER
AP
January 18, 2008

LAS VEGAS ? The White House campaign has brought a new act to Vegas.

Democrat Barack Obama tried to use humor to cut down rival Hillary Rodham Clinton before Saturday's presidential caucus. His "Iowa nice" approach gone, Obama debuted a biting political standup routine Thursday night that mocked his rival, and employed it again on Friday.

Obama began by recalling a moment in Tuesday night's debate when he and his rivals were asked to name their biggest weakness. Obama answered first, saying he has a messy desk and needs help managing paperwork _ something his opponents have since used to suggest he's not up to managing the country. John Edwards said his biggest weakness is that he has a powerful response to seeing pain in others, and Clinton said she gets impatient to bring change to America.

"Because I'm an ordinary person, I thought that they meant, 'What's your biggest weakness?'" Obama said to laughter from a packed house at Rancho High School. "If I had gone last I would have known what the game was. And then I could have said, `Well, ya know, I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don't want to be helped. It's terrible.'"

"Folks, they don't tell you what they mean!" he said. Obama chuckled at his own joke before riffing on another Clinton answer in the debate, when she said that she is happy that the bankruptcy bill she voted for in 2001 never became law.

"She says, 'I voted for it but I was glad to see that it didn't pass.' What does that mean?" he asked, again drawing laughter from the crowd and himself. "No seriously, what does that mean? If you didn't want to see it passed, then you can vote against it! People don't say what they mean.

"You know what I'm saying is true," he said, then addressed his routine directly at audience members who don't know who they will vote for yet. "Undecideds, remember now, remember what I'm saying."

He continued by responding to a new Clinton radio ad that accused him of having financial ties to supporters of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site that most Nevadans are loath to come to their state.

"I have said over and over again I'm against Yucca," Obama said. "I'm against Yucca Mountain. I think the science is not there. I've never, I've never been for Yucca. Never been for it. Never said I was for it.

"Suddenly you've got the Clinton camp out there saying, `He's for Yucca.' What part of I'm not for Yucca do you not understand?" he said, then laughed along with his audience.

As the laughter subsided, Obama drove home the broader point he's been trying to make against Clinton the entire campaign.

"Those kinds of tricks, that kind of approach to politics is what has to stop because what happens is then nobody believes anything," Obama said. "The voters don't believe what politicians say. They get cynical. Folks in Congress, they'll tell you they're looking out for you _ they're looking out for somebody else. We have to change that politics and that's why I'm running for president."

Quote:

Quote:

Cool!

Had to work late tonight. Very sorry I missed it.

Curbing New Hampshire: Larry David Stumps for Obama

By Aianna Huffington
January 8, 2008

Hanover, New Hampshire -- On the night of the Iowa primary, I got an email from Larry David: "Obama's victory speech was the first time since middle school that I felt that much pride in being an American....(except for getting my syndication checks!)."

He was so excited, he decided to come to New Hampshire, along with Ari Emanuel, his longtime friend and agent.

Monday night, he headed to Dartmouth College in Hanover to talk about the importance of getting out votes for Obama at two large dorm gatherings.

As we headed toward the first gathering, at the McLaughlin cluster of residence halls, students started running up to him, crying out, "I love you, I love you! I'm your biggest fan!!" Pretty soon there was a long, snaking line following him into the building, prompting one student to say that Larry was "like a Jewish Pied Piper."

And, indeed, the place was packed. So many students showed up that not everyone could fit inside, so they crowded around the doorways, trying to listen in.

The questions started coming rapid fire. It immediately became clear: these students were high-level aficionados of Larry's work. Some of them were undecided about Obama, but no one was undecided about Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld.

What followed was unlike any campaign event I've been at. A circular conversation that pinballed between politics and showbiz -- Why are you for Obama? Are you going to get back with Cheryl (his TV wife)? -- and often combined the two, with both Larry and the students riffing on how the '08 race related to moments from Curb or Seinfeld. Alas, the question of "shrinkage" never came up.

Throughout the event Larry was... well, Larry. Completely himself and utterly hilarious. At one point he noticed a student scratching himself and asked, "What are you doing itching your balls at an Obama event?"

Another student asked him what he thought Obama's chances were. He answered with his signature "Pre-tty, pre-tty good," leading to a raucous outburst.

"I'm undecided between Obama and Hillary," one young woman said. "Aren't you tired of the old?" he replied. "Don't you want to put on some clean clothes? Voting for Hillary would be like doing Frasier again on TV. Don't you want something fresh, new and creative?"

"I mean, haven't we had enough with Bushes and Clintons and Bushes?" he continued. "The country needs a shower, a good, long, hot shower. That's what Obama is, a hot shower. So fresh you can smell him. Delicious."

Another student asked him when he first met Obama. "I met him in Martha's Vineyard," he replied, "in the summer of '04. I liked him from the first moment, even though he's a skinny man...not presidential in a bathing suit. And I decided to support him when I first heard him speak at the Democratic Convention."

When asked which Republican he would vote for, if he had to vote Republican, Larry replied: "Candidates who do not believe in evolution are not my cup of tea."

When a young woman said that she was trying to decide whether to vote for Obama or John McCain, Larry took a beat, and pursed his lips. "Let's see," he said, "one was against the war in Iraq from the beginning, and one wants to keep the troops there for another hundred years. I can see your dilemma."

More Curb: How did you cast Leon? "He just came in, I took one look at him and he got the job. He made me laugh." "'I bring the ruckus to the ladies!'" a student called out, quoting Leon. Followups: Who would Leon vote for? "Obama." What would most hurt Obama's chances? "He needs to avoid saying 'Fuck' in his speech and sexual come-ons to women around him. He also needs to avoid going, 'I dunno if I can do this, I'm scared.' Other than that, it'll be alright."

The gathering ended with a question about whether Larry and Cheryl would get back together. Larry asked the group whether they wanted them to -- and was a little surprised when the overwhelming majority said they would. Only a few wanted him to stay with Loretta Black (Viveca A. Fox). And one guy wanted him to swing.

Then it was off to Zimmerman Hall and another lively Q & A.

"I'm not sure if I'll vote for Obama," a student said. "I'm concerned about his lack of experience." "Would it help," said Larry, "if I told you that Lincoln only had two years of experience in Congress before he became president and the times could not have been more turbulent. And did anybody have more experience than Bob Dole, who had been in the Senate for over 25 years when he ran? And how awful would that have been if he had won? Plus, just imagine how the rest of the world will see us the day they wake up to Obama as president."

"What about Giuliani?" asked another student. "He did a good job for you in the low-fat yogurt Seinfeld episode." "Yes, he did," Larry responded, "but he's a lunatic."

"What did she whisper in your ear?" someone asked about the Curb episode featuring Alanis Morissette. "Nothing intelligible," Larry replied. "Originally, it was supposed to be Carly Simon, who was going to reveal to me who "You're So Vain" was about, but she canceled and I had to find an alternative."

Favorite Curb episode? "The Ski Lift".

Favorite Seinfeld Episodes? "The Contest," "The Marine Biologist," and "The Opposite": "We would have been much better off if President Bush had done the opposite of everything he wanted to do -- on the war, on torture, on shredding up the Constitution."

Which Seinfeld character would he like to see as president? "Newman. Because every time he would give a press conference and walk up to the podium, everyone would say 'Hello, Newman.'"

What would be in an Obama sandwich? "Tomato, lettuce, and sardines." (Regrettably there was no debate on how The Obama would stack up against The Larry David combo of whitefish, sable, capers, onions and cream cheese.)

"Isn't your hair too short?" he suddenly asked one young man. "Do girls like it that short?" "I like it longer and curly," a girl piped in.

"I'm undecided between Obama and Edwards," said another student. "What can you say to convince me?" " If you don't vote for Obama I'm never doing the show again," Larry replied.

I took the kid's name down; it was Zach. So we have someone to blame if Larry never does Curb again. "I wouldn't have been a comedian if my name was Zach," Larry added, and then ended with a sincere pitch for Obama: "Please, please vote for him."

New Hampshire Turnout 'Absolutely Huge'

January 08, 2008 12:37 PM

ABC News' Karen Travers Reports:

New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan told ABC News that turnout among primary voters today is "absolutely huge" -- and there are concerns about running out of ballots in towns like Portsmouth, Keene, Hudson and Pelham.

"Turnout is absolutely huge and towns are starting to get concerned that they may not have enough ballots," Scanlan said. "We are working on those issues. Everything else seems to be going smoothly."

Scanlan said that the Secretary of State's office is sending additional ballots to Portsmouth and Keene (traditionally Democratic strongholds), Hudson (Republican leaning with significant numbers of independents) and Pelham (large number of independents).

According to Scanlan, the ballot strain seems to be on Democratic ballots, which suggests that the undeclared voters are breaking for the Democratic primary. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner predicted that 90,000 undeclared voters would vote in the Democratic primary compared to 60,000 voting in the Republican primary.

Deputy Secretary Scanlan said based on a formula anticipating higher turnout, they printed additional ballots, but in most cases towns will go "right down to the wire with ballots they need." The extra ballots will be insurance ballots in most places so election officials have a comfort level.

Scanlan said reports from polling places show that turnout has been steady and high though the morning but typically high activity periods will be lunch and after work.

Unfortunately I might have to work out of town tomorrow. If not, I'll definitely be there.

USA Today/Gallup Poll: (January 4-6)

Obama 41
Clinton 28
Edwards 19

Quote:

Yeah, what a shock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch

Judicial Watch receives funding from mainly conservative sources. In 2002, Judicial Watch received $1.1 million from The Carthage Foundation and a further $400,000 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation. Both foundations are Managed by Richard Mellon Scaife. The year before the Scaife Foundation gave $1.35 million and Carthage $500,000.

In all, between 1997 and 2002 Judicial Watch received $7,069,500 (unadjusted for inflation) in 19 grants from a handful of foundations. The bulk of this funding came from just three foundations ? the Sarah Scaife Foundation, The Carthage Foundation and the John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.

Yes!

Final Iowa Results:

Obama 38%

Edwards 30%

Clinton 29%

Young Obama Voters Lead Record Democratic Turnout

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
January 3, 2008

AMES, Iowa -- Obamamania swept into Sawyer Elementary School Thursday night and left New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in third place.

In the Ames school and across Iowa, unprecedented crowds -- including many independent voters and young people -- showed up to vote in Democratic caucuses and support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

The total turnout for Democrats' first-in- the-nation caucuses was about 220,000, dwarfing the previous record of 124,000 set in 2004.

About 93 percent of caucusgoers were white, but they gave victory to the son of a Kenyan father and a Kansas-born mother who promised to heal the nation's political divisions and end what he called the "bitterness, pettiness and anger that has consumed Washington."

Sawyer School played host to 386 Democrats in '04. The count Thursday night soared to 513, with Obama claiming 211 supporters to 91 for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 81 for Clinton. The remaining attendees supported other candidates.

"We expected 100 of our supporters to show up, and it was almost exactly twice that number," said Kirstin Sullivan, the precinct's Obama coordinator.

Maryann Lundy, the precinct's chairwoman, looked out at the crowd and observed, "There's more people in this gym than the town I grew up in."

Obama has become a symbol of hope rather like Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968 before his assassination, drawing a diversity of support. Obama's backers at the Ames school included the likes of Nathan Kerns, a manager at Best Buy, who voted for President Bush in 2004.

"He represents the change I want and has an integrity the others lack," Kerns said.

Alexander Watts, 22, an assistant Web designer, put it more colorfully.

"I think maybe what we need is a crazy idealist," he said. "Obama possesses a passion that I have never possessed for a day in my life."

Clinton Fades, Obama and Edwards Surge in Iowa Tracking Poll

The last Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby tracking poll before today's caucuses shows Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards gaining ground overnight with Sen. Hillary Clinton faling four points to third place -- "a finish that, if it held, would deal a dramatic setback to the one-time Democratic front-runner."

Obama leads with 31%, followed by Edwards at 27% and Clinton 24%.

Said pollster John Zogby: "There is a clear Clinton fade. None of it has been dramatic, but it has been steady."

[Oh please be right...]

Kucinich Asks Supporters To Back Obama As Second Choice In Iowa

January 1, 2008

Dennis Kucinich advised his supporters Tuesday that if he failed to garner enough backers in the first round of the Iowa caucuses, they should throw their support behind Sen. Barack Obama.

The surprise move is a setback for John Edwards, who benefited from a similar caucus pact with Kucinich on the eve of voting in 2004.

"I hope Iowans will caucus for me as their first choice this Thursday, Kucinich said in a statement to the press. "But in those caucus locations where my support doesn't reach the necessary threshold, I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change."

Second choices can be crucial in Iowa where candidates who do not receive the backing of 15 percent of the caucus voters at any particular precinct are deemed not "viable." Their supporters can then throw their support behind another candidate.

In a race as tight as the Democratic contest in Iowa, the support from former backers of second-tier candidates can be crucial on caucus Night.

In a statement emailed out to reporters, Obama thanked the veteran Ohio Congressman for his support.

"I have a lot of respect for Congressman Kucinich, and I'm honored that he has done this because we both believe deeply in the need for fundamental change," said Senator Obama.

Obama Rides Wave of Latest Poll

January 1, 2008

Des Moines, Iowa-- Buoyed by a widening, seven-point lead in the latest and most respected state poll, the Barack Obama campaign today saw a routine gathering of volunteer canvassers mushroom into a raucous, celebratory mass pep rally for the candidate.

As the morning edition of the Des Moines Register showed Obama with a 32%-25% lead over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards standing at 24% in Thursday night's caucus, the Roosevelt High School auditorium was unexpectedly flooded with nearly 1,500 supporters who braved sub-freezing air temperatures.

A drop-in by Obama to greet the precinct walkers was long planned but no one anticipated the crush of attendees and media that overflowed the gym. He was joined onstage by wife and two young daughters.

"The polls look good, but the polls don't count," a visibly confident and jubilant Barack Obama told the bundled up crowd. "The only thing that counts is that you go to caucus, that you call your neighbors, that you knock on doors. That's the only poll that counts."

The centrally located Des Moines high school gym floor was converted into a virtual ground-war command center, with volunteer and staff campaign field workers stationed at tables for every major district in surrounding Polk County. With caucusing set to begin in 48 hours, scores of canvassers were loaded with voter- information packets and deployed to knock on doors in 15-degree temperatures.

"Each canvasser has a walking map and a list identifying each household -- which ones say they are for sure going to caucus for us and which ones are undecided. We have a different piece of literature for each one," explained 27-year-old field staffer Mario Bonifacio, who was serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq until last May.

The Des Moines Register poll carries unusual significance because it is considered not only an authoritative survey but also one likely to influence the vote. Obama's lead in the poll was fueled by a projected unprecedented turnout of young, independent and first-time caucus goers, an assumption now being criticized by the Clinton and Edwards campaigns.

But Obama took efforts at today's event to showcase the youthful core of his campaign organization. He proudly brought to the stage his top dozen organizers for Polk County. All were under 25 and dressed mostly in jeans and sweatshirts.

Obama stuck closely to the latest version of his stump speech, underscoring his central themes of hope and change. "There comes a moment in each generation," he said, provoking a loud ovation: "This is our moment. This is our time."

He devoted some special emphasis in today's address, however, to the issue of the war and related national security matters The Iowans he has met on the campaign trail, he said, "are ashamed of Guantanamo, they are ashamed of Abu Ghraib, they are ashamed of warrantless wiretaps and they are ashamed we are having a debate in this country on when to use torture." He vowed not only to end the war in Iraq but also to end "the mindest that gets us into war.

Just that sort of rhetoric is what attracted staffer and Iraq vet Bonifacio to the campaign. "It wasn't until I got over there in Iraq that I realized we weren't fighting for all the good things the politicians told us," he said as he continued to stuff the canvassing packets. "But Obama was against the war from the beginning, and he was right."

A few miles away at the downtown Obama headquarters there was a buzz of last minute activity. A midnight statewide conference call conducted right after the Register poll was released helped set the marching orders for these last three days.

One room in the chaotic jumble of rented offices is staffed only by those whose task is to solve individual logistical problems in getting voters to the caucuses on Thursday night. "We're gearing up," said staffer Bobby Gravitz. "We're calling in everybody and anybody who's ever worked for us, who's ever volunteered for us, who has ever said they want to volunteer. This is it."

P.S.

I've voted in every election since 1980* but I will not vote for Hillary Clinton for any reason if she wins the primary election. I'm so turned off by her flag burning amendment, vote for the Iraq war and then bullsh*t reason for doing it, and then vote to declare Iran an enemy (when she didn't believe that either) that I will not vote in the 2008 election out of principle. Most "important election of our lives?" As they say, where have I heard that before?

Go ahead, stack the Supreme Court. Outlaw abortion. Bring the world to the brink of WWIII. Put another Christian maniac in the White House. Maybe it will be a good thing for America to see this bullsh*t come to a head. Give em the full Huckabee treatment. Designer Armageddon. Shock therapy.

If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. You have to draw the line at some point. Let the Republican Party sink us even deeper into their morass. Maybe only then we'll break free of both broken parties.

(*OK, not sure about 88. I was really toasted.)

If you're a liberal I'd email Steven Fulop and ask him for advice. I'm sure he'd be happy to get back to you with helpful information and goodwill. Politicians like corresponding with motivated voters.

info@stevenfulop.com

If you're a conservative email someone from the Hudson County Republican Party.

Good luck. (Unless it's a sucky right wing initiative. )

Quote:

I'm sick of putting up with lame candidates who are put in play by conservative Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire. I'd rather take the chance of going down in flames with a fighting candidate than die with a whimper with Al Gore and John Kerry. They played it way too safe and got their asses handed to them by an electorate who didn't buy the bullsh*t their Democratic operatives were trying to shovel. The same will happen with Hillary Clinton. Like Bill Maher says, Democrats are always fishing in the wrong pond.

Quote:

What you're not taking into account are the people who would jump at the chance to vote for a black president. Don't forget about the Hispanic and black voters who could very likely come to the polls in droves to vote for a president of color. Also inspired white voters who don't bother to vote in bullsh*t elections. That could outweigh the hidden bigotry you speak off. It could also tip the balance in close states like Ohio and Arizona.

Quote:

Something like 54% of voters say they won't vote for Hillary Clinton for any reason. Another depressing disaster in the making.

Quote:

But it's the truth. Yeah, you can find good people everywhere, but a developmentally disabled 18 year old boy isn't going to be given a 17-year prison sentence for having consensual sex with a developmentally disabled 15 year old boy in a blue state. There's a reason Kansas is a red state.

Quote:

What jsalt said.

Quote:

From your posts I'm sure you are too.

Quote:

What I said in my last post.

Quote:

To you and yours as well.

Quote:

I'm still going through the agendas with an eye on maximum conservative steam coming out of the ears potential.

Quote:

Morally, I'd have no problem with skinning Jesse Timmendequas alive and tying him to an ant hill. I'd just prefer that this country wasn't run with a knuckle dragging/sixth grade boy mentality. It's time to progress to a 21st century mentality. (Well, at least in the blue states.)

N.J. Bans Death Penalty

By TOM HESTER Jr.
December 17, 2007

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law Monday a measure that abolishes the death penalty, making New Jersey the first state in more than four decades to reject capital punishment.

The bill, approved last week by the state's Assembly and Senate, replaces the death sentence with life in prison without parole.

"This is a day of progress for us and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder," Corzine said.

The measure spares eight men on the state's death row. On Sunday, Corzine signed orders commuting the sentences of those eight to life in prison without parole.

New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982 ? six years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume executions ? but it hasn't executed anyone since 1963.

The state's move is being hailed across the world as a historic victory against capital punishment. Rome plans to shine golden light on the Colosseum in support. Once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, the Colosseum is now a symbol of the fight against the death penalty.

"The rest of America, and for that matter the entire world, is watching what we are doing here today," said Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, a Democrat. "New Jersey is setting a precedent that I'm confident other states will follow."

The bill passed the Legislature largely along party lines, with controlling Democrats supporting the abolition and minority Republicans opposed.

"It's simply a specious argument to say that, somehow, after six millennia of recorded history, the punishment no longer fits the crime," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone, a Republican.
The last states to eliminate the death penalty were Iowa and West Virginia in 1965, according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The nation has executed 1,099 people since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. In 1999, 98 people were executed, the most since 1976; last year 53 people were executed, the lowest since 1996.

Other states have considered abolishing the death penalty recently, but none has advanced as far as New Jersey.

The nation's last execution was Sept. 25 in Texas. Since then, executions have been delayed pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether execution through lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

----------

Fast facts about the death penalty in New Jersey

_ Capital punishment was banned nationally by the U.S. Supreme Court between 1972 and 1976.

_ New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982; since then, 50 men and two women have been sentenced to death in the state.

_ Three men sentenced to death have died on the capital sentencing unit.

_ Forty-one on New Jersey's death row have had their sentences overturned in court.

_ Gov. Jon S. Corzine commuted the death sentences of the eight remaining on death row when the state banned the death penalty. The eight will remain in the maximum-security New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

___

Source: New Jersey Department of Corrections.

STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY

Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
New York
*New Jersey
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

ALSO
- Dist. of Columbia

Quote:

Then why have it as an option? It's significant because New Jersey will be the first state in 40 years to do this. Other states could follow New Jersey's lead.

New Jersey Becomes First US State in 40 Years to Ban Executions

December 13, 2007

NEW YORK (AFP) ? New Jersey on Thursday became the first US state in four decades to vote to abolish the death penalty, in a move hailed by human rights activists as a step towards ending capital punishment.

The Democratic-controlled state assembly passed the law by a vote of 44 to 36, assembly spokesman Joe Donnelly told AFP. The state's senate voted earlier this week to ban executions in favor of a life term in jail without parole.

Jon Corzine, the Democratic governor of the northeastern state, has repeatedly expressed support for the measure and has vowed to sign it into law by January.

David Fathi, director of the US program at Human Rights Watch, described the passage of the bill as a "historic day."

"The elected representatives of a US state have definitively rejected the death penalty. We urge other states to follow New Jersey's example and abolish this cruel and archaic punishment," said Fathi.

Iowa and West Virginia were the last states to vote to abolish executions in 1965.

"It is a very significant event for a state that has had the death penalty on its books for decades. It's one more indication that the death penalty is on its way out in the United States," Fathi told AFP.

Although New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963, it still has eight people on death row and came close to executing a prisoner two years ago, said Joshua Rubenstein, northeast regional director of Amnesty International USA.

It was one of the states that reinstalled the death penalty after the US Supreme Court overturned an earlier ban in 1976, but it has observed a freeze on executions since 2005 along with nearly two dozen other states.

"This vote marks a new chapter in our nation's 30-year experiment with capital punishment," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said before the vote.

"New Jersey lawmakers are demonstrating sound judgment in abandoning capital punishment after learning of its costs, the pain it causes victims' families, and the risks the death penalty poses to innocent lives," he said.

Rubenstein said there was no question that the vote would help raise the issue in the US public consciousness at a time that the Supreme Court is already deliberating on the constitutionality of lethal injections.

The top US court began considering on September 25 whether the measure -- the most common method of capital punishment in the United States -- infringes the US constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."

Although one convict was executed the same day the Supreme Court announced its review, no other executions have taken place since then as states have adopted unofficial moratoriums pending a court ruling.

"We have now gone nationwide nearly three months with no executions," said Fathi. "This is the first time that's happened in about 25 years," he said.

"I think people will start to see that we can live without the death penalty and think the New Jersey abolition will be one more brick in that wall."

Both he and Rubenstein said they believed the days of the death penalty -- currently legal in 37 US states -- were numbered.

"Americans are increasingly understanding that we as a nation are isolated within the democratic community of nations when it comes to the death penalty," said Rubenstein.

"Ninety percent of judicial executions in the world today take place in countries like China, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Why should New Jersey, or Texas or Massachusetts be on that list?"

But for the father of Megan Kanka, who was viciously attacked and murdered in 1994 at age seven and whose killer is one of the eight men on New Jersey's death row, a repeal is a slap in the face.

"My daughter was raped, she was strangled, she was suffocated. She was also raped post-mortem and her body was dumped in a nearby park," Richard Kanka said, appealing to lawmakers to keep the death penalty on the books.

An opinion poll published this week showed New Jersey voters deeply divided on the issue, largely opposing lifting the death penalty outright and backing execution for the most violent murders.

But the study, by Quinnipiac University, also showed a majority preferred to see murderers given life sentences without parole rather than being executed.