Maybe he wouldn't be any help to them on the ticket, but that doesn't change the fact that he is the best candidate.

Chandler and Yarmuth both understand that a convention fight does no good for the party. And maybe they want our nominee to, you know, actually be a Democrat.

Nice conflation of primary numbers vs. downticket effect. There are VERY few Southern Dems who don't cringe at the thought of running with Clinton at the top of the ticket. The Clintons are absolutely toxic in the non-Arkansas South. Always have been, always will be.

Obama helps Yarmuth. Yarmuth's district has a lot of black voters, and Obama can drive up their turnout WITHOUT, as Yarmuth presumably has calculated, costing Yarmuth any of his white support.

Another day, another superdelegate.

There must be fewer and fewer left. The math doesn't look very good for Mrs. Clinton.

-- ARG

and thus it doesn't seem like he'd be much help to them at the top of the ticket.

I appreciate the sentiments above expressing their confidence in their concern for the good of the party, but let's get real. If you've got a safe seat, getting help in your own reelection campaign is not your concern. Your concern is whether you can earn yourself a big IOU from the next president without costing yourself enough votes to make a difference. You get no credit with the nominee for endorsing after the convention but, just this minute, you can get yourself a lot by picking the winner and signing on before the convention. These guys obviously feel like he's got a lock on it regardless of what else happens.

I've been mum on most of gotalife's trollish inanity these past several months, but even suggesting that John Edwards has any business being Attorney General of the United States in anyone's administration is just beyond idiocy.

I wish John Edwards would endorse Hillary Clinton but John Edwards has said over and over again, that he will not be endorsing until after all primaries and caucuses are over...."smart move"

I can't see Obama winning Kentucky Primary.... That is Hillary's Country.... she is going to win HUGE on May 20th.

Meanwhile, #1 Clinton supporter Gov. Easley is out there gay-baiting for Hillary. Trashing the base = excellent news for Hillary, but does trashing homosexuals = excellent news for Hillary? I don't know, I'm going to need a confirmation...

I expect her to win in Kentucky. I remmeber traveling with my family through Kentucky a few years back and stopping at a diner. We were abused for being Yankee's and there was an interesting debate about how the South will rise again, and how N*ggr*s were ruining our country.

This was in 2002. Classy bunch!

"Obama now has the support of both of Kentucky's Democratic House members -- which is odd considering that Kentucky may well be his single worst state in the Union in both primary and general election polls"

And you wonder why we accuse you of pro-Hillary bias?

There's a desire for change and a surge among the emerging new guard of the Democratic Party that is embodied in Barack Obama. It's being felt everywhere except in states with tired, Party-hack run political machines and old white people, and, apparently, TPMEC.

This could be a game-changing election. We have a severely weakened Republican Party and an almost laughably inept candidate on their side. Parts of the demcoratic electorate that haven't been energised in 30 years are looking forward to having their votes count this time around.

But, instead, we have a retread of the defensive, triangulating, hawkish and belligerent example of the failed DLC politics of the past throwing out bullshit charge after bullshit charge, with TPMEC dutifully repeating every word, and cherry-picking polls that always show her in the best possible light.

On this blog, Obama has NCSteve. Hillary has gotalife. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Actually, Obama does help at the top of the ticket, because real Democrats prefer real Democrats. Republicans in the South tend (on the whole) to vote Republican, not Republican-lite. This is the lesson that the DLC doesn't want to learn. The only politicians who've benefited from the Clintonian style are the Clintons. It doesn't help downticket, and the anti-Clinton sentiment tends to just consolidate Republicans.

Chandler's my congressman, and I'm also surprised by this move.

His district has a larger African-American population than any except Yarmuth's within Kentucky, and also the best educated of the six districts, but that's only on the Kentucky spectrum. There's no way he's under thundering local pressure to do this.

As far as I can tell, Chandler only makes a political move when he sees a political gain for his own ambitions. So the questions for me are "What does he see?" and "Is he right?"

And, um, WOW?

ELizabeth Edwards has not endorsed Clinton. Ridiculous headline on HuffPo that is false. I think the Bingaman endorsement is huge because it pushes Obama up in the Senate. With about 15 uncommitted Senators, it looks like 10 are likely to go with Obama and 5 with Clinton. This means they are choosing who they want to/are likely to have to work with. This sends a clear message to the unelected superdelegates.

Whether or not a Dem wins the general in KY or not, I think the post is wrong to say that Yarmuth and Chandler won't get top of the ticket help with Obama in their districts.

Yarmuth has a large African American population and a lot of Louisville Dems are not big Bubba supporters. UofL sits there and Obama's people do a great job motivating students.

Chandler in Lexington has UK (and Transy, etc.) sitting right there and again, the Dems there are not necessarily "Hillary" Dems.

Actually, a lot of the Hillary supporters are more likely to go with McCain in the general.

DemDave1972 - that's an interesting story. I've spent most of my life in Kentucky, IN and to a much lesser extent (3 years) VA. The only one of those states where the N word was used in front of me in a public place like a diner was VA. And that while Wilder was running. OTOH, the Klan used to try to stage marches in some nearby IN towns when I was a kid (over 3 decads ago).

I do think Hillary will win the primary, but I don't see an Obama endorsement hurting Yarmuth or Chandler and I don't see a ticket led by Obama hurting them at ALL in THEIR districts.

Mary's improving my geographical awareness.

Chandler's also got Frankfort, with the state capital and its employees, and Kentucky State University, which is historically black.

He's got Madison County, with Eastern Kentucky University and Berea College.

And Danville, with Centre College (where the recent student straw poll went absurdly Obama)

And enough of Scott County to have Georgetown College.

And yes, he may figure that this is safe enough with his more conservative constituents, and something his liberal constituents will remember for a long time. It will certainly work with me and mine.

and another endorsement from Iowa DNC Machaceck for Senator Obama, so we are at 3 to 1 this week...

so since PA that 7 to 2:)

Chandler's endorsement shows CHUTZPA!

As you guys keep teling us to quit being lazy because we are to lazy to go to his website and educate ourselves about his so called policies and position Then I will tell you the same. But I will give you a start. In every speech I have heard him give- he talks about the our time has come--MLK-- his change and hope come out of JFK and any one who ever watch the series West Wing should be getting a flashback. The hispanic character that won the election in the last season had the same mannerisms and speeches that Obama has. After that try reading through some speeches of Howard Dean. I have been involved in the political scene for a while and there is nothing refreshing about this guy if people would be honest. He was hyped up as a rock star and given the key note address at the convention for winning an election any democrat would have won. He had no real opposition after the scandle that caused the Rep to dropped out.

But your comment bears little thought considereing that every time someone points out that Obama's speeches are full of rhetoric and no substance Obama supporters are quick to tell us to do the research. I have been to his website-done the research and cannot find anything on there that is not standard on any campaign website. Nothing refreshing--nothing that makes him such different canidate. What I have seen out of himreminds me so much of Reagon-- the great communicator who gave us the trickle down economic policies that has this countries into not two but three parts. THe rich, the well off, or the poor with little chance for the poor to work out of poverty.