It should be noted that Barack Obama have been campaigning this weekend in Oregon.

I think it's a smart move- but as a Portlander I was hoping to catch his victory speech if Tuesday put him over. This city treats Dems well, and it would have been a lot better than watching it on tv.

very smart move for him not to be in either state....since he is going to lose both come tuesday:):)

Hillary Clinton's campaign has yet to announce where she will be on Tuesday.

Anyone wants to take a guess as to what that means?

She to will be inIowa to give her concession speach

From Mike Allen's Playbook this morning at Politico; "Clinton officials plan to push back against the idea that Obama is "over the top" after Tuesday night, insisting the pledged-delegate pool must include Florida and Michigan."

So I don't think she will be on that stage with Obama even if he wins big in Oregon. But it is strange that they haven't said what her plans are for Monday or Tuesday. Obama is in Oregon today and Monday. I am wondering if they are trying to encourage a big 'super' rollout on Tuessday night. Who else will be on that stage in Des Moines?

The corporate media has been all over Obama's flamethrowing contest with the Chimp-in-Charge and Senator Wackadoo for the entertainment value.

The corporate media has basically blacked out coverage the Clinton campaign cuz of the lack of green to feed the noise machine.

I hate that corporations are working so hard to pick of leaders for us. We should focus less on screaming neener-neener at Obama or Clinton and express our discontent to the media about the media.

Perhaps a thank you note to our Senators who refused to allow the further contraction of media ownership is in order ans a raspberry to the idiots who wanted to ratify the new FCC guidelines, too.

What's the shit on the front page about talks to "merge" the two campaigns?

If they are going to merge in order to strengthen Obama's campaign = ok. But I'm not up for a presidency by board of directors.

Props to Astral for being on this 24 hours ago.

Hillary will remain in Denial...

From: "Head of State"

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/anti-swift-boating-rapid-response-team.html

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Anti-Swift Boating Rapid Response Team

We know it's coming.

We've seen it already, in the wildly distorted rumors circulating the net. That Obama is a Muslim (he is not). The subtle and not-so-subtle playing to racist fears. The crude use of guilt through association.

Political consultants have stated that in this election, it will be "Swift Boat x 5".

It's time to get ready. Now.

To offset the upcoming swift-boating, two essential psychological tactics are necessary:

1) Innoculation: To frame the swiftboating before it occurs, and then to link it to the old politics of the previous administration. It is important to begin now to bring about the widespread expectation that such swiftboating will occur, that it will make use of the most wild, manufactured, cynical distortion and attack--and that it is this type of politics which brought us the factless inventions, fear-based manipulations, and cynical policies of the Bush Administration--along with a war in Iraq, a "Mission Accomplished", and the loss of our most basic and fundamental treasure--the lives of our citizens and the standing of our nation, in return for a war that putatively would be funded by oil revenues of that nation.

2) Rapid Response: The swiftboating memes--the wild ideas, absolute creations, and delusional accusations that emerge (and they will emerge) must be met quickly and broadly across the net with fact--at the time that they emerge, and repeatedly, until actual fact is louder than the distortions invented and designed to induce doubt.

This is where you come in.

Sitting in your chair, where you are now, reading, for only a few hours a week, you can use your intellect and passion for truth to be part of an Anti Swiftboating Rapid Response Team, that will be ready to respond to the rapidly dissimenating constructions when they occur--with fact.

Your role, along with others, will be to correct distortions with the facts, as a part of a coordinated effort to finally put an end to these tactics with the power of truth.

In the prior Presidential election, it was still possible to create false messages that would dominate the political dialogue, due to the dominance of and the need for a false balance within old media.

No longer.

In the first election where more voters get their information from the web than from television, we can correct these distortions, rather than letting them stand. Rather than having to see false suspicions be cynically introduced into the electorate, we can help to stop them--as they emerge--in their tracks.

If you want to be part of an effort to help "Stop the Swiftboating", drop me an email at:

headofstateblog@yahoo.com

indicating your interest, and I'll tell you more about the effort. You can be from any state, and no experience is necessary--just a desire to see this type of politics put to its deserving end.

Cite:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/anti-swift-boating-rapid-response-team.html

Man has it been a slow freakin weekend around here.

This is typical of any campaign so far. Wasn't Hillary in FL the night she got her clock cleaned in SC? They all move on to the next stop pretty quickly. If you have a full day of campaigning lined up the next day there's no good reason to hang around just to make a speech in a state that has already voted.

After Oregon Obama will have clinched it. Look for a big speech in IA that night, where it all started.

She will be in KY and another thumpin will occur.

No super is worth a hundred thousand Clinton voters but they will give it to Obama.

This election is bs.

This election is bs.

Well we haven't had an "election" yet, gotnolife. All we've done so far is nominate someone to run in the election.

"As we have known for a long time, the Democratic delegate selection process is a travesty. Starting with the disenfranchising caucus system, which shuts out legions of voters from the process, to the unbalanced proportional system of awarding delegates by congressional district (which produces such perverse results like a candidate winning 60% of the vote in a district receiving the same amount of delegates and a different candidate receiving 60% of the delegates with a 50.1% of the vote in another district), to the overweighting of regions arbitrarily and haphazardly (for example, in Nevada rural district were overweighted, in Texas urban districts were overweighted), to awarding low turnout states disproportional representation to high turnout states, the entire system is a travesty of democracy.

Let me put it bluntly, anyone holding up the pledged delegate count as representing the "will of the people" is simply full of it. It does not. It thwarts the will of the people. BY DESIGN. Now we have the latest bit of evidence that the pledged delegate system is a total crock:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama succeeded in driving more supporters to the Nevada state convention than his opponent U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had won the state in the Jan. 19 caucuses. Obama essentially reversed Clinton’s lead from the caucuses, capturing 55 percent of the state delegates to Clinton’s 45 percent.
Remember when the likes of Kid Oakland and TINS were screaming about voter disenfranchisement at the Nevada caucuses in January? How about this utter disregard for those votes? Will there be any honest person in the Obama supporters camp willing to address this disgrace? Of course not. They will whoop it up.

This is a disgusting spectacle. A travesty of democracy. And to hear Donna Brazile and her ilk justify their ego driven blocking of the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations in the face of this incontrovertible evidence that the RULZ are a disgrace just burns me up.

In my opinion, Barack Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. At this point I believe he is the choice, by a very narrow margin, of the will of the people as I believe he still leads in the popular vote. But never forget this, the Democratic Party has shamed itself with its disregard for democracy and voters.

This disgraceful system can not stand any more after this nomination process is over.

By Big Tent Democrat"

Total bs of an election. Period.

Clinton supporters will largely not support Obama. Chuckle your way to another Republican regime. AFAIK Obama werves the same function Nader did. He will be responsible for the Republicnas keeping the White House.

can I be the one to tell Joe Leiberman to go f*ck himself?

O hell no! You are going to have to get in line for that one and probably have to fight me for it.

;)

Fucking tags!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first part of that: "Let me put it bluntly, anyone holding up...simply full of it."

was supposed to be a blockquote. It was from gotnolife.

(I am predicting a pickup of 6, btw)

I'm guessing 7 of these 8 turn blue.

Colorado
Maine
Minnesota
Nebraska
New Hampshire
Oregon
Virginia
Texas

The stink left by the Cheney regime isn't going to be smelling any better as the months go by.
~

McCain has had to call the Exterminators back to his Panderosa Ranch for the fifth time in the past week. He has been bunking with a nest of serpents.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10428.html

Former Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, a Texan who is among the McCain campaign’s most important advisers and fundraisers, has resigned as a national co-chair over lobbying entanglements, a Republican source told Politico on Sunday.

It’s at least the fifth lobbying-related departure from the campaign in a week.

The McCain campaign, already facing the prospect of being badly outgunned in the general election, now also must cope with the disruption of the lobbying shakeout.

Blessed are the peace makers.

Read the bottom of the article, and you will find more clear evidence of why Bush has ruined America's international reputation. Look at the company he has put us in on this vital humanitarian issue.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0518/clusterbombs.html

Calls for ban on cluster bombs
Sunday, 18 May 2008 15:49

The country's Catholic bishops have called on the Government to ban the use and promotion of cluster bombs.

The Catholic organisation Pax Christi has expressed surprise that such legislation has not already been enacted.

The comments come on the eve of an international meeting in Dublin which it is hoped will spearhead the negotiation of a global ban on the highly controversial munitions.

Earlier, Pope Benedict XVI called on all governments to adopt an international convention banning the use of cluster munitions.

The pope spoke during a visit to the northern Italian city of Genoa, ahead of Monday's opening of a 12-day conference aimed at sealing an international treaty banning their use.

Pope Benedict prayed for the victims of cluster munitions and for their families, pointing out that some of those directly affected by the weapons would attend the Dublin conference

Meanwhile, the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs and Trócaire have also called on the Government here to pass laws banning cluster bombs.

More than 100 countries are to be represented at the talks in Dublin, where delegates will seek to clinch an international treaty that will outlaw the use, production and stockpiling of cluster bombs by its signatories.

However, the main producers of cluster weapons, the US, Israel, China, Russia, India, and Pakistan, have indicated that they will skip the Dublin meeting.

Story from RTÉ News:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0518/clusterbombs.html

Worth reading:

The WP article seems to indicate that the candidates are a bit more grown up than the rest of us.

It is interesting that Hillary people might have threatened contributors who could be thinking of jumping ship before she gets to negotiate her new position in the party and the race.

I never hated Clinton - I hated her campaign and her as a campaigner.

She is far from my favorite legislator.

Lieberman I hate. Clinton - no. But that doesn't mean I love her - I don't and I never have. I used to love Bill, but unfortunately he showed me the Matrix, and I no longer love him either.

But they are good for the party. They are powerful people with powerful friends and they do raise money. They don't do as well as Obama by any stretch of the imagination. But I always did prefer to have them on our side instead of on the Repugs' side.

But you willfully misread and mischaracterize and misstate every damn thing.

How come she's leading in both states I hear. Won't that be weird for Obama to announce he's the guy if he loses both races the same night?

My personal guess is she'll be in Kentucky.

Or Florida.

I don't hate her, just her tactics & all the doubts she stirred up concerning Barack, infact she still is, received an E-mail wanting me to notify DNC to allow her to receive all votes from FL & MI. How many are receiving this I wonder.

Hope I am being paranoid, but honestly still have nagging doubts. It can't be over too soon.

CTVoter - It is always a mistake for a candidate to pick a running mate from the same part of the country/same kind of place.

And I think another senator is a bad mistake, too, because it limits the scope of experience. I think he needs very very much to go outside Congress for a running mate.

I like Bill Richardson. He'd be good - but someone the other day said that he didn't think that the first AA presidential candidate would pick an ethnic veep and there's something to that -

I don't have any ideas for a good veep. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who isn't in Congress.

Dems need a pick at the free throw line of life?

GRESHAM, Ore. - Democrat Barack Obama told seniors Sunday that Republican John McCain would threaten the Social Security that they and millions like them depend on because he supports privatizing the program.

Nice pivot..nothing but net

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but the WaPo article kash linked to in">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702425.html?hpid=topnews">in comments above underlined what I have been worrying about ever since Indiana/NC...which is that the DLC wing is pressuring Obama to bring one of their own onto the ticket (as described in the article, "a Hillary loyalist" which is the same as saying "a DLCer"). Names being thrown around are Evan Bayh (yawn) and Wesley Clark, whom I know a lot of folks here think would be great, so let me remind you that he played the role in 2004 as the Clinton "stalking horse" to Howard Dean's campaign, and nice guy or not, he sucks as a campaigner. Apparently the DLC's price for party unity is letting them keep a foot inside the door...a very big foot who would end up on the short list for nominee in (god forbid) 2012 or 2016, thereby keeping DLC prospects alive when for the good of the party they need to be squashed. I know the pressure to cave to the DLC on the VP slot is going to be enormous but I hope Obama will resist it. For one thing, the DLC can't do much other than make empty threats. The DLC doesn't have a constiuency of voters. They have a constiuency of money, which clearly didn't help Hillary all that much and which Obama doesn't really need like Hillary did, thanks to his superior grassroots organization and fundraising. Not to mention that for the DLC to even suggest that their money constituency won't help out if the DLC doesn't get to pick the VP...well, that would be an invitation to laugh right in their faces. We all know how these things work...donors want to be on the winning team and they will be there to some measure even if the DLC is ejected from the game. It might be that their DLC cronies could coax higher amounts out of them than Obama could, or they might be more enthusiastic if their DLC water-carriers had a place on the ticket...but they'll still be lining up to pony up the dough whether the DLC is at the table or not.

So, keeping my fingers crossed. If watching the Obama campaign in action has taught me anything, it's that there's nothing that has occured to me that they haven't been thinking about already.

Okay, I'll try kash's link again: here

JennOfArk - the VP slot is nothing if not political. That's all it is, so that makes sense to me.

I kind of doubt Obama would have set himself up for accepting someone he finds unacceptable - so it should be interesting to watch.

I have no feel for it whatsoever - I can't think of anyone who is "just right."

i am watching the replay of Meet the Press on MSNBC right now and i have to ask, why is Harold Ford suddenly all over NBC and MSNBC? Is it me or does he come off a bit shallow? no depth?

Record Obama Crowd, the Size of a City

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Sen. Barack Obama has seen his share of large crowds over the last 15 months, but his campaign said they have not approached the numbers gathered along the waterfront here right now.

The campaign, citing figures from Duane Bray, battalion chief of Portland Fire & Rescue, estimated that 75,000 people are watching him speak.

The scene suggests this is not an exaggeration. The sea of heads stretches for half a mile along the grassy embankment, while others watch from kayaks and power boats bobbing on the Willamette River. More hug the rails of the steel bridge that stretches across the water and crowds are even watching from jetties on the opposite shore.

Here's another rather impressive view.
This is a politician.

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Barack-Obama/ss/events/pl/020807obama;_ylt=AoJbIv7ItU.s0fKMkjk71tNsnwcF#photoViewer=/080518/480/41d4f2c997834f1baa804bd07ca0722a

To answer my own question - Oregon has about 2.7mil people eliglble to vote. If they follow other states in turnout %, they will have 750-850K voting. So yeah, this rally was attended by 1/10th of the entire dem voting population in Oregon.

*ignores troll*
The TMP crew must be taking the weekend off.

On the topic of the thread, I like the idea of Obama going back to Iowa Tuesday. Aside from the symbolic thats-where-it-all-started stuff, looking at the GE map, Iowa, Colorado & New Mex look to be his best bets. If he holds Kerry states and gains those 3 (polls are showing him well ahead) he wins the GE even without OH & FL.
So sewing up IA is a good thing. BTW, Terry 'Baghdad Bob' McCauliffe is denying there is any way that Obama can clinch the pledged delegate lead on Tues.

Oh a different topic, Gallup is showing that the McBush Israel flap is helping Obama. He shot up like a cannon after his remarks (he is at 52%, his highest yet). Some of that is probably some acceptance of his being the winner but it actually dipped a bit the day Bush made the remarks. It wasn't until after his response that he really came up in the poll.

His GE numbers are a little more questionable. They were sinking a bit but turned yesterday and I suspect will be friendlier to Obama in the next few days. I think the GE polls are more difficult to move and take longer to register changes. More internal processing that people have to do given the difference in ideology/policy between the candidates. Primaries it is easier to hop around within similar view points.

In Other Primary News... McCain Will Spend Tuesday Night Trying To Go Poop.

YES, Obama needs to end this BILLARY Clinton BS.

I told you Portland would treat him well. Maybe he should have given his victory speech here after all. They seemed genuinely surprised at the size of the crowd.