The natives were restless in Denver today in anticipation of what the former President Bill Clinton. Fear no more because Bill Clinton HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK!!!! The audience went wild during several point sin his speech. Congressman Meeks introduced President Bill Clinton. The former president expressed his honor to be appearing at the convention. He then said that he is here first to support Barack Obama and second to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden. President Clinton then said that he will do everything he can to elect Barack Obama for president. The former president reiterated that the nation is in trouble and that our position in the world has been weakened. President Clinton then said that the job of the next president is to rebuild the American dream and restore our leadership in the world Clinton then stated with conviction that Barack Obama is the man for this job. The former President said that Barack Obama is ready to lead and honor the oath to preserve, honor, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The President received a standing ovation several times during his speech. And the coupe de gras, Clinton stated indisputably that “Barack Obama is ready to be the President of the United States.” President Clinton emphasized the importance of diplomacy first in this new world. It was a great performance by President Clinton. The torch has been passed.
The Democratic Party of Virginia welcomed it’s Virginia delegation like no other. Virginia kicked off the convention with a bar-b-que and concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Red Rocks is Denver’s natural, and geologically formed, iconic outdoor concert theatre. Green Sunday at Red Rocks featured Laurie David and performances by artists Cheryl Crow, Sugarland, and Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds. Pictures to follow
The Obama campaign wishes that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit Michigan will pass on the Democratic Convention. The Mayor is currently facing felony charges in Michigan stemming from an infidelity scandal. A spokesman from the Obama campaign said that Kilpatrick would serve as a distraction and take away from the Unity message of the Convention. Further, one would think that the mayor would want to stay out of the spotlight given his current legal woes. Unfortunately, the Detroit mayor is a superdelegate and the judge has given him permission to attend. Michigan will be a tight race and the fact that Kilpatrick has all this negative baggage and is refusing to resign is not helpful and can detract from Obama’s efforts to win the state in November.
Brent Colburn, a Michigan-based spokesman for the Obama campaign said in an e-mail “the focus of our convention to people back in Michigan should be on Barack Obama and how the party intends to get America back on track, not (on) a distraction involving the troubles of one individual.”
Not to mention that he will probably have to wear his tracking device to the Convention. Just stay home Mayor.
Our own former governor Mark Warner will be the keynote speaker for the Democratic National Convention. Gov. Warner is also the democratic senate candidate in Virginia. Because this speaking slot is usually the springboard to the national stage for most local politicians (Obama 2004), this is a huge honor and tribute to Gov. Warner and the state of Virginia. The following statement was released by David Plouffe:
“Like Barack Obama, Mark Warner is not afraid to challenge the status quo to bring people together and get things moving,” campaign manager David Plouffe said in a statement. “Its that kind of spirit and innovation that resulted in his selection as keynote speaker on a night when we will be discussing how to renew Americas promise.”
The Obama and Clinton campaigns released a joint statement announcing that the former president, Bill Clinton, will be speaking on Wednesday night at the Democratic convention in Denver. President Clinton will speak before the vice presidential pick on Wednesday. The role of the former president would play at the convention has been a subject of speculation for a few weeks and in the last week its reached a fever pitch. Up until yesterday, the Democratic party was deciding whether John Edwards would speak at all in light of some tabloid stories alleging a scandal involving infidelity. As a matter of fact, the Party is reported to have told the former North Carolina senator that he would need to clear up the scandal before he would be invited to speak. Now it appears that Bill Clinton has been given that open spot and Edwards is out.
Tuesday night, August 26th, has been deemed Hillary night at the Democratic National Convention. Sen. Clinton will give her speech on what will be the 88th anniversary of women’s right to vote. The Senator will be joined on stage by several other female democratic senators. Sources close to Clinton also say that there is little chance that she will be chosen as Sen. Obama’s running mate. Many also speculate that because the vice presidential pick usually speaks on the Wednesday of Convention week, the fact that Clinton is speaking on Tuesday confirms that she is out of the running. However, the New York senator is in serious talks with the Obama campaign about hitting the campaign trail in the next couple of weeks.
FINALLY, it is over! Sen. Barack Obama is officially the presumptive democratic nominee. After fifteen months of rigorous, high octaine, campaigning, Barack Obama finally claimed victory last night over this historic primary race. After losing South Dakota to Clinton 55% to 45%, but trouncing her in Montana 57% to 41%, Sen. Obama made history last night by becoming the first African-American/black person in the western world to head the ticket of a major political party. And he did it by running a positive, uplifting campaign. The Illinois Senator said in front of a crowd of 30,000 in Minnesota “I will be the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States of America.” Sen. Obama ended the night with 2156 delegates and made headlines around the world. PROGRESS.
Al Jazeera (Doha, Qatar): Obama ‘wins Democratic nomination’
Illinois senator projected to become first African-American presidential candidate.
Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem): Obama seals Democratic presidential nomination Defeated Hillary Clinton maneuvers for the vice presidential spot on Illinois senator’s ticket without conceding her own loss.
China Daily (Beijing): Obama seals Democratic nomination Barack Obama sealed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, a step toward his goal of becoming the first black US president.
Obama is a mere 11 delegates away from becoming the presumptive democratic nominee. Sen. Barack Obama has 2107 delegates, gaining a total of 28 delegates so far today. The Senator needs 2118 delegates to reach the majority and clinch the nomination. See list below.
Hillary Clinton wins Puerto Rico! Sen. Obama called Sen. Clinton to congratulate her on her win. Unfortunately for Sen. Clinton, the turnout on the island was not enough to give her what she was hoping for in terms of a lead in the popular vote count. The turnout was a disappointing 50% below what it has been in previous elections reaching a mere 384,000 of the 3 million registered voters. The 55 delegates at stake will be divided proportionally. Puerto Rico cannot vote in the general election therefore the primary does not speak to either candidates electability in November. The Clinton family made a total of four visits to Puerto Rico in their vigorous effort to boost her popular vote count. Sen. Clinton is expected to use the popular vote count to argue to superdelegates that she is the more electable candidate. Also, Clinton’s claim of a higher popular vote count does not include caucus states, Guam, or the Virgin Islands. States and territories won by Sen. Obama. Clinton math….you gotta love it. To clinch the nomination, the victorious candidate must win 2118 delegates by the end of the primary contest. The previous 2025 number was increased yesterday to 2118 after the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to include half of the Florida and Michigan delegations at the conclusion of their meeting on Saturday. Thereby increasing the number of delegates to the 2118 number required to reach a majority because of the newly seated Michigan and Florida delegations. The previous 2025 number did not include the Michigan and Florida delegations because both states delegates were stripped when both states moved up their primaries in violation of DNC rules. The DNC RBC sat Florida as the voters voted in the Sunshine state giving Clinton 56 delegates to Obama’s 36. From Michigan, Clinton received 38 delegates and Obama received 31 with Obama receiving the uncommitted votes in Michigan plus an additional four delegates to reach a total of 31 overall. Including today’s results out of Puerto Rico as they stand now with 29% of the vote in, Obama has 2071.5 needing only 46.5 more delegates to clinch the required 2118 victory number. Clinton has 1911, needing 207 more delegates to clinch the nomination. There are a total of 204 undeclared superdelegates remaining. After the results from South Dakota and Montana, Obama will need a mere 20-25, contingent upon the Montana and South Dakota margins of victory, of the undeclared superdelegates to win the nomination. Clinton needs 195 of the remaining undeclared superdelegates to win the nomination. On Tuesday, South Dakota and Montana go to the polls. It is expected that the Obama campaign, in the next 48 hours, will roll out the additional 30 superdelegates it needs to clinch the nomination. The Obama campaign is encouraging superdelegates to publicly declare before the Montana and South Dakota primaries so that it can declare an official victory soon after the polls close in these last two states.
The Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet Saturday, May 31st in Washington DC in an effort to decide what to do about Michigan and Florida. The entire meeting will be broadcast on CSPAN. Most believe that the DNC will seat half the delegates of each state. If the DNC decides to seat all of Florida and Michigan’s delegates as is, Sen. Clinton would make a dent in Obama’s lead. This result is unlikely however given the following statement by Nancy Pelosi after speaking at meeting in front of the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board in California. In expressing the neccesity for exacting some sort of penalty to Florida and Michigan, Pelosi said “[i]f you have no order and no discipline in terms of party rules, people will be having their primary in the year before the presidential election,” she said. “So there has to be some penalty.”
In addition, Pelosi and Harry Reid released a statement Thursday night to the New York times pressing superdelegates to make their decision known by next week. Reid and Pelosi made clear that they do not want this RBC meeting on Saturday to extend this protracted primary race any further by way of appeals, etc. The two top congressional democrats plan to urge uncommitted superdelegates to make their decision known by the middle of next week to be exact. Reid went further by saying that the nominee will be known by Wednesday of next week. Because superdelegates are members or aspiring members of Congress, word from Reid and Pelosi add a new kind of pressure to the superdelegates. This is bad news for the Clinton Campaign who have been making utterances about taking this to the Credentials Committee at the August convention.
As for the RBC meeting this Saturday, Clinton supporters are expected to protest. The Obama campaign however has opted to go a different route. Campaign Obama has asked its supporters not to protest but to take this opportunity to register voters within their community. The campaign has organized a mass voter registration drive and request that Obama supporters go to www.barackobama.com to find their local registration drive location. The following statement was released by the Obama campaign.
On Saturday, the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee will meet in Washington D.C. to determine whether Florida and Michigan delegates should be allowed to participate at the Democratic convention in August. We look forward to the meeting proceeding smoothly—and we’re asking that our supporters not demonstrate or disrupt the proceedings in any way.
The following is a list of members, who are also superdelegates, of the Rules and Bylaws Committee and which candidate each member supports.
Co-Chairs – no endorsement
Alexis Herman (co-chair, Washington , D.C. )
James Roosevelt, Jr. (co-chair, Massachusetts )
Members – Clinton supporters (13) Hartina Flournay (DC)
Donald Fowler (SC) Harold Ickes, Jr. (DC) Jaime Gonzalez, Jr. (TX) Alice Huffman (CA) Ben Johnson (DC) Elaine Kamarck (MA) Eric Kleinfeld (DC) Mona Pasquil (CA) Mame Reiley (VA) Gary Shay (CA) Elizabeth Smith (DC) Michael Steed (MD) Members – Obama supporters (8) Martha Fuller Clark (NH) Carol Khare Fowler (SC)
Janice Griffin (MD) Thomas Hynes (IL) Allan Katz (FL) Sharon Stroschein (SD) Sarah Swisher (IA) Everett Ward (NC) Members – no known endorsement (7)
Donna Brazille (DC)
Mark Brewer (MI)
Ralph Dawson (NY) Yvonne Gates ( NV) Alice Germond (DC) – DNC Secretary David McDonald (WA) Jerome Wiley Segovia (VA)
Barack Obama attracted the largest crowd of this primary in Portland Oregon this past weekend. The record drawing crowd was at least 75,000 strong with spectators watching from the lawn of the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The park could not hold the enormous crowd so Oregonians watched from boats, outside the park, and any other place that would allow them access to the Illinois senator. Portland is the state’s largest urban area and has been monikered by its residents as “the whitest major city in the United States.” The state of Oregon is also a breeding ground for anti-war activism and sentiment, so Obama’s opposition the the Iraq war contributed to him being an early favorite in the state. Tomorrow, residents of Oregon and Kentucky will have their say at the ballot box. Though Obama has virtually conceded Kentucky to Clinton, the Illinois senator is expected to pull out a decisive victory in Oregon. Obama is not expected to declare victory tomorrow for fear of appearing presumptuous. However, the Windy City senator will have won the most pledge delegates and a win in Oregon will make it officially impossible for Clinton, in the remaining primaries, to overtake his pledge delegate lead. Obama will have to pull out a decent victory in Oregon and decrease Clinton’s margin of victory in Kentucky. If the feedback from the Obama call banks are anything to go by, Clinton’s margin of victory will not be as large in the Bluegrass State as it was in West Virginia. Kentucky is a culturally conservative state that does not care for Wall Street but there is a growing populous discontent in the state. Republicans are polling poorly in the state and this may offer an opportunity for Sen. Obama to take advantage. Having said all that, even though Obama will essentially win the nomination tomorrow, declaring victory may antagonize Clinton supporters thereby making it more difficult to unify the party after the primary season is completed. That does not change the reality however that this race is over. Nor does it take away from the fact that the Obama camp have solid and legitimate reasons for optimism. One being the fact that not a single superdelegate, uncommitted or undeclared, can be found to say that he/she would be willing, despite Obama’s pledge delegate lead, to overturn the result and make Clinton the nominee. Therefore, Obama is on solid footing in his belief that he will become the official democratic nominee on Tuesday night. Sen. Obama has chosen to spend Tuesday, not in Kentucky or Oregon, but in Iowa. The place where his imminent rise in contention and legitimacy began. Obama spent eight months in Iowa prior to its primary. Eight months well spent by most calculations.
ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: For the first time this campaign season, Barack Obama has surpassed Hillary Clinton’s support among superdelegates, according to the ABC News delegate estimate.
Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates this morning giving him a new metric to tout in addition to his current commanding leads in pledged delegates, popular votes, states won, and money raised.
Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., endorsed Obama. DeFazio was previously uncommitted.
UPDATE: The American Federation of Government Employees endorsed Barack Obama today. AFGE President and superdelegate John Gage said “[o]ur people, I think, recognize the enthusiasm and vitality behind Senator Obama’s campaign.” Gage was uncommitted, but to day also personally endorsed Barack Obama for President adding one more to Obama’s increasing superdelegate total.
California DNC member Ed Espinoza endorses Barack Obama for President.
Joe Andrew, who Bill Clinton appointed Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1999, has just switched his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. Andrew has been a supporter of Sen. Clinton since she first announced her bid for the presidency. Andrew made is announcement at a press conference in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana Thursday morning. During the press conference Andrew encouraged his fellow Democrats and Hoosiers to end this madness and unite behind Barack Obama for Tuesdays primary. In his telephone interview with the Associated Press Andrew said “I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it’s now bad for the Democratic Party.” Andrew also cited additional reasons for his switch in a letter to superdelegates. In the letter the former DNC Chairman says ”a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain.” Andrew went on to say “[w]hile I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us,” Andrew continued. “John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives.” Andrew said that teh Obama campaign never asked him to switch his support but he did so after witnessing the principled way that Obama has handled two recent issues that have challenged his campaign. The Wright controversy and the gas tax holiday qestion. Andrew praised the fact that Obama stuck to his guns with respect to the gas tax holiday even though the politically expedient thing to do would have been to go along with Clinton and McCain on this issue. And, he also praised Obama’s handling of the Jeremiah Wright controversy saying that Obama “has shown such mettle under fire.” Andrew’s decision also increases Obama’s superdelegate count thereby clossing in on Clinton’s current lead. The current count for superdelegates 247-263 Clinton. However, Obama leads in the delegate count overall 1735.5 to 1597.5 for Clinton. Last count, 230 superdelegates remain undecided, and about 60 more will be selected at state party conventions and meetings throughout the spring
Well here we are……Michigan and Florida as states of confusion within the Democratic Party. The Clinton campaign, Michigan governor and Clinton supporter Jennifer Granholm, republican governor of Florida who is a staunch supporter of John McCain and serious contender for the VP spot on the McCain ticket, Bill Crist, and Clinton supporter Bill Nelson, are all pushing for Florida and Michigan to be seated at the convention in Denver. As mentioned in earlier writing, a decision as to how to deal with this issue should have been released long ago. Further, there is no way that Michigan and Florida can be seated without it being patently unfair not only to the Obama campaign but to all the voters of other states that worked within the rules of the DNC. Regarding Michigan, Clinton’s name was the only one on the ballot and there is no way that anyone can legitimately argue that it was a fair race, end of story. As for Florida, millions of voters did not vote and thereby will be disenfranchised because they were informed by the DNC, and the state government, that their vote will not count. Therefore, the Florida result does not represent the will of all the citizens of Florida. To seat Florida according to the primary that was held in January would be patently unfair to citizens who did not vote based on incorrect information. How can anyone argue that it would be fair? How is that the democratic process? This is not a situation were voters made an informed decision and decided not to vote. If Florida is seated, the voters of Florida were essentially lied to, the voters relied on that lie when they did not show up at the polls and will be severely damaged as a result. Last I heard we are suppose to trust that our government will not punish us for listening to the rules and making decisions based on such rules. Howard Dean said yesterday that the rules will not be changed in the middle of the game. The DNC Chairman went on to say that to change the rules in the middle of the game would not be fair to either candidate. Further, Dean said that the candidates agreed to or were aware of the rules with respect to Michigan and Florida before each of them began their run for the presidency. Dean concluded by saying that if Michigan and Florida wants to be seated at the convention in Denver, both states will have to work within the rules that were in place at the beginning of the 2008 presidential campaign. What that means is that the states will either have to host another primary or appeal to the credentials committee at the Denver Convention. Dean also said that there is no way that Florida and Michigan can break the rules and then be rewarded by being given the power to decide this election. I agree. All the other states were aware of the rules and worked within them. The official statement from DNC Chairman Howard Dean went as follows:
The rules, which were agreed to by the full DNC including representatives from Florida and Michigan over 18 months ago, allow for two options. First, either state can choose to resubmit a plan and run a process to select delegates to the convention [another primary or caucus]; second, they can wait until this summer and appeal to the Convention Credentials Committee, which determines and resolves any outstanding questions about the seating of delegates. We look forward to receiving their proposals should they decide to submit new delegate selection plans and will review those plans at that time. The Democratic Nominee will be determined in accordance with party rules, and out of respect for the presidential campaigns and the states that did not violate party rules, we are not going to change the rules in the middle of the game. “Through all the speculation, we should also remember the overwhelming enthusiasm and turnout that we have already seen, and respect the voters of the twelve states and territories who have yet to have their say.
Most are estimating that the cost of hosting another primary will be $25 million dollars for each state. The Florida and Michigan governors are pushing for the DNC to pay for new primaries. So the republican governor, and John McCain supporter, Bill Crist would like the DNC to go into it’s war chest for the general election and fix a problem that such governor and the republican controlled legislature created. I am quite sure that the Republican Party of Florida is an a back room chuckling hysterically at the pickle that they have put the democratic party in. Whatever money the democratic party throws at the Florida and Michigan situation is money that cannot be used in the general election race against John McCain. Because Florida and Michigan violated the rules, each state should be financially responsible for for hosting a re-do in its respective states. I am sure that all the voters who have donated funds to the DNC from all over the “United States” are not interested in encouraging the temper-tantrum bad behavior of Michigan and Florida by financing a do-over.
Looks like the Governor of Florida is offering his support for a repeat democratic primary. Because taxpayers pay for primaries in Florida, this would help with the financing portion of the repeat. How kind of the the Governor to help out the democrats…(sarcasm intended). Newsflash: if the REPUBLICAN Governor of Florida, who endorses his party’s nominee for his governing state’s primary, offers assistance to the opposing party……beware of true motives. I’ll just point out the obvious. It is in Crist’s interest to drag out the democratic primary with the two democratic candidates slinging as much mud as possible so that his party has ample necessary opposition research. Democrats can be sure that all the negatives asserted between the two democratic candidates during this primary will show up in the general election in the form of republican ammunition. I know that the media wants to drag this out because it translates into millions of advertising dollars, but it is really time for the democrats to UNITE behind a single nominee or face a serious risk of losing the general election in the fall. We also now have conservative republican talk radio hosts encouraging their listeners to vote for Clinton because McCain has pretty much locked down the republican nomination. The shock jocks are asking their listeners to use their vote in Ohio and Texas to sabotage the democrats for the general election by way of voting for the candidate that they have railed against for the last 20 years. The longer this is drawn out the more susceptibility to mischief by the opposing party. Democrats, its time to choose a candidate and make a decision before you shoot yourself in the foot. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who has not endorsed either democratic candidate, has also said whomever is ahead in delegates on Wednesday Oct 5th, should be the nominee and the other candidate should drop out of the race. This should be about who can best lead and unite the democratic party as a whole, as well as who can beat the opposing party in November. This should be less about supporting an entitlement theory. Those who are backing the theory that Clinton should wait it out in hopes of Obama making a mistake is based on an underlying false premise that somehow Clinton is entitled to the nomination. Or, there is some sort of financial gain involved for the person/industry supporting the strategy. I have heard a couple of pundits pushing this approach. I wholeheartedly disagree. Democrats need to be DECISIVE on March 4th and start preparing for the general election uphill battle in November.
Howard Dean, the Chair of the Democratic National Committee, is very upset with John McCain. Apparently, when the McCain campaign was not doing very well back in December, McCain was strapped for cash and applied for federal matching funds using the promise of Public Financing as collateral for the loan. Public financing is funded by taxpayers checking the box on their tax returns indicating that they would like to donate to the Federal Election Commission. Candidates opting into the public finance system are also subject to public finance regulations. Public finance regulations set spending limits for candidates in primaries and the general election. In primaries, the cap is set at $54 million. McCain has already spent $49 million on his campaign. Therefore, if he were to abide by the election laws, that McCain is responsible for reforming, the Arizona Senator will only have $5 million left to spend in this primary season ending in September. Because McCain does not want to be limited by the spending cap, he has formally requested a withdrawal from the program. McCain’s lawyer argues that McCain is allowed to opt out of the program because it is voluntary. FEC lawyers announced on Thursday that it may not be possible for McCain to withdraw at this point because he used the promise of federal matching funds to secure the bank loan. Okay, didn’t McCain attempt to slam Obama for not responding, and according to McCain breaking his word, regarding a pledge Obama signed last year regarding public campaign financing. Even though the actual wording of the pledge is to “aggressively pursue an agreement” with the GOP to preserve a publicly financed election. Last I checked, an agreement to “agressively pursue” agreement, does not mean actual agreement. Participating in the public finance system caps each candidates spend in the general election to $85 million and neither candidate cannot accept additional funds. But I digress. Looks like Mr. McCain should be in fact, Mr. Pot calling Mr. Kettle. Currently four of the six member seats of the Federal Election Commission are vacant so no decision can be made on this issue until the FEC has quorum. Gridlock between the Bush administration and the Senate is stalling the nominations for these posts. The reason this is such an issue is because McCain has built his reputation, after the Keating Five scandal (five Senators, including McCain, accused of Savings and Loan corruption in 1989), on being a reformer and the champion of campaign finance reform.
After a fierce battle between Obama and Clinton in the Copper State, Obama shines. The Senator from Illinois wins Wisconsin by a significant margin of 58% to 41%. The Clinton campaign was hoping to reduce the victory margin to a single digit win but Obama won by 17 points. Wisconsin has 74 elected delegates and 18 superdelegates available, totaling 92 delegates up for grabs in the state. Wisconsin was true blue but has shown a tendency to swing or be purple due to the influx of progressives in the state. The Badger State is also a critical win for Democrats in November. Having said all of that, the state is also tailor made for Hillary Clinton. White working class voters make up the majority of the electorate. The significance of this Obama victory is not missed because the Senator has again broadened his coalition. The white women vote was split almost evenly between Clinton and Obama with Clinton winning the group 53% to Obama’s 45%. Obama won white men 62% to Clinton’s 36% and made inroads with working class voters increasing his percentage to 48% to Clinton’s 51%. Clinton did win with three other groups: seniors, voters with less than a college education, and catholic voters. The Illinois Senator won 63% of all voters who decided in the last month. As to the issues, Obama won on healthcare, the war in Iraq, the economy, and electability. According to exit polls, seven in ten voters believe that international trade takes jobs from the United States. The North American Free Trade Agreement may have hurt Hillary in this regard because many states like Wisconsin and Ohio have been deindustrialized because of the Agreement. It is significant that Bill Clinton was the primary force behind the passage of NAFTA. Another contributing factor to the outcome of the Wisconsin contest is same day voter registration, citizens can register to vote and actually vote on election day. In addition, Wisconsin is an open primary where independents and republicans vote in the democratic primary, two groups that tend to go for Obama. The exit polls also revealed the following facts about Wisconsin voters: 43% thought the economy is the most important issue; 29% are concerned about the war in Iraq; 25% are concerned with healthcare; 90% of the voters thought the economy is not doing well; 17% of voters were first time primary voters; 27% were independent voters; 59% of the voters had income levels over $50,000. McCain also won in Wisconsin and Washington state. McCain will receive the 40 delegates from Wisconsin and 19 delegates from Washington state.
What an exciting race? I have never experienced such an adrenalin rush from a political campaign. As an outsider looking in, the democratic race is like being at the horse races at the final stretch. Even with all the exciting contests, debates, and back and forth between the two candidates, I find myself wondering…is all this for naught? Are we going to wake up one day before the convention and hear that, despite all our efforts and all the newly generated excitement, the Democratic Party establishment has decided the nominee for us? Are we going to hear that some backroom deal was brokered in the middle of the night by Washington insiders? Please say it isn’t so. Now that you have our keen interest, awakened our spirit, motivated us toward change, inspired us to be more politically involved than any electorate in history, I hope that you do not now steal our spirit by meeting behind closed doors in a smoke filled room to make a decision that will affect the American people for decades, and maybe centuries to come. If such an outcome were to occur, I believe that there would be a backlash toward the election system and the democratic party of epic proportions. The last thing that we need as voters is to feel that going out to polls and casting our vote does not really matter. Many people felt this way after the Bush-Gore election. To have this confirmed inside the Democratic party would be completely demoralizing for the “electorate.” The idea that a few people within the Democratic Party have the power to override the will of the general population seems contrary to what the Democratic Party stands for. Not to mention, pompous and arrogant. The whole Superdelegates system does not necessarily instill in voters the confidence that our will will prevail in the end. The archaic system was developed at a time when the electorate did not have the technology and improved communication available to us today. Because of such improvements, we are much more informed about the issues facing our country and our everyday lives. The Superdelegates idea is based on the erroneous premise that politicians have better judgment than their constituents as to who should be our President. But don’t we elect the politicians? Well, it’s a new day, and voters of the 2008 election are more informed about the issues affecting their political decisions than voters have been in the last thirty years. So I ask…..is such a system needed in this incredibly technologically advanced climate? I think not. I suggest that after the 2008 election the antiquated system be scrapped. As for this election, my suggestion is that you make some process decisions as to how the worst case scenario can be resolved and you make them quick. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of the same arguments being leveled against Obama’s candidacy were made against JFK by the democratic party establisment during Kennedy’s run for president in 1960. The experience argument, the national security argument, all of same arguments were used during the Kennedy-Johnson primaries of 1960. Kennedy was dubbed too young and inexperienced to be trusted with the Presidency. Kennedy was asked by Truman to “be patient” until he had more seasoning. Kennedy responded with winning the nomination and then the Presidency in November of 1960. Just like in 1960, the democratic party is resisting change with tooth and nail. Unfortunately, for those political veterans who have been in Washington for too many years, change is coming. Those who expect the usual rules of old school politics to dictate the outcome of this election will be sorely disappointed. Just as most voters must have felt on November 7, 1960…..it is a new day in Washington.
In the Democratic party you have delegates (the popular vote of the State), and then you have Super Delegates who are allotted a heaping portion of delegates and are Democratic party leaders (members of Congress, democratic governors, and elected members of the Democratic National Committee). Super Delegates can vote for whomever they choose and are not beholding to the popular vote of his or her state. The total number of Super Delegates in the Democratic Party is 796 and make up about 20 percent of the entire convention. On Feb 5th , several states delegates will be up for grabs. For the Republicans, 975 delegates are at stake, and for the Democrats, 1681 delegates are at stake. The Democratic National Committee awards delegates on a proportional basis, which means that all of the candidates will pick up delegates if they clear the 15% viability threshold. The Republicans have a combination of proportional and winner-take-all system. In winner-take-all, if a candidate wins by just one vote he receives all the delegates for that state. There are 22 Super Tuesday states for the Democrats and 21 for the Republicans. The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of all its delegates because the Sunshine state moved up its primaries in violation of DNC rules.
