Bump and Update: Rezko's lawyer reminded the jury in closing arguments that Rezko was a fundraiser for Barack Obama.

Before the trial ended for the day, Duffy sought to draw a difference between politics, Rezko's fundraising activities and the allegations in the case.

"Politics is different from criminal activity," said Duffy, reminding the jury that Rezko had been involved in fundraising for President Bush and Barack Obama as well.

***

Closing Arguments Underway in Rezko Trial

The Government is in the midst of what it said will be a 3 to 4 hour closing argument in the corruption trial of Tony Rezko. The Chicago Tribune is live-blogging. The Chicago Sun Times lists the ten key moments in the trial. [More...]

Barack Obama edged out Hillary Clinton in the Missouri by one point. She won everywhere but Kansas City, St. Louis, Jefferson City and Nodeway. In some rural parts of the state, she got 70% of the vote. She got more votes from Democrats than Obama, but he got a large share of the Independent vote.

McCain won a contested primary in Missouri against Huckabee and Romney. Missouri has voted Republican in recent general elections. Its last vote for a Democrat was for Bill Clinton in 1996. A Rasmussen poll last week showed Missouri would vote for McCain over Obama, 47 to 41%. Hillary did better, a statistical tie with McCain.

Missouri is a classic swing state in Presidential Elections that almost always awards its Electoral College Votes to the candidate who wins the White House. George W. Bush won those 11 Electoral Votes four years ago by winning the popular vote 53% to 46%.

Missouri selected its delegates this weekend: Hillary and Obama got equal number of pledged delegates and currently split the state's superdelegates equally.[More...]

This DKos post argues that Barack Obama's inability to connect with white working class voters is limited to Appalachia. That is incorrect in my view and I will discuss why I think so below.

But the question is begged - is that not a problem in and of itself? The Appalachia Phenomenon is used to explain Obama's problem with white working class voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and improbably, Maryland. That is 7 states. One is comfortably Democratic, Maryland. Four are solidly Republican, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky (though Bill Clinton won it). But the last two? Ah, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They decide Presidential elections. Even the Appalachian Phenomenon gives serious cause for worry. But the Appalachian Theory does not explain everything. More . . .

Barack Obama the unity candidate? Please. Via Politico, here's Barack Obama stumping in West Virginia today:

One of the saddest episodes in our history was the degree to which returning vets from Vietnam were shunned, demonized and neglected by some because they served in an unpopular war. Too many of those who opposed the war in Vietnam chose to blame not only the leaders who ordered the mission, but the young men who simply answered their country’s call. Four decades later, the sting of that injustice is a wound that has never fully healed, and one that should never be repeated.

Politico says:

Not only is Obama underlining his generational distance from the boomers, but he's also reaching out to swing voters with a back of the hand at the cultural left.

In other words, Obama intends to battle the war-hero McCain by throwing us under the bus. [More...]

Chris Bowers notices:

While the Daily Kos diary in question is specifically arguing that the [Bush Dog Jim] Cooper plan was great (although that is implied), it does take as its main point that health care reform failed in 1993-1994 because Democrats, specifically Hillary Clinton, weren't nice enough to conservatives. If only Hillary Clinton had been nicer to conservatives, then we could have had great health care plans like Jim Cooper's. Hell, Jim Cooper himself says so. And look, David Brooks agrees, so it much be right. . . . MORE

One good thing has happened in this Democratic primary process, the silly proclamation of 60% wins and 40 state sweeps is over. Maybe in the future Dems can dream of such things. But not in this Presidential election. Now everyone has seen all the state by state polling and I won't dwell on it. But following in Jeralyn's footsteps, I will discuss what I believe are realistic electoral maps for the likely nominee, Barack Obama and for Hillary Clinton. I also will discuss what this map might mean in terms of a VP choice. More . . .

James Joyner discusses Missouri's Voter ID plan (I call it the GOP's voter suppression scheme):

The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card.

Joyner remarks:

This . . . would be defensible if there were strong reason to believe that significant numbers of non-citizens were showing up to vote and skewing the election results. There isn’t. Certainly, illegal aliens have strong incentives to avoid official scrutiny. So, who are these people we’re trying to keep from voting?

Answers to simple questions - Democrats. That is who the Missouri GOP is trying to keep from voting.

By Big Tent Democrat

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article today on the presidential candidates and their positions on federal raids of marijuana dispensaries. It gets it somewhat right, but is a little misleading in my view. With the Oregon vote coming up, it paints Barack Obama as the only true friend of the medical marijuana user. (None are a friend to the recreational user,although Obama once said he was.)

Here's what I've found over the past months:

• Hillary and Obama on Assisted Suicide and Medical Marijauana
• Obama Withdraws Support for Marijuana Decriminalization
• Obama 04 vs. Obama 08 (with video of his comments)
• Obama Backs Decriminalization
• Obama Campaign Retracts Statement Supporting Decriminalization and Obama Used to Favor Decriminalization
• Obama and Medical Pot: More Research Needed [More...]

Suffolk University has Hillary Clinton winning West Virginia by 36. Many Obama supporters and media pundits will scream nasty things about West Virginia if that is the result. The reason is they have no understanding that demography has been political destiny in this campaign. West Virginia is 97% white. Barack Obama has not gotten more than 40% of the white vote since Wisconsin, where he won the white vote. So a huge defeat in west Virginia was to be expected. Let me share with you some exit polling regarding white voters in other states. First, from Obama's crushing win in NC - Clinton won whites 61-37. In PA, Clinton won whites 63-37. In Ohio, Clinton won whites 64-34. In MA, Clinton won whites 58-40. In Maryland, Clinton won whites 52-42. Missouri, Clinton won whites 57-39. And the same type of results were found in TN, AR, NJ, GA, MS, AL, FL and so on.

Whatever people want to say about the results in West Virginia tomorrow, it is unfair and a mistake to pretend West Virginia is an anomaly. Outside of the West (Obama won whites in CA, WA, ID, UT, CO, KS, etc) Obama has not fared well with white voters. (Out West, Obama has fared poorly with Latinos.) This is not an Appalachia issue, as some have suggested.

One last thing. the Obama camp predicted a 12 point Clinton win in West Virginia.

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By Big Tent Democrat

Even though we added a second dedicated server to TalkLeft a few months ago, we're still having occasional problems. Part of it may be that the average time a reader spends on TalkLeft has gradually increased to an astonishing 7 minutes. We started closing comments at 200 to reduce the demand on the databases, but that still hasn't fixed our problems. We went down the night of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries and again today.

The next step is to increase the memory on the servers. We'll be upgrading from 2 gigabites to 6 gigabytes around 2:00 am ET. The site will be down while the new memory is being installed. It shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour, but since we have quite a group of late night readers, myself included, I'm just giving everyone a heads up.

Server back up now: 12:33 am MT. 'Night everyone, this is an open thread and there's more there's more below.

Bringiton at Corrente does the heavy lifting. An overview of the Democratic nominating process is here.

My view of the math is found at The Electoral Map and the Battleground States. It's based on William Arnone's analysis here.

The three of us concur: Hillary has a better chance of accumulating the electoral votes necessary to beat John McCain. It doesn't mean we think Obama can't do it. It means we think Hillary is a surer bet.

All comments related to the electoral math vote count are welcome. As Bringiton says, "please do not clutter up the discussion thread with meaningless repetition of [Obama] talking points; if you have nothing new to offer, kindly hold your peace.]

This is an amazing statement from Obama supporting Pennsylvania State Represenative Mark Cohen. After arguing the Presidential nominee should not be pressured to accept a Vice Presidential candidate not of his or her choosing, he vows to, get this, pressure the likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama to NOT choose Hillary Clinton:

I do not think the "Vote Both" gambit will work. But it certainly bears watching, analysis, and in the judgment of many including myself, concerted opposition.

Concerted opposition to what? Barack Obama will choose his nominee. Does Rep. Cohen plan to oppose such a decision by Obama? What is wrong with some Obama supporters? Are they intent on losing in November by keeping the Democratic Party divided? I know next to nothing about this PA State Rep, but what I see here indicates he is not very bright. I wonder what the Obama camp thinks of his actions and statements. Someone should ask them.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

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