Barack Obama's campaign has acknowledged Sen. Obama made a factual error in stating the Kennedy family paid for his father's emigration from Kenya to the U.S. in 1959.

Addressing civil rights activists in Selma, Ala., a year ago, Sen. Barack Obama traced his "very existence" to the generosity of the Kennedy family, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother.

The Camelot connection has become part of the mythology surrounding Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Research subsequently revealed the Kennedy family didn't make a financial donaton until 1960.

Contrary to Obama's claims in speeches in January at American University and in Selma last year, the Kennedy family did not provide the funding for a September 1959 airlift of 81 Kenyan students to the United States that included Obama's father. According to historical records and interviews with participants, the Kennedys were first approached for support for the program nearly a year later, in July 1960. The family responded with a $100,000 donation, most of which went to pay for a second airlift in September 1960.

The Obama campaign has acknowledged the error: [More..]

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Obama supporter Josh Marshall:

Sen. Clinton gave a pretty astonishing interview to the Washington Post in which she appears to say she will stay in the race till the convention in August, where she will take her fight to the credentials committee to have the delegates from the non-sanctioned Michigan and Florida primaries seated.

(Emphasis supplied.) What did Clinton actually say?

Via John Heileman at New York Magazine:

According to a Democratic strategist unaligned with any campaign but with knowledge of the situation gleaned from all three camps, the answer is simple: Obama blew it. Speaking to Edwards on the day he exited the race, Obama came across as glib and aloof. His response to Edwards’s imprecations that he make poverty a central part of his agenda was shallow, perfunctory, pat.

Clinton, by contrast, engaged Edwards in a lengthy policy discussion. Her affect was solicitous and respectful. When Clinton met Edwards face-to-face in North Carolina ten days later, her approach continued to impress; she even made headway with Elizabeth. Whereas in his Edwards sit-down, Obama dug himself in deeper, getting into a fight with Elizabeth about health care, insisting that his plan is universal (a position she considers a crock), high-handedly criticizing Clinton’s plan (and by extension Edwards’s) for its insurance mandate.

The take-away: [more...]

Much is being made of PA Senator Robert Casey's endorsement of Barack Obama. Some got so carried away they suggested Casey be Obama's VP nominee. Others saw through that pretty quick. Where does Casey stand on issues? Here's some of his positions:

• He believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned and opposes embryonic stem cell research.
• He supports Bush's warrantless NSA spying program and thinks the Patriot Act is a vital tool and a necessary one.
• He supports the death penalty and opposes legalization of all drugs.
• On the war in Iraq, he's been against a deadline for withdrawal.
• He supported the Defense of Marriage Amendment and opposes gay marriage.
• He supports teaching "abstinence plus" in schools and the posting of the Ten Commandments in government buildings:

Some specifics below the fold:

The results are coming in from the Texas county conventions.

Early results tallied by The Associated Press showed that Clinton had 301 delegates, or 60 percent, compared to Obama's 202 delegates, or 40 percent. That's out of about 7,300 delegates expected to be selected at about 280 county and senate district meetings across the state Saturday.

The major metropolitan areas which should go heavily for Obama aren't in yet. There were a few surprises.

At the Travis County Senate District 25, after a credentials committee heard complaints, 12 Obama delegates were removed and two Clinton delegates were removed.

In Webb County on the Texas-Mexico border, where Laredo is located, Clinton surprisingly swept all 51 delegates because Obama did not meet the 15 percent threshold of caucus support.

Burnt Orange is tracking the results as they come in. As of 5:45 CT, only 19% of the vote is in. It's going to be a long night.

Today's conventions pick delegates to the Texas state convention. According to the Texas Delegate Selection Plan (pdf),Texas has a total of 228 delegates and 32 alternates. Of those, 126 will be primary delegates, 67 will be caucus delegates and 35 are superdelegates. [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

One of the objections stated by the Obama campaign to revotes in Florida and Michigan was that Clinton supporters were willing to contribute money to the Democratic Party in Florida and to the State of Michigan to fund them. The phrase "buying an election" became the standard Obama supporter response. Nothing better proves how mendacious that excuse was from the Obama camp than this:

When Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, she said she'd found a candidate who "gives us a reason to believe again." Obama believed in her, too, donating $10,000 from his political action committee to McCaskill's 2006 campaign. She received nothing from the PAC of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

. . . Since 2005, [Obama's] PAC has donated $710,900 to superdelegates, more than three times as much as Clinton's PAC has. Her PAC distributed $236,100 to superdelegates during the three-year period.

If funding an ELECTION, where no money goes to the voters themselves, can be questioned, what do we make of giving money DIRECTLY to the "voters" (the super delegates in this case)? I do not mind the donations - I mind the mendacious excuses to block the will of the voters of Michigan and Florida. The dirtiest trick of this campaign was Obama's blocking of the revotes in Michigan and Florida. Yes, I am quite angry about that.

NOTE - Due to the misinformation on FL/MI that is coming in some comments, I have chosen to close comments.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright made his first public appearance last night since the Obama embroglio. He got a thunderous welcome.

Barack Obama's former pastor, who canceled several public events after an uproar over his incendiary comments, surprised a Chicago congregation by attending an event to celebrate poet Maya Angelou's birthday.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright got a raucous standing ovation when he entered Saint Sabina church on the South Side on Friday night, video from WBBM-TV showed. Members yelled "Hallelujah!" as Wright embraced the Rev. Michael Pfleger, Saint Sabina's pastor.

Here's more on the "thunderous welcome" and some video from cbs2chicago.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

It is quickly being proven that the Obama network (NBC), the Obama pundits (the NBC pundits, Ed Schultz, etc.), the Obama blogs, the Obama endorsers (Leahy, Dodd, Casey) and the Obama campaign do not know how to close the deal in this race. (For those who want a more negative viewpoint on Clinton to leaven the point being made here, I recommend this post.)

The way NOT to do it is to attack Hillary Clinton at every turn. It does not exude inevitability. It exudes fear. It alienates the Clinton supporters who would have to accept and support Obama as the nominee. It is harmful and divisive. And more pragmatically, it STRENGTHENS Clinton. Todd Beeton explains:

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I think I have been clear that I believe Barack Obama will be the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. If he is, I hope all Democrats will support him. But I have no doubt now that the biggest obstacle to Obama's being able to unify the Democratic Party is likely to be the behavior of Obama blogs, Obama radio talk show hosts, the Obama network (NBC), Obama supporters and the Obama campaign itself. The contempt shown for Hillary Clinton supporters has been appalling. Russ Feingold has some advice for these folks:

"I'll tell some of the (Barack) Obama supporters here today: Cool it," Feingold, D-Middleton, said Wednesday to a group of about 50 people at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County. "Take it a little easy."

Feingold, like me, is a tepid Obama supporter. His advice is sound. Will Obama fans take it to heart? I doubt it frankly.

Update (TL): Comments now closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Nothing demonstrates to me more how divisive and harmful the drive of some Obama supporters to end this race can be than this from Mike Lux (see also Tom Watson on a similar issue)

What those remaining undeclared folks are telling me in private, though, is that they hope the race will play itself out and Obama will emerge as the clear winner so that they don't have to piss the Clintons and their machine off. . . . I am encouraging my friends to come out of their political closet. If all the superdelegates and other influential friends that I have talked to who believe that the best path for the party is for Obama to win a clear victory would come out in is favor, this thing really would be over.

(Emphasis supplied.) Lux does not even make sense from one graf to the next. The remaining undeclared delegates told him something very sigificant and he is too obtuse to understand it -- they want "the race [to] play itself out and Obama [to] emerge as the clear winner." That means they want Obama to win it with VOTERS, not super delegates. Lux's contempt for Clinton VOTERS (over 13,000,000 of them so far) is exactly the attitude exhibited by the Obama blogs, Obama endorsers (see Leahy and Dodd), the Obama network (NBC) and the Obama campaign itself. Keep this up much longer, and both Obama and Clinton may soon be unelectable in November.

NOTE - Comments closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Jeralyn and I are on record as thinking highly of Chuck Todd of NBC. Even when his analysis was not what Jeralyn wants to hear. Obama supporters across the blogs have also given much praise to Todd. They won't praise, via Todd Beeton, this Todd post:

Obama can no longer argue that when compared with Clinton he will expand the electoral map in a general election with McCain. Now he can simply say he will use a different map; a map that ultimately might expand for the party as a whole, even if his path to 270 is no less narrow a victory than Clinton's. It is just different.

. . . The party ought to lay off the calls for Clinton to drop out, at least for now, because her presence at worst is making Obama a better candidate. The Wright flare-up was the first true political crisis of Obama's national political career, which is remarkable given how close he is to being the Democratic nominee. Who knows when the Wright controversy would have circulated had the nomination been locked up.

No you won't see that post featured at daily kos or Talking Points Memo. Chuck Todd became a little less astute to them today.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Nancy Pelosi wrote a letter:

Dear [XXX],

Here's what you and I can't let happen. We can't allow the tension and pressures of a spirited Presidential contest to spill over and harm hard-working Democratic candidates running to strengthen our Democratic majority in the House.

I will do whatever it takes to protect our candidates and make sure their campaigns to drive change forward don't skip a beat. . .

Here's what Pelosi needs to do - STOP TALKING ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE!! Think you can manage that Madame Speaker?