By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Like my previous endorsement of Tweety's Matthews FL/MI proposal (Obama and Clinton agree to revote them and bot agree that the winner of the total popular vote is the nominee), this endorsement of Bill Richardson's statement on ending the Dem contest is founded on the need for our nominee to be the choice of the people:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, fresh off his endorsement of Barack Obama this week, suggested Sunday that Hillary Rodham Clinton should consider dropping out of the race if she trails in the delegate count and popular vote at the end of the primary process.

(Emphasis supplied.) If Hillary Clinton trails in the delegate count AND the popular vote at the END OF THE PRIMARY PROCESS, the people will have spoken. The problem here is Michigan and Florida of course. How to count their votes. Barack Obama has made his path to legitimacy as the nominee very difficult by blocking Florida and Michigan revotes. If Obama does not hold a 500,000 vote lead in the popular vote (excluding Florida and Michigan) at the end of the process, his claim to a popular vote win will be severely tainted.

More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

The electability argument rages on. Former Bush pollster Matthew Dowd writes:

[T]here seems to be a concerted effort by the Clinton campaign to point out weakness in the Obama effort related to November electability. . . . One argument being made is that there is a relationship between primary win in states and ability to win those states in the Fall. For example, the Clinton campaign likes to point out they won Ohio and Obama lost it, and that this bodes badly for his chances of winning that state in the Fall. The Obama campaign points out wins in red states in the primary process trying to prove their strength.

To put it bluntly, there is no relationship between primary success in any given state and November success in those states.

Dowd says it so it must be so. Um no. Dowd is wrong and he misdescribes the argument as one expects a politician or political operative to do. More . . .

Barack Obama frequently cites his impressive record as an Illinois state legislator as an indicator of his experience in running for President.

Turns out, according to former Chicago reporter Todd Spivak, all of his legislative accomplishments were in his final 7th year and were handed to him by his mentor, Ill. State Senate President Emil Jones.

The Illinois legislature was dominated by Republicans for 26 years. These included Obam's first 6 years in the state Senate. Not surprisingly, says Spivak, he had no legislative achievements during these years.

Jones was instrumental in changing the legislative makeup, and after he did, he became Senate President. Here's the rest of the story: [More...]

First there was Tony Rezko. Then Jeremiah Wright. Now get ready for Emil Jones, President of the Illinois Senate who was so instrumental in Obama's legislative career he referred to himself as "Obama's godfather." The TimesOnLine (UK) has the details.

Their close relationship began in 2003 when Obama sought Jones' support to run for U.S. Senate.

“You have the power to elect a US senator,” Obama told Emil Jones, Democratic leader of the Illinois state senate. Jones looked at the ambitious young man smiling before him and asked, teasingly: “Do you know anybody I could make a US senator?”

According to Jones, Obama replied: “Me.” It was his first, audacious step in a spectacular rise from the murky political backwaters of Springfield, the Illinois capital.

Obama has frequently described his closeness to Jones: [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Newly minted "huge Obama endorser" Bill Richardson criticized the Obama campaign for its attack on Bill Clinton:

Prominent supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on Sunday both faulted Obama's campaign for allowing a retired general and backer of the Illinois senator to equate comments by Clinton's husband to McCarthyism.

"I don't believe President Clinton was implying that," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former presidential candidate who endorsed Obama last week. "But the point here ... is that the campaign has gotten too negative — too many personal attacks, too much negativity that is not resounding with the public."

Asked whether Obama's campaign was being too negative in accusing former President Clinton of McCarthyism, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, said, "Of course ... the Obama campaign tries to have it both ways," he said.

More . . .

The Register Guard today reports the Democratic primary in Oregon could be a close race.

Oregon’s demographics may portend a close race, said Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts. “We have strong liberal pockets like Portland and Eugene, more moderate Democrats in the suburbs, and some blue-collar and working-class Democrats who are amenable to Clinton’s campaign,” he said. “You throw it all together and it’s a fairly competitive race.”

Oregon gets 65 delegates to the DNC, 52 pledged, 12 superdelegates and 1 add-on. It has 7 electoral college votes. Barack Obama made three campaign stops in Oregon this week.

Obama, of course, dropped in on Eugene, Salem and Portland on Friday, as well as Medford on Saturday, and many assume both he and Clinton will visit again before early May, when Oregon voters will start receiving their ballots in the mail.

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By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Lambert at Corrente finds more Obama supporter disrespect for the voters:

[C]onsider the situation in Pennsylvania. All indications are that a clear majority of Pennsylvania Democrats would prefer for Hillary Clinton to be the nominee than for Barack Obama to be the nominee. . . . I think if voters better-understood the situation, they'd be much more inclined to vote for their second-favorite Democrat . . . But people won't understand the dynamic unless it's explained to them by credible party leaders.

(Emphasis supplied.) "Stupid" voters actually voting for their preferred candidate, how dare they?

NOTE - Comments closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I have BREAKING NEWS for Keith Olbermann and the Obama blogs:

The CEO of a company whose employee is accused of improperly looking at the passport files of presidential candidates is a consultant to the Barack Obama campaign, a source said Saturday. John O. Brennan, president and CEO of the Analysis Corp., advises the Illinois Democrat on foreign policy and intelligence issues, the source said.

Bwahahahahaha!! What will Punchline KO Olbermann say? What will Howard Fineman say? How about David Shuster? Oh nothing of course. You think Obama still wants a Congressional investigation? Oh by the way, has anyone asked Obama about this:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides some details about who will serve on the DNC Credentials Committee and decide what to do about Florida and Michigan.

There will be 186 members. Howard Dean gets to choose 35 and he has already done so. The AJC says they are people who have their primary allegiance to Dean, rather than Clinton or Obama.

The states choose the remaining members, with their allotments determined by population.

The three co-chairs have old ties to Bill Clinton.

In addition to those appointees, Dean has named three co-chairmen for the committee, all with ties to the Clintons. Alexis Herman was Bill Clinton's secretary of labor. James Roosevelt Jr. was an associate commissioner at the Social Security Administration when Hillary Clinton was first lady. Eliseo Roques-Arroyo was a consultant for Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2000.

Barack Obama has begun an ad blitz in Pennsylvania, trying to overcome Hillary Clinton's substantial poll lead in the state.

With 31 days until the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Sen. Barack Obama yesterday began airing the first pre-primary ads on Philadelphia TV stations. According to public records, the campaign spent about $330,000 on 30- and 60-second spots that will run on six area stations through Monday, the state deadline for voter registration.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a double-digit lead in state polls, has yet to hit local airwaves in the run-up to the April 22 primary. A total of 158 Democratic delegates are in play.

Obama has more money to spend than Hillary. Her campaign says his ads are misrepresenting the facts.

"It’s unfortunate that Barack Obama continues to talk about his leadership on ethics but doesn’t have much action to back it up. Senator Obama’s campaign still refuses to honor requests to disclose his tax and state records, and answer questions on inconsistencies with Tony Rezko. It’s a continuing pattern of words with no action.

"Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has literally criss-crossed the state talking with the people of Pennsylvania about the issues that matter to them and what they're concerned about is results, not rhetoric. They're not interested in which candidate spends the most money. They want to know which candidate is best prepared to beat John McCain in November, create good, new jobs and provide everyone with healthcare. That candidate is Hillary Clinton."

Obama is also ratcheting up his effort to register Republicans and Independents as Democrats to vote in the primary. Of course, he's not calling it "Be a Dem for a Day" -- he calls it an effort to "expand the party." He has volunteers going house to house.

Voting registration for the Dem. primary in PA ends Monday.

CBS has released a new poll on how Barack Obama's recent speech on Jeremiah Wright and race affected voters' views of him. Full poll results are here (pdf.)

69% said the speech favorably addressed race relations, 71% said it adequately expressed his relationship with Rev. Wright and 63% agreed with him. But,

When registered voters were asked if Obama would unite the country, however, 52 percent said yes - down from 67 percent last month.

Maybe he needs to stick to change and give up the unity theme. Someone should tell Bill Richardson, who seems to be a day late and a dollar short on unity as being a major reason for his endorsement.

His favorability rating: 43%. As to who was polled,

For this poll, CBS News re-interviewed voters who were first surveyed between March 15th and 18th, 2008, in the midst of the Wright controversy and mostly before Obama’s speech on race. The goal was to gauge their reactions to Tuesday’s speech and the continuing controversy over Wright’s comments. The poll was conducted on the night of March 20th.

Condi Rice struggles for answers:

At least four State Department workers pried into the supposedly secure passport files of presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, abashed officials admitted Friday in a revelation that had Condoleezza Rice promising a full investigation and telephoning the candidates to personally apologize. ....The State Department's inspector general was probing, with the Justice Department monitoring the effort, but Obama said that was not enough. He urged congressional involvement "so it's not simply an internal matter."

The company that hired the snoopers is believed to be Stanley, Inc. As to the breach of Hillary's records:

In Clinton's case, someone accessed her file last summer as part of a training session involving another State Department worker. McCormack said the violation was immediately recognized and the person was admonished. That person was not involved in the later incidents, meaning four people were involved in all.

As to what's in a passport file, it's identifying information and a list of the countries one has traveled to, not state secrets: [More...]