And the TL kid's stepmom and stepsister were there too (his dad was out of town so they videotaped it for him.)

That's a sculpture in the background, it took place at the  Denver Center for Performing Arts.

Like any campaign, these were choices and strategies any candidate would make based on their own and rivals' strategies.

Obama has been given every option here and Dems have bowed to his personal whim / veto on this. (Don't know if it's a media portrayal but why hasn't Sen. Clinton been given that apparent right of veto or dismissal?)

Anyway I'm signing off.  It was great talking to you all today.

It's nice to see young people going into criminal law, too. Whatever people may say, the nuts and bolts of criminal law is essential to what we hold dear as a nation.

There is no other way.

And thank you for this blog. I try not to get too excited or hyperbolic about what goes on in these things. Blog? What's a blog?

But this website has been a godsend. I started reading this blog because of my work on the death penalty. But I have come here more in the context of the election because of the reasonableness here. It can be very hard to find reasonable behavior in the "real world" and "online". It's good to know that somebody is thinking clearly.

When the history of this election is written, I fully expect this website to be held up as something quite valuable.

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama is quietly planning to take over the Democratic National Committee and assemble a multistate team for the general election, the latest sign that he is putting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and the nomination fight behind him.

Top Obama organizer Paul Tewes is in discussions to run the party, several Democratic officials said Tuesday.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said no final decisions have been made on general election plans and that such decisions would be premature with Obama yet to clinch the nomination.

Speaking of reflecting, it makes me mad to think that the scenario in Indiana would  have been much the same as tonight, if her win in Indiana had also been reported early.  Then I once again get mad at the perfidy of the Gary  mayor.

But for that act, the headlines would have been different, Hillary would have gotten a big infusion of money in the aftermath of supporter enthusiasm, and an early victory speech would have quelled any uncertainty about whether she would continue.  Her troops would not have been put in disarray, even if temporarily. I hate to cry over spilt milk, but the whole tenor of the campaign would have changed, in my estimation.

But we are where we are. It's great to see that so many here are re energized and seem ready to go resolutely on to the finish, whatever that might bring. At least we can say that we and Hillary gave it our best shot.

This is a sturdy group that Obama would do well to have behind him.  No fair weather friends here. Unfortunately, it does not look likely that there will be more than lip service to unity.

The good thing for me personally is that I'm starting to not be sad about where I'm headed politically, about not voting for Obama, or about Obama more than likely going down in flames if he scrapes out the nomination.

Link

Here is her filing for April.

Do you see that 10 mil?  What happened?

I think Clinton's results in both KY and OR were very impressive. I had her wining 33 delegates in KY when in actuality she got 37, which shows how bad of a predictor I am.

However, DemConWatch calls it right: "Obama clinches non-MI/FL pledged delegate majority (and most MI/FL scenarios also)" -- there is only one scenario out of five, if the FL & MI delegations are seated based on the elections that have taken place, in which the nomination isn't clinched, and we all know that it isn't going to happen.

Both Clinton's and Obama's platforms are substantially similar (I'm not crazy about either but that's another discussion); however, this drawn out primary has shown that there is a serious rift (for lack of a better word) between their respective supporters. It is not altogether just sexism or racism; there are different worldviews too.

(Need I remind folks here that neither Obama nor Clinton were my #1 or #2 choice initially.)

The reason why it is important that we close that rift is that, someday, there will be an Iraq War memorial just as there is a Viet-Nam War memorial, and if McCain is elected President -- and after 2004 nothing strikes me as impossible anymore -- that Memorial will have many more names inscribed on it.

Many more young Americans will die if McCain is elected than if a Democrat, any Democrat, is. It's that simple.

It is criminal, yes, criminal to risk the election  because there is justifiable anger towards the other candidate, his surrogates, the DNC and the media. There are lives at stake.

Senator Clinton has gathered a large and dedicated and real support for her and I would like to see her continue to play a major role in this campaign and in national politics beyond -- and I have no doubt that she will, because she always struck me as a dedicated and pragmatic woman.

Jeralyn's photo is one of hope for a better future which reflects our values; I appeal to the sensible posters here to continue to support Sen. Clinton (just as I will always support Gov. Dean, Al Gore or John Edwards)  but to not reject the promise of that future out of bitterness.

I'm writing down this one in your post.  Oh, and thanks to all of the discussion about racialized regions and areas, I wandered down some online path through  one click to another that night . . . and now have on the way to my library James Loewen's book Sundown Towns, said to be an extraordinary amount of research about municipalities that by law and/or custom maintained lily-white status.  Found a website from the book, too, with lists by state of such towns.  Startling numbers.  I knew of some in my state -- but hundreds?  Hardly enough AAs here in most of that era to populate so many towns.  Such is the power of fear of the unknown.

Perhaps if I had been a new voter, or younger, or poorer, or less liberal, or not a (D), or less informed then I might have made it.  Can't change most of that - but I did answer the political affiliation question with "(D) - Currently".

The one question they didn't ask me:
"Which ethnic group do you consider yourself?"

Briefly for pet lovers--a big fee for not neutering your pets.  Ok with me on that one.  Reason for the new ordinance: over-population of pets.  Except Chicago happens to be trucking in animals from the south to have enough adoptable ones.

BUT--the kicker for me is that all 'pit bull types' must be surrendered to the city and subsequently killed within 10 days.  No exception for well-mannered family pets.  The reason for this appears to be racial: quoting the info I rec'd: someone sees a 'gang banger' (that used to mean something else) walking in the  street with p-b type dog.  Conclusion: gangster on the loose.  Kill the dogs.  (BTW, the ones like Vick owned would never be walked on the street as pets.)

My own kid is now twenty-five and still finding himself.  These days he finds himself a deckhand on a Mississippi River barge.  He'd love to be a lawyer.  Maybe some day...