Obama in a landslide!

In DIXVILLE NOTCH, New Hampshire. Anybody ever heard of them?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama emerged victorious in the first election returns of the 2008 presidential race, winning 15 of 21 votes cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

People in the isolated village in New Hampshire's northeast corner voted just after midnight Tuesday.

It was the first time since 1968 that the village leaned Democratic in an election.

Obama's rival, Republican John McCain, won 6 votes.

A full 100 percent of registered voters in the village cast ballots. And the votes didn't take long to tally.

The town, home to around 75 residents, has opened its polls shortly after midnight each election day since 1960, drawing national media attention for being the first place in the country to make its presidential preferences known.

However, since 1996, another small New Hampshire town -- Hart's Location -- reinstated its practice from the 1940s and also began opening its polls at midnight.

The result in Dixville Notch is hardly a reliable bellwether for the eventual winner of the White House -- or even the result statewide.

While New Hampshire is a perennial swing state -- with 4 Electoral College votes at stake -- Dixville Notch consistently leans Republican. The last Democrat it picked was Hubert Humphrey over Richard Nixon in 1968.

Obama's Grandmother Passed Away

Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died following a bout with cancer, Obama and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said Monday.

She was 86.

At a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday night, the Illinois senator said "she has gone home and she died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side."

"I'm not going to talk about it long because it's hard to talk about," he added.

Obama remembered her as "one of those quiet heroes we have across America, who aren't famous ... but each and every day they work hard. They look after their families. They look after their children and their grandchildren."

In a statement released Monday afternoon, Obama and his sister said that Dunham was "the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility."

Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died following a bout with cancer, Obama and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said Monday.

May she rest in peace...

Men charged with plotting to kill Obama

Federal prosecutors charged two men with plotting a "killing spree" against African-Americans that would have been capped with an attempt to kill Sen. Barack Obama while they wore white tuxedos, federal officials said Monday.

The U.S. attorney's office in Jackson, Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.

Both men have been charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.

The men planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded, according to the affidavit. But federal law enforcement sources said there was no evidence Cowart, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman, of West Helena, Arkansas, had any details of Obama's schedule.

"We take this very, very seriously but we see no evidence these guys have the ability or the wherewithal to pull off what they say they wanted to do," one law enforcement source said.

According to an affidavit from the federal agent who questioned them, Cowart and Schlesselman planned to charge at Obama with a car, firing from the windows as they went. They would be dressed in white tuxedos and top hats during the attempt, the affidavit states.

Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested outside Jackson, about 75 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee, after an aborted robbery attempt last week, according to court records.

Though they told investigators they would be willing to die in their mission, the men backed out of their October 21 attempt to rob the gun dealer after spotting two cars and a dog at the home, the affidavit states. The men also shot out the window of a church on their way back to Cowart's grandfather's home, where they were arrested the next day.

Cowart and Schlesselman made their initial appearances before a federal judge Monday and are scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday in Memphis.

Obama, an Illinois Democrat, is the first African-American nominee to lead a major-party ticket and was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, far earlier than other candidates.

Campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass said, "We never comment on security matters."

Threats against Obama have led to arrests in two previous cases. In one, federal prosecutors concluded that the three people arrested with drugs and weapons in a suburban Denver motel posed a "true threat" to the candidate.

In the second, a Florida man was charged with threatening bodily harm against the candidate in August. He has pleaded not guilty.

Gov. Palin to Obama: This Isn't Over Yet

Lakeland, FL: "Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had a pointed message Sunday for Barack Obama: This thing isn't over yet."

Palin said the Democratic presidential nominee was acting as if he's already won the election and had already written his inaugural address.

"Barack Obama and I both have spent quite some time on the basketball court," Palin told a raucous crowd of more than 5,000 at the Tampa Convention enter. "But where I come from, you have to win the game before you start cutting down the net."

Nine days before the election, Palin was making another push to sway voters in the battleground state of Florida, where polls show Republican nominee John McCain trails Obama in the fight for the state's 27 electoral votes. The Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, where Palin was concentrating her efforts Sunday, is where most of the state's undecided voters live. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency.

"You kinda get the feeling that the Obama campaign thinks this whole election process is just a formality," she said. "They've overlooked, though, the minor detail of earning your confidence and your trust and winning your vote.

"And judging from the media coverage, it does seem the coronation is already set," Palin said.
Obama's campaign said the claim that he has written an inaugural address is "completely false." Spokesman Bill Burton said the reference to an address came from a New York Times report Saturday that former White House chief of staff John D. Podesta had written a draft inaugural speech for Obama and included it in a recent book. Burton said Podesta wrote it as a sample address, not for Obama but for whoever became the nominee.

Palin also addressed recent reports that the Republican Party spent $150,000 on clothes and accessories on her for the campaign.

"This whole thing with the wardrobe, I try to just ignore it because it's so ridiculous," Palin said.
"Those clothes, they are not my property, just like the lighting and the staging and everything else the RNC purchased," she said. "I'm not taking them with me. I'm back to wearing my old clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska."

Palin talked about her accessories Sunday: earrings that were a gift from her husband's Yup'ik Eskimo mother, and "a $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought myself. Because with my ring, I always thought, it's not what it's made of, it's what it represents."

Palin continued her criticism of an Obama economic plan that she says amounts to socialism, characterizing him as "Barack the wealth-spreader." She vowed that McCain would allow people to keep more of their money, and accused Obama of not telling the whole truth about what she said are his plans to redistribute wealth.

Later at a rally in Kissimmee, Palin said: "Florida, you have a choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader who puts his faith in you. There's only one man in this race who's always fought for you, and that's John McCain."

Blacks Against Obama

Democratic U.S. Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign rally in Coral Gables, Florida on Friday was interrupted by a group of African-American protesters, calling themselves “Blacks Against Obama”.

The “Blacks Against Obama” group, consisted of about 10 African-Americans that showed up at the Obama rally in Florida. The protesters held signs saying, ”Obama was for gay marriage and abortion, and said his candidacy was “endorsed by the KKK.” Another sign said, “Jesse Jackson hates Obama.”

Obama was going to allow the protesters to stay at the rally, but they kept on shouting and interrupting the rally, and had to be escorted out.

He better than me.

Obama Is In It To Win It

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is laying out his plan to lead the country into an era of change after what he called eight years of failed policies.

Obama was greeted by tens of thousands of cheering supporters chanting "yes we can."

He emphasized his humble roots and the example of his grandparents' service to the nation and their family.

"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine," he said. "These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States."

He brushed aside critiques from his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, accusing him of being out of touch.

"It's not because John McCain doesn't care. it's because John McCain doesn't get it," he said of economic problems facing the country.

Point by point, he compared McCain's policies on the Iraq war, the economy, offshore drilling and health care, accusing him of pursuing the same policies as the Bush administration.

"Next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third," Obama said. "On November 4, we must stand up and say, 'eight is enough.' "

My response:

Let the haters say what they will, but Barack brought it tonight. I am impressed. The two things that impressed me the most is his plan to cut taxes and his plan to push Univeral healthcare. Now, I know my fellow Republicans have a problem with that but on that issue they can kick rocks. If they have ever been without health insurance and really needed it they'd switch parties faster than O.J. will jump on a white woman.

But, I know what it's like to be sick and have to grin and bear it. I know what it's like to watch your child suffer for two days because you are thinking to yourself, "I can't afford to take her to the ER just for them to tell me she has a stomach flu." So for two days I just kept giving my daughter gatorade and anti nausea medicine thinking she would get over it. But when I came home and found her in a coma, I had no choice but to go to the ER. I still thought it was a stomach flu -- a real bad one. When I got to the hospital, the doctor and the chaplain were waiting on me. They told me my child may not make it through the night. She didn't have a stomach flu. She had diabetes. My child almost died because I was worried about an emergency room bill. If I had taken her earlier she would not have gone into such a crisis. Normal blood sugar is around 120 to 140. Hers was 1200. Prayer is what kept her alive.

So, yeah, I'm a Republican, but on this one...I'm with Barack and the Dixiecrats... I mean the Democrats. And if these Republicans tick me off I'm switchin' parties -- again.

Obama, Watch Your Back!

Newsmax.com – Hillary's Campaign Against Obama Continues:

By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann Article Font Size



"Every speech should contain a line [saying that] you were born in the middle of America to a middle class family in the middle of the last century."

On May 10, 2007, Time magazine reported that Hillary's stump speech included the lines: 'I was born into a middle class family in the middle of the country in the middle of the last century.'

After Penn's memos were released to the media this week, Hillary's people spread the word that she did not take Penn's advice. But it is evident that she did."

The strategy Penn recommended was ridiculous. He somehow thought that by stressing Hillary's normalcy, Obama's unusual name, race, origin, parents, and skin color would redound to his detriment. In fact, the exact opposite proved to be the case. It has been his very novelty that has underscored his appeal. Penn missed the point.

But the larger point in his memos is that Hillary sought, from the beginning of the 2008 campaign, to use race as an issue against Obama. Her early willingness to wrap herself in the flag and marginalize Obama as an outsider bespeaks her efforts to inject race into the campaign. As soon as Obama emerged as her chief opponent, Hillary and Bill Clinton tried to make the election about race and to contrast her American roots with Obama's otherness.

It would be a mistake to think that Hillary's campaign against Obama is over. She and Bill both realize that if McCain wins, she would be the likely Democratic nominee against him in 2012.

At the age of 76, McCain might make easy pickings. Hillary's argument to win the nomination would be simple: I told you so. Her warnings that Obama was unelectable would have proven to have been prescient, and Democrats are likely to feel chagrined that they rejected her in 2008.

How will the Clintons undermine Obama? Not by any overt statement. In public, they will appear to be his biggest fans. Hillary does not dare incurr the wrath of Democratic voters by abandoning her party's nominee in the general election. But the Clintons will do what they do best: They will hog the spotlight. By speaking on Tuesday and Wednesday, this former first couple will spread themselves over the convention, usurping media, taking face time, and making the convention appear, for its first three days, as a Hillary Clinton gathering.

Remember how in 2004, Bill Clinton timed the release of his memoir "My Life" to coincide with the start of the John Kerry campaign. His swings through the nation, attracting lines and crowds at bookstores drew attention away from Kerry. His strategy of distraction culminated when he scheduled a book signing in Boston during the Democratic Convention, drawing mobs and pulling the spotlight away from Kerry.

By hogging the publicity at the Democratic Convention and by keeping the spotlight away from Obama, the Clintons are going to do all they can to stop the Democrat from getting a bounce from his Convention appearance. How will they hurt Obama down the road? Bill will make off-handed comments, seemingly mistakes. A lose cannon, he will appear to be undisciplined as he follows a game plan to undermine the candidate. Hillary will do her best to avoid campaigning for Obama and will undercut him in any way she can without getting caught.

Obama: Watch your back!

My response:
I absolutely agree with this assessment of the Clinton's and their plan to derail Obama's efforts. I sincerely hope that Barack supporters would come out in droves and vote for him. But regardless of the outcome of this election, Hillary Clinton has "torn her drawers" with me. And y'all know I was pulling for her. I thought Barack was stepping into the ring before his time and he should wait his turn. After all, the Clinton's had been our allies. Child please. As soon as the race got tight, THEY pulled the race card showing their true colors. If she had bowed out gracefully then she perhaps could have run again in 2016. But she didn't bow out gracefully and as far as I'm concerned, she has ruined her political career. Boo to her and her horny husband.

Obama set to deliver speech on race

Far from putting the controversial issue of race behind him, Barack Obama has decided to address the issue head on in a speech Tuesday.

"I am going to be talking not just about Reverend Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign — which has ramped up over the last couple of weeks," Obama told reporters in Monaca, Pennsylvania.

The article goes on to say "He will address the broader questions of race and politics, these are complex issues that transcend Barack Obama, and are fault lines in our politics and society, and, ultimately, can be a barrier…They’re easily exploited, and hard to address," he said.

My response:

Ut oh.

Obama: Ferraro's comment about him 'absurd'

Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday called a comment by Geraldine Ferraro, a top Clinton fundraiser, that he was a major presidential contender only because he is a black man "patently absurd."

I don't think Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or in the Democratic Party. They are divisive," he told the Allentown Morning News.

"I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd. And I would expect that the same way those comments don't have a place in my campaign, they shouldn't have a place in Senator Clinton's, either," he added.

Earlier, Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, called for Clinton to sever ties with Ferraro.

I was going to say something really mean but I won't. I will say that this is a prime example of a racist Dixiecrat. I betta not here another person call me a sell out because I'm a Republican. Democrats don't like us either. They just use us and we are dumb enough to let them.

Click the link for the rest.

Barack says Clinton tried him

Democrat Barack Obama on Monday ridiculed the idea of being Hillary Rodham Clinton's running mate in the U.S. presidential elections, saying voters must choose between the two for the Democratic nomination.

The Illinois senator used his first public appearance of the week to knock down the notion that he might accept the party's vice presidential spot on the fall ticket. He noted that he has won more states, votes and delegates than Clinton so far.

"I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to someone who is first place," Obama said, drawing cheers and a standing ovation from about 1,700 people in Columbus, Mississippi.

Obama says "Don't call it a come back..."

Obama does not appear to be moved by Hillary Clinton's recent primary victories stating: "We know this: No matter what happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead as we had this morning, and we are on our way to winning this nomination."

And you know what Hillary was thinking..."Yeah, Negro...we'll see" Just joking. Hillary would never think such a thing. Tee hee.

Who should answer the phone?

Democrat Barack Obama accused his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday of trying to "scare up votes" with a television ad showing sleeping children and asking who would be more qualified to answer a national security emergency call at 3 a.m.

"We've seen these ads before," the Illinois senator said while campaigning in Texas. "They're the kind that play on peoples' fears to scare up votes. Well, it won't work this time. Because the question is not about picking up the phone. The question is: What kind of judgment will you make when you answer?"

Personally, I want Hillary to answer the phone...but that's just me.

Still standing by her man

Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly defended her husband's record on civil rights Saturday at a forum in which she acknowledged "painful moments" in a presidential contest pitting the first woman candidate against a pioneering black contender.

At the annual State of the Black Union conference hosted by PBS's Tavis Smiley, Clinton pushed back hard on the notion that Bill Clinton had inflamed racial tensions while campaigning for her in the run-up to South Carolina's primary last month.

The former president _ once so popular among black voters he was dubbed the first black president by novelist Toni Morrison _ harshly criticized Obama in South Carolina, producing a backlash among blacks that helped lead to his wife's crushing defeat there.

After that primary, the former president angered many by suggesting Obama had won the state simply because he was a black candidate campaigning in a state with a large number of black voters. Since then, Clinton has badly lost the black vote to Obama in every primary or caucus _ including Louisiana's earlier this month.

You know, I hate to say this, but if Hillary loses the nomination I blame Bill. He said some things that really ticked me off and as the article articulates, other Black folks were mad too.

I still like ol' Hill' though.

And I know a lot of people jumped on Tavis's case about the whole Obama thing, but I am really offended that he didn't show up to the State of the Black Union conference and I am on Tavis's side. I think Barack got a little beside himself on this one, but that's just my opinion.

Read the rest here

Obama continues to chip away at Clinton's base

Hillary must win Ohio and Texas or it's a wrap for her.

Sen. Barack Obama continued his winning streak since Super Tuesday two weeks ago, picking up his ninth and tenth states in a row -- Wisconsin and Hawaii.

But as significant as Obama's accelerating momentum is how he is increasingly swaying voters that Clinton could count on at the beginning of February.

While Obama has been solidifying his base of younger, college-educated, higher-paid voters, he has steadily been chipping away Clinton's base of blue-collar, older, working-class voters.

On Tuesday, Obama captured 53 percent of Wisconsin's white voters compared to 41 percent of those voting on Super Tuesday. He won 48 percent of women in Wisconsin compared to 41 percent on Super Tuesday.

My response:

I stand by my earlier posts in which I stated I am supporting Hillary. She has been around longer, she has been committed to civil rights issues, and she and Bill have been in our corner. But if Barack wins the nomination, I won't be mad - at all. Shoot, I'm even thinking of switching back to the Dixiecrats - I mean Democrats.

McCain, don't start none... won't be none

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, moving into front-runner status following a week of eight straight wins, is facing a new rival, exchanging fire with John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.

He says Obama doesn't have any specifics when it comes to the war in Iraq. I guess saying we could be in Iraq for another 100 years is pretty specific huh?

I am a Republican. Y'all know that. But I can't stand McCain so I'm switching sides this season. I'm going to the D side whether the nominee is Hillary or Barack. Either way the Republicans lose. Either way.

Barack picks up two more states

CNN projects that Sen. Barack Obama will win the Democratic caucuses in Washington state and Nebraska.

I don't know y'all. I think Hillary is in trouble.

Read the rest here.

Obama wins Georgia

CNN projects that Obama will win Georgia's Democratic primary. I'm still supporting Hillary but I am so proud of Obama. So proud!

Yes, we can, Barack!

Will.I.Am made a Barack inspired video. Check it out. I think it's hot!

Clinton, Obama play nicey nice

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are debating for the last time before the Super Tuesday contests next week.

In their opening remarks, both candidates praised each other while highlighting distinctions between the Democrats and the Republicans.

While they tried to point out the differences in their policies, they did it without the finger-pointing of last week.

hmmmm....Is this the beginning of a Clinton/Obama ticket? I would personally love that but I'm not sure how the rest of the voting world feels about it.

Obama Wins Big in South Carolina

Democrats in South Carolina turned out in unprecedented numbers for their primary Saturday and handed Sen. Barack Obama a 2-to-1 victory over Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Obama secured his first win since the Iowa caucuses by claiming 80 percent of the African-American votes.

The turnout of more than half a million eclipsed the Republican turnout from a week ago by 100,000 votes.

This is huge considering that six months ago Hillary had move black support that Obama.

After the polls closed, Obama stood before a crowd that changede "Race doesn't matter!" Ummm...yes it does. That's why you had to do that little chant. It shouldn't matter, but it does.

I'm happy for Barack but I'm telling you, this means nothing. The real test is in the weeks to come and for the first time I'll just come out and say it. I'm supporting Hillary. Why? Because race doesn't matter. I'm looking for experience and despite his charisma and obvious intellectual prowess, I think Barack should wait his turn and pay his dues. I want another Clinton in the White House. But that's just me.

That being said, I will not be mad at all if he wins the nomination. I will vote for him in th General Election.