Dennis Kucinich: "Wake up America" (with video)

truthout, with video:

It's Election Day 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call. Wake up, America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added 4 trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president's oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq's oil.

Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia, while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.

If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children's inheritance and hollow out our economy.

We can't afford another Republican administration. Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing.

Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.

Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.

This administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can't open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.

Wake up, America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is a call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.

Up with health care for all. Up with education for all. Up with home ownership. Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with the Democratic Party. Up with Obama-Biden.

Wake up, America. Wake up, America. Wake up, America.

Howie P.S.: Just slightly off-topic, the front page of the Daily Kos features georgia10 on the media's obsession with "PUMA hunting."

Barack Obama

"Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Hillary Clinton's RFK Assassination Remarks" (video)

MSNBC, video (10:44).

Barack Obama

The "Nuclear" Option? (video)

TPMTV (Greg Sargent) video (04:48):

May 31st, 2008: the survivors will call it Judgment Day, the day that Hillary Clinton tries to push the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee to achieve the full seating of Florida and Michigan's disputed delegates and perhaps wrest the nomination away from Barack Obama. But wait... can this really happen? We take a look at the actual situation behind the hype in today's episode of TPMtv ...

Barack Obama

"Axelrod tells NPR he's willing to go more than halfway on Michigan and Florida"

Avi Zenilman (Ben Smith's Blog):

NPR just sent out a press release with excerpts of an interview Obama Chief Strategist David Axelrod gave "All Things Considered" host Michele Norris, where he seemed to open the door to a deal on Michigan and Florida:

"We are open to comprise [sic]. We are willing to go more than half way. We're willing to work to make sure that we can achieve a compromise. And I guess the question is: is Senator Clinton's campaign willing to do the same?"

Axelrod continues: "Well, obviously, any compromise is going to involve some give, and that means if there's something on the table, we're willing to consider it. That may include us yielding more delegates than perhaps we would have, simply on the basis of the rules."[

This comes after Clinton compared the fight for the rogue delegations to the civil rights movement earlier today . David Kuhn and I noted a couple weeks ago that sitting Florida and Michigan wouldn't change the underlying dynamic of the race.

Howie P.S.: More people are starting to figure that out.

Gutter Politics

You can view my latest post on the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog here.

Barack Obama

"Picking Up the Bill"

John Dickerson (Slate):

What Richardson's endorsement means for Obama.--As a presidential candidate, Bill Richardson often seemed to be off by one beat. He was never as natural in debates or interviews as he was in person. At one debate, Barack Obama had to rescue him when he wasn't paying attention. As Richardson told the Washington Post's Jose Antonio Vargas, when he got lost and didn't hear the topic he was supposed to address, Obama whispered, "Katrina." The cue jump-started Richardson's talking points.

Richardson has now repaid the kindness by endorsing Obama. In this case, his timing couldn't have been better. The nod was the high note in an otherwise bad week for Obama, in which his poll numbers dropped and he continued to suffer the fallout from remarks by his longtime pastor, in spite of the candidate's efforts to address it head-on in a big speech on race in America that was well-received, according to polls. Richardson's biggest assist, though, was that he took sides in a stalled Democratic Party argument over delegates. In the numbers vs. narrative debate, the New Mexico governor backed the view that because Obama has an insurmountable numerical lead among pledged delegates, the nomination has effectively been decided. There is no story Clinton can tell to convince superdelegates to reverse that mathematical fact, in his view. "My great affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the fall."

Endorsements get more attention than they deserve; still, Richardson served in two top posts in the Clinton administration, and both Clintons have courted him heavily. His move matches that of John Lewis, the Georgia congressman who dropped his support for Clinton to back Obama. Richardson's decision was "as close to a defection as they come," says Joe Trippi. Edwards' former strategist argues that the superdelegates to watch in the coming drama may not be the undecided ones but the ones already pledged to Clinton. They may decide to confront her at some point—perhaps if Obama wins the North Carolina primary in early May—arguing that to continue to fight for a nomination when the math is against her will wreck the party and ruin her reputation.

The Clinton campaign responded to the endorsement as Dick Cheney might: So? Chief strategist Mark Penn said that "the time that [Richardson] could have been effective has long since passed. I don't think it is a significant endorsement in this environment." How can Penn say this given the 423 words I've just written? Simple: Penn would like to take us to a different environment (one in which, for example, we ignore that Bill and Hillary Clinton were calling Richardson eight days ago to secure his endorsement).

Here's how Penn would like us to see things: Despite Obama's pledged-delegate lead, Clinton can make a case to superdelegates that she has a clearer path to the presidency based on a number of factors. The list of proffered advantages is long: Clinton is a better nominee because she has won big states, more primaries that are better reflections of Democratic sentiment, and certain swing states that are more swingy than the ones Obama won. Also, she may win the popular vote (if you count the right way), and she performs better against John McCain than Obama (if you read the right polls). For some of this, you have to squint or hold your breath, and there are contradictions here. When making the case that Clinton might have more popular votes than Obama, Clinton aides want every vote to be counted, including those from the bastard contests in Florida and Michigan. But when making the case that Clinton is the choice of true-blue Democrats, Clinton partisans ask the superdelegates to look only at how Clinton performed among Democrats who participated in the primaries and caucuses rather than the total number of Democrats, independents, and Republicans who voted in them.

There's nothing wrong with making these arguments, and by the party's rules, it's perfectly legal for Clinton to reverse Obama's pledged-delegate lead with superdelegates. But in listening over the weeks to Clinton's advisers make their superdelegate case, you can feel the criteria changing as the conversation ensues. I am reminded of the movie Stripes. John Candy, playing a new Army recruit*, hoodwinks another member of his troop. "You gotta make my bunk," he says earnestly. "See, we're in Italy. The guy on the top bunk has gotta make the guy on the bottom's bunk. He's gotta make his bunk all the time. See, it's in the regulations. See, if we were in Germany, I would have to make yours, but we're in Italy, and you gotta make mine. It's regulations."

This whiff of hokum is one problem. The second problem for the Clinton pitch is that even if superdelegates buy it, no one on the Clinton team can explain why Obama's coalition of African-Americans, liberals, and first-time voters is going to buy it. In a recent CBS News poll, 92 percent of Obama supporters said they would feel disappointed and angry if Clinton won by superdelegates. When I asked Mark Penn how he would soothe these hurt feelings, he had no real answer other than hope: Democrats have come together before.

And yet Clinton must not be dead, because the Obama campaign is fighting like hell to bury her. This week it unleashed the harshest string of attacks yet aimed at Clinton's character, a risky move since Obama keeps reasserting how high-minded he wants his campaign to be. On a conference call with reporters Friday, top Obama aides said Clinton had a "history of deceiving voters" and laid out multiple claims suggesting she was untrustworthy and has sought to deceive the country.

Why take this risk? The answer is that Obama aides are not as certain superdelegates will come their way as some columnists are. And so they are trying to neutralize Clinton's best weapon against Obama, which is that he cannot win the general election. Attacking her character and truthfulness (with the aid of photos) both undermines her claims against Obama and raises doubts about her own ability to beat John McCain. "It will be next to impossible to win a general election if half of the electorate does not think you're trustworthy," Obama manager David Plouffe says, lest anyone miss the point his campaign is making.

The Democratic race is like a CD stuck on a scratch, just waiting for the superdelegates to give it a kick and put it back on track. Bill Richardson took his shot. Now Obama has to hope that the other superdelegates hear the music and join in.

Howie P.S.: If Dickerson is seriously saying Richardson endorsed Obama because Obama bailed him out of a tough moment in one the debates, I would have to disagree.
Barack Obama

"Hillary's "3 A.M. ad" Girl Doesn't Approve of that Message" (video)

BarackObamadotcom, video (01:03):

Casey Knowles, the young girl from Hillary Clinton's "3 a.m. Ad", rejects the politics of fear.

Howie P.S.: In case you didn't know, Casey lives in Bonney Lake, Washington state.
Barack Obama

"Black is the new President"--Tracy Morgan on SNL (video)

NBC.com, video (02:33).

Barack Obama

"Obama Hopes to Stay On a Roll in Wisconsin"

Wall Street Journal:

Fresh from big victories in Virginia and Maryland, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is trying to maximize momentum by framing Tuesday's Wisconsin primary as a test run for Ohio -- a state Sen. Hillary Clinton's supporters have said she must win to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

With similar demography and slumping manufacturing sectors, the Midwestern states mirror one another. Because Wisconsin is holding a primary rather than a caucus -- Mrs. Clinton has fared better in primaries -- Mr. Obama is trying to raise expectations for his opponent as she lowers them.

"By their own definition, Wisconsin would be a state you would think would be prime turf with them," Mr. Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said.

Recent polls show Mr. Obama surging. The two latest polls in the state gave him leads of four and 11 percentage points. Since he arrived Tuesday, his rallies have drawn well. If he is able to win Wisconsin and his native state of Hawaii the same day, it would give him 10 straight victories heading into Ohio, where the latest poll showed Mrs. Clinton leading by 17 points.

Mrs. Clinton has tried to tamp down expectations in Wisconsin before key votes in Ohio and Texas next month. This week, Clinton strategist Mark Penn called Wisconsin "an uphill challenge." Campaigning this week, Mrs. Clinton has taken to calling herself "the underdog candidate." Nonsense, said Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who is backing Mr. Obama. Former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned in Wisconsin yesterday, twice won the state in presidential elections. "She is like an incumbent here," Mr. Doyle said.

The similarities between Ohio and Wisconsin are noteworthy. Both are swing states with populations that are whiter and a bit older than the nation as a whole. Each has an unemployment rate and union membership slightly above the national average. Each ranks near the bottom in prospective employment growth, according to a Moody's Economy.com index. Both are enduring population loss.

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"Wisconsin is a little bit of a tell for Ohio," said Ken Goldstein, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "Either the Clinton campaign has done a brilliant job of managing expectations, or they're missing an opportunity here and they're in real trouble."

As the industrial Midwest grapples with globalization and the consequent economic insecurity, a study assessing progress among states into the "new economy" published last year by the Kauffman Foundation ranked Ohio 29th and Wisconsin 30th. Lead study author Robert D. Atkinson said, "They both tend to be less dynamic, and they have...similar kinds of economic anxieties."

That insecurity was playing to Mrs. Clinton's strengths a month ago, when she was drawing broad support among blue-collar workers. But after making inroads in Maryland and Virginia, Mr. Obama is trying to win support in Wisconsin's blue-collar community. On Wednesday at the General Motors Corp. plant in working-class Janesville, he told the crowd that if he becomes president, the government will be "there to support you and give you the assistance you need to retool and make this transition."

The Clinton campaign has countered with ads touting Mrs. Clinton's positions on health care and freezing home foreclosures and challenging Mr. Obama to a debate he hasn't accepted.

One difference between Ohio and Wisconsin voters could be attitudes toward the Iraq war, said Barry Burden, an Ohio native and professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "There's a greater hostility toward Bush in Wisconsin, his approval rating here is lower and the antiwar sentiment is stronger."

Mr. Obama has criticized Mrs. Clinton's record on the war, but the issue isn't a clean win for him, said Mr. Burden. Wisconsin's Madison-centric image as a liberal enclave is misleading when one looks at past elections, he said. Sen. John Kerry beat former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean here in 2004, and Michael Dukakis beat Jesse Jackson here in 1988.

Wisconsin has same-day voter registration that results in turnouts traditionally among the highest in the nation. That could bode well for Mr. Obama, who has fared well among independents. In the latest Republican polls, front-runner Sen. John McCain leads Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee by 20 percentage points.

If independents supporting Mr. McCain believe he has wrapped up his party's nomination, they may cross party lines and support Mr. Obama in the Democratic primary, Mr. Burden said.

Barack Obama

"Clinton, Obama chase next big prize: Washington state"

Seattle Times:

As the Super Tuesday votes were being tallied, Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were setting their sights on the next big prize: Washington.

After lagging behind Obama in getting a campaign up and running here, Clinton on Tuesday sent in a swarm of campaign staff from other states to help prepare for Saturday's precinct caucuses.

Obama's campaign announced Tuesday evening that he will make a campaign appearance Friday in Seattle.

Clinton also is expected to make a stop here. And her top campaign surrogate, former President Bill Clinton, is scheduled to appear Thursday night in Seattle and Friday morning in Tacoma.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain — the biggest winner Tuesday — still has no paid staff in Washington and no plans to come here before the GOP caucuses. Instead, his campaign appears more focused on the state's Feb. 19 primary, where he has a better chance of pulling in independent voters.

Could that open the door in Washington for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who had a surprisingly strong showing Tuesday? Or could this be the state where former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney revives his sagging campaign?

After dueling to what appears to be a draw in the 24 states that voted Tuesday, Clinton and Obama are digging in for a protracted battle for delegates that could last well into the spring.

"This race is a tie," said state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz. "This will be in play for at least a month, maybe all the way to the convention."

Two other states — Louisiana and Nebraska — are holding Democratic contests on Saturday. But Washington — with its 97 Democratic delegates, including 80 who will be selected through the caucuses and state convention — has nearly twice as much at stake as those two states combined.

State party officials are bracing for what could be an overwhelming turnout. Pelz is predicting Democrats will easily surpass the record 100,000 people who showed up for the caucuses in 2004 — a year in which the race was largely decided by the time it came to Washington.

It appears less is at stake here this weekend on the Republican side.

Washington's Republican Party is selecting only about half of its 40 delegates through the caucus process. There will be more than twice as many Republican delegates up for grabs Saturday in Louisiana and Kansas.

The rest of Washington's GOP delegates will be allocated through the state's Feb. 19 presidential primary — an event the state Democratic Party is ignoring.

McCain's campaign has already said he will not be coming to Washington this week.

For the past few weeks, while most of the attention has gone to the Super Tuesday states, the campaigns have been quietly gearing up in Washington. Most of the campaigns last month began hosting caucus training around the state. Some recently launched aggressive phone-bank and doorbelling operations.

Obama, who has raised nearly twice as much money in Washington as any other candidate, for weeks had the biggest field operation here. A well-organized group of grass-roots Obama supporters has been rounding up volunteers.

The campaign recently brought in paid staff from other states and now has offices in Seattle, Spokane, Everett, Bellingham and Vancouver, and paid staff in Wenatchee and the Tri-Cities.

"They're opening offices faster than Starbucks," Pelz said.

Clinton, meanwhile, had been relying on an all-volunteer effort here. But this week the national campaign sent in 22 paid staffers from Super Tuesday states.

"It's a huge shot in the arm," said Jim Kainber, who had been running Clinton's campaign here. "They know what needs to be done, who to call. ... This is a ground fight. It's about finding people and dragging people to the caucuses."

Having spent seven years as executive director of the state Democratic Party, Kainber probably knows as much as anyone how each precinct ticks. To offset that advantage, Kainber said, the Obama campaign needed to bring in lots of paid staff early.

But conventional wisdom could get trampled if hordes of new voters turn out for Obama, as happened last month in the Iowa caucuses.

On the Republican side, almost anything seems possible. Washington's Republican caucuses have a history of favoring insurgent candidates — most notably in 1988, when they were dominated by supporters of televangelist Pat Robertson.

"There were church buses and vans pulling up at the caucuses," recalled Chris Vance, a former state GOP chairman who was campaigning that year for Bob Dole.

Could that happen this year for Huckabee? A former Baptist preacher, he is a favorite among evangelical voters.

But Pastor Joe Fuiten, Huckabee's state chairman, said the campaign has nowhere near as big of a presence here as Robertson had. The cash-strapped campaign has no paid staff in Washington and has instead been relying on the online networking site Meetup.com and other grass-roots efforts.

Fuiten said he thinks Romney, a Mormon, could be this year's Robertson. A wealthy businessman who has pumped millions of dollars of his own money into the campaign, Romney has raised more money here than any other Republican.

"I think you'll find the Mormons will be out in force this weekend," Fuiten said. "And you can win the caucuses with a handful of people."

Toby Nixon, a former state legislator who is helping run Romney's campaign, said he is not aware of any organized get-out-the-vote effort by the church. But he said Mormons make up a large portion of the 20,000 or so voters the campaign has contacted.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who campaigned in Seattle last week, could also make a strong showing Saturday. Paul's passionate anti-war, libertarian message has struck a chord with many young voters here.

Paul, who has five paid campaign organizers in the state, was the top Republican fundraiser here in the final quarter of last year. Meetup.com lists dozens of Paul groups in Washington, and his supporters frequently show up to wave signs at other candidates' events.

McCain, meanwhile, has some of the state's biggest-name Republicans on his side — including Attorney General Rob McKenna and former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton.

Vance, another McCain supporter, said the GOP caucuses are "not the best atmosphere" for moderate candidates. Still, he figures McCain will hold his own in the caucuses and then do well in the primary.

Barack Obama

"Clinton vs. Obama: Lest We Forget"

Clarence B. Jones (Huffington Post):

The Clinton vs. Obama contest for the Democratic ticket of the upcoming residential race raises some provocative issues when reflecting on the Women's Movement and the African American community.

So much so that a recent comment by Senator Hillary Clinton about it taking President Lyndon B. Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for Dr. King's dream to be realized ("It took a president to get it done," stated Senator Clinton) was viewed by many as racially insensitive and a major gaffe. The comment has further sparked a national debate and has become, for now, a focal point of an already white hot, volatile political contest. It's no surprise that Dr. King's name and the Civil Rights Movement have been invoked into this discussion. I suspect that it won't be the last time either. Aside from Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, Dr. King, with whom I worked closely as personal counsel, advisor and draft speechwriter for much of the Civil Rights Movement, may have done more to achieve social, political and economic justice in America than any other event or person in the previous 400 years. So, as we approach November 2008, the burning question has been and will remain: What will it be? The historic opportunity to elect the first woman or first African American male as president of the United States.

There are few white women for whom I have more respect than Gloria Steinem, an ideological Godmother of the women's movement. In a recent op-ed column in the New York Times about the Obama vs. Clinton contest for the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States ("Women Are Never Front-Runners," January 8, 2008), Ms. Steinem's lifelong advocacy for gender equality appears to have become politically transformed into an advocacy of gender preferential treatment or implicit "female entitlement."

I am 77 years old, male and black. My experience in our country, as an African-American, and the reality of American history contravenes the assumption underlying Ms Steinem's thesis: women in the United States have been equally or more oppressed, excluded and discriminated against than African American men, writing in her op-ed, "Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House." As evidence she cites the historical fact that "Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot..." That historical anomaly standing alone, however, obscures the reality that white middle class women, as a group, have been one of the principal beneficiaries of Dr. King's legacy of struggle for racial justice and gender equality.

Further, the forefathers and foremothers of white middle class women in America did not endure the Middle Passage, chattel slavery by predecessor governments to our current government, the failure of Reconstruction, segregation, and years of racial injustice in our country. African-Americans are the heirs of a past of rope, fire and murder, sanctioned by institutionalized racism throughout the history of our country. As such, the election of an African American male to the presidency of the United States, under the reality of this unique American experience, is or would not be any less of an event or "historical first" than the election of a middle class white woman as President of the United States.

Which brings me to Senator Clinton's recent comments, presumably, to contrast her qualifications for president with those of Senator Obama, comparing herself to President Lyndon Johnson with the words, "It took a president to get it done." My longevity as a personal counsel and a draft speech writer for my beloved friend, Martin Luther King, Jr., has blessed me with the memory and the obligation of a living witness. The challenge confronting me and others, who worked with Dr. King, is how to set the record straight without appearing to third parties, especially the media, to be playing the so-called "race card". The absence of such raced based politics is what may be part of the unexpected broad appeal of the Obama candidacy.

I would like to remind all the candidates that this is the week of Dr. King's 79th birthday. Distorted application or misappropriation of his legacy for self serving political purposes by any candidate besmirches this legacy. Less there be some question about the roles of Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson, let me "make it plain": the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was not principally because of President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was because of Martin Luther King, Jr. LBJ was only responding to what Martin often said, quoting Victor Hugo in Les Miserables, that "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world and that is an idea whose time has come." The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was "an idea whose time had come"; a direct result of those hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets across our country under Dr. King's leadership and not because "it. took a president to get it done."

Often during municipal, state or federal political campaigns, various parties seek to appropriate one or more excerpts from Martin's speeches or writings in support of their immediate political objective. This is understandable. Dr. King left such an extraordinary imprint upon our nation's DNA. Without proposing or recommending any choice between Senators Clinton or Obama and the other remaining candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination, one would have to be brain dead or suffer from amnesia not to see the haunting parallel between Senator Obama's candidacy and the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple in Memphis, TN, in support of the sanitation workers' strike against the city of Memphis, in his last public speech and the day before his death, Dr. King told those assembled on that historic occasion: "I've been to the mountaintop... And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."

The candidacy of Senator Barack Obama may just be part of the Promised Land that Martin believed we as a people would get to, even though he prophetically said he may not there with us. The possible election of Senator Obama in 2008 as President of the United States may very well be more powerful than the march of mighty armies -- an idea for which the time has come.

Finally, a caution, if not a warning, to President Clinton, Senator Clinton and their campaign advisors: You run the risk of dissipating, corrupting, if not destroying, the justifiably deserved and accumulated positive capital and goodwill you have earned among black people from President and Senator Clinton's own history of struggle for racial justice. Few public officials, especially President Clinton, like Senator John Edwards, a son of the white south, have transcended the segregationist's racist conditions of their southern upbringing, and committed their lives to racial justice. As such they have earned their "credentials" among black people. Prior to the current election contest, President Clinton was belovedly characterized by many African Americans as "America's first black president". However, the Clinton presidential campaign's apparent blind ambition for power runs the risk of destroying Clinton's reservoir of earned political integrity and affection among black people.

I suspect to some African Americans, especially older parents and grandparents, Senator Obama is symbolic and/or represents their sons and grandsons, for whom most have sacrificed to get them an education and succeed. Good faith questions about qualifications and experience are always appropriate about a candidate who seeks the nomination of his party to be president. However, gratuitous attacks against Obama or sarcastic paternalism dismissing his "qualifications" to be President of the United States are offensive and carry a tinge of "we know what's best for you" racism. This only serves to embolden Senator Obama's younger supporters; as they appear to resent such condescension and respond by saying "Yes we (he) can!!" Despite perhaps knowing less about the legacy of Dr. King, these young people nonetheless sense that Senator Obama's campaign for president may also be "an idea whose time has come."

In the name of my beloved friend Martin, I beseech all candidates to pause in a moment of reflection and consider whether what you do and say to get elected as president either enhances or diminishes the ultimate sacrifice that Dr. King made so that you are in a viable position to be in the presidential race in 2009.

Clarence B. Jones is the former personal counsel, advisor, draft speech writer and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is a Scholar in Residence at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University. His forthcoming book titled What Would Martin Say will be published by HarperCollins in April 2008.

Barack Obama

"Clinton, Obama asked about race controversy" (video)

MSNBC with video (01:42):

NBC's Brian Williams asks Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama about their controversy over race, during the Democratic presidential debate. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

Howie P.S.: When more video of the debate is available, I will post it here.

Barack Obama

"Clinton, Obama search for heroes in 'super delegates'"

LA Times:

Now that no clear Democratic front-runner has emerged from the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, a campaign that had been all about momentum and money has become a furious race for the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

That gives newfound weight to the preferences of major Democratic Party leaders and elected officials, who can provide organizational help, fundraising aid and a network of supporters.

But the endorsements matter for another reason. Unlike past nominating contests, this one may be so close and protracted that the votes of "super delegates" could prove decisive.

Super delegates are House members, senators, party officials and other elected leaders who get to attend the Democratic presidential convention in August because of their positions and are free to vote their personal preferences. They are not bound by votes in their respective states.

So there are essentially two campaigns unfolding simultaneously: one for rank-and-file voters; the other for the 796 super delegates who account for nearly 40% of the total needed to win. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York now leads with 163 super delegates, and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has 64, according to an Associated Press tally.

Erstwhile presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson looms as a trophy endorsement. The candidate who reels in Richardson gets a super delegate and a high-profile Latino who has the loyalty of New Mexico state lawmakers and donors -- all rolled into one.

The report last week that he was dropping out of the Democratic presidential race had barely moved on the wire services when Richardson's phone rang.

It was the Clintons, looking for his endorsement. Phone calls from Obama and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina came soon afterward.

"There's a massive push for endorsements," Richardson, who hasn't committed himself, said in an interview. "It's gone pretty far."

Sen. Claire McCaskill was another prize. The Missouri Democrat had been holding out, opting to stay neutral during the campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Her hesitation was in part a courtesy to Clinton. In the spring, she said, she had her first real face-to-face conversation with Clinton when the two met for lunch. Clinton knew that McCaskill leaned toward Obama but asked for a favor: Would she at least hold off and make no endorsement?

McCaskill agreed to wait.

But in recent weeks, Obama's campaign had been in touch, asking if she'd take a call from the candidate and hear his pitch.

McCaskill said there was no need. She considered Obama a friend and was grateful that he had campaigned for her in 2006, helping her get to the Senate. Plus, her children like him and had been nagging her to endorse. So on Sunday morning she made her announcement.

"It was really just now or never," McCaskill, also a super delegate, said in an interview. "If I wanted to try and make a difference, obviously it was do it now or stay on the sidelines until the nominee was decided."

The maneuvering for super delegates reflects a campaign that has taken unpredictable turns, forcing candidates to improvise on the fly.

Until recently, few believed the race might stretch past Feb. 5, when 24 states including California hold primaries and caucuses. Clinton said as much in December in a reception with donors in Sacramento.

But even after the bonanza of delegates is doled out on what is being called Super Duper Tuesday, the race could be up for grabs. That's because the winners of these contests do not automatically scoop up all of the delegates. Rather, in California, New York and elsewhere, delegates are awarded in proportional fashion. Clinton or Obama could finish a strong second and conceivably pick up enough delegates to deprive the other of the magic number needed to lock up the nomination.

So the contest could still be in limbo after Feb. 5, giving super delegates enhanced influence.

"There is the potential for this to be fairly evenly divided all the way to the end," said Chris Lehane, a spokesman for Al Gore's presidential bid in 2000 and a Clinton supporter.

Whether it will be a two- or three-person contest on the Democratic side is unclear. Edwards is mounting an intense campaign in South Carolina, where he was born. After a third-place finish in New Hampshire, he needs a strong result in South Carolina to remain competitive through the Feb. 5 vote.

In this uncertain environment, endorsements and super delegates are coveted.

Historically, endorsements have sometimes fallen flat. Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, but Dean, after placing third in the Iowa caucuses, made a loud, boisterous speech that his candidacy never overcame.

Yet validation from high elected officials can give a candidate access to their supporters and fundraisers -- or simply some much-needed help as surrogates on the trail.

California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi on Friday announced he was endorsing Clinton. He said he would quickly send out an e-mail to 300,000 of his supporters discussing the endorsement. His wife, Patti, served as a senior official in the Peace Corps during the Clinton administration, and will help as well.

"We are a sisterhood in many ways, and I've had the privilege of knowing her very personally," Patti Garamendi said.

Endorsements also carry symbolic value. Following a New Hampshire primary in which Clinton soaked up the female vote, Obama is eager to show alliances with high-profile women.

McCaskill said of her endorsement: "It may give some women permission to take a second look at Barack Obama."

A kind of mini-primary played out for the endorsement of the popular Arizona governor, Janet Napolitano.

Both Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack asked Napolitano to back Clinton, according to Barry Dill, a political advisor to Napolitano.

Obama met with the governor last February, and the two have been "talking ever since," Napolitano, a super delegate, said in an interview. With her endorsement comes "a number of volunteers and people" who have worked with her in previous campaigns, Napolitano said. "Many of them will support Obama."

For some female elected officials, endorsing Obama over Clinton can seem an act of betrayal. They want to see Clinton break the glass ceiling. California state Sen. Gloria Romero said she wore an Obama button on the floor of the Assembly last week and got a withering look from another female lawmaker.

"She came up to me and said, 'You've got to be kidding.' " Romero recalled. "She was shocked that I'd gone with Obama."

Barack Obama

Hillary and Barack Go Back and Forth; Edwards Chimes In

Meet The Press, with video (50:31):

Live from South Carolina, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) joined us for the full hour to talk about her campaign for the presidency as our "Meet the Candidates" series continued.

jasonrosenbaum, with video (02:11):

Sen. Barack Obama responds to Hillary Clinton's comments on Meet the Press.

"Clinton, Obama clash over race issue"--AP:

"I must say I was troubled recently to see a suggestion that real change that came not through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King but through a Washington politician. I fundamentally disagree with that," Edwards told more than 200 people gathered at a predominantly black Baptist church in Sumter, S.C.

Barack Obama

"Durbin warns Bill Clinton"

Mike Allen (Politico):

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the second-ranking party leader in the Senate, says President Bill Clinton’s comments about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are getting “too personal” and called on the former president to refrain from attacking Obama’s integrity.

“I’m really troubled by his questioning the sincerity of Barack Obama’s opposition to the war in Iraq,” Durbin said. “I really think it is unfortunate to question Barack’s sincerity on the war. He has been there from the start, opposing this war.”

The unsolicited comments — in a phone call to Politico from Springfield, Ill. — were a sign that the Obama campaign is going to react aggressively to perceived attacks on the senator’s character.

“I really had hoped ... that it wouldn’t become too personal or too negative,” Durbin said. “I don’t think that’s good for either of the candidates or for our party. There may be clear some clear differences on some issues.”

Durbin suggested that the former president has been giving somewhat revisionist accounts on the way the Iraq war debate played out.

“It was not easy to be against that war back when we cast that vote in October of 2002,” Durbin said. “I was one of 23 who voted against the war. Barack was supportive — one of the few candidates speaking out strongly against it in Illinois.

“If President Clinton had opposed that war as strongly as Barack Obama at the time, it would have helped a lot of us who had voted against authorizing an invasion.”

Durbin, the majority whip, was reacting to comments the former president has made in several recent forums suggesting that Obama’s opposition to the Iraq war has not been as steadfast as he has suggested on the stump.

“I think that his story line is not accurate,” Clinton said Friday on a liberal talk show on Sirius satellite radio.

Clinton, seeking to tamp down discontent among black leaders about comments he made about Obama in New Hampshire, told Mark Thompson on the Talk Left channel:

“This is what happens any time anyone tries to question a statement or a position of Sen. Obama. The response is, ‘You’re attacking me personally,’ and that relieves him of the obligation to address the substance.”

Durbin has endorsed Obama but says he is friends with both Clintons and noted that his voting record was strongly supportive of Bill Clinton when he was in office. Durbin and the former president overlapped at Georgetown University: Durbin got his undergraduate degree in 1966, and Clinton graduated in 1968.

“I really worked hard for him when he was a candidate,” Durbin said. “And I’ve had a very strong and warm relationship with Sen. Clinton, as well. So none of this is personal. I respect them both very much.”

Asked his outlook on the Democratic primary campaign, Durbin said: “In this business, you step back as a candidate and you say, 'Would I rather be in my opponent’s shoes or in my shoes?' I’d rather be in the Obama camp today, I think. We really have momentum behind us.”

Barack Obama

"Boomer women for Hillary..."

David Horsey, Seattle P-I.

Barack Obama

Democratic Debate: Four Videos

hillaryclintondotcom, video (00:30):

Words are not action--and as beautifully presented and passionately felt as they are, they are not action. What we've got to do is translate talk into action and feeling into reality. I have a long record of doing that, of taking on the very interests that you have just rightly excoriated because of the overdue influence that they have in our government.

BarackObamadotcom, video (01:27):

After others criticize him for inspiring Americans with real change, Barack Obama lays out how Americans are determined to see true change occur.

johnedwards, video (01:55):

John Edwards is asked to describe one of his greatest Senate accomplishments - the Patients' Bill of Rights. He goes on to talk about the personal nature of his lifelong work, fighting against powerful insurance companies and special interests. "We need a president who believes deeply in this battle." Recorded during the Democratic debate sponsored by ABC News, WMUR, and Facebook on Saturday, January 5, 2008.

belo4555, video (03:34):

News analysis of undecided voters in New Hampshire shows strong support for change and the campaign of Barack Obama.

Barack Obama