GOP senator's wife donates to Obama

Sens. John McCain and Chuck Hagel have long been friends. Fellow Republicans and Vietnam War veterans, their Senate offices are just across the hall from each other.

But at least during the presidential primary, Hagel's wife, Lilibet, is helping McCain's likely Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Mrs. Hagel donated twice to Obama's campaign in February for a total contribution of $500. The contributions were first reported by the Washington Post

And, word is that Murdoch supports Obama. This is truly amazing!

McCain's Short List for VP Leaked to Press

LOL!

Lieberman To Speak At Hagee Summit

Sen. Joe Lieberman says he'll speak at a July conference hosted by Rev. John Hagee, whose endorsement was recently rejected by Republican John McCain because of Hagee's controversial remarks about religion.

Lieberman, one of presumed GOP presidential nominee McCain's strongest supporters, said Wednesday while Hagee's comments were unacceptable and hurtful, he will judge him on his life work fighting anti-Semitism and building bridges between Christians and Jews.

Lieberman, I-Conn., will speak at Hagee's "Christians United for Israel" summit in Washington.

McCain last week repudiated the months-old endorsement by the preacher after an audio recording surfaced in which Hagee said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.

What a turncoat!

House Dem wants McClellan testimony on pre-war White House propaganda

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., says Scott McClellan's book is full of "shocking revelations," and the former Bush press secretary should testify to the House Judiciary Committee about the administration's "deliberate efforts to mislead the American people into the Iraq War." Wexler has pushed for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney.

"Scott McClellan must now appear before the House Judiciary Committee under oath to tell Congress and the American people how President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and White House officials deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.... "The allegations by this former top White House aide - that Rove and Libby deliberately coordinated their stories in order to obstruct justice in the Plame case, that the President deliberately disregarded contradictory evidence related to Iraq, should outrage every American."

Good. But will it actually happen?

John Kerry: Is he angling for secretary of state?

Four years after a failed presidential bid and amid a race for a fifth Senate term this fall, Kerry's moves have prompted some questions:

_Is the Massachusetts Democrat positioning himself to be secretary of state in a potential Barack Obama administration?

_Could a Kerry appointment create not one but two Senate openings in Massachusetts, assuming Sen. Edward Kennedy cannot complete his term after being diagnosed last week with brain cancer?

Kerry aides insist he's not angling for the job and point to his long involvement in foreign affairs. It started with his famous testimony as a 27-year-old veteran questioning the Vietnam War before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It continues today, at age 64, as the No. 3 Democrat on the same panel.

But envisioning him in the post would hardly be a stretch given Obama's chances at securing the Democratic nomination, a general election shaping up as a "change" campaign and Kerry's relationship with the Illinois senator.

I'm truly afraid of losing too many senate seats. I think most of our dem. senators should stay put.

Barack Obama At Wesleyan Commencemt

Great speech!

Thanks to WTNH!

Clinton defends staying in Democratic race by invoking RFK assassination

Sen. Hillary Clinton, in defending her decision to continue running for the Democratic nomination that almost certainly will go to rival Sen. Barack Obama, reportedly invoked the shooting death of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?" Clinton said to the editorial board of the Sioux Falls, S.D. Argus Leader. "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.

"I don't understand" the calls to exit the race, she added.

This is disgusting! She should be ashamed.

Rove Subpoenaed in Congressional Probe

he House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former senior Bush advisor Karl Rove, a panel spokesman tells ABC News.

The committee has been investigating claims that the Bush administration played politics in decisions made at the Justice Department, including the firing of at least nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. Those firings created a political firestorm on Capitol Hill, and led to former attorney general Alberto Gonzales’ resignation last summer.

Again...

The Fall of Conservatism

The era of American politics that has been dying before our eyes was born in 1966. That January, a twenty-seven-year-old editorial writer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat named Patrick Buchanan went to work for Richard Nixon, who was just beginning the most improbable political comeback in American history. Having served as Vice-President in the Eisenhower Administration, Nixon had lost the Presidency by a whisker to John F. Kennedy, in 1960, and had been humiliated in a 1962 bid for the California governorship. But he saw that he could propel himself back to power on the strength of a new feeling among Americans who, appalled by the chaos of the cities, the moral heedlessness of the young, and the insults to national pride in Vietnam, were ready to blame it all on the liberalism of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Right-wing populism was bubbling up from below; it needed to be guided by a leader who understood its resentments because he felt them, too.

Great article!

Democratic National Convention Address, August 12, 1980

Senator Edward M. Kennedy's address to the Democratic National Convention, New York City, august 12, 1980.

Running time 34:48 minutes

Possibly one of the best speeches ever given. Please give it a listen.

Our hearts and prayers are with you, Teddy!

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor

Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

His wife and children have been with him each day but have made no public statements.

His doctors said in a statement released to The Associated Press that he has had no further seizures, is in good spirits and is resting comfortably.

Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year - and the most common type among adults. It's a starting diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing.

Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types - such as glioblastomas - or to about five years for different types that are slower growing.

F.U.C.K.

Video From The Obama Rally In Portland

Wow!!! I've never seen anything like it.

I've heard anywhere from 75,000 to over 85,000 people showed up.

Has that EVER happened in this country??? For a primary contest???

HuffPo has a good slide show here as well.

Special Comment Follow Up From Last Week

It's sad that he even had to do this...But, Slam!

Clinton's Base Shifting Obama-wards

As the Democrats start to coalesce around Barack Obama, those coming over to his side appear to be drawn from some of the key constituencies that supported Hillary Clinton during the campaign, according to Gallup data gathered between May 1-13. As of now, Clinton's support among whites, women and voters with high school degrees or less have dipped just below 50 percent, while her support among Hispanics stands at 51 percent. Among the first three groups, Obama is now statistically even with Clinton; among Hispanics he trails by 7 points. Gallup says that only major demographic group still supporting Clinton by more than the 51 percent she registers with Hispanics are women over 50.

When will she admit defeat?

Mr. President, the war isn’t about you — or golf

President Bush has resorted anew to the sleaziest fear-mongering and mass manipulation of an administration and public life dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations. And he has now applied these poisons to the 2008 presidential election, on behalf of the party at whose center he and John McCain lurk.

Another great special comment from Olbermann...

Chris Matthews Tears Righty Blowhole A New One

What a jerk (James that is)!

Obama: 'George Bush and John McCain Have a Lot to Answer For'

"After almost eight years, I did not think I could be surprised by almost anything George Bush says," Obama told a crowd at a campaign event in Watertown, South Dakota, Friday, "He accused me and other Democrats of wanting to negotiate with terrorists and said we were appeasers no different than people who appeased the Nazis before World War II."

I'm glad he's not taking it in stride. That was a ridiculous comment by Bush.

Conyers: 'We're Closing In On Rove'

Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers tell two other people: "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass."

Asked a few minutes later for a more official explanation, Conyers told us that Rove has a week to appear before his committee. If he doesn't, said Conyers, "We'll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We'd hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested."

Conyers said the committee wants Rove to testify about his role in the imprisonment of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, among other things.

"We want him for so many things, it's hard to keep track," Conyers said.

I'd LOVE to see him arrested!

Edwards To Endorse Obama

ABC News' Kate Snow, Raelyn Johnson, Sunlen Miller, and Rick Klein Report: Former Sen. John Edwards is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy Wednesday evening, in a dramatic attempt by the Obama campaign to answer concerns regarding Obama's appeal to working-class voters, several senior Democratic sources tell ABC News.

The Obama campaign confirms Edwards will endorse Obama at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan Wednesday. The event was originally scheduled to start at 7pmET, but was moved up to 6:20pmET, presumably to have the announcement make the evening news.

It's about time!

Obama picks up more superdelegates

Hours after being routed by Hillary Rodham Clinton in West Virginia, Barack Obama picked up two more superdelegates, offering fresh recognition from Democratic leaders of his inevitable nomination.

An embattled Clinton is urging party leaders to take a hard look at West Virginia, which she won with 67 percent of the vote. But her victory did little if anything to knock Obama off stride as he approaches the delegate totals needed to give him the presidential nomination.

So, what is Hillary's current motivation?

Can a Campaign Go Bankrupt?

Debt retirement gets a little more complicated when candidates lend their own money to their campaign. After an election is over, any campaign contributions that go toward repaying the candidate's own loans serve, in practice, as money directly into a politician's pocket. As a result, campaign law (PDF) now limits to $250,000 the amount a campaign committee can repay the candidate after the election. In the case of the Democratic primary, the election will end when a nominee is selected in Denver. So unless Clinton is able to raise enough money to pay herself back by then, she'll have to write off millions of dollars she lent to her campaign.

What happens when a candidate has no hope of raising enough money after the election to pay off his or her outstanding debts? Technically, political committees can declare bankruptcy, but the practice is almost unheard of since defunct campaigns don't have much in the way of assets. Instead, losing candidates who aren't running again for political office—and consequently don't have an easy way to raise much money—may go through a process with the FEC called "debt settlement" (PDF). To do so, a former candidate must agree with creditors on how much he or she will pay back, and the FEC must verify that each creditor extended the debt in the "ordinary course of business" and tried its best to collect. (Unlike outstanding payments to vendors or staff, bank loans typically can't be forgiven.) If debt settlement fails, the FEC can eventually engage in an "administrative termination" that shuts down the campaign committee and cancels its obligations.

Clinton debt between $20 and $30 million & rising

It took 20 years for John Glenn, the former astronaut and Democratic senator, to repay the debts that he ran up in his failed bid for the presidential nomination in 1984.

Nobody is predicting that Hillary Clinton, whose campaign debts are estimated at between $20m and $30m – and rising – would take that long to meet her obligations. But the financial strain is getting more difficult with each day.

Having raised little more than $1m (€650,000, £510,000) since her defeat in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana last Tuesday, compared to $10m in the days following her Pennsylvania win last month, Mrs Clinton’s decision to fight on is almost certainly adding to her mountain of debts.

“I don’t recall the last time any candidate faced withdrawal from the race with debts of this magnitude,” says Michael Toner, the former head of the Federal Election Commission. “She began the race with the most formidable money machine in modern history and she looks likely to end it in record debt.”

She is toast. This may well roll over to any future campaigns of hers.

Flashback: Bill O'Reilly Goes Apesh*t

Surprise, surprise, surprise: Pompous Bill O'Reilly has always needed an anger-management intervention! In this vintage clip from Inside Edition, a technical difficulty causes the telepromter to malfunction, sending good 'ole Bill into a meltdown of epic proportions. While he loses his cool, his weird, hairsprayed hair doesn't move an inch.

Click the link for video! It was messing up formatting when embedded, so I pulled it.

Ha ha! Hilarious!

What'd he say? Speculation mounts of Edwards Obama endorsement

Speaking on MSNBC this morning, John Edwards let slip that he voted for Barack Obama, and would soon formally endorse the likely Democratic presidential candidate. At least that's the interpretation some are taking away from the interview.

The network's Mika Brzezinski quizzed the North Carolinian on his vote in Tuesday's primary there, but Edwards seemed resolved not to give any clues away. About 10 minutes into the interview, though, Edwards might've made his intentions clear.

"You're saying this candidate you voted for will be the candidate you potentially will endorse?" Brzezinski asked.

"I'd say that's very likely," Edwards said. "I just voted for 'em on Tuesday."

Hrmmm...

Letterman: Clinton ‘has substantial lead in the state of denial’

LETTERMAN: Are you folks sick and tired of the Democratic Presidential primary campaign? (cheers and applause)

LETTERMAN: That’s what i say. bllphh! Hillary Clinton by the way, and my gosh, talk about a fighter. A fighter. But too bad her campaign is running out of money. That’s right. And is very expensive. And they are not paying their bills. As a matter of fact, Today and this very sad, a collection agency repoed her pant suit. (laughter)

LETTERMAN: That is a true story. You can look that up. You can — bblllpphh. So here is what happened on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton barely won my home state of Indiana. And she lost in the State of North Carolina. But here is the good news. She has a substantial lead in the state of denial. Thank you so much.

Ouch...

Obama Now Takes The Lead in Superdelegates Too

Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates this morning giving him a new metric to tout in addition to his current commanding leads in pledged delegates, popular votes, states won, and money raised.

Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., endorsed Obama. DeFazio was previously uncommitted.

With these endorsements, Obama has the support of 267 superdelegates and Clinton has 265 superdelegates.

It's pretty much over for Clinton.

EXCLUSIVE: Ed Schultz and Michael Medved Debate Audio From 05/07/08

Ed Schultz has taken up the gauntlet thrown down by the right wing radio station, The Patriot, for the first Twin Cities live debate between Ed and AM1280's talk show host Michael Medved! Twelve parts in total.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:



Part 4:


Part 5:


Part 6:


Part 7:


Part 8:


Part 9:


Part 10:


Part 11:


Part 12 (conclusion):


Too much to comment one, except to say that was one harsh crowd!

Edwards' Campaign Manager to Endorse Obama

ABC News has learned that David Bonior, the campaign manager for the 2008 presidential race of Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, will endorse Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, today.

Bonior, a former Michigan congressman, was once the second highest ranking Democrat in the House, and is influential with labor unions.

Tuesday night's results were said to be key to Bonior's decision -- specifically the fact that Obama's lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, appears insurmountable.

When will Edwards get off his duff and finish this?

McCain's Pastor Problem

During a 2005 sermon, a fundamentalist pastor whom Senator John McCain has praised and campaigned with called Islam "the greatest religious enemy of our civilization and the world," claiming that the historic mission of America is to see "this false religion destroyed." In this taped sermon, currently sold by his megachurch, the Reverend Rod Parsley reiterates and amplifies harsh and derogatory comments about Islam he made in his book, Silent No More, published the same year he delivered these remarks. Meanwhile, McCain has stuck to his stance of not criticizing Parsley, an important political ally in a crucial swing state.

Why is McSame getting a pass on this from the corporate media?

Congressman says race will be over by May 20th

Audio should be available shortly...

Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-MO) told the Ed Schultz show live on air today that the presidential race will be over by May 20th.

Blumenauer, an Obama supporter, cited Obama's meeting on Capitol Hill with members of the House today. RAW STORY will post the audio when it becomes available. Clinton's campaign chairman said today the race would be over by June.

I think he's probably right.

Stephen King fires back after blogger attacks remarks

"That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt," he said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Good for him...

Obama Camp's Memo to Supers

TO: Superdelegates

FROM: David Plouffe, Campaign Manager

RE: An Update on the Race for Delegates

DA: May 7, 2008

There are only six contests remaining in the Democratic primary calendar and only 217 pledged delegates left to be awarded. Only 7 percent of the pledged delegates remain on the table. There are 260 remaining undeclared superdelegates, for a total of 477 delegates left to be awarded.

With North Carolina and Indiana complete, Barack Obama only needs 172 total delegates to capture the Democratic nomination. This is only 36% of the total remaining delegates.

Conversely, Senator Clinton needs 326 delegates to reach the Democratic nomination, which represents a startling 68% of the remaining delegates.

With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days. While those scenarios may be entertaining, they are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or its millions of supporters, volunteers, and donors.

We believe it is exceedingly unlikely Senator Clinton will overtake our lead in the popular vote and in fact lost ground on that measure last night. However, the popular vote is a deeply flawed and illegitimate metric for deciding the nominee - since each campaign based their strategy on the acquisition of delegates. More importantly, the rules of the nomination are predicated on delegates, not popular vote.

Just as the Presidential election in November will be decided by the electoral college, not popular vote, the Democratic nomination is decided by delegates.

If we believed the popular vote was somehow the key measurement, we would have campaigned much more intensively in our home state of Illinois and in all the other populous states, in the pursuit of larger raw vote totals. But it is not the key measurement. We played by the rules, set by you, the DNC members, and campaigned as hard as we could, in as many places as we could, to acquire delegates. Essentially, the popular vote is not much better as a metric than basing the nominee on which candidate raised more money, has more volunteers, contacted more voters, or is taller.

The Clinton campaign was very clear about their own strategy until the numbers become too ominous for them. They were like a broken record , repeating ad nauseum that this nomination race is about delegates. Now, the word delegate has disappeared from their vocabulary, in an attempt to change the rules and create an alternative reality.

We want to be clear - we believe that the winner of a majority of pledged delegates will and should be the nominee of our party. And we estimate that after the Oregon and Kentucky primaries on May 20, we will have won a majority of the overall pledged delegates According to a recent news report, by even their most optimistic estimates the Clinton Campaign expects to trail by more than 100 pledged delegates and will then ask the superdelegates to overturn the will of the voters.

But of course superdelegates are free to and have been utilizing their own criteria for deciding who our nominee should be. Many are deciding on the basis of electability, a favorite Clinton refrain. And if you look at the numbers, during a period where the Clinton campaign has been making an increasingly strident pitch on electability, it is clear their argument is failing miserably with superdelegates.

Since February 5, the Obama campaign has netted 107 superdelegates, and the Clinton campaign only 21. Since the Pennsylvania primary, much of it during the challenging Rev. Wright period, we have netted 24 and the Clinton campaign 17.

At some point - we would argue that time is now - this ceases to be a theoretical exercise about how superdelegates view electability. The reality of the preferences in the last several weeks offer a clear guide of how strongly superdelegates feel Senator Obama will perform in November, both in building a winning campaign for the presidency as well as providing the best electoral climate across the country for all Democratic candidates.

It is important to note that Senator Obama leads Senator Clinton in superdelegate endorsements among Governors, United States Senators and members of the House of Representatives. These elected officials all have a keen sense for who our strongest nominee will be in November.

It is only among DNC members where Senator Clinton holds a lead, which has been rapidly dwindling.

As we head into the final days of the campaign, we just wanted to be clear with you as a party leader, who will be instrumental in making the final decision of who our nominee will be, how we view the race at this point.

Senator Obama, our campaign and our supporters believe pledged delegates is the most legitimate metric for determining how this race has unfolded. It is simply the ratification of the DNC rules - your rules - which we built this campaign and our strategy around.

McGovern Urges Clinton to Drop Out

Former senator and Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern is urging New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to drop out of the Democratic race.

McGovern decided to switch his support from Clinton to Obama, he said, after Obama carried North Carolina and came within three percentage points of Clinton's victory in Indiana.

"We need to concentrate on a unified party that's capable of winning the White House," he said. Clinton has "made a great valiant race for the nomination. So has Barack Obama. It would appear to me that he has all but won the nomination."

Although McGovern said he had left a message for former President Bill Clinton, he had not yet spoken to either of the Clintons.

Yes. It's time.

Superdelegate suggests Clinton camp tried to 'buy' vote

“I’ve been in politics for 30 years and I’ve paid my own way to the convention since ‘72,” Council said. “I’ll announce my decision tomorrow because I don’t want to influence anyone’s vote. The ‘Wright’ thing has probably cost Obama a few points here though I think he’ll win. What is most important to me is education, health care, and inspiring the kids and that’s what Obama has done. All of my children are for him.”

It's over now. Time to move on...

Moving Goalposts...Again

With less than 24 hours remaining until Indiana and North Carolina voters head to the polls, Hillary Clinton's campaign seems to be trying to lower expectations using arguments similar to those they dismissed before last month's Pennsylvania primary.

Former UN weapons inspector says attack on Iran 'virtual guarantee'

"We take a look at the military buildup, we take a look at the rhetoric, we take a look at the diplomatic posturing, and I would say that it’s a virtual guarantee that there will be a limited aerial strike against Iran in the not-so-near future—or not-so-distant future, that focuses on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command," Ritter said last week in a little-noted interview with Amy Goodman's Democracy Now. "And if this situation spins further out of control, you would see these aerial strikes expanding to include Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and some significant command and control targets."

Let the bombs fly!

The Muppets!

Sorry. I couldn't help it...

Play of the Day: Clinton visits gas station for cameras

Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former first lady who hasn't driven a car or pumped gas in many years because of Secret Service restrictions, joined a blue-collar worker at a filling station Wednesday to illustrate how the high price of gasoline is squeezing consumers.

The Democratic presidential candidate and sheet metal worker Jason Wilfing, 33, pulled into the station in a large white Ford 250 pickup truck, Clinton riding shotgun. Never mind that it wasn't even Wilfing's truck — he had borrowed his boss's larger vehicle to accommodate Clinton's security agent and personal assistant, who rode in the back.

Trailing Wilfing and Clinton was a Secret Service motorcade consisting of six gas-guzzling Suburbans, two squad cars and a green SUV bearing photographers and TV cameras. Several other reporters and cameramen stood shivering in unseasonably cold temperatures, ready to capture the multi-vehicle arrival.

Clinton and Wilfing stepped out of the car and approached the pump. Wilfing chose regular unleaded gasoline, and began filling the tank. The two engaged in chit chat, with New York senator mentioning her proposal for a temporary gas tax holiday to ease the price pinch on consumers.

The tank filled, Clinton looked at the price recorded at the pump and shook her head.

"Sixty-three dollars," she said. "For just about half a tank."

Shutters clicked, cameras whirred. Point made.

I am reserving comment on this...

Disabled group members arrested at McCain's office

At least 20 disabled activists, most of them in wheelchairs, were arrested outside Sen. John McCain's offices Tuesday after being refused a meeting with the GOP presidential nominee-to-be over a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to more people who want in-home care.

"If he should be president, it would be ironic that he comes from a party that talks a lot about family values," said Bob Kafka, national organizer for ADAPT, a group advocating for passage of the bill. Without the legislation, many disabled and elderly people don't have the choice to apply coverage to anything other than institutional care, he said.

"Families are devastated because they don't have a choice to keep people at home," Kafka said.

McCain was not in his office during the protest. He was campaigning Tuesday in Florida on his health care plan.

This is a new low for America.

Obama backer predicts victory in Hill war

Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate have yet to state their preferences in the race for the Democratic nomination, sources said Tuesday that most of them have already made up their minds and have told the campaigns where they stand.

“The majority of superdelegates I’ve talked to are committed, but it is a matter of timing,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “They’re just preferring to make their decision public after the primaries are over. ... They would like someone else to act for them before they talk about it in the cold light of day.”

Obama currently holds an 18-13 lead among committed superdelegates in the Senate, while Clinton holds a 77-74 lead in the House. Asked which way the committed-but-unannounced superdelegates are leaning, McCaskill — who has endorsed Obama — said: “James Brown would say, ‘I Feel Good.’”

I just want this over.

I am suspicious of the claim that the campaigns know who is backing who. If that were true, I think someone would (should?) be dropping out of the race.

Obama seeks federal probe into ads by pro-Clinton group

Barack Obama's campaign urged federal regulators yesterday to investigate whether a pro-Hillary Clinton advocacy group is breaking campaign finance laws.

The American Leadership Project, one of the growing number of quasi-independent groups involved in the presidential race, was started by Clinton allies, and its major funding comes from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that has endorsed Clinton.

On Tuesday, it began airing a TV ad in Indiana going after Obama's economic plan and has said it will spend $920,000 on the ads. Obama's campaign says that ad is misleading and lodged a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, saying the group should have to register as a political committee, disclose contributors, and abide by contribution limits.

"From its inception, ALP has made clear that its objective is to help Hillary Clinton win the Democratic nomination for president," Obama campaign lawyers write in the complaint.

Jason Kinney, ALP chairman and a California Democratic strategist, responded, "We have strictly and carefully adhered to every governing law and regulation, including the content of our communications and our full and timely disclosures."

The ALP is a 527 group, referring to a section of the tax code, that can raise unlimited amounts from donors and can air issue-based ads; however it is not supposed to air ads that expressly advocate for or against a candidate and cannot coordinate with a campaign.

Not that Clinton ever gave a shit about actual rules.

Still, to be fair, what about MoveOn's endorsement of Obama? Maybe they are more careful about their advertising? As a proud member of Moveon.org, I need to look into this.

Former DNC Chairman And Super-Delegate Joe Andrew Defects From Clinton To Obama

Hillary Clinton has lost a super-delegate this morning in a defection over to Barack Obama, Joe Andrew of Indiana. And just to make it look worse for her, Andrew is a super-delegate by virtue of his service as DNC chairman during Bill's administration, but is now calling for the party to unite behind Obama.

"While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us," Andrew wrote in an open letter.

"John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives."

I hope this trend continues...