Father Michael Pfleger background

A German American[2] from the south side of Chicago, Pfleger attended Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, Loyola University and the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 14, 1975. Since 1981, Pfleger has been pastor of the mostly African American Saint Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood. When he was appointed to his present position at the age of 31, he became the youngest pastor in the Chicago archdiocese.[1] His parishioners have affectionately referred to him as a "blue-eyed black soul". Under Pfleger's leadership, Saint Sabina has established an Employment Resource Center, a Social Service Center, and also an Elders home.

Father Michael Pfleger, Hillary thinks "I'm white I'm entitled

Rupert "Fox News" Murdoch: Just about ready to vote for Obama

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, who started becoming pessimistic about the U.S. economy earlier this spring, is now downright gloomy: At his company's D conference Thursday, he predicted that "for the next 18 months, I think this country is in for a very hard time," and that America's woes are spreading to Europe.

So is he optimistic about anything? Yes, he is: He's cautiously intrigued by... Barack Obama. Murdoch, who said that he was responsible for the New York Post's endorsement of Obama during the New York primary, said he wasn't ready to endorse Obama or to vote for him. But he's pretty close: "I want to be convinced that Obama is the real thing, that can really carry through. I'm open to that."

Murdoch offered up his musings during an interview at Dow Jones' "D conference" which focuses on media and technology issues. But given that he now owns Dow Jones, and that he's not shy about offering up his opinions, the conversation was fairly wide-ranging.

For instance, he felt free to play political analyst, pointing out potential hurdles for each candidate this fall: Obama "might not carry Florida, because the Jewish people are suspicious of him, and so are Hispanics... and while people won't talk about it, race will matter." Meanwhile McCain "has been in Congress a long time, and you have to make a lot of compromises. So what's he really stand for?... I think he has a lot of problems."

He also played energy analyst, offering a solution to high gas prices: Encourage oil drilling off the West coast. And for good measure, he defended the lack of a liberal counterpart to Bill O'Reilly on Fox News: He'd hire one if he could find a good one, he argued. What about MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who's now spending much of his time attacking O'Reilly and Fox? "No. I fired him 5 years ago," when he was on FoxSports: "He was crazy."

John McCain's proposal

For how to deal with North Korea sounds an awful like the one the Bush Administration had been using and later abandoned, because, well, it led to North Korea getting nukes

Today on the presidential campaign trail

Obama and Clinton battle in close June 3 South Dakota primary ... Obama inches toward the nomination, picks up Oregon superdelegate

Obama, Clinton in close battle for South Dakota
The voters of South Dakota look a lot like those who have favored Hillary Rodham Clinton in presidential primaries this year, but her rival, front-runner Barack Obama, has plenty of friends in high places in this rural state.

Not quite the stone faces atop Mount Rushmore. But most Democrats who've won statewide elections, past and present, in predominantly Republican South Dakota have endorsed Obama. These include former Sens. George McGovern, himself the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, and Tom Daschle, the ex-Senate majority leader, and both Democrats now in Congress, Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin.

In addition, the Illinois senator has used his substantial fundraising edge over Clinton to field a larger ground organization in this sparsely populated state, which allocates only 15 national convention delegates in its June 3 primary but offers a larger psychological prize.

The last two primaries in the Democratic race, South Dakota and neighboring Montana, whose voters will distribute 16 delegates the same day, provide a final opportunity to display vote-getting power that might sway uncommitted superdelegates nationwide. These elected and party officials, whose convention votes are not bound by any primary, will provide the nominee's final margin of victory unless the final three primaries put Obama over the top.

Obama is generally considered to be narrowly ahead of the former first lady here even though South Dakota's demographics appear to favor her.

Today on the presidential campaign trail
By The Associated Press – 55 minutes ago

IN THE HEADLINES

Obama and Clinton battle in close June 3 South Dakota primary ... Obama inches toward the nomination, picks up Oregon superdelegate

___

Obama, Clinton in close battle for South Dakota

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The voters of South Dakota look a lot like those who have favored Hillary Rodham Clinton in presidential primaries this year, but her rival, front-runner Barack Obama, has plenty of friends in high places in this rural state.

Not quite the stone faces atop Mount Rushmore. But most Democrats who've won statewide elections, past and present, in predominantly Republican South Dakota have endorsed Obama. These include former Sens. George McGovern, himself the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, and Tom Daschle, the ex-Senate majority leader, and both Democrats now in Congress, Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin.

In addition, the Illinois senator has used his substantial fundraising edge over Clinton to field a larger ground organization in this sparsely populated state, which allocates only 15 national convention delegates in its June 3 primary but offers a larger psychological prize.

The last two primaries in the Democratic race, South Dakota and neighboring Montana, whose voters will distribute 16 delegates the same day, provide a final opportunity to display vote-getting power that might sway uncommitted superdelegates nationwide. These elected and party officials, whose convention votes are not bound by any primary, will provide the nominee's final margin of victory unless the final three primaries put Obama over the top.

Obama is generally considered to be narrowly ahead of the former first lady here even though South Dakota's demographics appear to favor her.

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Obama adds another Oregon superdelegate
Democrat Barack Obama drew closer to securing his party's nomination, gaining another superdelegate on Thursday that put him just 44 delegates shy of becoming the nominee.

Gail Rasmussen has become Oregon's third Democratic superdelegate in two days to come out in support of the Illinois senator.

Rasmussen, the vice president of the Oregon Education Association, said she will cast her vote for Obama "in honor of the support" he won from the state's voters.

Obama beat Hillary Rodham Clinton by 18 percentage points in last week's Oregon primary
THE DELEGATE BREAKDOWN

Barack Obama: 1,982 — 44 delegates short of the nomination

Hillary Rodham Clinton: 1,780
THE DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with voters in South Dakota. Barack Obama is in Chicago and has no scheduled public events.
THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain talks to voters in Greendale, Wis.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I would say either on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, we'll know the Democratic nominee. And I can predict for you right here on the show that that Democratic nominee will be Barack Obama." — Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, in an interview with MSNBC.
STAT OF THE DAY:

One of Montana's closer Democratic presidential primaries came in 1980 when Jimmy Carter garnered 51 percent to Edward Kennedy's 37 percent. Twelve percent of voters didn't have a preference.

The Nazi death camp that Barack Obama's great-uncle helped liberate

Barack Obama, at a Memorial Day event in Las Cruces, N.M., credited his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, as being among the U.S. troops who liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.

The trouble with that bit of history -- as the Republican National Committee pointed out today -- is that the Soviet Red Army was the military force that liberated the World War II death camp.

The RNC seized the opportunity to fire off a news release, saying that “unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there’s no way Obama’s statement yesterday can be true. Obama’s frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief.”

The Obama campaign soon acknowledged that the Democratic candidate made a mistake. It explained that Obama’s great-uncle was in the 89th Infantry Division that helped liberate another notorious death camp, Buchenwald. Obama, the campaign said, “is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II -- especially the fact that his great-uncle was part of liberating of one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.”

DEM RACE IS FINISHED - CARTER

Jimmy Carter has a message for Hillary Rodham Clinton - it's over.

Carter yesterday said he expects that Democratic Party superdelegates will reveal their choice for the presidential nominee soon after the final primary next week, at which point Clinton will have to call it a day.

Asked by Sky News whether he thought there was anything Clinton could achieve by hanging in, Carter, in Britain for a literary festival, said: "I think not. But, of course, she has the perfect right to do so.

"I'm a superdelegate," he added. "I think a lot of the superdelegates will make a decision . . . quite rapidly after the final primary on June 3. I have not yet announced publicly, but I think at that point it will be time for her to give it up."

Barack Obama holds a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates to the party's August nominating convention. But with Clinton refusing to quit, the nominee will likely be decided by the nearly 800 superdelegates, members of Congress and other party insiders who are free to vote for whomever they want.

Either Democrat needs 2,026 delegates to be nominated to run against Republican John McCain in the Nov. 4 general election. According to estimates by MSNBC, Obama has 1,954 to Clinton's 1,783, with 86 delegates left to be won.

What ever happened to voting Democratic ?

Geraldine Ferraro, a Clinton supporter, has said that she'll vote for McCain before she would vote for Obama

New Barack Obama 08 "Yes we can".

Obama widens superdelegate lead

Barack Obama has added four more superdelegates today, wresting one from Hillary Clinton and inheriting two from John Edwards, who endorsed him last week.

Obama now has 310.5 superdelegates, according to his campaign's count, and is within 59 delegates of clinching the nomination (barring the magic number changing if the Democratic National Committee adds disputed delegates from Florida and Michigan). Clinton almost certainly needs to get the vast majority of undeclared superdelegates, and the Florida and Michigan delegates, to pull out the nomination.

The new superdelegates for Obama cited his inevitability as the nominee as much as praising his qualities.

Congressman Dennis Cardoza of California, who had supported Clinton, who won his state's primary, said in a statement, “While I continue to greatly respect and admire Senator Clinton and feel she has made history with her campaign, I believe that Senator Obama will inevitably be our party’s nominee for President. He has proven himself to be a thoughtful, knowledgeable, and inspirational leader and will take America in a new direction, which we desperately need."

Obama's campaign also announced support from another California congressman, Jim Costa.

State Senator Peter Burling of Cornish and Deborah Nelson of Hanover, two former Edwards superdelegates from New Hampshire, plan to announce their switch at a news conference this morning, the Associated Press reported.

Burling told The Associated Press that he and Nelson believe either Obama or Clinton would make a superb president, but it came down to "who can win and who could make a better president" -- and that Obama is about to clinch the nomination.

"If it were Senator Clinton who in my mind had the edge at this moment, she would be getting exactly this kind of endorsement," Burling said.

Nelson told the AP she made up her mind as she watched the news coverage of Senator Edward M. Kennedy's diagnosis with brain cancer this week. "I thought, here's someone who represents everything that matters to me, and he supports Obama, so what am I waiting for?" she said in a separate phone interview.

McCain Rejects Pastor's

John McCain rejected the endorsement of the Rev. John C. Hagee Thursday after an old sermon was unearthed in which the evangelical pastor seemed to suggest that God had created the Holocaust to drive Jews to Israel.

Mr. Hagee, who endorsed the Republican candidate in February, delivered a sermon in the late 1990s in which he appeared to explain how something good could come from a tragic event.

A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says...'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,'" Mr. Hagee preached. "God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

The sermon was posted on Talk to Action, a blog critical of the Christian right, and later republished on the Huffington Post Web site.

"Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them," Sen. McCain said Thursday. "I feel I must reject his endorsement."

Mr. Hagee, a televangelist and leader of an evangelical megachurch in San Antonio withdrew his endorsement. In a statement, he wrote that he was tired of "baseless attacks" that were used for "political gain."

Mr. Hagee's relationship with Sen. McCain has been compared with that of Democratic candidate Barack Obama and his contentious former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Democratic operatives, who struggled to keep the Wright controversy at bay, eagerly shared negative information about Mr. Hagee, who is controversial even among evangelicals.

David Brog, executive director of Christians United for Israel, a nonprofit started by Mr. Hagee, said Mr. Hagee compared the Nazis with the hunters in the Book of Jeremiah to explain how God could allow such a tragedy to occur. The pastor adheres to a conservative theology called dispensationalism, believing that the return of Jews to Israel has fulfilled a biblical prophesy, which will lead to the return of Jesus Christ.

The remarks that surfaced this week follow other sermons that Mr. Hagee has delivered, including comments where he accused the Roman Catholic Church of supporting Adolf Hitler.

Sen. McCain, who publicly accepted the endorsement, has suffered from the fallout over Mr. Hagee's comments.

"As anybody that aspires to the office of the presidency ought to know, fairly or unfairly, they're going to be judged by the words and actions of their friends as well as their enemies," said Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance. "It's irresponsible to let someone align themselves with you" without proper background checks.

The decision to end the relationship between Sen. McCain and Mr. Hagee was a "meeting of the minds," said Mr. Brog.

"These bloggers are never going to stop attacking John Hagee or John McCain unless and until they separate from one another," Mr. Brog said. "Everyone understands this has become a horrible distraction."

Obama beginning search for VP mate

Democratic officials say Barack Obama has begun a top-secret search for a running mate.

Democratic officials said Thursday the party's likely nominee has asked former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson to begin vetting potential vice presidential picks. Johnson did the same job for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984.

The Democratic officials spoke on a condition of anonymity about a process that the campaign wants to keep quiet.

Vice presidential searches are usually closely held secrets, but Obama campaign officials say the effort is being handled by a particularly tight circle of advisers.

The campaign also does not want to discuss the effort because they are still engaged in a fading primary campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama has repeatedly declined to discuss possible running mates while the primary is ongoing.

But they are taking behind-the-scenes steps to move toward the general election campaign, with just over 60 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

The Obama campaign is rapidly adding to its campaign staff, both at the headquarters and in general election swing states. Obama has been traveling to some of those battlegrounds — Missouri, Michigan, Iowa and Florida in the last nine days — while the campaign is registering voters across the country for the November vote. And top Obama organizer Paul Tewes is in discussions to take over the Democratic National Committee
McCain starts his own search
It's all part of an effort to lay the groundwork for an aggressive kickoff to a general election campaign. Republican John McCain has a head start and has been building his effort for more than three months since the GOP primary wrapped up so much sooner.

McCain is hosting at least three Republicans mentioned as potential vice presidential running mates at his Sedona, Ariz., home this weekend — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. A top aide said it's a social event with more than two dozen guests not meant for veep vetting.

Obama's campaign refused to talk about who was being considered, but possible options are Clinton; governors like Arizona's Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia; foreign policy experts like former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd or Delaware Sen. Joe Biden; or other senators like Missouri's Claire McCaskill and Virginia's Jim Webb.
He could look outside the party to people like war critic Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel or independent New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. Or he could look to one of his early prominent supporters like former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota or try to bring on a Clinton supporter like Indiana's Evan Bayh.

Obama, McCain hold cash while Clinton sees debt

The money tells the tale. Democrat Barack Obama entered May sitting comfortably atop more than $37 million in the bank. Republican John McCain had nearly $22 million in hand. Hillary Rodham Clinton, once the Democrats' presidential front-runner, was in the red.

Obama, moving closer to his party's nomination, let his fundraising slow only slightly last month and collected $31 million. Clinton raised more than $21 million, but was saddled with debts. And McCain, in his best monthly performance yet, hauled in $18 million.

Financially, the month tracked the three candidates' political fortunes. Clinton beat Obama in Pennsylvania on April 22 and saw a $10 million surge in donations in a 24-hour period. But money and the delegates needed for the nomination still flowed primarily to Obama.

McCain, lacking rivals and assured the GOP nomination, spent little and worked on consolidating his fundraising base.

The three candidates filed their financial reports Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Together, the reports reinforce what is increasingly evident in the campaign: Obama and McCain are equipping themselves to confront each other, while Clinton, risking a personal financial hit, is quixotically hanging on to the end.

In a continued expansion of Obama's fundraising network, his campaign reported nearly 1.5 million donors since he started raising money for his presidential race. With such extraordinary numbers behind him, Obama appears to have access to a continuing flow of money, though his April total was his smallest haul this year. Overall, he has raised close to $265 million in his White House bid.

Obama spent $36 million in April, half of it on advertising. For the first time, his spending exceeded his monthly fundraising. Clinton, too, spent more than she raised. Both vigorously competed in Pennsylvania and he also spent heavily during April in Indiana and North Carolina, which held their primaries on May 6. Obama lost Indiana narrowly and won in North Carolina.

But Clinton reported only about $8 million cash on hand for the primary. (She has $22 million set aside for the general election that she can't use.) She also reported $19.5 million in debts, including $10 million she has lent her campaign. Even without the loan, Clinton was in negative cash position. The loan amount also did not include an extra $1.4 million she put into her campaign in May.

Clinton did not add to her debt to vendors, who include such campaign consultants as Mark Penn and Mandy Grunwald. But she had to ramp up her spending, with a majority of it devoted to traveling and getting her message to voters. She spent more than $9 million on ads alone.

Still that paled in comparison to Obama. He spent more than $20 million on ads, including nearly $2 million on advertising on the Internet.

Clinton campaign chairman Terry McCauliffe said donors continued to contribute though the Internet and that she had fundraisers planned this week.

"We have the money to play in all the remaining states," he said. He said Clinton offered to put in more of her own money but "we have not had to use it."

McCain's finances are an important marker as he moves into direct competition with Obama, who has shown himself to be a fundraiser without equal. McCain has been taking advantage of his status as the all-but-nominated Republican candidate, embracing the big donors from his former GOP rivals and putting allies in charge of raising money at the Republican National Committee.

The RNC, which is the party's main political arm, had nearly 10 times more cash on hand than its Democratic counterpart at the end of April, a notable GOP advantage in what has otherwise been Democratic fundraising dominance this election.

The committee on Tuesday reported having $40.1 million in the bank. The Democratic National Committee had $4.4 million.

The RNC raised $15.7 million in April compared to $4.7 million by the DNC.

Significantly, the financial disparity comes in a presidential election year when the candidates rely on the parties to mobilize voters and promote their message. Overall this year, the RNC has raised more than $52 million, the DNC has raised more than $22 million.

McCain has put his own team at the RNC to operate a Victory Fund Committee that is corralling top Republican donors. Earlier this month, McCain and the party raised $7 million at a fundraiser hosted by New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. The proceeds of that event were not included in the RNC's latest report.

Obama has taken his own quiet steps to take over the DNC and assemble a multistate team for the general election, several Democratic officials said Tuesday. With such a team in place, the DNC would be able to tap into Obama's prodigious fundraising.

The DNC has lagged in fundraising for some time, a condition made all the more difficult by the Democrats' protracted presidential primary. Last week, the DNC announced agreements with Obama and Clinton to begin raising money together.

In their Senate and congressional accounts, Democrats were faring much better. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign committee reported $37.6 million in the bank to the National Republican Senatorial Committee's $19.4 million. The GOP's Senate campaign arm, however, slightly edged the Democrats in fundraising for the first time this election cycle.

Similarly, the National Republican Congressional Committee outraised the Democrats' House campaign committee. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reported more than $45 million in the bank to the GOP committee's nearly $7 million.

Analysis: Clinton scores a win, Obama nears finish line

Hillary Clinton won a landslide victory in Kentucky Tuesday, but momentum -- and a growing sense of inevitability -- is now firmly on Barack Obama's side.

He took Oregon last night, but it was his symbolic victory with pledged delegates that was the storyline.

The one-time long shot for the Democratic nomination has a majority of pledged delegates to the Democratic Convention and is now about 70 delegates shy of the finish line.

Obama had already been looking toward November before last night's split decision. He chose Iowa -- the site of his first win in this marathon primary fight -- to address supporters in what many observers viewed as a victory lap. It was also an indication of Obama's intent to fight for a number of battleground states lost by John Kerry in 2004.

"The skeptics predicted we wouldn't get very far," Obama said. "The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out. But the people of Iowa had a different idea."

Despite the daunting odds of overtaking Obama in the overall delegate count, Clinton remained defiant and promised to stay in the race.

"You've never given up on me, because you know I've never given up on you," Clinton told supporters in Kentucky.

Clinton's victory in Kentucky -- as in West Virginia last week -- was noticeable for its magnitude and breadth. As expected, she dominated Obama in a largely white, working-class state tailor-made for her increasingly populist message. Once again, she won both men and women. She carried every age group. She captured the bulk of voters in every income category, and at every level of educational achievement.

Kentucky voters also fired a warning shot across the bow of an Obama campaign that has largely turned its sights to the fall election.

Only one-third of Clinton's voters in the Bluegrass State said they would vote for Obama in a general election matchup against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Almost 80 percent of Clinton's voters said they would not be satisfied if Obama wins the Democratic nomination. A majority of voters statewide believed Obama is not honest and trustworthy, and that he does not share their values. Watch what the analysts say after Kentucky and Oregon »

No Democrat has won the White House without carrying Kentucky since John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon in 1960.

Obama either has to find a way to convince these voters to support him or he needs to redraw the electoral map in November by carrying states such as Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia -- states which rarely vote Democrat on the presidential level.

Obama's favorable numbers in Oregon, on the other hand, reflected his strength with more-affluent, well-educated, secular voters in another critical region.

He defeated Clinton by an almost 2-1margin among men in Oregon. Perhaps more impressively, he drew her to a tie (at 50 percent each) among white women -- long considered to be one of the New York senator's core constituencies.

Oregon's largely progressive political tradition proved to be a boon to the Democratic frontrunner. Self-described liberals, comprising 57 percent of the state's electorate, backed Obama by 20 points, 60-40 percent. At the same time, however, he also managed to carry moderates and conservatives, albeit by much smaller margins.

Nearly four out of five Oregon primary voters were college educated, and they voted for Obama by more than 20 points, 61-39 percent. The smaller pool of non-college educated voters backed Clinton by nine points, 54-45 percent. Obama, however, surprised many observers by pulling nearly even with Clinton (48-51 percent) among white voters who did not graduate from college -- a group which has been largely unreceptive to his campaign in other parts of the country.

Finally, Obama benefited from the votes of the nearly 3 in 10 Oregon voters with no religious identification. While Protestants and Catholics split virtually evenly between the two Democratic candidates, voters who cited no religious affiliation backed the Illinois senator by 22 points, 61-39 percent.

The campaign now shifts to Florida -- a pivotal general election battleground whose delegates to the Democratic convention remain in a state of flux. Clinton and Obama have campaign stops scheduled Wednesday across the state.

Clinton, who desperately needs to have both the Florida and Michigan delegations seated in accordance with their January primary results, is demanding a resolution. Meanwhile, Obama says he is in favor of seating the disputed delegations, but needless to say does not agree with Clinton's proposed remedy
The Democratic National Committee will address the delegation disputes when it meets on May 31 in Washington.

But with only two weeks and three contests remaining, Clinton's window of opportunity is quickly closing. Her fate -- as well as Obama's -- now rests with the dwindling pool of uncommitted superdelegates who will ultimately choose the party's nominee.

Obama leads

Poll shows Obama has his largest lead yet over Clinton, 16 points. Oddly, 4 percent say they still have no opinion.

Barack Obama blasts Tennessee GOP for criticism of his wife

Barack Obama warned Republicans Monday to stop beating on his wife.

He told GOPers on national television they can say "whatever they want" about him or his record, but he won't tolerate criticism of his wife, Michelle.

"If they think that they're going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful - because that I find unacceptable," declared Obama, as Michelle sat next to him during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

As if his warning weren't clear, Obama ratcheted up the how-dare-you-insult-my-woman rhetoric by saying bluntly, "These folks should lay off my wife. All right? Just in case they're watching."

Earlier this year, Michelle Obama sparked controversy on the campaign trail when she said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime I'm really proud of my country."

The Tennessee Republican Party pounced on the line last week with an Internet video that contrasted Michelle's remark with locals saying they've always been proud of their country.

Barack Obama said his wife "loves this country" and deemed the effort by Tennessee GOPers as a "low-class" and "detestable" distortion.

Bill Hobbs, communications director for the state party, fired right back. He said Obama's warning was "hypocritical," "condescending" and a "little scary."

"If Sen. Obama thinks that his wife can go out there and make campaign speeches and yet somehow be immune - or be off limits - to criticism for the things she says in campaign speeches on his behalf, then, he's just wrong."

Hobbs said Michelle Obama is a campaign surrogate and "we have every right as Americans" to examine and criticize her public statements.

Asked to respond to Barack Obama's claim that the state party distorted his wife's remarks, Hobbs replied, "A lot of people said that about Jeremiah Wright's words, too, and then we found out that Jeremiah Wright really was the way he was portrayed."

Wright, Obama's former pastor, recently ignited a firestorm for his comments blaming the U.S. for the 9/11 attacks.

While Obama doesn't believe his wife should be criticized, Geraldine Ferraro, the former vice presidential nominee and Hillary Clinton supporter, told the Daily News that Michelle Obama's public statements have affected how she views the presidential race.

Ferraro cited a February interview in which Michelle Obama momentarily hesitated when asked whether she would support Clinton if her husband lost the nomination.

"Her response was, 'Well, I have to think about that,'" Ferraro said, quoting Michelle Obama.

"Well, that's what I am doing," said Ferraro, explaining her reluctance to say she will support Obama if Clinton loses. "Like Michelle Obama, I have to think about it."

Obama Draws Record Crowd in Oregon

An estimated 75,000 gathered on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland on Sunday to see Barack Obama.
“Wow! Wow! Wow!” were his first words, as he surveyed the multitude, which included people in kayaks

It is “fair to say this is the most spectacular setting for the most spectacular crowd” of his campaign, he told the crowd.
Previously, the campaign’s biggest crowd was when the candidate spoke to 35,000 on Independence Mall in Philadelphia

Kennedy Awaits Tests After Seizure

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy remained in the hospital Sunday, awaiting test results that could explain why he had a seizure a day earlier.

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said tests would not be complete before Monday, and the hospital and Kennedy's office released no new information about his condition on Sunday.

A top aide said the Massachusetts Democrat, 76, was resting, eating and watching the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics games on television Sunday afternoon.

Kennedy's wife, Vicki, was seen walking into the hospital Sunday morning. The aide said his daughter, stepdaughters and sister Jean Kennedy Smith also visited during the day.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) spoke with Kennedy by phone on Sunday afternoon from his campaign bus while in western Oregon and told aides that his ailing colleague sounded "energetic." Aides said that the conversation was brief but that Obama was heartened to hear "the same old Ted."

The hospital crowd was smaller than it was on Saturday, when members of Kennedy's family, including his sons and his niece Caroline Kennedy, and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) visited.

Kennedy was flown Saturday morning to Massachusetts General from the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital, near his home in Hyannis Port. Doctors originally suspected he had suffered a stroke, but his physician, Larry Ronan, later said that it had been a seizure and that the senator was "not in any immediate danger."

In October, Kennedy had surgery to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery, which supplies blood to the face and brain. After the surgery, he resumed his busy schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts.

Kennedy is the second-longest-serving member of the Senate and is a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics. He was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother John F. Kennedy, who was elected president in 1960.

Mayor Kilpatrick issues new rule: City text messages private

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick issued what appears to be an about-face on the city's technology policy to employees today, which tells staffers that their text messages are private even if the city pays for the electronic devices used to send the messages.

Kilpatrick early in his first term signed off on a directive to his staff that "all electronic communications" sent on city equipment should be considered public. The directive comes amid ongoing criminal proceedings about text messages Kilpatrick sent on his city-issued SkyTel pager that are now the linchpin of prosecutors' claims he perjured himself during a police whistle-blower trial last year and obstructed justice afterward with an $8.4 million settlement.

The new memo reads:

Whether the city does or does not pay for the devices, you will have certain privacy rights in the personal messages that you send and receive," the memo reads, which was signed by Kilpatrick.

It is dated April 15, 2008, but it was distributed to many employees and Detroit City Council members today.

"City policies are always subject to review and update," Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning said in a statement today

The previous five-page public records directive, enacted in 1998 under Mayor Dennis Archer and re-authorized by Kilpatrick early in his first term, cautioned that any communication "is not considered to be personal or private" and that even if the user deletes an item, it is stored.

Steelworkers' union backs Obama for White House

The United Steelworkers Union, a politically powerful U.S. labor group with 600,000 members, endorsed Barack Obama for president on Thursday as the Democratic Party began to rally around the Illinois senator.

The union endorsement came a day after former presidential candidate John Edwards announced his support for Obama. The steelworkers had endorsed Edwards last year.

Obama and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, competed hard for support from the steelworkers union after Edwards dropped out of the race in January.

"We find ourselves once again in agreement with Sen. Edwards, this time with his decision last evening to endorse Sen. Barack Obama," the union said in a statement, promising to work hard for Obama.

Obama has built a big lead over Clinton in the Democratic race for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.

Clinton has resisted calls to get out of the race and promised to compete to the June 3 end of voting in the state-by-state nomination battles.

Defeat !

Hillary keeps going

McCain: Most Troops Will Be Home by 2013

Dont know about you but that's way too long.
This war is making the American economy weak.

John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama

At a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday evening, John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama, who was on the stage with him, to be the Democratic nominee for president.

Sounding a theme of a nation divided into parts by walls, Mr. Edwards said, “The reason I am here tonight is that Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I.”

Mr. Edwards then went on to say, “There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to tear down that wall and make one America, Barack Obama.”

Mr. Obama, who had introduced Mr. Edwards as “one of the great leaders we have in the Democratic Party, ” responded by saying he was grateful to him for coming to Michigan and giving his endorsement.

Mr. Obama also noted how Mr. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, had emphasized health care as an issue that is of primary concern, then said it would be a major issue in his administration.

The endorsement comes at a time when the appeal of Mr. Obama appears to be lagging among white, blue-collar voters, a group to which Mr. Edwards openly appealed.

Mr. Edwards’s endorsement also brings in tow 19 convention delegates he won in early party selections. He could certainly urge them to give their support to Mr. Obama, though they would not be obligated by party rules to do so.

Mr. Edwards had campaigned for the Democratic nomination for 13 months before dropping out of the race in January. He had been the first major Democrat to declare his candidacy.

Although Mr. Edwards had declined to endorse either of his rivals, there were signs that his political positions were more closely aligned with those of Mr. Obama than Mrs. Clinton. Most of Mr. Edwards’s former staff and advisers, including David E. Bonior, his former national campaign chairman, declared their support for Mr. Obama after Mr. Edwards left the race.

Mr. Edwards sought to make economic and social issues the center of his campaign and called for efforts to combat poverty in the United States. He announced his candidacy in New Orleans some 16 months after Hurricane Katrina struck and, echoed his 2004 bid for the Democratic nomination, by seeking to cast himself as the populist candidate and focusing on economic issues and job creation. He gained early support from a number of labor unions.

Mr. Edwards’s wife, Elizabeth, campaigned actively on his behalf, focusing on access to health care as her primary issue. Mrs. Edwards, who had been diagnosed with cancer during the 2004 campaign, said during this campaign that it had spread but had stopped.

Mr. Edwards alienated some supporters by abandoning his approach in the 2004 campaign in which he refused to criticize his rivals by name. After running unsuccessfully as John Kerry’s vice presidential running mate, Mr. Edwards began positioning himself for a second run at the presidency.

Early election results were disappointing for Mr. Edwards, who could not manage to gain headway against Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. He came in third in the South Carolina primary, the state in which he was born and which he won during the 2004 presidential primary.

He announced his withdrawal from the race in the same place he began his campaign — against a backdrop of New Orleans houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Edwards did not make an endorsement at that time, but said both candidates had told him they would continue his theme of ending poverty as part of their campaigns.

The endorsement ended months of speculation over Mr. Edwards’s preference in the Democratic nominating contest, during which he mostly stayed silent and close to home in Chapel Hill with his wife, Elizabeth.

But in recent days, Mr. Edwards had made his choice all but obvious, giving a series of television interviews hinting that he was close to endorsing Mr. Obama, who last week he called “clearly the nominee at this point.”

And it was little surprise to close observers of Mr. Edwards on the campaign trail in the past year, when he regularly attacked so-called establishment politicians like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and teamed with Mr. Obama against her in debates.

Throughout his second bid for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Edwards clashed repeatedly with Mrs. Clinton, criticizing her for accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists, a practice that he fiercely opposed.

And much of his campaign pitch centered on the notion that Washington politicians have become corrupted by the influence of lobbyists for drug companies, oil companies and other corporate interests.

“You can’t just trade corporate Republicans for corporate Democrats,” he told audiences frequently, an attack aimed at Mrs. Clinton.

But aides to Mr. Edwards said despite his personal admiration and respect for Mr. Obama, he was concerned about Mr. Obama’s experience and readiness for the job.

And he had another consideration: how to position himself for a job in the next president’s administration. As Mr. Edwards saw it, aides said, Mrs. Clinton seemed to be more likely than Mr. Obama to win the nomination.

Hillary Clinton may need Barack Obama's help with her campaign debt

She owes $21 million, more than half of which she borrowed from herself. Historically, winners have helped their rivals repay their debts.
An unwelcome legacy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's faltering campaign for president is a $21-million debt, half from her own pockets, and some political insiders think she may have to turn to her political nemesis to help resolve it.

"The ultimate winner often helps the penultimate winner repay debt," said Chris Lehane, a former Clinton White House aide, who is not part of Sen. Clinton's campaign. "I'm not aware of anyone having those conversations. But historically, candidates have helped others deal with their debt."

Her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, told reporters in Oregon recently that he intended to have "a broad-ranging discussion with Sen. Clinton about how I could make her feel good about the process and have her on the team." He has said he doubts Clinton is remaining in the race because of any financial incentive.

But Obama is the unquestioned fundraising leader of the 2008 campaign, having raised more than $240 million. At the end of March, he had $51 million in the bank. He cannot transfer money to Clinton, but he could request that his contributors donate to her to help pay her debts. Some Obama donors said they would consider helping.

"As much as I dislike how Hillary Clinton has run this campaign, I think it would be worth it to heal the wound," said Los Angeles Democratic activist Richard Jacobs, an Obama backer. "If he says it is a good idea, I think a lot of people would feel the same way."
A major Obama fundraiser, who was not authorized to speak and requested anonymity, said: "First she has to drop out. . . . There are some people who would rather give to a Republican than to Hillary Clinton. But not me. I'm a team player."

Obama and Clinton aides say there has been no talk of a deal. "She expects to be the nominee, and so it is premature and inappropriate to even discuss it," Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson said.

Still, there is precedent for winners to help losers. Clinton's donors helped former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack pay off his presidential campaign debt. Sen. John McCain's supporters helped Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) pay his debt, though it was in the tens of thousands, not tens of millions.

Clinton has two types of debt -- personal and what she owes to vendors. Her debt to vendors stood at $10.3 million at the end of March, including $4.5 million to the firm co-founded by Mark Penn, formerly her top strategist. She borrowed $11.4 million from herself.

Clinton is not without resources. Anticipating she would be the nominee, Clinton amassed $22 million for the general election. That money cannot be used directly for her primary debt. But she could ask donors to redirect those contributions to another campaign -- for example, an account for 2012 when she would face reelection to the Senate.

Clinton then could transfer the debt to her vendors to that account and use money formerly designated for the presidential race to pay them.

Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Robert D. Lenhard said that although Clinton could engage in such a two-step to pay off her debt, he would recommend a more straightforward path: simply keep her presidential account open and raise money into it from her perch in the Senate.

"She will be in the Senate for a long time and could raise money and pay down the debt," Lenhard said. "When campaigns end with a lot of debt, fundraising goes on, and there is some renegotiating with vendors."

A major Clinton fundraiser, speaking anonymously, raised another possibility. Clinton could return checks to her general election donors and ask that they write new checks to Obama. Such a gesture would make it easier for Obama to ask his donors to help Clinton.

"There wouldn't be a dollar-for-dollar exchange," the Clinton fundraiser said. "But it would make it easier for Obama to ask his donors to help Clinton."

Clinton's debt would be less of a problem if Obama were to pick Clinton as his running mate. Although few pundits think he would choose Clinton, she would not arrive to the ticket empty-handed. She could use the $22 million in general election money to help fund an Obama-Clinton ticket in the fall campaign, election law experts say.

Under federal law, Clinton must act by the end of the primary season if she is to recover the $11.4 million she lent her campaign. Once Democrats select their nominee at the August convention, Clinton would be limited to repaying herself $250,000, according to a provision of the law co-sponsored by McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Before the 2002 campaign finance overhaul, federal candidates who won office could hold fundraisers to retire their personal debt. That created the unseemly situation in which politicians could directly benefit from donors' largess.

"There was a desire not to have elected officials raise money from lobbyists and others that goes directly into their pocket," said Fred Wertheimer of the Washington nonprofit group Democracy 21, which advocates for campaign finance regulation.

Wealthy candidates commonly loan themselves money, knowing they won't see it again. An aide to failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday that Romney did not expect to collect any of the $44.3 million he lent his campaign.

"Candidates putting personal money into a campaign is like Vegas money," said Lehane, the former Clinton White House aide. "It is nice if you get it back. But you take it out of the bank expecting not to ever see it again in return for getting an opportunity to try to play a winning hand."

10 Reasons for Barack Obama not to pick Hillary Clinton as his Vice President:

1. It's wrong to say that Hillary has survived the worst the Republicans have thrown against her. In a national election, the sort of attacks which had little traction in New York senate races and the Ohio or Pennsylvania primaries could well drag her--and Obama--down. Should Obama have to spend part of his presidential campaign defending the Clintons, of all people, when Travelgate, Whitewater, Vince Foster, the Lincoln Bedroom, Marc Rich, Norman Hsu, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Monica, and Bosnia all come oozing back up into our political life?

2. How can Obama possibly campaign as the incarnation of the future, and the repudiation of the Bad Old Politics of the Past, when he has Hillary standing next to him?

3. Dynasticism in a minor, vice-presidential key is still dynasticism, and the country is sick of it. Is John McCain going to pick Jeb Bush as his running mate? (and if it wasn't for the last name, he well might).

4. Bill. If Hillary, of all people, couldn't stop him from harming the campaign he was supposed to be helping, can Barack?

5. Hillary has simply gone too far claiming that Obama is unready to be president. Her lines will be flung back in her face--and his--endlessly by the Republicans, and in debates.

6. This seems to be one case that disproves the adage about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. In 2016, after a second Obama term, Hillary will be nearly 70. Does anyone think she is going to be content to put her own ambitions aside until then, and be nothing but a good team player?

7. Why should Obama give up a chance to put someone with real executive experience on the ticket? This is a weakness of his, and Hillary will not help to address it seriously, despite her vaunted "35 years."

8. A great deal of the political fence-mending that he would accomplish by choosing Hilary could be done just as well by choosing her strong supporter Evan Bayh.

9. Hillary is not Lyndon Johnson. She probably can't bring him anywhere near the number of electoral votes that Johnson brought to the Democratic ticket in 1960 (she certainly can't steal Texas for him!).

10. The obvious, unfortunate, Unevolved Nation reason, namely that some voters will be comforted by a white male on the ticket. Should Obama pay attention to this factor? No. Will he? Good question.

Clinton Running Hard in Campaign’s Last Laps

Forget the calls for her to quit the presidential race: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is determined to rack up two big primary victories in the next eight days — in West Virginia and Kentucky — as she seeks to prove her continued political viability and claim bargaining chips that might help her exit the race on her terms, her advisers say.

It is a risky proposition. Mrs. Clinton is behind Senator Barack Obama in both the national popular vote and the delegate count, and she could appear to be a spoiler if she damages his candidacy in those two closely fought states, her advisers acknowledge.

But she and her chief political counselor, her husband, see the two coming primaries as crucial to strengthening her standing and, if it comes to it, to allowing her to leave the race on a high note, the advisers say.

Sizable victories — the Clinton camp believes it could win West Virginia by 25 points or more — might put pressure on Mr. Obama to agree to her demands to seat the disputed delegates from Michigan and Florida, some of her advisers say, which would let her claim a victory on a battle she has fought for months. Accumulating victories this late in the primary season — as Mr. Obama looks so strong — might also bolster a bid for the vice presidency, should she decide to seek it. (Whether Mr. Obama would ask her, however, is very much in doubt.)

The two candidates campaigned across West Virginia on Monday, with Mrs. Clinton’s motorcade driving more than two hours through the winding hills of Appalachia, where she courted a relatively small number of voters in hopes of driving up her expected margin of victory. She is counting on a big victory to impress undecided superdelegates, the party leaders who will most likely decide the nomination.

Mrs. Clinton also wants to show strength in Kentucky and West Virginia — states Democrats have struggled to carry in presidential elections — not to mention, advisers say, pointing up what the Clinton campaign sees as the weakness of the Obama coalition. But advisers acknowledged that even if she won those states by wide margins, it was probably too late to change the dynamic of the nominating contest in her favor.

“Obama is so far ahead at this point, it is hard to see anything we do, even big wins, being a game-changer at this point,” said one senior adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to assess Mrs. Clinton’s political fortunes.

Mrs. Clinton plans to spend the day after the West Virginia primary meeting with advisers and top fund-raisers to discuss the future of the campaign. Aides said they believed she was likely to remain in the race until the Kentucky primary next Tuesday.

Obama advisers see that day, when Oregon also votes, as the unofficial end of the primary season; they plan to declare victory then by stating that they have locked up a majority of the pledged delegates.

Top ten Obama Vice Presidential picks

1) Hillary Clinton

Many believe Obama will have to offer the VP slot to Clinton. Andrew Sullivan called it the hate-filled dream ticket. But will she accept it? If Obama loses, she may see a 2012 race opening up before her.

2) Al Gore

He's certainly got the experience. But the eco-warrior probably has no desire to return to Pennsylvania Avenue. Winning his endorsement would have set Obama up for the nomination. Does he need Gore any more?

3) John Edwards

A serious contender. The North Carolina Senator ran with John Kerry in 2004 and would bring the Southern link currently missing in Obama's campaign. But would he want to do it again? And would Obama feel Edwards should have been with him earlier?

4) Kathleen Sebelius

Sebelius's name has been cropping up more and more frequently. The two-term Governor of Kansas fills in many of the gaps in Obama's support base. She may not have much foreign policy experience but she'll bring a red state with her. And a female Vice-President might help soothe Clinton's supporters. One to watch.

5) Bill Richardson

Also extremely likely. Pundits state that he's been running for VP since the beginning. He brings foreign policy experience and the Hispanic vote with him.

6) Wesley Clark

A former four-star general, Wes Clark served in Kosovo and studied PPE at Oxford. He would lend Obama military clout and cross party-lines in his appeal.

7) Jim Webb

The junior Virginia senator since 2006. He could provide the machismo that Obama needs. A military man with a son in Iraq, he's regarded as one of the most authoritative Democratic voices on the conflict. Known to carry a loaded pistol on occasion. As a former Reagan man he would add to Obama's cross party appeal and make it slightly harder to paint the candidate as an unrepentant liberal.

8) Robert Casey

The Pennsylvania senator has already endorsed Obama. As VP, he would help out in the white working-class states. And his Catholic faith would reach out to an important voting bloc.

9) Oprah Winfrey

She's already one of America's most powerful women. Could DC be next on her world-domination agenda? Just a thought.


10) Joe Biden

Might he be the first Biden in a thousand generations to run for President? A senator since 1972, his presidential runs have never taken off. But his international experience might make him a good choice and he'd appeal to the white male vote. His description of Obama as 'clean' didn't do him any favours though. And some think he is more likely to be Secretary of State.

Clinton Deadline Looms for Recouping $11 Million Personal Loan

Hillary Clinton may have a financial incentive to remain in the presidential race for a while. And she has Senator John McCain to thank for it.

Clinton loaned her struggling campaign $11 million in recent months. A little-known provision of a 2002 campaign- finance law cosponsored by McCain prevents candidates who drop out of the race from raising money after the nominating conventions to repay themselves for personal loans.

Should Clinton fail to come up with the funds by the Democratic convention in August, she'll be out the $11 million. If she quits the campaign before then, she may find it hard to get people to keep giving cash just so she can retire her debt.

That may ratchet up pressure on Clinton to cut a deal with rival Barack Obama to help her through his supporters. Obama may oblige since he would love to get her out of the race for the nomination so he could focus on the general election.

``Helping to pay off the debt would certainly be a clear signal of Obama's desire to bring the two candidates together,'' said Anthony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Time Magazine Obama Cover

Obama plans to declare victory May 20

Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

And, until at least May 31 and perhaps longer, Hillary Clinton’s campaign plans to dispute it.

It’s a train wreck waiting to happen, with one candidate claiming to be the nominee while the other vigorously denies it, all predicated on an argument over what exactly constitutes the finish line of the primary race.

The Obama campaign agrees with the Democratic National Committee, which pegs a winning majority at 2,025 pledged delegates and superdelegates—a figure that excludes the penalized Florida and Michigan delegations. The Clinton campaign, on the other hand, insists the winner will need 2,209 to cinch the nomination—a tally that includes Florida and Michigan.

“We don’t accept 2,025. It is not the real number because that does not include Florida and Michigan,” said Howard Wolfson, one of Clinton’s two chief strategists. “It’s a phony number.”

Wolfson said they intend to contest the DNC’s 2,025 number “every day,” as well as any declaration of victory made by Obama based upon that number, because it does not include Florida and Michigan.

n January, Clinton won both states by wide margins when Obama did not actively contest them. The two states were stripped of their delegates for holding early primaries not sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee.

Obama will not reach the 2,025 magic number on May 20. Rather, on that date he is all but certain to hit a different threshold—1,627 pledged delegates, which would constitute a winning majority among the 3,253 total pledged delegates if Florida and Michigan are not included.

“On May 20 we’re going to declare victory,” said an Obama senior advisor who asked that his name be withheld to speak candidly, adding that after those contests they will be “the ones with the most pledged delegates and the most popular votes.”

While the nature of that declaration of victory is “still developing,” in the advisor’s words, the Obama campaign contends that the winner of a majority of pledged delegates should be the party nominee.

“Senator Obama, our campaign and our supporters believe pledged delegates is the most legitimate metric for determining how this race has unfolded,” wrote Obama campaign manager David Plouffe Wednesday in a memo to superdelegates. “It is simply the ratification of the DNC rules - your rules - which we built this campaign and our strategy around.”

But the Clinton campaign’s insistence on counting Florida and Michigan would alter not only the overall delegate math, but the pledged delegate math as well. Because if the two states are included in the count, the total number of pledged delegates would rise from 3,253 to 3,566—which means the magic number for a majority rises to 1,784, not 1,627 as the Obama campaign asserts.

By hewing to that interpretation, the Clinton campaign would thus be able to raise doubts about a May 20 declaration of victory by Obama.

Since the earliest possible resolution of the Florida/Michigan dispute is May 31, when the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet in Washington to address petitions from Michigan and Florida DNC members, the 11-day period between the May 20 primaries and the RBC meeting could produce a chaotic stretch where Obama claims to be the party nominee while Clinton argues otherwise.

Already, the two campaigns are gearing up for the battle.

“With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days,” wrote Plouffe in his memo. “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.”

“You can declare mission accomplished but that doesn’t mean that the mission has actually been accomplished,” Wolfson said.

Exit polls: Race key in NC, IN but Wright's impact mixed

Race again played a pivotal role in Tuesday's Democratic presidential clashes, as whites in Indiana and North Carolina leaned solidly toward Hillary Rodham Clinton and blacks voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, exit polls showed. Almost half said they were influenced by the focus on Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama, the Illinois senator battling to become the first black president, again failed to gain ground with a crucial voting bloc that has consistently eluded him — working-class whites. But he pieced together coalitions that besides blacks included the young, first-time primary voters, the very liberal and college graduates, plus sizable minorities of whites.

According to exit polls of voters, about two-thirds of whites in both states who have not completed college were supporting Clinton. The New York senator could use that to fortify her argument that she would be the stronger Democratic candidate in the November general election. Of 28 states that held primaries in which she and Obama competed before Tuesday, Clinton had prevailed with working-class white voters in 25.

Wright was a looming factor in the voting, with nearly half in each state saying he was important in choosing a candidate. Of that group, seven in 10 in Indiana and six in 10 in North Carolina backed Clinton.

Those saying Wright did not influence them heavily favored Obama. In North Carolina, Obama got more votes from people saying they discounted the Wright episode than Clinton got from those affected by it, while in Indiana the two groups were about equal in size.

Among whites, eight in 10 in both states who said Wright affected their choice went with Clinton. That was well above the six in 10 whites overall who supported her.

In both states, two-thirds of Clinton's white voters said Wright was important. That compared to eight in 10 white Obama supporters who said Wright was not a factor.

Wright has said the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect blacks and that the U.S. invited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Obama denounced the remarks last week.

The six in 10 whites in both states supporting Clinton were similar to her margin over Obama among whites nationally so far, showing he continues to have trouble cutting into her support from those voters. Even so, his lopsided backing from blacks meant he didn't need white majorities Tuesday to be competitive.

The two rivals have been trying to win over top Democratic officials, the superdelegates, who may decide who gets the party's nomination. Clinton has argued that her strength with this group makes her the stronger candidate for the fall campaign. Obama's campaign says he will do well with those voters in November once he contrasts himself with Republican John McCain.

Nine in 10 blacks in both states were backing Obama — an even stronger margin than usual for a group he has dominated. That proved decisive in North Carolina, where they comprised about a third of voters — nearly double their proportion in Indiana.

In another troubling sign for Obama, independents did not lean toward him as usual in either state.

Though Clinton won once again among Catholics in Indiana, she and Obama divided them about equally in North Carolina. Obama also had an edge in both states among first-time primary voters, underscoring his continued ability to draw new voters to the polls.

North Carolina was clearly Obama's stronger state. He won there among young voters, college graduates and those earning more than $100,000 a year.

Clinton gave a better performance in Indiana.

She won handily among white men, a group she and Obama have split about evenly but whom she won easily in Pennsylvania and Ohio. She and Obama about equally divided the votes of people earning at least $100,000 a year, who usually have leaned toward Obama.

In both states, whites who said race was an important factor were favoring Clinton, as they have before. Older voters were also solidly behind her as usual.

Voters in both states overwhelmingly named the economy as the nation's top issue. While voters most concerned about the economy and who said they were affected by it were evenly divided in Indiana, they supported Obama in North Carolina.

In the latest evidence of bitter feelings between the two camps, just under half of Clinton's supporters in both states said they would support Obama agai