His speech was typical Obama, soaring, full of hope and deliverd with class...

In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the false labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes.

And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.

So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.

So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.

So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.

So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better, and kinder, and more just.

And so it must be for us.

America, this is our moment. This is our time.

Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long.

I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations.

But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.

Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.

Thank you, Minnesota, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Clinton is simply tacky...

Obama did not buy air time and put this on the television in Puerto Rico!

And by all rights I could say I don't give a shit if a bunch of Rednecks would rather lose their shacks and their corn pone stills, rather than vote for Obama...

Reflecting their discomfort with Obama, nearly half of Kentucky Democrats said they would not support him in a November election against John McCain, again similar to the result in West Virginia. In Oregon, by contrast, only 12 percent said they wouldn't vote for Obama against McCain, as many as wouldn't support Clinton as the nominee.

As in West Virginia, among other states, there were indications of some racially motivated voting in Kentucky. Nearly two in 10 whites said race was an important factor in their vote, and nearly nine in 10 of them voted for Clinton. More strikingly, among those whites who called race a factor, just 29 percent said they'd support Obama if he's the nominee in November – the fewest to date in states where the question's been asked. Four in 10 said they'd support McCain; the rest wouldn't vote.

I have never lost my fascination with those die hards out there who would cut off their nose with a dull, rusty knife, rather than admit that Bush is a moron, or vote for a black candidate. These people are just STUPID, even the so called intellectuals among them. I used to argue with some of the conservative bloggers. Today I don't even bother... I mean why???

Let them vote for this poor old man. I used to respect McCain back in the days when he was actually a maverick, but he lost all of that somewhere on the road to becoming a candidate for the 2008 elections. Now he and Hillary are just two pathetic, old school politicians who will say anything to be elected.

I knew it when I saw, "Farmer John," say on CNN that Obama needs to, "Stop being so black!" That one in five Kentuckians admitted tonight (Based on CNN exit polling), that they would not vote for a black person... is an embarrassment for the state of Kentucky... I am just glad that the CNN folks stopped dancing around the issue and just admitted that there is an issue with Redneck America.

The Low Road to Victory

The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.

Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.

If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.

On the eve of this crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad — torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook — evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with video of Osama bin Laden. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” the narrator intoned.

If that was supposed to bolster Mrs. Clinton’s argument that she is the better prepared to be president in a dangerous world, she sent the opposite message on Tuesday morning by declaring in an interview on ABC News that if Iran attacked Israel while she were president: “We would be able to totally obliterate them.”

An Open Letter to Hillary
Dear Hillary:

There was a time when I was a die hard supporter of the Clintons. One of my most cherished personal belongings is a signed letter from your husband, in a response to a letter I sent him during the Lewinski crises.

While I never looked at Bill as, "the first black president," I did look at him as being a person who understood black people and had an affinity for them. He has shown himself to be just another patronizing politician who used his black support base when it suited his needs, and shows his true colours when it comes to this race.

I am not one of those who insist that you should abandon your dream and the race for the nomination, but I do think you have done more to damage the chances of either of you to win the election in November, than you truly understand.

I will not vote for John McCain in November, but if you manage to win the nomination by continuing the insincere, sometimes racist and always divisive politics that have taken you this far, you will not get my vote... And more importantly, I suspect that a big part of the Democratic base, including the youth, will show you their back in November. I certainly will, because in this case, I cant even hold my nose and vote for you.

I got mad love for this music.... Nice!

And this one too....

It can all end tonight...

I just saw that clown who founded BET, you know, the Network that used to show big booty rap videos 24/7, talking again about how Barack is not electable... Funny... I guess no one told the 35,000 people who showed up to hear him speak the other night...

I guess Hillary being $10,000,000 in the hole, while Barack has what $40,000,000 in the bank is an indication too, right? Please...

PUSH THE BUTTON, give a couple bucks, sit back tomorrow and lets see how Barack does.

But I am sooooo down for it....

Via CNN

Hillary Clinton's campaign says the candidate will stop telling the story of an uninsured pregnant woman who lost the baby and died after being denied medical care, following a hospital raising questions over its accuracy.

Clinton has frequently told the emotional story of the woman from rural Ohio since late February. In the speech, Clinton said the woman made minimum wage working at a local pizza restaurant, without insurance, when she became pregnant. Clinton said the woman ran into trouble and went to a hospital in a nearby county but was denied treatment because she couldn't afford a $100 payment.

Another lie...

But an Athens, Ohio hospital is questioning the accuracy of the story. While Clinton never named the hospital in her speech, the woman she was referring to was treated at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens. The hospital said the woman did indeed have insurance, and at least at their hospital was never turned away.

Hospital chief executive officer Rick Castrop in a statement said, “we reviewed the medical and patient accounts of the patient” after she was named in a newspaper story about Clinton’s stump speech. “There is no indication that she was ever denied medical care at any time, for any reason. We clearly reject any perception that we ever denied any care to this woman.”

Is there nothing this woman wont do to win...

You constantly hear in the media how some claim that Obama has gotten a free ride... Does that look like a free ride to you?

Women of my generation have clearly lost their minds. Not that I can blame them, apparently being invisible and all. Now with Geraldine Ferraro making outrageous nut-jobber remarks she doesn't even seem to understand, and realizing our tragic generation was once proud of her as a "pioneer," you can see how deluded we are as well. Worse, only this week, a heroine of mine, Tina Brown, got it utterly wrong in Newsweek, saying all boomer women had to be for Hillary. Tina drank the victim Kool Aid.

So I want my peers to meet an original (begged for him to run) pro-Barack boomer 50-something careerist woman, who chose Barack above and beyond -- hear me, Geraldine, you utter moron -- from the best field of Democratic candidates we've had for years, many of whom I've been big fans of forever, for their various courageous stands on Central America (Dodd,) Iraq (Biden, Richardson and Kucinich.)

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Buzz up!on Yahoo!

But Hillary? Never liked her. Many of my best friends and favorite women have always felt the same. Something unsettling about her. A feminist? Maybe. But a compromised one, having risen to fame as the victim of Monica and having been famously on bimbo eruptions in her White House patrol. She was the destroyer of Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers, the very blue collar ladies she is now being saved by. Kind of yucky, really. And hanging in there, through all the humiliation, and that making her a star. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Moving on.

What about my generation's desperation that there will never be another female candidate? Why? Is our gender about to die out? Do you all know something I don't? I can understand the 80-year-olds, I guess. But to me, Hillary Clinton is merely the first credible candidate, and the most flawed. And the only one not to rise on her own coattails, which is the real reason she doesn't appeal to both me and many young, yes, in their own way, feminists. And what about Claire McCaskill? She's great! And she just emerged this year! Why do we act like Hillary is our last great chance? How damaged and pathetic. I see fantastic women in their 30s all the time. To wit, Chelsea's undamaged generation. Not polarizing, like us ceiling crashers. I can sympathize, I am, too.

Another Right On!

To be honest... I dont get it with women getting behind Hillary because she is a woman.... It is like me getting behind that idiot Alan Keyes, becuase he is black. They are both arrogant, self righteous people, with little more than their sense of entitlement, jaded politics and manufactured outrage to propel them.

Ladies.... You can and will do better, just wait until Michelle runs in 10 years or so...

Can someone tell me?

I dont ever want to see Obama stoop to the levels of a very hypocritical Hillary Clinton, but I do want to see him fight back. If anything is to be learned from Kerry's defeat at the hands of Karl Rove and the Swift Boat Liars.... It is that you can not assume that the American public will seek the truth...

They wont....

And while I dont want to see Obama criticized for being just another one of the same old school politicians, I do want to see him stand up to Hillary and smack that smug, arrogant look off her face, otherwise we might have to do it in November, and in that case, we will be cutting off our own nose to SPITE our face!

This is a great article:

...as he was tapping into his inner 19-year-old, Hillary Clinton was winning three states out of four on the charge that Obama just wasn't man enough to protect the country from its enemies, foreign and domestic. In her mockery of Obama for his pretty speeches and airy promises, Clinton's subtext was always clear: you may like the music, but this guy is nowhere near tough enough for this job. It was a charge made explicit by the Red Phone ad, whose very existence testified to her own toughness: I'm prepared to do anything, including hand John McCain a grenade, to win this thing. She played on the guilty conscience of the national press corps, recasting herself as the vilified victim and Obama as the bubble-wrapped ingenue.

But you don't rise in Chicago politics or come this far this fast in a national race by being soft, naive or scared of a fight. What has distinguished Obama in this campaign is how hard he has battled without appearing to do so. The message that moves the crowds at his rallies is made possible by many layers of calculation underneath. His mild manner belies fierce self-control. The frequent self-mocking conceals a stubborn self-confidence. He not only plays hard; he plays to win, rubs it in sometimes if he does and takes losses hard. "He is," says a friend who has known his share of strivers, "one of the most competitive people I've ever met."

And he knows what game he's playing now. Talking to TIME the morning after the latest primaries, he promised that there would be no double standards. "If she continues, as over the last week, to bring up real estate transactions and the character of our supporters who have provided donations to our campaign, then we will make certain that she has to answer those same questions with respect to herself, her husband and her campaign," he said.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

people say Obama's words are just words...
but...
when was the last time "words" weren't important...???...

I'm proud to be an American...

will.i.am</a>

is in full effect.

And you know what... Hillary may win tomorrow, but in the end, we will lose. Becuase in her quest to win at any cost, Clinton is destroying the Democratic Party. Oh no, I am not suggesting that she should just roll up her roll and go home. But does it have to be so nasty? Well I will tell you what... If she manages to turn this around, she will lose in November, you can bank on it.

And no matter what happens, we will have the moment, and the movement that Barack started...

WE CAN Change the World!

Wont you just be glad when this is all over....

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) -- Barack Obama's senior economic policy adviser privately told Canadian officials to view the debate in Ohio over trade as "political positioning," according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press that was rejected by the adviser.

Rival Hillary Clinton on Monday held up the memo as evidence of doublespeak.

The memo is the first documentation to emerge publicly out of the meeting between the adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago, but Goolsbee said it misinterprets what he told them.

The memo was written by Joseph DeMora, who works for the consulate and attended the meeting.

"Noting anxiety among many U.S. domestic audiences about the U.S. economic outlook, Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign," the memo said.

"He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans."

Goolsbee disputed the characterization from the conservative government official.

"This thing about 'it's more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans,' that's this guy's language," Goolsbee said of DeMora. "He's not quoting me.

"I certainly did not use that phrase in any way," he said.

The meeting was first reported last week by Canadian television network CTV, which cited unnamed sources as saying that Goolsbee assured the Canadians that Obama's tough talk on the North American Free Trade Agreement is just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously.

The Obama campaign and the Canadian embassy denied there was any inconsistency between what the candidate was saying publicly and what advisers were saying privately.

NAFTA is widely opposed in economically depressed Ohio, which holds its presidential primary Tuesday and is a key battleground between Obama and Clinton.

Both candidates said in a debate in Cleveland last week that they would renegotiate the trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, which is the largest trading partnership in the world, and threaten to pull out if it doesn't include more protections for workers and the environment.

Clinton said Monday that Obama's campaign gave the Canadians "the old wink-wink."

"I think that's the kind of difference between talk and action that I've been talking about," Clinton told reporters while campaigning in Ohio. "It raises questions about Senator Obama coming to Ohio and giving speeches against NAFTA."

The memo obtained by the AP was widely distributed within the Canadian government. It is more than 1,300 words and covers many topics that DeMora said were discussed in the February 8 "introductory meeting" between himself, Goolsbee and the consul general in Chicago, Georges Rioux.

Goolsbee "was frank in saying that the primary campaign has been necessarily domestically focused, particularly in the Midwest, and that much of the rhetoric that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political maneuvering than policy," the memo's introduction said.

"On NAFTA, Goolsbee suggested that Obama is less about fundamentally changing the agreement and more in favour of strengthening/clarifying language on labour mobility and environment and trying to establish these as more 'core' principles of the agreement."

Goolsbee said that sentence is true and consistent with Obama's position. But he said other portions of the memo were inaccurate.

"I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced," Obama said in the debate last week.

In a statement, the Canadian Embassy expressed regret on how the discussions have been interpreted.

"In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA," the statement said.

The embassy also said, "Canada will not interfere in this electoral process."

If I have to look at Hillary's SMUG, arrogant face for one more week, I think I will just shoot out my TV screens.

Obama is going to whip Hillary like a rented mule!

It's more than an election... It is a movement, and it makes me very, very proud to be an American!

The Black Eyed Peas frontman on Friday released another star-studded music video in tribute to the presidential campaign of the Democratic senator — this one is titled "We Are The Ones."

Backed by a simple vocal refrain of "O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!," stars such as Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, Kerry Washington, George Lopez and others explain why they support Obama while others such as Macy Gray croon the candidates' last name to the will.i.am-penned melody.

The song is a follow-up to his inspirational video "Yes We Can," a viral sensation that has garnered more than 5 million hits on YouTube.com alone. That song features Obama's voice from a New Hampshire concession speech set to will.i.am's music and melody, plus vocalizations of the speech from the likes of Scarlet Johansson, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Herbie Hancock and other celebrity supporters. The chorus is one of Obama's campaign slogans: "Yes We Can."

The "We Are The Ones" video comes before Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio. Obama is leading his rival, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the delegate count for the nomination.

Obama is going to win on Tuesday...

More thoughts on my Business Blog

WASHINGTON - Early in Senator John McCain's first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.

It had been just a decade since an official favor for a friend with regulatory problems had nearly ended Mr. McCain's political career by ensnaring him in the Keating Five scandal. In the years that followed, he reinvented himself as the scourge of special interests, a crusader for stricter ethics and campaign finance rules, a man of honor chastened by a brush with shame.

But the concerns about Mr. McCain’s relationship with Ms. Iseman underscored an enduring paradox of his post-Keating career. Even as he has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards, his confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potentially embarrassing conflicts of interest...

should not toss stones! Need to shut the hell up!

Oh yeah and for those who tried to drag Michelle into the mud too... SHUT UP! Same page, see her clarrification...

Dont they make a handsome (First) couple... Hehe...

Hillary is being more aggressive they say...

It aint about being aggressive. Its about being desperate.

(CNN) - Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign Wednesday pounced on a recent television interview with a surrogate of Barack Obama who was unable to identify a single accomplishment in the Illinois Democrat's Senate record.

"My good friend Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones from Ohio represented me on one of the TV programs in the last day or two - some of you may have seen her," Clinton said during a speech at Hunter College in New York City Wednesday. "And she was on against someone representing my opponent and for the first time, actually, the host, asked the representative of my opponent to name one accomplishment."

The interview in question was with Tubbs Jones and Texas State Sen. Kirk Watson on MSNBC Tuesday night. Host Chris Matthews asked Watson, a supporter Obama, to name the Illinois senator's chief legislative accomplishments.

"Well, I am not going to be able to name you specific items of legislative accomplishment," Watson said.

Asked if it was a problem he was unable to name any of Obama's accomplishments, Watson said, "Well no I don't think it is. Because I think one of the things that Sen. Obama does is he inspires. He's able to lay out a vision, he's able to lay out solutions."

The Clinton campaign called the interview "Must See TV," and e-mailed a clip of it to reporters Wednesday morning - shortly before the New York Democrat mentioned it in her speech.

"That is all we’re asking," Clinton also said of the interview in her speech. "We’re asking to compare our records. We’re asking to compare our years of service. We’re asking to compare our ideas, our solutions."

Good thing you arent asking to compare your attitude, your class, your capacity to show some basic dignity. Do you ever think to thank the hard working people who went out to canvass for you or vote for you, in those states where you had your a$$ handed to you?

Do you every consider that your nasty politics risks tearning the Democratic party apart. Is it so important to you to win NOW, that you don't care if you lose in November.

Keep it coming Hillary. Your negative spin did not work before, and it is not working now. What it is doing is just showing what a SHREW you are, what a hateful insignificant, spoiled little soccer mom you are. What a LOSER you are.

I had hoped that Obama would just ignore her, but I understand why they didnt.

Yo Hillary, NO YOU CAN'T!

And I bet she has thought about it! (wink)

Man, you talk about desperation...

Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that he doesn't think it's a big deal that he borrowed lines from his friend Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, although he probably should have given him credit.

Patrick said during his gubernatorial campaign a year and a half ago that words matter, like "I have a dream" and "all men are created equal."

Obama used the same lines Saturday night in Wisconsin. Obama said that Patrick suggested he use the lines to respond to Hillary Rodham Clinton's suggestion that Obama is more of a talker than a doer.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson accused Obama of plagiarizing Patrick, and that's particularly troubling since Obama's appeal is based in large part on his rhetorical skills.

"It raises questions about the premise of his candidacy," Wolfson told reporters in a conference call.

Obama, D-Ill., says that's going too far.

"Now hold on a second. Let's see — I've written two books, wrote most of my speeches," Obama told reporters at a news conference after touring a titanium plant.

"I'm happy to give Deval credit, as I give credit to a lot people for spurring all kinds of ideas," he said. "But I think that it is fair to say that everything that we've been doing in generating excitement and the interest that people have in the election is based on the core belief in me that we need change in America."

Asked whether he wished he would have given him credit given the criticism he's facing, Obama responded: "I was on the stump, and he had suggested that we use these lines. I thought they were good lines. I'm sure I should have — didn't this time."

"I really don't think this is too big of a deal," he said. He said he's noticed Clinton using his phrases sometimes, like "it's time to turn the page" and "fired up, ready to go."

Man when you cant win on ideas...

This is about as MANUFACTURED a scandal as there is... CHEAP POLITICAL Points....

Be careful Hillary.... If you do manage to win, you will need a whole lot of Black people to vote for you in November.

Michelle is simply spectacular! Contrast her with the "Stepford Wife," that is Cindy McCain...

Sign the petition to make sure the Democratic Old School does not decide who will be the Democratic Candidate!

I got this bit of absolute nonesense last night from a Good friend. He had fallen victim to another idiotic URBAN LEGEND. With a difference.... Like this one, this email is designed specifically to HURT Senator Obama..

KENTUCKY - USA - Imperial Wizard, Ronald Edwards has stated that, "anything is better than Hillary Clinton."

White Christian Supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan has endorsed Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States of America.

Speaking from his Kentucky office in Dawson Springs, the Imperial Wizard exclaimed that anything or anyone is better than having that "crazy ass bitch" as President.

This is the first time in Klan history that any member of the KKK has ever publicly supported an African American candidate for the presidency.

KKK lodges all over America have been gathering and holding rallies supporting the black presidential candidate.

KKK members in Tennessee rally against Hillary Clinton and support Barack Obama

Grand Turk Cletus Monroe has also been very vocal about the election and has donated thousands of dollars to Obama's election fund.

"The boy's gonna do it. My Klan group has donated up to $250,000 to the Obama fund. Anything is better than Hillary Clinton. Hell I'll even adopt a black kid from Africa before I vote for Hillary."

"A few years back we were lynching negroes. Now we're gonna vote for one to be president of the US of motherfu**ing A, damn it! Anyone or anything is better than Hillary Clinton - anything!!"

Placards for Barack Obama have been put up around the Klan's Headquarters and the KKK have announced a television ad campaign to support the African American candidate.

Can you imagine the UPROAR and outrage if it were true? I can not blame my friend for sending out the email. Many of us are constantly looking for news on the Obama candidacy. He inspires and motivates us. But in a time where we are SO CLOSE, we must all be diligent about doing anything that will play into the hands of those who wish to end this candidacy BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

The spanking Obama gave Hillary last night?

Yesterday, I was sitting in a bar in downtown San Jose, talking with a couple of guys from New York State. They were both white guys in their mid to late 30's, on their umpteenth trip to the Party Capital of the Americas. We had already done some serious drinking, eatin' and admirin', and finaly got down to talking politics. We shared our amazement at how the primaries had went the day before, and both of them expressed awe at what Obama had accomplished so far. Awe seems to be the word of the day, as Obama continues to generate excitement all across America. Especially after the epic spanking he gave Hillary on Tuesday. Yeah I know, the numbers were about even, but it was a trouncing none the less, considering that just a week ago, he was down by 20 points.

CHICAGO, Feb. 5 -- The crowds boggle the mind, and the fervor verges on the religious: "We believe!" the 17,000 people jamming Hartford's civic center started chanting Monday. There were 13,000 in Boise, lining up in the cold at daybreak in a state where only 5,000 voted in the Democratic caucuses four years ago. And 20,000 converging on a downtown square in Wilmington, Del., on Super Bowl Sunday, like nothing that small city had seen in years.

There is, without doubt, a nationwide wave building behind Sen. Barack Obama, one given new life by his win in South Carolina 10 days ago, his forceful victory speech and the Kennedy family endorsements that followed, and his campaign's record-shattering fundraising last month. But the Super Tuesday primaries offered a reminder of the distance Obama must yet travel and the time he needs -- but might not have -- to translate the euphoria of packed basketball arenas into hard numbers at the voting booth.

Obama fared better in the 22-state crush than appeared possible a couple weeks ago, when he was coming off two straight losses in Nevada and New Hampshire and facing the prospect of having to compete in a slew of states against a better-known candidate with widespread establishment backing.

The Illinois senator won his home state, as well as Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Minnesota, Connecticut, Kansas, North Dakota, Colorado, Alaska, Missouri, Utah and Idaho.

Yet he fell well short of the clear win that some of his supporters could not help but fantasize about as he shot up in the polls in the past week. He lost in New Jersey and Massachusetts after appearing to threaten upsets in the two states, where Clinton maintained solid leads until recently.

The campaign seems aware of the challenge facing it. No longer does it allow itself to be lulled into complacency by the sight of big crowds, as it might have been in the closing days before the New Hampshire primary.

Trying to limit expectations in recent days, campaign officials and Obama himself said they were encouraged by the enthusiasm they were finding on the trail. But they also acknowledged that millions of other voters either had no interest in Obama or would not be able to see him, given the constraints of the compressed schedule of 22 states to cover in 10 days.

Obama directly acknowledged the need to broaden the campaign's reach in his speech to supporters here tonight, addressing "all those Americans who have yet to join this movement and yet still hunger for change.

"They know in their gut that we can do better than we're doing," he said. But "they are afraid, they've been taught to be cynical. They're doubtful it can be done. I'm here to say tonight to all those who harbor those doubts: We need you. We need you to help us through."

The campaign is betting on closing the gap further in the next week, when there are six primaries or caucuses, in places where Obama is fairly well-positioned: Maine, Louisiana, Washington state, Virginia, Maryland and the District. And the campaign says it will have the time to do the more intense kind of campaigning it prefers in big states that do not vote until next month, such as Ohio and Texas.

As a young black man raised during the 60's, I am very proud to see how Obama is impacting the nation.

Still, for all the campaign's caveats, there is a hard-to-explain disconnect between the muddled results and the near-delirious enthusiasm at Obama's recent rallies, which far exceeds anything at Clinton's smaller, more sedate events.

In Boise, Debbi Taylor, a 50-year-old court clerk, said she drove six hours through bad weather from Ogden, Utah, to see Obama. "When my kids are excited and vote early and e-mail me to tell me about it, that's change in the world. That's something," she said.

In Minneapolis, Kevin Worden, a Habitat for Humanity director, gawked at the sight of the city's basketball arena packed to the rafters. "It's a snowball running down a steep hill and picking up all along," he said.

And in St. Louis, some of the 20,000 who attended a rally at the city's domed football stadium marveled that the event had drawn far more people than the city's popular Mardi Gras celebration the same night.

"Look at these numbers!" Helen Douglas-Taylor, a teacher, exclaimed. "We're just ready as a nation for something fresh, and he's fresh."

Boise, Idaho? Ogden Utah? This is something special. It is a bit sad to see the old school Civil Rights leaders like Andy Young missing thier opportunities to usher in a new age, and instead maintaining loyalties to the old political machines that perhaps they are too indebted to... to sever. They will find that in the end, if Obama wins, and I expect he will... Their relevance in the 21sth Century will be limited, and they will have missed the very opportunity to see to fruition, the very things they fought for.

It is time for a change... And for the first time in my life, I DO BELIEVE that this change is possible.

Contribute to the Obama campaign today.

Vote for Change, Vote for Obama!

"In the language of metaphor, Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility. Clinton would be a valuable and competent executive, but Obama matches her in substance and adds something that the nation has been missing far too long - a sense of aspiration."
The Los Angeles Times

A lot of people are going to get this, and believe it... These people are the same West African Scammers that are running the other 419 scams.

THE FONDATION DE FRANCE(FDF). 16 Rue Lanterne, Lyon 69001, France. http://www.fdf.org.

The Fondation De France(FDF) would like to notify you that you have
been chosen by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of
a cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business
development. The FDF, established 1977 by the Multi-Million groups and
now supported by the Economic Community for West Africa States
(ECOWAS),United Nations Organization (UNO) and the Europian U
nion (EU) was conceived with the objective of human growth,
educational, and community development.

In conjunction with the ECOWAS, UNO and the EU, We are giving out a
yearly donation of US.$.1,350,000.00 (One million, Three hundred and
Fifty thousand United states dollars only) each to 100 lucky
recipients. These specific Donations/Grants will be awarded to 100
lucky international recipients worldwide, in different categories.

Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and
millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide, you were selected
amongst the lucky recipients to receive the award sum of
US$1,350,000.00 as charity donations/aid.

Please note that the release of your cash aid/donations is to be
administered by The Fairweather Base Foundation under delegated powers
fromthe UN Foundation. You are hereby advised to keep this whole
information confidential until your donations have been duly remitted
to you. There have been many cases of double and unqualified claim, due
to beneficiaries divulging details of donations to third parties.

You are required to contact the Executive Secretary below, for
qualification documentation and processing of your claims. After
contacting our office, you will be given your donation pin number,
which you will use in collecting the funds. Please endeavor to quote
your Qualification numbers (FDF-444-6647-9163) in all discussions.

And if you dont believe me when I talk about how stupid these people are...

Only equally stupid, and GREEDY people actually lose money to these morons, but there are people who fight back.

Just remember one thing, you can not win a lottery you did not enter. There are no magical agencies from far away countries that are giving away millions to email addresses. If you believe crap like that, you deserve to be taken.

Oh yeah and you did not win the lottery either:

Attn Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that you have emerged a winner in the annual
draw of our Lottery International Programs. Your email address was selected
by our Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) from an exclusive list of
250,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies generated
from an internet resource database.No tickets were sold.

Your email address is identified with Batch Number: 444821545-NL/2007 and
Ticket Number: PP 3812 /2007-07 in Category "A" and your claims portfolio is
filed with Ref Number:MARKT 80 ES 9414.You are therefore to receive a cash
prize of $2,500,000.00. (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States
Dollars) from the total payout

CONGRATULATIONS!!!.

Your prize award has been insured under a bonded depository policy with
your e-mail address, and will be transferred to you upon meeting the claims
requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and
satisfactory report.

To file for the processing of your prize sum payment, you are advised to
contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent for category "A" winners
with the information below:

*************************************
Name: Mr. Edward Lestra
Tel:+31 619 289 696
Email: info_marktclaims03@yahoo.no
*************************************

You are advice to provide him with the following information:

Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days, thereafter
unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your
reference information in all correspondence.

Yours Faithfully,
Luis Brown
Lottery Coordinator.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

1. Personal and winning data provided by winners to THIS PROMO remains
known ONLY to the winner and INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS
ORGANISATION.

2a. All e-mail addresses, contact information, photographs and/or personal
data of winners SHALL NOT be published or disclosed on ANY public or in any
other public place or via any medium accessible to the
public.
2b. All e-mail addresses, contact information, photographs and/or personal
data of winners SHALL NOT be disclosed to or made available to any third
party or agent outside the claims office.

3. All e-mail addresses, contact information and/or personal data of
winners are kept in an isolated database server protected from any external
access using SSL locking on 6th level binary pharse. This data is made
accessible ONLY to MARKT INTERNATIONAL CYBER LOTTERY staff and authorized
agents directly involved with the processing of winners claims.

4. Winners are advised to keep their winning information away from public
knowledge, in order to avoid any double claims, impersonation or
misrepresentation during the claims process.MARKT INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONAL
PROGRAMS will not be liable for any misplaced claims as a owing to your
negligence or publishing of your winning information.

Looks like this is spreading, I got it from CFLF. Thanks Michael! And like Michael, I have not blogged much the last year. A lot of it had to do with a general sense of malaise, I just wasn't into it., I also had the best business year I have ever had, which kept me out of the country a good part of last year. Barack has got me excited, perhaps more excited than I have been in a long time. No matter who gets the final nod as the Democratic Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama has taught us that, "yes we can!"

I am not sure if a MoveOn endorsement will help a Democratic candidate in the General Election, but this has the potential to be HUGE!

(CNN) MoveOn.org, the liberal political action committee that claims over 3 million members, endorsed

Barack Obama's White House bid Friday, the first time the group has made a primary endorsement.

The endorsement came after the group allowed its members to vote over the last two days on either Obama

or rival Hillary Clinton. Obama overwhelmingly beat the New York Democrat, 70 percent to 30 percent.

"Our members' endorsement of Sen. Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in

history," MoveOn.org's Executive Director Eli Pariser said. "Seven years of the disastrous policies of

the Bush Administration have left the country desperate for change. We need a president who will bring

to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every

American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America’s standing in the world."

The group says it has 1.7 million members across the 22 states set to weigh in on Super Tuesday, and it

is now actively recruiting volunteers on Obama's behalf. It also boast an impressive Get out the Vote

campaign, in 2006 its members made 7 million calls on behalf of Democratic candidates.

Results from a Daily KOS poll taken this week show that Obama is really taking it to Clinton in progressive circles.

If you are interested in helping MoveOn to mobilize voters for Obama, click here, or here.

There is a feeling in the air these days... Hillary may win, but it is just incredible the effect Obama has. Even watching the crowds outside the debate the other night, the energy was obviously Obama energy.

Do you think won the Democratic Debate last night?

No way in hell I would vote for him! But he is a competitor! I like the guy!

Just how hateful Clinton supporters have become

case in point...

Linda Pacifica: "I'm surprised more people don't see through [Obama]. People say his speeches inspire? All he did was bash the Clintons and act like a victim. I didn't see inspiration from that. From what I saw in the debates, he was throwing low blows. ... I think he is becoming more like Bush and his tactics when he was running -- deceitful, unethical, and dishonest."