Obama Supporters Increasingly Confident

Politico: After Potomac Primary Wins On Tuesday, Obama Takes On New Aura Of Momentum

(The Politico)  This story was written by Ben Smith, Avi Zenilman, and Kenneth P. Vogel.

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Who’s inevitable now?

With three landslide victories in Tuesday’s "Chesapeake Primary" in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and a widening lead by any measure of delegates, Senator Barack Obama’s supporters have begun to suggest a case that, just a few months ago, was coming from Hillary Rodham Clinton: He’s a lock.

In a conference call with reporters before polls closed Tuesday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe cited “the cold, hard reality of the math.”

"I don't think it's so much about momentum as the reality of the math," he said, citing the campaign’s success in building a small but unmistakable lead among pledged delegates. “If we continue to do that, mathematical reality sets in and it becomes harder and harder to overcome."

Plouffe’s aim was to begin the process of massing uncommitted Democratic leaders behind a front-running Obama, the same end to which Clinton and her aides wielded her high poll numbers last year.

The stress on Obama’s delegate lead was also the opening of an effort to muscle Clinton - now trailing by almost any count of delegates - from the race.

But on the numbers, Plouffe has a point. An analysis of the delegate count by Politico indicates that Obama’s wide margins in contests over the last week mean that Clinton will be forced to answer with not just victories, but landslides of her own, in the big states on which she is staking her hopes - Ohio and Texas, which vote March 4.

“We’re going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks, bringing our message about what we need in America: The kind of president that will be required on day one to be commander in chief, to turn the economy around,” Clinton told a crowd of thousands in El Paso Thursday night. “I’m tested. I’m ready. Let’s make this happen."

This exhortation came hours after her campaign announced the departure of her deputy campaign manager, Mike Henry, in the latest reflection of staff turmoil.

Clinton’s challenge is to keep the count of pledged delegates close, while protecting her lead among the party officials known as “superdelegates,” who can vote independently at the Democratic National convention - but who may be reluctant to defy the popular vote.

The Obama campaign now argues that the superdelegates should follow the majority of the pledged delegates.

Clinton, meanwhile, has sought to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the process by which pledged delegates are chosen, arguing that caucuses aren’t true reflections of the will of the people, and that the exclusion of Florida and Michigan voters because of a dispute over the primary calendar taints the official tallies.

But Obama’s lead in pledged delegates widened Tuesday night to more than 100, even by conservative estimates, and there’s no indication that it will narrow before March.

There are 573 delegates up for grabs between March 4 and April 22. For Clinton to even things up, she needs to get about 60 percent of them - the sort of margin she won in her home state of New York.

Obama’s dramatic victories Tuesday also put him ahead in the count of pledged delegates even if Florida, whose delegates have not been recognized by the Democratic National Committee, was permitted to seat a delegation.

And his victories put him ahead even in counts that include superdelegates.

“This is the new American majority. This is what change looks like,” Obama said in a speech to an audience of thousands in Madison, Wisconsin Tuesday night.

Obama’s wins were his sixth, seventh, and eighth in a row, and even as Clinton looks forward to March 4, his campaign is looking with relish on Wisconsin and his home state of Hawaii, which vote a week from today.

His widening coalition is becoming part of his message: He won a majority of Latino votes - which had been Clinton’s bulwark elsewhere - in Virginia and Maryland.

He won a majority of white men in both states, and won the support of groups across the economic spectrum, while drawing stunning majorities of support from African-American voters - as high as 90% of their support in Virginia, according to exit polls.

The wide margins - he won with 64% of the vote in Virginia, and appeared headed for victory on a similar scale in Maryland- seemed to answer the Clinton campaign’s arguments that he has not won primaries in large states.

And Obama moved clearly into one traditional frontrunner’s role Tuesday night, trading blows with the likely Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, in their respective victory speeches.

“John McCain is an American hero. We honor his service to our nation. But his priorities don’t address the real problems of the American people, because they are bound to the failed policies of the past,” Obama said in Wisconsin.

“Senator McCain said the other day that we might be mired for a hundred years in Iraq, which is reason enough to not give him four years in the White House.”

McCain, for his part, jabbed at Obama’s lofty rhetoric of hope in his own remarks in Virginia.

“Hope, my friends, is a powerful thing. I can attest to that better than many, for I have seen men's hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience,” he said, continuing, however, that “to encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It is a platitude.”

And McCain concluded by stealing Obama’s signature line.

“My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go,” he said.

[sjbj2322]

Quotes from Barack Obama%u2019s book, Audacity of Hope:
"Lolo (Obama''s step father) followed a brand of Islam ...."I looked to Lolo for guidance".
"I WILL STAND WITH THE MUSLIMS SHOULD THE POLITICAL WINDS SHIFT IN AN UGLY DIRECTION."

If anyone dared remind him of his democratic promises, he resorted to an important concept of Shi''ism called tagiyeh. TAGIYEH allows the pious to prevaricate in the service of preserving the faith or leading the faithful. What does "prevaricate" mean - It means LIE!! You want to know if he''s telling the truth? Make him take an oath against Islam on the Koran. I can promise you he won''t do it.

[nikitia11]

Please check this link if you haven''t already. It''s quite moving!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cySK6q2P_Nw


GO HILLARY!!!!!!!!!!!!

TEXAS, OHIO, WISCONSIN, AND PENNSYLVANIA ARE SUPPORTING YOU!!!!

[kstar42]

The pastor of the Trinity UCC where Obama attends is certainly a bit of a flake but that''''s no more a reflection on Obama than ted Haggard is a reflection of his parishioners.

YEAH AND FARRAKAN IS AN ANGEL *** CALL IT WHAT YOU LIKE BUT WHEN THE REPUBLICANS GET AHOLD OF OBAMALAMADINGDONG HE''LL BE BLOWING SNOT BUBBLES! NOW LET THE RAPPERS MAKE A SONG OF THAT WON, SEEN THAT ON THE BLOG GOTTA LOVE IT.

[kstar42]

hopetrumps,
A couple of clarifications on your misinformation. Obama was never a Muslim. His father was a Muslim and his mother was a Christian.

WRONG WRONG WRONG HIS FATHER IS MUSLIM HIS MOTHER AND ATHIEST GET IT RIGHT BEFORE YOU START RUNNING YOUR SMACK. READ HIS BOOK AZZZ HOLE.

[grazinggoat]

should we be able to rerun the vote in NY, Obama would beat or at least tie the Clinton results. My concern for her would be another landslide for Obama in Texas and Ohio, march 4th ... That would be the end of Hilary''s political carreer.

[jedi08]

Hillary is trying to change the rules in the middle of the game. What a fake and lier she is.

Ding dong the witch is dead

[realpatriot1]

hopetrumps,

Obama has been pimping out Oprah. Does that admission make you feel better?

[realpatriot1]

hopetrumps,

Chelsea was not called a prostitute, the journalist used the expression pimping her out.

Obama was actually called a drug pusher by members of the Clinton campaign and the press ignored it until Obama released a memo showing a pattern of their campaign using racial code words. The media responded by focusing on the least egregious examples of the now famous LBJ and fairy tale remarks but ignored the drug pusher and Muslim trash that morons like you are still spreading.

[realpatriot1]

hopetrumps,

A couple of clarifications on your misinformation. Obama was never a Muslim. His father was a Muslim and his mother was a Christian. When he was a child he went to a Muslim school for a few years then was transferred to a Catholic school. These were the two best schools academically in the area of Indonesia
where he was living.

The United Church of Christ is not a sect; it is a mainline protestant denomination with over 4 million members in the United States. The UCC is a memeber of the National Council of Churches and its ecumenical joint committees with the Jewish Community. There''s no Christian denomination in America that''s more active in promoting understanding and tolerance between the Christian and Jewish communities as well as with the Islamic community.

The pastor of the Trinity UCC where Obama attends is certainly a bit of a flake but that''s no more a reflection on Obama than ted Haggard is a reflection of his parishioners.

The award given to Farrakhan has been condemned by Obama. The Nation of Islam does do a good deal of charitable work that''s commendable; the anti-semitic views of Farrakhan are not to be commended and even Farrakhan himself has apologized for his past remarks.

The Jewish Anti-Defamation League and over 25 Rabbinical organizations have come to Obama''s defense against the lies being spread about his faith.

[flreason]

Does everyone yet know that Barack Obama''''s Church just gave its highest social achievement award to Muslim nationalist Louis Farrakhan?"
Posted by hopetrumps

Are we to hold candidates responsible for the actions of their churches? If so, then Sen. McCain should be held accountable for the misogyny and pedophilia of some clergy associated with the Catholic Church. Gov. Huckabee should certainly be brought to task for the excesses of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Jim Bakker, not to mention Jimmy Swaggert. How can they continue to associate with a churches and church leaders who have engaged in, or turned a blind eye to, immoral and illegal behavior?

Sen. Obama''s church is a congregation in the United Church of Christ. They are considered a main-stream Protestant denomination. He has come to terms with his bi-racial and multi-cultural roots, but he has also had to deal with his experiences as a person with African-American physical characteristics in a society that is still too often divided along color lines. He and his wife are part of the African-American community. That doesn''t mean that they necessarily share all of the attitudes of their church''s leadership. His candidacy, and possible Presidency, could be an important step forward in a national healing process.

[natmadc]

So what if his middle name is Hussein. My middle name is Francis no one ever held it against me.....

[demwatcher]

Not confident. Delusional and desperate better descibes them.

Though, you can''t blame them. What with having VOTED OUT THE ONLY DEMS IN THE CONTEST WITH REAL EXPERIENCE!

Dummy, dummy, Liberals.

[hillaryin08]

How-To Guide For a Clinton Comeback?

1.Steel the primary election thru secret delegates
2.Wear a yellow pant-suit
3.Cry on TV
4.Blame the whole thing on Bush and Bill

She will shoot up in the polls like crazy.

[smirk5]

hopetrumps ,

If Hillary hadn''t voted for the Iraq war, she may be leading right now rather than desperate and trailing.

[smirk5]

hopetrumps,

Any attacks and Obama can just say that the attack just reflects the old divisive politics of the past. He can just rise above it and continue on with his positive message. The voters looking in the gutter will go with McCain. The voters looking for the stars will go with Obama.

[smirk5]

McCain says he was against the Bush Iraq Strategy prior to the surge. Really?

John McCain quotes pre-Iraq War and during Iraq War:

"Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women." [CNN, 9/24/02]

"We%u2019re not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we%u2019re not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies." [CNN, 9/29/02]

"But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily." [MSNBC, 1/22/03]

"But I believe, Katie, that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." [NBC, 3/20/03]

"It%u2019s clear that the end is very much in sight." [ABC, 4/9/03]

"There%u2019s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shiahs. So I think they can probably get along." [MSNBC, 4/23/03]

"This is a mission accomplished. They know how much influence Saddam Hussein had on the Iraqi people, how much more difficult it made to get their cooperation." [This Week, ABC, 12/14/03]

"I%u2019m confident we%u2019re on the right course." [ABC News, 3/7/04]

"I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we weren%u2019t making progress, I%u2019d be despondent." [The Hill, 12/8/05]

[smirk5]

John McCain misses votes in the Senate 59% of the time.

http://www.charlotteconservative.com/index.php/2008/01/does-john-mccain-work/

[smirk5]

jack3213,

Why did McCain say that Petraeus drove around parts of Baghdad in an unarmored Humvee only to later back off that assertion? Was he using rose-colored glasses when he lied about that?

[smirk5]

jack3213,

Why did McCain oppose the Bush tax cuts initially with the argument that it was unfairly tilted to the rich and irresponsible during a time of war? And, why has he changed his mind? Don''t hide behind rose colored glasses. Answer this for us. McCain won''t tell us why he changed his mind.

[mistered9]

You Obama voters, don''t get too over enthusiastic, it may backfire with the super delegets.
Why would anyone vote for a used car salesman speech??