To the Present

Rep. Clyburn: Obama now ahead on superdelegates & says Clinton Argument about White Voters is Crap

TheSpook — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:28:38 +0000

May 9--U.S. Rep. James Clyburn said sources in the "Obama camp" have told him that U.S. Sen. Barack Obama from Illinois has taken over the lead among unpledged Democratic delegates, the so-called "superdelegates." During a conference call with reporters Clyburn said Obama has converted a number of superdelegates previously pledged to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton from New York, and that Obama took the lead in superdelegates this morning. Clyburn could not remember where the information had come from. Many news agencies' latest survey of the roughly 700 superdelegates showed Clinton holding the lead by just a few delegates. The Associated Press had the superdelegate count Friday morning as Clinton with 271.5 superdelegates and Obama 266 superdelegates.

From the Hotline [HERE] Clyburn also said that he and other members of U.S. House leadership had no plans when they would endorse a candidate as superdelegates, but that he, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland and other House leadership would decide together when to endorse.

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn tells NJ Contributing Editor Linda Douglass that any backroom deal that swipes the Dem nom from Barack Obama would devastate young people and blacks. He also argues that Hillary Clinton's pitch that Obama will do poorly with white voters is bunk. Unless HRC believes, too, that her take of the black vote during the primaries represents how she'll perform in the general.

Unaccountable Kilpatrick Refuses to go: Detroit City Council has 2 tough options for ousting mayor

TheSpook — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:05:54 +0000

The City Council discussed its three options for dealing with scandal-plagued Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in closed session Tuesday two could lead to his ouster but seem unlikely, and one would amount to a slap on the wrist. The council on Monday received a special report by its outside attorney summarizing facts in the text-messaging sex scandal that led to perjury and other charges against Kilpatrick and a former aide.

The report suggests that the council consider removing Kilpatrick from office, asking Gov. Jennifer Granholm to do it or publicly censuring the mayor. The latter two options "are probably being looked at more strongly on the part of council," Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. said Tuesday. If the council tried to remove Kilpatrick itself, "it could result in a new trial which could tie up a lot of money and a lot of time for an extended period," Cockrel said.

State law allows the governor to remove an elected official from office for a number of reasons, including official misconduct, willful neglect of duty or a felony conviction. Granholm has said she wants to allow the legal process to play out.

Clinton won't quit; Obama doesn't care

TheSpook — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:51:06 +0000

As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made a last-minute trip to West Virginia and declared her intent to stay in the race, aides to Sen. Barack Obama signaled Wednesday that he would move towards a general election strategy over the next month.

Obama has accumulated a lead in pledged delegates that is all but insurmountable – a point that Clinton campaign officials acknowledged Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. That pushes the campaign largely into political backrooms, as both candidates made plans to meet privately Wednesday and Thursday with uncommitted superdelegates in Washington.

Aides to Obama, who spent Wednesday in Chicago with his family, said the Illinois senator would campaign in the remaining primary states and Puerto Rico. He heads to Oregon, which votes May 20, on Friday for a two-day trip and travels Monday to West Virginia, which votes May 13. When asked whether Obama would campaign over the next month in general election states, Axelrod said: “I guess you can infer that from what I said.”

Clinton Told to Bounce

TheSpook — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:50:20 +0000

Democrats' Clinton Era Said To Be Coming To End.
From the FrontrunnerThe New York Times (5/8, Nagourney) reports that after "16 years, the Clinton era may be coming to an end, presenting Democrats with a historic but potentially wrenching transition and a challenge to" Obama "as he seeks to reconcile a deeply divided party." While the "relationship between the party establishment and the Clintons has always been uneasy at best, an entire generation of Democrats has known no other figures as dominant as the two of them." Hillary Clinton "said Wednesday that she would remain in the race despite her double-digit loss in North Carolina and winning only narrowly in Indiana. But across the party, Democrats - including some of her own supporters - were confronting an increasing likelihood that their tangle of ties to and feelings about the Clintons would be swept aside for now as the party prepares for a new era with a leader, in Mr. Obama, who comes from a different generation and promises a very different style of politics."

Go Bye Bye
The Los Angeles Times (5/8, 881K) editorializes, "Even if Clinton were to win every remaining state by a comfortable margin, she could not amass enough delegates before the convention to pass Obama. Still, it's fair to ask whether there's any harm in continuing. The answer is yes." Clinton has no arguments "left to make. She has run a fine race, but she has lost." The Washington Post (5/8, A22) editorializes, "Clinton may, as she promised yesterday, fight on through the next few weeks of primaries, but after her disappointing showing Tuesday she has no plausible route to victory."

House Passes Homeowner Aid

TheSpook — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:49:38 +0000

WASHINGTON -- The House passed a giant package of measures designed to tackle the housing crisis Thursday, but only after two days of bickering that signal turbulence ahead for the legislation. Democrats and Republicans, abandoning the brief comity that helped them forge an economic-stimulus package earlier this year, argued over the procedures used to bring the bill to a vote. Another flash point was the millions in spending directed toward community groups Republicans said would fund Democrats' get-out-the-vote efforts.

The House voted 266-154 in favor of the centerpiece of the legislation -- $300 billion in federal loan guarantees -- despite a White House veto threat. The battle reflected the package's status as the biggest, most-comprehensive legislative response to the housing crisis likely to pass this year. The heart of the legislation is a program to help struggling homeowners by providing them with new mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The guarantees would be provided if lenders agree to reduce the principal of a borrower's existing mortgage. [MORE]

House Passes Bill Lifting Terrorist Label for Nelson Mandela, Other ANC Members Wishing to Travel to the United States

TheSpook — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:48:23 +0000

The House today passed legislation to erase a government-imposed stigma against membership in the African National Congress of South Africa. This bill, authored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), will remove from U.S. databases any notation that would characterize the ANC and its leaders -- including Nobel Laureate and former South African President Nelson Mandela -- as terrorists.

"This long-overdue bill is the direct result of a stunning and, frankly, embarrassing story for the United States," Berman noted. "Despite recognizing two decades ago that America's place was on the side of those oppressed by Apartheid, Congress has never resolved the inconsistency in our immigration code that treats many of those who actively opposed Apartheid in South Africa as terrorists and criminals."

Loiusianna Black lawmakers consider bids for Congress as independents

TheSpook — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:50:32 +0000

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Three black state lawmakers say they are weighing whether to run for three U.S. House seats this fall as independents, a move that could splinter Democratic support in the races. Sen. Don Cravins Jr., Sen. Lydia Jackson and Rep. Michael Jackson say the state and national Democratic parties have failed to recruit and support black candidates to run for federal and statewide offices. They said there's disparity between how the party treats black and white candidates.

"For many, many years, the African-American community has been very supportive of Democrats, and many of us feel that has not been reciprocated," said Cravins, D-Opelousas. Louisiana has only one black member of Congress: U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat who represents a majority black district. All seven of Louisiana's U.S. House seats come up for election in November.

Over One Million Voter Registrations Cancelled or Changed in Black County in Indiana

TheSpook — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:10:30 +0000

In April 2008 when Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced the release of "record high" voter registration rolls, with 4.3 million voters set to vote in the Tuesday May 6 primary, he didn't mention that a whopping 1,134,427 voter registrations have been cancelled. Now, the voter rolls are supposed to be tidied up prior to each election. Indiana's last general election was in Nov. 2006, and they have had a slew of special and general elections since then. So how have 1.1 million voters -- 26 percent of the current statewide list -- escaped the voter registration cleanup squad? Who are these million voters and where do they come from?

One quarter-million of them come from just two northwestern Indiana counties: Lake and Porter. Lake County reports purging 137,164 voters and neighboring Porter County cancelled out 124,958 voters. Lake County, the home of Gary, Indiana, has spawned the Jackson Five and a great old musical (The Music Man) and has been referred to as "the second most liberal county in America." Lake County also has one of the heaviest concentrations of African-American voters that you'll find anywhere in the USA.

Media Continues to Ignore McCain's Racist Pastor

TheSpook — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:01:47 +0000

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.

What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.

Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.

Barack Obama secret Muslim; good for you, Hillary

TheSpook — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 +0000

This column isn’t about Barack Obama. Plenty has already been written about him. Certainly, thousands of columnists nationwide have had ample opportunity to discuss his candidacy, and there may be no other topic so thoroughly covered by opinion columnists as that of Barack Obama’s candidacy. His spate of February and March victories has propelled him to frontrunner status, and his fundraising campaign has raised the equivalent of a small Latin American nation’s yearly gross domestic product. But this isn’t another column about the Illinois senator, but rather his rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.

This column isn’t about how Barack Obama refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag correctly, sing the national anthem louder than the guy next to him or wear a flag lapel. That sort of talk is a distraction in the dialogue that needs to be taking place in this nomination battle. I’m certainly not going to mention that Barack Obama may or may not be an Ivy League- educated elitist liberal who hates America. I heard some Republicans saying it, but it certainly isn’t worth repeating here.