ABOUT FIRST READ

First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Raising the stakes in TX and OH

Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 3:20 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones and NBC's Mark Murray
Even though today's battlegrounds are in Wisconsin and Hawaii, the Clinton campaign held a conference call with reporters to look ahead to the upcoming pivotal March 4 contests in Ohio and Texas.

"The Obama campaign is going to be pulling resources into these two states," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said. "These are major, major, major battleground states and they will be hotly contested," he said. "It will be a major test of the two candidates."

At the same time as it raised the stakes in Ohio and Texas -- two states where polls have shown Clinton to be leading, although a new poll shows a tie in Texas -- the Clinton campaign downplayed the Wisconsin primary and said a loss there wouldn't hurt its prospects in other states. "Wisconsin and Hawaii are both states that the Obama campaign predicted big victories in," Wolfson said. (In fact, the now-famous leaked Obama memo projects Obama winning in those respective states, 53%-46% and 52%-47%.)

Asked if tonight's results in Wisconsin could have an impact on the March 4 states, Clinton Texas state director Ace Smith replied, "Texas is one of those great, independent-thinking states... I think Texas is going to make up its own mind." Added Robby Mook, the campaign's Ohio state director: "I don't think voters in Ohio are worried about the horserace."

And when asked what kind of margins they hoped to see in Ohio and Texas to close the delegate gap with Obama, there wasn't much of an answer. "The margin is victory," Wolfson said with a chuckle. "Both campaigns are going to try to do everything they can to try to win Texas and Ohio." He argued that 40 delegates separated the candidates, making the race "essentially a tie."

Focusing on Texas, Smith said the campaign is pushing early voting in the state, and it has "about 20 offices open", over 100,000 volunteers, and 4,000 precinct captains (in a state with 8,300 precincts.

In Ohio, Mook said the campaign has a full operation running in all of the state's congressional districts. And he talked about a new ad being rolled out today called "Night Shift" that focuses on economic concerns and announced the senator would participate in a night shift with Ohio workers at some point "in the near future."

The Clinton campaign also said in the conference call that it raised $15 million online in the first 15 days of the month -- because fundraising "exploded" after the news of Clinton's $5 million loan to her campaign. "It's a very significant development in the race. Sen. Obama raised, as everyone knows, a great deal of money in the last month, but we feel that we are gonna have all the resources we need to fund great operations and great programs, in states like Texas and Ohio," Wolfson said.

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Send in the flying monkeys.  She's melting, she's melting....
Clinton Rocks

Obama Kool-Aid effect is startind to disappear.

Don't worry people Clinton is going to be the Democratic candidate.

Obama Sucks
Does it sound like a shade of lowering expectations
in that one statement that Texas 'is going to make up its own mind'?
Could it be because that big lead shrunk to a tie in the latest poll?

Hey Howard wolfson, Newsflash, the Battle is Over, Your candidate Lost. Go Home, take her with ya. America has Business to attend to. Thanx for Playing!

Barack Obama for President!!!!!!!!!!!
Essentially a further attempt to 'disenfranchise', today, voters in WI and HI by ignoring them or their elections, taking attention away from the same.  At best, a desperate primary strategy; and, if it works, will bite her in the ass in the general.  "The politics of now", by HRC.  Disappointing.
I'm amazed at how many people contend that the press is easy on Obama, and yet so hard on Hillary.  Really?  How so?  Her losses are spun into "we didn't expect to win that", and she is allowed to move the goal line all the time.  Hasn't it been completely, terribly obvious how "in touch" her campaign seems to stay with these news outlets and reporters?  Every day there is some new "news" out of the Clinton camp, some comment or dirt-slinging.  Why doesn't this article quote anything from the Obama camp?  I'll tell you why, because his team is focusing on the race and getting in front of voters.  Her team is focused on spinning the press in whichever way it chooses.  For someone who thinks they are treated unfairly by the press, her camp is always in touch with them.  Many reporters, anchors & pundits have commented on the number of emails or conference calls they see from the Clinton campaign.  The press turns all her mud-slinging into "late breaking campaign news".  They know exactly what she's doing, and they go right along for the ride.  First she had to win TX, OH & PA after the potomac primaries (quoted from HER camp).  Now she just needs to win either TX or OH.  Just disgusting, and to think I was 90% sure I would vote for her a year ago!!
Send in the flying monkeys.  She's melting, she's melting....

I don't care who you support that is funny. Seriously, lets all play nice.

Vile, ugly, rants and name calling won't win your candidate any support and will actually lose votes.
Gallup poll is showing what a fraud is Barack Hussein Obama, "Just words". Americans are not fool only media is.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/104437/Gallup-Daily-Tracking-Election-2008.aspx
OH... I REALLY hope Barack wins Wisconsin. And wins Wisconsin BIG!!!!!

Obama is brilliant. He's a fighter. He's a mighty good man.
Acutally, Obama's delegate lead is about 130.  The pledged delegate count is what will matter.  If the superdelegates overturn the will of the people, get ready for "President McCain".
I bet Bill Clinton has ALWAYS been proud to be an American regardless if Hillary would be in the lead. Just another reason NOT to elect this boy to the White House.
IS IT HILLARY WE'LL HAVE AS PRESIDENT OR BILL?
HARD TO TELL WITH THIS CAMPAIGN THE WAY IT'S GOING.
BILL HAD 8YEARS WE DON,T NEED HIM AGAIN DO WE?
Boy it must be nice having breakfast at Billary's
The only good thing obama will make is a good V.P for 8 years. Get over it! He is dividing the Democratic party!
Why do Hispanics like Hillary?

One of the reasons that Hispanics respect both Clintons is federal appointments and their championing of diversity.

During his 8 years in office Bill Clinton had 366 federal judicial appointments including 104 women, 23 Hispanics, 5 Asian Americans, 1 Indian American, and 61 African Americans.

Clinton famously stated in 1992 that his cabinet would look like America, and he followed through with real diversity in his appointments including cabinet positions for the following Hispanics, Frederico Peña, Bill Richardson, Aida Alvarez.

Overall Bill Clinton appointed more women to his cabinet that any other president in history with 11 total appointments including:
Madeleine Albright, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Janet Reno, Donna Shalala, Alexis Herman, etc.

Bill Clinton had 2,160 total senate confirmed appointments of which 592 were women. Both Hillary and Bill have promoted diversity…real diversity and they have delivered.

Hillary is not a stranger to the Hispanic community. Her long-term fight for healthcare for children and for universal healthcare resonates with Hispanic communities. She has consistently promoted the interests of Hispanic communities. And she certainly is not a stranger to areas like south Texas.

Obama has no track record with Hispanics at the federal level and a very limited record in Illinois.
Everyone accuses Hillary Clinton and her husband of being divisive.

Well, isn't that exactly what Michelle Obama is when she says she will not vote for anyone BUT her husband! What arrogance and hubris!!

Everyone criticizes Hillary because they feel Bill will influence how she will run the country. Well at least he has experience - and things were better while he was in power than they have been at anytime during the last 7!! If Obama wins, it appears clear that Michelle will want to have her say as to how the White House will be run. Well, two people with no experience do not equal one with experience.

America is so desparate for a saviour that they have created one in Obama - like he is the second coming of Christ ready to save the world!! He is a man - just a man- a politician no less, who is making so many promises he is sure to fail. Wake up people.
The question is do we really need or want Bill in the White House again?Answer for me is YES I do not remeber so many people losing their homes or lives when Bill was in office.And let's face it behind every GOOD Man is a GREAT WOMAN !!!!!!!
The gallup poll shows Obama has had a lead for the past week.  How does that show him to be a fraud, Harry?  You sound like a parrot of the conservative talk shows.
people don't like desperate looking and petty candidates.  i am speaking particularly to hillary c.
she stole from barack campaign themes, especially the one about change, all of a sudden she points that crooked finger at barack with extreme hate when it is well known that he was given permission by his friend to use these frases to counteract these lies critizism and judgements aticipated from his running apponients.  one should be wary of this kind of person representing any position as commander and chief(what a joke for america if she wins.
Hillary will be the president of the United States of America!

I think that there are spider cracks starting to show through in the empty vase of "Yes we can"!

Obama is not uniting but dividing, first the democratic party and second the country. The venemous sparring among the electorate is a evident and all this caused by shouting "Change"!

Hillary '08!
You Clintonites like negative here we go:

-Raised as a privilaged republican
-worked as a corporate lawyer for wal-mart(anti-union)
-rides Bill's coatails for his time in elected office
-carpet bagged her Senate seat on name recognition
-failed to push her healthcare plan as first lady
-bullied and covered up numerous documents and people
in order to circumvent investigations
-won't release her tax returns
-won't release white house documents
-approved of nafta before she was against it
-was for the war before she was against it
-voted to declare Iran's army as terrorists(Bush)
-has been funded by big money donors and lobbys
-willing to break signed agreement not to seat delegates
-accusations of lifting Deval Patricks speaches even though Patrick himself admitted they shared ideas, has willfully stolen

Obama's/Edwards rhetoric
-Says she will cover all people under her new Healthcare scheme even if that is false(mandated coverage(fines/penalties) does

not garauntee 100% participation)
-Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater, etc..etc...
-Says she will work against corporate lobbiests even though she is funded by them and says they represent real americans too

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure posters like Sierra can even do better than me. Now lets look at Obama's

negatives;

-Michel Obama's proud american comments diversion(debunked...she said REALLY proud, nobody is perfect)
-Stealing from Deval Patrick (debunked...done with permission..who would've thought the press cared)
-Rezko (quasi debunked...house purchase was legit but the press still wonders why they were friends)
-All talk no substance (this is ignorance on the part of those who don't care to listen to him outside of his victory

speeches)
-Healthcare(coverage lowers cost for all people without the risk of fines/penalties for adults. Universal child coverage will

most likely increase costs...just like HILLARY)
-Experience (debunked..has served more years in elected office than Hillary)
-Voted for troop funds (was outspoken against the war..YES he gets credit for it. NOBODY is willing to cut troop funds

outside of political reasons(Clinton)).
-One of the most liberal Senators (good..this is a common GOP "attack"..didn't work in 2006)
-Drug use..admitted in his book

Another comment, Republicans and Independents respect Obama even if they may disagree with his positions. Clinton does

not...I repeat..DOES NOT..have this luxury. Her negatives have risen since her campaign has began. Stone cold Democrats

(Opelika, Alabama) I know won't vote for her...I'm not lying. She has LOST the African American vote even though it was there

(50/50) before South Carolina(Bill's doing). Now..given that their policies are similar and they are both Democrats....who do

you think is ready to lead this country on day ONE. Please, Clinton supporters...tell me why I am wrong.
Billary makes me sick.. up to their dirty tricks -"politics as usual again".. its all about them and their legacy as usual. Obama must win or watchout for President McCain.. frankly between Billary or McCain who could tell the diff...  
Wow.  I don't know if Hillary can beat McCain in the general election.  I wish Bush was running again.  

I'm fairly certain she would lick Bush.



Obama is NOT dividing the Democratic party. Look towards Bill and Hillary who started the mud slinging when the going got tough.Each party has multiple people vying for the same spot. Do not fault the man for defending himself. Also note that while defending himself, he isn't resorting to their tactics. Gentleman personified! Also,you can love something and not be proud of its actions. Would you be proud of your child that's a high school drop out? No. Would you still love them? Yes, you would. I love America. Am I proud of everything we've done? No, and any reasonable person wouldn't be. Let's choose a candidate using sound judgement instead of out of ignorance. I for one am proud of the strides Hillary has made for strong, independent women. Realistically though, it seems like electing her will be more of the same nonsense with Bill pulling the puppet strings. It's make or break time people! If we do not change the course of the country now, it will NOT happen any time soon! A fresh face means fresh ideas!!!
Vote Obama!!!
It amazes me how nasty the fight is between the Obama Campaign and The Clinton Campaign & Vice Versa. Its time we all started to look at the candidates without regard to their party. I think that the majority of the country is sick and tired of the juvenile behavior of both parties. Its time to grow up. Your country deserves better
<<OH... I REALLY hope Barack wins Wisconsin. And wins Wisconsin BIG!!!!!

Obama is brilliant. He's a fighter. He's a mighty good man.
Jennifer, IL (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 3:51 PM)>>

Then when you get done watching Nickelodeon you can go drink another glass of Kool-Aid, because ya know, Obama he is just so wicked cool......and I heard he's gonna save the world and cure cancer and if you can just dream anything is possible.......you bunch of Stepford Wife morons!

Hillary is Mme President - by far she is the most qualified person in this race (and the most intelligent one :))

Hillary 08
You know, the bickering and ever-changing justifications for an HRC Presidency (experience, morphing policies, gender, etc) remind me of the ever-changing justifications for going to war in Iraq and then staying there - I don't buy or it trust it - the Clintons sound too much like George W Bush and we need to take our country back.  Please join me in voting for Barack Obama!

If HRC would have read the National Intelligence Estimates, or heck, even the title of the Iraq War Resolution, I would like to think that she would/should have voted differently.  Need to be right on Day One.

Remember one thing, words may be cheap, but fear is expensive.  One campaign builds up hope - the other tells you what to be afraid of.

GO OBAMA in 2008!
The primaries in TX and OH are two weeks away. Barack was in OH for the first time yesterday and in TX today. It will be a close race in both states. If we thought Hillary was negative going into Wisconsin, we haven't seen anything yet. She will say and do anything to win.
Clinton: 'Running against the wind'
Challenges of circumstance and history test her political resolve
By Howard Fineman
MSNBC
updated 12:23 p.m. PT, Tues., Feb. 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - As Sen. Hillary Clinton pursues an uphill campaign, she faces the harsh reality of four political rules: Timing is everything, no good deed goes unpunished, what goes around comes around, and it’s better to be lucky than good.

Collectively, ironically, and through no fault of her own, these rules may doom her.

How long her quest survives depends in part on what happens in tonight's primary.

She has to win or finish extremely close in Wisconsin.

But even if she does manage to finish close, ten straight losses to Sen. Barack Obama will make winning in Ohio and Texas on March 4 that much more difficult.

And those two states will be her last big chance of the season.

But Clinton faces deeper, more basic challenges of circumstance and history.

Timing
It turns out her timing was bad. There was a moment, perhaps a recently as, say, five years ago, when the idea of a woman running for president would have been considered sensationally groundbreaking.

But that moment has passed, and it's only exaggerated by Obama's presence in the race. As a candidate, he offers the even more head-spinning notion of racial equality in the United States.

Seeing a woman in the upper reaches of public office is no longer startling. In Congress, women hold 16 Senate and 74 House seats. Two women have been secretary of state. There are eight female governors across the country.

By contrast, there is only one African-American senator today, and it's Obama.

The only African-American governor is Obama’s friend (and rhetorical inspiration) Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.

Good deeds
Ironically, Clinton and her husband Bill are suffering from the consequences of their own generational idealism.

Let’s give them credit where credit is due. They were leaders of an earnest wing of Baby Boomers in college who really did care about, and really did work for, racial harmony in America.

They both loved and admired Dr. Martin Luther King.

Bill Clinton insisted on reciting long swatches of the civil rights leader's speeches to his Georgetown University housemates. Hillary Clinton described in letters to friends how she threw her books against her dorm room walls in anger after learning of King's assassination in 1968.

Obama was six years old and living in Indonesia when all that that happened.

Now, forty years later after Memphis, the society that King envisioned, and the one that the Clintons advocated for, is closer at hand. And it's because of this that an Obama candidacy is possible.

What goes around
Here is a further irony, one I’m sure is not lost on the Clintons.

Bill Clinton would not have been nominated in 1992 if Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder had run for president. Wilder was the nation's first African-American governor, and by staying out of the race, he allowed Clinton to run as a blue-eyed Southern soul brother.

This identity allowed him to secure black support in the south. And it was these voters who would eventually become Clinton's "base of bases" for the remainder of his career.

But Mrs. Clinton's attempts to keep these voters in the family put the Obama campaign on the offensive.

Whether Obama intended to or not, the senator baited the Clintons when he compared himself to King.

Citing his own inspirational ability before the South Carolina primary, Obama likened his approach to politics to that of John F. Kennedy and King.

He said that without them, the country never would have gone to the moon or passed the Civil Rights Act.

Knowing their own history, their own passion, and the stakes, the Clintons went ballistic.

The former first lady tartly asserted that President Lyndon Johnson was the key to accomplishing both goals --- and the war of words was on.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Now Obama counts on huge African-American support, percentages that even eluded Bill Clinton, the country's so-called "first black president."

Better to be lucky
The last factor is luck. I guess you could argue that Clinton has been smiled on by the political gods. After all, she married a man who wound up being president.

But recent events haven't gone her way.

After Al Gore failed to gain the White House in 2000, Clinton set her sights on the presidency, probably thinking a weak George W. Bush would have been easy pickings.

But then Sept. 11 happened, she voted for the war, and found herself with nowhere to go.

Obama, on the other hand, has had a hearty helping of luck. A monumental pile, in fact.

He made it to the Senate after not one but TWO sex scandals leveled his potential rivals.


He got to run against Alan Keyes, an often bizarre-acting politician who didn’t even live in the state of Illinois.

And as for his war vote, well, he didn't have to make the same choice Clinton did. That's because Obama wasn't elected until two years after the first tanks rolled into Iraq.

Obama has also benefited from the media’s longtime loathing of the Clintons and from the fact that, at 46, he “reads” much younger.

None of this excuses Clinton's faults and mistakes. But give her a break. As Bob Seger sang long ago, she is running against the wind. I’m sure the Clintons remember the song.


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I never hear any Hillary supporters say anything positive about her.  They have plenty to say negative about Obama, but thats about it.  I think that speaks very loudly about the candidate running as well as the people voting for her.  
How is Obama dividing the Democratic party?  He is uniting Democrats, Republicans, whites, blacks, old and young.  Isn't that more important?
Wow, dont the "other" states count Wolfson? Sounds more like alienating, and dividing people already from the Hillary camp, what Obama wins either Texas or Ohio, will it be "Oh, Pennsylvania is the big one were after?"

Geesh, im independant but at least be fair.
Texans are not idiots. They know bull when they see one. Even if it is coming from lovely Hillary. Here's my message to Texans and Ohioans.

About Clinton’s so called comprehensive health coverage. What you need to know.

It appears Hillary Clinton is already trying to pay off the health insurance companies big time. By forcing healthy young adults to buy health insurance at exorbitant premiums you create a windfall for these companies. What’s better than a captive market. Gradually we continue to erode our freedoms in this country to politicians who convince all of us that what they are doing is in our best interest. Be it Bush on wire-tapping or Hillary Clinton on health care.  I am a computer engineer and I have health insurance. But it was not always so, until I got a job after college and got married. I simply led a healthy lifestyle and avoided danger as much as I could - no skiing or skydiving. There was no way that anyone could have made me to pay my hard earned money to insurance companies at that time in my life.  Obama’s health plan mandates that children and the elderly, the most vulnerable, be insured. It focuses on bringing down the costs and making it affordable for  those skiers and skydivers who want to buy it. Auto insurance covers you in case of accidents. Watch what you eat, wash your hands and look in the cup before drinking. Issues like cancer need government intervention, but the individual must cover issues like obesity and skiing accidents.

Speaking of Health care costs, let me tell you a short story.  I am a 50 year old with grown children. My 23-year-old daughter decided to go on a trip to Africa. She traveled to Nigeria a third world country.  As she trekked on foot with her friends, she stomped her foot against a small rock embedded in the uneven road so she bled badly and the toe nail was scrapped off her toe. With no hospitals around for miles she was informed about a nurse in the nearby village. The nurse gave her a tetanus shot, cut off the hanging toenail, cleaned her wound with iodine and bandaged the wound. The nurse then gave her some OTC pain tablets.   The cost of the treatment was 500 naira (about $5 US dollars).  Her injury has since healed and her toenail grown back.

The other day, I was cutting a piece of sheet rock to patch a hole in my wall when I pulled the razor sharp knife into my index finger. I had a cut about an inch long and a quarter inch deep. I held it together with a band-aid for most of the day. But at night I had so much pain, I could not sleep, and it was bleeding when I took off the band-aid.  My wife suggested going to the emergency hospital that night but I dismissed it. This is not an emergency, I said, It’s just a small painful cut. The only problem I have is just the pain, and I think I can handle a little pain.  Besides, I was not ready to go and wait for two or more hours before I could be seen.  The next thing I know my wife was on the phone with a nurse from the insurance company. After what seemed like a 30-minute discussion she hung up the phone. Honey, you have to go to the hospital, she said. The nurse said to put pressure on it and that you need stitches. My wife grabbed an OTC bandage and wrapped my finger tight.

After an hour the pain became unbearable even for the stoic me. We had to go to the emergency hospital.  As soon as we sat down at the waiting room, I took off the bandage she had put around the finger and the pain immediately subsided. The bandage had cutoff blood circulation to the finger. It was no longer bleeding but it was the cause of the heightened pain. I wanted to just go back home and to bed. But my wife argued, you need stitches and you are already here.

Well, I was put in a really nice room equipped with everything including a television. It took a nurse to give me a tetanus shot, two guys to clean the wound, a Doctor to put two stitches on the finger and to write a prescription for a narcotic pain killer - God forbid that an American should have a painful finger even for a couple of hours.  There was a lot of ‘sorry about that’ from the nurse, doctor and the cleaning guys for the pain from the needles, chemicals and the cleaning swabs.

As we drove out of the hospital I said to my wife who is a human resource professional and have negotiated health insurance for her company. Honey, what do you think the care I have just received would cost. She said about $1000.00 dollars, maybe more.

We make the iodine and the band-aids, and the tetanus shots? Why did it cost just $5 in Nigeria and $1000 in the US? I think $5 is the real market value for such treatment, not $1000.  That is the problems we need to solve, not create more reasons why only very few people in this country can save for education, or retirement, or have a nice sight seeing tour of our world.  Voting for Hillary Clinton is a mistake we cannot afford to make again after voting for Bush in 2004. Boy that hurt. Hillary is not Bill, I promise you.


I bet Bill Clinton has ALWAYS been proud to be an American regardless if Hillary would be in the lead. Just another reason NOT to elect this boy to the White House.
eddiec, Memphis TN (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 3:53 PM)


Spoken like a True, ignorant of the Fact's Hillary supporter. She is Proud, If you vote for Her, If you don't, then you're a piece of S--T( You fill in the blank's eddieC).Tennessee (Proud of them). Virginia Beside  tenn, Alabama to your south, Georgia same, Missiori to your West, Illinois, to your North, She's Not proud of None of those Voter's. They know nothing because they voted for Reason, Only ignorant of the Fact Hillary Cultist are the sane voter's.Heck, with this post, i could be be a Hillary supporter since i know how to sling mud & call people names. Heck, the MSM would call me part of her Base.

I used Reason over a year ago & put My support towards Barack Hussein Obama for President. O My God, what a name, i can't vote for him, look at his name. You hillary supporter's are the Sorest Loser's ever Go Away, America has Problem's to attend to, We don't need the Clinton's problem's to attend to also. BYE! Now Go Away.


Barack Obama for President!!!!!!!!!!!
I sure am glad some of you have already voted...and now it comes down to me...oh excuse me , Texas.  The only people I have met down here voting for Hillary are over 60....or scared Republicans.
To: Rick,ky (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 3:44 PM)
and all the Obama network folks.

Keep in mind, that you CAN NOT and you WILL NOT win the Whitehouse with a divided party.  And the way you people speak, you sound like the other 1/2 of the Dem's that support Hillary do not matter.  Well guess again, we ALL matter.  

Go luck in November without the SUPPORT AND BLESSING of Hillary Clinton and her supports!  You will come in second!  JUST WORD'S!  JUST WORD'S
Chris Matthews is always saying that Democrats vote their heart instead of their brain or something reasonable close.  Anyway, it sure appears that way.  No knock on Obama, but when you look at his experience and resume, you think that he really is not ready for the highest office in the land. Then you listen to him and he pulls you in and you start believing that anything is possible.  We will see what happens.  I would say his good fortune was having Hillary Clinton as his opponent.
Why is it Hillary supporters always blame Obama for dividing the party.  He is giving the American voters another choice.  In mnay of our oppinions a much better choice.  Alot of us are sick of going to vote with a choice only between the lesser of two evils.  Hillary Clinton has done nothing in years of experience that entitled her to this nomination.  She must earn it.  She is the decisive candidate.  Not only amongst Republicans and Independents (but also among Democrats).  It is much better to realize this now (before the general election - when she will lose in a landslide).  That's not Obama's fault, it is the history of the Clintons' that has led to her opposition.
Patty, SD,CA: '...Don't worry people Clinton is going to be the Democratic candidate.

Obama Sucks...'

Thanks for being so positive, Patty
and so delusional




eddiec, Memphis TN:
Good to see the Clintons have the illiterate racist vote.
The thought of more of the Clinton soap opera in the white house makes me ill.
I'm wondering to what depths they will drag my party in their scorched earth tactics.

Go Obama, please!
I think if people really looked at what these candidates stood for in terms of their ethics we would clearly know who are new democratic leader should be.  Unfortuently we rely on mainstream media to tell us what to think, how to think, and even when to think.  Not only has Hillary Clinton shown herself to be corrupt and wavering when pushed by lobbyist I also question the 'experience' she recieved while being the first lady.  If for no other reason than the fact that America needs a change I would vote for Obama.  But that is not the only reason- their are far many excellent values this man possesess that would take far to long to write. With all my heart i hope Obama goes on to become the President.
Texas is an open primary.  My bet is Obama pulls independents, pulls an upset, and essentially ends this shamockery.
Its funny how they Clinton supporters are ready to have Obama as VP meanwhile the Obama will not one Clinton to share his ticket.  Clinton supporters know that she cannot win the general elections without Obama.  A woman who cannot run a campaigner successfully, she did not have any plans after super Tuesday.  How can you trust her to lead when the unexpected will happen.  A lot of people are supporting her because of Bill, God forbid Bill becomes incapacitated, are the Clinton supporters going to panic then.  Lets face it, this woman cannot beat the republicans, vote for Obama, who is straight to the American people and straight on the issues and politics of now.  Her negativity and win at all cost is becoming divisive for the party.  Obama has build a good coalition of democrates with the young and independents, lets not blow the chance of the democrates to have a strong party moving forward.  Vote Obama or this party will be doomed for a long time.
Obama is brilliant. He's a fighter. He's a mighty good man.

That's the problem, he's a man.  A typical man, full of hot air.
Hillary continues to divide the Democratic Party and also the nation as a whole since polls show she could not beat McCain presently. Her entitlement attitude of being the nominee is frankly testing the good will of many. She would be booed if she was not a Clinton. Obama is doing better than Clinton's husband when he was 45 and running, which is hard for her to accept. Maybe she really does believe Bill is the greatest of all even though history and recent events show differently. The Clinton fans are so emotional and Obama supporters are showing thoughtful consideration.
eddiec wrote:  I bet Bill Clinton has ALWAYS been proud to be an American regardless if Hillary would be in the lead.

I'll bet he was really proud to be an American when he was "not having sexual relations with that woman" in the oval office, and then we he lied about it to the American people, eh?  My husband is a marine, and if he had been caught doing this he would have been dishonorably discharged on the spot, yet his commander-in-chief gets away with it.  Does that make YOU proud, eddiec?
Raising the stakes and the taxes afterwards!
Howard Wolfson, you little devil, are you actually suggesting that Ohio and Texas are "significant"?

And, of course, you're downplaying Wisconsin and Hawaii because they're "insignificant", right?
It is a pittiful thang that day in and day out the Hillary and her desperate team has so much time thinking about ways to try make voters think differently about Obama, I hope that soon they will realize that all those cheap tricks don't work we the people see straight thru those bill clinton tactics so call smug rules of for the white house..If hillary wins the nomination that will be the day that all Obama supports will vote for Mccain to make sure that she don't win by dirty tricks and anything go rules..
Obama for president.
When I saw this Hillary "Night Shift" ad I thought she was rehearsing for hosting Saturday Night Live. They think anyone with two brain cells would believe that she worked the night shift and was going to protect the jobs of all those Ohio lunch box dems, when she stood with Bill in supporting NAFTA which is big reason so many people in Ohio have collected unemployment.


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