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WASHINGTON — For the first time, a major political party is on the brink of choosing a black as its candidate for president, but when Democratic strategists and other analysts look ahead, they don't see race as Barack Obama's biggest challenge. They worry more, they say, about other issues: Will swing voters view him as too young? Too inexperienced? Or too liberal? "I am sure there are people in Missouri that won't vote for Barack Obama because he's black, but there are not that many of them," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a swing-state leader who endorsed Obama early. "I...

The Pundit Analyzing Obama? Some TV Upstart Named Rove By JIM RUTENBERG and JACQUES STEINBERG WASHINGTON — Late Thursday night, Karl Rove, “the architect” of the last two Republican presidential victories, was on his new television perch at Fox News, offering free advice to Senator Barack Obama as he closed in on the Democratic nomination. Any move by Mr. Obama to declare victory before the last of the Democratic primaries in June, Mr. Rove said, would alienate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wing of the party. “That’s a mistake,” he said. “That just is rubbing the loser’s nose in it. And...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- John McCain, who has spent the last two months trying to consolidate right-wing support as the Republican candidate for president, has a problem of disputed dimensions with a vital component of the conservative coalition: the evangelicals. The biggest question is whether Mike Huckabee is part of the problem or the solution for McCain. An element of the Christian community is not reconciled to McCain's candidacy but instead regards the prospective presidency of Barack Obama in the nature of a Biblical plague visited upon a sinful people. These militants look at former Baptist preacher Huckabee as "God's candidate"...

It appears that Barack Obama has survived a tough couple of weeks. In the words of some, he's shown that "he can take a punch." But, frankly, I think Senator Obama is still getting kid gloves treatment from a press corps that tilts left. Despite the hounding about his "bitterness" remarks, and the ongoing story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, there's been hardly 10 seconds of attention about his incredible statement that he wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a baby" if they "make a mistake." This in a discussion about HIV/AIDS in which he said that contraception should be...

FReepers, what do you think about requesting Cal Thomas or someone like him to address the "Gutter Language" now infesting much of our political discourse? We, meaning others and myself have grudgingly been forced to know about vulgar meanings of words that before now had no use in our everyday conversations. Last week my nine-year-old third grade daughter came home and asked me what Mack Daddy meant. I asked her where she heard the word and she stated that "the other night on television news a man called someone a Mack Daddy". I told her the man was probably talking...

WASHINGTON - A new Gallup survey found that 61% of Jewish voters prefer Obama to McCain, who got 32% of the Jewish support. That number is far greater than the rate found for the general population, who only preferred Obama to McCain 45-43, according to the poll. Obama also still trails Clinton in Jewish support, according to the survey, with Clinton winning against Obama in the Jewish community 50%-43%. Though the results showed Obama is favored by the Jewish community, the Republican Jewish Coalition pounced on them to attack Obama.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Barack Obama's victory in North Carolina and near-miss in Indiana last week remove much of the doubt about whether he will win the Democratic nomination for president. With Obama the likely Democratic nominee and Sen. John McCain long his party's presumptive nominee, the search for their vice presidential picks can now begin. Below, you'll find the five most logical veeps, assuming McCain and Obama are the candidates, ranked in the order of the likelihood of being chosen. No. 1 on each side is currently the likeliest to be named. REPUBLICANS 5. Mitt Romney: A few months ago,...

Go, Hillary, I’m with you! —Syed Mansoor Hussain Being relatively ‘exotic’, an African-American commands greater ‘respect’ than just another woman. And, supporting an African-American therefore might seem more righteous than supporting a woman When I woke up this Wednesday morning, May 7, the first thing I did was read the results of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. It immediately became clear that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was not going to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. For me this was a bitter day. I have supported Hillary and hoped that she would be the Democratic nominee. Over the...

The last couple of months have been springtime in paradise for Republicans: the loveliest of all possible seasons. They have been watching two Democratic presidential candidates in an endless battle to destroy each other -- a process that does not appear to enhance the chance that the eventual nominee will win in November. A recent Gallup poll shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicans even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two candidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environment. But it's easy...

Barack Obama is a gifted politician who has led an exemplary life. His run for Presidency for many offers redemption that America has finally moved beyond race. But that laudable proposition is beginning to foster surreal rules of campaigning from both the media and Obama himself that do no one any good. 1. The 2008 campaign must stick to concrete issues and detailed policies. That said, Barack Obama can continue to speak only in vague terms of “hope and change.” 2. Rev. Wright’s racist tirades must be contextualized and only understood in their proper historic milieu of white racism—that is,...

We are part of the many Democrats that will definitely vote for John McCain if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination to run for president. We would love to have our economy and national image restored to at least what it was during the Clinton years of presidency, but Barack Obama is not the answer. Obama speaks politics and not what he believes. He only says what he must to win. Actions speak louder than words. He does not respect America -- won't wear a flag on his lapel, won't put his hand over his heart during the pledge of...

Rob Malley, a Middle East policy adviser to likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, resigned after news surfaced that he had been meeting with Hamas -- something Obama pledged he himself would never do. Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Saturday Malley called the Obama campaign on Friday to sever ties with the candidate after learning the Times of London was publishing a story about his contacts with the terrorist group. He told NBC News that his job "is to meet with all sorts of savory and unsavory people and report on what they say. I've never denied whom...

If he's chosen as the Democratic nominee, his race might be an issue, but experience and social issues loom much larger. By Doyle Mcmanus and Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers May 11, 2008 WASHINGTON -- For the first time, a major political party is on the brink of choosing an African American as its candidate for president, but when Democratic strategists and other analysts look ahead, they don't see race as Barack Obama's biggest challenge. They worry more, they say, about other issues: Will swing voters view him as too young? Too inexperienced? Or too liberal? "I am...

The head of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign refused to concede Sunday that she has no chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Terry McCauliffe said it is still possible for Clinton to win the nomination, even though most pundits have concluded that she cannot overtake her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, to become the Democratic Party nominee. "Look, tomorrow -- something new could happen," said McCauliffe. "Nothing's impossible. You are talking to Terry McAuliffe. I don't believe anything in life is impossible." McAuliffe argued that Clinton would be a stronger candidate than...

LINCOLN, Neb. — Former Colorado senator and two-time presidential candidate Gary Hart told Nebraska Democrats that Barack Obama will heal the national party, while John McCain's nomination may cause a rift among Republicans. "There's a real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party under way," Hart said Saturday before the state Democratic Party's annual Morrison-Exon Day Dinner. About 450 people attended the party's largest fundraising event. Hart, 71, sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, and was a U.S. senator from 1975 to 1987. Hart said the Republican Party is going to find its ties to religious...

John Batchelor showing coming up in a few minutes. Typically, he will have on characters like Sid Blumenthal and the out to lunch Vandenheuval from The Nation Mag. Also, he usually brings on John Fund and Monica Crowley. LISTEN ONLINE ON KFI

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign rejected suggestions Sunday that Sen. Hillary Clinton is staying in the race in hopes of brokering some kind of agreement with the likely Democratic nominee. "I don't believe that Sen. Clinton is looking for a deal," Obama's chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, told "Fox News Sunday," when asked about suggestions she may want the Obama campaign's help retiring her campaign debt. "I don't think that's what this is about," he said. Last week, Obama sparked rumors that his campaign would pay off Clinton's campaign debts once he secured the nomination. "I'd want to have a...

Somebody had the quotes from Obama's books posted on a thread today or late last night that seemed to be a good set. I forgot to bookmark the thread. Does anybody know that post and please a reconfirm on the accuracy? Thanks in advance.

Forty years ago this month, Paris exploded in left-wing student riots that led to a nationwide general strike. The revolutionary fervor of France's soixante-huitards ('68ers) spread widely, including to American campuses. If you're wondering when the Good '60s of peace, love and civil rights gave way to the Bad '60s of anarchy and violence, May 1968 is as good a historical pivot point as any.John McCain was in the Hanoi Hilton at the time. Barack Obama was 6 years old. Yet the restless spirit of '68 haunts this year's presidential campaign, especially the White House bid of Mr. Obama, who,...

Democrats bristle at talking about this in plainer terms. They say Sen. Hillary Clinton has found her base -- the "working class." That's why she won in the Rust Belt primaries. That's her great hope in Kentucky and West Virginia. But calling Clinton's strategy one of kowtowing to the "working class" doesn't quite say it, does it? Isn't this just old-fashioned racism within the Democratic Party? When Hillary strategists say they are winning the "working class," they don't mean they are winning working people with a household income of, say, less than $50,000. All the exit polls show quite clearly...

Peggy Noonan May 11,2008-- THIS is an amazing story. The Democratic Party has a winner. It has a nominee. You know this because he has the most votes and the most elected delegates, and there's no way, mathematically, his opponent can get past him. He's got this thing. And the Democratic Party, after this long and brutal slog, should be dancing in the streets. Party elders should be coming out on the balcony in full array, in full regalia, and telling the crowd, "Habemus nominatum": "We have a nominee." And the crowd below should be cheering, "Viva Obamus! Viva nominatum!"...

She once described herself as "the most famous person you know very little about." But as she careens across the country in a desperate attempt to rescue her campaign, America is coming to know Hillary Clinton all too well. The tenacity that even critics praised suddenly looks tawdry. The persistence against impossible odds appears anything but noble. Long after the party is over, Clinton's refusal to go home is taking on the trappings of a sad spectacle. Her inability to accept defeat is not, it seems clear, about public service or even politics. It is merely personal. With Barack Obama...

In August 1999, Barack Obama strolled amid the floats and bands making their way down Martin Luther King Drive on Chicago’s South Side. Billed as the largest African-American parade in the country, the summer rite was a draw over the years to boxing heroes like Muhammad Ali and jazz greats like Duke Ellington. It was also a must-stop for the city’s top politicians. Back then, Mr. Obama, a state senator who was contemplating a run for Congress, was so little-known in the community’s black neighborhoods that it was hard to find more than a few dozen people to walk with...

Sen. Hillary Clinton is a smart, strong, tenacious woman. Those qualities are ones that many of us have admired in her for years. They also are traits that cause a lot of other people -- including many women -- to despise her. Some folk just can't stand a forceful female, an intelligent woman who is willing to stand her ground with any man and one who has the audacity to believe that she can be president of the United States. Despite my longtime admiration for her, I must admit that in recent months I've lost some of the respect for...

The media have become an interesting institution over the past 10 years. Journalists more often let their feelings or their editorial comments infiltrate news reports, not just op-eds or editorials. There are exceptions, but the media in general are great at building people up and then tearing them down. Interesting thing is, so many people are intrigued by it. Some actually love it. It would be wise for all elected officials, pro athletes and Hollywood types to remember what one of my football coaches once said: "When people put you on a pedestal, that's their fault. If you believe it,...

Within just the last few weeks, there was a female MSM journalist [as I recall, she may have been covering the Obama campaign] who said something to the effect that Obama & William Ayres were "much friendlier" or "much more friendly" than the American people realized, and that "everyone in the press" knew about it [but with the implication being that those in the know were determined to censor the knowledge and keep it from being disseminated to the American people]. I only saw this reported on one obscure blog site somewhere [maybe within the last ten days or so],...

Michael Dudley is the son of a preacher man. He's a born-again Christian with two family members in the military. He grew up in the Bible Belt, where almost everyone he knew was Republican. But this fall, he's breaking a handful of stereotypes: He plans to vote for Democrat Barack Obama. "I think a lot of Christians are having trouble getting behind everything the Republicans stand for," said Dudley, 20, a sophomore at Seattle Pacific University. Dudley's disenchantment with the GOP isn't unique among young, devoutly Christian voters. According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion...

Politics produces a gap between words and deeds. Obama exaggerates the credit he deserves for a limited piece of ethics-reform legislation. He embellishes when he presents himslf as having a consistent record on the Iraq war when in fact he's done done a fair amount of zigzagging. He says it was the 1965 bloody attacks on civil rights protesters in Selma, Alabama, that inspired his parents to marry. They had been married for years already. He engages in doubletalk when, on free trade and Iraq, he tells the yokels one thing and the policy people another. He overstates when he...

THE PRESIDENTIAL candidate who promises to change Washington raced into Washington's arms right after the media crowned him as the presumptive Democratic nominee. more stories like this Insurance model follows American tradition Clinton goes from inevitable nominee to on the ropes Edwards: Clinton didn't choose words well on race Notable moments in Clinton's quest Obama outlines plans for race against McCain During a Thursday visit to the nation's Capitol, Barack Obama was fawned over by those he critiqued two days earlier: "Washington didn't give us much of a chance," he said during his North Carolina victory speech. Clearly, that's no...

Get out the kneepads, the MSM wants to have sex with Obama.

Barack Obama called himself an "imperfect messenger" in his victory speech in North Carolina last Tuesday. That was a refreshing touch of humility, but it was also a fact. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is far from perfect. But he has demonstrated the most mysterious and precious gift in politics, which is grace under pressure. Obama has remained "Mr. Cool," even when his campaign seemed to be blowing up around him. He didn't do the politically expedient things: He didn't wear his patriotism on his lapel with an American flag pin; he didn't promptly disown his race-baiting former pastor, Jeremiah...

Clinton: 'It's Not Over Until the Lady in the Pantsuit Says It Is' May 11, 2008 4:11 PM ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke in Grafton, W.Va., on Mother’s Day with her daughter by her side. Clinton read a few messages from supporters who urged her to continue her bid for the presidency. "'Keep strong,' she said. 'It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is,'" Clinton said, reading what she said was her favorite message. Another one she read said: "Keep fighting. No matter what the outcome may be, the fact that you...

How do you know if Barack Obama is unhappy with what you're saying—or not saying? At meetings of his closest advisers, he likes to lean back, put his feet on the table and close his eyes. If he doesn't like how the conversation is going, he will lean forward, put his feet on the floor and "adjust his socks, kind of start tugging at them," says Michael Strautmanis, a counselor to the campaign. Obama wants people to talk, but he doesn't want to intimidate them. "If you haven't said anything, he'll call on you," says Strautmanis. "He's never said it,...

A great deal has been reported - and misreported - about the religious affiliation of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. He has been described in the media as both a Muslim and a Christian. His alleged Islamic affiliation derives from his middle name, Hussein, which certain sleazy pundits and bigots are quick to associate by innuendo with terrorism. In fact, Hussein is a popular Arab and Islamic name. It means "good," "proper" or "handsome." Just because there was once an Iraqi dictator with the same name doesn't mean that all Husseins are questionable. A great ally of the United...

One of the thing I keep reading here on Free Republic is that a lot of conservatives are under the belief that if we get fours of Senator Obama or Senator Clinton that the American public would become so shocked and disgusted that they will be tripping over themselves in 2012 to elect a "true conservative" candidate. I have some issues with Senator McCain, however that's not the point here. Lets look at the last 40 years. Only two presidential incumbents have lost their bid for re-election excluding President Ford. Ford was a special case, serving out the remainder of...

The content of the magazine produced by Barack Obama's pastor reveals the content of his character. To the question of the moment--What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it?--I answer, Obama knew everything, and he's known it for ages. Far from succumbing to surprise and shock after Jeremiah Wright's disastrous performance at the National Press Club, Barack Obama must have long been aware of his pastor's political radicalism. A careful reading of nearly a year's worth of Trumpet Newsmagazine, Wright's glossy national "lifestyle magazine for the socially conscious," makes it next to impossible to conclude otherwise. Wright...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Activists fear gay African-Americans are being targeted for murder. Two openly gay men were killed recently on the South Side, as CBS 2's Mike Parker reports. African-American gay and lesbian groups are talking about the murders of two openly gay Black men in the past month. On November 17, 24-year-old Larry Bland was shot to death in his Englewood home. Bland, a security guard at Northwestern Hospital was shot more than once after struggling with a man who had entered the house through an unlocked basement door. Then on December 23, 47-year-old Donald Young, the choir director...

It took 20 years for John Glenn, the former astronaut and Democratic senator, to repay the debts that he ran up in his failed bid for the presidential nomination in 1984. Nobody is predicting that Hillary Clinton, whose campaign debts are estimated at between $20m and $30m – and rising – would take that long to meet her obligations. But the financial strain is getting more difficult with each day. Having raised little more than $1m (€650,000, £510,000) since her defeat in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana last Tuesday, compared to $10m in the days following her Pennsylvania...

Choir director at White House Hopeful's controversial Chicago church shot to death. Presidential hopeful Barack [Hussein] Obama has become tangled in a gay-murder probe rocking his controversial Chicago church as insiders ask: How much does he really know about the choir director's savage slaying? So far, Chicago cops' investigation into the murder of the Trinity United Christian Church's gay choir director has come up empty. But a top Chicago private detective tells GLOBE he believes the shooting death of 47-year-old Donald Young may be connected to Obama, who belongs to the church once headed by scandal-scarred preacher the ["]Rev.["] Jeremiah...

Hillary Clinton, down to her last straw, is making the case that she is the better candidate to run against the Republicans because, unlike Barack Obama, she can win white Democrats. She is right. But because she is daring to touch the hot button of racial politics, she is being told to shut up or risk being charged with exploiting racial tensions for political advantage. The facts are stubborn, however. Since his phenomenal win with 33% of the white vote in nearly all-white Iowa, Obama has been unable to get a firm grip on white Democrats. He has won a...

....... In Beaverton, outside Portland, where Obama visited a small software firm, employee Jack Randall, a chemist, said he was an independent who had voted for Republicans in the past -- including Bush in 2000 -- but that he would vote for Obama this fall. "He's very personable, intelligent and thoughtful. There was a lot of intensity of data about what he's going to do, it wasn't just the fluff that we've been hearing about," said Randall, 56, whose Republican wife is also backing Obama. For him and his colleagues at the firm, he said, a key issue setting Obama...

Analysis: Some good economic news is a mirage masking weakness in national economy WASHINGTON (AP) -- The unemployment rate drops. Productivity grows. The trade deficit shrinks. Sounds great, right? Not so fast. Borrowing radio broadcaster Paul Harvey's signature saying: let's hear the rest of the story. ADVERTISEMENT Some seemingly good economic numbers can be something of a mirage masking weaknesses in the national economy. Let's take the unemployment rate, which dipped to 5 percent in April, from 5.1 percent in March. A closer look reveals that the decline in unemployment is not as good as it looks at first blush....

NOT so long ago, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination was dominated by talk of Hillary Clinton's mental toughness and fighting qualities. One critic even referred to the former first lady's "testicular fortitude". But at a Mother's Day function in New York yesterday, Senator Clinton's hardball approach was suddenly missing, raising speculation she is ready to abandon her campaign and cede Barack Obama the victory that everyone else knows he's won. The shift in Senator Clinton's demeanour came on a day when Senator Obama finally took the lead in the super delegate count, leaving his rival without a single...

Here we go again. After being subjected to eight years of the collegial presidency of Bill and Hillary, when we were told that when we got Bill we got Hillary as a bonus, it looks as if we are facing another twofer: Barack and Michelle. Effete liberal Democrats are all but canonizing Barack Obama, who they see as one of their own — cool, detached, impressively intellectual — all in all what Pat Buchanan described as something fresh out of the faculty lounge, where lofty thoughts abound and contempt for the great unwashed is hardly concealed. That may be an...

The Talk Shows Sunday, May 11th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): David Axelrod, campaign adviser for Obama; Howard Wolfson, campaign adviser for Clinton; actor Ben Stein. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Carly Fiorina, adviser to John McCain's campaign. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Reps. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez,...

Bill Clinton Promises No Matter the Outcome, His Family Will Stand Behind the Nominee May 11, 2008 10:54 AM ABC News' Sarah Amos reports: Speaking on behalf of his wife at the annual Truman Dinner in Billings, Mont., Saturday, former President Bill Clinton assured the crowd that no matter the outcome of the Democratic nomination, his family and Hillary's supporters would firmly stand behind the party's nominee. "I also wanna say, on instructions, I've been a Democrat all my life," he said. "And I've been working in these campaigns since I was a young man. I remember what it was...

The Labor Department’s seven-year effort to improve financial reporting and disclosure by unions could come to a screeching halt once President Bush leaves office. Sen. Barack Obama’s support for ending federal oversight of the Teamsters is the clearest indication yet of how a Democratic administration would treat labor unions. Both Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton wooed the Teamsters in hopes of securing its coveted endorsement. But only Obama went so far as to say that government oversight had “run its course.” The union endorsed Obama in February. Since then, Obama’s ties to Teamsters President James P. Hoffa have grown stronger....

Yesterday The Ticket broke the stunning news of America's acquisition of seven, maybe eight, new states, according to future president Barack Obama. He was speaking at the start of a two-day swoop through Oregon, which is already a state. In Beaverton, which is not a state yet, the Democrat let it slip that during this marathon 16-month party presidential nomination struggle against a bunch of dropouts and this female political zombie from New York who won't surrender short of a silver stake, he had already visited 57 states with one more to go. That's not counting the existing states of...

Apparently it mentions Donald Young, the murdered gay choir director of Obama’s Trinity Church of Christ. This is all getting incredibly interesting, considering the fact that Reverend Wright recently retired and the church is building him a mansion within a stone’s throw of Louis Farrakhan’s in Tinley Park. I haven’t read the globe article yet, but I know that people are circulating the flyers that I posted earlier. This is a grassroots movement - someone called Hannity and Colms and Colms said he was aware of the story, and the caller was so surprised he got through, he was rendered...

May 10, 2008 -- Barack Obama has dumped one of his advisers for meeting with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, according to published reports. Robert Malley, who acted as an informal adviser to Obama on Mideast policy, told the Times of London that he was in regular contact with the militant group as part of his work for the International Crisis Group think tank.