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"Rep. Don Young, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. House and currently under federal investigation, narrowly won the Republican primary battle Wednesday to keep his seat, Alaska's only one in the House of Representatives," the AP says. "In a close race only decided with the final counting of about 350 outstanding absentee and questioned ballots, Young beat Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell by 304 votes. Young finished with 48,195 votes; Parnell had 47,891 votes....

We have to admit, we’re up super early today to monitor the Massachusetts Democrats’ primary, between challenger Ed O’Reilly and incumbent John Kerry. Turnout is expected to be very light, which should favor O’Reilly. (Snip) As much as we like Ed O’Reilly, we’re actually interested in this race for another reason. We believe if Kerry loses today to O’Reilly that SoetorObama will lose the state of Masssachusetts to John McCain in November.

Comedian Al Franken grabbed the Democratic nomination Tuesday for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, setting up a showdown with Republican Sen. Norm Coleman that had been years in the making. Franken, who gained fame as a "Saturday Night Live" cast member, easily beat six other candidates chasing the Democratic nod. Coleman trounced his only opponent, an expatriate living in Italy.

As much as I dislike Huckabee (global warming, amnesty, pardoning criminals who "found" Jesus, only to kill again, religious bigotry), I have to hand it to him for giving a barn-burner of a speech last night. But I did have to check out his best line that Sarah Palin got more votes for mayor than he did for president. This is only true if you count the total of the caucus states. Sarah Palin was re-elected mayor with 909 votes. Biden got 287 caucus votes but 81,490 primary votes. Click the little underlined "+" sign at the source to see...

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska won the Republican primary in his home state on Tuesday, soundly defeating six Republican challengers less than a month after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for concealing more than $250,000 in gifts from an oil services company. The victory for Mr. Stevens, 84, means he now moves to a tough general election campaign against Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, who easily won the Democratic primary on Tuesday and leads the senator in polls. Mr. Stevens enters the general election also having to prepare for his trial, which is scheduled to begin in...

Apparent primary losers may soon give both Democrats and Republicans a chance to take a fresh look at crossover voting, which has long been accepted - at least tacitly and sometimes openly - by both parties in Tennessee. Recall, for example, that Bob Corker was criticized by opponents in the 2006 Republican U.S. Senate primary for past voting in Democratic primaries. The votes came while he was living in Nashville, serving as state finance commissioner. Corker readily acknowledged that he voted in Davidson County Democratic primaries but denied that made any difference in his GOP credentials. Davidson is strongly Democratic,...

In this legislative district, consisting of East Manatee and parts of Sarasota and Hillsborough counties, incumbent Ron Reagan vies with newcomer Kirk Faryniasz in the Republican primary. The winner will compete with Democrat Richard Jackson in the November general election. Reagan's passion for politics and policy and the leadership skills and experience he has gained in his three terms in the Legislature give district residents strong representation. Due to term limits, a fourth term would be his last. The biggest issues again are pocketbook concerns - taxes, property insurance, energy costs - and economic development. Tired of high property insurance...

Clinton supporters at Democratic meeting fail in bid to end caucus system The party's platform committee sets aside the caucus amendment, saying the rules committee will deal with it. The new draft party platform is a mixed bag. By Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 10, 2008 PITTSBURGH -- Hillary Rodham Clinton loyalists tried Saturday to kill off the caucus system that proved so damaging to her presidential bid, but were beaten back by a Democratic Party leadership firmly under the command of her former rival, Barack Obama. Democrats who supported the New York senator's candidacy pushed to...

Even in the rough-and-tumble world of Broward politics, it seems odd at first. Three days after Property Appraiser Lori Parrish qualified for re-election, she hand-delivered paperwork to the Broward Elections Office on behalf of a rival candidate for the same post. Parrish was using a technique — critics call it an un-democratic loophole — that's becoming more common in Florida politics. By helping David Longstaff file as a write-in candidate, Parrish ensured that Republicans and independents won't be allowed to participate in the Aug. 26 Democratic primary for property appraiser in which she's favored over challenger Sara Truini. In overwhelmingly...

Yet even if Hillary Clinton goes to great lengths to ensure Obama’s election, there’s no guarantee she’ll emerge unscathed from an Obama loss. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that fingers will be pointed,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. “Obama supporters will blame Hillary. … Hillary supporters will say 'I told you so,'” said pollster Scott Rasmussen in an e-mail. Most Democrats, however, express confidence that once the general election begins in earnest, voters will become too absorbed in it to reflect back on the primary. “The nature of this race is going...

Hillary Clinton's campaign said she would end her campaign for president at an event in Washington, D.C. Saturday. Clinton will "thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," the campaign said in a statement. The campaign initially planned a Friday event, but rescheduled it to Saturday in a second statement, in order "to accomodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend." Clinton delivered something approaching a victory speech Tuesday night, just minutes after the media reported that Senator Barack Obama had clinched the nomination with a majority of the pledged delegates. But reality...

Her defiant victory speech Tuesday night and her campaign’s silence this morning have Clinton’s aides and supporters asking the same question she asked herself last night: “What does Hillary want?” “She’s holding out for something – but I’m not sure what it is,” a usually well-informed campaign advisor who spoke to Clinton yesterday told Politico. Other Clinton supporters, meanwhile, pressed her case for the Vice Presidency in a variety of forums, with congressional supporters led by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida considering a letter to Obama pressing that case, Wasserman-Schultz’s chief of staff said. But they were slowed by the lack...

Duncan D. Hunter scored an overwhelming victory Tuesday in the Republican primary election to replace his father, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, beating a field of candidates by the kind of margin more often won by incumbents than first-time candidates. With nearly 90 percent of precincts reporting, Hunter, 31, a Marine Corps Reserve Captain, led with 73 percent of the vote. His nearest Republican opponent, Brian Jones, a Santee Councilman and former minister, trailed with just 16 percent. The win propels Hunter into a fall showdown against Democrat Mike Lumpkin, 43, a retired Navy SEAL Commander, whose willingness to stray from...

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama -- Final Primary Night Tues., June 3, 2008 19:02:11 ET Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end. Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said -- because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or...

Uncommitted Senate superdelegates say they are unlikely to weigh in with endorsements for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) until Wednesday at the earliest. The remaining superdelegates in the Senate say they are holding out in the final hours of the Democratic presidential primary mostly to see what their other colleague, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), chooses to do, and how she decides to move forward in the next 24 hours. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who has not yet endorsed either Obama or Clinton, urged the 17 other uncommitted superdelegates in his chamber to “keep their decision in their pocket” for...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.

Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House. Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial divisions within the party. The AP tally was based on public commitments from delegates as well as more than a dozen private commitments. It also included a minimum number of delegates Obama was...

As California voters go to the polls today in a low-turnout primary, those who bother to show up aren't likely to be happy. With a teetering economy and an unpopular war, only 17 percent of voters in a new state Field Poll believe the country is headed in the right direction, the most dour view in 16 years. With state government facing burgeoning debts and lawmakers debating sweeping cuts or tax hikes, only 23 percent believe California is on the right track, the worst rating in five years. "It is hard to feel kindly about elected representatives and politicians in...

On the precipice of winning the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama today shared a phone conversation he had with rival Hillary Clinton about uniting the party.... If Obama indeed clinches the nomination after the Montana and South Dakota primaries Tuesday, that meeting could conceivably come as soon as Wednesday in Washington, where both are scheduled to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.

As the Democratic nomination marathon neared a potential finish line, key senators said the results of Tuesday’s South Dakota and Montana primaries will have a domino effect on uncommitted superdelegates – quite possibly clinching the nomination for Barack Obama. “We want this locked up sooner rather than later,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who has remained undeclared. “Let’s have the nominee and let’s move on. That’s the common thread among the uncommitted superdelegates. … I will be ready after tomorrow night.” With only 31 total pledged delegates at stake in the two states, Obama cannot win enough in the final...

(English-language translation) Thousands of independence supporters and different anti-colonialist organizations marched yesterday towards the Governor's Mansion to repudiate the Democratic primary that was held at the same time throughout the island. Colón Square in Old San Juan was the meeting spot for the multitudinous demonstration in which the leadership of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and the National Hostosiano Independence Movement participated. Likewise, there was noticeable representation from the island's entertainers and organizations such as Mothers Against War, the Socialist Front, the Electrical Industry Workers Union, and the Puerto Rico Teachers Federation, among others. "We do not get involved...

Members of Hillary Clinton's advance staff received calls and emails this evening from headquarters summoning them to New York City Tuesday night, and telling them their roles on the campaign are ending, two Clinton staffers tell my colleague Amie Parnes. The advance staffers — most of them now in Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Montana — are being given the options of going to New York for a final day Tuesday, or going home, the aides said. The move is a sign that the campaign is beginning to shed — at least — some of its staff. The advance staff...

Read the full list of talking points below. THE RULES AND BYLAWS COMMITTEE DECISION * Yesterday’s results are a victory for the people of Florida who will have a voice in selecting our Party’s nominee and will see its delegates seated at our party’s convention. The decision by the Rules and Bylaws Committee honors the votes that were cast by the people of Florida and allocates the delegates accordingly. * We strongly object to the Committee’s decision to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan’s delegates-the decision does not reflect the votes of the people of Michigan. * The Committee...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The candidate is on an outdoor stage, her shoulders bobbing and weaving as two reggaeton performers dance around her. Welcome to Hillary Rodham Clinton's most excellent adventure. She had just given a mercifully short 10 minute speech and would soon wade into the rope line, all smiles, signing T-shirts, taking pictures and otherwise mugging with a crowd that had waited more than four hours to see her. Party leaders are demanding a quick end to the Democratic contest. Yet her legions of loyal backers have no qualms about pressing on. With the end of the...

...the message from the Democratic Party is clear to Clinton Supporters – SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND UNITE. But has the DNC lit the fuse of their own implosion? Presidential Race: In a year that political pundits across the board anticipated the Democrats cruising to executive branch victory, the most recent national polls show John McCain ahead of Obama by 1 to 5 points (Rasmussen Data released yesterday gives McCain 5 point advantage). The Obama campaign continues to propagate that a McCain presidency would be a third Bush term, but...

Puerto Rico won't be a swing state in November. It's not even a state, and its 4 million residents aren't allowed to vote in the general election. Its partisan politics have little in common with the mainland's; the main competitors are not Democrats and Republicans, but "commonwealthers" and "statehooders," and while they are divided into reds and blues, the reds of the commonwealth party are more likely to favor Democrats, while the blues of the statehood party skew more Republican. Puerto Rico residents do serve in the U.S. military, but they do not pay U.S. income taxes, and many of...

Updated WOODBURN, Ore. – Senator Barack Obama said today that he would not rule out the possibility of helping Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton retire her campaign debt to bring her into the fold and unify Democrats. But he said no discussions have taken place yet. “Obviously, I’d want to have a broad-ranging discussion with Senator Clinton about how I could make her feel good about the process and have her on the team moving forward,� Mr. Obama said. “But as I said, it’s premature right now. she’s still actively running and we’ve still got business to do right here...

There should be two URLs for these Op-Eds. One is for Hillary Clinton (above) and this one is for Barack Obama: http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/columna/402056 Both Op-Eds are in Spanish, but the newspaper provides a link to the English translations.

Glenn Beck attempts to explain what Dem Superdelegates really are. (Video at the link)

"I'm kind of still up in the air between McCain and Hillary," said Jason Jenkins, 32, who cited information from a hoax e-mail as a reason to spurn Obama. "I'll be honest with you. Barack scares the hell out of me,"he said. "He swore on the Koran." Obama did manage to pull in many white voters, but still encountered similar sentiments from a man who refused to shake his hand at a diner in Greenwood, Ind. "I can't stand him," the man said. "He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."

For all the speculation surrounding John Edwards’ conspicuous silence on the eve of his home state’s primary, one important fact has been overlooked: According to North Carolina’s political class, the former Democratic presidential contender has virtually no clout at all in his home state. (snip) “The guy is truly an exceptional story, but for someone who is so well-known nationally, he has very little standing in the party in this state,” says John Davis, president of the North Carolina Forum for Research and Economic Education (NCFREE), a business-backed organization that conducts political research. “You simply do not hear his name...

HAGATNA, Guam (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the nominating contest on the Pacific island of Guam by just seven votes, election officials said on Sunday. With only four votes at the Democratic convention at stake, the contest on Guam, a tiny U.S. territory more than 20 hours by plane from Washington, will barely register in the protracted duel for the party's presidential ticket.

If this weren't enough to make right-wing hearts flutter, Hillary has another brand-new advantage: She is hated on all the right fronts. The snots and the snark-mongers now all despise her, along with the trendies, the glitzies; the food, drama, and lifestyle critics, the beautiful people (and those who would join them), the Style sections of all the big papers; the slick magazines; the above-it-all pundits, who have looked down for years on the Republicans and on the poor fools who elect them, and now sneer even harder at her. The New York Times is having hysterics about her. At...

Clearly, the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been the top story of this Presidential campaign cycle, but one of the more interesting, and under-covered, sub-stories is the internal dynamics of the Left and the effect this campaign will have on them. Oddly, the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama contest is not really a battle between different factions of the Democratic Party. There's some DLC vs Progressive struggle, but that's only one element of it. The problem for the netroots - and Progressives in general - is that, despite both being very satisfactory in important ways, both Clinton and...

One above-board factor the campaign can claim credit for is turning Bill Clinton loose to do his Bubba routine among small towns of displaced blue-collar workers. The former president remains popular with the NASCAR crowd and he never fails to skewer the Bush administration, noting, for example, that he left office with a federal budget surplus. Much less important—indeed, bordering on the insignificant, despite the spin given it by consultants with the ear of gullible reporters—is Clinton's endorsement by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley. On paper Easley is a four-time statewide winner, including two wins as attorney general before his...

Even after finding out Barack Obama hangs out with racists, terrorists, and crooks like Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and Tony Rezko. They seem more insistant on backing him. If Hillary wins Indiana and comes close in North Carolina Tuesday that will have the superdelegates spinning.

FACING SOUTH EXCLUSIVE: D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls Chris Kromm Facing South Who's behind the mysterious "robo-calls" that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week? Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women's Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among "unmarried women voters." What's more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women's Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn't the group's first brush with controversy. Women's Voices' questionable tactics have spawned thousands...

Will Obama's pivot work politically? If he earns a split on May 6th, winning North Carolina, and losing Indiana, he will have avoided a political freefall. North Carolina is a state with a 21% African American population, and black voters make up about a third of Democratic Party primary voters. Given that Obama has been winning 90% of the vote among blacks, he would need but 30% of the white vote to win a narrow victory in North Carolina. It is likely that Obama's team saw a sharp drop-off in white support in North Carolina with the latest Wright feeding...

An apparent rejection of her black rival would also do more to harm Hillary Clinton than help her campaign. A candidacy against the background of angry youth or even burning barricades would be of little value. Thus, it is not Obama himself who now offers the strongest argument for his nomination, but the history of his ancestors. In fact, with his history standing at his side, Obama hardly needs to try any longer. This history peers into the present, sadly and silently, from a time we commonly call the past. And yet this is a past that America cannot seem...

Michigan Democrats working to get the state's delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday suggested splitting them 69-59 between presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan of its 128 delegates for holding its presidential primary too early in the year. Clinton has argued that she should get 73 delegates based on the results of the Jan. 15 primary, which she won — 18 more than Obama. Obama, who removed his name from the ballot, wants the 128 pledged delegates split evenly, 64-64. The compromise, suggested Tuesday in a letter to Michigan...

Live NOW on FOX, CNN, and MSNBC! The Holy Messiah Obama is throwing Rev, Wright under the Bus!!

Unburdened by justification and relying wholly on confessional declaration, she observed, “It’s suddenly horribly absolutely crystal-clear that this is an election about gender and race” because “this is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women. And when I say people, I don’t mean people, I mean white men.” Let us stop at this juncture because already there is much to refute. First, note the line “I don’t mean people.” No, certainly she does not. She seeks to impugn males alone. Are men fully human? Well, that depends on what feminist you talk...

Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from Blackwell's firm that eventually totaled $112,000. A few months after receiving his final payment from EKI, Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company, Killerspin.

Californians can be thankful the state held its presidential primary on the earliest day legally possible. And Hillary Rodham Clinton should be especially grateful. Clinton probably wouldn't even be in the race today if California had not rescued her candidacy way back on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, by delivering a timely victory that helped keep her afloat. The Pennsylvania primary Tuesday likely would have been irrelevant.

The number of people voting in the Pennsylvania Primary this year has tripled since 2004. That seems really strange to me. The total votes in 2004 for all candidates was 789,882. This year the total votes for all candidates is 2,300,542.

I wonder what their internal polling tells them. Fast Eddie is a schiester, but he's not stupid. They must think she has the better chance in the general.

Did a search and see nobody has posted a live thread. My wife and I were in to vote about 8 a.m. Turnout is light but steady, about 100 people had voted before us. Voted against all the party endorsed candidates. My wife was adamant about not wanting to vote for Obama, but admitted she finally did when the news came out this morning that Hillary had opened a double digit polling lead.We are in suburban Pittsburgh, our precinct actually had a small edge in Republican registration, but unclear if this is still the case with many of us participating...