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Tonight on stage in Denver Hillary Clinton, one of the most accomplished practitioners of the fine art of political deception, will pull off the biggest stunt of her career so far. In her speech to the Democratic convention Mrs Clinton will have warm words for Barack Obama. She will pledge herself to work for his election in November. She will urge her campaign supporters and the millions who voted for her in the primary to bury their differences and throw their support behind the nominee. She will, no doubt, describe herself as humbled. Don’t believe a word of it. There...

US Democrats will seek to unite the party for its convention to nominate presidential candidate Barack Obama as Republicans stirred up a rift with disaffected supporters of his former rival Hillary Clinton. Mr Obama faces a challenge this week to try to heal the party rift, draw a sharp contrast between himself and Republican rival John McCain and back up his soaring oratory with specifics of what he would do if he wins the White House. As they prepared Thursday's acceptance speech, Democrats gathering for the convention in Denver have seen polls showing backing from Ms Clinton supporters, who lost...

ust tell me, my friend Kath wants to know, what would have happened if their roles were reversed. If Hillary had won the nomination and Obama had come in a close second, would he have gotten a prime-time speech one night, and Michelle another? Would his name have been placed in nomination right after Michelle’s speech, followed by a roll call vote that will be on Wisconsin before the inevitable winner goes over the top? Would Oprah’s production company be doing his video introduction, without any input from the Clinton crowd that would be controlling every second of the convention?...

The Obama campaign was in full spin mode this week touting its decision to allow Hillary Clinton to have a roll call vote at the convention so her delegates can register their support of her. "It's an olive branch that we think will pay dividends in party unity," one Democratic congressman told me. I'm not so sure. Many Clinton supporters will be appreciative of the symbolic gesture, but others such as those who unofficially call themselves Pumas (Party Unity My Ass) may see it as an opportunity to make more trouble for Mr. Obama both on and off the convention...

Hillary Clinton Supporters: Are You Happy Now?August 15, 2008 05:45 PM ET Morgan E. Felchner So she's in. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama announced that Clinton's name will indeed be on the nomination ballot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Obama supports this for the sake of unity, saying he hopes it will help bring the party together. This is historic, but will it do anything to satisfy Clinton's supporters? Clinton joins Margaret Chase Smith, whose name was considered for the Republican nomination in 1964, and Shirley Chisholm, who won 151.5 votes at the Democratic convention in 1972. The...

Mark Halperin just updated The Page @ 1:18 am with COULD IT BE HER? Developing… , 1:18 AM Seems like an odd hour for a story, unless it has some legs?

Half of Democrats Say Putting Hillary's Name in Nomination Will Help Unify Party rasmussenreports.com 55 minutes ago One third of voters nationwide (33%) agree with Barack Obama that allowing Senator Hillary Clinton's name to also be placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention will "help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion." But slightly more (40%) believe it will hurt party unity. Among Democrats, 48% say the move will help on the unity front while 28% disagree. Among unaffiliated voters, 43% say the move will hurt while 27%...

Clinton Backers Don't Buy Unity ThemePelosi Calls Agitators 'Less Than Gracious' UPDATED: 6:56 am PDT August 14, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Still sore from an epic primary battle, some of Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters aren't buying the unity theme planned for the Democratic National Convention. They weren't mollified when nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama gave prime-time speaking slots to Clinton and her husband, the former president. Instead, they're itching for a fight and plan to wage one in Denver. One group intends to paper the city with fliers, promote a video detailing what they contend were irregularities in the nominating process and unleash...

Unity, security and change are the nightly themes for the Democratic Convention. Party officials said Monday that elected leaders, policy experts and convention speakers will respond to voter questions during an "America's Town Hall'' segment on each of the Denver convention's first three nights.

LAS VEGAS - Hillary Rodham Clinton told an exuberant crowd Friday she wants Barack Obama to win the White House, even though he dashed her own presidential dreams — and she wants her supporters to vote that way, too. "Anyone who voted for me or caucused for me has so much more in common with Sen. Obama than Sen. McCain," Clinton told her cheering audience in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. "Remember who we were fighting for in my campaign." Though she has endorsed her former rival, the speech was Clinton's first appearance at a rally for Obama since...

NEW YORK -- Rabbi Marc Schneier has spent decades trying to revive the Black-Jewish alliance of the 1960s, when African-American ministers and bearded rabbis marched together for civil rights. Some Jewish voters have expressed doubts about Democratic presidential hopeful and Illinois senator Barack Obama, citing both his Muslim relatives and his personal history with his fiery former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. What's more, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., perhaps the nation's best-known Jewish politician, is supporting Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain. But where some view Obama as having a "Jewish problem," Schneier -- founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and...

Evangelicals: Change of Heart toward Catholics Evangelicals have been going through a major change of heart in their view of Catholicism over the past 15 years or so. In the 80’s when I was in college I lived in the Biblebelt and had plenty of experience with Evangelicals–much of it bad experience. The 80’s was the height of the “Are you saved?” question. In Virginia, the question often popped up in the first 10 minutes of getting to know someone. As I look back, Isurmise that this was coached from the pulpit or Sunday school as it was so well...

At an Obama/Clinton unity rally in New York City, the only thing missing was...unity. Here's a clip of Barack doing his thing, getting tied up in the limelight, and completely forgetting to mention that his supporters should help Hillary get out of debt...

I’d like to take a moment to say that I disagree with you… Not on everything, mind you but on something nonetheless. I figure you probably see things differently than me also. It’s how we’re made. Although we aren’t the sum of all that we are taught and our upbringing, it does play into our beliefs. We are higher than the animals in that we were made in God’s image giving us the distinct ability to make judgments based on reasoning. Sometimes this works for us, but more often than not in our fallen state, it fights against us. But...

Vanessa Alikhan was at a Democratic ''unity party'' when she overheard another guest indignantly refute the rumor that Barack Obama is Muslim, as if it was a racial slur. She later recounted the conversation to a friend. ''She told me that this is politics and that I should just deal with it,'' said Alikhan, a Fort Lauderdale graphic artist who converted to Islam about five years ago. ``To me this is the same as telling an African American or a Jewish person they should deal with discrimination because people aren't ready to embrace them as a group.'' She and other...

Approximately 900 people attended a two-day performance by two famous Iraqi singers organized by the Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson, Multi-National Division-Center. FOB DELTA — Discussing the Rule of Law and human rights does not normally bring a large crowd, but the people of al Kut swarmed to the al Kut Municipal Theater recently to hear such a message. Approximately 900 people attended a two-day performance by two famous Iraqi singers organized by the Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).“It has been five years since singing was allowed in Wasit,” said Sabah al-Kayat, one...

In an ominous trend for Obama, only 54% of Hillary voters will vote for Obama and 1/3 will stay home. Maybe the Messiah is running low on Kool-Aid.

One week after Hillary Clinton made a public show of unity with Barack Obama, a new survey suggests supporters of the New York senator are increasingly less likely to follow her lead. A growing number of Clinton supporters say they may stay home in November instead of casting their ballot for Obama, a clear sign the party has yet to coalesce around the Illinois senator four weeks after the most prolonged and at times divisive primary race in modern American history came to a close. According to a new survey from CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation, the number of...

Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support By Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in New York Last Updated: 8:16AM BST 30/06/2008 Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support. AP Bill Clinton is still very bitter that Barack Obama beat his wife Hillary