[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Hillary Clinton has made it official that on Saturday at an event in Washington, D.C., she will be formally congratulating Barack Obama and supporting his candidacy for President.

Below is the text of an email that has just been sent by the Clinton campaign with a request for contributions to her supporters. To view an actual copy of the email, click here.

“Dear Supporter,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

An initiativethat defines marriage as "between a man and a woman" in the stateconstitution will appear on the November ballot. "Andrew Pugno atProtectMarriage.com said his group hopes to raise $10 million to $15million in support."

The Clinton campaign has deniedthe AP story claiming that Sen. Hillary Clinton will concede thisevening. "Rep. Sam Farr of Monterey said he expects a wave of superdelegate announcements after the polls close tonight in South Dakotaand Montana."

Californian voters are "cranky," says the Sacramento Bee, as polls open today. Only 23 percent of Californians think that the state is on the right track.

There's more... 

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

On Monday, juls wrote about how the campaigns could "prune" their delegate lists.  I didn't pay much attention, but perhaps I should have.  Here is the new list.

Today, I learned that I have been pruned out of my delegate race. I will say that I didn't really expect to win. There were people in my district that were better organized and better known (Chris Daly). And they both made the cut. However, I didn't figure the campaign to whom I donated money, and to whom I traveled to two different states for, would decide that I wasn't loyal enough. Heck, I spent March 4 working for Buffy Wicks (the CA field director) in Texas at the Election Hotline.

I understand that the Obama campaign is wary of the Clinton campaign picking off some of their pledged delegates, but you would figure that the least they could do would be to cross reference their donation rolls and their volunteer lists.

I understand that Obama cut about 1000 of his delegate candidates, compared to about 20 for Clinton. If Barack Obama wanted to increase participation and activism amongst youth leaders, cutting the president of California Young Dems (Rocky Fernandez) and other youth leaders.  

So, if you were "pruned", I feel your pain.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Tony Fischer [courtesy of Blog for America]

Two Questions:

1. What are your thoughts and opinion about the Democratic campaign so far? Has the Clinton campaign been ethical in its' tactics and does anyone think she can win the nomination without manipulating the delegates to overturn the majority of the democratic voters? If she does this, can she win the election after adding an entirely new group of voters - progressives and Obama supporters - who will definitely view her negatively (I am being diplomatic here, btw).

2. Does ANYONE use this blog for Passaic County? I see the last dated message was way back in '07. Perhaps I am wrong. I am curious who is still viewing this blog, so please e-mail with an acknowledgement at carpediem2004@earthlink.net - to let me know that you read this. I suspect I will get few responses.

Carpe Diem!

- Tony Fischer

by Alan Willis [courtesy of Blog for America]

Pennsylvania is an important state, no doubt about it. But here's what Mark Nevins from the Clinton Campaign there said "You can't really expect to win the general election if you can't win Pennsylvania." 

    Now, let's put this to the test of logic. First, we note that John Kerry won Pennsylvania in 2004, and George Bus won the general election.

    Ok, so let's grant that Nevins probably meant that a Democrat could not win the general election without Pennsylvania. He was, however, clearly applying his statement about winning of Pennsylvania to the primary to be held there in April. In doing so, he implied that a Democrat could not win the general election if they could not win the Pennsylvania primary against another Democrat. This suggests that all the Democrats in Pennsylvania who vote for Obama in the primary would abandon the party for John McCain if Clinton wins the nomination, or that all the Democrats there who vote for Clinton in the primary would abandon the party for McCain should Obama be the nominee.

      I don't think either is likely. The same is of other vital Blue states. Illinois isn't likely go to McCain if Clinton is the nominee just because Obama won carried it in the primary season. Similarly, Massachusetts isn't likely to go to McCain if Obama is the nominee.

by john nelson [courtesy of Blog for America]

As someone who has closely watched Presidential campaigns since 1960, I have seen a lot of crazy behavior; but I have seen more crazy behavior in one day from Hillary, than I have in the last 48 years combined.

- NAFTA Gate - It's pretty clear that the Clinton campaign set this up; and that Hillary flat out lied about it. This must backfire on her.

- Comparing Senator Obama to Ken Starr. This is nuts. Just because the Obama campaign wants her to make public their taxes and the donations to the Clinton Library and open up the papers from the Presidential years. She has her own rules and says whatever she wants about anyone. She is acting just like the Bush White House.

- Ann Lewis, accusing the Obama campaign of being negative! Are they all nuts!

- Three times (at least) praising Senator McCain over Senator Obama. This is unheard of, even in the most contentious races I have seen.

(Click Read More for the rest of this post)