by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

From California you'll need more than a half pack of cigarettes, but hit it:

DEMOCRATS THROW OPEN DOORS OF CONVENTION,

OBAMA TO ACCEPT PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION ON

CLOSING NIGHT OF 2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

IN FRONT OF A CROWD OF MORE THAN 75,000

read more »

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass will have the honor of introducing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama tonight at a gala in Los Angeles. Senator Obama will be appearing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of The Los Angeles Music Center.
 
Bass was an early supporter of Obama, and is helping coordinate his general election efforts in the U.S.

[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 California Progress Report]

By Stephanie Chan
Communications Coordinator
Students for Barack Obama

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Forty years have passed to the day since Senator Robert F. Kennedy began his eleventh-hour race for President by handily defeating favorite son Governor Roger Branigin and Senator Gene McCarthy to win the Indiana Primary in 1968.

It was the last time Indiana voters played a meaningful role in any Presidential election, primary or general. And Kennedy won by appealing in direct and equal measure to African-American voters in the north and working-class white voters in the south.

Last night, my home state of Indiana, the place where I first cut my political teeth, returned to its rightful place at the center of the political universe. And the Hoosier coalition that carried Bobby Kennedy on its shoulders remained polarized between two alpha-Senators whose very candidacies would probably not be achievable but for Kennedy’s legacy.

A few ruminations from a Hoosier expat:

[courtesy of Blog for America]

I was listening to Sean Hannity on the way home form work today, who was working hard to link Reverend Wright to Senator Obama as one in the same. As usual, he played many selected sound bites, and tried to elicit as much negative reaction from the audience as possible. I would imagine that his core audience responds as desired, or he would not continue to repeat the strategy and linkage as much as possible.

What struck me most about what I heard today was Hannity's attempt to incite racial hatred. The underlying tone was not as much about the linkage to Obama as much as it was to divide blacks and whites. Whether this was his strategy, or a glimpse into his own fears and hatreds--I don't know.

I was trying to figure out if he was a moron, or just thinks his audience are morons, and I believe it was the latter. It was the way he paused after saying an inciting remark, no matter how ridiculous it was. I concluded 2 things: 1) Sean hannity is racist, and 2) he believes that his core audience is just as racist as he is. It was amazing to me how many times he could play a snippet of material from Reverend Wright, and link it to how somehow the black community are not Americans.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Pamela Coukos
Volunteer, CD-9 Team
Obama For America/California

Disclaimer: I am a volunteer for Obama for America in California, but I am speaking for myself and based on my personal experience as a volunteer, not for the campaign in any way. You can read my other posts about the campaign here.

More than two months after the California primary, Obama campaign volunteers are still organized and working around the state. Having built a cadre of trained grassroots organizers to contend for votes on February 5, the campaign isn’t letting this resource go to waste. Here in the Bay Area we have been busy running volunteer-based phonebanks to call other states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Oregon. Right now we are sending teams of volunteers to help out on the ground in Oregon.