For those who support Hillary I ask you to read this with an open mind.

The writer tried to blame Al Gore's 2000 loss on Bill Clinton. That's as far as I had to read to know that the writer is an idiot. Putting aside the whole Florida issue, the reason Al Gore lost is because of AL GORE.

Couldn't agree more about Gore, Joe. But you should have read on to see this zinger about the opposition:Something I was not aware of - McCain's agreement with those whackos on the cause of 9/11.

But then he's a former POW hero, so I guess he's immune to lack of patriotism charges, and can make all the gaffes he wants, at his age, and they'll be forgiven or ignored, like the rants of a doughty old uncle.

Sport, what McCains stance shows is that he can PANDER with the best of em. Did you hear his comments the other day almost and just about inferring that the big(gest) reason we went to war with Iraq was because of oil???. He was on full defensive mode on Friday talking about this as you would expect.

Hopefully the foreign press will provide us with further politically incorrect enlightenment about our presidential race if this almost satirical riff on Her Hillary-ousness the one and only Mrs C is an example; I can't wait to read what Adams will do with McCain.

Well most of th epundits and talking heads are thinking that Indiana is a tossup, could go either way, possibly to Hillary, but the polls are all over the place, while North Carolina, looks to go to Obama, in which case if its a split, he wins N.C. and she wins Indiana, the path to nomination for Hillary becomes almost non-existant, if its not there already. I expect maybe a Hillary win in Indiana and Obama to take North Carolina. The gas tax item is getting alot of mileage, pun intended.

I agree with Bill Maher on this gas tax mess. Its basically "grandpa gives you five bucks". I do not like the idea that the money that will come out will take tons of money from funding for what is already a nation with a crumbling infrastructure. Gas prices are up. Its something we are going to have to deal with. The issue is how we are going to change our lifestyles to deal with the rise of gas prices. We are too dependent on oil and for the sake of the environment its not such a bad idea if this forces people to carpool and use public transportation more. I think its something that could sell to blue collar voters, but this whole gas tax idea has been slammed by economists and I haven't heard any professional person really back the plan. I think it is pandering in my opinion but hey...its something that may sound like a good idea to a few people who think that $30 in savings over the course of the summer is good for them. $30? Come on.

Don't give up, Hillary!

TRL

I disagree. Gore has his faults, but a large enough percentage of swing voters voted for Shrub because they thought he would restore the dignity tarnished by Clinton's inability to keep his zipper closed. As close as the race was, I guarantee you Gore would have won had it not been for Monicagate.

Don't worry TRL, she won't!



It's all about the Hillary.

Reportedly Sen Bayh (sp?) of Indiana today was asked a hypothetical, of what would happen if she did lose both Indiana and North Carolina. His response was something like, " she would do the responsible thing." Make of that what you will.....again hearing that Indiana could go either way, but North Carolina goes for Obama.....

I don't agree. Gore ran a lousy race. He didn't even win his home state!

I am so sick of this...

Although I think Obama is a strong candidate, I honestly do not believe that his current supporters in the Democratic crowd will be enough to win him the vote against McCain in November.... there are too many of Hillary's supporters, who tend to be more moderate that will flip the switch to McCain so readily.

Also, there might be a chance that Hillary could take some of the more blue collar states that matter in the election- the swing states. Many of the States that Obama has won don't really matter on the Dem side- all of the Electoral College votes from those "very red states" are going to go to McCain anyways. So it really didn't matter if he defeated Hillary in those states- the swing states- the ones that she has been taking- are the ones that really matter to the Dems in this election versus McCain.

Her voters are more likely to vote McCain- his voters are more likely to vote Clinton... in the cases where either loses.

Why can't the powers that be figure this out that a Clinton prez/ Obama v-prez ticket is the one that will win this election. Obama is terrific, but I just don't think that he can pull this election out... especially here in Michigan- which could become very tough esp. if Mitt Romney is the VP selection for the Republicans.

We have got to get this right... we cannot afford to f**k up November... esp with McCain now claiming he will appoint judges similarly as George Bush.... PHUCK!

Well, as long as Barack Obama has the lead in pledged delegates and popular vote, I say he has rightfully deserved to be at the top of the ticket. Why does Hillary need to be at the top for it to work?

Anyway....big win for Obama tonight. A very big win for him in North Carolina which had him down to about 9% points. That will add to his delegate lead and popular vote lead and basically erase her Pennsylvania pickups. In addition, Indiana is close right now which essentially means they will split the delegates there. I support an Obama/Clinton ticket but I don't believe that frustrated supporters polls right now should be something that makes the party say Hillary should be at the top of the ticket over Obama. Hillary should've ran a better campaign. Now while I was one of those disgruntled possibly vote for McCain or sit home Obama supporters for like a few days, I quickly slapped myself in the face and scolded myself for even thinking of such foolishness. Policy wise, Barack and Hillary are not that far apart. So anyone who votes for McCain or sits home in November because Hillary isn't the nominee is a freaking retard. It really is the dumbest thing that anyone can ever do. Because I'm one of those people who was caught up in the heat of the moment and can honestly say that I'd still vote for Hillary if she by some miracle gets the nomination, thats why I don't believe these poll numbers about defecting will hold come November. I am just waiting now to see where Hillary will move the goal posts to tonight.

I didn't say he didn't deserve to be at the top of the ticket. He is earning that position for sure.

Ultimately the voters in many of the states that Barrack has won- the great majority of them the red states- will essentially be null and void because McCain will win them handily and that is just the way the electoral college unfortunately works....

My concern with Obama at the head of the ticket is that in a lot of the "Swing States" where blue-collar workers are the majority and Clinton has won- the voters are more moderate- and I believe more likely to flip over to McCain- which exit polls are presently showing.

Secondly, Hillary will for sure select Obama as her running meet if for some reason that she pulls the victory- something that the Dems have wanted and would unite the party.

I don't know who Obama will pick- not thinking Clinton- but I worry about his VP selection and whether that inidividual would bring in more voters- Obama as VP would do that....

I'm sorry- I know I am sounding negative- I just don't have faith that the general populus of America is ready to vote for Obama.... and as much as I feel he is highly qualified for the position.... a victory in November is more important than whoever is the top of the ticket....

Each candidate is going to have their difficulties. I think you have to spot McCain a certain % of points for gender (people who will not vote for Hillary because she is female) and race (people who will not vote for Obama because he is black). I definitely recognize your concerns about Obama and white working class voters. I also worry about an energized Republican party who puke at the thought of the Clintons back in power in the White House. The thing that I think helps is the number of these new Democratic registrants and Democratic turnout. After tonight I'm convinced Obama will be the nominee. The Democratic party is not going to deny this guy the nominee and piss off one of their most loyal constituencies and ruin all of the energy of the young voters. Sure Hillary gets the older voters but I think the party needs to be looking at the future as well. And I think that some of the party insiders think sure he might lose, but they're not going to deny him the nomination. This thing is about wrapped up.

Well, he has my vote 100%. Let's just hope there are enough... McCain keeps trumping up more and more like McBush... I just cannot fathom our country being able to withstand a continuance of this B.S.

kick, I'll be voting for the Dem nominee no matter what. I have been a Hillary supporter in the past, but decided that she will be the spark that will get the GOP vote to the boothes (Rush Limbaugh is not pimping her just for fun). There could be as many as 3 Supreme Court Justices at stake that will effect everyone that reads this board for this rest of their lives. The Dems need to unite and I'm confident they will as I've listened to Obama's speech tonight and Hillary's as I type this is confirming.

If it makes you feel any better about a possible Obama vs. McCain ballot, the Dems haven't won the white male blue collar vote since 1964. There are a lot of other enegetic and NEW pockets of voters that Obama has ignited. You also have to take current polls with a grain of salt, especially in this situation where the Dems are still slugging it out and McCain has been left alone. He has not been put under any type of microscope that will compare to the General Election. Take heart.

Yet he still won the popular vote, and but for the anti-Clinton backlash, which was very real and very large, would have won the popular vote by a significantly greater margin and probably Florida, which would have made him President.

Well, what I thought sounded like hints of coming to grips of the reality of the situation, Hillary says onward to the rest of the states which is absolutely fine. She thinks that somehow she'll be the nominee which is absolutely fine. Now its time for the superdelegates to increase that trickle to Obama and settle this thing. She has every right to stay in the race but seriously, why are they holding out? I think that tonight says a lot. It is two primaries after the whole Rev. Wright controversy and Obama has to be seen as the victor tonight. Hillary can spin it all she wants. I have primary fatigue. I want this thing over with sooner rather than later so that the nominee can stop spending his money and begin defining John McCain.

Because, as one prior poster pointed out, it's all about Hillary and not the party. Watching CNN's analysts go up against Lanny Davis (BTW, never knew he was Seth Davis' dad) showed how weak the Clinton argument is now. It's like they've run out of rational reasons to keep this running and are now trying to blame Obama for ... well, everything.

This race is over. If only someone could tell HRC it is. Instead we continue to bleed the party dry of funds that could be used to fight McCain in the General Election.

Listening to Hillary's gas tax holiday proposal shows either how badly she doesn't understand economics (making the oil companies pay the tax instead of consumers just moves the tax up the stream) or how badly she'll pander to win votes (she'd sell out Bill for votes if she could).

There is no rational argument to continue the fight. I've seen how much HRC supporters will twist the facts and rules just to win here in TX and I see it now with regards to MI and FL. If she doesn't like it now why didn't she speak up back then?

I didn't know Seth was Lanny Davis' son? Lanny came off as extremely bitter and even somewhat delusional and accusatory. Very combative with his own Democratic (neutral) counterparts and was pissed at John King for telling the truth on numbers for gosh sakes. He was very hard to watch and listen to. Geez.

Well...Hill has canceled all of her morning show appearances and public events tomorrow. Her speech was kind of like split personality disorder. Parts of it sounded like she's come to reality knowing that this is over and the other part was completely opposite saying that she's going to run this thing all the way to June. Finally I'm hearing the pundits say GAME OVER!!! He wiped out her popular vote lead from Pennsylvania and added to it, will add to his delegate lead. It was impossible even before tonight, but its really impossibly now for her to overtake both popular vote and delegate EVEN SITTING Michigan and Florida votes as is. Totally flip the script on the Republicans, end this now, and lets move on to unite this party. I know it would kind of go against Obama's message by picking Hillary as VP, but considering her support I think to unite both camps means that both have to shake hands and say "you're a tough opponent", kiss and make up and start printing those Obama/Clinton t-shirts and bumper stickers. Its over folks. Its over. I didn't say it until tonight as many of the pundits wouldn't, but this thing is over!!! The only question that remains is whether or not Hillary will stop the bleeding.

Is Hillary saying why she's canceling tomorrow's schedule? Delegate outreach? Hope not.

Dauuum. With 92% reporting in IN, Hillary only up 20,000 votes statewide. This thing has tightened up big time.

Terp- I just do not see Obama even close to picking Hillary as his running mate.

Honestly, I think the vision of a black man and white woman standing together at the top of the ticket as less powerful than a black man and white man standing together at the top of the ticket....

I see an Obama/Clark or Obama/Richardson ticket- the Hispanic vote is the key to this election.... Richardson can bring that in.

She canceled them because she has some serious decisions to make. According to reports, she's $5 million in debt now. With the math, do you think people are going to be digging deep to go to her website and donate money? No. Why go deeper into debt in a campaign you now will not win? The argument is over. Why go to further contests that will futher split the party and keep this battle going. I just don't see the logic. I think it was Tim Russert who said it best though. Hillary is Tracy Flick. One of my favorite movies is Election and Hillary is Tracy Flick to the fullest.

Good point kick...I had totally forgotten about Richardson. You make good points about black man/white woman. Ugh...I wish we didn't have to deal with the foolishness of race/gender/religion/sexual orientation in this world, but clearly thats my utopia fantasy that will never happen.

Yeah, my utopia as well.

Unfortunately I think the black man being the direct superior to a white female would be an issue on too many levels for some of the ignorant to overlook. The image of a black man and white man standing together on the ticket I think would be viewed more as collegial and more equivalence of power- and actually a rather strong symbolic symbol.

My fear is McCain selecting Mitt Romney- that pretty much would guarantee Michigan to the Republicans and the Dems cannot afford to lose this state which is already Dem-weary from the primaries.

LOL...best line of the night came from some woman (can't think of her name) on MSNBC who said that some of Hillary's advisors will say "its time to put down the Crown Royal and accept reality here" Somehow I don't think of Hillary as a Crown Royal girl though.

Thank god this thing is almost over. The words coming out of Hillary's mouth may have indicated that she's going to keep fighting on, but the look on the faces of Bill and Chelsea standing behind her said it all. You could actually see Chelsea fighting back tears when Hillary started talking about supporting "whoever the Democratic nominee is." The end is very near. Candidates don't just take entire days off where they cancel all appearances at this time of a campaign unless something's up. She's out of money, out of momentum and out of steam. The behind-the-scenes deal making has already begun.

Wow, that writer is an idiot. McCain doesn't think we are to blame for 9/11. He went up to the memorial service of Mark Bingham just a few months later. It's all just more trash talk.
And after tonights primaries, it's obvious it has come down to race. Its always been about race.
And in November, President Clinton will sell us out to the highest bidder. President Obama will suddenly remember he's a radical Muslim. And President McCain will become the best commandar-in-chief we've had since Eisenhower.

What weird planet did you come from? McCain is about as ignorant on issues as any guy I've seen up there. He pushes for campaign reform yet flies around the country on his wife's jet without even a hint of concern (remember, that's a business jet not the family toy). He keeps hollering for "stay the course" without any plan for diplomatic relationships or dealing with a completely dysfunctional Iraqi government. He even admits he's clueless on economics. The guy would be only a shade better than the village idiot we have in there now (don't tell me you're a staunch Bush supporter too).

Obama has so much more to offer to this country than Hillary and DEFINITELY more than McCain. Republicans have started packing their bags in DC knowing the end of this folly is coming to an end. I just wish someone could tell HRC this thing is over and to shut down the ego trip.

If Hilllary should continue on, she risks tremedous damage to the party because of how a number of her supporters feel about Obama and the same for some number of Obama supporters regarding their feelings toward Hillary. Plus the money is going to dry up for Clinton. Her back is against the wall. Did anyone else listen to Obama in North Carolina last night?? He was fired up. One of the best speeches I have heard since Iowa. He was reaching out to Hillary and her supporters and laid it out as far as the HUGE differences between the Dems. and Republicans...I have been wanting to hear a speech like this for some time. Its time to start thinking about what is best for the party, healing, if possible, and then getting around our nominee and then take back the WHITE HOUSE!!!!

I think some of the superdelegates will start the move this week towards Obama and set the tone for the Clinton campaign. Her camp will be doing everything they can to prevent the moves but if a few start moving over, especially some high profile ones I think that will sink it for HRC. Then again she does have a HUGE ego that might overshadow rational thinking.

Regardless, there are only two more weeks of primaries that should help close the deal for Obama. He should win Oregon handily. Kentucky could be a toss up and I think WV would go to HRC. Indiana was technically a toss-up. 2% victory? I guess she's pulling from the Bush-Rove playbook where 2% is a "clear mandate by the people."

According to the exit polls from the last few states, Obama loses about 1/3 of Clinton's supporters to McCain, while Clinton loses about 1/5 of Obama's supporters, which are not numbers about which I am particularly concerned. For one thing, people are saying this in the heat of the moment, when there is a fierce battle between two good candidates. I think those numbers represent a high-point of the defections from the Dems to the GOP, and those numbers will likely turn around once the General Election gets started. We already saw in the past two weeks what happened when the focus turned from a bullsh*t "character" issue (Rev. Wright) to an actual policy difference between the candidates (gas tax holiday). As late as last week Clinton looked to be winning Indiana by a lot and threatening in NC, but that seemed to turn around when the policy difference became the focus. Obama was able to show he stands on his principles and regained a lot of seemingly lost ground.

During the General Election, the discussion is going to be a lot more about issues and a lot less about character - although the GOP will certainly miss no opportunity to try and change that (just as they would with Clinton's income, library donors and Bill's wandering eye). I think Obama did exactly the right thing in his speech last night painting McCain as just Bush III, and that is what will bring those voters back.

The other issue that the pundits don't seem to be discussing is the high turnout - especially by new voters. Certainly we have never had a competitive, primary-driven, nomination race like this (certainly none even similar since 1980 GOP nomination fight between Reagan and Bush I) and that may account for some of the turnout, but I also think that is a sign of the desire, the huge desire, for change. In the last few competitive primaries on both sides (Clinton/Obama and McCain/Huckabee), the Dem loser was polling more votes than all the GOP candidates put together. If the Dems can keep that kind of turn-out, and add in the independents that Obama does well with, and I think you will see a very different electoral map than we've seen before.

Clinton mouthpiece Terry McCauliffe really looked delusional on MSNBC this afternoon trying to come up with a way to spin last night's results and spin a path for her to the nomination. I think Hillary has a greater chance of walking on water than winning this nomination. I just hope that the superdelegates do more than just trickle to Obama at this point. Enough is enough. It came out that she had to loan her campaign an additional $6.4 million to keep this fight going. How much more in debt does she want to go for a nomination she isn't going to get. It was a hard fought race and they are both good candidates, but can we think of the party here? Again, I say that Obama would've been pressured heavier than Clinton is being pressured to drop out of the race. Something tells me that unlike Obama who has been silent about it, Hillary would be implying that he was damaging the party and was unrealistic if the math was reversed. George McGovern defected this morning because the man understands simple math. Hopefully there will be more to follow suit.

Well, a campaign aide said she's loaned herself another $6.4 million, so I guess she's staying in.

A funny thought occurred to me. I was seemingly alone in complaining that the Patriots were running up the score last season, and was constantly told that "the other team should stop them if they don't like it." I wonder how many of those people are now saying that Hillary should just give up, even though she's a lot closer on the scoreboard than the Washington Redskins were in their game against the Pats last year. Why doesn't Obama try to run up the score instead?

The best way for this race to be decided is for the superdelegates to make their choice and their wishes known now or very very soon. Its Hillarys choice to stay in, if she wants to, but I am not surprised with her decision, nor should anyone else be. BUT she had better not go negative on Obama or she will be seen as bloodying up the presumptive nominee, and by that point, hopefully the superdelegates would have made their minds up.

She's already being seen as bloodying up the presumptive nominee. Look...we are no different then where we were before Ohio and Texas except that we are simply that much closer to the finish line. The math was always against her. She had big wins in Ohio and Texas was basically split. Obama then went on to win a couple contests that erased her Ohio gains. She had a big win in Pennsylvania and cut into the popular vote lead by 215,000. Well last night his victory in North Carolina erased that and added to popular and pledged delegate lead. Seating Florida and Michigan as is now takes away her argument that more people cast ballots for her who have gone to the polls. I understand that 4 more superdelegates have decided on Obama. The woman has every right to stay in the race. Sure its close but its mathematically impossible for her to catch up in delegates. Its the math stupid!!! I want some of what they are smokin. Must be some good stuff to alter their reality so much. Glad that Obama is going to shift to a more general election approach with last night's results. Its time to start going after McCain more. If Hillary wants to continue its certainly her right but Obama shouldn't even bother putting too much money into the upcoming contests. Focus on McCain and start focusing on who will be the VP.

Because technically Obama and Clinton are on the same team with the same goal - beating McSame in November. At this point, with so much crap thrown at him, Obama has proven the "electibility" argument, which was Clinton's only hope, is pretty much moot. He has weathered the storms and retained his strength as a candidate.

I actually think she should not do anything until May 20th, after Oregon, because that will allow the primaries to end on an up note - with wins for both Obama and Clinton that night. Obama should, according to current projections, have also mathematically eliminated any possibility of her catching him in elected delegates on that date, so it would be a natural time to end the campaign.

Hillary's BIG win in Texas netted her about 5 delegates LESS than Obama BTW.

In Hillary's mind, last night was just a little flesh wound.

Hillary loaning her campaign yet more millions just means Bill is still paying dearly over Monica. Wonder just how high that debt owed to her has been set? It cost about a million a day to run her campaign.

Hillary is not the Redskins vs. the Patriots. She's 8 Belles at this point. She can run until her ankles break, but she's only going to come in second. She's run a tough hard fight and that is admirable. There's just not a trainer out there with the guts to euthanize her campaign at this point. Sorry for the sad analogy, but it seems much more fitting metaphorically speaking.

ok that picture is f--king hilarious!!

And yes you are correct Horn in that the media still credit her with winning Texas even though its the damn delegates that matter. Yes, she won the popular vote but he won the delegate race in that state. But, ya know....I didn't even make a big deal of that because at that point I knew that it was getting closer to being the end for her. She needed blowout wins in both Ohio and Texas. She needed like 70-30 wins from there on out to overtake him. It wasn't going to happen then and its not going to happen now.

What is so bad about the Texas race is the antics the Clinton campaign pulled during the SD/County Conventions. I sat on Credentials for SD 26, one of her potentially strong spots. Through manipulation of rules and misinterpretations the Clinton campaign stole about 30 delegates from Obama. Now the whole thing is going before Credentials at the State Convention where it will most likely be reversed. The problem is people will have traveled to Austin, made reservations and be told to go home. Her campaign doesn't give a rat's ass about that issue. They just want to win, whatever the cost to people's lives or situations.

While I want to look past these antics and beat Obama, it's hard to look these people in the eye and say "Oh well, it was just politics. Let's be friends again."

This type of attitude is very reminiscent of her work to reform health care. When everyone else was recommending to work with the health care industry she was in a "take no prisoners" attitude. She cares nothing for people, just furthering her position. Obama is truly a candidate for the people. He grew up working hard to achieve what he has achieved. Images of her in the bed of a vintage Chevy pickup make me sick. She's never seen the inside of one of those, even when she was First Lady of Arkansas. It's time for her to pack this race up and get behind Obama to beat McCain.

An Obituary for the Clinton Campaign
By Keith Boykin of TheDailyVoice.com
Keith Boykin is editor of The Daily Voice and a host of the BET J TV show My Two Cents


The Democratic presidential race ended unofficially at 1:09 this morning. Barack Obama will win the nomination, and he will be the first African American Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

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The Democratic presidential race ended unofficially at 1:09 this morning. That's when the television networks began declaring Senator Hillary Clinton the winner of Indiana.

But Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee. Her tiny Indiana victory -- preceded by a huge defeat in delegate-rich North Carolina -- was too little, too late to change the fundamental dynamics of the campaign.

Barack Obama will win the nomination, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will be the first African American Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Up until last night, there was an "open secret" in some media and political circles. They knew that Hillary Clinton had already lost. The media and politicians figured out weeks ago that Clinton had little or no chance to win the nomination. Last night they finally began to tell the rest of the country.

Clinton trails Obama in pledged delegates, total delegates, number of states won, and in the popular vote -- with or without Florida and Michigan. In the next few days, she may also trail him in superdelegates -- the one holdout of the establishment she had hoped might give her the nomination. But soon the undeclared superdelegates will be ready to step up. The superdelegate train is leaving the station, and the senator from New York will not be in the conductor's seat when the governors, senators, members of Congress and party leaders begin to line up for Obama over the coming weeks.

I have to give Hillary Clinton credit. She put up a strong fight -- and she may still fight -- but she is not dumb, and even she must realize that she has no chance of winning the Democratic nomination.

Clinton's fatal flaws

Clinton has been a formidable adversary against Obama, but two fatal flaws doomed her presidential bid -- the tone of her campaign and the message of her campaign.

As a former Clinton White House aide, I have said repeatedly -- and I still believe -- that the Clintons are good people. A photo of me standing with Bill Clinton in the Oval Office hangs above my desk as I write these words.

But since Hillary Clinton started losing her lead last December, the tone of her campaign, unfortunately, has moved into the gutter. In the past few months, both Bill and Hillary Clinton did and said things that a Democrat ought not to do against another Democrat in a primary election.

When Hillary Clinton said that Republican candidate John McCain had a lifetime of experience and Barack Obama only had a speech, she crossed the line. And when the Bosnia story threatened to derail her campaign, she crossed the line again by dredging up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy against Obama.

When Bill Clinton attacked Obama's Iraq message as a "fairy tale" and dismissed his South Carolina victory as a racial victory, he too crossed the line. Former presidents are not supposed to attack promising young candidates in the party -- even when their spouses are running for office against them. Bill Clinton's role was -- or should have been -- to promote his wife, not to attack her opponent.

Clinton's second fatal flaw was her message. Here she is, the first woman in history with a serious chance to win the White House, and she decides to run as the establishment candidate instead of the candidate of change. So when Obama's "change" message began to take off at the beginning of the year, she criticized her rival for pushing "false hopes."

Democrats have always believed in hope, and Clinton should have known better than to attack someone for believing in it. Instead of criticizing Obama's dream, Clinton should have spelled out her own. She should have co-opted his message of hope and optimism and used it to her advantage. As the first woman president, Clinton could be the perfect agent of change. But it took her far too long to appreciate the intensity and the significance of the desire for change that has been sweeping the country.

Lessons from the past, and for the future

The Clintons learned their national political lessons from the same place I did -- the school of hard knocks. I worked on my first presidential campaign in 1988, when Mike Dukakis was defeated by race-baiting, flag-waving GOP demagogues who demonized the Massachusetts governor and made the campaign into a debate over Willie Horton and the pledge of allegiance. The lessons that many of us learned from that experience were to respond to every attack immediately and effectively, to stay on message, and to communicate values as well as policies.

By 1992, the need for a "rapid response" to the enemy was what inspired our "war room" in the Clinton campaign. Dukakis didn't fight back, and we were determined not to let that ever happen again.

But the "war room" accounted for only a small part of the Clinton campaign's success. The most important ingredient was the message of hope. That's what Hillary Clinton seemed to forget along the way. After being attacked relentlessly and unfairly by the "vast right-wing conspiracy" in the 1990s, the Clintons learned to fight fire with fire. "The problem is," said Senator Obama last month, "that's the kind of politics we've been accustomed to, and I think Senator Clinton learned the wrong lesson, because she's adopted the same tactic."

Obama is right. Democrats want a president who can fight, but we also want a president who can inspire. Clinton has certainly shown us that she can punch and push, but she never really showed us that she could push us to dream.

As a young political upstart in 1992, Bill Clinton got elected president by selling a message of hope that Barack Obama now promotes as his own. The tragic irony is that the Clintons will be defeated 16 years later by a new young political upstart employing their own words and strategy against them. It is a stunning fall from grace for two gifted politicians who have dominated the Democratic Party for nearly two decades and who, just over a year ago, boasted the most powerful, politically-connected and well-financed campaign machine in party history.

For all the bumps and bruises he endured along the way, Barack Obama might want to thank Hillary Clinton for preparing him for the race ahead. Surely it was not Clinton's intention to help Obama by attacking him, but in the process of doing so, Clinton has made Obama a much tougher, stronger and more resilient candidate than he would have been without her. Now he must allow her to leave the race with some sort of dignity that enables the two of them -- and their supporters -- to begin to heal and unite the party. Nobody is going to force Clinton to quit her campaign -- nor should they -- but she knows what she must do, eventually.

And so, as the Clinton campaign awakens to the reality of inevitable defeat, they must surely understand two things. First, their days are numbered and will soon come to an end. And second, the real opponent is not Barack Obama, but John McCain.
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Thats a pretty good article that sums up where Hillary made her mistakes and how the Clinton dynasty lost what seemed to be their inevitability status so quickly. To add though, I believe Chris Matthews said last night that Hillary voting to authorize the war was a big factor in the troubles she ran into during this process. She finally got a hold of the John Edwards voters but found that message to late. There will probably be many books written about this campaign season. One I will be interested in reading is hopefully someone from inside the Clinton circle writing about how things went so wrong in her campaign. I'm still trying to figure out what the turning point was that took her from inevitable nominee to back of the back. This Democratic primary year will be studied for years.

What sewer did you crawl out of? Bush is the best president we've had since Reagan

So I guess you are saying his father was insignificant then. I just hope these posts are sarcastic ramblings to rile the masses and not your true feelings.

If they are your feelings, I really feel sorry for your disillusionment in this presidency that has even been labeled as failed by many Republican stalwarts. History has already recorded this as one of the worst presidencies on record.

I visit many presidential libraries to gain a feeling and understand the history of that president. I've even visited the Bush library in College Station. Shrub's library is one I will never set foot in.

As a person I feel Bush is good at heart. As a president he never should have been nominated.

Lawrence O' Donnell said last night on the Verdict with Dan Abrams that unless something changes Hillary plans to exit the campaign around June 15th. And that is subject to change with the increasing calls for her to step down, otherwise he said that is what he has heard from a senior Hillary advisor. The plan is also to not attack Obama and to stay positive...from here on out.

Yesterday I was talking to a guy I'm dating who's a big Hillary supporter. He told me he could not in good conscience vote for Obama. He'd rather vote for McCain or sit out the election. Later in the day I talked to another guy I'm dating who's also a Hillary fan. He said he didn't like Obama because all he offers are fairy tales. He, too, said he would not vote for Obama.

After these discussions, I've concluded that Hillary supporters are suffering from a severe case of blind faith. She can do no wrong in their eyes.

Her viciously attacking Obama? Par for the course, they say.

Her trying to change the rules more than mid-way through the election? Admirable, a sign of her spunk and determination, they say.

Her pandering? No way. She's just looking out for all Americans, they say.

Man, it's all about Hillary with them. Forget the party.

I for one do not want Hillary as Obama's running mate. He couldn't trust her. I like Wesley Clark for V.P. That would be a hot ticket in more ways than one ;-)

I get it. I can understand how they are feeling. It would be no different for us Obama supporters if Hillary was the presumptive nominee, but she is not, and its going to take time to HEAL. Unfortunately for the party there may be some Hillary supporters who will not support Obama, and again, the same would probably happen if Hillary had won and some Obama supporters just could not support Hillary...all one can hope for is that they put the party first here, and realize how much further behind this country will fall in all areas if McCain is elected...

Howard Fineman was on Olbermann last night. I think he is brilliant by the way, he talked about Hillary and put the race in perspective. He lamented that she probably should have run in '04. " This year, it turned out to be a big deal that a woman ran for President, but it turned out to be an even bigger deal, that an African American ran for President."

You're much more generous than I am. I don't see much goodness coming from his heart. I'm sure he loves his children and family, but his detachment from humanity at large is evident virtually every time he opens his mouth. The latest example is the catastrophe in Myanmar. In his only statement to date, he couldn't just make a humanitarian plea, which would have been the action of someone with a good heart. He had to make it a political statement about wishing the people of Myanmar had freedom, and by repeatedly saying "Burma" instead of Myanmar, a deliberate reminder to everyone that he doesn't recognize the military dictatorship. In most other situations, what he did would have been ok, but not in a desperate situation where tens of thousands are dead or suffering. W's heart is black, and his blue blood runs cold.

I think a lot of that is battle fatigue right now. As I noted above, I think a lot of those people will be back for the actual election. I read somewhere online that in 2000 something like 50% of McCain supporters insisted during the GOP primaries that they would not vote for Bush. We all know how that went in the end.