Clinton says… "I didn’t get the coin toss so, life is unfair, and Obama has a ‘magical’ advantage. Really. you get the choice anfdformation for every argument during this debate. I guess you’re more comfortable attacking Barack than arguing salient points…  Better attac him based on words said by people he has denounced…

Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey, testifying on troop strain before the Senate Armed Forces Committee Tuesday, said there is "no reason to doubt" Sen. Barack Obama’s military shortage story during CNN’s debate in Austin, Texas, last week.

Sen. Barack Obama says he knows of a platoon sent to Afghanistan with a shortage of personnel and equipment.

"You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq," Obama told CNN moderator Campbell Brown.

"And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough Humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief," he added.

War supporters have challenged the story, but Casey said he had "no reason to doubt what it is the captain says." Watch CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider’s take on the debate »

"We acknowledged and we all worked together to correct the deficiencies with equipment that we saw during that period, not only Afghanistan but in Iraq," he said in response to the question posed by Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, a longtime supporter of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Casey told the general Obama had not contacted Army officials about the story before using it in the debate.

Casey testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee along with Peter Geren, the secretary of the Army, on how the strain overseas could affect troop levels in the near future.

Casey said the goal is to reduce combat tours from 15 months to 12 months by midsummer.

Hillary says that if an person is not politically feasible supports you, you should both denounce and reject their support. isn’t that the same thing as saying that if someone says you are a good candidate but that person is politically bad for you, you should renounce their statement, and that you are in fact NOT a good candidate?. come on now. renouce their views and rhetoric, and leave their opinions well enough alone………. people ARE still allowed to hold opinions aren’t they?

Barack Obama did well with Democrats across both race and gender lines Tuesday night, and seems to be eating away at Hillary Clinton’s backbone of support: women.

According to exit polls out of both Virginia and Maryland, in both states Obama won roughly 60 percent of the female vote — a demographic that has carried Clinton to success in past primaries.

Clinton even fared worse among men – more than two-thirds in both states chose Obama.

Meanwhile, the Illinois senator scored his highest percentage of African-American support to date — winning close to 90 percent of that voting bloc in each state. And the two evenly split the white vote in Virginia, while Clinton slightly beat Obama among the white vote in Maryland. In most past primaries, Clinton has held an edge among white voters.

Obama even beat Clinton among Latino voters, a group that his heavily favored Clinton in most past primaries. In Virginia and Maryland, Latinos went for Obama over Clinton by 6 points, though their support was not decisive in either contest – only 5 percent of Democratic primary voters in Virginia, and 4 percent in Maryland, were Latino.

The only demographic Clinton won was white women, who broke for her over Obama by 10 points in Virginia and 13 points in Maryland. But that margin is significantly smaller than the national average on Super Tuesday. She beat Obama among white women by 25 points then, according to national exit polls.

 

For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.

On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.

On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).

The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.

Clinton congratulated Obama and John Edwards after their first and second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. Obama returned the favor in New Hampshire, saying Clinton “did an outstanding job.” That courtesy continued through the early states.

But as the race has shifted to a delegate chase with dozens of states in play around the country, the notion of congratulating one’s opponent seems, for Clinton, to have fallen by the wayside.

Hillary told reporters who had gathered to watch her tour a General Motors plant here that "everybody knew, you all knew, what the likely outcome of these recent contests were."

"These are caucus states by and large, or in the case of Louisiana, you know, a very strong and very proud African-American electorate, which I totally respect and understand."

Hmm… Well, thanks. Does that mean that as an African American I just don’t have it in me to evaluate contestants on their virtues?  Does it also mean that somehow, overnight, we swelled our population enough to take over as the majority population? If the argument is that all blacks will vote for Obama, doesn’t it follow that all whites will vote for Hillary? Must be those activists at work. 

Clinton has publicly dismissed the caucus voting system since before Super Tuesday, seeking to lower expectations heading into a series of contests that played to Obama’s advantage. His campaign features what many consider to be a stronger and more dedicated grassroots organization than Clinton’s.

Noting that "my husband never did well in caucus states either," Clinton argued that caucuses are "primarily dominated by activists" and that "they don’t represent the electorate, we know that."

If you have a plan that looks to work, wouldn’t the activists prefer you over your opponent? Seems to me that the only time "Activists" become an issue is when YOU are the regime in need of change…

Barack Obama beat more than one Clinton Sunday.

The Illinois senator won over presidential rival Hillary Clinton in Maine’s Democratic caucuses. And he beat out her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in a slightly less snowy contest: the Grammy Awards.

Obama’s win in the spoken word album category for the audio version of his book “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” – his second Grammy — ties him with Bill Clinton, who’s also won two. Hillary Clinton has also taken top honors in that category, for “It Takes a Village.”

Bill Clinton had been considered for the audio version of his book “Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.” He wasn’t the only former Democratic president in the category: Jimmy Carter had also been nominated, for his book “Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bringing Peace to a Changing World.”

Obama and Hillary Clinton are neck-and-neck in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton has replaced her campaign manager with a longtime adviser, Maggie Williams, the campaign announced Sunday.

The move came after Sen. Barack Obama swept three Democratic contests Saturday.

And CNN was projecting Sunday evening that Obama would win Sunday’s Democratic caucuses in Maine, giving him considerable momentum heading into Tuesday’s three primaries

Williams joined Clinton’s campaign after her third-place showing in the Iowa caucuses January 3. At the time, Solis Doyle was urged to remain on board as campaign manager, but a senior Clinton adviser told CNN that Doyle had discussed stepping down previously. See why the shake up occurred »

"She’s stepping aside," the adviser said. "She’s not being blamed or nuked. She’s wanted to step aside. Obviously, Maggie Williams was a transition but at the time wasn’t announced."

A source close to the candidate tells CNN that Solis Doyle’s job had been at risk since Clinton’s poor finish in Iowa. Clinton’s performance there coincided with the realization that the campaign had been running out of money — a fact that had not been related to the New York senator until then — but Clinton stuck with Solis Doyle out of loyalty, the source said.

Doyle has been reassigned to a senior adviser’s job, the Clinton campaign announced in a memo to its staff.

Clinton’s win in New Hampshire postponed the decision. But Williams began to take on many of the duties of campaign manager, and the lines of authority blurred — senior advisers went to Williams for guidance, while the junior team was reporting to Doyle.

"There didn’t need to be a dual-layer hostile environment - they just needed to sort it out," one insider told CNN. And another source added, "There was a lot of dissatisfaction with the ground operation. There was nobody in charge."

With Obama’s wins Saturday in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and the Virgin Islands, and his projected victory in Maine, the Illinois senator took the pledged-delegate lead over Clinton — 986-924, according to CNN calculations.

But Clinton has a 224-135 edge among superdelegates, which leaves her leading the Democratic race 1,148-1,121, according to CNN’s calculations.

Tuesday, Clinton and Obama will compete for 15 pledged delegates in the District of Columbia, 70 in Maryland and 83 in Virginia.

Clinton’s new campaign manager, Maggie Williams, served as her chief of staff when the New York senator was first lady.

Williams joined Clinton’s campaign after her third-place showing in the Iowa caucuses January 3. At the time, Solis Doyle was urged to remain on board as campaign manager.

In Other Words…. America likes Obama, Blame the messenger.

Clinton loaned her presidential campaign $5 million in January, she said Wednesday.

"I loaned it because I believe in this campaign and I think the [Super Tuesday] results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," she said.

Earl Lauer Butz (July 3, 1909 – February 2, 2008) was a United States government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture under PresidentsRichard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Born in Albion, Indiana, Butz was an alumnus of Purdue University where he was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1932, and then a doctorate in Agricultural Economics in 1937. He was the uncle of NFL player Dave Butz.

In 1948, Butz became vice president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and three years later was named to the same post at the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That same year he was also named chairman of the United States delegation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He left both of the aforementioned posts in 1957, when he became the Dean of Agriculture at his alma mater, Purdue University. In 19681971, President Richard NixonWatergate scandal in 1974. In his time heading the Department of Agriculture, Butz revolutionized federal agricultural policy and reengineered many New Deal era farm support programs. His mantra to farmers was "get big or get out," and he urged farmers to plant commodity crops like corn "from fencerow to fencerow." These policy shifts coincided with the rise of major agribusiness corporations, and the declining financial stability of the small family farm. he was promoted to the positions of Dean of Education and vice president of the university’s research foundation. In appointed Butz as Secretary of Agriculture, a position in which he continued to serve after Nixon resigned as the result of the

At the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, Butz made fun of the Pope’s opposition to "population control" by quipping, in a mock Italian accent: "He no playa the game, he no maka the rules."^[1]

A spokesman for Cardinal Cooke of the New York archdiocese demanded an apology, and the Secretary was reprimanded by the White House,^[1][2] Butz issued a statement saying that he had not "intended to impugn the motives or the integrity of any religious group, ethnic group or religious leader."^[1] which forced him to apologize.

Butz was forced to resign his cabinet post on October 4, 1976 after a second gaffe. News outlets revealed a racist remark he made in front of entertainer Pat Boone and former White House counsel John Dean while aboard a commercial flight to California following the Republican National Convention. The October 18, 1976 issue of Time reported the comment while obscuring its vulgarity:^[3]

Butz started by telling a dirty joke involving intercourse between a dog and a skunk. When the conversation turned to politics, Boone, a right-wing Republican, asked Butz why the party of Lincoln was not able to attract more blacks. The Secretary responded with a line so obscene and insulting to blacks that it forced him out of the Cabinet last week and jolted the whole Ford campaign. Butz said that "the only thing the coloreds are looking for in life are tight p - - - - , loose shoes and a warm place to s - - -."

After some indecision, Dean used the line in Rolling Stone, attributing it to an unnamed Cabinet officer. But New Times magazine enterprisingly sleuthed out Butz’s identity by checking the itineraries of all Cabinet members.

In any case, according to the Washington Post, anyone familiar with Beltway politics could “have not the tiniest doubt in your mind as to which cabinet officer” uttered it.^[2]

While some newspapers published the remark, others stated only that Butz had said something too obscene to print, and invited their readers to contact the editors if they wanted more information. The San Diego Evening Tribune offered to mail a copy of the whole quotation to anyone who requested it; more than 3,000 readers did.

Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, Friday called questions early in the campaign about whether her biracial husband was "black enough" to appeal to African-American voters "silly."

"It’s silliness and it’s about part of the silliness of our culture," she said.

A Harvard-educated attorney and vice president at the University of Chicago, Michelle Obama, 44, said the question — raised most famously in a New York Times article — wasn’t hurtful to her.

"That has nothing to do with me or Barack — that has to do with the challenges we are facing in this country and we shouldn’t be surprised by them because we still haven’t worked through this stuff," she said.

"I don’t think there is a person of color in this country that doesn’t struggle with what it means to be a part of your race versus what the majority thinks is right."

The question about Obama, who was born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, was raised early in the presidential race, when rival Sen. Hillary Clinton was polling well among black voters and landing endorsements from high-profile black political leaders.

Since then, Obama’s support has vastly increased with black voters. He took 78 percent of the black vote in a South Carolina primary he won handily and 73 percent of the African-American vote in Florida, although delegates from that contest, which Clinton won, won’t count because of a scheduling squabble between state and national Democratic officials.

Obama, a senator from Illinois, and Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, are the two remaining challengers for the Democratic nomination and remain locked in a tight race. Obama won the season-opening Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary, while Clinton won New Hampshire, Nevada and no-delegate contests in Florida and Michigan, which also got in trouble for pushing ahead in the primary schedule.

While she said she initially tried to talk her husband out of running for president, Michelle Obama said she doesn’t share the concerns voiced by Alma Powell, wife of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is black, that her husband’s safety might be threatened over a quest for the White House. Powell had been mentioned as a possible candidate, but did not run.

"There are inherent risks for all people, but particularly for people of color, so, you know, I can’t live my life worrying about what might go wrong," she said. "What we are going through, Barack and our family, is nothing compared to our leaders who pushed through on the civil rights movement.

"When I think of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King and true fears that they had and true sacrifices that they made, I think I don’t have any right to hesitate for doing something that I think is important out of fear."