Toni Morrison speaks about Clinton and Obama

In a recent issue of TIME magazine, Toni Morrison was asked 10 questions, two of which relating to Clinton and Obama. Here's what she had to say...

Do you regret referring to Bill Clinton as the first black President?
"People misunderstood that phrase. I was deploring the way in which President Clinton was being treated, vis-à-vis the sex scandal that was surrounding him. I said he was being treated like a black on the street, already guilty, already a perp. I have no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race."

Why did you endorse Barack Obama for the presidency?
"I thought about voting for Hillary at the beginning. I don't care that she is a woman. I need more than that. Neither his race, his gender, her race or her gender was enough. I needed something else, and the something else was his wisdom."

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Clinton plans to drop out by June 15th??

Lawrence O'Donnell of the Huffington Post is reporting the following...

"A senior campaign official and Clinton confidante has told me that there will be a Democratic nominee by June 15. He could not bring himself to say the words "Hillary will drop out by June 15," but that is clearly what he meant. I kept saying, "So, Hillary will drop out by June 15," and he kept saying, "We will have a nominee by June 15." He stressed what a reasonable person Hillary is...

Everything about our conversation implied that he had already had this reality-based discussion with Hillary. He said the Clinton campaign plan is to collect as many votes and delegates as they can right through June 3, then take no more than a week or so to make their case to the superdelegates. Nothing he said indicated that he actually expected the superdelegates to move to Hillary in the week after the final election. The Clinton campaign has not lost its grip on reality. Yes, Clinton spokespersons publicly seem to be lost on gravity-free planet Clinton, but privately they know the end is near."

Read more on Huffington Post

Obama picks up 4 Superdelegates!!

The Associated Press is reporting...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama pocketed the support of at least four Democratic convention superdelegates on Wednesday, May 7th building on the momentum from a convincing North Carolina primary victory. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton disclosed she had loaned her strapped campaign an additional $6.4 million in recent weeks.

Clinton showed no sign of surrender in the presidential race, but former Sen. George McGovern, the party's 1972 presidential candidate, urged her to reconsider.

Obama was at home in Chicago during the day as his aides spread word that he would soon begin campaigning in states likely to be pivotal in the fall campaign. They also relayed word of the four endorsements, expected to be made public later in the day. Both disclosures were meant to signal fresh confidence that the nomination was quickly coming into his possession after a grueling marathon across 15 months and nearly all 50 states...

Read more from Politico.com

Clinton backer asks her to step down

Former Sen. Gorge McGovern, an early supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race and endorsed her rival, Barack Obama.

After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern said Wednesday it's virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination. The 1972 Democratic presidential nominee said he had a call in to former President Clinton to tell him of the decision, adding that he remains close friends with the Clintons.

"I will hold them in affection and admiration all of my days," he said of the Clintons.

McGovern's announcement comes a day before Clinton was scheduled to travel to South Dakota to campaign. The state holds its primary June 3 with 15 pledged delegates at stake.

Obama reaches 1.5 million donors!!

1.5 million people have donated to Obama's campaign.

According to Andrew Sullivan,

No one has ever come close to this in history. And it was done by the Internet, destroying the power of major donors to control a candidate, empowering so many to make a difference and altering the face of campaign finance for ever. And yet the Democrats are seriously considering rebuking this astonishing achievement in favor of an old nepotistic pol whose campaign, when it hasn't been incompetent and complacent, has been straight from the Rove playbook

Source: Why We Need Obama blog

Clinton's broke again, loans campaign $6.4 million

The AP reports:

"A campaign aide says Hillary Rodham Clinton loaned herself $6.4 million in the past month."

That sum means the campaign is fairly clearly into Bill Clinton's earnings, in theory making it more difficult to avoid questions about the source of his income. The last loan, Clinton's aides said, was drawn from Hillary's book earnings.

Though these are techically loans, these are very difficult to repay, as they must be paid from primary funds. There's some speculation this morning that Obama could help Clinton retire debt, possibly including the campaign's debt to her.

Read more on Politico.com

Obama in NC on May 6th

Sen. Barack Obama took a large and potentially decisive step toward the Democratic nomination Tuesday night, making dramatic symbolic and numerical gains in North Carolina and Indiana.

Obama’s emphatic North Carolina victory, and a narrow loss in Indiana, extended his lead in the count of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and in most counts of the combined popular vote.

As important, they diminished Clinton’s rationale for urging Democratic superdelegates to override his delegate lead and give the nomination to her.

Sen. Barack Obama took a large and potentially decisive step toward the Democratic nomination Tuesday night, making dramatic symbolic and numerical gains in North Carolina and Indiana.

Obama’s emphatic North Carolina victory, and a narrow loss in Indiana, extended his lead in the count of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and in most counts of the combined popular vote.

As important, they diminished Clinton’s rationale for urging Democratic superdelegates to override his delegate lead and give the nomination to her.

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Obama wins North Carolina!!

Here is Obama addressing the country after the May 6th primary races in North Carolina and Indiana. Obama swept Clinton in NC...and won with a 14 point margin.

He also came within 3 points of winning Indiana, which is still a WIN for Obama.

Finally, we are seeing the end of this long drawn out process approaching.

HILLARY, PLEASE STEP DOWN and let us democrats mend our party and prepare for the general election.

Obama 08 - YES WE CAN!!!

Message from Obama to Supporters

Here's an email Obama sent to supporters last night...

Friend --

We just won a decisive victory in North Carolina thanks to people like you.

Indiana remains too close to call. But what is clear is that we did much better than all the pundits predicted, despite Republicans changing parties to support Senator Clinton, believing she would be easier for Senator McCain to defeat.

Here's where we stand.

As of Tuesday morning, we needed just 273 delegates to clinch the nomination. When the votes are fully counted Wednesday morning, we will have gained more than a third of them in a single day.

We have a clear path to victory. But now is the time for each one of us to step up and do what we can to close out this primary.

Please make a donation of $25 right now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/results

Thank you for everything you're doing,

Barack

Morning News: The New York Times

The results from the two primaries, the largest remaining Democratic ones, assured that Mr. Obama would widen his lead in pledged delegates over Mrs. Clinton, providing him with new ammunition as he seeks to persuade Democratic leaders to coalesce around his campaign. He also increased his lead in the popular vote in winning North Carolina by more than 200,000 votes.

"Don't ever forget that we have a choice in this country," Mr. Obama said in an address in Raleigh, N.C., that carried the unity themes of a convention speech. "We can choose not to be divided; that we can choose not to be afraid; that we can still choose this moment to finally come together and solve the problems we've talked about all those other years in all those other elections."

Read more on barackobama.com