No matter which side of this motley assortment of social, cultural and economic divides you find yourself on, today is a day to stop, and consider your own convictions as well as the new course our nation has set for itself.

Head on over and read the whole thing. You’ll be glad you did.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

What will we see time? Time will tell.

UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. CNN calls Vermont for Obama and Kentucky for McCain. Oh, and NPR calls it for Mark Warner!

On a local note – I see that there was an equipment problem this morning in Chesapeake. Fortunately, the problem was fixed.

As I reported on my Twitter account, my own precinct had record turnout today, even though there was no one in line when I stopped by. Perhaps it was all of those folks who were in line with me last Friday I did get a report earlier that about 50% of eligible voters in VA had voted absentee – but as I’ve been away from the computer most of the day, I haven’t confirmed that.

More to come.

History will be made today. There is no doubt about that. Regardless of your political persuasion, we will be witnesses to a first. Interest in this election is so high that we are looking at record turnout numbers. That is a good thing.

And don’t forget to vote downticket. The Congressional candidates need your vote. The local candidates need your vote. These folks have put themselves out there, logging countless hours, wearing out their shoes, taking the abuse from their opponents – all because they want to serve us. They deserve our support.

Check back often for my updates from NPR later this evening. I’ll be watching races all over the country.

And please, get out and vote!

• Virginia Beach – Sponsored by the VBCDC – Guadalajara, Town Center, 4611 Columbus St., 7:30pm
• Norfolk – Sponsored by the NCDC – Granby Theater, 421 Granby St., 7:30pm, RSVP
• Richmond – Sponsored by the DPVA – Toad’s Place, 140 Virginia St., 7:30pm
• NoVA – Sponsored by Friends of Mark Warner – Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 2210, 7pm. Space is limited so RSVP requested
• Richmond – Sponsored by Dwight Jones for Mayor – Paradise Lounge, 112 N. 5th St, after polls close

Other events can be found on DPVA website here.

As for me – well, I won’t be at any of these events I was one of 20 bloggers invited to the NPR headquarters in Washington DC to blog live from there. Plans are for live blogging from about 6pm til about 4am. So between live blogging and Twitter (follow me here) I’ll be posting quite a bit.

What about you? What plans do you have for Election night?

According to Bob Herbert,  a study was released last Tuesday projecting that under McCain’s plan, “20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it.”

According to the study: “The McCain plan will force millions of Americans into the weakest segment of the private insurance system — the nongroup market — where cost-sharing is high, covered services are limited and people will lose access to benefits they have now.”

The net effect of the plan, the study said, “almost certainly will be to increase family costs for medical care.”

The entire study can be found here.

This reminded me of a post I saw earlier on another blog about the effect of John McCain’s health plan on Virginians.  If you recall, McCain’s plan will tax the employee on the employer-paid portion of the health insurance benefit. This additional tax is supposed to be offset by a credit, but it seems there is a problem with this:

The tax credit only grows with inflation (2%/year).  But the cost of healthcare is growing much faster than that – 7%. [Source]  This amounts to a bait-and-switch:  The first year or so, everything will seem fine.  Your tax credit will make up for the extra taxes you pay on your employer contribution.  But gradually, the growth of your healthcare costs will outpace the growth of the tax credit. And by 2013, the Center for American Progress estimates, the average American family could be paying $1,100 more in taxes on healthcare than they do now.

But that’s not all. Even as the country is facing recession and Virginia, like many other states, is facing budget shortfalls, we have the additional issue of federal funding of SCHIP, the health insurance program for poor children, which in Virginia covers some 90,900 kids. John McCain voted against SCHIP funding, which will have dire consequences for Virginia:

As this article in the Newport, VA Daily Press spells out quite fully, if nothing changes soon, Bush’s veto is going to force Virginia and states like it to uninsure thousands of children:

…[M]ore than 90,900 Virginia children currently enrolled in the program could be in jeopardy come March. That’s when current federal funding for the program runs out…”We know that Virginia is OK through that time, but after that time, we are not OK,” said Amy Paulson, director of the Consortium for Infant and Child Health, a community partnership founded by the Eastern Virginia Medical School to promote health and prevent disease in Hampton Roads children.

“If it’s not re-funded, we are not OK.”

Don’t we already have enough people in this country who do not have health insurance? Do we really want to add more, especially children, to the uninsured ranks?

For example, the writer attended two rallies in Anchorage last Saturday – one, a “Welcome Home” rally and the other for women who reject Palin. You’ve probably already seen the YouTube video of the latter, which is making the rounds. But you may not have seen the photos. Check out this post, which contains pictures of both rallies and compares the crowd sizes between the two.  Looks like the anti-Palin rally was the larger of the two.

Anyway – if you are looking for a local perspective on Sarah Palin, Mudflats is the place to go.

My favorite line: “I can see Russia from my house.”

UPDATE: For some reason, this video autoplays. I find that annoying. You can see the video here

From The Virginian Pilot

By now, the world knows that Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. Like everyone in the VP pool, Biden has his positives and his negatives.

I’m neither thrilled nor disappointed by this choice. I think Biden is a pretty smart guy who sometimes can’t control his mouth. He certainly brings knowledge of foreign policy to the ticket, along with 36 years of experience in dealing with Washington.  And to be quite truthful, it doesn’t hurt that he’s a grey-hair (65) and white, two things that might assuage the angst some have felt towards an Obama presidency.

As the evidence has mounted over the past few days that it would be Biden, I have wondered how it would play with Obama’s younger supporters. Biden is, as others have said, a safe choice, a status quo choice. Choosing Kaine, on the other hand, would have demonstrated a continuing committment to change. The youthful Kaine is no Washington insider. Despite the lack of foreign policy knowledge, Kaine did have another piece of the puzzle that both Obama and Biden lack: executive experience.

As is generally the case, getting elected trumps everything.

On to the convention!

John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.

From CNN:

Edwards, 55, of North Carolina, told ABC that his wife, Elizabeth, and other family members have known about the affair since 2006.

From the NYT blog:

The network [ABC]  said that Mr. Edwards “made a point of telling Woodruff that his wife’s cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter.”

This is just so sad, on so many levels.

UPDATE: Here is the statement John Edwards released today

In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs.  I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness.  Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it.  But being 99% honest is no longer enough.

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established.  I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of  the baby.  I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry.  In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic.  If you want to beat me up – feel free.  You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself.  I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.

UPDATE 2: Elizabeth Edwards’ statement posted on Daily Kos:

Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some – most recently – caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences.  None of these has been easy.  But we have stood with one another through them all.  Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him.

John made a terrible mistake in 2006.  The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007.  This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well.  Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.

The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.

John has spoken in a long on-camera interview I hope you watch. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do, and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame.  The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown.  But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue.  I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.

Technorati Tags: John Edwards

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Governor and potential VP pick Tim Kaine was the host of this affair. One of the most interesting conversations I had was with the governor’s sons, 18-year-old Nat and 16-year-old Woody. I guess it’s impossible not to have politics in your blood when your father and grandfather have both been governor. The two are already showing signs of political aspirations – one as the candidate, the other as the “behind-the-scenes” guy.

Around 7pm, Michelle Obama entered the area and a line was formed for guests to get their picture with her. One of the first people in line was Senator Mame Locke. The line was quite long and while people moved through fairly quickly, it was about 7:40pm before all of the pictures were completed.

Heading downstairs, I arrived after the Bruce Hornsby concert had already started. Even though it was dark, I could see that the facility was almost completely full. Williamsburg native Hornsby did a wonderful job, his mastery of the piano on full display.

Kaine came out to introduce Obama.  It was obvious from his introduction that he knows her well. After a few moment, Obama took the stage. Her remarks centered around the theme of narrowing the gap, between the world as it is and the world as it can be. She drew on an early experience that she had with Barack Obama, where he took her on a “date” to a meeting in a chuch basement on the Southside of Chicago. It was there that he discussed the gap. In her speech, Obama invited us to imagine the world as it can be and what we can do to move towards it. She also urged us to talk to friends and family, and to get people registered to vote.

Perhaps it was the setting, perhaps it was the crowd but this was not a campaign rally. The crowd listened respectfully and interrupted her with applause at the appropriate times, and gave her a standing ovation at the end. For the most part, there was something in her speech for everyone.  As folks streamed out of the theater, I got the sense that people were both excited and determined: excited at the possibility of Obama as president and determined to do their part to help it happen.

By the way – I heard that the event raised about $400,000 for the Obama campaign.

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Dear Friend:

Most of you know us.  We have worked together through the years on many campaigns.  Just as important as the campaigns and causes we believe in are the  friendships we have made along the way.  Whether our friendship and time together is counted in decades or in months, what we shared during the past year working for a truly historic campaign is something that we can always be proud of.

And now Senator Clinton has asked us to continue standing up for what we believe in; she has asked us to continue the journey with her and join her efforts to help elect Barack Obama as our next President. On June 7th, 2008, Hillary Clinton stood before thousands of supporters in Washington.  As she was watched by those who were there and millions on television, she did more than just pledge her own support to Senator Obama-she spoke to us, asking us to give him the same commitment that we gave to her and her cause.

For she knows as we all do, that too much is at stake to let this opportunity slip by.   Our country is at a crossroads and we need strong leadership to restore our standing in the world, bring our troops home, and get about the business of getting our economy on track here at home.

We need to help those families across America who are hurting.  We see it right here in Virginia, with fluctuating gas costs, the high cost of health care (or no health care at all) and every day people we know having problems of making ends meet.  To change that we need a Democrat in the White House.

We need a foreign policy that will truly keep us secure at home by working with our allies to defeat our enemies overseas.  To do that we need a Democrat in the White House.

And we need to insure that when we speak about the issues that we, as women care about, there is someone in the White House who will listen. To do that we need a Democrat in the White House.

Several weeks ago, Senator Obama came to Fairfax County and held a town hall meeting; specifically on these bread and butter issues.  He was introduced by our own First Lady of the Commonwealth, Anne Holton, who did her usual magnificent job.  We were equally impressed that Senator Obama chose to kick off his Virginia general election campaign by going to the far southwest in Bristol, Virginia – showing his commitment to learn about all of Virginia. And we know there is more to come.  But Senator Obama needs your help and support right now.

The women of Virginia are critical to this election. And to rally them, we need every key leader in the Hillary Clinton campaign to do as she is doing and work tirelessly for the next 14 weeks for Senator Obama. We hope you sign up today to be a part of the Women for Obama team. Please join us at a Virginia Women for Obama kick-off event this weekend, by clicking here to rsvp: http://my.barackobama.com/vawomencanvass.

We need your help. Please join with us today to work for the change we need for everyday families across Virginia and America. Together we can help pave the way for a Virginia Victory.

Susan Swecker and Susan Platt

Southern politics is not solely bound up with race and religion, but almost every issue or controversy has some racial or religious element beneath the surface. The dual power of race and religion in southern politics will make it extraordinarily difficult for Democrats to recapture the South.

In chapter 3, entitled “Blacklash and the Heavenly Chorus,” author Thomas F. Schaller looks at the twin issues of race and religion and their effect on Southern politics.

RACE

The chapter opens with Election Day 2005 in Virginia and a discussion with former governor and current Richmond mayor Doug Wilder, who, at the time the book was written, was the nation’s first and only black governor.Wilder offers the opinion that the reason another black governor had yet to be elected was because the candidates were “running to make history,” and suggest that instead, candidates shouldn’t talk about race and history, focusing instead on issues that people care about. Schaller believes removing race is difficult, if not impossible, for any Democratic candidate, whether white or black.

According to Schaller, race has been a part of southern politics for 400 years, although today it is much more subtle. Mentioning again that almost half of all blacks live in the South, Schaller points out that the majority of local, state and national black elected officials are from the South and for the most part, are Democrats. Nevertheless, only a third of black members of Congress are from the South. Why?

Conventional wisdom says that blacks are not voting. Schaller says this is not true and offers proof in the form of this table:

2004 African-American Percentage of Southern Population, Eligible
Voters, Registrants, and Voters (Table 3.1)

State	Population	Age 18+	Registered	Voted
Alabama	26.4	24.0	24.1	24.8
Arkansas	15.8	14.7	14.2	12.7
Florida	15.7	13.9	11.7	11.1
Georgia	29.6	26.6	27.4	27.6
Louisiana	33.0	29.8	28.7	29.3
Mississippi	36.8	33.5	35.2	36.9
North Carolina	21.8	19.9	20.4	21.5
South Carolina	29.4	27.3	26.6	26.2
Tennessee	16.8	14.8	15.2	14.4
Texas	11.7	10.6	11.8	11.7
Virginia	19.9	17.9	16.0	15.2
South	19.8	17.9	18.0	17.9
Non-South	9.7	8.8	8.4	8.4

Schaller says another factor in the lack of black governors and senators is that few are nominated, a point on which he says “Democratic leaders have some explaining to do.” In their defense, though, Schaller says that it is an uphill battle:

All of the noble and earnest efforts to register and mobilize African Americans in the South during the four decades since the Voting Rights Act cannot overcome the reality that too many white southerners simply refuse to vote for black candidates.

Black voters are simply outnumbered. Look at Mississippi, for example. Black voters constitute nearly 37% of the electorate but even if all of them vote for a given candidate, the candidate cannot win without white support. And the white vote is overwhelmingly Republican.

At the national level, Schaller says that presidential candidates of both parties have used racial imagery. He points to Jack Kennedy, who, in the 1960 race, distributed photos in Virginia’s white communities showing pictures of Richard Nixon smiling with black leaders, “noting that he’d been an ‘NAACP member for over 10 years!’” In 1964, Barry Goldwater defended states’ rights, echoing the Dixiecrats’ Strom Thurmond’s candidacy from 16 years earlier. The evolution of the politics of race continued, unabated, through the current day.

Another issue that Schaller brings up is that of majority-minority districts, which he calls an “unholy alliance” between black politicians and Republicans, both of whom benefit from their existence.

One-seventh of the black members ever elected to Congress were part of the 1992 freshman class; almost as if on cue, the next freshman class gave the Republicans their first House majority since the 1952 elections.

Racial gerrymandering – the packing of as many blacks into as few districts as possible – has aided the cause of Republicans as they have taken over state legislative seats and majorities throughout the South. As the result, Schaller says, only two types of Democratic legislators remain: conservative whites who distance themselves from the national party and young minorities elected from the majority-minority districts.

Because of racial gerrymandering, the southern delegations are now comprised of white Democrats who survive by denigrating the national party and black Democrats who often complain that they are marginalized by the national party. Why should Republicans bother to vilify Democrats when Democrats will do this dirty chore for them?

Why, indeed.

Racial attitudes. more than anything else, predict Republican voting of southern whites, even more than attitudes on abortion or national defense. Schaller provides data that shows southerners harbor more racist attitudes than those outside the south, with those in the five Deep South states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina) having more than those in six Outer South states (Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia). The effect of these racist attitudes has been that the South has become increasingly Republican. While the Outer South states went Republican first – because they were more party-competitive – the change in the Deep South was more profound. He demonstrates this by comparing the Republican presidential support in the 1960 election to that of the 1988 election. Mississippi, for example, voted about 25% for the Republican presidential candidate in 1960; in 1988, the figure was almost 60%, a relative increase of almost 143%. By comparison, in 1960, about 52% of the vote in Virginia went to the Republican presidential candidate, while the figure in 1988 was about 60%, a relative increase of about 14%.

Schaller then provides examples of race-baiting employed by the Republicans in the South. He points to the 2003 elections in Mississippi, in which the issue of the state flag, containing the Confederate Stars and Bars, was raised. He gives a great rundown on the career of recently deceased North Carolina senator Jesse Helms, of whom Schaller says “embodied the tradition of steadfast southern resistance to racial equality.”

Apologists can claim otherwise, but the Republican national chairman has already conceded the point: The GOP manipulated racial attitudes to win the South. Race provided the electoral turnkey Republicans used to unlock the South and become the majority party nationally.

RELIGION

The South is America’s most religious region. “According to 2004 presidential exit polls, 51 percent of southerners attend church at least once per week, compared to just 38 percent of Americans in the rest of the country,” Schaller says. The Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition are both southern creations, and the South is home to more evangelicals than any other region: 58% of Deep-state southerners and 49% of Outer-state southerners consider themselves evangelical or born-again Christians, compared with less than a third of all Americans.

Schaller uses the work of sociologist Mark Shibley in pointing to two events that created the strong following of evangelism in the South: the Civil War and the “fundamentalist-modernist dispute” within Protestantism in the 1920s. The former resulted in the replacement of the political dream of a cohesive Southern people with a cultural one, with religion at the heart of it. The latter is best epitomized by the 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial, in which John Scopes, a 24-year old science teacher, challenged the Tennessee state law that prohibited the teaching of evolution in schools.

Southerners are, according to Schaller, “exceptionally religious.” A strong determinant of religious attitudes is social class, “and the evangelical ranks are filled disproportionately by Americans of lower socioeconomic status.”

They are more likely to affiliate with charismatic or Pentecostal churches, to believe the Bible to be literally true, and foresee a period of glorious Christian rule followed by the rapture.

Typically, the younger generation is less conservative than the older generation on such issues as abortion, school prayer, homosexuality, women working and premarital sex. However, in the South, religious-based conservatism is non-generational. Young (under age 40) evangelicals in the South are more conservative than older (aged 40+) evangelicals in the rest of the country on nearly every issue save one: premarital sex.

Abortion has become the issue of the Christian Right. As a region, the South is pro-choice by a margin of 50% to 44%, but that statistic is misleading. In five southern states – Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee – those who are pro-life exceed those who are pro-choice. In Louisiana, the difference is 21 points, with 36% being pro-choice and 57% being pro-life. Outside of the South, 58% are pro-choice, while 36% are pro-life, almost the exact opposite of Louisiana. It is this little fact that prompted the Christian Coalition, who, in following the lead of the national Republican Party, came up with its Contract with the American Family, to tone down its language on abortion.

More and more, clergy in the South are using their pulpits as a place to discuss politics.

Southern clergy have become to the Republican Party what labor leaders are to the Democrats: opinion leaders, political gatekeepers, and supervisors of a formidable retail voter and volunteer delivery machine.

It is this southern voting bloc that elected George Bush. Excepting Florida, the evangelical vote gave Bush large enough margins to allow resources to be directed elsewhere. But will it last? As the U.S. becomes more secularlized, some Republicans have become concerned that the party has become the “political arm of conservative Christians.” And they hope that the transformation will not be permanent. Some with the Republican Party think that they can just ignore the fundamentalists within their ranks. But this is difficult as the South has become the “anointed region within the Republicans’ governing coalition.”

By encouraging religious conservatives to disregard their historical aversions to political activity, the GOP set into motion their capture of its party by its southern wing. The South’s religious conservatives now make demands on their party and the federal government, make them publicly, and quickly grow impatient when their demands are unmet.

In other words, they created a monster. Schaller says, though, that there is an opportunity here for Democrats. With control of Congress in the hands of Democrats, they can force Republicans to vote on controversial issues, like a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. In effect, Democrats can force Republicans to choose – between the religious conservatives who monitor every move and the more moderate constituents who elect them.

The South’s version of Christianity isn’t very Christian at all; Schaller refers to Jim Wallis’ book God’s Politics in which Wallis points out that there are more than 3,000 calls in the Bible to support the poor yet the South, through its support of Republican policies, ignores this. Other areas of the country embrace the Christian-based progressivism and provide Democrats “a far better opportunity to recapture the mantle of faith through their deeds, not words.”

The effect of race and religion on politics in the South make it an inhospitable place for Democrats.

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With Virginia’s history of electing a governor from the opposite party of the president for the last 30 years, and given that we now have candidates for each office, I figured it is time to revisit the issue.

Vote in the poll and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Simply put, the South is no longer the “swing” region in American politics. It has swung to the Republicans.”

In making this statement, author Thomas F. Schaller takes on the likes of Steve Jarding and Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, who believe that Democrats must win in the South in order for us to become a majority party again. The opening chapter of the book, entitled “Partisan Graveyard,” argues that a new coalition – made up of Democrats in the Northeast, Midwest and Pacific Coast states – is what will bring the Democrats back to power.

Schaller says that the South – consisting of the eleven states of the Confederacy – has always been a political outlier. “[S]ocial and cultural issues tend to trump economic considerations for many voters in the South, where race and religion are woven through almost every aspect of the region’s political culture,” writes Schaller. Half of all African Americans – the Democratic Party’s base – live in the South, but due to “racial antagonisms,” a white backlash has been created, with few whites voting for Democrats. Simply put: while the Democratic base is there, African Americans lack the power to move the states into the Democratic column. Add to that the presence in the South of the largest share of of the country’s evangelical voters ~ and evangelicals tend to not vote for Democrats, either.

Schaller points out that there is an increasing number of Southerners who have come of age with no connection to the Democratic Party or the South’s prior history of being a Democratic stronghold. As this number increases, Schaller says, it will be harder and harder to attract voters who have never cast a vote for a Democrat in their lives. Trying to capture this vote is to reach for the “high-hanging fruit. Schaller says the ripe-for-the-picking votes are in the pan-western states, where, unlike the South, there are swing voters and independents.

But for a few thousand votes in New Hampshire, Al Gore would have pulled it off [won the election] while winning the popular vote; more astounding, but for the switch of about 60,000 vote in Ohio, Kerry nearly did so despite losing the popular vote.

There are votes to be had out there, but they happen to not be in the South.

Chapter 2, “The Southern Transformation,” focuses on the history of the South from 1964 through about 2006, the date the book was published. This chapter is a must-read for anyone wanting to to understand the depth and breadth of the Republican takeover of the South.

Most point to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the starting point for the South’s turning away from the Democratic Party. But Schaller says that was not the case. Schaller says it happened 16 years later, when Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan gave his first major speech after receiving the nomination in Neshoba, Mississippi. The county had demonstrated “a severe case of electoral schizophrenia: 95% of their votes went for Barry Goldwater in 1964, 82% for George Wallace in 1968, 88% for Richard Nixon in 1972 and then, by 32 votes, Jimmy Carter carried the county in 1976. Schaller says that Neshoba was a bellwether for the South on matters of race. In his speech, Reagan gave his support of “states’ rights,” which Schaller calls the “friendly term” for opposition to civil rights. Schaller credits Reagan for “perfecting the southern strategy of luring away white southern Democrats,” although it was Goldwater who first used it.

The Republican takeover of the South has three aspects: elections won and governing majorities achieved, how it has changed national policy and politics, and the significance of the South’s takeover of the Republican Party itself. Schaller takes the reader through the last 40 years, looking at the presidency, Congress and governors as well as state legislatures. Then starting with Barry Goldwater, Schaller looks at each major figure in the Republican Party – Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush – and how each man strengthened the party’s grip on the South.

At the end, though, it is the Republican Party which has been taken over by the South, not the other way around.

Stripped bare of the platitudes and catchphrases, the southern-based Republican majority stands naked as a ruling cohort no longer interested in limited government, in states’ rights, in judicial review, in consensus-building filibusters, or any of the other measures of restraint that once informed the political philosophies of movement conservatives.

Southerners have captured the GOP and with it, they bring the evangelical movement and their desire for a “rapturous accounting.” In doing so, though, they are alienating the moderates in the party who live outside the South. And these are the people who the Democrats can win over.

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I do not know where this will go from here but I do know that history and precedent favor placing Hillary’s name on the first ballot. If Dean and his puny 167.5 delegates got onto the ballot (in 2004), then the person with the most votes in Democratic primary history certainly deserves equal treatment. Anything less isn’t fair or right.

I know a lot of Clinton supporters are still seething over the hiring of Patti Solis Doyle, seen by many as a slap in the face. And I’m aware that a new group has sprung up from the ranks of Clinton supporters.

If this is what party unity looks like, I’d hate to see what the opposite would be.

h/t:HL

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Focusing on her mistakes is an exercise in making someone who is already miserable even more so. As is true with every other walk of life, mistakes in politics shrink to insignificance if you win and are magnified beyond their actual importance if you lose.

The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat.

How so very true.

I’m watching C-SPAN (no talking heads, although I have to admit the callers are pretty entertaining). Anybody else watching? I understand she is running about a half hour late.

Consider this an open thread.

UPDATE 12:06pm: This is what you see now when you visit HillaryClinton.com (click to enlarge)

On matters of policy, there were really no significant differences between [Robert] Kennedy and McCarthy. Both sought to withdraw U.S. forces from Vietnam; both were solid liberals on domestic and economic issues. But each campaign had about it the shock of the new. Each activated constituencies that had never before been so important within Democratic ranks: upscale professionals and students for McCarthy, blacks and Latinos for Kennedy. Both candidates inspired intense commitment from their supporters, and in each campaign there was a palpable feeling of making history, of upending the party’s traditional order in a year when traditional orders were crumbling everywhere you looked.

The assassination of Kennedy brought that campaign to a sad and shocking end. But instead of coming together to rally behind the candidate who’s views so closely matched their own, the feud continued and another candidate – George McGovern – was brought in to “show the flag” for the Kennedy campaign at the convention.

We all know just how well that worked. By the time the two camps came together, Richard Nixon had been in office for four years.

To say that there is a lesson in here would be an understatement.

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“Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton’s supporters who want to attend.”

Poll closes at 9pm

The other thing that has been bandied around is Clinton’s willingness to serve as Obama’s VP, should it be offered. So what do you think? Should Obama select Clinton as his running mate?

I’m going to leave this poll open for a while.

Consider this an open thread.

UPDATE 9:24pm: Both NBC and CNN call SD for Hillary

UPDATE 10:01pm: Both NBC and CNN call MT for Obama.

UPDATE 11:42pm: Message from Hillary below the fold.

Dear Vivian, Over the course of this campaign, I have seen the promise of America in your courage and character, your energy and ingenuity, and your compassion and faith. Your spirit has inspired me every day in this race. While I traveled this country talking about how I wanted to help you — time and again, you reached out to help me. To grab my hand or grip my arm, to look me in my eyes and tell me, don’t quit, keep fighting, stay in this race for us. There were days when I had strength enough for the both of us — and on the days I didn’t, I leaned on you. This has always been your campaign, and tonight, there’s no one I want to hear from more than you. I hope you’re as proud as I am of what we’ve done and that you’ll take a moment to share your thoughts with me now at my website. I want to congratulate Senator Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race that they have run. Senator Obama has inspired so many Americans to care about politics and empowered so many more to get involved, and our party and our democracy are stronger and more vibrant as a result. Whatever path I travel next, I promise I will keep faith with you and everyone I have met across this good and great country. There is no possible way to thank you enough for everything you have done throughout this primary season, and you will always be in my heart. Sincerely, Hillary Rodham Clinton

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See ARG’s website. Oh – and then there is this:

Doesn’t sound like she’s dropping out to me.

I have always believed that the RBC overstepped its authority by stripping the two states of all of its delegates. I left thinking that Florida had made a case not just for half votes, but full votes, while Michigan really hadn’t made much of a case at all for any. I have never seen the circumstances of these two early “primaries” as being equal and the presentations did nothing to change my opinion. In fact, MI’s presentation, especially when questioned about why they held their “primary” early, did nothing but reinforce my understanding that they really had no one but themselves to blame for the outcome.

I was quite surprised, then, that the two situations were treated roughly the same. Each state received half votes for all of their delegates, including the so-called super delegates. While I understand the reasoning, I don’t have to agree with it.

All of those who say that the Democratic Party should not be one of backroom deals should be upset with what the RBC did yesterday. I can only come up with one word: travesty. There is no one who can look at the circumstances of FL and MI objectively and say that those two deserved to be treated the same. FL had legitimate reasons for holding their “event” (as one RBC member referred to it) early: the Republican-controlled legislature said so. MI’s excuse? That they wanted their state to have a say in the early nomination process and the hell with the rules.

FL went to great lengths to include as many voters as possible, despite the fact that none of the candidates campaigned there. MI? Not so much. In fact, I about lost it when MI said that they had 30,000 write-in votes that they didn’t bother to count. You are coming to the RBC to ask to be seated and you don’t bother counting all the votes? Ridiculous.

Because they didn’t do much to turn out the vote and then didn’t count all the ones that were cast, the MIDP had to come up with a plan to allocate the delegates should they be seated. One thing they relied on: exit polls. Um, earth to MIDP: why are you relying on exit poll data when you had the actual votes in hand?

The fact that both MI and FL were awarded half votes was bad enough. But to add insult to injury, they allocated the uncommitted votes to Obama. I’m actually more angered by that than the fact that they took a few votes from Clinton. The testimony offered yesterday indicated that Obama, Edwards and Richardson put out a combined handbill urging voters to vote uncommitted. So how many of those were Edwards voters? How many were Richardson’s? I don’t know and neither do the folks who came up with that idiotic allocation scheme. The rules allow the delegates to be uncommitted, so what the RBC did was to tell them that, no, you can’t be uncommitted and in fact, you voted for Obama. I say that’s bull!

Saturday’s machinations reminded me why so many folks get disgusted with politics. The old sausage analogy comes to mind. It wasn’t pretty.

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Obama campaign communications director Robert Gibbs said Obama had resigned from the church “over the last few days.”

Interesting.

Anyone else watching?

Right now, DNC Howard Dean is speaking. Wants three things:

1. Respect the voters in FL/MI, including those who didn’t vote
2. Respect the campaigns who agreed to the rules
3. Respect the other 48 states that didn’t break the rules

This ought to be interesting. I think, as they did roll call, that 27 of the 30 members of the committee are present.

EDIT: I forgot to mention a pretty significant piece of information that I got yesterday when participating in a press conference call with the Clinton campaign yesterday. The campaign completely disagrees with the notion that the other states with early primaries/caucuses (IA, NH, NV & SC) that I mentioned in this comment, broke the rules. These states were given permission to have their primaries early. MI/FL did not get the permission and thus, broke the rules.

UPDATE: The prepared remarks of Chairman Dean are below the fold.

“Thank you all for coming.

“This has been an extraordinary primary season. And we know it will be an historic election.

“The Democratic Party is going to nominate either the first woman or the first African American to be our party’s nominee.   I believe that the person we choose will be elected president in November.

“Our party is so fortunate to have had such a strong field of Democratic candidates in this race.  I want to thank all of our candidates and especially the two outstanding individuals who are now in the race: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

“I know it has been a long and hard fought race.  Throughout the course of this campaign you two have helped transform our party.

“You have proven that when we show up and talk about our values, Democrats can win everywhere.  You have helped to make our party stronger.  So thank you and thanks to your hardworking campaigns.

“While I will not try to gloss over the challenges of this extended primary I do want to take a step back and look at what our hard work has helped to accomplish.

“From Mississippi to Montana, Ohio to Oregon.  Americans — women, men, Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, young people, veterans, homemakers, educators, health care workers, students, retirees,  Democrats, Independents and even Republicans, of all shapes and sizes have come out to support our two outstanding candidates and the values we share.

“Over 35 million people have come out to support our candidates all across our country.

“In state after state women represented well over half of Democratic voters, sometimes 60 percent.

“Young voters have tripled and in some cases quadrupled previous turnout – in fact 58 percent of voters under 30 now identify as a Democrat or lean Democratic, while only 33 percent associate with Republicans.

“Consider that in Ohio, twice as many people participated in the Democratic primary as in the Republican primary–2.2 million for Democrats compared to 1 million for Republicans–and thousands of Ohio Republicans switched parties to vote for a Democrat.

“In fact, in seven counties in Ohio–Putnam, Brown, Shelby, Belmont, Warren, Delaware, and Clarmont–the vote totals for our two Democratic candidates in the 2008 primary exceeded the votes for John Kerry in the general election in each of those counties.

“In Texas this year, more people voted in the Democratic primary than voted in the 2004 general election on the Democratic side in the state.

“So while I know it has been a long, tough campaign, it also made our candidates and our party stronger.

“And while the punditocracy in the media tried to tell the American people what to think and what to do, you stood up and spoke loudly to have your voices heard.  And you made us all listen.  And the race continues to the final contests in Puerto Rico, and on Tuesday in South Dakota and Montana.

“To each and every one of you who has voted and who will yet vote, I say not only thank you, but remind you that our work is just beginning.  We need your help.  We need you to stay involved in this election and get involved in the other races that are going on in your community and your state.

“We need you to knock on doors, make calls, to talk to your neighbors about what’s at stake in this election.  Together, state by state, door by door, vote by vote, we are going to take our country back and we cannot do it without you.

“I also want to thank all of you who showed up here on a Saturday to attend the Rules Committee meeting, those of you who are here inside the hall, watching from home or outside.  Cynics will look at today’s proceedings and look only for conflict, they will not recognize your tremendous commitment to our country.

“They will not realize that your energy, your passion for your candidates and your enthusiasm, demonstrate that our party is strong enough to have disagreements.

“We are strong enough to struggle, and disagree, be angry, disappointed and still come together at the end of the day and be united.  The reason we are able to do this is because all of us, together in our passion and our emotion realize that this race is not about me, it’s not about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the RBC or the reporters who are here to cover the event.  It’s about restoring our great country.

“Over the course of the primary there have been some tough disagreements and some ugly moments in this campaign. On the blogosphere, and the airwaves.  Emotions have run high and heated discussions have led at times to blatantly racist comments and, blatantly sexist comments particularly by some members of the media.  We know that those comments have no place in our society and certainly no place in our party.

“It has got to stop. We have got to come together and unite our party.  Every one of us has the responsibility to help ensure that our party is united.

“Part of that healing will begin with the discussion you will have today about Michigan and Florida.

“I want to thank the members of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, led so ably by Jim Roosevelt and Alexis Herman. Thank you for the countless hours of hard work you’ve put in to set forward rules that have guided this process and in ensuring a fair process.

“As you work to find a resolution, I ask that you keep three key principles in mind to guide your discussion and deliberation:

• Respect the voters of Florida and Michigan – not only those who turned out to vote, but also those who did not,
• Respect our two candidates and their campaigns who followed the rules this body set forward over two years ago, and,
• Respect the 48 states who did not violate the rules.

“Understandably, the compromise that you discuss here today will not make anyone completely satisfied.

“Years ago a ‘Democratic rules discussion’ was almost an invitation for a food fight in a crowded room like this of Democratic activists.  We’ve moved beyond that – your actions today will put our party on a course of unity – a unity that will be on display in less than 90 days when we all meet again in Denver to showcase our nominee, the talent of the Democratic Party up and down the ticket and the values we share.  This is the unity that will guide our work in the coming months as we work hard towards Election Day to show up and ask Americans to put their trust in Democrats to restore our country.  This is the unity that we will show America when we inaugurate a Democratic president in January 2009 and the beginning of restoring our great country.”

“It is clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband’s 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.”

Can we move on now?

Pathetic. Just pathetic. h/t Blacknell.net

As compiled by Electoral Vote. See the Obama details here and the Clinton details here.

UPDATE: Check out this post by Cokie Roberts. I think this was what she was trying to say last Sunday but the talking heads wouldn’t let her get a word in.

Hmm.

Electability, folks.

Go Hillary!

I don’t think anyone can deny that the path to the nomination hasn’t narrowed. The argument that remains, and has been a consistent theme of the campaign, is electability. It is what drew me to her candidacy in the first place. Pragmatic? You bet. A win in November has always been what I wanted.

I never had any intentions of being involved in a national campaign. As time has gone on, though, something changed. Somewhere along the way, I became personally vested in this campaign. Maybe it was NH and her “finding her voice.” Maybe it was the knowledge of what it’s like to run a campaign when it seems that so many people – particularly the media – are aligned against you. Maybe it was the attacks that I have gotten for my support of Hillary, ones that have come face-to-face and via emails. Maybe it was the the email from the 76-year-old Alaskan caucus goer who felt completely disenfranchised by the process. Whatever it was, the effect was a strengthening of my support for Hillary, and an increased willingness on my part to do what I could to help her succeed.

That willingness has put me in a position that I’m sure others have experienced when working on a campaign. Probably the biggest thing is that you become privy to information that you cannot share, some of it things you’d just as soon not know. Yep, like watching sausage being made. I’ve seen sausage being made, both for real and in campaigns. It ain’t pretty.

In 2006, there was a great push to get Democrats in control of Congress. We did that and what has it gotten us? Are we still in Iraq? Have we rolled back the Bush tax cuts? Has the deficit gone down? In other words, are we better off today than you were before? Only the most biased among us would say yes.

Oh, I’ve heard all of the excuses. And that’s all they are – excuses. There is no political will in Washington to do the right thing by the people of the United States. It is business as usual, only the characters have changed.

We all want to believe that changing the president will change things in Washington. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As Hillary has been vilified in the press and on the blogs, one of the major memes has been that she represents the “old” way of doing things. Well, doesn’t saying one thing while doing another represent the old way? Isn’t having your surrogates do your dirty work the old way? Isn’t blaming your opponent for your own behavior the old way? And isn’t trying to not count votes that favor your opponent, most notably FL, the old way?

The old way can never be changed at the top until we change it at the bottom. More than 29,000 people (pdf p. 457) voted in Norfolk in February’s primary while just over 8,000 bothered to vote in last Tuesday’s council election. In a city that has more than 105,000 registered voters, that is pathetic. Given the chance to influence those politicians closest to us, the people punted. It is no wonder, then, that those in Washington, far removed from the accountability to the people, don’t give a damn.

The blame lies with us. Ours is a populace that fakes concern for what goes on in Washington, because we fail to look beyond the soundbites. Our opinions are not shaped by the facts – what exactly are the differences in the platforms of the candidates? – but by fear and innuendo. Lies and distortions spread faster than truth – no, Obama is not a Muslim – helped in no small part by the echo chamber that was once the independent media.

The choice of new versus old is a false one, because the political process is stacked against it and there is no will at any level to change it. So for me, I’d rather have someone who knows how to negotiate it (like LBJ) than someone who will be stymied by it (like Jimmy Carter). As long as she’s willing to run, I’m with Hillary.

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I drove from Norfolk to Richmond and met up with three other women who were going to the event. The trip to DC was uneventful (except for getting lost once we got into the city, a situation remedied fairly quickly thanks to Google Maps that I have on my Blackberry). We chatted about Tuesday’s primaries and what that means for the Clinton campaign. I was, of course, disappointed with the results. Upon arriving at the hotel and seeing women streaming in, it was quite easy to forget about Tuesday

At registration, I was presented with a surprise: the person who had invited me to the event had arranged for me to have my picture taken with the Senator, something reserved for contributors at levels much higher than mine. To say that I was thrilled would be an understatement. I was walking on air as I entered the room where we were to have a campaign briefing at 3pm.

The room was almost full when I entered. Looking around, I saw women of all ages, shapes and sizes. Some of the younger women had brought their daughters. I spotted Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple, but she was about the only person I knew in the room. Shortly afterwards, the briefing started, by which time the room was crammed – standing room only.

If you ever need someone to rally a crowd, I suggest you hire Terry McAuliffe. As the first speaker at the briefing, the campaign chairman got the group riled up. He got off the podium and stood in front of the crowd and rattled off reason after reason why Senator Clinton should be the nominee. The crowd roared its approval. We also heard from finance director Jonathan Manz and campaign senior advisor Ann Lewis. Having participated in conference calls with these people in the past, not much of what they said was new to me; however, their comments were electrifying to the crowd. After hearing from them, they opened up the floor for questions. I listened for a bit before ducking outside.

Sitting on the bench outside of the hotel, I watched as women continued to stream into the building. I headed back in and the hallway leading to the room where the briefing was still going on was, by now, crammed with folks. People were sitting on the stairs, standing elbow-to-elbow in the hall. I tell you – it was amazing.

After the briefing was over, we headed to the room where the main program was being held. Acting as MC for the event was Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She was an excellent choice for this, alternating between being cheerleader and poet, something I haven’t seen in a while. It was about this time that I did something to my camera, so none of the pictures I took came out

After a bit, Chelsea Clinton and her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham took the stage. While Rodham didn’t speak, Chelsea more than made up for it. I can’t tell you how impressed I was with this young woman. Yes, she was born into a political family, but it was something more than that, something not quite tangible, that made her a terrific speaker. Not only was she smart and savvy, she exhibited what can only be described as a tremendous love for her mother. Speaking about how her mom wants to be a grandmother, she held her little niece and showed that, although she has no plans for a political life, she is going to be successful in whatever she choses.

Shortly thereafter, Senator Clinton entered from the back of the room, making her way through the throng. It took a while for her to get on stage but once she did, the crowd was on their feet. The senator spoke for about 35 minutes (and I recorded the whole thing – this photo was cropped from the video footage). Early on, some guy stood up on a table and displayed what looked like a sheet with something on it about Iran. He was quickly removed by the security detail. A few moments later, someone yelled something (inaudible to me) and they, too, were removed. The Senator made light of it, saying something about them having paid to be there. Speaking without notes, Clinton showed no signs of campaign fatigue, something I would have expected given her late night speech in Indiana Tuesday night and her morning trip to WVA. She was sharp, energetic and on point, talking mostly about what she has done as a Senator and what she hopes to accomplish as President. Her speech concluded the program.

Those of us with tickets to have our picture taken got in line to do so. The person who had arranged my photo is someone well known to the campaign so we were afforded a little bit of special treatment. First, we were ushered to a seating area. There, I was able to meet some of the campaign people that I’ve talked to on the various phone calls. Then it was arranged that the folks in our little group – there were 5 of us – would be afforded the opportunity to meet the Senator prior to her entering the room. We were stationed outside the door and shortly thereafter, the Senator came down the hall.

Each of us had a chance to speak briefly with the Senator, although I have to admit that I took more time than the others After wishing me a happy birthday, the Senator and I talked a bit something I’ll be working on for the campaign (more on that later).

All in all, a great time. Thanks to Sandy and Richard for sharing your photos. Thanks to Cathy for driving us back and forth from Richmond.

And a big thanks to Susan, who made my birthday such a memorable one.

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============

Hanging out with 1,500+ Clinton supporters yesterday certainly was the spirit boost I – and probably all of us – needed. What was even more awesome was the opportunity to meet and chat briefly with Senator Clinton. And yes, she wished me a happy birthday

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Yesterday’s event raised over $1 million for Senator Clinton. Way to go women!

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I’m disappointed, but not surprised, at the defection of Del. Jennifer McClellan. Welcome aboard, Congressman Heath Shuler!

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I haven’t watched the AI results show but I am stunned that Jason was voted off. Not that he didn’t deserve it, mind you, but I just didn’t think that it was going to happen.

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The surprise in the local elections battles was the near-defeat of Portsmouth mayor James Holley. Have to agree with the challenger Martha Ann Creecy and Councilman Steve Heretick on this one: expect a crowded field in 4 years.

That would be a 4% lead, outside of the +/-2% MOE for the poll.

Insider Advantage (pdf) has Hillary with a 2-point lead over Obama in NC. Rasmussen has Clinton up by 5 points in Indiana while TeleResearch pegs the margin at 10.

On the national front, the polls show Clinton to be the stronger candidate. A CBS/NY Times poll (pdf) has Clinton beating McCain by 5 points, while Obama only manages a tie. In NH, she trails McCain by 3 points, while Obama trails by 10. According to this Quinnipiac poll, Clinton tops McCain in FL (+8), OH (+10) and PA (+14). By comparison, McCain beats Obama in FL (+1), and OH (+1) while Obama wins PA but by a smaller margin (+9) than Clinton.

I want a win in November. Hillary Clinton is the candidate!

Unless you have been under a rock, you know that Rev. Jeremiah Wright is back in the news, first in an interview with Bill Moyers and then in an appearance before the National Press Club. It was the latter which prompted presidential hopeful Barack Obama to denounce his former pastor:

I’ve known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years. The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church. They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs and if Rev Wright thinks that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well and based on his remarks yesterday, well I may not know him as well as I thought either.

Finally Obama says what I’ve been saying all along: Wright’s comments are not typical fare in black churches. From my original post:

I can say without hesitation that I’ve heard black pastors say things that would make white people uncomfortable. Heck, I’ve heard black pastors say things that make me uncomfortable. (As a matter of fact, the pastor at the church that I grew up in, the one that I was baptized in, the one that my father was ordained in, said something that has kept me away for a number of years.) But the language of Wright? Never.

Since that time, I’ve continued to question folks and no one I’ve talked to has ever heard the type of comments that Wright made. Yet the meme – put out there by Donna Brazile when this story broke in the MSM – was that his behavior was typical of black churches. (If I recall correctly, Brazile actually called Wright’s comments “tame.”)

Throughout the last six weeks, the black church has been unfairly maligned. I have cringed every time someone asked me if these comments were normal. I’ve had to reassure folks that Wright is an aberration. What I want to know is why?

Why did black folk allow the media to portray our churches this way? Why didn’t the black ministers stand up and say something? Why didn’t other black leaders stand up and say something? Was everyone so afraid that saying something would hurt Obama? Is one man worth the desecration of our churches?

Even the person who started this mess – Donna Brazile – ate her words last Sunday. I suspect, though, that her comments had less to do with doing what’s right than doing what is politically expedient.

The fact that black folk weren’t up in arms about this mischaracterization of an institution that has been the bedrock of our community truly saddens me. Are we truly willing to give up our souls in order to nominate a black man?

And to what end? By allowing this to happen, the wounds of racial division in our country have been ripped wide open. We don’t talk about issues anymore, we talk about what percentage of the black vote Obama is getting and look for racism under every rock. Everything has racial overtones. Health care, the economy, the war in Iraq – none of these are important anymore.

Because no one had the guts to stand up and say ENOUGH ALREADY.

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• All said that Clinton was outspent by about 3:1 in Pennsylvania
• Since 10pm last night, Clinton has raised $10 million online, from some 60,000 new contributors
• Looking at the electoral map, Clinton has won the Democratic states plus 4 key battleground states, representing some 285 electoral votes.

The Senator was quite pleased with the results last night, saying that as they look deeper into the results, there is more good news there. She said there was “a broad base of support that it will take to win in November.” Calling from Indianapolis, Clinton said this was her 50th visit there.

Of course, this call was really about the campaign’s needs: volunteers and money. If you can help out, please do so.

UPDATE: One thing I failed to note from the call was that Hillary now leads the so-called “popular vote” total. Now, I’m not a fan of any of the calculations of the popular vote. The fact is that four states that held caucuses – Iowa, Nevada, Washington & Maine – never released their popular vote total so any calculation is a guesstimate. Nevertheless, RCP shows the lead mentioned in the call. And this video? Well, I’ll let it do the talking

Two things that have come out of this primary that deserve comment. First, I’ve read the argument that Clinton won because PA is racist. That particular argument just boggles the mind. Yes, there are racists in PA, just as there are racists everywhere. But to blame the entire loss on racism is quite a stretch. After all, if whites had voted for Clinton in the same percentages as blacks voted for Obama (some put that number at 90% or better), Clinton’s victory would have been much, much larger, especially since more than 80% of the voters are white. So let’s just put that one to rest.

Another issue goes back to a question I raised a long time ago about Republicans voting in Democratic primaries. The argument was that Republicans were crossing over to vote for Hillary because she was the candidate that they wanted to face in the fall. I thought it was BS then and I certainly think it’s BS now. According to the AP:

The contest was open only to registered Democrats. About half the party-switchers had been registered Republicans, while the rest had been unaffiliated with either party, and even more were voting for the first time in Pennsylvania.

Most of those new Democrats were mobilized to come out for Obama, and they were nearly one-fifth of Obama’s supporters. Even the former Republicans favored Obama over Clinton

There goes that idea, so can we put it to bed now?

Finally, there’s this scary bit from one exit poll:10% of the voters said that they would be voting for McCain in the fall. Of that 10%, of those who supported Obama, 70% said that they would be voting for McCain. If that is even remotely true, we’ve got a problem here, folks.

(edited for clarity)

Great job, PA Democrats! Congrats to Senator Clinton!

After the polls close, join the Norfolk City Democratic Committee and the Tidewater Young Democrats for a Results Watch Party at The New Belmont. Food and drinks are your responsibility, but you can’t beat the company

All in all, Democrats are divided on the impact of the continuing and protracted campaign for the Democratic nomination.

As one would expect, a majority of Obama supporters (55%) believe continuing the campaign is hurting the party while a majority of Clinton supporters (59%) believe it is not. (Biases, anyone?)

From where I sit, there are upsides and downsides to the length of this campaign. Overall, though, I think the party benefits. I think proudvadem hit the nail on the head with this comment:

BOTH Democrats are attracting new voters, raising more $$ than ever and whether the media wants them to or not- they are BOTH addressing issues such as healthcare, Iraq, and the economy.

As long as the Democratic message is being heard (no thanks to the MSM, by the way, who wants to harp on the non-issues), we come out ahead.

And she remains ahead of McCain, leading him 46% to 44%, while Obama leads McCain by 1, 45% to 44%.