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In a more diverse America, a mostly white convention
As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white.
Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern -- a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years.
-----It's like where's Waldo the African American GOP version. I've found 3 black people in the picture above, how many can you find?-----GK As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white. ... more -
Location Matters at the RNC
For some events, it doesn't matter where you sit. Well, the Republican National Convention isn't one of them.
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DNC: I'm a Delegate
Bryan Gonzales describes himself as a 'threefer' delegate for the Hillary campaign. He's gay, Latino, and a man.
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BREAKING NEWS: Obama makes a cameo
Sen. Barack Obama has traveled to the Democratic National Convention arena, making an unscheduled and unscripted appearance to join the party in celebrating his historic presidential nomination.
Obama joined the newly-nominated vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden on the platform and they hugged and applauded each other and the convention delegates.
Obama told the roaring crowd that he wants people to understand why he is proud to have "the whole Biden family on this journey with me to take America back."
He deadpanned at one point that he thought the convention had "gone pretty well so far."
More to come... Sen. Barack Obama has traveled to the Democratic National Convention arena, making an unscheduled and unscripted appearance to join th... more -
Clinton Frees Delegates, Ensuring Obama's Nomination
As Obama arrived in Denver, Clinton released her delegates Wednesday afternoon, allowing those who had been pledged to her to vote for whomever they choose in a roll call vote later in the day.
"This was such a competitive primary season," Clinton told her delegates in a packed ballroom at the Denver Convention Center, "I want you to know this has been a joy. Boy did we have a good time trying." As Obama arrived in Denver, Clinton released her delegates Wednesday afternoon, allowing those who had been pledged to her to vote for... more -
Clinton to release her delegates to Obama
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will release her delegates to Sen. Barack Obama
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Obama wants full voting for FL, MI delegates
Now that Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, he wants convention delegates from Florida and Michigan to have full voting rights at the party's national convention. Now that Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, he wants convention delegates from Florida and Michigan to... more
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Wis. Democrats oust delegate over McCain support - Yahoo! News
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.
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Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.
Bartoshevich was elected by party activists as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican ... more -
WI Democrats oust delegate over McCain support
"Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November. Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.
Bartoshevich was elected by party activists as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
The June comments from Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old nurse and mother of two from Waterford, were seized on by the McCain campaign as evidence of his appeal to former Clinton backers. Within hours, the Wisconsin Democratic Party passed a resolution at its state convention supporting a challenge of her credentials with the national committee.
The party's rules and bylaws committee said the state party could decide the matter, clearing the way for Friday's vote. Committee members agreed Bartoshevich had lost her privilege to be one of the state's 92 Democratic delegates because of her comments and affiliation with "Citizens for McCain," a branch of his campaign designed to recruit independents and Democrats.
During a teleconference before the vote, Bartoshevich asked the committee to allow her to attend the convention as a delegate for Clinton. She noted that she donated her time and money to Clinton and still believes the former first lady is the best candidate.
She said she made the comments backing McCain during an emotional time shortly after Clinton dropped out of the race and as a first-time delegate was unfamiliar with party rules. She said she had not decided who to ultimately support and was still open to backing Obama if he won her over. "I'd like to go to the convention and listen," she said.
She said her sister was a McCain supporter who signed her up for "Citizens for McCain."
"You reached right back and hugged them. I have a problem with that," committee member Dottie LeClaire responded.
The committee accepted a challenge that stated Bartoshevich violated rules requiring delegates to support the party's nominee and be faithful to the party. Bartoshevich will be replaced by Marilyn Nemeth of Racine, who finished second to Bartoshevich in the delegate election earlier this year. "Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidenti... more -
Obama to deliver nomination speech directly to the public
This August, during the final day of the Democratic National Convention, Presidential favorite Barack Obama will symbolically leave his scheduled place at the podium, routinely used to address the party's delegates, to deliver his official acceptance speech outside, in the open air, directly to the public.
Typically, Presidential nominees formally accept the nomination in the same setting we have all seen on TV - amid a sea of balloons, posters, and cheering fans. However, these "fans" are not the general public; they are primarily the delegates, political elites chosen to represent the fifty states, handpicked for their unwavering support of the party itself. This carefully scripted event rarely has many surprises, with speeches, agendas, platforms, and nominations all worked out months before.
I found a surprise waiting in my Gmail inbox today. This form letter, sent today to every registered member of my.BarackObama.com, proclaims that the candidate will break from tradition, and address his acceptance speech directly to the American public:
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[Name] -- Join Barack at the Open Convention
I wanted you to be the first to hear the news.
At the Democratic National Convention next month, we're going to kick off the general election with an event that opens up the political process the same way we've opened it up throughout this campaign.
Barack has made it clear that this is your convention, not his.
On Thursday, August 28th, he's scheduled to formally accept the Democratic nomination in a speech at the convention hall in front of the assembled delegates.
Instead, Barack will leave the convention hall and join more than 75,000 people for a huge, free, open-air event where he will deliver his acceptance speech to the American people.
It's going to be an amazing event, and Barack would like you to join him. Free tickets will become available as the date approaches, but we've reserved a special place for a few of the people who brought us this far and who continue to drive this campaign.
If you make a donation of $5 or more between now and midnight on July 31st, you could be one of 10 supporters chosen to fly to Denver and spend two days and nights at the convention, meet Barack backstage, and watch his acceptance speech in person. Each of the ten supporters who are selected will be able to bring one guest to join them.
Make a donation now and you could have a front row seat to history:
[Donation link edited out]
We'll follow up with more details on this and other convention activities as we get closer, but please take a moment and pass this note to someone you know who might like to be there.
It will be an event you'll never forget.
Thank you,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
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After being turned away from the doors of the Democratic National Convention in 2004, (held in my home town of Boston, MA) I became frustrated with the message these conventions send, that only those who had financially supported the party were important enough to be addressed by the candidate himself. Whereas the majority of voters, in the past, have neither the political access nor the desire to spend multiple hundreds of dollars on a ticket to the convention, Obama's decision to hold his acceptance speech outside will allow tens of thousands more to hear the candidate in person, for free. While this exciting event is primarily a symbolic gesture, it is an extension of a message central to his campaign - to change the American political process which has become so profoundly routine.
I, for one, will be there. This August, during the final day of the Democratic National Convention, Presidential favorite Barack Obama will symbolically leave hi... more -
Superdelegates surge to Obama
A tsunami of superdelegates is poised to rush to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) over the next 12 hours, giving him a mathematical lock on his party’s presidential nomination.
The superdelegate surge is likely to swamp a few holdouts within the camp of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) who have been resisting a prompt concession.
Aides say Clinton does not plan to concede or bid supporters farewell when she speaks in New York tonight, but instead will salute her supporters and argue for the strength of her candidacy.
But her clout is ebbing by the hour. At 6:56 a.m. Eastern time, the Obama campaign announced the first of the day’s slew of endorsements by superdelegates – the Democratic Party officials who have a vote on the nominee and will determine who it is, since neither Obama nor Clinton have won enough delegates in primaries and caucuses to put them over the top.
Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said on NBC’s “Today” show: “If Senator Obama gets the number, I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him, call him the nominee. We haven't gotten to that number yet.”
Obama needs only about 36 more delegates, and he told The Associated Press in an interview that he expects to get about 15 of those in today’s primaries in South Dakota and Montana. Superdelegates will finish the job.
“A lot of people recognize that it is going to be time for us to pivot and move on,” he said.
Robert Gibbs, Obama’s campaign communications director, said on CNN’s “American Morning” that the campaign is “still working the phones and talking to people.”
“I think there's a pretty good chance that by the time Barack Obama walks out on the stage tonight, we'll walk out as Democratic nominee as president of the United States,” Gibbs said. “We'll begin a new phase in this campaign and talk about what's next for this country and what direction we can take it in — the type of change that you can believe in.” A tsunami of superdelegates is poised to rush to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) over the next 12 hours, giving him a mathematical lock on ... more -
Clinton to concede delegate race when Obama clinches
Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.
The former first lady was not ready to formally suspend or end her race in a speech Tuesday night in New York City. But if Obama get to the magic number of delegates, 2,118, she was prepared to acknowledge that milestone, according to aides who declined to be identified.
Obama is 37.5 delegates shy of clinching the nomination, but he is widely expected to make up the difference Tuesday with superdelegate support and votes in South Dakota and Montana. His campaign was announcing new superdelegate endorsements throughout the day Tuesday.
On NBC's "Today Show," Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said that once Obama gets the majority of convention delegates, "I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him and call him the nominee."
She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.
Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans. Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign of... more -
AP Tally: Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination
Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.
Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial divisions within the party.
The AP tally was based on public commitments from delegates as well as more than a dozen private commitments. It also included a minimum number of delegates Obama was guaranteed even if he lost the final two primaries in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.
The 46-year-old first term senator will face Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the fall campaign to become the 44th president.
Clinton was ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign. These officials said the New York senator did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to divulge her plans.
Obama's triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy—all harnessed to his own innate gifts as a campaigner.
Clinton campaigned for months as the candidate of experience, a former first lady and second-term senator ready, she said, to take over on Day One.
But after a year on the trail, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and the 46-year-old, first-term Illinois senator became something of an overnight political phenomenon.
"We came together as Democrats, as Republicans and independents, to stand up and say we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come," he said that night in Des Moines.
A video produced by Will I. Am and built around Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry quickly went viral. It drew its one millionth hit within a few days of being posted. Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention del... more -
Backgrounder: Presidential nomination races won by Obama and Clinton
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York handily won Sunday's Democratic presidential primary in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, but her rival Senator Barrack Obama of Illinois will soon declare he wins the nomination.
The following is a list of states each of them has won in U.S. states, Washington D.C., U.S. territories and overseas Americans in order of the date.
Obama:
Iowa, South Carolina, Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Utah, Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Vermont, U.S. Virgin Islands, Democrats Abroad, Wyoming, Mississippi, Guam,North Carolina and Oregon.
Clinton:
New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, American Samoa, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Peurto Rico.
There are only two remaining contests, including Montana (June 3, 16 delegates) and South Dakota (June 3, 15 delegates). WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York handily won Sunday's Democratic presidential primary in t... more -
Democrats Reach Delegate Deal
"The US Democratic Party has taken a compromise decision on delegates from Florida and Michigan, two states barred from choosing a presidential candidate.
Both states' delegates will be allowed to attend August's convention, but will only have half a vote each.
Hillary Clinton, who is lagging behind Barack Obama in the race, wanted all delegates to be allowed to attend.
The decision increases her delegate total, but halves their influence, with Mr Obama still the clear leader." "The US Democratic Party has taken a compromise decision on delegates from Florida and Michigan, two states barred from choosing ... more -
Florida and Michigan have nothing to do with civil or human rights!
"Beverly Battelle Weeks, 56, said she got up before 4 a.m. to drive up from Richmond, Va. for the rally. She carried a black umbrella on which she had pasted letters spelling out "Count All Votes."
"The right thing to do is to seat all the delegates. Anything less is not democratic," she said."
and that is where I choose to disagree:
Listen all American who worry that not seating the delegates from Florida and Michigan represent un-democratic action; the choice was made before anyone knew who would be leading and ALL PARTIES involved agreed, which is the key to everything. It is not about anyones rights, its about a choice made 6 months ago to hold primaries that would conflict with the process and everyone agreed that there wouldn't be delegates. Play the game by the rules, if you wanted to protest it should have come 6 months ago, not now when the game has already been played. "Beverly Battelle Weeks, 56, said she got up before 4 a.m. to drive up from Richmond, Va. for the rally. She carried a black umbr... more -
'Last stand' for Clinton at Democratic meeting
Hillary Clinton Saturday makes a last stand in her ebbing White House bid, as the Democratic Party tries to defuse a unity-sapping row over voided primary votes in Michigan and Florida.
The legal wranglings of the Democratic National Committee's rules panel in a Washington hotel will mark the latest twist in Clinton's epic coast-to-coast nominating duel with Barack Obama, now drawing to a close.
The rules committee must decide whether Clinton is right to argue that ignoring the states and cutting their delegates out of August's convention in Denver would disenfranchise 2.3 million people in vital battleground states.
Even in the unlikely event that Clinton gets both delegations seated, she would likely still lag more than 100 delegates behind Obama, after the last primaries, Puerto Rico on Sunday, and Montana and South Dakota Tuesday.
Going into Saturday's meeting, the Clinton campaign has laid out an uncompromising position. Hillary Clinton Saturday makes a last stand in her ebbing White House bid, as the Democratic Party tries to defuse a unity-sapping row... more -
Obama used party rules to foil Clinton
Unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, rival Barack Obama planned for the long haul.
Clinton hinged her whole campaign on an early knockout blow on Super Tuesday, while Obama's staff researched congressional districts in states with primaries that were months away. What they found were opportunities to win delegates, even in states they would eventually lose.
Obama's campaign mastered some of the most arcane rules in politics, and then used them to foil a front-runner who seemed to have every advantage—money, fame and a husband who had essentially run the Democratic Party for eight years as president.
"Without a doubt, their understanding of the nominating process was one of the keys to their success," said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist not aligned with either candidate. "They understood the nuances of it and approached it at a strategic level that the Clinton campaign did not."
Careful planning is one reason why Obama is emerging as the nominee as the Democratic Party prepares for its final three primaries, Puerto Rico on Sunday and Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday. Attributing his success only to soaring speeches and prodigious fundraising ignores a critical part of contest.
Obama used the Democrats' system of awarding delegates to limit his losses in states won by Clinton while maximizing gains in states he carried. Clinton, meanwhile, conserved her resources by essentially conceding states that favored Obama, including many states that held caucuses instead of primaries.
In a stark example, Obama's victory in Kansas wiped out the gains made by Clinton for winning New Jersey, even though New Jersey had three times as many delegates at stake. Obama did it by winning big in Kansas while keeping the vote relatively close in New Jersey.
The research effort was headed by Jeffrey Berman, Obama's press-shy national director of delegate operations. Berman, who also tracked delegates in former Rep. Dick Gephardt's presidential bids, spent the better part of 2007 analyzing delegate opportunities for Obama.
Obama won a majority of the 23 Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5 and then spent the following two weeks racking up 11 straight victories, building an insurmountable lead among delegates won in primaries and caucuses.
What made it especially hard for Clinton to catch up was that Obama understood and took advantage of a nominating system that emerged from the 1970s and '80s, when the party struggled to find a balance between party insiders and its rank-and-file voters. Unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, rival Barack Obama planned for the long haul. ... more -
Oregon and Kentucky head to the polls
Two more states have their say in the long democratic primary today. Senator Clinton is expected to win by large margins in Kentucky, while Senator Obama is expected to win by not-quite-as-large-but-still-big margins in Oregon.
Due to the proportional distribution of the delegates however, Senator Obama is expected to have won a majority of the pledged delegates won through voting in primaries and caucuses, which he and his campaign are calling a significant milestone.
Obama also snagged the support of longtime Clinton friend financier Warren Buffet, and West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest serving member of the U.S. Senate. Two more states have their say in the long democratic primary today. Senator Clinton is expected to win by large margins in Kentucky,... more -
A Clinton backer says "Trailing candidate should drop out by June 3"
Why does the media continue to prop up Clinton as if she had a chance?
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Delegates
