Good job Hillary! You go Girl. We are with you. This coupled with the " Pennsylvania" ad ( which is similiar to " Harold call me" minus the racial aspect) will give a 20 point victory for Hillary.
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/163. aspx

Here is the USA today story linking Obama to Big oil.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/el ection2008/2008-04-15-obamainside_N.htm

Obama and Cheney - The two Cousins for Big Oil.

Obama/Cheney 08?

Does someone know the answers to all these questions in the BHO IQ test?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/polit ics/obama/chi-obama-quiz,0,234858.trivia quiz

My DD has a front page diary saying the race is over because of what Politico reports as " some important adviser's" comment and Time magazine's inaccurate facts.

Well these are some painful things that Mark Halperin should know.

1. "She can't win the nomination without overturning the will of the elected delegates, which will alienate many Democrats."

Elected delegates represent the will of people - says who?  So, what is the will of the people of Texas, for example?

2. "She can't win the nomination without a bloody convention battle -- after which, even if she won, history and many Democrats would cast her as a villain."

So is Obama. Even Obama can't win without a bloody convention if he doesnt secure 2209 delegates( not 2025)

Obama is the villain if he is the nominee after losing 8 or 9 of the 10 biggest delegations and popular vote but still goes on to become the nominee.

3. "Catching up in the popular vote is not out of the question -- but without re-votes in Florida and Michigan it will be almost as impossible as catching up in elected delegates."

Mark halperin or the media does not get the right to decide if 2.4 million votes from MI and FL should count.

4.  "Nancy Pelosi and other leading members of Congress don't think she can win and want her to give up. Same with superdelegate-to-the-stars Donna Brazile."

Nancy Pelosi and Donna Brazile are not the only superdelegates that decide the nominee. There are numerous senators, governers, congressmen and party bosses that back Hillary.

5. "Obama's skilled, close-knit staff can do things like silently kill re-votes in Florida and Michigan and not pay a political price."

He is already paying a political price. If Obama does not set his foot in MI and FL until he gets the nomination, write off these two states in November. Added to this he has hurt the whites in OH and PA. Can someone tell how Obama will win by losing these 4 states in November?

6. "Many of her supporters -- and even some of her staffers -- would be relieved (and even delighted) if she quit the race; none of his supporters or staff feel that way. Some think she just might throw in the towel in June if it appears efforts to fight on would hurt Obama's general election chances."

Do you have a poll of her supporters( at least 14 million so far who have voted for her) and staffers before declaring " Many of the supporters will be delighted?"

7. "The Rev. Wright story notwithstanding, the media still wants Obama to be the nominee -- and that has an impact every day."

This moron wants the media to decide the race!

8. "Obama might not be able to talk that well about the new global economy, but she (and McCain) can't either."

So- what do you imply. - Nobody should be the POTUS?

9. "Many of the remaining prominent superdelegates want to be for Obama and she (and Harold Ickes) are just barely keeping them from making public commitments to him."

Unsubstantiated bogus claim. How many superdelegates did you interview before making this claim?

10." She can't publicly say more than 2% of all the things she would like to say about race, electability, beating McCain and experience."

Don't you worry about that. Wait and see -the media will do it for her, once Obama starts crumbling in PA and all through May.

11."If she somehow found a way to win the nomination, she would have to offer Obama the veep slot, and she doesn't want to do that."

She will probably be waiting for a no from Obama. Obama doesn't want the slot either. There are ofcourse more qualified candidates willing to take that spot, people  who respect and love Hillary like Clark and Bayh or may be even Edwards.

12. "This is a change election, and Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton can never truly be change."

Bush- clinton-bUSH had something that hillary doesn't have and vice-versa. Wait until you see atleast 40 million women come out in November and vote for the First woman POTUS- Is'nt that a historic change?

13. "Obama is having fun most days, and she isn't."

Correct, by saying things like "typical white" about his grandmother.

14. "Even though her campaign staff is having more fun than it has for a long time, there's hardly anyone there who, given half a chance, wouldn't slit Mark Penn's throat -- and such internal dissension won't help her in the home stretch."

Mark Penn is now not running the show in the homestrech. Everyone knows that. I wouldn't be surprised if Carville, Begala and even Dick Morris is roped in the last moment.

Shame on my DD to carry front page articles saying the race is over. Mark Halperin has lost his neutrality, even if he ever had one. The race is far from over.

Mccain has already started attacking Obama as Naive and inexperienced.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hauu tF50jo_5bUPcH8TiIqVCUfmQ

http://www.kansascity.com/445/story/5022 35.html

" Vote for Sen Clinton on March 4th. The stakes are too high"

Obama has attacked Sen Clinton on her core issue of Universal Health care like a Republican, the issue which she has been championing since several decades. Obviously, he is not worried about Sen Clinton's prospects in the general were she to be the nominee. So, Why should Sen Clinton be worried on attacking Obama on his achilles heel - Foriegn policy and national security experience. The worst case scenario is Hillary getting booed at the convention if Obama gets the nomination.

See hillary's comments in Cincinnati today

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/020 8/8648.html

Nothing out of the way. But this is not politics of hope and change he preaches.

Questions for Barack?

Can you say John Kerry lacked judgement to be the commander-in-chief because he voted for AUMF? If you really believed in what you say, you should not have accepted to speak in the convention endorsing him.

Since Hillary still has a chance in Ohio, Texas and Penn and may well win 9 of the 10 largest delegations sent to Denver,( or 8 of the 10 if she doesn't win North carolina) it is not wrong in examining what she can do to legitimately stake her claim after the Peurto rico primaries on June 7th.
The MATH or raw numbers:
She needs to wipe out the 160+ pledged delegate lead of Obama or atleast finish within 20-40 pledged delegates behind him on 06/07
With 5- 10% in Texas and 10% margin in Ohio, she can get about 25-30 delegates. With that momentum, she can win Penn by 10-15% and get another 25-30 delegates. Obama will still be ahead by 100 delegates on April 22nd even if she does that.
At this point she will need to spin the arguement that the race is tied if the 115 delegate lead she gets from Michigan and Florida delegations, the popular vote is tied and she has won 9 out the 10 largest states except Obama's home state Illinois. She can try and get the most popular democrats in NC and IN, Edwards and Bayh to campaign with her to squeak out narrow victory in NC and a 10-15% win in IN giving her 15-20 delegate lead. From then on, the May race could tip to Hillary after Obama's losses in OH, TX, PA, IN and NC. She can win WV and KY by 15 and OR by 5-10. Obama's leads in Wyoming, Mississippi, MOntana and South Dakota may likely be less than that in Nebraska, Idaho and Utah.( I will explain how she can do better in red states in the message section). After a disaapointing March, April and May for Obama, Peurtorico can be a blow-out for Hillary where she can gain as much as 15-20 delegates. On 6/7, Hillary can reasonably expect to be behind Obama by 40-50 pledged delegates excluding MI and FL. At that point the media will portray Hillary as having a narrow lead taking in to account the superdelegates and popular vote. Dean, Gore, Edwards, Biden will sit and talk with both camps and probably come to an agreement such as seating Florida( since Obama was on the ballot) and probably a revote in Michigan if Obama doesn't still concede to being Hillary's VP. So, with Hillary's 40 delegate lead in Florida over Obama, the delegate counts could be fairly even without Michigan and superdelegates. Obama can probably realise that at that point he can never win a revote in Michigan or for that matter even finish within 10 points behind Hillary and concede or accept for VP.
So, the bottomline for this situation is Hillary has to win the popular vote in OH and TX and from then on the closed primary in PA by atleast 15%. If she does that, she can cruise in May.
But, for all this to happen, She needs to break into Obama's coalition of upscale progressives, youth, african-americans, white men and independants while retaining her base of Seniors, middle-aged white women, downscale registered democrats and Latinos( for TX).
Now, lets see which part of the Obama coalition can she crack?

1. Upscale liberals are solidly in Obama's column and are toughest to crack. If she cannot win them in Manhattan or SF bay area,in future contests she cannot win them in Austin, Raleigh-Durham, Philly suburbs or Portland.
   
2. Youth - Forget it -she is not going to get them.
   
3. African-americans. In Ohio and Penn, she is actually not that bad - she could get upto 20-25% as opposed to the 10% she is getting now. She was winning 35-40% of AA vote before Obama won Iowa and the SC backlash. So, if Hillary starts winning, atleast the black women can marginally come back to her. Lets say she wins OH, TX and PA, she can win 25-30% of black vote in NC, if she starts showing the genuine passion. Remember the ovation she got from women comments on one of the black forums in DC.
   
4. That brings us to the group that she can most likely break into- Middle income to lower middle income, middle aged white men, Republicans and Independants or "Obamacans". This is one f the most important groups she needs to win in November to get past the post. This is a group she has been losing consistently by atleast 25 points even in the states she wins or ties. If she ties Obama in this group, she wins the nomination. This is the group that put Bill Clinton and George Bush(+ evangelicals) into the white house. This group was important in giving Bill Clinton big victories in 92 and 96 in OH, PA, WI, MO, KY, TN, AZ and has helped Obama bigtime in VA,WA,WI,MO,CT,ID,KS,MN etc. This is probably the only group in the Obama coalition that Hillary can break into, although not easy.
   

That brings us to the message part.
The MESSAGE

Her message should be two pronged.

1. Stabilizing her base of Seniors, downscale democrats,(includes most latinos) and women. Economy and healthcare are the most important issues to this group. She should run LEFT of Obama on Universal Health care, Social Security, Foreclosures, Prescription drugs, Child care and more importantly keep hammering down the message that she will be the first woman president. As someone suggested, she should take Edward's theme. Populism now resonates strongly since decades. She should bodly say that she differs from Bill on NAFTA. Most of these are being addressed, but she could clearly position herself on his left on these issues. Eventually, the message should be that you cannot trust Obama during impending recession. Everytime, Obama talks about "changing the same old washington politics", she should keep hammering that women have a "historic oppurtunity" to put another woman in the white house.
   
2. Winning "Obamacans" and whitemen. One of the main reasons for the poor perfomance amongst this group is simply the rabid dislike. Regardless of strength on issues or superior debating skills, Bush won over Kerry by being more likeable and by painting him as too soft for the job. This is exactly what Hillary needs to do to Obama to win this group. She should run to his RIGHT on national security, social issues except abortion, foriegn policy and immigration(after Texas is over!). She should convene a press conference with Clark say that " Obama is not ready to be the commander-in-chief, he is a wimp with Iran, He is a wimp with the dictators, he has not served in the armed services commitee as opposed to her and Mccain, he is wtong on Pakistan and she alone is capable of hunting down the terrorists and strengthening the military". ( Yes, she voted for the war, so what? That's what Obama would have done if he was the Senator from New york - 70% of NY favored AUMF at that time). She should move to his right on social issues like Gun control, DOMA, Marijuana legalisation, Death penalty. After Texas, she has to move to his right on immigration and declare in Hazelton that " Obama is for Drivers licenses for illegals". This is going to shock the community in Obama Kos, Obamington post or the Obama Left or the Obama point memo and could well deny her a speaking spot at Denver, if Obama wins. Right now, she is percieved by "Obamacans" as being more liberal than him. The bottomline is she should paint him as far too liberal than her on Social issues, Immigration and national security. He will be toast in NC, IN and PA, leave alone Wyoming, South Dakota or Montana.
   If DNC stipulated all the states held primaries instead of caucuces and did not allow republicans and independants to vote, penalised but not disenfranchised the voters of Michigan and Florida, Hillary would have won the nomination now- After all, the elections are for the nominee of Democratic party- not Democratic and independant party. I am not against caucuses, but caucuses disenfranchise a significant portion of downscale democrats and working women. Look at washington Obama wins 67-31 in caucus and 50-47 in the primary. If Obama is winning with the help of republicans and independants, why not attack him from the right like Republicans?

I truly believe that Hillary is a liberal at the bottom of her heart- look at her letters from Wellesley after 68 convention. She has no other option but to go left-negative on Obama on Economic issues and Right-negative on Social issues and National security. But, unfortunately this is the painful and only way she can win this nomination especially since DNC is letting the independants, republicans and affluents hijack this election by having caucuses and open primaries.

Hillary up 57-43 in Silicon valley. ( CNN official thread). Its over for Obama in California.