England for Obama

In a recent blog post over at Justin Webb’s America the BBC’s North America editor linked to England for Obama:

Obama’s summer
What’s the betting he’s in each destination for no more than a day. But there’ll be much excitement in the UK no doubt and perhaps even a re-vivification of the rather moribund-looking England for Obama site.

I did wonder why we had that little spike in hits a few days ago.

Its a real shame he had to refer to the site as moribund (stagnant)

Truth be told, the site has dropped off since Obama won the nomination. Its a case of looking for a new angle and for new contributors to come forward who can help us cover the election, not the nomination.

If you have what it takes then Help us out!

Obama’s Fight the Smears website has an insightful page listing people who have spread lies about Obama and his campaign.

The list includes Craig Shirley who owns the website Stop-him-now.com a right-wing scare-fest which includes articles such as ‘Obama’s sham Christianity‘ and ‘Actual communist endorses Obama’.

Classy!

Former Vice President Al appeared in Detroit tonight for his debut campaign appearance with Senator Barack Obama, extending an endorsement and urging all Democrats to rally behind the party’s fall ticket.

It had to happen sooner or later and you just know that once elected Obama won’t let poor old Al stay in political retirement. My guess is some sort of modern climate/environmental office will be created for Mr Gore manage.

Links:

• BBC - Gore backs Obama for presidency
• NYT - Gore Appears With Obama
• HuffPost - Gore Endorses Obama

The Obama campaign has launched a new anti-smear website to try and clear up the mud that has been thrown over him over the past months:

Another finalist in the Obama in 30 seconds ad contest is called “Join me”:

The third finalist in the Obama in 30 seconds ad contest is called “Imagine”:

Yesterday it was Joe Andrew, today it is Paul Kirk, a superdelegate and Democrat Party Chair between 1985 and 1989, who is backing Barack.

With only one remaining neutral, Obama is now holds an unassailable lead in endorsements of ex-Democratic National Committee chairs, which he adds to his lead in both Senators and Representatives.

With superdelegates certain to be the final determining factor in deciding the nomination, the endorsement of two ex-leaders in as many days could help sway other ‘Supers’ to also make their views known as Joe Andrew, in a letter he sent to all of them has suggested they need to do urgently.

No other endorsements have been made so far today, but it’s still very early in the day in America.

Paul Kirk made the following statement:

“It is with a great sense of pride and confidence in his leadership that I am delighted to publicly endorse Senator Barack Obama and pledge my support to him as former National Democratic Chairman and as a superdelegate. Senator Obama is the one candidate who has and will continue to expand the electorate beyond the traditional Democratic party base and bring young and new and Independent voters to the Democratic banner in November, an essential ingredient to a Democratic victory.

“Throughout his life and public career, has fought the tough fights to advance the quality of life of the working families of Illinois, not with election year gimmicks like the gas tax holiday espoused by others, but by hard headed, common sense solutions, and that’s what he will do as President of the United States.

“America never turns back. America always marches forward to seize the future. 8 of 10 Americans believe their country is on the wrong track. Senator Obama is the one candidate who, in the best tradition of American history, will not take us back but will lead us to a new future.

“Senator Obama is the one candidate best able to quickly restore America’s respect and reputation globally. Senator Obama is the one candidate best able to set the tone at the top for the unity and reconciliation needed in this country, to bring us together, to define our common goals and to provide the inspiration to move us forward.

“After the attention paid to the poisonous and polarizing diatribe of recent days, Senator Obama’s clear and compelling message which appeals to our best instincts as Americans is more important than ever. For all these reasons, I heartily endorse Senator Obama and hope my colleagues will do the same.”

The endorsement brings the total number of superdelegates to endorse Barack Obama to 253. Senator Obama is 279 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

SUPERDELEGATE UPDATE: The Clinton campaign left it late in the day, but added a superdelegate to their tally. Jaime Gonzalez Jr. (TX), DNC - 2 May 2008 (Source)

“They are the best practitioners of the old politics, so they will no doubt call me a traitor, an opportunist and a hypocrite. I will be branded as disloyal, power-hungry, but most importantly, they will use the exact words that Republicans used to attack me when I was defending President Clinton.”

That’s how Joe Andrews predicted his switch to Obama would be characterised by the Clinton campaign yesterday and, given that they had previously branded Bill Richardson a “Judas” for backing Barack, it’s not hard to see why.

So it comes as no surprise that Hillary’s campaign tried to marginalise Joe Andrew’s Indiana credentials in an MSNBC interview. It was a huge mistake though, because Joe Andrew not only fought back, but dealt an embarrassing knock-out blow to the attempt.

In modern parlance, the Clinton campaign got owned:

We beat CNN in publishing the news about former Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew’s switch from Clinton to Obama this morning, but the endorsements haven’t ended there. Also added to Obama’s total (by us but not yet by the official Barack Obama campaign) are three more superdelegates - Mayor Daley; Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago); and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger because of this report.

Hillary Clinton picked up an extra delegate to make up for losing Joe Andrew too.

Since the 22 April Pennsylvania primary these are the new declarations:

Endorsements for Obama
Joe Andrew (IN), DNC - 1 May 2008
Jeff Bingaman (NM), Senator - 28 Apr 2008
Bruce Braley (IA), Representative - 30 Apr 2008
Lois Capps (CA), Representative - 30 Apr 2008
Ben Chandler (KY), Representative - 29 Apr 2008
Richard M. Daley (IL), Add-On - 1 May 2008
Charlene Fernandez (AZ), DNC & State Vice Chair - 26 Apr 2008
Barbara Flynn Currie (IL), Add-On - 1 May 2008
Brad Henry (OK), Governor - 23 Apr 2008
Baron Hill (IN), Representative - 30 Apr 2008
Richard Machacek (IA), DNC - 29 Apr 2008
Audra Ostergard (NE), DNC & State Vice Chair - 23 Apr 2008
John Patrick (TX), DNC - 1 May 2008
Todd Stroger (IL), Add-On - 1 May 2008
David Wu (OR), Representative - 24 Apr 2008

Endorsements for Clinton
Carmen Arroyo, Add-On - 1 May 2008
Luisette Cabanas (PR), DNC & Territory Vice Chair - 30 Apr 2008
Andrew Cuomo (NY), Add-On - 1 May 2008
Thomas DiNapoli, Add-On - 1 May 2008
Mike Easley (NC), Governor - 28 Apr 2008
William George (PA), DNC - 30 Apr 2008
John Olsen (CT), DNC - 1 May 2008
Ike Skelton (MO), Representative, 29 Apr 2008
Kathy Sullivan (NH), Add-On - 26 Apr 2008
John Tanner (TN), Representative - 23 Apr 2008
C. Virginia Field (NY), Add-On - 1 May 2008

It’s all too plain that the majority of the declarations are still going in Obama’s favour. Let’s hope the remaining superdelegates heed Joe Andrew’s call to endorse and end this divisive contest soon. We can all turn our attention to the real fight ahead against McCain then.

* UPDATE: John Patrick (TX), DNC has also endorsed Obama today and has been added to the list above. John Patrick previously endorsed John Edwards for President, who has of course suspended his campaign but not himself endorsed either Obama or Clinton.

* UPDATE TWO: The Clinton campaign is reporting that it has today picked-up 4 new Supers - so-called “At large” or “add-on” delegates which were selected by the New York state party today. These are: Andrew Cuomo; Thomas DiNapoli; C. Virginia Field; and Carmen Arroyo. Despite this article looking as disjointed as the USA Today article we linked to yesterday, we have added these to the list above too.

As of this second update, the Barack Obama campaign (which is not yet counting the three Illinois Supers we have added) says that it is now 283 delegates from winning the nomination.

The second finalist in the Obama in 30 seconds ad contest is called “loud and clear”: