Here’s a really nice profile of Barack Obama from the DNC 2008

The Democratic Party announced today that they are making a huge change in their policy. The party is banning all contributions from lobbyists or special interest groups, in order to ensure fairness to the people within the party and the government. “The Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests,” says an email from Howard Dean of the Democratic party. Indeed, this is a huge step forward in United States government, helping ensure that it by the people, for the people — not just for powerful groups who oftentimes go against the people.

Here’s an email that the Democratic Party sent out:

Dear Friend,

I wanted to drop you a quick note about a major policy change here at the Democratic Party.

As we move toward the general election, the Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests. So, as of this morning, if you’re a federal lobbyist, or if you control political action committee donations, we won’t be accepting your contribution.

This is an unprecedented move for a political party to make — one that has sent shockwaves through Washington and has turned the debate on clean campaigns upside down. We’ve unilaterally agreed to shut lobbyists out of the process, and are we’re relying on people just like you.

Just imagine what hundreds of thousands of Americans donating $20, $30, or $50 at a time can accomplish together. Imagine the signal that it sends to anyone who looks at John McCain’s political machine and the special interest money it needs to fuel every move it makes.

We have a chance to change the way business is done in this country, and we’re taking the lead. Will you join us and make a contribution right now to help us elect Barack Obama?

http://www.democrats.org/nonlobbyists

I’ve written before about guys like Charlie Black and Rick Davis, lobbyists who are at the highest levels of McCain’s campaign. But they’re just the start — John McCain and the RNC suck up lobbyist money millions of dollars at a time.

In May, McCain had his best fundraising month of the campaign, and it was directly because he refuses to shut special interests out.

But we did, and we need your help. This is an example of the kind of White House Barack Obama would run. Make a contribution to help elect him:

http://www.democrats.org/nonlobbyists

I’ll be in touch later about our plans for the general election, but I wanted to let you know about our policy change right away.

Thanks,

Howard Dean

Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
The total number of delegates needed to secure the nomination is 2,118. Right now, Barack has the support of at least 2,179 delegates, which gives him a lock on the nomination.

Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee, but we’ve got huge challenges ahead as we build our organization for the general election.

John McCain has been running his general election campaign for months, and we have some catching up to do.

But one of the benefits of this historic primary season is that we had a chance to build our grassroots organization in all 50 states.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to mobilize volunteers everywhere and compete in places that Democrats have overlooked in the past.

Last night, Barack laid out the vision for where this campaign is headed.

Thank you,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy has a tumor in his brain, doctors say.

He is one of country’s leading democrats and a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate.

He is currently at home recovering from a seizure.

Hillary Clinton has won the Kentucky Democratic primaries, beating rival Barack Obama by a margin of about 35 points. She captured about 65% of the vote, while Obama captured around 30%.

Barack Obama is expected to beat Hillary in the Oregon primaries. Less than 50% of the precincts have been counted, but media agencies have already begun calling Obama the winner.

Obama is leading in both delegates and superdelegates. CNN is currently counting Obama with 1,942 delegates, and Clinton with 1,cu758.

Supporters of John Edwards have begun shifting their support towards Barack Obama. Edwards, the former Democratic presidential candidate, endorsed Barack Obama for President on Wednesday at a rally in Michigan. CNN is saying that at least eight delegates who have pledged their votes to Edwards will be switching to Obama, and more are expected to follow.

Nine house members who previously supported Edwards have also announced their support for Obama, and seven superdelegates have switched their pledge to Obama.

Sources: CNN, Washington Post.

The Obama campaign is saying that John Edwards is preparing to endorse Sen. Barack Obama as the 2008 Democratic nominee and candidate for President.

The endorsement is set to take place at a rally tonight in Michigan.

John Edwards has said time and again that he was not ready to endorse any particular candidate, but he appears ready now to break his silence. Aides to Edwards say he is choosing Obama because he feels he would be best fit for the job, although he did heavily take into account his lack of experience when deciding whether or not to make this public endorsement.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been courting Edwards for his vote in recent months.

More on this story as it develops.

Hillary Clinton is the winner of the West Virginia Democratic primaries, where she took 65% of the vote in a landslide victory over rival Barack Obama. News media and television networks were quick to project her as the winner, even with no official results tallied. Barack Obama has taken about 28% of the vote, still being tallied. Obama is leading Clinton, however, in the amount of primaries won, amount of delegates received, and amount of superdelegates pledged.

Hillary Clinton is using the results of this primary to show why she should remain in the race, after mounting pressure that she should withdraw.

This was sent on a campaign email:

After tonight’s tremendous victory here in West Virginia, it’s clear that the pundits declaring this race over have it all wrong. The voters in West Virginia spoke loud and clear — they want this contest to go on.

She is showing high hopes for future primaries. She states in the same email that she is “going to carry the energy of tonight’s victory into the next contests in Kentucky and Oregon…We’ve proved conventional wisdom wrong time and again in this race. We did it again tonight in West Virginia. Let’s keep going.”

Hillary Clinton is the winner of the Pennsylvania Democratic primaries, winning over Barack Obama an estimated 8 to 10 points.
This was a much needed win for the Clinton campaign. Although Hillary will get the majority of Pennsylvania’s delegates, Obama is still ahead in the overall count.
Now that the Pennsylvania primaries are over, the aggressive campaigning there by candidates will come to an end.
Not too long from now, prominent members of the Democratic party called superdelegates will vote for the Democratic Presidential nominee in the Democratic National Convention.

On Thursday nights episode of the Colbert Report, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards all made surprise appearances.

The Colbert Report spent the week broadcasting from Philadelphia to cover the Pennsylvania primary (which actually matters this election season). They did a really great job, and fans of the show most definitely would like to see it happen again.

It all started like this: Stephen’s screen started to fail (rainbow bar style), and Jimmy couldn’t fix it because all of the Report’s tech guys were back in New York… Out of nowhere, Hillary Clinton pops in and offers her help. She telly Jimmy to toggle the switch of the ox[something], and what do you know — Hillary Clinton fixes the screen! She also calls some of the staff to fix Stephen’s makeup, and than walks away. Colbert praises Clinton on the fact that she’s always prepared for any situation. Before she goes, she tells Stephen to call her anytime — “even at 3:00 am.” They didn’t really have any campaign related discussion, so Hillary might have just been in it for a quick Colbert bump.

Fast forward a little bit further into the episode: Stephen Colbert begins discussing how important the white male demographic of voters is to the election. He starts off about how there used to be a candidate that embraced the values of and represented that demographic, but he is long gone from the election. He’s talking about John Edwards. All the sudden, Edwards pops up from back stage, and begins about how he is the most sought after white-male voter by each of the active Democratic Presidential campaigns. He starts off with a segment called Ed-Words, like Colbert’s popular “The Word” segment, but with John Edwards as a host. He goes on about how the Clinton and Obama campaigns are courting him in for an endorsement, and how he’s not ready to commit. He is also apparently very fond of Jet-skis.

At the end of the show, just as Colbert is about to wrap up, Barack Obama’s head pops up on screen (he comes on via a video feed from outside the studio). After all, he’s not one to miss out on all the action. Together, they change The Colbert Report’s ‘Watch List’ to include distractions by the media towards irrelevant and silly situations such as Obama’s lapel pin ordeal.

Well, The Colbert Report did a fantastic job with their Doritos Presidential campaign coverage, and they ended the week in style with a politician-studded episode.

Also, be sure to vote for Stephen Colbert as the most influential person of 2008 at Time.com. This is proof of his growing influence in politics and entertainment.

[NOTE: Videos are now available.]
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