John McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee, has chosen Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate. Here’s the email the campaign sent out:

I am honored to announce that I have chosen Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as my choice for the Republican nominee for Vice President. As a father with three daughters, I can’t express how proud I am to choose the first female Republican Vice-Presidential nominee.

Sarah Palin is a trailblazer and a reformer. As the first female governor of Alaska, she challenged a corrupt system and has been a tireless advocate for reform - passing a landmark bill on ethics reform. She has taken on the old politics in Alaska and reformed the state’s energy industry. She rejects wasteful pork barrel spending. She’s fearless - exactly the type of leader I want at my side and the type of leadership we will bring to Washington.

My friends, together Sarah Palin and I make the strongest presidential ticket and I know that she joins me in asking for your support as we head into our Convention week in Minnesota. We’re shaking things up in this campaign - and Governor Palin and I are ready to bring real reform to Washington.

The polls indicate this will be a tight race as we head into the fall campaign against Senators Obama and Biden. I expect the polls to remain close all the way up to Election Day and that is why any help you can give today will go a long way to make history on November 4th.

You can be assured that as President and Vice President, Governor Palin and I will always put country before all else. We are ready to lead and I ask that you join our campaign today. Your support is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,

John McCain

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

McCain Team -

Today we’re launching a new feature called McCain Nation and we want you to be the first to know. McCain Nation is a powerful online tool, built exclusively for our supporters across the country to plan events to help spread John McCain’s message.

Through the McCain Nation online headquarters you can create events, upload and invite your contacts, send out invitations, get maps and directions, and much more. You can also search for events in your area and ask hosts to attend. Connecting with other McCain supporters on the ground is crucial to our grassroots strategy and will be key to our victory in November.

Please follow this link to join McCain Nation today and host an event for John McCain! Our first national event will be held on Thursday, August 14th at 7pm ET, and we’re asking you to start planning your event right away. McCain Nation events across the country will have the opportunity to interact with a prominent McCain campaign official as part of the first national event day. Event hosts will also receive a host package and have exclusive access to other resources.

If you’re unable to host an event, you can also visit McCain Nation to search for events in your area to attend. And if August 14th doesn’t work out with your schedule, you can plan an event at a date and time that works best for you and your guests through the online headquarters.

Please visit the McCain Nation website today. We look forward to a successful national event day on August 14th.

Thanks for your support!

Rick Davis
Campaign Manager

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

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.”

Here’s an email the McCain campaign sent out showing how John McCain is prepared to tackle health care issues as president:

Straight Talk On Health Care
Today, there are 47 million uninsured individuals in the U.S., and nearly a quarter of them are children. High costs and limited access are the underlying, fundamental problems in our healthcare system.

As you know, both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are touting outrageously expensive and unrealistic universal health care plans - a government monopoly over health care.

Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation’s problems can be solved by turning control over to our government, with all the tax increases, new mandates and government regulation that come with that idea.

Today, our campaign began running a television ad focused on health care - that you can view by following this link - to ensure all Americans hear the truth about how I plan to tackle the challenges facing our nation’s health care system. To ensure this important ad is aired in as many markets as possible, I’m asking for your immediate financial assistance.

I believe the key to real reform is to restore control over our health care system to the patients themselves. Americans need new choices beyond those offered in employment-based coverage.

That’s why, as president, I will seek to encourage and expand the benefits of Health Savings Accounts, tax-preferred accounts that are used to pay insurance premiums and other health costs. These accounts put the family in charge of what they pay for.

In addition, I will reform the tax code to provide every family the option of receiving a direct, refundable tax deposit - effectively $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 cash for families to offset the cost of insurance.

The reality is that both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, in their haste to garner support for their so-called “solutions,” are promising more than they can deliver. And, once again, they are simply out-of-touch with the real problems facing our health care system and how to solve them.

Here are the facts: Under the Democrats’ plan, we will have all the problems, and more, of the current health care system - rigid rules, long waits and lack of choices - and we risk degrading the system’s great strengths and advantages, including the innovation and life-saving technology that make American medicine the most advanced in the world.

My friends, this is not my definition of real reform.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

John McCain

P.S. While my Democratic opponents continue to believe that our government can solve all of our problems, I am prepared to offer practical, common sense solutions to the problem of rapidly rising health care costs and access in America. I urge you to join with me today and help me take our message to the American people.

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.