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.

Wind power could provide for 20% of all electricity needs in 20 years from now, an Energy Department report states. The Associated Press points out that this is just as much energy as nuclear power provides us today.

If wind power provides for 20% of energy needs by 2030, that would be because of advancements and expansions of the technology. If nuclear power provides for 20% of today’s energy needs, imagine how much it could provide for in 20 years from now, with technological advancements and expansion. Combined, they could cover around, or possibly more than 50% of the nations energy needs. With major advancements in other renewable technologies such as solar energy, the number could be even greater. This would be a major step forward for the U.S. in breaking away from reliance on foreign oil. The information that the report mentions however, is only what is possible. This could become true if enough people press for expansion of alternative energy sources, and if companies are willing to expand into these fields.

Source >

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.

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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