Democratic Campaign Chatter 6-4-2008

Writing about history being made last evening was quite an experience. For those who may have missed it, here is the video of Obama's speech last night from St. Paul Minnesota.

Today, lets recap the results from the voters in S. Dakota and Montana yesterday. S. Dakota - Clinton 55% and Obama 45%, Montana - Obama 57%, Clinton 43%. There were a total of 31 pledged delegates and it appears the split will be Obama 16 and Clinton 15.

For those who said the long primary was hurting the democratic party, count me in on with those who say this primary season resulted in an energized and reinvigorated party with record increases in voter registration. Allowing the voters from all the states to weigh in and have an important voice in their choice to be the candidate for President has been great for the party. In fact, when they are planning the calendar for 2012, this should be kept in mind. The focus has been on the democrats and the republicans and McCain have been unable to receive media attention.

Having said that, it is now important for Senator Obama to have a positive outcome in the eventual exit from the campaign from Senator Clinton. It is obvious that Senator Clinton wants to be considered for the Vice President and she wants her proposed universal health care program to receive consideration.

Politico.com has a good read entitled "Obama's first test: Handling Hillary". This is true for Bob Johnson, the Billionaire who founded BET has started a push to have Clinton picked as VP. Clinton long time supporter and attorney, Lanny Davis has also started a petition drive and a website to support her as the choice for vice-president.

Although this has been a long hard fought campaign with close supporters of both Obama and Clinton having some bitterness, it is important for the democrats that they come together to defeat McCain in the Fall. Regardless of who a voter supported, Senator Clinton only lost by a few hundred delegates out of over 4000 and may have won the popular vote. Also important to note, is in the Fall, women make up 53-57% of the democratic voters. While Clinton lost, it is critical to recognize the historical aspect of her effort and the huge support she received from the voters.

New Total Delegate Count - Superdelegates were endorsing Obama by the dozens last night and today the numbers read Obama 2165, Clinton 1923.

Here is a article in the HuffingtonPost.com entitled "Obama to Head to Appalachia In First Week as Presidential Nominee". You may recall Obama did not fare well here and this article points out recent polls show him gaining on McCain.