In the last few days there was much of discourse among progressives about the Obama campaign's direction towards the center. The healthy critisism, of course, is always helpful. But I am not so sure about calls to withdraw donations to Obama in the midst of GE which popped on this blog. The proponents of this idea are quick to point out that they'll vote for Obama anyway.

But is it enough?    

Where do we stop in expressing our dissatisfaction with Obama or his campaign? Donation withdrawal? Volunteering withdrawal? Registration drive withdrawal? To what end?  

Scott McClellan, former Bush's press secretary, continues causing trouble for his old boss' party.

McClellan did not endorse Obama formally. Not yet. But McClellan sure sounded like when he praised Obama and predicted that Obama will win in a landslide.

McClellan thinks Obama will win precisely because he opposes the confrontational culture in Washington which Mr Bush has fostered during his eight years in power.

Yes, he did again. Oh, these foreign countries, with these foreign names... They force McCain to always have some advisor attached to his hip, to make sure he does not say something ... er silly.

First, it was Joe "Schmuck" Lieberman who came to McCain's rescue. Now, McCain's advisor, Salter, had to correct GOP foreign policy guru who, after years of genocide in Darfur still thinks it's Somalian capital:

The alleged assault took place in June of 1996 as gourp of Vietman vets & members of their familites waited for McCain to hand him a letter asking him to forego an amendment to the Missing Service Personnel Act (MSPA) of 2005 which was drafted and proposed by McCain. The McCain's amendment to MSPA was widely viewed as running counter to veterans' interests.

There were 5 witnesses to the incident. Here's the account from Carol Hrdlicka, wife of Vietnam War POW/MIA air force pilot Col. David Hrdlicka:

Recent national polls (however meaningless they might be in the Fall) are pretty consistent showing Obama up anywhere from 3 to 6 points. With exception, of course, of a recent Newsweek Poll showing him up by 15.

LA Times/ Bloomberg just recently released a new national poll numbers. It mostly agrees withy Newsweek. Obamna 49- McSame 37

http://www.latimes.com/...

Crosstabs after the fold.

Not much of a diary but I figure it's rather important.

Drudge reports that Obama and Hillary will campaign together next Friday.

http://www.drudgereport.com/

Ben Smith confirms as much. The source is the Obama campaign.  

http://www.politico.com/...

No other details (location) yet. Will update when they come.

Remember all these people telling us just a few weeks ago that Obama will not win over Latino voters? Just a couple of weeks ago, Kinky Friedman on Imus show was barely containing himself saying that there was only one Latino who voted for Obama in El Paso.

We don't hear this as much, don't we? Poll after poll proves this notion wrong.

A new national survey (done by Pacific Market Research and University of Washington) of Latino voters shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with a nearly 3-to-1 advantage over his rival, Republican John McCain. Obama lead 60-23 which is consistent with other recent polls.

I never really liked Gov. Strickland (OH) since his reaction to "shame on you" rant. Many though thought that he can deliver Ohio, a crucial state.

Well, today, Strickland unequivocally discrarded a possibility of running on the ticket.

Slimy Ickes does some double-talk. After asserting that Hillary has no plans to quit after Tuesdays' primaries, he implies different to Hillary's contributors:

In a conference call with major donors this afternoon, contributors were told by Harold Ickes, a senior Clinton adviser, that she was unlikely to pull out of the race until the issue of her massive debts was resolved. The New York senator has lent her own campaign at least $11.5 million.

Not really a diary but some interesting news.

Halperin reports that Barack Obama plans to give his Tuesday victory speech at St. Pauls's Xcel Energy Center — site of Republican convention and in a swing state.

http://thepage.time.com/...

Take it home, Barack!

Under the  threat of the Clintons' not so subtle blackmailing, which included apparent plans to continue active campaigning beyond June 3,  Dems leadership prepares to step in to prevent any further damage.  

Dean, Pelosi & Reid spoke today about wrapping up this primary soon after June 3rd, even if Clintons persist. Their message is unequivocal indeed.

One would think that Gov. Rendell (PA), as a former DNC chairman during the painful 2000 campaign, should know something about the party's unity during presidential election cycle.

Thus, even though he was a strong supporter of Hillary all along, one would expect that he would "downsize" his rhetoric now, when even he admits that:

[He] think it's very unlikely that Senator Clinton can prevail..  

The pressure continues to mount on Hillary to quit after next Tuesday's primaries.

Virginia Governor, Tim Kaine (who is Obama's supporter), was the latest politician to imply (not so subtly) that Hillary must quit next week.

If anyone still doubts that the race is over, the latest Montana poll should help. Who's that "anyone" might be? Bill, for instance. He's still out there, munching on hot dogs, spreading his dilusion in Montana, telling people that:

Clinton victories in Montana and South Dakota on June 3 would boost her claim that she deserves the party's nomination - and could persuade key superdelegates to support her.

"She can still be nominated. Don't let anybody kid you," the former president said as the crowd of several hundred cheered. "All these superdelegates that have said they're for this one or that one or the other, they can all flip. So you do matter."

http://www.billingsgazette.net/...

Today, McCain threw Rev. Hagee under the bus.

But as Hagee exits the spotllight, another McCain's pastor remains basking there.

Meet Rev. Parsley, Senior Pastor of the World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio.

McCain is delighted to have good Rev. support:

I am very honored today to have one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide, Pastor Rod Parsley who is here. Thank you for your leadership and your guidance. I'm very grateful you're here.

As Hillary continues stalking Obama in Florida, talking about winning the popular vote, and show no inclinitation of helping to unite this party, Dems need its remaining uncomitted supers to end this. There's no reason to wait. Indeed, many supers promissed to vote for whoever wins pledged delegates race.  

Chuck says that, assuming Obama splits remaining pledged delegates in 3 upcoming races, he'll need endorsement from mere 20-25 supers to reach the magic number of 2026. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/

Miss. DNC Chair, Wayne Dowdy, just endorsed Obama:

If Obama splits today's races, with 10 more supers, he will be only about 50 delegates from clinching the nomination.

What the hell was Hillary talking about when
she said today that she had not only won more popular votes than Senator Barack Obama, she had won states totaling far more electoral votes? When she claimed today, once again, "if we had same rules as the Republicans, I would be the nominee right now"?

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/...

Why all this nonsense now?