Some of you may know, although I am relatively new to this community, that I have been elected as a Barack Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.  

I am so thrilled to be a part of this candidacy and working hard to help the Democrats win the White House this November.  

But I am in a quandary.  Never have I been in a situation that I find myself as of late, financially.  Always employable in the past, I am now sitting in a bizarre void.  I have been sending resumes, interviewing, you name it, but alas, nothing has broken for some time.  I am seeing my bank account and IRA dwindle to nothing and watch my credit card statements go through the roof.  I am sincerely stuck folks in finding a way to get to Denver.

Hey everyone,

I am starting to get the hang of this blogging stuff so here comes another one. A few days ago I decided to run for the position of pledged delegate for Senator Obama in the lovely Commonwealth of Kentucky.Thus far it has been an interesting experience. Kentucky, unlike many other states, chooses it's delegates through a two stage convention system. Both conventions I have to miss on account of summer law classes and a close friends wedding. But I am still fighting diligently. I have begun by emailing my newly elected county chairwoman and presenting a detailed history of my political activities.I know hardly anyone here is in my district or much less cares about this peculiar process but I thought I aughta share.

I am trying to be a national delegate for Barack Obama from the state of Minnesota.
I was nominated at my Congressional district convention but didn't get elected.
My first speech was about my resume as a state party member and it didn't inspire anyone, even my own county delegation. I have one more chance and I thought I would get some feedback from my fellow Kossacks.

Yes, I know it is based on a projection of the results of the three remaining primaries....

Yes, I know the goal line will likely move in two days when the DNC meets to decide the fate of MI/FL....

Yes, I know it is unlikely the DNC will decide to give MI/Fl zero delegates, so this may be much ado about nothing...

But according to a fairly conservative Obama total from those states, Barack Obama now has enough Super delegates to put him over the top and clinch the nomination under the current rules.

Here's how:
Pledged: = 1,660.5 (DCW, GP)
Super: = 318.5 (DCW, including 2 from today)
Total = 1,979
46 Needed for 2,025
39 = Projected total from remaining 3 primaries (22,9,8)+
7 Pelosi Club delegates = 46
1,979 + 46 = 2,025 = game over.

I know it will only be a 2 day celebration, but still, a cause for celebration nonetheless.

More detail below the jump.

Hooray! According to my calculations, Obama has now clinched the majority of pledged delegates under any plausible MI/FL scenario. This is the case under the most Clinton friendly scenario: counting MI/FL as is w/ Obama getting the 55 uncommitted delegates from MI (as PocketNines has already pointed out: Obama already has 31 of them named & declared for him).

This is a short diary, all pure joy.

GP+DCW: 3,253 pledged delegates + 313 from FL/MI (185 and 128) = 3,566
Half = 1,783 + 0.5 = 1,783.5 for a Majority.

Obama has 1,659.5 pledged (including the 2 NH Edwards delegates today).

Obama has 124 pledged delegate from MI and FL. The original 67 form FL, + 2 Edwards FL delegates + 55 from MI (31 already named and pledged) = 124.

1,659.5 + 124 = 1,783.5. Only 1,782.5 available.

OBAMA NOW HAS A MAJ OF PLEDGED DELEGATES!

Next Up: 2,025.5 and either 2,117.5 or 2,209.5.

Sorry if this has been covered already somewhere else, but in my joy, I had to get it out there.

Let's put this baby to bed!

(cross posted at The Dead Guy)

On March 28, over at Chris Weigant's blog, Chris asked his readers to place their bets (in quatloos) when Clinton would drop out of the Presidential race. Well, I've done pretty well so far. I predicted that Obama would surpass Clinton in Superdelegates before the West Virginia primary (got it right) and several of my delegate totals from the primaries were darn close (I didn't do so well on my original delegate estimate for Indiana). Also, I was only 1 day off for the John Edwards endorsement of Obama. My final prediction is Clinton drops out on June 16, just 31 days from now.

27. This is the magic number.

We need everyones help to make this a legitimate process.

One of the last arguements that the Clinton Campaign against the impossible math she faces is that the Pledged Delegates are not really "pledged"  Well in the category "Be Careful what your wish for" from the great state of Maryland:

Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, a Democratic convention delegate pledged to support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said yesterday that he thinks Sen. Barack Obama has "in a real sense" won the Democratic nomination and that he now plans to support Obama at the August convention.

I have mixed feelings about this.  While this again shows how deep the feeling goes for Obama, and how far his support goes, I wonder if this will set off a poaching war on the delegates.  

I am currently mulling my hat options.

Here we go . . . .

The Missouri State Democratic Convention was held yesterday, May 10 in Columbia Missouri.

Senator Clinton has been beaten in the pledged delegate count, the media has declared her all but defeated and she's out of money. But now that Barack Obama's competitor is out of the way, what will it take to make him the nominee? According to this estimate, the endorsements of 32 superdelegates.

Jim Neal is the progressive candidate in North Carolina's Primary this Tuesday May 6.  He is up against Kay Hagan, a conservative Dem who was apparently nudged by the DSCC to run soon after Jim affirmed in a press interview that he was openly gay.  I first learned about Neal through the netroots and through an article on 365gay.com about his candidacy his candidacy.  After hearing about the campaign, I decided to take a look at the candidates' sites themselves.  Even a quick glance reveals tremendous differences.  Jim is a true progressive on everything from healthcare to gay rights to the Iraq War.  He is also taking a great step forward for all gay Americans by having the courage to be himself and run for office.  We must band together and do what we can to get Jim elected!  Please visit his site, donate, spread the word, and read below the fold for more.

By now, most of my friends and family know that I am a supporter of Senator Obama.  But prior to my involvement with Senator Obama, I was a typical voter - I voted, but that was about it. I was never really involved. Then I came across his 2004 nominating speech.  I was amazed.  I ordered "The Audacity of Hope" and when it came, started to read it right away.  In the prologue of the book, Senator Obama tells of a media consultant who was encouraging him to run for statewide office in Illinois. The meeting had been scheduled for late September, 2001.

From "The Audacity of Hope," by Barack Obama.

“You realize, don’ t you, that the political dynamics have changed, he said, picking at his salad. “What do you mean?”, I asked, knowing full well what he meant. We both looked down at the newspaper beside him. There, on the front page, was a picture of Osama bin Laden. “Hell of a thing, isn’t it? he said, shaking his head. “Really bad luck. You can’t change your name, of course, Voters are suspicious of that sort of thing.”

To:  info@hillaryclinton.com
Cc:  
Subject: Re: Every vote should count

Dear Hillary Clinton:

First, I need to know, how did you get this e-mail address? And who gave you my phone number? For the love of Allah, please stop harassing me!

For the record, I am not a low-information voter, so this BS doesn't fly with me. I lived in Florida during the illegitimate primary. There was no contest for the nomination, and everyone knew the votes wouldn’t count (hence my move to PA). We both know that had Obama campaigned there, he would have closed up your lead. And Michigan? I'm not even going to dignify that one with a response.

If, as it seems, this is a desperate ploy to catch Obama’s massive lead in the popular vote, I must advise you, since your million dollar consultants apparently didn’t clue you in, this is a delegate race; you are wasting your time peddling this scam. Also, of course, we can't ignore the hypocrisy that this specious argument reeks of--you are seeking to disenfranchise the caucus states. I realize you believe this pitiful argument might sway some superdelegates, but, again, they are also high-information voters.

So I submitted my Statement of Candidacy for Texas Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention today. The statement itself was simple enough; basic identification, demographic and contact information. Then came the actual tossing of the hat:

I request that my name be considered for Delegate/Alternate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, August 25-28th, in Denver, Colorado. Please consider me for the following Delegate categories:

I. Pledged Senatorial District 16.

Yes! I was now in contention for a coveted National Delegate from Texas position and would hereafter be presenting my case to voting members of the SD-16 delegation all the way to the floor of the Texas State Democratic Convention in Austin this coming June. But the next line of the form was the best of all: Pledging for Barack!

I certify that I voted in the March 4, 2008 Democratic Primary and hereby pledge my support to: Senator Barack Obama.

There. I was officially pledged to Obama. Just let the Hillary people try to get this delegate to disavow a personal pledge and switch candidates. So far so good...

My name is Rohn Jay Miller and I’m running this Saturday at the CD5 convention in Minneapolis to become an Obama delegate to the Democratic national convention in Denver.    

You may have seen my posts this year here and at other Minnesota political blogs like www.mnblue.com.

And there lies the heart of my pitch to be elected: I’m a blogger, and I want to go to the Democratic Convention in Denver to blog as a delegate participating as a member of the Minnesota delegation.

As most people know Hillary Clinton can't catch Obama in pledge delegates and the only way she can get the nomination is if super delegates give her the nomination. I believe that if the super delegates disregard the pledge delegates and give the nominee to Hillary Clinton there will be anarchy at the convention.

So I been wondering what Kool Aid has she been giving to her supporters to make them believe she can still win the nomination. Well I've found the recipe for Hillary's Kool Aid.

On Meet the Press this morning, Geoff Garin turned in an all around stinker of a performance botching his candidate’s flip-flop on MoveOn.org as well as being caught completely off-guard in regards to Hillary’s military interventionist policy. In between his glaring lack of knowledge in regards to his candidate’s position on foreign policy and her true feelings about core elements of the Democratic base, he slipped in two gems about delegates that merit further analysis.  At the outset of MTP, Garin said this:

"Neither candidate is gonna have enough pledged delegates to win the nomination ... the 2200 plus that are needed."

Later on, Garin went on to make that point again:

"I think it’s time to fold the tent when somebody gets to that number of 2200 delegates."