Cross-posted at Purple State Pundit.

I went to West Virginia Sunday with one of my coworkers to campaign for Obama. We went to Martinsburg, which is in the northeastern tip of the state, near the area where West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania all come together.

For a Jewish girl who grew up in New Jersey, West Virginia was a bit of a culture shock. Martinsburg is only two hours from my apartment in Northern Virginia, but it felt like it may as well be a different country. I had been to West Virginia once before, canvassing for Kerry in 2004, but the area we visited then seemed a lot more suburban and familiar than where we were Sunday.

I want to make it clear at the outset that I in no way look down on the people of West Virginia. The culture shock I felt and my fear of canvassing there has to do with my own insecurity, feeling like an out of touch elitist who talks too fast and has lived on the East Coast my whole life.

Immediately upon arriving in Martinsburg Sunday, we saw a car with a Confederate flag decal. Not exactly the most encouraging sign when you're about to knock on people's doors and tell them to vote for a black man.

Cross-Posted at Purple State Pundit.

I know there have been a lot of diaries already about Clinton's "hard working whites" comment, but I'm hoping to provide a balanced, civil approach. First, I want to say that I don't think she was trying to imply that black people are not hard-working. If anything, I think it was the opposite...I think she said "hard working people" and then clarified that she meant white people, so as not to imply that black people are not hard-working. If she had just said "hard working people" and not added "white people", it might have sounded as if she was saying that the 90% of African Americans who have been voting for Obama don't work hard.

That said, her comments are still offensive, because she is essentially asking the superdelegates to count the votes of certain demographic groups more heavily than others, and she is essentially making the argument that she is more electable because she's white.

I've been on the ground in different parts of the Philadelphia area for 3 days now, and I apologize for not blogging earlier.

Day 1
On Saturday morning, I got up early and left my apartment in Northern Virginia at 7 AM to drive up to Philly. I went to Haverford first, to pick up my grandmother, and then we went to the Obama rally in Wynnewood, which is a fairly upper-income, largely white suburb with a lot of Jews. I went to high school in that area, so I know it well, and have been doing a lot of canvassing in that area.

We all remember how just as the polls in Ohio were shifting Obama's way, the Clinton campaign dropped a bomb shell and accused Obama's campaign of giving a wink-wink to the Canadians on NAFTA. That was credited as one of the reasons for her big victory in Ohio.

Today, the weekend before the Pennsylvania primary, it appears there's a new wrinkle. According to ABC's blog, James Blanchard, former Governor of Michigan, a Michigan state co-chair of Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign and one of her major "HillRaiser" fundraisers and a former US Ambassador to Canada, told the Canadians not to worry about Clinton's pledge to renegotiate NAFTA if elected.

Cross-posted at Purple State Pundit.

As promised, here is my latest canvassing report. I drove up from DC this morning and arrived at the Obama headquarters in Wynnewood, PA, right outside Philadelphia, around 2 PM.

They sent me to Narberth, which is in Montgomery County, less than 10 minutes from Philly. As I said in my previous post, I went to high school right around there, so I know the area pretty well. Most of the people I talked to today were white, upper-middle class, ages 30-55.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, especially after getting not such great vibes at the ACME in Narberth 2 weeks ago when I was there doing voter registration (this was when the media was still playing Reverend Wright ad nauseum).

But I am pleased to report that of the people I talked to today, I identified 8 Obama supporters, 3 undecided, and only 1 Clinton supporter.

Cross-posted at Purple State Pundit.

Call me crazy, but I believe it's quite possible. Obama hinted last week that his fundraising has slowed down from its record pace in February, and we know that Clinton raised at least $5 million right after March 4.

In addition to the online surge following March 4, it's likely that a lot of big donors who had been holding back to see if she was still viable donated to Clinton. And she had the Elton John concert the other night that probably brought in a lot of money.

Obama probably raised some money after March 4 as well, as it's likely that some of his donors were holding back to see if the primary race would continue before donating. But given that his campaign did not put out their own number when Clinton's team announced how much she had raised, it's unlikely that he raised as much.

If Hillary Clinton gets the nomination, I don't owe her my vote.

But I owe it to all of the brave men and women who will be stuck in Iraq for at least another four years if McCain wins to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I owe it to the working people who are struggling and can't afford four more years of Bush-like economic policies to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I owe it to the people who can't wait four more years for health care to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I owe it to everyone who has fought for women's rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and other progress that could be undone by another Republican-appointed Supreme Court justice to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I owe it to the children and grandchildren I might have someday who will inherit a huge national debt burden if our government does not change course to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I owe it to all who have been victimized around the world by the Bush Administration's arrogant foreign policy to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I owe it to those who fought for progress before me and those who will inherit this country after me to vote for the Democratic nominee.

I grew up in the Philadelphia area and went to high school in Montgomery County, right outside the city. So I came up for the weekend to help the Obama campaign register new voters and help people who wanted to switch their registration to Democrat to vote in the primary.

Some background on the area: Montgomery County is an upper-income area with a large Jewish population, particularly in the part closest to Philadelphia. It used to be a Republican stronghold, and registered Republicans still outnumber registered Democrats, in part because most of the local government is still Republican. But Kerry carried the county by 12 points in 2004, and there are a lot of people who have voted Democrat for at least the last 2 presidential elections and voted for Rendell for governor both times but never changed their registration. So in addition to signing up new voters (most people in areas like this are already registered), one of the main objectives was to get these people to register as Democrats so they could vote for Obama in the primary.

Bottom line impression: the Wright "scandal" (I prefer to call it a character assassination) has definitely hurt Obama, but it hasn't killed him. He still has plenty of support, but it didn't feel like as much of an Obama stronghold as I thought it would be.

I've supported Barack Obama since Iowa, and I will admit that it makes me proud to be volunteering for the first African American with a real shot at becoming president. I have met African American supporters and it's moving to see how proud of him they are. I've gone canvassing in predominantly black neighborhoods and felt the excitement, seeing multiple yard signs already in place, talking to excited voters, and noticing on the way out that one woman had put the doorhanger I had given her in her window to publicly show her support.

Despite my pride in being part of Obama's historic campaign, I realize now that I may have been naive, believing we could elect an African American president without having a difficult conversation as a nation about race. We already expect Obama to not only run a fully "post-racial" campaign and avoid talking about the injustices that African Americans have suffered. Is it really fair to expect him to not only avoid talking about race relations, but to have no association with more traditional black leaders who still view whites as oppressors and believe that African Americans have gotten the short end of the stick?

Four years ago, the Wisconsin primary was where Howard Dean made his last stand. After a disappointing third-place finish, Dean pulled the plug on his campaign.

I was 19 at the time, and Dean's campaign was the first presidential campaign I had ever been involved with. When I began supporting him in March of 2003, I knew he had little chance, but I liked what he had to say. In addition to working and getting ready to go away to college, much of that summer was spent attending meetups, printing up and handing out flyers locally, and taking trips to New Hampshire to knock on doors.

Seeing Dean go from long-shot to frontrunner was incredible, and seeing it all come crashing down after Iowa broke my heart. By the time Wisconsin came around, Dean's withdrawal from the race seemed inevitable, and I thought I was prepared. But when he actually dropped out, I fell apart all over again, not only because I was sad to see a great candidate go down, but because the campaign had become a part of my life that I was sad to lose.

In the past week, there has been a lot of talk about Obama's tendency to excel with the caucus format. Several theories have been presented, including a superior ground organization, campaign stops in Super Tuesday caucus states that Clinton wrote off, and favorable demographics. While these explanations, particularly the first two, are definitely factors, there may be another factor that works in Obama's favor: an enthusiasm gap. The lopsided margins in a lot of the caucus states may be partially attributed to demographics and organization, but they might also be indicative of Obama's supporters being more passionate, and thus more willing to spend the additional time participating in a caucus.

Many Clinton supporters, as well as other Democrats who are concerned about fairness, have argued that caucuses are less democratic than primaries, since they require more of the voter's time and give a shorter time frame to participate. This is a valid argument, and this article is not a defense of the caucus format. It is simply an examination of why Obama has excelled at this format, with the premise that in addition to organization and demographic factors, Obama has benefited from an advantage in terms of the enthusiasm of his supporters.

As an Obama supporter who is passionate enough about his candidacy to spend my Friday night last night making calls until 12 AM EST instead of hitting the bars like the rest of my friends, I have been disturbed by what I perceive to be counter-productive behavior on the part of fellow Obama supporters on this blog and elsewhere in cyberspace. Instead of getting into catfights with Clinton supporters and posting comments that make our candidate look bad, let's channel that energy into making more phone calls (I'm writing this while taking a break from calling Louisiana, which they really need help with) or encouraging people to donate.

I was talking to a coworker today who worked with Dean at the DNC, and we were wondering who Dean supporters were supporting this time around. I wish I could do 2 polls, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. So I made the poll about who your first choice was, before Iowa, and please use the comments to say who you are supporting now.

Before I get a thousand comments saying "Al Gore", I am limiting this poll to people who actually ran and stayed in through Iowa.

Please rec so we can get a big sample. No agenda here, just curious.

I have seen a number of people post diaries about who they voted for, where they voted, and the impressions they got from candidate presence or conversations at their polling place, so I thought it would be good to have one place to share all of those stories. I can't vote until next week, so I don't have a story to share.

If you have a story about voting problems (machine registering wrong candidate, being wrongly turned away at the polls, etc.), please don't post it here - start your own thread. Those stories are important and need to be circulated as widely as possible.

Late deciders especially: feel free to tell what made you decide.

Watching the debate last Thursday made me very proud of my party, not only because it underscored the fact that we have two great candidates for the nomination. After over 200 years of both parties nominating white males every time, I am proud that we as Democrats have decided to take a risk this year and nominate either the first woman or the first African American for president.

My preference for Obama in the primaries is pretty obvious to anyone who has read my recent comments here. But my call is not to vote for Obama. If you think Clinton is the best candidate, vote for her. If you think Obama is the best candidate, vote for him. But I beg of my fellow Democrats, as members of the party that has taken the lead in breaking down racial and gender barriers for the past 45 years, do not vote for Clinton solely because you are afraid that Americans are too racist to elect an African American, and do not vote for Obama because you are afraid America is too sexist to elect a woman.

I've seen a lot of diary entries lately from people who have recently made up or changed their minds about who to support in the primaries, and I thought we could try to quantify it with a poll. Please vote if you have made a decision or changed your mind in the past week, and don't live in a state that has already had its Democratic primary. Feel free to post comments, particularly stating why you changed and what state you are voting in, but please don't let this get ugly. I just thought it would be a fun, totally unscientific gage of the mood among netroots activists.

I hope this doesn't seem like a shameless plug, but if people who think this is interesting could recommend it, we could keep it up longer and get more responses.

This is just a hypothetical straw poll, driven mostly out of curiousity (and a debate with a coworker) for Edwards supporters.

Who is your second choice?

Please note that I am not calling for him to drop out, just curious who Edwards' supporters second choice is. Edwards was my second choice in 2004 even though I was a diehard Deaniac.

It's still a few weeks away, and a big win for either Clinton or Obama in South Carolina could disrupt the relative state of equilibrium and give one of them big momentum going into Super Tuesday. But assuming neither candidate picks up a lot of momentum from South Carolina, here are my predictions for Super Tuesday: