Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

A lot is being said right now to the effect of, "What took him so long?" Some people are criticizing John Edwards for not endorsing sooner. I happen to think that today is the perfect day for Edwards to endorse, not so much because we were trounced in West Virginia yesterday, but because of the current state of the race and because of past statements made by John Edwards and his top advisers.

Join me after the jump if you're interested in why this timing will help Obama wrap this up and scoot Hillary Clinton toward the door...

I just read an article written by Joe Trippi in Campaigns and Elections Magazine about what he wishes he had said to John Edwards when Edwards asked Trippi whether or not he should stay in the race.

I have mixed emotions after reading the article. I'm surprised, encouraged, and saddened. Follow me after the jump for more...

It will take more than hope for West Virginia. It will take hard work and understanding. It will take city liberals getting off of their high horses and coming down to our level -- the level of ordinary folk who are ignorant, misinformed, maybe even, shall we say the word, bigoted. That's right I said our level. I'm an agnostic Democrat who votes on economic and social justice issues, but I'm still more like them than I am like you.

Over the last week or so, I've heard a lot of kossacks writing off West Virginia, making fun of West Virginia, and even saying West Virginia doesn't matter. Some have painted all of Appalachia as racist homophobes who will never change. Some even said that Obama is in mortal danger there. Some have suggested that we revert to Clinton-style "states that matter" campaigning, leaving West Virginia and Kentucky behind altogether.

Well, progress hasn't left us behind, and I hope that progressives won't either. If you think progress is impossible in my neck of the woods, follow me after the jump...

An awful lot of people are saying that they will not give any more money to Obama until they get clarification or confirmation from him saying that their hard earned dollars will not be given to Clinton to retire her debt. Let's set the record straight right now.

It is illegal to take campaign contributions that were given to one person's campaign and give them to another person's campaign.

Yes, it is that simple.

No, you do not need clarification or confirmation from Obama (although you will find it in this diary). He will not make a deal with Clinton to get her to drop out of the race if that deal includes committing a crime.

Join me after the fold, and help set the record straight on this.

Yesterday (Wednesday), the Michigan Democratic Party Executive Committee voted to propose a compromise to the DNC rules committee for seating Michigan delegates (the rules committee meets May 31). They are proposing to award 69 pledged delegates to Clinton and 59 pledged delegates to Obama.

There are several indicators that this compromise may have the approval of the Obama campaign, including the Obama campaign making positive statements about the delegate deal itself, and Axelrod and other Obama advisors saying that Obama will wrap up the nomination May 20th.

Join me after the jump...

Cross-posted at MyDD.

Now that the pundits have called the nomination for Obama and some Clinton supporters are calling for Hillary to withdraw, unity diaries are popping up like crazy paired with response diaries asking us not to capitulate.

Clinton supporters are demanding that Obama supporters apologize. Obama supporters are demanding Clinton supporters concede. Supporters on both sides are asking for unity and reconciliation. Almost everyone is blaming the other side for the divisions.

Democrats, listen up. Our tent is not as big as we pretend it is. We live in pockets and bubbles, and we are just as intolerant as our opponents. We are the proverbial frog in the well. If we want real healing and not just a band aid, then we need to take a long hard look at ourselves.

I had a phone call last night from Telefund. The caller said she was calling on behalf of the DNC to raise money for a DNC campaign (Caller ID says Telefund Inc. 805-897-1183). Telefund also happens to fundraise for the Clinton campaign.

First of all, they've been calling 4-6 times per day for several days, and I didn't answer because it looked like spam calls. When I finally answered tonight (they were very persistent), I was ready to hear them out when she said that they were calling about a DNC campaign. That is, right up until she mentioned current negative campaigning in the primary, and then the call turned into nothing more than a debate of the possible nomination of Hillary Clinton.

Follow me after the jump to hear about my debate about Clinton with a DNC fundraiser...

UPDATE II:I think they have fixed it. The links are working / not working intermittently are working. Also, watch the video if you had trouble finding the redirects. I received several reports and had trouble finding the correct blogs, so it also took me a while to verify it while it was actually happening.

UPDATE III: The Associated Press has an article on this (note, I added this link a few days afterwards in case anyone references this diary later).

Someone hacked the MyBO website!Several links were redirecting to Hillary's website instead of going to the intended pages within MyBO (MyBO is my.barackobama.com).

The most notable link was from the MyBO Dashboard page (note, the Dashboard page itself was working fine throughout the entire ordeal):

http://my.barackobama.com/...

During the problem, if you went from the Dashboard (which worked fine) to the "Community Blogs" section to "View All Blogs", you would have been redirected to Hillary's website. Also, if you had clicked on "My Blog," same problem.

There has been much ado about Michelle Obama's college thesis in which she described feeling like an outsider at Princeton -- a black person first, a student second. I understand how she could have felt that way, especially twenty five years ago. After reading a poignant article about Michelle Obama's first college roommate, I have new insight into the environment that made her feel like a second class student during her college years.

More after the fold...

One of Pennsylvania's dailies has released an article tonight that provides evidence that Clinton is losing support among women, and particularly among white women. They rely on several different polls to make what I think is a pretty good argument. Obama is chipping away at Clinton's base.

More below the fold...

I would like to apologize to everyone in advance for the lack of coverage of bittergate in this diary. I know it is the most pressing issue of this campaign, illustrated by the fact that there are no less than 14 diaries on the recent list right now about this issue. There will be no bitterness in this diary. None (well, ok, except for this paragraph, but no more after this).

I admit it. I don't get it. I don't understand. I grew up in a military family, and I was taught, maybe even indoctrinated, that Americans don't torture. We shouldn't torture. We won't torture. Thou shall not torture. Nearly every male in my extended family spent time in the military. Most made it a career. Out of all of my grandfather's grandchildren, only two of the boys never spent time in the military. Only two others spent less than a decade in the military. Most of the girls married military men. My family is as conservative as conservative gets, and they said Americans never torture. They even said Americans should never torture.

Torture is not a conservative position. Torture is not an anti-liberal position either. Torture is an un-American position.

Update IV: All prospective delegates have been reinstated.

Obama is taking Clinton at her word that pledged delegates are in play and taking strong measures to ensure pledged delegates are loyal. The Obama campaign cut 900 prospective delegates (a record number) from the running for this weekend's California Democratic Convention based on questions of allegiance and an overabundance of prospective delegates. Newspaper reports vary for the Clinton cuts, from 36 to 50.

The Obama campaign must be worried about pledged delegates if they are taking these kinds of measures to control who becomes a pledged delegate in California. I believe this is an indicator that Clinton is serious about her threat to disregard the will of the voters by stealing pledged delegates. By now, you've probably heard what Clinton has said about pledged delegates, but just in case you haven't, here is the infamous pledged delegate quote from Sen. Clinton:

Pledged delegates in most states are not pledged. You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody. They're just like superdelegates.

I guess that depends on your definition of the word pledged.

As we all know, the Clinton campaign has had some financial difficulties. I did some reading today to get a better overall picture of the Clinton finances, and I am sharing my findings in this diary.

While I didn't uncover much new information, I did get a better overall picture of the Clinton campaign finances, and I came to the realization that the Clinton campaign's financial standing is worse than it appears. The Clinton campaign lost its edge in fundraising much earlier than it should have, mismanaged the funds on hand, and operated consistently in the red for all of 2008 and in part of 2007. This is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- when you look at each of the financial problems individually, it looks bad, but when considering all of the financial problems combined, the big picture is devastating.

Join me below the fold for a comprehensive review of Hillary's primary campaign finances...

Rumors of Mark Penn's demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am writing this diary to try to set the record straight.

Mark Penn did not resign. Mark Penn was not fired. In fact, this is just another bit of smoke and mirrors from the Clinton campaign. From TheNation:

CLINTON DROPS PENN, SORT OF... After months of criticism and allegations of conflicts of interest swirling around Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's "chief strategist," the Clinton Campaign announced on Sunday that Penn is losing his title.

More below the fold...

Well, as you all know, the tax returns are out, and reporters, bloggers, and activists are pouring over them. The New York Times noticed something interesting:

claimed deductions for $10.2 million in charitable contributions. The contributions went to a family foundation run by the Clintons that has given away only about half of the money they put into it, and most of that was last year, after Mrs. Clinton declared her candidacy.

Now, I can understand giving to your own foundation. After all, you want to control where the money goes if you're giving that much money, and if you've got your own foundation, there's no better way to exert that control. But why did the money sit for years unused? And is it just coincidence that the money was spent right when the Clinton presidential campaign got underway?

More on transparency below the fold...

Major General (Retired) Walter L. Stewart, Jr. has written an open letter to Hillary Clinton in which he calls on military service persons and veterans to renounce their support for Hillary Clinton:

Valor theft degrades every service member and veteran, and, as a point of honor, I call on the former admirals, generals, and service veterans who are publicly in support of Senator Clinton to renounce that support. Continue it, and her dishonor is your dishonor.

Hillary Clinton's "misremembering" of sniper fire has made her a joke in many circles (e.g., hello Sinbad), but for the veterans I know (and I know lots of them), they're actually pretty pissed.

A lot of people have been theorizing lately that America is turning blue, steering left, becoming more liberal. There's a lot of talk about Obama being the most liberal presidential candidate yet getting the most widespread support. There's a lot of talk about more Americans becoming more liberal about the environment, the Iraq war, and so on. But I think this article released today by The Economist magazine may show us that all of this talk is just, well, a lot of talk. Are we seeing a trend toward liberalism, or are we just seeing an anti-Bush backlash?

The Economist released a comparative analysis today of right and left in America and Britain. I have to say, I was quite surprised at the results. In fact, in both religion and social values and also in national interest, America's left was far to the right of Britain's right.

To get the best picture of these results, you should literally look at the picture. They have a chart that shows U.S. and British responses on a spectrum, and there is actually a huge gap between their right and our left in these three categories. That's right, our left is substantially further right than their right.

Tomorrow in Manhattan, Obama will be giving a speech on the economy, and Bloomberg will be introducing him. The Obama campaign says it is not an endorsement but that Bloomberg will have some nice things to say about Obama.

Not too long ago, Bloomberg made some very nice public statements about Obama's economic plan. He has also been saying that his endorsement is up for grabs between all three candidates.

Also, just came across a tidbit in another story on this:

In 2001, when Bloomberg was a politically untested businessman attempting a long-shot bid for City Hall, McCain endorsed the then little-known Republican.