Finally! After decades of being sidelined during the presidential primaries, Texas finally matters.
I know this may scare some folks out there who think Texas is full of Bush-loving fanatics. Yes, we have those people, but we also have lots of folks who are hungry for change. Our education system is broken, and tuition in Texas is rising through the roof. Our health care system is broken, and Texas has the most uninsured children in the country. Texas has lots of military families, and they've suffered tremendous losses during this disasterous Iraq war.
So, who will win Texas?
Who knows...but the Clinton campaign has publicly called our state their "firewall". That's understandable, considering Clinton had a 30 point lead here just a couple of months ago. They have the support of the "establishment" in Texas, but we have the support of the people. Just today, we won a major netroots endorsement when the Burnt Orange Report publicly endorsed Obama.
Congratulations on running an aggressive and principled campaign. Edwards was always my #2, and I've been impressed with the enthusiasm of Edwards supporters. You're now in a position where you could decide the direction of this campaign.
Today's news must be tough, but hopefully this means that Edwards and Obama supporters can finally join forces. I fully recognize that Edwards must make his own endorsement decision first, and Edwards supporters then must decide whether or not to follow his advice. I'm as guilty as anybody else during the candidate wars of getting over-excited about my preferred candidate, and I understand that some Edwards supporters may be initially reluctant to support Obama.
But just to be abundantly clear...
Obama supporters are openly asking for your support. We need your help. We need your passion. We need your expertise. We need your votes. We need your volunteer labor.
It seems that most folks have already concluded that Obama will win South Carolina. Therefore, if Obama wins, has he really won?
No doubt, the Clinton Machine did a good job of lowering expectations in both New Hampshire and Nevada. So when Hillary won by just a few points, it seemed like a big deal.
So to be fair, it seems that if Obama wins SC by the same margin that Hillary won NH/NV, then Obama should receive the same positive headlines. After all, a win is a win is a win. Futhermore, if Obama wins South Carolina, he'll expand his lead on pledged delegates.
My guess is Obama will win South Carolina by 5 points, and that'll be just enough to give him good headlines across the country. I think this bump will keep Obama competitive going into Super Tuesday and beyond.
The other big question is whether or not Edwards will be viable if he doesn't win South Carolina. He had based his whole strategy on the early states, and if he goes 0-for-4, it seems unlikely that he'll win any states. I doubt Edwards will drop out before Super Tuesday, but other than maybe Oklahoma, I'm not sure what state he can realistically win if he loses South Carolina tonight.
I try not to make the mistake of watching Faux News. But I was flipping through tonight and happened to catch O'Reilly's opening comments tonight attacking John Edwards and homeless veterans.
O'Reilly was so over the top tonight that it was actually amusing. O'Reilly is officially off his rocker.
This is just a short diary, but I encourage everyone to read the transcript or watch the YouTube video once it's uploaded.
Regardless of how Obama finishes today in Nevada, it's inspiring to hear on-the-ground reports from our Obama volunteers. I wish could be knocking on doors in Nevada with our fellow Texans, but I'll just have to live vicariously through them.
Ramey Ko, a Texas Obama supporter who's part of Asian Americans for Obama, has been volunteering in Texas since our big 20,000 Texas rally back in February. He's now on the ground in Nevada, and he's posted this field report:
I was not around in the 1960's. But here in Texas, we're taught in school that LBJ was a good man. He helped get civil rights legislation signed into law and his Great Society programs helped working families. Vietnam was his downfall, but in totality, LBJ fought for the forces of good.
But even us Texans know that without MLK, LBJ couldn't pass civil rights legislation.
MLK laid the groundwork. He inspired a nation to come together and believe in hope for a better tomorrow. MLK was on the receiving end of countless insults and attacks, but he perservered. He practiced passive resistance and went to jail for his principles. It was a long struggle, but MLK never gave up. The power of his words ring true today, and he is truly a pioneer for human rights in America. Meanwhile, LBJ was part of the Southern Democrats in the 1950's. He was a part of the problem before he was part of the solution.
Given that the Clintons are brilliant and rarely make mistakes, why did Hillary make such an insensitve remark about MLK and imply that LBJ was the true civil rights leader?
The 2008 Democratic primary just got very intersting. I'm a Barack supporter, and I'm glad we won in Iowa and came close in New Hampshire.
We've known from the very beginning that this nomination would be a long process, so we've built a nation-wide network of grassroots supporters. The status quo will not let go of power easily, and we must earn this people-powered victory. Barack has inspired us, and we're fired up and ready to go!
Whether you like Barack or not, you gotta admit that it's fun having a front-row seat to history.
If Barack can actually bring this country together and create a governing majority based on progressive principles, then he will have truly made history. He could prove to be the much-needed anecdote to the failed Bush presidency. He'll fight for working families, just like he did in Chicago, and he'll restore America's image in the world.
It's truly inspiring to see so many different people from different backgrounds join a unified movement for change. While Barack himself is charismatic and inspirational, the most exciting thing about the Obama movement is the people. It's us. It's the folks who refuse to give up no matter what Rovian politics they throw at us. It's the ordinary folks doing extraordinary things. It's folks who have created the biggest grassroots donor network in history. It's the folks who believe that we have more in common than what separates us. It's the folks in red states like Texas who, despite the long odds, still have hope that we can take back our government for the people.
Breaking News: Ex-Senator Bradley to endorse Barack Obama LA Times
Former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, a former Democratic presidential candidate who unsuccessfully challenged Vice President Al Gore for their party's 2000 presidential nomination, will endorse Barack Obama and campaign with the Illinois senator in New Hampshire Monday.
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Bradley's endorsement power may help Obama among New Hampshire liberals and independents, which could hurt McCain, also popular with independents there. But the last presidential candidacy Bradley endorsed didn't work out so well. Along with Gore in 2004, Bradley supported the doomed presidential bid of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
I just saw Barack give one of his best speeches yet in Nashua. His '04 DNC speech is arguably his best, but his Iowa caucus victory speech was up there, and today's Nashua speech was just as good.
It was on C-SPAN, and I'm sure they'll post a YouTube video soon. Please...do yourself a favor and watch this speech whenever it gets uploaded. In the meantime, check out this recently uploaded "Road to New Hampshire" video.
No doubt, our nomination system needs reform. Iowa has too much power. My state of Texas probably will have no say in this important race. There have been several posts about Iowa's out-sized relevance, and those arguments have merit. I'm not sure what the remedy is, but it'll probably involve some kind of rotating regional structure.
Having said that, thank you Iowa! This may be your swan song, but you went out with a home run!
There will be lots of stories coming out of Iowa, but the biggest story is that Hillary is no longer "inevitable." And for that, I say thank you Iowa!
Texas doesn't have an early primary, so we have little influence over the nomination process. But we're doing what we can. Below are two Iowa field reports from our Texas volunteer Jen.
Barack ain't perfect, but he has the unique ability to inspire ordinary people to do extraordinatry things. Thanks to our Texas volunteers who've left the warm weather of Texas and are now block-walking in the Iowa snow.
Just in case there are any undecided Iowa voters, I wanted to share my 2 cents...
I believe we're at a crossroads in history, and I want someone in the White House who doesn't buckle under political pressure and who has the judgment to keep America from fighting uneccessary wars. When Barack came to Texas, I finally felt hope that we had a leader who could actually change the direction of our country. I believe Barack is the real deal, and I hope you'll consider supporting his candidacy.
There's been lots of posts by Edwards supporters telling us why we should NOT for for Barack. Even though I'm an Obama supporter, I don't feel the need to respond in kind with a long diary attacking Edwards for every little comment he's ever made. I like Edwards. He's my #2. I have nothing personal against him, and my only hang-up with him is based on policy. I think Iraq was the biggest mistake in modern American history, and it'll take generations to repair the damage done to American's image. I like Edwards' populist proposals, and if Edwards had voted against the Iraq war in 2002, then I'd probably be supporting him over Obama. But Edwards voted for Iraq. He has since apologized, and that means he's more connected with reality than Hillary
As a Texas voter who is thousands of miles away from the exciting action in Iowa and New Hampshire, I often wonder what it's like to be on the front lines of this nomination process. I wanted to "kick the tires" and get a first-hand feel.
I had the opportunity to visit the Obama headquarters in Iowa this summer, and it had an inspiring grassroots feeling to it. It looked and felt like an insurgent campaign trying to change politics as usual.
Over the holidays, I also got a chance to briefly check out the Obama headquarters in New Hampshire.
If you're looking for a typical candidate attack diary, then you've clicked the wrong story. Instead, this post is simply about hope.
It's rough in Texas. We don't have a single statewide elected Democrat. There's been a Bush on the ballot or in office for 28 of the last 30 years. It would be easy to give up.
But when Howard Dean came to Texas in the summer of 2003 and rallied over 3,000 people, we started to feel hope again.
No question. The Benazir Bhutto tragedy will affect the presidential race. The question is how.
Hillary Clinton will try to claim their "experience" is what's needed to handle these complicated forgein affairs. In fact, Hillary's campaign is struggling not to over-politiicze the tragedy:
While aides said Clinton was anxious not to appear to be politicizing Bhutto's death, they nonetheless saw it as a potential turning point in the race with Obama and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.).
Hillary's campaign is right. This is a turning point. Voters will again focus on foreign policy, and they will again focus on the fact that Hillary and others voted for the Iraq war...thus distracting us from the real war on terror.
