Links

The Obama campaign announced today what had long been suspected: Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was going to work for the Illinois Democrat. What came as a surprise was Solis Doyle's title, "chief of staff to the vice presidential candidate."

Barack and Michelle Obama appear on the cover of the Us Weekly hitting newsstands later this week, further establishing their crossover appeal as both political and entertainment figures. The magazine will feature a six-page article on the Obamas' love story as well as an album of family photos. The cover is headlined "Michelle Obama: Why Barack Loves Her" and teases, "She shops at Target, loved 'Sex and the City' and never misses the girls' recitals. The untold romance between a down-to-earth mom and the man who calls her 'my rock.'"

Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House. Vanquished rival Hillary Rodham Clinton swiftly signaled an interest in joining the ticket as his running mate. Obama arranged a victory celebration in St. Paul, Minn., at the site of this summer's Republican National Convention - an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain, who will be his opponent in the race to become the nation's 44th president.

(05-28) 20:17 PDT San Francisco -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will step in if necessary to make sure the presidential nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama does not reach the Democratic National Convention - though she believes it could be resolved as early as next week.

WHO SAID OBAMA CAN'T GET WORKING CLASS VOTES? ************ "We are extremely proud to make this endorsement today," UMWA International President Cecil Roberts said. "Sen. Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families."

Sen. Barack Obama has picked up a majority of the pledged delegates, according to CNN calculations.NEW YORK (CNN) – Hillary Clinton won a landslide victory in Kentucky Tuesday, but momentum — and a growing sense of inevitability — is now firmly on Barack Obama's side. He took Oregon last night, but it was his symbolic victory with pledged delegates that was the storyline.The one-time long shot for the Democratic nomination has a majority of pledged delegates to the Democratic Convention and is now about 70 delegates shy of the finish line.

The Obama campaign has announced a "major national endorsement" for a rally tonight at 7pm in Michigan, and the rumor mill is swirling that it is none other than Sen. John Edwards. Time's Mark Halperin is teasing as much at his Web site, with a photo of Edwards and the text, "Ready to choose? Ready to hope?"CNN's Mike Roselli and Suzanne Malveaux have confirmed that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama at a Michigan campaign event about an hour from now. Obama will come on stage in Grand Rapids and say he has a special guest to introduce, followed by the appearance of Edwards himself.

I continue to take the minority viewpoint: All this attention to Obama’s Christian church and faith is obliterating the false rumors that, prior to this controversy, led 13 percent of the electorate to think he is a Muslim.

"I am all too aware that the threats we face are unconventional," Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a statement. "They are sophisticated. They are constantly changing and adapting. And they are very serious. What matters most in the Oval Office is sound judgment and decisive action. It’s about getting it right on crucial national security questions the first time – and every time.”

WASHINGTON -- Georgia Congressman John Lewis told WSB-TV Channel 2's Monica Pearson Wednesday that he is switching his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.Pearson met with Congressman John Lewis Wednesday afternoon in Washington. She was the only Atlanta TV reporter Lewis spoke to about his switch.Talk had been swirling that Lewis might switch his endorsement from Clinton to Obama. Lewis is a superdelegate who will cast his ballot at the Democratic National Convention.Lewis told Pearson he was switching his support because his district voted for Obama and he believes Americans are looking for a great change. He also said he had not spoken to Clinton or Obama about his decision.Please refresh this developing story for updates. Watch Channel 2 Action News at 5 & 6 for more on Monica Pearson's interview with Lewis.Copyright 2008 by WSBTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

"Barack's vision is exactly what our nation needs right now," White said in a prepared statement. "Right now, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured in the nation. I believe that Barack's health care plan is the answer we've been looking for."

. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, officially endorsed Sen. The 1.4-million Teamsters union endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday. CNN's Wolf Blitzer spoke exclusively with Teamsters president Jim Hoffa on Wednesday. "We came to the conclusion that Barack Obama gives us the opportunity to rebuild America and win in November," Hoffa said. "This endorsement is an important endorsement for him. He's excited about what it means to him in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas ... it's going to be important to all of labor and the American people," he added. The endorsement decision follows a meeting in Austin, Texas, between Hoffa and Obama, and completes a months-long process that included scientific polling of Teamster members, surveys of local union and joint council leaders and deliberations by the union's democratically elected General Executive Board, according to the union's press release.

CLEVELAND - Sen. Christopher Dodd endorsed one-time presidential rival Barack Obama on Tuesday and said it is time for Democrats to join forces to defeat the Republicans in the fall campaign. ADVERTISEMENT "I don't want a campaign that is divisive here, and there's a danger in that," Dodd said, although he denied he was nudging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to end her candidacy. Dodd said Obama was "ready to be president and I am ready to support him in this campaign."

“The Democratic Party is fortunate to have two very talented individuals running for President this election,” said Rae in a statement released by the Obama campaign Thursday. “It is a difficult choice for anyone, but in the end, the choice for me has become clear. I am proudly supporting Senator Barack Obama.”

On Tuesday, Obama captured 53 percent of Wisconsin's white voters compared to 41 percent of those voting on Super Tuesday. He won 48 percent of women in Wisconsin compared to 41 percent on Super Tuesday.

Sen. Barack Obama introduced a seemingly new line in his campaign speech on Tuesday, an acknowledgment of sorts of recent criticism that his supporters have painted him as a quasi-messianic figure. "As aware as I am of my imperfections," he told the crowd, "as clear as I am that I am not a perfect vessel, I would not be running if I did not believe that I could lead this country in a new direction, that we have a unique moment that we have to seize, but I have to tell you Houston I cannot do it by myself. No person can."

"It is going to take more than big rallies. It is going to require more than rousing speeches ... it is going to require something more, because the problem that we face in America today is not the lack of good ideas. It's that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die," he said. Watch Obama rally supporters »

Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama. That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district. City election officials this week said that their formal review of the results, which will not be completed for weeks, had confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city. In the Harlem district, for instance, where the primary night returns suggested a 141 to 0 sweep by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the vote now stands at 261 to 136. In an even more heavily black district in Brooklyn — where the vote on primary night was recorded as 118 to 0 for Mrs. Clinton — she now barely leads, 118 to 116.

Of the two finalists for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Chronicle believes Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is best-qualified by life experience, skill and temperament to be the standard bearer for his party. In a conference call, Obama told the Chronicle editorial board that "more than any other candidate, I can bridge some of the partisan as well as racial and religious divides that have developed in this country that prevent us from getting things done."

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama agree on most policy issues, but that makes their rare differences all the more revealing. To wit, their running scrap over Mrs. Clinton's "individual mandate" for health care, which Mr. Obama has now had the nerve to expose for its inevitable government coercion.