Obama reaches majority of pledged delegates

With the addition of two more delegates from Tuesday's Kentucky contest, CNN projects that Barack Obama now has 1,628 pledged delegates — a majority of the 3253 pledged delegates available in this year's Democratic presidential nominating contests.

Not Enough

Despite all of the spin you'll be hearing from the Clinton camp. . .

Hillary, your word must be your bond

Clinton was against counting FL and MI before she was for it:

DNC Chairman Howard Dean
Letter to Democratic Presidential Candidates
August 31, 2007

"As the leader of the Democratic Party, I strongly urge you to adhere to the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules...
The 2008 Delegate Selection Rules adopted by the full DNC at its August 2006 meeting clearly provide that only 4 states - Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina - may hold their respective contests prior to February 5, 2008. The findings of Non-Compliance included a 100% loss of pledged and unpledged delegates."

Hillary Clinton Campaign
Statement On The Four State Pledge
September 1, 2007

"We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process. And we believe the DNC's rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role. Thus we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar."

The rules are "out the window"

Ready (to cheat) on Day One!


We already knew that Hillary Clinton intends to bend or break the rules as necessary to secure the Democratic nomination for president. It's old news that she wants to seat the delegates from the states of Michigan and Florida, even though she didn't follow the pledge she made (and the other candidates followed) to remove her name from the ballot and not campaign in those states. It's also old news that she wants superdelegates to vote for her despite the wishes expressed by the popular vote in their respective communities. Here's the newest twist - her campaign intends to go after PLEDGED delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries. WTF?! Pledged delegates are, well, pledged! Turns out that's not the case:

“Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot,” a recent DNC memo states. “A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.”

So, in short, OUR vote may not count and is available to the highest bidder at the convention. Apparently, this has been an open secret in the party for years, but it has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear victor by the time the convention convened. Delegates at this year's convention may find themselves being promised the world to switch their votes.

Hillary Clinton is willing to split the Democratic Party to further her ambitions, unless some wise sage can convince her to take one for the party. Al? Paging Al Gore! We DO NOT need any more Rovian politics of slash and burn, especially from a Democrat. This MUST be resolved before this summer's convention. Party leaders have voiced their concerns on this issue:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has warned against it. “I think there is a concern when the public speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said. “It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided.”

Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore’s campaign manager in 2000 and is a member of the DNC, said recently: “If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit [the DNC]. I feel very strongly about this.”

On Sunday, Doug Wilder, the mayor of Richmond and a former governor of Virginia, went even further, predicting riots in the streets if the Clinton campaign were to overturn an Obama lead through the use of superdelegates.

“There will be chaos at the convention,” Wilder told Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation.”

“If you think 1968 was bad, you watch: In 2008, it will be worse.”

I'm going to catch some grief for this one, but I don't care. While I was writing this post, I heard Hillary (In Wisconsin) telling a crowd "I love "cheese heads"! The first thing that popped into my deranged mind was that Bill was right behind her thinking "I love some cheesy head"! Do we REALLY want to return to that framing of our 2008 nominee? Of course not!