OBAMARAMA

A pivotal weekend for Sen. Obama, who swept the four primaries and caucuses that took place — Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, and, of course, Vacationland itself, the Pine Tree state, the state on which the sun chooses to shine first every morning: the great state of Maine.

From TPM Election Central:

Obama Wins Maine By Large Margin, Signaling Dark Stretch Ahead For Hillary Camp

With 70% reporting, Obama had 58% to Hillary’s 41%. The surprisingly big victory for Obama came on the same day as the Hillary campaign signaled a recognition of its travails by announcing a shuffling of their inner circle, replacing campaign manager and longtime loyalist Patti Solis Doyle with longtime Hillary confidant Maggie Williams.

Obama’s victory effectively left Hillary advisers grappling with the possibility that the worst case scenario that they’d been anticipating for some time could come true: The prospect of no victories for the rest of February. This coming Tuesday, Obama could very well sweep the Potomac Primary — Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

The train has left the station. Time to get on board.

Ted Kennedy’s. And it’s going to Sen. Obama:

Senator Edward M. Kennedy will endorse Barack Obama for president tomorrow, breaking his year-long neutrality to send a powerful signal of where the legendary Massachusetts Democrat sees the party going — and who he thinks is best to lead it.

Kennedy confidantes told the Globe today that the Bay State’s senior senator will appear with Obama and Kennedy’s niece, Caroline Kennedy, at a morning rally at American University in Washington tomorrow to announce his support.

That will be a potentially significant boost for Obama as he heads into a series of critical primaries on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Kennedy believes Obama can “transcend race” and bring unity to the country, a Kennedy associate told the Globe. Kennedy was also impressed by Obama’s deep involvement last year in the bipartisan effort to craft legislation on immigration reform, a politically touchy subject the other presidential candidates avoided, the associate said.

The coveted endorsement is a huge blow to New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who is both a senatorial colleague and a friend of the Kennedy family. In a campaign where Clinton has trumpeted her experience over Obama’s call for hope and change, the endorsement by one of the most experienced and respected Democrats in the Senate is a particularly dramatic coup for Obama.

Great timing. Bring on Super Duper Tuesday.

UPDATE: Commenter Deb points out that the Ted Kennedy endorsement comes on the heels of the Caroline Kennedy endorsement, articulated beautifully in a NYT op-ed today:

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

Polls closed at 7pm, and at 7:01 every network called the South Carolina primary for Sen. Obama. With 51% reporting, he has twice as many votes as Sen. Clinton, and 7 pledged delegates to her 1.

More impressive is the exit poll information, which shows him winning handily in nearly every demographic: Men, Women, African Americans, every age cohort between 18 and 64, White voters age 18-29, and churchgoers.

What’s more, of voters who said that former President Bill Clinton’s campaigning played an important role in their decision, most by far voted for Sen. Obama. Looks like sending a former head of state into the muck of disingenuous politicking has its price.

Anyone think we’ll be seeing less of the Pit Bill in the weeks ahead? Judging from these polls, I’m inclined to hope not.

UPDATE: The video:

Outstanding, if true…

(CNN) – Former 2004 presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry will endorse Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, two sources told CNN Thursday.

The announcement will come at 2 p.m. in Charleston, S.C., the sources said.

“(Kerry) remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party and (has) an e-mail list with millions of addresses,” an Obama source said.

Kerry ran in 2004 on the Democratic ticket with former Sen. John Edwards, who is running this year for party’s presidential nomination.

In response to Rudy Giuliani’s reported assertion that electing a Democratic president would be to invite a “new 9/11,” Sen. Obama had this to say:

Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics. America’s mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question failed policies that have made us less secure. I think we should focus on strengthening our intelligence, working with local authorities and doing all the things we haven’t yet done to keep Americans safe. The threat we face is real, and deserves better than to be the punchline of another political attack.

“America’s Mayor” seems intent on proving how unworthy he is of a promotion.

I don’t want to make too much of this, as it’s just one installment of a weekly tracking poll with a relatively high margin of error, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the latest Rasmussen poll has Sen. Obama tied with Sen. Clinton at 32 percent support apiece.

From Rasmussen:

For the fourth straight week, Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) has gained ground and he has finally caught New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. It’s now Obama 32% Clinton 32% and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards holding steady at 17%.

Obama has been steadily gaining ground during April. Last week, Clinton had a two-point lead. Two weeks ago, it was Clinton by five. The week before that, the former First Lady was up by seven. Our last release in March found Clinton enjoying a double digit lead. Clinton now holds a narrow edge among white voters while Obama leads by 16% among African-Americans.

Perhaps most significant in this data, though, is another figure — that of core support. According to the pollsters, “A separate survey showed that Obama has the highest level of core support among all Presidential candidates—33% of voters say they’d definitely vote for him if he’s on the ballot in November 2008.” Great numbers, as we’ve noted here.

This just in from Sen. Obama:

In less than three months, a staggering 100,000 Americans have contributed to our cause — tens of thousands more than the number reported by any other campaign. That’s on top of the hundreds of thousands who have attended rallies, started groups and shared their ideas and energy.

It’s been a truly historic response — a measure of just how hungry people are to turn the page on this era of small and destructive politics and repair our American community.

And because of that extraordinary base of support, we were able to raise an astonishing $25 million — $23.5 million of which can be used to help us in the upcoming primary contests. [Emphasis added]

It’s hard to know where to start in hailing this news. First of all, $25 million is an enormous sum of money and substantially more than most people projected him to raise.

Second, and perhaps most impressive, it seems in the final tally the campaign received donations from a staggering 100,000 contributors — twice as many as reportedly contributed to Sen. Clinton’s campaign, and by far the highest number of all the candidates of both parties.

Third, the vast majority of that $25 million can be used in the primary, meaning Sen. Obama has not tapped out the donor base on which he can rely in the general election. It has been widely reported that many other candidates have been collecting money for both the primary and the general at once, and Sen. Clinton notably has not released information about how much of her total can be used in the primary.

Finally, it’s worth noting another statistic that’s buried in the coverage of this announcement:

Obama, 45, raised about $6.9 million on the Internet from more than 50,000 donors, his campaign said. That compares with $4.2 million for Clinton.

This is an undeniable sign of the dominance of Sen. Obama’s campaign in mobilizing a new generation of voters. In the first three months of his campaign he is already leading the pack online, and very nearly running the table in general. The excitement is there, the inspiration is real, and these numbers are here to prove it.

This is going to be fun.

Critics of Sen. Obama have been looking for anything to throw at him, and have lately seized on the fact that a story he said he read as a child in Life Magazine wasn’t able to be located there. The story was about a black man who had tried to bleach his skin, and Sen. Obama wrote in his memoir that it was a formative moment in the development of his racial identity.

After the Chicago Tribune reported that they could find no such story in the archives of Life (or Ebony, another possibility), many looking to score cheap political points on an issue of minor importance have highlighted the incident, ostensibly as an example of some sort of intellectual dishonesty.

A recent discovery means it’s time for that stop.

(Read more after the jump…)

Long story short: A well-made internet ad based on Apple’s original commercial introducing the Macintosh computer was customized into an anti-Hillary Clinton, pro-Barack Obama spot using digital technology. It was then posted anonymously on YouTube. The ad’s creativity, as well as its author’s anonymity, fueled intense media coverage this week.

Now it’s come to light that the creator worked for a company that consults for presidential campaigns and is currently under contract with the Obama campaign. He made it on his own time, with his own equipment, and without the knowledge of his bosses. He never worked on his company’s Obama account, and he has since been fired.

Given the buzz the ad generated, there’s no doubt the media will be discussing the “political ramifications” of the creator’s vicinity to the Obama campaign today. Howard Fineman was just on the Today show talking about how there are “too many dots too close together” here. That’s undoubtedly just the beginning of coverage that will inevitably question whether this undermines Sen. Obama’s attempt to rise above petty political games.

Of course it doesn’t. While the way this situation has shaken out is unfortunate — some might even say “boneheaded” on the creator’s part — it’s still just an internet ad made independent of the campaign. (UPDATE: The ad’s creator even says, “I recognize that this ad is not [Sen. Obama’s] style of politics.”)  Sen. Obama can’t reasonably be held accountable for it. And given Sen. Clinton’s previous dismissal of the ad’s significance, I can’t imagine she could have much to say about it. Right?

More to come on this today, I’m sure. If you happen to be one of the few people left on the planet who hasn’t seen the ad, it’s after the jump.

(Read more after the jump…)

Appearing last night on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Sen. Obama said that he thinks “it’s about time” for Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to be replaced:

Following a speech to the Radio & Television News Directors Association Foundation in which FOX News Channel president Roger Ailes compared Sen. Obama’s name to Osama bin Laden, the station received a letter from the head of the Nevada Democratic Party and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

“Comments made last night by Fox News President Roger Ailes in reference to one of our presidential candidates went too far. We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments,” state Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid wrote in a letter sent Friday to Fox News.

In the same letter, they pulled out of the debate. Here’s what Ailes said in the speech that prompted the letter, at something called the “First Amendment Awards”:

“And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don’t know if it’s true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, ‘Why can’t we catch this guy?” [Full video below]

While not remotely funny, I’m not sure Ailes’s comments warrant the NV Democratic Party’s move. Rather, their move is justified by the incessant falsehoods streaming from the channel Ailes operates — but since that’s not the reason they cite, it positions them to be judged on the comments themselves, which strike me as a joke about President Bush as much as anything. It also opens them up to the charge that the NV Democratic Party is “controlled by radical, fringe, out-of-state interest groups,” which is exactly how FOX News responded.

(Read more after the jump…)

Following Irve Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s conviction today on 4 of 5 counts of perjury and making false statements — a development that places Libby in the prestigious, if crowded, brotherhood of high-ranking Bush administration officials who also happen to be criminals — Sen. Obama had this to say:

“The conviction today underscores what happens when our foreign and national security policies are subverted by politics and ideology. Leaks and innuendo in pursuit of a flawed policy lead to shameful episodes such as this. It should never happen again.”

We reported here two weeks ago about Sen. Obama’s request to the Federal Elections Commission that he be able to raise money for both the primary and general elections, and then have the option of returning the general election money after the primary in order to be eligible for public financing.

Today the FEC signaled its intent to allow Sen. Obama to move forward with this plan, publishing a Draft Advisory opinion proposing that he “may solicit and receive contributions for the 2008 general election without waiving his eligibility to receive public funds for the general election.” The FEC will meet on March 1 to make an official decision.

There are a few reasons why this is such good news. For starters, it positions Sen. Obama as a serious contender (as if there was any doubt) who is already planning for his general election campaign. Second, it shows that while he wants to remain competitive, Sen. Obama is not willing to give up on public financing altogether, as just about every other major presidential candidate appears to be.

And finally, it gives him the upper hand should the Republicans nominate Sen. John McCain. Sen. Obama has said that once nominated, he would challenge his Republican opponent to accept public financing as well — something Sen. McCain would undoubtedly be loath to do, despite having been the country’s foremost proponent of campaign finance reform. The pressure would be on him to either walk the walk, or kick off his campaign looking like a hypocrite.

Sounds like a pretty good game plan to me.

“Um, dude, you’re kind of making me look bad.”

The Politico blog is reporting that former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle “has committed his support to Barack Obama.” According to the post:

“I certainly expect that he will be supporting Barack,” said Leo Hindery, a Daschle friend who backs John Edwards. “Senator Obama could have no better ally and advisor than Tom Daschle.”

Two of Daschle’s former top staffers, Pete Rouse and Steve Hildebrand, already work for Obama, but Daschle himself brings, along with a broad popularity among Democrats, a set of long friendships and relationshps [sic] with Democrats around the country that can help compensate for Obama’s recent arrival on the national scene.

UPDATE: The AP reports on Daschle’s endorsement:

Sen. Barack Obama…won the endorsement Wednesday of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who said the White House hopeful “personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country.”

Daschle said Obama has a “great capacity to unify our country and inspire a new generation of young Americans, just as I was inspired by the Kennedys and Martin Luther King when I was young.”

Greg Sargent over at TPMCafe reports on a statement from Sen. Clinton’s campaign responding to comments by David Geffen, Hollywood mogul and Obama fundraiser, that were critical of the Clintons and appeared in the New York Times today. According to the release, Sen. Clinton is demanding that Sen. Obama “immediately denounce these remarks” and “remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money.”

In fact, Geffen’s comments, while not particularly nice, were generally innocuous, undoubtedly represent his unvarnished political opinion, and were not at all inaccurate. Here are the remarks he reportedly made to Maureen Dowd, who reprinted them in her column:

“God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton?”

“I think they [Republicans] believe she’s the easiest to defeat.”

“She’s so advised by so many smart advisers who are covering every base.”

“Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”

“It’s not a very big thing to say, ‘I made a mistake’ on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can’t.”

Hmmm…which of these remarks do you think most peeved Sen. Clinton?

(Read more after the jump…)