US News
Obama wins Mississippi primary, on to Pennsylvania (2nd Roundup)
Mar 12, 2008, 2:57 GMT
Illinois Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama stands for a picture during a campaign event at the Gamesa manufacturing facility in Fairless HIlls, Pennsylvania on 11 March 2008. Obama appeared at the former U.S. Steel facility that has been repurposed as a wind turbine factory to highlight new manufacturing within green industries. EPA/JEFF ZELEVANSKY
Washington - Barack Obama won handily in the Democratic presidential primary in Mississippi Tuesday over rival Hillary Clinton, and both campaigns have already turned their attention to next month's crucial primary in the eastern state of Pennsylvania.
Senator Obama led the vote count in the southern Gulf state, which is still reeling from the effects of 2004's Hurricane Katrina, by 59 per cent to Clinton's 39 per cent with more than 80 per cent of precincts reporting.
Obama, 46, and Senator Clinton, 60, have been locked in a tight battle for the Democratic nomination. Pennsylvania, the largest state left in the remaining handful of contests, will vote April 22.
In Mississippi, 33 of the 2,025 delegates needed to be named the party's candidate were up for grabs. With the two candidates running neck and neck, Clinton campaigned heavily in Mississippi over the weekend despite Obama's strong lead in state opinion polls.
'It's just another win in our column,' Obama told CNN about an hour after polls in the state closed. 'I'm grateful to the people of Mississippi for their wonderful support.'
Clinton did not comment after the Mississippi result. Her campaign manager Maggie Williams issued a statement congratulating Obama and said Clinton was 'looking forward to moving on to Pennsylvania to campaign there.'
The former first lady lags behind Obama in the delegate count needed to secure the nomination at the party's convention in Denver in August by 127 delegates. Before Mississippi, Clinton had 1,470 delegates compared to Obama's 1,597, according to a CNN estimate.
Republican Senator John McCain sealed his grip on his party's nomination last week and stood unopposed in Tuesday's Mississippi primary. He has turned his sights to raising money for his campaign and uniting the Republican Party behind his candidacy.
After a hectic campaign season, the Democratic candidates will have six weeks to regroup before the vote in delegate-rich Pennsylvania. Polls show Clinton, who has family roots in the state, with an average lead of about 12 percentage points.
With the tone of the candidates and their surrogates taking on an increasingly nasty, personal tone over the past few weeks, some Democrats have expressed concern that a protracted battle could hurt the party's chances against McCain in the November 4 general election.
One of Obama's top policy advisors, Samantha Power, was forced to resign from the campaign last week after calling Clinton 'a monster' in an interview with The Scotsman newspaper.
This week it was a Clinton surrogate in the firing line after former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro suggested that Obama, who is vying to be the first African American president, was winning on account of his race.
Ferraro, a chief fundraiser and advisor to Clinton, told the Daily Breeze newspaper of Torrance, California, that 'if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position' of leading the nomination battle.
'And if he was a woman of any colour, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept,' she said.
Obama told CNN Tuesday that his campaign has tried to remain above the fray, and accused Clinton of taking a more personal approach.
'We've been very measured in terms of how we talk about Senator Clinton,' Obama said. 'I'm not sure that we've been getting that same approach from the Clinton campaign.'
After Pennsylvania, only seven Democratic contests are left. But with the Obama and Clinton race so close, there is pressure for repeat voting in two of the country's largest states - Florida and Michigan - whose primary results were dismissed by the national party because they disobeyed directives not to hold their contests in January.
Under Democratic rules, delegates are assigned proportional to the vote, meaning a candidate can lose the majority vote but still get a sizeable number of delegates.
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Older Talkback
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HARRISBURG, Pa. - Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro, one of her fundraisers and the 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, for saying that Barack Obama 'would not be in this position' if he were white instead of black.
If he were white, he would be laughed out of politics in the US and maybe run for president of Iraq. He could take that haughty wife of his and relocate.
Because Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has risen so far, so fast, many voters are not as familiar with his background as they would like to be.
In his books, Barack Obama has told the story of the family into which he was born; about a father from Kenya whom he barely knew, who left when Barack was age 2, and about his white American mother from Kansas who along with his father was a college student at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. By age 6, young Barack was already living in Jakarta with his mother and his Indonesian step father before moving back to Hawaii at age 10, to be raised by his maternal grandparents when his mother and her second husband divorced. His 'birthright,' says Senator Obama, was that he was given love, a good education, and hope.
Over the years Barack Obama had bonding experiences with white and black relatives and with Asian family members amidst an understandable struggle to find his own identity. The opportunity that Hawaii offered him to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect became an integral part of his world view and is the basis for the values that he holds most dear. Barack Obama worked his way through the racial complexities into which he was born to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School in 1991 and become president of the Harvard Law Review. Feeling compelled to give back to his community he returned to his home in Chicago to direct a voter registration drive and work as an attorney representing community organizers on voting rights and civil rights cases. In 1993 he became a lecturer of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School prior to serving in the Illinois State Senate from 1996-2004, which ended with his 70% landslide election victory to the US Senate in 2004.
Obama and EDWARDS.
Obama should choose Edwards as VP. It's a logical pairing: young, progressive; and Edwards has the solid platform that Obama only suggests, and delegates that would put them well beyond her range. Such a pairing would satisfy Nader's demands for genuine change, and he might pull out and support them.
Her behavior and the PR hacks that run her campaign leave her entirely undeserving of any place. Nor do Americans, or the rest of the world, deserve her.
So yes:
OBAMA AND EDWARDS. the logical choice.
...that's a nice resume', but his hanging out with old terrorists from the Weather Underground, and his pro-retreat stance on terror is kind of a deal breaker.
you and all the others disgust me with your outright racism, and bigotry, my ancestry are black, asian, and white, so thatmean I cannot run for office? I cannot get ahead because what? You American will never change, you as a whole will always be bad for another other races, you dirty people with your vile thoughts. As for Geraldine, is she white ? Isn't she Itallian.....
well it doesn't help the situation when theses states has to pay for something that happened all those years ago and we had nothng to do with.
Kind of lets a bad taste in your mouth.
What racism? Ferraro said he was making it because he was black.
Is he?
His positions are almost identical to Edwards.
????
Tell me there is not a novelty in that some dems are just jerking themselves over the fact that he's black.
The dem party has pandered to minorities for 40 years and now, it's so disingenuous that the white liberals are attacking the first real candidate that is a minority, for being one.
Geraldine Ferraro may be a racist, but that does not make her wrong about the fact that Obama is black and it is a factor in his favor.
This is america you fools what allows blacks to say,do anything they want but the rest of us can't isn't it a form of terrorism already? and this is just the beginning if Obama Hussein wins we have to ask for permission to speak to blacks liking bessides welfare,public assistance appications and lawsuit will increase tremendously remember we haven't paid for their pain and suffering yet
This is America you fools what allows blacks to Say anything they want but the rest of us can't isn't it a form of terrorism already? and this is just the beginning if Obama Hussein wins we have to ask for permission to speak to blacks liking besides welfare,public assistance applications and lawsuit will soar remember we haven't paid for their pain and suffering of centuries ago yet.
Obama's promise of change is for the worse trust me He's just another taaaaaaaaalker of the rank of Rev. Jessy Jackson we need a doer all I hear from blacks is the 'MOVEMENT' let's think about it or we'll regret it.
Dear all
I think what it matters is ......if this person can do his assignment well . It is not because you are black, green, white or blue colored man ,but it is......that you have good judgment ,that your ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions is mostly right. The Bushes were experienced ones, but they had poor judgement. Cheyny and Rumsfeld were the most experienced ones, but we have seen enough dramas. Experience is important, but most of the time, it is contrary to what one believes to be wise or sensible.
Yemane Mehary
Canada
Come on all you old women Lets get behind Hillary .We need to have a say in this election .What the heck does these young kids they keep bragging about coming out to vote know. They can't even count change when they come out of college.
Hillary is going to cut the black guy out at the convention. Old white girls are going to win in a smoke-filled room.
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Too badMar 12th, 2008 - 03:57:06
he won Ol' Miss. He's such an ass. He's a poser.
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