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By Aram Sinnreich
$22.45
By Bernard Fall
$16.47
$23
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AP photo / Steven Senne
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Barack Obama once again swept the evening’s contests, but the big surprise came in Wisconsin, where Hillary Clinton invested much time and money and where the two candidates got caught in a nasty air war. He beat her there by roughly 18 points.
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AP photo / Charles Rex Arbogast
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By Bill Boyarsky — Since Super Tuesday produced not one but a duo of Democratic front-runners, pundits from across the political spectrum have made ominous noises about the potential dangers of a prolonged contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Here, Truthdig’s seasoned political correspondent, Bill Boyarsky, begs to differ.
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Most popular YouTube videos inspire the inevitable parodies, and while many amuse in their own way, this one scores with the title alone. This is what Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” fan film would look like if it were made by the rich and powerful—that is to say, the non-celebrity kind. The kind with pocket squares and tiny dogs.
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Tim Russert and his merry band of super pundits debate whether superdelegates will decide the Democratic nomination and where Hillary Clinton went wrong. (Hint: Bill’s name comes up.)
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By Eugene Robinson — John McCain has the advantage of getting to run right away. Too bad he’s campaigning on failed policies and bad ideas.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The boilerplate in a candidate’s speeches gets little attention because words used over and over never constitute “news.” But one of John McCain’s favorite lines—his declaration that “the transcendent challenge of the 21st century is radical Islamic extremists,” or, as he sometimes says it, “extremism”—could define the 2008 election.
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By Marie Cocco — Barack Obama has had success against Hillary Clinton’s experience argument in part, Cocco argues, because she is a woman. He’ll have a harder time taking on John McCain.
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drudgereport.com
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Barack Obama flew down to the home of John and Elizabeth Edwards on Sunday for a secret meeting that didn’t stay secret for long. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have courted their former rival’s endorsement, but the Associated Press reports that Edwards is leaning toward Clinton, in part because “Obama has been less attentive.”
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Bill Maher’s writers are back and so is his biting commentary on the political and cultural issues of the week. In this clip, the “Real Time” host tackles the decline of the handshake, Bush’s war addiction, the fighting Romneys, McCain’s zombie army and why it isn’t amazing that the Democrats have suddenly discovered diversity.
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AP photo / Susan Walsh
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Nancy Pelosi, who is not only one of the highest-ranking members of the Democratic Party but the chair of its approaching national convention, has weighed in on two of the most controversial issues looming over the presidential nomination. Superdelegates, Pelosi said, should not overrule the will of the voters, and the disputed delegations from Michigan and Florida “can’t make the difference because then we would have no rules.”
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radaronline.com
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It wasn’t so long ago that Matt Drudge and Rupert Murdoch’s minions cooed over Hillary Clinton’s centrism, but in the end the self-styled titans of right-wing media couldn’t resist bashing her, much to their readers’ delight. Politico chronicles the rise and fall of conservatives’ brief love affair with Hillary Clinton.
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By Eugene Robinson — Are the news media being beastly to Hillary Clinton? Are political reporters and commentators—as Bill Clinton suggested but didn’t quite come out and say in a radio interview Tuesday—basically in the tank for Barack Obama?
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By David Sirota — To the consternation of news bureaus, political consulting firms and has-been politicians, The Wall Street Journal’s poll last month shows that America is hostile to an independent presidential candidacy by Michael Bloomberg.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — What happened to Hillary Clinton? Last fall, she was the “inevitable” nominee whose “machine” would raise scads of cash and push her to an early victory.
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According to The New York Times and others, what was once an alarming possibility now appears likely: The Democratic nomination will probably be decided by superdelegates—those party bigwigs who exist to keep the will of the people in check. If that happens, expect to see the ugly side of politics out in the open. It’s already begun to surface.
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By Joe Conason — The same conservatives sending Barack Obama love notes over the airwaves are likely to smear him from every angle if he secures the nomination. Obama says he is ready. Let’s hope so.
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indecision2008.com
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One of John McCain’s top advisers, Mark McKinnon, says he will resign from the campaign if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, because “I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama.” McKinnon says he would still support McCain from a distance, but “I met Barack Obama, I read his book, I like him a great deal.”
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zenpundit.com
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Pollster John Zogby has crunched the numbers and he’s impressed by Barack Obama’s string of election victories, but he says “this deal is not closed” because Hillary “is after all a Clinton—she and her husband are popular, dogged, able campaigners.”
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By Amy Goodman — The “Democracy Now!” host explains why Virginia is the new Massachusetts and Texas is the new Florida, and why Barack Obama is benefiting from more than a boost in demographics.
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Exit polls, those surveys of voters as they leave their polling places, should be taken with a grain of salt. Having said that, CNN’s exit poll data from the so-called Potomac Primary shows Barack Obama crossing the demographic divide that has hampered him throughout the race. Seniors, white people, working-class voters and women—all traditional supporters of the Clinton campaign—came out for Obama in big numbers.
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politico.com
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For those keeping score at home, Tuesday’s victories in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., make it eight in a row for Barack Obama since Super Tuesday. Hillary Clinton is looking forward to Ohio and Texas, which are now must-win states for her, but Obama’s impressive streak of landslide victories (which could grow) might upset her early advantage there.
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Barack Obama has called for Hillary Clinton to release her tax returns in light of the $5 million she lent her campaign. Here he explains why, and Clinton promises she will—but only if she wins the nomination.
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nationalsecurity.org
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This might be a moment when Democratic supporters wonder what all the “changing of the guard” fuss was about when Dems took control of Congress in 2006: On Tuesday, the Senate effectively voted in favor of granting telecommunication companies retroactive immunity for their cooperation in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program.
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nytimes.com
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Clinton insiders talk a lot on the record about Hillary’s viability against John McCain, her confidence in Ohio and Texas and her determination to seat delegates from the uncontested Michigan and Florida primaries. But off the record, at least a few wonder if all that long-term thinking isn’t a bit premature for a campaign that is losing contests left and right.
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By Marie Cocco — As they prepare to vote, thousands of Virginia Democrats are struggling to decide between two able candidates. Many of those will not make that decision until they have ballots in their hands.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The Democrats’ hopes of regaining the White House hinge on how the party proceeds in the coming weeks and months. If momentum or civility reigns, they’ve got a shot. But if back-room dealing and cheating prevail, don’t hold your breath.
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By Eugene Robinson — It is insane to waste time and energy worrying that somewhere, doubtless in a high-tech subterranean lair, Republican masterminds are cackling over their diabolical plot: The use of reverse psychology to lure unsuspecting Democrats into nominating Barack Obama, an innocent lamb who will be chewed up by the attack machine in the fall. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
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Americans have had to contend with dozens of speeches, debates and commercials comparing and contrasting the Democratic candidates, and still they can’t get enough. After all, this election is a ratings winner, but that’s to be expected when a rock star, a political celebrity and Grandpa Simpson all run for president.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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It’s safe to assume that the people currently advising Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on foreign policy will continue to do so if their candidate is elected. So what approaches can we expect from an Obama or a Clinton administration? There are some bad apples in either bunch, but Foreign Policy in Focus says the company Obama and Clinton keep largely parallels their votes on the war.
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Hollywood bigwig Ari Emanuel knows a thing or two about superdelegates. His brother, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, is one. But, as Ari writes on the Huffington Post, “as much as I love and respect him, I don’t trust him and his fellow superdelegates to decide for me and the American people who should be the Democratic nominee—and, therefore, most likely the next president of the United States.”
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The inevitable parodies of Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” video have begun—this one isn’t so much about Obama or Hillary Clinton as it is about Republican front-runner John McCain, whose infamous hundred-year (or more) plan for America’s presence in Iraq is deservedly and humorously lambasted here.
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flickr.com
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Sen. Hillary Clinton is focusing on the high points of the last week—her Super Tuesday successes in weighty states like New York and California, for example—and looking to potential wins in Texas and other elections to hold her position in the race for the Democratic nomination in coming weeks.
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Maine caucus-goers and Grammy voters gave Barack Obama two more wins on Sunday, rounding out a weekend of victories in four states with the Grammy trophy for best spoken word album for his recording of “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.” Here’s the kicker: Obama beat out former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for the Grammy.
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With a win in the Maine caucuses, Barack Obama has scored four lopsided victories in a row and the map favors him for weeks to come. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, responded to her troubles by replacing her campaign manager. Clinton now has to hold back Obama’s momentum long enough to win the big states weeks from now, a strategy that did not help Rudy Guiliani.
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AP photo / Rick Bowmer
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Amid speculation that a long road might be in store for Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the tide turned in Obama’s favor Saturday with Nebraska and Washington state caucus victories and a big win in the Louisiana primary.
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Jon Stewart bids farewell to Mitt Romney, erstwhile presidential candidate and “man-shaped polymer casing for a spiritual vacuum” (ouch!), and calls into question Romney’s anti-terrorist rationale for bowing out of the ‘08 race.
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By David Sirota — For all the hype about generational and gender wars in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, we have a class war on our hands. And incredibly, corporate America’s preferred candidate is winning the poorer “us” versus the wealthier “them.”
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By Joe Conason — The revival of John McCain’s presidential candidacy, now expected to carry him through to his party’s nomination, can be interpreted as either proof of the judgment of Republican primary voters or evidence of the paucity of alternative choices.
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The podcast is back after an extended holiday break. In this installment, Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer and Managing Editor Peter Scheer chat with Los Angeles radio institution Michael Jackson about Super Tuesday and what it all means for the race ahead. The Michael Jackson show can be heard in Los Angeles on AM 1260, in San Diego on AM 540 or online at 1260.am.
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citizenship.typepad.com
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There’s an ugly possibility out there: The Democratic race could be so close it would be decided by the 796 super delegates (governors, members of Congress and the like) and not the people who voted and caucused. Party Chairman Howard Dean says he will do everything possible to avoid such a turn of events and Democratic strategists mostly agree that it would be a disaster for the party, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the super delegate notion to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.
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AP photo / Charlie Niebergall
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By Bill Boyarsky — After Super Tuesday, Democrats are worrying that a long Clinton-Obama contest might irreparably damage the party’s prospects in November. But, as longtime political reporter and former Los Angeles Times City Editor Bill Boyarsky points out, the bigger threat is a McCain-Huckabee ticket.
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journalism.wlu.edu
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The Senate turned into a bit of a schoolyard Wednesday as the Democratic presidential rivals gathered with their cliques, assembling to vote on the economic stimulus package. It was all in good spirits, though, as Sens. Obama, Kennedy, Feinstein, Clinton and others joked. As Sen. Claire McCaskill explained: “I think they were having fun at Ted’s expense. ... But everyone is good-natured about it.”
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The Super Tuesday primaries were a test of strength that demonstrated weaknesses in both parties and pointed to problems each could confront in the fall.
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By Ellen Goodman — Super Tuesday, Super Duper Tuesday, Plus-Size Tuesday, Vastly Engorged and Rotund Tuesday turned into a serious case of political bulimia. Never before have so many gorged on such huge portions of political expectations only to find themselves purged the next morning.
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By Marie Cocco — Kitchen-table worries trumped even the charisma of Camelot. This theme has sounded again and again since the Democratic primary contests began, yet neither the national media nor, apparently, the Obama campaign can hear it.
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gabbybabble.com
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Al Gore voted in Tennessee’s primary, but he’s not saying for whom. According to a spokeswoman, “As private citizens, neither of the Gores are releasing who they voted for.” There’s been much speculation over whether Bill Clinton’s former vice president, in light of his known animus toward Hillary, would endorse a candidate, but we suspect that Gore enjoys life above the fray a bit too much to bother.
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jossip.com
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Somehow Barack Obama has managed a political hat trick. He appears to have won the most delegates on Super Tuesday, he certainly has the most money (Clinton loaned herself $5 million while Obama is on track to set more records), and yet somehow he’s also winning the expectations game.
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AP photo / Rick Bowmer
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Super Tuesday’s aftermath is certainly providing a good crash course in American electoral politics as the results are sorted out. The latest surprising twist involves Barack Obama’s camp claiming a slight lead over Hillary Clinton in the total number of delegates racked up. Officially, the final count has not been determined yet.
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