God bless America and the freedoms we have. It may sound trite, but  it is a heartfelt sentiment. With all the bitterness and name calling, and the insults,real and imagined this is one of the best countries on earth. We just had primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties and no one was killed in the name of politics.

Today's news is reporting that Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader in Zimbabwe, and some of his followers were arrested while campaigning. Some of them were beaten, and h himself has been beaten previously. For those of you following the Zimbabwe's election, you may remember that it is thought that he received a majority of the votes, but President Mugabe refused to concede. The results were not published, and a run-off was ordered.

Our system may be flawed, but we can speak out without fear of retribution. Today at the start of the general election season we should pause to give thanks for our country. We should be grateful that a woman, an Afican-American male, and a 72 year old war hero can occupy the stage and engage in heated war of words, and end up working together in some fashion.

For that I say,"God bless America."

Sen. Obama's acceptance of Jack Johnson's support and even calling it helpful has made the case for Sen. Clinton to take her case to the Democratic Convention in Denver. Earlier in the process, the Obama campaign was squealing so loudly about Ickes trying to get pledged delegate to switch that one would think it was the end of the world. His win at all cost mentality has now begun to haunt him.

He has gone back to wearing a poll tested flag pin, with not one, but two flags. He went back on his IL vote for the gas tax so he could call Hillary a panderer. He stated that all states matter, but he is not planning an election night speech tonight to that the people in West Virginia who voted for him. While I do understand the strategy, it smacks of politics as usual. Where is the new politics he promised?

Sen. Clinton is not as far behind as Kennedy was when he went to the convention. She and Sen. Obama are extremely close. They both need superdelegates to arrive at the magic number. Plus ther is nothing in the rules from taking the fight all the way to the convention. Obama opened the door to a challenge which I hope she accepts.

Let them leave it all on the floor in Denver.

Barack Obama is currently planning his "victory" celebration even before achieving the 2025 votes that will determine the nominee. He is intent on declaring "victory" even before MI and FL are heard before the credentials committee on May 31. This is the height of arrogance which makes him appear out-of-touch and dismissive of others.

He has lost the votes of Democrats in this primary. He is polling worse than his opponent in the GE against the Republican candidate. He has trouble with "Hillary Democrats" in PA, OH, PA which happens to be crucial swing states. He has discounted the voters of FL and MI and, as a result, is counting on his 48 states strategy.

If the criterion for winning the GE was based on winning more states in the GE than his opponents, the Republicans would win every GE. He garnered most votes in caucus states where few people voted. In other words, the fewer folks voted, the more delegates he won. Fewer votes is different than high voter turnout.

Everywhere in America families are adding new meaning to the adage, 'you can do anything you want to do'. This is especially true for men and women with little girls who dream to grow up to be nurses instead of doctors, secretaries instead of CEOs, first ladies instead of POTUS. This has been made possible by the awesome run for president of the USA.

This is not over by any means. The fat lady has not yet sung yet, and stranger things have happened. Hillary is a strong person; she has the best policy positions; she has a firm, intimate grasp of the issues that matters most to Americans. In other words she is the best person for the job.

If the goal of the Democratic Party was to win in November, they lessened their chances by not embracing Hillary Clinton, role model, woman of strength, and role model as their standard bearer.

I still think there is a long shot she can pull this off. I sincerely hope she takes it to the convention.

Isn't ironic that trustworthiness and loyalty cost Hillary Clinton the election? She has been skewered MSM and others for being disloyal and untrustworthy, yet her fierce loyalty led her to hire Patti Solis Doyle and to keep Mark Penn past IA to her own detriment. From what I have read and heard she still has friends from high school and college, and she sends them cards and remembers birthday. She was defined by the Republican 'smear machine' for being a strong woman who they couldn't break.

Unbeknownst to the electorate, those same impressions of her lurked in the recesses of our consciousness waiting for an opportune moment to come forth. Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike bought into the caricature and used them at will. But, she got up each day and kept on going. John Edwards said it well when he mentioned that her strength comes from within her.

Congratulations are in order for Sen. Obama and his campaign for reading the delegate tea leaves well. A pox on the houses of the Democratic leaders who voted to strip Florida and Michigan of all their delegates when the rules said that they could provide them with fifty percent of the delegates. I do not fault any of the candidates for trying to frame this issue in a way that would benefit them. This is politics.

The final results are in.

Obama 50.1

Clinton 49.9

What a squeaker, but this is still encouraging since Obama was supposed to win by 11%

http://www.kuam-media.com/news/demcaucus /results.htm

Obama actually won by seven votes. This should be a sobering lesson to all of us regarding the importance of our votes. This is as close to a tie as one can get. Indiana and Noth Carolina Clinton supporters get on the telephine and GOTV for her. This is indeed momentum.

IMO, street money may have caused Sen. Obama to lose the PA primary by double digits. In a comment in one of the dairies, I posited that when new politics meet old politics there need to be a compromise. Philly is an old machine town with ward leaders who will ferociously assist their candidate to get out the votes, but they need what is called "street money" to help defray costs for lunch, gas and other incidental expenses.

While watching the Chris Matthews show, which I do very infrequently these days, there were two radio talk show hosts, one black and one white who agreed that street money could have helped Sen. Obama win the primary or at least held Hillary's win to a smaller margin. My sense is that Sen. Clinton paid "street money" although it was not explicitly stated.

Sen. Obama refused to pay street money in South Carolina and it did not hurt him there, but Philly is a different city. Obama earned 65% of the vote in the city, but although turnout was good there, it was not a record. The pundits said Obama needed at least 70% of the black vote, plus he needed to win the Philly suburbs, but he also failed to do that.

Hillary Clinton won a big victory in PA tonight. The contest was hard fought and neither of the candidates gave any ground. They both did what they thought they needed to do to win. Both spent six weeks working hard to sway each other's base. Most of the polls had it close but she pulled away at the last minute.

Before I make some observations I will make full disclosure that I am a Hillary Clinton supporter who will try to be as unbiased as possible in order to get your opinion on the state of the race as it relates to the GE. I am fully aware of the uphill battle HRC has to the nomination, and I am also aware that super-delegates can vote for whomever they please. I know that Sen. Obama's name was not on the ballot in MI and I also know the rules about FL and that neither of them campaigned there.

Having said all that the Democratic Party has some serious issues which if left untouched will hand Sen. McCain a victory in the GE.