Excellent Article on ...

Obama basic training:

On the verge of a hectic few weeks leading to Super Tuesday, the crucial Feb. 5 multistate primary including California's, Mack wanted to drill home one of the campaign's key strategies: telling potential voters personal stories of political conversion.

She urged volunteers to hone their own stories of how they came to Obama – something they could compress into 30 seconds on the phone.

Then Mack brought home the point of her story for the crowd of 100 or so eager volunteers, sipping coffee and watching a PowerPoint presentation in the Obama campaign office on a recent Saturday.

"Did that make more impact on you than if I had talked about his health care plan or his stance on the environment?" she asked.

"Just follow Barack's lead and be honest with them," the Web site advises. "You don't need to debate policy or discuss the day's headlines. You have a very personal reason for investing your time and energy in this campaign – that is the most compelling story you can tell."

After all the questions were answered, the campaign put the volunteers to work making phone calls. Some of them sat on the Q Street curb, making calls on their cell phones.

"We can all sleep Feb. 6," Mack told them, "and we can sleep soundly knowing Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate for president.­"


http://www.sacbee.com/111/v-print/story/649427.html

Slim lead after just two weeks ago ahead by double digits? OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA

Just looking at how this campaign is conducted it seems the one that is under the challenge is Hillary; Obama is the unknown and has managed to usurp her.

Donuts anyone?

We can't just keep doing the same thing, as the old joke goes about crazy people, and expect a different result. That's what nominating Hillary Clinton amounts to. She and McCain are old politics, with tired ideas, the same old policies. They both love war and nonsensical spending. They love free trade and call out their party's favored old hacks for advice. They both have their heads in the past. Neither offer transparency or accountability. America desperately needs a new voice, a new way of thinking. When Barack Obama becomes president of the United States the world will look at us differently and we will look at ourselves differently.

Should he win, who will Senator Obama select for his leadership team? We will end up with all the politicians who supported him in his cabinet and in his administration. Nothing will get done for the next four years. Does he think he will not have political debts to pay off? Does he think he will be able to give those speeches in the Oval Office and get what he wants? I love his speeches but I think we will be in deep trouble if we hire him to lead the most powerful country in the world. What company would hire Senator Obama to be its CEO when he only has middle management experience? Yes, I support Senator Clinton but I will not vote at all if she is not the Democratic nominee for President. After seven years of George Bush, we should have learned what happens when we elect someone who is in way over his head!!!

TEXAS...OH­IO....Here­'s What HILLARY'S 'Mandated' Health Care Plan
FEELS LIke
From A http://www.Blacks4Barack.org Commenter

As a Massachusetts single parent, 2 job holding resident, I wish reporters and interested parties would ask Mitt Romney, our former Governor, about his mandated health insurance plan for all Massachusetts residents he left us with. Ask democrats, republicans and independent voters what we think about this plan. This is the same plan that Hillary wants to adopt. Please do yourself a favor and ask the Massachusetts residents how it feels to no longer have a choice about putting food on the table, because YOU MUST, pay for a premium you can't afford. Ask MA residents how LONG it takes them to get a visit with their PCP (Primary Care Physicians). Ask the MA seniors about their medicine vs health care premium. I can go on, but please ask the questions. Also note that Mitt Romney never gives credit or much talk to his governorship here in Massachusetts, because he KNOWS that Massachusetts RESIDENTS think he is a scam. Mandated health care IS NOT a good plan...TRU­ST ME, and the rest of the MA residents who can vouch this.
Barack has the better plan.



Submitted by a Blacks4Barack Commenter


Seems like the only one who benefits from Hillary's Plan is her buddies at the INSURANCE COMPANIES !

http://www.Blacks4Barack.orgck.org

Wow! I forgot that the Clintons are also thieves: Mabe they steal this Primary as well.

polls should be illegal...­....so big brother

Hey Hillary Lovers,

Here's some good stuff about your girl

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/718285.aspx

Amazing...­.

TO ALL OBAMA SUPPORTERS:

For the certain Republican onslaught to come, a suggested show of support against at least one probable tactic, using Obama's middle name as a way to instill fear and bigotry.

Start signing your posts and include as your middle name: "Hussein"

Signed: H 'Hussein' Galal

The Clinton spin masters are trying to present a scenario where if Obama doesn't win all four March 4 primary contests by large margins it means the voters are expressing "buyer's remorse. What a crock, the truth is that it is the Clinton's that are experiencing "buyer's remorse" and have lost double digit leads in all four states to a point that all are now competitive. The contests are very close but make no mistake about who is "trending up" and who is "slipping and sliding". I do hope they lose all four states and we can get the Clinton leeches to turn loose of a pathetic strategy of "scorched earth campaigning" to try to draw close enough not to win by any criteria but to convince the super delegates to steal the election for them on the basis of their pathetic fairy tales of electability. Come on Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island save us from the Clinton's desperate attempt to destroy the Democrats chances of victory in November. Get "fired up" and burn the leeches!

God, did bazillionaire Clinton-hater Richard Mellon Scaife buy the Toledo Blade? There are good reasons to endorse Obama and then there are those of the wingnuttery variety listed in the Blade's endorsement. Pretty awful stuff coming out of a newspaper with a fairly respectable reputation in this region. I'm embarrassed for the Blade's staff.

susan, i have glimpsed your profile and your "Israel can do no wrong" sentiments come across very obviously. you would do well to remember your first allegiance is to your own country, not a foreign country. the persecution complex works only to a point. Israel is not as innocent and pure as you seem to suggest. don't even try to pull the "you must be an anti-semite" crap with me. i am glad Israel exists, but it's policies are not always right. if i am misreading your comments, i apologize.

INTERESTING CHRON.COM ARTICLE ON POLLS IN GENERAL.


"It's very difficult to poll (a Texas primary) accurately," said Rice University political scientist Earl Black. "And if you've done it, it's hard to know you've done it."

The key to conducting an accurate survey is to predict which registered voters will come to the polls. In polling parlance, it's called "the screen."

Different polls use different methods to create their screens for the all-important "likely voter."

Some eliminate anyone who hasn't voted in the last two presidential elections. Some dismiss people who, on a scale of 1 to 10, say their likelihood of voting is not a 9 or a 10. Most use a combination of factors.

More voters, less certainty
The problem this year is that primary voters and caucus attendees — particularly Democrats — are confounding the experts by turning out in record numbers. Add to that the unusually high participation rates of minority voters and an influx of new voters, particularly young people, and there is a recipe for a messy gumbo of poll results.


"Voting is an extremely complex process to predict," said Dick Bennett, president of American Research Group, a nonpartisan New Hampshire company that showed Obama leading 48 percent to 42 percent on Feb. 15. "There is no ultimate, definitive methodolog­y."

Bennett says he tweaks his screening process as campaigns progress. Because Obama is bringing so many new voters to the polls, Bennett is now including voters who say their likelihood to vote is 7 or higher, not just the traditional 9 and 10. The result: His screen is more favorable to Obama than some others.

While venerable polls such as Gallup are sticking to their traditional scientific methods, nobody can be sure that their polls are on target.

"If your turnout model is wrong, your poll is incorrect," said Democratic consultant Dane Strother.

What the polls disagree about is how many people from different groups will vote in the Democratic primary on March 4.


Major minority role
As ABC News polling director Gary Langer said, "the relative mix of Hispanics and blacks voting in Texas is critical."


The most accurate polls, Black said, are private polls conducted by the campaigns. That's because they interview more people over a longer period of time and use more advanced — and expensive — screening techniques.

The campaigns, however, keep these polls private and try to spin the most favorable public polling available.

"You can come up with a poll to prove anything. 51% of people know that." -- Homer Simpson