It's time for Democrats to rally around our nominee the way the Republicans have rallied around theirs.

Cool news though.  Time to start fighting over who hates McCain more!

Can we let it be?  

Now its on the the General election.

Mcshame is toast!!!

But didn't alegre say we still have hope? Alegre help!!!

WOWOWOWOWOWOWWWWW!!!!!!

Cheers to all the hardwork everyone's put in, and condolences to Clinton supporters.....hopefully we'll all be celebarting together in November!

OBAMARAMA

Time to move on to the next round of the struggle.

Why not throw Obama some love today?  Or order a sticker or sign or two?

http://store.barackobama.com/

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/cont ribute/dt2std?source=mainnav

w00t

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

YES YES YES YES YES

United we win!

Yaaaaaay!

Congratulations to Obama and his supporters.  They ran one of the best organized grassroots primary campaigns in history and managed a huge upset against a tough competitor.

Here's to hoping the Clintons and Obamas can join together to move the progressive agenda forward in this country.

As a former Clinton supporter who switched to Obama, I salute our Democratic candidates and their supporters.

I'm an Obama supporter, but tonight will bring relief, not elation.  I'm more than ready to take the fight to the real enemy.

More than a dozen 'Private committments'?

Guys, how many times does Obama get to mislead you with the help of the press before you learn your lesson.

This is no different than what Bush was doing with the WMD stories. We have seen him do this throughout the campaign with bogus reports of superdelegates counts that never materialized.

Que: "It's not over!"  "No one has voted" "The media is sexist" "The media is in for Obama" and all the other narratives that the Clinton camp is still spinning, despite the fact that it IS over and they will at this point, most certainly hurt Obama in the GE.  

I was so hopeful at the beginning of this campaign.  Now the good part (the GE) is going and I just feel like taking a nap.

...and I think I'll wait until the private commitments become public before I get my groove on.

"exposed" is not the correct word.

I'll hold congratulations until I see word from Clinton.

AP couldn't wait, they wanted to be the 1st to break the obvious....

First of all, nothing is clenched until one of two things happens: either Sen. Clinton conceeds or the ballots are cast in Denver. This is a stunt that reeks of political calculation. Who are the 30 Super D's that apparently have endorsed Obama in the past hour?

Yes!

We're coming at you John McCain.

Quick! Time to switch to pandering to independents! There's not a moment to lose!

I already got the warm, fuzzy feeling (so that's what hope feels like) when he won the WI primary.  Ever since it's just been a matter of time for me.

I wanna walk up the side of the mountain.
I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain.
I wanna swim in the river and lie in the sun.
I wanna try and be nice to everyone....

emPHAsis on last line.  ;)

comment.  

Thank you, Clinton supporters for your dedication to the Democratic process and your candidate.  

I feel like we're watching a boxing match between two heavyweight champions that's gone right into the twenty-fifth round, and one has just lost on a TKO.

This has easily been the longest primary season in history.  We have two strong contenders, and as much as I've been agonizingly frustrated by it, I'm forced to admire Senator Clinton's tenacity.  I'm pretty sure Senator Obama would not have fought as long or as hard, had their positions been reversed.  I hope that Senator Clinton has a place, either in the Senate or in the next administration, where she can put her talents to use.

I hope we can put the ugliness of the primary behind us as quickly as possible and coalesce behind the goal of installing Senator Obama as the next President and keeping the Straight Talk Express in the shop.

Don't listen to this guy Clinton supporters. He is a McSame jerk trying to stir up trouble!

True Obama supporters support the Deomocratic ideals, this guy is a troll

At least this AP article isn't quoting any Clinton campaign people... because we know what would happen next...

I hereby forbid the AP from printing a retraction.

Please just be over...  

AP hasn't exactly been on their game today. So as an Obama supporter I am going to wait to see real hard numbers and press releases.

At my salon in south Florida, a shipment of funky-styled Barack tee's arrived late last week, just in time. I am giving them to the customers, at no charge and many of them (who are wearing them proudly) were Clinton supporters.

It seems that many in the real world, with the exception of the diehards, are beginning to coalesce around the democratic nominee.

Will place another order tonight...onward to Washington.

you would think the AP knows that the nominee is selected at the convention.  Guess not.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

We have come a long way.

Wow, first black candidate in American history. I feel honored to be living through this moment, it will be one we tell our kids and grandkids about.

Just another Obama attempt to kick Clinton while she is down.

I wouldn't call it until after polls close, the sec. of state has to revise figures.

However, yah. It was over after north carolina.
In fact, you could have called it over at my prediction about the north carolina primary.

Nevertheless, we've got a win here. Inside story is that the Clinton camp is already shutting down.

yeah,whipping around trying to suppress votes today, to avoid another embarrassing blowout (or 2). note that it says "more than a dozen private commitments" which means they are not official.

I'm feeling exactly the same emotion as when a loved family member passes away after hanging on to life for way too long. And I know that the time will come soon to give thanks and move on.

So, now can we see the end of disgraceful spectacles like Chris Finnegan on KO last night? His comments on Clinton staffers with "no core principles" - that one? I'm sure some of them do have core principles, and I'm sure Olbermann and Finnegan understood the comment would be taken personally by people like me. This is where we are today, this minute: being kicked in the teeth by the victors, at the same time as they are saying "get up; you have to support us RIGHT NOW!"

Thom Hartmann this morning was much better; although a mild Obama supporter, he was giving generous praise to Hillary for what she has accomplished, and the ground she has broken. Also berating the "I won't vote" crowd for supporting the McCain agenda of death. That also sounds like a threat, but much more effective in the context of praise (the man is an historian and thinks like one even in the present).

AP just wanted to be first, but the problem is that these delegates have not announced publicly and until they do this story is DOA.

Huh.

It sorta makes sense. Once candidate A has all the delegates s/he needs to get the nomination, keeping candidate B happy isn't so important.

However, b/c of superdelegates, Obama can't control who the VP nominee will be (in theory).

I want to send congrads to everyone on the best Primary in Democratic Party History.  We had fun, We worked hard, we made history, and we didn't rear each other up (to bad).  Looking forward to working with you all in the coming months!

It's over, jack!

FINALLY. On to McCain!

I'm gonna wait til she concedes before I break out the scotch.

Or maybe the 12-year rye.

Mmmmm.

READY TO GO!

I'm wearing my "One of the Million" shirt and I'm getting off work early to hit the rally in St. Paul.

I'm so enthusiastic that he's going to be able to proclaim presumptive victory tonight in the very location that McCain is going to recieve the half-hearted endorsement of his party in a few months.

I'd like to thank Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, Anne Coulter, Richard Mellan Scaife, and all the members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy for keeping our primary going long enough for me to witness this historic moment in person.

That bullshit was supposed to be "dropped" yesterday.

And you fail for linking NoQuarter.

Those lovable NoQuarter scamps.  Comedians, all of them!

Ah, more FUD from the racist scum at NoQuarter.

You go ahead and keep beaing/crying that dead horse/wolf.

Larry Johnson kid of looks like Roger Clemens.

The type of leverage Josh refers to usually has some power behind it. Clinton's remaining power plays are (1) keep talking to superdelegates until the convention, which at best will yield marginal results, (2) waging desperate warfare re Michigan and Florida, which will yield nothing but more bitterness, or (3) making overt appeals to her supporters to reject Obama, which will ensure a November loss and condemn the Clintons forever.

I for one don't believe Clinton will put any real effort into 2 or 3. I think see will bow out graciously and give honest and powerful support to the nominee. I think her heart and soul are more attached to the progressives goals of the party than to her own ambition.

As for Obama, I strongly suspect he will praise Clinton effusively and genuinely. He will be gracious and make it easy for all but the deadest dead-enders to transfer their efforts to party as a whole.

Whatever this is, it won't sink Obama or the democrats.

oh that champs is gonna taste so sweet tonight!  i can't wait for obama's speech.

to team clinton:  thank you for testing our nominee and making us stronger.  thank you for fighting the good fight.  i hope you will be with us in november.

Really great article about Hillary's historic candidacy:

"Breaking the glass ceiling"

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/060 8/10775.html

I would write a diary about it but I'm a bit lazy... anyone want to do it?

It is typical for neo-cons to try and pit two disenfranchised groups against each other in a slight of hand for them to continue to count their money while we go at each other.

Well, f-them. I am sick of it. We are fighting against it all, racism, sexism, classism, orientasionism, etc.

They wanna pit clinton supporters against those sesxist Obaman's.

They wann pit Obama supporters against those racist Clintonians.

They wanna pit the struggling middle class against those "job stealing immigrants", instead of the corporate employers who take advantage of both groups.

It is time we stood up and said NO. They can't distract us from the fact that we are the party that fights racism and sexism and classism

The neo-cons want to disenfranchise all sides that we hold dear, and they don't even want to do the dirty work. They want us to do it ourselves.

For the love of love, don't let them do this.

Thanks,
Alec

I'm in awe. I taught my summer school 19th century US history class today about the coming of the Civil War, slave resistance and ideological defenses of slavery. To think that a country - whose leaders once openly encouraged the sale, rape, whipping, and murder of African Americans just because they were "sons of Ham" as the propagandists once said - is now about to nominate a son of an African immigrant to the Democratic ticket is astonishing.

Breathtaking.

I may be white and Jewish, but I am tearing up at the thought of what this country has just done. Oddly enough, it feels like the first Jewish person has been nominated - it just feels that strong to me.

No, it is not the "first time" I have been proud of my country. I'm always proud of my country. But I don't know that I have ever been prouder.

With thousands of voters in Montana and S. Dakota yet to vote, this is messed up. Cheers to Obama, but the AP is artificially gaming the vote on this one. I don't know if this helps Obama or Clinton and I don't much care, but both candidates - and their staffs - worked too hard in these states to have the ultimate results declared prematurely. I'm sure the AP wasn't the only news organization with a fix on the superdelegates, it's kind of sad they felt they had to scoop the others so early. Bah.

"The 'leverage' she was hoping to preserve before conceding has started leaking out a large hole at the bottom of the bucket."--Josh Orton

Much as I hate to interrupt your personal heroic battle against Hillary Clinton, this election will be decided by the voters. Much of the leverage lies with them.

The complete disregard for the voters is evident in announcing this, no matter how symbolic, before Montana and South Dakota have voted.

And I'm happy he won.  But Clinton supporters, rest assured that many of us are also sad to see such a wonderful leader defeated.

My happiness at Obama winning the nomination is about 1% of the happiness I will feel to see a Dem win in November.  If it had been Clinton, the same would have been true.

I hope you who have supported Clinton can overlook the sore winners and grating personalities that infect Obama's supporters.  let's be honest, there are irritating asshats supporting every candidate, unfortunately.  Lets put the intraparty bickering behind us and unite for an incredibly important victory in November.

Remember--with Barack Obama, you're not just waiting for the OTHER shoe to drop. You're following a centipede.

Woo Hoo!!!  Congratulations Senator Obama.  I can't wait until he speaks in St. Paul tonight.  It should be something to remember.

Figured this was as good a thread as any to say thanks to the rational supporters of both of our fine candidates this year.  There are wonderful representatives for both candidates here, and they far outweigh the lunatic fringe that both candidates have.  It got incredibly ugly a few times this season, but every time that happened it seemed that there were a few people that pulled us back from the edge.

I truly believe we're going to be a stronger party nationwide because of this hard fought primary.  As cliche as it sounds, there are no real losers here. Progressive ideals have a platform to stand on now that we've built a solid party infrastructure in places where none existed, and we can thank both candidates for getting people so enthused about the process.

Lastly, my heart truly goes out to Clinton supporters who put all they had behind their candidate.  I know exactly how it feels to have your candidate lose, and it sucks.  Here's hoping that we can use Clinton's incredible leadership in the Senate and maybe get a new majority leader who has what it takes to lead us on the big issues of our time.

From my perspective a sad day not only for Hillary and her supporters, but for the party...

The Obama people and the Superdelegates couldn't even wait until tomorrow to allow Clinton to make her speech tonight.  That is just wrong.  Disgusting. What a nasty way to push someone out.  

I feel almost as good about this as when Bill Clinton actually won.  This is probably my second most proud moment as a 43 year old Democrat.

GO OBAMA!

The tide in our nation is....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTvWJWeQ 2g

Why don't the 30 Super Delegates come out and show their faces?  Why endorse in private?

All the names will be public soon.

This is a very normal sort of thing.  AP has been calling these folks for months on end.

Even though I'm glad that Obama has finally won, and even though I thought Clinton should have bowed out pre-OH/TX when the math was so clearly stacked against her...the victory is still a little bittersweet for me.

Obama being the nominee is absolutely historic, but Clinton as our nominee would also have been historic.  When I think of my mom, my grandmother, even my sisters, and think how great it would have been for them, and for all of us by extension, to have a woman as our nominee, I'm a little bit sad.

So, Clinton supporters: in all sincerity, sorry that it didn't work out this time.  That's got to be a tough loss to swallow.  It's too bad that these two candidates had to both arrive this year (oh, how I wish either of them could have been Kerry in 2004), but that's how it happened.

But, we still have a important, inspiring, historic campaign in front of us.  Here's hoping we all can make Obama not only the first black Presidential Nominee, but the first black President of the United States of America.

Yeah it was only a matter of time before he did so, but WOW!

need to vote for a nominee at the national convention before a candidate cinches the nomination?  If I were Obama, I would be able to make a more compelling case this had occurred were Hillary to suspend her campaign.

The poor AP is having a rough day.

Musical interlude!

Wait...shoudln't Jonathan Singer be breaking this...oh, wait, yeah,oh, okay, now I get it.

Actually, I think We're all Democrats.I haven't had a single discussion on this issue from anyone.I'd be pleasantly suport  the man who is really democratics.