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In a month where all the know-nothing pundits were speculating on a speculative report that claimed Illinois Senator Barack Obama "only" raised $30M or so in the month of June, turns out they were once again completely, utterly and pathetically wrong.

Please try to contain your shock.

Looks like Obama has had quite a haul this month. A $52,000,000 haul, to be exact. Only $3M shy of his record-shattering donation total in February of this year.

Politico reports that:

The DNC just announced that "Governor [Janet] Napolitano will chair the Platform Drafting Committee. Michael Yaki will serve as National Platform Director and Karen Kornbluh will be the Principal Author of the Platform."

These appointments suggest that the platform will be a more centrist document than party platforms are traditionally. Usually the candidate treats the platform as a bone for the base, with the proviso that nothing in it may hurt him politically. Candidates sometimes identify a particular issue that is important to them, such as when Kerry removed support for the death penalty from the current platform. Given this selection of staff Obama does not intend to offer the platform as a refuge for those to his left in the party, though it does suggest that choice is safe as a party principle (Napolitano is a strong choice advocate). It may be that instead Obama has decided to use the platform to mollify women.

Governor Napolitano recognized Obama as a DLC kindred spirit early:

Napolitano represents a particular subset of Obama supporters, those who embraced the "third way" moderation of Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council during the 1990s, but came to see Obama, not Hillary Clinton, as the inheritor of that legacy, updated to account for the ugly realities of the post-September 11 world.

reposted with permission and cross-posted at Daily Kos

                 
                                           obama family in butte, montana, july 4, 2008

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I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.  Since, I am late posting "This Week" and just getting back in town, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  A few things first:

If you have not given to the DNC for the Convention or to the Obama Campaign, between arguing, please do so.  The DNC is running on empty now, due to the ridiculously, long primary season and money mismangement, in my view.  The money is low, don't believe it, read it all here.  Barack is also in full fundraising mode.  We all know what this is about.  If you want to win, you need money to do that.  Barack would not be able to run ads in almost 1/2 the country if he did not have the money to do so.  Remember Kerry, and the swiftboat ads and the slow response because he did not have the money to combat the ads?  Just sayin', don't let anger get in the way of winning this thing in November.

Right now funding the DNC and the Obama Campaign is top priority.  It has to be, the primary ran too long, we got a very late start on everything and the Convention is right around the corner, as well as the General Election.  You know not only what to do, but what this is about in November, WINNING.

Barack is accepting the nomination in front of over 75K people at the Invesco/Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado.  Sorry, I am from the old school and refuse to process companies names on sport stadiums, so it will always be Mile High to me.  Just as Cominsky Park will always be THAT to me, from the Southside of Chicago.  Anyway moving on, for a donation as small as $5.00 your name just may be picked from one of ten to enjoy the convention up close and personal in Denver.  This also includes meeting Barack Obama.  More information is here.

Lastly, please give to the DNC.  Donate to the DNC here.

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Double lastly, please give to the Obama Campaign, by DONATING HERE.

Thank You.

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obama with kids from east community ministry, zanesville, ohio

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Missed Obama's FISA position, read it here.

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patriotism speech in independence, missouri, june 30, 2008

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Obama is live on ipod.  You can retrieve and listen to all his speeches, townhall meetings, special events.  You can get all the information, here.

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                                     obama's laid back, enjoying his daughter's soccer game

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The Obama Girls (Melia and Sasha, respectively) were promised, come hell or high water, a dog after going through this grueling campaign season.  The girls deserve it 360 percent.  Anytime you take a parent away from their children it is tough.  You are reducing the home to basically a one parent home, which is what happened.  So, for all the strife of the Obama Girls there now is a pet poll for which dog the girls should get.  I know the family is interested in a "shed free dog" and will like to turn their attention to this list.

And for personal experience, I have had two of the dogs on the list.  The bichon frise and havanese.  Both dogs don't shed, both are loyal to the owners, both are sweet, both are small dogs and both are fun to have around.

One caveat, the bichon frise is a breed that has been over bred.  The havenese is still a newer breed to this country, originating in Cuba.  The bichon is a stubborn dog, have not met one that is not.  The havenese is extremely loyal, easy to train and totally fun.  I love both breeds and hope the Obamas investigate well before picking the right dog for their family.

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call to service, colorado springs, colorado

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List of missed Obama speeches, talks, briefings and all of the et cetera...

Barack Obama Addresses A.M.E. Church General Conference
Barack Obama on Veterans in Fargo, ND
Barack Obama Reiterates his Stance on Iraq
Fourth of July Parade in Butte, Montana
Barack Obama at 4th of July Picnic
Barack Obama in Zanesville, OH
The Obamas at Melia's Soccer Game in Chicago, Illinois

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                                       obama with jerry orvin in colorado springs, colorado

shoutouts

The Long, Long List Of McFlip/Flops (McCain that is) by StuHunter; Unfit for duty:  McCain physically assaulted foreign official in 1987 by Geekesque; Elizabeth Edwards to Headline $40 million Health Care Coalition. by GlowNZ; The Obamas, Mortgages and Creditworthiness by SusanG; John "I Didn't Say What I Said" McCain by Todd Beeton; Cool Obama Family Campaigns & Celebrates by maureen; John Edwards to Debate Karl Rove by MLDB; Judge Requires YouTube to Turn Over User IP Addresses by ohmproject; Countdown to $200 oil: International Energy Agency says current prices justified by Jerome a Paris; Cleaning Up After the Worst Presidency in History by mcjoan

the slideshow, drumroll please....

i will be back in form next sunday.  remember to donate, volunteer and focus on obama, not the drama...

Get Involved Here
For Inspiration:  Yes.We.Can!!!

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icebergslim1047 (at) gmail (dot) com
cross-posted @This Week With Barack Obama

PUMA Pac founder and Democratic activist, Darragh Murphy, has been the target this week of allegations that she is a closet McCain supporter working for the Republicans to "to set up a secretive operation" to make McCain look moderate and make feminists look like "hysterical bitches" -- (Really Amanda, anyway).

Like some of you, I was alarmed that a Republican might have infiltrated PUMA disguised as a disgruntled Democrat and formed a group that is now a leader in the PUMA movement. Like some of you, I was angry and wanted to get to the bottom of it. PUMA is a growing group of disgruntled Democrats, not a Republican secret op, so any Republican mischief-maker would need to get the boot quickly. So, I decided to go right to the source to verify the veracity of these allegations.

Hear what Darragh has to say over the flip...  

(Cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)

Hey, everyone! We have just over 24 hours left to make a HUGE impact in this election by making sure our Democrats have enough resources to kick some Rethug behind this fall. So what can we all do to help Obama win the White House and Democrats win more seats in Congress?

Follow me after the flip for more...

The lying, undemocratic bastards that stole the Democratic nomination must be punished. We can't let them get away with this. The only way to teach them a lesson is to use our vote. I'm sick and tired of people complaining that those of us that say this are being irrational, so I've detailed below the reasoning behind my decision.

There was rampant misogyny on display throughout the primary campaign. There were hateful things said by talking heads on cable news shows, anonymous posters on the Internet, and some supporters of Obama. Many of these comments were beyond the pale. I am going to punish those people by voting for the candidate of the party that misled us to war under false premises. This war has resulted in more than 4,000 deaths of young Americans and an uncounted number of deaths of Iraqi women and children, but I don't care. The misogynistic comments were far more harmful than the lies that led us to war. How can you possibly ignore some bruised feelings just because some people have died due to GOP lies?

During this primary, Hillary supporters have been disrespected, made fun of, shamed, labeled as divisive, racist, called names that range from typical white people to a part of the electorate that the new Democratic coalition no longer needs.

Now we are being made to feel that if we don't fall in line and vote for the DNC insiders choice for President, we may lose the election for them. We'll lose the opportunity to appoint Democratic judges to the Supreme Court, lose our homes, our uteruses, schools will close, the Iran War will last for 100 years and we will be taken over by aliens. The sky will fall.

Who says so? The Main Stream Media, Donna Brazile, Howard Dean, the DNC, Kerry, Kennedy, Richardson Donald Duck, The Three Stooges, Betty Boop, Felix the Cat, John Wayne, Henny Penny and any other man, woman or child that doesn't fall in line with the Party.

Two things:

#1 - The idea that the DNC might omit a roll call at the convention seems extremely undemocratic to me.

I thought this was nothing more than a rumor, but it came up today at the "unity" for money meeting at the Mayflower.

Marc Ambinder mentions it here in his column:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2008/06/after_the_press_leaves_some _ed_1.php

A question to obama was whether or not he would accept a roll call vote at the Convention.  

His response was they are negotiating this!

Huh?