Hillary Takes Kentucky, Obama Takes Oregon, What’s Next

Senator Hillary Clinton scored a big victory in the the Kentucky Primary defeating Barack Obama by a 65% to 30% win. Meanwhile in Oregon, Obama won 58-42 percent margin. Last night results gave Obama enough delegates to have the majority of pledged (elected) delegates to the connvention for now. The next key date is May 31st, when the DNC Rules and Bylaws committee meets to decide how the Florida and Michigan delegations will be seated. Thanks to some friends over at Politics1.com, here is a list of who sits on that committee and what candidate they support:

Co-Chairs – no endorsement
Alexis Herman
James Roosevelt, Jr.

Members – Clinton supporters
Hartina Flournay (DC)
Donald Fowler (SC)
Harold Ickes, Jr. (DC)
Alice Huffman (CA)
Ben Johnson (DC)
Elaine Kamarck (MA)
Eric Kleinfeld (DC)
Mona Pasquil (CA)
Mame Reiley (VA)
Garry Shay (CA)
Elizabeth Smith (DC)
Michael Steed (MD)

Members – Obama supporters
Martha Fuller Clark (NH)
Carol Khare Fowler (SC)
Janice Griffin (MD)
Thomas Hynes (IL)
Allan Katz (FL)
Sharon Stroschein (SD)
Sarah Swisher (IA)
Everett Ward (NC)

Members – no known endorsement
Donna Brazille (DC) – Al Gore’s 2000 Campaign Manager
Mark Brewer (MI)
Ralph Dawson (NY)
Yvonne Gates ( NV)
Alice Germond (DC) – DNC Secretary
Jaime Gonzalez, Jr. (TX)
David McDonald (WA)
Jerome Wiley Segovia (VA)

There are 30 members, hence, 16 is a majority. If all of Clinton’s supporters vote as a block, they will only need 4 more votes to secure their desired outcome – which is to award the delegates based on the outcomes of those primaries, where she won because Obama and Edwards did not participate in them. So, gang, the nomination battle is not yet over. Any victory dances, shake your booty its your birthday high-fives should be postponed until after this committee meets. Hillary Clinton has every reason to stay in this race until June. There are still enough uncommitted superdelgates out there that could sway this thing. She could score big victories in the remaining primaries. Obama could slip up or a scandal could develop. Clinton is still a long shot for the nomination, but her campaign is not dead. Winning the remaining primaries and a favorable decision from the DNC rules committee may give her the ammunition to argue that she is the more electable candidate in November, and force a floor fight at the convention. She stays in until June at least. May 31st will give us all a clearer picture. And even then, the results of that committee vote can be taken to the floor of the convention, which would actually make the convention worth watching this year. It will be a lot more than people in funny hats trying to dance to the macarena or whatever pump up the crowd song they choose this year to keep the delegates from falling asleep during all the pre-pre-pre speeches they have to suffer through. There is all this nattering about a unified convention, and that is all well and good, but it is a convention – not a coronation. And it could end up being an open convention if neither candidate has enough votes to win the nomination on the first ballot. The powers that be will try to avoid that at all costs. Everybody wants the Clinton and Obama camps to join hands together and sing Kumbaya and go on to win this election. Not so fast. Lets have a real convention, and give both these candidates one last opportunity to make their case to the American people as to why they, and the Democratic Party, are the best alternative to John McCain and the cast of Scooby Doo villians that back him. In other news, it looks at though Camelot, the Kennedy legacy will soon be losing its last true torchbearer. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, which, by all accounts, seems to be inoperable, as chemotherapy and radiation have been the only mentioned medical interventions. Like him or hate him, he has bee the liberal lion of the Senate. During the Republican Reign of Terror in the 80s, he was often the sole voice of reason when they tried to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid. Ted Kennedy is all too human and had made mistakes in his personal life. But he has never wavered in his support for the rights of all men and women in this country. He could have lived a life of relative is, being known as the idiot son of Joseph Kennedy Sr., but he decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps and continue to fight the good fight in the Senate. Barring a medical miracle, Ted’s time on this Earth may be very short indeed. But to quote him from his concession speech at the 1980 Democratic Convention:”For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) Endorses Barack Obama

Sen. Robert Byrd has endorsed Barack Obama for president, calling him a “noble-hearted patriot and humble Christian” who “has my full faith and support.” The West Virginia Democrat, a former Ku Klux Klan member who campaigned against civil rights legislation in the 1960s, is an outspoken critic of the Iraq war.  I am going to practice restraint of pen and tongue (keyboard in this case) and let this one speak for itself.  Latest polls are still holding for tomorrow’s primaries with Hillary Clinton leading by a wide margin in Kentucky and Obama holding a five point lead in Oregon. My source(s) tell me the May 31st meeting of the Democratic Convention Rules Committee is not going to be the love fest that is being spun right now.  It’s going to be ugly. I am going to do a little research and find out who exactly sits on this committee. Remember, they are the ones who are going to decide what to do with the penalized Michigan and Florida and stripped them of their delegates for (gasp) having the unmitigated gall to schedue their primaries in January, taking the focus off of New Hampshire and Iowa.  The state legistlatures made the decision, but the voters get disenfranchised no matter how they carve up who gets these delegates.  May 31 may not mean a darn thing. This may have to go to the floor at the convention. Stay tuned.