Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Mel's World: A Message From Cynthia McKinney About Police Brutality

"...I'm also told that in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania another incident, this time involvidng a woman, Diane White, was beaten and maced by cops, after having been pulled away and out of site of the Festival she had organized for neighborhood children. This happens in the midst of two unthinkable incidents: the Jena 6 situation in Louisiana with the imbroglio that has resulted from black teenagers sitting under the "white tree" in the Jena High schoolyard and the situation in West Virginia where a 20-year-old black woman was kidnapped, raped, and tortured amid racial epithets and the Feds decide yesterday that it's not a hate crime!..." Read more

In more recent developments, "the fix" is on with Diane White, she is being told by the assistant DA handling the case if she does not accept ARD for the trumped up charges being brought against her, stemming from the "Back to School Block Party incident, a technicality will be used to deny her a jury trial and she will be brought up before a Judge who will give her jail time for "trumped up" misdemeanors.

In more recent developments, the fix is on with Diane White, she is being informed by her attorney that the assistant DA handling her case has given her an ultimatum, either she accepts the ARD or they will take drop the resisting arrest charge and take me before a judge without a jury trial and give me jail time for the trumped up charges of disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana even though there is no evidence or witnesses to convict me. She has been assigned to a judge who has a 20 year history in Dauphin and York County of working for the DAs office and ignoring the rules of evidence when it comes to the police. Unlike the infamous McCormick Island incident, this case is will fly under the radar of the public.

In the meantime, the police officer who beat Ms White is on military leave, the court reporter who recorded the transcript from the pre-preliminary hearing is claiming that the transcript was destroyed in the basement of an office that got flooded in December 2007 and there are no copies available. Yet the attorney who represented Ms. White at the preliminary hearing received a message from the court reporter in January 2008 telling her to send $200 for a copy of the transcript. During his testimony at the preliminary hearing the police officer admitted that Ms White did not spit on him as initially reported in the Patriot News, that in fact it was he who used profane and abusive language in front of the children and those attending the block party when addressing Ms White contradicting the initial report as well. Finally and most importantly, the police officer casually stated that he had been a police officer in Harrisburg for four years and at no time in those four years did he encounter a person who was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Therefore he just assumed Ms White was on drunk, when in fact Ms White had not been drinking at all. He further testified at the preliminary hearing that when he got downtown he realized that he was wrong. According to Ms White she sat in the police station for over 45 minutes in pain, cuffed, shackled and blinded, while the police officers went through the books trying to figure out what to charge her with. She was not allowed to contact a lawyer until they could figure out what to charge her with and even then all they gave her where the numbers to the statutes. Ms What stated that she was not aware of her charges until she got in front of the DJ who sentenced her without so much as a police report or any statements from the police officer. In fact according to Ms White, the police did not say anything during the arraignment, it was the DJ who did all of the talking, making derogatory jokes and comments about Ms White of a personal nature.

Although the the Harrisburg police and the DA have absolutely no evidence to support there actions, White is being to forced into a situation where she either accepts the ARD , leaving her no chance for a civil suit against the police department and the City for an unlawful arrest and the opportunity to recover damages for medical bills incurred and the loss of income and her security clearance as a result of the incident. This is the game that is played all too often in our community, resulting in the incarceration of hundreds of innocent people. “With the threat of a police record and jail time being dangled over their head, many people have succumbed to compromising their constitutional rights, said White. The War on Drugs is an ace in the hole for police brutality and unlawful arrests in poor, black and Latino communities. Exercising ones 4th amendment right by speaking out against an injustice in many cases one will find oneself being pepper sprayed, beaten and subjected to an illegal searches , and thrown in jail. The Drug War gives law enforcement the easy out, and ace in the hole so to speak. No matter what happens they can always use the drug laws to justify their actions.

“I sat in the court room time and time again watching folks walk away with ARD for embezzling money, DUIs and molesting children. I watched as some folks with drug violations as they joked with the judge about whether or not their favorite football team is going to have a good year or not walked away with $50 fines and a year’s probation, said White. It’s already been over a year, and I have not even gone to trial yet, now I am being told to take ARD or go to jail, go figure.

Take it or leave it, Harrisburg, PA is another one of those places in America where there are two sets of laws, one for the common good “all” and one for, “just us”.

“The Drug War was meant to be waged not won.”

Rep Ron Paul (R-TX) Holds Press Conference with Third Party 2008 Presidential Candidates

Rep. Paul is joined by Libertarian Bob Barr, Independent Ralph Nader, Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin and Green Party's Cynthia McKinney during a press briefing at the National Press Club.

Forgotten woman: But despite all her problems Carol McCain says she still adores her ex-husband

McCain likes to illustrate his moral fiber by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year- old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children. But there is another Mrs. McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator's presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain's three eldest children.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam's infamous 'Hanoi Hilton' prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news. But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a teleg raph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969.

Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life- saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter. Today, she stands at just 5' 4" in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 1 8 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

My marriage ended because John McCain didn't want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know what happens...it just does.'

In 1979 - while still married to Carol - he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage. Some of McCain's acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centered womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to 'play the field'. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans' rights, said: 'I have been following John McCain's career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is -deceit.'

When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better."

McCain is the classic opportunist. He's always reaching for attention and glory,' he said. After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona . And the rest is history.'

Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, and a former presidential candidate, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel - even by the standards of modern politics.

McCain vows to back changes to disabilities law

McCain vows to back changes to disabilities law

COTTONWOOD, Ariz. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain is pledging support for a proposal to expand protections for disabled people under an 18-year-old landmark civil rights law.

Speaking from Arizona by satellite to a disabilities forum in Columbus, Ohio, McCain said Saturday that revisions to the Americans With Disabilities Act must leave no doubt that it was intended to protect from any discrimination that's based on physical or mental disabilities.

The Supreme Court generally has exempted from the law's protection people with partial physical disabilities, as well as people with physical impairments that can be treated with medication or devices such as hearing aids.

"We must clarify the definition of a disability to assure full protection for those the law is intended to serve," said McCain, who was spending the weekend at his nearby northern Arizona getaway.

A month ago, the House passed a bill to extend protections to people who take medicine to control epilepsy, diabetes or cancer, or use prosthetic limbs. McCain, a co-sponsor of the 1990 law, said he intends to support a similar bill in the Senate.

McCain said blame for the narrowed scope of the law shouldn't be placed on the Supreme Court, but rather on Congress. "In all due respect, I would put the blame right back on us for not writing legislation that is strong enough and specific enough so that the Supreme Court wouldn't even have to consider these cases," McCain said.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who was headed back to the United States from an international trip and didn't attend the forum, has said he supports the bill so that it could override court decisions that narrowed the law's scope. Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, an Obama surrogate who helped write the 1990 law, also spoke at the forum.

"I have found him to be not only interested but also very much aware of the issues confronting the disability community," Harkin said in a phone interview after the forum. "I also find that he is very supportive of doing everything we can do to enhance the Americans with Disabilities Act."

The forum marked the anniversary of the law, which prohibits discrimination against the disabled in employment, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications.

The event also was aimed at giving presidential campaigns an opportunity to flesh out their positions on disability issues and at highlighting a voting bloc that is often ignored, said Rebecca Panoff, spokeswoman for the American Association of People with Disabilities, one of the advocacy groups that organized the forum.

"Some people aren't registered (to vote), because they aren't engaged in the political process because they don't feel they are being addressed," Panoff said, noting that there are 37 million people with disabilities who are eligible to vote in the United States.

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On the Net:

American Association of People With Disabilities: http://www.aapd.com/index.php

"PA Official Obama Song" released today!

Cynthia McKinney Accepts Green Party Nomination

Power to the People

Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will be speaking in Philadelphia at the Singapore Restaurant, 1006 Race Street for a special fundraising dinner Sunday, July 20, at 6 PM.

McKinney will be sharing her views about the War in Iraq, the economy, and a real agenda for change. She has only two more weeks to raise $4,000 from Pennsylvanians to help her qualify for federal matching funds.

McKinney seeks support for her "Power to the People" campaign from the "City of Brotherly Love"

Friends of Cynthia: $50
Supporters of Cynthia: $100
Patrons of Cynthia: $250

Proceeds will help go toward achieving ballot access in Pennsylvania.

For more information about the campaign or to make a contribution go to http://www.runcynthiarun.org/

Cynthia McKinney Names V-P Running Mate

Rosa Clemente

On July 9, the news leaked out that Cynthia McKinney’s choice for the Green Party vice-presidential nomination is Rosa Clemente, 35, of New York. See here for more about her. Zentronix blog says that the McKinney-Clemente ticket would be the first in U.S. history of two women of color. However, in 1992, the New Alliance Party ticket was Lenora Fulani and Maria Elizabeth Munoz. Also in 1996, the Workers World Party ticket was Monica Moorhead and Gloria La Riva.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this article about the McKinney campaign. Even though it was published on July 9, it doesn’t contain the news about Rosa Clemente. Instead it says the announcement about a vice-presidential candidate will come on July 11.

Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the news.

http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/07/09/cynthia-mckinney-names-v-p-running-mate/

Ohio Democrats get pro-Obama message

Ohio Democrats get pro-Obama message

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., puts on a Miami Beach hat before he boards his campaign charter plane at the airport in Miami Saturday, June 21, 2008.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland received a standing ovation Saturday night when he predicted the state will again tip the race for the White House - this time, delivering it to Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama.

Strickland, noting that he had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, said she would want him to deliver a message.

"Barack Obama is the nominee of our party. He is a bright, committed, energizing young leader," Strickland said at the Ohio Democratic Party's annual dinner. "I met with him yesterday in Chicago and I pledged to him then, as I had previously, that I will work my heart out for him and that Ohio will work her heart out for him."

"Aren't you glad to be a Democrat?" Strickland shouted. "Aren't you really, really, really angry with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney?"

Democratic governors who won election in states that twice backed Bush have lessons to offer Obama, one of those governors said.

"The door of the White House only opens through Ohio," said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat from a traditionally Republican state.

Sebelius, daughter of former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan, touted Obama's credentials and "Kansas values." She said Obama would be superior to presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on kitchen-table issues Ohioans care about, such as health care, affordable education and home foreclosures.

While her remarks were meant to rally Democrats, part of her aim was to quiet discontent within the party. "There are still constituencies who are going to need a little time to embrace Sen. Obama's candidacy," she told reporters after the event, noting women in particular.

Sen. Sherrod Brown told the crowd a McCain presidency would be a "third term for George Bush."

He criticized the Republican nominee for visiting Ottawa, Canada, on Saturday rather than Ottawa, Ohio - where the state has seen economic hardship and lost jobs. Brown said McCain is out of touch with Ohio voters.

"There is no way, no how that John McCain's going to carry Ohio in 2008," Brown told the crowd of about 2,500 on the Ohio State Fairgrounds.

Clinton, who headlined the same dinner last year, scored a convincing primary win in Ohio in March. She has since dropped out, but many Democrats worry the party remains divided.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Cleveland Democrat who backed Clinton's campaign, did her part Saturday by delivering a video presentation complimenting Clinton but urging the state's Democrats to get behind Obama.

Sebelius and 19 other Democratic governors met with Obama in Chicago on Friday to share state policy concerns and offer political help to the party's presumptive presidential pick. The governors have built-in networks of experienced political aides, something Obama will have to tap as he prepares for a November election against McCain.

Sebelius said the focus of Friday's meeting, which Strickland also attended, was on dovetailing the needs of Democratic governors - who lead 28 of 50 states - with Obama's general election campaign.

The Republican National Committee said voters will reject Obama, no matter who speaks on his behalf.

"Democratic governors, much like the voters from the states they represent, recognize that Barack Obama's big-government agenda and old-style politics are not a good match for their states' interests," said Blair Latoff, an RNC spokeswoman.

A Discussion of Race Worth Having

Cynthia McKinney
GPUS 2008 Presidential Nominee

March 18, 2008

Much has been made around the edges of this campaign about the issue of race. Sadly, nothing has been made of the public policy exigencies that arise because of the urgent racial disparities that continue to exist in our country. Just last week, the United Nations criticized the United States, again, for its failure to address the issues arising from the rights, particularly the right of return, of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors. Author Bill Quigley writes in "The Cleansing of New Orleans," that half of the working poor, elderly, and disabled of New Orleans have not been able to return. Two weeks ago, United Nations experts on housing and minority rights called for an immediate end of public housing demolitions in New Orleans. Now, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ratified by the U.S. in 1994, further observes that the U.S. must do more to protect and support the African American community. In 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Commission "noted its concern that while African Americans constitute just 12% of the population, they represent 50% of homeless people, and the government is required to take 'adequate and adequately implemented' measures to remedy this human rights violation." In short, the United Nations has issued reports squarely calling for the United States to do more to eliminate racial discrimination—and this discrimination is a human rights violation.

I am deeply offended that in the middle of a Presidential campaign, remarks--be they from a pastor or a communications mogul, or a former Vice Presidential nominee--are the cause of a focus on race, and not the deep racial disparities that communities are forced to endure on a daily basis in this country.

Myriad reports and studies that have been done all come up with the same basic conclusion: in order to resolve deep and persisting racial disparities in this country, a public policy initiative is urgently needed. A real discussion of race, in the context of a Presidential election, ought to include a discussion of the various public policy initiatives offered by the various candidates to eliminate all forms and vestiges of racial discrimination, including the racial disparities that cloud the hopes, dreams, and futures of millions of Americans.

For example, every year on the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. United for a Fair Economy publishes a study of the true state of people of color in America called the "State of the Dream Report." And it was their 2004 report that noted that without public policy intervention, it would take 1,664 years to close the racial gap in home ownership in this country. And that on some indices, for example, infant mortality, the racial disparities were worse at the time of the report than at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In their 2005 report, entitled, "Disowned," United for a Fair Economy explored the disparate impact of Bush's "Ownership Society" economic program that saw Black and Latino lives shattered as unemployment, income, home ownership, business ownership, and stock ownership plummeted even in the face of Administration economists trumpeting the phenomenal "growth" of the U.S. economy as a result of their policies.

In 2006, United for a Fair Economy focused on the devastating and embarrassing effect of government inaction before, during, and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They focused on something as simple as car ownership and the relationship between vehicle ownership and race. In the case of New Orleans, car ownership literally meant the difference between losing or saving one's life.

In 2007, United for a Fair Economy explored the Black voters' attachment to the Democratic Party, and in a piece entitled, "Voting Blue, but Staying in the Red," they explored goals that the Democratic Party should have put at the top of its agenda for its first 100 hours in the majority. While noting that the Democrats didn't even mention Katrina in their agenda, United for a Fair Economy concluded that Blacks and Latinos voted in the November 2006 elections in the blue, but due to a failure of public policy that pays attention to their needs, they continue to live in the red.

In their 2008 report, United for a Fair Economy explores the sub-prime mortgage crisis and note that the largest loss of wealth in U.S. history is being experienced by the Black and Latino communities with an estimated $92 billion being lost by Blacks and an estimated $98 billion being lost by Latinos. And while families are losing their life savings and the only major investment that they own, policy makers are asking them to tighten their belts. But the predator banks' CEOs are walking away with record remuneration. And our policy makers are notable for their inaction: first on the predatory lending that disproportionately affects Blacks and Latinos, and then on offering relief so that homeowners remain homeowners, including in the midst of this crisis.

Sadly, United for a Fair Economy isn't the only research organization to find glaring and intolerable disparities in our society by race and no appropriate public policies enacted to address them. Hull House did a study that found that it would take 200 years to close the gap in the quality of life experienced by black Chicagoans and white Chicagoans. There has been no public policy initiative taken up by the mayor or the governor of Illinois to begin closing that gap.

Several years ago, the New York Times published a finding that nearly half the men between the ages of 16 and 64 in New York City were unemployed. There was no initiative by the mayor or the governor of New York to begin addressing such pain.

Every year, the National Urban League publishes a study, "The State of Black America," in which the ills and disparities that persist in this country are catalogued. Every year, the story is basically the same. The United States has a way to go that only public policy can address. However, when Harvard University/The Kaiser Family Foundation did a study on White attitudes about race several years ago, it found that Whites have little appreciation for the reality of Black life in America, from police harassment and intimidation, to imprisonment, to family income, unemployment, housing, and health care. But without an appreciation of the reality faced by many of our fellow Americans, the necessary public policy initiatives to change those realities will find difficulty gaining acceptance in the public discourse.

Additionally, compounding the problem, there is little public discourse because the corporate press refuse to cover the deep implications of the results of all these studies. I am convinced that if the American people knew the truth of the conditions, change would surely follow. I believe that to be the case because of the impact of the images of "Bloody Sunday" on the passage of the Voting Rights Act. I believe that to be the case because of the impact of the images of the Vietnam War on the turn of the tide of public opinion against that War.

This moment sheds light on a much-needed discussion: on race and the legacies of race and slavery and the continuing problems associated with our failure to treat racism as a curable American disease.

I am glad that candidate Obama mentioned the existing racial disparities in education, income, wealth, jobs, government services, imprisonment, and opportunity. Now it is time to address the public policies necessary to resolve these disparities. Now it is time to have the discussion on how we are going to come together and put policies in effect that will provide real hope and real opportunity to all in this country.

To narrow the gap between the ideals of our founding fathers and the realities faced by too many in our country today: That must be the role of public policy at this critical moment in our country today.

I welcome a real discussion of race in this country and a resolve to end the long-standing disparities that continue to spoil the greatness of our country. I welcome a real discussion of all the issues that face our country today and the real public policy options that exist to resolve them. That must be the measure of this campaign season. For many voters, this important discussion has been too vague or completely non-existent. Now is the time to talk about the concrete measures that will move our country forward: on race, war, climate change, the economy, health care, and education. Our votes and our political engagement must be about ensuring that fairness truly for all is embodied in "liberty and justice for all."

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Cynthia McKinney is a Green Party of the United States 2008 Presidential Nominee.
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"And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool."

PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60

"The less you know, the more you believe." Bono

"Certain material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of our work resulted in conditions that, for the 10th consecutive year, prevented us from expressing an opinion on the federal government's consolidated financial statements." David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, December 15, 2006

Who Died and Made Tavis King?

By Melissa Harris-Lacewell | TheRoot.com

Does Tavis realize that Obama is trying to win an election?

Views

Who put Tavis Smiley in charge?

Over the past two months African Americans have emerged as equal partners in a multi-racial, intergenerational, bipartisan, national coalition led by the most exciting political candidate of the past four decades, who also happens to be the first viable African-American presidential possibility in our history. So why is Tavis Smiley throwing a temper tantrum? He is mad because Obama has not promised to attend Smiley's "State of the BlackUnion" next week in New Orleans. At last year's SOTBU Al Sharpton, Cornel West and others joined Tavis in roundly criticizing Obama for not attending. Where was Barack that weekend? Oh yeah, he was announcing his bid for the U.S. presidency.

This year, Obama is busy trying to win Texas, which has emerged as the firewall state for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Obama wins Texas; Hillary goes home. But Tavis & Co. think Obama should spend precious hours chatting with them about their agenda?

(Jimi Izrael wondered the same thing about him and the other Popes of Blackness.) Let me be clear: I respect the importance of the SOTBU. Tavis performs an essential public service by creating and reproducing a critical black counter-public through this event. The event is decidedly democratic because it is open to a true variety of black voices. Every year it showcases black intellect, commitment and ideological diversity. All this is great, but it doesn't make Tavis the gatekeeper. It certainly doesn't give him the right to act as King-Maker, or in this case Queen-Maker.

Tavis and his guests have every right to criticize Obama if they have substantive disagreements with his policy, his approach to politics or his viability as a general election candidate. They do not have a right to create a false, racial litmus test. All these black leaders who spent the year telling us that Obama is not old enough, not black enough and not angry enough to earn African American votes must have noticed that Obama can deliver the black vote to himself, by himself, with little help from these self-proclaimed racial power brokers.

I can't quite figure out what motivates Tavis. At least I understand the old guard Civil Rights leaders. They are genuinely unwilling to cede power, believing that they have an authenticity claim based on their proximity to Martin Luther King, Jr. I also understand the frightened Democratic insiders who rely on the remnants of the Clinton machine for their bread and butter. But Tavis is not in either category. He is a part of a new generation of journalists who have carved out their own constituency. I am actually surprised to see Smiley join a pile-on led by his former boss Bob Johnson, who tried to silence him with such an ungracious termination a decade ago.

Maybe Tavis legitimately worries that the policy issues of black America will be lost in the excitement of the multiracial coalition. That is fair. But I wonder why Tavis does not trust us to vote in our own interests. Obama won the votes of the people of Louisiana last week. He stood at Katrina's ground-zero while Hillary blew off the state, assuming she couldn't win it. Now Tavis wants to act as a racial super-delegate by claiming he knows what the people need better than the voters.

Maybe Tavis is just jealous. Maybe it isn't deep at all, just a replay of the old adage about crabs in a barrel.

I do think that an Obama should attend the State of the Black Union. I agree with CNN's Roland Martin (which is rare) that Michelle should go. She should listen to concerns, answer questions from the audience and take seriously the substantive concerns raised there. Barack should be in Texas. I don't think anybody in the room will claim that Michelle is not a good enough surrogate for Barack. If Hillary can claim Bill's presidency as her experience, I am pretty sure Michelle can talk to Tavis on the campaign's behalf.

I usually watch this event every year. It is fun, enlightening and inspiring. This year I will have to TiVo it. Why? Because I will be phoningTexas voters to remind them to head out to the polls on March 4.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell is is associate professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton University.

http://essence. typepad.com/ news/2008/ 02/copy-of- sen-bar.html

Copy of Sen. Barack Obama letter to Tavis Smiley

February 13, 2008

Mr. Tavis Smiley
President and CEO
The Smiley Group
3870 Crenshaw Boulevard
Suite 391
Los Angeles, CA 90008

Dear Tavis,

Thank you for the invitation to participate in the 2008 State of the Black Union forum in New Orleans, Louisiana February 21-23. The exchange of ideas raised at this annual symposium are invaluable as our nation strives to address the critical issues facing not just African Americans, but Americans of every race, background and political party.

I especially commend you for hosting this dialogue in New Orleans. On the eve of the Louisiana primary, I visited this great city for the fifth time since declaring my candidacy to share policy proposals for rebuilding the Gulf Coast so that we never experience another Hurricane Katrina. On February 9, I was deeply humbled to win the Louisiana primary with 86 percent of the African American vote and a 14 point lead among all voters who said they were adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Uniting our country and creating a national constituency for fundamental change is why I am running for President of the United States. We have come a long way in this race, but we still have a long road ahead. In the final stretch, I will be on the campaign trail everyday in states like Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin talking directly with voters about the causes that are at the heart of my campaign and the State of the Black Union forum such as affordable healthcare, housing, economic opportunity, civil rights and foreign policy. I am committed to touching every voter, and working to earn their vote. That is why with regret, I am not able to attend the forum.

I understand that you have declined the campaign’s request to have Michelle Obama speak on my behalf. I ask that you reconsider. Michelle is a powerful voice for the type of real change America is hungry for. No one knows my record or my passion for leading America in a new direction more than Michelle Obama.

Tavis, this is our movement and our time. I look forward to working closely with you throughout this election. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Cindy McCain, Like Others, Stands by Man

Cindy McCain, Like Others, Stands by Man

Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., accompanied by his wife Cindy, speaks at a news conference in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday, Feb. 21,2008, to respond to allegations by the New York Times of impropriety with a female lobbyist in Toledo, Ohio. Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Cindy McCain did not hesitate as she stepped toward the microphone, taking her place in the history of political wives who stood by their men in the face of rumored or alleged marital infidelity.

"Well, obviously, I'm disappointed," she said, her voice low but clear and self-assured. "More importantly, my children and I not only trust my husband, but know that he would never do anything to not only disappoint our family, but disappoint the people of America. He's a man of great character."

She and her husband, likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain, emphatically denied suggestions in published reports that he had an affair with a lobbyist.

A coterie of wives has confronted the public pain of such an accusation. Smaller still is the band who, like Cindy McCain, have spoken out.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady who is battling Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, memorably insisted to CBS's "60 Minutes" during the 1992 campaign, "I'm not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette." She sat beside husband Bill.

And there was her cool demeanor, six years later, at the news conference where her husband declared of Monica Lewinsky: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

Mrs. Clinton made this barbed observation to the journalists who were present, "I'm pleased to see so many people in attendance who care about child care," a reference to the reason the news conference had been arranged.

Few political wives are considered strong women, said Stanley Renshon, a political psychologist at City University of New York.

"Hillary Clinton would certainly fit. Michelle Obama would certainly fit. Cindy McCain would certainly fit, from all indications," Renshon said. "You don't expect them to feel either shell-shocked or look like a deer caught in the headlights. It's not in their nature, because they're strong women."

Cindy McCain is certainly no shrinking violet. Just this week, she tweaked the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama for seeming to suggest she didn't have much pride in the United States until Obama's campaign gained steam.

"I'm proud of my country," she said in Wisconsin on Tuesday. "I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier."

On Thursday, Cindy McCain struck a balance between strident and shocked as she calmly helped her husband confront the allegations. She was no Hillary Clinton, but neither was she silent, like the wives of New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig. The first announced he was gay, the second said he was not.

The New York Times had strongly suggested there was an inappropriate relationship between her husband, John McCain, and a female lobbyist, including favors for her clients. The Washington Post quickly published a similar story. The Times story also said top McCain aides became "convinced the relationship had become romantic."

At a news conference hours later, McCain denied any romantic relationship and insisted he had never done anything to betray the public trust.

Cindy McCain stood with her shoulder pressed against her husband's, watching him and his questioners intently, her expression pleasant and composed, as usual. Asked for her thoughts, she moved to the microphone without pause.

As she finished, her husband, obviously appreciative, said, "I should have had you conduct this." Cindy McCain smiled and briefly placed her hand on his arm.

The scene has played out time and again in politics, although the circumstances vary:

-Suzanne Craig stood silently as her husband, Larry, denied last summer that he had propositioned a man in the stall of an airport bathroom. Her expression was obscured by large sunglasses.

-Louisiana Rep. David Vitter apologized last summer after being linked to a Washington escort service. As reporters demanded to know whether he had any sexual relationship, his wife, Wendy, seized the podium, calling her husband "my best friend" and saying that forgiveness "is the right choice for me." Ironically, Wendy Vitter had predicted years ago that she would act more like knife-wielding Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary Clinton if her husband strayed.

-Carlita Kilpatrick, seated next to her husband, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, touched his knee as he publicly apologized to his family amid a scandal over intimate and sexually explicit text messages involving him and his top aide. "Yes, I am angry, I am hurt, and I am disappointed. But there is no question that I love my husband."

-Dina Matos McGreevey stood, obviously shell-shocked, next to her husband, then-Gov. McGreevey, as he announced in 2004 he was "a gay American" and would resign. He said later he stepped down rather than succumb to a $50 million blackmail threat from a male former lover. She wrote a tell-all book after they divorced.

-Lee Hart, after husband Gary Hart was linked to model Donna Rice during his presidential campaign, insisted to reporters in 1987: "When Gary says nothing happened, nothing happened."

How they responded "depends on the allegation, and it depends on the spouse," Renshon said.

Their comments are an important part of any candidate's response when such an accusation arises, he said.

"The allegation of infidelity is still a powerful allegation, and it remains powerful because it's about trust and responsibility, the idea that if you're cheating on your spouse, what can we expect of you in the presidency," he said.

Obama Scores 10th Straight Victory

Obama Scores 10th Straight Victory

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a rally Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in Houston.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama added Wisconsin and Hawaii to a primary season winning streak that now totals 10 and has put Hillary Rodham Clinton into a virtual must-win scenario in Democratic contests coming early next month in Texas and Ohio.

The former first lady now looks to a debate Thursday in Austin, Texas, to stall Obama's momentum and reinvigorate her campaign.

"The change we seek is still months and miles away," Obama told a boisterous crowd in Houston in a speech Tuesday night in which he also pledged to end the war in Iraq in his first year in office.

"I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home," he declared.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner, won a pair of primaries, in Wisconsin and Washington, to continue his march toward certain nomination.

In a race growing increasingly negative, Obama cut deeply into Clinton's political bedrock in Wisconsin, splitting the support of white women almost evenly with her. According to polling place interviews, he also ran well among working class voters in the blue collar battleground that was prelude to primaries in the larger industrial states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Clinton made no mention of her defeat, and showed no sign of surrender in an appearance in Youngstown, Ohio.

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history," the New York senator said. "But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice."

In a clear sign of their relative standing in the race, most cable television networks abruptly cut away from coverage of Clinton's rally when Obama began to speak in Texas.

McCain easily won the Republican primary in Wisconsin with 55 percent of the vote, dispatching former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and edging closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination at the party convention in St. Paul, Minn. next summer. The Arizona senator also won the primary in Washington, where 19 delegates were at stake, with 49 percent of the vote in incomplete results.

In scarcely veiled criticism of Obama, the Republican nominee-in-waiting said, "I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure that Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change."

McCain stepped up his criticism of Obama on Wednesday, suggesting the Democrat doesn't have the experience or judgment on foreign policy and defense matters needed in a president.

"There are a lot of national security challenges and I know how to handle them. Senator Obama wants to bomb Pakistan without talking to the Pakistanis. I think that's dangerous," McCain said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." "I think that's an important factor - experience and judgment. Ready to serve and no on the job training."

McCain's nomination has been assured since Super Tuesday three weeks ago, as first one, then another of his former rivals has dropped out and the party establishment has closed ranks behind him.

Not so in the Democratic race, where Obama and Clinton campaign seven days a week, he the strongest black presidential candidate in history, she bidding to become the first woman to sit in the White House.

Ohio and Texas vote next on March 4 - 370 convention delegates in all - and even some of Clinton's supporters concede she must win one, and possibly both, to remain competitive. Two smaller states, Vermont and Rhode Island, also have primaries that day.

With the votes counted in all but one of Wisconsin's 3,570 precincts, Obama won 58 percent of the vote to 41 percent for Clinton.

With 100 percent of the vote counted in Hawaii, Obama had 76 percent to Clinton's 24 percent.

Wisconsin offered 74 national convention delegates. There were 20 delegates at stake in Hawaii, where Obama spent much of his youth.

Washington Democrats voted in a primary, too, but their delegates were picked earlier in the month in caucuses won by Obama.

The Illinois senator's Wisconsin victory left him with 1,303 delegates in The Associated Press' count, compared with 1,233 for Clinton, a margin that masks his 145-delegate lead among those picked in primaries or caucuses. It takes 2,025 to win the nomination at the party's national convention in Denver. Allocation of the 20 Hawaii delegates was not being calculated until later Wednesday.

Obama's victory came after a week in which Clinton and her aides tried to knock him off stride. They criticized him in television commercials and accused him of plagiarism for using words first uttered by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a friend. He shrugged off the advertising volley, and said that while he should have given Patrick credit, the controversy didn't amount to much.

The voters seemed not to care.

Wisconsin independents cast about one-quarter of the ballots in the race between Obama and Clinton, and roughly 15 percent of the electorate were first-time voters, the survey at polling places said. Obama has run strongly among independents in earlier primaries, and among younger voters, and cited their support as evidence that he would make a stronger general election candidate in the fall.

Obama began the evening with eight straight primary and caucus victories, a remarkable run that has propelled him past Clinton in the overall delegate race and enabled him to chip away at her advantage among elected officials within the party who will have convention votes as superdelegates.

The economy and trade were key issues in the race, and seven in 10 voters said international trade has resulted in lost jobs in Wisconsin. Fewer than one in five said trade has created more jobs than it has lost.

The Democrats' focus on trade was certain to intensify, with primaries in Ohio in two weeks and in Pennsylvania on April 22.

Obama's campaign has already distributed mass mailings critical of Clinton on the issue in Ohio. "Bad trade deals like NAFTA hit Ohio harder than most states. Only Barack Obama consistently opposed NAFTA," it said.

Clinton's aides initially signaled she would virtually concede Wisconsin, and the former first lady spent less time in the state than Obama.

Even so, she ran a television ad that accused her rival of ducking a debate in the state and added that she had the only health care plan that would cover all Americans and the only economic plan to stop home foreclosures. "Maybe he'd prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions" the commercial said.

Obama countered with an ad of his own, saying his health care plan would cover more people.

Unlike the Democratic race, McCain was assured of the Republican nomination and concentrated on turning his primary campaign into a general election candidacy.

In one sign of progress in unifying the party, he split the conservative vote with Huckabee in Wisconsin.

Huckabee parried occasional suggestions - none of them by McCain - that he quit the race. In a move that was unorthodox if not unprecedented for a presidential contender, he left the country in recent days to make a paid speech in the Grand Cayman Islands.

McCain picked up endorsements in the days before the primary from former President George H.W. Bush and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a campaign dropout who urged his 280 delegates to swing behind the party's nominee-to-be.

Rendell’s Race Card Trashes Pennsylvanians

Harrisburg - Governor Ed Rendell’s chances of landing a top position in a future Democratic administration is slowly slipping away as the Hillary Clinton campaign locomotive is being surpassed by the Obama Express. Governor Rendell, hoping to land a top position in DC, endorsed Hillary Clinton shortly after her strong showing in the Nevada caucuses when the polls showed she was likely going to capture the Democratic Presidential nomination. However, Rendell’s grand plan seems to be unraveling as Barack Obama’s recent string of victories has resulted in his pulling ahead of Hillary in the delegate count.

Like any desperate animal backed into a corner, and with his national political future in jeopardy, Rendell has gone on the attack. In the process, he has insulted the people of Pennsylvania and injected the race card into a campaign that has already seen its fair share of race baiting politics.

Rendell’s recent statement that “many white conservatives won’t vote for a black candidate” is not only a thinly veiled cynical attempt to galvanize the white vote in Pennsylvania’s upcoming April primary for his candidate, but it is dead wrong. He errantly cites his own recent election as proof that “many conservative whites won’t vote” for a black candidate.

However, what Rendell fails to do is actually look at the county-by-county results of the 2006 gubernatorial election where he soundly dispatched of Lynn Swann by a 20-point margin. If Rendell had bothered to actually look at the election results, he would find that the reason Swann lost was because Lynn Swann got absolutely crushed in the Philadelphia region by 80% to 20% ratio, losing the City of Philadelphia by a 90% - 10% margin. That accounts for about 45% of the total statewide vote.

It was with the mostly white, moderate-to-liberal Philadelphia suburban voters (those supposedly enlightened enough to vote for a black candidate) that Rendell racked up the big margin over Mr. Swann that propelled him to victory. Furthermore, in the most liberal part of the state, the “City of Brotherly Love,” black voters voted 95% against the first black gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania of a major party.

When we turn our attention to the more rural, conservative areas of the state; we see that in 2006 not only did those areas vote for a black candidate, but that Rendell’s conservative-whites-that-won’t-vote-for-blacks voted for Lynn Swan in a greater numbers than Rick Santorum. In conservative bastions such as Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry and Adams counties Swann ran well ahead of Republican Rick Santorum. This despite the fact Santorum was better funded, better known and, by the way, white. Overall Lynn Swann ran ahead of Rick Santorum in rural central and Western Pennsylvania, where the state’s most conservative voters live.

It was a horrible year in 2006 for GOP candidates all across the nation, especially in Pennsylvania where numerous GOP office holders were defeated. Any GOP candidate, regardless of color, going up against Ed Rendell and his money machine in the toxic election conditions of 2006 wouldn’t have fared much better. But as the evidence shows, the areas populated by conservative whites voted for Lynn Swann. It was the areas filled with moderate-to-liberal whites and large black populations that voted overwhelmingly against Lynn Swann.

Rendell’s cynical race card ploy was designed to do two things: First, it was a desperate attempt to stop Barack Obama’s momentum and aid his fledging candidate Hillary Clinton in the up coming April 22^nd primary. Secondly, Rendell wanted to take a pot shot at the people of Pennsylvania; specifically the central Pennsylvania “T” which voted overwhelmingly against him in 2006, by further propagating a stereotype they are all a bunch of “conservative white” racists who would never vote for a black.

It’s truly sad that the Governor of any state would single out a large share of the electorate that he clearly despises and portray them as intolerant to the rest of the country out of sheer vindictiveness and for raw political gain.

(Ryan Shafik is communications director at the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc. His e-mail address is rshafik@lincolninstitute.org.)

McCain Seals GOP Nod As Romney Suspends

McCain Seals GOP Nod As Romney Suspends

Republican presidential hopeful former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives in the parking lot of his campaign headquarters in Boston, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008. The day after his Super Tuesday wins in the West, Romney enjoyed his first night at home in a month and went to his office for a strategy session with aides. "Got some good sleep," said Romney, who vowed to stay in the race.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering presidential campaign.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney will say at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

"This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters... many of you right here in this room... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country," Romney said.

McCain prevailed in most of the Super Tuesday states, moving closer to the numbers needed to officially win the nomination.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney will suspend his presidential campaign for the Republican nomination, The Associated Press has learned, effectively ceding the nomination to John McCain.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or (Barack) Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney planned to say in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

"This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters ... many of you right here in this room ... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming president. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country."

McCain Pulls Ahead; Clinton, Obama Close

McCain Pulls Ahead; Clinton, Obama Close

With the glow from a television set cast on his face Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a telephone after the announcement of his strong majority showing in the California presidential primary at his election night command post in Phoenix, Tuesday night, Feb. 5, 2008. McCain's wife Cindy and his daughter Megan, left, stand behind him.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- John McCain earned himself a super Wednesday, a day to savor coast-to-coast primary victories that ratified him as the Republican front-runner, while Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama dug in after a night of divided spoils in a Democratic presidential contest that could stretch to the spring.

McCain, whose campaign once verged on collapse, piled up more delegates than his two rivals combined, pushing over the halfway mark on what's needed to clinch the nomination. His victories stretched from New York to California, the biggest prize. Still, Mitt Romney in the West and Mike Huckabee in the South proved to be go-to candidates for conservatives, and they vowed to press forward.

Clarity of any sort eluded the Democrats as campaigns turned to the next rounds - contests in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state Saturday and a larger series of primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday.

More than 168 Democratic delegates are at stake Tuesday, a sizable prize in two states and a district that are normally afterthoughts in nomination contests. Clinton has been endorsed in Maryland by Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara Mikulski; Obama is backed by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine,and is expected to do well in the largely black district.

"Senator Clinton has a lot of friends in Virginia," Kaine said in an interview, but "we're feeling pretty good" about Obama's Virginia chances. Republicans will award 116 delegates in the trio of races dubbed the Potomac Primary.

Huckabee, who posted five Southern victories after being practically counted out of the contest, demurred when asked Wednesday if he'd be an irresistible running mate for McCain, the opponent he likes. "I still want to be the irresistible choice to be the president," he said on CBS' "The Early Show."

Despite his strong night, Huckabee trails both McCain and Romney in the delegate count. Other contenders took a pass for once on the morning-after talk shows.

Obama won 13 Super Tuesday states; Clinton, eight plus American Samoa. Clinton scored the advantage in delegates, bring her total to 845 to Obama's 765, by the latest accounting. The road ahead was long for the Democrats: It takes 2,025 delegates to claim their nomination.

Delegate tabulations continued Wednesday, possibly longer, and the victor in one race remained unsettled - the Democratic caucuses in New Mexico.

Clinton won the biggest state, California, capitalizing on backing from Hispanic voters. Obama scored victories in Alabama and Georgia on the strength of black support, and won a nail-biter in bellwether Missouri.

McCain's own victory in California dealt a crushing blow to his closest pursuer, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor.

"We've won some of the biggest states in the country," the Arizona senator told cheering supporters at a rally in Phoenix, hours before California fell his way. An underdog for months, he proclaimed himself the front-runner at last, and added. "I don't really mind it one bit."

In the competition that counted the most, the Arizona senator had 613 delegates, to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee in incomplete counting. It takes 1,191 to win the GOP nomination.

Neither Democrat could plausibly claim an overall victory and didn't try.

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation," Clinton said.

Obama told a boisterous election night rally in Chicago, "Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America."

Polling place interviews with voters suggested subtle shifts in the political landscape.

For the first time this year, McCain ran first in a few states among self-identified Republicans. As usual, he was running strongly among independents. Romney was getting the votes of about four in 10 people who described themselves as conservative. McCain was winning about one-third of that group, and Huckabee about one in five.

Overall, Clinton was winning only a slight edge among women and white voters, groups that she had won handily in earlier contests, according to preliminary results from interviews with voters in 16 states leaving polling places.

Obama was collecting the overwhelming majority of votes cast by blacks - a factor in victories in Alabama and Georgia.

Clinton's continued strong appeal among Hispanics - she was winning nearly six in 10 of their votes - was a big factor in her California triumph, and in her victory in Arizona, too.

McCain, the early Republican front-runner whose campaign nearly unraveled six months ago, won in California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware and his home state of Arizona - each of them winner-take-all primaries. He also pocketed victories in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, won a series of Bible Belt victories, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee as well as his own home state. He also triumphed at the Republican West Virginia convention, and told The Associated Press in an interview he would campaign on. "The one way you can't win a race is to quit it, and until somebody beats me, I'm going to answer the bell for every round of this fight," he said.

Romney won a home state victory in Massachusetts. He also took Utah, where fellow Mormons supported his candidacy. His superior organization produced caucus victories in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Alaska and Colorado, and he, too, breathed defiance. "We're going to go all the way to the convention. We're going to win this thing," he told supporters in Boston.

Democrats played out a historic struggle between two senators: Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, and Obama, hoping to become the first black to win the White House.

Clinton won at home in New York as well as in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona and Arkansas, where she was first lady for more than a decade. She also won the caucuses in American Samoa.

Obama won Connecticut, Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Utah and his home state of Illinois. He prevailed in caucuses in North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Idaho, Alaska and Colorado. His Missouri victory was so close in the vote total that there was no telling whether he or Clinton would end up with a majority of the state's 72 delegates.

Clinton had a 117-vote lead in New Mexico when the party shut its vote counting operation until 11 a.m. EST.

The allocation of delegates lagged the vote count by hours. That was particularly true for the Democrats, who divided theirs roughly in proportion to the popular vote.

Nine of the Republican contests were winner take all, and that was where McCain piled up his lead.

Alabama and Georgia gave Obama three straight Southern triumphs. Like last month's win in South Carolina, they were powered by black votes.

Democrats and Republicans alike said the economy was their most important issue. Democrats said the war in Iraq ranked second and health care third. Republican primary voters said immigration was second most important after the economy, followed by the war in Iraq.

The survey was conducted in 16 states by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks.