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According to David Plouffe, Barack Obama's campaign manager, by sweeping today's caucuses and primaries, Senator Obama more than doubled his pledged delegate lead over Senator Hillary Clinton.
Before today, Obama led Clinton by 27 pledged delegates (pledged delegates are those won through caucus and primary election wins, as opposed to superdelegates which are basically endorsements by officials. These superdelegates are not necessarily fixed and can change their alliances).
"In the four contests today, we estimate we won 103 delegates to Clinton’s 58 delegates for a net gain of 45 delegates," wrote Plouffe on the Obama website.
"The pledged delegate total through February 9 now stands at 1,012 for Obama and 940 for Clinton."
As more precincts came in it became clear this was going down to the wire. By 11:00, Barack Obama was within 5,000 votes. After midnight, results showed Obama winning by about 9,000 votes.
With 3,357 of 3,371 precincts reporting, Obama leads Clinton 403,343 votes to 394,566. That's 49.1% to 48.1% .
Supporters of Barack Obama will be watching tomorrow's Super Tuesday results at the Moolah Theater, 3821 Lindell Blvd, starting at 7:00 tomorrow evening.
Lines wrapped around three sides of the Edward Jones Dome before the doors opened and crowds of supporters poured onto the stadium floor.
"I haven't seen so many people in this dome since the Rams were having better days," Congressman Lacy Clay told the crowd, which by stadium officials numbered at 20,000 22,500.
The man they all came to see, Presidential candidate Barack Obama, was accompanied on the stage by Clay, Congressman Russ Carnahan, former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan, State Auditor Susan Montee, County Executive Charlie Dooley, and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a woman PubDef first reported as a possible Vice-Presidential selection and who is currently featured in an Obama campaign commercial running nationwide.
According to a new poll from SurveyUSA, the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is now too close to call in Missouri.
The poll shows Hillary Clinton at 48% with a slight lead over Obama at 44%, but that's within the margin of error (3.9%).
There is a clear age difference among supporters of the two Democrats. 61% of 18-34 year-olds support Obama while 61% of voters over the age of 61 support Clinton.
Obama has the support of 76% of blacks, 38% of whites, and 57% of Hispanics in Missouri. Clinton is supported by 54% of whites, 17% of blacks, and 41% of Hispanics.
As for party affiliation, Obama continues to attract moderate Republicans and Independents. Among the Republicans planning to vote Democratic, 60% support Obama (compared to Clinton's 30%). Meanwhile, 55% of Independents support Obama.
Among Democrats, 52% support Clinton and 41% support Obama.
As you may have heard, the biggest thing in politics since the ballot box is coming to St. Louis today and they could barely find a place big enough to hold the expected crowd.
The "Stand for Change" Rally with Senator Barack Obama is today (Saturday) at the Edward Jones Dome. Doors open at 7:00 PM and it is free to the public. So come on down!
VIDEO: Barack Obama in Kansas City: 'Don't Fall for the Ol' Okie-Doke'
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 6:01 AM
KANSAS CITY -- When Barack Obama stopped in Kansas City Tuesday, he was welcomed by a crowd so big that the fire marshal wouldn't allow anymore people inside the Municipal Auditorium. The Kansas City Star put the numbers above 6,000. Others put the number closer to 8,000.
Senator Claire McCaskill and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius stood behind the presidential hopeful as he delivered a speech filled with humor and hope.
Obama asked his supporters not to be fooled by his opponents distortions. "People want to hoodwink you," said Obama. "They want to bamboozle you. They want to run the 'okie-doke' on you."
Sorry about the bouncy camera. You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get this video.
JEFFERSON CITY -- We heard an interesting rumor today in Jefferson City -- at a John Edwards rally of all places (check back later for video). If Senator Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination for President, would he select Sen. Claire McCaskill as his runningmate?
Selecting McCaskill would do two important things: repair relations with some female Democrats now supporting Hillary Clinton, and almost certainly ensure the Democrats win the State of Missouri, which has a nearly perfect record for selecting the President.
Comptroller Darlene Green, former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan and her son, Congressman Russ Carnahan, were among a dozen Missouri officials who gathered Sunday to show their support for Presidential candidate Barack Obama.
More than a dozen Missouri elected officials, including U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan, and Congressman Russ Carnahan, gathered today to announce Senator Barack Obama is returning to St. Louis next weekend.
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill broke the news at a press conference a few minutes ago: Barack Obama will be in St. Louis on Saturday for a 9:00 PM public event (no word yet where). That's just three days before Missouri and 20 other states get a chance to vote on the Democratic and Republican candidates.
Senator Barack Obama defeated The Clinton Machine 2-1 in the South Carolina Democratic Primary last night.
With 99% of the precincts reporting, Obama received 295,091 (55%) votes to Hillary Clinton's 141,128 (27%) and South Carolina native John Edwards' 93,552 (18%) votes.
Obama has won more delegates (not including so-called "super delegates", Obama has won 63 delegates, Clinton 48, and Edwards 26) and more votes (in all the primaries and caucuses so far) of any other Democratic candidate.
This contest is not about white vs. black, rich vs. poor, or women vs. men, said Obama in his eloquent victory speech last night. This contest is simply about the future vs. the past.
In today's edition, The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonansays it as well as it can be stated...
We begin, as one always must now, again, with Bill Clinton. The past week he has traveled South Carolina, leaving discord in his wake. Barack Obama, that "fairytale," is low, sneaky. "He put out a hit job on me." The press is cruelly carrying Mr. Obama's counter-jabs. "You live for it."
In Dillon, S.C., according to the Associated Press, on Thursday Mr. Clinton "predicted that many voters will be guided mainly by gender and race loyalties" and suggested his wife may lose Saturday's primary because black voters will side with Mr. Obama. Who is raising race as an issue? Bill Clinton knows. It's the press, and Mr. Obama. "Shame on you," Mr. Clinton said to a CNN reporter. The same day the Web site believed to be the backdoor of the Clinton war room unveiled a new name for the senator from Illinois: "Sticky Fingers Obama."
Bill Clinton, with his trembly, red-faced rage, makes John McCain look young. His divisive and destructive daily comportment—this is a former president of the United States—is a civic embarrassment. It is also an education, and there is something heartening in this.
There are many serious and thoughtful liberals and Democrats who support Mr. Obama and John Edwards, and who are seeing Mr. Clinton in a new way and saying so. Here is William Greider in The Nation, the venerable left-liberal magazine. The Clintons are "high minded" on the surface but "smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard at the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as a package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four years."
That, again, is from one of the premier liberal journals in the United States. It is exactly what conservatives have been saying for a decade. This may mark a certain coming together of the thoughtful on both sides. The Clintons, uniters at last.
Mr. Obama takes the pummeling and preaches the high road. It's all windup with him, like a great pitcher more comfortable preparing to throw than throwing. Something in him resists aggression. He tends to be indirect in his language, feinting, only suggestive. I used to think he was being careful not to tear the party apart, and endanger his own future.
But the Clintons are tearing the party apart. It will not be the same after this. It will not be the same after its most famous leader, and probable ultimate victor, treated a proud and accomplished black man who is a U.S. senator as if he were nothing, a mere impediment to their plans. And to do it in a way that signals, to his supporters, How dare you have the temerity, the ingratitude, after all we've done for you?
Watch for the GOP to attempt swoop in after the November elections and make profit of the wreckage.
Senator Claire McCaskill told reporters yesterday that President Bill Clinton was playing "fast and loose" with the facts when attacking Senator Barack Obama on his wife's behalf.
"Because of the larger megaphone he has as a former president," said McCaskill, an Obama supporter, "he needs to be very careful with the truth. … He has tried to manipulate the facts in a way that is patently unfair."
On the day before the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, Senator Barack Obama addressed the congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Over the weekend, former Senator Jean Carnahan joined current Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and announced her endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President.
"While I know and admire all the Democrats running for president, I am convinced that Barack Obama is the candidate best able to unite our nation and restore our moral leadership in the world," said Carnahan. "As president, he will be a strong voice and a powerful force for change during this critical time in our nation's history. Barack Obama is an inspirational leader, who embodies the ideals of our democracy and the hopes of a new century. I heartily endorse him for president of the United States."
Jean Carnahan was the first woman to serve as a United States Senator from Missouri, serving from 2001-2002. Carnahan joins her son, Congressman Russ Carnahan, Congressman Lacy Clay, Senator McCaskill, State Auditor Susan Montee, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and several other current and former Missouri elected officials who have endorsed Obama.
Missouri supporters of presidential candidate Barack Obama are taking to the streets this weekend, going door-to-door to get out the vote for the Illinois senator.
The statewide canvass will be taking place this Saturday, according to Hollie Saunders, one of the organizers. "We will be having volunteers knock on doors in the community to help encourage people to get out and vote on primary day, and talk to voters about why they are supporting Barack for the presidency," said Saunders.
Missourians will have their first chance to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice ofn February 5.
Those interested in canvassing for Obama this weekend can meet at one of the following locations Saturday at 10:00 AM:
Frontyard Feature 2000 S. 39th Street St Louis City 314-436-5426
Congressman Russ Carnahan's Campaign Office 7370 Manchester, Suite 20 St Louis County 314-436-5426
The Obama campaign's Chesterfield office is holding an open house tonight at 6:00. The office is located at 16401 Swingley Ridge Rd., 63005.
And all you Obama Girls are welcome to come out to Flamingo Bowl, 1117 Washington Ave., Friday night for St. Louis Women for Obama's "Ladies Night Out" starting at 7:00.
And make your cell phone do the talking for you. Get your Barack Obama ringtones right here.
The Columbia Tribune reports that former Sen. John Edwards will be in St. Louis Saturday at the Carpenters' District Council headquarters at 9:15 A.M.
The Tribune also reports that Sen. Barack Obama "said yesterday in response to a Tribune query that he would arrive in Missouri - with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri - before Super Ultra Mega Tuesday on Feb. 5."
McCaskill to Endorse Obama, Might Have Something to Do with '06 Comment
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 8:53 AM
The AP is reporting that Senator Claire McCaskill is going to endorse Barack Obama for President today.
McCaskill has praised Obama often and was widely believed to favor the Illinois senator over Clinton. But the Senate freshman had resisted openly supporting a candidate until now, saying she wanted to preserve working relationships with Senate colleagues.
She said last week that she identifies with the desire for change that Obama supporters have reported to pollsters.
One factor in McCaskill's endorsement may have been that her relationship with Hillary Clinton has been a bit shaky dating back to when McCaskill was running for the senate in 2006.
During an appearance that year on NBC's "Meet the Press", McCaskill said she didn't want former President Bill Clinton, who had previously appeared at a rally for McCaskill in St. Louis, anywhere near her daughter. PubDef.net learned that the next day a fundraiser the Clintons had scheduled for McCaskill in New York was canceled.
MR. RUSSERT: You’re having Bill Clinton come in to raise money for you. Do you think Bill Clinton was a great president?
MS. McCASKILL: I do. I think—I have a lot of problems with some of his, his, his personal issues. I said at...
MR. RUSSERT: But do you...
MS. McCASKILL: I said at the time, “I think he’s been a great leader, but I don’t want my daughter near him.”
MR. RUSSERT: You said that, according to New Yorker magazine, that you don’t think Hillary Clinton would be a good Democratic nominee because she couldn’t win Democrats in Missouri. True?
MS. McCASKILL: Well, you know, honestly, the presidential politics is going to get very intense and very, frankly, there’s going to be a lot of back and forth after November. I don’t want to get into presidential politics today.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you like to see her president?
MS. McCASKILL: You know, I, I, I think any Democratic nominee is going to be better than this president.
U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is about to announce his endorsement of Illinois senator Barack Obama for President, according to reports.
The message here seems to be: John Edwards (Kerry's former running mate) can't win the primary election, Hillary Clinton can't win the general election.
VIDEO: Watching the New Hampshire Results at Obama HQ in St. Louis
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 6:51 AM
More than 200 supporters and volunteers watched the results from the New Hampshire primaries at the Obama headquarters in downtown St. Louis.
The group's disappointment at Barack Obama's close second-place finish to Hillary Clinton quickly turned into enthusiastic resolve following Obama's speech. "Yes We Can!" shouted the roomful of St. Louisans, which included St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley; License Collector Mike McMillan; St. Louis Alderman and Obama spokeswoman Kacie Starr Triplett; state reps Rodney Hubbard and Jake Zimmerman; committeeman Brian Wahby; entrepreneur Mike Roberts; and state rep candidate Don Calloway, among others.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley was (as the Obama campaign says) "fired up and ready to go!" after Senator Barack Obama's inspiring speech following his close second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican who many attempted to draft to run for President back in 1999, recently expressed joy in the success of presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell praised Barack Obama on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, crediting the Illinois Senator for breaking barriers while running as "an American man" who can represent the entire nation.
In an interview with PBS host Tavis Smiley, Powell said he was "taking joy" in Obama's rise and he said citizens across the country can "enjoy this moment where a person like Barack Obama can knock down all of these old barriers that people thought existed with respect to the opportunities that are available to African Americans."
VIDEO: O'Reilly Pushes Obama Aide, Calls Him "Low-Class" and "S.O.B."
By Antonio D. French
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is anything but subtle and he let an aide to Senator Barack Obamaknow exactly how he felt when he couldn't get immediate access to the Democratic presidential candidate in New Hampshire this weekend.
O'Reilly reportedly got into a physical altercation with Marvin Nicholson, the Obama aide. According to reports, O'Reilly pushed Nicholson and demand that he get out of the way of his view of Obama.
Photographer Rosalind Guy was one of 130 Missourians who traveled to Iowa last week to campaign for Barack Obama. We've posted some of her great photos from the event on our .Mac web gallery.
Click here to view, download, and even upload your own photos from the trip.
I spent 11 hours on a bus yesterday riding to and from Iowa to campaign in a snow storm for Barack Obama. I was one of 130 St. Louisans — including a statewide elected official, two state senators and a former mayor — that made the long trek on a snowy Saturday morning because we believe Senator Obama is the best person to restore America's promise of hope and greatness.
After I get a bit more rest, I'll piece together some video and photos from the trip for you all to see. But here are a few thoughts about the journey.
First, it was remarkable to see the wide range of people whose lives Obama has touched and to whom he brings personal inspiration.
It was former St. Louis mayor Vince Schoemehl who told the rest of our group yesterday that every generation has a great and inspirational leader — in the same tradition as Presidents J.F.K. and F.D.R. For this generation, he said, that man is Barack Obama.
Along with Mayor Schoemehl, other believers on board included State Auditor Susan Montee from St. Joe, MO; State Senators Maida Coleman and Jeff Smith (St. Louis City); St. Louis Aldermen Kacie Starr Triplett (6th Ward) and Sam Moore (4th Ward); Northwoods Alderman Errol Bush; Committeewoman Yaphett El-Amin (1st Ward); and dozens of students, professionals, educators, teens, and homemakers.
After the five-hour drive to Ottumwa, we stopped by the Obama campaign headquarters for a quick training in door-to-door campaigning and were quickly out in the snow, making our way from house to house.
To a one, every Iowan I spoke to was extraordinarily nice, especially considering I must've been the 15th campaigner to knock on their door this month. And most that I talked to were leaning towards or definitely caucusing for Obama. Three times I was told "anybody but Hillary." I coded that ABH.
The one thing I wished I could share most with my St. Louisans back home — especially my African-American brothers and sisters — is how frustratingly wrong so many of them are when they say this ignorant rant of "white folks ain't gonna support no black man for president."
Every Obama supporter I saw in Iowa was white, middle-class, tired of the direction of our country, and inspired by the hope represented by Barack Obama.
This is a different country than the one my parents and grandparents knew. The problem is that too many of our political leaders haven't realized it. Obama does.
On the way back, I read on my phone that the Boston Globe had endorsed Obama in the very important New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8.
The editorial, like our Iowa trip, was truly inspiring.
THE FIRST American president of the 21st century has not appreciated the intricate realities of our age. The next president must. The most sobering challenges that face this country - terrorism, climate change, disease pandemics - are global. America needs a president with an intuitive sense of the wider world, with all its perils and opportunities. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has this understanding at his core. The Globe endorses his candidacy in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary Jan. 8.
Many have remarked on Obama's extraordinary biography: that he is the biracial son of a father from Kenya and a mother who had him at 18; that he was raised in the dynamic, multi-ethnic cultures of Hawaii and Indonesia; that he went from being president of the Harvard Law Review to the gritty and often thankless work of community organizing in Chicago; that, at 46, he would be the first post-baby-boom president.
What is more extraordinary is how Obama seals each of these experiences to his politics. One of the lessons he took from organizing poor families in Chicago, he says, was "how much people felt locked out of their government," even at the local level. That experience anchors his commitment to transparency and accountability in Washington.
Similarly, his exposure to foreign lands as a child and his own complex racial identity have made him at ease with diversity - of point of view as well as race or religion. "I've had to negotiate through different cultures my whole life," he says. He speaks with clarity and directness, and he is also a listener, a lost art in our politics.
In what looks like prescience today, Obama was against the Iraq war from the start. But his is not the stereotypical 1960s antiwar reflex. "I don't oppose all wars," he said in the fall of 2002. "I'm opposed to rash wars."
When it comes to waging peace, Obama has the leadership skills to reset the country's reputation in the world. He notes, for example, that the United States would be in a stronger position with Iran if it took more seriously its own commitment to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. His bill, cosponsored with Senator Richard Lugar, to add conventional weapons to the nation's threat reduction initiative, became law this year.
On domestic issues, the major Democratic candidates are reduced to parsing slivers of difference. But Obama has been more forthright in declaring his slightly heterodox positions to traditional Democratic constituencies. His support for merit pay for teachers, or a cap on carbon emissions, suggests a healthy independence from the established order.
The first major bill to Obama's name in the Illinois Legislature was on campaign ethics reform. In Washington, he coauthored this year's sweeping congressional lobbying reform law. When he describes his approach to healthcare negotiations, he says, "The insurance and drug companies will get a seat at the table, but they won't get to buy every chair."
Obama's critics, and even many who want to support him, worry about his relative lack of experience. It is true that other Democratic contenders have more conventional resumes and have spent more time in Washington. But that exposure has tended to give them a sense of government's constraints. Obama is more animated by its possibilities.
In our view, the choice on the Democratic side is between Obama and Hillary Clinton. Clinton has run a diligent, serious campaign, and her command of the issues is deep and reassuring. But her approach is needlessly defensive, a backward glance at the bruising political battles of the 1990s. Obama's candidacy looks forward.
Obama's memoir, "Dreams From My Father," is divided into three main sections. The first is a reflection on his youthful search for identity. The second recounts his days in Chicago, which include the first stirrings of a religious life. The third is a roots pilgrimage to Kenya, to better understand his often absent father. It is hard to read this book without longing for a president with this level of introspection, honesty, and maturity - and Obama published it when he was only 33.
"I genuinely believe that our security and prosperity are going to depend on how we manage our continued integration into the rest of the world," he says. Obama's story is the American story, a deeply affecting tale of possibility. People who vote for him vote their hopes. Even after seven desolating years, this country has not forgotten how to hope.
VIDEO: Triplett, El-Amin, and French Discuss Obama on Magic 104.9
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, December 10, 2007 at 9:51 AM
Alderman and local Obama for America spokeswoman Kacie Starr Triplett, Missouri State Representative T.D. El-Amin, and PubDef.net editor Antonio D. French appeared on Magic 104.9 FM's "Sunday Morning Live" radio show yesterday to discuss plans for a large group of St. Louisans to travel to Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 15, to campaign on behalf of presidential candidate and U.S. Senator from Illinois Barack Obama.
VIDEO: Young Lawyers, Triplett and Smith Come Out for Barack Obama
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Friday, December 07, 2007 at 12:29 PM
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
Braving the winter weather last night, a group of young local attorneys and Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett, the local spokesperson for the Barack Obama for President campaign, came out to raise some money for the Illinois senator and talk about the importance of the upcoming Iowa primary.
Also officially coming out for Obama last night was State Senator Jeff Smith, who said it was in the interest of "domestic tranquility" that he had not come out earlier. Smith's girlfriend, Elisabeth Smith, is a John Edwards supporter. She's moved to Illinois to work on a Congressional campaign, leaving Jeff free to join the surging Obama campaign.
Before his rally at Union Station Friday, Presidential Candidate Barack Obama met with a group of local elected officials at his Washington Ave. campaign office.
Local electeds in attendance included: Congressman Lacy Clay; State Auditor Susan Montee; St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley; President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed; License Collector Mike McMillan; Aldermen April Ford-Griffin and Frank Williamson; State Senator Rita Days; State Reps Rodney Hubbard, Robin Wright-Jones, and Ted Hoskins; Chairman of the City Democrats, Brian Wahby; U-City Councilwoman Hazel Erby; former St. Louis mayor Vince Schoemehl; and former state representative Betty Thompson.
Just a couple of days after opening a campaign office here, Senator Barack Obama will be in St. Louis today at a rally at Union Station.
Organizers say they are undertered by the sprinkles of rain. "I think it's going to be a great crowd and a great event," said Mike Dorsey, the Obama campaign's state director for Missouri. "Rain or shine, we're fired up and ready to go!"
Doors open for the St. Louis "Countdown to Change" rally will at 5:00 PM at the south parking lot of Union Station. Tickets are $25 ($15 for students).
Also tonight, city Democrats — young and old — will be putting on the make-up and wigs for their annual Halloween Party.
The St. Louis Democratic Central Committee and the Young Democrats of Greater St. Louis host their annual party tonight from 6:00 to 10:00 PM at the Glazier's Union Hall, 5916 Wilson Ave. (Southeast of Hampton and I 44). Tickets are a less-than-frightening $15 per person.
Aldermanic President Lewis Reed*, State Representative Rodney Hubbard*, and Vice-Chair of the City Democratic Party Yaphett El-Amin helped the Barack Obama Presidential campaign open their St. Louis headquarters yesterday.
It looks like the Barack Obama campaign will be the first to open an office in St. Louis.
This week, supporters of the junior senator from Illinois' bid for President will open a campaign office in downtown St. Louis, in the Jack Thompson Square Building on the corner of Washington Ave. and Tucker.
The opening of the headquarters, which will likely occur on Tuesday Wednesday, comes just a few days before Sen. Obama comes to St. Louis for a rally on Friday at Union Station.
BARACK ME ALL NIGHT LONG - All the local Obama Girls will soon have a place to camp out at. We've learned that the Barack Obama for President campaign has come to Missouri. They are currently working out of a donated temporary office space — really a cubical — in a St. Louis business, but they are looking for more permanent digs. This comes just over four months before the Presidential Preference Primary Vote on Feburary 5, 2008.
IRONS BEHIND BARS? - If you were anywhere near a TV yesterday, you may have heard that former Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons pleaded guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud Thursday. The charges are related to real estate purchases made in 2005 and 2006. Irons now faces 30 years in prison and one million dollars in fines. Sentencing is on November 29th. Swish!
ETHICS COMMISSION: 'NEVERMIND' - The Missouri Ethics Commission took back it's decision ordering candidates to either justify or give back campaign contributions over a retroactively imposed limit. The initial decision was made on September 11, but Republicans filed suit claiming the commission violated open meeting laws. The commission voted to withdraw that decision yesterday, and will take up the issue in their October 4 meeting.
The Missouri Women for Obama will hold two simultaneous community organizing meetings on Monday, September 10th from 6 to 8 PM.
The meetings will be at the Mad Art Gallery (2727 S. Broadway, St. Louis) and the Jefferson County Library (5678 State Road PP, High Ridge).
"We look to empower women to participate in the presidential election and support Barack Obama," says Anna Jinkerson who is volunteering as the coordinator for Missouri Women for Obama.
Women for Obama is an official grassroots organization, sponsored by the Obama presidential campaign. The Missouri chapter is organized on a local level and plans on sponsoring house parties, voter registration drives and book clubs, all in support of Barack Obama.
Jinkerson acknowledged Hilary Clinton’s campaign, but said that her organization’s vote goes beyond gender.
“Women in Missouri need a candidate who’s electable in the general election,” she says. “We feel that Barack Obama brings the right type of experience and electability to the presidential elections.”
The meetings on Monday will establish community groups of women to support the organization. More meetings locally and in Kansas City and central Missouri are in the works.
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards will address the National Urban League conference being held at the America’s Center this week. The conference goes from Wednesday the 25th through Saturday the 21st, with the candidates scheduled to address attendees Friday morning.
Local Edwards supporters will hold a rally outside of the Center, at the corner of 7th Street and Convention Plaza, on Friday at 8:00 a.m.
UPDATE: Speaking of John Edwards, here's a video of him receiving a "Father of the Year" award in New York last month. You'll notice he's introduced by none other than St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith.
Nearly 300 local supporters of Presidential candidate Barack Obama gathered yesterday evening at the Mad Art Gallery in south St. Louis.
The racially-mixed audience listened to regional coordinators with the Obama campaign as well as local organizers discuss plans for upcoming events and strategies for organizing ahead of the February Presidential Preference vote.
Darryl Piggee, chief of staff for Congressman Lacy Clay, and Steve Engelhardt, aide to Clay, who helped publicize the event, were also in attendance, as were numerous business people, students, activists, longtime- and first-time Democratic campaign workers.
A large group of local grass-root supporters of U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama are scheduled to meet Wednesday night in St. Louis.
Not another fundraiser, and not another meet-and-greet for local political big shots, tomorrow's event is supposed to be a chance for the real engines of the Democratic Party; the field workers, the neighborhood activists, the people who do the hard, less glamorous work of campaigns.
The event is Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Madd Art Museum, 2727 S. 12th Street.
Before today, Obama led Clinton by 27 pledged delegates (pledged delegates are those won through caucus and primary election wins, as opposed to superdelegates which are basically endorsements by officials. These superdelegates are not necessarily fixed and can change their alliances).
