Senator Barack Obama won primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia with ease Tuesday night in a determined drive to erase Hillary Rodham Clinton’s delegate lead in the Democratic presidential race.
“Tonight we’re on our way,” he told cheering supporters in Madison, Wis. “But we know how much further we have to go on,” Obama added, as he celebrated eight straight victories over Clinton, the former first lady now struggling in a race she once commanded.
His victories were by outsized margins — he was gaining about 75 percent of the vote in the nation’s capital and about two-thirds in Virginia.
Clinton’s Deputy Campaign Manager Steps Aside
Mike Henry, deputy campaign manager for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has resigned, according to a source familiar with the decision.
Henry tendered his resignation yesterday morning but worked the last two days on a volunteer basis. His departure is not entirely unexpected, as he was brought into the campaign by Patti Solis Doyle, who stepped down on Sunday.
In an e-mail sent to staff and obtained by The Fix, Henry writes: “As someone who has managed campaigns, I share the unique understanding of the challenges that the campaign will face over the next several weeks. Our campaign needs to move quickly to build a new leadership team, support them and their decisions and make the necessary adjustments to achieve the winning outcome for which we have all worked so hard for over a year now.”… Read More >>
OBAMA, Japan (AFP) — Barack Obama, who has been credited with tapping support in unlikely places, is enjoying a groundswell of enthusiasm in a small city in western Japan, which is delighted to share his name.
Obama, Japan, is rooting for candidate Obama, hoping that if he becomes the U.S. president he will put this ancient fishing town of 32,000 people firmly on the tourist map and, just maybe, choose it for an international summit.
Supporters in Obama — which means “small shore” in Japanese — have held parties to watch election results, put up posters wishing the senator luck and plan a special batch of the town’s “manju” sweets bearing his likeness.
“At first we were more low-key as Hillary Clinton looked to be ahead, but now we see he is getting more popular,” Obama Mayor Toshio Murakami said.
“I give him an 80 percent chance of becoming president,” the 75-year-old said with a proud grin.
Murakami sent a letter last year to Obama, enclosing a set of lacquer chopsticks, a famous product of this town on the Sea of Japan (East Sea) in Fukui prefecture’s Wakasa region.
“I will present you the chopsticks of Wakasa paint and I am glad if you use it habitually,” Murakami said in the English-language letter. “I wish you the best of health and success.”
Murakami noted that Barack Obama’s birthday, August 4, happens to be “Chopsticks Day” in the city.
Obama, who is also a hero in his father’s native Kenya, has been gaining in a neck-and-neck race with Clinton, in part by winning over voters in states that rarely back members of their Democratic party.
Murakami is now preparing another package for the candidate that will include a good-luck charm from the local Obama Shrine.
“For the first letter I found his address on the Internet, so I don’t know if he got it,” Murakami said. “But this time I asked the (US) embassy for his exact address, so I’m sure he’ll get it.”
Lest cynics find the city’s efforts naive, it was Obama himself who first drew attention to the connection.
Obama, speaking to Japan’s TBS network in December 2006, said that when he flew once to Tokyo, an officer stamping his passport told him of the town.
“He looked up and said, ‘I’m from Obama,'” the senator said.
A professor saw the footage and contacted the mayor, who insists that his support for Obama goes beyond just his name.
“It seems to me that President Bush isn’t aggressively addressing global warming, but Obama would. And I like how he opposed the Iraq war,” he said.
Murakami also hoped a President Obama would sign a peace treaty with North Korea. It is no small issue in Obama, one of the seaside towns where agents from the communist state kidnapped Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, setting off a long row between the countries.
The election is being closely followed by many in 1,500-year-old Obama, a port nestled by snowy hills that in ancient times supplied food to the emperor when he lived in Kyoto some 75 kilometres (40 miles) to the south.
“When you look in Obama’s eyes and hear his voice, he’s very impressive,” said resident Rieko Tanaka.
“Hillary is a bit old-fashioned and she’s the wife of Bill Clinton, so I think a new person should lead the USA,” she said.
Tomoyuki Ueda, 40, a company worker dining at a restaurant serving the town’s celebrated mackerel, said it would be healthy for the United States to elect its first African-American president.
“I think both Obama and Hillary are qualified, but if Obama becomes president he could correct problems of racial discrimination,” he said.
Seiji Fujihara, a head of the local tourism board, said he has only met a black person once, but believed Obama’s election would make the United States “more equal” on racial issues.
Fujihara started a club for self-styled Obama supporters in the city and plans “I love Obama” T-shirts.
“We know we can’t vote. But if we send out a message, we can help push him to victory,” he said.
The 2009 Ford Motor Company International Fellowship of the 92nd Street Y is now accepting applications from community leaders who are citizens and residents of Azerbaijan; the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; Cambodia; Ethiopia; Israel; Liberia; and Uruguay. Applications must be postmarked, faxed, or emailed by June 30, 2008 to be considered. Please distribute the attached brochures and applications to individuals you think would benefit from this wonderful opportunity.
This annual fellowship is funded by the Ford Motor Company and organized by the 92nd Street Y to provide education and support to community leaders engaged in the nonprofit sector. To date, 179 individuals from 46 countries have received the Ford Fellowship, which is now in its eighth year.
A successful applicant must demonstrate that he or she:
* is a community leader engaged in the nonprofit sector, either professionally or as a volunteer;
* is successfully addressing issues that affect the community’s well-being; and
* would benefit from an intensive three-week nonprofit management training course in New York.
Previous Ford Fellows include:
* a South African AIDS educator;
* the president of a Jewish aid society facilitating Bosnia-Herzegovina’s transition to democracy;
* a sustainable development expert from Zimbabwe;
* the founder of an Indian organization that educates women and children working in the silk industry; and
* an Indonesian advocate for ethnic minorities.
The residency takes place June 5-June 24, 2009 in New York City. Airfare, accommodation, food, transportation, instruction, and other program-related expenses are included in the fellowship, and participants receive a small stipend upon arrival.
During the intensive three-week residency, Ford Fellows take classes in areas including nonprofit management strategy and leadership training at Columbia University’s Picker Center for Executive Education. The academic curriculum is complemented by visits to model nonprofits in New York City and meetings with academic, business, and government leaders. The experience is enhanced by Fellows’ residency at the 92nd Street Y, a community and cultural center founded in 1874 that now serves over 300,000 people annually.
The Ford Motor Company International Fellowship of the 92nd Street Y provides a tremendous opportunity to international community leaders, and I would greatly appreciate your help in distributing the enclosed brochures and applications to people and organizations that could benefit from this opportunity. Again, applications for the 2009 Fellowship must be postmarked, faxed, or emailed no later than June 30, 2008. For more information about the program, please see the enclosed brochures or visit our website at www.92Y.org/ford. Please contact me at 212.415.5473 or [email protected] or my assistant Elizabeth Komoroski at 212.415.5561 or [email protected] if you have any question or wish to receive additional brochures and applications by email or post mail. Thank you for your assistance.
Senator Barack Obama has defeated Senator Hillary Clinton in the Virginia primary tonight, crushing what may have been Clinton’s best chance at a Potomac primary win. Clinton had hoped to perform strongly in Virginia’s rural communities and among women and the state’s sizeable Hispanic and immigrant population, but Obama ultimately prevailed in the state. Majorities of Democratic voters in Virginia and Maryland alike said the top attribute they’re seeking in a candidate is the one who can “bring needed change” — a message consistently promoted by Obama. In Virginia, preliminary exit poll results indicated that Obama not only won 9 in 10 African-Americans, but split white voters with Hillary Clinton. That came on the strength of his support from white men, who favored him by more than a 10-point margin… Read More >>
A senior adviser to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has suggested that she – along with other “party elders” – will step into the ring if they feel that Democratic hopes of winning back the White House or maintaining control over Congress are being threatened. Ms Pelosi insists that she remains neutral in the race and that her “focus is on reelecting a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives”. However, her voice would carry great authority among many uncommitted super-delegates on Capitol Hill – and she is said by one of those close to her to be leaning towards Mr Obama. “The party Establishment is not going to turn its back on a candidate who is generating this tremendous excitement and bringing all these new voters into the political process,” an adviser said. Mr Obama’s team is busy pushing the same message, telling members of Congress in districts where he has already won that they would be foolish to alienate their core vote in an election year… Read More >>
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Peace talks to end postelection bloodshed in Kenya moved to a secret location Tuesday for a final push. Negotiators said the opposition has proposed sharing power with the government for two years and then holding new elections.
Progress at the talks has given a sense of hope to many Kenyans, who have seen more than 1,000 people die and some 600,000 flee their homes in violence that followed the Dec. 27 election. Much of the upheaval has pitted ethnic groups linked to politicians against one another.
Negotiators have talked to the media nearly every day — and, on at least one occasion, said a deal had been struck when it hadn’t. Trying to get them to focus on the task at hand, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan declared a news blackout and moved the talks to a secret location outside Nairobi, his office said in a statement.
Annan, who is mediating the talks, “urged the parties not to discuss issues under negotiations with anyone outside the negotiating room,” the statement said.
Before heading into the sequestered talks, both sides offered a glimpse of what is on the table.
The opposition proposal includes “forming a broad-based government that lasts for two years,” said William Ruto, an opposition lawmaker.
He said that during the two years of power sharing, the government should change the constitution and come up with a plan to rebuild areas devastated by violence. He also suggested a truth and justice commission to look into land disputes.
Government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo confirmed that the president’s party had received the proposal and would debate it “to see if we can reach an agreement.” He told The Associated Press the constitution gives the president the power to appoint opposition members to his Cabinet.
The opposition charges that President Mwai Kibaki stole the election. The government insists the vote was free and fair, despite heavy criticism from international and domestic observers.
Annan urged legislators to enact laws to resolve the political turmoil, such as land reform. “You will need to work together to implement this heavy agenda. Your active involvement across party lines is necessary,” he told a special session of Parliament.
The former U.N. secretary-general said the two parties have agreed to form an independent commission to examine the electoral commission, which has faced heavy criticism for certifying Kibaki’s victory.
“Let’s pull together and get it done,” Annan said. “We can’t afford to fail.”
The strife has gutted the country’s once-booming economy and left its democratic reputation in tatters.
The ethnic component to the violence, meanwhile, has polarized Kenyans like never before. In many place, members of some tribes have been forced to flee their homes and many people are moving to their group’s historic homelands, even if they themselves had never lived there.
Ruto, the opposition negotiator, said Friday that a power-sharing deal already had been struck. Annan later called the announcement premature, although he said the sides had made significant progress.
Despite Ruto’s statement, it’s unclear where main opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says the presidency was stolen from him, stands on the issue. In the past week, he has backed off demands that Kibaki resign when speaking to reporters in English only to reiterate them while addressing supporters in Kiswahili, East Africa’s common tongue.
Associated Press reporter Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi contributed to this story.
