Hey, That’s My Name

AP tally: Obama clinches Democratic nomination

I suspect this will be the first of many in the next 24 hours.

Barack Obama has effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates.

The tally put Obama over the top Tuesday, ahead of the results from the day’s final primaries in Montana and South Dakota. The Illinois senator becomes the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House. Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic contest and now faces Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona for the presidency.

Clinton will be in New York tonight as the last primary results from Montana and South Dakota roll in. Reports are that she will be giving a “big speech” – but will it be a concession speech? News has also been floating around that Clinton staffers are being told that their jobs in the campaign are coming to a close. Bill Clinton was also giving a speech yesterday in which he said it may be the last time he’s involved in a campaign like this.

Could it be? Is she actually finally calling it quits?

Let’s hope. I’m ready for the general to get going into full gear.

McCain Leads! (In Missed Votes) – Capitol Briefing

In the wake of his highly publicized (especially here – heh) absence on the 2008 GI bill vote, news emerges that John McCain has missed more Senate votes than both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. McCain has missed 60% of the votes, Obama 41.8% and Clinton 31.7%.

Aside from beating his fellow presidential candidates, McCain has missed more votes than any other senator, including South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in late December and did not return to the Senate for several months (he missed 53.9% of the votes).

One would think that, since John McCain is the presumptive nominee and Clinton and Obama have been running their primary race much longer than he would have much more of an opportunity to show up for votes. Apparently not.

Well folks, it looks like, at long last, the Democratic primary is finally over. I could tell this watching MSNBC last night. For weeks, even on a night when Obama won all the contests, the punditry would yammer for hours about how even though he won, there were all of these problems with the way he won (Pat Buchanan always excels at this). But last night was quite different. As Clinton’s lead in Indiana dwindled as the night went on, the rhetoric from the MSNBC analysts had a new ring to it. Beyond some thin discussion about how this really was the end for Clinton, little was said about the New York senator. Instead, there was much discussion of who Obama’s running mate should be (and some occasional suggestions as to whether or not it should or would be Hillary).

And this is why it’s over, kids: the mainstream media is done with Senator Clinton. I don’t really get why Indiana tells them that she’s can’t win in a way that other states haven’t, but it seems that it has. And if there’s anything we’ve learned from this long drawn out contest, if the media covers it, it must be important.

Congratulations, Senator Obama.

Does this mean we can finally start talking about John McCain? I say we start by flooding the airwaves with video of this guy.

I love me some Keith Olbermann, and this piece was just friggin’ priceless. If you haven’t been paying attention the ridiculous propaganda that’s been spewing from Clinton campaign for months about which states votes really count the most, he ties it up for you very nicely here. Thanks Keith!