Joe Andrew, the head of the Democratic National Committee from 1999 to 2001, will switch his endorsement from Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) today, The AP reports. Andrew is set to hold a press conference today and is writing a letter explaining his switch that he says he plans to send to other superdelegates.
Link: ABQjournal NM: PNM Hike Hits Families Harder.
PNM's almost 400,000 residential customers will see bigger increases in their electric bills than commercial customers as a result of the rate increase approved last week by the state Public Regulation Commission. In addition, summer rates for most customers will jump even higher— especially for those using more than 700 kilowatt-hours a month. That probably would be a resident with a large home with refrigerated air conditioning. All customers could see another bump if regulators approve the company's request to pass along its fuel costs directly— on top of existing rates. The new charges customers will see in the billing cycle that begins today reflect how PNM will divvy up the $35.2 million revenue increase approved by the commission into electric rates among its different rate classes. Studies show commercial customers pay proportionately more than residential customers, and PNM has said it is moving, in small steps, toward a more even distribution. Final figures released by PNM this week show the increase will average 6.3 percent across all rate classes. Residential customers will get an average 7.8 percent bump in their bills while the biggest commercial users will see an average increase of 5.1 percent. Two other new factors will affect rates.
Link: ABQjournal NM: N.M. Superdelegate Pick Contested.
Some top-level Hillary Clinton backers in New Mexico are crying foul over last weekend's selection of the state's 12th and final superdelegate to the Democratic national convention. The Clinton supporters, who outnumbered supporters of Barack Obama at the Saturday meeting, apparently are frustrated that party members ended up electing a superdelegate who says she is uncommitted in the presidential contest instead of one committed to Clinton. In a letter this week to state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón, 10 ranking party members— including four Clinton superdelegates— accused Colón of breaking the delegate selection rules. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, another Clinton superdelegate, told the Journal that she thinks Barack Obama backers put "tremendous" pressure on Colón about the selection plan. "I don't think the governor personally would have done it," Denish said of Gov. Bill Richardson, who has endorsed Obama. "But people associated with him would have worked very hard at that on his behalf." Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley said Wednesday that no governor's associates put the heat on Colón, adding that Richardson played no role in the outcome of Saturday's election. Colón said Wednesday that backers of both Obama and Clinton were pressuring him heavily before his nomination of the 12th superdelegate, Laurie Weahkee, who has said she is still uncommitted to either Clinton or Obama. Colón added that the party broke no rules in the selection process, which led to Weahkee's election. "The Clintons are fighting for every single delegate, and the Obamas are fighting for every single delegate," Colón said. "At the end of the day, what I did was follow the rules." Most political observers believe the protracted nominating battle between Clinton and Obama will be decided by nearly 800 superdelegates from around the nation, who can vote for whomever they wish at the party's August nominating convention in Denver.
Link: Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman | Did the US Supreme Court Just Elect John McCain?.
The US Supreme Court has just dealt a serious blow to voters' rights that could help put John McCain in the White House by eliminating tens of thousands of voters who generally vote Democratic.
By 6-3 the Court has upheld an Indiana law that requires citizens to present a photo identification card in order to vote. Florida, Michigan, Louisiana, Georgia, Hawaii and South Dakota have similar laws. Though it's unlikely, as many as two dozen other states could add them by election day. Other states, like Ohio, have less stringent ID requirements than Indiana's, but still have certain restrictions that are strongly opposed by voter rights advocates.
The decision turns back two centuries of jurisprudence that has accepted a registered voter's signature as sufficient identification for casting a ballot. By matching that signature against one given at registration, and with harsh penalties for ballot stuffing, the Justices confirmed in their lead opinion that there is "no evidence" for the kind of widespread voter fraud Republican partisans have used to justify the demand for photo ID.
Voting rights activists have long argued that since photo ID can cost money, or may demand expensive trips to government agencies, the requirement constitutes a "poll tax." Taxes on the right to vote were used for a century to prevent blacks and others from voting in the south and elsewhere. They were specifically banned by the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964.
But the Court's lead opinion, written by Justice Stevens, normally a liberal, said that though rare, the "risk of voter fraud" was nonetheless "real" and that there was "no question about the legitimacy or importance of the state's interest in counting only the votes of eligible voters." The burden of obtaining a voter ID, said the court, was not so difficult as to be deemed unConstitutional. Ohio election protection Attorney Cliff Arnebeck believes Stevens joined the decision to divide the Court's conservative majority, and to leave the door open for further litigation.
But there is no indication the corporate media or Democratic Party will be pursuing significant action on this issue any time soon. Though the Kerry Campaign solicited millions of dollars to "protect the vote" in 2004, it has not supported independent research into that election's irregularities. In the King-Lincoln Civil Rights lawsuit, in which we are attorney and plaintiff, 56 of Ohio's 88 counties destroyed ballot materials, in direct violation of federal law. There has been no official legal follow-up on this case, no major media investigation, and no support from the Democratic Party either to investigate what happened in Ohio 2004, or to make sure it doesn't happen again in 2008. The issue has yet to be seriously raised by the major Democratic candidates despite the fact that it could render their campaigns moot.
This latest Supreme Court decision is yet another serious blow to voting rights advocates - and probably to the Democratic nominees for President and other offices. It will clearly make it far more difficult for poor, minority, elderly and young citizens to vote. Tens of thousands of normally Democratic voters in key states - especially Florida, Michigan, Georgia and Louisiana - will simply be prevented from getting a ballot.
Link: Is Jeremiah Wright a colossal disaster for Barack Obama or a press trick?.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright couldn't have done more damage to Barack Obama's campaign if he had tried. And you have to wonder if that's just what one friend of Wright wanted. Shortly before he rose to deliver his rambling, angry, sarcastic remarks at the National Press Club Monday, Wright sat next to, and chatted with, Barbara Reynolds. A former editorial board member at USA Today, she runs something called Reynolds News Services and teaches ministry at the Howard University School of Divinity. (She is an ordained minister). It also turns out that Reynolds - introduced Monday as a member of the National Press Club "who organized" the event - is an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter. On a blog linked to her Web site- www.reynoldsnews.com- Reynolds said in a February post: "My vote for Hillary in the Maryland primary was my way of saying thank you" to Clinton and her husband for the successes of Bill Clinton's presidency.
Link:
Obama and Clinton will know when to quit: party chief
| Reuters
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GRAHAM, North Carolina (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will know when to pull out of the U.S. presidential race in order to unify the party for the general election, the chairman of the Democratic Party said on Monday.
In a round of network television appearances, Howard Dean warned that a prolonged battle between Clinton and Obama could hurt the party's chances in November's election against Republican John McCain.
Link: Supreme Court Upholds Voter Identification Law in Indiana - New York Times.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter-identification law on Monday, declaring that a requirement to produce photo identification is not unconstitutional and that the state has a “valid interest” in improving election procedures as well as deterring fraud.
Link: With Bingaman Endorsement, Obama Takes Senate Support Lead | The Trail | washingtonpost.com.
Sen. Barack Obama officially pulled ahead today in the scramble for endorsements from colleagues in the U.S. Senate, thanks to Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.
Never one of the Senate's most high-profile members, Bingaman now has a claim to political fame: He put Obama over the top after his long slog to catch Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had a head start in winning the support of her peers. Obama now has 14 endorsements to Clinton's 13.
Obama will also get the vote of Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has not officially endorsed him but said he will support Obama at the convention in deference to his state's voters. Clinton has a similar pledge from Sen. Barbara Boxer of California.
"Our nation faces a daunting number of critical challenges: reasserting America's leadership in the world, meeting our needs for energy independence, addressing global warming, making healthcare accessible and affordable, positioning our economy to effectively compete globally, and extricating ourselves from the war in Iraq, to name a few," Bingaman wrote in his endorsement announcement. "To make progress, we must rise above the partisanship and the issues that divide us to find common ground. We must move the country in a dramatically new direction."
Of course, Clinton can still flip the endorsement balance back in her favor: Not counting Clinton, Obama, and the Senate's two Democratic-leaning independents, 18 Democratic senators still have yet to endorse.
Link: Democrats Registering In Record Numbers - washingtonpost.com.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- They lined up shoulder to shoulder inside the gray high-rise downtown, their politics as diverse as their backgrounds. An ex-felon who needs health insurance, followed by a high school student seeking empowerment, followed by a Marine Corps veteran who wants to prevent his country from crumbling.
Link: Big HRC fundraiser defects to Obama - First Read - msnbc.com.
One of the things that both Dem campaigns are always nervous about is defectors. In particular, Clinton is more vulnerable to this problem since she's the candidate that is trailing. Well, NBC News has learned that a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, former Amb. to Chile Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon is leaving the campaign to join up Barack Obama's campaign. Officially dubbed a "Hillraiser," Guerra-Mondragon raised nearly $500,000 for Clinton's campaign, according to some estimates. He has been informing people inside Clintonworld this week in what's been described as some tough conversations. A formal announcement of a role for Guerra-Mondragon on Obama's national finance committee will be made next week. Guerra-Mondragon was appointed Amb. to Chile by Pres. Clinton in '94 and served until '98.
Among the reasons for Guerra-Mondragon to defect, according to one informed source, was he was uneasy with the tone of the Clinton campaign and was beginning to worry about what this would mean for the general election.
It's unclear if this defection will lead to others; the Clinton camp has been particularly effective at getting folks to keep their powder dry. For Obama, this comes at a time when his campaign is trying to re-convince insiders that the math indicates he has the nomination virtually wrapped up. In addition, Guerra-Mondragon's defection could serve as a tipping point with some key Hispanic Democratic leaders that Obama is ready to start making a bigger effort to court Hispanics.
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