HelixTriumvirate

it's over. Rasmussen Reports, a national polling firm that has been polling people about the Presidential candidates, announced today that it will no longer poll questions about the Democratic Presidential nomination and will start polling about the General Election between presumptive nominees Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain.

They explain why:

"Rasmussen Reports has been tracking the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination daily for nineteen months… since November 2006. For the last few months, the most remarkable feature of the race has been its consistency and stability. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both running historic campaigns and both have captured the votes and hearts of distinct and important constituencies within the Democratic Party. Obama has won Primaries in states where the demographics favor his campaign and Clinton has won in the states that favor her campaign. However, while Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee. At the moment, Senator Clinton’s team is busily trying to convince Superdelegates and pundits that she is more electable than Barack Obama. For reasons discussed in a separate article, it doesn’t matter. Even if every single Superdelegate was convinced that the former First Lady is somewhat more electable than Obama, that is not enough of a reason to deny him the nomination. With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Barring something totally unforeseen, that is the choice American voters will have before them in November. While we have not firmly decided upon a final day for tracking the Democratic race, it is coming soon."

ABC News reports that Sen. Barack Obama has actually surpassed Sen Clinton in the superdelegate count. They contend that each network and news organizations have different means of counting the tally (even the actual pledge delegates count are not all the same). But, even with this inconsistency, Sen. Clinton can no longer claim that she is ahead in any count (unless, of course, Michigan and Florida are counted...and that's another story in itself). The Obama campaign counts 269 supers on their column to Clinton's 275.5. ABC News reports that Sen Obama has 267 supers to Clinton's 265 marking, for the first time, Obama surpassing Clinton in the delegate count. However, ABC News is the only news organization to claim the numbers others still have Sen Clinton in the lead, although, a very slim one at that.

And today, the AP reports that Sen Obama is picking up nine superdelegates and another labor organization to his column. He has

"all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign."

[Read more here...] [[source="HuffPo" link="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080509/obama-endorsement"]]

And so goes the Clinton campaign and what once was the "inevitable" candidate to the now math infirm quixotic campaign. A resurgent win by Sen Barack Obama in North Carolina by a 14pt margin and the "too close to call" Indiana result (as of 2300 EST). Obama's victory speech from Raleigh, NC signaled a veiled olive branch towards Clinton and Clinton reciprocated with a demure and conciliatory speech. Could this be the moment where Clinton starts to climb down from the ivory tower? Obama has provided her the ladder, the moment now is for Clinton to either use it or be pushed out.

In case the Clinton campaign redefines the redefined definition of "win" tomorrow, once again, and which caucus or primary is fairer (for her), and continue to pick-and-choose which states really do matter (to her), Keith Olbermann has something to say:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24473981#24473981

By her own definition, she has excluded almost all the voters and the majority of the states as being important and significant and, henceforth, the electoral college and victory in November for the Democrats.

Two Maryland superdelegates and one at-large DNC superdelegate have recently endorsed Sen Barack Obama. According to sourcewatch.org, Obama now has 249 superdelegates to Clinton's 269. Remarkable, in that Obama's superdelegate margin in January was close to a 100. With the string of primary victories in the post Superduper Tuesday primaries and Clinton's non-existent plan afterwards, he's superdelegate margin have substantially shrunk to now being a 20 point margin. With that said, he's 287 delegates away from winning the Democratic Presidential nomination. I'm waiting...

My years growing up in Kansas was like any others; summers were too hot and winters were too cold, and the politicians were just too extreme. I recently read an article from the Lawrence Journal World (LJW) on the battle between the moderate Democratic Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, and the Republican controlled state Legislature that are dueling against the proposed two 700-megawatt coal-fired power plants in Holcomb, KS. The House Speaker, Melvin Neufield (R-Ingalls), derided Sebelius as what he deems as "political pandering" on her part and sees it as an "economic stimulus" for the state. What he does not recognize (or refuse to believe) is that most of the power generated will be benefitting other states while Kansan's will have to endure the negative effects on the environment. Gov Sebelius has already vetoed the proposal, but the state Senate overrode her veto; however, the state House stopped short. Good news for Kansans. Although, Neufield is not going out without a fight. He and his fellow Republican lawmakers "introduced a resolution to allow the Legislature to sue Gov. Kathleen Sebelius over coal-fired electric power plants" (LJW). Great! Thank you Sen Neufield for reminding America and the rest of the world just how backwards Kansas is. We've already got enough publicity of Phil Kline and his war against abortion and those Fred Phelps nut-jobs over at Westboro Baptist Church. Do we need to give the American people and the rest of the world another reason to believe that Kansans are bunch of podonk ignoramuses? Well, at least we're national champs again!

I find it unfathomable that Sen Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is so adamant in proposing a Gas Tax Holiday in what she, and the Republican presumptive nominee, Sen John McCain (R-AZ), believe will help lessen the burden on the consumers. A recent poll suggests that Americans are not buying this obvious political ploy and sees through the political facade. Environmentalists and economists alike decry the proposal as just silly. What benefit does she get out of this? Apparently, she's hoping that this cheap political gimmick will resonate to the uneducated voters in the upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Does she really care about this Americans who seems to be remembered only every four years? Does she think they are that gullible? I find it hard to believe that this seasoned veteran on the political arena truly believes on the merit of this idea (to include the Windfall Profit Tax proposal) as a solution to the problem. Truly doubt it!