Hope all of you took your opinions to the polls and actually voted today. Just remember, if you don't vote, your opinion doesn't mean much. Polls are open until 8pm!

TCB: That was my point exactly. The popular vote, as we know from 2000, isn't even worth hanging or pregnant chads. My comment was in response to DanDrobin who said Obama is winning more. He can win all the little states he wants. He can collect Wisconsin's 54 delegates votes. But, like you said, if Hillary wins Ohio and Texas, the real game is on. 54 delegates is a drop in a very big bucket compared to 200+ that are still at stake on March 4.

Momof5:

Popular vote? What is that? In the general election it has zero legal standing-its irrelevant-its good for curiosity purposes, nothing more.

As it stands today, Obama has garnered 10.1 million votes to clintons9.7 million and he has a slight delegate advantage. However, the remaining states do favor Clinton. If Clinton wins texas and loses Ohion-it will be a toss up. If Clinton loses both TX and OH its over. If I were to guess, I think Ombama wins WI.

However, its the superdelegates (many clinton insiders) who can change their vote and move the nominee to the person they want. If the D nomination goes down to the wire-and it appears that it will-its the superdelegates that will choose the D-nominee, not the general electorate (this favors clinton-at least today it does). The true clnton colors will appear if this happens. (Then Obama will likely run as an independant. BTW, there is no way that John Edwards is on the ticket-he is finished as a Presidential candidate. Just watch who Gore endorses....

Oh, and Clinton never did acknowledge or give a byline to her ghostwriter, Barbara Feinman, for the book IT TAKES A VILLAGE.

Also, after researching further, the part of the speech in question was a section where Obama was discussing how words matter. He referenced Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech and "All men are created equal" and included some of Deval Patrick's phrases. Patrick has encouraged him to use his words. Under these circumstances, the Clinton accusation is patently ridiculous. She herself has lifted phrases from others (her "I see an America..." where the phrase is repeated over and over has been used by others, including Jimmy Carter long before Hillary used it).

Also, for the record, as Obama points out, and as I'm sure you know, he has authored two books. If you haven't read them, I highly recommend them.

I should have said Deval Patrick in my last post, not just Deval (typing too fast). Also, in the spirit of disclosing my source, that information was from a Washington Post article.

The plagiarism thing: Obama and Deval are friends and Deval stated that he had shared parts of his speech with Obama's speechwriters and did not feel Obama needed to credit him (actually, he said that he did not think Obama should credit him). As a writer (which is how I make my living) I might very well share my words with a friend, especially if that friend was running for office and I supported him or her.

momof5 - NBC news reported tonight that parts of the speech you are referring to was actually used two years ago by Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#23225604

DanDrobin: Obama can win the popular vote and he can win more states than Hillary. It comes down to electoral votes and delegates and the states with the most--Wisconsin is just a drop in the bucket. He may be a better campaigner right now, but I like to look at it as a better manipulator. Did he stop at ANY of the auto plants while campaigning in Michigan or the other states with plants? I'm guessing not. Don't get me wrong: it was a special thing for Janesville that he stopped here. But, seriously, he cares about this GM plant and Janesville about as much as Iraq has in WMDs.

garyprimer: I hope A LOT of people listen to you and share our sentiments regarding Senator Obama. I watched him give a speech on how words do matter (probably because he's being accused of making this huge laundry list of promises that can't possibly be delivered). He said tell me "I have a dream" doesn't matter when those are just words. He went on to cite more excerpts for MLK Jr's famous speech. I couldn't help but feel that his true colors were beginning to show (no pun intended).

I hope that you are all prepared for a serious bout of voter's remorse if you elect Obama.

Obama is here in Wisconsin a heckuva lot more than Hillary Clinton. He is winning in states. He is winning in the popular vote. He is winning on delegates, even taking into account those "Super" establishment delegates.

There is a simple reason. He is the much better candidate. He has to be in order to stand up to the Clinton machine, which has an ex-President and a ton of connections built up over decades. He is working hard. He is in Wisconsin far more than his opponent. He is here listening.

Obama is the most electable Democratic candidate by far. He is the way we take back the White House. The proof is in the polls. He averages 6 points better against McCain than Hillary does. Obama beats McCain in polls. Hillary only ties.

And, contrary to popular belief, Obama is tougher than Clinton. Of the two candidates, only he had the guts to oppose the Iraq war from the start. Hillary Clinton still hasn't come to terms with the most important vote of her relatively short-lived political career as an elected official. She still won't admit she made a mistake on Iraq. She said Bush duped her.

Only problem is that just last Fall Clinton voted for Bush's bill to declare Iran's military to be "terrorists." This was the equivalent of an unnecessary declaration of war. At the same time Bush was waiving around the image of World War III with Iran in support of his bill, Bush knew about a secret National Intelligence Estimate prepared by the CIA which found that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 and probably hadn't restarted it. Hillary Clinton was duped again. And again she wouldn't admit she made a mistake. Instead she sent a letter to the White House "clarifying" her position.

Yes, there is a reason the McCain is hoping that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. McCain is hoping he can keep all his campaign managers from jumping ship because they like Obama. And McCain is hoping he can debate Hillary Clinton on Iraq because her spinning on that issue just is not very convincing.

And Hillary Clinton says she is more prepared and detail oriented than Obama. Once again the proof is in the pudding. Her campaign ran out of money, was unprepared to deal with caucuses and has had to fire a whole bunch of people for poor performance and political low blows. In contrast, Obama's campaign is well run, well financed (even though they don't take money from lobbyists while Clinton does), and consistent in its message.

It's time to vote for a President who can win. It's time to vote for a President who can unify America. Without unity, without hope, there is no chance of real change. Without hope there never would have been civil rights reform. Without hope we never would have come out of the Great Depression. Once again, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Obama '08.

I wanted to say that it doesn't seem to me that Senator Obama has any foreign policy experience at all. The White House is hardly the place for on-the-job-training..

No matter what anyone says about Obama, he is 100 times better than Hillary. She has to much baggage and its time to move on to the future.
She is counting on the Super delagates to hand her the nomination. The Clintons are crafty and will do and say anything to get what they want.

I am also a fan of PJ O'Rourke and appreciate the colorful imagery, but what is government without money and power? Could a government exist without money and power? Is it anything but money and power? Of course, he is right and we are in a catch-22 situation.

I love P.J. O'Rourke's writing. Here's another one: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

Marymac4: His "fear to debate"? They've debated 18 times so far. Two more are scheduled. Doesn't sound like he's scared to me.
And by the way, "before" has an "e" on the end.

"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it."
P.J. O'Rourke

Define good Democrats I am A good Democrat and will not support a man of words and promises he knows he cannot deliver and watching his speeches his words I have heard befor by a better person for the job. His fear to debate and risk the truth tells me he is not man enough to lead the country I so proudly call home. My opinion is still as I stated befor and there is nothing he has to offer me that we havent heard befor.

Please don't focus on the issue of race. Accept Obama for what he is. He is a man running for the Democratic presidential primary candidate who is trying his best to get the nomination. I am listening to him on TV live at this very moment and he strikes me as a man who will say anything that he thinks will help him achieve this goal. Mr Obama would do well to remember his mantra that words matter. I have never heard such a reckless laundry list of promises in a presidential campaign.

The vote between Obama and Clinton is between the person who will unite the country and the person who will unite the Republican Party. Staunch patriots and good Democrats pick Obama.

Again my opinion is strong on the actuality of the real votes going to the right party! As I know to the republicans Hillary is the threat so if the Elephant votes in the primary for the one they think cant win then the threat is gone and come November the Elephant will prevail and cast its real vote! The donkey may surprise and hind kick and HEE HAW all tha way to the Whitehouse! Another thing is as long as I can remember the Gazette has endorsed the Elephant. And Gary I do know You well and I am total agreement with your recent comments and see the whole picture to this years election you also know me.I still see the states won by Obama are majority Elephant states take a look at the past elections so again I say watch the elephant in Nov.

well said, garyprimer!

Obama has nothing to gain by debating Clinton. She will call him out on all of the things that he is promising that he can't possibly deliver. He figures that he is winning and there is no need to jepardize that by debating. Hillary is out of money for tv ads, so she wants to debate. Obama is happy to spend everyone's money and just tell his side of things in tv ads. And I do mean everyone's money. We all pay for these campaigns through higher prices for everything.

How stupid does Hillary Clinton think we are? She "challenges" Obama to another debate in WI after 18 previous debates with #19 due to take place in Texas Thurs Feb 21, but why? Is it because of her ”deep concern” for the WI voters? She has been so concerned about WI voters that she has been off campaigning in Texas and Ohio which don’t vote until March 4 while Obama has been here in WI. She can’t draw huge crowds like he does so why not try to sucker him into another debate and get herself on stage in front of lots of people? If he doesn’t fall for it and simply wants to keep campaigning she can claim that he is being disrespectful to the voters of WI. Sorry Hillary. We’re not the stupid country bumpkins you think we are!

It was a feather for the local dems to have Barak Obama visit Janesville. The GM plant is historically important and nationally recognizable, but again I'm left wondering if our local dem party leaders can see past GM to greater Janesville.

Yeah, all of the coverage did make it look like the Gazette was endorsing Obama. That is not the fault of the Gazette, it's just the way things worked out.