BREAKING: Obama clinches Democratic nomination

[Tx4obama]

Source: CNN

(CNN) – President Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday by winning primaries in the District of Columbia and Maryland, CNN projects.

He has now surpassed the 2,778 delegate-threshold needed to secure his party's nod. <SNIP>

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/03/breaking-obama-clinches-democratic-nomination/

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Congratulations President Obama

[bluestateguy]

1. Hey uh, how is that Democratic primary challenge coming along?

[alp227]

15. Err...Kennedy lost?

But seriously, primary challengers only end up hurting the party in the end, see Reagan '76, Kennedy '80, and Buchanan '92. After Pat Buchanan challenged George H.W. Bush in 1992 with about 20% of the popular primary vote, never again did any incumbent president Dem or Rep ever get a serious challenge.

Believe it or not, some counties in Oklahoma went for the challenger candidates like anti-abortion fanatic Randall Terry in Oklahoma or Tom Coburn's 2010 Democratic challenger Jim Rogers.

[caseymoz]

29. So, if third parties are losers, too . . .

. . . doesn't it mean our elections are rigged, then? And not just by Diebold.

We should just cancel the primaries and go back to having candidates selected behind the scenes.

But why are we even bothering with elections now?

I'm afraid to say, for his deplorable record on transparency, rights, and extending presidential power, Obama should have been challenged. It's amazing to me how the so-called Democratic Party refuses to even look at it. He has the power to listen in on us, arrest us, and never bring us to trial. He's taken what the Bush Administration gave him and he's pushed it farther.

The smiles Obama's supporters keep on their face when conversation turns to these topics reminds me of George W. Bush supporters. Except they don't have to look as painful, because this President halted the tradition of the gaffe a day.

[alp227]

30. Unfortunately, this year is another case of 'lesser of two evils' in politics.

Can you imagine what a president Romney or Santorum would do to the economy, social programs, education, civil rights, justice, etc.?

Also, either of them would make up for Reagan's failed confirmation of Robert Bork...maybe twice, since there's a chance that either Justices Ginsburg or Kennedy will retire or pass away within the next 5 years.

Yes, I know about Obama caving on single payer health insurance or putting indefinite detention in the books or keeping the PATRIOT Act or not following all his promises. Thing is, not enough average Americans (unlike you or I or those who listen to Thom Hartmann or read ThinkProgress) even care about justice system because they feel as law abiding citizens that it's not a big deal.

You're definitely right about "the smiles" since this kind of attitude confirms Jason Mattera's theory about "Obama Zombies". Those kind of people ain't any better than the Bush Zombies of the early 2000s or the evangelical Christian zombies who voted for Santorum.

[treestar]

20. A REAL progressive would win by a landslide and bring us

a socialist paradise via the bully pulpit dkjlfskjowiejf sljaf;lsjfoweiajl



I think I'll go take and aspirin.

[aaaaaa5a]

24. ha!

If I had time I would love to dig up old threads and news articles talking about the Prez being primaried.


Gloom and doom and wrong, wrong, wrong.

[caseymoz]

28. You mean the FIXED Democratic primary challenge?

Over before we're told about it? Isn't this about how USSR elections were done?

No, I'm not a Republican troll, I'm just saying, you'd probably laugh a little less, or a lot more bitterly, if you thought about that.

[emulatorloo]

32. DU, the home of Hyperbole

[caseymoz]

33. Oh, really?

The Economist had an article looking at the turnover of incumbents in the House of Representatives and called their article "Pyongyang on the Potomac." So, you see, I'm not the only one who said this, and The Economist is a rather conservative British Magazine uninvolved in the political haggling on progressive sites.

The US election system is broken so many ways (and if you want, I can list the problems), and this has sway over the candidate selection process. Really, when Barrack Obama has gone so far astray from principles like Separation of Powers, Habeus Corpus, and has taken upon his office the right to assassinate people, it's common sense that replacing him should be considered.

[oldtime dfl_er]

2. I wanna kick this

but Ive forgotten how. LOL.

Anyway, I am going to be so PROUD to vote for Barack Obama again in November.

[wordpix]

3. I will be happy to vote for him but he should back off the oil exploration off the VA coast

I'm not sending money until he reviews that approval and says no.

[freshwest]

13. Talk to your legislators. They haven't wailed about it, have they? Blame them.

[freshwest]

14. They changed the word from :kick: to :donkey: Just type it in like so:

[oldtime dfl_er]

17. aha

thanks!!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. YAY!

[unkachuck]

5. "President Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination..."

....boy, that was close, a real squeaker....

[Iliyah]

6. Phew, I was sweating

there for awhile.

[RedCloud]

7. Talk about a squeeker!

[slackmaster]

8. It was touch-and-go for a while there

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. Make your Inauguration Reservations Tomorrow !!!! Ya-Hoo ! nt

[Skinner]

10. Woo-hoo!

I knew he could do it! Yes we can!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. Congrats!

[alp227]

16. err, isn't it a bit awkward to have Ted Kennedy as your avatar here?

because history reminds both parties: primary challengers are just as bad as not campaigning (think about the 1980 election with Kennedy challenging Pres. Carter, or 1976 with Reagan against Pres. Ford, or 1992 Buchanan vs. Pres. Bush).

[Fearless]

18. I'd say his decades of civil service

Pro-liberal, pro-gay, pro-union, pro-woman, anti-death penalty, pro-workers rights, pro-single payer health care policies would be reason enough not to criticize... Unless of course you think that Carter would actually have beaten Reagan...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

22. not really

[joshcryer]

12. Has Nader commented yet?

[denem]

19. 2008 DU primaries - what a time.

(sigh) NOT.

[VWolf]

21. Maybe now we can put this bruising primary season behind us

Someone shake Pres Obama's Etch-a-Sketch.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. Holy shit! That sure was a nail biter.

[Enrique]

25. that article says nothing about the superdelegates

[Tx4obama]

26. Here's some numbers

Barack Obama
Pledged*: 2160
Superdelegates*: 694
Total: 2854
Delegates Needed to Win: 2,778

http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/primaries/candidates/1918

[BumRushDaShow]

27. K&R

[nxylas]

31. How many delegates did Hillary get?

Since every Teabagger I've come across on the Interwebs assured me she'd be mounting a primary challenge.