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This is what’s next:

This is an Open Thread . . .

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The full speech from Raleigh, North Carolina earlier today:

You can read the full text of the speech, as well as the details of Barack’s economic plan.

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Earlier today, Deputy Campaign Manager Steve Hildebrand sent out the following email:

Today, I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.

The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the historic primary season — on behalf of all the Democratic campaigns — have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity in the general election.

We need to register new voters and bring people back into the political process. We need to reach out to Independents and Republicans who know that our country cannot afford another four years of George W. Bush’s disastrous policies.

And we need to overcome the three-month head start that John McCain has had to raise money and build support.

Your past support has brought us to the Democratic nomination. But we need to expand our base in order to build this 50-state organization. You can do that by encouraging a fellow supporter to step up and own a piece of this campaign.

Will you promise to match the gift of a first-time donor and double their impact? You can even exchange a note with them about why you are supporting this movement for change.

Help reach our goal of 30,000 new donors by making a matching donation now.

As in every presidential election, some states will be more competitive than others, and we will scale our resources accordingly.

But unprecedented grassroots energy during the primary means that the list of competitive states will be longer than ever before — and it will include states like Virginia and Montana that aren’t traditionally within reach for a Democratic presidential candidate.

And in every single state, our staff will build volunteer capacity that will provide help where we need it and impact races up and down the ballot this November.

Every day counts — voters head to the polls in less than five months. This is your opportunity to shape the election by helping to launch our unprecedented 50-state campaign now.

Last month, John McCain and the Republican National Committee raised nearly $45 million.

It’s going to take a lot of hard work to compete with those numbers. But we’re going to compete the right way.

Unlike John McCain and the RNC, this campaign has never taken donations from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. And Barack has directed the Democratic National Committee to make the same commitment.

We’re going to build our organization the way we have since the beginning — by relying on ordinary people like you giving only what you can afford.

Will you help take our campaign for change to every part of the country by making a matching donation today?

Thanks to your support, Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But he cannot determine the outcome of this election on his own.

It will all come down to what you are willing to do.

It’s time to answer the call.

Thank you,

Steve

Steve Hildebrand
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America 

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Earlier today, Brooke in Charleston, West Virginia sent out this message:

I live in Charleston, West Virginia. And I voted for Barack Obama today.

So did my wife. And my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my Presbyterian pastor and his wife, my friend the retired Episcopalian priest and his wife, my bank teller, my boss, my co-worker, the lady who runs the business on the second floor of our building and her husband, the waitress at my favorite restaurant, at least two dozen of my neighbors, my State Senator, my United States Senator, my company’s tech guy, my college Sociology professor, a couple who runs a bed and breakfast in Sutton, WV and several of their staff, several first time voters from my church’s youth group, several more church members, the cooks at The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, WV, a local Municipal Judge and his wife, and the older lady who exited the polling place alongside my wife and I this morning.

These folks represent black and white, rich and middle class, young and old, religious and not… just like every other town in America. As Barack says, we are not as divided as our politics suggest. That being said…

Yes West Virginia Can!

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Barack is speaking at an economic town hall in Cape Girardeau, Missouri right now. You can watch live on CNN, or online at CNN.com.

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On May 2, high winds, heavy rain and flood water claimed thousands of lives and damaged hundreds of thousands of homes in southwestern Myanmar. Cyclone Nargis is the worst storm to hit Asia since 1991 and the worst to hit Myanmar since 1926.

On Saturday, May 10, severe storms and tornadoes ripped across the central U.S., destroying homes in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia. Media reports indicated that twenty-three people were killed by the storms, and at least 150 more were injured.

And on Monday, May 12, at 2.28 p.m. Beijing time, a major earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, jolted southwestern China’s Sichuan Province. Several lower-scale earthquakes and aftershocks followed in the same area. According to the latest reports, more than 12,000 people have died and many more have been injured or are missing. Many schools were destroyed, including one that had at least 900 students in it. As authorities reach more remote areas, these numbers are expected to rise.

Throughout this campaign, we have seen time and again that when ordinary people reach out and act together, they can make a difference. Right now, your donations can help the Red Cross and its humanitarian partners provide shelter, supplies and access to clean drinking water to survivors in Myanmar and China, as well as families in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia.

Visit RedCross.org to find out how you can help.    

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Barack Obama just delivered these remarks (as prepared) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He was introduced by Senator Claire McCaskill…

It’s great to be here in Missouri with my good friend Claire McCaskill. This is a state that voted for change when you sent Claire to the Senate in 2006; you voted for change in February when we surprised the pundits and pulled out a victory; and this is a state where we will compete to win when I am the Democratic nominee for President. 

There is a lot of talk these days about how the Democratic Party is divided. But I’m not worried, because I know that we’ll be able to come together quickly behind a common purpose. There’s too much that unites us as Democrats. There’s too much at stake for our country.  And there will be a clear choice on November 4.

Now there’s one thing we know for sure about this election. The name George Bush will not be on the ballot. The name of my cousin Dick Cheney will not be on the ballot. But while the Bush-Cheney ticket won’t be up for reelection, the Bush-Cheney policies will, because John McCain is running for four more years of the same approach that has failed the American people. 

There is a reason that a record number of Americans think that we’re on the wrong track. We’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs just this year. The cost of everything from health care, to a tank of gas, to college tuition has skyrocketed while wages have stayed stagnant. Millions of American families are facing foreclosure. We’re spending tens of billions of dollars fighting a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.

Meanwhile, Americans have lost faith that Washington can or will do anything about problems they face day in and day out. Because the troubling statistics only begin to tell a story found in communities and at kitchen tables across the country. It’s a story of empty factories shut down forever because the jobs have been shipped overseas and nothing took their place. It’s the story told by a mother who can’t sleep because she can’t afford health care for her sick child; a father who lost his job but can’t afford a tank of gas so that he can look for a new one; a family that doesn’t know where they’ll be living in a month or a year because they’re about to lose a home. 

It’s a story of an American Dream that is slipping away. And what the American people need at this defining moment is leadership that restores the fundamental American belief that you can make it if you try in this country – that your dreams matter more than the demands of special interests or the convenience of political posturing. That’s why I’m running for President. That’s why we’ll be united as Democrats. Because Washington has failed the American people, and this election is our chance to turn the page. 

John McCain has served his country with honor, and I respect that service. But for two decades, he has supported policies that have shifted the burden on to working people. And his only answer to the problems created by George Bush’s policies is to give them another four years to fail. Just look at where he stands and you’ll see that a vote for John McCain is a vote for George Bush’s third term. 

Four more years of George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who don’t need them and didn’t ask for them. 

Four more years of a health care plan that works for the healthy and the wealthy while tens of millions go without care, and families struggle with rising costs. 

Four more years of a President who supports privatizing Social Security.

Four more years of a war that has cost us thousands of lives and a trillion dollars without making us safer, while we run up a mountain of debt that is mortgaging our children’s future. 

Four more years of a White House that is run by the kind of lobbyists who run John McCain’s campaign, while Washington tells the American people – “you’re on your own.” 

Well we know that the American people cannot afford any more of the Bush-McCain program. Not this time. Not when the stakes are so high. Not when the opportunities are so great. We need a new direction in Washington. We need new leadership in the White House.

We know that government cannot solve all of our problems, and we don’t expect it to. We don’t want our tax dollars wasted on programs that don’t work or perks for special interests that don’t work for us. We understand that we cannot stop every job from going overseas or build a wall around our economy, and we know we shouldn’t. 

But that is not an excuse to spend another four years doing nothing to reclaim the American Dream for working people. We’re the nation that built the largest middle class in history. We all have a stake in each other’s success. We can’t continue an economic program that rewards Wall Street at the expense of Main Street because then we all end up hurting. It’s time to end a failed approach that tries to build prosperity from the top down, and renew our common prosperity from the bottom up. 

Instead of a tax code that rewards wealth and not work, we’ll provide an income tax cut of up to $1,000 for a working family, and eliminate income taxes altogether for any retiree making less than $50,000 per year. 

Instead of more inaction on health care, we’ll finally bring this country together, stand up to the drug companies and insurance companies, and make health care affordable and accessible for every single American. 

Instead of putting a secure retirement at risk, we’ll safeguard Social Security, we’ll protect pensions instead of CEO bonuses, and we’ll help all Americans save more so they can have a retirement that is dignified and secure.

Instead of gimmicks like a gas tax holiday that rewards the oil companies while doing nothing to lower gas prices in the long-term, we’ll raise fuel efficiency standards, invest in alternative energy, and create millions of Green Jobs that will free this country from our addiction to oil. 

Instead of a blank check to fight an endless war in Iraq, we can end this war, restore our military, finish the fight against al Qaeada, and invest some of those dollars to put millions of Americans to work rebuilding our roads and bridges, laying down new rail lines and new broadband, and making sure that all of America can compete and win in the 21st century. 

That’s the new direction we need in this country. The other party has already decided to run on the failed policies of the past; that’s why we need to be the party that stands for the future. Everywhere I go, I meet Americans who can’t wait another day for change. Change that refuses to let lobbyists drown out the voices of the American people.. Change that puts folks back to work. Change that finally delivers on the promise of health care you can afford, and an energy policy that makes sense. Change that leaves behind partisanship that stands in the way of progress, because we’re all in this together as Americans. 

This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and Independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won’t do.  This is our moment to turn the page on the divisions and distractions that pass for politics in Washington, so that we can write the next chapter in the history of American prosperity for all Americans.  

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Time and again we’ve seen that personal connections are the key to growing this movement, and today has been no different. Motivated by the chance to connect with another supporter and double the impact of their donation, thousands of people have made contributions today, many of them for the first time.

Here are just a few:

Katrina:

I was waiting for the right time to donate because I didn’t have much to give at this place in our lives. Because of you our donation will have more impact. Thank you for the audacity to believe in real change and a real hope for our country!

Kathryn:

Thank you so much for making my contribution count for a little more. I am not generally a campaign contributor … I just want to be able to make a difference in getting this country back on the right path to what it has been and can be for all of us.

And Kyle:

Together we are going to make history! Thank you for matching the money I am donating to the cause! It means a lot to me that people from all over the country are coming together to say YES WE CAN!!!!

If you make a donation now, your contribution will be matched by a fellow supporter, doubling its impact. You’ll see the name and hometown of the person who matched your donation, and you’ll be able to share your own story of why you were moved to donate.

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The Charlotte Observerreports…

Reps. Watt, Price are endorsing Obama

Two N.C. superdelegates will endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday.

Reps. Mel Watt and David Price planned a conference call to announce their decision to endorse Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

The entire N.C .delegation had endorsed former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, and until now only one had announced an endorsement of either of the two remaining candidates. Rep. G.K. Butterfield also endorsed Obama.

Price and Watt are two of the state’s most influential representatives in Washington. Price, a former Duke political scientist, is a Democrat from Chapel Hill first elected to Congress in 1986. He is the most senior Democratic congressman from North Carolina and he chairs an appropriations subcommittee.

Watt, a lawyer, is a Charlotte Democrat first elected in 1992. He is chair of a financial services subcommittee — a key post for his hometown — and is a past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Please consider making a match today to help carry this movement ot victory in North Carolina… 

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SIOUX FALLS, SD – Today, twenty-five of the thirty-five South Dakota Democratic State Legislators endorsed Barack Obama, citing him as the only candidate who can unite Americans for change that matters in the lives of working families in South Dakota. 

South Dakota Senate Democratic Leader Scott Heidepriem said, “Senator Obama inspires all Americans, regardless of party, race or economic circumstance.  He is the best chance we have had in years to lift the spirit and lead the way.”

South Dakota House Democratic Leader Dale Hargens said, “Senator Obama has given us a reason to believe that we can change the way things are done in Washington.  He will be able to bring an end to the bitter divisions in our nation’s capital that hinder good decision making and prevent implementation of sound solutions.”

Senator Obama said, “I’m proud to receive the backing of these legislators today.  We are working hard to strengthen our growing grassroots movement for change in South Dakota before the primary on June 3, and we’re grateful that these leaders will help build our support throughout the state.”

Obama has the support of Former Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and has been endorsed by Senator Tim Johnson and Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Last week, six Tribal Leaders from South Dakota endorsed Barack Obama. 

Below is the list of South Dakota State Legislators Endorsing Barack Obama today:

Senator Julie Bartling
Senator Gary Hanson
Senator Scott Heidepriem
Senator Alan Hoerth
Senator Jim Hundstad
Senator Sandy Jerstad
Senator Tom Katus
Senator Frank Kloucek
Senator Ryan Maher
Senator Ben Nesselhuf
Senator Jim Peterson
Senator Nancy Turbak Berry
Senator Theresa Two Bulls
Representative Jim Bradford
Representative Quinten Burg
Representative H. Paul Dennert
Representative Richard Engels
Representative David Gassman
Representative Clayton Halverson
Representative Dale Hargens
Representative Larry Lucus
Representative Garry Moore
Representative Eldon Nygaard
Representative Bill Thompson
Representative Tom Van Norman

Help us grow the movement in South Dakota and beyond. Your voice and your contributions matter more than ever — it’s what keeps this thing going. Make a match today. 

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