Confirmações

O antigo senador do Dakota do Sul, Tom Daschle, foi o primeiro membro da futura equipa governativa de Barack Obama a ter de enfrentar o crivo do Congresso: o nomeado para o Departamento da Saúde, Educação, Trabalho e Pensões depôs hoje no Senado, inaugurando assim uma mini-maratona de audiências de confirmação que se estenderá até à tomada de posse do futuro Presidente. Uma das mais aguardadas acontece na próxima terça-feira, quando Hillary Clinton, indigitada para Secretária de Estado, se apresentar perante o Comité de Relações Exteriores.

A lista de Clinton

Tem mais de 200 mil nomes a lista de financiadores da fundação do antigo Presidente dos Estados Unidos, Bill Clinton, publicamente divulgada no âmbito de um acordo de transparência destinado a facilitar a confirmação da nomeação da sua mulher, Hillary, para o posto de secretária de Estado da futura Administração Obama.

Nova Iorque

A nomeação de um substituto para o lugar de Hillary Clinton no Senado dos Estados Unidos ameaça tornar-se um imbróglio quase tão polémico quanto o preenchimento da vaga relativa ao Illinois -- e envolto em escândalo desde que foi conhecido o teor das escutas telefónicas ao Governador daquele estado, que alegadamente queria beneficiar pessoalmente da sua prerrogativa de indicar o substituto de Barack Obama.

A filha do malogrado Presidente John F. Kennedy, Caroline, está activamente em busca da nomeação, enfurecendo algumas das mais resistentes apoiantes da actual senadora e antiga Primeira-Dama, que está a caminho de tornar-se a próxima secretária de Estado, e ofuscando a visibilidade das restantes personalidades que são apontadas na imprensa como possíveis alternativas.

Igualmente interessado no cargo está Andrew Cuomo, o Procurador-Geral de Nova Iorque herdeiro de uma das famílias com maior tradição política naquele estado (e que foi casado com uma prima de Kennedy). E até Fran Drescher, a antiga "nanny" da conhecida série televisiva, natural de Queens, está a fazer campanha para conseguir o lugar.

Teatro

Chegada a vez do Novo México, este passa e devolve o voto ao Illinois, que o remete para a delegação seguinte: Nova Iorque.
A senadora Hillary Clinton diz que "Barack Obama é o nosso nomeado" e propõe que a Convenção suspenda o "roll call" e declare a nomeação de Obama por aclamação.

Hillary liberta delegados

Espera-se a presença de Hillary Clinton no pavilhão da Convenção a qualquer momento. O "roll call", momento em que as delegações depositam o seu voto pela nomeação, está prestar a arrancar. De manhã, numa reunião no Centro de Convenções, Clinton "libertou" os seus delegados (as pessoas que viajaram até Denver em representação do grupo de eleitores que votou por ela nas várias primárias), e "autorizou-os" a votarem por Barack Obama. Alguns responderam que não queriam ser "libertados" e insistiram que queriam votar o seu nome no "roll call". "Façam o que quiserem, eu não vos posso dizer o que fazer", respondeu a senadora de Nova Iorque. "Eu já votei por Barack Obama", revelou Clinton, que é uma superdelegada.
Aparentemente, o "roll call" seguirá até ao estado de Nova Iorque, cuja delegação pedirá depois para suspender a votação, permitindo assim a nomeação de Obama por aclamação.

Hillary

Explosão no Pepsi Center. Com toda a pressão sobre ela, o desempenho de Hillary Clinton roça a perfeição.


Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Remarks to the Democratic National Convention (As Prepared for Delivery)

I am honored to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.

Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines.

This is a fight for the future. And it’s a fight we must win.

I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.

No way. No how. No McCain.

Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.

Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the American people, your lives, and your children’s futures.

For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and your communities. Your stories reminded me everyday that America’s greatness is bound up in the lives of the American people -- your hard work, your devotion to duty, your love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of enormous obstacles.

You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and . . . yes, you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine.

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism, didn’t have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.

I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said to me: “Take care of my buddies; a lot of them are still over there….and then will you please help take care of me?”

I will always remember the boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum wage and that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn’t know what his family was going to do.

I will always be grateful to everyone from all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush Administration.

To my supporters, my champions -- my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits – from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.

You never gave in. You never gave up. And together we made history.

Along the way, America lost two great Democratic champions who would have been here with us tonight. One of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic Party Chair, Bill Gwatney, who believed with all his heart that America and the South could be and should be Democratic from top to bottom.

And Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a dear friend to many of us, a loving mother and courageous leader who never gave up her quest to make America fairer and smarter, stronger and better. Steadfast in her beliefs, a fighter of uncommon grace, she was an inspiration to me and to us all.

Our heart goes out to Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, Jr, and Bill’s wife, Rebecca, who traveled to Denver to join us at our convention.

Bill and Stephanie knew that after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting at home, and our standing has eroded around the world. We have a lot of work ahead.

Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our nation’s history. Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis.

Putin and Georgia, Iraq and Iran.

I ran for President to renew the promise of America. To rebuild the middle class and sustain the American Dream, to provide the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford the gas and groceries and still have a little left over each month.

To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green collar jobs.

To create a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance.

To create a world class education system and make college affordable again.

To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality - from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families. To help every child live up to his or her God-given potential.

To make America once again a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.

To bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and make our government an instrument of the public good, not of private plunder.

To restore America's standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home and honor their service by caring for our veterans.

And to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years.

Those are the reasons I ran for President. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too.

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

We need leaders once again who can tap into that special blend of American confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest challenges. Leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in America.

This won’t be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight to put a Democrat in the White House.

We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a President who understands that America can’t compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators, while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas.

We need a President who understands that we can’t solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in new technologies that will build a green economy.

We need a President who understands that the genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.

Barack Obama began his career fighting for workers displaced by the global economy. He built his campaign on a fundamental belief that change in this country must start from the ground up, not the top down. He knows government must be about “We the people” not “We the favored few.”

And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he’ll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again.

He’ll transform our energy agenda by creating millions of green jobs and building a new, clean energy future. He’ll make sure that middle class families get the tax relief they deserve. And I can’t wait to watch Barack Obama sign a health care plan into law that covers every single American.

Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home – a first step to repairing our alliances around the world.

And he will have with him a terrific partner in Michelle Obama. Anyone who saw Michelle’s speech last night knows she will be a great First Lady for America.

Americans are also fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Barack Obama’s side. He is a strong leader and a good man. He understands both the economic stresses here at home and the strategic challenges abroad. He is pragmatic, tough, and wise. And, of course, Joe will be supported by his wonderful wife, Jill.

They will be a great team for our country.

Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend.

He has served our country with honor and courage.

But we don’t need four more years . . . of the last eight years.
More economic stagnation …and less affordable health care.
More high gas prices …and less alternative energy.
More jobs getting shipped overseas …and fewer jobs created here.
More skyrocketing debt ...home foreclosures …and mounting bills that are crushing our middle class families.
More war . . . less diplomacy.
More of a government where the privileged come first …and everyone else comes last.

John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s okay when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work.

With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.

America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good.
And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America. I’m a United States Senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights, to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.

And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter – and a few sons and grandsons along the way.

These women and men looked into their daughters’ eyes, imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and harassment. To brave violence and jail.

And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.
How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice:

If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

I’ve seen it in you. I’ve seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military – you always keep going.

We are Americans. We're not big on quitting.

But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president.

We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.

Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance.
I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation.

We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.

That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other.

Thank you so much. God bless America and Godspeed to you all.

"Renewing America's Promise" - Agenda do dia

Hour #1 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (LOCAL)

Call to Order: The Honorable Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

Invocation: Reverend Cynthia Hale, Disciples of Christ - Decatur, Georgia

Presentation of Colors: The American GI Forum, Mile High Chapter, Colorado (Mexican-American veterans & civil rights organization)

Pledge of Allegiance: Koby Langley, From Fort Mead, Maryland, he received the Bronze Star for leadership in the US Army, Credited with design & implementation of 1st Foreign Torts Claims Policy Act - Iraq

National Anthem: Rocky Mountain Children's Choir

Remarks/Video
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, Non-voting Member of the US House of Representatives, District of Columbia
Ted Sorenson, Special Counsel, advisor and speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy, Researched and drafted Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage"
The Honorable Mike Honda, Member of the US House of Representatives, California
Dr. David Gipp, Member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, President United Tribes Technical College
The Honorable Linda Sanchez, Member of the US House of Representatives, California
The Honorable Chet Culver, Governor of Iowa
The Honorable David Patterson, Governor of New York
The Honorable Patrick Leahy, US Senator, Vermont

Hour # 2 4:08 PM - 5:00 PM (LOCAL)

Remarks
The Honorable Chris Van Hollen, Member of the US House of Representatives, Maryland
Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Congressional Black Caucus
The Honorable Carolyn Kilpatrick, Member of the US House of Representatives, Michigan
The Honorable Charles Rangel, Member of the US House of Representatives, New York
The Honorable John Conyers, Member of the US House of Representatives, Michigan
The Honorable Bennie Thompson, Member of the US House of Representatives, Mississippi

Moment of Silence

Video - "In Memoriam"

Remarks
The Honorable Dennis Kucinich, Member of the US House of Representatives, Ohio
The Honorable John Chiang, State Comptroller, California
The Honorable Jim Doyle, Governor of Wisconsin
The Honorable Ted Strickland, Governor of Ohio
The Honorable Joe Manchin, Governor of West Virginia

Hour # 3 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM (LOCAL)

US Senate Women
The Honorable Barbara Mikulski, US Senator, Maryland
The Honorable Barbara Boxer, US Senator, California
The Honorable Mary Landrieu, US Senator, Louisiana
The Honorable Blanche Lambert Lincoln, US Senator, Arizona
The Honorable Debbie Stabenow, US Senator, Michigan
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, US Senator, Washington State
The Honorable Claire McCaskill, US Senator, Missouri
The Honorable Amy Klobuchar, US Senator, Minnesota

Remarks
The Honorable Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania
The Honorable Tammy Baldwin, Member of the US House of Representatives, Wisconsin
The Honorable Xavier Becerra, Member of the US House of Representatives, California
John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO
Robin Golden, Autoworker from Michigan scheduled to lose his job

Video - "First Time Delegates: Renewing America's Promise"

Remarks
The Honorable Rahm Emanuel, Member of the US House of Representatives, Illinois

Live Performance: Alejandro Escovedo

Hour # 4 6:01 PM - 7:00 PM (LOCAL)

Remarks
The Honorable Steny Hoyer, Member of the US House of Representatives, Maryland, Democratic Majority Leader
Katherine Marcano, Cedar Rapids, Iowa flood victim
Anna Burger, Officer with SEIU & 1st Chair of America's newest labor federation, "Change to Win"
Pauline Beck, Homecare worker & member of SEIU from Oakland, California
The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona

America's Town Hall - Economy

Remarks
Jim Whitaker, Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska
Pamela Cash-Roper, Unemployed nurse and lifelong Republican from North Carolina
The Honorable Nydia Velazquez, Member of the US House of Representatives, New York

Hour # 5 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (LOCAL)

Remarks
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas
The Honorable Frederico Pena, Former Secretary of Energy and former Mayor of Denver, Colorado
Nancy Floyd, Founder of Nth Power - an energy technology investment firm in Portland, Oregon
The Honorable Robert Casey, Jr., US Senator, Pennsylvania
Lily Ledbetter, Her actions against Goodyear Tire led to the passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act

Keynote Speech: The Honorable Mark Warner, Governor of Virginia

Remarks
Ret. Rear Admiral John Hutson, President, Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire, Lifelong Republican
The Honorable Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts

Hour # 6 8:02 PM - 9:04 PM (LOCAL)

Remarks
Gloria Craven, Laid-off North Carolina textile worker with huge medical bills
The Honorable Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana

Hillary Clinton Segment - Video/Remarks
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Senator, New York

Benediction: Revs. Jin Ho Kang, Yoougsook Kang, Methodists - Aurora, Colorado

Recess: The Honorable Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

Hillary na Convenção

O nome da senadora de Nova Iorque Hillary Clinton vai constar nos boletins de voto da Convenção Democrata, apesar da candidata ter perdido a batalha da nomeação para Barack Obama. Num comunicado, o senador do Illinois disse que a medida procura reconhecer o carácter histórico da campanha de Hillary -- que vai reforçar a mensagem de unidade apelando aos seus delegados para repetir o seu voto de superdelegada em Obama.

Silly season

O Congresso está parado para férias, Washington está deserta, os americanos andam fascinados com os Jogos Olímpicos, Barack Obama foi a banhos para o Havai e John McCain anda a percorrer a Pensilvânia, arrastando um punhado de jornalistas dispostos a assegurar (nada mais do que ) os serviços mínimos da cobertura eleitoral. A imprensa especula sobre que consequências teria tido para as primárias democratas a indiscrição sexual do antigo candidato John Edwards se tivesse sido reportada mais cedo, e recupera a má-vontade da campanha de Hillary Clinton contra o seu anterior adversário Barack Obama. A realidade é que a campanha abrandou com o calor -- nem a novela dos vice-presidenciáveis entusiasma o suficiente para se deixar a sombra.

T-shirt

Aparentemente, a campanha de Hillary Clinton está em dificuldades para pagar a dívida de mais de 20 milhões de dólares que sobrou da sua candidatura presidencial. As organizações "ad-hoc" que se constituíram para prolongar o seu apoio à senadora de Nova Iorque dão mostras de intranquilidade com a aproximação da data limite para o pagamento da dívida proposta pelo Comité Nacional Democrata.Ontem, Hillary juntou-se a Barack Obama em Nova Iorque, numa acção de recolha de fundos do candidato democrata -- que depois de discursar, teve de regressar ao palco por se ter esquecido de pedir aos doadores um pouquinho mais de boa-vontade, sob a forma de cheques à campanha da sua antiga adversária.
Mas os financiadores de Obama parecem pouco dados a generosidades, e até agora reuniram pouco mais de 100 mil dólares. Pelos vistos, nesta conjuntura de crise em que o dinheiro não circula com tanto à-vontade, os apoiantes querem certificar-se que os seus donativos serão utilizados no combate eleitoral de Novembro contra o republicano John McCain, em vez de "ajudar" uma milionária que acumulou uma dívida substancial na manutenção da sua candidatura mesmo depois de ser claro que não tinha qualquer hipótese matemática de alcançar a nomeação. E, particularmente, não suportam a ideia de pagar a conta a Mark Penn, o consultor de Hillary Clinton que associam aos piores momentos da campanha, e que continua a embaraçar a vida política da senadora (como nota Ezra Klein).

Hoje, a campanha Clinton lançou uma nova iniciativa para angariar fundos: a venda das t-shirts recebidas no âmbito de um concurso de criatividade promovido no passado mês de Maio por Chelsea Clinton. A adesão foi impressionante: a campanha viu-se a braços com mais de cinco mil t-shirts e contou com mais de 125 mil votos para escolher a melhor. Agora, cada contribuição de 50 dólares dará direito a guardar um exemplar da t-shirt vencedora. Resta saber quanto custarão, mais tarde, no eBay.

A dívida *

Hoje pela manhã, na caixa do correio:

"Dear Xxxx,

I made a promise to you, and I intend to keep it.

I told you that if you stood up for me, I would always stand up for you. You did more for me than I could have ever imagined, and I'm going to keep my end of the bargain and keep fighting for what we believe in -- in the Senate and on the campaign trail, helping to elect a new Democratic president and a bigger Democratic majority in Congress.

That relationship will endure thanks to the remarkable journey you and I have shared. But there's something else -- less endearing and I hope less enduring -- that our campaign has left behind: our substantial campaign debt.

I'm so grateful for all you've done for me -- all the ways you have given your time, energy, and financial resources. But today I am asking once again for your help ridding our campaign of debt so we can keep fighting together.

Contribute today to help us reduce our campaign debt.

As you know, I had to loan money to my campaign at critical moments. I'm not asking for anyone's help to pay that back. That was my investment and my commitment because I believe so deeply in our cause.

But I do need your help paying the debts we accrued to others over the course of this campaign. We put everything we had into winning this race, and we came just about as close as you can.

I will never regret the energy, effort, and passion we put into one of the closest and most expensive primary contests in history. But I need your help to move on to the next phase of our journey together.

Your contribution today will help us pay down our campaign debt.

You've done so much for me over the past 17 months, and I can never thank you enough. But I hope you know how much I appreciate everything you put into our campaign.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

P.S. Everywhere I go, people tell me what a big difference our campaign has made in their lives. Let's keep working together throughout 2008 and beyond to advance the causes we believe in and to advocate alongside people whose voices need to be heard."


* A campanha de Hillary Clinton terminou com uma dívida de 22 milhões de dólares, que Barack Obama poderá ajudar a pagar.

She's back

Hillary Clinton está de volta:

- ao Senado;

- à campanha;

- ao New Hampshire;

- à vanguarda da política norte-americana.

Recordações

O Photo Album de Hillary é um agradecimento em forma de pedido -- a candidatura só termina quando estiverem resolvidas as dívidas.

Despedida

Hillary Clinton suspende formalmente a candidatura e apoia Barack Obama. Como o fez, aqui. Ou aqui.

Os 5 estádios

Teoria da conspiração: só agora que Hillary concedeu, é que a imprensa norte-americana começa a dar sinais de benevolência.

O fim

Hillary Clinton vai suspender a sua candidatura à nomeação democrata e apoiar Barack Obama, no sábado (era para ser na sexta, mas a data foi mudada para poder acomodar todos os apoiantes da senadora que queriam participar no evento). Chegam finalmente ao fim as eleições primárias.


disclaimer: a imagem foi roubada do The Daily Dish de Andrew Sullivan.

Fim de noite

- "Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America.", Barack Obama

- "This has been a long campaign. And I will be making no decisions tonight. In the coming days, I will be consulting with party leaders to determine how to move forward.", Hillary Clinton

- "Pundits and party elders have declared that Senator Obama will be my opponent. He will be a formidable one. But I'm ready for the challenge, and determined to run this race in a way that does credit to our campaign and to the proud, decent and patriotic people I ask to lead.", John McCain

Hillary Clinton

"Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.

We've certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning - even in the face of tough odds - is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as First Lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency - an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.", Barack Obama

Bola de cristal

Será que logo à noite Hillary Clinton vai dizer que Barack Obama ganhou as primárias democratas?

* Democratic Race in the Home Stretch, NPR

* Clinton Denies Plan to Concede Tonight, Washington Post

* Obama prepares to Declare Victory, ABC News

Porto Rico

Hillary Clinton venceu as primárias de Porto Rico. A sua campanha previa a participação de dois milhões de eleitores -- afinal, não terão chegado a ser 500 mil. A candidata discursa como se ainda houvesse alguma coisa a decidir na corrida democrata: "Na terça-feira, eu terei o maior número de votos e Barack Obama o maior número de delegados. E os superdelegados vão ter de escolher o melhor candidato: o que melhor representa a vontade do eleitorado, o que é mais capaz de vencer em Novembro, o que está mais preparado para liderar o país".

Pode ser que as mulheres sejam de Vénus, mas Hillary Clinton definitivamente está em Marte.