As the primaries continue, Obama maintains his lead in the popular votes, delegates, states won and is closing the gap in super delegates

Next week, Indiana and North Carolina will be holding their primaries and now after over 20 debates, Senator Barack Obama is being asked to participate in another one. So far, he has reportedly refused. The Democratic Party now seems to be stepping up the pressure to have the nominee clearly chosen though not yet nominated—”presumptive,” as the Republicans have.

Obama has clearly stated, “Political debate can distract us from the real issues, I’m not ducking, we’ve already had 21 debates.” Furthermore, he has also emphasized that he is not running to defeat Senators Hillary Clinton or McCain, he is running to lead the country, and that is why he is focused primarily on the people and the issues, not the candidates and the debates.

Obama realizes that the major problem facing the country is still Iraq, Iraq and Iraq. The nation’s economic woes, healthcare, education and the stimulus package are all (financial) tributaries flowing out of Iraq. Until the funding is halted and the money spent on the problems at home, the economy will continue to deteriorate.

There is a methodology to Obama’s campaigning and his fundraising. He is the ideal people’s candidate—going after the “grassroots” majority. His strategy in fundraising is getting a lot of people to each give a little—sometimes repeatedly. And it has been very successful and has earned him a tremendous financial advantage.

The latest attack from the Clinton “kitchen-sink” arsenal is that she claims to be ahead in the popular vote. It appears that her campaign is now counting the Michigan and Florida (there’s that 2000-election state again) votes, which as everyone knows, excluded Obama’s name from the ballot in the former, and in the latter, he did not campaign at all. All the Democratic candidates initially agreed that there would be no campaigning in Michigan and Florida because they disregarded the rules.

And on the Republican side, McCain has mentioned a 100-year stay in reference to the U.S. military presence in Iraq. However, his supporters have implied that the statement is taken out of context with what the Arizona senator was saying or meant to say. (The Obama camp has a lot of experience in clarifying out-of-context statements made by others relative to the Illinois senator). Nevertheless, McCain has used Germany and Japan as example of America’s “goodwill” military presence when speaking about the future presence in Iraq. However, it must be noted that there has been a continuous U. S. military presence both in Germany and Japan since the end of World War II in 1945; and in South Korea, since the end of the Korean War in 1953. That is 63 and 55 years respectively. So McCain’s 100-year assertion—directly or indirectly—may not be so far fetched, if he becomes president. That is one campaign promise he may want to keep by setting in motion the proposed100-year stay in motion.

According to one news report, by challenging Obama to a one-on-one debate, Clinton has thrown down the gauntlet. Well, campaign sources say, Obama will not pick it up.

Published in : News, Obama Watch