Sen. Barack Obama, without a doubt, has the most brilliant political strategist that our nation has ever witnessed. That strategist is David Axelrod.

Let’s take a look at what has transpired over the last 24 hours and I think you will agree with my assessment.

First, Sen. Clinton wins impressively in West Virginia last night. It was a great victory and certainly pumped a little life into a virtually dead campaign. Knowing that Obama would lose by a rather large margin last night, David Axelrod today did what any other smart political strategist would do, he trumped her win with a major and much more prominent announcement.

Knowing that today’s news cycle would be buzzing with the Clinton WV win, Axelrod coordinated the John Edwards endorsement announcement more perfectly than anyone could have ever imagined.

Here is how he did it……

Sen. Clinton did a round of interviews today with all of the major networks, boasting about her WV win last night and vowing that the race would go on. She finished up those interviews in the late afternoon, just prior to most of the major networks moving over to prime time news coverage.

What did Axelrod do? Scheduled the John Edwards endorsement just before the cable news stations went into prime news coverage, so MSNBC and CNN both covered the event live (Fox News did not air the event). This move took all of the talk off of the Clinton interviews and WV win, and put Obama and Edwards right into the prime air time. It also had every pundit on every network all over the story and talking about it for the rest of the evening, virtually moving Clinton and her win to page 23 of the news.

On top of that, Clinton scheduled a big meeting at her Washington home tonight with major supporters and financial backers to her campaign. My guess is that they were not watching cable news, and if they were, it was likely not very pleasing to have to watch the Obama/Edwards event unfold right in front of them.

Here are a few other points as to why this is brilliant timing…..

Obviously, they could have rolled Edwards out before the North Carolina primary, but they didn’t need to. There was no need to play that card with the lead that Obama had in NC. Even though that is Edward’s home state, they saved their trump card.

They could have rolled Edwards out right before West Virginia to try and close the gap. Again, they didn’t need to. Clearly there was no sense in using Edwards at that time because the gap was unlikely to change with the announcement anyway, and they would not have been able to trump the Clinton WV win.

Also something to think about…….

With the announcement coming today I believe it actually served three purposes.

1. It trumped the Clinton WV win and made Obama the prime focus of the news cycle today.
2. It gives them 6 days to now further their lead in Oregon and possibly greatly reduce their deficit in Kentucky. Edwards may actually help close the gap in Kentucky by picking up some of those white, working-class voters.
3. It now puts more pressure on superdelegates to hurry the process along and end this thing. Obama has had a steady flow of supers come in for him ever since the NC/IN primaries. Now that Edwards has endorsed, you are likely to see even more, even quicker announce support for Obama.

David Axelrod has managed to run the Obama campaign to near perfection. From building their internet base, to their 50-state voter drive, to the amazing grass-roots coalition they have built, the Obama campaign has truly, I believe, changed the face of political campaigns as we know them.

Clearly, Axelrod would say that it is not just him that deserves the compliments and I agree. Being involved in the Obama campaign myself, I have seen the insides of it and know that it is a mass amount of supporters that makes this thing happen.

However, when all is said and done, it is David Axelrod that will be remembered as the prime factor behind a campaign that has broken all facets of political records, and was truly ran with a strategy that focused on winning and taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself, all in what would like a precisely calculated timeline.

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If you were watching cable news around the 6:30-7:30pm EST. time frame, you will no doubt have seen the live coverage of the John Edwards endorsement speech during an Obama event tonight.

Well, not if you were watching Fixed News.

MSNBC covered it live, CNN covered it live, so why did Fixed News choose not to cover it?

I’ll tell you why….it shows their clear bias against Barack Obama and they were most likely worried that showing the event might cause people to look at the Obama campaign and realize that it is everything Fixed News is against.

For weeks, Fixed News have been attacking Barack Obama with a mirage of baseless rhetoric, most notably during the Hannity & Colmes program.

Once again Fixed News has proven their clear unfair bias towards Democratic candidates. And all the while, they still the use the “Fair and Balanced” slogan. What a joke.

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In case you have not heard, tomorrow (May 15th) is the official Bloggers Unite for Human Rights day.

What is it?

Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support of 3rd world countries.

So, be sure to check back in tomorrow as we post our piece for the Unite campaign. In the meantime, go check it out and sign up if you have a blog.

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According to Marc Ambinder, the Obama campaign will make a huge endorsement announcement tonight at 7pm.

John Edwards perhaps???

***Update - 5:30pm EST. ***

John Edwards will officially endorse Barack Obama tonight in Grand Rapids, MI. at an event that is set to start at 6:15pm.

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Taegan Goddard has a great piece today over at Political Insider, making the case as to why John Edwards would make great VP for Obama.

1. He’s already been tested on the national stage and not likely to cause a distracting scandal.
2. He appeals to the same working class white voters that back Clinton.
3. He favors Obama’s new brand of politics.
4. He could put North Carolina and possibly other Southern states in play.
5. Clinton would probably support him. With more than 1,700 delegates in Clinton’s pocket, Obama needs to at least get her tacit approval if he wants to have a unified party.

I must say that these 5 reasons are interesting and make really good sense. Number 2 strikes me as most important, since Obama seems to have trouble picking up the working class white voter. This is a demographic that John Edwards excelled in quite well during his campaign run.

I have always been a fan of John Edwards and I believe that he and Obama share many of the same ideals and goals for America. It seems as though an Obama/Edwards ticket would be a great platform for November, and would (I hope) squash the idea of an Obama/Clinton ticket, which I think is simply ridiculous.

So, could we start to see John Edwards emerge as the likely VP for Obama? I like the idea, what do you think about it?

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Once again, Fixed News is up to their usual false slandering of Barack Obama. News Hounds points out that last night, Fixed News once again tried to paint Obama as a supporter of Hamas.

Hannity & Colmes spent half its show last night (5/12/08) attacking Obama for various reasons. In the third segment, Karl Rove, still unidentified as a John McCain advisor, was the only guest to analyze the purported significance of the resignation of an Obama aide who, it had been disclosed, had met with Hamas. There was no spokesman for Obama, leaving Rove free to smear away at Obama.

And then of course, with all disregard to facts, Republican mouthpiece Sean Hannity had to get his punch in while the getting was good.

Then it was Hannity’s turn. With his usual contempt for truth and facts, he immediately distorted Obama’s position. “And maybe (Obama will) invade an ally like Pakistan and potentially create a theocracy with nuclear weapons. That’s even more frightening.”

What? Where do you get this stuff Sean Hannity? It sounds like you have once again been talking to your racist neo-nazi friend, Hal Turner.

For weeks now, Fixed News has been trying every single trick in the book they can find in order to attack Barack Obama, with little reward. When will these Republican race-baiters finally realize that their idiotic tactics DO NOT WORK?

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Just in case you have not heard about it, there is a much more important race going on tonight in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District.

The Democratic party, who has already taken 2 other special election seats this year, are in a very close running for a third tonight. Travis Childers is facing off against Republican Greg Davis in a race that has gained national attention and has really concerned the GOP amidst the other two losses this year.

Check back later tonight as we get the results in on this important special election.

***Update - 10:15pm EST. ***

Travis Childers (D) has won the Mississippi 1st Congressional District special election race according to MSNBC.

This is now the third seat that the Democrats have now taken over this year. I believe that this is a clear indication of what we may see throughout the rest of this election cycle.

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As the polls get ready to close in just under 45 minutes as I write this, what can we expect tonight? I get the feeling that the overwhelming majority of cable news outlets will have a general theme….

It doesn’t matter.

Does a Clinton blowout in West Virginia matter? She is expected to win by as much as 20-30 points, but I don’t really see it as being all that game-changing, although Clinton is already providing evidence to the contrary. She is touting WV as a “crucial turning point”, which I don’t see.

Obama, who didn’t campaign much in WV knowing that it was expected heavily for Clinton, is in Missouri tonight, expectedly with an eye on the general election campaign. I think his campaign has now officially switched over to general campaign mode, which in all fairness, I think is the right thing to do. Even though Clinton is still fighting in this race, the chances of her making that kind of comeback is slim to none for sure.

So, I will be keeping an eye on things tonight and see if we pick up any news out of the WV primary. The media pundits love to mull over the exit poll results, which I am sure they will do again heavily tonight. It should be interesting to hear Sen. Clinton give her speech tonight, should she win by the margins that she is expected to.

I’ll be back in just a little while to provide some further opinion on the WV primary.

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Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr officially announced his campaign for President of the United States today. Barr is a former Representative from the 7th district of Georgia who is running as a candidate for the Libertarian party.

Speaking today at a press conference in Washington Barr said:

“I’ve heard from Americans from all walks of life… they want a choice. They believe that America has more and better to offer than what the current political situation is serving up to us.

The status quo has given us the litany of problems that we’re all very familiar with. The debt, the deficit, the problems we see in the economy, the trade imbalance, and the occupation of Iraq. These are all children of the status quo.

I will be a candidate precisely to give the American people a voice and give them a meaningful choice so that they do not have to vote for the lesser of two evils.

American voters deserve better.“

While his campaign, much like Ralph Nader’s, may not make much of a splash in the political water, this could produce some problems for John McCain. McCain is clearly left of his party and the majority of the hardcore GOP base, so Barr would likely appeal to those voters who really are not interested in supporting McCain.

There is a piece in The Washington Times today that talks about the GOP being worried with a Barr candidacy.

But Republicans, both publicly and behind the scenes, are saying that a Barr run could hurt him financially and sink Mr. McCain’s Republican candidacy in the general election, likely against Sen. Barack Obama.

This goes back to my original point, which is that Barr can take away money and support from McCain, because Barr in all reality parallels more of the GOP base that currently don’t like the idea of supporting McCain.

GOP presidential campaign pollster John McLaughlin told The Washington Times in March that if Mr. Barr runs, the Democrats will benefit because he “takes more points from us than Nader takes from them.”

On another note, I am also interested to see if Bob Barr can somehow wrestle some of the support away from Ron Paul.

Either way, Bob Barr is likely to gain enough support and money to keep him in the race and possibly siphon that 3-4% away from McCain, which is exactly what the GOP is fearing right about now.

I may just have to send Bob Barr a few dollars.

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There is a strange thing happening on the WV campaign trail these days, it is quite absent of the “gas tax holiday” that Sen. Clinton was driving down everyone’s throat last week.

Why is that?

West Virginia is full of hard-working, white, middle-class Americans that are currently paying $3.83 a gallon, which is the WV average. So why is WV any different than Indiana and North Carolina was just a week ago? I can only think of two reasons why there is no talk of the gas tax holiday by Sen. Clinton….

1) She was finally schooled on how bad the idea was to begin with.

or

2) She was pandering to try and attract votes.

I lean more towards number 2, although number 1 is pretty accurate in the fact that it was truly a bad idea. Once again Sen. Clinton has shown us that she will do and say whatever it takes, in front of who ever she is speaking to, in order to attract support.

Sen. Clinton, we in the political world call that pandering.

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Ya know, just when you thought that the GOP could not get anymore gullible, here they go again. They have a new slogan out now…

CHANGE YOU DESERVE.

According to the Huffington Post, the GOP are now using the new slogan that is already a registered advertising slogan for the drug Effexor XR.

It is no surprise that in an election for change, the GOP would try to get on board and try to snag a few votes from some of their sheep followers. You would think that the GOP would at least be smart enough to have someone on staff to research these slogans before they use them.

I find it odd that the GOP would even attempt to use the word change in anything remotely related to them or their campaign. John McCain is certainly not a change from the last 8 years, especially on the war and the economy.

Based on the current flow of this election cycle, the only thing that I see changing is the balance of power. It is going to be a long hard road for the Republicans in this election, and I could not be happier, because it has been a long time coming.

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MSNBC has scooped up Mike Huckabee as part of the West Virginia primary coverage tomorrow night from 6pm to 11pm. He will be on in place of Joe Scarborough who is on vacation this week.

Should be interesting to hear Huckabee go up against Matthews, Olbermann, and Maddow, although he will fit right in with Pat Buchanan.

As much as I hate to say it, I kinda like ol’ Mike. No way in hell I would ever vote for him, but he seems like a nice guy.

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Interesting story from the LA Times involving Ron Paul and his supporters.

Apparently, Ron Paul’s supporters are planning a convention revolt against John McCain during the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota in September.

They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who’s running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party.

I have to give it to Ron Paul, while he and I differ on some issues, he sure does have a hardcore base of supporters. The media virtually eliminated him from the race before it even got started good, which is a shame, as I think he has some strong ideas for turning America around.

As to whether anything will come of this planned convention revolt, who knows, but I will tell you one thing for sure……

When his supporters chased after Sean Hannity not too long ago and had him running to his car, that was the funniest thing that I have seen in a while! So, don’t be surprised if his supporters show up at the convention and make some headlines.

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Moveon.org has chosen the winning ad for the upcoming Obama ad campaign they will be running during the general election.

This video was chosen from the 1100 different entries that received over 5.5 million votes.

You can check out the other video submissions at Obamain30Seconds.org.

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A close adviser within the Clinton campaign has stated that the campaign is currently holding a $20 million debt, according to the Washington Post.

It also appears as though Clinton will not be exiting the race anytime soon, despite the current debt.

Her campaign is also stating that she does not have any interest in pursuing the VP spot on an Obama ticket.

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