ON DEADLINE: Race is now Obama's to lose
149369
The Democratic nomination is now Barack Obama's to lose.
599609
Democrat Barack Obama eclipses Hillary Clinton in the battle to raise funds for the US presidential elections.
152850
The war of coded words about race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has the potential to cause the internal crack-up the party always fears
527340
Two distinct road maps are taking shape as Clinton, Obama are both looking well past the next few days in plotting their paths to the nomination.
576619
Sen. Barack Obama won the Wisconsin Democratic primary decisively last night, extending his winning streak to nine consecutive contests and dealing another significant blow to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose imperiled presidential candidacy now hangs on the outcome of showdowns in Ohio and Texas...
524579
Analysis: Any dreams of a Clinton-Obama ticket were probably ended after their testiest encounter yet. Mark Halperin gives Obama the edge
562626
It was an interesting election until the Clintons started calling Obama the nice young African-American candidate. Yeah, I lived in the south long enough to understand what that means. When I went to Tulane I was often explained as soandso's Jewish friend Dave. It meant that I could come over for dinner, but there would never be a marriage. I should say The Old South. The problem for the Clintons is that the country has changed, as recently as the generation that's now in its early 20s. Because of my experience at Harvard, I know quite a few of them, and I promise you, race doesn't mean to them what it meant when I was their age. To them, this country is a melting pot where we've not only accepted blacks and Hispanics, but people from incredibly far away with incredible complexions, hair, clothes, traditions and names. Amazingly, it's still America.  Once again we are the melting pot. And this time around a young African-American with a funny name is very mainstream, so much so that the blatant appeal racism of the white-haired old man is as ridiculous as the praise Trent Lott gave to the almost-dead holdover from the Old South, Strom Thurmond.  Problem for Clinton is actually much worse, we now saw how she'd govern. Let's say a young African-American Senator from Illiinois got in the way. Would she argue the issues with him in a respectful way? Why bother when you can smear him into silence. Now she spins around like her husband oblivious to what the rest of us suspected, and now knows for sure. If there isn't now a landslide of support for Obama, from all segments of the Democratic Party and from many Republicans, then our country truly is without hope. I suspect that's not what will happen, and we'll see the same kind of weak attempt at redemption that Trent Lott tried after his fiasco. It won't work, because, as with Lott, we've seen too much. Now do we know that Obama would be any different? We don't. My cynical side says of course he's just like the Clintons say. "Give me a break" -- it's a "fairy tale." (BTW, I'm quoting Bill Clinton accurately, a form of respect they don't practice.) Maybe they're right. Maybe this is the last gasp of hope in America for America. Okay, maybe so. But I'm willing to give it one more try. I think it would say to the rest of the world that America has caught up with reality. Look at how we've changed. Maybe they'll put pictures of Obama in their public buildings as they did with JFK. I could think of worse things. (Carolyn Kennedy thinks it's possible.) What a fantastic way to recover from Bush, who so completely represented the greed and arrogance and uglyness of America, to reinvent ourselves in the image of our best, in the image of hope.  Hope, that's the difference, and it's not just a word. We've all been disempowered during the Clinton and Bush years, sidelined. I remember when I gave up on Clinton, it was during the brightest period of hope for the web, when they passed a compromise that said that the First Amendment didn't apply here.  There are some things that are so important that you can't compromise on them. It was then that I knew that Clinton (and Gore) were phonies. Maybe Obama isn't. I never thought I'd get another chance to use my vote to say, along with so many other Americans, that we still believe the bullshit they taught us in school and that our grandparents taught us, and that the flag says to us every time we think of what it means. There's a reason this country is so great. We forgot it. Let's remember. Bill Clinton wanted us to think well of him when he spoke at Davos in 2000. I choose to remember what he said then, Find A Shared Vision. If by any chance he should read this, I'd say it's time for you to not just say those words but to live them.
414194
Sen. Barack Obama won the Maine contest  to choose a Democratic presidential candidate on Sunday,  handing rival Hillary Clinton another defeat in their closely  fought race to represent the party in the November election,  U.S. media projected.
111987
The battle for the White House narrowed dramatically on Wednesday as the exit of Rudolph Giuliani and John Edwards left Republican and Democratic front-runners in a pair of two-horse races.
541866
Barack Obama had hoped to be above racial tensions, but his campaign has been pulled into them from early on.
536333
An Associated Press-Ipsos poll shows Democrat Barack Obama would narrowly defeat John McCain if the presidential election were being held now. If Hillary Rodham Clinton were the Democratic nominee, she and the Republican front-runner would be about even.
544597
With three days to go until the New Hampshire primary, it's dead even in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
359300
Barack Obama is projected to win the Maine contest to choose a Democratic presidential candidate.
276510
Barack Obama is set to beat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in Georgia, US media report.
242559
THE ISSUE: While the race for the presidency is now a virtual dead-heat between President Bush and Democrat John Kerry, on Election Day it could turn into a landslide.
304446
Democratic State Sen. Barack Obama trounced Republican candidate Alan Keyes in the contest to become the United States&#39; only black senator.
452144
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are locked in a drawn-out war of attrition for the Democratic presidential nomination, sure to be fighting for delegates beyond next Tuesday no matter who comes out ahead on the primary season's biggest day.