Momentum in the News from Sometimesdaily on Vimeo.

Amanda Congdon actually brings some honest reaction to the race including “I don’t like anyone.”

Earlier I remarked that Michigan was moving close to achieving a plan to seat delegates at the convention giving Clinton 69 delegates and Obama 59. It is a rather fair plan considering Obama’s name wasn’t on the ballot and Michigan broke party rules. It wasn’t enough for the Clinton camp though who rejected the plan saying “This proposal does not honor the 600,000 votes that were cast in Michigan’s January primary. Those votes must be counted.”

In my opinion, this is a VERY stupid move. Now I personally have been rejecting the notion that the Clinton’s are out to somehow destroy the party or are operating in a delusional state about their chances. This is a sign I JUST MIGHT be wrong.

The most gracious move Clinton can make now is to be civil, put the fight aside and work as hard as possible to unify the party. This is a sign that the campaign might not be intent on doing that. Why wouldn’t Clinton simply take any delegates she can get, make herself a power broker and work to regain her image with Democrats? To this I have no answer that doesn’t fit into some warped liberal blogger’s rant.

A wonderful look from Newsweek that contains this bombshell of incompetance:

2. She didn’t master the rules
Clinton picked people for her team primarily for their loyalty to her, instead of their mastery of the game. That became abundantly clear in a strategy session last year, according to two people who were there. As aides looked over the campaign calendar, chief strategist Mark Penn confidently predicted that an early win in California would put her over the top because she would pick up all the state’s 370 delegates. It sounded smart, but as every high school civics student now knows, Penn was wrong: Democrats, unlike the Republicans, apportion their delegates according to vote totals, rather than allowing any state to award them winner-take-all. Sitting nearby, veteran Democratic insider Harold M. Ickes, who had helped write those rules, was horrified — and let Penn know it. “How can it possibly be,” Ickes asked, “that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn’t understand proportional allocation?” And yet the strategy remained the same, with the campaign making its bet on big-state victories. Even now, it can seem as if they don’t get it. Both Bill and Hillary have noted plaintively that if Democrats had the same winner-take-all rules as Republicans, she’d be the nominee.

I think it has been pretty obvious for awhile now that Mark Penn was the most overpaid and oversold commodity in this race, but wow that is stunning!

From The Hill a report of Senator Obama’s walk into the House of Representatives today to meet with superdelegates and Clinton supporters:

Obama, increasingly looking like the Democratic presidential nominee, strode into the House chamber just before 11 a.m. as the House was beginning a series of votes. Obama, who was greeted with hugs and backslaps, slipped in the side door along with what appeared to be only his security detail.
“I wanted to see what’s going on over here,” Obama, wearing a broad smile, told reporters. “I hear there’s a lot of action on this side.”

He spoke to uncommitted superdelegates as well as supporters of his rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) He was also seen speaking to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who is neutral in the race. And he talked at length to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), an uncommitted superdelegate.

The Democratic frontrunner spoke with Clinton supporters Reps. John Murtha (Pa.) and Bill Pascrell (N.J.), as well as Reps. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and John Spratt (S.C.), who are both uncommitted.

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), a Clinton supporter, got Obama to sign a copy of today’s New York Daily News with the headline: “It’s His Party.”

He also talked with Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), a Clinton supporter whose district voted for Obama. But those votes have not been counted in the Democratic primary because Florida defied the party rules in scheduling its primary.

As I noted, Clinton is out one way or another. So what does that mean for Democrats? The time for reconcilliation begins and what better place to start than Florida and Michigan?

After months of wrangling it appears the two states, two candidates and the DNC are all reaching a compromise. The current suggestion is that Florida leaders are talking to both candidates about seating all or some of the states delegates. Meanwhile reports are that Michigan could seat Hillary Rodham Clinton with 69 delegates and Barack Obama with 59, essentially splitting a state where Obama did not appear on the ballot and Clinton won overwhelmingly. If the plan is accepted it will then go to the Rules and Bylaws Committee which will meet on May 31st.

New York Observer says Clinton is assembling an event at her D.C. home with backers. What does it mean? Let the speculation begin!

Yesterday Lawrence O’Donnell reported a campaign source told him the race would be over by June 15th. Today Clinton’s campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told NBC’s today show that she would be out by early June.

“It’ll be over early June,” McAuliffe said. “We’ve all said we’ll be together at the end. If Hillary doesn’t win, Hillary, (former) President (Bill) Clinton, myself, we’ll be over there helping Senator Obama. And, likewise, Senator Obama will come together to help Hillary if she’s the nominee.”

Though McAuliffe insisted Clinton was still fighting to win the remaining states, her loss of the Democratic nomination, barring some unforseen incident, is all but guaranteed. Former Clinton confidant and ABC news Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos suggested Hillary was staying in the race to guarantee a VP spot on the ticket, which he said assuredly she would accept if offered.

Let me be blunt. I have thought for quite a long time now that the primary system of both parties, but especially Democrats, is about the worst system ever devised by humankind for anything. I have always taken heat for suggesting those who are not affiliated with a political party should not be voting in a party nominating process AND I took heat when I suggested in Iowa that a system that allowed so many non-Iowans to Caucus was highly suspect. Mostly I took this heat from Obama supporters who were more than happy to have the support of both groups when it helped their candidate.

So I am writing this post with a little twinge of glee as I read over Sen. John Kerry’s dismay that Rush Limbaugh potentially influenced the state of Indiana against his candidate, Sen. Obama.

The reality is, any number of things could have influenced this race. Was the number of Republicans who came to the polls enough to have influenced the race for Clinton? You bet! If Clinton had run away with a massive margin of victory we wouldn’t have to question it. Because she did not we can guess that Limbaugh influenced the race. Should Democrats be outraged? Not at all.

As with everything that has happened in this rather weird process I have to once again remind Democrats that these are the party and state rules. Both candidates entered into the race knowing what they were, both candidates and their surrogates and supporters need to suck it up and deal with the outcome.

The same goes for Sen. Clinton, who suggested that if the party rules had been the same as the Republicans she would have won. Whose fault is that but her own? The campaign chose to ignore caucuses and not pay attention to the fact that even with big wins they would still split many delegates. She can work to change the rules for the next race but for now, once again, deal with it.

Jeff Greenfield wraps up the post North Carolina/Indiana coverage and state of the race.

I just received this in my inbox.

Dear Jeffery,

Today, in every way that I know how, I am expressing my personal determination to keep forging forward in this campaign.

After our come-from-behind victory in Indiana, there are just 28 days of voting left. But we’ve never campaigned with the stakes as high or the time as short as they will be over the next four weeks.

And with you by my side, I’m going to keep fighting for what I believe in until every voter has had his or her say.

From the very beginning, you and I have counted on one another, working through every challenge and seizing every opportunity. That’s not just the way our campaign works. That’s the way America works.

As we enter the final four weeks of this contest, let’s keep working our hearts out.

Contribute now to keep moving our campaign forward.

In six days, we have the chance to show our strength in West Virginia. If you’ll stand with me, it’s an opportunity I intend to make the most of.

There’s no question about it — we’ve got to make every one of these next 28 days count — starting with today.

Contribute now, and let’s keep winning together.

As we’ve told each other time and time again. There will be good days and not so good days in the course of this campaign. But there will never be a day that we can’t count on one another.

As we enter the final 28 days of voting, I know you’ll give it everything you’ve got. And you know I will do the same.

Thanks for being such a wonderful friend and ally,
Hillary
Hillary Rodham Clinton