Sorry, you forgot the thousands of women, black and white, who are raped, beaten, and murdered by men they know and men they don't know. They may not get shot in the street, but they do get raped and murdered. Comparing black men and white women is not the issue. It is the treatment of black and white women by black and white men. Moreover, the proper comparison of violence in the street is the innocents male and female killed by feuding gangs not the gang members killing each other off. And, the truth is no white male wants to be born black or female, but people who make racist remarks in polite society get their heads handed to them. Men who make sexist remarks get knowing chuckles from their audience.

Just because Obama can get Republicans and upper class independents to vote for him in Democratic caucuses and primaries doesn't mean they will vote for him in a general election. And it doesn't mean they won't vote for Clinton in the general election. And since she is more progressive and more tuned in to blue-collar worker' needs than Obama she might well pull in more of them to a general election. It is foolish to try and pick a winner. Democrats don't know and to some degree the decision about electability may be affected by who the Republicans nominate. Democrats should just pick the person who will do the best job, and, from my point of view, who is the most progressive.

Obama's claim that Republicans were the party of ideas over the last 20 years (ideas such as getting rid of social security and medicare, banning the right to an abortion or the right to get married if you're a gay couple, destroying unions, sabotaging efforts to have health care for all, eliminating good wages, and St. Reagan's idea to count ketsup as a vegetable when providing meals for poor children) does not encourage me. Those are ideas all right--bad ideas, corrupt ideas, greedy ideas, mean and selfish ideas, but ideas. If he believes what he said he is a closet Republican. If he doesn't believe what he said then he is just another politican, and so loses his claim to be better, different. In either case, vote for the womam with the GOOD ideas who has worked for them for 35 years.

Linda

But don't forget that Bobby Kennedy, Jr., the only one of the children actually doing anything for the poor, endorsed Hillary months ago while Carolyn and Maria were sitting in their fancy houses writing fancy tomes or supporting Republicans. Bobby is an environmentalist who also helps the poor get home heating fuel.

Linda

Of course it counts. Nearly 2 million voters, the majority for Hillary got up, out, and to the polls to register their opinions even if they might not formally count. They cared a lot about registering those votes, so course they count even if they might not be counted.

Linda

This is what Obama wants because the only bipartisanship the Republicans understand is more capitulation to the party of ideas.

Unfortunately, we are getting some unhappy evidence about Obama. See the Feb 3 (4?) article in The NYTimes. He caved on a bill governing nuclear regulation and the people who wanted him to cave are among his largest contributers, Exelon and 2 top executives.

A close look at the path his legislation took tells a very different story. While he initially fought to advance his bill, Mr. Obama eventually rewrote it to reflect changes sought by Senate Republicans, Exelon and nuclear regulators. The new bill removed language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators, whom it charged with addressing the issue of unreported leaks.

But, contrary to Mr. Obama’s comments in Iowa, it ultimately died.

“Senator Obama’s staff was sending us copies of the bill to review, and we could see it weakening with each successive draft,” said Joe Cosgrove, a park district director in Will County, Ill., where low-level radioactive runoff had turned up in groundwater. “The teeth were just taken out of it.”

The history of the bill shows Mr. Obama navigating a home-state controversy that pitted two important constituencies against each other. On one side were neighbors of several nuclear plants upset that low-level radioactive leaks had gone unreported for years; on the other was Exelon, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama’s largest sources of campaign money.

Since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon, which is based in Illinois, have contributed at least $227,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns for the United States Senate and for president. Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fund-raisers.

Another Obama donor, John W. Rowe, chairman of Exelon, is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear power industry’s lobbying group, based in Washington. Exelon’s support for Mr. Obama far exceeds its support for any other presidential candidate.