As we all know by now, Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, gave $4,600 to help retire Senator Clinton's outstanding debt. The New York Times's blog The Caucus just reported that:

This just in: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton each contributed $2,300 to Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. They made the donation today.

After Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton were finished speaking here, the contributions were announced to reporters by Jamie Smith, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton. The news comes one day after Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, announced that they had each contributed $2,300 to Mrs. Clinton to help retire her campaign debt.

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Senator Clinton was on a teleconference call with her major fundraisers today, urging them in clear terms to back Senator Obama.

"I am going to do everything I can to ensure victory for Senator Obama," Hillary told her fundraisers on the call. "I am asking each of you to do the same. I really believe we've got to see a Democrat sworn into the White House this January."

And Senator Clinton again stressed the importance of electing a Democrat to the White House this year to some of her recalcitrant donors:

Hillary added that "the stakes are too high" to do anything but "do all we can to elect Barack Obama President," in order to "turn the economy around" and "protect a woman's right to choose."

As we all know, when she says she's a fighter, she IS a fighter. When she says she'll support Barack Obama, she'll fight to get Barack Obama into the White House on January 20, 2008.

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I saw the campaign memo about meeting with the Women's Caucus on Capitol Hill today, and decided to post it over to here:

Obama will also hold a private meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and a separate private meeting with members of the Women's Caucus this morning in Washington, DC. The purpose of the meetings is to provide a briefing on the campaign moving forward and offer an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and provide input. We plan to hold regular meetings with the CBC and with the Women's Caucus in the months ahead.

And I've included a list of the Congressional Women's Caucus, and the Democratic Women's Caucus is who he'll be meeting with presumably in the months to come to get their input on various campaign issues. I haven't heard anything like this out of Senator John McCain yet.

Women in the House of Representatives
    110th Congress

   Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, Co-Chairs
    Lois Capps (D-CA)
    Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)

   Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, Vice Chairs
    Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
    Mary Fallin (R-OK)

   Michelle Bachmann (R-MN)
    Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
    Melissa Bean (D-IL)
    Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
    Judy Biggert (R-IL)
    Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
    Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU)
    Nancy Boyda (D-KS)
    Corrine Brown (D-FL)
    Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
    Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
    Julia Carson (D-IN)5
    Kathy Castor (D-FL)
    Donna Christensen (D-VI)
    Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
    Barbara Cubin (R-WY)
    Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)3
    Susan Davis (D-CA)
    Diana DeGette (D-CO)
    Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT)
    Thelma Drake (R-VA)
    Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
    Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
    Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
    Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)
    Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
    Kay Granger (R-TX)
    Jane Harman (D-CA)
    Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
    Darlene Hooley (D-OR)
    Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
    Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)
    Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
    Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI)
    Barbara Lee (D-CA)
    Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
    Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
    Nita M. Lowey (D-NY)
    Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
    Betty McCollum (D-MN)
    Mary Bono Mack (R-CA)
    Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
    Doris Matsui (D-CA)
    Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)1
    Candice Miller (R-MI)
    Gwen Moore (D-WI)
    Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
    Sue Myrick (R-NC)
    Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
    Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
    Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
    Deborah Pryce (R-OH)
    Laura Richardson (D-CA)2
    Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
    Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
    Linda Sánchez (D-CA)
    Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
    Stephanie Herseth Sandlin(D-SD)
    Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
    Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
    Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
    Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
    Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY)
    Hilda L. Solis (D-CA)
    Jackie Speier (D-CA)6
    Betty Sutton (D-OH)
    Ellen O. Tauscher (D-CA)
    Niki Tsongas (D-MA)4
    Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY)
    Maxine Waters (D-CA)
    Diane Watson (D-CA)
    Heather Wilson (R-NM)
    Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA)

Women in the Senate
110th Congress

   Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
    Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
    Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
    Susan Collins (R-ME)
    Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
    Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
    Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
    Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
    Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
    Blanche L. Lincoln (D-AR)
    Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
    Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
    Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
    Patty Murray (D-WA)
    Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
    Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

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I'm talking to both sides here in this post--yes, to the Obama supporters, and to the Hillary supporters as well.

Obama supporters, let go of the primary anger. It's not productive anymore. We are in the general election, folks. I live in Washington, D.C., and let me tell you, Hillary Clinton is working behind the scenes to get her people onboard with Barack Obama. She knows she's not going to be the Vice-President in the end even though she is being considered like other candidates, but she IS determined to help wherever she can.

She's holding a conference call today with her donors, asking them to donate to Obama since some of them are still on the fence. She has been calling her delegates, asking them to support Obama as the nominee.

The reason why you haven't seen or heard her is because she ran for 18 MONTHS straight in a hard-fought primary contest. I think she deserves whatever time she gets off, but she'll be back in the Senate next week. Also, she's not trying to steal Obama's limelight as the nominee because he needs all the media attention on the fight between him and John McCain.

You know I was one of the harshest critics of Hillary's campaign during the primary. I've let go of that primary anger. I don't make snide remarks about her anymore. I've moved on to the general election, but some people clearly haven't.

And to the Hillary supporters, thank you for supporting Barack Obama. It's what Hillary wants you to do, and I thank you for listening to her. Now, to some of the other Hillary supporters, please be aware that Hillary is doing everything she can to support Obama, and no, she is not going to be the nominee. No, there isn't going to be an override at the convention in Denver.

Hillary Clinton is a Democrat. Whenever she says something, she means it. When she says she's a fighter, she IS a fighter. When she says she supports Obama, she SUPPORTS Obama. I thank her for doing so, and I look forward to her working in the Senate and to becoming one of the great lions of the Senate.

She and Obama both have become great icons as a result of this primary, and they will be interacting with each other on a constant basis. They once were a team of rivals, but they now are a team.

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I'm writing this diary to explain to you what initially drew me to Barack Obama's campaign. It was a year ago, when I heard about Project Readon, a site that captions internet videos for free. I'm deaf, and the internet has left me behind when it comes to accessibility in internet media. I can't watch CNN videos, MSNBC videos, download media from network shows and movies onto my iPod or laptop that has captioning, and I didn't have that access until I found Project Readon.

And there was a video on that site. It was an outline of Barack Obama's plan to empower Americans with disabilities. Project Readon said that Barack Obama's campaign was the first website to sign up to caption their videos. Hillary Clinton's campaign was the second to join in along with Senator Tom Harkin's Senate campaign. The Republicans said no to Project Readon (with the exception of Ron Paul), which shows the lack of care that the Republican party has shown to Americans with disabilities.

Barack Obama provides that link to closed-captioned videos at Project Readon, which you can find here with the green button that says "Closed Captioning."

You click on that link, and you see a whole line of videos with closed captioning in them. That really meant a lot to me as a deaf American, who relies on captioning to get information about the outside world.

I also read Barack Obama's plan for Americans with disabilities. They also provided a link to sign up in a Disability Discussion group to talk about policies that can help disabled Americans. His efforts to expand the dialogue to deaf and hard-of-hearing people like me tells me what kind of a leader he'd be in this area.

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This video clip is among one of the best video clips about Barack Obama. This gives you a look into how Obama perceives fatherhood, and shows you the interaction with his children, Malia and Sasha. You can tell that they're daddy's little girls and how much they look up to him :-)

Over the flip is Obama's speech today on fatherhood. It includes some tough talk for absent fathers on the importance of fatherhood, and why children need fathers as much as they need their mothers.

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Remember this ratfuck bastard, Karl Rove? The one who outed a CIA agent, Valerie Plame? The one that helped George Bush hoodwink the American people in going to Iraq based upon lies about weapons of mass destruction?

Yep, that's the one gleefully posing with John McCain. He's behind a new 527 group called Freedom's Watch. Let me give you the low-down on Freedom's Watch:

Freedom's Watch

A major new 527 conservative advocacy group largely bankrolled by casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. The donors for Freedom's Watch have raised $200 million for this election to help Republicans.

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From Rawstory:

A questioner asked if Obama would send George W. Bush to Iraq, as ambassador, after the president leaves office. Obama, who was sipping from a bottle of water, seemed to almost do a spit-take at the absurdity of the suggestion.

"Honestly, we need someone really good in that job," Obama said, indicating that letting Bush anywhere near the country he willfully invaded would be out of the question in an Obama administration.

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These strong women are coming out in support of Barack Obama, such as Madeleine Albright, and Ellen Malcolm of EMILY's LIST. They acknowledged their grief over Senator Clinton's loss, and stated their determination to prevent the dangers of a McCain administration, which would roll back years of hard-fought women's rights.

Madeleine Albright and Ellen Malcolm Come Out In Strong Support Of Obama

Speaking at group's annual luncheon celebrating in Washington D.C., Ellen Malcolm, EMILY's List's founder and director, offered a highly personalized plea for Democratic unity, saying that the possibility of a John McCain presidency outweighed political grudges.

"I have been meandering my way through the various stages of grief: sadness, bargaining, anger, and my personal favorite dessert," she said to a crowd of approximately 900. "And so for the sake of my waistline as much less the sake of the party and country, I will follow Hillary Clinton and say it is time for the party to come together."

...

"I spoke to Senator Obama on Friday and I told him I would do all I could to defeat John McCain," she told the crowd. "We are here today to begin the final stage of '08. This is the election we have been waiting for. The country is fed up with the policies set by George W. Bush and his allies in Congress. Voters want change. I want change. Do you want change?"

Outside the hall, many attendees said that they had come to grips with Clinton's loss and were willing to back Obama, a development that the Illinois Democrat is banking on to win the White House. But the process was long and difficult, they added, and it would take time for them to get over what they viewed as perceived slights, especially those that came at the hands of the media.

"This was an extraordinary and somewhat astonishing nominating process," she said at the receptions onset. "I know that in this crowd there are Barack Obama supporters. I respect your choice and I understand the excitement you must feel by his historic victory. But for Emily's list and me personally, the choice was always clear. We wanted Hillary Clinton to be the next president. For those of us who supported Hillary this is a challenging time, one of many emotions. Hillary was a magnificent candidate."

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Senator Barack Obama and his team decided to launch Fight The Smears website because of his encounter with the McClatchy reporter who asked him about the Michelle Obama "whitey" smear tape.

There's an article in Time Magazine about this website and his efforts to fight back the internet smears, which can be disgustingly prevalent due to the anonymous nature of the internet, making it difficult to track down these internet smears.

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