This article by Joshunda Sanders of the American-Statesman is award-winning material.
Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.
The middle child of 13, Jones, who is African American, is part of a family that has lived in Bastrop County for five generations. The family has remained a fixture in Cedar Creek and other parts of the county, even when its members had to eat at segregated barbecue dives and walk through the back door while white customers walked through the front, said Amanda Jones' 68-year-old daughter, Joyce Jones.
For at least a decade, Amanda Jones worked as a maid for $20 a month, Joyce Jones said. She was a housewife for 72 years and helped her now-deceased husband, C.L. Jones, manage a store.
Amanda Jones, a delicate, thin woman wearing golden-rimmed glasses, giggled as the family discussed this year's presidential election. She is too weak to go the polls, so two of her 10 children — Eloise Baker, 75, and Joyce Jones — helped her fill out a mail-in ballot for Barack Obama, Baker said. "I feel good about voting for him," Amanda Jones said.
Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said. Read the full story at the American-Statesman
John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.
According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket.
In a letter to the Justice Department last October, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities "clearly suppress votes and violate the law." Read the full story at Huffingtonpost.com
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced on "Meet the Press," today that he is endorsing Barack Obama for president saying Obama "has both style and substance. I think he is a transformational figure."
From Time Magazine:
The decision is not only symbolic but, in terms of timing, one of great tactical importance. Powell is a brand unto himself in American politics, and clearly transcends the media's tendency to hype endorsements more than their actual importance to voters. However, the indisputable benefit that Powell brings Obama is that the former Secretary of State and general is sure to block out any chance McCain has of winning the next two or three days of news coverage, as the media swoons over the implications of the choice. It is simple political math: McCain has 15 days to close a substantial gap, and he will now lose at least one fifth of his total remaining time.
Powell's decision brings other clear benefits as well. He is so trusted for his judgment on national security (even in the wake of his role in the current Iraq War) that his confidence in Obama to become commander-in-chief will resonate with many elites and voters. Read the full story here
Senator Barack Obama's list of editorial endorsements continue to rise. Several endorsements include traditionally Republican papers like the News-Register, in conservative Yamhill County, Oregon. The editors are citing Senator John McCain's selection of an unprepared running mate and his "dysfunctional," "erratic," "incompetent," and negative campaign as reasons that McCain is not ready to lead America.
From Editor & Publisher--The Denver Post, which had backed George W. Bush in 2004 and is owned by Republican-leaning William Dean Singleton, this evening endorsed Barack Obama for president. So did the Chicago Sun-Times, Kansas City Star. Southwest News-Herald (Ill.) and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And to top it off: two more Bush backers in 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune and Las Cruces (N.M) Sun-News.
This followed this afternoon's surprises: the Chicago Tribune, which has never in 150 years endorsed a Democrat, backed Obama, as did its fellow Tribune paper, the Los Angeles -- which had endorsed no one in more than 30 years. It seems like a dam broke yesterday with the unexpectedly early choice of Obama by The Washington Post.
In E&P's exclusive count, Obama now leads 62-18 in editorial endorsements. New additions for him include the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Oregonian of Portland. Check out our running list, updated Saturday here.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution- By Jay Bookman, Cynthia Tucker --- OUR EDITORIAL BOARD’S OPINION: Obama is the choice
In a race between two admirable public servants, the Illinois senator shows sounder judgment, offers better chance for change.
...However, in his current role as Republican nominee, McCain has yet to explain how most of his proposed policies and approaches differ from those of the current president. From deregulation of Wall Street and tax cuts that favor the richest 5 percent of Americans to a more aggressive foreign policy, McCain’s approach now reflects the same Republican orthodoxy that has governed this country since 2000. Time and again, he has been offered chances to explain how his philosophy differs from that of the current president, and he has not been able to do so.
And it’s not just a matter of policies. A third term under another Republican president would inevitably be populated by much the same cast of GOP staffers, executives and bureaucrats that has run Washington for so long and with such disastrous results. McCain’s campaign staff illustrates that problem perfectly because it is populated by many of the same people who ran previous Bush campaigns. They are also still trying to run the same basic Republican playbook that the party has used since 1980.
In fact, the competence of McCain’s campaign staff is itself cause to question the candidate’s executive abilities. To some degree, the rigors of creating and running a campaign organization can be a test of the skills needed to create and run an administration. And even many Republicans acknowledge that the McCain campaign has been poorly organized and erratic, lurching from one crisis to another without the sense of a strong hand at the tiller.
Columnist William Kristol, a longtime McCain backer, calls the McCain campaign “close to being out—-and—-out dysfunctional,” concluding that “its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic.”
And of course, the most unfortunate evidence of that “strategic incoherence and operational incompetence” was McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a person utterly unprepared for the high post in question. Read the full endorsement here.
A Barack Obama victory in less than three weeks will mean many things at home and abroad. It will mean a new team on foreign and domestic policy and new political leadership for both the Democratic Party and the country. And it will mean, finally, the end of any excuse to listen to the self-involved, selfish and stupid rantings of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Earlier this year, Jackson made a complete fool of himself with his jealous tirade against Obama, spoken into an open mike and ultimately heard by millions. It doesn't bear repeating, and I would not be writing about it today were it not for the sad but not surprising fact that Jackson is now selling himself as a member of Obama's "family" -- or vice versa -- and pontificating in an ignorant and divisive way about the changes an Obama administration will bring.
If you didn't know better, you might think Jackson wants Obama to lose. And I wouldn't be surprised if he does. A President Obama makes Jackson politically irrelevant. Read the full column on Rasmussenreports.com
A Barack Obama victory in less than three weeks will mean many things at home and abroad. It will mean a new team on foreign and domestic policy and new political leadership for both the Democratic Party and the country. And it will mean, finally, the end of any excuse to listen to the self-involved, selfish and stupid rantings of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Earlier this year, Jackson made a complete fool of himself with his jealous tirade against Obama, spoken into an open mike and ultimately heard by millions. It doesn't bear repeating, and I would not be writing about it today were it not for the sad but not surprising fact that Jackson is now selling himself as a member of Obama's "family" -- or vice versa -- and pontificating in an ignorant and divisive way about the changes an Obama administration will bring.
If you didn't know better, you might think Jackson wants Obama to lose. And I wouldn't be surprised if he does. A President Obama makes Jackson politically irrelevant. Read the full column on Rasmussenreports.com
Beware, those on the Right might want to show a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Our youth are watching and the world is watching. Obama will be the next leader of the free world. When it comes to the politics of personal destruction, as Rev. Al says, Not This Time! We are on our job working for universal turnout. I am not angry, in fact, I feel sorry for white people who in 2008 cannot accept the leadership of a Black man. As a result we will enter the most vicious period of personal attacks witnessed in America. It will be up to the youth of America to lead the way for their elders.
What exactly are Sara and Mac saying to me? I am a community organizer. My goal has been to help marginalized communities participate fully in our democracy. I always believed it was important to participate even when the choices did not reflect my interests well. Even when it was still impossible for a Black man or woman to become president, I still participated. I didn’t realize then what it felt like to be really proud of my country. I wasn’t ashamed, I was simply sensitive to the way we treat people who have less, the poor and the ignorant and especially people who are dark like me. What did I have to be really proud of? Slavery, Jim Crow, Discrimination, Racism? How could any Black person fully embrace America before the presidency was open to us? When Obama was nominated I found myself waving a flag and believing for the first time that it was possible to move beyond racism to elevate the best qualified candidate to lead the world.
My ancestors were phenomenal to pass on a vision of freedom so strong that it propelled us to this day.
In some ways I am envious of those who have always had this feeling based upon being born in a privileged position compared to Blacks. I wonder how they will feel when Obama is elected? Will Sean Hannity in his patriotism lift up the president? Will John McCain in his regard for the commander and chief salute Obama? Will Sarah rally Joe Six Pack to fall in behind our leader at a time when our nation needs all hands on deck? I resent the effort to take this feeling away from those of us who have given so much to just to participate, to be included, to make an even greater contribution.
I just got back in town so I wasn't able to vote on the first day of early voting in Georgia. It's the last day to register, so I decided to make sure I voted today just in case I encountered a problem. I put my computer on sleep to run over to the county to cast my ballot. I was shocked and elated to see a very, very long line. I never felt so good to wait on a long line. The workers were a bit disorganized, but everyone was happy and patient. It was an amazing experience.
While I was on line I helped to give out the forms the people had to fill out in order to vote. After I voted, I helped direct a little traffic and wheeled a disabled person around the building and down a steep dangerous hill so she could vote. When I was leaving I stood in the parking lot truly amazed at the car loads of people coming to vote.
After I left, I stopped by the bank and the teller noticed my "I'm a Georgia Voter" sticker. She asked with excitment, "You voted?" I told her I did and she yelled over to another teller "She voted already." Even the person working the front customer service desk came over to talk about when he was going to vote. They all wanted to be among the first to vote, way before November 4.
Here's a shot of a first time voter, John Jude. He's just old enough to vote in this election. He was very proud to cast his ballot for the first time. He said he voted for President Obama.
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