Barack Obama reaches out to college newspapers

Bill Burton, national press secretary for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, held a conference call with college newspapers throughout the country.

“Young people have always, as Sen. Obama has said, put their shoulders to the wheel of history to make change,” Burton said at the opening of the call. “Sen. Obama has been committed to getting college students involved.”

If you remember, celebrity rapper Eminem tried to reach young voters during the 2004 election with his hit "Mosh". Perhaps this time around the college vote will turn out to vote in greater numbers.

Sen Hillary Clinton compliments Barack Obama

"It's excellent that we have a candidate like Barack Obama who embodies what all of you fought for here 42 years ago," Sen. Hillary Clinton said at a civil rights gathering. Barack Obama is "doing an excellent job for this country and we're going to be marching arm-in-arm."

John Edwards also speaks about civil rights

Presidential hopeful John Edwards referred to civil rights in his address in Berkeley California. "The fight for civil rights and equal rights and economic and social justice is more than just going to celebrations, even as wonderful as the one in Selma," John Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery as he referred to Berkeley janitors' fight for a wage increase. "The fight is going on right here, right now."

Barack Obama and Selma

"If it hasn't been for Selma, I wouldn't be here," Barack Obama said. "This is the site of my conception. I am the fruits of your labor. I am the offspring of the movement. When people ask me whether I've been to Selma before, I tell them I'm coming home."

Barack Obama and Homeland Security

Barack Obama wants to change the government's formula for giving states money for homeland security. Barack's opinion is that the allocation of funding should be based on the degree of "terrorism risk" in each state. "Risk" would be determined by the Department of Homeland Security.

This strikes me as a reasonable guiding principle. Sen. Obama wants to give states with higher terrorist threat more federal homeland security budget. But it won't be easy to convince Senators from smaller states to go along with the plan. Politics, politics, politics.

Of course it helps Obama that his home state would get a big win-fall if his proposal goes through. Oh, and many of the early voting states that Barack hopes to win in the primary elections would also get a boost. Iowa would get an additional $119,000; Nevada would get $86,000 more; and South Carolina would receive $175,000 more funding.

Democratic presidential polls

A new Washington Post/ABC news poll suggests that support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is sharply increasing among African-Americans.

Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton 44% to 33% among black voters. Polls in December and January showed Hillary with a lead of 60% to 20% over Barack among black voters.

Hillary Clinton still has a 36-24 lead over Barack Obama overall. In early January she had a much wider margin of 41% vs. 17%

Barack Obama gains on Hillary Clinton

France Press is reporting on the latest polls. Hillary Clinton is losing ground to Barack Obama. Since the last poll:

Hillary dropped from 40% to 36%
Barack increased from 21% to 24%

The poll was held February 22 to 25 amid 1,082 residents of the United States.

Source: Kommersant