Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha" (or "Sage of Omaha", take your pick), has endorsed Barack Obama for President.

''In Frankfurt, Germany, today, billionaire Warren Buffett announced his support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States.  He said that he offered support to both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, but because it appeared that Obama would win the Democratic nomination, he is endorsing Senator Obama''.

"I will be very happy if he is elected President.  He is my choice." He said.

Although many of the super-rich choose to align themselves with Republicans, Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway, has been a supporter of Democrats.  He was one of Sen. John Kerry's economic advisors during his 2004 presidential run.

Buffett thinks the dollar will continue to weaken:

"I think that the US has followed and is following policies which will cause the US dollar to weaken over a long period of time," he said.

After voicing support for Obama, Buffett nonetheless noted the US economy had managed to do "awfully well" despite a depression, two world wars and many financial crises.

"They say in the stock market ... buy stock in a business that's so good that an idiot can run it because sooner or later one will," he added.

"Well, the United States is a little like that. We can take a little mis-management from time to time," Buffett said.

For those of you who don't know, and I doubt many people do, Warren Buffett has politics in his blood.  His father, Howard Buffett, was a four-term Republican congressman from Nebraska, serving from 1943-1949 and 1951-1953.  Howard Buffett, speaking presciently on the House floor, once said:

''Even if it were desirable, America is not strong enough to police the world by military force. If that attempt is made, the blessings of liberty will be replaced by coercion and tyranny at home. Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns''.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iEoh 4tPLHPMMok875VIJDcq3FOKg

Update: Obama leads HRC by 16 points in the latest Gallup poll.
First time she has gone below 40%.

Update: Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager and confidante, Patti Solis Doyle is in 'talks' to join the Obama campaign.

Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/050 8/10450.html

Hattip to the New York Times for their piece today (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekin review/18zernike.html?ref=politics&p agewanted=all) on who would be the most probable female of the current crop.

She is currently serving as the sole member of the House of Representatives from South Dakota. She is the youngest woman member of the House, and the first woman elected to the House of Representatives from South Dakota.

I'm glad they singled out Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. I have been watching her for quite sometime. She is a unbelieable talent. She has a magnetic inspirational speaking style that I compare to Mr. Obama.

In a Obama administration or a HRC one. She and others like her can get the further experience of a government or international office and gain the footing the need. I can see her in many offices.

That is why we need to rally and defeat the republicans this year. So we can lay the ground for the career of future democratic leaders.

What a wonderful talent. She is in my opinion a future president of the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_H erseth_Sandlin

I don't believe this but The Page says it is validated by the fire chief in the city of Portland.

Folks, Obama is more popular than NFL football, which averages about 68,000 a game on Sundays. My prediction of 60%-40% over McCain in November might be on the money. And anyone who scoffs at this....just remember, 40%-45% of people who can vote, don't. Obama isn't only shooting for traditional voters, he is shooting for this much larger pool, about 80 million people, of disaffected voters. I'm not kidding at all when I say we could be witnessing the end of the Republican party.

This is called taking your country back.

http://thepage.time.com/2008/05/18/obama -gets-largest-crowd-to-date/

Just for grins... Wikipedia says Portland has an estimated population of ~568K people. That's 1 out of 8 people in the WHOLE FREAKIN' CITY, with more waiting to get in.

Confirmed: The largest rally in presidental primary history was in Portland today.

Obama is rock solid in Minnesota. Obama will have nothing to worry about in MN.
Even with Pawlenty on their ticket.

''A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll found that Barack Obama leads John McCain 51 percent to 38 percent among the state's registered voters. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the Arizona senator 49 percent to 40 percent''.

The republicans said this week they will target MN in their strategy this fall.
Even with their convention - it is very safe for Obama.

There is a strong trend now and you can see that in Oregon.
Where Obama does exceedingly well in states that have strong German/Nordic roots.

Here is hoping the Obama surge in MN can translate as coattails for Franken's bid for the senate. He is slipping in the polls as of late. www.alfranken.com/

http://www.startribune.com/politics/nati onal/president/19043139.html?location_re fer=Art

Update [2008-5-17 18:46:16 by MissVA]: Gore Vidal: ''I knew JFK, says Gore Vidal, and believe me Obama’s the better leader'' http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3952774.ece

Jesus Christ! Obama is trouncing McCain in New Mexico big time.
New Mexico will be solid for Obama in the GE.

''The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of New Mexico voters shows Barack Obama attracting 50% of the vote while John McCain earns 41%.''

A month ago, Obama had a three-point advantage in the state. In February, McCain and Obama were tied. Polling in the state's U.S. Senate race also provides good news for the Democrats. Nationally, the race between McCain and Obama remains competitive in the Rasmussen Reports Presidential Tracking Poll.

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_conte nt/politics/election_20082/2008_presiden tial_election/new_mexico/election_2008_n ew_mexico_presidential_election

See the New Mexico map turning a stronger shade of blue at www.fivethirtyeight.com/

Prehaps, Obama won't need Richardson as his VP to gain the West, after all.

The accolade and respect for the Obama campaign is just starting.....
If he has run this amazing campaign. Imagine what he can do as president.

The Atlantic Magazine's story on Obama's fundraising prowess.:

''The story of Obama's success is very much a story about money. It provided his initial credibility. It paid for his impressive campaign operation. It allowed him first to compete with, and then to overwhelm, the most powerful Democratic family in a generation--one that understood the power of money in politics and commanded a network of wealthy donors that has financed the Democratic Party for years''.

......and

''Obama is a gifted politician by anyone's measure, but what distinguishes him from earlier insurgents is his ability to fully harness the excitement that his candidacy has created, in votes and in dollars. Three forces had to come together for this to happen: the effect of campaign-finance laws in broadening the number and types of people who fund the political process; the emergence of Northern California as one of the biggest sources of Democratic money; and the recognition by a few Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that the technology and business practices they had developed in their day jobs could have a transformative effect on national politics''.

In the future when political campaign's are studied. Obama's will be the case study on how it should be done.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/ob ama-finance

I found a fascinating insight into the early friendship between the now historic Obama and Hillary Clinton tangle.

''In February 2005, Clinton was the most powerful woman in the Senate and the most prominent Democrat in the country. America was waiting for her to claim the White House. She wanted to do everything the right way, and she took the time to learn what she needed to learn. She was intent on moving into the White House on her own terms, not on her husband's coattails. As far back as February 2005, when Obama had his secretary set up an appointment with Clinton, there was no doubt that her time would come.

She met with him in her large, impressive, canary-yellow office on the fourth floor of the Russell Office Building. Clinton spent an entire hour telling Obama about her humble beginnings in the Senate, when she took a back seat to more senior senators, brought her male counterparts coffee and asked to be admitted to the Senate prayer group. A remarkably humble start for the former First Lady (sometimes referred to as Bill Clinton's "co-president"), a woman who knew many heads of state and prime ministers around the world.

It must have been an amicable conversation. The two senators discovered that they had a lot in common, and they both thought it was amusing that while she was already well-known when she joined the Senate, Obama, as he readily admitted, had merely given a speech -- something that couldn't hold a candle to her fame. Hillary's advice to Obama was to follow her example: be quiet, learn as much as possible, avoid grandstanding and be a workhorse. Obama nodded.

Obama, for his part, said he was troubled by the "maneuvers, chicanery and small-mindedness of politics." During the first meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he wrote the following note to one of his staffers: "Shoot. Me. Now." But should he have contradicted Hillary Clinton back then? She wouldn't have taken him seriously anyway''.

No one would have taken him seriously........

Obama it would seem was a very quick learner. Read rest of the story here.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/us-e lections/0,1518,552948,00.html

She has a problem......

In Oregon......

Another Obama trounce is coming. In the biggest state in the remaining primaries.
He is showing rock solid leads.

Poblano estimates:

''So that would imply that total turnout will slightly exceed 1 million. That would be extremely high turnout for a closed primary -- about 110% of the Kerry vote. Although the last three states to vote have exceeded 100% of the Kerry total, those were open primaries; the highest ratio for a closed primary so far is 82%''

Think about 1 million. He will cover in just Oregon alone what gains she made in WV and KY.

The great progressive state of Oregon will romp it for Obama.

Oregon will report after KY. So all the news will be focused on the tallies coming in. Obama will be centre of it all.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/05/h illarys-oregon-problem.html

Go Baracky.