Barack Obama WINS IOWA!

He won.

He won convincingly.

He won with the support of diverse groups - women, youth, first time caucus goers, independents.

He won one contest, that will provide a launching pad for more contests.

He still needs each one of us. He still needs money. He still needs voters. He can't win on hope alone.

He is the candidate of change.

This isn't about Oprah. It isn't about race. It isn't about anything other than the first opportunity for people throughout this nation to make a clear statement about what type of leadership they want. Make your step toward change today.

Learning about Barack

GETTING TO KNOW OBAMA ... Frankly, I hope you'll do a lot of reading, research and investigate Michelle Obama, too. They're certainly my pick!

I don't support everything about Barack Obama. I do, however, think he stacks up against any other candidate currently in the running. Iowa voters may be getting a little scared - the polls are a statistical dead heat right about now. But the power of momentum can change all of that. Check bill's history - winning every early state is not necessary. Winning the minds, support, money, energy and power of those who can impact change - in the community, in business, within genders, in families, that's what we need. Barack can do the job. He needs your support. (And maybe a few swift emails to his team, to remind them, let the leader lead. I'm all for a stronger end game at this point - because I think he has come w/thunder to close this final leg of the early race.)

Did you know?

During the April 2007 Democratic debate, Obama said that he trusts women to make their own decisions about whether or not to have an abortion "in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy."

Obama says the death penalty "does little to deter crime" but he supports it for cases in which "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage." While a state senator, Obama pushed for reform of the Illinois capital punishment system and authored a bill to mandate the videotaping of interrogations and confessions.

Obama says that he believes "marriage is between a man and a woman" but he wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he remains "open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided ... I may have been infected with society's prejudices and predilections and attributed them to God."

When he formally declared his run for the presidency, Obama said his goal is to implement universal health care, or government health insurance for all Americans, by 2012 or "the end of the first term of the next president." He has called the "belief in universal health care" one of the "core values" of the Democratic party.

Obama has said that he will "not support any bill that does not provide [an] earned path to citizenship for the undocumented population."

Since Obama was not a member of the U.S. Senate in 2002, he did not vote on the authorization of the use of force in Iraq. But he was an opponent of the war effort as an Illinois state senator and campaigned against the war in his 2004 Senate bid. In January 2007, Obama introduced the non-binding Iraq War De-Escalation Act with a goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008. The bill would allow a limited number of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for counterterrorism and the training of Iraqi security forces.

In the Illinois Senate, Obama helped author the state earned income tax credit, which provided tax cuts for low-income families. Obama has supported bills to increase the minimum wage. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama describes what he calls America's "empathy deficit," writing that a "stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society."

Killing the Clinton Machine ... building Obama Momentum

So, my republican husband is blogging up a storm about Clinton probably winning the Iowa Caucus. And he came home psyched about a few people linking to his blog comments, a great treat after hosting 8 people in our home for multiple days. Meanwhile, I was psyched that I made my third donation to Barack Obama, and motivated a first time donor because of my matching gift. Two sides of a very different coin.

The Clinton Machine has started a full fledged commitment to negative campaigning, bringing up everything that can "slip upon" in public forums that will create doubt about Barack. In the latest article I read, they sited a poll that says given the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto people are more convinced that Hillary Clinton can lead. Direct foreign affairs. Be the decision maker.

Who do we think is making the decisions to imply that Barack sold drugs, that he is anything other than Christian, or maybe even that he fails to be qualified for the job. The American public appears to have a convenient memory. What qualifies you to be president, because you used to sleep with one. After all, if we considered all the women who slept with Bill, many more women are qualified to run the US than just Hillary. I guess failing health care reform, the staged "I was so surprised" about my cheating lying husband messing around with Monica, or even the Dash like speed of a move to go to New York - in pursuit of staging her promised political career when Bill was done. I feel like I should be scrolling back with a video camera in honor of Spike Lee, yelling to all women - WAKE UP.

As an educated, professional, Christian wife and mother - not to mention a proud African-American woman - I find Clinton for president to be a bunch of regurgitated mess. HOT MESS in fact. Bill Clinton was NOT the first black president - and the first black male to have the qualification, demeanor, audacity and appeal to truly run, we decide to question his viability. His experience. His ability to be elected. His blackness.

I'll be glad when someone, especially someone in Iowa, asks the question..."Who do I want to lead us through the next four years?" Someone who can't run her home. Someone who doesn't deal honestly with her marriage. Someone who solicits black churches and women's groups like a door-to-door salesman crossed with a used care salesman after 20 years. I present to you - Hillary Clinton. The woman poised to bring more shame to the gender than she already has. In a statistically sound poll of all the women I know, she does not represent us - at all.

When Iowan's go to the poll - I hope they think long and hard about personal character and integrity. I'm not an idealist - but my ideas on this one are strong. If you can not lead your household, the next best thing, lead the free world. NOT. If Obama can stay on top of his core beliefs, talk directly to people who are yearning for leadership, and offer that although he may not have all of the answers - he has the intellect, decision making ability, responsiveness and leadership to get the job done. If there is one thing that a community organizer knows - its that collective power and unity can be a catalyst for change. Clinton is not a change agent. She's more of the left overs that start to go bad on day 3. When you first warm them up, they're delicious. The second day they are filling, not quite as tasty though. The third day....they start to smell bad, and its time for something new.

Barack Obama is something new. And as for leftovers....I've had quite enough. Maybe I'll make another donation now.