It was 40 years ago yesterday that Robert F. Kennedy was tragically assassinated in the middle of his historic campaign.   I felt I could not let this anniversary go by without telling you how this man inspired me.  I invite those who are old enough to remember Bobby to join me in this tribute, and those who are not, to read and learn a little something about this incredible man and how he is so much like Barack Obama that it gives me goose bumps.  .  Also, you might want to check out Chris Matthews tribute to RFK on HARDBALL last night.  I know sometimes Chris can be a real idiot, but he does a good job at touching upon how we all felt on that tragic night.  So please join me after the jump /\, and for the older members of the crowd, please feel free to post your feelings about RFK in the comments as a tribute thread, so we can educate the young-ins.

Now that the primary campaign is finally winding down, and victory is in our grasp, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the campaign and share some of our personal "feel good" campaign stories before tomorrow’s partying destroys our memory cells.  Many of us have made contributions to the Obama campaign, done phonebanking, participated in registering new voters for State primaries, helped organize caucuses, attended rallys, wore out one or more pairs of shoes going door to door, and so on.   So at this point I’m sure some of you have a campaign story that you would be willing to share with the rest of us.  It can be funny, sentimental, or just something that made you feel like you were making a difference.  

Please consider this a thread you can use to post such stories in the comments.  I, and I’m sure others, would be interested in hearing them.  I only ask that we try to keep it positive and refrain from any "Hillary Bashing" which no longer serves any purpose.  I will start it off by posting my somewhat mundane story after the jump /\

MSNBC is reporting that Harry Reid has just come out and joined Pelosi in stating the Dem. Presidential Primary contest, "will be over next week give or take a day."

Nothing up on the MSNBC web page yet, but I will post as soon as it comes up.

Sorry, not much of a diary, but I wanted to get the good news out.  This is significant since Reid was a Clinton supporter and his son worked on her Nevada campaign.  

Updated after the jump /\

On April 4, I posted a diary entitled "Obama Folks, Feeling Anxious –– Lets Do The Math" where I put forth Pledged Delegate predictions and how they would effect the number of Super-Delegates each candidate needed to clinch the nomination.  I updated these predictions and evaluated my performance after Pennsylvania on May 2 in a diary entitled "Super-Delegate Math - When Will Obama Clinch the Nomination?"  Now its time for me to evaluate my predictions up through West Virginia, update my predictions for Kentucky and Oregon, and make my not-so-bold prediction about when the fat lady will sing for Obama based pledged and super-delegate math.

For those of you who are math junkys like me and want to know when Obama will be our nominee, mathematically speaking, follow me over the jump /\ for what I expect will be my last Primary Diary.

On April 4, more than 2 weeks before the Pennsylvania Primary, I posted a diary entitled "Obama Folks, Feeling Anxious –– Lets Do The Math" where I put forth my Pledged Delegate predictions for the remaining primaries and how these results would effect the number of remaining Super-Delegates each candidate would need to clinch the nomination.  For those of you who are once again having Obama anxiety attacks, sit back, relax and follow me over the jump /\ where I will update my Super-Delegate math and show you why I think Obama securing the nomination will not occur when he reaches 2024, its when Clinton can’t!

Remember that old game show "To Tell The Truth"?  If you do you're as old as me.  Nevertheless, there were 3 contestants all claiming to be the same person with some sort of special job or talent.  However, only one was the real thing, the other two were imposters.  It was up to a panel of celebrities to weed out the real person by asking all 3 contestants a series of questions to determine which one was telling the truth.

Anyway, I got to thinking that we have something similar going on in the Presidential race now.  We have 3 candidates all claiming to be the non-elitist, in-touch, common man (or woman) candidate.  But only one really fits that description and the other two are imposters.  Can you guess which one is telling the truth?  Join me after the jump /\ for the obvious answer...

Whenever I start to get stressed about the race, and start to worry that Obama still could lose, I just sit down and do some Delegate Math, alla Chuck Todd, and I breathe a sigh of relief.   Since I expect that others out there are having similar feelings from being spun by the punditry, I thought I would treat you to some Delegate Math so you can all feel as relieved as me.

Like some have already done, I have put together my estimate of how I think the remaining 10 primary contests will turn out in terms of Pledged Delegates.  However, I will take it a step further by calculating how many of the remaining Super-Delegates each candidate will need to reach the magic number that will sew this thing up.  So I invite any stressed out fellow Obama supporters to join me after the jump /\ for some reassuring numbers.  I think you will be relieved!

Unfortunately, in a matter of a few days we are likely to hit the tragic 4000 mark of US Troops killed in Iraq.  Now I’m sure this will spawn many diaries and at least some news coverage by the MSM, who have recently paid little or no attention to most of the previous 3996 troops that have fallen thus far.  However, as we approach this horrific milestone, I would ask that we not only focus on the 4000 troops lost, but that we begin a dialogue about future US casualties with the American people and ask them to face the question of:

What is an "acceptable" number of daily US casualties in Iraq?

For us here at Kos, the answer to this question is obvious.  But it is because the answer is so obvious that the MSM avoids posing this question to politicians and the American people.  However, it is one of the questions that they must face and come to grips with, in order to see the tragic loss of our young soldiers as we see it, and to make louder the outcry of BRING’EM HOME!

For those interested, I will explore this and related questions and pay my humble tribute to one of the recent MSM ignored fallen after the jump/\

My Confession:

Me: Bless me Father Obama, for I have sinned.  It has been over one week since I last did phone-banking.  I have been selfishly caught up in my own life and negligent in my duties to your campaign.  I haven’t been doing any canvassing lately since I have let my laziness and my desire to stay warm overcome my campaign responsibilities.  I have spent much of my time blogging on DailyKos in anxious, fruitless discussions with fellow Obama supporters about the latest polls, instead of doing Obama GOTV activities that might actually help win the next set of primaries/caucuses.  I have even committed the Cardinal sin of thinking that you have the nomination all wrapped up and you no longer need my help.  I deeply regret and am extremely sorry for these sins.

Obama: That’s all right my son.  Your heart is in the right place.  No go forth and make 10 GOTV phone calls for me before Tuesday.

Me: Thank You, I will!

If you are a fellow Obama campaign sinner as I, please join me after the jump /\ for some serious GOTV!  

Just thought I'd share my GOTV experience with ya'll.  My report is from a small upstate New York Hudson Valley city in the heart of what we have all been told is "Clinton Country".  Keep that in mind as you read on.

Now I didn't do much but volunteer some of my time.  But this is not about what I did, its about what I saw and what reactions I got.  If you decide to join me after the jump /\, I think you will be pleasently surprised if you’re an Obama supporter.

Caroline Kennedy has just given a heart felt endorsement of Barrack Obama in this NYT Editorial entitled "A Preident Like My Father".  Please go read the whole article.  But to jump ahead this is how she ends it:

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

Not much more to say!

Just read dengre’s depressing Diary in which he is pessimistic on Obama’s chances, on party unity and on a November democratic victory.   Now I generally agree with dengre’s portrayal of where we’re at and how we got here in this campaign.  But I don’t share its pessimistic views of the future.   So for those of you who are in despair after reading dengre’s diary, or those of you who are just in despair, I invite you to join me after the jump /\ where I will engage in a little hope.

I knew the horrific effects of the Iraq War were far reaching, but I did not realize how far until I started reading this gripping NY Times article.  You can add another 121 US casualties to the Wars’ ugly total.  Only these people were killed on US soil.  These casualties have resulted from veterans returning mainly from the Iraq war (some from Afghanistan) and killing people in this country.   The veterans involved are almost always victims themselves.  Victims of PTSD and a government who let them slip through the cracks.

I urge to read the whole article which contains a number of sad, but unfortunately true stories.  I will paraphrase one such story after the jump /\ .  I invite you to join me there, but I warn you, plan on being depressed or angry or both.

Kos's FP Post the other day gave me an idea!  In it he points out that Obama needs the independent (Indy) vote in New Hampshire, and the Clinton campaign is obviously trying to scare them away from Obama by alleging that Obama is far too progressive (liberal) for their tastes.  He states that if she succeeds, they'll end up voting for McCain helping to give Republicans their strongest general election candidate, and I would add depriving us Dems. of possibly our strongest candidate.  If you accept this plausible theory, I got to thinkin, why wouldn't the opposite also be true?  If NH indys vote for Obama, they will not be voting for McCain.  Some recent polls which are starting to show this is happening and my take on it after the jump /\

This Diary is solely intended to help Iowans who are going to attend or are thinking about attending the Democratic Caucus, especially those who are attending for the first time (the "Newbees").  I wrote a similar Diary two days ago, but I thought I should update it, make a few corrections and add a little opinionated spice.

This Diary is not intended to favor any particular Democratic candidate.   My only goal is to provide as many Iowans as possible with information and some advice so they can effectively participate.   It is especially geared for first time caucus goers.  I have also added my 2 cents on some things (in block quote fashion) to maybe get a little dialogue going.

So if you’re interested, follow me after the jump /\, and/or take a visit to this handy DesMoines Register site which has some real helpful information on the caucus.

This Diary is solely intended to help Iowans who are going to attend the Democratic Caucus or who may be thinking about going.  If you are in the "thinking about it" category, I strongly urge you to go and give it a try.  My motto is Democracy works best when we all participate.  This is your best opportunity to participate in and have some influence on, the Presidential selection process.  This Diary is not intended to favor any particular Democratic candidate.   My only goal is to try to get as many Iowans as possible to participate in the caucus, and to provide them with information and some advice so they can effectively participate.   It is especially geared for first time caucus goers.

So if you’re interested, follow me after the jump /\, and/or take a visit to this handy DesMoines Register site which has some real helpful information on the caucus.

Legislation drafted by Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, which you may have heard of by now, would give those abused by "terrorist" States the ability to retroactively sue those States and give them access to State funds within the US for compensation.  This would give US Gulf War vets and others, who were abused under the Iraqi government of Saddam  Hussein, access to billions in funds belonging to the current Iraqi government which are being held in US treasury accounts.  This legislation is attached to the huge defense appropriations bill passed by Congress, which also included some of the Iraq funds Bush wanted (which the Dems. gave him with no strings), a well deserved 3.5% pay raise for US troops and additional aid for wounded vets, among other things.

Now Bush is threatening to veto the bill all over his objection to the cited Lautenberg legislation.   He claims these Iraqi funds must be protected against law suits or risk threatening the stability of Iraq. So why is the veto a belated Christmas gift to the Dems.  from Bush?  You’ll find out after the jump /\

BREAKING:

Yes, you read the title correctly, Bush plans to veto the defense bill according to this   AP Story.  As difficult as that is to believe after Congress handed him the bill he wanted, it is apparently true.  And you won't believe the reason he is doing this either.  Details after the jump /\