Pledged Delegates? Check!

Last night Oregon and Kentucky cast their ballots and the former went to Obama and the latter to Clinton. Looking through a narrow window, you could say that it is a split, some sort of balance or even a sign that the primary must go on. To go on national television last night and use that as your justification to keep running without looking at the big picture would be disingenuous...and Hillary Clinton did just that.

As Obama has said, she can keep on going as long as she wants. Yet this race is not about her, nor is it about Barack Obama. This primary race is about the Democratic party and our nation, and millions have spoken out already and have decided on a nominee. The voters have given Obama the majority of pledged delegates and most are already moving to rally behind him.

Then at the end of the night the April fundraising numbers came out. Obama raised over $31 million. Clinton took in an impressive $22 million and both beat out McCain's personal best of $18 million. However there is much more to those millions. Clinton is still in debt, reportedly that number matches what Obama raised in April. That is the picture of a failed campaign, a candidate with that much debt isn't going very far in the general election, even if the opposition is John McCain. Not only has our party begun to rally behind Obama in spirit, our pocketbooks have been backing him for quite sometime (not paying millions to Mark Penn helps too).

Though Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico are still coming up on the primary calendar, it is not a race solely about those two states and one commonwealth. If the race were truly neck and neck Obama would not have begun to secure the majority of superdelegates to finish this thing up for good. Yet, it is coming and in less than two weeks we will have our nominee, though we already know his name.

Oregon Governor Living On Food Stamps

Ted Kulongoski isn't a poor man, but he is living on food stamps for a week. In order to see how it feels to be able to only purchase $21 dollars of food for a week. In order to raise awareness for families that do have to live on this meager budget, the Governor is taking a hit in the stomach and of course his coffee budget.

From Yahoo News:

Accompanied by reporters and food stamp recipient Christina Sigman-Davenport, Kulongoski headed straight for a display of organic bananas, only to have Sigman-Davenport steer him toward the cheaper non-organic variety.

The governor pined wistfully for canned Progresso soups, but at $1.53 apiece, they would have blown the budget. He settled instead for three packages of Cup O'Noodles for 33 cents apiece. Kulongoski also gave up his usual Adams natural, no-stir peanut butter for a generic store brand, but drew the line at saving money by buying peanut butter and jelly in the same jar.

"I don't much like the looks of that," said Kulongoski, 66, staring at the concoction.

This is clearly brand new territory for Ted. It is good to see someone who can easily have the high-priced healthy food to see that not everyone can afford a good, balanced diet. Perhaps this can lead to some change in how consumers are given the crap at low prices. Ultimately those bulk deals are making it more expensive and dangerous in the long run when it comes to health care. With the Governor seeing how it is to be poor, there is hope that we can make a difference for those that have to eat on $21 dollars every week.