DENVER, Aug. 24 -- Sen. Barack Obama launched a four-day tour of
battleground states Sunday to coincide with Monday's opening of the
Democratic convention and its ambitious agenda of selling Obama to a
national audience, presenting a forceful case against Republican rival John
McCain and unifying a party still recovering from a bruising
primary........
In an important shift, Democratic officials confirmed
Sunday that Clinton will release her delegates to Obama at a
reception on Wednesday. Clinton's gesture has the potential to reduce
the appearance of friction while reinforcing her status as one of the
party's most formidable power brokers....
As Clinton and
Obama supporters come together in Denver, Obama campaign aides made
sure reporters knew about two phone calls that took place last week: one
between Obama and former president Bill Clinton, and another between
Obama and the former first lady. Obama called the former president during
his campaign swing through Virginia last Thursday, the same day he
called Biden to offer him the No. 2 spot on the ticket, several aides
said.....
Obama is seeking to shift his campaign events to a more
intimate scale as he prepares to head into the outsize convention,
where he will address a Super Bowl-size stadium crowd with a sky camera
floating overhead. After a long night of speechwriting, he flew Sunday
morning to Wisconsin, attended church and spoke to a small group of
supporters at an outdoor picnic site. Standing in a clearing near
a playground, with a barbecue buffet set up nearby, Obama presented
himself not as the celebrity that McCain has portrayed in a barrage of
recent television ads but as a typical dad worried about his young
daughters. That's one reason he is running for president, he told the
Wisconsin crowd.....

An Uncertain Outcome
Despite the gains made by blacks in public office, it
remains to be seen whether Americans are ready for a black
president. Exit polls from the Democratic primaries indicate that
Obama's support is strongest among blacks and younger whites

"La caravane passe et......!"

".....et les
chiens aboyaient !"