Just a few hours after making political history, Barack Obama returned to a hero’s welcome in Washington.

In a speech at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sen. Barack Obama delivered a stirring response to racism in America and the current presidential campaign. Here are his words, unedited.

In 1984, as Democrat Walter Mondale’s running-mate, Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman on a major party’s presidential ticket. They were crushed by Ronald Reagan that year. It is clear Ms. Ferraro is still bitter.

In a surprise strategic move for someone seeking the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken to comparing herself favorably to Republican nominee.
“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And [...]

Sen. Hillary Clinton scored an impressive round of primary wins in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island last night. After losing 12 contests in a row by focusing on their policy differences, Clinton tried something different. All out negative attacks.

Sen. Barack Obama has been plagued by a whisper campaign suggesting that he is Muslim, wants to take the oath of office on the Koran and doesn’t even know the pledge of allegiance. The rumors have had an easy time gaining traction, spurred on by wire services happy to report on the "controversy." If only [...]

Every losing campaign has a fait accompli moment. It’s the emotional equivalent of watching a freshly caught fish flop helplessly on the dock. Yes technically it’s still alive, but not for long. Hillary Clinton’s "fish-flopping-moment" came with the release of her Red Phone ad last week.

In boxing when one man starts wandering around the ring, wildly windmilling his arms hoping to land a punch on something, anything resembling the other boxer, he’s pronounced out on his feet.
In politics that’s called a 5-point plan of attack.

Sen. Chris Dodd came out in the Obama camp today. From CBS News
Former Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd has endorsed Barack Obama.
The Connecticut senator made the announcement Tuesday in Cleveland. The endorsement comes a week before crucial contests in Ohio and Texas.
And to boot, he’s a Superdelegate so his vote counts for around 2,900 of [...]

Texas is well known for it’s long history of racial tolerance and sensible gun laws. Taking this into account, the Secret Service decided it wasn’t necessary to screen a crowd of 17,000 people coming to hear Barack Obama speak. From UPI :
The Secret Service told Dallas police to stop screening for weapons while people were [...]