David Axelrod has appeared in the press enclosure here at the Unity event. He says Hillary will be a "huge force in bringing about the change we all want."

And her husband?

"We would welcome him. You know, there are only four living presidents and he has so much to offer here. We hope to establish a close relationship."

Axelrod also predicted his campaign would be accused of "inventing" the tie result here in the primary but "that was what happened."

And with that, there comes the sound of Obama and Clinton being introduced. No one can see them yet, though, and the crowd, which was cheering wildly, has gone quiet again.

A reporter says to none in particular that HRC might have decided to make a last round of superdelegate calls instead.

Here's the post-Kentucky take from Barack Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, on the notion that his candidate has trouble attracting support from white working class voters.

Speaking on NPR WNYC’s "The Take Away" this morning, Axelrod said, “Those numbers vary, of course, from state to state.”  read more »

I just spoke to Sarah Kovner, a longstanding Clinton ally who attended a fund-raiser for Barack Obama last night.

Kovner said she had not yet made a contribution to the Obama campaign, but she added, "I certainly will, as will everyone I know."

Kovner, who said she had mostly focused her energies on Senate and Congressional races this year, is not ambiguous about her reasons for supporting Obama.  read more »

The Obama campaign is in town to rally its fund-raisers and create new ones. Obama senior strategist David Axelrod is here for two meetings with the campaign's fund-raisers, reported yesterday in the New York Post, at which the Obama finance people have been encouraged to show up with friends who are Clinton supporters.

But the push to recruit the opposition is a measured one.  read more »

Intern Em Whitney is on Axelrod watch:

Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod refuted the idea of Hillary Clinton as the Pennsylvania primary underdog this morning in an interview with NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep.

“You had millions of dollars more to spend in Pennsylvania, and Hillary Clinton was able to overcome that when she had to win,” Inskeep said.

“She didn’t have to overcome anything!" Axelrod interjected. "She was 22 points ahead when we began. She ended up winning by about nine points. When we came to Pennsylvania, the first thing we arrived to was a declaration by the Clinton campaign that she was unbeatable," he said.

 read more »

The Obama campaign is not exactly acting like a campaign on the verge of a possible double-digit loss.

On a plane ride from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, Obama sat cross-legged, tossing peanuts in his mouth and leafing through a magazine as he chatted with senior adviser David Axelrod across the aisle. A photographer was allowed up from the press section in the back to shoot some photos of Obama and his wife Michelle. Behind the candidate, communications director Robert Gibbs contemplated a crossword puzzle.  read more »

Today Obama campaign manager David Axelrod bluntly accused the Clinton campaign of demonstrating an "insidious pattern" of "wink and nod at offensive statements."

Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams just responded in an emailed statement:

In January, NBC’s Tim Russert confronted Senator Barack Obama with a four page memo from his campaign characterizing statements they claimed the Clinton Campaign had made about race. Asked in hindsight whether he regretted pushing this story, Senator Obama said:  read more »

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—At the end of another day on which Barack Obama failed to deliver the coup de grace to Hillary Clinton’s White House hopes, the Illinois senator spoke to supporters here at an event that was notable mainly for its tepidity.

The crowd was startlingly small, numbering perhaps 1,500. Obama often attracts crowds 10 times as large. His speech was brief—it lasted barely 10 minutes—and featured few of the oratorical fireworks for which he is known.  read more »

The bloodletting between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was not stanched by the end of last night’s debate in Myrtle Beach. It continued in the spin room.

Ann Lewis continued to talk about Obama’s comments about the trajectory changing force of Republican ideas to a Las Vegas editorial board.

“He said that they were the party of ideas,” she said. “Clearly in contradiction to the Democratic Party.”  read more »

After last night's debate, Barack Obama’s chief adviser David Axelrod assumed the posture of a disappointed observer who was hurt by the Clintons’ decision to go negative.

“They are trying to create doubts. It’s classic strategy,” he said, adding, “I thought one of the telling things Senator Clinton said tonight was let’s not give people 'false hope.' I think that’s a sad thing to say.”

He doubted the jabs she scored on Obama during the debate would have much effect (“I don’t think anything happened here tonight that would have changed the dynamic against us,” he said) but also doubted her new negative approach would penetrate the electorate before election day on the Jan 8.

“That’s one of her problems,” he said. “It takes a while for distortions to sink in.”

He said that “they’ve sent out negative mail,” and, “Today they sent out a negative mail piece and suggested that he is somehow anti-choice, which is absurd.”

It was “the second time they’ve tried this," he said. "They tried it in Iowa, and I think it helped earn then third place. So you’d they’d have learned.”