LORETTO, KY – Kentucky loves its horses and its college basketball – and judging by the number of distilleries we drove through on the way to Hillary Clinton’s first campaign event on a four-day tour of the state, it loves its bourbon.

Senator Clinton toured the oldest such distillery in Loretto today, where Makers Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is produced. She even got to dip a bottle into the company’s trademark red wax to seal it tight – though she admitted she got a little sloppy.

“I think they’re going to give me the bottle because it dripped some,” she told the crowd gathered for a picnic outside. “So I think that I get to take that one home, which is not a hardship, you’ve got to admit.”

“There’s some benefits to running for president, every so often,” she joked.

In the spirit of the place, she even worked some boozy references into her energy plan. “Think of what you could do if we got back to just putting alcohol into the gas tank,” she said. “The model T Ford got better gas mileage than the SUV does today, and it ran on ethanol. You know what it ran on, it ran on moonshine.”

As the crowd whooped and applauded, Clinton continued “it had more power and went further and had more kick than what we see in our cars today. It may be back to the future. I think Kentucky can play a leading role in that, getting us organized for those biofuel futures.”

LORETTO, KY – After seemingly sleepwalking through campaign stops in South Dakota and Oregon, Hillary Clinton got fired up after a visit to a Kentucky distillery – telling voters here that she’s not ready to quit on them.

“You’ve seen all those folks on TV. They keep telling me to quit,” she said. “Maybe I was just raised with the kind of values you were raised. You don’t quit on people, and you don’t quit until you finish what you started, and you don’t quit on America.”

Those TV pundits say Clinton faces an impossible deficit in the delegate count, even if the DNC decides to seat all the delegates from Michigan and Florida – and especially if superdelegates keep flocking to Obama. But the New York Senator continues to make a case that looks past the primary.

“I’m running for president because I believe I would be the best president and I’m the stronger candidate to defeat John McCain in the Fall,” she said. “Right now, I am leading in the popular vote. More Americans have voted for me. Right now, if you add up the states that I have won, it totals 300 electoral votes. You have to have 270 electoral votes to win.”

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LORETTO, KY — Hillary Clinton told a crowd assembled for a picnic at the Makers Mark bourbon facility that her thoughts and prayers are with Senator Ted Kennedy — hospitalized today after suffering a seizure at his home in Massachusetts.

“We had word this morning that my good friend and a great champion of working people, Senator Ted Kennedy, was rushed to the hospital with symptoms of a stroke,” she said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, because he has been a champion for health care. Nobody has fought harder to make sure everybody got good health care. And I know that we all join together in wishing him well.”

Clinton pivoted from Kennedy’s hospitalization to the need to implement her universal health care plan. “What Senator Kennedy believes and what I believe and what many others believe is that every American should be entitled to the same health care as your member of congress is entitled to,” she said.

NEW YORK—

Two ads were released today featuring Senator John McCain, but the candidate approved only one. The ad, “Leading” will air in Iowa and aims to play on the still-ongoing battle for the Democratic nomination:

“While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama argue and fight with each other, John McCain leads.”

The commercial says that the presumptive Republican nominee will “fight against wasteful government spending,” advocates a gas tax holiday, and explains how he wants his health care plan to provide tax credits.

Click here to watch the ad:

The other ad is sponsored by MoveOn.org and is a scathing attack on McCain’s senior advisor, Charlie Black. Black has come under fire during the campaign for his lobbyist history, but today McCain was adamant that Black and campaign manager Rick Davis are no longer practicing lobbyists.

This week the McCain campaign instituted a new vetting procedure to find out if any employees have lobbyist histories, particularly if they have lobbied for any foreign governments. In recent days, three McCain advisors have left the campaign because of embarrassing revelations of work outside the campaign. Newsweek revealed that two aides had lobbied for the military junta in Myanmar in 2002 and just yesterday another staffer left because he was also working for a 527 group opposing the Democratic candidates.

The ad reveals Black’s lobbyist history and calls for him to resign. The commercial says Black “made millions lobbying for the world’s worst tyrants” and names some of them including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Jonas Savimbi of Angola—over very graphic images.  The ad was sent to Move On members and concludes with asking members to, “Call John McCain and tell him to fire Charlie Black,” and includes the phone number for McCain headquarters.

Click here to watch the ad:

Louisville, KY–

Senator John McCain went to the National Rifle Association’s annual convention today to court gun owners—and go after his Democratic rival Senator Barack Obama.

McCain made an addition to his prepared remarks to respond to comments Obama made about the Arizona senator today:

“Earlier today, Senator Obama made a few remarks I would like to respond to. I welcome a debate about protecting America. No issue is more important. Senator Obama claimed all I had to offer was the ‘naive and irresponsible belief’ that tough talk would cause Iran to give up its nuclear program. He should know better,” McCain said, “I have some news for Senator Obama: Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ and arms terrorist who kill Americans will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional meetings will advance our interests.”

Obama’s attack earlier today compared McCain to President Bush and pointed to Bush’s “failed” policies abroad and went after McCain for supporting them. This back and forth all started yesterday when Bush spoke in front of the Israeli parliament and said that politicians that sit down to negotiate with terrorists are suffering from a “foolish delusion.”

Bush denied he was talked about Obama, but it started off a political firestorm which McCain addressed later yesterday. He went after Obama for saying he would sit down and talk with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahjmadinejad, which lead to the continued boiling over today where the Republican nominee-in-waiting went on to question Obama’s judgment:

“It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies,” McCain said, “But that is not the world we live in, and until Senator Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment, and determination to keep us safe.”

McCain didn’t spare Senator Clinton either painting them both as wanting to limit the rights of gun owners, “Let’s be clear. If either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is elected President, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk my friends and have no doubt about it. “

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JUNCTION CITY, Ore — Hillary Clinton says she’s going forward with her long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination until everyone has a chance to vote — and today claimed the lead in at least one measure of presidential preference.

“I’m ahead in the popular vote,” she said at an economic roundtable, after resident Sandy Mehlbrech urged her to stay in the race. “I’ve got about 50,000 more votes, which is really exciting because that’s important.”

While Senator Clinton does indeed lead in the popular vote if every state is counted, most tallies leave off Florida and Michigan, since the candidates were forbidden from campaigning there and their delegates were stripped by the DNC. Obama’s name wasn’t on the ballot in Michigan, further complicating Clinton’s claim.

While she’s an underdog in Oregon, where residents mail in their presidential ballots, Sen Clinton said she had reason to be optimistic. “I heard, I don’t know if this is the latest news, but that most ballots are still out. People are trying to make up their minds,” she said. “Obviously I hope to persuade those of you who haven’t sent in your ballots in Oregon to consider supporting me.”

The rest of the event focused on economic issues, particularly the effect high gas prices arw having on working folks in the state. Sen Clinton placed the blame on President Bush. “As we’re sitting here in this lovely home, President Bush is over in Saudi Arabia having tea with the Saudi leaders, trying to persuade them to either increase supply or lower price. That’s his energy policy,” she said. “I don’t think it’s good energy policy to depend on the kindness of the Saudis and the other OPEC nations, and basically have tea with them while businesses and individuals try to figure out how to afford nearly $4 a gallon gas and $5 a gallon diesel.”

“The Saudis may decide we need to do something to help out President Bush, but that’s just a short term fix that is not going to have any long term consequences. We just have to take a different apprach if we’re going to get serious.”

BATH, SD — Hillary Clinton focused on agriculture at a farm in one of the final two primary states, blasting John McCain for supporting the president’s Farm Bill veto threat.

But she didn’t have much to say about the man she’s battling for the right to run against McCain in November - or the criticism President Bush seemed to be leveling at her Democratic primary opponent.

In Israel, Bush ridiculed those who would negotate with “terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.” Calling the idea a “foolish delusion,” Bush compared such talk to the appeasement of the Nazis in 1939.

While the White House denies that the comments were aimed at Sen Obama, they’ve been widely interpreted as attacking his stated philosophy of meeting with foreign enemies of the United States, such as Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Democrats from Howard Dean to Joseph Biden have lashed out at Bush’s critique.

A Clinton spokesperson said it was unlikely that the New York Senator would do the same at this event, but promised a statement that would come down hard the president. The promised statement has yet to be released. In fact, Sen Clinton herself has criticized Obama for the same position — calling a promise of presidential meetings with dictators and despots without preconditions the height of naivite.

On the farm, Clinton tore into McCain for siding with Bush on vetoing the Farm Bill, saying “they’re like two sides of the same coin, and it doesn’t amount to much change.” And while she leveled some gentle criticism at Obama on health care and his “persuade Washington to come together” approach to ending special interest influence in government, she left his name out when criticisng opponents of her gas tax holiday, instead getting a bit defensive over opposition to the idea. “If you don’t have an answer to the problem, then keep your peace,” she said. “Otherwise, come up with your own answer.”

In general, the attacks on McCain are growing in frequency, while the attacks on Obama are delivered with less and less intensity. With even a 41 point win in West Virginia failing to change the game - and the Edwards endorsement of Obama stealing much of her thunder - even the Clinton campaign seems to have transitioned to a general election mode — but one in which her primary opponent is the Democratic nominee.

Barack Obama took the stage this evening in Grand Rapids, MI, in front of more than 12,000 supporters and said, “I know that we didn’t have the chance to campaign here during the primary – and I felt bad about it. I didn’t have a chance to talk to you guys about the issues. I felt guilty about not campaigning and so as a consequence I decided that I would try to give you something special,” he said to applause. “I decided that on my first full day of campaigning in Michigan, that I wouldn’t be fooling around, that I wasn’t just going to do the same old thing. But I decided that I was going to bring out one of the greatest leaders we have in the Democratic Party – please give it up for my friend John Edwards!”

John Edwards entered the arena to thunderous applause as Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” blared over speakers (a Kerry/Edwards ‘04 favorite). Before he praised Obama, Edwards was sure to mention the other Democrat still in the race - even as the Obama supporters booed at the sound of her name.

“I want to tell you, I know this is hard to understand sometime, but it is very, very hard to get up every day and do what she’s done. It is hard to go out there to fight and to speak up when the odds turn against you. And what she has shown is strength and character, and what drives her is something that every single one of us can and should appreciate,” he said, noting she is a woman “made of steel.”

“She’s a leader in this country not, not because of her husband, but because what she has done, because of speaking out, because of standing up. And we, when this nomination battle is over, and it will be over soon – brothers and sisters, we must come together as Democrats and in the fall stand up for what matters to the future of America, to make America what it needs to be. And we are a stronger party because hillary Clinton is a democrat. We are a stronger country because of her years of public service, and we’re gonna have a stronger nominee in the fall because of her work,” he said.

And then the news all the Obama fans were there to hear:

“The reason that I am here tonight is because the Democratic voters of america have made their choice and so have I,” he said as the arena erupted. “There is one man who knows and understands that this is a time for bold leadership. There is one man that knows how to create the change, the lasting change that you have to build from the ground up. There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America, not two, and that man is Barack Obama.”

Barack Obama had equally glowing things to say about his one-time rival and promised to join in Edwards’ fight to end poverty. “The fight that John is waging right now will be a fight I carry into the White House for the next four years,” he said. “I want to make sure that everybody knows that he will have a partner in that effort, because that is a goal that I will set as President of the United States of America.”

Soon after, a man in the crowd yelled out, “Does that mean Obama-Edwards?”

Obama laughed, Edwards smiled, but no one commented on the question. The message, rather, was unity. Obama said, “John Edwards and I believe in a different America. Hillary Clinton believes in a different America. The Democratic Party believes in a different America. One America, where we rise and fall together as one people and that’s why we are gonna take Washington by storm this November.”

The Obama campaign did not campaign in any of the five states yet to cast votes for the Democratic nominee today (a morning event in Kentucky was cancelled due to Senate votes), opting to visit Missouri and Michigan, states that will be key for a Democratic victory in November. “I’ll be back because we’re gonna be competing in Missouri,” Obama promised voters in Cape Girardeau, MO, while taking aim at John McCain on issues ranging from the economy to Iraq to the environment. Surely signs of a campaign confident of a victory, despite getting creamed by Senator Clinton in West Virginia today.

But when asked by a voter at his Missouri town hall if Hillary Clinton might be his running mate, a more emure Obama replied, “It’s too early. Senator Clinton is still competing; we haven’t resolved this nomination - I haven’t won the nomination yet.” He added, “It would be presumptuous of me to pretend like I’ve already won and start talking about who my vice president’s going to be. I’ve still got more work to do.”

Obama phoned Senator Clinton before taking off for Michigan (the first time the candidate has been there since speaking at an NAACP dinner there last June) to congratulate her on her WV victory. The frontrunner didn’t get through to tonight’s victor, however, and left her a voice mail.

CHARLESTON, WV — No suspense in West Virginia tonight. As soon as the polls closed here at 7:30pm, the Fox News Decision Team was able to project Hillary Clinton the winner here, based on exit polls and early returns that show her with a wide lead over Barack Obama

The crowd gathered for Clinton’s victory party inside the Civic Center chanted “It’s Not Over!” as cable hosts announced the results on big screen TVs. Unfortunately for them, pundits and analysts disagree with their assessment — even with Clinton’s big win here.

The New York Senator is expected to meet with about 50 members of her national finance team in Washington tomorrow, as well as superdelegates both committed and uncommitted. Part of her argument: the working class voters that led her to victory in West Virginia are the same ones Democrats need in the Fall — and the same ones that have said they’ll vote for McCain over Obama.

Read the Clinton campaign’s memo on why WV matters after the jump.

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