***10am 2/28 UPDATE*** (((RNC issues official statement: “The RNC rejects these kinds of campaign tactics. We believe this election needs to be about the critical issues confronting our nation.” -RNC Chairman Mike Duncan)))

After receiving a private rebuke from the Republican National Committee, the Tennessee Republican party removed online references to Barack Obama’s middle name as well as a photo attachment of Obama in a traditional Somali dress Wednesday evening.

A GOP official tells FOX that RNC officials chided TN state officials Wednesday for issuing the press release, titled “Anti-Semites For Obama,” which included the Democrat’s middle name, Hussein, as well as the controversial photo that was first publicized on the Drudge Report. Sen. John McCain also expressed his public displeasure with the state party’s conduct at a press conference in San Antonio, TX today.

In a follow up release posted late Wednesday evening, the Tennessee GOP remained unapologetic noting that the original statement was “twisted by Democrats who would prefer to scream “racism!” rather than deal with Obama’s real and worrisome record,” said Communications Director Bill Hobbs.

See the cleaned up version of the press release here…

Compared to the top of the original release below: (note the “Hussein” in the first sentence and the photo)

While the newest statement, titled “Tennessee Republican Party Remains Focused On Issue Not Race,” made no mention of the decision to remove the most controversial parts of the original release, there was an allusion that the TN GOP made the decision for party unity. “Attempts to put the Tennessee Republican Party at odds with Sen. John McCain regarding our Monday press release and his Tuesday comments are ineffective and vacant,” Hobbs added.

Full statement from Bill Hobbs:

Tennessee Republican Party Remains Focused On Issue Not Race

The Tennessee Republican Party expresses thanks to the numerous people who have called to express support for the strong stance that we have taken in defense of the nation of Israel.

Our Monday, Feb 25, press release alerting voters that Sen. Barack Obama has foreign policy advisers and endorsements rooted in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views has been twisted by Democrats who would prefer to scream “racism!” rather than deal with Obama’s real and worrisome record.

Attempts to put the Tennessee Republican Party at odds with Sen. John McCain regarding our Monday press release and his Tuesday comments are ineffective and vacant given Sen. McCain’s consistently strong record as a defender of Israel.

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San Antonio, TX — For the second time in as many days, Sen. John McCain was forced to rebuke members of his own party for over-the-top attacks on Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

The presumptive GOP nominee said he disapproves of a Tennessee Republican Party press release that used an infamous photo of Obama in traditional Somali dress, called the Democrat “Barack Hussein Obama,” and alleged that he consulted with anti-Semitic advisers.

“All I can say is that I have made my position very clear and I have made it time after time and I made it yesterday,” McCain said at a San Antonio press conference, alluding to his condemnation Tuesday of a local radio talk show host who also referenced the Democrat’s middle name at an Ohio rally.

McCain noted that given that he is still not the official GOP nominee and has little control over the entire party, but added that, “if I am the nominee of the party, I will obviously assure that everyone within my party knows that this has got to be a respectful debate.”

The Arizona Senator also noted yesterday that he is worried that outside groups like 527s, which he has no control over, may put up ads or use rhetoric that he does not support during the general election.

The GOP is not alone in having to deal with the problem of potentially over-zealous allies. Liberal groups could also pose problems for the Democratic nominee this fall by running spots like the “General Betray-us” that September MoveOn.org ad.

While some Democratic leaders felt compelled to rebuke the group forthe ad, neither Obama or Clinton voted to condemn the Petraeus ad.

It is full steam ahead for the McCain campaign despite today’s loss to Mike Huckabee in the Kansas caucus.

“Our campaign fully expected to fall short in the Kansas caucus. John McCain is the presumptive nominee in this race, our path forward is unchanged by today’s results, and our focus remains the same: uniting the Republican party to defeat Democrats in 2008,” campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said.

The Arizona senator has never run well in caucus states, finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses last month and losing to Huckabee and Mitt Romney in caucuses held on February 5th across the midwest. McCain, who currently has more than 700 delegates under his belt and leads Huckabee by almost 500, is focussed on Tuesday’s “Potomac Primary” in Maryland, Virginia and DC. The campaign is aiming to hit the necessary 1,200 delegates for the nomination in the next four to six weeks.

McCain is spending the weekend with family in California and has no public appearances scheduled until Monday.

At a press availability in Chicago today, Senator Barack Obama, the self-described perpetual underdog admitted he has some momentum. The campaign claims to have won more states and more delegates than Senator Clinton, and is expected to do well in upcoming races.

But the candidate still lowers expectations by continually referring to himself as the underdog in this campaign because Hillary Clinton has more establishment support and name recognition. When a reporter questioned him on the legitimacy of such a moniker, he hedged. Check out the exchange here, plus his response as to how long this fight for the nomination will go on.

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Senator Obama was also asked if he would participate in the four debates Hillary Clinton has accepted (including one on FOX News). He didn’t commit, but responded that the campaign is “still trying to sort through our schedule.”

“We benefit from being on the ground talking to voters directly” and “not using up so much time preparing for debates,” he added. When pressed, Obama said he was sure “we will accept at least one.”

Fox News projects that Hillary Clinton has won in Oklahoma and Tennessee; Barack Obama took Alabama and his home state of Illinois. Missouri, Connecticut, and Delaware all remain too close to call. (UPDATE: FNC decision team had AL too close to call until about 9:30)

More spin from the Clinton campaign on their victories below the fold — they say this demonstrates that Hillary Clinton can compete and win in red states.

(more…)

Barack Obama won Georgia big tonight, as expected; the first state to close its polls on this long night was called for Obama by the networks at 7pm on the dot. But Hillary Clinton’s camp says no big deal — they never devoted resources to the state, and every poll since Iowa has shown Obama up big.

In a memo to reporters outlining talking points for their surrogates, the Clinton campaign says “we have 21 states that are still outstanding where we expect to pick up a significant number of new delegate,” adding “we feel very good about the numbers that we’re seeing.”

Read the full Talking Points Memo after the jump

(more…)

North Little Rock, AR-

Shortly after his campaign was first alerted by FNC, about the West Virginia victory, a jubilant Mike Huckabee , along with his wife Janet, voted at their polling station in North Little Rock.

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 Huckabee then took a few moments to speak to reporters about his” great win”  West Virginia, and denied any back-room deal by his campaign in the West Virginia win. ” There wasn’t even a front-deal, ” Huckabee said.

“No there wasn’t a deal, I think maybe the McCain people and the Ron Paul people once they realized there guy wasn’t going to win.. voted for us. “Huckabee said.” We won, and we won despite being incredibly outspent as we were in Iowa and other places.People are responding to our message,and the votes today were votes for us. Were excited about it and were deeply grateful to the people of West Virginia.”

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FNC’s Jake Gibson Reported earlier, in an effort to block Romney and ensure a win, McCain WV delegates, who’s candidate was losing that convention, decided to throw their backing behind Huckabee.  FNC asked Huckabee to respond to the Romney campaign’s West Virginia campaign manager, Beth Myers who described  it as” back room deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney.”

 ” I thought (Romney) was saying yesterday no whining? So is it no whining or whining? He can even keep a straight answer on the whining or now whining question, “Huckabee said,” He was saying that I was a liberal, and now he’s saying that I was taking votes from bc I was too conservative, and pulling conservative votes. So which is it?am I conservative taking votes from conservative views, or am I a liberal? Am I a whiner or is he a whiner?”

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The Obama campaign has invited several celebrities speak at events across the country, including Oprah Winfrey, John Legend, Usher, and Chris Rock. But today actor Robert DeNiro surprised supporters and members of the press alike by appearing on stage to help introduce Senator Barack Obama at a rally in Newark, NJ.

The campaign didn’t event hint there would be an A-list Hollywood actor alongside Senators Kennedy and Obama at the home of the New Jersey Nets. The reason per traveling press secretary, Jen Psaki - celebrity appearances aren’t always certain and should the actor have had a change of plans, bad press might have followed.

The normally politically inactive actor made the trek across the Hudson River from his home in New York City to explain why he was speaking out on behalf of Obama. “I’m here because finally one person has inspired me, one person has given me hope, one person has made me believe that we can make a change - that person is Barack Obama.”

DeNiro began his remarks by mocking Hillary Clinton’s argument that Obama doesn’t have enough experience to be president. “Barack Obama does not have the experience to be President of the United States and I can prove that. Remember, he wasn’t experienced enough to vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq,” he said sarcastically. “Instead, even then he voted against the war he said would lead to a war of undetermined length and undetermined costs and undetermined consequences. He just didn’t get it!” DeNiro said as the crowd laughed in response.

“You know, that’s the kind of inexperience I can get used to. That’s the kind of inexperience our country deserves. But if this election were just to be decided on the quantity of experience, Dick Cheney would be our next president. I prefer the quality of Barack Obama’s experience,” DeNiro said to applause.

DeNiro watched Obama’s speech behind security barricades and did not talk to the press corps about his decision. Watch it here:

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OK, aside from the fact that they both happen to be running for President of the United States of America…
A: Even though the two disagree on the major issues and how to achieve solutions to America’s problems, they both agree on one thing - that there isn’t a lot of room between Hillary Clinton’s views and those of John McCain.

Just after Romney described McCain as “indistinguishable” from Clinton at a rally in Illinois, Obama asked a crowd of 20,000 Delawareans, “If John McCain is the nominee, then the Democratic Party has to ask itself, ‘Do you want a candidate who has similar policies to John McCain on the war in Iraq, or somebody who can offer a stark contrast?’

Obama continued, “When I’m the nominee, John McCain won’t be able to say that you were for this war in Iraq because I wasn’t. He won’t be able to say that I followed the Bush/Cheney doctrine in not talking to leaders we don’t like because I don’t. He won’t be able to say that I went along and gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran because I haven’t. He won’t be able to say that I was unclear about my position on torture because I’ve been absolutely clear we never torture in this country. I can offer a clear and clean break from the failed policies of George W. Bush. I won’t have to explain my votes in the past. The same is true on domestic policy.”

“We don’t need to have a Democratic nominee who is not clear about the kind of fight that we’re going into,” he said at the Wilmington rally.

But the ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ saying isn’t exactly true here. Romney also accused McCain of being “indistinguishable” from Obama - something with which the senator from Illinois would surely disagree.

Hillary Clinton’s St Louis rally included a woman calling President Bush a “Bastard,” two folks passing out from the heat, lots of coughing from the candidate, and a soundtrack featuring a version of campaign staple “Taking Care of Business” that included the lead singer yelling “make some noise, this is a pot festival.” But it also included one of Senator Clinton’s most impassioned arguments about why she’d make the best Democratic nominee.

One questioner said she believed Hillary would make the best president, but that she was “just really scared” about her electability. Sen Clinton called on the woman to have faith. “If you think I would be the best president, you have to believe I can demonstrate that to the rest of the country.” Her critics claimed she could never win her Senate race in New York in 2000, she said — but she trusted the voters and pulled through in a tough battle (maybe an overstatement — her opponent, Congressman Rick Lazio, was universally regarded as a pretty poor candidate).

As for that other guy she’s running against today? “My opponent hasn’t had to go through that kind of baptism by fire,” she said. “I think in a general election, you know what’s going to happen to whoever we nominate. Lets not kid ourselves. It will be open season once again. We need to nominate someone with experience and fortitude and know-how to take whatever they throw at us and send it right back.”

She said she knows when to find common ground, and when to stand her ground — a common line on the trail that she used to bash Obama as a uniter without a purpose. “There are a lot of bad ideas out there,” she said. “I don’t think we want unity for the sake of unity. We want unity for the kind of progress that will move our country forward.”

And stealing a line from her husband, Clinton said “I may be a little battle scarred, but think of me in the same way you’d think of somebody who had to conduct a serious operation on somebody you loved. Think about that. Think about somebody who has been through it, who’s not only survived but thrived.”

And as for that “bastard reference,” Hillary smiled as the woman continued her question — a diatribe about whether Mexico and the US were conspiring to create a super-country — but never said a word for or against the statement. Instead, she said if such an agreement were in place, when she’s president she’ll end it in “a bird-dog minute.”