Former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD)

President Elect Barack Obama formally announced former Senator Tom Daschle as his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday. Daschle is also expected to serve as the Director of the White House Office of Health Reform.

“Year after year, our leaders offer up detailed healthcare plans with great fanfare and promise, only to see them fail, derailed by Washington politics and influence peddling,” said Obama. “This simply cannot continue. The runaway cost of healthcare is punishing families and businesses across our country. We are on an unsustainable course, and it has to change.” (The Hill, Daschle tapped to oversee healthcare reform)

Daschle served as Democratic leader in the Senate from 1995 until he lost a re-election bid in 2004. Recently he wrote a book titled, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis.” In the book, he pushed for universal health care coverage to reach by expanding the federal employee health benefits program to include private employer plans together with Medicaid and Medicare.

“It is a great honor to be nominated to work on an issue that is so close to my heart, leading an organization that touches so many lives at a time that there is so much at stake,” said Daschle. (The Hill, Daschle tapped to oversee healthcare reform)

He also said he looks forward to working “with the people from across the country to find a path forward that makes healthcare in this country as affordable and available as it is innovative.”

Take this opportunity to email him directly and hold him to his word. President Elect Obama, make colorectal cancer screening and treatment a national priority! Click here to Take Action

Senator Barack Obama

Barack Obama has carved his name out in history by becoming the first ever African American President of the United States. Obama defeated his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain last night. He received more than 50 percent of the popular vote, a feat not accomplished by any other Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Late Tuesday night, McCain called Obama to concede the race and congratulate him on the victory. “Americans have spoken and they have spoken clearly,” McCain said in his concession speech before his supporters.

In his remarks to the thousands gathered in Chicago, Obama thanked McCain and went on to say, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

America voted in record numbers on Tuesday. Over 130 million Americans turned out to vote in this year’s election which would make this the highest turnout America has seen since 1908.

President-elect Barack Obama will now be inaugurated on January 20, 2009 as the 44th President of the United States of America.

Click here to listen to Barack Obama’s Victory Speech

“We are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” – President Abraham Lincoln

Happy Election Day!

You’ve studied the issues, now the only thing left to do is cast your ballot. While you wait for the returns to come in, pass the time with a fun video on “Why we vote.”

After a hard fought primary by both candidates, Obama on Tuesday night surpassed the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

The Democrats will now unite against the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain from Arizona.

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Obama locked down the nomination as remaining superdelegates announced their support for the Illinois Senator. “Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” Obama said.

Even though Obama has obtained the 2,118 delegates needed for the nomination, Senator Hilary Clinton (D-NY) has yet to concede. “Sen. Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she’s a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she’s a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight,” Obama said.

The fun has only just begun though. Obama now moves on to battle it out with Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, for the office of the President of the United States.

Click here to watch Senator Obama’s Speech