More oh-eight (D)
Posted: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 9:14 AM by Chuck Todd
Filed Under:
Democrats
BIDEN: We were intrigued to get a release from the Biden campaign touting the upcoming Iowa schedule by the candidate and his spouse, "Dr. Jill Biden." We hadn't seen Mrs. Biden referred to as a "Dr." before. After a little investigating, we found out that she just got her Ph.D. recently. Congrats to Mrs. B on the new degree.
BTW, Biden got his wish for an Iraq-only debate. The only problem? He may be the only participant. Johns Hopkins has invited all the candidates for an Iraq-only debate on June 6. Even Chris Dodd has said he has a scheduling conflict.
CLINTON: Bill Clinton headlines a major fundraiser in Boston on June 6.
Ex-Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack stumped for Clinton and N.H. and touted her new pre-K program yesterday.
New York Sun’s Gerstein notes the ties between the Clintons and infoUSA founder Vinod Gupta, who is facing allegations that his marketing firm “does business with scam artists targeting the elderly.”
DODD: Fresh off of airing a TV ad in support of Feingold-Reid Iraq legislation that is seen by Chris Dodd's campaign as the impetus to get both Clinton and Obama to support the March 2008 cut-off date, Dodd is going up with a new Saul Shorr-produced TV ad bragging that his candidate colleagues are following him on Iraq. Dodd's new ad says, per the Union Leader: "Now, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have changed their position to follow Chris Dodd."
EDWARDS: How many folks have read the Bob Shrum book, and gotten to the part where the famed media consultant takes a few shots at John Edwards? The New Republic has read that far. "Shrum says that, in the end, Kerry "wished that he'd never picked Edwards, that he should have gone with his gut" and selected Dick Gephardt. And the feelings between Kerry and Edwards seem fairly mutual. After Kerry reached out to Edwards in the wake of his wife's disclosure of a recurrence of cancer, Shrum writes, "Kerry told me that the Edwardses simply stopped returning calls or talking to him and Teresa."
On TODAY, NBC’s Matt Lauer asked Edwards about the hedge fund, $400 haircut, etc. Edwards replied, “I come from being a have-not,” and he mentioned his work championing minimum-wage legislation and union organizing as proof that someone with money can also fight against poverty and be a champion of the middle class.
Speaking of the haircut et al, New York Observer’s Kornacki wonders if Edwards is too easy of a mark for the GOP and argues that Democrats might need to consider that during the primaries.
OBAMA: Michelle Obama has resigned from her position on the board of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. The Illinois-based company's largest customer is Wal-Mart. In a filing with the SEC, the company stated, "Ms. Obama's resignation is the result of increased demands on her time and is not due to any disagreement with the company on any matter." TreeHouse is a food manufacturer and its largest customer is Wal-Mart. The company supplies pickles and other food products to the retailer.
The Obama party circuit continues tonight, NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum says. And one thing is clear: Obama continues to play to the younger generation of voters. Last night, the venue was the Electric Factory, a hip concert venue that typically attracts patrons in their teens and 20s. Tonight, the party's at DC's H20 Restaurant & Lounge, a trendy bar in the district. The DC kick-off is even advertised as a young professional event. To top it all off, the Facebook phenomenon is taking place once again -- complete with a page created by GWU students advertising the Generation O (Barack Obama) DC Launch Party.
Josh Teitelbaum, a law student at George Washington University is one of the administrators of the site. He says the entire process was spontaneous but easy. A GWU undergraduate contacted Teitelbaum because the law student had already started a GWU Law Students for Obama Facebook group. Together, they advertised the function to students and recent grads through Facebook.
