Oh-eight (D): Richardson's offensive
Posted: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:07 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Democrats
The Republican National Committee sent out this press release this morning: “Liberal Circus In Town! Democrat Leaders To Pander To Left-Wing ‘Take Back America’ Conference.”
CLINTON:
While it's no surprise Hillary and Bill Clinton are busy raising money before the end of this 2nd quarter, it's slightly surprising that surrogates -- like New York Senate colleague Chuck Schumer -- are
headlining fundraisers for her. The
AP notes that Bill Clinton will campaign with Hillary for the first time in Iowa on July 2-4, “seeking to boost her candidacy in a state where she trails in the polls.”
Clinton raised an estimated $1 million in New Jersey last night.
EDWARDS:
The
New York Times writes about Elizabeth Edwards on the trail with her husband in Iowa. “This past weekend was supposed to be Mr. Edwards’s big splash across Iowa — 14 communities in three days, a signal to Iowans and the political world that he indeed views victory in this state … as critical to his hopes of winning the Democratic presidential nomination. But even when it was not she who was talking, his wife was often the center of attention.”
The New York Daily News also profiles Elizabeth and how she’s responded to critics with a fighting spirit.
OBAMA:
Of all days for Obama to have his
Des Moines Register meeting, it was not great to have it as yesterday. The lead of the Register story? The oppo memo. (In fact, the paper dedicated an entire piece to the controversy and chose to put the "Obama on issues" in a sidebar.) According to the story, Obama said: “‘I think there's a big difference between us putting out a memo that says our competition says one thing but seems to be doing something else ... and, to me, the tone of this memo that came out of our shop ... it was sarcastic. To me, it was cheap,’ he said… Obama called the memo ‘a screw-up on the part of our research staff’ and said it was released on a not-for-attribution basis. He also said the attempt by aides to be cute eclipsed the more important issue of outsourcing U.S. jobs, a common grievance of Democratic activists in Iowa.”
Obama also officially apologized to Indian-Americans via letter. Per the Chicago Tribune, “‘In sum, our campaign made a mistake,’ Obama said in his letter. ‘Although I was not aware of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign-and in particular myself-responsible for the mistake.’” You can click here for the entire letter.
The Los Angeles Times notes Obama also placed calls to key Indian-American leaders to personally apologize.
The Des Moines Register’s Rekha Basu on Obama’s meeting with the staff, “For the press, which can be jaded and guilty of trying to rationalize our own sometimes caustic tactics, it was a valuable moment of candor. It made Obama seem real and flawed, just like the rest of us and - more importantly - willing to work on it.”
The Washington Post's Cillizza notes that Obama is being held to a higher standard on basic campaign tactics because of the tone he himself set. "The fact is that the ‘every campaign does it’ argument probably isn't good enough for Obama. Whether it is perception or reality, Obama is regarded as having set a higher standard for himself."
Obama will be in Ohio today to raise money and the folks in Youngstown wish he'd come back for a free event.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jennifer Hunter notices a trend that we've also seen in polling, moderate GOPers or right-leaning indies are showing an inclination of supporting Obama.
RICHARDSON:
His campaign got a leg up on his rivals by leaking his prepared remarks before the "Take Back America" conference to the
AP. Richardson will call out his Senate rivals out by name in the speech. “‘With all due respect to my Democratic colleagues, Senators Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Biden all voted for timeline legislation that had deliberate loopholes,’ Richardson said in prepared remarks. ‘Those loopholes allow this president, or any president, to leave an undetermined number of troops in Iraq indefinitely. And this is the same legislation that former Senator Edwards says we should send back to President Bush over and over again until he signs it.’”
Richardson already spoke at this morning’s AFSCME forum. He broke no new ground, but it should be noted that he is so much better in a forum format than a debate format. One of the surprises of this campaign has been his weakness at the debates. Today was a better day for him; he looked good and he sounded confident.
Richardson on Iraq, per NBC’s Carrie Dann: "As president, I have the clearest position. I would withdraw all of our forces without any residual troops by end of this calendar year ... I also believe that the Congress has been weak in trying to stop the war. Too often we're looking at funding resolutions, too often we're looking at timetables. What I would urge the Congress to do is press ahead with a major initiative to de-authorize the war to stop the war by the end of this calendar year."
