Oh-eight (D): The two Edwardses
Posted: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 9:10 AM by Domenico Montanaro
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Democrats
BIDEN: USA Today writes, “The Army has decided to ask for 10,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles to counter the threat of makeshift bombs in Iraq, according to one of the program's top congressional supporters. The new request is nearly four times the 2,700 vehicles, known as MRAPs, that the Army had sought. That's still not enough, said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who was briefed on the change by the Defense Department. Biden cited a request this year for 17,770 of the vehicles for the Army by Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 military commander in Iraq. ‘Until every soldier and Marine has the best protection we can give them, we must keep pushing,’ Biden said.”
CLINTON: The reviews of Clinton's health-care plan continue to roll in. The Los Angeles Times' Ron Brownstein is impressed with plan's attempt to NOT raise the ire of key potential opponents, like the insurance industry. "Clinton's proposal may not have entirely threaded that needle: Opponents will still rally against its cost and the government insurance option. But the plan does show she's thinking creatively about how to break the cycle of partisan polarization that for nearly two decades has doomed every domestic initiative as far-reaching as her second try at ensuring healthcare for all."
The New York Times: “The rollout of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care plan this week was intended to show that more than her policy ideas have changed in the past 14 years. The deeper message was that she has changed, too… This reintroduction is somewhat risky for Mrs. Clinton, as her advisers have acknowledged. They have said privately that if this election is about issues, she has a good chance of winning. But if it is about her and her personality, she faces a much more challenging task with voters, who can still find her polarizing.”
NBC/NJ's Athena Jones writes about the Clinton webcast last night on her health-care plan. While the webcast was billed as interactive, it wasn’t exactly a conversation. Her campaign’s blogger, Crystal Patterson, moderated the forum, reading the questions chosen. For the most part, Clinton reprised her previous speeches and TV appearances, stressing themes like the importance of having a choice of plans, covering pre-existing health conditions, and focusing on disease prevention and individual responsibility. She also talked about the need to do more to help improve women’s health.
Video: Hillary Clinton on her health care plan.
Clinton said America needed to get generic drugs to the market more quickly and might try to reduce prescription drug costs by looking abroad. “We’ve got to drive a tougher bargain and we have to even open up the possibility of re-importation of the drugs that we as taxpayers help to fund,” she said. In addition, Clinton talked about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and about the need to take care of veterans, making an apparent reference to the scandalous conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center.
The Politico keeps track of a donor that is being charged with involvement in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. Biden and Richardson have returned money they received from the guy. McCain and Clinton have not.
EDWARDS: The AP's Ron Fournier boils down Edwards' challenge: John Edwards' presidential campaign is not so much about the "two Americas" as it is about the two John Edwardses. “One image of Edwards is that he's a champion of the embattled middle class and poor, an up-from-his-bootstraps populist waging war against special interests who favor the rich and established. The other take: He's a phony.”
“Which is it? Is the Democratic presidential candidate a man of the people, as he says, or the fake his rivals call him? It may be that Edwards is not quite either caricature — that the answer, like much in politics, is less black and white than gray, and discerning voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will give Edwards his ultimate gut check.”
Edwards adviser Joe Trippi went after Clinton for holding a fundraiser with DC lobbyists yesterday. The
New York Daily News: “John Edwards aide: Hillary Clinton campaign 'corrupt'.”
The campaign’s New Hampshire operation lost its deputy political director because of the gentleman's "distasteful" emails he sent internally.
OBAMA: The AP says Obama yesterday “proposed an $80 billion to $85 billion tax cut for the middle class that includes a tax cut of up to $1,000 for 150 million people and their families; a homeowner's tax credit for those who do not itemize deductions; eliminating the income tax for seniors who make less than $50,000; and streamlining tax filings so that many Americans could complete tax returns in less than five minutes.”
The New York Daily News has this Robin Hood-esque headline on Obama’s tax plan: “Barack Obama tax plan takes from rich, gives to middle class.”
The New York Times: "Obama said he had not settled on how high to raise the capital gains rates, he added that he would ‘adjust the top dividends and capital gains rate to something closer to -- but no greater than -- the rates Ronald Reagan set in 1986.’ Later, aides said the top rates would be 20 percent to 28 percent. Most people now pay 15 percent on capital gains, with lower-income people eligible for a 5 percent rate.”
More: “Conservatives, who are already warning that a Democrat in the White House would endanger the economy by raising taxes, said Mr. Obama’s plan posed a particular risk by increasing the rate on capital gains for many taxpayers, a step they said would choke off the investment the economy needs to expand."
NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli reports that Obama's New Hampshire campaign held an event in Rochester with state Sen. Jackie Cilley to talk about the tax plan Obama unveiled in DC. "Under an Obama, administration work will be rewarded and opportunities will be advanced for all Americans," Cilley told the three local residents who came. Cilley talked about how his plan would help what she called the "missing class" that has been ignored under the Bush Administration. “Never before have there been policies that specifically address this group,” she said.
Obama's camp is holding six other roundtable discussions with groups of senior citizens in the state today and tomorrow. His New Hampshire camp has planned events with surrogates like these whenever Obama makes major policy announcements but can't personally make it up to New Hampshire.
During a "Countdown to Change" event yesterday evening, Obama's message of not needing Washington experience fell flat on a crowd of DC insiders, per NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan. He called on those in attendance to break free of being played by politicians who rely on Washington tactics.
NBC's Lauren Appelbaum adds the primarily college-aged crowd cheered loudly when Obama called for affordable college and closing Guantanamo. He promised to return honesty to the White House and to "reopen the doors to democracy back to the American people."
