Oh-eight (D): Ha!
Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:31 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Democrats
BIDEN: He has a new op-ed he co-writes with Leslie Gelb defending his proposed political solution that he takes pains NOT to call "partition."
CLINTON: Looking to prove inevitability this morning? Well, the new
Washington Post/ABC poll is going to make a lot of folks in Ballston smile this morning. "For the first time, Clinton (N.Y.) is drawing support from a majority of Democrats -- and has opened up a lead of 33 percentage points over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). Her popularity, the poll suggests, is being driven by her strength on key issues and a growing perception among voters that she would best represent change. ... The new numbers come on the heels of an aggressive push by Clinton to dominate the political landscape. She unveiled her health-care proposal and then appeared on all five Sunday news shows on the same day -- all while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, went on tour to promote a new book. Within the past month, at least one Clinton has appeared on television virtually every day, increasing the campaign's exposure among millions of Americans."
"Support for Obama, now at 20 percent, has softened since early September and stands at its lowest point since he entered the race in February."
Speaking of polls, a new
Quinnipiac poll in New York has Clinton topping Giuliani by double-digits, more proof that even Giuliani won't REALLY put NY in play. Now, NJ and PA (and maybe even CT?), that's another story. By the way, Giuliani is competitive in NY with Obama; the two are tied.
The Hillary laugh is now getting "Gore-like Earth tones" coverage.
Howie Kurtz adds to the mix today with an analysis. "The subtext here is that the media have collectively decided that the wife of the 42nd president is the inevitable nominee and a good bet to become the 44th Oval Office occupant. Lacking much of a horse race, since Clinton has maintained a 20-point national lead over Barack Obama all year, journalists are resorting to a classic general-election question: Are Americans ready to have this woman in their living rooms every night for four years? Are they comfortable with her personality? Do they like her voice? "
Poet Maya Angelou talks to the
Des Moines Register to discuss her support for Clinton.
Clinton does an online interview with
Newsweek readers on its web site. A couple of highlights: Q: “Whether it’s fair or not, you and your husband are polarizing figures to many Americans. America needs some healing after all of the divisiveness of the last eight years. During the campaign and after, how will you convince the Clinton-haters that you can be a good president for all the people?” -- Cynthia, Denver
A: “Those were the things some people said about me when I first ran for the Senate. From my very first days in office, I worked hard to show people who I am, what I stand for, and what I can do. And I was extremely gratified to be re-elected with almost 67 percent of the vote -- and to win 90 percent of the counties that George Bush had carried just two years earlier.”
Q: “As the first woman president, what would you do differently from the men that have preceded you?” -- Dan, Ladera Ranch, Calif.
A: “Throughout this campaign thus far, I have been thrilled by the movement we are building. Fathers are driving long distances to bring their daughters to my events. Women in their 90s are telling me that they were born before women had the right to vote and that they want to live long enough to see a woman in the White House. When I am elected, we will have made history by working together.”
What would a Clinton II White House be like?: In its Oct. 8 issue,
New York Magazine’s Jennifer Senior takes a look at how a potential Hillary Clinton presidency might look differently from that of her husband. “So what’s it going to be? Will he stay out of her hair, traveling the world and working on his Nobel Peace Prize résumé? Or will he, having so much to contribute, also insist on an office in the West Wing and attend staff meetings, as she once did? And what will he do in the more delicate and complex scenarios, like legislative junctures that may affect her legacy: Will he use his muscle with members of Congress, meeting with them, charming them, taking them out for golf? ‘He’s always been a guy who could bloom where he’s planted,’ says Paul Begala, one of Clinton’s top advisers in his first presidential campaign. ‘Which is true, as we’ve all seen. But it’s up to Hillary to decide whether she wants him in the sun.’”
More: “From 1993 forward, she’s kept a separate and distinct staff --fanatically loyal, tight-lipped, mostly female -- making it hard to imagine how he’d fit comfortably into the West Wing. Their leadership styles and characterological differences couldn’t be more distinct: Hillary runs a tight ship and has little tolerance for wiftiness; where he’s inclined to meander, she’s inclined to drill down. She listens better than he does. Yet she’s warier of people than he is. She doesn’t believe that everyone’s susceptible to reason and gentle persuasion.”
By the way, the
cover of the issue shows what looks like an amalgamation of Bill and Hillary as a brunette with a pageboy flip and a red dress. The issue includes an irreverent – to say the least -- article by Ariel Levy on how Hillary changed the game forever for political wives.
EDWARDS: Kos all but writes off Edwards because of his taking matching funds.
The Boston Globe’s Scott Lehigh doesn’t buy what he calls Edwards’ “hick schtick” for New Hampshire: “Hmmmm. From Fred Harris to Dick Gephardt to Tom Harkin to Bob Kerrey, populists, of conviction or convenience, have actually fared poorly here. Add to that the state's well-tuned authenticity meter, and you see why I suspect Edwards's hick shtick just won't click.
In Portsmouth, NH, Edwards will announce a new plan for managing security contractors in Iraq. As President, Edwards will fundamentally reform our system for security contractors by: (1) Establishing Strong Quality Control and Accountability Measures; (2) Implementing a Formal; (3) Evaluation of the Role of Contractors; (4) Removing Cronyism out of Security Contracts; (5) Expanding Legal Oversight and Prosecutions; (6) Reestablishing a Democratic Military.
Some speech excerpts: “A week ago Sunday, Hillary Clinton said that she would continue to conduct combat missions in Iraq. If you’re not ending combat operations, you’re not ending the war. My plan is very clear. I would get 40-50,000 troops out immediately and would withdraw all troops from Iraq within 9-10 months, with the exception of those left to guard the Embassy (no more than a brigade) and to possibly protect humanitarian workers. And I’d launch a diplomatic offensive to get all local, national, and regional parties behind the comprehensive political solution that will end the violence in Iraq. The debate I expect to have next fall with Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani or whoever’s the Republican nominee is whether or not to end this war. But the debate Senator Clinton would be in is how big a war you’re going to have. We should leave it to the Republicans to offer America four more years of George W. Bush’s mess of a war in Iraq. …
“Our party, the Democratic Party, has to offer the American people real change, and that starts with ending this war for good, not just trimming it. Because being just a little bit better than the Republicans is not reason enough to be the President of the United States.”
OBAMA: Obama delivered his
fifth anniversary anti-war speech three times yesterday, in Iowa City, at DePaul University in Chicago and in Des Moines. "At each stop, Obama did not mention Clinton by name but took implicit aim at her claim that her vote in support of the war resolution was intended only to give President Bush more authority to seek weapons inspections in Iraq, and that she did not foresee how Bush would use it. ... So far, though, his campaign has struggled to capitalize on his war stance. Clinton has resisted apologizing for her vote and blurred her differences with Obama, who has generally voted similarly on Iraq-related measures since he joined the Senate in 2005. Polls show that Democratic voters who want the war to end prefer her to get that job done.
“The Clinton campaign dismissed Obama's criticisms as a rehash. ‘We believe voters are focused on the future and on ending the war in Iraq,’ said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer."
“Another candidate, Chris Dodd (Conn.), argued that Obama's charges contradicted his statement before the 2004 Democratic presidential convention that he did not fault John F. Kerry and John Edwards for their votes in favor of the war resolution because he did not know what intelligence they had access to."
The
New York Times’ Zeleny writes, "It remains an open question whether Mr. Obama’s approach -- reprising the past to foreshadow the future -- will gain traction in the final three months of the year as voters pay more attention to the race, and help him turn what many Democrats had once viewed as Mrs. Clinton’s biggest vulnerability against her."
NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli notes across New Hampshire Tuesday, Obama's campaign held events to draw attention to the anniversary of his '02 speech against the war in Iraq. Among them were viewing parties in 14 towns to watch a DVD documenting that speech and others since then, as well as stories of New Hampshire servicemen and women and their families.
In an interview, with the
Concord Monitor, Obama said that all Dems' Iraq plans are "variations on the same theme." Obama: "Now that they've determined we need to bring an end to the war, there are only so many ways we can do it." So instead, he wants voters to focus on the judgment he showed before the war started. Obama: "It was the most important foreign policy decision in a generation, and who got it right and wrong is relevant in determining who's got the experience and judgment to move forward."
And the Obama campaign is touting that the speech got front-page coverage with the
Des Moines Register.
Here’s an interesting observation from NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan. Sen obama was working out at the Iowa City gym this morning with Secret Service agents and his body man in tow. When I asked the two U of I students on the ellipticals on either side of me if they knew who that tall man was, they had no clue. But when she filled them in, they said, "Oh wow!"
