Oh-eight (D): Not her 'best' performance
Posted: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 8:58 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Democrats
BIDEN: The senator, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, issued this statement after speaking with Musharraf by phone yesterday: "We had a very frank and detailed discussion. I told President Musharraf how critical it is for relations between our two countries that elections go forward as planned in January, that he follow through on his commitment to take off his uniform and that he restore the rule of law to Pakistan. It is clear to me from our conversation that President Musharraf understands the consequences for his country and for relations with the United States if he does not return Pakistan to the path of democracy."
CLINTON: In an interview with
CNN yesterday, Clinton acknowledged that she wasn't "at her best" at last week's MSNBC debate. "We've had a bunch of debates and I wouldn't rank that up in my very top list,” she said. "But I've answered probably, I don't know, more than 5,000 questions over the last 10 months and I have been very clear about where I stand and what I want to do for the country."
On the drivers' license issue: "It depends upon what state they're in, it depends upon what [governors] think the risks are," Clinton said. "The governor of New York has a lot of immigrants, many of whom we know are not there legally; [he] has to worry about security. A governor of another state where that's not a problem doesn't.
"This issue has been so politicized," Clinton continued, "and I understand that, because you can score points, you can score all kinds of political, demagogic points."
Politico's Smith notes Clinton hedged -- again -- on the drivers' license issue.
By the way, here's the full context of Bill Clinton's comparison of the criticism his wife received over drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants -- to the Swiftboating of John Kerry and the targeted of Max Cleland. "We saw what happened the last seven years when we made decisions in elections based on trivial matters. When we listened to snide comments being about Vice President Gore being stiff, when they made dishonest claims about things he said he'd done in his life. When that scandalous Swift Boat ad was run against Senator Kerry, when there was an ad that defeated Max Cleland in Georgia, a man who left half his body in Vietnam. And a guy who had several deferments ran an ad with Max Cleland's picture with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden because he dared to vote against the president's version of the homeland security bill.
“I had the feeling at the end of the last debate we were about to get into cutesyland again. Y'all raise your hands if you're illegal immigrants getting drivers' licenses. So we let the Republicans run an ad that all the Democrats are against the rule of law. Look, I think it's fine to discuss illegal immigration. We should. Illegal immigration needs to be discussed. And it's fine for Hillary and all the other guys to be asked about Gov. Spitzer's plan. But not in yes, no, raise your hand."
Both Obama and Dodd "ripped" Bill Clinton for making a Swiftboat reference. Dodd: "To have the former President come out and suggest this is a form of Swift-boating ... is way over the top in my view.” Obama: "How you would then draw an analogy to distorting somebody's military record is a reach.”
The New York Post reports: “In a stunning in-house slap at the former president, a senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said the former president's remarks were not part of campaign strategy and were considered counterproductive by her advisers.”
EDWARDS: The campaign
retooled its most recent TV ad slightly to appeal to New Hampshire voters. "In the Iowa commercial all but one of the people shown are white, reflecting the majority of caucus-goers in Iowa. The New Hampshire commercial features an African-American woman in addition to the Hispanic waitress seen in the Iowa release. Asked about the differences between the two commercials, Eric Schultz, national spokesman for the campaign, said only that the commercial had ‘filmed a lot of New Hampshire faces’ to highlight ‘hardworking’ people. There are educators, union members, and other laborers, he said.”
The Boston Globe profiles Edwards’ daughter Cate, a student at Harvard Law. She has a full schedule between classes, work and campaigning for dad. In fact, she scheduled her classes so she’d have Mondays and Fridays free to campaign.
OBAMA: In his speech today in Iowa on “reclaiming the American Dream,” Obama will talk about his plans to provide middle-class tax cuts up to $1,000, to reform bankruptcy laws, and to provide refundable tax credit for college education. Per excerpts of the speech, Obama will say: “We’re not going to reclaim that dream unless we put an end to the politics of polarization and division that is holding this country back; unless we stand up to the corporate lobbyists that have stood in the way of progress; unless we have leadership that doesn’t just tell people what they want to hear – but tells everyone what they need to know. That’s the change we need."
The Politico: "The speech is aimed at expanding Obama’s base beyond the ‘NPR-listening, Starbucks-drinking, Prius-driving, Times-reading’ stereotype that has become a shorthand for his appeal to the party’s elite.”
The AP: “Obama offers a personal account of growing up without his father in a new ad airing on South Carolina radio stations that target black listeners. ‘My father left when I was two. I only saw him once after that. My mother did her best, struggling to take care of my sister and me,’ Obama says in the statewide ad airing on 36 stations.”
Obama kept a large crowd in Iowa waiting for more than an hour last night. The University of Iowa newspaper focused on the delay in its first five graphs.
Obama hit Clinton on her energy policy yesterday. "It's hard to believe that she is a strong ethanol supporter given her track record,” Obama told the Des Moines Register, “and this is something that represents a major reversal, and what we need is consistency on these issues. If she's willing to shift this quickly on this issue, we don't know whether she will shift back when it gets hard."
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NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann reports from Obama’s Cedar Rapids event: Team Obama's recent promise to "differentiate" itself from rival Hillary Clinton is in full force in the three-way-tie caucus state, and last night, Obama attempted to "differentiate" the living tar out of her. He slammed her on Social Security, diplomatic strategy, health-care reform, and ethics legislation. Perhaps most noteworthy was his closing pitch to the audience, in which he enumerated reasons why he's a better choice than his main rival. "A lot of people are asking ... why you instead of Hillary? I get that a lot," Obama told rapt supporters. "I just want to address this directly, so that if anybody asks you, you can say 'This is what he said.'"
NBC/NJ's Dann adds that Obama has faced a minor dust-up in recent weeks over a web-circulated photo that alleged to show him "refusing" to hold his hand over his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance during an August campaign event. A question from a voter in Cedar Rapids tonight demonstrated that the story hasn't gone away. A mother of two asked the senator about an email she received about the incident, adding that her five year-old son is "very concerned" about the matter.
Obama responded that the rumor is "completely misidentified," saying that the photo from the August Harkin Steak Fry was not taken during the pledge, for which he always places his hand over his heart, but during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. (Americans often salute the flag during the National Anthem by putting their hand over their heart, but that isn't a standard protocol like most consider the reverence shown during the Pledge.)
Obama added that he's no stranger to improbable rumors about him circulating the more bizarre reaches of the Web. "This is similar to the email that's going around that says that I'm a Muslim plant trying to take over America," he said. "There's only so much that you can do around this kind of misinformation."
RICHARDSON: Richardson is joining many other second-tier campaigns by
shifting staff from other states to Iowa. He's moving Nevada staffers to Iowa. "Richardson spokesman Tom Reynolds said Tuesday the New Mexico governor also had sent ‘some low-level field organizers’ from New Hampshire into Iowa. But he said top national staff from the campaign headquarters in Santa Fe, N.M., including the national political director, had been moved to New Hampshire for a net gain in that state."
