More on the Obama mailer
Posted: Monday, November 19, 2007 12:20 PM by Mark Murray
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From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
As mentioned below, Obama's mailing to New Hampshire voters contains references to GOP Sens. Tom Coburn and Dick Lugar.
Indeed, on the campaign trail, Obama likes to tout his record with
working with Republicans on key pieces of legislation to prove that
he's really a candidate who can cross the partisan divide. He
frequently mentions Coburn (R-OK) and Lugar (R-IN), having worked with
them on two separate pieces of legislation.
Regarding Coburn, Obama usually says that he's
a man he has little in common with, but Obama was able to work with him
to pass legislation that created a public database to disclose how
federal monies were being sent. Regarding Lugar, Obama frequently says
he admires Lugar a great deal, and he even mentioned him at Thursday's
Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
But despite the warm words and relationship,
Senator Lugar's office had no idea that the Obama campaign was sending
out a mailer. According to Lugar's press secretary, Andy Fisher, Obama
and Lugar traveled together to Russia in 2005 to work on nuclear
non-proliferation issues where they first developed a close
relationship. But Fisher wouldn't say if Obama's public embrace of
their relationship was a good or a bad thing with Lugar's Republican
base.
"There's plenty of material on our Web site and Senator Obama's indicating that relationship," Fisher said, adding that Lugar has good relationships with many Democrats.
Fischer went on the say that their office wasn't told about the mailer, saying, "They are a campaign and they can do what they want to do."
*** Update *** John Hart, Coburn's communications director, says that a mailer citing Obama's relationship with the conservative Oklahoman is "completely fair," since the two share a strong personal and working relationship. "In Washington, you have two types of politicians -- those who are hyper-partisan and committed only to their own re-election and their party's, and you have those who are committed to a set of ideals. I think both Obama and Coburn fall into that category. So we can have a friendly debate on the issues we are opposed on, but there's a consensus against stupidity. No one liberal or conservative wants to see the government waste money and wants to see government transparency and accountability."
Hart added that the relationship between Obama and Coburn was unique because they are also friends, but that Coburn has also worked with other Democrats including Henry Waxman and Russ Feingold.
