March 2008 - Posts
From NBC's Mark Murray The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has just announced that
Clinton will appear on the show Thursday. Per the press release, it will be the third time she has been on Leno.
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan Does McCain really want troops in iraq for one hundred years? According to Obama the answer is yes.
"I don’t think it’s unfair at all," Obama said. "John McCain, I mean, we can run the YouTube spot, has said that we will stay there as long as it takes. And if it takes another 100 years, he’s up for that commitment and that implies that there is some criteria by which we would understand how long it takes.
Obama was told that McCain had said the presence would be similar to what the United States had done with Germany and Japan in World War II. Obama seemed to agree with that notion but pointed to the costs of the war as a reason to avoid that type of engagement.
Here's McCain's response on this to Tim Russert on Meet the Press.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Clinton said today.
The proposal announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would streamline regulations and give the Federal Reserve new powers to set rules for lending to and regulating a greater list of financial institutions.
The New York senator also continued to bash presumptive Republican nominee John McCain , accusing him of not having a plan for dealing with the economy. "Today, the Administration, through the Secretary of the Treasury, has announced that finally the Bush Administration is going to take some action to better regulate the financial markets," she said during a roundtable at a diner here Monday. "Well, after years of a wait-and-don't-see approach to the regulatory failures that led to the housing and the credit crisis, they've announced a plan that comes late and falls short. No amount of rearranging the deck chairs can hide the fact that our housing and credit markets are in crisis, and they're sinking deeper every day. Every day we fail to take aggressive action is a day lost. You know, Sen. McCain recently gave speech on the economy, and best I could determine his plan was not to have a plan. If he got the 3:00 am call on the economy, he would just let the phone ring and ring and ring."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Senate superdelegates endorsements earlier today . We've broken out the House backers as well, and Clinton leads 73-69. That means there are 92 House members who are undecided. Also of note among these House endorsers, 23 of Clinton's 72 are reps from New York (32%). By contrast, nine of Obama's House backers are from Illinois (13%).
Here's how Clinton's and Obama's superdelegate support breaks down:Obama 14-12TOTAL: Clinton 255, Obama 222
[EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this post did not include Murtha for Clinton or Eddie Bernice Johnson for Obama. Also, we do not include Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has endorsed Obama. Though she sits on and votes in committee, her title is delegate, not Congresswoman. It's the old DC license plate joke: Taxation without representation.]
Here's the list of the House backers:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger PHILADELPHIA -- While a final number may not be available for a few weeks, the Pennsylvania Department of State has released an update on the number of people registered to vote in the April 22 Democratic primary here. And it shows a massive registration effort on the final day of eligibility.
The state now has 4,119,213 registered Democrats. Since March 24, the last day of eligibility for the primary election, the state has received 33,281 new Democratic registrations and 45,977 party changes to the Democratic Party. The secretary of state’s office is still accepting new registrations and party switches that were postmarked by the deadline.
State officials said the activity on the final day was intense, and these new numbers likely include large swaths of registrations that were collected by both the Obama and Clinton campaigns and submitted just before the deadline.
Since the first of the year, the state has received 101,499 new Democratic applications and 132,688 switches to the Democratic Party.
By contrast, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania now stands at 3,197,586 people. Only 32,191 citizens have joined the Republican roles and 13,937 have switched to the GOP since January 1.
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy MERIDIAN, Miss. -- With a 20-minute long familial history here this morning, John McCain kicked off what his campaign is formally calling the “Service to America” tour meant to reintroduce McCain to voters. But if today was any indication, the tour could accurately be renamed "Faith of my Fathers on Stage."
This morning’s speech was a Cliffs Notes version of the McCain Family story found in the senator’s best-selling autobiography -- written with assistance from senior advisor Mark Salter. The message of the speech focused on how the military service of his ancestors inspired him to serve his country as well.
“The family I was born to, and the family I am blessed with now, made me the man I am, and instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the social institution that wields the greatest influence in the formation of our individual character and the character of our society,” McCain said. “Government must be attentive to the impact of its policies on families so that it does not through inattention or arrogance make it harder for parents to have the resources to succeed in the greatest work of their lives -- raising their children.”
The several hundred people seated in the audience sat quietly for the first 15 minutes of McCain’s talk before applauding loudly when the candidate called for the federal government to be mindful of its effects on the American family.
Going forward, McCain visits his high school and college in the coming days when he is expected to outline how his education shaped his character and prepared him for the presidency.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Several Democratic sources familiar with North Carolina politics expressed surprise at today's
Wall Street Journal story , saying that -- although several members of the delegation are likely
Obama backers -- an en masse endorsement would include nods from several Dems who most expected to stay on the sidelines in the
Clinton -Obama race.
A staff member close to one of the superdelegates in question confirms there is no truth to the story.
Per Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in North Carolina, "Despite the Wall Street Journal’s optimism, none of them has said told our campaign that they are ready to announce their endorsement of Senator Obama -- so we’ll keep working on it."
One Democrat who supports Obama did say that some elected officials and candidates for office in the state have expressed concern about a prolonged nomination, saying that many believe that a popular election result overturned by superdelegates "would destroy the party.." A mass endorsement by the delegation would send a clear message of party unity, he said.
But as of today, added another source familiar with the story, the idea might have simply been born of one Obama supporter's wishful thinking.
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann and NBC's Mark Murray Obama is heavily favored in the May 6 North Carolina primary. And not surprisingly, the Clinton campaign has downplayed expectations there (just like Team Obama has downplayed expectations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky).
But -- in a nod to the power of surrogates -- it's worth noting that the Clinton clan has visited the Tar Heel State more often than the Obama clan has since March 4.
Barack Obama -- 2 days, 3 total stops
Hillary Clinton -- 1 day, 3 total stops
From NBC's Pete Williams
A federal appeals court ruled that the FBI wrongly used its own agents look through the material seized to determine what might be covered by congressional privilege. This is a considerable victory for Jefferson, largely validating his objections to the search and giving him certain bragging rights. But prosecutors claim they have sufficient evidence independent of the search. The cash in his freezer, for example, was found well before Jefferson's offices were searched.
The court today handed down just one decision, a victory for Delaware. The state hoped to stop construction of a proposed British Petroleum liquified natural gas port on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. The court, acting in its special role as the sole decider of disputes between the states, ruled Delaware has a say in what's built on the New Jersey side of the river involving projects that would extend into the river, where both states have joint authority.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Klobuchar (D-Minn.) for Obama , we decided to take a look at who each Democratic senator is backing. Obama, it turns out, leads Clinton , 14-12. Twenty senators are uncommitted. A couple of notes... excluded from the list is the Florida-Michigan contingent of senators: Debbie Stabenow , of Michigan, who is backing Clinton; Carl Levin , of Michigan, who is uncommitted; and Bill Nelson , of Florida, who has endorsed Clinton. Also excluded are senators, who caucus with Democrats, but do not have a vote at convention: Bernie Sanders (I-VT-Uncommitted) and Joe Lieberman (I/D-CT-McCain ). Lieberman was stripped of his superdelegate status when he endorsed McCain.
Here's the full list of the Senate superdelegate endorsements:
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro Stay or go? To paraphrase that old Clash song, “Should she stay or should she go?” (“If I go there will be trouble; and if I stay it will be double…”) That was the question that continued to dominate the Beltway chatter over the weekend. The problem for Clinton is that she's busier trying to prove her relevance in the process rather than debating Obama about the economy, health care, or Iraq. Indeed, Clinton told the Washington Post that she’s in until the end. But it's simply not good for any campaign to have call up major national reporters to tell them that. A few questions we have about this interview: Did the need to do this come from financial duress, superdelegate duress, or both? Have more folks contacted the Clintons privately that the press hasn't heard about that's giving this pushback from the campaign more of a sense of urgency? Could some Clinton supporters (or even active campaigners, paid or unpaid) be ready to bolt? We in the media have been accused of creating this sense of urgency over whether she should stay in the race or not. But did Clinton herself need to add to the storyline with this interview? Apparently, she did. Nevertheless, more superdelegates are flocking to Obama. According to the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) will endorse Obama today. And the Journal also reports that Obama will get the support of North Carolina’s entire Democratic congressional delegation before that state’s primary on May 6.
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first read on the big superdelegate add for Barack Obama while Hillary Clinton continues to fight calls to drop out of the race. ***
“I’m reporting for duty,” part II : The comparisons between McCain's '08 bid and Kerry's in '04 have been unmistakable: Both men, early on, were their party's overwhelming favorites to win the nomination; then they encountered trouble and got overshadowed by other candidates; and then -- almost out of nowhere -- they locked up the nomination. Now, as McCain today embarks on his "Service to America" tour across the country, there's another comparison between the two men: the emphasis of their military experience. Today, McCain stumps in Meridian, MS, where he served as a flight instructor and where an airfield is named after his grandfather. Per excerpts of his speech, McCain will discuss his family’s lifetime of service, as well as his thoughts on how the government can support parents’ ability to raise their children. On Tuesday, he’s at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, where he graduated from high school. On Wednesday, it’s to Annapolis, MD, where he attended the US Naval Academy. On Thursday, he heads to Pensacola and Jacksonville, FL, where he served stateside. And on Saturday, he gives a speech in Arizona, which he now calls home.
*** But biography isn’t everything : McCain's military service -- including his five years as a POW in Vietnam -- is without a doubt one of the central narratives of his life and his political career. It is also something that clearly distinguishes him from both Obama and Clinton. But as Bill Kristol writes in today’s New York Times , you can’t win presidential on biography alone. “If voters had simply looked at the biographies of the major-party candidates, they would have chosen George H. W. Bush in 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Instead, they rejected four veterans who served in wartime (and who also had considerable experience in public life) for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who had lesser résumés, both civilian and military.” Kristol adds, “Campaign consultants like to say elections are about the present and the future more than the past.” Also, keep this in mind: If McCain fails to win the presidency, it will likely mean that no Vietnam War veteran will ever be president. That should keep historical psychologists busy for years.
*** The Texas three-step : Over the weekend, we finally got an idea of the complete Texas caucus results. But we still don't have final results. As for the change in the delegate count, NBC had already allocated all but nine of the 67 caucus delegates up for grabs. The Obama campaign is claiming they've secured seven of those nine; the Clinton campaign is not projecting their caucus delegate count but believes Obama may only net five of those nine, not seven. Still, the best case for Obama, based on our totals, is a net of five additional delegates -- so not a massive change in the numbers. He may be getting more superdelegate endorsements today than he'll net out of what's remaining in Texas.
*** The Goreacle speaketh : One person who doesn’t seem eager to step in and resolve the Clinton-Obama fight is Al Gore. "I'm not applying for the job of broker,” he said on 60 Minutes last night. But what Gore is doing is launching is “a three-year, $300 million campaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a move that ranks as one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history," the Washington Post writes. Climate change advocates have been frustrated that the issue is not yet a voting issue; Gore et al have succeeded in creating awareness, but they have yet to create a sense of urgency on the issue. That's what this campaign is designed to create.
*** Opening Day : Today is Opening Day, and after last night's amazing Nationals ending (thank you, Ryan Zimmerman!), it's a reminder that the beauty of Opening Day is that fans of EVERY team have high hopes and can think, "Maybe this is the year..." Well, today is a new Opening Day for McCain as he tries to jumpstart his general election campaign. And then there's Clinton, who desperately needs an Opening Day; the campaign needs that hope again. And as for Obama, he's like the baseball team who has a seven-game lead going into the final month of the season but hasn't yet clinched. The pennant appears to be his for the taking, but for some reason the veteran team chasing him keeps hanging around and hanging around…
*** On the trail : Elsewhere today, both Clinton and Obama are in Pennsylvania: Clinton hosts a roundtable discussion in Harrisburg and an economic rally in Fairless Hills, while Obama has a town hall in Lancaster and a rally in (cue Billy Joel) Allentown. Also, Bill Clinton stumps in Oregon. Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
On Sunday, the Washington Post ran this front-page story, “In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought … to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan… ‘I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong,’ Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. ‘I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.’”
“‘We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us,’ said the senator from New York. ‘I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don't figure out how we can count the votes in Michigan and Florida.’’
“As the smoke cleared from this weekend's regional Democratic conventions, Barack Obama emerged with a majority of the state's at-large presidential nominating delegates and possibly a majority of all Texas delegates,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “But Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters vowed Sunday to continue the fight for Texas delegates all the way to this summer's state party convention, promising to cut his lead in delegates.” More: "Clinton won the popular vote in the March 4 primaries and a majority of the primary-allotted delegates, giving her a 65-61 lead. Obama's campaign claimed he came out of this weekend's conventions with a 38-29 at-large delegate lead, giving him a five-pledged-delegate lead over Clinton... "Clinton state Chairman Garry Mauro conceded that Obama is likely to have a 37-30 advantage in the at-large delegates, which would give Obama a total lead of three pledged delegates over Clinton."
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post goes back and examines the attempt Obama and McCain made to work together on ethics reform. "[W]hat began as a promising collaboration between two men bent on burnishing their reformist credentials collapsed after barely a week. The McCain-Obama relationship came undone amid charges and countercharges, all aired publicly two years ago in an exchange of stark and angry letters. Obama questioned whether McCain sided with GOP leaders rather than searching for a bipartisan solution; McCain accused Obama of ‘typical rhetorical gloss’ and ‘self interested partisan posturing’ by a newcomer seeking to ingratiate himself with party leaders.”
More: “More than two years later, with McCain and Obama potentially poised to go head to head in a presidential campaign with stakes far greater than regulating who picks up steakhouse tabs, the reform fight has emerged as a looking-glass moment of what a fall campaign could resemble. McCain's backers view it as emblematic of Obama's ability to talk grand ideas and aspirations, but also of his ultimate failure to produce substantive results. Obama's supporters contend that the moment was vintage Obama, with the newcomer defusing the feud with a cool demeanor that allowed him to claim the high ground while rolling up his sleeves to eventually help pass a broader ethics overhaul bill in August 2007."
PENNSYLVANIA : The Boston Globe front-pages how the Democrats have moved from talking about NAFTA to “expanding beyond their past populist appeals and using a broader language that can address different experiences of economic change. In Pennsylvania, which on April 22 will host the largest of the remaining contests, Clinton and Obama have turned their emphasis from industrial policy to household economics, such as subprime mortgages, the rising price of gas, supermarket costs, and the interest rates charged on student loans.
CONTINUED >>
So does Clinton have a money problem? Apparently, the campaign is slow at paying bills, particularly for events. And some of these local vendors are actually warning colleagues about getting Clinton money up front. Per the Politico , “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.”
Moving the goalposts ... again? In Saturday’s New York Times , anonymous Clinton aides said if Clinton didn't win the Indiana primary, they'd urge her to get out. But if she narrowly wins Indiana but loses North Carolina, she'll have a hard time making up ground in the delegate count or the popular vote. There was one other quote that jumped out at us in this NYT piece: Rendell's bizarre claim on if rolls were reversed. “‘Just flip it for a second,’ Mr. Rendell said. ‘Let’s say Senator Clinton was ahead by about 110 delegates and ahead by less than 1 percent of the vote cast, and she and her supporters started to call on Senator Obama to get out. Just picture what the media would be saying. They’d be saying you’re being racist, you’re being everything in the world. It’s nuts! It’s nuts!’”
Really, governor? Really? There wouldn't be TWICE the pressure on Obama to get out than there is right now on Clinton? Rendell has been throwing around the race card easier than most folks of late.
The Los Angeles Times' Finnegan and Z. Barabak point out a fact that has gotten lost with many folks in the media who seem to have amnesia about the Clintons' role leading the Democratic Party in the '90s. "A complication for Clinton, as she courts superdelegates, is the rocky history that she and Bill Clinton have with many in the Democratic establishment. Obama portrays her as a Washington fixture, and after 15 years inside the Beltway -- eight of them as first lady -- the New York senator is very much steeped in the capital and its culture. So, too, are Clinton's campaign team and many of her political allies.”
CONTINUED >>
Per excerpts of the speech he will give today in Meridian, MS, McCain will say: “As you might know, I was once a flight instructor here at the air field named for my grandfather during my long past and misspent youth. And it’s always good to be in Mississippi, which you could call my ancestral home. Generations of McCains were born and raised in Carroll County, on land that had been in our family since 1848… By all accounts, the McCains of Carroll County were devoted to one another and their traditions; a lively, proud and happy family on the Mississippi Delta. Yet, many McCains left here as young men to pursue careers in what has long been our family’s chosen profession -- the United States Armed Forces.”
More: “The family I was born to, and the family I am blessed with now, made me the man I am, and instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the social institution that wields the greatest influence in the formation of our individual character and the character of our society.” Web video highlighting his family’s military service.
The New York Times curtain-raises McCain's general election kickoff week with a fact that many folks have whispered about for some time. "With attention focused on the Democrats’ infighting for the presidential nomination, Senator John McCain is pressing ahead to the general election but has yet to sign up one critical constituency: the big-money people who powered the Bush fund-raising machine."
CONTINUED >>
Obama drew 20,000 to Penn State . Check out the photo of him with the Penn State football jersey. Wasn’t he doing that in Austin, too?picks up the endorsement of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar today, giving him another superdelegate supporter. The endorsement will occur in a conference call at 10:30 am ET. “In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Klobuchar said Obama ‘has inspired an enthusiasm and idealism that we have not seen in this country in a long time.’” Also: "North Carolina's seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse Sen. Obama as a group -- just one has so far -- before that state's May 6 primary, several Democrats say." But Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells First Read that there will be no endorsements from North Carolina congressmen coming today. "That did not come from our campaign, we have not confirmed that," Burton adds.
The Washington Post caught Obama in an exaggeration about the Kennedy family role in getting his father to America. It turns out the Kennedys were not involved in any Kenyan airlifts until after Obama's father was safely in Hawaii. What is it about politicians trying too hard to be a part of history? Sometimes, there isn't a destiny; that's ok too.
The Los Angeles Times does something many Obama supporters have been asking the media to do for weeks: put Rev. Wright in some context. "Examining the full content of Wright's sermons and delivery style yields a far more complex message, though one that some will still find objectionable. For more than 30 years, Wright walked churchgoers every Sunday along a winding road from rage to reconciliation, employing a style that validated both. ‘He's voicing a reality that those people experience six days a week,’ said the Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member. ‘In that sense, he's saying they're not insane. That helps them to function the other six days of the week.’”
CONTINUED >>
Last week, we alerted you to the possibility that Ebay CEO Meg Whitman was pondering a gov run in 2010 in California. Well, her opponent could very well be ... Jerry Brown . "Brown spoke at the state Democratic Party convention Saturday, and boy, did he sound an awful lot like a candidate for Golden State governor -- again. Eerie.”
“Brown, who served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983 before term limits took effect, reminded his Democratic audience assembled in San Jose of some of his ‘highlights,’ like getting rid of former Gov. Ronald Reagan's bulletproof limousine and using a blue Plymouth from the state motor pool. Brown said he kept the Plymouth for eight years and put 240,000 miles on it, adding: ‘Now that's sustainability.’”
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan STATE COLLEGE, PA -- Obama has launched a charm offensive in Pennsylvania, forgoing days packed with town halls and cheering crowds at rallies to make small unannounced stops that take the locals by surprise.
Case in point, trying not to strike out in Pennsylvania to Clinton, Obama went bowling Saturday night at Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, five minutes from a hot dog shop that he had visited earlier in the day.
When Obama walked in with Sen. Bob Casey , who recently endorsed him, locals stopped munching mid-fry to stare. The presidential hopeful shook hands, posed for pictures and then joined local Roxanne Hart to bowl a few frames.
"I haven't bowled in 30 years," Obama declared before putting on size 13 1/2 shoes. Casey joined in, and the two rolled. Casey's ball went into the left gutter; Obama's rolled into the right. And so it went, though the locals didn't seem to mind the poor performance. Little kids offered advice and joined in the game. Casey managed to improved steadily, though the last time he bowled was in high school. Obama's balls on the on the other hand meandered their way into the gutter time and time again.
"My economic plan is better than my bowling!" Obama declared at one point to the crowd that had gathered around the lane, growing with each frame as patrons texted and called friends and family to see the political spectacle.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Chelsea Clinton said that the trade deal is one area of disagreement between her parents.
"Well, we don't agree on everything as a family," she told the questioner at a Q&A session of North Carolina's Young Democrats in Durham yesterday. "My mother and father agree on most things, not everything," she added. "And what you're talking about is one example of that."
NAFTA is likely to be a major issue in the state for the presidential primary, as many residents blame the loss of textile and manufacturing jobs on the trade deal spearheaded by Bill Clinton's Administration.
Chelsea Clinton also delivered an impassioned defense of her mother's candidacy when a friendly questioner asked if she thought her mother has been mischaracterized by the press and the public during the prolonged nomination fight.
"I didn't really get how much sexism there was in this country," she said, citing examples of voters who had approached her with concerns about a woman's capacity to be commander in chief. She singled out gag gift figurines of her mother as a "nutcracker" ("not in anything that I'd consider a respectful posture," said Chelsea) as particularly offensive.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli WILLIAMSPORT, PA -- Calling Hillary Clinton “the most unconventional person I have ever seen to be running for president,” Bill Clinton yesterday highlighted his wife’s advocacy for children as a young woman as an example of her work as a change-maker.
Bill Clinton, still wearing a greenish suit after his visit to a St. Patrick’s Day parade earlier, told a crowd of several hundred about Hillary’s work after law school for the Children’s Defense Fund, saying that part of her efforts led to legislation guaranteeing all children the right to a public school education without regard for disabilities.
“It changed lives for millions and millions of families. And she was doing that when she was a young woman, making changes in other people’s lives,” he said.
He then referred to the three remaining candidates, saying all were “admirable people,” but that if one compared their records as an agent of change “it is not close.” But, he added, the coverage of the race hasn’t borne it out.
“She’s the most unconventional person I have ever seen to be running for president, because she did most of this before she had an elected office,” he said. “[But] you never read about any of stuff in the press, do you? Because the intermediaries of the campaign, these kinds of things don’t matter to them, because they don’t need a president, they need a story. They want a feeling. You gotta decide whether you need a president or not.”
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan Obama yesterday said that Sen. Patrick Leahy's call for Clinton to leave the race was premature, declaring that Clinton had a right to stay in the race as long as she wanted.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann and NBC's Chuck Todd Check out this line from today's Bill Clinton-signed fundraising email for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign: "We're facing a big deadline on Monday. Our opponents and the media will scrutinize our fundraising reports and look for any sign of weakness. By making a contribution today, you can help make sure we show nothing but strength."
Of course, the campaign could be playing an expectations game.
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan GREENBURG, PA -- Barack Obama promised that his foreign policy would be a return to what he says was the realist approach practiced by George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
"My foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional realistic policy of George Bush's father, of John F. Kennedy, of in some ways Ronald Reagan," he said Friday. A voter at the town hall in Greenburg had asked Obama to respond to charges that his foreign policy was naïve.
"It is George Bush who has been naïve and it's people like John McCain and unfortunately some democrats that have facilitated him acting in these naïve ways that have caused us so much damage in our reputation in the world," Obama said.
Drawing on the example of the first Gulf War, Obama said that the first President Bush had "conducted a Gulf War with allies that ended up costing twenty billion dollars and left us stronger because they were realistic."
"Remember, people were saying why didn't you go into Baghdad and overthrow Saddam Hussein? The realists understood that that would be a nightmare. And it wasn't worth our national interests," Obama added.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan GREENBURG, Pa. -- The Clinton campaign today accused the Obama campaign of "false advertising," claiming that a recent ad Obama released in Pennsylvania was disngenous because Obama has been the recipient of more than $200,000 from the oil and gas industry.
In the ad, Obama says, "I'm Barack Obama, and I don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists, and I won't let them block change any more."
Obama has taken $213,884 from the oil and gas industry as of Feb. 29th, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken $306,813 in that same period.
Two of Obama's campaign bundlers are also CEOs for oil and gas companies, per a list released on his campaign Web site.
Robert Cavnar, listed as a bundler who has raised between $50,000 to $100,000 for the campaign, is the chairman and CEO of Mission Resources Corp., a Houston-based firm. George Kaiser, also listed in the same $50,000 to $100,000 category, is the CEO of Tulsa-based Kaiser-Francis Oil Company.
"It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is using false advertising to explain why he can be trusted to do something about energy prices," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said. "Senator Obama says he doesn't take campaign contributions from oil companies but the reality is that Exxon, Shell, and others are among his donors."
Obama routinely criticizes companies like Exxon-Mobil on the stump, but over the course of his presidential campaign he has taken more than $30,000 from individuals working for Exxon-Mobil. Clinton has taken more than $20,000 from Exxon-Mobil in the same period.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Hillary Clinton's No. 1 fan thinks of recent calls for her to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination, Bill Clinton has three words for you: "Bunch of Bull."
"All these people tell you, 'Aw, we oughta shut this thing down now; the Democrats are so divided,'" Clinton said at a campaign event here. "That’s a bunch of bull."
The former president went on to note that he did not earn enough delegates to clinch the 1992 nomination until June of that year, around the same time that the final primary votes will be cast this year.
He also argued, as he often does, against the "disenfranchisement" of voters in Michigan and Florida. "She wants you to have your say," he added.
Notably, Clinton described the remaining primaries as contests for the popular vote (not for delegates.) "Now we’re going to have to go all the way through to the end to see who has the most popular votes," he said. "And that’s good."
From NBC's Mike Viqueira Pelosi , wherein the speaker expresses concern about the tone of the Democratic presidential contest spilling over and harming House races.
Dear , I will do whatever it takes to protect our candidates and make sure their campaigns to drive change forward don't skip a beat. I need you to do the same. Please support our candidates now with a donation to the DCCC before the critical March 31st deadline hits by going to www.dccc.org/deadline .
She or he will lead our energized and united Democratic Party in the larger fight against John McCain, and his plan for 100 more years of war in Iraq. Now is the time to capitalize on the excitement that is sweeping the nation to ensure that our next President has a strong Democratic majority in the House to work with as we undo the damage from President Bush's failed economic policies.
Nancy Pelosi
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan Paul Tewes, Obama's state director in Iowa, will head to the Keystone State tomorrow to take over the campaign's GOTV operation.
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones
As Hillary Clinton kicked off a long day of campaigning in the Hoosier State Friday, her campaign painted the fight here as an uphill struggle.
State director Robby Mook cited a statewide Howey-Gauge poll, showing Clinton running behind Obama and said that was partly due to his being from a neighboring state. The most recent Howey-Gauge poll found , taken in mid-February, showed Obama leading by 15 points.
Still, Mook said the campaign was active in every congressional district and would be announcing new office openings in the coming days. Clinton is set to hold a press conference in Hammond, Ind., this afternoon to announce the endorsement of seven mayors from cities in the Western part of the state, bordering the Chicago media market, an area seen as favorable to Obama. None of the mayors are superdelegates.
Clinton, who trails Obama in pledged delegates, the popular vote and the number of states won, needs to do well in the remaining contests to bolster her argument that having won several of the biggest states and most recent states, she will be more electable. For at least the third time this week, the New York senator referred this morning to calls from some for her to drop out of the race, this time citing a poll by
Rasmussen , an organization that does not use the preferred telephone interview survey method.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan
"You know, I did not press him on this endorsement, you know there were some people that I was nagging all the time," Obama said of reaching out to Casey. "Bob I thought to myself, there's great reason for me to press him; I told him I'd love to have his support, but I understood that you know we're behind in the Pennsylvania polls. I just want to say it would have been easy for Bob just to stay out of it, just to stay neutral. I think everybody would have accepted that.
"But when he called me and said, ‘I think this is the right thing to do,’ it meant as much to me as any endorsement that I've received on the campaign trail," Obama added.
Casey introduced Obama and spoke to the potential of his leadership.
VIDEO: Watch Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey’s remarks while endorsing Barack Obama . CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger Chelsea Clinton was asked whether her mother would be a better president than her father, and she said yes.
Speaking at Lehigh Valley Hospital Friday, she laughed when a man in the front row asked her to choose between her parents.
“His question is, ‘Do I think my mother will be a better president than my father,’” she said. “Well, again, I don’t take anything for granted, but hopefully with Pennsylvania’s help, she will be our next president, and yes, I do think she’ll be a better president.”
Clinton spoke for more than an hour at the hospital, taking mostly questions about healthcare issues.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Clinton supporter Joe Sestak was on with NBC's Andrea Mitchell during the 1 pm MSNBC hour, and slipped in one response. Mitchell asked him if he was concerned that if this fight goes to convention that it could tear apart the party.
Sestak replied that he's not, that he's confident that if Obama were to lose the nomination, he'd turn around and say, "Support her." And if Clinton were to lose the nomination, she would turn around and say, "Support me."
Whoops.
Shaking his head, Sestak quickly corrected: "Support him."
We know what he meant, but still funny.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Here's Obama's latest aworking-class appeal...
Here's the script: OBAMA [with backdrop of factory]: I moved to chicago to help workers, whose lives were torn apart when steel plants like this one left town. For decades, politicians have talked about protecting jobs, but the power of Washington lobbyists stops anything from changing. I'm Barack Obama. I'm the only candidate who doesn't take their money, and they won't run my White HOuse.
We'll fix our trade laws [on screen: "Register to vote by April 7th], end tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas and give them to those who create jobs here in America [on screen: IN.BarackObama.com 866-675-2008]. That's why I approve this message.
*** UPDATE *** first ad in North Carolina . *** UPDATE 2 ***
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Clinton has a fundraising message: Don't count me out. And she sets the bar for the upcoming primaries, that this isn't just about Pennsylvania.
Here's the email:
Have you noticed the pattern?
Every time our campaign demonstrates its strength and resilience, people start to suggest we should end our pursuit of the Democratic nomination.
Those anxious to force us to the sidelines aren't doing it because they think we're going to lose the upcoming primaries. The fact is, they're reading the same polls we are, and they know we are in a position to win.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro High profile Obama backer, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), told Vermont Public Radio that he thinks Clinton should drop out and back Obama.
"There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough
VIDEO: Sen. Patrick Leahy explains his view that the ongoing political tussling between Obama and Clinton may be helping McCain’s candidacy. Here's the full transcript:<
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Clinton leads Obama 36-12 among the Jewish superdelegates, according to a survey by the Forward , a Jewish newspaper. Twenty-six Jewish supers are undecided.
Here's the Forward's list of who's fallen behind whom and who's undecided:
CONTINUED >>
From MSNBC.com’s Andy Merten MSNBC.com in an interview this week . “There’s two ways to succeed: One way is to beat them by getting more votes, and we could turn this into a three-way race,” he insisted, adding, “And the second is to have them take our issues and run with them.”Meet the Press last month, isn’t holding his breath for McCain, Clinton or Obama to become mouth pieces for his pro-consumer, high corporate oversight presidential platform any time soon. Asked if Obama’s message of change quelled his frustration with two-party domination, he said he doesn’t see any real differences between the Illinois senator and his presidential opponents.
“I think he’s a corporate Democrat,” he said of Obama, likening him to Clinton and McCain. “As a senator, he has not championed the cause of consumers and workers against corporations.
VIDEO: Ralph Nader speaks with MSNBC.com about his platform of consumer advocacy. But Nader doesn’t seem delusional about his likelihood of winning the presidency later this year. After all, he garnered just 0.38% of the vote in 2004 after receiving 2.74% in 2000. (He is still seen by many Democrats as
having cost Al Gore the election , particularly in Florida.) Instead, Nader likens his candidacy to political movements of the past that have spurred larger social change.&.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Here's the statement:
From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro *** Obama's Step Forward? Taking the week cumulatively, is there any other way to look at it other than a big step forward for Obama? Every piece of initial evidence from last week showing potential trouble for Obama faded, particularly on the polling front, whether nationally or in key states. Toss in the frustration the Clinton campaign is showing (why are they letting us see them sweat so much, particularly over Pelosi and Florida/Michigan?). And end it with serious flirtation with a potential running mate that could solve many of Obama's problems in fell swoop when it comes to Jewish voters and voters worried about his lack of executive experience (Michael Bloomberg), and it's been a very good week for Obama. That said, did Obama miss an opportunity this week? The media, once again, seems ready to write Clinton's campaign obit and had Obama unveiled, say, 20 to 25 superdelegate endorsements in a 24-to-48-hour period, that would have fed a Clinton obit wildfire. The fact that the Obama campaign hasn't done this means they either are being overly cautious or they just don't have as many superdelegate endorsements in their back pocket.
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd discusses Obama's endorsement by Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey. ***
Being John McCain: One of the toughest things for a presidential candidate that is supposedly so well-known is having the discipline to re-introduce yourself to voters. McCain is doing that next week and begins, in fact, today with the unveiling of a new TV ad which emphasizes what folks probably know a little bit about, his heroism in Vietnam. The tag line in the ad -- "John McCain The American president Americans have been waiting for" -- makes it clear that the campaign plans to use the hero card a lot. And it's also a subtle reminder that if McCain is elected, he too could be a historic figure, which is something the campaign might be worried is getting lost in the Obama-Clinton euphoria in the media and the electorate. Elevating McCain on a pedestal and creating this sense of destiny appears to be part of what the campaign is hoping to create next week. More importantly, what the campaign needs to have happen following next week is a mini-surge in the polls. There's something about his small lead nationally that doesn't seem to be big enough right now. Once Democrats settle on a nominee, that candidate will see a poll surge of sorts, and McCain isn't going to want that surge to move his numbers from dead heat to 10 points down. Better that the surge goes from 10 points up to dead heat. So measure the success of next week by what kind of lead McCain starts building (if any) in the national polls.
***
Veepstakes: Who knew Mitt Romney was going to work so hard to get on the ticket. It's one thing to endorse McCain, he HAD to do that. But helping him raise money in multiple states and doing a mini-fly around is clearly above and beyond. While on paper it seems unlikely that McCain-Romney is a winning ticket, think about where the battleground will be in a match up with Obama: it'll be in the Midwest and West, two places where Romney could help. Obama's electoral map is much more heavy on western states and will be much more precarious in the rust belt, particularly Michigan (a Romney home state). In addition, a surge in Mormon support in places like Colorado and Nevada could help a McCain-Romney ticket hold off a surprisingly popular Obama in those states. Many a state poll has shown that Obama, more so than Clinton, has a better shot at putting three of the four corner states in play (Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico). Toss in Montana, and it's clear that McCain may indeed need to find someone who can help him in his home region.
***
Back to MI/FL: Need more evidence this Democratic fight could be headed to Denver? Clinton yesterday was asked on FOX how she could get the Michigan/Florida delegates seated. "We can always go to the convention -- that's what credentials fights are for," she said, assertively. And check this, a new online petition urging Howard Dean to count the votes from Florida and Michigan, which was, per Hotline, “launched by HRC bundlers." Once again, this could be Clinton supporters who think they are helping but in fact are hurting. But because there is such a level of strategic distrust between the Clinton money folks and the team running the campaign, there's a lot of freelancing going on and as much as we may know it's not something the actual Clinton campaign is pushing, that isn't the perception being left to those undecided superdelegates.
***
The delegate count: With Sen. Bob Casey’s (D-PA) endorsement of Obama (and joining of his bus tour), Obama has now picked up three superdelegates since Wednesday (Don Williams of CT and Dan Lipinski of IL are the other two). By the way, Rahm “I’m staying neutral” Emanuel is now the ONLY remaining elected superdelegate from Illinois NOT to endorse. Here’s the count: Obama leads among pledged delegates 1408-1251; Clinton leads now among superdelegates, 255-221. Added together, Obama's overall delegate lead is 123: 1629-1506. BTW, on the Casey front, it actually shouldn't be that surprising. Casey and Rendell are usually on opposite sides. What's ironic about the endorsement is that Casey actually needs to emulate the electoral victory of Rendell in that contentious Rendell-Casey '02 Dem GOV race more so than Casey, whose voters are probably leaning more Clinton.
***
On the trail: Clinton makes four stops in Indiana with three town halls and one roundtable, all focused on the economy; McCain raises money in Las Vegas, then spends the weekend down in Phoenix; Obama appears on The View and campaigns in Pittsburgh and holds a town hall in Greensburg; and Bill Clinton is in North Carolina.
Greensburg; and Bill Clinton is in North Carolina.
Countdown to Pennsylvania: 25 days
Countdown to North Carolina, Indiana: 39 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 221 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 298 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Text FIRST to 622639 to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
PENNSYLVANIA: 4/22 (158 delegates) Obama has some
catching up to do to match the Clinton campaign’s advantage in organization and support in Pennsylvania.
The Clinton office was confused by a
volunteer’s behavior and after an Internet search determined he was an Obama volunteer. “‘I was just there to check things out,’ said Sam Glenzer, who oddly used his real name when signing in at the Clinton campaign office. Glenzer said he had nothing nefarious in mind.”
NORTH CAROLINA: 5/6 (115 delegates) NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann notes an incredibly busy schedule for Bill Clinton. Today, he does a whopping seven-stop campaign blitz through western North Carolina, starting in Greensboro and working his way to liberal enclave Asheville. Along the way he'll stop in a series of towns of 40,000 or less, including Hickory. ("There are Democrats in Hickory?" jokes a local operative.) The schedule looks a lot like Clinton's daily event roster in Texas -- rapid-fire stops geared less at media markets than at the sheer volume of potential hands for the former president to shake. Any surprise that the campaign here is masterminded by Ace Smith, the engineer of Clinton's Texas win?
Asheville area superdelegate Carol Peterson will be
in attendance at tomorrow's appearance by Bill Clinton. Peterson, a DNC member, has said she'll remain uncommitted through the primary.
Hillary Clinton's visit to the state gets local coverage
here ,
here , and
here .
Does Hillary Clinton know the difference between Eastern and Western Carolina BBQ? Enough that she knows it's one of the issues too controversial in the state to risk taking a side on. "I know a question not to answer," she laughed yesterday in response to the inquiry of which style she prefers. In the same interview with the
Winston-Salem Journal , she denied that her husband's "other stuff" remark in Charlotte last week was "a negative comment about anyone." She also said that no one other than a president can claim experience with the kind of emergency invoked by her "3AM" ad, but that she's "been there for a lot of 3am phone calls with my husband."
PUERTO RICO: 6/1 (55 delegates) Since the island's primary could become important, it's worth noting that Obama's chief supporter in the territory, Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, was
indicted “of soliciting thousands of dollars in improper contributions in exchange for favors and government contracts on the U.S. commonwealth island." Interestingly, Vila's chief lobbyist in DC is McCain strategist Charlie Black. Nothing like the small world of Washington.
In an extensive interview with the NYT , Clinton talks health care. She "said she would like to cap health insurance premiums at 5 percent to 10 percent of income. The average cost of a family policy bought by an individual in 2006 and 2007 was $5,799, or 10 percent of the median family income of $58,526, according to America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group. Some policies cost up to $9,201, or 16 percent of median income."AP has a fact-check of sort that doesn't look good for Clinton when it comes to her role in the Northern Ireland peace process. "Clinton's longtime claims to have played a difference-making role in Northern Ireland attracted no criticism until the buildup to St. Patrick's Day this year. To some ears, her most recent comments have raised a false impression that she helped produce the landmark Good Friday peace accord of 1998. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern came to Clinton's defense, meeting with the senator in Washington -- and making his first phone call to Obama.
CONTINUED >>
The campaign unveiled its first TV ad of the general election, which will run, for now, only in New Mexico (5 EVs). This is a state that was carried by Gore in '00 but flipped to Bush in '04. This appears to be a preview of what next week's biography tour will be focused on; getting to know McCain.Politico’s Ben Smith points out, “The narrator is Powers Boothe, best known for his work in ‘Deadwood’ and ‘Red Dawn.’”USA Today previews the bio tour McCain is embarking on. He will be "visiting schools and military installations "that have played a significant role in shaping who I am today," as McCain put it in a fundraising letter. Senior campaign adviser Charles Black said, "We do not take it for granted that people know his background." The goal is to fix McCain's image in the voters' minds before the Democrats do it for him -- provided he has the money." Stops include Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va.; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.; military bases in Florida and Mississippi; and his political base in Arizona. The son and grandson of admirals, McCain is also expected to discuss his service during the Vietnam War.
CONTINUED >>
A big superdelegate get for Obama, Bob Casey Jr., the frosh senator (and one-time RIVAL of Clinton's chief Pa. supporter, Ed Rendell). Casey who hails from the ultimate working class Dem stronghold of Scranton will campaign extensively for Obama during the candidate's bus tour of the state. Interestingly, Obama, while getting the support of Casey, needs to borrow from the Rendell '02 Dem GOV primary playbook, in order to win the primary, a race that Casey lost. Philly Inq : "The endorsement comes as something of a surprise. Casey, a deliberative and cautious politician, had been adamant about remaining neutral until after the April 22 primary.Washington Post takes a closer look at the Obama online fundraising machine. "Obama's unprecedented online fundraising success is often depicted as a spontaneous reaction to a charismatic candidate, particularly by young, Internet-savvy supporters. But it is the result of an elaborate marketing effort that has left Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, and Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, struggling to catch up.
CONTINUED >>
BLOOMBERG: Don't believe the NYC mayor and ex-CEO is interested in being Obama's second banana? Then take a look at THIS newsy NYT lead. "It was only hours after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg finally made it clear that he was not running for president that his chief political guru, Kevin Sheekey, suggested that he would be the perfect running mate for Senator Barack Obama.ROMNEY: It is remarkable how much Mitt Romney is helping McCain . If you didn't believe it before, then believe it now, this guy wants the second slot... badly.
CONTINUED >>
So Iraq will trump the economy in congressional races? "More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to promise that, if elected, they will push for legislation calling for an immediate drawdown of troops in Iraq that would leave only a security force in place to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad," the Washington Post writes.
Here's First Read's writeup.
Former NBC News Political Director Elizabeth Wilner becomes the
second senior hire for the new Peter G. Peterson Foundation, whose mission is to focus public attention on, and promote solutions to the key sustainability challenges that threaten America's future: entitlement, health care, and deficit spending. Wilner will serve as Director of Public Affairs. The new Foundation's CEO is former US Comptroller General David Walker, whom David Broder recently called "perhaps the most outspoken official in Washington warning of the fiscal train wreck that awaits this country unless it mends its ways." Broder wrote, "No task is more important to our future."
From NBC’s Kristin Wilson To a crowd of enthusiastic college students at Dickenson College in Carlisle, Pa., including more than a handful of Obama supporters in T-shirts and waving signs, Bill Clinton told the crowd why his wife would make the best president.
And, in a move that's becoming more and more common, he favorably aligned his wife with the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain.
"We now have a bipartisan majority in the U.S. Senate, bipartisan, to do something about global warming and do more buildings like this,” Clinton said, “because she and John McCain took reluctant Republicans all over the world and showed them how the planet was changing. She will work with anybody, go anywhere, do anything to move America forward.”
More Bill: "I'm always a little apprehensive when I get up to speak," he said. "I think, you know, people are gonna be kinda looking at me saying, 'I better discount about half of what he says. I mean, they're married, he's gotta say that or he can't go home tonight.'
From NBC's Chuck Todd The Obama campaign's hopes of winning the 6/1 Puerto Rico primary might have been dealt a serious blow with
this news , as reported by the
New York Times : "Aníbal S. Acevedo Vilá, the governor of
Puerto Rico ,
has been charged with 19 criminal counts related to the financing of
three political campaigns from 1999 to 2004, including conspiracy to
violate federal campaign laws, wire fraud and illegally using campaign
funds for his personal use, according to a federal indictment unsealed
on Thursday."
Obama was endorsed by Acevedo Vila
last month .
From NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy and Romney talked to reporters on the plane en route Denver, where McCain will be attending a fundraiser tonight. They took questions on their relationship, the Democrats' protracted fight and, of course, the veepstakes.
On the GOP nomination process
Romney: The process was very good to you. I don't think I'd be terribly critical of it. And actually I feel that it was pretty good to me to too. I made a lot of progress and was pretty pleased I made the progress I did, but I'm sure that -- you're absolutely right senator, we all question a process that begins so early and I think in some respects detracts from the work of the president as he's carrying out his elected duties when you have a campaign going two full years before the election.
Romney: I think you'll find that the Republican Party -- like any great family -- comes together, will be strongly united behind our nominee, and I think that kind of unity is going to be one of the reasons he'll be successful in November.
Q: Does the Dems protracted primary benefit McCain? Romney: I personally feel that in the final analysis, all of the to and fro of a campaign is brushed aside in the mind of the voters as they think about what is going to be best for their future, how will their families be raised, will there be peace on the planet, will we have a clean environment. These are the issues that will be the deciding factors in people's minds, and in the interim there's all the give and take of the politics of the day, but that really, I think, increasingly vanishes as people look at the differences in perspectives and policies of those running for president.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Libby Leist Rice spoke in a closed session to Grover Norquist's Amercians for Tax Reform yesterday morning in Washington, the blogosphere began to speculate that Rice must be floating the idea of running on a ticket with John McCain
But, Rice's spokesman laughed it off today insisting that her talk to Norquist's group was all about U.S. foreign policy and Rice herself dismissed the idea last month when asked at a press conference if she would consider running as Vice President (see below)
All signs out of the State Department are that Rice's immediate plan is to head back to California, teach at Stanford and write a book.
Feb. 22, 2008:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger Chelsea Clinton mistakenly said President Bush had not toured the Middle East as president before arriving there earlier this year.
Speaking at a retirement community outside of Philadelphia, the former first daughter suggested Bush had not been as engaged in the Middle East as previous Commanders-In-Chief, comparing his work to President Clinton’s in Northern Ireland.
“President Bush was in the Middle East last month, and its great that he was there, but that was his first trip there as president,” she said at the Wood River Village Assisted Living Center. “He’d visited our men in northern Iraq before but he’d never been to Israel; he’d never been to Jordan, he’d never been to Saudi Arabia or Egypt; he just hadn’t been.”
Bush in fact traveled to Egypt, Jordan and Qatar in 2003, and was in Jordan again in 2006. His trip in January 2008 was his first to Israel.
She spoke for more than an hour at the retirement home, addressing a wide range of issues, including healthcare, immigration and stem cell research.
Chelsea Clinton is making her first independent appearances since being asked earlier this week about the Monica Lewinsky scandal at a college town hall meeting. She will attend several events in the Philadelphia area Thursday and will speak in Allentown and Bethlehem on Friday.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum Obama campaign as an emerging successful business model. McGirt both investigates how Obama’s campaign approach challenges both conventional political assumptions and conventional business assumptions and also challenges “any forward-looking business” to examine the campaign’s successes “from marketing strategies and leadership styles to the future of the American workplace.”
McGirt writes that Obama’s ability to connect with and mobilize the 18 to 29 age group through new media and online social networks acts as a base for his success. On a personal level, the presidential hopeful uses a Web cam to keep in touch with his wife and daughters while on the road. And on the campaign level, he capitalizes both on his own Web site, which allows supporters to create their own content and interact with one another, and in external content including viral videos created by supporters such as Obama Girl (though she hasn’t said she’s voting for him necessarily) and the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am.
While several people McGirt interviewed pointed out the difficulty in controlling the message from so many external sources, McGirt also writes the Obama campaign oversees the content posted on its Web site and responds to posts on other sites. The overwhelming success of Obama's online strategies, with credit due to outside aid, shows in his ability to convert Web hits into donations.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Viqueira A Democratic source in Washington provides the following letter from a major Democratic donor as evidence that yesterday's "shakedown" letter to Speaker Pelosi is having an effect antithetical to its intention.
Leslie Walker Burlock of San Francisco writes yesterday to Nancy Pelosi pledging the max $28,000 to the DCCC. The Dem source says Ms. Burlock wrote after learning of the letter from the group of heavy hitters, a move that Burlock disagreed with.
I spoke with Ms. Burlock by phone. She says that yes, she agrees with Nancy Pelosi's stance on superdelegates, and that yes, she is an Obama supporter. But she demurred when asked several different ways whether or not her pledge comes as a rebuttal to the letter from the others. She didn't deny it, however.
P.S. - Ms. Burlock says she hasn't yet sent the dough.
The letter is below:
*** UPDATE *** MoveOn.org has also joined in with a letter to supporters
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Lindsey Pritzlaff One criticism of Democrats in past elections is that they have railed against President Bush on Iraq without having a plan of their own. But 38 Democratic House challengers along with four Senate contenders have decided to run on a common platform outlining a strategy of withdrawal from Iraq.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Libby Leist The State Department confirms that two U.S. citizens have died in Iraq this week from indirect fire by rocket and mortar attacks in the Green Zone.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones Clinton hit Republican rival John McCain on the economy again today with a return to her "3 am" phone call analogy. The senator said it was time to "level the playing field for the middle class" and argued McCain would ignore the ringing phone in an economic crisis.
"Sometimes the phone rings at 3 am in the White House, and it's an economic crisis,” she said. “And we need president who is ready and willing and able to answer that call. I read the speech that Sen. McCain gave the other day, which set forth his plan which does virtually nothing to ease the credit crisis or the housing crisis. It seems like if the phone were ringing he would just let it ring and ring and ring.”
Clinton called the Arizona senator “a friend,” but noted he had admitted that he did not know much about economics. She said he would rather ignore the credit and mortgage crises facing Americans instead of solving them.
"I think we've had enough of a president who didn't know enough about economics," she said. "I don't think we can afford four more years of that kind of inaction."
Earlier this week, Clinton compared McCain to Depression-era President Herbert Hoover for saying the government should not bail out or reward banks or small borrowers who "act irresponsibly."
*** UPDATE *** The RNC sends this along:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan
"Pain trickled up," Obama said of how the increased rate of home foreclosures among individual homeowners had caused a downturn in the market as a whole.
Providing a historical rationale for increased government oversight of financial markets, Obama argued that the American economy had prospered and sustained itself because government had "guided the market's invisible hand with a higher principle."
VIDEO: Obama delivers an economic speech in New York, proposing an additional economic stimulus package and relief for homeowners. He called for six principles for greater regulation and modernization of the nation's economic institutions, including:
(1) Government oversight for any entity that borrows from the federal government;
(2) An overall reform of the regulations governing financial institutions;
(3) Streamlining the nation's regulatory institutions;
(4) Regulations should be applied to what an organization does rather than what it is (e.g. financial regulations regarding sub-prime loans only applied to banks, allowing mortgage brokers to issue these loans without oversight);
(5) The SEC actively investigating market manipulation;
(6) And the creation of a financial oversight commission that identifies risks to the nation's financial system.
In calling for the oversight, Obama made a populist appeal.
"If we can extend a hand to banks on Wall Street, we can extend a hand to Americans who are struggling," he said, referring to the Fed's recent bailout of Bear Stearns. He also said that ordinary Americans had experienced the effects of a recession for the past several years and said that this was the only period in American history where incomes had not grown along with corporate profits.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
TO: NBC News And The Wall Street Journal
As you know, the sample for the March 24-25 poll on race included an “oversample” of 100 African American voters. There has been some confusion as to exactly how these extra interviews were integrated into the survey; we hope this memorandum will clear up any misconceptions.
The main sample for the survey was a cross section of 700 registered voters nationally. As is the case with all of our usual polls, this sample is statistically representative of voters across the country, accurately reflecting the gender, age, educational, geographical, and racial makeup of the electorate. The column in the topline document labeled “All Voters”, as well as nearly all of the subgroups listed in the survey crosstabs, are among these cross section of 700. Eleven percent (11%) of these interviews -- or 77 interviews -- were with African Americans, which accurately reflects African Americans’ proportion of the electorate. Thus, African Americans are NOT over-represented in our national sample.
In addition to this national cross section, we interviewed an extra 100 African Americans to analyze the opinions of this group with a greater degree of statistical reliability. We combined these 100 only with the 77 African Americans that naturally fell into our national sample, for a total of 177 interviews with African Americans; these extra interviews were not combined with the full national sample of 700. The column in the topline document labeled “African Americans” shows the responses of these 177 respondents, as do the subgroups in the crosstabs for African Americans, African-American men, and African-American women.
The table below shows the margins of error for the three groups whose responses are shown in the topline document:
National cross section of voters: 700 interviews, +/- 3.7%White voters: 520 interviews, +/- 4.3%African-American voters: 177 interviews, +/- 7.4%
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Obama and Clinton both delivered major addresses on the economy today. After Obama's speech, the Clinton campaign criticized it in an e-mail to the media:
“Presidents have to do more than announce principles," writes Clinton policy director Neera Tanden in the statement. "They have to solve problems. At a time of crisis in our financial markets, Senator Obama announced a series of broad, vague principles, while offering no new concrete solutions to provide Americans with greater confidence in the market or keep them in their homes. The contrast could not be clearer -- on Monday, Senator Clinton announced a detailed, specific plan to address the housing and credit crisis. On Tuesday, Senator McCain announced that he had no plan. And today, Senator Obama offered just words.”
Obama spokesman Bill Burton responded this way: “We’ve all seen that the Clinton campaign never lets the facts get in the way of a good story, but they know full well that Barack Obama has offered thoughtful, detailed proposals to solve the housing crisis, one of which the New York Times just called the best idea from any candidate in the race. Senator Clinton’s new proposal this week amounted to calling for a meeting, so it’s pretty obvious that her latest kitchen sink attack is nothing more than just politics."
From NBC's Pete Williams NBC's Chris Donovan points out that Puerto Rico's governor, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, who was indicted today and charged with election law violations, is a Democratic party superdelegate who has endorsed Obama .
Gov. Acevedo Vilá and 12 of his supporters are accused of getting Puerto Rico businessmen to make illegal, unreported contributions to pay off debts from previous campaigns -- debts he never reported, another potential violation.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro We'll have more on Obama's and Clinton's economic speeches later today, but below is McCain's preemptive attack, sent out earlier. Notice, the campaign includes both Obama AND Clinton this time.
By the way, intriguing stuff when Obama took the podium after NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced him. Obama was effusive in his praise for Bloomberg, but said the reason he bought breakfast that morning is because he expects "payback." "I'm no dummy," Obama said, adding, "There are a lot of good steakhouses in New York." METAPHOR ALERT? By payback does he just mean a steak?
Also, anyone else notice Obama used the "R" word. "As most experts know, our economy is in a recession," Obama said.
That's been the subject of debate. The definition of a recession, as CNBC's Maria Bartiromo pointed out on Meet the Press this past Sunday, is two consecutive quarters of negative growth. That hasn't happened yet, and whatever it's labeled, everyone agrees the economy is at least in a slowdown or downturn.
Here's McCain's criticism/pre-emptive reaction to Clinton and Obama's speeches:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Here are excerpts from Hillary Clinton's speech in North Carolina today where she'll hit McCain and talk about job training.
Of course, the speech as given could include slightly different language, but this gives us at least some indication of where she's heading with her criticism:
Sometimes the phone rings at 3am in the White House and it’s an economic crisis. And we need a president who is ready and willing to answer that call. But I read Senator McCain's plan which does virtually nothing to ease the credit crisis or the housing crisis. The phone is ringing and he would just let it ring and ring.
Senator McCain is a friend of mine but he said himself, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” He’d rather ignore the credit crisis and mortgage crisis -- or blame middle class families instead of offering solutions on their behalf.
We've had enough of a president who didn’t know enough about economics, and didn’t do enough for the middle class. I don't think we can afford four more years. I believe we have to answer the call and act aggressively to deal with the housing and credit crises. That’s the kind of president we need after eight years of George Bush.
While we are fighting to create jobs, and keep them here in America, today I’m announcing that I will commit $2.5 billion each year to help workers train for new jobs and improve their skills for their existing jobs as well.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain will host a $1,000 a plate fundraiser in Salt Lake City today with Mitt Romney , the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Romney will then travel with the McCain campaign to Denver.
"Romney, who dropped out of the race after poor showings in the primaries, received nearly 90 percent of the Utah GOP vote on Feb. 5, while McCain had just 5 percent," the Tribune writes. "Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as are more than 60 percent of the state's residents.
From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro *** Myth buster: Pollster Peter Hart calls the NBC/WSJ poll a “myth buster” survey; it really breaks down a lot of the myths we've been hearing over the last week like: (1) that the Wright controversy was the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign -- certainly not the case, but there’s no telling how much more Wright stuff comes out; (2) It was surprising how few people knew who Wright was (about half). People who followed story, though, were really disturbed (55%); (3) The premise that the Clinton campaign would turn out to be a stronger campaign or stronger among independents. (4) That the bar facing a black candidate would be higher than for a woman or a person over 70; There's a bar, but not higher; (5) That somehow this Wright story is over. If you look at it overall numbers, you can be misled. Among 29% of ALL voters, they need more answers from Obama. They have hesitations and uncertainties; they want to know, “Is he safe?” -- both in the sense of credentials/experience but also in terms of life story. The Wright controversy, the poll indicates, has taken a bit of the shine off Obama, brought him out of the stratosphere, notes pollster Bill McInturff. Clinton also faces a similar amount of uncertainties, but among a different group of people. Not the one you’d think: But the poll didn’t indicate the past couple of weeks’ news hurt Obama the most; it was Clinton (sniper fire?). She’s sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign. Her 37% positive rating is the lowest the NBC/WSJ poll has recorded since March 2001, two months after she was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York. As for the damage this controversy did or didn't do to Obama, it's a mixed bag. Yes, Obama saw some of his numbers go down slightly among certain voting groups, most notably Republicans. But he's still much more competitive with independent voters when matched up against John McCain than Hillary Clinton is. And he still sports a net-positive personal rating of 49-32, which is down only slightly from two weeks ago, when it was 51-28. Again, the biggest shift in those negative numbers was among Republicans.
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd explains the new NBC News/WSJ poll, saying Obama maintained a good perception among voters, despite the Wright controversy. ***
McCain-ocrats? For the second poll in a row, more than 20% of Clinton and Obama supporters say they would support McCain when he's matched up against the other Democrat. There is clearly some hardening of feelings among some of the most core supporters of both Democrats, though it may be Obama voters, who are bitterer in the long run.
***
Carolina on my mind: By the way, Clinton also talks economy again today, and does it in North Carolina. With her foray into NC and Bill’s all-out campaigning in a bunch of other post-PA states, all signs are pointing to this going on at least through the last contests in June. But keep a particular eye on Clinton in Carolina. This is becoming more and more of a must-win state; A combination of a 15-20 point win in Pennsylvania and an upset in the Tar Heel state would shake up this race in the same way Obama's 11-contest win streak in February did.
***
Shakedown: Why didn't the Clinton campaign get superdelegates to sign on to that letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi rather than donors? Doesn't this letter coming only from major donors make it look like a threat or a shakedown? Wouldn't this letter coming from fellow superdelegates have had more impact? One Dem operative who doesn't have a horse in this fight reminds us: "Members of Congress -- who are superdelegates -- make up the DCCC. Threatening the DCCC is essentially threatening the very superdelegates HRC's trying to court. The HRC donor letter will just push undeclared superdelegates in Congress leaning toward Obama to endorse him sooner. It also reinforces the notion that the Clintons will destroy the party to win the WH. I just don't get it."
***
Supers turned off: A handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates come forward to tell NBC/NJ’s Matthew Berger that her campaign's tactics in recent weeks are
doing more harm than good .
***
A fall preview: Those who love the Veepstakes will enjoy today's Obama speech, not for the substance but for the person who will introduce him: Michael Bloomberg. While the mayor says he's not endorsing anyone (yet?), this is the second time Bloomberg has given Obama a high profile photo-op (remember the meeting at that diner a few months back?). As for Obama's economic speech, per the campaign, "Obama takes on special interests for housing/economic crisis; lays out principles for new regulatory framework." Obama, himself, previewed the speech on the plane yesterday. "I will be giving some, I will be outlining, my thoughts on the current state of the economy. How we got there and some very specific prescriptions, what helped trigger the financial crisis and the financial problems." But it will be the potential of Obama-Bloomberg that could be the most important take-away. In fact, considering that anti-Israel sentiments being expressed by the Rev. Wright in these newly circulating church bulletins (see Andrea Mitchell’s reporting on TODAY below in the Obama section). A fortunate thing for Obama is at least these church bulletins aren’t video. The idea of a Jewish running mate might end up making more and more sense for Obama as the summer wears on.
***
Hooked? Also, did McCain take the bait? Back from his vacation, Obama made a point of trying to shift the focus to him vs. McCain again. (No talk of Hillary, by the way.) Then the McCain camp releases a statement bashing Obama this morning before his speech, calling this election a “clear choice.” (Again, no mention of Hillary.)
***
Swing-state campaigning: McCain campaigns today in Colorado, a state particularly the Obama campaign has been selling as a potential Dem Red State pick up. We’ve already seen McCain in Michigan. How many Dems are thinking that the longer this Clinton-Obama contest goes on, the harder it is becoming for Democrats to campaign and make in-roads in those potential pick up states? The DNC tries to do its part, attacking McCain’s viability out West, including Colorado and even his home state, in a conference call today with state Democratic Party leaders from those two states and Utah and Nevada.
***
On the trail: Clinton makes three stops in North Carolina, including the economic address; McCain raises money in Salt Lake City and Denver, where he also will take questions from reporters; Obama speaks on the economy at Cooper Union in New York City; Bill Clinton hits the trail hard in Pennsylvania with five stops; and so does Chelsea with three of her own in PA.
Countdown to Pennsylvania: 26 days
Countdown to North Carolina, Indiana: 40 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 222 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 299 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Text FIRST to 622639 to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
"As reassuring as the poll is for Sen. Obama, Mr. Hart and Mr. McInturff agreed that it did indicate that a substantial number of voters question whether the first-term senator would be a safe choice, or whether more needs to be known about him. Mr. McInturff said some voters are wondering, 'Do we know enough about this guy?' the Wall Street Journal writes.
For more, click here.
PENNSYLVANIA: 4/22 (158 delegates) It looks like the Philly Dem Committee may stay out of the Dem primary and not endorse either candidate; that's good news for Obama as most of the Dem establishment in the state has been siding with Clinton. Of course, "For Clinton and Obama, a City Committee endorsement would probably carry little weight because swaying voters in a presidential race is difficult. The only practical advantage, political consultant Larry Ceisler said, might be logistical, in that the Democratic machinery might ‘help get people to the polls, make sure there is no trouble at the polls, and be the eyes and ears on the ground.’hold off on visiting Pittsburgh until they had garnered the endorsements of both Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato. His heavy campaigning for Clinton has angered some Republicans who say he isn’t spending enough time on state issues and Democrats who say he isn’t doing enough to elect Democrats to the state legislature. planning small roundtable meetings with Catholic voters to focus on economy, jobs and healthcare issues, as well as play down the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue. “Clinton backers Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week wrote a letter to Pennsylvania Catholics emphasizing her plans on health care, mortgage foreclosures and fuel costs.” NORTH CAROLINA: 5/6 (115 delegates) Some notes from NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann: Today kicks off a three-day Clinton blitz that will see all three members of the former First Family in the Tar Heel State between now and Saturday. Today, Hillary Clinton hits Raleigh, Winston-Salem, and Fayetteville; tomorrow, Bill Clinton visits Greensboro and points west in a marathon five-stop day; and Saturday, Chelsea Clinton joins former senator John Edwards in addressing the state's Young Democrats organization. Gone are the days of local speculation that Hillary would be writing off North Carolina; reporters now are too busy Mapquesting the trip between Kannapolis and Salisbury and praying that they still have time to profile their third Republican gubernatorial candidate this week.
CONTINUED >>
Clinton makes her first stop in NC today, a state that is becoming more and more of a must-win if she is to complete a comeback. NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones reports she will announce a new proposal to support job training, during a stop at a technical college in Raleigh, NC Thursday morning. The new plan would cost $12.5 billion over five years. The stop will be the first of a six-day tour through North Carolina, Indiana and Pennsylvania, where she'll focus on the economy, according to a briefing by her campaign staff. sent a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asking her to retract her comments on superdelegates and stay out of the Democratic fight over their role in the presidential race. The 20 prominent Clinton supporters told Pelosi she should "clarify" recent statements to make it clear superdelegates -- nearly 800 party insiders and elected officials who are free to back any candidate -- could support the candidate they think would be the best nominee."
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post on McCain's major foreign policy speech: "In his first extensive policy speech since securing the delegates needed to win the Republican presidential nomination, McCain delivered an impassioned argument that achieving democracy in Iraq is necessary for a peaceful world. ‘Those who argue that our goals in Iraq are unachievable are wrong, just as they were wrong a year ago when they declared the war already lost in Iraq,’ he said, without naming Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. ‘Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight al-Qaeda more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake.’ L.A. Times lead: "McCain, carefully distancing himself from President Bush and seeking to sound a moderate tone, called Wednesday for stronger ties with allies and cautioned that American power "does not mean we can do whatever we want, whenever we want."Time has an extensive profile of McCain the reformer and his relationship with lobbyists. From Michael Scherer's piece: "For most other senators, especially those lacking presidential ambitions, such untoward appearances would not raise much of an eyebrow. On any given day, thousands of lobbyists work their connections on Capitol Hill, hoping to obtain letters on their behalf or legislation in their favor. But for McCain, such questions become an issue of integrity. He is the one, after all, who regularly breaks the Senate's code of silence by alleging corruption by his peers. ‘Elected officials do act in particular ways in order to assist large soft-money donors,’ McCain wrote in a sworn statement from the 2002 Supreme Court case over his campaign-finance bill. ‘This skews and shapes the legislative process.’
CONTINUED >>
NBC's Andrea Mitchell reported on TODAY, "And now -- even more controversy involving Reverend Wright. An Internet search reveals church bulletins over the past year with controversial 'pastor pages' from Wright. Some reprint anti-Israel writings from a range of people -- from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to an advisor to Elijah Muhammed and Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam to Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. Dem ticket preview ? NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is introducing Obama today for his speech on the economy.
CONTINUED >>
After a week of taking a beating over the fact that a poll showed Clinton out-performing Obama against McCain in Mass., the Obama campaign now has its own blue-state electability argument. In a new Quinnipiac Univ. poll in Conn., Obama has a double-digit lead over McCain while Clinton only leads him by 3 points.
From NBC's Chuck Todd
The poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday this week by Hart-McInturff and surveyed 700 registered voters, which gives the poll a margin of error of +/- 3.7%. In addition, we oversampled African-Americans in order to get a more reliable cross-tab on many of the questions we asked in this poll regarding Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race and overall response to last week's Rev. Jeremiah Wright dustup.
On that issue specifically, 32% of folks said he "sufficiently addressed the issue," while 26% of those folks believe he needs to address the Wright controversy further; 31% of voters surveyed did not see the speech or had no opinion. Interestingly, of those voters who said they saw the speech, 47% said Obama sufficiently addressed the Wright issue while 37% said he needs to address it further. Among whites, 45% were satisfied with Obama's explanation, 38% were not; Among blacks, 67% said the speech was sufficient while 25% want him to address it further.
Overall, 55% of voters told us that they were "disturbed" by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright videos that circulated so widely on cable TV and the Internet.
As for the damage this controversy did or didn't do to Obama, it's a mixed bag. Yes, Obama saw some of his numbers go down slightly among certain voting groups, most notably Republicans. But he's still much more competitive with independent voters when matched up against John McCain than Hillary Clinton. And he still sports a net-positive personal rating of 49-32, which is down only slightly from two weeks ago when it was 51-28. Again, the biggest shift in those negative numbers were among Republicans.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party's nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward to say her campaign's tactics in recent weeks are doing more harm than good.Obama in recent days are hurting the party and its chances in November, and also say it is showing a calculated, desperate-to-win side of Clinton that they dislike.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain’s first major policy address since locking up the GOP nomination this morning, his campaign did its best to make its candidate look presidential. Using two teleprompters on the wings of the podium, McCain delivered a 30-minute speech that showed how a potential McCain presidency would try to change the shape of U.S. foreign policy.
But during the question-and-answer portion of the event following his speech, McCain expanded on his “League of Democracies” proposal.
VIDEO: John McCain calls for the United States to work more respectfully with democratic allies and live up to its duties as a world leader. “It’s not just [a commitment of] mine. President Sarkozy of France is talking about the same thing; Prime Minister Brown of England, Chancellor Merkel is another talking about the same thing,” McCain said in response to a question about containing an Iranian nuclear program, arguing that a coalition of democratic countries could be more effective in pressuring the Iranians to abandon their nuclear ambitions.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan Obama defended his controversial former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright today, on the heels of statements by Hillary Clinton that she would have left Wright's church had she been in Obama's place.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Bill Clinton's comments that Democrats “let New Hampshire go out of turn,” and that they have a Democratic Secretary of State, is causing a mini stir in the Granite State.
The New Hampshire Union Leader : "Former New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Kathy Sullivan, a state Clinton campaign co-chair, said she believed that Bill Clinton was criticizing the DNC in his remarks, not New Hampshire.
"But the former president also appeared to imply in his statement that the DNC allowed the New Hampshire primary to be held earlier than scheduled in the DNC rules because Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who set the date of the New Hampshire primary as set out by state law, is a Democrat.
"Sullivan said Bill Clinton was mistaken to suggest that Gardner's party affiliation was in any way related to New Hampshire receiving a waiver from the DNC.
"Clinton campaign spokesman Kathleen Strand said, 'Hillary and Bill Clinton have been staunch and ardent supporters' of the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. 'That's indisputable.'
"She said the former president was not criticizing New Hampshire, but instead saying that 'just as New Hampshire voters had a voice, Michigan and Florida votes should have a voice' and that 'Obama should know better than anyone in this campaign that the campaign is not over until the last vote is counted. New Hampshire made that point to him pretty clearly.'"
This article from Salon is an interesting read. It lays out what the Republican strategy would be for a Nominee Clinton:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan GREENSBORO, NC -- Playing off Bush's ownership society theme from 2004, Obama said McCain, like Bush, was offering an "on your own" prescription for dealing with a rapidly sinking economy.
"According to John McCain, he said the best for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen," Obama said. "In his entire speech yesterday, he offered not one policy, not one idea, not one bit of relief for the nearly 35,000 North Carolinians who were forced to foreclose on their dream in the last few months. Not one, not one single idea or a single policy prescription."
VIDEO: Barack Obama criticizes John McCain's speech on the economy, likening his policy to that of President Bush. Pointing a finger at the president, Obama said that Bush had led the country down this road in a similar manner for the past eight years.
"It's the idea that the government has no rule at all in solving the challenges facing working families," Obama said. "That all we can do is hand out tax breaks to the wealthiest people and let the chips fall where they may. George Bush called this the ownership society, but he really meant is, 'You’re On Your Own Society.'"
"If you lose your job, you're on your own," Obama chanted. "If you're a child in poverty, pull yourself up by your bootstraps; you're on your own. If you were lured in by deceptive mortgage practices you're on your own."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli Bill Clinton kicked off a day of campaigning here by making a personal appeal to voters, saying Hillary's success depends on "real" people like those who came to see him. And as the rhetoric heats up between the Democratic campaigns, Bill Clinton offered this message: "Saddle up."
"If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office," he said. "If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office. If a football player doesn't want to get tackled or want the risk of an a occasional clip he shouldn't put the pads on."
Clinton then alluded to the resignations and calls for resignations that have been traded back and forth between the campaigns.
"I don't think any of these people oughta be asked to resign," he said. "All these guys that say bad things about any other campaign, they say, 'Should they resign?' My answer is no; they're repeating party line. They oughta stay right where they are. Let's just saddle up and have an argument. What's the matter with that? That's what America's about, right?"
And while some are "moaning and groaning," he said there are larger issues to gripe about. "None of these politicians are gonna have anything like the tough time half the people in this audience have already had for the last seven years," he said to applause. "This is about you. Don't you let anybody take this election away from you."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Samantha Power was at the Columbia University School of Law where she was plugging her book. Here's part of Huffington Post's write up:
"Power labeled herself 'amazed' that Clinton had tried to get so much 'political mileage' from comments Power made, in which she suggested that the next commander-in-chief would consider conditions on the ground when implementing his or her Iraq withdrawal plan.
" 'What I was saying is that you have to take into account what the generals on the ground are telling you,' Power told the room of several hundred undergraduate and graduate students. 'Take for example that 3 am phone call [from Clinton's campaign commercial]... She is not going to answer the phone and play a voicemail she recorded in 2007. That is crazy. She is going to judge the situation in 2009. Of course she is going to take into account what the generals have to say about the Iraq situation and what they are saying on the ground.'"
Here are some other interesting nuggets toward the end of the piece:
"She emphasized that, unlike President Bush, Obama would put greater focus on the general welfare of the Iraqi people (looking at population displacements, health conditions, economic insecurities), when considering U.S. policy in that country. She also drew a picture of an Obama administration that was filled with different viewpoints and congenial debate.
"And, to the delight of many in the crowd, she even hinted that she could be part of that hypothetical cabinet. 'Because of the kind of campaign that Senator Obama has run,' Power said, 'it seemed appropriate for someone of my Irish temper to step aside, at least for a while. We will see what happens there.'"
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Clinton team's explanation of the candidate's decision to weigh in on the Wright controversy...To: Interested Parties
Yesterday, a Pennsylvania editorial board asked Sen. Clinton how she would have "responded if [her] pastor had said some of the things that Rev. Wright said?" In response, she said Rev. Wright would not have been her pastor, an honest view shared by many Americans.
The Obama campaign's response? Attack Sen. Clinton and accuse her of trying to divert attention from the Bosnia trip story and her record of foreign policy experience.
Sen. Clinton’s response was sincere. The Obama attack was disingenuous. CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro *** Wright here, right now: There's nothing that bothers some inside the Clinton campaign more than the constant reading in between the lines of the senator's motivations when she chooses to answer a specific question. But this has been a constant issue for Clinton ever since she decided to follow in her husband's footsteps. For the first time, Clinton decided to weigh in on the Wright controversy, saying he would not have been her pastor. But for more than a week, Clinton had declined to address it and was even complimentary of Obama’s speech on race last week. She certainly had ample opportunity to be critical on this issue, so why now? In the shadow of the Bosnia sniper “misstatement,” (her newest iteration is that she was “sleep deprived”) this certainly seems like an attempt to change the subject and take the spotlight off her. After all, whenever there has been a heavy focus on one of these candidates, the other has benefited. This week, so far, the spotlight has been on Clinton. If you missed all three evening newscasts, it's clear Clinton had one of the worst earned media days in a few months. By the way, why did the campaign decide to sit down with Richard Mellon Scaife's newspaper ed board? We know that Bill Clinton and Scaife broke bread and apparently called a truce, but wow. Nothing's changed; no one's voted and yet...: What's with all this, it's time for Clinton to drop out talk? Clinton, for the first time herself, acknowledged the chatter in a very newsy press avail yesterday. The campaign is in full pushback mode on this very issue as they seem to worry that the whispers of party elders and undecided SuperDelegates is actually getting loud. The campaign released a "myth-fact" white paper addressing what they claim is the false idea that they have no mathematical chance. And Bill Clinton made the focus of his Kentucky stumping pushing back on this idea HRC is done. As we noted yesterday, she does have a mathematical chance, but her chances rest largely on the shoulders of these undecided SuperDelegates, some of whom are talking to the press about their own handwringing. But for those calling for Clinton to get out, ask yourself, why? She does have a chance. Sure it's somewhat of a longshot, but it's not so improbable that the Obama campaign is ignoring her in the same way McCain ignored Huckabee. And remember their own personal experience. Bill Clinton, for instance, knows firsthand had one of the major Democratic candidates in '92 (say Tsongas or Kerrey) decided to stay in for the long haul, that candidate just might have stolen the nomination away from Clinton when he was limping to the nomination in April and May struggling to dispatch semi-gadfly Jerry Brown. As the Maryland (or is it Virginia lottery) ad campaign used to say, "you can't win if you don't play."
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd talks about Hillary Clinton's decision to weigh in on the Wright controversy and continued calls for her to get out of the race for the sake of the Democratic Party. ‘Hell to Pay’: There seems to be a want by the Democratic Party to establish a critical mass and get this over with. See Maria Cantwell, Phil Bredesen and Harry Reid. Cantwell yesterday implied the winner of the pledged delegates would have the strongest claim to the nomination when the primaries are finished. Meanwhile, check out Bredesen’s “hell to pay” comment and Reid tersely saying the nomination WILL be wrapped up before convention.While you were gone: Obama’s back on the trail (in 5/6 North Carolina), but how will he choose to get back in the game? It looks like by picking a fight with McCain. Per the campaign, Obama in his speech today on the economy “will focus on Senator McCain's speech on the housing crisis that offered no new ideas and no relief for Americans facing foreclosure,” Obama’s campaign spokesman Bill Burton writes. “Senator Obama will make clear that Americans can't afford four more years of Bush economics that lets Wall Street thrive as Main Street struggles.” Obviously, this is a renewed attempt by the campaign to jump-start the inevitability memo of a McCain-Obama general. Let's see if the McCain campaign bites on this one. The tax man cometh: After two days of the Clinton campaign criticizing Obama in conference calls for not releasing tax returns prior to 2006 (even though his campaign had been criticizing Clinton on transparency, for not releasing even her 2007 tax returns -- something Obama had done), the Obama campaign released all of Obama’s back to 2000. And made them available on the Web. Camp Clinton has said the Clintons would release theirs very soon, perhaps in a week or so. Among the things the press grabbed on to with Obama's tax returns: the jump in charitable contributions (including money he gave to Rev. Wright's church) and the sharp rise in income for Michelle Obama as Barack rose through the ranks. Beyond that, though, no major landmines appear to be in these returns. Though we do wonder why the campaign didn't release tax returns going back to his first year in elective office ('96). It's a small opening the Obama folks have given to the Clinton campaign to harp on. The real Dream Ticket? Reports NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann, Mike Gravel said in a statement, "Today, I am announcing my plan to join the Libertarian Party, because the Democratic Party no longer represents my vision for our great country." Is the real ’08 Dream Ticket some version of Paul-Gravel? Coming later today: A special NBC/WSJ poll on race and the fallout in the pres. race following the Rev. Wright controversy and Obama's historic speech on race relations.Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Phil Bredesen, the two-term governor of Tennessee who is uncommitted to either Clinton or Obama, “joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in warning that superdelegates should not overturn the outcome from primaries and caucuses,” Politico reports. “If Obama were denied the nomination by Democratic insiders after winning the party’s popular vote, Bredesen said, ‘There would be hell to pay in the party for a long time to come.’” Las Vegas Journal-Review: “Reid said he remains convinced the nominee will be decided well before the August national convention. He wore a serene and mysterious smile….PENNSYLVANIA: 4/22 (158 delegates) Some PA notes, per NBC/NJ’s Matthew Berger:first 30-second ads in Pennsylvania. It is believed her ad buy is significantly less than Obama’s and focuses primarily in the Philadelphia media market. She spent about $600,000, Obama spent close to $1.6 million.
CONTINUED >>
Bill Clinton, campaigning in Kentucky, compared the Dem primary to an episode of the '80s prime-time soap opera, Dallas. "This is the darnedest election I ever saw, isn't it? It seems like a long-running episode of Dallas or something, it's like a saga, you know?"NYT's MoDowd believes HRC has now set her sights on the VP slot. "One Hillary pal said she wouldn’t want to go back to a Senate full of lawmakers who’d abandoned her for Obama. And even if she could get to be majority leader, would it be much fun working with Nancy Pelosi, whose distaste for the Clintons has led her to subtly maneuver for Obama?
CONTINUED >>
The New York Times covers McCain's speech on the mortgage/housing issue and notes he drew a "sharp distinction" from his Dem foes. He "warned Tuesday against vigorous government action to solve the deepening mortgage crisis and the market turmoil it has caused, saying that ‘it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.’” More: "McCain has often addressed the mortgage crisis in general terms on the campaign trail, but in Tuesday’s remarks he offered a more comprehensive look at the challenge facing the nation -- and the roots of the problem. He blamed a profusion of complicated and recently devised financial instruments ‘that weren’t particularly well understood by even the most sophisticated banks, lenders and hedge funds.’endorsement of former First Lady Nancy Reagan. McCain also attended a fundraiser hosted by former Univision Chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio and his wife, Margaret.Boston Globe notes, "McCain's longtime effort to crack down on tobacco is being put to a new test. Within weeks, the Senate is expected to vote on legislation to allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. McCain agreed months ago to cosponsor the current bill with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, but McCain's policy adviser said the senator won't commit to voting for it until he sees the final legislation.
CONTINUED >>
The
Washington Post follows the NYT on doing a story about Obama's liberalism. "As Obama heads into the final presidential primaries, Sen. John McCain and other Republicans have already started to brand him a standard-order left-winger, ‘a down-the-line liberal,’ as McCain strategist Charles R. Black Jr. put it, in a long line of Democratic White House hopefuls.
“Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has also started slapping the L-word on Obama, warning that his appeal among moderate voters will diminish as they become more aware of liberal positions he took in the past, such as calling for single-payer health care and an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba. ‘The evidence is that the more [voters] have been learning about him, the more his coalition has been shrinking,’ Clinton strategist Mark Penn said.
“The double-barreled attack has presented Democratic voters with some persistent questions about Obama: Just how liberal is he? And even if he truly is a new kind of candidate, can he avoid being pigeonholed with an old label under sustained assault?"
Tomorrow, Obama is giving what the campaign is billing as a major economic speech at Cooper Union in NYC.
The
NYT covers the release of Obama's tax returns going back to 2000 and decides to lead with the couple's increased charitable donations: "Some of the largest donations went to the Trinity United Church of Christ, whose pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., has been in the news for inflammatory messages in his sermons, causing Mr. Obama to distance himself from Mr. Wright, his former spiritual mentor. All told, the couple gave $27,500 to the church in 2005 and 2006.
“Although the campaign has not released the couple’s 2007 return, it has said the Obamas gave $240,000 to charity in 2007. This compares with charitable donations as low as $1,050 a few years ago.
“As for the other tax returns, ‘A spokesman for that campaign, Howard Wolfson, said that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton would release her returns dating from 2000 in the next week and that the Clintons had released 20 years of returns, until 2000, when Bill Clinton left the White House. Although there is no legal requirement that candidates release their tax returns, it has been common practice since the ’70s. A release typically occurs after a candidate becomes a party nominee, not in the primaries. Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has not released his returns."
Here's a set of issues that will no doubt come up in the fall.
"The Bush administration issued a
grim report on Tuesday on the financial outlook for Medicare and Social Security, but said the condition of the programs had not significantly deteriorated since last spring. The new report, like the one issued last April, said Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund would be exhausted in 2019, while Social Security’s reserves would be depleted in 2041."
The
L.A. Times notes the pres. campaigns greeted the new report with almost "deafening" silence. "As a result, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, had little to say when the latest numbers were released projecting Medicare going into the red by 2019 and Social Security following in 2041. The Democratic contenders, Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, also sidestepped the issue."
USA Today compares the health care plans of the three candidates and LARGELY lumps Clinton and Obama together and compares them to McCain's philosophy on the issue.
McClatchy notes how both Clinton and Obama are ducking the gun issue and considering the primary states that are upcoming, every one of them has their share of Democratic voting gun advocates: PA, NC, KY, WV, IN, MT, SD and OR.
The
unintended consequence of the long primary campaign? Huge turnout and voter registration numbers for the Dems.
Here’s some fodder… check out Howard Dean’s assailing of the GOP, as quoted in the
University of Wisconsin student paper . He said there is “no future” for youth in the Republican Party. “When you look at the candidates on our side who stood up and debated, people under 30 … looked at that lineup of our candidates and said, ‘That looks like us in 20 years,’” Dean said. He added when those young people looked at the Republican candidates, they saw “1950s television.”
And then, “They can’t become more diverse,” Dean said. “Who in their right mind, if they were African American or Hispanic or Asian American, if they were gay or lesbian, would join the Republican Party?”
But he was the LIFE of the party! As NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann writes, One-time Democratic candidate Mike Gravel is leaving the Democratic Party, accusing it of "work[ing] in tandem with the corporate interests that control what we read and hear in the media." Greener pastures await, he says, with his joining today of the Libertarian Party, where he hopes to continue his presidential bid.
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
VIDEO: Chelsea Clinton had a speedy retort when asked about the Monica Lewinsky scandal during a visit to Butler University in Indianapolis. The students gathered to see Clinton quickly erupted into applause. Clinton took one more question, on global warming, and then wrapped up the event.
*** UPDATE ***
"Evan Strange, a Butler University student who works on the school's newspaper, The Butler Collegian, said he had asked Chelsea Clinton her opinion "on the criticism of her mother that how she handled the Lewinsky scandal might be a sign of weakness and she might not be a strong enough candidate to be president."
"I'm a supporter of Hillary. I love Hillary," Strange said Wednesday on CBS' "The Early Show." "He said he asked the question because his friends 'always bring up that scandal. It's not something I asked to cause trouble but to show those people what makes Hillary so strong.' He said that by brushing him off, Chelsea Clinton missed an opportunity to show her mother's strength.
" 'I was very surprised' at the rebuke, Strange said. 'I can see where she'd get a little defensive because of the question and hearing Lewinsky over and over again, but I would like to hear her say something about Hillary rather than dismissing the question.'"
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones Clinton compared her Republican rival McCain to Depression-era President Herbert Hoover in response to his criticism of her proposal to help homeowners facing foreclosures.
She also told reporters Tuesday that had the Rev. Jeremiah Wright been her pastor, she would have left the church and reiterated her explanation for misspeaking about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia.
VIDEO: Hillary Clinton takes questions from reporters during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. Clinton has proposed the government help people who are struggling to keep their homes by freezing foreclosures, guaranteeing new loans and possibly acting as a temporary purchaser of mortgages. McCain today warned against this kind of action saying, "I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers."
Clinton bashed him for those remarks, which were read to her by a reporter.
"It sounds remarkably like Herbert Hoover ,” she said, “and I don't think that's good economic policy. You know, we have a framework of regulation. It needs to be updated and modernized. The government has a number of tools at its disposal that are well-suited for just this situation, and I think that inaction has contributed to the problems we face today, and I believe further inaction would exacerbate those problems."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy SANTA ANA, Calif. -- In what were his most extensive remarks on the current housing crisis to date, McCain spoke to nearly 20 cameras and a small crowd of local business owners here this morning and expressed his confidence in the foundations of the U.S. economy.
After what amounted to a brief primer on the creation of the subprime housing bubble, McCain tried to demonstrate his economic knowledge by explaining in some detail the "series of complex, inter-connected financial bets that were not transparent or fully understood," which contributed to the broader economic crisis now facing the country.
VIDEO: John McCain says that the government is not in the business of saving and rewarding banks or small borrowers who behave irresponsibly. "I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers," McCain said, beginning his proposed solutions. "Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy."
McCain did not specifically address the Fed's recent alleged "bail out" of Bear Stearns, but he seemed to imply support for such moves geared toward protecting the "entire financial system."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Obama's campaign responded to Clinton's comments on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“After originally refusing to play politics with this issue, it’s disappointing to see Hillary Clinton’s campaign sink to this low in a transparent effort to distract attention away from the story she made up about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton writes. "The truth is, Barack Obama has already spoken out against his pastor’s offensive comments and addressed the issue of race in America with a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech. The American people deserve better than tired political games that do nothing to solve the larger challenges facing this country.”
Clinton told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial board, "He would not have been my pastor. You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend." She continued, "You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (who was fired from his radio and television shows after making racially insensitive remarks), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that. I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."
She repeated similar comments at an on-camera press conference later in the day.
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro Vancouver Columbian [hat tip to our friends at Hotline] paraphrases Sen. Maria Cantwell as saying, “…[T]he candidate with the most pledged delegates at the end of the primary season in late June will have the strongest claim to the party’s presidential nomination.”
The paper adds, “Cantwell said she wouldn’t object to a primary contest that went into the summer if it focused on the issues facing the nation, but added, ‘We wouldn’t want to tear apart the party.’
“ ‘I think it’s important that we let it play out in June,’ she said. At that point, she said, ‘I’d be urging my party to make a decision.’”
From NBC's Chris Donovan Nancy Reagan’s endorsement of McCain -- the two will appear together this afternoon, the campaign said -- McCain has credited Nancy Reagan, in part, for his change in position on federal funding for stem cell research. He explained her impact on Meet the Press in 2005, and reiterated his support at the MSNBC presidential debate (with Nancy Reagan present) in May 2007.
Here's what was said:
FROM MEET THE PRESS (June 19, 2005): TIM RUSSERT: Let me turn to another ethical, moral, political issue, stem cell research. In 2000, John McCain and 19 other senators wrote a letter which said "Since 1996 Congress has banned federal funding for `research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed.' ...we support [this law]."
You've changed your mind.
McCAIN: Yes, I have.
RUSSERT: Why?
McCAIN: For a large number of reasons, ranging from getting briefed by very smart people on this issue and including discussing this with Nancy Reagan who, as you know, is a very strong advocate for stem cell research. I want to make it clear that those of us who support this do not believe that it has anything to do with human cloning and all of us are against human cloning. I look forward to the debate. It's a very complex scientific issue. But for us to throw away opportunities to cure diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and many others I think would be a mistake. I look forward to the debate. It's interesting that more than two-thirds of the American people support stem cell research.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Jim Popkin Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, offer insights into the power couple's rising fortunes as Obama became a U.S. Senator and then a potential presidential candidate.
Obama today released his tax returns from 2000 to 2006. They show a steep increase in income. In 2000, for example, the Obamas' combined income was $240,505. That includes Sen. Obama's salary as a young state senator in Illinois, his fees ($16,500) as a "foundation director/educational speaker" and Michelle Obama's salary as a hospital administrator.
In 2006, by contrast, the Obamas' combined income was $983,826. Obama had become a U.S. Senator by then, making about $165,000 a year, and his wife's income at the University of Chicago hospitals had climbed sharply to about $265,000 a year. Sen. Obama's book-writing career also had become profitable, earning him $551,240 in author fees in tax year 2006 alone. Mrs. Obama also made $51,200 that year, as director of TreeHouse Foods, "a food manufacturer servicing primarily the retail grocery and foodservice chains," according to the company's website.
The Obamas' best financial year came in 2005, when their total combined income was $1.6 million. That included $1.2 million in author fees for Sen. Obama's best-selling books. Michelle Obama's salary that year was $316,962 plus another $45,000 for her role as director of TreeHouse Foods.
The Obamas became more charitable as their incomes grew. In 2000, the couple gave $2,350 to charity, or about 1 percent of their gross income. In 2006, they donated $60,307 to charities, or about 6 percent of their gross income. In 2005, the Obamas list a $5,000 donation to their church, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where the controversial Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., was Sen. Obama's pastor. If Sen. Obama tithed more regularly to the church, there's no record of it in these tax returns.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli Bill Clinton said the primary contest should focus on issues, not "ya-ya-ing," referring in passing to an Obama supporter's claim that he engaged in McCarthyism last week.
Clinton was talking to the crowd at the Frankfort Convention Center about energy independence, when he stopped mid-thought.
That line drew some applause, prompting the former president to reflect a moment. He then decided then to share one of his "Clinton's law of politics." "The level of sanctimony in the rhetoric is inversely related to the public benefit of the policy," he said, chuckling before adding: "I need to quit this. Somebody will probably figure out how to ... accuse me of being Joe McCarthy again on that."
VIDEO: Bill Clinton jokes about a comparison of him to Joe McCarthy, made by an Obama supporter over the weekend. It was a passing reference, really. He then continued on to describe how cars could run on lithium batteries to get 100 miles per gallon. But it was the first public acknowledgement of the flap over his remarks in North Carolina last week that some viewed as an unspoken swipe at
Obama's patriotism.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Obama getting Carolina backer Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-1) on the horn to slam Hillary Clinton over her reported exaggerations of the perils of a trip to Bosnia in 1996. Butterfield, the only member of North Carolina's Democratic congressional delegation to have endorsed a candidate, said he is "appalled" on behalf of his constituents over the claim. Calling the misstatement "a strike against" the New York senator, he added that she owes the citizens of his state -- and America -- an apology for it.
Butterfield also expressed doubt that Clinton's tenure as First Lady has uniquely readied her for a position at the helm of America's foreign policy. "And now that she has missrepresented and exaggerated her trip to Bosnia," he argued, "[that] really leads me to the conclusion that she not only lacks the qualifications but that she doesn't see the importance of being accurate in making statements regarding her qualifications."
The call assures that Clinton's "minor blip," as she has called the incident, will be on the news media's radar in the Tar Heel State. New polling shows Obama bouncing back from deflated numbers last week to regain a substantial lead after his recent visit to the state. (Note: this from a new PPP poll)
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan Obama campaign released six years of tax returns today, trying to underscore their argument that they operate with transparency and pressure the Clinton campaign to do the same. You can see the tax returns here.
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli Bill Clinton yesterday morning upped the ante on seating delegates from Florida and Michigan, criticizing his party’s “strategy of denying and disempowering and disenfranchising the voters” there. His argument to seat Florida’s delegates in particular came as he continued to claim that his wife would be the most electable general election candidate. Townsend campaigning in what locals dubbed the “Dyngus Day Capital of the World.” Though Dyngus Days elsewhere have reportedly included drenching women with water, the event locally featured just brats, beers and Polish music. The event here is closely associated with politics, as well, which is what drew Townsend’s father, Robert F. Kennedy , to South Bend 40 years ago.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , "He would not have been my pastor," Clinton said. "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."
She continued later, "You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (who was fired from his radio and television shows after making racially insensitive remarks), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that. I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."
On her sniper gaffe, "I was sleep-deprived, and I misspoke."
On earmarks: "I am proud of my earmarks. Part of the reason that I won New York by 67 percent are my earmarks."
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
The hope is that by surrounding him with teleprompters McCain will be able to look more natural speaking to nearly 20 cameras in what will be his most extensive remarks on the housing crisis to date.
From NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Usually the political response to a new message from Osama bin Laden is one of universal condemnation, but at a VFW hall in Chula Vista here yesterday, John McCain announced his support of bin Laden's most recent message.
"General Petraeus is correct when he says that the central battleground in the struggle against Al Qaeda is Iraq, and Osama bin Laden just confirmed that again with his comments last week," McCain said before quoting a line from a recent audio recording of bin Laden calling for support of the Mujahadeen in Iraq.
VIDEO: McCain tells an audience that he agrees with Osama bin Laden's statement that Iraq is a primary battleground in the U.S. struggle against Al Qaeda. McCain told reporters after his town hall, "General Petraeus and I and Osama bin Laden are in agreement. It is hard to understand why Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do not understand that [Iraq is the central battleground]. I don't know if it is naiveté or what the problem is but it's obvious that they're dead wrong, and they're wrong when they say that we should leave Iraq immediately… and it's time that they acknowledge that the surge is succeeding and the benefits of success in Iraq will spread throughout the entire Middle East."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli FRANKFORT, Kent. -- Former Kentucky Governor Julian Carroll announced he's backing Clinton in the Democratic primary for president. Carroll announced his choice in the state capital before an event featuring Bill Clinton, who makes his first visit to the Bluegrass State today.
Carroll said he has known the Clintons since 1974, when he ascended to the governorship of Kentucky. "Look at me, I'm still goin! Look at that!" said Carroll, 76, kicking his heels at the podium.
"We need for our delegates to be cast in the lot of Hillary Clinton at the convention," he added. "That's what this is all about. ... I came today to put my personal endorsement, not only on my friend Bill Clinton ... but on Hillary Clinton, to be the next Democratic President of the United States."
Carroll was elected to a full term as governor in 1975; he now serves as a state senator representing a district that includes Frankfort.
The visit to Kentucky is the first by either Clinton, and comes two months before the state's primary. Hillary Clinton is expected to visit the state later this week.
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro Clinton’s path to the nomination is with the current mathematical configuration, top Clinton aide and DNC rules guru Harold Ickes assailed the Obama campaign, rather than lay out Clinton's arithmetic.
“I hope they don’t get their hands on the federal budget, because they can’t count,” he said of the Obama campaign.
He stressed that neither campaign can win the nomination without the now 794 superdelegates. “Either candidate needs a substantial number of superdelegates to win,” Ickes said.
“The math argument has been turned on its head,” he said. He went on to hint that one of the ways the math is changing or might change is because “new information” is coming out or might come out about Obama, Ickes said.
For reference, here’s our superdelegate math today from First Thoughts :
If the remaining contests split up "as expected" meaning Clinton wins her base states (PA, KY, WV, etc.) and Obama wins his base states (NC, OR, MT, etc.) and the two split Indiana down the middle, the two campaigns will likely split those 566 delegates right down the middle 283-283 (margin of error +/- 5 delegates). This means Obama would need 34% of the uncommitted superdelegates to hit the magic 2024 number, while Clinton would need 72% of the uncommitted Supers to hit 2024.
From NBC’s Ron Allen
After citing numerous articles from the time, referring to the danger, and how unusual it was for a first lady to travel to such a war-torn place, Team Clinton conceded she "misspoke" about the sniper fire. And running with, "our heads down," from the airport.
Clinton herself told the editorial boards of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer that she “misspoke.” Further clarifying her comments, she said the pilot aboard her aircraft had warned there was sniper fire in the area at the time when she was arriving in Tuzla.
VIDEO: NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on Hillary Clinton misspeaking about being under fire during a 1996 trip to Bosnia. “[W]hat I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire,” she said. “So I misspoke -- I didn't say that in my book or other times, but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire -- that's not what I was told. I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire."
She added later, "I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a mistatement."
So why does this matter? Because Clinton has been accused of inflating her national security credentials to prove she has "passed the Commander-In-Chief test. That's the "test" that exists somewhere in the minds of her campaign staff, a test Sen. Barack Obama has not passed, according to Team Clinton, even though by every measure, except electoral votes won, he's winning the race.
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro War of words: Democrats who don't have a horse in the presidential race, but do have to worry about House and Senate races are starting to wonder aloud if this protracted primary fight has hit a tipping point. Every day this goes on, they say, is bad for the party as a whole. Every day this goes on, they say, is bad for the party as a whole. Remember, there's a reason that the party that gets its nominee first has won 9 of the last 10 presidential elections . Think about the most recent and memorable primary fights for presidential nominations: Ford-Reagan; Kennedy-Carter; Mondale-Hart, not a single ultimate general-election winner. And all three, to this day, have bitter partisans who still bicker about that fight. The same thing is happening with Obama-Clinton. There's a real bitterness developing that rivals these other three examples. Check out how James Carville didn't back down from his "Judas" remark on Richardson at all. In a conference call with reporters Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said, "If I had said it, I would apologize, because I am representing the campaign. I did not say it, and if I had I would." Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign is using Gen. McPeak's "McCarthy" attack on President Clinton and trying to raise money off of it.
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd talks about potential fatigue within the Democratic Party as a result of the prolonged nominating contest. ***
“Misspoke?”: The Clinton campaign in a conference call yesterday said Hillary Clinton “misspoke” when she said, “I remember landing under sniper fire” during her trip to Bosnia. OK. But there are two problems. What she said was with certitude (the remarks you can find on her
Web site ; those remarks on the web site, by the way, are "as delivered" not "prepared for delivery" as was mistakenly reported by one of us on TODAY). But beside that, as NBC’s Ron Allen writes, “Believe me, if you've ever been in a place where there is real sniper fire, it’s unforgettable…. As her team points out, Obama probably doesn't have very many, if any, similar experiences to talk about. But, apparently embellishing a story, or ‘misspeaking’ about it, will only lead to more questions about what Clinton really did when she was in places like Bosnia.” Or her role in the Irish peace talks or in children's health care, etc. This brings a focus back on her at a time when she'd rather see the press continue its focus on Obama. For instance, were it not for the Bosnia story, today's NYT piece on Obama's liberal record in the Senate might be the cable talker of choice.
***
Women back in Focus: The last two weeks were dominated by race and yesterday, in addition to her
speech on housing , Hillary Clinton held a “
Women for Hillary” rally -- “the first such event in weeks,” notes NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones. This was something that was routine in Iowa and New Hampshire, but has faded of late. Is gender politics making a comeback? Women, particularly older women, have been the backbone of Clinton's support both at the ballot box and apparently in her bank account. Pushing the issue of gender is also a way to create a movement that is similar to what has propelled Obama. The one demographic subgroup among women that has eluded Clinton to an extent has been educated younger white women. If she can crack this code, she'll have the chance to really make up ground fast in places like North Carolina and Indiana, let alone over-perform in the Philly suburbs and potentially keep Obama's vote total lower than expected in Pennsylvania.
***
Bluegrass primary? Bill Clinton campaigns hard in Kentucky today. Yes, Kentucky, which holds its primary on May 20th. Is this a sign this will go on and on and on -- even if Clinton loses Indiana or North Carolina? Clearly Kentucky is one Clinton's base states of the contests that remain and considering that the campaign still doesn't have the money to start paid advertising in Pennsylvania, let alone the May primaries, the campaign has now decided it's important to start showing up some of these places early so that Obama doesn't get the head start he's gotten in so many of these places. Bill Clinton's been used more and more as the campaign guinea pig, sending him first in some of these places to see what the response will be. He was in Indiana before his wife; he's hit North Carolina before his wife and now he'll hit Kentucky first as well.
*** Another sign of things to come? By the way, check out the added stop Hillary Clinton has made for Montana on 4/5 and 4/6. Montana is a JUNE primary state; the last day of the primary season. No doubt Clinton is sending the subtle message that she's in this race to the end. But why else would she set a Montana campaign stop two months before the primary? Is there an endorsement she's bagged that she'll unveil that day? Look for reporters to start making calls to Montana's Democratic hierarchy, all of whom would be good gets for Clinton: Gov. Schweitzer or Sens. Baucus and Tester.
*** More fun with delegate math: It's been a while since we've done the percentage game on the delegate count. Here's where things stand right now. Obama leads among pledged delegates 1408-1251; Clinton leads among superdelegates, 255-218. Added together, Obama's overall delegate lead is 120, 1626-1506. Now, what's left? There are still 10 pledged delegates NBC News hasn’t allocated from contests already held. In addition, there are 566 delegates at stake in the remaining contests. On the supers front, there are 321 folks who haven't picked sides (76 of whom have yet to be named; they'll get named at state convention meetings held between now and the end of June). OK, now, let's play the math game. If the remaining contests split up "as expected" meaning Clinton wins her base states (PA, KY, WV etc.) and Obama wins his base states (NC, OR, MT etc.) and the two split Indiana down the middle, the two campaigns will likely split those 566 delegates right down the middle 283-283 (margin of error +/- 5 delegates). This means Obama would need 34% of the uncommitted superdelegates to hit the magic 2024 number, while Clinton would need 72% of the uncommitted Supers to hit 2024.
*** Messages of the day: While Obama finishes up his vacation, both Clinton and McCain have major speeches today on two different topics. Clinton will focus on Social Security, timed for the release of the government's report on the long-term viability of the government trust fund. Word is Clinton will pop McCain on the issue; Meanwhile, McCain, fresh from Iraq, will talk about the housing/mortgage issue in a speech in California. The speech is more of a lesson in how this happened and a promise that he'll be open to some government solutions but he wants to make sure we're not bailing out speculators. Like Clinton and Obama, he calls for a summit of sorts, McCain's summit would be with the largest mortgage lenders.On the trail: Clinton makes two stops in Pennsylvania, including a town hall and a meeting at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; McCain again raises money in California; Bill Clinton makes four stops in Kentucky; and Obama is still on vacation with his family and will be back Wednesday.Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
The New York Post calls the latest Clinton spin, that she leads Obama in electoral votes, “fuzzy math.” “She's behind Barack Obama in popular votes, delegates and overall wins, but Hillary Rodham Clinton's backers have found a new way to claim their candidate is on top…”
PENNSYLVANIA: 4/22 (158 delegates) surged past the 4 million mark Monday, setting a state record on the last day Pennsylvanians had to register to vote in next month's presidential primary. The figures, which showed modest declines in the ranks of Republicans and independents, reflected intense interest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and recruitment efforts by both candidates.”
Some notes from NBC/NJ’s Matthew Berger:which cities the candidate will visit in a six-day bus tour across the state, which starts Friday in western Pennsylvania and conclude in the southeast. press release with the dateline “Pennsylvania, Pa.”
*SEIU leaders said they are planning on focusing on “member-to-member ” contacts throughout Pennsylvania, choosing not to air advertisements for Obama at this time. “We think in Pennsylvania, the more workers can talk to workers, the more influential we can be,” said Anna Burger, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, in a conference call with reporters Monday.
At 4:30 p.m. Monday, as the doors to Chester County Voter Services automatically clicked shut, several people pleaded for entry , to register to vote for the primary. Election officials across the state said they had never seen a rush like what occurred over the weekend. Obama campaign aides were at the Voter Services door, ready to give those shut out alternative suggestions to register in time.
CONTINUED >>
Clinton's '96 Bosnia trip is getting renewed scrutiny as the campaign -- and the candidate -- now admits Clinton “misspoke” when she talked about her remembrances of that trip. The archive video footage seems to contradict Clinton's memory. "Video footage of that trip shows a smiling Clinton and her then-teenage daughter, Chelsea, casually walking -- without helmets -- from the helicopter to an outdoor welcoming ceremony,” the LA Times writes. "‘On one occasion, she misspoke,’ Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said Monday in reference to her Washington speech.
“In fact, Clinton also referred to having to move the Bosnia welcoming ceremony inside at least one other time, on Feb. 29. But, Wolfson insisted, Clinton was potentially in danger. ‘There were reports of snipers in the hills and they were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac. That is what she wrote in her book,’ he said of Clinton's memoirs.
“The Obama camp jumped on the discrepancies. ‘When you make a false claim that's in your prepared remarks, it's not misspeaking, it's misleading, and it's part of a troubling pattern of Sen. Clinton inflating her foreign policy experience," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said.’
In a meeting with the joint editorial boards of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer , Clinton acknowledged that she “misspoke,” made a “misstatement” in her remarks on her 1996 Bosnia trip. Here’s what she said, in part: "Now let me tell you what I can remember, OK -- because what I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire. So I misspoke -- I didn't say that in my book or other times but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire -- that's not what I was told. I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire."
More: "I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a mistatement."
The Boston Globe : “Clinton's recall of Bosnia faulted.” mini-feeding frenzy that developed over the Bosnia trip seemed to step on things.
CONTINUED >>
Returning from his eighth trip to Iraq, McCain didn't back down on his promise to see the war through despite yesterday's tragic milestone of 4,000 deaths. “We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground," the Arizona senator insisted a day after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers and rockets pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone there, and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide. The events transpired as bin Laden called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to ‘help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task.’”
Did McCain really say he agrees with Osama bin Laden? On the day the 4,000th American troop was killed in Iraq, McCain said, per NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy, "General Petraeus is correct when he says that the central battleground in the struggle against Al Qaeda is Iraq, and Osama bin Laden just confirmed that again with his comments last week," referring to a recent audio recording of bin Laden calling for support of the Mujahadeen in Iraq.
McCain told reporters after his town hall, "Gen. Petraeus and I and Osama bin Laden are in agreement. It is hard to understand why Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do not understand that [Iraq is the central battleground]. I don't know if it is naiveté or what the problem is but it's obvious that they're dead wrong, and they're wrong when they say that we should leave Iraq immediately… and it's time that they acknowledge that the surge is succeeding and the benefits of success in Iraq will spread throughout the entire Middle East."
The al Qaeda-Iraq argument is a tack the RNC is also taking up against Clinton and Obama, as they wrote in one recent document e-mailed to media, entitled: “While Bin Laden Urges Followers To Fight In Iraq, Clinton And Obama Deny That It Is A Key Terrorist Battleground.”
The DNC has been going after McCain on Iraq and his offhanded “100 years” comment, which is almost assuredly going to end up in ads.
CONTINUED >>
The NYT looks at the National Journal rating of Obama as the most liberal member of the Senate and the fallout it could cause. "In many ways, the Obama campaign is challenging the fundamental political premise that has prevailed in Washington for more than a generation: that any majority coalition must be carefully centrist, if not center-right. Bill Clinton ran in 1992 as a candidate willing to break with liberal orthodoxy on many issues, including crime and welfare, and eager to move the party -- which had lost five of the six previous presidential elections -- to the middle. Mr. Clinton’s New Democrats assumed a certain level of conservatism among voters.McClatchy does a fact-check of sorts on Obama's senate record vs. his presidential rhetoric. "Obama says if he were president, he'd take politically courageous stands while forging the consensus needed to enact universal healthcare, immigration revisions, global warming legislation and a withdrawal from Iraq. His three-year record in the Senate, however, offers little evidence that he can do what he's promising. His party was in the minority for his first two years, and in the third he began campaigning for president and missed lots of time on Capitol Hill. He was absent from or only partly involved in some key bipartisan efforts to head off stalemates on judicial nominations, immigration and Iraq war policy."Iowa Independent , ex-Iowa Dem Chair/Obama Iowa co-chair Gordon Fischer says his hit on Pres. Clinton on the blue dress comment was wrong. "It was stupid, idiotic," Fischer said. "I deserve all the venom."
CONTINUED >>
Eliot Spitzer steps down after he’s found linked to a high-priced prostitution ring. His successor -- a history making blind African American -- is widely hailed as a uniter not a divider by both sides. Then, we find out he and his wife have both had extramarital affairs and last night, in an interview with local TV station NY1 , David Paterson admits to youthful marijuana and cocaine use. (The New York Post today dubs him Doobie Dave for it.)
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Dear Friend,
Do you think Bill Clinton is like Joe McCarthy?
Of course you don't. Neither do I. But Barack Obama must because this past weekend, his campaign compared President Clinton to Joe McCarthy. Joe McCarthy!
Ever since we won in Ohio and Texas we have been seeing these kinds of personal attacks from the Obama campaign. It's hard to believe that a campaign that talks so much about changing the tenor of our politics would employ these kinds of tactics, but its the kind of thing we are seeing every day from Senator Obama and his campaign.
Here is just a small sample of the words they have used to describe Hillary and her campaign: "disingenuous," "divisive," "untruthful," "dishonest," and much more.
Well I'm not going to stand for it, and neither should you. There's no better way to fight back than to show your support for our campaign in the face of these attacks.
Click here to make a contribution and help us fight the negative attacks.
I appreciate everything you're doing to help Hillary win, and I know she does too. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Terry McAuliffe
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli Bill Clinton events in South Bend, Ind., this morning. The first is from a Dyngus Day celebration at the West Side Democratic Club:
"She can win this race, and we have got to win. And she will win in Florida. And I must say that this new strategy of denying and disempowering and disenfranchising the voters in Florida and Michigan is I believe a terrible mistake. Hillary believes their votes should be counted. And I don't know how we're gonna go to those people in the general election and say you gotta vote for us even though we dumped all over you in the primary. We let New Hampshire go out of turn. They had a Democratic Secretary of State. The Florida voters are totally innocent. They asked to vote on time. So for all those reasons I think she's the most electable.”
VIDEO: Bill Clinton touts his wife's general election chances against McCain during a campaign stop in South Bend, Ind. The second quote is from a Solidarity Day event at an Elks club:
"I think she can win the election. And I believe that she will win Ohio, Florida, West Virginia, and Arkansas -- four states that we have lost the last two times. If we win Ohio and Florida, it's inconceivable that we could lose the election. And I think that we are running the risk of throwing both Florida and Michigan away if she doesn't get nominated because of the events of the last few days where there has been a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise those voters. And don't you think there has not been a message there. Don't you think that they didn't get it?
“And Sen. McCain is not going to be easy to beat; he has always run well in Michigan. He will run pretty well in Florida. She can win. Look, if we win these four states we will win the White House; there is no point in doing this if we are not going to win."
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones Clinton revved up the crowd at a "Women for Hillary" rally outside Philadelphia Monday.
It was of no surprise to find the gym at Montgomery County Community College populated overwhelmingly by women. They made up about 90 percent of the crowd.
It's been a while since the New York senator hoping to become the first woman president has focused on issues of specific concern to women or held a woman-specific event.
She spent some time talking about the changing attitudes in the country and the erosion of barriers holding back women and others. She said the changes had allowed her and Obama to run for the Democratic nomination.
"I think that says a lot,” she said. It says a lot about who we are as a party and who we are as a country.”
Clinton brought back lines we haven't heard in a long time, like mentioning the women who come up to her and tell her they were born before women could vote but would live long enough to see a woman president. Variations on that phrase were common in the Iowa days.
Clinton said issues like the economy and health care were of special concern to women.
"Women make most of the healthcare decisions in America," she said. "For women, healthcare is a constant worry. You never can have it far from your mind, can you? Because you think about it all the time, 'What happens if--?' You know, I'm the designated worrier in my family and most women I know assume that role and the piece of mind that is never there because, can you let your son or your daughter play sports if you don't have health insurance? What if something happens?"
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger Obama at this time.
“We think in Pennsylvania, the more workers can talk to workers, the more influential we can be,” said Anna Burger, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, in a conference call with reporters Monday.
There are more than 75,000 SEIU members in the Keystone State, and the union is setting up eight sites across Pennsylvania. The focus has been on registration through Monday, the deadline for residents to register to vote or change their party affiliation. The next step will be educating members.
While SEIU aired ads for Obama, shortly after announcing their national endorsement, before the Ohio primary, they are not planning to go on television or radio in Pennsylvania at this time. “But that could change,” Burger said.
“We think the candidates are spending so much on the air, it's more important for us to be on the door and on the ground,” she said.
After a compressed primary schedule earlier this year, union officials said the extra time has allowed them to ensure their membership rolls are up to date and to better organize themselves in the field, which lessened the need for media buys. Burger said members have been spontaneously reaching out to union officials, interested in the race and getting involved.
When asked if Obama could win the union vote in Pennsylvania, with polls showing Clinton at a 15-point advantage, Burger said she thought “we can narrow the gap.”
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro On the heels of the news that the U.S. death toll in Iraq has risen to 4,000, the Clinton and Obama campaigns issued statements. Here they are:
CLINTON: "Five years after the start of the war in Iraq, there have now been 4,000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq. On this solemn day, we remember the sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform. We honor the tens of thousands more who have suffered wounds both visible and invisible, wounds that scar bodies and minds, and hearts as well. We honor the sacrifices of their families, a price paid in empty places at the dinner table, in the struggle to raise children alone, in the wrenching reversal of parents burying children.
"In the last five years, our soldiers have done everything we asked of them and more. They were asked to remove Saddam Hussein from power and bring him to justice and they did. They were asked to give the Iraqi people the opportunity for free and fair elections and they did. They were asked to give the Iraqi government the space and time for political reconciliation, and they did. So for every American soldier who has made the ultimate sacrifice for this mission, we should imagine carved in stone: 'They gave their life for the greatest gift one can give to a fellow human being, the gift of freedom.'
"I recall the great honor of meeting many of our brave men and women who have served our country. In meeting them, I am always struck by how, no matter how great their suffering, no matter how grave their own injuries, they always say the same thing to me: "Promise that you'll take care of my buddies. They're still over there. Promise you'll keep them safe."
OBAMA: "It is with great sadness that we have reached another grim milestone in Iraq, with at least 4,000 of our finest Americans having been killed. Each death is a tragedy, and we honor every fallen American and send our thoughts and prayers to their families. It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq's leaders to take responsibility for their future. As we do, we must serve the memory of all who have died as well as they served our country, by providing support for their families, caring for our troops and veterans, and upholding the American values which our fallen heroes exemplified through their service."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
He has since apologized for the comment.
"B. Clinton questions Obama's patriotism. In repsonse, an Obama aide compared B. Clinton to Joe McCarthy. This is patently unfair. To McCarthy,"
He later wrote ABC News , part of which he posted on his blog : "On my individual blog, I made a stupid comment. I sincerely apologize for a tasteless and gratituous comment I made here about President Clinton. It was unnecessary and wrong. I have since deleted the comment, and again apologize for making it. It will not happen again. I hope my readers will accept my apology and we can move on to the very important issues facing our state and country. Thank you."
"A sincere apology is always a good thing," Clinton Communication Director Howard Wolfson said in a conference call with reporters. "But I don’t know why he would apologize; it seems consistent with the kind of campaign the Obama campaign is trying to run."
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Clinton called for a non-partisan federal emergency working group on home foreclosures that would meet to figure out how best to deal with the mortgage crisis.
The senator catalogued the problems facing the economy, including high gas prices, job losses and the credit crunch that has stemmed from problems in the mortgage market and said "confidence" was the currency of the American economy that the federal government should take stronger steps to shore it up.
"How do we keep today's turmoil from spiraling into a long and painful recession?" Clinton asked in her opening remarks.
She said more than 10 percent of all homeowners were struggling with mortgages underwater, a figure she said was the highest percentage since the Great Depression.
VIDEO: Clinton lays out her policy for combating the home foreclosure crisis during a speech in Philadelphia, Pa. Clinton went on to repeat her call for a moratorium on home foreclosures and said she supported the legislation introduced by Sen. Chris
Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney
Frank (D-Mass.) that would expand the government's capacity to guarantee new loans from banks that help families facing foreclosure. She also said a government entity like the Federal Housing Authority may have to act as a temporary purchaser of mortgages.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
Campaign manager David Plouffe claimed that Clinton couldn't change the system, when she was "wallowing" in special interest influence and money. He cited issue break-out sessions lobbyists had paid to attend with Clinton as well as ties to the financial industry, which he claimed would make it difficult for her to provide real reform.
Looking more broadly at the state of the race and the delegate count, Plouffe claimed that the Clinton campaign tried to create a new rationale every day for how the nominee should be selected. "Next, it will be that only states starting with 'N' should count" toward picking the nominee, Plouffe said.
He also acknowledged, after prodding, that Gen. McPeak's comments, which compared Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy, didn't have a place in the race, but adamantly insisted that the Clinton campaign had a habit of making inappropriate comments and then saying their meaning was misinterpreted.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Fred Thompson . The as-seen-on-TV candidate, who dropped out after his once-vaunted presidential run faded, has been signed by a high-powered Hollywood agency.
The "William Morris Agency announced this week that it has signed the actor/politician, signaling a return to the screen for the former senator from Tennessee," the AP reports.
Maybe he can become president in 2008 after all -- even if it is just pretend.
From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro Clinton’s day: The candidates have been taking a breather. Clinton was down all weekend, and Obama has left the continental U.S. for some quality time with the family and won’t check back in until Wednesday. (BTW, since he's reportedly so close, will Obama stop off in Puerto Rico on his way home? But we digress). It should be a slow week but noting that we’ve said THAT before. As for today, it is Clinton’s day. She could dominate the news cycle with a major speech on the housing crisis in Pennsylvania. On this issue, Clinton has devoted more campaign time to the issue than either Obama or McCain. It's potentially in Clinton's wheelhouse for a number of reasons: (1) She's seen as the candidate of policy positions; she's bread and butter not inspiration and that could play well with Pennsylvania's blue-collar housing-nervous electorate and (2) Her last name is a solid credential on the economy. While Clinton's tried to (sometimes clumsily; see Bosnia) claim foreign policy experience in her days as First Lady, the real benefit she should be figuring out how to get out of the Clinton presidential years is credit on the economy; those were the real successes of the Clinton year; if anything foreign policy was, at best, a mixed bag and only now being seen in a more positive light by some because of the current president. "All this other stuff..." Bill Clinton's Friday afternoon comments about why he thinks a Clinton-McCain contest will be better for the country has been viewed by Obama supporters has an attack on the candidate's patriotism. But be sure to focus on this phrase, "all this other stuff" intruding on the campaign and less on the "loves America" line. Wasn't Clinton sending another message to the crowd of older, white male voters? (Remember, he was at a VFW and there was barely a member of the audience under 60, according to our reporter in the field)? The message: That if you don't want to talk about race, then Clinton's the candidate; if you do want race intruding into the campaign, then support Obama. There are many older, white voters, while sympathetic to Obama's message on race, don't want to be reminded to take their medicine and the subtle message Clinton may actually have been sending was just that, support Clinton and avoid taking your race medicine.
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd discusses the Clinton campaign's reaction to Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama last week. ***
The latest spin: So yesterday on the Sunday shows, two Clinton surrogates made their latest case to the superdelegates, which is, add up the electoral votes of the states won by Clinton vs. the states won by Obama. Why this metric? Because it is the only metric the Clinton campaign has come up with yet has her ahead: she's behind in popular vote, behind in delegates earned JUST through primaries and behind in pledged delegates. Of course, keep in mind, two of Kerry's final primary victories in '04 which essentially drove everyone out of the race (though the candidates did fight through Wisconsin) was Virginia and Tennessee; Kerry didn't carry either state. The motivation to use this Electoral College talking point is yet another attempt by the Clinton camp to discount some of Obama's small-state victories because Obama's won nearly twice the number of states. If you recall, in '00, during the recount dispute, the Bush campaign made sure the country saw that county-by-county map from around the country which showed the country in a sea of red. Obama's victory map, right now, looks more impressive than Clinton's visually. By the way, one other point, there's a reason Clinton's done well in bigger states, and that's time. Obama starts off behind some 15-20 points in most of these big states; when he campaigns in the state, he always closes the gap to a point. But is the de facto lever pull for less informed Dems Clinton until Obama spends an enormous amount of money? Just asking...
***
Hello, my name is…: The NYT’s/CNBC’s John Harwood curtain raises the planned re-introduction of McCain to the American populace. Campaign Manager Rick “Davis’s plan involves laying a sturdier foundation for Mr. McCain’s positive, but relatively shallow, public image,” Harwood writes. “It starts in earnest on March 31 with a ‘Service for America’ tour, intended to link the senator’s biography with his values and policy stances. Along the way, it will underscore life events that occurred in battleground states -- like Virginia, where Mr. McCain attended high school, and Florida, where he trained as a Navy pilot. He will address the dominant domestic issue with events in April promoting his economic agenda.” In addition, McCain will also continue to try and put together a campaign infrastructure; He still doesn't have a pollster and he may need a new media consultant since Mark McKinnnon has said he won't work against Obama. By the way, will conservative talk radio take a break from Rev. Wright to discuss the NYT piece about McCain's two flirtations with leaving the GOP? Our guess: no. What's done is done; had the GOP primary still been active when this story hit, then maybe this would have become a hot topic.
***
California going e-Bay? Speaking of the McCain team, get to know e-Bay CEO Meg Whitman, who may be using her role as National co-chair of McCain's campaign to size up a California governor’s run in 2010. The L.A. Times has the scoop
(Addendum: Actually, our friends at the Cailfornia Target Book broke the news of Whitman's interest in running for governor back in December) on the pro-choice businesswoman who wasn't a registered Republican for much of her time in California. The state GOP is always looking for a non-conforming party person to run for statewide office and it looks like Whitman is the current dream candidate for 2010.
***
Dyngus Day: Sometimes we wish we worked for Stewart or Conan or Jay or Dave or even Jimmy. Why? Because of days like this. Bill Clinton is in Indiana (with Chelsea), celebrating Dyngus Day, which according to one Google search, is a Polish holiday where guys get to
drench gals in water . (Seriously, we’re not making this up!); Apparently tomorrow, gals get to throw dishes at the guys. Just what part of Dyngus Day will Bill Clinton take part in? Ok, sorry, couldn't help ourselves, but seriously...
*** The Delegate Count: Obama leads Clinton 1,626-1,506 overall. This includes the pledged count of Obama 1,408, Clinton 1,251 and the superdelegate count of Clinton 255, Obama 218. in the popular vote, Obama is ahead 13,405,271-12,706,194. On the trail: Today is the last day voters in Pennsylvania voters can register to vote as Dems to participate in the 4/22 Dem primary. Clinton makes three stops in Pennsylvania, including her housing speech; McCain has two California fundraisers and holds a town hall there; Bill Clinton makes five stops in Indiana (including Dyngus Day celebrations); and Obama is on family vacation. Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
The Washington Post does some resume busting on both Obama and Clinton, writing about instances where both Clinton and Obama embellished their roles in various policy fights. AP : “Clinton and Barack Obama took a much-needed rest from their presidential campaigns on Easter Sunday as their tight race for the Democratic nomination looked set to drag on for months. Republican John McCain, who has locked up his party's nomination, returned from an overseas trip where he tried to polish his foreign policy credentials and prepared for a fundraising swing through Western states this week.” More: “Clinton took Friday through Sunday off from active campaigning and was scheduled to resume events in Pennsylvania on Monday. Obama, who campaigned in Oregon on Saturday, was taking a vacation with his family and would not return to active campaigning until Wednesday in North Carolina.”urged Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the passport breaches of all three presidential candidates, “saying the breach could be a violation of several federal criminal statutes. Specter also indicated that the Judiciary Committee might take a look as well. ‘Privacy is a very fundamental matter. And if you can't have privacy for Senator McCain and Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, so what's the average person facing?’ he said.” Boston Globe profiles James Roosevelt, co-chairman of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee. He was called “unflappable” and “perfect” for the job by supporters of both Clinton and Obama. When it’s formed in June, Roosevelt will also co-chair the convention credentials committee, which is where the Florida-Michigan fight goes if it’s not settled beforehand. Roosevelt "is going to have to be Jesus and Moses all at the same time, and maybe Solomon, too,” said Don Fowler, the 1995 party chairman, who appointed Roosevelt to the RBC co-chairmanship. Salon's Walter Shapiro laments the Dem primary calendar. "With more than five months to the Denver Convention, the problem for the Democrats remains the crazy-quilt schedule that caused far too many to vote too soon. That is the real buyer's remorse -- a front-loaded political calendar that has turned most partisan Democrats into now-irrelevant bystanders just when a real decision is needed."
CONTINUED >>
Clinton hits the trail today in Philly to give what the campaign is billing as a major speech. She'll unveil a four-part plan to address underwater mortgages, the broader housing crisis and credit crisis. She'll call for a broader government role in buying out underwater mortgages and protecting homeowners. Clinton has consistently talked more about this issue more than either of her two foes, Obama or McCain. (See excerpts below.)newest Clinton campaign talking point to justify how superdelegates can vote for Clinton over Obama: the number of electoral votes Clinton has won in her primary/caucus wins vs. Obama. Both Evan Bayh and Ed Rendell tested out this talking point on Sunday shows.
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post looks at the "tightrope" McCain is walking in regards to Pres. Bush. "Throughout a week-long trip that took him to more than a dozen meetings with leaders in five countries, McCain walked a fine line on Iraq and other issues as the all-but-certain Republican nominee confronted perhaps the central dilemma of his presidential campaign -- the question of what role Bush and the legacy of the past seven years will play in his campaign for the White House."NYT's Harwood has some details of what McCain's spring is going to look like. "The visible part of Mr. Davis’s plan involves laying a sturdier foundation for Mr. McCain’s positive, but relatively shallow, public image. It starts in earnest on March 31 with a “Service for America” tour, intended to link the senator’s biography with his values and policy stances. Along the way, it will underscore life events that occurred in battleground states -- like Virginia, where Mr. McCain attended high school, and Florida, where he trained as a Navy pilot. He will address the dominant domestic issue with events in April promoting his economic agenda.
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Times looks at a fact that has been largely overlooked the last six weeks: the amount of outside special interest money that has benefited Obama, particularly unions like SEIU.
CONTINUED >>
Meet Roger Stone. A long time attack dog of Eliot Spitzer’s, “who boasts of being the sleaziest man in American politics” and who predicted Spitzer "wouldn't serve his full term."
“The comments didn't draw much attention at the time since Stone was a well-known enemy of Spitzer who worked for the governor's nemesis, Majority Leader Joe Bruno,” the
New York Daily News reports. “Nobody knew that Stone had already tipped off the feds to Spitzer's high-priced hooker habit in a Nov. 19 letter to the FBI. It also cattily mentioned the governor's fetish for having sex with socks on. It's unclear whether the prosecutors knew anything about Spitzer's involvement in the Emperors Club VIP call girl ring when Stone wrote the letter.”
From NBC's Abigail Williams and Frank Thorp After telling the American public for the last month that he is stepping out of the mess of political life, Sen. Chuck
Hagel spent the morning telling those left in office how to clean up after he's gone.
Invoking the recent Gallup poll showing that 81% of the American public did not like the direction America was headed, Hagel called for a new consensus within the next administration and emphasized the need for a bi-partisan coalition no matter who takes the White House.
Referring to Sen. John
McCain as a "good friend," Hagel continued to criticize the Republican presidential candidate's foreign policy platform, pointing to a financial toll of $12 billion to $15 billion a month for the Iraq war and a high casualty rate.
"We have lost 900 Americans since the surge began," Hagel said. "We are in a mess in Iraq. And the reality is we are going to have to deal with it."
Hagel was blunt but could offer no specifics on the troop levels needed in the present or future. He was however, quick to absolve himself from finding any solution.
"I don't intend to be in the government next year," he said. "I don't anticipate it, and I don't look forward to it."
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann RALEIGH, NC -- The back-and-forth continues between Teams
Obama and
Clinton over the former president's comments in Charlotte yesterday, which some have interpreted as a swipe at Obama's patriotism.
Yesterday, Obama surrogate Gen. Tony McPeak decried Bill Clinton's remarks as echoes of Joe McCarthy's anti-Communist fear-mongering during the Red Scare.
That, said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer, is "an outrage that doesn't pass the laugh test."
In a statement issued this afternoon, Singer went on to say that McPeak was "willfully and deliberately distorting Bill Clinton's remarks" and accused the rival campaign of using the incident as a distraction from Obama's "recent political troubles."
Bill Clinton said in Charlotte yesterday that a general-election matchup between his wife and John McCain would represent "an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country, and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann CARY, NC -- Call it "courting the 'old coot' vote."
After an afternoon of controversy sparked by comments made in Charlotte, NC, Bill Clinton stuck to lighter fare at a senior center in Cary, a well-to-do suburb of Raleigh.
"I've become a nut with these crazy Sudoku puzzles!" he exclaimed to knowing chuckles from a crowded audience of not a few octogenarians. Clinton went on to clarify that his affection for the addictive numerical mind-benders is derived from an article in the Journal of American Medicine claiming that "after 50, if you do one crossword puzzle, one set of math problems or a sudoku puzzle a day you cut your chances of Alzheimers in half!"
"Interesting, huh?" he added brightly.
The mature humor came at the same time the Clinton campaign issued a statement to clarify the former president's earlier remark that a matchup between McCain and Clinton would be one "between two people who love this country" without "all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics." A campaign spokesman says that the comment was meant to lament, not launch, attacks on rival candidates' patriotism.
Clinton also said in Cary that today's swing through the Tar Heel State marks "the beginning of what I hope will be many trips to North Carolina between now and your primary day." He mentioned that his wife will be in the state "next week, and I think every week" until May 6th.
"This whole thing could come down to what you all decide to do in North Carolina," he said, prompting applause from Democrats who have had the chance to cast precious few decisive votes in a presidential primary during their long lifetimes.
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan EUGENE, Ore. -- The crowd at the University of Oregon let Barack Obama off the hook Friday night, even though he bet against their team in the NCAA tournament.
"I'm glad I'm not an opposing team. This is what they call the pit," Obama said as he looked out over the crowd of 9000 "quacking" fans in Mac Court stadium.
"Alright ducks I know this is a tough night for you. But I tell you what, Illinois didn't even make the NCAA this year," Obama said.
Oregon lost to Mississippi State last night, and Obama's bracket had chosen the Bulldogs to win over over the Ducks.
But there was no need for Obama to win over this crowd. Obama fans started lining up at 6am this morning. Garrett and Heather Bridgens, school teachers from nearby Cottage Grove, OR said their high school students had taken turns waiting in line all day.
Around 6000 people who couldn't get into the event waited in an overflow to see Obama and others thronged the sidewalks of the school in a long procession waving cheerfully at the motorcade as it passed by.
It was a good end to a difficult week. Obama bounded on stage to "The City of Blinding Light," a campaign staple that has been missing from the road lately as the campaign has tried to move away from rallies towards more sober town halls and message events.
Obama addressed the comments made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright by rwferencing the speech he gave in Philadelphia. He called the focus on it a "distraction" and promised the crowd thar "this time we will not be distracted. This time we will not be waylaid.'
Obama will wrap up his Oregon tour Saturday with a town hall in Medford.
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan SALEM, Ore. -- General Tony McPeak, a co-chair of the Obama campaign, and a former Chief of Staff of the United States Airforce in the Clinton Administration, President Clinton's
comments on patriotic Americans Friday to Joe McCarthy.
"I think it's horrible. I'm really disappointed because I worked for President Clinton, you know?" McPeak said when asked by reporters.
"We know Barack Obama don't we? Do we think Barack Obama loves America? Is this stupid or what?" he demanded of the press surrounding him.
"It sounds more like McCarthy. I grew up, I was going to college when Joe
McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it," he added.
Told that the Clinton campaign had tried to distance itself from Bill Clinton's comment, McPeak implied that the campaign had been down this road before with the former president.
"It's a use of language as a disguised insult. We've seen this before, this
little clever spin that's put on stuff," he said.
"I have no idea what his intentions are but I'm disappointed in the statement. I think Bill Clinton is, or ought to be, better than that," McPeak concluded.
From NBC's Lee Cowan PORTLAND -- Bill Richardson described the conversation he had with Hillary Clinton on his decision to endorse Barack Obama as "heated" in an exclusive with NBC Nightly News today.
Both Richardson and Obama shared the spotlight this afternoon at a press conference and later in a sit down interview with NBC's Lee Cowan. (Please insert link to NN spot)
Richardson described the conversation that he had with Clinton last night "tough."
"It was tough to make the call, but I did. It got a little heated. It got a little tense. But it was understood, and I'm proud of my decision."
He stressed that his decision to endorse Obama came a week before, but it was reinforced by the speech Obama gave on race last Tuesday. He cited his own racial background as a Hispanic to underscore why the speech was so significant.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Jim Popkin and Libby Leist Two of the government contractors who allegedly took a peek at Sen. Barack Obama's passport records worked for a Virginia-based firm called Stanley, Inc., according to U.S. government officials with knowledge of the State Department passport controversy.
NBC News contacted a Stanley, Inc. spokeswoman this afternoon, and informed her that two sources had confirmed that employees at her firm were involved with the scandal. The spokeswoman would only comment: "We've been directed by the State Department to direct all media calls to them."
The government officials tell NBC News that Stanley Inc. fired the two workers. A worker at a second contracting company, not related to Stanley, Inc., also allegedly took a look at the Obama files and those belonging to Sen. John McCain. That person has been disciplined but not yet been fired, State Department officials say.
Stanley, Inc., is headquartered in Arlington, Va. and is employee-owned. The State Department awarded it a contract for $164 million in 2006. The contract calls for Stanley to print and mail millions of new U.S. passports.
One Stanley, Inc., contractor allegedly looked at Obama's passport records on January 9, and then a second Stanley employee allegedly took a peek at similar Obama records on February 21, the officials said. Stanley, Inc., fired both workers after the alleged security breaches were discovered.
According to its website: "Stanley has approximately 3,500 employees at more than 100 locations in the U.S. and worldwide. Stanley offers a full-spectrum systems integration portfolio of services, providing comprehensive solutions for all phases of a program, product, or business lifecycle to meet each customer's mission-critical requirements."
From NBC's Bethany Thomas PARIS -- John McCain wrapped up his five-country swing to the Middle East and Europe by meeting with two familiar faces- one old and one new. In London this morning, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and McCain had breakfast together at the swanky Mandarin Oriental hotel. A quick photo-op for reporters before the official visit quickly became a reflection of McCain's recent travels. On the friendship with Britain, McCain said, "What I've learned from our trip is that our alliance and our relationship is still strong. There are areas such as climate change, transparency of international financial institutions, Israeli-Palestinian peace process and others that we need to work with more closely together."
Throughout the entire week, McCain has been careful to distinguish this trip as a Congressional fact-finding mission that he's leading as the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Nevertheless, questions on the election and McCain's candidacy have followed him and various world leaders at every country's stop. This morning Mr. Blair tried to deflect the question, but when asked if he was interested in the race, he said, "I think there's great interest in the election everywhere."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann (see update)
"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country," said the former president. "And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."
In the wake of controversy over comments made by Barack Obama's former minister, Clinton's comments could be seen as an effort to draw attention to the issue of patriotism in a state with a high population of veterans.
The former president made the comments to less than 80 audience members at an invite-only event focused on veterans issues. The audience was subdued as Clinton gravely outlined a message of patriotism and honor for military service, The small sea of navy-blue VFW caps nodded along in agreement.
Take away ten of the cameras and fifty degrees Farenheit, and this could have been a John McCain event in Waterloo, Iowa, in November 2007.
The message was different, but the mood was much the same.
Update : Bill Clinton spokesperson Matt McKenna clarifies the former president's comment: "Actually, as is indicated by the quote itself, President Clinton was talking about the need to talk about issues, rather than falsely questioning any candidate's patriotism.
He was lamenting that these kind of distractions 'always seems to intrude' on political campaigns. This consistent with his criticism of the 'politics of personal destruction,' which dates back 16 years."
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan Richardson endorsed Obama this morning, hailing him as a "once in a lifetime leader," Obama gave one of the fieriest speeches he has delivered in weeks.
"It's not just a change in parties. It's not just putting forward a bunch of ten point plans. It's restoring a sense that this government is working for you and fighting for you and is of and by the United States of America," he said.
From NBC's Mark Murray Bill Richardson specifically cited Obama's speech on race Tuesday as a reason for his endorsement.
"Earlier this week, an extraordinary American gave a historic speech. Senator Barack Obama addressed the issue of race with the eloquence and sincerity and decency and optimism we have come to expect of him," he said, according to his prepared remarks. "He did not seek to evade tough issues or to soothe us with comforting half-truths. Rather, he inspired us by reminding us of the awesome potential residing in our own responsibility."
VIDEO: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson endorses Barack Obama for president before an enthusiastic crowd in Portland, Ore. Richardson continued, "Senator Obama could have given a safer speech. He is, after all, well ahead in the delegate count for our party's nomination. He could have just waited for the controversy over the deplorable remarks of Reverend Wright to subside, as it surely would have. Instead, Senator Obama showed us once again what kind of leader he is. He spoke to us as adults... He appealed to the best in us."
"As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words. I have been troubled by the demonization of immigrants--specifically Hispanics-- by too many in this country... Senator Obama has started a discussion in this country long overdue and rejects the politics of pitting race against race."
Click below for Richardson's full remarks....
CONTINUED >>
From MSNBC's David Shuster Here's what we know so far:
(1) Fall 2007. A training exercise last fall involved somebody typing in
Hillary Clinton's name... The person involved was not fired.
(2-a) January 9, 2008. A contractor looked at the passport file of
Barack Obama . The supervisor felt it was a firing offense. The contractor was fired. But the immediate supervisor didn't notify officials outside office of consular affairs.
(2-b) February 21, 2008. Another contractor looked at Obama's passport file. Supervisor felt it was a firing offense. The contractor was fired. The immediate supervisor didn't notify officials outside office of consular affairs.
(3) March 14, 2008. A third contractor accessed Obama's passport file and
McCain's passport file. Supervisor felt it was not a firing offense. The contractor suspended. The immediate supervisor didn't notify officials outside office of consular affairs.
Key questions: What made the Jan. 9 and Feb. 21 breaches of Obama more serious than the fall '07 breach of Clinton and the March 14 breaches of Obama/McCain?
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell McCain's passport file was also apparantly breached, and Clinton's was as well.
Secretary of State Rice called Clinton today to notify her that her passport file was breached in 2007.
Clinton's Senate office released this statement: "This morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice contacted Senator Clinton in order to inform her that the Senator's passport file was breached in 2007. The State Department will be briefing Senator Clinton's staff this afternoon to provide details about the recent unauthorized breaches of passport records. Senator Clinton will closely monitor the State Department's investigation into this and the other breaches of private passport information."
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell Bill Clinton as ambassador to Paraguay.
Harty actually started out in the Reagan Administration and rose to become a special assistant to former Secretary of State George Shultz.
In addition, Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy started in 1973 during the Nixon Adminstration - when Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State.
They both rose through the ranks under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
I'd caution against assuming any particular connection to the Clintons unless we can establish that. They are not known to be particularly political. They will surely have to answer questions about management and competence, however.
From NBC's Libby Leist Condoleezza Rice said this morning she has spoken to Obama today to express her regret over the unauthorized passport breaches. She did not know about it until yesterday and could not comment whether any laws were broken
"I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed if I learned somebody had looked into my passport," she said. "We are very concerned about this."
"We are going to do an investigation through the inspector general, who will get to the bottom of it to make certain nothing ... was going on"
VIDEO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she will launch a full investigation into the unauthorized inquiry into Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's passport file. The State Department is in contact with Obama's office and will provide briefings. "None of us wants to have a circumstance in which any Americans passport file is looked at in an unauthorized way," Rice added.
From NBC's Mark Murray presidential contenders -- the analogy is perhaps more apt than ever: After a week of tough press scrutiny, the Obama campaign is trying to work the refs to even out the coverage.
With the fresh speculation whether the Rev. Wright episode will hurt Obama's chances in the general election, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe held a conference call with reporters arguing that voters' concerns about Clinton's honesty and trustworthiness are damaging to her claims of electability.
"It will be next to impossible to win a general election if more than half the electorate doesn’t see you as trustworthy," Plouffe said, citing a Gallup poll showing that just 44% of Americans rate Clinton as honest and trustworthy, compared with 67% for McCain and 63% for Obama. "The American people will simply not elect someone they don’t see as honest and trustworthy."
He went on to cite examples in which he said Clinton was being dishonest: telling voters in Ohio that she was against NAFTA (when she attended White House-organized meetings on the trade accord), pushing for re-votes in Florida and Michigan (when she said earlier that those contests didn't count), and even saying Obama wasn't a Muslim "as far as I know" (when she knows well Obama is a Christian).
Also on the call, Obama adviser Greg Craig implored the press to scrutinize why Clinton's White House schedules didn't confirm her claims to foreign policy experience (on Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and Northern Ireland). "I think her claims, with respect to foreign policy, achievements are inflated."
On its own conference call following the Obama one, the Clinton campaign charged that the Obama camp was "desperate to change the subject" after its tough week -- by disenfranchising voters in Michigan and Florida, peddling photos of Bill Clinton with Rev. Wright, and now attacking Clinton's character. "It is not a pretty sight," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said.
From Chuck Todd and Mark Murray A bad week for everyone : While it may be hard to compare weeks during this campaign, we imagine there haven’t been many that have been this bad for all three campaigns. It was an odd war of attrition, a contest of who had the LESS bad week. For McCain, it was his Shiite-Sunni gaffe, which allowed Democrats to have a field day criticizing his understanding of Iraq, as well as his commander-in-chief credentials. For Clinton, it was the failure to have re-votes in Florida and Michigan, which makes her path toward winning the Democratic much, much more difficult. But hands down, no one had a tougher week than Obama. Just look at the post-Rev. Wright/pre-race speech poll numbers that are still circulating; it's what makes the Clinton and McCain folks think their week went better than Obama’s did. That said, two developments that occurred last night -- the news that Bill Richardson is endorsing Obama and the breach of his passport records -- have changed the subject, at least in the short term. But we do have this question for the Obama campaign: Why did it leak that photo of Wright with Bill Clinton? Doesn’t that just give cable networks another excuse to run the video of Wright? How does that turn the page? It was an odd decision to say the least.
*** Richardson’s endorsement : When John Edwards made an appearance on Leno last night, we were bracing ourselves for a possible endorsement. We just didn’t know it would be coming from Bill Richardson, who will formally throw his support behind Obama at a campaign event today in Portland, OR. The endorsement isn’t too much of a surprise -- Richardson had been hinting his support for Obama for a while. Still, it’s significant for two reasons: 1) Richardson becomes the second Dem presidential contender to endorse Obama, while none has backed Clinton (Biden and Edwards are still neutral); and 2) Richardson specifically cited Obama’s speech on race as a reason for getting off the fence. “He asked us to rise above our racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together,” he said in a letter to his supporters. “As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words.” The Obama camp, though, has to be a bit disappointed the endorsement didn’t come before Texas. In fact, of the remaining contests, Puerto Rico is the only one left with a significant Hispanic population. Expect some bitterness from Clinton land on this one, in particular because many of them believe that without Bill Clinton appointing Richardson to two Cabinet posts, he wouldn't have had the experience that makes him a viable veep candidate. Of course, Richardson’s endorsement means another superdelegate for Obama, raising his overall delegate total (pledged and supers) to 1,626 vs. 1,506 for Clinton.
VIDEO: NBC's Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first read on Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama, and continuing talk of race in the presidential campaign. ***
Breach : While the Richardson endorsement is certainly good news for the Obama campaign, it might actually get more of a political payoff from the news that three contract workers at the State Department had accessed his passport records. The reason? It allows the Obama camp to bash the Bush Administration and galvanize Democratic voters, who might think -- even if it’s not true -- that the Administration is engaged in dirty tricks. “Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement last night. “This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach.” Déjà vu '92. It's likely a few idiotic rogue wannabe political consultants, but who knows what an investigation will turn up.
*** The downballot omission : Yesterday, Clinton chief strategist Mark Penn released a memo seizing on recent poll numbers showing Clinton’s improved standing versus Obama. He wrote, “Ultimately, this Democratic nominating process is meant to select the candidate who will: a) be the best president – the best commander-in-chief, steward of the economy, and exercise leadership; b) defeat John McCain; and c) promote and defend core Democratic principles such as universal health care. On all three fronts, Hillary is the best choice for the Democratic Party." But he left out this consideration: Who would be the best leader for the party when considering downballot races? As we’ve pointed out before, what has been good for the Clintons (winning two presidential elections), hasn’t always been good for the party (which lost control of Congress, state legislatures, and governorships while Clinton was president). Can Clinton’s campaign make the pitch to superdelegates that the party would benefit as a whole from a Clinton restoration? Remember, these superdelegates aren't going to worry about who will be the best president. Many of them will be thinking: Who will be the best nominee to keep me in power?
*** McCain's money woes? FEC reports are in for all three presidential candidates, and there are a few headlines. First, the presidential field combined has raised just short of $800 million since last year. That's a stunning figure; the remaining three candidates will pass a $1 billion BEFORE the conventions. Two, McCain raise slightly less money in February than he did in January. That's not a good sign. He can't afford to be raising $11-15 million a month; he needs to get that monthly average above $20 million, at a minimum. No doubt, the McCain folks expect to be outspent by their eventual Dem opponent, as both Obama and Clinton are raising money at an amazing clip. But McCain needs to keep the ratio to less than 2-to-1, and $11-15 million a month doesn't cut it.
*** Typical clumsiness? Obama's defense of his grandmother racial issues by calling her a "typical white person" has many folks up in arms, who rightly claim that if either Clinton or McCain had said the phrase "typical black person" in a similar, there would be a full-fledged media firestorm. Of course, had Obama said this pre-Rev. Wright, would anyone have cared? It shows where this campaign is right now and why Obama's walking a tightrope. Every word he says on race is being scrutinized. This was an odd thing to say and offensive to a number of folks. No doubt we'll hear an apology from Obama. He obviously didn't mean for how it came across but, well, words matter.
*** On the trail : Clinton is down in New York; McCain remains in England and then heads to France; and Obama campaigns all day in Oregon, visiting Portland, Corvallis, and Eugene. Also, Bill Clinton stumps in North Carolina.
Countdown to Pennsylvania: 32 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
It's official: Florida and Michigan re-vote proposals are dead .
Politico's Smith notes that without the re-votes, the Clinton campaign's hope of catching Obama in the popular vote is diminishing. "In Pennsylvania, for instance, more than 1.2 million Democrats turned out for the last contested Democratic primary, the 2002 governor’s race. Given the higher interest, Democratic operatives there — who declined to be quoted speculating — said they could imagine the vote getting as high as 2 million. Under that, highly optimistic scenario, an unprecedented blowout for Clinton — a margin of 20 percent, for instance — would give her 400,000 more votes in the state, and still leave her with more than 300,000 to make up.”
“And few Pennsylvania Democrats actually expect such a result, despite Clinton’s lead in many state polls. Clinton’s convincing victory in Ohio, for instance — a whiter, more conservative state — was by a margin of 10 percent." More: For Clinton to pick up her lead in the popular vote with 6 million ballots cast, she’d need a 12 percent margin across the states — that’s a 56 percent to 44 percent average win. With 5 million ballots, she would need a 14 percent margin — that’s a 57 percent to 43 percent overall victory, including expected defeats in states counting for well over 1 million votes.”
CONTINUED >>
This little passport imbroglio is just the type of distraction the Obama campaign was looking for, no? Here's the original Washington Times story on the incident: "Two State Department employees were fired recently and a third disciplined for improperly accessing electronic personal data on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Bush administration officials said today. The officials, all contract workers, used their authorized computer network access to look up files within the department's consular affairs section, which processes and stores passport information, and read Mr. Obama's passport application and other records, in violation of department privacy rules, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said."
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: "This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an Administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years. Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes. This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach.”
Clinton spokesman Jay Carson added, "It is outrageous and the Bush Administration should get to the bottom of it."
Per NBC’s Libby Leist, A senior State Department official insisted there was "no political motivation" to these incidents. He says they were low-level contract employees doing administrative work and they accessed the Obama records out of "curiosity." This official doesn't believe any of this information was sent anywhere. The records were accessed on three different occasions by three separate individuals -- on January 9, February 21, and March 14.
On conference call last night, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell adds, Patrick Kennedy of the State Department said there is no reason to think that the contract employees will not cooperate with the inspector general, even though they acknowledge that fired employees have no obligation to do so. The IG would have no legal authority over these fired contract employees. At this stage, Kennedy and spokesman Sean McCormick say they are not forwarding this to the Justice Department. Moreover, McCormick said he first learned about the incidents from a reporter's call yesterday -- not from an official internal report.
The Washington Post uses the release of Clinton's White House schedules to look at her experience claims. "On March 22, 1999, Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at the Itihadiya Palace in Egypt for what her schedule said was a ‘courtesy call with President Mubarak.’ Aides blocked out 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Then she embarked on visits to a mosque, museum, clinic, bazaar, youth center, groundwater project, university and the Temple of Luxor. Almost exactly nine years later to the day, Clinton's trip to Egypt offers a case study of her foreign policy role during her husband's presidency. While traveling across North Africa, she devoted little time to heads of state and negotiated no agreements, but instead met community leaders, explored local issues and culture, hit major tourist sites and gave speeches on women's rights and other topics important to her.”
“Whether that has made her ‘tested and ready’ to be president from the first day, as she now claims, is a burning issue on the campaign trail." More: "While Clinton's advertisements have boasted that she is best prepared for a 3 a.m. crisis phone call, the schedules contain no evidence that Clinton was at the table during major national security decisions. They do not list her as attending National Security Council meetings or joining briefings in the Situation Room. She did not have a national security clearance. And the documents make clear that at moments of major crisis, Clinton was often busy with her own agenda."
The Obama camp seized on the NAFTA campaigning Clinton did during her husband's push for the trade pact's passage in '93. The news was revealed in her White House schedules released on Wednesday.
The New York Times reports, "[T]his week, Mrs. Clinton’s electability argument has taken on a new dimension that for her and her advisers is both discomfiting and unpredictable, but also potentially helpful. Some Democrats are now looking at the racially incendiary and anti-American remarks of Mr. Obama’s longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and wondering if that association could weaken Mr. Obama as a nominee. Clinton advisers have asked their allies not to talk openly about the issue, for fear it could create a voter backlash and alienate black Democrats. They also say Mr. Obama, of Illinois, is in enough trouble over Mr. Wright that they do not need to foment more — and, besides, cable television is keeping the issue alive."
CONTINUED >>
National Journal's Kirk Victor looks at the decision-making process behind McCain's veep search. "[F]airly or not, the decision assumes more importance than usual in McCain's case because he will be 72 on Inauguration Day ... and because he has had cancer... Folks on and off Capitol Hill also say that McCain, perhaps more than other recent nominees, has more competing considerations to weigh in selecting a running mate. They cite his famous maverick ways ... and his acknowledgement that economics is not his strong suit."
Karl Rove weighs in on the national security question for the campaign: "Elections are rarely decided over just one issue; to win, candidates don't need to have a majority of Americans agreeing with them on every big issue. But when it comes to choosing a president, Americans take seriously the candidates' views and experience on national security. Voters instinctively understand a president's principal constitutional responsibility is protecting the country.
The Democrats have two candidates with less national security experience and fewer credentials than the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain. And they are compounding these difficulties with positions on Iraq and terrorist surveillance that are shared by a shrinking minority of Americans."
With McCain in France today, the liberal Campaign for America’s Future has released a video hitting McCain on the Airbus tanker deal.
Richardson sent an email to supporters to explain his reasons for picking Obama. "Earlier this week, Senator Barack Obama gave an historic speech that addressed the issue of race with the eloquence, sincerity, and optimism we have come to expect of him. He inspired us by reminding us of the awesome potential residing in our own responsibility. He asked us to rise above our racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together.”
“As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words. I have been troubled by the demonization of immigrants--specifically Hispanics-- by too many in this country. Hate crimes against Hispanics are rising as a direct result and now, in tough economic times, people look for scapegoats and I fear that people will continue to exploit our racial differences--and place blame on others not like them. We all know the real culprit -- the disastrous economic policies of the Bush Administration!
“Senator Obama has started a discussion in this country long overdue and rejects the politics of pitting race against race. He understands clearly that only by bringing people together, only by bridging our differences can we all succeed together as Americans. His words are those of a courageous, thoughtful and inspiring leader, who understands that a house divided against itself cannot stand. And, after nearly eight years of George W. Bush, we desperately need such a leader.”
Per NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan, Obama often has been billed as the wine-drinking candidate, who’s unable to attract the working-class, beer-track voters that are the staple of the Democratic Party. It's no exaggeration to say that in a sports bar in Beckley, West Virginia yesterday Obama found the answer to winning over those regular Joes. Plopping down at a table with a group of men, he sat, talked, ate two chicken wings, and dissected the NCAA tournament. Why didn't Mississippi State make his final four pick? "They don't have good free throws," he explained. "Pittsburgh is hot," he declared, insisting that it had nothing to do with politics. He told the assembled crowd that he watched ESPN’s Sports Center to unwind. By the end of the visit, the bar patrons -- who had appeared more interested in the games playing on the multiple TV screens when he walked in -- applauded when he walked out.
CONTINUED >>
Wow! The entire Dem and GOP presidential fields, since this campaign began, have collectively raised just under $800 million . This means, the remaining candidates will easily push that number over a $1 billion. Think about that: $1 billion dollars. Granted, the dollar isn't worth as much as it was four years ago, but wow. "Obama, the freshman Democratic senator from Illinois, reported raising $192.7 million and spending $154.7 million on his campaign through the end of February. He spent $42.7 million in February while competing in more than 30 nominating contests.”
“Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was second in fundraising. She collected $34.6 million in February, pushing her total to $173.8 million. That includes $10 million from her Senate campaign account and a $5-million personal loan. Clinton owes consultants and other vendors an additional $3.7 million. The presumptive GOP nominee, John McCain, raised $11 million in February, his best month. Overall, the Arizona senator had raised $60.2 million, and spent $49 million through the end of February. McCain paid off much of his debt to consultants and other vendors. An aide to McCain said Thursday that McCain had raised more in the month of March than he did in any three-month period previously."
The New York Times notes McCain actually raised less in February than he did in January when he WASN'T yet the presumptive nominee.
McCain's $11 million haul has to become his fundraising floor. If he simply averages $11-15 million a month between now and November, he'll have a SERIOUS resource deficit compared to his eventual Dem foe. Can McCain start raising $20-25 million a month? We'll find out on April 20, when his March fundraising is released. March is the first OFFICIAL month he was raising cash as the presumptive nominee.
The Los Angeles Times notes, "Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who are running for president as economic populists, are benefiting handsomely from Wall Street donations, easily surpassing Republican John McCain in campaign contributions from the troubled financial services sector. It is part of a broader fundraising shift toward Democrats, compared to past campaigns when Republicans were the favorites of Wall Street.”
“Some Democrats worry that the influx of money will make their candidates less willing to call for increased regulation of financial markets, which have been in turmoil after a wave of foreclosures on sub-prime mortgages. These concerned Democrats argue that their candidates, and presumptive Republican nominee McCain, should be willing to push for financial institutions to accept more government regulation -- in exchange for likely future bailouts, such as the recent deal the Federal Reserve orchestrated for JPMorgan Chase & Co. to take over Bear Stearns Cos."
There are some folks who wonder if the Democrats in the '90s got talked into being "yes people" for Wall Street so that they didn't create an enemy in Wall Street that they had in the '70s and '80s. And that led to bipartisan lack of regulation of the money markets.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Clinton kept the pressure on Obama for another day, urging him to sign on to a re-vote in Michigan and saying not re-doing primaries there and in Florida would call into question the legitimacy of the ultimate nominee.
She said she would support finding a way to seat the two states' delegates regardless of the outcome. "I would be in favor of fixing this problem no matter what my position," she said. "I have been consistently in favor of it. Remember, I'm the one who kept my name on the ballot. I had no idea what the outcome would be. I did not run advertising in Florida. I abided by the rules and did not campaign in Florida. I didn't know what the outcome would be."
CONTINUED >>
