Obama
Barack Obama
From NBC's Domenico MontanaroObama has pulled within two of taking the lead in what was once
Clinton's formidable superdelegate lead in the NBC News count. Today, the Illinois senator picked up the endorsement of California superdelegate Crystal Strait, a Young Democrats of America board member.
Strait is the first superdelegate to endorse this Sunday, but is Obama's sixth pick up this weekend. Clinton gained one yesterday, but lost two for a net of negative one in the NBC News count.
The NBC NEWS delegate counts:PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 276.5, Obama 275
TOTAL: Obama 1,865, Clinton 1,702.5
From NBC's Domenico MontanaroObama picked up the endorsement of Arizona congressman Harry
Mitchell. Mitchell is the fifth superdelegate Obama has picked up today.
Clinton today gained one, but lost two for a net of negative one.
The NBC NEWS delegate counts:PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 276.5, Obama 274
TOTAL: Obama 1,864, Clinton 1,702.5
From NBC’s Domenico MontanaroObama picked up an Ohio add on,
AP reports: “Ohio labor leader Dave Regan, who was selected as a superdelegate Saturday, told the AP that Obama is ‘the candidate that can unite the country and move beyond the divineness and gridlock that we have today.’ Regan recognized that Clinton won the Ohio primary March 4. ‘But that was two months ago. I think as the campaign has unfolded, Obama is looking like a stronger and stronger candidate,’ Regan said. ‘I think it's very likely he will be the nominee.’”
The campaign confirms Regan as well. Regan is the fourth Obama has picked up today. Clinton today gained one, but lost two for a net of negative one.
The NBC NEWS delegate counts:PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 276.5, Obama 273
TOTAL: Obama 1,863, Clinton 1,702.5
From NBC/NJ’s Athena JonesBEND, Ore. -- This election year has already broken fundraising and voter participation records, but it could also break the mold for how campaigning is done during a general election.
Think of hand-to-hand combat, but with words, something akin to a rhetorical duel on policy that plays out right before voters’ eyes, in state after state, without the interruption of pesky journalists asking questions about issues the candidates believe are not important. This time they would be in control.
It could happen.
Politico reported that Republican strategist Mark McKinnon has suggested the two candidates agree to campaign in some states together, to attend joint town hall meetings and debate each other without a moderator. McKinnon called the town hall meeting
McCain’s “best format” and said joint campaigning would test
Obama’s “claims that he wants a clean fight on the issues.”
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, “John McCain has repeatedly encouraged these types of appearances with his opponents in the past, but in order to extend all due respect to Sen.
Clinton, we will look forward to welcoming the arrangements when the Democrats have actually chosen their nominee.”
Obama said Saturday that he was open to the idea, should he become the nominee.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico MontanaroObama picked up two Virgin Islands superdelegates who were previously supporting
Clinton, the campaign announced. They are Kevin Rodriguez, who had publicly endorsed Clinton, and Carol Burke, who had been privately considered for Clinton before today. Obama won the Virgin Islands contest overwhelmingly, and Clinton supporters there have been facing increasing pressure to go with Obama.
So far today in the NBC NEWS count, Obama has a net of three to Clinton's negative one. Also expected today are one more add on from Massachusetts and two add ons from Ohio.
The NBC NEWS delegate counts:PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 276.5, Obama 272
TOTAL: Obama 1,862, Clinton 1,702.5
* This leaves 246.5 superdelegates undeclared. Nearly 50 are not yet named. Most will be this month.
* Obama needs 163 to reach 2,025 needed for the nomination.
From NBC's Domenico MontanaroObama picked up Utah superdelegate add-on Kristi Cumming.
The NBC NEWS delegate counts:PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 277.5, Obama 270
TOTAL: Obama 1,860, Clinton 1,703.5.
OBAMA OREGON FRIDAY WRAP: A focus on McCain; a surrogate hits McCain on Keating Five; Obama talks Clinton debt, obsessing over race and Myanmar
From NBC/NJ’s Athena JonesBEAVERTON, Ore. -- In a sign of what will likely be viewed as a shift in focus to the general election, Obama talked about party unity and his differences with presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, but made no mention of his rival for the nomination Hillary Clinton during his remarks at a town hall Friday.
He touched on her only in passing, and in response to questions, during the 40-minute Q+A.
The Illinois senator also sought to set expectations for voters by writing off West Virgina and Kentucky where he said he would likely lose by big margins.
As he general does at the beginning of his critiques of McCain, Obama said he honored his service but then went on to lay out where they disagree on the economy, healthcare, the war in Iraq and how to deal with high gas prices. He didn't mention Clinton's position on the gas tax, as he did in nearly every speech leading up to the primaries last week in Indiana and North Carolina.
"There's gonna be a real difference on the ballot in November and that's what elections should be about," he said during the event at a family-owned company outside Portland that makes science software and technology for use in schools. "John McCain will stand with Washington's tried and, I believe, failed approaches to (sic) the past; I intend to stand with the American people on behalf of a new direction."
He again called McCain's gas tax holiday proposal a gimmick and said he would offer real relief by proposing a tax cut of up to $1000 for families and he slammed the Arizona senator for what he called fiscal irresponsibility.
"It's so frustrating when you hear somebody campaigning on being a fiscal conservative and just ripping the budget to shreds," he said. "We're still going to have a hole to dig ourselves out of and, you know, I am not promising that the first year suddenly we've got a balanced budget. We're gonna have to grow ourselves out of the hole that we're in. But if we stop digging and then you've got projected growth of the economy that's on a stronger, because we're making it more competitive then say by the end of two years in office, hopefully, we're back in a situation where we're balanced out."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
One of the Obama campaign's informal Middle East advisers, Robert Malley, confirms to NBC NEWS that he has resigned from any role in the campaign because critics have tried to make an issue of his meetings with Hamas. The Times of London called him about it this morning, and has posted a story online. As a result, he called Obama's campaign today and took himself out of any future role.
Malley's paid job is with the International Crisis Group, which, he says, requires him to meet with Hamas and others. Malley worked for six and a half years at the Clinton National Security Council under Tony Lake and Sandy Berger. Lake is now one of Obama's top foreign policy advisors.
Speaking to NBC NEWS, Malley said, "I decided based on the fact that this was becoming a distraction that it was best that I remove myself from any association with the campaign."
Malley added, "My job with the International Crisis Group is to meet with all sorts of savory and unsavory people and report on what they say. I've never denied whom I meet with; that's what I do."
Malley said he always informs the State Department in advance and briefs them afterward.
He said this morning he got a call from the London Times, asking about his meetings with Hamas. So he called the campaign and said he thought it best to take himself out of what was a very informal relationship to begin with.
He added that people have been attacking him on the Web (here and here and here) for some time. (Huffington Post had an item on "Smearing Rob Malley." Another defense of him here. For more background, this Jewish Daily Forward piece.)
Malley added that he and Obama went to law school together, but he said he has not played any role in the campaign other than as a very informal advisor. But, he added, "once it hits the Times of London it becomes too much of a distraction, especially since the McCain campaign seems to want to make this an issue."
McCain has brought up on more than one occasion that a Hamas spokesman had complimentary things to say about Obama.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The Obama campaign announced yet another superdelegate endorsement -- South Carolina DNC Member Wilber Lee Jeffcoat. This is Obama's fifth pick up today. (The campaign also announced CA DNC Member Vernon Watkins, but we did not add him into our count, because he was already on our list.)
So far today, it's a net of Obama 5-0.
OBAMA (5): Jeffcoat, Edward Espinoza, NC DNC Member John Gage, Reps. Donald Payne of NJ and Peter DeFazio of Oregon (+5).
CLINTON (0): Rep. Chris Carney of PA (+1), but she lost lost Payne (-1).
The NBC delegate counts:
PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 273.5, Obama 267
TOTAL: Obama 1,857, Clinton 1,699.5.
* There are 254.5 undeclared superdelegates (about 50 of which are not named yet).
* Since the Indiana and North Carolina primaries on Tuesday, it's a net of Obama 11-1 in superdelegates.
* Obama is 168 away from the magic number of 2,025.
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones
SOMEWHERE-IN-THE-SKY-OVER-AMERICA -- Life on the campaign trail is often grueling. The 20-hour days, the ubiquitous turkey sandwiches, the constant travel, the never knowing where you're going to be the next night -- not to mention hearing the same speech over and over and over again. Exhausted reporters complain, exhausted staffers get snappy and sometimes even a 757 can start to feel too small.
So after a particularly punishing stretch of campaigning, with a five-hour flight to Oregon to look forward to, the traveling press settled down for a few rounds of Taboo yesterday. For those that don’t know, it’s a game by Hasbro that is perhaps best described as verbal charades. Players pull a card showing a key word, phrase or famous person's name that they must get their team to guess. The card includes a list of words that can't be used in trying to elicit an answer. Take the word "Aggravate," in this case, the forbidden words would be "Annoy," "Pester," "Antagonize," "Irk," and "Harass". You get a point for every word you get and your team loses a point if you say one of the taboo words. The other team uses a buzzer to indicate when you've done so, and there's a plastic hourglass as a timer.
Reporters have taken to playing the game during long trips and this time the Obama staffers -- including the senator himself -- joined in for two rounds.
The sometimes-heated match led to quite a few funny exchanges, especially since the secret trick to the game is using common points of reference and shared experiences, of which there are many on the trail. Often reporters use lines from stump speeches, recent events and the names of candidates, their spouses or other political figures to get others to say the right answer.
At one point the key phrase was "White House" and the reporter giving the clue said, "Barack wants to live there." The team shouted the correct answer and Obama laughed.
During another turn, the key word was "California" and a reporter said, "This is where Sen. Obama said his "bitter" comments." The other reporters shouted San Francisco, then the Bay Area and a few other words before eventually guessing correctly, at which point Obama joked that he had come to the back of the plane get away from such issues, not to be reminded of them.
Early on, the senator managed to get his team to guess "Cockatoo" by talking about an animal that flies, can mimic human words and has fancy plumage.
CONTINUED >>
