Sunday, June 8, 2008
Clinton Suspends Her Historic Presidential Bid
WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton ended her historic campaign for the presidency on Saturday and told supporters to unite behind rival Barack Obama, closing out a race that was as grueling as it was groundbreaking.
The former first lady, who as recently as Tuesday declared herself the strongest candidate, gave Obama an unqualified endorsement and pivoted from her role as determined foe to absolute ally.
"The way to continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our energy and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States," she said in a speech before cheering supporters packed into the ornate National Building Museum, not far from the White House she longed to reign in.
"Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary campaign he has won. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him and I ask of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me," the New York senator said.
With that, Clinton placed herself solidly behind her Senate colleague from Illinois, a political sensation and the first black to secure a presidential nomination.
For Clinton and her supporters, it was a poignant moment, the end of an extraordinary run that began with an air of inevitability and certain victory. About 18 million people voted for her; it was the closest a woman has come to capturing a nomination.
Joining her on stage were her husband, the former president, and their daughter, Chelsea, before she took their leave as she addressed the crowd.
Obama secured the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination Tuesday after primaries in South Dakota and Montana. He planned to spend the weekend at home in Chicago.
Clinton supporters began lining up at dawn to attend the farewell address. A smattering of Obama backers showed up as well, saying they did so as a gesture of party unity.
WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton ended her historic campaign for the presidency on Saturday and told supporters to unite behind rival Barack Obama, closing out a race that was as grueling as it was groundbreaking.
The former first lady, who as recently as Tuesday declared herself the strongest candidate, gave Obama an unqualified endorsement and pivoted from her role as determined foe to absolute ally.
"The way to continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our energy and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States," she said in a speech before cheering supporters packed into the ornate National Building Museum, not far from the White House she longed to reign in.
"Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary campaign he has won. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him and I ask of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me," the New York senator said.
With that, Clinton placed herself solidly behind her Senate colleague from Illinois, a political sensation and the first black to secure a presidential nomination.
For Clinton and her supporters, it was a poignant moment, the end of an extraordinary run that began with an air of inevitability and certain victory. About 18 million people voted for her; it was the closest a woman has come to capturing a nomination.
Joining her on stage were her husband, the former president, and their daughter, Chelsea, before she took their leave as she addressed the crowd.
Obama secured the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination Tuesday after primaries in South Dakota and Montana. He planned to spend the weekend at home in Chicago.
Clinton supporters began lining up at dawn to attend the farewell address. A smattering of Obama backers showed up as well, saying they did so as a gesture of party unity.
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Thursday, May 1, 2008
Obama Wants Pro-Clinton Group Investigated
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's presidential campaign wants federal regulators to investigate fellow Democrats who are backing Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy, taking intraparty discord to a new level of confrontation.
Obama's campaign lawyer, Robert Bauer, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the pro-Clinton American Leadership Project of violating campaign finance laws by running ads against Obama.
The group is largely financed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and is run by Democratic operatives, many of them based in California and who have past connections to Clinton or her husband. Its organizers say they are abiding by the law and a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.
Bauer, in his complaint and in a teleconference with reporters, likened the group to organizations that had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for ad campaigns in the 2004 presidential election. Among them was the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked Democrat John Kerry's service in Vietnam and his subsequent anti-war stance.
"This organization is a Swift Boat wannabe and it's violating the law in exactly the same way," Bauer said.
The Supreme Court in 2007 opened the door for organizations to air issue ads that mention political candidates, as long as they did not explicitly call for their election or defeat. The FEC followed up with a regulation that gave outside groups more latitude to run ads during elections.
"We have strictly and carefully adhered to every governing law and regulation, including the content of our communications and our full and timely disclosures," said ALP Chairman Jason Kinney, a California Democratic strategist.
Bauer said the Supreme Court decision has been a "source of a great deal of confusion _ the confusion that this organization is trying to take advantage of."
Complicating matters is the FEC's lack of a quorum to act on any investigation or regulatory matter. The six-member commission has four vacancies. Bauer asked the FEC that if it is "unable to act expeditiously" it refer the case to the Justice Department.
The American Leadership Project has run more than $1.7 million in ads, either supporting Clinton's positions on issues or criticizing Obama's stands. The latest ad _ $700,000 worth of air time in Indiana _ raises questions about Obama's economic policies.
"Call Barack Obama and tell him to give Hoosiers a real plan to fix our economy," the ad states.
At issue is the complicated array of federal regulations governing who can say what and how during an election campaign. Candidates, party committees and political action committees, which may only accept restricted contributions, can run ads that call for the election or defeat of a candidates.
Groups that don't organize as political action committees can raise money in unlimited contributions from donors, but they cannot run ads that "expressly advocate" for or against a candidate. These groups have organized either as nonprofit, tax exempt groups or as so-called 527 organizations, which are named after the section of the tax code that permits their existence.
The American Leadership Project is a 527 organization.
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's presidential campaign wants federal regulators to investigate fellow Democrats who are backing Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy, taking intraparty discord to a new level of confrontation.
Obama's campaign lawyer, Robert Bauer, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the pro-Clinton American Leadership Project of violating campaign finance laws by running ads against Obama.
The group is largely financed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and is run by Democratic operatives, many of them based in California and who have past connections to Clinton or her husband. Its organizers say they are abiding by the law and a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.
Bauer, in his complaint and in a teleconference with reporters, likened the group to organizations that had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for ad campaigns in the 2004 presidential election. Among them was the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked Democrat John Kerry's service in Vietnam and his subsequent anti-war stance.
"This organization is a Swift Boat wannabe and it's violating the law in exactly the same way," Bauer said.
The Supreme Court in 2007 opened the door for organizations to air issue ads that mention political candidates, as long as they did not explicitly call for their election or defeat. The FEC followed up with a regulation that gave outside groups more latitude to run ads during elections.
"We have strictly and carefully adhered to every governing law and regulation, including the content of our communications and our full and timely disclosures," said ALP Chairman Jason Kinney, a California Democratic strategist.
Bauer said the Supreme Court decision has been a "source of a great deal of confusion _ the confusion that this organization is trying to take advantage of."
Complicating matters is the FEC's lack of a quorum to act on any investigation or regulatory matter. The six-member commission has four vacancies. Bauer asked the FEC that if it is "unable to act expeditiously" it refer the case to the Justice Department.
The American Leadership Project has run more than $1.7 million in ads, either supporting Clinton's positions on issues or criticizing Obama's stands. The latest ad _ $700,000 worth of air time in Indiana _ raises questions about Obama's economic policies.
"Call Barack Obama and tell him to give Hoosiers a real plan to fix our economy," the ad states.
At issue is the complicated array of federal regulations governing who can say what and how during an election campaign. Candidates, party committees and political action committees, which may only accept restricted contributions, can run ads that call for the election or defeat of a candidates.
Groups that don't organize as political action committees can raise money in unlimited contributions from donors, but they cannot run ads that "expressly advocate" for or against a candidate. These groups have organized either as nonprofit, tax exempt groups or as so-called 527 organizations, which are named after the section of the tax code that permits their existence.
The American Leadership Project is a 527 organization.
Labels: C
Friday, April 18, 2008
Hillary Short On Time and Delegates
Time is running out on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the long-ago front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination who now trails Barack Obama in delegates, states won and popular votes.
Compounding Clinton's woes, Obama appears on track to finish the primary campaign fewer than 100 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to win.
Clinton argues to Democratic officialdom that other factors should count, an unprovable assertion that she's more electable chief among them. But she undercut her own claim in Wednesday night's debate, answering "yes, yes, yes" when asked whether her rival could win the White House.
There's little if any public evidence the party's elite, the superdelegates who will attend the convention, are buying her argument anyway.
In the days since the surfacing of Obama's worst gaffe of the campaign — an observation that small town Americans are bitter folk who cling to religion and guns out of frustration — he has gained six convention superdelegates, to four for Clinton.
"I investigated and studied the context of the whole speech," said one of the six, Reggie Whitten of Oklahoma, who told Obama on Tuesday he would support him. "I think the comment was to some extent taken out of context and blown up, but I can tell you I think people in small towns have a lot of reason to be bitter," added Whitten, who grew up in Seminole, a town of 6,700.
Clinton leads in Pennsylvania polls in advance of Tuesday's primary there, with 158 convention delegates at stake. A victory is essential to her chances of winning the nomination, but far from sufficient. Instead, a triumph of any magnitude would instantly establish Indiana on May 6 as her next must-win state, particularly since her aides have privately signaled that defeat is likely in North Carolina on the same day.
Overall, Obama's delegate lead is 1,645-1,507. That masks an even larger advantage among those won in primaries and caucuses. There, his advantage is 1,414-1,250.
An additional 566 are at stake in the remaining contests in eight states, Guam and Puerto Rico before the primary season ends on June 3.
If Obama captures 53 percent of them, which is the share he has gained in contests to date, he would close out the primary season with at least 1,945 delegates, only 80 less than the total needed to clinch the nomination. If he and Clinton split the 566 evenly, he would still be within 100 of the number needed.
Clinton needs to win a forbidding 65 percent of the delegates in the remaining primaries to draw even with Obama in pledged delegates. It's a share she has achieved only once so far, in Arkansas, where her husband was governor for more than a decade.
Given the unyielding delegate math, Clinton has relied for weeks on forbearance from party leaders to sustain her challenge. And they are growing restless, eager for the epic nomination battle to end so Democrats can unify for the fall campaign against John McCain and the Republicans.
In fact, it's unlikely any other candidate could have survived as long without coming under overwhelming pressure to withdraw.
"There aren't many figures in American politics who could sustain 11 straight losses and hang into a race and raise $35 million," Obama said at The Associated Press annual meeting recently. "So in that sense she's unique, and the fact that former President Clinton is there, too, and the structure that he has of loyalty all across the country and the brand name that they have makes it very tough."
If he was bitter about it, he didn't show it.
Still, there are limits to how long party leaders will wait, given polls that show McCain has pulled even in the race for the White House.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Clinton supporter, said Friday she needs a big win in Pennsylvania, and a loss would be a "door closer."
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, also a Clinton supporter, said recently that the candidate who trails in delegates after June 3 should quit the race. "Probably before that, once it becomes clear that one or the other is clearly — there's no realistic chance," he told the AP in an interview.
Frank's remarks were merely more pointed than when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said a few weeks ago that he hoped the race would be over by the end of June. Or when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she thought it would be a disservice to the party for the superdelegates to overturn the verdict of the primary voters.
Congressional leaders have their own reasons for wanting an end to the nominating campaign.
They are playing a different numbers game.
Obama and Clinton are focused on 2,025, the magic number of delegates.
But 218 is the number that matters most to Pelosi, the number of seats needed to assure a continued Democratic majority in the Congress that convenes in January. Reid has visions of 60, the probably unattainable number of seats that would allow a unified Democratic majority to break any Republican-led filibuster.
For now, they and other party officials have granted Clinton a little more time to make her case, and she takes every opportunity.
Eager to capitalize on Obama's comments about small town Americans, she announced the support last Tuesday of Bill Kennedy, a commissioner in Montana's sparsely populated Yellowstone County.
Unflustered, Obama countered 24 hours later with an announcement that 25 of the 35 Democratic members of the Legislature in predominantly rural South Dakota were for him.
"I know he's a Christian. I'm a Christian," said one of them, Dale Hargens, the state House leader. He resides in Miller, S.D., population 1,650.
Time is running out on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the long-ago front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination who now trails Barack Obama in delegates, states won and popular votes.
Compounding Clinton's woes, Obama appears on track to finish the primary campaign fewer than 100 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to win.
Clinton argues to Democratic officialdom that other factors should count, an unprovable assertion that she's more electable chief among them. But she undercut her own claim in Wednesday night's debate, answering "yes, yes, yes" when asked whether her rival could win the White House.
There's little if any public evidence the party's elite, the superdelegates who will attend the convention, are buying her argument anyway.
In the days since the surfacing of Obama's worst gaffe of the campaign — an observation that small town Americans are bitter folk who cling to religion and guns out of frustration — he has gained six convention superdelegates, to four for Clinton.
"I investigated and studied the context of the whole speech," said one of the six, Reggie Whitten of Oklahoma, who told Obama on Tuesday he would support him. "I think the comment was to some extent taken out of context and blown up, but I can tell you I think people in small towns have a lot of reason to be bitter," added Whitten, who grew up in Seminole, a town of 6,700.
Clinton leads in Pennsylvania polls in advance of Tuesday's primary there, with 158 convention delegates at stake. A victory is essential to her chances of winning the nomination, but far from sufficient. Instead, a triumph of any magnitude would instantly establish Indiana on May 6 as her next must-win state, particularly since her aides have privately signaled that defeat is likely in North Carolina on the same day.
Overall, Obama's delegate lead is 1,645-1,507. That masks an even larger advantage among those won in primaries and caucuses. There, his advantage is 1,414-1,250.
An additional 566 are at stake in the remaining contests in eight states, Guam and Puerto Rico before the primary season ends on June 3.
If Obama captures 53 percent of them, which is the share he has gained in contests to date, he would close out the primary season with at least 1,945 delegates, only 80 less than the total needed to clinch the nomination. If he and Clinton split the 566 evenly, he would still be within 100 of the number needed.
Clinton needs to win a forbidding 65 percent of the delegates in the remaining primaries to draw even with Obama in pledged delegates. It's a share she has achieved only once so far, in Arkansas, where her husband was governor for more than a decade.
Given the unyielding delegate math, Clinton has relied for weeks on forbearance from party leaders to sustain her challenge. And they are growing restless, eager for the epic nomination battle to end so Democrats can unify for the fall campaign against John McCain and the Republicans.
In fact, it's unlikely any other candidate could have survived as long without coming under overwhelming pressure to withdraw.
"There aren't many figures in American politics who could sustain 11 straight losses and hang into a race and raise $35 million," Obama said at The Associated Press annual meeting recently. "So in that sense she's unique, and the fact that former President Clinton is there, too, and the structure that he has of loyalty all across the country and the brand name that they have makes it very tough."
If he was bitter about it, he didn't show it.
Still, there are limits to how long party leaders will wait, given polls that show McCain has pulled even in the race for the White House.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Clinton supporter, said Friday she needs a big win in Pennsylvania, and a loss would be a "door closer."
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, also a Clinton supporter, said recently that the candidate who trails in delegates after June 3 should quit the race. "Probably before that, once it becomes clear that one or the other is clearly — there's no realistic chance," he told the AP in an interview.
Frank's remarks were merely more pointed than when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said a few weeks ago that he hoped the race would be over by the end of June. Or when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she thought it would be a disservice to the party for the superdelegates to overturn the verdict of the primary voters.
Congressional leaders have their own reasons for wanting an end to the nominating campaign.
They are playing a different numbers game.
Obama and Clinton are focused on 2,025, the magic number of delegates.
But 218 is the number that matters most to Pelosi, the number of seats needed to assure a continued Democratic majority in the Congress that convenes in January. Reid has visions of 60, the probably unattainable number of seats that would allow a unified Democratic majority to break any Republican-led filibuster.
For now, they and other party officials have granted Clinton a little more time to make her case, and she takes every opportunity.
Eager to capitalize on Obama's comments about small town Americans, she announced the support last Tuesday of Bill Kennedy, a commissioner in Montana's sparsely populated Yellowstone County.
Unflustered, Obama countered 24 hours later with an announcement that 25 of the 35 Democratic members of the Legislature in predominantly rural South Dakota were for him.
"I know he's a Christian. I'm a Christian," said one of them, Dale Hargens, the state House leader. He resides in Miller, S.D., population 1,650.
Labels: C
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Carter in Syria to See Hamas Political Leader
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Jimmy Carter has arrived in Syria where he is due to meet the political leader of the militant Palestinian Hamas group.
The former U.S. president's visit comes a day after he met several Hamas leaders in Egypt and said he had asked them to stop rocket attacks into Israel.
Carter also is scheduled to meet Friday with Syrian President Bashar Assad before holding talks with Hamas' exiled political chief Khaled Mashaal. He also plans to meet with Syrian businessmen.
Carter's meetings with Hamas have drawn sharp criticism from Israelis, U.S. officials. Washington lists Hamas as a terrorist group.
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Jimmy Carter has arrived in Syria where he is due to meet the political leader of the militant Palestinian Hamas group.
The former U.S. president's visit comes a day after he met several Hamas leaders in Egypt and said he had asked them to stop rocket attacks into Israel.
Carter also is scheduled to meet Friday with Syrian President Bashar Assad before holding talks with Hamas' exiled political chief Khaled Mashaal. He also plans to meet with Syrian businessmen.
Carter's meetings with Hamas have drawn sharp criticism from Israelis, U.S. officials. Washington lists Hamas as a terrorist group.
Labels: C
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Clinton Says Obama Can Win White House
Hillary Rodham Clinton said emphatically Wednesday night that Barack Obama can win the White House this fall, undercutting her efforts to deny him the Democratic presidential nomination by suggesting he would lead the party to defeat.
"Yes, yes, yes," she said when pressed about Obama's electability during a campaign debate six days before the Pennsylvania primary.
Asked a similar question about Clinton, Obama said "Absolutely and I've said so before" — a not-so-subtle dig at his rival who had previously declined to make a similar statement about him.
In a 90-minute debate, both rivals pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000, and said they would respond forcefully if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and uses them against Israel.
"An attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation by the United States," said Clinton.
Obama said, "The U.S. would take appropriate action."
They differed over Social Security when Obama said he favored raising payroll taxes on higher-income individuals. Clinton said she was opposed, her rival quickly cut in and countered that she had said earlier in the campaign she was open to the idea.
Under current law, workers must pay the payroll tax on their first $102,000 in wages. Obama generally has expressed support for a plan to reimpose the tax beginning at a level of $200,000 or more.
The debate was the 21st of the campaign for the nomination, an epic struggle that could last weeks or even months longer.
Pennsylvania, with 158 delegates at stake, is a must-win contest for Clinton, who leads in the polls and hopes for a strong victory to propel her through the other states that vote before the primary season ends on June 3.
Obama leads in the delegate chase, 1,643-1,504, with 2,025 needed for the nomination. And despite a recent gaffe, he picked up endorsements during the day from three superdelegates from a pair of states with primaries on May 6 — Reps. Andre Carson of Indiana and Mel Watt and David Price of North Carolina.
After primaries and caucuses in 42 of the 50 states, Obama leads his rival in convention delegates, popular votes and states won. She is struggling to stop his drive on the nomination by appealing to party leaders who will attend the convention as superdelegates that he will preside over an electoral defeat at a moment of great opportunity after eight years of Republican rule.
The former first lady has never denied published reports that she once told New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that Obama couldn't win when he called to tell her he would be endorsing the Illinois senator.
And at a news conference earlier this month in California, Clinton sidestepped when asked directly whether Obama would win if he were the Democratic nominee. "I am sure we will have a united Democratic Party. I will do everything possible to make sure we can win and I am confident we will have a Democrat in the White House next year," she said at the time.
Asked a similar question at the debate, she provided a similar answer at first. "I think we have to beat John McCain and I have every reason to believe we're going to have a Democratic president and it's going to be Barack or me."
Pressed by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News to answer the question directly, she said, "Yes, yes, yes ... Now I think I can do a better job."
In a debate that moved swiftly between politics and policy, Clinton issued a first-ever public apology for having claimed erroneously that she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996 as first lady.
"I may be a lot of things but I am not dumb," she said, adding that she had written in her book that there had been no gunfire during the episode. She said she was embarrassed by her error. "I'm sorry I said it," she added.
She previously had explained her incorrect comments by saying she had misspoken.
Obama later erred by saying he had never favored a ban on handguns even though as a state Senate candidate in 1996 he filled out a questionnaire from an Illinois voter group saying he would support such a ban.
"My writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire ... as I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns," Obama said, even though his handwritten notes did appear on its front page. The reponse to the question about guns was typed.
Obama had more explaining to do moments later, when he was asked about his controversial comment that small town Americans become bitter because of economic adversity, and "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" as a result.
He said he was attempting to say that because voters feel ignored by government, "they end up being much more concerned about votes around things like guns where traditions have been passed on from generation to generation. And those are incredibly important to them."
"People don't cling to their traditions on hunting and guns" out of frustration with their government, Clinton said. She added that Obama had a fundamental misunderstanding on the role of religion and faith.
Both Obama and Clinton sidestepped when asked if they would place their rival on the ticket as vice presidential running mate in the fall.
"I think very highly of Senator Clinton's record, but I think it is premature at this point to talk about who the vice presidential candidates will be because we're still trying to determine who the nominee will be," Obama said.
Clinton was similarly noncommittal. "I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that one of us takes the oath of office next January. I think that has to be the overriding goal," she said.
Neither rival was willing to say they would ask President Bush to serve in any capacity after he leaves office. Obama volunteered he would be "more likely to ask the advice of the current president's father. He said, that as president, George H. W. Bush had presided over a "wise foreign policy" at the time the Cold War was ending.
ABC News sponsored and televised the debate, with Charles Gibson and Stephanopoulos moderating.
Hillary Rodham Clinton said emphatically Wednesday night that Barack Obama can win the White House this fall, undercutting her efforts to deny him the Democratic presidential nomination by suggesting he would lead the party to defeat.
"Yes, yes, yes," she said when pressed about Obama's electability during a campaign debate six days before the Pennsylvania primary.
Asked a similar question about Clinton, Obama said "Absolutely and I've said so before" — a not-so-subtle dig at his rival who had previously declined to make a similar statement about him.
In a 90-minute debate, both rivals pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000, and said they would respond forcefully if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and uses them against Israel.
"An attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation by the United States," said Clinton.
Obama said, "The U.S. would take appropriate action."
They differed over Social Security when Obama said he favored raising payroll taxes on higher-income individuals. Clinton said she was opposed, her rival quickly cut in and countered that she had said earlier in the campaign she was open to the idea.
Under current law, workers must pay the payroll tax on their first $102,000 in wages. Obama generally has expressed support for a plan to reimpose the tax beginning at a level of $200,000 or more.
The debate was the 21st of the campaign for the nomination, an epic struggle that could last weeks or even months longer.
Pennsylvania, with 158 delegates at stake, is a must-win contest for Clinton, who leads in the polls and hopes for a strong victory to propel her through the other states that vote before the primary season ends on June 3.
Obama leads in the delegate chase, 1,643-1,504, with 2,025 needed for the nomination. And despite a recent gaffe, he picked up endorsements during the day from three superdelegates from a pair of states with primaries on May 6 — Reps. Andre Carson of Indiana and Mel Watt and David Price of North Carolina.
After primaries and caucuses in 42 of the 50 states, Obama leads his rival in convention delegates, popular votes and states won. She is struggling to stop his drive on the nomination by appealing to party leaders who will attend the convention as superdelegates that he will preside over an electoral defeat at a moment of great opportunity after eight years of Republican rule.
The former first lady has never denied published reports that she once told New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that Obama couldn't win when he called to tell her he would be endorsing the Illinois senator.
And at a news conference earlier this month in California, Clinton sidestepped when asked directly whether Obama would win if he were the Democratic nominee. "I am sure we will have a united Democratic Party. I will do everything possible to make sure we can win and I am confident we will have a Democrat in the White House next year," she said at the time.
Asked a similar question at the debate, she provided a similar answer at first. "I think we have to beat John McCain and I have every reason to believe we're going to have a Democratic president and it's going to be Barack or me."
Pressed by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News to answer the question directly, she said, "Yes, yes, yes ... Now I think I can do a better job."
In a debate that moved swiftly between politics and policy, Clinton issued a first-ever public apology for having claimed erroneously that she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996 as first lady.
"I may be a lot of things but I am not dumb," she said, adding that she had written in her book that there had been no gunfire during the episode. She said she was embarrassed by her error. "I'm sorry I said it," she added.
She previously had explained her incorrect comments by saying she had misspoken.
Obama later erred by saying he had never favored a ban on handguns even though as a state Senate candidate in 1996 he filled out a questionnaire from an Illinois voter group saying he would support such a ban.
"My writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire ... as I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns," Obama said, even though his handwritten notes did appear on its front page. The reponse to the question about guns was typed.
Obama had more explaining to do moments later, when he was asked about his controversial comment that small town Americans become bitter because of economic adversity, and "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" as a result.
He said he was attempting to say that because voters feel ignored by government, "they end up being much more concerned about votes around things like guns where traditions have been passed on from generation to generation. And those are incredibly important to them."
"People don't cling to their traditions on hunting and guns" out of frustration with their government, Clinton said. She added that Obama had a fundamental misunderstanding on the role of religion and faith.
Both Obama and Clinton sidestepped when asked if they would place their rival on the ticket as vice presidential running mate in the fall.
"I think very highly of Senator Clinton's record, but I think it is premature at this point to talk about who the vice presidential candidates will be because we're still trying to determine who the nominee will be," Obama said.
Clinton was similarly noncommittal. "I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that one of us takes the oath of office next January. I think that has to be the overriding goal," she said.
Neither rival was willing to say they would ask President Bush to serve in any capacity after he leaves office. Obama volunteered he would be "more likely to ask the advice of the current president's father. He said, that as president, George H. W. Bush had presided over a "wise foreign policy" at the time the Cold War was ending.
ABC News sponsored and televised the debate, with Charles Gibson and Stephanopoulos moderating.
Labels: C
Monday, March 17, 2008
Some Voters May Be Banned in Mich. Revote
LANSING, Mich. -- One of the sticking points holding up a possible do-over election in Michigan is a rule that would ban anyone who voted in the Republican presidential primary from voting again.
That ban would apply even to Democrats or independents who asked for a GOP ballot because Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major candidate left on the Jan. 15 Democratic ballot.
To cast a ballot, voters would have to sign a statement that they hadn't voted in the GOP primary.
The effect of blocking those voters could be greatest on Sen. Barack Obama, since his supporters were more likely than Clinton's to have crossed over to vote in the GOP primary. The national party had punished Michigan for holding a primary before Feb. 5, stripping it of all its delegates. Clinton's name was on the ballot, but Obama and several other Democratic candidates took their names off to avoid angering other early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
Obama has also had more success than Clinton in attracting the votes of independents and Republicans in states where they're permitted to vote in Democratic contests.
Michigan's Republican primary drew 867,271 voters, including 18,106 who voted "uncommitted." The Democratic primary drew 593,837 voters. Clinton garnered 328,151 votes, or 55 percent; 237,762, or 40 percent, voted "uncommitted;" 21,708, or 4 percent, voted for Rep. Dennis Kucinich; 3,853, or less than 1 percent, voted for Sen. Chris Dodd, and 2,363, or less than 1 percent, voted for former Sen. Mike Gravel.
According to exit polls, 7 percent of GOP primary voters said they were Democrats and 25 percent said they were independents or something else. That means nearly 61,000 people who voted in the GOP primary were Democrats, while more than 217,000 were independents.
A group of Democratic leaders from Michigan are trying to set up a June 3 do-over Democratic primary so the state can get its delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention.
The Clinton campaign said Monday it would go along with another election, but the Obama campaign so far has said only that it's reviewing the proposal. Potentially at stake are a hefty 128 pledged delegates that Michigan had before it was punished by the DNC for moving up its primary date.
Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer says the party has the right _ and the responsibility _ to prevent non-Democrats from having a say in who the party's presidential nominee should be.
Michigan doesn't require voters to register by party in order to vote, so the political parties have to use other tools to stop crossover voting. Both parties are due to get a list of who voted in the Jan. 15 primary and which ballot _ Democratic or Republican _ they chose.
It's unclear if poll workers would use those lists to challenge anyone who had voted in the GOP primary.
Brewer said he regrets that some Democrats won't be able to vote in the second Democratic primary if one's held, but says there's nothing he can do about it.
"I regret that that might be the case, but it's a national party rule and we have no choice but to follow it," he said.
Even if more than 278,000 Democrats and independents would be barred from voting in a do-over primary, Brewer estimated that a June 3 election could still pull in at least 1 million and possibly 1.5 million people.
Obama supporters at the state Capitol in Lansing appeared determined to head off a vote on legislation creating a June 3 primary. But U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, one of four Michigan Democratic leaders trying to find a way to get the delegates seated, was calling lawmakers to urge a vote.
Figures are from exit polling for The Associated Press and television networks.
LANSING, Mich. -- One of the sticking points holding up a possible do-over election in Michigan is a rule that would ban anyone who voted in the Republican presidential primary from voting again.
That ban would apply even to Democrats or independents who asked for a GOP ballot because Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major candidate left on the Jan. 15 Democratic ballot.
To cast a ballot, voters would have to sign a statement that they hadn't voted in the GOP primary.
The effect of blocking those voters could be greatest on Sen. Barack Obama, since his supporters were more likely than Clinton's to have crossed over to vote in the GOP primary. The national party had punished Michigan for holding a primary before Feb. 5, stripping it of all its delegates. Clinton's name was on the ballot, but Obama and several other Democratic candidates took their names off to avoid angering other early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
Obama has also had more success than Clinton in attracting the votes of independents and Republicans in states where they're permitted to vote in Democratic contests.
Michigan's Republican primary drew 867,271 voters, including 18,106 who voted "uncommitted." The Democratic primary drew 593,837 voters. Clinton garnered 328,151 votes, or 55 percent; 237,762, or 40 percent, voted "uncommitted;" 21,708, or 4 percent, voted for Rep. Dennis Kucinich; 3,853, or less than 1 percent, voted for Sen. Chris Dodd, and 2,363, or less than 1 percent, voted for former Sen. Mike Gravel.
According to exit polls, 7 percent of GOP primary voters said they were Democrats and 25 percent said they were independents or something else. That means nearly 61,000 people who voted in the GOP primary were Democrats, while more than 217,000 were independents.
A group of Democratic leaders from Michigan are trying to set up a June 3 do-over Democratic primary so the state can get its delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention.
The Clinton campaign said Monday it would go along with another election, but the Obama campaign so far has said only that it's reviewing the proposal. Potentially at stake are a hefty 128 pledged delegates that Michigan had before it was punished by the DNC for moving up its primary date.
Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer says the party has the right _ and the responsibility _ to prevent non-Democrats from having a say in who the party's presidential nominee should be.
Michigan doesn't require voters to register by party in order to vote, so the political parties have to use other tools to stop crossover voting. Both parties are due to get a list of who voted in the Jan. 15 primary and which ballot _ Democratic or Republican _ they chose.
It's unclear if poll workers would use those lists to challenge anyone who had voted in the GOP primary.
Brewer said he regrets that some Democrats won't be able to vote in the second Democratic primary if one's held, but says there's nothing he can do about it.
"I regret that that might be the case, but it's a national party rule and we have no choice but to follow it," he said.
Even if more than 278,000 Democrats and independents would be barred from voting in a do-over primary, Brewer estimated that a June 3 election could still pull in at least 1 million and possibly 1.5 million people.
Obama supporters at the state Capitol in Lansing appeared determined to head off a vote on legislation creating a June 3 primary. But U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, one of four Michigan Democratic leaders trying to find a way to get the delegates seated, was calling lawmakers to urge a vote.
Figures are from exit polling for The Associated Press and television networks.
Labels: C
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Hillary Struggling with Loss of Black Support
WASHINGTON -- African Americans liked Bill Clinton so much that he was once dubbed "the first black president," but perceptions that his wife's campaigning has been racially tinged have taken a toll on Hillary Clinton's White House bid.
Some accuse Clinton's campaign of trying to cast her rival Barack Obama as a candidate of limited appeal in order to marginalize his candidacy and enhance her chances of winning the Democratic Party nomination.
Sen. Obama would be the first black president if he won the nomination and then defeated Republican John McCain in the November 4 national election. Obama is leading Sen. Clinton in the fight for delegates to the August convention.
Clinton would be the first woman president. But some black Americans have grown mistrustful of her campaign because of statements by her, her husband and other surrogates. African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population.
Her suggestion of a "dream" ticket with Obama as her vice presidential running mate reminded some of the days when blacks, regarded as second-class citizens, were ordered to sit at the back of buses.
"No offense, but that is typical of a white person to offer you second place and say they'll take first place," trucker Jasper Clark, 53, said at a recent Obama rally in Jackson, Mississippi.
The mere mention of Clinton's name drew boos from that mostly black audience.
Obama discusses his life as the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya to highlight his message that the United States can move beyond racial divisions, but the issue keeps bubbling up.
TRADING BARBS
Last week, the Clinton and Obama camps traded barbs over a flap involving Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro, who became a trailblazer for women when she joined the unsuccessful Democratic ticket as a vice presidential candidate in 1984.
In comments some viewed as racially divisive, Ferraro attributed Obama's lead so far in this year's Democratic race to his being black. "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said.
Ferraro later resigned from her role on Clinton's fundraising committee and Clinton said she repudiated and "deeply" regretted her supporter's comments.
The Clinton campaign accused the Obama campaign of drawing the race issue into the campaign by calling attention to Ferraro's remarks.
Some analysts said the Ferraro remarks could provoke resentment from some white Americans over "affirmative action" policies aimed at helping minorities overcome discrimination.
Many U.S. blacks say such resentment often causes their accomplishments to be overlooked.
"It's the idea that a black person with a Harvard Law degree and a distinguished legislative career only got to where he is because of his skin color. That's surreal," said William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta.
"It is comparable to the same tiresome argument that accomplished black professionals often hear: 'He or she only got that job because of affirmative action,'" said Patricia Gunn, a law professor at Ohio University, who supports Obama.
SUPPORT DROPS
In polls, Clinton had been splitting black support with Obama as recently as late last year.
But many took offense when Bill Clinton compared Obama's victory in the South Carolina primary in January to success there by Jesse Jackson, an African American who ran for president in 1984 and 1988, but attracted little support on the national stage. Some said Bill Clinton's comments were a bid to marginalize Obama as a candidate only of black America.
Clinton said last week she was sorry for the flap. "You know, I was sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive," she said.
Bill Clinton said "there is a total myth" that the Clinton campaign played the race card. "We had some played against us but we didn't play any," he told CNN.
In South Carolina, eight in 10 black voters supported Obama. That margin increased to more than nine in 10 in the primary last week in Mississippi.
Bill Clinton said he wasn't surprised by Obama's overwhelming support among blacks. "No, that was going to happen. Once African Americans understood that they had a candidate that had a serious chance of winning the nomination and of winning the presidency," he said.
Obama supporters, who hope his message of transcending racial divisions can have broad appeal, have emphasized that his wins have come not only in states like Mississippi with large black populations, but also in mostly white states like Iowa, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Idaho.
Obama faces a controversy of his own over racially charged and inflammatory rhetoric by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor at his church in Chicago. Comments such as Wright's contention that the United States believes in "white supremacy and black inferiority" put Obama on the defensive. He has attended Wright's church for 20 years.
Obama said he rejected the "incendiary" comments by Wright, who resigned from his role as spiritual adviser to the Obama campaign.
WASHINGTON -- African Americans liked Bill Clinton so much that he was once dubbed "the first black president," but perceptions that his wife's campaigning has been racially tinged have taken a toll on Hillary Clinton's White House bid.
Some accuse Clinton's campaign of trying to cast her rival Barack Obama as a candidate of limited appeal in order to marginalize his candidacy and enhance her chances of winning the Democratic Party nomination.
Sen. Obama would be the first black president if he won the nomination and then defeated Republican John McCain in the November 4 national election. Obama is leading Sen. Clinton in the fight for delegates to the August convention.
Clinton would be the first woman president. But some black Americans have grown mistrustful of her campaign because of statements by her, her husband and other surrogates. African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population.
Her suggestion of a "dream" ticket with Obama as her vice presidential running mate reminded some of the days when blacks, regarded as second-class citizens, were ordered to sit at the back of buses.
"No offense, but that is typical of a white person to offer you second place and say they'll take first place," trucker Jasper Clark, 53, said at a recent Obama rally in Jackson, Mississippi.
The mere mention of Clinton's name drew boos from that mostly black audience.
Obama discusses his life as the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya to highlight his message that the United States can move beyond racial divisions, but the issue keeps bubbling up.
TRADING BARBS
Last week, the Clinton and Obama camps traded barbs over a flap involving Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro, who became a trailblazer for women when she joined the unsuccessful Democratic ticket as a vice presidential candidate in 1984.
In comments some viewed as racially divisive, Ferraro attributed Obama's lead so far in this year's Democratic race to his being black. "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said.
Ferraro later resigned from her role on Clinton's fundraising committee and Clinton said she repudiated and "deeply" regretted her supporter's comments.
The Clinton campaign accused the Obama campaign of drawing the race issue into the campaign by calling attention to Ferraro's remarks.
Some analysts said the Ferraro remarks could provoke resentment from some white Americans over "affirmative action" policies aimed at helping minorities overcome discrimination.
Many U.S. blacks say such resentment often causes their accomplishments to be overlooked.
"It's the idea that a black person with a Harvard Law degree and a distinguished legislative career only got to where he is because of his skin color. That's surreal," said William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta.
"It is comparable to the same tiresome argument that accomplished black professionals often hear: 'He or she only got that job because of affirmative action,'" said Patricia Gunn, a law professor at Ohio University, who supports Obama.
SUPPORT DROPS
In polls, Clinton had been splitting black support with Obama as recently as late last year.
But many took offense when Bill Clinton compared Obama's victory in the South Carolina primary in January to success there by Jesse Jackson, an African American who ran for president in 1984 and 1988, but attracted little support on the national stage. Some said Bill Clinton's comments were a bid to marginalize Obama as a candidate only of black America.
Clinton said last week she was sorry for the flap. "You know, I was sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive," she said.
Bill Clinton said "there is a total myth" that the Clinton campaign played the race card. "We had some played against us but we didn't play any," he told CNN.
In South Carolina, eight in 10 black voters supported Obama. That margin increased to more than nine in 10 in the primary last week in Mississippi.
Bill Clinton said he wasn't surprised by Obama's overwhelming support among blacks. "No, that was going to happen. Once African Americans understood that they had a candidate that had a serious chance of winning the nomination and of winning the presidency," he said.
Obama supporters, who hope his message of transcending racial divisions can have broad appeal, have emphasized that his wins have come not only in states like Mississippi with large black populations, but also in mostly white states like Iowa, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Idaho.
Obama faces a controversy of his own over racially charged and inflammatory rhetoric by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor at his church in Chicago. Comments such as Wright's contention that the United States believes in "white supremacy and black inferiority" put Obama on the defensive. He has attended Wright's church for 20 years.
Obama said he rejected the "incendiary" comments by Wright, who resigned from his role as spiritual adviser to the Obama campaign.
Labels: C
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Hillary Plant Comes Clean
The college student pressed by Hillary Clinton’s staffers to ask a scripted question at a campaign stop now says she reluctantly took part in the ruse and that she wasn’t the only plant in the audience.
In an interview with CNN, Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff owned up to reading a scripted question to Sen. Clinton at the Nov. 6 event in Newton, Iowa.
Gallo-Chasanoff, told CNN that a senior Clinton staffer approached her at the event and asked if she'd like to ask Clinton a question after the senator’s speech on energy policy.
"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said.
The campaign staffer told Gallo-Chasanoff that wasn’t “a good idea,” and produced a binder with pre-written questions, she said. "The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."
Gallo-Chasanoff, who told CNN she "likes to be agreeable," conceded to asking the question, which read: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"
The student says she now feels participating in the charade was wrong. She told CNN that scripting questions is "dishonest," and that the incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.
"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me," Gallo-Chasanoff said. “
Gallo-Chasanoff also says she wasn’t alone in being manipulated by the Clinton staff..
"After the event, I heard another man talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question," Gallo-Chasanoff said.
The Clinton campaign has since distanced itself from the practice of prepping questioners. Clinton spokesperson Mo Elleithee told CNN that Sen. Clinton had "no idea who she was calling on."
"This is not acceptable campaign process moving forward. We've taken steps to ensure that it never happens again," Elleithee said in a written response to the network.
Still, this is not the first time such accusations have been leveled at the Clinton camp.
Earlier this week, Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Ill. told CNN the Clinton campaign wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.
"[They] asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a Barack Obama supporter "It was not a question I felt comfortable with."
The college student pressed by Hillary Clinton’s staffers to ask a scripted question at a campaign stop now says she reluctantly took part in the ruse and that she wasn’t the only plant in the audience.
In an interview with CNN, Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff owned up to reading a scripted question to Sen. Clinton at the Nov. 6 event in Newton, Iowa.
Gallo-Chasanoff, told CNN that a senior Clinton staffer approached her at the event and asked if she'd like to ask Clinton a question after the senator’s speech on energy policy.
"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said.
The campaign staffer told Gallo-Chasanoff that wasn’t “a good idea,” and produced a binder with pre-written questions, she said. "The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."
Gallo-Chasanoff, who told CNN she "likes to be agreeable," conceded to asking the question, which read: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"
The student says she now feels participating in the charade was wrong. She told CNN that scripting questions is "dishonest," and that the incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.
"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me," Gallo-Chasanoff said. “
Gallo-Chasanoff also says she wasn’t alone in being manipulated by the Clinton staff..
"After the event, I heard another man talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question," Gallo-Chasanoff said.
The Clinton campaign has since distanced itself from the practice of prepping questioners. Clinton spokesperson Mo Elleithee told CNN that Sen. Clinton had "no idea who she was calling on."
"This is not acceptable campaign process moving forward. We've taken steps to ensure that it never happens again," Elleithee said in a written response to the network.
Still, this is not the first time such accusations have been leveled at the Clinton camp.
Earlier this week, Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Ill. told CNN the Clinton campaign wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.
"[They] asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a Barack Obama supporter "It was not a question I felt comfortable with."
Labels: C
